Hi,
I have 5 days left in Europe…it’s amazing how time flies. I’m currently in Hungary (!!), checking out Budapest, but I only had 2 days to do so. It’s sad, because I feel like I’m in Paris or Rome again. Like, there’s no possible way I could ever see everything that would be truly awesome, and at least in Paris I had 4 days. I ONLY HAD TWOOOO. It’s so sad. But, this was my own fault. I felt the need to stay a little longer with my girls, and I don’t regret that decision at all, because I got to share some really great time with them. And at night, instead of going out and actually doing stuff … we watched the entire first season of Alias on my netbook. Ha!
But really, they were great, and I’m gonna miss them so much.
Though at the same time, it’s nice to be on my own again. I mean, that’s what I came here to do. I came to see the world and be independent, and though we had a ton of fun and I saw and did a ton of things I wouldn’t have seen on my own, it felt like a good time to leave them. After all, they came on their trip together, and though they invited me along for the entire ride, they deserved to have some time for their own at the end of their journey. I only had one week left, and it was the perfect amount of time to see (some of) both Prague and Budapest.
Anyway, on the train here, I shared a carriage with 4 other backpackers, all from the UK, and it was really fun. I know how to play Hearts now. And I’m kind of good at it. Anyway, on this SIX HOUR train, I had a few moments of pure ecstasy and clarity. Just…these moments where I’m so aware of the fact that I’m having such a good time here and that everything is awesome and amazing and that I’m becoming a global citizen and I’m not even halfway done with my journey yet.
I’ve been having these moments a lot lately, and it’s like, impossible to adequately describe them. Time is going by faster with each day, and it’s kind of sad, but I know it’s a good thing…because time flies when you’re having fun. And it wouldn’t be flying if I was stressed or not enjoying my time here. But anyway, in a matter of days I will be on my way to a developing country, and one in particular that is at the crossroads of many different global issues and tensions...that I've wanted to visit for years now...and I’m very much excited...and then after that, it’s gonna be paradise even farther east!
Yay for life.
- Josh A
Oh, and PS, I really really want to start reading a new book. Anyone have any suggestions?
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Random Thought: 20
Hello again,
So, I'm going to elucidate on friendships.
When I went to college, I really only kept in touch with a small handful of people from high school. There was Winston, Gina, Kyle, Kristina and Andy, but beyond that, I wasn’t very social with most of the people I had parted ways with. In most cases, it wasn’t personal at all, I was just ready for college and getting out of Tipton, and little by little, I talked to most of my friends less and less.
As Freshman year went on, I hung out with Brittany a few times, Jojo here and there, Gina & Winston came to see me some, and I think I hung out with Erik and Jill once in Currier. But really I was focused on my various new friends. And I assumed that everyone else was doing the same. PS, I had a lot of friends freshman year. This is mostly because I was super-involved on-campus, which makes me laugh now because I think that 99% of all campus orgs are huge wastes of time only intended to pad peoples’ resumes. But it’s like, who cares if you’re in some dumb fraternity? Is that really an attractive quality to the outside world? It still makes me laugh when people think that future employers will care if they are the president of the Bowling Club or whatever.
Anyway it was never like Ok Gina I don’t like you now or anything like that, it was just that I guess I thought it was the natural progression of things. Like if Gina was in town, we’d hang out, but beyond that, I really began to drift apart from my high school friends. I think I’ve only talked to Amanda Hembry twice throughout all 4 years of college...even though senior year we were kind of inseparable. And though I did miss many people that I didn't see anymore, I had taken from popular opinion that people leave high school, make new friends in college, and these are your new friends, like for life. Then upon happenchance you go home for Christmas and see your old buddy at a bar and you guys catch up over drinks and promise to hang out again soon even though how will that happen because you live 2 hours away from each other.
But really, I honestly thought that, like, my friends I had made in college were my new family. Like, I always assumed that Sam and I would go onto be roommates in grad school someday. Or that Jess and I would both want to get out of Iowa City so badly that we’d up and move to New York to be a younger version of Will and Grace. LIKE FOR EXAMPLE. There’s this episode of Dawson’s Creek (really) where Joey is having a totally believable conversation with her professor, as per usual. And she’s using the appropriate vocabulary for an eighteen year old, and her professor asks her ‘Where do most people make the best friends of their life? And don’t say high school.’ And she answers ‘College.’ Right? Exactly. You’re supposed to go to college and make new friends and have your eyes opened and then be next-door neighbors roommate from freshman year, and marry someone you met in med school or something and blahblahblah. Then go to high school reunions and play catch up.
So, imagine my thought-process now, as I find myself at 22 years old, and I’m more excited to make plans to hang out with various friends from high school than to make new friends in Iowa City...It's so weird, because, like, I used to thrive on meeting new people. I would always strike up conversations with people in class, and go to all these campus events, and over the last four years, I made countless friends and had an absolute blast. But now, the number of people from high school I hang out with is pretty on par with collegians...if not greater than. Over the last year, I’ve found myself joyfully reconnected to Steph, Erik, Tyler, Gina, Jojo, Caden, Meritt & Jackie. And I just made plans to hang out with Liz when I get back, and I’m really excited, because I absolutely love Liz!
Hanging out with Steph is like, such a highlight of any week or even month, and I totally hope that we are still hanging out bi-monthly ten years from now, because I love her and miss her so much and I have more fun with her than I can ever possibly imagine. I just spent 3 days in Venice with Meritt and we’re already planning on travelling somewhere together soon. I see her more than I ever see Winston, Andy, or most of the people I used to think were my new college ‘family’ or whatever. Jackie and I are fucking going to travel to Bali together for 4 freaking days and I have talked with her via Skype and blogs more often than I’ve facebooked any of my friends from Iowa since I’ve been gone (sans Jason).
On the one hand, it’s kind of weird, because like, I really feel you shouldn’t be so reliant on friends from high school to fill up your time…because I mean, coming from a small town, there should be like 6 billion other people in this world who are cooler than the people you graduated with. And you don’t want to go to your 10 year reunion and be like ‘I still hang out with everyone from high school.’ Right? Like that’s the stuff that movies are made of. But at the same time, it’s like, these people that I love and care about are freaking sweet. Jackie is living in Singapore right now and will always be one of the funniest and most opinionated people I’ve ever met, and she makes more of an effort to be aware of the problems facing our country and world than a lot of people I know who are in grad school. Erik just got back from spending a summer in Japan and I’ve never met another guy who has as much in common with me in terms of taste in TV Shows or Movies (sans Jason).
Tyler is also someone who I’ve always had great respect for and even in high school, I wanted him to be Homecoming King and Class President and Valedictorian and everything because he was a cool fucking guy, and he still is! Only cooler because now he’s lived all over the US AND Italy and can handle his alcohol. Gina has worked her way through college and is about to move to Chicago before pursuing a master’s degree. Like me, she wants to succeed and educate herself and see bigger and better things than Iowa too. It’s like, why wouldn’t I want to be friends with these people?
Or I was just talking to my boyfriend over Skype about Meritt. Like, in high school, Meritt and I were never best friends. But, we were pretty good friends. Like we hung out more often than not, and as we were both on the Swim Team and in Concert Choir and the Musical every year, we were pretty well acquainted. We always had inside jokes and I felt pretty comfortable around her, and vice versa, I think. But at the same time, we were never close enough that I thought we’d be lifelong friends. But I always felt like she was someone that I could be lifelong friends with. She has all the qualities of someone I would love to be good friends with, ya know? Like she’s super fun and nice and smart and talented and she never seemed small town, though that’s what we both were I’m sure, and now that she's gone to college she, like me, realizes just how much better it is to not be small-town. And she has goals and is driven to succeed and probably will! Whenever I thought about her in my first few years of college, I would really hope that she was happy. Well, a couple years later, we're…like…pretty good friends, I think. And it makes me really happy.
It’s kind of the same with Jackie. Like, we were pretty much Becca & Tucker from Flash Forward in middle school and freshman year, and, again, as we were both in choir and swimming and musicals, we just had lots of time to get to know each other and be presences in each other’s lives. If anything, we always had similar senses of humor. In other words, we didn't like to take things too seriously and we both liked to quote movies and just have fun. For different reasons (mostly, I think I just didn’t care enough about preserving my friendships, which I didn’t realize until far too late in life), we drifted apart and hardly were social toward the end of high school. Then I think before February of this year, we randomly hung out once over Christmas Break of sophomore year. But even so, I always had a really great opinion of her and I always looked back on the time we spent in EIGHT AND NINTH GRADE as being a really great time. Like, honestly, I would look back on this time when I was 14 years old and think ‘god that was so fun, I miss her.’
And now it’s just so crazy because I’ve really come to question the importance getting out there and making tons of new lifelong friends in college. I mean, in theory, yes, it makes sense. If you only ever are friends with your friends from high school and are still surrounded by the same thoughts and ideas and attitudes as you were then, then yeah, you probably missed out. This is one reason I'm glad I didn't go to UNI. I fear I might have just stayed too close to my friends who went there and not venture out, and even if I did, like everyone who goes there is from a small Iowa town. But to be fair, Iowa is all kids from Chicago, and the leftovers are all kids from Iowa. And really, going to any school in Iowa is going to be a lot like high school, in that it’s going to be white, middle class, Protestant, etc. But I’m still thankful for the fact that I did make friends with people who weren’t from Iowa. Jess, Ailyn, Kaisa, Patrick, Fernando have all helped to open my eyes in one way or another…even if only ever so slightly. Anyway, I’m getting off-track.
I’m just saying that even if I don’t have many friends at school now, I’m still thankful for the relationships I do or did have (even the 75% of friends who turned out to be assholes, whom I'm mostly referring to throughout this entry), because I do have good friends, and there are people from college that I hope to get to know really well someday, perhaps when I get back, or in the future. But oddly, I’m currently in a very surprisingly enjoyable place by striking up these once-retired relationships from high school, and I’m more excited about spending time and re-forming bonds with these old friends than any kind of opportunity to make friends that a campus org or class could provide me at Iowa…and I’m very okay with the notion of maintaining the status quo in my life for the time being. Not to say that don't also enjoy hanging out with the cool people that ARE in my life from Iowa either.
When you think about it, it kind of makes sense. I mean, once I leave Iowa City, I’m not gonna have many reasons to come back. I’m not gonna be coming back for Homecoming to stumble over drunks, or to hopefully work here or go to grad school or anything like that…but I will most likely return to Tipton every now and then. If I'm going to commune with my fellow Iowa alum, I'd rather meet in Chicago or fly to so and so's new home on the coast or whatever. But anyway, my parents live in Tipton, my grandparents do too, etc, and if Erik is home for the weekend or Jill wants to hang out or something, I’m totally down.
So again, I reiterate my point from the previous point: College really has become more of a period of transition, rather than a new beginning. And I’m thankful for my time here, and those that I’ve met along the way, especially people that I still really care about very much, like Jess and Maggie and the Allens and Hannah and my roommates…but I’m very excited to see what my life will be like in, say, ten years. Or twenty. Who will be in my life? Will I look back on college as the golden years of my life, as I always thought I would? Or high school? Or the soon-after college years where I have this interesting group of friends from both? Or who knows…maybe that title will be reserved for my various trips abroad :) It's just funny how things never turn out the way you think they will.
PS I’m on a bus whose driver is driving as though he has a death wish, and Cher’s Believe is on the radio. This song is officially the most common song on the radio while transporting from one town to another in southern Europe.
So, I'm going to elucidate on friendships.
When I went to college, I really only kept in touch with a small handful of people from high school. There was Winston, Gina, Kyle, Kristina and Andy, but beyond that, I wasn’t very social with most of the people I had parted ways with. In most cases, it wasn’t personal at all, I was just ready for college and getting out of Tipton, and little by little, I talked to most of my friends less and less.
As Freshman year went on, I hung out with Brittany a few times, Jojo here and there, Gina & Winston came to see me some, and I think I hung out with Erik and Jill once in Currier. But really I was focused on my various new friends. And I assumed that everyone else was doing the same. PS, I had a lot of friends freshman year. This is mostly because I was super-involved on-campus, which makes me laugh now because I think that 99% of all campus orgs are huge wastes of time only intended to pad peoples’ resumes. But it’s like, who cares if you’re in some dumb fraternity? Is that really an attractive quality to the outside world? It still makes me laugh when people think that future employers will care if they are the president of the Bowling Club or whatever.
Anyway it was never like Ok Gina I don’t like you now or anything like that, it was just that I guess I thought it was the natural progression of things. Like if Gina was in town, we’d hang out, but beyond that, I really began to drift apart from my high school friends. I think I’ve only talked to Amanda Hembry twice throughout all 4 years of college...even though senior year we were kind of inseparable. And though I did miss many people that I didn't see anymore, I had taken from popular opinion that people leave high school, make new friends in college, and these are your new friends, like for life. Then upon happenchance you go home for Christmas and see your old buddy at a bar and you guys catch up over drinks and promise to hang out again soon even though how will that happen because you live 2 hours away from each other.
But really, I honestly thought that, like, my friends I had made in college were my new family. Like, I always assumed that Sam and I would go onto be roommates in grad school someday. Or that Jess and I would both want to get out of Iowa City so badly that we’d up and move to New York to be a younger version of Will and Grace. LIKE FOR EXAMPLE. There’s this episode of Dawson’s Creek (really) where Joey is having a totally believable conversation with her professor, as per usual. And she’s using the appropriate vocabulary for an eighteen year old, and her professor asks her ‘Where do most people make the best friends of their life? And don’t say high school.’ And she answers ‘College.’ Right? Exactly. You’re supposed to go to college and make new friends and have your eyes opened and then be next-door neighbors roommate from freshman year, and marry someone you met in med school or something and blahblahblah. Then go to high school reunions and play catch up.
So, imagine my thought-process now, as I find myself at 22 years old, and I’m more excited to make plans to hang out with various friends from high school than to make new friends in Iowa City...It's so weird, because, like, I used to thrive on meeting new people. I would always strike up conversations with people in class, and go to all these campus events, and over the last four years, I made countless friends and had an absolute blast. But now, the number of people from high school I hang out with is pretty on par with collegians...if not greater than. Over the last year, I’ve found myself joyfully reconnected to Steph, Erik, Tyler, Gina, Jojo, Caden, Meritt & Jackie. And I just made plans to hang out with Liz when I get back, and I’m really excited, because I absolutely love Liz!
Hanging out with Steph is like, such a highlight of any week or even month, and I totally hope that we are still hanging out bi-monthly ten years from now, because I love her and miss her so much and I have more fun with her than I can ever possibly imagine. I just spent 3 days in Venice with Meritt and we’re already planning on travelling somewhere together soon. I see her more than I ever see Winston, Andy, or most of the people I used to think were my new college ‘family’ or whatever. Jackie and I are fucking going to travel to Bali together for 4 freaking days and I have talked with her via Skype and blogs more often than I’ve facebooked any of my friends from Iowa since I’ve been gone (sans Jason).
On the one hand, it’s kind of weird, because like, I really feel you shouldn’t be so reliant on friends from high school to fill up your time…because I mean, coming from a small town, there should be like 6 billion other people in this world who are cooler than the people you graduated with. And you don’t want to go to your 10 year reunion and be like ‘I still hang out with everyone from high school.’ Right? Like that’s the stuff that movies are made of. But at the same time, it’s like, these people that I love and care about are freaking sweet. Jackie is living in Singapore right now and will always be one of the funniest and most opinionated people I’ve ever met, and she makes more of an effort to be aware of the problems facing our country and world than a lot of people I know who are in grad school. Erik just got back from spending a summer in Japan and I’ve never met another guy who has as much in common with me in terms of taste in TV Shows or Movies (sans Jason).
Tyler is also someone who I’ve always had great respect for and even in high school, I wanted him to be Homecoming King and Class President and Valedictorian and everything because he was a cool fucking guy, and he still is! Only cooler because now he’s lived all over the US AND Italy and can handle his alcohol. Gina has worked her way through college and is about to move to Chicago before pursuing a master’s degree. Like me, she wants to succeed and educate herself and see bigger and better things than Iowa too. It’s like, why wouldn’t I want to be friends with these people?
Or I was just talking to my boyfriend over Skype about Meritt. Like, in high school, Meritt and I were never best friends. But, we were pretty good friends. Like we hung out more often than not, and as we were both on the Swim Team and in Concert Choir and the Musical every year, we were pretty well acquainted. We always had inside jokes and I felt pretty comfortable around her, and vice versa, I think. But at the same time, we were never close enough that I thought we’d be lifelong friends. But I always felt like she was someone that I could be lifelong friends with. She has all the qualities of someone I would love to be good friends with, ya know? Like she’s super fun and nice and smart and talented and she never seemed small town, though that’s what we both were I’m sure, and now that she's gone to college she, like me, realizes just how much better it is to not be small-town. And she has goals and is driven to succeed and probably will! Whenever I thought about her in my first few years of college, I would really hope that she was happy. Well, a couple years later, we're…like…pretty good friends, I think. And it makes me really happy.
It’s kind of the same with Jackie. Like, we were pretty much Becca & Tucker from Flash Forward in middle school and freshman year, and, again, as we were both in choir and swimming and musicals, we just had lots of time to get to know each other and be presences in each other’s lives. If anything, we always had similar senses of humor. In other words, we didn't like to take things too seriously and we both liked to quote movies and just have fun. For different reasons (mostly, I think I just didn’t care enough about preserving my friendships, which I didn’t realize until far too late in life), we drifted apart and hardly were social toward the end of high school. Then I think before February of this year, we randomly hung out once over Christmas Break of sophomore year. But even so, I always had a really great opinion of her and I always looked back on the time we spent in EIGHT AND NINTH GRADE as being a really great time. Like, honestly, I would look back on this time when I was 14 years old and think ‘god that was so fun, I miss her.’
And now it’s just so crazy because I’ve really come to question the importance getting out there and making tons of new lifelong friends in college. I mean, in theory, yes, it makes sense. If you only ever are friends with your friends from high school and are still surrounded by the same thoughts and ideas and attitudes as you were then, then yeah, you probably missed out. This is one reason I'm glad I didn't go to UNI. I fear I might have just stayed too close to my friends who went there and not venture out, and even if I did, like everyone who goes there is from a small Iowa town. But to be fair, Iowa is all kids from Chicago, and the leftovers are all kids from Iowa. And really, going to any school in Iowa is going to be a lot like high school, in that it’s going to be white, middle class, Protestant, etc. But I’m still thankful for the fact that I did make friends with people who weren’t from Iowa. Jess, Ailyn, Kaisa, Patrick, Fernando have all helped to open my eyes in one way or another…even if only ever so slightly. Anyway, I’m getting off-track.
I’m just saying that even if I don’t have many friends at school now, I’m still thankful for the relationships I do or did have (even the 75% of friends who turned out to be assholes, whom I'm mostly referring to throughout this entry), because I do have good friends, and there are people from college that I hope to get to know really well someday, perhaps when I get back, or in the future. But oddly, I’m currently in a very surprisingly enjoyable place by striking up these once-retired relationships from high school, and I’m more excited about spending time and re-forming bonds with these old friends than any kind of opportunity to make friends that a campus org or class could provide me at Iowa…and I’m very okay with the notion of maintaining the status quo in my life for the time being. Not to say that don't also enjoy hanging out with the cool people that ARE in my life from Iowa either.
When you think about it, it kind of makes sense. I mean, once I leave Iowa City, I’m not gonna have many reasons to come back. I’m not gonna be coming back for Homecoming to stumble over drunks, or to hopefully work here or go to grad school or anything like that…but I will most likely return to Tipton every now and then. If I'm going to commune with my fellow Iowa alum, I'd rather meet in Chicago or fly to so and so's new home on the coast or whatever. But anyway, my parents live in Tipton, my grandparents do too, etc, and if Erik is home for the weekend or Jill wants to hang out or something, I’m totally down.
So again, I reiterate my point from the previous point: College really has become more of a period of transition, rather than a new beginning. And I’m thankful for my time here, and those that I’ve met along the way, especially people that I still really care about very much, like Jess and Maggie and the Allens and Hannah and my roommates…but I’m very excited to see what my life will be like in, say, ten years. Or twenty. Who will be in my life? Will I look back on college as the golden years of my life, as I always thought I would? Or high school? Or the soon-after college years where I have this interesting group of friends from both? Or who knows…maybe that title will be reserved for my various trips abroad :) It's just funny how things never turn out the way you think they will.
PS I’m on a bus whose driver is driving as though he has a death wish, and Cher’s Believe is on the radio. This song is officially the most common song on the radio while transporting from one town to another in southern Europe.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Random Thought: 19
Why hello there,
So, after a few more days in Croatia (yes, I am in Croatia again…for the third time since my arrival in Europe). I have some udpates. First of all, I would like to talk about my ethnicity. For quite some time, I’ve known that I have a very ambiguous phenotype, ethnically speaking. I am half Hispanic (equally of colonial Spanish and Native Mexican descent), and half Caucasian (composed of German, Pennsylvania Dutch, Swedish and one of the UK countries). There are also traces of Native American heritage here and there, and there has always been talk within my (dad’s) family of being decendents of Sitting Bull.
Whatever.
My name’s Josh Anderson though, so most people just assume I’m fully Caucasian with a good tan, I believe. Whenever I tell people I’m Hispanic, I usually get responses such as ‘Really??’ or ‘I figured you were something.’ My boyfriend told me that when he first met me, he would often see Asian men on the street from afar and wonder if it was me. Earlier this year, I volunteered with a special needs high school student through the Best Buddies program, and he asked if I was Egyptian. My friend Danielle who pretty much lives in Greece told me that when I went there, people would assume I was Greek. My friend CX, who is Malaysian, informed me that when I finally get there, I could probably pass for some kind of Southeast Asian. To sum it up, I’m all over the place.
Last night, the Danes and I shared a room with a Spanish fellow, named Alberto. He was from Barcelona, or Sevila, I can’t remember. My Danish friend Emilie actually majored in Spanish. So, they were chatting away, even though she couldn’t remember how to say ‘down the hall’, and I was like, well I speak some Spanish, so I might as well try some out. The exchange went as follows:
J: Eres de Espana?
A: ….hmm?
J: Eres de Espana?
A: ….um…Ethpana?
Apparently, I’m so bad at Spanish now that he had literally no idea what I was saying. So I gave up on being culturally sensitive and just assumed he spoke English and said ‘Are you from Spain?’ and he was like ‘Yeth, Barthelona (or Thevilla)!’ So anyway then he told us that he couldn’t believe Emilie wasn’t from Spain, because she totally looked Spanish, Northern Spanish, to be exact. I always jump at the opportunity to do this, so I went ‘Do I look Spanish?’ Then he looked at me with the blankest look he could possibly muster, then kind of laughed, because he assumed I was obviously joking.
After Emilie and I laughed about this for like 5 minutes (and he got way confused), we told him it was funny because I actually am Spanish. He was so taken aback, and apparently it’s because of my eyes. I figured he meant the color of my eyes, because my eyes are this weird, like, auburn color that’s kind of brown but also kind of yellow and people have commented on them before. But apparently, it’s the shape of my eyes. So I’m like ‘Do you mean I have Asian eyes?’ He kind of got embarrassed, like saying Asian eyes is insensitive, and it probably is, but whatever, they’re my eyes. I’m proud of my Asian eyes! Jennie Jones had Cat Eyes and she embraced it.
Anyway, I apparently do, in fact have Asian eyes. And according to Jason, I have Asian hair too. So, I have a Swedish name but am mostly of Hispanic descent, yet I look Asian. I’m totally ok with that. I’ve always wanted to go to Asia anyway. Should I go in about a week? I dunno, we’ll see, but I hope that someday I actually can go on a kind of heritage tour. Like, I need to go Mexico, definitely. I know that. Eventually, I need to go to Mexico. And Spain. My mother’s mother’s maiden name is Cardenas, and one time I looked it up, and apparently all people with the name Cardenas are descendants of some royal family in the city of Cardenas, Spain, that settled there because of persecution. So I HAVE to go to that town. But I also really want to go to Sweden. Even though I’ve never really identified with any part of my Swedish heritage, my name is freaking Anderson. I need to get there someday.
I guess the only areas I’ve ever been to that kind of count would be the Netherlands. For 8 hours.
On a completely different note, my European trip is about 70% finished, and it’s so strange that it’s almost over! I have spent nearly 2 weeks with these great girls and time has just flown by. Starting tomorrow, I’ll be on my own again for the last 8 days and 7 nights of my European adventure. At least at the beginning of it. By this time next week, I’ll have two more countries to add to my map, Hungary and the Czech Republic, and I’m really excited!
However, I’d like to point out that I think I’ve FINALLY learned my lesson. It’s really not about seeing as much as possible. It’s about seeing something different at all…and still being able to wake up in the morning to make sure you take advantage of the time you have. And pretty soon, I’m gonna get really, really different, and I can’t wait!
- Josh A
So, after a few more days in Croatia (yes, I am in Croatia again…for the third time since my arrival in Europe). I have some udpates. First of all, I would like to talk about my ethnicity. For quite some time, I’ve known that I have a very ambiguous phenotype, ethnically speaking. I am half Hispanic (equally of colonial Spanish and Native Mexican descent), and half Caucasian (composed of German, Pennsylvania Dutch, Swedish and one of the UK countries). There are also traces of Native American heritage here and there, and there has always been talk within my (dad’s) family of being decendents of Sitting Bull.
Whatever.
My name’s Josh Anderson though, so most people just assume I’m fully Caucasian with a good tan, I believe. Whenever I tell people I’m Hispanic, I usually get responses such as ‘Really??’ or ‘I figured you were something.’ My boyfriend told me that when he first met me, he would often see Asian men on the street from afar and wonder if it was me. Earlier this year, I volunteered with a special needs high school student through the Best Buddies program, and he asked if I was Egyptian. My friend Danielle who pretty much lives in Greece told me that when I went there, people would assume I was Greek. My friend CX, who is Malaysian, informed me that when I finally get there, I could probably pass for some kind of Southeast Asian. To sum it up, I’m all over the place.
Last night, the Danes and I shared a room with a Spanish fellow, named Alberto. He was from Barcelona, or Sevila, I can’t remember. My Danish friend Emilie actually majored in Spanish. So, they were chatting away, even though she couldn’t remember how to say ‘down the hall’, and I was like, well I speak some Spanish, so I might as well try some out. The exchange went as follows:
J: Eres de Espana?
A: ….hmm?
J: Eres de Espana?
A: ….um…Ethpana?
Apparently, I’m so bad at Spanish now that he had literally no idea what I was saying. So I gave up on being culturally sensitive and just assumed he spoke English and said ‘Are you from Spain?’ and he was like ‘Yeth, Barthelona (or Thevilla)!’ So anyway then he told us that he couldn’t believe Emilie wasn’t from Spain, because she totally looked Spanish, Northern Spanish, to be exact. I always jump at the opportunity to do this, so I went ‘Do I look Spanish?’ Then he looked at me with the blankest look he could possibly muster, then kind of laughed, because he assumed I was obviously joking.
After Emilie and I laughed about this for like 5 minutes (and he got way confused), we told him it was funny because I actually am Spanish. He was so taken aback, and apparently it’s because of my eyes. I figured he meant the color of my eyes, because my eyes are this weird, like, auburn color that’s kind of brown but also kind of yellow and people have commented on them before. But apparently, it’s the shape of my eyes. So I’m like ‘Do you mean I have Asian eyes?’ He kind of got embarrassed, like saying Asian eyes is insensitive, and it probably is, but whatever, they’re my eyes. I’m proud of my Asian eyes! Jennie Jones had Cat Eyes and she embraced it.
Anyway, I apparently do, in fact have Asian eyes. And according to Jason, I have Asian hair too. So, I have a Swedish name but am mostly of Hispanic descent, yet I look Asian. I’m totally ok with that. I’ve always wanted to go to Asia anyway. Should I go in about a week? I dunno, we’ll see, but I hope that someday I actually can go on a kind of heritage tour. Like, I need to go Mexico, definitely. I know that. Eventually, I need to go to Mexico. And Spain. My mother’s mother’s maiden name is Cardenas, and one time I looked it up, and apparently all people with the name Cardenas are descendants of some royal family in the city of Cardenas, Spain, that settled there because of persecution. So I HAVE to go to that town. But I also really want to go to Sweden. Even though I’ve never really identified with any part of my Swedish heritage, my name is freaking Anderson. I need to get there someday.
I guess the only areas I’ve ever been to that kind of count would be the Netherlands. For 8 hours.
On a completely different note, my European trip is about 70% finished, and it’s so strange that it’s almost over! I have spent nearly 2 weeks with these great girls and time has just flown by. Starting tomorrow, I’ll be on my own again for the last 8 days and 7 nights of my European adventure. At least at the beginning of it. By this time next week, I’ll have two more countries to add to my map, Hungary and the Czech Republic, and I’m really excited!
However, I’d like to point out that I think I’ve FINALLY learned my lesson. It’s really not about seeing as much as possible. It’s about seeing something different at all…and still being able to wake up in the morning to make sure you take advantage of the time you have. And pretty soon, I’m gonna get really, really different, and I can’t wait!
- Josh A
Monday, August 30, 2010
Random Thought: 18
Hello there,
I’ve decided that the coolest thing about my trip thus far is that I now have a really strong desire to see America. I’ve always wanted to travel within the US, but never as badly as I’ve wanted to go abroad. Last year, I was planning on going to the east coast a couple of times and I was really excited about it, but they fell through in various parts of the plan. I’ve had friends that also went on road trips to Canada, California, etc. and I’ve always been way jealous.
Anyway, after speaking with so many Europeans who have been not only to NYC, but Chicago, California, Florida, etc, I’m really very serious about travelling within the US very soon. On the bright side, for once, there could not be a better time for me to want to take a trip. I’ll be done with school this spring, and I’ll have a whole year to just work and get ready for grad school. I can’t think of a better way to break up the monotony than to travel!
I already planned on coming back to Europe or something eventually before
grad school, but maybe instead of one big trip, I’ll embark on many small trips. My friend Christina is actually engaging in a THREE MONTH road trip across the US in February, and after talking with her so much, I realize exactly how awesome that would be and also how important it would be. I mean, as much I think it’s important to experience other cultures, I’ve realized it’s also important to go to important places in the US. As I said before, it’s very easy to argue that we are in ‘The American Age’ right now…and places like New York, Washington and LA have unprecedented effects on the world culturally and politically. In addition, many places in the US (Hawaii, the south, for example) do have their own distinct cultural tendencies, so it’s not like travelling to them would be that culturally deplete. Furthermore, travelling to places like New Orleans or Detroit could be eye-opening in so many unexpected ways.
In a dream scenario, I would lease a car and start in Iowa, and move my way north and west, through Montana (hitting up Yellowstone & Mount Rushmore) to Seattle. I’d then perhaps go to Canada for a day just to add another country to my list, then go south, all the way to San Diego (stopping in San Franciscso, Los Angeles and some college towns like Berkeley, of course). Perhaps I’d also head to Tiajuana for a little while, before then heading east, through Arizona (Grant Canyon!), to Vegas, Colorado (there’s so much I’d want to see here), then further west through Texas (Austin, Dallas) to New Orleans, then head to Florida (checking out Miami and who knows what else), then up north through the coastal south (perhaps Atlanta?) and finally through Washington, New York, Boston, Cape Cod, then Maine. I’d then drive back to Iowa through Philadelphia and stop in various places along the way in the Rust Belt.
This will probably never happen…but I honestly can’t think of anything more fun than random excursions throughout the US in the next 2 years that would add up to this itinerary in some form or another. Christmas Break trip to Hawaii anyone? Spring Break vacation to Miami? Summer road trip? If anything, I’m just motivated to get out of Iowa. Throughout the stressful summer and upon my emotional arrival in Europe, I kind of got into this mode where I was semi-ok with living in Iowa City until grad school. Thoughts would go through my head like ‘Ya know, if nothing else, it wouldn’t be that bad to just live in Iowa City for a year…I could hang out with Jess, and it’d be cheap, and I could go abroad here and there, and blah blah blah blah’ and I know that that was all nerves talking. Now that I’ve gotten over the initial shock of being in a foreign country and (kind of) alone, I realize just how important it is to just get the fuck out.
Because Iowa City isn’t a real place to live. It’s just this…bubble, where everything’s close and everyone knows everyone and all anyone cares about is alcohol and football, and guys are ass holes but girls don’t care, and it’s probably typical of any college town out there, but I know that I want more for my life than that. A year from now, I better not still be avoiding the ped mall if I walk home from the Java House at night. I better not be buying everything at Coral Ridge Mall!
Even in high school, I wanted to get OUT. But, for a few different reasons, I decided to go to Iowa. I mean, obviously, Iowa was and is the best school in Iowa, hands down. For that reason, I didn't look at UNI or Ames really, because they weren't as big and they weren't as good, and it seemed dumb to pay the same but get an education that wasn't as good. And I definitely didn't want to go to some shitty private school in Iowa that only had like 40 majors. Then Iowa offered me $40,000...add to that some personal stuff I now wish I could forget (ie me chickening out and settling), and Iowa was really the best option for me.
On the one hand, I'm semi-glad I settled and decided not to pursue Northwestern or UIC or Texas, because I couldn't have afforded them, even if I didn't realize it then. I most likely would have ended up transferring after a year and that would have been terrible, plus I would have paid so much more to go to Iowa as a transfer student. I'm also glad I didn't go to UNI or Ames because I feel I would hate them 10x more than Iowa City...but at least they'd be farther from Tipton, if only in distance, as opposed to anything else. But in the end, I was still really excited to get out of Tipton and into Iowa City. I guess I thought in some ways it would be different, and I guess it was, but hardly. The initial euphoria of college lasted about a year and a half. By the second semester oof my sophomore year, I was already making spreadsheets about the best grad schools to go to...and dreaming about something better. And it's pretty much been that way ever since.
But when I was on my way out of Iowa City a few weeks ago, I became less sure about how much I disliked where I live. However, I kept telling myself the same thing, over and over again, even though I was so nervous to leave, because I knew it was true: “ I deserve better than Iowa City. This is not what I want for my life.” Because I do deserve better! Living in Iowa City getting trashed every weekend at the same bars (or constantly dealing with those who do) and eating at the same marginal restaurants and only experiencing the flat plains of Iowa, something I’ve known my entire life, is not what I want for my life! Now or in the future! And now that I’ve gotten over the initial shock of being abroad once again, I’m ready to embrace what I know is true.
And I’m really excited for it. For like the whole last 4 months, I've been feeling really good about this year (2010-2011). It's just...glowing with possibility, I guess. There is so much to do and see and experience and I have so many options, that it's really, truly exciting. I fully realize now that college was not the beginning of the rest of my life, as I thought for so long, but really a transition. And I'm ready for a change!
I’ve proven that I can make things happen and that I’m not afraid to take chances, so I know that I can get out of Iowa City ASAP and see and experience and live in bigger and better places. And I can't wait.
And I still want to go to Costa Rica!
- Josh A
I’ve decided that the coolest thing about my trip thus far is that I now have a really strong desire to see America. I’ve always wanted to travel within the US, but never as badly as I’ve wanted to go abroad. Last year, I was planning on going to the east coast a couple of times and I was really excited about it, but they fell through in various parts of the plan. I’ve had friends that also went on road trips to Canada, California, etc. and I’ve always been way jealous.
Anyway, after speaking with so many Europeans who have been not only to NYC, but Chicago, California, Florida, etc, I’m really very serious about travelling within the US very soon. On the bright side, for once, there could not be a better time for me to want to take a trip. I’ll be done with school this spring, and I’ll have a whole year to just work and get ready for grad school. I can’t think of a better way to break up the monotony than to travel!
I already planned on coming back to Europe or something eventually before
grad school, but maybe instead of one big trip, I’ll embark on many small trips. My friend Christina is actually engaging in a THREE MONTH road trip across the US in February, and after talking with her so much, I realize exactly how awesome that would be and also how important it would be. I mean, as much I think it’s important to experience other cultures, I’ve realized it’s also important to go to important places in the US. As I said before, it’s very easy to argue that we are in ‘The American Age’ right now…and places like New York, Washington and LA have unprecedented effects on the world culturally and politically. In addition, many places in the US (Hawaii, the south, for example) do have their own distinct cultural tendencies, so it’s not like travelling to them would be that culturally deplete. Furthermore, travelling to places like New Orleans or Detroit could be eye-opening in so many unexpected ways.
In a dream scenario, I would lease a car and start in Iowa, and move my way north and west, through Montana (hitting up Yellowstone & Mount Rushmore) to Seattle. I’d then perhaps go to Canada for a day just to add another country to my list, then go south, all the way to San Diego (stopping in San Franciscso, Los Angeles and some college towns like Berkeley, of course). Perhaps I’d also head to Tiajuana for a little while, before then heading east, through Arizona (Grant Canyon!), to Vegas, Colorado (there’s so much I’d want to see here), then further west through Texas (Austin, Dallas) to New Orleans, then head to Florida (checking out Miami and who knows what else), then up north through the coastal south (perhaps Atlanta?) and finally through Washington, New York, Boston, Cape Cod, then Maine. I’d then drive back to Iowa through Philadelphia and stop in various places along the way in the Rust Belt.
This will probably never happen…but I honestly can’t think of anything more fun than random excursions throughout the US in the next 2 years that would add up to this itinerary in some form or another. Christmas Break trip to Hawaii anyone? Spring Break vacation to Miami? Summer road trip? If anything, I’m just motivated to get out of Iowa. Throughout the stressful summer and upon my emotional arrival in Europe, I kind of got into this mode where I was semi-ok with living in Iowa City until grad school. Thoughts would go through my head like ‘Ya know, if nothing else, it wouldn’t be that bad to just live in Iowa City for a year…I could hang out with Jess, and it’d be cheap, and I could go abroad here and there, and blah blah blah blah’ and I know that that was all nerves talking. Now that I’ve gotten over the initial shock of being in a foreign country and (kind of) alone, I realize just how important it is to just get the fuck out.
Because Iowa City isn’t a real place to live. It’s just this…bubble, where everything’s close and everyone knows everyone and all anyone cares about is alcohol and football, and guys are ass holes but girls don’t care, and it’s probably typical of any college town out there, but I know that I want more for my life than that. A year from now, I better not still be avoiding the ped mall if I walk home from the Java House at night. I better not be buying everything at Coral Ridge Mall!
Even in high school, I wanted to get OUT. But, for a few different reasons, I decided to go to Iowa. I mean, obviously, Iowa was and is the best school in Iowa, hands down. For that reason, I didn't look at UNI or Ames really, because they weren't as big and they weren't as good, and it seemed dumb to pay the same but get an education that wasn't as good. And I definitely didn't want to go to some shitty private school in Iowa that only had like 40 majors. Then Iowa offered me $40,000...add to that some personal stuff I now wish I could forget (ie me chickening out and settling), and Iowa was really the best option for me.
On the one hand, I'm semi-glad I settled and decided not to pursue Northwestern or UIC or Texas, because I couldn't have afforded them, even if I didn't realize it then. I most likely would have ended up transferring after a year and that would have been terrible, plus I would have paid so much more to go to Iowa as a transfer student. I'm also glad I didn't go to UNI or Ames because I feel I would hate them 10x more than Iowa City...but at least they'd be farther from Tipton, if only in distance, as opposed to anything else. But in the end, I was still really excited to get out of Tipton and into Iowa City. I guess I thought in some ways it would be different, and I guess it was, but hardly. The initial euphoria of college lasted about a year and a half. By the second semester oof my sophomore year, I was already making spreadsheets about the best grad schools to go to...and dreaming about something better. And it's pretty much been that way ever since.
But when I was on my way out of Iowa City a few weeks ago, I became less sure about how much I disliked where I live. However, I kept telling myself the same thing, over and over again, even though I was so nervous to leave, because I knew it was true: “ I deserve better than Iowa City. This is not what I want for my life.” Because I do deserve better! Living in Iowa City getting trashed every weekend at the same bars (or constantly dealing with those who do) and eating at the same marginal restaurants and only experiencing the flat plains of Iowa, something I’ve known my entire life, is not what I want for my life! Now or in the future! And now that I’ve gotten over the initial shock of being abroad once again, I’m ready to embrace what I know is true.
And I’m really excited for it. For like the whole last 4 months, I've been feeling really good about this year (2010-2011). It's just...glowing with possibility, I guess. There is so much to do and see and experience and I have so many options, that it's really, truly exciting. I fully realize now that college was not the beginning of the rest of my life, as I thought for so long, but really a transition. And I'm ready for a change!
I’ve proven that I can make things happen and that I’m not afraid to take chances, so I know that I can get out of Iowa City ASAP and see and experience and live in bigger and better places. And I can't wait.
And I still want to go to Costa Rica!
- Josh A
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Random Thought: 17
So I’m in Slovenia, and it’s gorgeous. I mean, I guess I should stop stating the obvious. Like, I’m really gonna go to any foreign country and hate it or not think its outdoors are beautiful. Anyway, I’ve been to this sweet contemporary art museum, and Lake Bled (!!), and also spend a lot of time just chilling out in cafes. Oh, and there was this guy playing an automatic little organ thing inside the Ljubljana castle, and I thought it was some traditional Slovenian song or something until I realized it was Fernando! Like from the 70s.
Anyway, the night we got here, we were hungry as it was late and hadn’t eaten yet, and we asked this guy who worked at our hostel where we should eat. He told us there were a couple bakeries around us, but they really just had donuts. But we could go to a few Kebap places if we wanted to, that were apparently 'very good.' Ordinarily, I’m so down for Kebap, but I just came from Bosnia, and that’s literally all I ate for like 6 days…so I was like fugh. So we walked around and we saw a McDonalds sign down the road and we were like ‘Ok we’re just gonna go there.’ Halfway there, who do we run into? The guy from our hostel, on his bike. He’s on break and was like ‘The bakery is back that way….’ And we sheepishly reply ‘….we’re going to McDonalds…’ and it turns out so was he. The food he recommended must have been great.
So anyway that was amusing, but last night we decided to get ingredients for sandwiches as we didn’t want to eat McDonalds again, or Kebap, or donuts, or to walk any further. So we went to a supermarket near our hostel to get stuff. I wanted to get grapes. I was confused though because there were two different kinds of grapes and you have to weigh it yourself and print out a label and everything, so this nice guy who worked the store helped me out. He also asked what a grapefruit was and thought it was really funny that a grape and grapefruit are so different. Anyway, that was a really nice encounter, especially because it ended with this:
NG: ‘Where are you from?’
J: The US
N: Really?
J: Yep!
N: That’s good. If you ever need any help, do not hesitate to ask. Anyone. We are very helpful in Slovenia. Welcome to our country.
Right? That couldn’t have gone any better. So anyway I take my grapes and meet my girls over by the breads. 2 minutes later, the nice guy is back. We then have an interaction along the lines of this:
NG: I am very proud of the United States.
J: Oh, wow, well thanks!
NG: I consider you my ally.
J: Ha, well, cool.
NG: You know why? Because of words on your dollar: In God We Trust.
J: Oh, well-
NG: You know why else? I have problem with the Mujahideens (sp?).
…*looks around*… All right. So this now went from being a really nice, friendly encounter to being somewhat frightening and really annoying. Because when he said the word Mujahideens (sp?), he gave me this really weird look, like, ‘You know what I mean. Enough said.’ Or something. And I got really comfortable, because I didn’t want to have a political discussion but I also didn’t want to totally just be like ‘Oh yeah I’m a Christian and I hate Arabs too and all Americans are the same and love Bush’, and I also didn’t want to be just blow him off…because now it was obvious he was here to talk. So he continued to say things like ‘I cannot be too loud though, as people won’t like what I say.” Uh, yeah. So after a few more seconds, he has to leave to go attend to some supermarket business. My friends and I are now trying to pick out the best kind of juice to drink. After a minute or so, he’s back. This time he’s holding a credit card. Apparently someone left their credit card, and he makes this joke about how he wants to give me the card, but can’t. ‘But I’m no criminal. I swear.’
Whatever. I’m so ready to get out of this place but the line for checkout is like 20 people long and we’re going nowhere fast. After awhile he’s back, and get this. This is what happens next:
NG: You know much about the building in Virginia?
J: Which building?
NG: The very important building where all the information is kept…
J: The Pentagon?
NG: No, I don’t think that’s in Virgina. You know,the building, with intelligence.
J: Oh, you mean the CIA?
NG: Yes! Yes. Who is the head of CIA?
J: Oh….um….I don’t know actually.
NG: You should read more books.
What? Really? You all know me well enough to understand why this is so ironic and hilarious. But still, really annoying. Whatever, I just want to get out of there. But he’s not done.
NG: You know what the only army is that is better than yours?
J: …….*shakes head with wide eyes and slight sigh*……
NG: The Israelis!
Oh god. I am NOT gonna do this here and now. In fact, I wouldn’t do this anywhere. I’m STILL way back in line and he’s trying to convince me about how much the Israelis have to fight for. I don’t even know what happened next but eventually I got out of there. Thank god.
And did you know that there are Aldis EVERYWHERE in Europe? I’ve never even seen one outside of Iowa, let alone outside the US. They’re never mentioned in movies or TV shows, so what is that? But anyway, I’ve seen one in Germany, and like 40 in Slovenia now…but in Slovenia, they have a different name: Hofer. There are Hofers EVERYWHERE. I know right?
- Josh A
Anyway, the night we got here, we were hungry as it was late and hadn’t eaten yet, and we asked this guy who worked at our hostel where we should eat. He told us there were a couple bakeries around us, but they really just had donuts. But we could go to a few Kebap places if we wanted to, that were apparently 'very good.' Ordinarily, I’m so down for Kebap, but I just came from Bosnia, and that’s literally all I ate for like 6 days…so I was like fugh. So we walked around and we saw a McDonalds sign down the road and we were like ‘Ok we’re just gonna go there.’ Halfway there, who do we run into? The guy from our hostel, on his bike. He’s on break and was like ‘The bakery is back that way….’ And we sheepishly reply ‘….we’re going to McDonalds…’ and it turns out so was he. The food he recommended must have been great.
So anyway that was amusing, but last night we decided to get ingredients for sandwiches as we didn’t want to eat McDonalds again, or Kebap, or donuts, or to walk any further. So we went to a supermarket near our hostel to get stuff. I wanted to get grapes. I was confused though because there were two different kinds of grapes and you have to weigh it yourself and print out a label and everything, so this nice guy who worked the store helped me out. He also asked what a grapefruit was and thought it was really funny that a grape and grapefruit are so different. Anyway, that was a really nice encounter, especially because it ended with this:
NG: ‘Where are you from?’
J: The US
N: Really?
J: Yep!
N: That’s good. If you ever need any help, do not hesitate to ask. Anyone. We are very helpful in Slovenia. Welcome to our country.
Right? That couldn’t have gone any better. So anyway I take my grapes and meet my girls over by the breads. 2 minutes later, the nice guy is back. We then have an interaction along the lines of this:
NG: I am very proud of the United States.
J: Oh, wow, well thanks!
NG: I consider you my ally.
J: Ha, well, cool.
NG: You know why? Because of words on your dollar: In God We Trust.
J: Oh, well-
NG: You know why else? I have problem with the Mujahideens (sp?).
…*looks around*… All right. So this now went from being a really nice, friendly encounter to being somewhat frightening and really annoying. Because when he said the word Mujahideens (sp?), he gave me this really weird look, like, ‘You know what I mean. Enough said.’ Or something. And I got really comfortable, because I didn’t want to have a political discussion but I also didn’t want to totally just be like ‘Oh yeah I’m a Christian and I hate Arabs too and all Americans are the same and love Bush’, and I also didn’t want to be just blow him off…because now it was obvious he was here to talk. So he continued to say things like ‘I cannot be too loud though, as people won’t like what I say.” Uh, yeah. So after a few more seconds, he has to leave to go attend to some supermarket business. My friends and I are now trying to pick out the best kind of juice to drink. After a minute or so, he’s back. This time he’s holding a credit card. Apparently someone left their credit card, and he makes this joke about how he wants to give me the card, but can’t. ‘But I’m no criminal. I swear.’
Whatever. I’m so ready to get out of this place but the line for checkout is like 20 people long and we’re going nowhere fast. After awhile he’s back, and get this. This is what happens next:
NG: You know much about the building in Virginia?
J: Which building?
NG: The very important building where all the information is kept…
J: The Pentagon?
NG: No, I don’t think that’s in Virgina. You know,the building, with intelligence.
J: Oh, you mean the CIA?
NG: Yes! Yes. Who is the head of CIA?
J: Oh….um….I don’t know actually.
NG: You should read more books.
What? Really? You all know me well enough to understand why this is so ironic and hilarious. But still, really annoying. Whatever, I just want to get out of there. But he’s not done.
NG: You know what the only army is that is better than yours?
J: …….*shakes head with wide eyes and slight sigh*……
NG: The Israelis!
Oh god. I am NOT gonna do this here and now. In fact, I wouldn’t do this anywhere. I’m STILL way back in line and he’s trying to convince me about how much the Israelis have to fight for. I don’t even know what happened next but eventually I got out of there. Thank god.
And did you know that there are Aldis EVERYWHERE in Europe? I’ve never even seen one outside of Iowa, let alone outside the US. They’re never mentioned in movies or TV shows, so what is that? But anyway, I’ve seen one in Germany, and like 40 in Slovenia now…but in Slovenia, they have a different name: Hofer. There are Hofers EVERYWHERE. I know right?
- Josh A
Friday, August 27, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Random Thought: 16
Hi again,
So in Banja Luka, I went to a museum of Contemporary Art. It was really great, and there was a temporary exhibit all about prostitution. It was so eye-opening, and also very relevant to my trip, as I’m going to be spending time in India working with prostitutes. There was this video shot from a really interesting perspective. Essentially, there’s this group in Italy that really wants to legalize prostitution, because the entire system in Italy is fucked up. This makes sense in the US too.
If you legalize prostitution, it empowers women. Not only can they be more in charge of their bodies, but you could regulate it and you could also diminish the power of pimps over these women. On top of all this, there was just this philosophical debate going on about the nature of prostitution. Some really great questions were raised in the video, such as “What gives men the right to think that they can buy women?” “What kind of work is prostitution? Is it a service? A family-job?” and perhaps the most interesting to me, “Why is it that prostitutes are grouped with criminals and other outcasts, but the men that pay them are usually seen in a more sympathetic light?”
I realized right away that this is so true. In the US, we often will think of the man as being lonely, or awkward, and you may tend to feel for him. For instance, there’s this episode of Dexter in season 1, where the victim of a serial killer is rescued, though his feet and hands have been cut off. A cop, feeling generous and sorry for this now amputee, allows him to have a night with a hooker as a sort of gift. I never forgot that episode because to me it was very striking…and now I can look at in a new, more important light.
If anything, we should feel more sympathetic to the women. So many women are coerced into prostitution (both in their native country or abroad) and really have no choice but to sell themselves. The Danes told me this story about these women in a documentary who were from Africa, and they were told to come to this event if they were interested in working in Europe. Upon arrival at the event, they were knocked out and fed drugs, and the next thing they know, they awake in Denmark and are forced to be prostitutes upon threat of death.
I wish I knew more about prostitution laws around the world.
Yours,
Josh A
So in Banja Luka, I went to a museum of Contemporary Art. It was really great, and there was a temporary exhibit all about prostitution. It was so eye-opening, and also very relevant to my trip, as I’m going to be spending time in India working with prostitutes. There was this video shot from a really interesting perspective. Essentially, there’s this group in Italy that really wants to legalize prostitution, because the entire system in Italy is fucked up. This makes sense in the US too.
If you legalize prostitution, it empowers women. Not only can they be more in charge of their bodies, but you could regulate it and you could also diminish the power of pimps over these women. On top of all this, there was just this philosophical debate going on about the nature of prostitution. Some really great questions were raised in the video, such as “What gives men the right to think that they can buy women?” “What kind of work is prostitution? Is it a service? A family-job?” and perhaps the most interesting to me, “Why is it that prostitutes are grouped with criminals and other outcasts, but the men that pay them are usually seen in a more sympathetic light?”
I realized right away that this is so true. In the US, we often will think of the man as being lonely, or awkward, and you may tend to feel for him. For instance, there’s this episode of Dexter in season 1, where the victim of a serial killer is rescued, though his feet and hands have been cut off. A cop, feeling generous and sorry for this now amputee, allows him to have a night with a hooker as a sort of gift. I never forgot that episode because to me it was very striking…and now I can look at in a new, more important light.
If anything, we should feel more sympathetic to the women. So many women are coerced into prostitution (both in their native country or abroad) and really have no choice but to sell themselves. The Danes told me this story about these women in a documentary who were from Africa, and they were told to come to this event if they were interested in working in Europe. Upon arrival at the event, they were knocked out and fed drugs, and the next thing they know, they awake in Denmark and are forced to be prostitutes upon threat of death.
I wish I knew more about prostitution laws around the world.
Yours,
Josh A
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