Anecdotes from Jon's London Experience

I’m not entirely sure what to include in this evaluation/report.  Let me say up-front that the experiences COLAET/Rotary has provided me with are enough to write volumes.  Nevertheless, I will try to pick out a few fun anecdotes and other information that I think you would be interested in to improve the program in future years.

            To start with the basics, I think the accommodations were more than adequate.  I was lucky enough to have a large room with a sink, desk, dresser and bed.  My window was oriented on the front of Furnival house, which gave me a view of the road leading down Highgate Hill.  The rooms of other participants were much smaller, sometimes half the size of mine.  Eric and Kim seemed at times to be living in closets.  As such, we spent a great deal of free time in the kitchen.  The kitchen was almost always well-stocked and clean.  We had to buy food upon our arrival, but we had access to two stoves, sinks, a dinner table, plenty of pantry space and four small refrigerators that kept freezing our milk until we figured out how to adjust the settings.  We cooked occasionally, but we almost always met in the kitchen for some kind of meal…be it a spaghetti dinner or sandwiches from the Tesco up the street.  The bathrooms were also clean and usually uncrowded.

            We went to a meet and greet with the director of the University of Westminster summer program, Martin Doherty, at a pub a few days after arriving.  Martin is a jovial guy and was eager to meet the international students.  I have to say that coming from ASU it was a bit odd to have the director of a university program order drinks for us, but I was certainly not going to complain.  After all, dinner and drinks in a pub is, without doubt, an authentic London experience.

            My human rights course at Westminster was usually split into two halves.  The first half consisted of a lecture on the general history of a human rights topic—minority rights, for example.  I was not entirely impressed with this portion of the exercise, as it consisted mostly of a list of dates and conventions and had little in-depth analysis.  Nevertheless, this portion of the class was more than counterbalanced by the amazing debates that we had during the second half.  The professor would give us an absolutely brilliant topic that we would then have to debate for more than an hour.  I remember that the topic of whether or not NGO’s such as the Red Cross should take a political stance on controversial issues was particularly hot.  Augmenting the topics themselves is the fact that the class consisted of a quite diverse group of students.  There was a middle-aged man from Nigeria, several Muslim girls, an Italian, some rather opinionated British people and a loud-mouthed American (I’ll let you guess who that was).

            Adding to the experience was the opportunity to take some memorable trips to other parts of Europe.  Prague was of particular interest to me due to its ancient history and the fact that until 1989 it was a communist state.  Evidence of its communist past was quite visible in many parts of the city.  At intersections and public buildings it was not uncommon to find statues of burly industrial men and women holding large hammers and striking patriotic poses.  I’ve seen this sort of state-sponsored artwork in movies before, but I’ve always attributed it to a communist stereotype promoted by Hollywood.  It was strange to see it first-hand.  The central part of Prague—the Old Town Square and Castle Hill seemed like a page taken right out of medieval Europe.  The ancient clock tower and dozens of churches with soaring spires are images that I will always remember.  While taking a guided tour is never a bad idea in a completely foreign city, I definitely think the best way to experience most European towns is to snack at as many cafés as possible and spend time observing the tourists and the locals.  The Charles Bridge is a cultural site unto itself.

            While our excursions were nothing short of spectacular, one thing that would have been helpful is the opportunity to mingle with other scholarship recipients prior to leaving for London.  The Lake Havasu Luncheon was a great way to meet parents, COLAET/Rotary officers and get some answers to important questions.  Nevertheless, it would have also been nice to spend some time with the other scholars outside of a formal setting.  One of the biggest barriers I found to planning trips ahead of time was the fact that I did not know what the other scholars were planning to see, or even if I would want to travel with them.  While we grew to be very close once we were in London, it would have been nice to start building those relationships ahead of time.  This would have made it somewhat easier and cheaper to plan group trips out of the country. 

            To sum up, I’d like to mention some more personal benefits that this experience provided me.  Before leaving for London I spent a month living in an Ecuadorian Quichua community.  My time with this indigenous people was itself a truly memorable and life-altering experience.  It gave me an opportunity to break out of the Western mindset and observe my own European roots with fresh eyes.  I was almost certain that a sudden change in environment, such as the one I experienced when I went to London, would expose me to some degree of culture shock.  Nevertheless, this sort of self-induced cognitive dissonance was a goal that I failed to achieve.  What I learned instead was that I feel comfortable drinking corn chicha and dancing in an Indi Raymi festival in Picalqui, and only two weeks later, sharing a pint of Strongbow in an authentic English pub.  I am at ease living in a traditional Quichua hut and taking a leisurely tour of Buckingham Palace.  And perhaps more important than anything, I realized that even on opposite sides of the globe, children laugh in the same way, and often, at the same things.

            If I haven’t already said it enough, thank you for this truly spectacular experience.  I will draw on these lessons for the rest of my life.