Flight Dates, Numbers, and Alumni

There seems to be a new link on the Salzburg Seminar website, either that or I didn't see it the last times I visited. Check out a description of the International Studies Program for Undergraduate Students. They offer lots of information, including what CUNY schools have been going to the seminar: BMCC, Bronx Community College, Hostos Community College, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Kingsborough Community College, LaGuardia Community College, and Queensborough Community College.

I also found out that initially around 70 people applied for the seminar at BMCC out of which 30 were chosen to interview. Then, over 2 and a half days of interviewing, the 15 finalists were picked. It's surprising to me that not more than 70 apply, but perhaps that has to do with the fact that it is only the third year that BMCC is going. Dean Craig went with a group of students in 2005 for the first time. In 2006, Vice President Haynes chaperoned the group, and this year Mr. Mars is going.

We had our last workshop on Friday, and we have one more next week when we will get our T-shirts, laptops, etc., and then it's off to Austria! We also received our flight dates: on April 1, Sunday, we will be leaving JFK on Lufthansa, flight 405, at 9:10 PM. We'll have to be at the airport two hours early, since it's an international flight. We connect to a flight on Austrian Airlines (264) in Frankfurt, Germany (not long enough to meet up with my friends) and finally arrive in Salzburg at 1:40 PM. We leave Austria on Monday, April 9, at 2:25 PM on Austrian Airlines, flight number 265. We connect to Lufthansa in Frankfurt on flight number 404 to arrive at JFK at 5 PM.

At our last workshop Dean Craig invited some former attendees to speak to us about their experience. Sabine, whom I recognized from my first semester Philosophy class, said that she had been at a crossroads before attending the seminar. She encouraged us to talk to the professors and make connections. Many of them said that it was an emotional, eye-opening time. BMCC stood out by how they presented themselves. Some alumni who weren't able to attend sent e-mails: Graham said that his experience was like a painting: you attempt to look at small beautiful parts but realize that in its entirety can it only be fully appreciated. Like a fish who lives in a bucket is transferred into the ocean. Ilva added that in order to change the world today one must understand how international organizations work. Just to see the magnitude of the change Salzburg had on her, she told us how she was now studying International Studies with a focus on Green Architecture. Everyone agreed on one thing: be open-minded.

Other ideas were to spend time in the beautiful and resourceful library, to take notes, they will be helpful later on. Talk to everyone, other students, professors, facilitators. And if you want to be extra prepared, read up on current events and research as much as you can with a focus on globalization.

In the end of the meeting we practiced German for a little while. I recommended Language Guide, as well as a great book titled "German in 10 Minutes a Day."

Itinerary and Other Details

This is our group! Including Mr. Mars, our chaperone, on the very left. Very exciting.

I finally studied the booklet in more detail. It's a filled week, no doubt. Each morning we are scheduled for a talk of some sort from 9 until 10 AM. We then have coffee/tea (I love that) at 10, after which there is another discussion. Lunch is at 12:30 every day, and after another group activity we have coffee/tea again at 3:30 PM. More program until dinner at 6:30, and then we have the last event of the day which includes a fireside talk on Wednesday, sounds cozy.

On Wednesday, April 5, we will be visiting Dachau, a concentration camp. Ironically, this is something I always voted for when we were deciding where to go on our field trips back in Germany, but I was overruled each time. Now that I live across the ocean I get the chance to actually finally go there. My Mom lived through WWII, her father, my grandfather, died in a field in Russia. She used to tell me how Americans would give the children chewing gum, but then it wasn't well known in Germany and people thought that they were trying to poison the children, so they never ate it but threw it out instead.

Our Dachau visit will be an interesting starting point of conversation considering all the other genocides that have happened but have not received similar reactions. I can't wait. I can sense that this trip will be truly life-changing.

To give you a better idea of what this entire program is actually about, let me quote from the syllabus:

"In an age of new international challenges and tensions, the need for Americans to understand international affairs, to recognize cultural values other than their own, and to view world events from a variety of perspectives, has becomes increasingly
critical. The purpose of this program is to provide an intensive seven-day international experience for participants to explore pressing issues of global
concern and to view such issues from a perspective both literally and figuratively outside the borders of the United States.

Participants should leave with knowledge and skills to acquire a better understanding of the international political order, the global economy, and worldwide social developments. Because the Salzburg Seminar is located in the heart of Europe, the session will pay special attention to the political, economic and cultural history of the trans-Atlantic relationship, its future dimensions, and the impact such changes may have on the rest of the world. At the same time, mindful of increasing global interconnectedness, the session will consider issues of particular concern to regions of the developing world. In this way, students will be exposed to the relationship between the historical legacy of the latter part of the 20th century, global responsibility, humanitarian intervention, and social justice.

It is intended that this program will make students more aware of global issues and of what it means to be a 'good citizen', more discerning on the assessment of information pertaining to world affairs, and more understanding of America's place in the worlds as well as of non-Americans' perception of the U.S."

This was a bit lengthy but I it sums it all up so well it deserves the space. This is what this seminar will be all about.

We will do all this through pedagogical modules which include plenary lectures, small group work, and some cultural exchange which will include meeting local students, film screenings, and a classical concert.

There's a (still subject to change) list of faculty for the seminar, and finally lecture topics, also still subject to change: Mapping Ethnocentrism, The First Universal Nation: The American People in the 20th and 21st Century, The Third Sector: Creating Inclusive Societies, Emerging Diseases and Bio-Terrorism: Global Health and Economic Issues of Importance, The Legacy of the Holocaust in Europe: An Introduction to the Visit to the Former Concentration Camp in Dachau, Civil Society and Foreign Aid: The Eastern European Experience, The U.S. of America and the World: Views From a Distance, and finally The Role of the UN Today.

For our pre-reading we have Europe vs. America on our list as well as Inescapable Side by Side: An Interview with David Held, a text called Mass Migrations on Europe (published by the European Science Foundation), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Beyond Hegemony.

Our First Workshop

To your right you see Schloss Leopoldskron. I can almost smell the fresh Austrian air.

Finally, this past Friday our group met at school for our first workshop. Now I feel like there is too much information to blog about! We were immersed in filling out various agreement forms, our personal biographies for the seminar, etc.

We got thick booklets of information to seep through: our syllabus, reading assignments, tips for traveling abroad, weather forecasts, and more.

In the very beginning we played switch: we would talk to a new person and find out as much as we could about them until Dean Craig would say "switch." Turns out that two pairs of people have identical birth dates in our group! Whoever found out first would win an umbrella. I think Kimberly won. It was fun, and I was delighted to find out that our group is super diverse: a lot of us have similar stories of working another job, getting married, simply having a nontraditional path. Everyone is from all over the place, Morocco, Turkey, Israel, Haiti, Germany, Philippines, and the list goes on and on.

Dean Craig had saved quotes that we said when she told us that we had been picked for the trip. She'd show them to us and we'd have to guess if it was us. It was pretty neat, most everyone guessed right and many gave a recap of how they'd felt.

Dean Craig also told us that last year some students ended up having visa problems and couldn't go. Yikes. I hope that our group won't run into that. You'd think that they'd cut us some slack and provide a smoother way of getting visas for everyone without having to run back and forth and gathering insane amounts of paperwork.

We've developed a google group that we communicate through and are sharing information about insurance and carry-on restrictions and such. We'll be interlinking our blogs here until the school finds a way to give us a website that we can all post to.

Our next workshop is in two weeks. Stay tuned for more updates!

Saturday Afternoon Thoughts

Gotta know your basics: The Austrian flag.

I'd like to keep filling this blog and keeping you all up to date, but truth is, there isn't much to tell. Our next meeting is still a week away, and our departure is only one month away! I've finally found out who will accompany us: Mr. Mars from the Office for Student Activities. It's his first year going. He's helped out in the past, has taken groups to the airport and such, but this is his first actual time going on the trip. He beamed when he told me. I think this will be a great first time for many of us.

Not only will it be an amazing learning experience, but it will be a break away from everything, away from school deadlines and academic stress, and a trip where we can expect to see and learn new things every day, in a country that is sure to surprise us every day.

I'm still unclear as to what exactly will be going on, but I'm expecting we'll be taking intensive workshops of some sort each day, concerning global issues and discussing our opinions and the current state of affairs.

We'll definitely be doing some sightseeing as well. We'll probably see Mozart's birth house, Salzburg's most famous son. We'll visit the Salzburger Dom, the city's cathedral opened in 1628 and is Salzburg's top-attraction. Then there's St. Peter's Monastery with the cemetery, founded in 696. That is old. Really old. If we're visiting Mozart's birth house we'll surely be passing through the Getreidegasse, Salzburg's fancy shopping mile. OK, then there's a lot more castles and churches and parks, too many to list, or maybe too many to list without boring you.

I'll be very excited to hear my native language again and I'll have to make sure to buy some classics in German that I've been trying to get my hands on. This is kind of silly though, considering that the German collection of the public library on 53rd Street probably has a larger selection of German books than any bookstore I'll be able to go to in Salzburg.

I wonder what the weather will be like. Today it's 46 degrees in Salzburg, 7 more than we have here in the city. Knowing that Germany, which is so close, tends to have moderate winters and summers, I expect we'll have decent weather.

Just for fun and to wrap this up, here's some fun trivia you might want to study up on (which I found here): Salzburg's capital is Vienna, the language spoken is German. It borders eight other European countries: Italy, Switzerland, the Principality of Liechtenstein, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia. It sits between two mountains: Kapuzinerberg (which loosely translates to hooded mountain) and Mönchsberg (monk's mountain). It's probably what you imagine in to be: a cute town with rich history, plenty of beautiful old buildings with a breathtaking "Altstadt" (literally translated old city, meaning downtown), tiny Harry-Potter-movie-like alleyways and heaps of castles and cathedrals that are older than anything we've ever seen in the infant U.S.

Like Germany, Austria is divided into nine federal provinces. It's a member of the EU, and it's most prevalent religion is Catholic. Despite the fact that the language is German, the culture is mixed and represents many ethnicities and more languages are spoken. Kind of like New York. Neat.

In case you didn't already know, Austria uses the Euro. The current exchange rate is $1=1.32 Euros. When you go out to eat, make sure to tip 10%, keep your elbows off the table, and be ON TIME! I love this one, it's been a pet peeve of mine since moving to the states. My poor husband has suffered many scoldings for standing me up even if only for a few minutes. I've gotten much more laid back about it. Practice how to say "Guten Tag" (goo-done dog) to say hello and "Guten Appetit" before a meal (goo-done uppe-teet). If you're trying to read the Schloss Leopoldskron website try google's translator here.

The Sound of Music

Turns out that the castle where we will be staying at (Schloss Leopoldskron) was used as the backdrop to the 1965 musical "The Sound of Music." When the filming started in 1964 the castle had already been owned by the Salzburg Seminar for a couple of years. Back then, it wasn't open to the public.

Turns out that the forum I posted on the BMCC's MySpace page didn't get much feedback. No one seems to know what the Salzburg Seminar is. Hm. I'll have to make sure to write an article for the school paper.

We finally got a mass e-mail from Mr. Mars of OSA informing us about preperations and the first date for one of our workshops: March 2. I scanned over the e-mails in the to field and didn't recognize any. I checked on MySpace to see if anyone had a profile, and now I've met some of my fellow travellers online at least. They seem pretty excited, too.

Our responsibilities for now include checking to see if we need an entry permit. Turns out that if your passport is from a country that is part of the Schengen Agreement, no visa is needed (that includes Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden).

Oh yeah, the most important update: we actually know when we are leaving now: April 1-9. Nothing much else is new as of now, I'm just waiting for our first orientation. I make a packing list if I get too anxious and check international carry-on restrictions. I was hoping not to check my luggage again after I lost it once traveling wir air-tran, but I suspect I'll have to this time since I won't be able to bring any shampoo or toothpaste with me unless I'm willing to check my potentially dangerous liquids.

Off to the laundromat. I wonder what the weather will be like in Salzburg in April. I can't wait.

Salzburg, Here We Come!

I grew up in Germany and was lucky to go on some really amazing trips abroad: In 7th grade we went to England by ferry and bus and gave the sleeping boys hickeys on the bus and put balls of Kleenex in their mouths. I remember getting into the car of my host family. I was nervous, the first time in my life I was alone and dependent on the little English I knew. In 8th grade our school had just made friends with a school in Brisbane, Australia, and we headed out for a month of which we spent two weeks camping in the outback, petting kangaroos, koalas and boa constrictors. In 9th grade we flew to the U.S. to stay with host families in Emmaus, Pennsylvania. Before, we made a stop in New York where an electrician of our hotel who found us roaming the halls late at night took us up on the roof and I fell in love with the city that I now call my home.

Point being, these are some of my fondest memories. I grew up, I went to musical theatre school, I spent my years as a starving artist/occasional actress, met my wonderful husband Ken and got married, worked a desk job at a law firm, got what I thought was my dream job working for PETA, until they laid me off, and I realized how much I missed school. That's how I ended up at BMCC. I hadn't the faintest idea of how much I would love it there. I think the first time I heard about the trip to Salzburg was when Professor Clock mentioned it during our summer history class while we were freezing and huddled up due to an overactive AC. I wasn't going to leave Ken for long, and for some odd reason I didn't jump on the idea. The following semester during one of my weekly visits to Professor Mansouri's office she asked me directly if I planned on applying. I started thinking about it, talked to Ken who was encouraging (it was only for a week), and applied. I got so into my application that I blew up one of my favorite pictures that I took of patina in the park and made a fancy folder. I had to force myself not to obsess, and wait patiently.

Finally, during the winter break I got a phone call for the interview. Yessss. I wasn't really on break, taking daily 2 1/2 hour intensives of Short Story with Professor Messitt whom I had wanted so badly to take Modern European Novel with in the fall, but the class had been cancelled. I came in early and interviewed with the committee of eight, including Dean Craig whom I had met after attending her scholarship workshop. I had liked her so much that I made an appointment to tell her how much I enjoyed her poetry that she regularly wrote for her students. Some other familiar faces were in the room, and the questioning started. It lasted about 20 minutes. Everyone around the table had a turn with a prepared question. Some of them really threw me, one was prepared: I was asked to talk about Globalization. It was challenging, and not easy, and I knew that I hadn't answered perfectly, but I had given my best, I felt. I was psyched up more than before now, and made Ken not let me talk about the S word, so I wouldn't go nutty and then be disappointed.

Last night I checked my e-mail and it asked to get in touch with the scholarship office. I stopped by today and Dean Craig directed me into her office with the words: "We couldn't take everybody, there was just so many of you that were so qualified." My stomach sunk and I thought that perhaps it wasn't meant to be. I'll just stay in over the break and write my honors paper on Iran's nuclear situation and read the Fountainhead and Hegemony or Survival. "Oh, so I didn't get it," I said, and I got a smile in response and the words: "No, you did!" followed by hugs and some bouncing on my part. It was beautiful. Mike from the paper was there, too, and I got to share some of my initial excitement, which is always the best kind. Dean Craig asked whom I would tell first. "My husband," I responded, and, well, he sleeps sort of late since he works in Theatre, he works late nights mostly, and I called him a little later, but he was still within the first five people that found out.

Now, I really want to know who else is going, students and faculty, and when the first workshop is, and when we fly out, how long we stay, what the itinerary is, where we are staying, but none of those details have been revealed and I find myself once again trying not to think about it too much. I posted a forum on BMCC's MySpace page, so hopefully I'll find at least one person to get excited with.

With this post I begin my documented journey on our trip to Austria. I plan to give you more background on the seminar itself and the country as well, and of course, fill you in an all the details along the way. For now I have to read Act 3 of As You Like It.