Furman University Journals

Mark Weber

After living abroad for four months, I must say that I am eagerly anticipating my return to the States, and Furman. After all of the great memories and experiences, I still feel that I will return to Furman feeling void of something though: more than the standard 3 CLP credits Furman gives to study abroad students. My anticipated arrival back to Furman for my final two trimesters as a college student is being dampened by the sobering fact that I must complete more than a year’s worth of CLPs in two short terms.

Why not give study abroad students more CLP credit? I can say for certain that I have personally learned much more about different cultures and ways of life in my time in Brussels than if I were to attend every single CLP that Furman offered for the remainder of the year. I suspect the same holds true for others that have participated in a study abroad program.

Being immersed in a culture permits one to learn not only about the major features of that society, but also the little, particular nuances that exist which can only be experienced by spending an extended period of time within that culture. I could listen to a speaker go on for hours speaking about Belgian culture, or possibly the lack there of, and know that they could not fully describe it justly, as experiencing and living in that culture is the only way one has the possibility of understanding it. Not traveling around constantly like students on other study abroad programs, but being grounded and everyday inhabitants, like taking the tram to work everyday, I feel has given me a much more personal and intimate view of the city.

The trips we have taken as a Furman group, those I went on independently, the courses I have taken, as well as my internship in the Parliament has put me in situations where in order to be successful, I would have to learn to adapt to working with people from all over the globe. I think these experiences are not only going to be some of my fondest memories, but will have also taught me invaluable lessons not simply learned by attending a lecture.

Despite the amount of CLPs offered, the fact remains the same that students are still stuck in the “bubble”. After they attend these culture awareness events, I would venture to guess most students go back to hanging out with their same friends, doing their usual activities, whether that be partying or studying, and not ever really giving much afterthought to the subject material covered. My past term, however, has not only been a continuous cultural learning experience but has also taught me a lot of life-lessons that will be useful further down the road I am sure. Whether I am irrational in thinking that I deserve more CLPs than three for the past fourth month long investment I am finishing up or have a valid argument, I know that over this past term I have a learned a lot, not from the classes we took, that will hopefully be useful after I graduate.

Katy Wynn

Business Administration Major (Junior)

Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide

    I work as a stagaire for the Public Affairs team in an international public relations firm. Public affairs represents an organization's efforts to monitor and manage its business environment. It combines government relations (I've learned so much about the EU and its role in society and business), communications, issues management, and corporate citizenship strategies to influence public policy, build a strong reputation, and find a common ground both with and for stakeholders. We work closely with both the Corporate Communications and Public Communications team to form the Public Relations team of about 25. Most of our clients lie in the health, environment, and energy sectors. It's been an incredible experience. Besides building upon a business background, I've learned so much from working and engaging in an international setting that I never would have back home.

    It's already our last week in Brussels as four months have somehow flown by; it's been one heck of a ride.

    But now this journey, just like any other, is coming to a close. It's exciting and strange all at the same time because, somehow, the tables have turned. Somehow, the unfamiliar has become the familiar—Europe has, in a sense, taken in and broken each and every one of us. We have willingly attempted in some ways and been forced in others to engage with Europe on Europe’s terms, which (let’s be honest), is rather humbling and even humiliating at times. But its been a blessing, and each and every one of us has grown in some way or another because of our position of vulnerability. Growth comes when you look at this vulnerability as an opportunity and take it.

    Growth on this trip seems to have been mostly two-fold. Whenever you’re out of your comfort in the unfamiliar (i.e. a study abroad trip), the new world serves as a microcausm, bringing to light everything about you and those close to you. You learn so much about yourself, from yourself and from others—the good and the bad. One the one hand, your weaknesses are laid bare, which is when a mindset of learning and growth proves valuable, because you’re given an opportunity to improve youself. On the other hand, your strengths are highlighted. This in itself is such an encourgaging and motivating thing—“Hey. I can do this!” The combination of the two is even more powerful—learning to listen to and learn from yourself and those around you.

    I’m curious to see how the return home will be. It’s time; I absolutely can’t wait to see family and friends, but there are definitely things and people I’ll really miss here (mmm…chocolate).

    I have this vague notion of returning to that which is familiar, but I think, and hope in a way, that I’m going to be thrown into the unfamiliar again. Perhaps the familiar will have become unfamiliar, or perhaps I’ll just look at it that way. Whatever the case, I hope to keep the mindset and attitude of learning, vulnerability, growth, and opportunity that I’ve grown to understand in an entirely new way on this trip.

It’s been real, gang.

Who? Stephanie Tanner

What? A senior Communication Studies Major

Where? Brussels, Belgium; studying at Vesalius College and interning at the International Diabetes Federation

When? August 18^th, 2007 to December 17^th, 2007 (Wow, I only have a week and a half left here!)

Why? Because living, studying, & working in Europe is an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity

How? Because quite a bit of my financial aid transferred (thank goodness!) and my parents loved me enough to pay the rest

Like most of the other students here in Brussels, I spend most of my time working at my internship, going to class, and traveling. I feel like quite the grown-up - taking the metro on a daily basis; booking flights, trains, hotels/hostels; navigating around Brussels and other European cities; attending important meetings and dinners at work. It's a strange feeling but fun most of the time.

Moving on, I made a list of bits of advice that might be helpful for young people traveling in Europe. Some of the tips may seem silly, but seriously, they are things you might not have thought about before. You might think you are prepared, but there really is no way to come to Europe knowing and planning for everything that will happen during your time there. The main point to take from my list: EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED.

Things to Remember:

*You cannot get free tap water at most restaurants in Europe, except in Paris. Drinks, whether it be coke, water, or beer, are generally not cheap either, costing 2-3 euros most of the time. They are also not as large as in the U.S. and there’s no such thing as a free refill. You’d be wise to carry around a water bottle most of the time.

*Always keep spare change on-hand because you may need it for public restrooms. Most public restrooms cost 30-60 euro cents, sometimes even if you are a customer of an establishment. Oh how I miss free tap water, ice, and bathrooms!

*Be aware of tipping customs in the places you travel to. Many places in Europe have the service fee already included and on the bill. For example, in Brussels you do not have to tip at restaurants, but you should tip a small amount to taxi drivers.

*Do not be deceived by the super reasonable fares from Ryanair to European cities. The cheap flights are generally in the morning or at night. And you probably won’t end up where you think you will (PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT IS IN THE PARENTHESES!) For example, you may book for Milan, but you will really be flying into Bergamo and then must take an hour shuttle to Milan. You lose money and time by having to take shuttles or taxis and by having to get up at ungodly hours to make it to the airport on time.

Story time: This past weekend, I traveled to Barcelona with three other girls. We flew into Girona, Spain in the early evening on Friday, took a 45-minute shuttle to Barcelona, and then the metro to our hostel. Barcelona was great…until the end. We saw Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia (a really amazing and unique cathedral) and Parc Guell. We had dinner on the waterfront and went out dancing at a Latin club. And the people were as nice as the weather there. We were tempted to not come back to gray and chill of Brussels. Little did we know that getting back to Brussels would be HELL.

On Sunday afternoon, we went to the bus station and tried to get on a shuttle to the Girona airport, but after waiting in line for 10 minutes, we weren’t allowed to get on because there were no seats left. We waited 15 minutes for the next shuttle and were happy to be one of the first few onboard. However, when we jumped out of the shuttle and ran to the check-in lines at the airport, we realized that the line for our flight was already closed. We had missed check-in time by 5 minutes. So two of us waited in another line while the other two found a woman who was free to ask for help. The woman referred us to a desk where you book flights. We waited in line for a few minutes there and asked a woman in line if we could cut in front of her, as it was an urgent matter. We told the people at the desk that we needed to check in for our flight but the counter was closed and that we had no luggage to check. They said that we could not check in and would not be able to get on the plane. WHAT?!? Check-in takes no time at Ryanair. You hand them your passport and confirmation number, and they give you your boarding pass. They do most of the work by hand so it’s just a matter of putting a check on a list. Going through security takes 5 minutes or less. And boarding had not even begun for our flight, but they said no one could be called to let us through. We were as nice as possible and tried begging and pleading but to no avail. No strings could be pulled; no late fees like with AirTran could be paid. We found another woman who was doing check-in for Granada who also said there was no hope because she and others had no access to the Internet and no way of calling. It was useless. There was no pity or personal attention for us. I cried when they told us the next flight to Brussels would not leave until 8:55 the next morning and would cost us 75 euros.

*Take note of train strikes. You may miss trains, become stranded in an area or country, or have to rely on a taxi to get around as a result of them.

Story time: My friend Laura and I were told to be careful about making our trains in Germany because they are so efficient and punctual. However, when we tried to go to Rudesheim a few weeks ago, we realized that train strikes surely affect German efficiency. Our train from Cologne to Koblenz was delayed by 15 minutes so we decided to go walk around the station for a few minutes. When we came back, we saw that our train was still delayed. After a couple minutes, a train pulled onto the track by our platform so we assumed it was our train and hopped on. It wasn’t until an hour and a half later that we realized after asking a group of older men that we were on the wrong train and not going anywhere close to Rudesheim. We quickly got off at the next stop, which was in the middle of nowhere, and took the next train BACK to Cologne. Then we took the next train to Koblenz. We had a little while in Koblenz until our train to Rudesheim came so we walked around, called our hotel, and grabbed a few snacks and drinks. A few minutes before our train was set to come, we went out to the platform, or at least what we thought was the right platform. The platform was actually a bit farther down, and we managed to miss the last train to Rudesheim. We then decided to take a train to Bacharach because it was just across the way from Rudesheim, and we thought we could take a taxi from there to Rudesheim.. When on the train, we were told that this would be impossible because there were no bridges leading from one side of the Rhine to the other in that area. The only way to get across is by a ferry, which had quit running hours earlier. We ended up in Bacharach in the cold and rain at midnight, ringing the bell outside hotels and hostels and begging for a room. Four of the places turned us away, but finally, a woman named Lettie got out of bed to let us in from the cold to stay at her tiny pension.

*As the aforementioned stories imply, always account for delays, whether it be when taking the metro, shuttles, flights, or trains. The tram and bus schedules in Brussels are hard to pinpoint. Give or take 2 minutes from the time listed on the board and you probably won’t have to wait as long for a tram or bus to come.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am currently taking two communications classes, Print Journalism and Intercultural Communication. Although I like both of my classes, my professors, and the other students, I miss Furman. Nonetheless, the best thing about Vesalius is the diversity of the student body. Students in your classes are from all over the world, some are native Belgians and others are from Spain, England, France, Poland, Germany, and all parts of the U.S.

In some ways, my classes are very similar to Furman. Both of my teachers prefer to mix discussion about the material in with the lectures. Both take attendance and give a participation grade, much like Furman. There are really only two main differences that I see. First, many students skip class a lot. In the beginning, I felt bad for a missing a Friday for traveling, but I no longer feel that way because I know I still come more than most of the other students in my classes. Second, my classes do not require as much work outside of class and for tests/quizzes. My Intercultural Communication teacher lectures straight from the booklet that he put together for us. He even told us that there was really no need for us to read the material ahead of time, unless we were not native English speakers. Also, for our midterm, I studied a couple hours the night before and an hour and half the morning of the test without doing any prior reading or studying during the term and ended up with an A on the test. I had actually “over studied.” If I had not done any homework and had only studied about three hours for a test in a Furman course, I would have been lucky to pass.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My NGO Internship

My internship is at the International Diabetes Federation. IDF is a global non-governmental organization based in Brussels so it's pretty important...or at least, I like to think so. I've spent the majority of my time there working on two projects: the first UN-recognized World Diabetes Day (held in NYC on November 14th) and the Guideline for Management of Postmeal Glucose. I single-handedly organized a blogging campaign on World Diabetes Day within the diabetes blogging community (over 100 bloggers joined in!). After calculating views and clicks of the World Diabetes Day banners I convinced bloggers to post, the Communications Unit said that my work was equivalent to over 10,000 euros worth of advertising. In terms of the Guideline, I handle orders from big pharmaceutical companies like Eli Lilly, Bayer, Merck, and Novo Nordisk. I communicate with them and coordinate shipping with our warehouse. I also had the opportunity to proofread one of our other publications called the Metabolic Syndrome in Children and Adolescents. Okay, so I do basic office work stuff, which is not exactly what I want to be doing 5 years from now, but it's good NGO experience- which I need because I want to work for an NGO and most require previous experience- and the people I work with are incredible. For the most part, I am treated as an equal, not just as an intern. I have lunch almost every workday with the people within the Communications Unit at my office and even had the chance to go to dinner with the President and President-Elect of IDF a couple weeks before World Diabetes Day. I also have a tentative job offer after graduation. The Communications Manager, who is essentially my boss, wants me to come work with IDF for a year or two as long as he can get it approved by our Executive Director. So yeah, I think the “work hard, play hard” motto is really working well for me at my internship. It feels good, but I know that I’m one of the lucky ones. Not everyone here in Brussels is rewarded for their hard work, especially in the Parliament.

I'll end with a few of my favorites here in Brussels...

Favorite foods: gyros & frites (because they are cheap and filling!) and Leonida's chocolate (seriously, it's my favorite of the Belgian chocolates)

Favorite events: Brussels Beer Festival, Oktoberfest in Brussels, and Winter Pret (the Christmas Markets that are currently going on)

Favorite hang-outs: any bar in the Saint Gery area 

My apologies but brevity is not really one of my strengths, but hopefully I covered quite a few bases.

David Solomon

Economics

Houston Consulting Europe

There are many ways to experience life in another country and I think one of the best ways is through working with the people that live there. I work at a public affairs consultancy firm called Houston Consulting Europe that is right next to the European Parliament. The essence of what the firm does is give insight primarily to banks as well as other corporations on how the happenings of the European Union affect them. More specifically, as the EU looks to make all of Europe a single market, the way European businesses and banks can do business is changing and Houston Consulting advises as to how those changes will affect them.

While I do a lot of the typical intern jobs that most firms require, I have also had the opportunity to achieve several neat things such as sit in on hearings in the European Parliament and then get to write about the hearings for our clients. I cannot convey how exciting it is to sit in a room with people speaking approximately 23 different languages and they are all cooperating there together!

I have spent most of the last two months at my internship updating a financial services guide to the EU that our firm publishes every year. Yes, much of the time it is a fairly monotonous task, but I have learned a lot about how to communicate with people from all over the world as I often have to call to countries like Slovakia and Bulgaria to speak with government officials whose first language is not English.

Brussels: The Traveling Hub

Any Belgian would tell you that one of the great things about Brussels is that it is placed so that one can easily access almost any city in Europe. Over the last 4 months, I have tried my very best to take advantage of this by traveling to countries such as Spain, France, Germany, Austria, The Netherlands, the UK, and others that I’m probably forgetting right now.

Perhaps some of the most memorable highlights of my traveling took place in Berlin, Germany. First, it snowed. And for someone from Tennessee, that is always a significant event. The first reason Berlin was really neat to me was that it was a lot more progressive and efficient of a society than those like Belgium or France. For example, getting in and out of restaurants was a lot quicker of a process. Also, Berlin is filled with history. From World War II to the Cold War, I was in awe of all that happened in just one city over the last century. I also have to admit that Berlin won additional points with me because there were Starbucks on almost every corner and I am a huge coffee drinker.

Brussels: International City

While Brussels may not have a distinct culture that is clearly “Belgian”, it is undeniably international and that is a really exciting situation to live in. When meeting somebody in a pub or on the street, the probability is that they are NOT going to be Belgian but from another country. As a consequence, I do not go a week without learning about another country in Europe. Another example of this is at Houston Consulting, my internship site. Among the 15 employees at the firm, there is one Belgian, two Italians, one Brit, three Irish, three Spanish, three Dutch, a German, and an American (me!). It is quite a unique experience to listen to five different languages in one day.

My time in Brussels has brought many hard and long days as well as many unforgettable ones. But by immersing myself in an internship in a foreign country and traveling all over Europe, I have learned about people and places that I never would have known about otherwise. And as a result, I have a much wider and more effective frame of reference with which I can now experience and understand life both at home and abroad.

Houston Shelton

Junior

French and Psychology

My internship in the European Parliament has been... interesting. If you find yourself asking "Why would a French and Psychology major serve as an intern in European Parliament?" then the answer is, quite simply, why not? I love speaking French and am an adamant tree-hugger, so it seemed quite logical for me to work as an intern for an MEP that spoke French and served on an environmental committe. Although I began the trip without any kind of work for three or four weeks, I finally attained an internship working for M. Phillipe Busquin, a Belgian member of European Parliament (MEP). Initially, I was nothing but hopeful (after all, I had landed what seemed like the perfect internship for me!). Though I would have hoped to change the world in my few months spent here as an intern, it would seem that my dreams were not quite realistic. My originally hopeful position quickly turned into one dulled by redundant paper filing and then searching for ways to occupy myself while at work because I was given nothing to do. Eventually I tired of this game of cat and mouse, during which my MEP's head assistant would lead me along with the promise of future possibilities and I would blindly follow.

For this reason I spoke with Dr. Pierce, who spoke to the EPA director, who looked around and found a new internship for me within European Parliament. I now work for Amalia Sartori, an Italian MEP who also serves on the environmental committee. I must say that I feel much more confident in this new office. I have been given new work and readings every day, and I feel like I have learned more in the two weeks in this office than I did during my two months in my former office. I have already attended committee meetings and been invited to join my colleagues in a meeting concerning the adoption of the GHS in the EU (the GHS is a movement for a Globally Harmonized System of classification for the identification of harmful/toxic chemicals used in all products on the market today). I now feel more confident in myself and the work that I am doing than I did before. Suffice it to say that my outlook on my internship is much more positive now than it was before I switched offices.

But enough about my internship - it's time for the important stuff! I, like many of my compatriots, came to Europe based on the hope that it would be a wonderful experience. I have no trouble saying that, indeed, the most important experiences for me during this trip have been those that I have spent traveling with my friends. I came to Brussels for my second study-abroad trip knowing only my girlfriend and Michael Seufer. My expectation was to live in Brussels, meet new people, speak a lot of French, and travel from time to time. Thankfully, this trip has become so much more than that.

Though some of the former entries have mentioned Belgian beer-drinking, I must emphasize that beer-making and drinking make up a large part of Belgian culture (what little of it there is). Here in Belgium, however, it is considered normal to have a beer or two every day - though I only have a few per week. Consequently, my friends and I have come to know many different varieties of Belgium's 500+ beers. This is just one of the ways that we have experienced many European cultures - We became pizza connaisseurs in Italy, tested French cuisine in Paris, dabbled with tapas in Spain, and in Amsterdam... let's just say that we experienced their culture, too! This trip has been perfect for me in that I have been able to broaden my horizens and see how other people in different parts of the world behave.

In the four months that I have been in Europe I will have travelled to seven countries and well over a dozen unique cities. Living in Europe provides a chance to open one's mind and experience new cultures and views of the world (I can't tell you how happy I am about the fact that I haven't seen a pastel golf shirt in over two months!). It is because I made an effort to leave the well-known Furman bubble that I now have many new friends and have had a myriad of life-changing experiences all across the Old World.