Are there any questions? Comments?

Over the last 2 days, there have been 20 visits to this blog and only 1 comment. Even with the direct question at the end of my last post, I just can't seem to stimulate any response. If I don't know you or don't know you read my blog, I promise not to be creeped out if you suddenly make your presence known through a comment - and you can even comment anonymously if you want. Na ja, thanks for reading anyhow - but a special thanks to Hannah and Rachel for your regular comments :)

The System

There is something inherently wrong with an education system in which, for lack of time, one must sacrifice reading a book one is totally excited about for skimming over it and improvising a book review about it - following strict guidelines - in order to get a good grade.

Now of course, one could place the responsibility on the individual to better manage their time or to take the initiative to read the book on their own time; however, in such a grade-oriented culture in which following guidelines is given more value than developing an in-depth understanding, I believe the problem is clearly systemic. Students cannot take their education into their own hands while satisfying the requirements of the system and maintaining a healthy, balanced lifestyle. Everyone, at some point in their academic career, must make a choice to neglect at least one of those three areas in order to better focus on another, and unfortunately, in this society, most pressures favour the prioritization of grades.

What do you think?

Annie Get Your Gun

Yesterday night, coming back to campus on the metro, I sat down in a relatively full car just across from a rather unique looking character. He was wearing a dirty, torn, reaking, and obviously mismatched army uniform. He had a German flag patch on his arm, was wearing a couple of different layers for warmth and impermeability and had a camo back pack. He was sporting a sort of mushroom cut but with the sides totally shaven and had bites or welts of some sort on his face and neck.

Like everyone around me, I tried not to give him too much attention but without seeming to be shunning him. However, especially wearing a suit and carrying a laptop bag, I couldn't help but feel rather unsafe and, yet again, understand why one would want to carry a weapon wherever they go. In two other instances here in DC I've found myself sitting apprehensively with my hand in my pocket and my thumb on the "9" button of my cellphone.

In Newfoundland, within days of the incident in which border officials killed an agitated, though seemingly harmless Polish immigrant in a Vancouver airport using a Taser, their use and future purchase was halted. Since the province's first acquisition of Tasers in 2003, they have never been used.

Walking the Dog

Today, for the second time, while I was running, I saw a young boy "walking" a little dog in the forest. That is, he was standing in one spot indifferently holding the dog's short leash and playing some type of handheld videogame while the dog basically walked on the spot, sniffing around to kill time.

Pretty Rich Girls

In a cab to the airport last Wednesday, I got talking with the driver and when he heard I was studying at American U, he warned me to watch out for all the "pretty rich girls". It made me feel a little sick - like I was expected to be attracted to girls because they were pretty and rich but that I somehow had something they didn't and I had to protect it from them. I wished I was at Mt.A. again where, I like to think, one would never hear such a comment.

Going Back to the Secret Garden

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Washington is a relatively green city and I'm incredibly lucky to have a good 10 km of trails right beside campus that meander through lush, mostly undisturbed forest.

On my run through the trails today, I decided one of the best things of being a baby would be not to have to watch where you're going - with someone carrying you or pushing you in a stroller, you're free to take in everyting around you. So, in a jealous attempt to regain that privilege, I decided I had done enough trail running to be able to do the same while running.

At first it was amazing! Tree trunks completely covered in leafy vines looked like overgrown pillars in a secret garden; I mavelled at them for a little while, with the beautiful yellow backdrop of leaves and the occasional crimson red tree appearing out of nowhere, like a burning bush. And then I tripped over a root.

That didn't stop me though: I started examining all the different twisted roots on the forest floor. I went from feeling like a baby crawling through tunnels only visible to me in a forest of adult legs to feeling like a giant trampling through a village of grasses, acorns, shrubs, etc. Then as I turned a corner, there were hundreds of yellow leaves falling out of the sky, foreshadowing the millions of snowflakes soon to come. As I sprinted, trying to catch them, I twisted my ankle on a rock. Time to start walking back.

Even more so than on the way there, I constantly felt like I was lost: "I can't have run passed that bench dozens of times and never noticed it"; "no, I don't remember ever crossing any bridges"; "I thought there was only one spot where the trail came so close to the street"; but sure enough, I had seen all these things dozens of times, I had just never noticed them.

As I emerged from the forest, running again, it felt like I was no longer part of that magical world anymore: it was now part of mine. Seconds later, I passed a man with one of the wretched leaf blowers blowing the leaves off a tree so he could blow them into a pile and dispose of them leaving a nice clean lawn. Sure there's nature in the city, but it only grows exactly where we let it and in ways we want it to.

So next time you're in the forest, when no one's looking, hug a tree and tell it it can grow wherever and however it wants :)

Crust

At the homeless reception centre I volunteer at, they give out free sandwiches. Today, as I watched one of our regular clients eat the middle part of the sandwich and stuff the crust the back into the back for disposal, I thought... this would be a good anectdote for my blog.

Commu-what?

Now I know many of you will have seen this poster before (especially if you came to visit the Sustainable Residence last year), but in a city where people don't even feel comfortable greeting each other on the street - it's not just that people don't do it, but people who try quickly realise it's inappropriate behaviour - I think it's important to remind ourselves of the the inestimable value of community and of couple of ways we can build a community.

And if anyone thinks the poster's suggestions are simply wishful thinking, you're overdue for a trip to Sackville, NB.

Oh Sackville, how I miss you!

Friendly Foreign Nations

I love to read sections in books about the USA that talk about Canada. In "Gates of Injustice: The Crisis in America's Prisons", in a short section about the tainted blood scandal in which "hundreds of Canadian hemophiliacs were infected with HI of hepatitis by contaminated blood collected in a U.S. prison" Alan Elsner writes:

"There can hardly be a better example of hw disease within the U.S. prison system spread, not just throughout our society, but in this case infected innocent victims in friendly foreign nations."

Could You Be the Next Prime Minister?

I've met some of really nice, down-to-earth people during my 3 months in the USA, but of course, I hear and see some things that are simply hilarious in their aburdity, especially since others find them completely normal.

The other day, I overheard a guy talking to a friend of his (on his cell, of course) about how he had worked out some problems with his girlfriend and that really most of their problems stemmed from misunderstandings and miscommunication. One example he gave was that his girlfriend likes to get her sleep but he likes to stay up talking late into the night. Thus since "[he's] genetically engineered to be a politician and doesn't need sleep" and his girlfriend does, "like normal people", he just has to learn to let her sleep at night.

The worst part was that, although I don't think politicians are "genetically engineered" to do so, he's probably right that learning to deal with sleed deprivation is an important aspect of succeeding in politics. I guess I'll stick to organic farming.

Let 'em rot in jail!

I talked with a young law student yesterday at a free dinner for international students and others interested, and it just reinforced a bunch of ideas I've been developing about justice and jails in this country (I'm taking an amazing course on this topic!).

We started talking about Canada a bit, and when she noticed I had a book with me - called Gates of Injustice - that I'm reading for that justice class, we got onto the topic of incarceration. She asked about differences, and I told her how much more punitive people are here. She asked why, and I mentioned, part of it was differences in laws. I gave her the example of the daycare sex abuse hysteria that swept the USA in the 80s and 90s which Canada largely evaded - apparently in part because we required physical evidence, while here, they convicted simply based on the coached testimonies of 3-year-olds.

Then she asked about more of the root causes, and I tried to explain that throughout US American history, the country has often considered itself a "city on a hill", a perfect model (or at least the best) that other nations were expected to replicate, when they realised how good it was. Of course, in this context, there's a lot more at stake when people go out of line - it's not just a personal thing, they're polluting the perfect image of the whole nation!

Next we went on to minimum (or determined) sentences and "three-strikes-your-out laws". I explained how in reaction to public outrage, politicians have often established or raised minimum sentences for certain crimes (especially drug-related). Why should the minimum for drug dealing be less than the minimum for armed robbery (not a real example)? Both are just as harmful and dangerous! And so slowly everything moves up and usually with unforseen but severe consequences for petty criminals who really don't deserve such harsh sentences but get included through poor foresight and exceedingly broad definitions. However, once the minimum is in place, it becomes virtually impossible to lower (i.e. it would be political suicide to try to be more slack on crime), regardless of the consequences.

In response to this, my interlocutor said that determined sentences were necessary to combat widespread discrimination in sentencing. I didn't know what to say, except that racism exists in Canada as well, and we seem to manage somehow.

Finally - and this is the part that really did it for me -, we got into the issue of rehabilitation. I explained how there is a much greater focus of this in the Canadian system. Apparently, we do some of the leading research in this area. In contrast, the USA is known to be one of the harshest prison systems (or prison industrial complex, as people often call it now). Obviously, this difference in perspective would have significant effects on rates and lengths of incarceration. And in response to this, the futre lawyer told me that she would be interested in comparing the recidivism rates (percent of inmates that end up back in jail) because the truth is, once you end up in jail, it basically shows that you didn't get the parenting and upbringing you needed - and as an teen or young adult, it's just too late to be able to make up for that and fix these people: prisons and jails are the only place they belong.

And the scariest part is that this is by no means an exceptional attitude! So whatever you do, don't be accused of any crimes in this country (because it often doesn't matter whether you actually did it or not; an accusation can be the end of your life as a free human with any worth).

North Carolina State Fair

I totally don’t have time to be doing this, and I’ll probably regret it when I’m working frenetically to get a million things done at the last minute, but I just have to get down some of my thoughts about this past weekend.

During the fall orientation for my Killam Fellowship, all the Fulbright Students and Scholars that are/will be doing research in Canada during this academic year were also present. During introductions, one of them, a professor at North Carolina State University (in Raleigh – pronounced Rolly) who will be in Vancouver on her Fulbright next semester, extended an invitation to any Killam wishing to experience the American South; in Raleigh, NC, today is the last of 10 days of the largest state fair in the country...

Friday morning, for $36, I was on a train to Raleigh and when I arrived at 5pm, Toddi was there to pick me up. We went straight to her 125-year-old home, through my stuff in the guest room, and headed off to Durham, NC (the home of Duke University) for a real Southern dinner at a family restaurant. Hushpuppies (fried cornbread), Brunswick Stew (hmmm... tasty corn and bean goop?), string beans, fries, fried chicken, and of course, Bar-B-Que (some sort pork cooked with vinegar and hot sauce), this – and the traditional Southern breakfast I had this morning – reminded lots of what one might find at a family restaurant in rural New Brunswick – and so did the customers’ waistlines.

Saturday was the 6th birthday party of Lina, Toddi and Joe’s daughter. I find, as a uni student, it’s always so nice to be exposed to family life, and putting up balloons and streamers in the morning for the Cinderalla Party was no exception!

After the party, it was time for the fair! I’d never seen any one thing like it before, but it was something like a combination of an amusement park (really big and with some serious rides), a midway (some smaller rides and a rather low-profile atmosphere), a craft fair (lots of craftwork and food), and a zoo (all sorts of farm animals included a cow I had the pleasure of milking!).

A few things I found noteworthy:

-signs with pricing in Spanish and even one guy advertising his little game (e.g. throw darts at balloons and win a prize if you pop one) in Spanish

-mixing of all racialised and socio-economic groups

-a real sense of safety: despite not having any police or guards visible except at the entrance and being so crowded we couldn’t even move in some places, nobody seemed afraid of pick-pocketing or obsessed with keeping their children in sight; like at the ice-cream shop we went to the night before, the sign prohibiting concealed weapons on the way in didn’t really seem necessary

-a significant agricultural connection: farm animals (some that had won prizes and been auctioned off: a $25 000 pig, for example), prize-winning produce (including a pumpkin weighing over 1000 pounds), every kind honey product, a huge exhibit on ethanol and conservation, etc.

-a lot of politics including a booth for the Republicans and one for the Democrats, a pro-life booth, and a peace booth (with a petition to close Guantánamo)

And now, I only have time for one more very important thing: I’d like say a huge thank you to Toddi, Joe and Lina for their incredible kindness and hospitality, for taking time to share their ideas with me, and just for giving me such a fantastic opportunity! Gotta love Americans!

The Uncle I Never Knew

In university, everybody wants to see the world, broaden their horizons. And I think that's great: a bit of perspective surely never hurt anyone, and what better time is there to travel and entertain all sorts of crazy new ideas than in university?

So if you could go anywhere on a trip – an exchange, for example – where would it be? China? Germany? India? Guatemala? Ghana? New Zealand? I'm sure I'm missing a whole slew of countries people would choose, but somehow, I don't imagine anyone is objecting too strongly to my omission of the USA.

I know, I know: it's just like Canada but way more capitalistic; you'll probably get shot; a country governed by George W. Bush! Enough said. But have you ever wondered what lies beneath all these generalisations? And really, how many people actually carry weapons? What are these people like? Aren't Canadians more wasteful than Americans? And what's a young Republican like? Just a mini version of George Bush perhaps?

I guess what I'm getting at, is that during the last two months, I've been studying in Washington, DC on a Killam Fellowship (if you don't know what that is, you better find out soon) and my experience so far has been more incredible than I could ever have imagined! I've learned so much American history and seen it manifested in the culture that surrounds me; now, I can actually fully understand how one could view the invasion of Iraq as the only right thing to do; I met a lovely Evangelical Baptist girl from the Bible Belt and we had a great discussion about religion during which she not once mentioned any reason I should believe anything different than what I believe now. Of course, I also got to see the Dalai Lama share a stage with Bush and Richard Gere, I heard the National Symphony Orchestra play in the Kennedy Centre, and I attended a speech by a death row inmate who was acquitted 15 hours prior to his scheduled execution thanks to new DNA evidence.

Having also been blessed with the opportunity to study in Costa Rica and travel Europe, I must concede that there's much to learn in every country. But if you're interested in travelling but not in languages, or if you'd like to be somewhere close enough to home to be able to go back for Thanksgiving, or if your program would require very specific courses from time spent abroad, maybe you should consider the US?

A comparison I can offer to give you an idea of the value of studying in the US is the following. Imagine two Canadian physicians. One decides to spend a year studying Eastern medicine in China and the other decides to work in a hospital in Costa Rica. The first would likely learn a plethora of totally new treatments and techniques and would develop a broadened understanding of health and wellness. Although he may not be able to apply the Eastern treatments to his practice, his new understanding of health and wellness would undoubtedly be quite valuable.

The second physician, on the other hand, might learn some useful and cost-effective alternatives (still acceptable by most Western patients' standards) to more expensive Canadian treatments of simple ailments. She would probably also pick up on various other advantages in efficiency in a primarily public healthcare system which could be applied – with certain modification – to the Canadian system to decrease waiting times, for example. An enriched understanding of health and wellness would also inevitably ensue from this experience as well.

As this example shows, a greater difference in culture does not necessarily convert into a more meaningful experience. Personally, I think most paths end up leading us back home – or not too far away – and therefore, experience in a culture that is not too distant from our own can often prove to be quite useful in the long run. Nevertheless, I don't think anyone, myself included, is in a position comment on the overall value of travel to one country versus that to another. I simply challenge you to try to view the USA for what it is: a distinct country with its own complex culture. A culture with its faults, but with its qualities too; a culture with differences from ours, but with similarities too (and not just in qualities).

And if you can do that, you're probably a perfect candidate for a Killam Fellowship and you should check out www.killamfellowships.com. If you're still not convinced or would simply like to read more about my experience in Washington, DC, check out my blog at nicodube23.blogspot.com.

Notes from a talk by an acquitted death row inmate

Last Tuesday, when I heard from my lovely friend Laura that her class was invited to attend a talk by a Floridan who had spent several years on death row and, 15 hours prior to his scheduled execution, had been acquitted based on DNA evidence, I knew that was an opportunity most people would never have. I got the information from her that night and decided that if I made the trek, found the church basement where the talk was being help, and simply sat down, nobody would notice. That's exactly what happen: ni vu, ni connu. What follows are a few point form notes I took of things he said that I found particularly striking during his talk. He went by Bob, but I can't find his full name right now...

-When someone commits an atrocious crime, epecially against someone close to you, it would be wierd if you didn't want to strangle them. (Of course, though, Bob was strongly opposed to the death penalty.)

-He spent 15 years in isolation, only ever having human contact with his guard!

-Because there's nothing to see in your 5 x 6 cell, you develop a great sense of hearing: at night, you can hear a little noise and know that the guy 5 cells over is hanging himself. In the morning you find out you're right.

-You have to find the strenght to rise above the dehumanization and tell yourself: "I'm not going to take my life. I'm not abnormal."

-"When people see me they don't know who I am or what I've been through beause I always have a smile on my face."

-2 days before your execution, you're moved to a special cell for the presidential treatment: you get to hear the chair being tested twice a day: zzzzzzzzzzzzzap! zzzzzzzzap! A civilian also comes in to measure you, like an inanimate object, to make something for your corspe to wear.

-During your time of presidential treatment, there is also a lieutenant there 24/7 to ensure you don't deny the State the right to kill you by doing it yourself.

-When he was finally released, he thought it was a trap and that someone would shoot him, claiming he was trying to escape.

-After being released, it took him 3 weeks before he could strap a seatbelt around himself.

-The first thing he wanted upon his release was a glass of ice water (they only get lukewarm water in prison).

-It took him 8 yrs to find a job because of 15-year gap in his resumé. One employer said he didn't meet the requirement of not having been convicted in the last 5 years. He now works at the Covenant House here in DC.

-He is afraid that one day all his emotions erupt and only hopes to be alone if it happens.

-All he wants from the state is an apology. He turned down a $10 million settlement agreement they offered him instead.

-He found his emotions were the same as those written about by a man who was in a Nazi concentration camp.

-His brother needed a kindney transplant and they couldn't find a match other than Bob's. However, Bob was first denied permission to go to the hospital and donate his kidney because it was too far away. His brother then moved to the hospital used by the prisoners, but they still would not allow him to leave the prison. 8 days later, his brother died.

-Of his work at the Covenant House, he said that most people have issues, but that if we had been through what they went through, we would have issues too.

-When back in Florida for the first time since his release to give a talk at a university, the prosecutor's daughter and son organized a protest. He "gave them a spanking" during the question period of his talk.

To end on a funny note:
-When talking about where the Covenant House is active, he mentioned the USA, Honduras, and "two other Latin American countries: Mexico and Canada."

Ring! Ring! (or rather, all those other wacky sounds cell phones make)

The problem with studying in a big city is that you end up having too much fun and not finding any time for blogging. So here's my attempt at giving you a glimpse into my new life in DC.

First off, I had heard stories from some friends who studied in the USA that a cellphone was a necessary amenity for one simply to exist on a campus here. However, well aware that "the demand for cell phones and computer chips is helping fuel a bloody civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo" (please check out this excellent site for more info), I was reluctant to give in. Still, one of my priorities here was meeting new people and building new friendships, and there was also the safety issue, so with a bit of convincing from my parents, I gave in; last month, I used about 500 minutes and sent just over 100 text messages.

But it's important to understant that those 7 hours on the phone are nothing like time spent on a real phone. This may seem paradoxical at first because of the similarity in function of the two types of telephones, but as with email and snail mail, despite this similarity, the two have completely different uses, especially in college (i.e. university in the USA). There is of course a chunk of time I spent talking with family and friends from home, but of the calls made and texts sent to friends on campus, most are used in planning to get together within a couple of hours for lunch, coffee or a movie, or just to hang out. Well maybe not all the time is spent planning - much is just chatting about how the day is going - but that's at least the main purpose of the call.

Wow! This is actually a lot harder to explain than I thought it would be, so to keep myself from babbling on endlessly, I'll just mention one more thing.

The following is what I would consider the typical way one acquires another's cell number.
1- Your friend texts you at 11:15 to see if you want to meet for lunch at 1.
2- Your friend gets a text from his room-mate inviting him for lunch.
3- The 3 of you get together for lunch.
4- It's your first time meeting your friend's room-mate and you get along passably well.
5- Time to go: you exchange phone numbers with your friend's room-mate (that is, one of you adds the other to his phonebook and calls the other who simply has to save the number).
Epilogue- Maybe you'll call each other and start hanging out regularly, maybe you'll never talk again. Most likely, you'll go for lunch one or two more times and then decide to incorporate each other into your circle of closer friends or simply stop calling each other.

That's just a glimpse into college cellphone culture. The rest, you just have to experience.

Are You Prepared (An Email from the Department of Public Safety at American University)

Protecting America University students, staff and faculty is the shared responsibility of the entire AU Community. Individuals can prepare themselves for emergencies by taking simple steps such as organizing an emergency supply kit, making a personal preparedness plan, becoming informed about different threats, and getting involved in preparing their community. These activities create a culture of preparedness and can help save lives.

We should also take this opportunity to ensure that we are prepared. Everyone is asked to take this time to review AU's emergency plan on Prepared.American.Edu. In addition to the plan, members of the community are encourages to view the resource links that are contained on the website. On of the most important link is the DC Alert link. At last count only 1911 community members had signed up for the text alerts. Please sign up for the text alerts. It is the best way that you can be notified for American University emergencies as well as DC area wide emergency.

Emergency plans are only as good as the people who are responsible to carry them out. Therefore in addition to reviewing the plan, all AU community members are asked to review and revise their own individual plans. Please look at the following list of items and take the appropriate actions to ensure you are prepared. In general, you should anticipate a 72 hour (3 day) period in which electricity, water, gasoline, and food might be in short supply.

1. Have spare cash on hand. Do not depend on having access to ATM's or being able to use credit or bank cards.

2. Maintain at least a 3 day supply of water at home. Cases of bottled water or the large 5 gallon jugs will work for this. Do not store the water in direct sunlight. Many locations on campus including Housing and Dining programs have spare water on campus but it doesn't hurt to have additional water available.

3. Community members who take medication should have at least 3 days worth of that medication on their person or at work. This way they will be able to keep up with their medication in the event they are unable to get home or back to their room. Community members who are students should develop a buddy system. Keep essential items at a buddy's room in another residence hall.

4. Community members should not depend on metro or mass transit systems as their sole method to get to AU. Metro, for example, will stop running 24 hours prior to a weather related emergency. Have a back up plan or alternative method to get to AU. One good way to do this is to use the buddy system. They should pick someone at work, in their residence hall or in their neighborhood who has access to a vehicle who will agree to take them to AU in the case of emergency.

5. Prepare a bag which has a change of clothes include undergarments and keep it at work or at an alternative location. Include plastic ziplock bags to ensure the undergarments stay dry. Also include toothpaste, toothbrush, soap, toilet paper, towel, wash cloth and deodorant in this bag.

6. On off campus locations, make sure you have at least one telephone which plugs directly into the wall jack. Remember, portable phones require electricity to work. If there is no electricity, only the phones plugged directly into the jack will work.

7. It goes without saying that flashlights and batteries are essential items. However, consider getting the flashlights which use the large 6 volt battery rather than the "C" or "D" cell. These flash lights will allow hands free operation when needed. Also have a transistor ready tuned to a news station like WTOP. These radios are very useful in a crisis. Make sure the radio also has the weather stations on it. At public safety we have portable battery operated televisions and radios. Rotate and test your batteries once a year.

8. Community members with kids and a spouse, should make sure that there is a plan for them to get to safety in case of emergency without your intervention. They may be unable to get home for several hours or several days. They should make arrangements with neighbors or relatives to take care of the kids in their absence.

9. Community members who drive to AU should try to keep their gas tank above the 1/2 tank level. Long gas lines will make it difficult to get to AU on time.

10. Community members should keep their emergency information up to date. All staff members are required to keep their home address and telephone information up to date. Staff members should make sure they come into work on the date and time you are supposed to. Keep sick leave down to a minimum. Remember, co-workers are counting on each other for back up.

For more information about preparedness, please go to www.ready.gov . There is also a kids site which will help kids understand emergency preparation. Hopefully, community members will stop by the table today on the dates listed above.

As an additional incentive, we are offering to put all community members who sign up for DC Alerts between October 4 and October 30 a chance to win $100 in Eagle Bucks. To enter the drawing, community members must sign up for the text alert and forward send a copy of the email from DC Alert to dps@american.edu .

Monumental Washington

I've been putting replying to some personal emails for a month now telling myself I'll get a blog entry done first and include a link in my reply. Of course, I don't have any more time now than I had earlier in the month - and I'm not just doing this to procrastinate -, it's simply time I got this done.

It’s a big enough claim to fame for a city to be the capital the USA, but when one is actually there, walking past all the embassies on Massachusetts Avenue, it’s easy to understand why some call Washington, DC the capital of the world. Before ever seeing the city, I had built it up in my mind as being huge and well... city-like: like New York. On the contrary, DC is quite green and since no building can be taller than the Washington Monument, there are no real skyscrapers. One can imagine that the number of foreign diplomats that pass through the city has created a strong pressure to keep away the negative traits often associated with cities.

But for me, the most defining part of DC is its monuments and memorials (to get an idea, check out http://www.pbase.com/jpochard/washington_dc or http://www.scienceviews.com/photo/parks/WashingtonDCMonuments1.html). These monuments aren't just sculptures either, they often incorporate the most important ideas, in the form of quotations, of the people to which the monuments are dedicated. Now, I know I have to be careful how loudly I say this around other Canadians, but the monuments in DC are so inspiring that even I, as a Canadian, can't help but to feel indebted to all those Americans who vehemently fought to reintroduce and firmly establish the ancient notions of democracy and equality back into the modern world - notions Canada seemingly effortlessly borrowed and took as its own. Now, what happened after the establishment of the USA and in the more recent past is a whole other story, but I simply ask: What would Canada be now if it hadn't been for Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and James Madison?

Germany

Before I move on to the more recent happenings in my life, I really have to finish my Europe blog with a brief entry on my time in Germany.

So, after finishing up with my archaeological dig in Italy, I took a bus straight from Gravina to Rome and from there, flew (for some 15 odd Euros) directly to the Karlsruhe-Baden airport where Petra was waiting for me. When I was 2, Petra was an au pair for my family, and she's now married to a wonderful man called Gérald and has a 9-year-old daughter, Sophie, and a 7-year-old son, Jérémie.

During the 10 days I spent with them, the children read Asterix and fairy tales to me in German, I played soccer with Jérémie and accompanied Sophie on the piano as she played flute (our favourite song was Scarborough Fair), I chatted for hours about life and parenting with Petra and Gérald, I met all their crazy friends at a BBQ they hosted, I went to the movies with Petra, and we traveled to Tuebingen and Strasbourg (as you can see from my photos). All in all, it was such an amazing opportunity to spend some time with a family (something most university students don't have the chance to do too often) and to learn from the perspectives of two young parents who also knew all about my parents.

But this wasn't the only opportunity I had to do that: co-incidentally, Geli, the au pair that lived with my family before Petra, lived only 20 minutes away and so I was also able to spend a couple of days with her and her family. Since the live in a smaller town, we walked around the countryside eating oh-so-yummy plums right off of trees, checking out some schools and gardens, and eating ice cream. On top of all that, we also spent so time at the stables where Geli's daughter, Lea, rides and went to a Bee Festival.

Finally, after all this fun and some sad good-byes, I headed off to Koeln to meet my friend Marina and her boyfriend, Markus. Marina was on an exchange at my uni last year from Germany and on top of just being a great friend, she helped me out quite a bit with my German. Marina was living in Neuwied with her family and working there for the summer, but since Markus was working in Koeln and had an apartment there, we took advantage of that for a couple of days. First we did a little day-tour of Koeln during which I was most surprised at how sheltered from commercialization the cathedral had been kept. Next, we went to Bonn to see a museum called the Haus der Geschichte (House of History). It was the most well-done museum I've ever seen with interactive exhibits for all ages and beautiful presentation of information, and it was entirely free for everyone!

After this time in the city, we headed of to Neuwied for my last few days where Marina's family greeted me with such incredible hospitality and delicious food! Of course, we saw the city and ate lots of ice cream - the best I had in all of Europe! - but we also had time to take a quick trip to Koblenz and have a look around there.

And then, August 14th, it was all over. After 2 weeks of relaxation and fun with some of the kindest, most generous people I've known, it was time for that dreadful 7-hour flight back to the homeland.

Orientation in Washington, DC

Photos from my orientation at American University in Washington, DC are available at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9131915@N04/

More photos!

I am currently in the process of posting all my Italy pictures to my Picasa page: http://picasaweb.google.com/nicodube23
Enjoy!

The Destructiveness of Archaeology

After last weekend's trip to Pompeii (an ancient town that was covered in ash during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D. which kept it well preserved until its excavation starting in 1748), Herculaneum (another ancient town preserved in a mudslide that resulted from the same eruption of Mt. Vesuvius), the National Archaeological Museum in Naples (where much of the orginial artefacts from the 2 previous sites can be seen), and Mt. Vesuvius itself, I finally feel like I have enough to say about archaeology to make a post out of it. For my non-anglophone readers, I've decided to make this a multilingual post; for my uni-lingual readers, you can always add a bit of humour to your day with an online translator.

Alors, pour commencer, depuis que j'ai commencé mes fouilles ici en Italie, j'ai entendu dire a maintes reprises que l'archéologie est destructive. La première fois, j'étais un peu surpris, mais j'ai vite compris ce qu'on voulait dire: en faisant nos fouilles, on enlève les trouvailles de leurs contextes originaux faisant en sorte que l'information que quelqu'un d'autre peut tirer des trouvailles est minime. Si, par exemple, en faisant nos fouilles on enlève un morceau de céramique d'une chambre sans s'en rendre compte, dès qu'elle se trouve dans notre tas de refus, on ne peut m^eme plus savoir si la jarre vien de l'édifice dans laquelle on faisait nos fouilles. Elle pourrait provenir de n'importe où dans le champs dans lequel on travaille et avoir été déplacée par une charrue.

At the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum, I saw another way in which archaeology can be destructive: once an archaeological site has be excavated, it is prone to decay (buildings falling over, frescoes losing their colour because of UV damage, etc.) and, I am disgusted to say, grafitti. Unfortunately, there seem to have been economic reasons, such as tourism, that have driven the excavation of a larger area that could preserved and protected at both sites and so every day, the less and less of the original ruins are available for viewing, and more importantly, for study.

Por esta destructividad, dicen que en la arqueologIa del futuro no van a excavar nada. En vez, estAn desarollando tecnologIas que permiten sacar la misma informaciOn sobre ruinas y artefactos a travEs la radiolocalizaciOn, etc. PuEs mientras que la tecnologIa se mejora, la misma informaciOn serA siempre disponible.

Well, that was only the first of a few archaeological topics I hope to touch on, but I have to run so the rest will have to wait until another time.

Europe?

During my month on the dig, I have 2 days during which I don't have to work and instead, I stay home to clean the appartment and prepare lunch (somebody different does it every day). Today was my first one of those days and, having finished all my chores, I have a bit of extra time to write another post.

In Canada, I've often heard people talk about how different European culture is from North American culture: they're more socialist, they more environmentally conscious, they're more fashionable..., they're about 20 years ahead of us. Had I thought about this a little bit, I'd would have surely realised that these are broad generalisations and that even if these they were true across Europe, these unifying characteristics are few and far between compared to the infinite number of distinguishing characteristics of individual countries. However, I did not think of this, and in my mind, I had a rather unified picture of Europe - simply with different languages in different countries. Of course, rural, Southern Italy, is not much at all like Wien so Gravina came as a bit of a shock to me.

To begin, it's so formal and traditional! Where Wien seemed like the modern and open-minded place I imagine much of California to be like, I imagine Gravina is much like rural Northern Ontario would have been 50 years ago. The first big shock was the presence of machismo I am all too familiar with from my time in Costa Rica. In Wien, I was so impressed at people's apparent maturity towards sex and nudity: they had billboards for some sort of cream with an entirely non-erotic picture of a topless woman (there was also a male equivalent) that simply wouldn't pass in Toronto; I was at a party where a new mother casually hiked up her shirt, and began to breast-feed her baby making no attempt to conceal her breast (for example, with a little blanket, as women often do in Canada); at a swimming pool (where nudity technically wasn't allowed) there were women comfortably walking around topless, without getting any unwanted attention - nowhere did I see a woman get any unwanted attention!

In Gravina, it's the complete opposite. Men stand on the street and whistle or shout at young women, and the guys are all sooo "cool". During our trip to the beach, I spent some time chatting with the bus driver, a middle-aged, married man with 2 children, who after failing on his own, tried to get me to arrange him a date with one on my 25-year-old collegues. The strangest manifestation of the very traditional gender roles here was when I attended mass last Sunday morning: for every woman there, there were nearly 10 men! When I brought it up with Alesia, an Italian student working at one of the other sites, she told me that women usually go to mass just as much as men, but because there are masses at various other times, women probably wouldn't be at the Sunday morning one because they would be preparing lunch.

Speaking of religion, I also learnt from Alesia that most young people here are baptised, confirmed Christians, that, like in many other parts of the world, go through the motions of their faith without feeling too strongly about it. However, in contrast to what I encountered in Wien, people apparently go through the motions without really questioning or reflecting on them, and very few reject them. I certainly got a vibe of this passive acceptance at the mass I attended.

Another, more pleasing, characteristic of the culture here is the camaraderie that exists between older women. They always seem to be sitting out on their front step or balcony looking out on the street for somebody to give them a little piece of gossip. And if they happen to miss something, not to worry: most of the billboard space here seems to be used to announce deaths in the town.

As you may have noticed, my comments on Gravina are a bit more superficial than my ones about Wien (I think so anyway). This simply reflects the different way in which I am experiencing the culture. Most of my time here is spent on the site and so my interactions with and observations of the people here are quite limited. So if you actually want to know what Italy is like (or any other place I write about), please refer to aircanada.com...

Goodbye Wien, Hello Gravina!

I had so much more I wanted to write about Wien: the Fujimo hip hop concert I went to in a room packed with 5000 people; all the museums, plays, concerts, operas (I saw Mozart's "Die Zauberfloete" (The Magic Flute) in the Statsoper (National Opera)!!!!!!), and art exhibits I saw, and how the portrayal of white and coloured people in them might affect the culture there; the interplay between modern and traditional culture as manifested in places like the Museumsquatier; different attitudes towards nudity; and the effect having such a long history (compared to Canada) may have on the culture. Still, having been in Gravina in Puglia for almost 2 weeks, without letting you know anything about this place and my experience here, I feel like that should come first. If any of the aforementioned topics about Wien are of particular interest to you, please let me know, because chances are I won't get around to writing about them otherwise.

So... after my 2 weeks in the wudershoene city of Wien, I hopped on a train on a Thurday afternoon, en route to Venezia. I was so glad I decided to travel during the day instead of overnight, because the trip through the Alps was breathtaking! When I wasn't looking out the window, I spent most of my time going through the Italian phrasebook of my electronic English-French-Spanish-Italian-Portuguese-German dictionary and I asked some British tourists in my wagon to teach me a few basic verb conjugations.

I arrived after 11pm in Venezia and I took me a little while to find my hostel. Around midnight, I settled down in a packed restaurant for an apparently not-so-late dinner. The following day, I saw a bit of the city but spent most of my time at the Biennale world-renowned international modern art exhibition. Aside from the stunning (and surprisingly easy to appreciate) art, it was fascinating to see the variations between the pavillons of the different countries. At one point, I found a fine arts class from the University of Prague that was having some great discussions (in German) about the art. I followed them around, discretely listening in on their engaging conversations for close to an hour.

In the evening, I saw some modern dance performances put on by the Biennale's 5-year-old international modern dance festival, which, together with the art exhibition, really opened my mind to the unlimited possibilities of modern art. In fact, I now have a little modern art project of my own I can't wait to try out...

The next day, after 10 more hours on the train learning the present, past, imperfect, future, and conditional of a dozen Italian verbs and "conversing" in Italalian for a couple of hours with an old Italian couple and some Armenians, I arrived in Gravina in Puglia, a town of about 40,000 in the South of Italy (if you search "Gravina in Puglia" on maps.google.com, you can see where it is, and if you search it on images.google.com, you'll find some pictures of it and its famous ravine).

Here, I'm living and working with 15 other students and 2 profs on an archaeological dig. The others are from Mount Allison University; Acadia University; and University of Nevada, Reno. There's also a group about the same size living in a different appartment and working on different nearby sites whom we travel and have dinner with. The site I'm working on is believed to be some sort of Roman Villa from the 1st to 2nd century A.D. and the other projects include a survey of the area (to find other good places to excavate) and the excavation of a cemetery a few centuries older than our site.

Every morning, we get up at 5:30 to be out the door at 6. It's about a 20 minute drive to the site and there we work pick-axing, shovelling, trauling, sweeping, etc. until 10 am when we break for a little snack. Around 12:30, we head home for lunch and a siesta (since people know better than to do anything but sleep in weather hotter than the morning and late-afternoon 23- to 33-ish degrees Celcius) and then go back to the field at 3:30 pm for another 2 and a half hours of work.

Upon our arrival back home in the evening, we all rush to be first into one of the 2 showers and to get in a hour of internet, reading, postcard writing, relaxing, etc. before our communal dinner at one of the town's best restaurants (which I'm going to be late for!!...). After finishing dinner around 10:30, it's straight to bed (sometimes after a quick stop at a gelatto shop).

On weekends, we're off work. Last weekend, we all went on a trip to the beach at Metaponto, this weekend, we're off to Naples and Pompei, and the following weekend - my last one here - we can either stay in Gravina or travel on our own.

Break

Dearest readers,
Unfortunately, I will only be able to write in my blog weekly AT MOST. I am now in Gravina in Puglia working on my archaeological dig.
Warm regard,
Nicholas

mmm... lecker (delicious)!

Five minutes ago, I really didn't feel like blogging so I decided to go to the chocolate shop next door... After biting into some cherry-brandy-cream-and-marzipan-filled organic, fair trade dark chocolate, I now feel entirely inspired to write about my experience with food in Wien.


But before I go on, yesterday I was at the train station buying a ticket from here to Bari (where I will take a train to the small village of Gravina in Puglia, the home base for my archeology course) and just because it worked out nicely, I decided to include a stopover in Venedig.
Venedig? For any non-German speakers or trivia addicts, that's the German name for Venice, or Venezia as they call it there. Now maybe you could have guessed that, but would you guess that Cologne is actually Köln (with the "ö" pronounced like the "oe" in Schoenberg or the "eu" in adieu) or that Florence is actually Firenze? And there are so many more examples! Therefore, for anyone who would one day like to visit one (or more) of the places I'm writing about and not come off as a completely ignorant North American tourist - and because I feel like I'm in Wien, Österreich, not Vienna, Austria -, from now on, when a foreign name comes up, I will only give the anglicised version the first time, and stick to the original thereafter.


Food is not only one of the more noticeable differences between cultures, but it also one of the most enjoyable aspects to experience and to talk (or blog) about. Having lived one year in Mount Allison's "Sustainable Residence" I'm going to have to take it right from the start.

In the beginning...
Although, I haven't visited any farms around here, it's easy to see that there's a real affinity for organics. Every couple of days, Biggi's aunt receives a basket of various organic vegetables through some type of co-op. One can also get fruit and add restrictions to the distance your produce comes from: within Wien, Österreich, all of Europe, etc. There's also a wide selection of local and organic foods in the grocery stores with a special label (like those we use for items on sale in Canada) for items from withing the country. Moreover, there are many small shops that only sell local produce. Of course, there are also bakeries all over, and gourmet ice cream and sweet shops scattered across the city...

"We owe much to the fruitful meditation of our sages, but a sane view of life is, after all, elaborated mainly in the kitchen." Joseph Conrad
Although the following description may not be typical of a larger household, I do get the impression that it is normal for one of less than 4 people.
In the kitchen here, everything is so compact; not a square inch of space is left unused. In the first picture, you see the distance between the sink on the right and the counter on the left is equal to my waist plus one fist - obviously not build for North Americans. The washing machine (not dishwasher, because there is none), is found under the counter, in the corner, and is connected directly to the sink. The curtain on the right hand side of the first photo is the same curtain as the one on the left of the second picture: the shower curtain. Luckily, only 2 hot meals have been prepared in the house over the last 10 days, so if someone is in the kitchen when you want to shower, the can usually migrate to another room. In the 3rd photo, you see that on the wall opposite the window (in the first picture) there is a bench against the wall (that also serves as a storage chest) and a table, the dinner table, that pulls out of the counter. You can also see a cutting board that also pulls out of the counter for a little extra space, when it's needed. Finally, there's the little fridge under the counter (beside the stove) - no freezer or microwave.


You do WHAT at COSTCO?!?!
With such limited space, especially refrigerated space, bulk shopping just couldn't work here. To supplement the vegetables that get delivered, every couple of days we pick up some milk, juice, bread, and any other little things that may be needed from a grocery store or a little shop (e.g. a bakery for the bread). No freezer obviously means no frozen foods, and in this household, meat is somewhat of a rarity that we might have once a week.

Among students, maybe adults too, picking up a sandwich or stopping at a Lokal for lunch seems more popular that packing one or going home to eat. And with some many great places to eat, why not! Some of the more interesting places where I've stopped for lunch include a Georgian restaurant (the initial interest came from the shameful fact that I had never heard of Georgia, the country, but with the arrival of our food, the interest was more than sustained) and a seafood restaurant where I had something like bruchetta with caviar.

The Italian restaurant we went to was also notable, not particularly for its scrumptious food, but because I could actually understand most of the menu (which was in Italian with German translations)! Names of foods here seems to be quite dialectic so even with Biggi along (who has been here since October and has eaten out more than a couple of times), it's often quite difficult to decipher the menus and I usually end up ordering an item based on a pretty limited understanding (e.g. "some kind of bread with tomato, something, some kind of sheep cheese, something, and some kind of sauce")

Guten Appetit!
As I mentioned, we don't have too many hot meals at home: breakfast usually consists of cereal with fresh fruit and the rest of the day is mostly snacking on different types of bread, crackers, rice cakes, etc. with spreads, cheese, and/or vegetables, and occasionally a salad. One morning, when I offered to make dinner, I gained a little insight into the reasons behind this different way of eating. I was told that it was a bad day to make something first because it was too hot to have a big meal, and second because there was already food that should be eaten before it went bad (i.e. lettuce, tomatoes, bread). Another factor I imagine comes into play is energy conservation: naturally, heating food (in the absence of a microwave) requires a lot of energy, so if one can avoid it, all the better!

And this concludes my attempt to describe something that is really not meant to be described in words. Time for another trip to the chocolate shop!

Nature

So I say to myself, Nico, you really should do this blog thing; not only can people find out what you're up to, but you also get a personal record of your trip. It was a hard decision - take a few hours out of each each week to blog, or... go have fun in Vienna and tell people about it when you see them - but you know, I thought this would be the right thing to do. And what do you think I get in return? An inbox full of messages asking for photos! Come on folks, I'm doin' my darndest here! But, as any 5-year-old will tell you: nag and you shall have. So once my battery is done recharging, I'll figure out some fancy way (i.e. suitable for non-Facebookers - in case they sill exist) to let you see my photos.

Now, back to business. In response to your lovely (non-photo-related) request for my reaction to nature here, Marina, I have found you an aerial photo and a link to some video footage of Vienna.

The photo (compliments of airshoots.com) is only of the city; if I'm not mistaken, beyond the bottom and left edges, there are some beautiful field- and forest-covered mountains (47% of Austria is covered in forests - the famous "Vienna Woods"), and beyond the top and right edges, there are some plains covered in by farmers fields, scattered with small Dörfer (villages) and windmills. The river seen is the picture is the "schönen blauen Donau" (beautiful, blue Danube).

Now really, need I say anything more? Vienna is a wonderfully green city and although much of the greenery is urban or preserved/restored imperial grounds (with exquisite flower beds, mazes, and Ann of Green Gables-style tunnels made of massive trees which lead to little statues, fountains, clearings, and gardens), the foot of the mountains (with some pretty fine hiking, apparently) is just a couple of minutes away on the subway. So even in comparison to rural Sackville, I find Wien has a lot of natural beauty to offer, and it is so beautifully complimented by the city's architecture. To give you an example, the picture to the left is... the city's garbage incinerator! Beautiful! And so much potential for Sudbury...

As for the weather, it's been between 25C and 35C the whole week with only a little rain. I could complain about the heat, but really, it would just be to complain. From a geographic perspective (this sentence is dedicated to Dr. Fox), I find Wien does a good job of measuring up to Canada's natural beauty. Oh, and how could I forget: I haven't got one mosquito or blackfly bite here!

Wieners and Frankfurters

A small digression from my regular chronicles:
Much has been said about wieners and frankfurters, and I feel that it my duty to take a moment to ensure all members of my captive audience understand the true meaning of the two words.
Not unlike some Canadian instances, in German, "-er" is added to place names to designate the people who live there, e.g. Maritimer, Islander, Caper (can you guess where I've been studying?), Deutscher, Kanadier, Wiener, Frankfurter. For city names, this same form is used as an adjective, e.g. Wiener Lieder (Viennese songs).

As any omnivorous person will tell you, all sausages are not equal. In this corner of Europe, people were so aware of this and sausages were so important that different types were attributed to different regions and the adjective for that place could be used alone with the "Wurst" (sausage) understood. Thus the Wiener (Viennese sausage) and Frankfurter (Frankfurter sausage) - and these designations were not used lightly; many a feud began over a Frankfurter claiming to sell Wiener Wurst or vice versa.

But the story does not end there: every good European thing must be bastardised by North American culture. Now although there is some regional variation in the usage of these two words across Europe (and several additional words are used to describe the plethora of sausages that exist) , they are not used perversely or interchangeably, simply to designate "a" sausage; the whole point of the adjectival city names was to distinguish between types of sausages! Never could one simply order "a" sausage here! You need to specify what kind of sausage. Oh but in gourmet North America culture, a sausage is a weenie is a hot dog is a frank... Why?! Why! For the love of God won't somebody please tell me why!

Wien! (Vienna in German)

In Vienna, I really hit the ground running. Since Biggi (the friend with whom I am staying here) had classes when I arrived into Vienna, he sent his friend Andrés to come and meet me and take me into town on the train. Andrés, like Biggi, is and international student studying and the university here. He's from Colombia, so we started of speaking English and Spanish, but then moved on to German. When we got to the park near the university, where Biggi was to meet us, we bought a couple of beers and drank them there. It felt so weird to be drinking in a public park!

When Biggi arrived, no time was wasted; we took the public transit (subways, buses, and street cars) to his aunt's apartment (where he's been living since October), dropped off my things, and headed out to a "Lokal" (which my German-English dictionary tells me is a: bar, restaurant, pub, inn, meeting place) for a birthday party. It was a great setting to find out that I had enough German to attempt to express myself here except, again, for the smoking. You really can't appreciate anti-smoking laws until you've experience living without them!

The next morning, not too long after we got to bed, I had a meeting with a refugee-serving organisation in Vienna to learn a little about the situation here and the work they're doing. It was so wonderful to hear how differently things are done here. For example, this organisation provided housing for some 150 clients for the duration of their application for asylum (usually a few years) and had every kind of service (from language training to daycare service to counseling) all in that same building.

Naturally, refugee issues isn't the only way in which things are different here. Environmentally, of course, they are sooooo far ahead here. Some of the more interesting ways I found were:
- the "City Bike" system, whereby one can go to any main intersection, swipe one's credit card in a machine to unlock a bike, ride it to another station and drop it off. After less than an hour, it's free; 2 hours, 1 Euro; etc. If you don't return the bike, 600 Euros.
*1 Euro is about $1.50
- one can buy all of one's electricity from a private, green energy company!

Aside from the environment, I've also noticed a lot more trust here:
- instead of those boxes we have in Canada that one puts money into to open and get a newspaper, they simply leave them in bags with a money box above them
- throughout the whole public transit system, one can get on and off without anywhere without having to buy a ticket. Perhaps once a month, one might come across someone checking to see who has tickets and fining those who don't, but if you're a foreigner, for example, it's pretty easy to have the fine reduced to a couple of Euros since it only says in German that you need a ticket and because people often have passes, it looks like one can simply ride for free.
- in taxis, one can sit in front, beside the driver, and there aren't any "if you see this light flashing, call the police" type of security measures.

Also, how could I leave out the lengthy discussions I've had with Biggi over free (or nearly free) university in Europe? It was neat to first have discussed the pros and cons in a theoretical way and then, after attending a lecture, to discuss the actual differences between here and Canada. I definitely found that people were a lot more blasé about things here. The lecture, as usual, started 10 minutes late and people wandered in (not particularly discretely) for a half hour after that. There were no front row keeners and everyone looked pretty uninterested: a bit of chatting, laughing, crackling of candy wrappers, and people walking out throughout the lecture.

Truly, things here are simply different, not better or worse. But is it ever engaging to try to come to some conclusion about the best way to do things!

Up, Up, and Away!

Due to some exceptional planning on my part, I had a few errands to do in Toronto the day of my departure: pick up my passport, fax a copy home, get some shoes, pick up some medication, get some toothpaste, etc. Somehow, everything got done and I had enough time to go back to my Aunt Joy's house, where I was staying with my grandparents, to have a nap, to iron my white linen shirt, and to pick up a couple of roti on the way to the airport.

The 7-hour flight to London, Gatwick wasn't too bad; I managed to sleep a little, do some reading, and enjoy a complimentary hot vegetarian dinner around 1 am. I am so glad my connecting flight to Vienna was from Heathrow (about 1 hour away from Gatwick) since the shuttle service between the airports allowed me to catch a quick glimpse of the countryside and to meet a funny British bus driver. A few things I noticed during the ride that gave me my first burst of "we're not in Kansas anymore" type of excitement:
- the "truckers" we passed weren't at all like stereotypical Canadian ones: there were a lot of well-to-do looking young guys, one middle-aged man had his dashboard covered with teddy bears, one had dream-catchers dangling all over...
- during the entire drive, beautiful sheep-covered hills and old stone bridges lined the highway.

In Heathrow, I was disappointed to find that people could smoke in the restaurants, but the cheap internet service made up for it. There, I also confirmed my suspicion that well-pressed khakis and a linen dress shirt would be an asset to smooth travels. When I went to get my boarding pass to Vienna, I was told I couldn't have a one way ticket unless I could prove I had the financial ability to return home (even though I had a return ticked from Dusseldorf to Toronto booked). I gave the attendant that look that says: "Are you for real? Do you actually doubt this classy fellow doesn't have a mere $1000 in his bank account?" and everything was OK. In line, being surrounded by people speaking in so many languages with so many accents gave my excitement level another little boost.

A couple more hours of flying, and I was descending into Vienna. The view was magnificent: fields all over, sprinkled with windmills and lovely little villages here and there; winding rivers; some mountains, absolutely covered with dense forest; and the old, urban-sprawl-free city of Vienna. Before even arriving in the city, I realised I had grossly underestimated how different the perspectives here would be from North American ones.

Europe: How It All Happened

Before I begin to tell you of my adventures in Europe, there's a bit of background information I think you should know. It all begins at the end of 2003, while I was still a teenager in high school. I was finishing up my first semester of grade 11 and getting ready to spend the second one in Costa Rica on an exchange. Fed up with Canadian, North American culture, I saw the trip as an opportunity to scout things out before making a final decision to settle there (and perhaps open a restaurant on the beach, with a grand piano and only a few tables so that I could go out and play when I wasn't too busy cooking)...

Well, it was a wonderful trip, and I'm still quite attached to Latin American culture, however, after that, I was convinced I couldn't settle anywhere outside Canada. Because of the way that trip seemed to lead me straight back home - and also because of some of my experiences - I had got my fill of seeing the world and wasn't very interested in travelling again anytime in the near future; I was happy simply to focus on enjoying Canada and discover and build new communities there.

The next community I got to know was in the small town of Sackville, New Brunswick at it's university: Mount Allison. At the time, I may have been sure of wanting to live in Canada, but I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to study. Shortly before arriving, I figured out ecclectic mix of course for my first term, but I still had one spot to fill. Being somewhat of a linguaphile and knowing I would inevitably end up in Europe one day, I thought German would be a nice choice (the professor's amazing reputation probably didn't hurt either). To make it worthwhile, I thought I should at least do a minor in it.

Next in this chain of events, was my application for the Killam Fellowship, a scholarship that allows Canadian students to study in the US and vice versa. Not knowing the level of the German that I could be faced with in the US and unsatisfied with my abilities, I jumped at the opportunity to take and archaeology field course in Italy for the whole month of July. The connection, you ask? Well, if was going to be in Italy anyway, it would be easy to take a little time to visit some friends in Ausria and Germany and practice my German.

And that's it. I got into the archaeology course and made plans to visit my Icelandic friend, Biggi, (whom I met in Costa Rica but is now studying German in Vienna) during the last to weeks of June; Petra, an au pair I had when I was 3, and her family (who are now great friends of my family) during the first week of August; and my German friend, Marina, (who was on an exchange at Mount Allison last year and helped me with my German) during the second week of August.

Actually, I take it back; that's not quite the end. I forgot to say that I also did get a Killam Fellowship. Now you're probably thinking: "Gosh, Nico wasn't doing to bad for a first blog entry. Why did he have to go along and spoil it with this shameless boasting." But just hold your horses one minute and let me explain.

Seeing as I had 2 weeks in planned for the end of August and I was also off to Washington, DC on the 16th, that left me with a mere 2 days at home between the two trips. In case anyone out there wasn't aware, it sure isn't easy to cross the Canada-US boarder these days, so not only did I need to pack, get health insurance, do paperwork, etc. for both trips before I left for Europe, but I also had to get immunisation records, "prove" I could financially support myself in the US... and prepare for the dreaded interview for my American visa (which, my host university, "American University", kindly reminded me the visa officer could deny me without giving me a reason).

All that to say, my pre-departure stress level was pretty high and my excitement level was verging on nill.
But that only made my post-arrival state of amazement that much more unexpected and complete...

The Connection

Another new insight I had into the project this year, was the closeness that I felt between us, the actors, and students in our audiences. Much more than last year, I was very aware of this unusually strong connection during our shows. This is likely in part because of the more familiar themes and characters of this year's production, and also in part because I was more attune to this engagement. During our post-show discussion, many of the questions focused on acting: How does one balance academics and acting? How did you get involved? Is there an audition process? What is your previous acting experience? What would you recommend to someone in my position thinking about acting? At first, I found the prevalence of these questions somewhat disappointing since I had hoped for more discussions about the themes; however, with time I realised that these questions were in fact a great sign of our success in achieving one of our objectives, and the best segue into accomplishing the second. If students were asking this type of questions, surely we managed to connect with them on a level intimate enough for them to see themselves in our place: we were showing them that they could be involved in this type of project, and, with certain cast members as evidence, I daresay inspiring them to do so. What could be a better way to promote theatre in education? Then, since every actor had a slightly different answer to their questions, we were subtly, but effectively, promoting the acceptance of diversity. Man we're good!

Tintamarre: Take Two

What a last two weeks I’ve had! Despite having toured last year, this year’s tour has been a totally fresh and new experience. Like reading a book for the second time, I’ve gotten completely different things out of the experience thus far and this change has helped me to realise ways in which I’ve changed, and to reflect on and evaluate these.

For example, this year, like the last, I’ve had enough long- and short-term commitments to keep me busy whenever I’m not directly tied down by rehearsals or performances. However, in contrast to last year, this year I’ve made a conscious effort to make time for socialising and chatting with the rest of the cast. This, I have no doubt, reflects a change in my view of the importance of community brought about by various experiences of the past year. With last year as a reference, I can see that this has allowed me to contribute to a better cast dynamic and thus enrich the experience for everyone. Living and working so closely with people you don’t choose, even just for a few weeks, inevitably develops one’s understanding of and appreciation for community.

This year, I’ve also had the opportunity to share a room, an experience that has been nothing but enjoyable. This is my first time ever living with a room-mate and it has greatly prepared me to share a room in the upcoming academic year. The experience has provided me with a model of an ideal room-mate dynamic and introduced me to some potential points of contention between room-mates in a context so safe that the issues are effortlessly resolved.

Touring for a second time has also allowed me to look more critically at what we do and thus to gain a better understanding of our impact on our audiences. For example, last year, I always enjoyed our post-show discussions because they showed me that members of the audience were engaged by our show and demonstrated what they got out of it. I didn’t think anything more of them. However, this year, I have even more of a sense of ownership of the project as a whole and thus I find myself questioning why we have discussions. By doing so and discussing this with the director and other cast members, not only can I better contribute to this aspect of the project, but I also take more out of it and gain a better understanding of the more complex ways that drama can be used in education, not just in a school setting.