It has been almost one week since our lovely adventure to Germany
ended. I was quite sadden upon my arrival to regular life. No more
waking up early and getting a nutella croissant in the morning. No
more waiting for sleepy people at the lobby and running to the bus
stop. No more of these fun moments shared with amazing people. But, I
must say that I am glad I was able to experience all of these things
and write them down in my own memories. I want to take this
opportunity to thank every single person who was part of this amazing
story. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life!
On another note, I want to take the time to write about one of the
experiences each one of us had in Osnabruck. It had been planned for
us to interview the student mentors (Balu's) and ask them about their
volunteer work in Balu und Du and also about what it is like to be a
student in Germany.
I have read some of the posts by other students in this blogspot so I
don't want to repeat everything again. Thus, I will only reference
that which I found most interesting during the interview which I held.
First of all, it was quite interesting to find out the ways in which
German student-way-of-life is different than that of the United
States. Most of these students use the public transportation system in
Osnabruck (which is pretty great, by the way) as well as ride their
own bicycles. The Balu was quite surprised when Matt and I told her
most of the students at USF had their own cars and most living outside
of the campus drove them to school everyday. In addition, I want to
reference something I, myself, noticed about the students in
Osnabruck. It seems like most of them "dress up" more than the
students at USF. It might be our "more relaxed" nature which allows us
to dress in what ever manner we desire to.
As our conversation continued, Matt asked the Balu whether there
existed preconceptions and stereotypes of Americans in Germany that
she knew of. She replied by saying that Americans were thought to be
all fat (obese). She added that she was surprised to see that everyone
in our group were not obese! I found this extremely funny but at the
same type somewhat true. I mean, it is not true that all Americans are
obese, but that is the preconceptions of most people outside the US
since media and other sources report on this current problem.
In addition, I was able to talk to the Balu about the differences in
culture between Americans, Germans and even Hispanics. This was a
central topic I tried to view each day in Germany since it seems like
there is such a major difference, at least to me. I asked her if she
had noticed a difference in how loud Americans are compared to
Germans. She nodded, thus I told her that in America, Hispanics were
considered louder than Americans. I added that I couldn't imagine how
loud hispanics would be considered in Germany.
We also asked the Balu whether German students traveled often. Ever
since we started taking the course, we had been noticing that people
in Germany travel a lot more often than people in the States, well, in
general. The Balu nodded and replied by saying that it was really
common for German students to travel to the neighboring countries.
In addition, we spoke to our Balu about Balu und Du and her work at
this organization and with her Mowgli. It's very heart-warming to know
that she, along with many of the Balus, did not perform this type of
volunteer work for a school requirement or anything of the sort. She
is doing it to not only help but to become a better individual at the
personal level. Many of the students in the United States decide to do
volunteer work so that it looks great on tier resumes or to satisfy a
requirement. I am sure many people do perform this type of work to
gain some interpersonal skills and to help people but it would be
great to know that it isn't just because school tells us to do it.
We also spoke of her struggles with her Balu. Her Mowgli has autonomy
issues. It seems like his parents try to do almost everything for him
so when it comes time for him to do something on his own, he stops
believing in himself. This is the main issue she is trying to address
and hopefully help alleviate.
Overall, she believes the organization and the manner in which it is
run is perfect although she thinks the amount of money the Balus
receive each month for activities is not sufficient (10 Euros per
month). She added that she has to pay some things out-of-pocket every
month in order to provide her Mowgli with interesting activities. This
is something she believes should change since it becomes difficult for
college students to provide for such activities.
It was a great experience to interact with the Balus and understand
their work at a personal level instead of just a lecture. It was also
a great moment to interact with a German student and understand their
way of life and analyze some of the differences that each party had
noticed about each other's culture.
On the other hand, I believe this activity should have been planned
for an earlier date in the two weeks since it would have allowed us to
understand some of the culture better as well as the organization and
how it works.
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