Monday, January 21, 2013

A cold Monday

I'm very tired because it's been a long day. I hope to keep this short. My morning started rushed because I thought my host father's dad might give me a ride to the train station but he didn't come in time so I had to speed walk to the train. I made it with one minute to spare.
In my creative travel writing class, he told us how with travel we had the opportunity to become whoever we wanted to be. I already knew this. I think I should figure out who I am before I go and try and become someone I'm not.
I went to a coffee shop cafe place and ordered a coffee. I sat by the window and tried to do my International Reporting reading. It was very boring and long so I just skimmed it. We didn't talk about it in class so it didn't even matter. When I went to pay for my coffee at the counter the guy was very nice and helped explain to me the different coins and their value because he saw me fumbling with them and trying to read their value.
In International Reporting, we learned the basics of journalism. It was review to me. Then we interviewed our partner and have to write up half a page about them for Wednesday. My partner told me about how disgusting her room was and how long she spent cleaning it. Glad I live with a clean host family.
In Strategic Comm, we talked again about Lance Armstrong and then about the BBC show we watched about the use of social media in the Arab Spring. We got in groups and talked about the advantages and disadvantages of social media. It wasn't anything new or groundbreaking. I'm sort of tired of the term social media. I feel it's overused.
I had a film screening for my human trafficking class at 6. We didn't start til 6:30 because she made us coffee and tea. I listed to the kids in front of me talk about living with Danes in their living arrangement. They said they would give them random geography quizzes and laugh when they got them wrong. They would tell them aggressively what to do and be very patronizing. At dinner, the Danes were making announcements and someone reminded them to speak English and they just kept talking Danish. Err..glad I live with a host family.
The film we watched was called Lilija 4 Eva and was honestly the most depressing film I have seen and will ever seen. It was about a young girl who lived in Russia and how her mother abandoned her, she did prostitution to get money, was gang raped, then met a guy who told her they would run away to Sweden and get jobs but actually he sold her into sex trafikking in Sweden and she was trapped there. Her only friend from Russia committed suicide. In a trippy dream sequence, he told her the door was unlocked and she ran away. Then she jumped off a bridge and died.
We were all silent when the professor turned on the lights. She asked us if we had any questions and I wanted to ask (as a joke) to go see a counselor. It was very emotionally draining.
Feeling numb, I had to take a different train home. At first it was tricky finding the right platform but I did. I had to take the train one stop, transfer and then I went home. I called my family to pick me up at the station because they offered to do that for me.

1 comment:

  1. Hey Deb,
    I love your blog! I try to read it every day. So much of what you write about - the good parts and the frustrating parts - reminds me of my time out of the country. It sounds like you are really attacking the opportunities, which is really the best thing IMHO.
    I love your photos!! Keep them coming please.

    With love,
    Aunt Susan

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