Looking back at my blogging experience

When Dr. Waters first assigned us to set up a blog, I didn’t know what to expect. I have not used this type of medium before and frankly I didn’t feel very intrigued to read about other people’s experiences online, it just seemed very impersonal. I felt like people that use a blog, give themselves a lot of importance. Finding my blog theme, on the other hand, was fairly simple. It seemed natural that I would write about my experiences here since this is my first year in an American college. I did not make a plan about which topics in particular I want to write, I rather went week by week looking back at what I have done and what I have experienced. Although I sometimes had difficulties finding a topic ahead of time, I never had problems writing once I actually sat in front of the computer. Ideas just came to my mind and I knew what this week’s blog would be about. I have not shared the blog link with any of my friends at home and my parents would not know what to do with a blog, they prefer handwriting, something they can keep.
Looking back at what I wrote, I wish I would have provided more information for students here that would like to go abroad for a while. It is not always easy to make that decision but there are many resources online that can help students. I mostly wrote about issues that concerned me at that time and not all of them contain much information for outsiders, other than what I felt at that time.
If done right, blogging can contribute to a company’s PR effort; both profit oriented and also non-profit organizations. A non-profit company that I think of in particular is Youth for Understanding, a non-profit youth exchange organization. Students can talk about their experiences, like I was, and help to take some of the fears that other students might have. It will help their operations since much research of students is now done online anyways.
In a blog, information does not come only from one direction. People can ask questions, agree or disagree with what is written. People can engage in a blog, although they did not initiate the topic. This gives organizations the opportunity to talk about issues that concern the stakeholders as well as the organization. Immediate reaction is possible and it is not limited to a certain group of people. It will identify problems and tell an organization what they are doing well.
A blog can also work against a company’s PR efforts if it goes unnoticed. It needs a lot of people to search the internet to know what is being said about the internet but still some things might go unnoticed. A blog is a chance and a threat at the same time. Setting up a blog is most of the time free, but taking care of it is time consuming. In today’s business environment there is almost no way for a company to not participate in blogs, it would make them blind sighted on some issues and they would miss out on a great way to get in touch with their stakeholders.

Thanksgiving time

Thanksgiving is an American holiday and obviously it isn’t celebrated back home in Germany. Nonetheless I have enjoyed this holiday since the first time I was able to celebrate it, five years ago. It is a time where families get together and food is eaten, until nobody is able to move. This year I have already had two thanksgiving dinners, both before the actual holiday. “International Student Life” the organization here on Drury campus that is helping international students, set up a dinner for us at the Potter’s House. It is a non-profit coffee house that serves Springfield’s college students. This house has a great atmosphere and with the many couches, one almost feels at home. All food was home cooked and it was amazing how nice the people were and how glad they were to serve us. They all showed great and honest interest in our home countries and they made us feel very welcome. They have amazing coffee there so if you are looking for a nice cozy place to study for your finals, go to 724 S National Avenue in Springfield.
On Wednesday I am leaving for Minneapolis, to visit the family that I have lived with my junior year in high school as an exchange student. One of my host sisters just had a baby two weeks ago and for me it feels like I am a real aunt. I love this family very much and they always welcome me with open arms. And although it is not my real family I still feel like I am going home. I can’t wait to see them again and of course do a little shopping spree in the Mall of America J Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Trying to deal with the differences

I feel that I am lucky, Germany is culturally not that different from the US, so for me it wasn't as big of a culture shock as it must have been for some of the Asians for example. In a lot of ways, Germany is copying the United States. A lot of phrases are adapted from the English language. For example you will find signs saying "on sale" or "wellness-hotel" or "coffee shop". We call this Denglish, a mixture of Deutsch and Englisch. Germans use the word "handy" for cell-phones... In some ways this is sad because we are losing some of our own culture by just copying of someone else.
There are still some things that I am trying to adjust to here in the states. I think that people have a lot more aquaintances than Germans do. Here people are less formal and often times it is frustrating to talk to people that tell you things that they don't really mean. If they tell you, I'll call you, they almost never will. They say I love you, but they really don't. This is not a bad thing at all, it is just a totally different way of dealing with people. These kind of empty statements are used by almost everyone but here, people know how to deal with it. In Germany, if someone tells you that they like you and that they will call you, that is what they really mean. In other countries this is often times a reason why they think Americans are superficial. I don't that this is true. I had to learn how to react to this also but I have found very good friends five years ago and they are the opposite of being superficial. It might just be a little harder to get to know them at first... In this sense, I have to stop thinking so German:)

Another week in Springtown

I love my life! That is the statement I have to make this week... I know it is not very deep nor intelligent but it is what I feel right now. I feel so incredibly blessed to have had the chance to study and play tennis here, it has been my dream to this since I was sixteen! I have met amazing people, friends and teachers that I dearly respect. If you respect someone, they will give you respect back, I have never experienced it to be so true as it is here. Of course there are people that don't like you, for whatever reason, but it's not these people that I am so suprised about. I love getting smiles from people walking to class that I have never even met.

There was one moment that I will not forget in my life. Obama is Americas president now at it is not a secret that most Europeans supported him. His speech gave me chills and I feel that I have witnessed a great moment in History. Some people though, do not share this opinion with me. I got in a serious political fight with a girl that did not think my status "Obama is hot" was funny at all. She accused me of being one of the people that voted for Obama for all the wrong reasons. She said that he is a threat for the democratic freedom of America...
After having had many interesting conversations with supporters of Obama as well as McCain was this a real shocker for me. I think this girl was very narrow minded and she accepted nothing but her opinion.
I will not go into any more detail because this is not supposed to be a political blog. This is supposed to be about my Drury experience which is getting better and better all the time! Thank you for all the people that make it so enjoyable!

You always want what you can’t have

Last night I went to an alcohol policy forum in the college park community center. It was mandatory for us to go so I was curious to find out what they wanted to tell us. First they started to explain why there was the change in policy to not allowing any hard liquor on campus. In September, on bid day, which people told me was always a big party, students went off campus to drink because the police announced to be at the quad and hand out tickets to any underage drinker. At 5 pm, one male student was sent to the hospital because of alcohol poisoning, he was close to dying. Long story short, this terrible occurrence made Drury University change its alcohol policy.

I have to say that I understand both sides, the students that are mad about the policy change and the University, which had to react to this occurrence.
As a European, the topic “alcohol” is not nearly as big of a deal for me. The legal drinking age for beer and wine is sixteen, but most people also have their first experiences with hard liquor at that time. People like to party as well but I have to say, that people don’t nearly get as crazy as college students in America. Alcohol is not a big deal for us, that is why we don’t completely go crazy every time we drink. This is what my impression of drinking in the US is. Especially underage drinker don’t know their limits and they push it too far. In Germany and I believe all over Europe people drink before they are allowed to drive. This means that either their parents will pick them up from parties or they will drive home with friends that don’t drink. At home, I have never been in a car with a drunk driver and it is sad to say but I have seen many people here driving drunk. I believe that all of this is a vicious cycle. In high school kids drive drunk because they don’t want to leave their car somewhere else because then their parents could find out why they have left it there. Also, people don’t have the chance to take the bus or public transportation and somebody is always in need to drive.

I might be wrong but I believe that the legal drinking age of 21 provokes younger people to drink more and irresponsibly. I believe that it is too high and should be lowered to 18, the time they start going to college. One consequence at first would probably be people drinking more; over the long run though, it will get a little more boring for them because they are allowed to drink legally. They don’t have to sneak around which takes away half the fun.
If you give people the power to drive with 16, go to war and vote with 18… you surely should give them the power to drink responsibly with 18!