Thank You from Val

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