The Suffolk Voice

Issue date: 6/5/08 Section: The Suffolk Voices

Media Credit: travelblog.org

It's 9 p.m. in Munich (which means it is about 3 p.m. on the east coast) on Tuesday, June 3. I'm sitting in a bar, enjoying some Bavarian beer and trying to think of the subject of this article for the newspaper. I had a different one written, about my personal experience with the Czech culture, but I junked it.

I was originally going to write about the Czech culture and my experience with it, but I thought it was too simple. There is nothing to the Czechs. They like their personal space, silence on the metro, and pivo (beer).

As I sit here in this bar in Munich, I think about my time in the Czech Republic, what made it great and what I learned. My time in the Czech Republic was a blur - just a mix of intense studying of history and literature, with the break for a beer and a smoke. On the weekends, if there wasn't a trip organized, I would go out with my friends and try to enjoy the free time that we had. Nothing out of the ordinary. To me, that sounds like the absolute average study abroad experience. Nothing but legitimate work and indulgence of vice.

But here is where my experience got interesting. It was the observing of culture. I learned a lot about the Czechs, obviously, but I learned more about Americans. I learned more about the European identity of Americans, than any other culture. I could tell you almost anything you wanted to know about Czech culture and some of the language. But I heave realized something about the Americans.

I never realized how strange of a nation we are. I have never realized how much power we actually hold, in terms of a global perspective. Here is a quick story that helps me prove my point.

I was outside a bar in downtown Prague, talking to a Czech man who has never left the Czech Republic about the American Democratic presidential race. His name was Thomas (Tomaš, in Czech). He explained to me that Obama would make a better representative for the Democrats, regardless of his experience. Thomas was far more informed about the specifics of American politics than the average American is with Czech politics. If the situation were reversed, the conversation would obviously end quickly. It is also safe to say that he was more informed than many Americans about American politics.

So this leads me to my point, and why I think my experience was so unique. I decided to study abroad so I could escape America. To become a part of something else. The unknown. It's something that every human will always be attracted to. But I never got to fool the waitress or the bartender into believing I was Czech. I have never realized how easy it is to pick out an American in a crowd of Europeans.

I basically realized that, we, as Americans, have a culture that is just as unique as any other, no matter which one it is. It's impossible to get in touch with another culture in a short amount of time. Its possible to become aware of the other nations habits, ideas, laws, food, etc.

But being part of a culture is something that can never be taught, it takes years of life experience, not some tours and a language class. Though the experience was fantastic, and I would do it again in a snap, I found myself surprised that I learn ed so much about being an American, when I was not in America. But I think that's how the mind (or my mind, at least) works.

The unknown will always teach you more about the known. And that was the one piece of wisdom I picked up from Europe. The unknown will teach you something, but you wont know what you learn until you have learned it. It's quite a nice way to learn.

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