So, the nation’s oldest and largest student-run TV station has been disbanded by the chancellor of Syracuse University (without the hearing guaranteed to it by the Student handbook, I might add) because, apparently, it is genocidal. 

(Here’s a good video story of what happened.  And a fairly crappy one.)

I worked at HillTV (then, UUTV) for all five of my semesters on the SU Hill.  I wasn’t really as into it as many people; I didn’t go to the TV parties and I was never an officer of any kind.  Still, I put in quite a lot of time there.  As a non-communications major, it was one of the only places to get some good hands-on experience in TV, and it brought together great peer-groups to learn from.  It’s a shame to see it go.  It especially hurts when you realize that HillTV probably airs around 10-12 programs, and only one was offensive.  Out of the 200 or so kids involved in the station, maybe 20 had anything remotely to do with that show.  One rotten apple, I guess.

I know it will be replaced and, logically, I’m sure good will come out of this (after all, any publicity is good publicity, and only a dozen or so people watched our shows before), but it is sad to know that my station is no more.  Moreover, the way the campus community responded was disappointing.  I just can’t understand why they were so quick to pass judgement on everyone at the station, even though the vast majority had nothing to do with Over the Hill.  (Honestly, I don’t even know whether the show was around when I was on campus).

Still, I was done with UUTV.

What REALLY hurts is my job.  The show I am currently working on has lost three of its top four people this week, and everyone expects that to expand to four of its top five by next week.  And we premier November 15. 

Walking through our office today, you would have thought someone died.  And I am not exagerating that a bit.

In the short-run, this is probably good for me.  It’ll give me opportunities to work on more stuff, out of sheer neccessity.  Still, in the long run, the lack of high-level people to develop under won’t be good for me.  The idea of bringing together five really senior people to help along a bunch of young people with lots of potential was good.  It’s a damn shame it didn’t work out.

The one thing we do have is the strength of our reporter/producer team.  We all genuinely like each other, respect each other, and acknowledge just how much potential we all have.  I guess that’s something.

We could have put out the best show Pakistan had ever seen.  Now, we’ll put out the best show we can.

Two summers ago, I worked a promotion at the Capital Barbeque Battle. It was a fun way to make some quick money and the event itself wasn’t bad, but not worth the $10 admission charge by far. I had no interest in going back.

Flash forward to this year. I still had no interest in going, but my friend Mishri likes to watch cookery shows (yes, cookery shows) on TV, and her favorite chef, Jacques Pepin is scheduled to be there. Well, it turns out that someone messed up; it was actually Pepin Hernandez. Apparently he’s a big name cook on the spanish channel, but not the guy Mish had been watching since she was 8. That was the only reason we went. That aside, her opinion was the same as mine…if it were free, and if it were a comfortable day, it might be worth checking out if you didn’t have anything planned, but $10 is ridiculous, especially on the hottest day of the year. I’ll be writing nasty letters tomorrow.

Today my friend Nikki from Syracuse was in town. I met up with her and a couple of her friends to see some sights (my highlight? The train between the Capitol and the office buildings! I finally saw it!!!). Anyway, Nikki got to Union Station first, then me. We caught up for about half an hour or so, then two of her friends came by. They go to SU. They recognized me. No, we didn’t live in the same building. No, we probably didn’t have classes together. Yep….you guessed it….Kimmel. The legend lives on.

And that was my weekend!

Current Mood: V. Good.

I still read the Daily Orange and syracuse.com almost every day. Considering that I graduated last year, I guess it’s kind of odd that I am getting very nostalgic around graduation time. But then again, I was supposed to be in the class of 2005, so I guess it makes sense. For the past three weeks or so, I’ve been REALLY missing Syracause, Strasbourg, and my friends there. I’m actually mildly concerned because I’ve wondered if I’ll ever again be as happy as I was there at times. I’m hoping that some of those people end up here after graduation. I’d really like to have some friends in this city.

It was a memorable weekend. I took the Foreign Service Exam yesterday. It was pretty much what I expected. Like I expected, I hadn’t a clue to the management questions (apparently there’s a science devoted to how, when, and why to fire employees), but otherwise it didn’t seem terribly daunting. I think that I’ll have a real shot 10 years or so down the road.

Current Mood: Confused.

• That I am free to completely ignore proper grammar on my website and no one can stop me.
• The knowledge that whatever happens in the future, I have lifed a MUCH fuller life in the past 2 years than most people in the world could ever dream of. Asking for anything more is just selfish.
• My health.
• Wireless high-speed Internet. Otherwise I’d be completely isolated.
• Public transportation. The 9 hours it took me to get home last night is still a heck of a lot faster than if I would have walked.
• That I have a job.
• That I’ve learned to be extremely versatile and adaptable.
• EVERYTHING I’ve done over the past two years. Just wanted to restate that.
• Being stress-free.
• The possibilities the future holds.
• My friends.

I thought that seemed like a good idea for a Thanksgiving post.

Tell me this isn’t lame: I have homework for Thanksgiving. I have a 20-page article from an economics journal to read for a class group discussion on Monday morning. What gives?

Here’s hoping everyone’s having a nice Thanksgiving and here’s hoping I see you tomorrow at 2pm for the Butterworth Classic III.

Current Mood: Blank.

So how’s this for anticlimactic: I took my last class in Syracuse in December. I took my last Syracuse University class in April. I walked in graduation in May and last Thursday, June 24, I had my last college class. My transcript will be finalized in July, I will “graduate” in August, and by October or November, I’ll have my degree in my hands. I’m still not technically a college graduate, but I am now finally done with school for the forseeable future.

Apparently I’m in denial about this whole no-longer-a-college-student thing. I just discovered that my dad’s spare bedroom/office/closet is reminiscent of a dorm room. It’s small and it has a closet, a window, a futon (we know about me and futons), a small tv, and a desk. If I set my laptop on the desk, it feels pretty much like I’m at school. It’s pretty comforting, actually. I can sit here, watch tv, listen to mp3s, and chat on instant messenger. I might even bring my microwave and TV in here. The bathroom is right across the hall, and if I need a break from my computer, I can walk down the hall to the lounge (the living room) or downstairs to the main lounge (the family room). I’m not sure if I could ever get a keg in here, though, cuz the RA (my dad), is just across the hall. I want to share this discovery with some people, so I’m hereby inviting everyone to come over whenever you want to. We can watch The Princess Bride on VHS. It’s a small room, but I’m pretty sure we could cram at least a dozen people in here. And don’t worry, I’ve got plenty of camp furniture to sit on, and I’ll even supply the Natty Ice!

Anyway, since we’re talking about being done with school…

Do you remember back in mid-December when I posted my Top 8 Syracuse Memories? If you remember, the reason it was a top 8 was because I figured that Europe and Graduation would supply 2 more entries and round the list out at an even 10. Well, now that I’m all done with school, I’d like to complete the list. The new additions are in bold. I’m not going to type any new recaps of them because I really don’t have anything to say that I haven’t already said. But if you’d like to read more about these things, you can click on the link and read my original reports. Anyway, my top 10 Syracuse University-related Memories

1. Spring Break 2003: Branson MO with Habitat for Humanity
2. Spring Break 2004: Switzerland with The Official International David Aebischer Fan Club
3. Labor Day Weekend 2003 in the Thousand Islands
4. Parents Weekend 2002: OHL game in Toronto
5. 2003 NCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship
6. Choose MY Own Adventure/Barenaked Ladies in Rochester
7. Coming Home: Graduation 2004
8. Ottawa Day-trip
9. August 2003: RA Training
10. Hot tub Party

FYI: I’m not sure if this would be allowed or not, but in hindsight, I would have slid Toronto all the way down to the #7 slot and slid everything else up.

So once again, thanks to everyone who helped in all of that. I really had a blast. And like I promised before, this is the last of the sappy looking-back-on-college entries. So that’s that.

May the road rise up to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the sunshine warm upon your face
And the rains fall soft upon your fields
And until we meet again
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.
Thanks again, Syracuse.

Current Mood:Genuinely excited (giddy, actually) about this pseudo-dorm room thing, and a little tired.
Current Music: Tomorrow is Another Day by MxPx

No updates in a while, but really not that much to update y’all on.

I started my summer class at Camden County College last Monday, and it’s amazing. What would make me say that a Lab Physics class is amazing, because we all know that it can’t possibly be the subject matter? The schedule! We’re supposed to go from 5:30-9:30pm 4 nights a week. So far we haven’t been there past 8, and we’ve gotten out at 7:30 more than once! And apparently the Professor plans to keep this schedule. Add to this the fact that there’s no attendance grade unless you miss 3 consecutive classes, he doesn’t care if you come in up to 10 minutes late, he’ll accept anything up to three days late with no penalty and the fact that this course doesn’t affect my GPA (I just need a “C” for the credit to transfer) and you have the recipe for an easier ride than even I thought was possible. I should have transfered to CCC years ago. (Ok, maybe not.)

This is my first class ever at a community college (well, not counting that college computer class for smart kids I took in 8th grade), and it’s kind of an interesting makeup. There are the community college kids (nothing against them), the University kids trying to get transfer credit (it kind of reminds me of one of those fall pro prospect baseball leagues where players all play on one team but wear the uniforms of their organization: you have me in my Syracuse hat, the two guys in Virginia Tech shirts, the guy with the George Washington shorts, etc.), the inseparable pack of Chinese girls who speak almost no English (we have them in Syracuse too), and the people who work full time who are going back to school part time. It really feels different from anything I took at Syracuse. The average age is probably about 24 and honestly, I remember high school physics being significantly harder than this class. But, except for me* and the guy with the cigarette in his ear, this is probably the most dedicated group of students I’ve ever seen. There’s about 24 students in the class and I really don’t think I’d get along at all with all but a couple of them, but I do respect the way they work.

My brother’s high school French teacher, who was also my high school French teacher, wanted me to come in and talk a little bit about France to the senior French students, so I did that last Tuesday. I had never been a guest speaker before and I wasn’t really sure what to say, but I pretty much just answered questions and it went fine. Afterwards, I spent the next three hours visiting old teachers, and that was fun. This was only the second time that I went back to Highland since I graduated (I went right before Thanksgiving the year after I graduated), and it was nice to see some familiar faces still there. Everyone remembered me, even people I thought would have forgotten me completely, and that surprised me. I got to see everyone I wanted to see, and that was really nice.

My brother has told me just how much Highland has changed in the 3 years since I graduated, but I figured he was exaggerating. I didn’t see it when I went back, but talking with teachers tells me that he must not be exaggerating at all. It’s a good thing that I went back now, because half of the school won’t be there next year. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 teachers are retiring this year because they simply can’t take it any longer. Apparently no one has any control over the school anymore. In my visit, teachers shared with me stories about students telling the principal to go fuck off and the auto shop kids getting bored and flipping a car upside down. One teacher confided in me that s/he thinks it’s only a matter of time before someone gets shot or stabbed in the hallways. So much for a renaissance.

What else have I been up to? Like I said, not much. I’ve been trying to get caught up on some e-mails (one was 4 years old!) and some other small errands. Keeping busy. I think I’m going to go to the library.

*In my defense, if this was a subject that was of any relevance to me, I would exert some effort. Still, if nothing else, it’s not a bad math review for whenever I take the GRE.

Current Mood:Blank.
Current Music: None

There are about 8 blogs that I read on a regular basis. Most of them I read every day (or several times a day), but there are a couple that I’ll only read once a week or so. Most of them I read because I really enjoy reading them and keeping up with my friends’ lives, but there are a couple that I only read because I feel obligated. It’s not that I don’t care, it’s just that they’re boring. I hope that garybutterworth.com fits into the former group, but when I go and write something like this, I know I’m in the latter. Sorry ’bout that.
Still, in the past 14 days, I’ve been in 7 different countries, I’ve returned to the United States after 4 months abroad, and I (symbolically) graduated from college. I think that gives me a little bit of an excuse to get just a little bit introspective and nostalgic. Bear with me, just this once.

College was weird, and I really don’t think it’s hit me yet that it’s over. I’m pretty sure that if I took 15 credits a semester and worked 1 job (that wasn’t every weekend night), I would have loved it. But I didn’t do that. Mostly because of the whole Newhouse thing and a little bit because of the fact that I didn’t really make many good friends on my floor, I didn’t really enjoy freshman year. I wasn’t miserable; it was actually more boring than anything. Regardless, I started thinking about graduating early, which led me to start taking more classes and working more, which made me really busy, which meant I had less time for fun, which meant I enjoyed myself less, which made me want to graduate sooner, which made me start taking more classes…………………
I got myself into a vicious cycle at Syracuse (is the expression “viscious circle” or “viscious cycle?” Or does either work?), and because of that I really didn’t get as much out of college as I should have. I should have learned more and I should have enjoyed it more. As it was, I’d say I absolutely despised 95% of college, mostly because I was so insanely busy. But believe it or not, I absolutely loved the other 5%. In fact, I’d say I loved the other 5% so much that it pretty much made up for everything I hated. But Syracuse University and I still very much had a love-hate relationship and pretty much everything about college was bittersweet.

I don’t talk much about “regrets” because to me “regrets” are pretty serious things and I really don’t have any. When push comes to shove, I got to do just about everything I wanted to do at college, even if things didn’t always go exactly as I would have wanted. I wanted to study abroad. And even though I didn’t get to take as many courses in French as I wanted to, I did get to study abroad. Even though I didn’t get to major in Broadcast Jouralism or Television, Radio, and Film like I wanted, between 6 classes, 2 internships, and my time at the student tv station, I am fairly compotent in both a TV studio and a newsroom, and my minor in Public Communications Studies can vouch for that. I wanted to be an RA, and even though I wasn’t the best RA, there were worse out there. And even though I wasn’t as good of a student as I would have liked to have been, I found out yesterday morning that I will graduate cum laude. I really am content with all of that, but it would have been nice if things had worked out in ways that would have allowed me to do things more like I wanted. Overall, I’m very content, but not satisfied.

Here’s a subject that doesn’t come up too often on garybutterworth.com: relationships. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever discussed that here before. But if I’m discussing regret-ish things, this should be addressed. Despite what some people seem to think, I am not asexual. But the sad truth remains that I’m done with being an undergrad, and I’ve still never been in a relationship. That doesn’t really bother me per se, but it is very frustrating, sometimes lonely, and most of all it’s scary. I know this sounds ridiculous coming from someone who’s 21, but if I didn’t meet someone at college, how will I ever? I want to be modest and say “girls don’t like me,” but that sounds like a cop-out to me and besides, while I may be pretty oblivious myself, I have it on fairly good authority that that simply isn’t the case. Again, I hate to sound arrogant, but I’m pretty confident that more than one person was interested in me during the past three years, and I’ve been interested in more than one person myself. In fact, I still have some question marks about a couple of people. Big neon ones that flash and attract mosquitos. So why, then, hasn’t anything ever happened? Well, all I know is that I need to knock it the hell off, grow up, and grow some balls.

I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. Most people spend 8 semesters on their college campus. I only spent 5. And even though I hated 95% of it, I really do think that I’ll remember my 3 years at Syracuse as 3 of the best years of my life. As much as I complained about Newhouse and Kimmel (they really were as bad as I made them out to be), there was also Branson, my RA staff, “Choose MY own adventure,” the 1000 islands, Ottawa, Fribourg, and tons of other stuff that totally rocked. But not only was college conflicted and bittersweet, it was also short, and it ended kind of abruptly. That’s why I had to go back last week. I just needed a real ending to my time at Syracuse. I needed some closure, and I got it.

For me, High School graduation was a pretty big deal (before, during, and after the ceremony). Syracuse graduation wasn’t (before, during, nor after). I knew almost no one in my graduating class and the ceremony was just too big and impersonal to have any real meaning. And our speaker sucked. Now I’ll admit, I wasn’t happy with Phylicia Rashad from the beginning, but there were worse possible choices and I did give her a shot. I really did. But I saw concrete Stalist statues in Slovakia that showed more emotion than Mrs. Huxtable. And she didn’t say much either. “You asked me to come, so I’m here.” Alright. And her 6 minute speech could have easily been condensed into 3 minutes if she didn’t hold for applause after every third syllable. I guess I’m just jealous that last year’s graduating class got 25 minutes of Bill Clinton and we got 6 minutes of Phylicia Rashad. But honestly, last week wasn’t about graduation. I sleep-walked through the convocation and commencement ceremonies and that doesn’t bother me at all. It was about me getting one last chance hang out with my friends and live like a college student, one who isn’t too busy to do anything. And I did just that.

When I decided to graduate early, I thought it would give me an extra year of life. When I moved out of Syracuse in December, though, I felt like graduating early was robbing me of a year. Now, it doesn’t feel like either is the case. I really will miss Syracuse. I’ll miss it a lot. But like I said in in my post about coming home from Europe, everything has to end. I think it was time for Syracuse end.

Of course I’ll be back to visit (probably whenever the Hershey Bears or the Barenaked Ladies are in town). There are supposed to be cheap flights to Syracuse starting soon from Reagan Airport right on the DC Metro should I end up in Washington, but I know it won’t be the same. And I can live with that. But I really needed one chance to say goodbye while everything was the same. That was what was so great about last week. Everything was just as I left it, and I had the time to really stop and take it all in one last time. And I had a ball in the process. It really was great to see everyone again after being away for so long, and it was great to go out to eat, go to parties, watch tv, and just sit around with people who really are important to me. I also really appreciated everyone’s willingness to tolerate me just hanging around while other people were still doing school work and job work. I swear, me randomly showing up in the middle of the night, inviting myself to stay for multiple days and begging for free meals really isn’t my style. I’d never done that before and I do feel bad about it. I really hope I wasn’t too obnoxious, and I really am sorry for any inconvenience. You were all great. I appreciate everyone, but I think Geoffrey deserves to get singled out, as of course does Nikki, who is just plain igneous. THANK YOU! It goes without saying that after last week I owe multiple people multiple favors. Please don’t hesitate to take me up on that, because I know I was a pain. But I did what I needed to do, and I really truly appreciate the fact that people put up with me enough to let me do that. Thanks.

So, what’s next? Well, I’m still 4 elective credits shy of officially graduating. I’ll be taking them at a community college here in NJ this summer. Lab Physics. Ugh. I should just shoot myself in the foot now, or maybe cut off a shoulder. Either way, I really, really need to get around to enrolling in that. After that, who knows. I could have stayed on at Voice of America last summer if I wanted to. I guess that means they liked me, so I’m going to see if I can work my foot back into the door down there. If that doesn’t work out, I really have no idea what I’ll do (even if I can’t go back to VOA, I’ll still be glad that I finished school, though). Right now, I can’t even imagine going back to school, but I have a feeling that’ll change within the next year or so. I’d feel like a waste if I didn’t get at least one more degree, be it a law degree or a master’s in journalism, television production, international relations, or anything else. Until that happens, though, I’m not exactly sure what’s on tap if VOA doesn’t work out. But I actually feel pretty comfortable with that.

I mentioned before that I never really understood why people always said that studying abroad changes their life. And it really hasn’t changed me much. But the more I think about it, there is something that I have noticed that has changed, and pretty significantly: I think I’m less selfish than I used to be. I would have admitted this before even though I’m not neccessarily proud of it, but before I went to Europe, I was really only interested in a job that would be fun. There are a lot of idealists on college campuses who want to change the world. As much as I respected them and wanted to help, I just didn’t have it in me before. Now, I’m more willing to do a job that would benefit society some more. Hey, being overly naieve is no worse than being overly cynical, is it? In the past couple of weeks, I’ve been thinking that I might like to go to the Caucuses and work with refugees. But it’s just a thought.

(FYI: Despite my purse, the summer scarf, my trips to nude spas and operas, and my newfound appreciation for fine wine and Michael’s, I am still denying all allegations that France has turned me metrosexual. I guess it’s possible that it might have given me a dab of metro, which I could most certainly use, but c’mon! This is me we’re talking about! Have you seen my shoes? [Thanks Katie for the hot glue!]).

Additionally, I wanted to go abroad for a long time. Now, having been overseas, it feels like a big weight is off of my shoulders. I really have done quite a few of the things that I’ve wanted to do in life, and now I feel more free to just do whatever comes up. I think these two things should open up a few more job opportunities for me.

So even though I probably should be, I’m not terribly worried about finding a job or life after graduation. If I learned one thing at Syracuse, it was that life is all about making the most with the hand your dealt. And I’ve gotten pretty good at that. I think that’ll get me somewhere. Oh, I learned that agricultural subsidies suck. Yea they do.

So what’s up for me, other than my summer class and trying to find a job? Now that I’m done with school for at least the time being, I might have some free time to be able to get around to doing some things that I’ve wanted to do for a while. I’d like to get certified to referee ice hockey. I might be interested in getting a ham radio license (don’t make fun). Believe it or not, I am STILL thinking about the Coast Guard Reserve. And I’d like to get rabbit. I like rabbits. What else? Well, Barenaked Ladies are coming around twice this summer, and a couple of my friends from home have been talking about going to Boston for a few days towards the end of July or beginning of August. And there’s always the Butterworth Classic. I’m kind of broke, but I think I can make at least something off of this list happen. I think I can make this a fun summer. And I guess a fun fall, winter, and spring too, since I’ve got nothing else planned. For the past few days, though, I’ve just been sitting on my dad’s recliner. It’s pretty pathetic, actually. I haven’t left his street since I got back Sunday night. But two of my best friends, Dan and Dustin, will be done with school by the weekend, so I should find something to do soon, before I start developing bedsores.

So that’s about it for now. Thanks for hangin in there for that. I think I’ll probably have one more short, sentimental-ish entry about being done with college. After that, it’ll be back to the same old boring shit, like what I had for breakfast and all. Actually, I’ve been thinking about maybe starting to talk about things other than myself here. Cuz apparently the world is going to Hell. Regardless, I’m going to try to keep things short from here on out.

PS: Does anyone know anything about a Latvian band called BrainStorm?

Current Mood: Ridiculously Bored, and not quite as sentimental as this entry would have you believe.
Current Music: None. I really can’t concentrate on much if I have music playing.
Link du jour: Molvania. One of the funniest things I’ve seen on the Internet ever! I’m so buying the book when it comes out! (Ok, I’m an IR dork. Sue me.)

I wasn’t ever really in a hurry to come home from Europe, but after my trek across Eastern Europe last week (it was a wonderful time, btw, but nobody really cares so I won’t do a recap) I had done pretty much everything I wanted to do over there, so I was content to come back. I had a blast, but everything’s gotta end. So, I flew out of Strasbourg on May 4 and after 2 cabs, 2 airplanes, a city bus, a Greyhound bus, and 22 hours I showed up unannounced at Sadler Hall at around 1am local time on May 5. The first person to greet me was Carlos, who, ironically enough, I had never met before. He’s one of the new RAs here and he seems like a great guy. Since then, I’ve pretty much been hanging out with everyone who’s still left up here and just enjoying the fact that I have nothing to do (which seems to be pretty much what everyone in Syracuse is doing at the moment). It’s great; whoever said you can’t go home again is full of shit.

In the past three days, my sleep has been interupted by jackhammering across the hall (May 5, 9am), the sprinkler system going off on the second floor (May 6, 2am), and bongos down the hall (about an hour ago). That’s Syracuse for ya. I should be exhausted, especially after last night’s festivities, but I’m feeling pretty good. I have graduation practice in an hour or so. I guess that should feel weird, but it doesn’t. Actually, nothing about being back feels weird at all. I’m REALLY glad that I came back for these last few days to take a farewell tour around the ‘Cuse. I really do love it here, and there’s a lot of love here, and I love that. Like I said, everything’s gotta end, and this seems like the perfect way to end Syracuse.

Current Mood: Damn good, but a little tired.
Current Music: None

I haven’t really been up to anything interesting, so I think I’ll take a few minutes to give you a report on what life has been like overall since I arrived in France. But since nobody likes reading my long rambly entries (formatted like I’d format a paper for school, my report about my first two weekends in Switzerland would be 14 pages long) and since I don’t really like writing them, I thought I’d do this a little differently. Instead of just writing paragraphs and paragraphs, I’ll update you in dictionary form. It might be long, but at least it’ll be broken up. Ladies and gentlemen, I call this, “The ABCs of Study Abroad.”

A – Alsacian: A is for Alsacian, which is what I’ll never be. Still, I don’t mind it here. Alsace is the region of France in which Strasbourg is located, and I really can’t imagine a better place to study abroad. It’s very centrally located in Europe: 5 minutes to the German border, an hour and a half to the Swiss border, and about the same to Luxembourg. Four and a half hours will get you to Paris or Italy, and 7 hours will get you to Berlin or even Slovenia. Strasbourg is the biggest city in Alsace, and it’s about the perfect size for me. Big enough to find something to do, but small enough to still be manageable. The food is good too: lots of meat and potatoes. Alsace was part of Germany for quite a while and there is definately a German feeling about the place. It’s not really the “frenchest” part of France and it’s not really that close to most of the places that people think of when they think about France, but that doesn’t really bother me. It’s a very interesting city, home of the best damn cathedral in the world, and probably the perfect place to be an international student.

B – Bahnhoff: That’s German for “train station.” Living a couple of miles from the German border, you pick up a few German words and phrases. I’ve got about 20. Unfortunately, most of them aren’t really useful. Learning things like “where is the bathroom,” might be a good idea, but mostly I only know names of ferocious animals, since those are the names they give ice hockey teams. Oh well. Anyway, yea, bahnhoff means train station. And let me tell you something, trains are where it’s at. I had never taken a train before I came to Europe, but they’ve got me spoiled. They beat any other form of transportation, hands down. I’m also getting pretty good with them. Not as good with them as I am with the Greyhound busses, but not bad. I can usually figure out where I’ll have to tranfer and how to save money. It’s a good skill to have.

C – Camera: My biggest complaint so far is my damn digital camera. My dad and stepmom got it for me for high school graduation in 2001. It’s a Sony DSC P-30. I’m on my third one–the first two were defective. Well, this one is now on death’s door. It still takes pictures fine, but the LDC screen is completely shot, meaning I can’t access any of the menus or review pictures after I take them. It’s a bitch. Still, in case anyone’s wondering, to date I’ve managed to take 918 pictures in Europe.

D – Doner Kebab: It’s kind of ironic, but the European answer to fast food is Middle Eastern. Sure, they have McDonald’s, but what you find on just about every street corner is a Doner Kebab place. It’s basically a pita with some kind of meat or falafel with lettuce, tomato, onion, and red or white sauce. It’s cheap, quick and good. The only thing I wonder about is why the chicken meat gets shaved off a big log of chicken about 3 feel long and a foot thick. Where do they get the chickens? Chernobyl?

E – Elementary School: To me, the whole study abroad experience feels a lot like elementary school. I get up an hour and a half before my first class, get a shower and get dressed while watching cartoons (I half understand some of them, and they have Franklin here. I love Franklin! Well, I love the show Franklin. Franklin the turtle himself is a moron.). Then, I go downstairs have have a bowl of cereal for breakfast. I walk down the street to the bus stop and take the bus to school (or my bike), arriving about 45 seconds before (or after) class starts. All of my classes are in one of the same three rooms, and I have more or less the same people in each class. People make fun of the teacher behind his/her back, and classes are really small so people often get yelled at for talking in class. I stay at school pretty much all day (except for when I’m interning), then I go home, eat dinner with my host family, then I go upstairs and go to bed. I even have a professor who doesn’t go by the title “Professor,” but by the title “Mrs.” The only thing that’s missing is doing my homework on the window sill. Yea, it’s just like elementary school.

F – French: After studying any language for 8 years, there’s no excuse not to be at least fluent, especially after living in a country where it’s spoken for almost 3 months. Yet here I am. To be honest, my French finally has improved a tiny bit, but not nearly enough. It’s not the speed or the accent that’s giving me problems; it’s mostly the vocab and expressions. I know that if I was taking all of my classes in French, I’d be much better. And I know I could do it too. I wouldn’t be the best student, but I could handle it, and my French would improve a ton. I’m at the point now where I am ready to be completely immersed in the language. If I was, I’d make very rapid progress. But despite the fact that I’m living in France with a French family, I’m not being immersed. My classes and internship are all in English, and that keeps me in an English mindset. The couple of times when I have been completely immersed in the language, I’ve been able to hold my own pretty well. In Switzerland, I even got friendly enough with two people, using only French, that we ended up exchanging e-mail addresses. I simply don’t understand how I was able to hold down intelligent conversations with the people I met at the hockey game in Switzerland, but I come back here and I can barely string together 3 words. It’s frustrating and demoralizing. If life was the Fribourg-Gottéron Fans Party, I’d be fluent in 2 days and native in a week. But it’s not and I’m making almost no progress. And that sucks.

G – Graduation: I’m walking in graduation on May 9 and graduating in August. That’s been hanging over my head and I have to be honest, it’s a little intimidating. I really hope I can work my foot back in the door of the place I interned last summer, because otherwise I’m going to be in pretty bad shape. I’ve been trying to think of other options in case that doesn’t work out. Do you think it’s too late to become an elementary school teacher? Think about it: 6 hour workday, no chance of getting called in to work on the weekend, job security, and 3 months of vacation every summer. Plus, I think the chicks would dig it! Doesn’t sound like a bad deal to me!

H – Host family: The whole host family living situation is still odd. As nice as they are, they still are a family that I’m just not a part of. I really only see them at meals, and generally they talk about their own stuff. They try to include me, but when someone sees an old friend at the supermarket, that’s a conversation I just can’t add anything to. Usually, when something like that comes up (which is several times per meal), I just tend to zone out. It’s not that I’m not trying to be interested, but I just can’t passively follow a conversation; my ear for French just isn’t good enough. Ironically enough, I do the worst in French with my host family. Well, actually my worst French comes in bakery shops (I don’t know what the word for “the round thing with raisins” is in English, let alone French!), but after that, my worst French comes at home. If I’m really engaged in a conversation and contributing every couple of minutes, I can hang in there just fine. But I just can’t sit and watch TV and similiarly, I get lost just watching everyone else talk at the dinner table (I think that’s mostly because I either zone out completely or try to translate). When someone asks me something, I’ll respond, but I’m not much for making conversation. Of course, that makes me lazy and that makes my French even worse, so it’s a vicious circle. The whole situation feels pretty unnatural. The parents fell like, well, parents (or teachers). We really seem to have nothing in common, and that can be a little intimidating. The son is 16, so you’d think we’d have some stuff to talk about, but no. I think they say you can’t really have a decent conversation with someone who’s IQ is more than 30 points above or below yours, or something like that, and Félix’s IQ must be double mine. He’s a freaking genious. Seriously. His hobbies are things like physics. And on top of that, he has a pretty substantial speech impediment, so communication is almost impossible. I talk with Nina fairly often, but believe it or not, I really don’t have much in common with a 12-year-old French girl (except for the fact that we like some of the same bad music). Maybe it’s because of the fact that I just sit around like a bump on a log most of the time that I have absolutely no personality around my host family. I kind of feel bad about that. These people were nice enough to let me into their world for a couple of months, and I contribute absolutely nothing (In terms of personality, I mean. I clear the table and load the dishwasher just about every night, so I’m at least trying to pull my own weight). I’m making things sound much worse than they really are, though. Everyone is very very nice, and even though I think they’re getting sick of me, they treat me very well. And if nothing else, just the awkwardness of the whole situation has really expanded my comfort zone, and I already appreciate that.

I – Ice hockey: I’ve seen a lot of it. 8 games in 6 different cities. I’d like to take this opportunity to defend myself. Although I don’t really talk about it, I’ve always thought that people who spend big money to go to the Caribbean to get drunk are foolish. You can do the same thing at home. I’m sure there are people who have thought the same thing about me going to hockey games all over Europe. Well, they’re totally different situations. The one thing that I appreciate the most about going to games here is the same thing that I appreciate about going to minor league baseball games in small towns all around the U.S.: it really puts you in touch with the local flavor. You’re surrounded entirely by locals. Everyone is having fun and in a good mood, but most people go to several games a year, so you’re seeing people almost in their routine. By looking at the advertisements, you can figure out what companies are important in that region, and you can try local food at the concession stands. In short, you’re living like a local, and I think there’s a lot to be said for that. (For the same reason, I don’t look down at all on the other SU students here who go out to the bars every night. They’re living the life!). Plus, you can appreciate the differences in the European and American style of play. And it’s neat to see hockey players that you’ve previously seen play in the US. And sports are a good reason to travel. So far, hockey has taken me to places like Fribourg and Mulhouse that I would have never visited otherwise. But I’ve enjoyed pretty much everywhere I’ve been, I’ve seen some excellent games, and learned about places. And of course I can’t say enough about the people I’ve met. I’ve had some nice conversations with random people in the stands, and of course I also met the Fribourg fans who I will simply never forget and always appreciate with all my heart.
One more thing. You know those postcards they have all over the US? They’re all black and then they say “Syracuse at Night.” Well, they have them here too. Just like in the US, there isn’t a heck of a lot to do at night in a lot of places, so why not go to a hockey game?

J – Juppé: Alaine Juppé stole a bunch of public money and used it to pay campaign staffers. It’s been in the news here. In the U.S., it would be a HUGE scandal, but here no one really seems to care. I guess it’s just one of a million examples of how French politics are different from American politics. Honestly, I like the American political systems much more than the French. Even though I’m not French, there are a lot of political things that go on here that I simply can’t stomach. Primarily, I’m a libertarian and I hate the whole European welfare-state system. But at the same time, socially Europe is far, far more liberal than the US, and I absolutely love that. I’m almost tempted to overlook all of the things I hate about European politics and say that Europe is better anyway just because of how socially liberal it is.

K – Kehl: The German town right across the Rhine from Strasbourg. There’s not much there.

L – Life changing experience: There was a running joke during senior year of high school. My French teacher asked me what I was going to do after graduation. I told her that I was going to take a year off to travel Europe and “find myself.” It seems like a bunch of people who go ahead and study abroad actually do so to try to find themselves. I don’t know how many people have said that their semester in Europe “changed their life.” I never expected this to be anything close to a “life changing experience” for me and it really hasn’t been. But I’m glad I’m here. If you had to point to ways it’s changed me, I guess you could say it’s increased my self-confidence and expanded my comfort zone. But all in all, I’m still Gary.

M – May 1: Ten new countries are joining the European Union on May 1. As an international relations student, I feel like I should be in one of them when it happens. I have a ticket to fly back to the U.S. on April 29, but I think I’m going to change it to go back around May 4. I’d like to be in Cyprus on May 1. Honestly, Cyprus isn’t high on my list of places to visit, but chances are pretty good that on May first, not only will Cyprus join the EU but the northern and southern parts of the island, which have been divided for 30 years, will reunify. This won’t be quite as big of a deal as the fall of the Berlin wall, but it’s still very important and it seems like I should be there. But of course there’s the money element, so instead I think I’m going to try to go to Prague.

N – Nonante-neuf: There’s a lot of things I like about Switzerland, and a handful of things I like about Belgium. One of these is the way they count. French French is almost identical to Swiss and Belgian French, but there are some differences, just like there are some differences between American and Canadian English. One of the most notable is the way they count. In France, there aren’t words for the numbers 70-99. So if you want to say “ninety-nine,” you say “quatre-vingt dix-neuf,” which literally means “four-twenty ten-nine.” If you’re confused, that means you got it. It’s a pain in the ass. The Swiss and the Belgians make things much easier by having words for each number. I’m now boycotting the French French way of counting in favor of the Swiss and Belgian way. Without even thinking about it, I said “huitante” the other night, so Swiss French is definately sinking in.

O – Old: When I stop to think about it, I get blown away by old stuff is over here. I’ve been to Jamestown, Virginia, which is the oldest permanent settlement in North America. It was started in 1607, and I’m pretty sure there are no original buildings left there. There’s stuff older than that on every corner here. A couple of weeks ago, I saw a full barrel of wine from the 15th Century. I’m not sure what year it was started, but the Strasbourg cathedral took over 400 years to build, so even if they finished it yesterday, it would be older than anything in North America. And just randomly walking down streets in Europe, you’ll see houses or shops (still in use) with historical markers indicating historic events that happened there. So far, in various cities, I’ve stumbled across the house where Bethoven was born (Bonn), the house where Einstein formulated the Theory of General Relativity (Bern), and the house where Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born (Geneva). It really blows my mind.

P – People: There are about 50 or so of us studying here through Syracuse. We’re mostly Americans, but there’s one Canadian, one Ecuadorian, one Nicaraguan, another girl from somewhere else in Latin America that I can’t remember, and two girls of Asian decent who I really don’t know what citizenship they have. I’m just guessing, but there’s probably about 18 guys in the group, which I’ve heard is a record high. It’s not a bad group at all. There are about 3 people I’m not too fond of, but there’s nobody I don’t get along with. In fact, I can really hang out with anyone and get along fine. Everyone is really nice. There are some people who are a lot of fun, and a smaller handful who I can really talk to. But nobody completely fills both categories. There are some people I’d like to stay in touch with after the semester is over, and I might even do that for a while. But there really isn’t anyone here who I can say with confidence will be a friend for life. I’m not homesick at all, but there are three things I really do miss: high speed internet at home, English TV, and some of my friends. Internet at home could take care of all of that.
One particular group of people that also starts with a “P” is “Professors.” Never in my life have I had so many professors who are charactatures of themselves. That’s not neccessarily a good or a bad thing, but it makes life very amusing. As much as we all make fun of them, it is neat to have professors who aren’t strictly academics, but who also work in International Relations at the Council of Europe. In fact, one of my professors just wrote a book…
Raymond Bach, the head of the program here, is wonderful. I really respect the guy. He runs the program perfectly: just the right balance between school and letting us discover Europe on our own. He’s probably my favorite Syracuse University employee. Jean-Maurice, my French professor, well, he’s tough to explain. But I’m pretty sure that when I look back on this semester in a few years, Jean-Maurice will be the first thing I think of.

Q – Quick: A Belgian fast-food hamburger chain. It’s not bad.

R – Rivella: A Swiss soda made out of milk. Yes, milk. Well, actually just a part of the milk: lactoserum. It doesn’t taste anything like milk (I had already had two before I found out that there was any milk in it), and it’s really not bad. It’s not Dr. Pepper, which doesn’t exist here, but I kinda like it.

S – Stagiare: That’s French for “trainee” or “intern.” There’s a lot of us at the Council of Europe, but I’m in a minority: I’m an American and I’m a baby. The average age of a stagiare is probably 24 or 25. Neither of these have been a problem, though. As a whole, the Council of Europe stagiares are some of the nicest, most welcoming people you’ll meet. Not cliquey at all, which I like. Most stagiares stay for about 3 months, like me. But most of them all start on the same day. A big group started early in January and they just left on March 26. It was kind of sad to see everyone go, especially Marina since we worked in the same office, but the last night everyone was there there was big party in a bar. It’s not every day you can say you met a Norwegian, a Slovene, and two Cypriots, but I did at the party, so that was interesting. A new group of stagiares started Monday, and I’m looking forward to meeting them. I’ve only met one so far: a Russian woman who I think is in her mid-30s (!).

T – Taxes: I owe Uncle Sam $322.74 this year. That is NOT cool, and it’s going to severely limit what I’ll be doing for the rest of my stay here. This is the first time in my life I wish I had a credit card.

U – Université: Much like in Syracuse, school is keeping me from learning anything. I want to be a good student. I’m capable of being a good student. But I am by no means a good student. I also want to be a good intern and make the most from my internship. But I’m not. I want to travel around and see a bunch of different cultures in Europe. But I’ve never left the “blue banana” region. And I want to learn French, but, as I said above, I’m making almost no progress. I’m capable of doing all of these, but not at the same time. So, instead, I’m spreading myself too thin and half-assing a bunch of stuff. Sure, that makes makes for a good résumé. I graduated from college in three years, got fairly good grades, interned at the Council of Europe, and I speak a fair amount of French. But in reality, I got next to nothing out of any of those experiences. Not nearly as much as I should have, anyway. So basically, in that regard things are exactly the same here as they were in Syracuse. It’s a frustrating, exhausting, and extremely unfulfilling way to go through life, and I advise strongly against it. I’m going to have to find a way to break this trend when I get back to the States because if I don’t, I won’t make it to see 40.

V – Vouvoyer: If you’ve never studied French, you might want to skip to “W.” In fact, I’m going to dedicate the letter “V” to all of the French students reading this.
The language is tough. Deciding between passé composé and imparfait isn’t as bad as you’d think, but the subjunctive is every bit as tough as it’s made out to be. I avoid it like the plague. The culture can be a tiny bit tricky at times. How many bises (kisses on the cheek) do you faire? Two or three? And although I’ve never seen it, I’ve heard that four is possible. What do you do with your hands? Do you start left or right? And just when you’ve got all of this figured out, you find out that it’s different in each country. Now, as tough as the language and the culture can be, they’re really not as bad as you’d think. However, for me at least, combining cultural and linguistic differences is a recipe for disaster. Yes, I’m talking about the age old question: to tutoyer or to vouvoyer?
There are two words for “you” in French: “tu” and “vous.” You use “tu” for children, animals, and close friends or acquaintances. “Vous” is the polite form. It sounds easy, but it’s snot. And the longer you stay over here, the harder it gets. At first I was pretty liberal with my “tu”s, especially around people my age. Then I found out that two Syracuse girls almost got thrown out of a cab because they “tu”ed the driver. Then someone told me that if a girl tutoyers a guy she just met, she’s being extremely forward. I don’t think this is the case, but to be safe, I went back into vouvoyer mode. Of course, Ben, the guy I met at 2am in Basel train station, found it extremely odd that I vouvoyed him, considering he’s a couple of months younger than me, and he told me that. So now I’m in tutoyer/vouvoyer limbo. A couple of people at the Council of Europe have told me I could tutoyer them. I appreciate that. I still vouvoyer my host parents, even though they tutoyer me and even though almost every other host family has told their student to tutoyer them. Still, every once in a while, a “tu” or, more often, a “toi” will slip out. And one of these days, it’s probably going to get me thrown out of a cab.

W – Water: They don’t put floride in the tap water here. That means you’re less susceptible to governmental mind control. If you’ve noticed, I haven’t had to wear my aluminum foil hat at all since I’ve been here. I really like the fact that no one is corrupting my precious bodily fluids. Another “W” drink is wine, and although others would disagree, in my experience it’s not nearly as prolific as you’d think. Still, in much of Europe, a glass of water, soda, wine, and beer all cost about the same. In France, you can get tap water for free if you ask, but they’re not usually very enthusiastic about bringing it. But at least you can get it for free–it’s not like that in other countries.

X – Xenophobia: The fear of foreigners. It certainly exists in Europe, but as far as anti-American sentiments are concerned, I haven’t experienced a one. Anything you’ve heard about the French, or Europeans in general, being rude to Americans is GREATLY exaggerated. Personally, I’ve encourtered about two blatant assholes. In general, people here are at least as nice, if not nicer than people in the U.S.

Y – Yekaterinburg: The third or fourth largest city in the Russian Federation, Yekaterinburg is located in Siberia, just east of the Ural mountains, technically putting it in Asia. I was supposed to go to Yekaterinburg with one of my professors on a Council of Europe mission to monitor a former Gulag that is now a children’s prison. Yes, it would have been expensive, but there really isn’t much that I classify as “once in a lifetime,” and this would have fit that definition. I even had a title for the blog entry I would have written after I got back: “Youth in Asia.” Unfortunately, I wouldn’t have been able to get the visa in time, so I here I sit.

Z – Zurich: The largest city in Switzerland is somewhere I haven’t visited and probably won’t (there’s really nothing there I want to see). It’s the home of the decent but highly over-rated Lindt chocolate company, the band Vivian, and the ZSC Lions of the Swiss LNA hockey league.

So there you have it, the ABCs of studying abroad in Strasbourg. I’ve been working on this entry a little bit at a time for over a week now, so I’m glad to finally be done with it. Now I can focus on more important things, like how I’m going to spend the Easter break. School and work and both closed Good Friday and Easter Monday, giving me a a real 4.5 day weekend! Money will keep me from venturing too far from Strasbourg, but I’d kind of like to go somewhere relatively near here. I really, really wanted to go to Verdun, which isn’t very far, to see all of the WWI stuff. But apparently it requires a little bit of planning to do without a car. My fall back option is another hockey game in Germany (Bundesliga this time), but I’d kind of like to do some kind of trip that doesn’t center around hockey. We’ll see what happens. I’m hoping I can still make Verdun work. I’ll let you know. If I don’t talk to you, have a nice Easter!

Current Mood: Tired.
Current Music: None

There’s really not a heck of a lot to tell about Geneva. One of my classes, “Policy Seminar on Contemporary Europe” visited the city for a few days to meet with some officials from some international organizations.

Me playing diplomat once again. This time, I got to sit in the seat of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. If you’re bored, do some research on the SMOM. They’re really interesting.

Everything went very well. I enjoyed it, and I might have even learned something. We stayed at the John Knox Centre, which was pretty nice. The city itself wasn’t bad either. Some tour books tell you to just skip it. And while I wouldn’t go too far out of the way to visit Geneva, if you’re at all interested in world affairs it definitely warrants a visit. It’s big, expensive, and very cosmopolitian. The city sits right on Lake Geneva (Lac Lèman), which is really pretty. All in all, it’s a nice place, and it feels appropriate for all of the diplomats who live there, but I wouldn’t want to live there. It feels like a place you go for vacation.

I promised Cliff that I’d put his picture on my website if he’d say the alphabet backwards for everyone on the bus. (This picture was actually taken in Freiburg, Germany, on Feb. 15.)

Shore of Lake Geneva

We left Geneva for Strasbourg at around 1:30pm today. I was actually supposed to stay in Geneva and meet up with someone I met at the Fans Party after the hockey game in Fribourg, but that didn’t work out. I’m almost positive it wasn’t my fault, and I hope I’m right. I still feel bad enough about standing up Josh in Basel.

So yea, that’s about it. Like I said, there’s really not a heck of a lot to say about Geneva/Genève/Genf. Good times, though.

Current Mood: Tired.
Current Music: None