Valentin Stoyanov
September 26, 2004
Thirty
four days. Sixty hours of class work. Dozens of new friends. Thirteen thousand
miles flown. One summer full of lifetime memories. One thousand five hundred
pictures. In brief, these are only a few of the numbers of last summer, perhaps
one of the greatest summers I have ever had. Not only did I get to travel a lot
which is my obsession, but I met people from all over the world, became good
friends with them, and now keep in touch and hopefully will for a long time.
But before I go on, I should stop and thank everyone who made this experience
so great:
Thank you to
-
John Parrott for setting up the program on the U.S. side, always being
on top of things, and providing us with the pre-trip orientation in Lake Havasu
City;
-
Erica Holden for making sure everything goes smoothly in the UK, the
welcome packets with all the necessary information, the cab ride J, the welcome meeting in
Guildhall, and numerous other things;
-
COLAET as a whole, for selecting me as one of the lucky recipients, and
for providing the funds to make this happen;
-
The board of trustees, for having us in Guildhall and receiving us so
warmly;
-
The Lord Mayor of the City of London, for taking time out of his busy
schedule to talk with us, and to recognize us in the official meeting;
-
The Summer School teachers, for sharing a wealth of information in such
a short time;
-
The summer school students, for the great times in London and the
lasting friendships thereafter;
-
Everyone else who made this experience better than I had ever imagined.
Maybe the
best way to describe what happened is to highlight some of the things that made
the most lasting impression along with my thoughts and observations.
When I first
arrived in London, I was hardly excited. The weather was gloomy, and I was all
by myself (I flew in from Sofia on Thursday afternoon). After a pretty long,
rush-hour metro ride, I was finally at Old Street station. Now what? I finally
found the residence hall, checked in, and went to my room. There was no one in
sight, so I just decided to wait around and see who shows up. Everyone arrived
a few minutes later, and my day brightened up again. They had been shopping, so
we made dinner and the London experience began.
The first few
days I was quite confused about the London geography. Good thing the girls knew
how to get to Guildhall, because I certainly would have gotten everyone lost.
We met with Erica, and then just started exploring our home town for the next
few weeks. I found the underground extremely easy to navigate and I had no
problem once I got to a tube stop. But I knew I was lacking something – I
wanted to be out on the streets, and even walk between the stations to see what
London was really like. I had to complete my mental picture of the city before
I could feel comfortable going through it.
We spent the
first weekend going through London (the guys had already done the bus tour, so
they showed me around) and I was starting to feel more at home. Then, Monday
morning rolled around. I had no idea about what to expect from the summer
school. I was a bit anxious to see the teachers and the other students.
However, after the first class, I knew it would be a great time. Not only were
Mike and Davi in the class, so I had to familiar faces to start with, but the
other students were mostly our age and it seemed like we would be getting along
very well. On to top of that, the first two professors who introduced the
summer school to us made it seem like the next few weeks would be quite
interesting. Ever since I looked up Dr. John Lipczynski for my application
essay, I wanted to see his lectures, and even from Day One it was obvious the
“UK ant the World Economy” module would be a favorite part of the course. Mr.
Mark Wronski, in charge of the international marketing portion also seemed like
a very knowledgeable person, willing to share many good stories and case
studies.
After class
and the school reception, we ended up in a pub with students from our and the
other classes. I had a great feeling about the group – very sociable and
outgoing. It was going to be a fun three weeks!
School went
on, and classes were quite good. The other two professors, Valerio Lintner and
Alex Muresan were just as good as John and Mark so classes were really
interesting. I loved learning another perspective on the way the world worked.
For example, I had just been through macroeconomics at ASU, so it was really
interesting for me to see John’s take on the way governments and countries
should work. .Whereas in the US the policy is “the market will regulate itself,
businesses will do the right thing, and unemployment will take care of itself
as well”; John and the European view were almost completely opposite: the
government should try to control unemployment, curb inflation, and regulate
businesses. I am not sure which was more exciting – learning about the other
view myself, or knowing that now I could do business with European firms so
much better. I knew where they were coming from, and what their perception of
how businesses should run was. Even from the quick introduction, I now felt so
much more knowledgeable and empowered. The other classes went just as well; I
took what I knew, combined it with what I learned, and now I feel much more
knowledgeable about our world. Funny enough, this semester I am taking an
international business course, which so far has been with the same content as
Alex Muresan’s lectures. So, now I can excel in the class without much extra
work. Oh, things are good.
On the social
scene, things were not bad at all either. I loved living with Davi, Courtney,
Matt, and Mike. We got along very well, and often we would go out to dinner or
to clubs together. I learned that I live to be in a group. Being among others
energizes me, and I was quite happy with my roommates. We hosted several
dinners for our classmates, and enjoyed dinner parties at their residences. It
was a great exchange of culinary treats, language skills, and a pure good time.
I felt good about helping m classmates with as much English as I could. Just
like me five years ago, their English was very formal, textbook-learned. I knew
what I went through, so I tried helping them out with the more informal
language and the phrases so common for each language. In turn, I got a chance
to practice my German, and I even picked up some Spanish, and that made me
quite happy. The rest of the Americans were doing the same thing – helping
whomever and whenever they could.
And how did
our group bond the best? Through the social outings. We enjoyed the London
night life, and the Austrians and the Spanish Girls were equally excited about
it. The mornings were quite entertaining, as the “last night” group ran into
each other in the metro, and we rushed to class barely on time. We always made
it, and the morning commute was everything but a hassle. But we did more than
clubbing. Several times, we played soccer in Hyde Park, usually divided by the
continent we came from… It was good for us because we had Brazilians, but the
European team, with Spanish and Austrian players was a good rival. We also saw
several theatre performances including Measure
for Measure at the Globe theatre and the musical Anything Goes, so our cultural needs were satisfied as well. It was
exciting to be in such a great city, with so much going on all the time. I knew
I loved it when on Friday night I was ready to have a quiet night, after a week
of fun… That was quite against the normal American routine, and everyone
enjoyed it.
On top of our
academic and social activities, we still did quite a bit of sightseeing. We
went to places away form the usual tourist itinerary, and I was quite happy
because I was able to see London as the local residents saw it. This helped me
feel more at home (and I was not feeling lost anymore) and understand the
English a little better. A conversation on a commuter train enlightened me why
the city was not full of happy-looking, glowing people… the daily ride to and
from work could take about two hours, so people were tired by the time they
even made it to work. I was sorry to hear it, but also thrilled that I got a
step closer to the culture of my host city.
The three
weeks went by too soon and before we knew it, it was final exam day and goodbye
reception. As I had hoped, I did quite well on the exam, and even was distinguished
as a top student in the course. I was glad I had done so well, and now I could
take the knowledge home with me and apply it to my studies at ASU. As the same
time, we were quite sad to part with the great group of people, the teachers
and our fellow students. Yet, matt and I capitalized on the new friendships. We
built an itinerary through Salzburg and Vienna in Austria, where we could visit
some of the Austrians. Then, we flew to Rome and spent time with some of Matt’s
classmates, along with touring Rome and Florence. I loved being back in Italy,
and I hope I was a good enough guide for Matt on his first visit there.
After that,
we had to make our trip back to London, and Phoenix followed the next day. The
summer of a lifetime was over. I was quite sad to return to my daily routine,
but I knew I had a global network of friends for future excursions. On top of
that, I had four close friends right here in Arizona. Nothing brings people as
close as living together, so I now know my roommates will be there for me, just
as I will be there for them.
The adventure
is not over, though, the time in London only made us wanting more travels. Who
knows, we may end up in London in November, or in Barcelona in March… But only
the future will show. And, as I looked through my application essay, I got
reminded of the Bulgarian poet, who said “One is truly human only on the road”
Yes, I can relate J
Oh, before I
close, I just wanted to make a few recommendations… There was nothing major,
just a few details to make the trip more enjoyable. I wonder if it would be too
hard to set up student travelcards for the group before they arrive in London
.The savings off a regular underground pass are about 30 percent, or a good GBP
15 for the monthly card in Zone 1. The students can get them on their own, but
they need a school-issued identity card. So, maybe, the first day of class,
they could get their identification issued and get the travelcards after
school. On that note, I would have really liked more detailed information on the
London transportation system. I know metro stations have large tube maps, and I
believe those would be great. I also was inseparable from my fare book (because
I was trying to figure out the cheapest way to get out of Zone 1 whenever I had
to). But those are all minor details, and they could even be accessed online.
Oh, I am not sure if it would be feasible, but some prepaid mobile information
may be cool too. If the parents would like to stay in touch, they could get a
cheap cell phone with a prepaid SIM card (around GBP 40), and then call the
kids up in the UK. Plus, the group would be able to be in touch amongst
themselves, other classmates, and Erica. So, it may be a good idea. I had the
phone already, so my investment was only the SIM card, and it worked out great…
we coordinated and were in touch through constant text messages, and felt quite
on top of things. I don’t know, it may be something to consider. Other than
that, the organization of everything was perfect, so thank you Erica and
everyone for a smooth stay.
Again, thank
you to everyone who made this possible, I will be always grateful, and I
already see myself promoting the program and telling the story of Mr.
McCulloch I will gladly distribute the
application to the organizations that I am a member of, so hopefully this
applicant class will be stronger and more competitive than ever.
One last
thing: I am enclosing a picture CD with the photos I took during the travels. I
hope you find it entertaining. I tried numbering them, but looks like my
numbers are way off even from the start, and I had no desire to go through 1500
pictures. And number them well. The sequence is right, and the gaps are
probably due to my inability to count J. If the CD gets lost,
though, you can always see the pictures online on my website, http://valentin.webhop.org/photos
I know that for me they will be a constant reminder of the great times we had
and the great people we met…
Thanks again
to everyone, and I hope to see you all soon! I will probably be in Havasu
before London, but I still have Erica’s number, so if I (and the rest of the
group) have an extended stay in London, she just might get a call from me. Ok,
enough
Thank you
Sincerely
Valentin
Stoyanov