The Last Day

Sorry that it has taken me awhile to update our GIEU blog! Although it has been awhile since June 7th, the last day of our program, it was still one of the most memorable days of not only the program, but my life.

We met at 9:45 a.m at the SIT center to discuss our final projects. I was extremely excited to see all of the ideas that people would protray.

Alex Raphael concentrated on the theme of sex education in the Netherlands and how it compares to what they teach us in the United States. What she discovered was that in the Netherlands they focus more on the clear cut facts. They don´t focus on abstinence only education like in some parts of the United States.

Stephanie focused on prostitution in the Netherlands. She interviewed a former sex worker about how her life was while she was working.

Alex Yu found out more about the Dutch view of global warming. It is very important in their culture because of the fact that most of Holland is completely under sea level. It is estimated that it could be completely under water in about 50 years.

Another important part about daily life of the Dutch in Holland is biking. On one of our first days in Holland Sophie was intrigued by the fact that so many people used bikes as opposed to cars or public transportation. She discovered that the Dutch feel that it is silly and ignorant that most American children expect to get cars when they turn 16 years old.

One of the most unique projects in our group was Niel´s. Instead of focusing more on another culture that we had learned about while on the program, he did a project on self reflection to realize why he thinks in a certain way.

Jacqui focused on the COBRA art movement of World War II. This was a movement by multiple artists. The paintings were childlike and simplist. She also passed around a visual display of the art that was in the museum.

Voni focused on the importance of graffiti in the Dutch culture. She noticed that there were very elaborate designs covering the entire city. She told us the difference between people who were actually trying to send an important message compared to people who just tag the same thing over and over again.

Lucia was interested more in the aspects of the coffeehouse culture. One of the interesting things she realized was that marijuana is actually illegal in the Netherlands. However, it is tolerated in small amounts which is why coffeehouses are able to exsist.

Andrew focused on the aspect of the welfare system in the Netherlands. When immigrants come to the Netherlands it is easy for them to obtain 2000 euros per month to survive on. This is a huge debate between citzens and immigrants.

Kate did her final project on the parks and peoples´ rights to have open spaces. She interviewed people in parks and found out how relaxed and wonderful they thought the parks were. She also compared them to American parks and realized that they were cleaner and had more bodies of water.

Jessica, Adam, and I focused on the immigrants and minorities in the Netherlands. However, we all focused on different aspects of their lives. I focused on the Dutch view of the immigrants. I found that although they tolerate them in the society. They cannot be fully integrated and accepted in the society. Adam focused on how Muslim immigrants integrate into the society. Jessica focused on how minorites (who are usually immigrants) struggle in the Dutch society.

Max surprised us all with his fabulous singing skills with a song that he wrote based on a famous Dutch hit.

Overall, all of the presentations were amazing.

After taking a small break, we went on a tour of a wooden shoe factory, windwills, and small villages. We all enjoyed it.

To end our trip we had a delicious dinner and said our goodbyes. Overall, I loved the GIEU experience and all of the people I have grown close too. I hope you all have great remainders of the summer and see you in the fall!!!!

MINNA :)

The 4th of June, Amsterdam

Today we walked fromt he dam to the ´homomonument´. It was built to remember the homosexuals that had died during World War II. We sat down on a pink triangle that hung over the canal. Pink triangle patches were used by the Nazis to identify the homosexuals from the rest. There were 3 triangles and the sides pointed to references such as the Anne Frank House, and a War memorial. While we sat on the pink marble, we discussed logistics concerning our projects. After that, we were able to disperse to forgoe our own project endeavors. My project topic involves how immigrants feel when they arrive in Holland. So, I thought it might be interesting to get a perspective on the influence of media in the Netherlands. After I had grabbed some lunch at a cafe nearby, I headed towards the University of Amsterdam (UVA). I was in search of Brad Bushman. Dan had mentioned to me about how Brad is a UM communications professor currently in at the school here as a guest lecturer involving violence in Dutch media. However, nobody at the university actually knew who or where he was. But just when I was about to give up, a woman was just stopping by and recognized the name and said he was a collegue of hers. But even after that little sliver of hope, Professor Bushman was still MIA.

I sat down at the Stone Cafe and started to rethink my project topic. Since it now seemed that my original idea would be too difficult to finalize, I thought that I could use the conversations I had with people I had met along my trip. Then things started to come together. I realized that I had already done the research. I had spoken with people from Ethiopia, Turkey, Belgium, Holland, etc.

This was the first day that the group had a majority of the day to do what we wanted. It felt nice not having a schedule, but the group still made arrangements and deadlines, which I thought was interesting. I hope that our GIEU crew still makes time to hang out with eachother when we return to the states. After today, I feel like this won´t be a problem... except the possibility that I might be a little late. Catch you all back in the homeland, peace. Adam a.k.a punshki.

Our June 6th in Amsterdam

So today we started bright and early. A little too early because the sun and warmth was apparently not ready to come out yet. So we shivered as we met up at the Homomonument, awaiting our tour appointment at the Anne Frank House. Although it is the most visited museum in the world, we were still able to squeak by in our group of 17! We were all excited for the museum, and agreed that it was really wonderful in our debriefing afterwards. A commonly held sentiment was that it is so amazing to see so much hope, talent, and light in a young girl during such devastating times. We're in awe!

Then we split up to continue/start/finish our individual projects. But of course, in true "us" fashion, we ended up randomly going to the same place for lunch, minus only a couple of students.

Well, i'm not quite sure what every person did today, and my day wasn't too eventful. Alex Yu and I went to the market while Lucia did her research. Then we went to city hall, which for me was unsuccessful. And i ended my day by going to the World Press Photo Gallery in the Old Church, which was incredible! But i wont go into any details...

I hope everyone else had a great day! I think its safe to say that we're all a little upset to see out GIEU trip slowly coming to an end (only two days left), but we're definitely excited about our country side tour tomorrow! peace. sophie.

Today was rather uneventful, since all we did as a group was take a train from Antwerp back to Amsterdam, so I'm going to follow Jimmy's advice and do a little reflecting on the things we did in Antwerp. To start off with, I'm suprised with the sheer amount of activities we managed to get into two days of Antwerp. My favorite event out of anything (maybe even througout this entire trip) was meeting with the Muslim youth yesterday. Wissam and Tissam far surpassed my expectations of Muslim women (I had originally thought they would be more conservative and reserved thant they really were) and thier friends Mouni and Abraham were so fun! It surprised me that with all the differences we had in our cultural backgrounds, how well we got along and how similar some of our interests were, and I can't help but wonder what their reactions to me and the rest of my GIEU collegues were. One activity that stood out the most to me was how I first began communicating with Mouni, who didn't speak English but understood it. Between the two of us, we exchanged German (me), Dutch (him), and English (me) words in order to communicate. It ended up turning into a game to see which words were similar in which language. It was jolly good fun and very interculture... Ok, well, that didn't turn out to be as reflective as I meant it to be, but yea, today was a pretty uneventful day. I just wanted to fill in more about yesterday's activities, since yesterday's activities (for me and a few other people from GIEU) *did* extend into early morning of today.

- Jacqui

June One, 2007

today, friday, june 1st (ok its really tomorrow- saturday june 2nd, but procrastination is expected in europe), we had quite a packed day. under the guidance of omar we arrived at 'Atlas,' an immigration center in Antwerp which aids in the transition of newcomers to Belgium. with the slogan 'integration, not immigration,' Atlas is just one organization that promotes the diversity of Antwerp.

next, we arrived at a buddhist temple just a few blocks from Atlas. Here we learned a bit about the basics of the buddhist religion, witnessed luis' uncanny ability to understand all languages, and observed the limitlessness of worship; for a seemingly ordinary house had been transformed into this beautiful temple.

as this house had become a temple, we next visited the most amazing church. about 9 years ago this church was squatted and has been successfully held by the squatters since. the monastery attached to the church now houses immigrants and refugees, while a back room of the actual church serves as a make-shift bar once a week.

finally, we walked down to the pink house where we had lunch and learned about the organization. the pink house gives presentations, to different religious groups in particular, concerning the awareness, complete acceptance and integration of the lgbt community.


the above is a short summary of the logistics of the day. as for the gieu group itself...

we are doing quite well.

i apologize for the lack of creativity in this post, but will blame this on the mess of a keyboard on which i am now typing, for just wrtiting this has taken about 45 minutes.

well for now, signing out from this side of the ocean...

gieugieu.

LUCIA~ Travel from Utrecht to Tilberg, museum visits

Today we left Utrecht, and took a train to Tilburg. It was a bit of a hectic ride for a few of us because we fell asleep on the way there and barely made it off the train in time. As soon as we got off the train, we did our usual count-off to see if everyone was there (like I like to call it, Vontrap family style), and made sure everyone was well and accounted for. Youssef's wife Raquel took her first day off from being a new mother and showed us around the city by taking us to three art galleries and museums. The first was a glass gallerie, which exhibited various beautiful pieces. Everyone, of course, was a bit fearful that Sophie would possibly knock something over, but she happily and thankfully proved everyone wrong. When we left the gallerie the owner gave us all little glass beads that had little intricate designs in them, which were nice little momentos of the experience.
After that, Raquel took us to a textile museum and working factory. It was kind of funny because some of us felt like we were a high school home-ec class that was interested in knitting and sewing. But all in all, it was very interesting because it was an interactive museum in the sense that we could touch all the pieces. We saw everything from carpets, curtains, and wallpaper, to how wool is converted into thread with huge machines that we got to see. It was an interesting experience, because I dont think any of us had thought much about textiles before this, and now we all thankfully know what a negative printing technique looks like on sheets and tablecloths, and can compliment our mothers on their excellent taste in textiles in our homes (and maybe look at sheep in a more appreciative manner as well).
Lastly, we went to an amazing modern art museum. A few of the displays were really striking, and we spent about 20 mins just looking at one that had boxes layed out all over the floor, depicting various fazes of life. Another display that a lot of people liked was a dark room, but unfortunately I can't describe that one too well because I fell asleep (I got very little sleep the night before).
We finally made it to Antererp, and after dragging our bags through streets that were undergoing major reconstruction (and strikingly resembled a war zone), we made it to the International Youth Hostel. After getting settled in, we went to dinner to a plaza a few blocks from our house. Some kids were playing soccer, so of course this tempted our boys to go get the infamous culturally connective ball, Optus. They played a friendly game while we waited for our dinner, and proudly defeated the five year olds. Good job guys.
After an extremely long day, it was nice to finally settle in for a coparatively extended period of time, and all be living together again after having lived in seperate homes in Amsterdam (and for some of us, Utrecht).

~Lucia

Festival, Education, and Dar es Salaam - Sophie (6/2)

So today was quite the full day. We started a bit later than usual and met with Omar in front of Antwerp's city hall, which was the sight of their annual festival- started in order to bring the people of the city together. The manager (at least i deduced that he was the manager?) told us the purpose of the festival and some other community organizing programs that have been started in Antwerp that are designed to further unify this extremely diverse city. The weather was perfect for a day of hot dogs, music, and some crazy handle bar mustaches that are apparently famous here; who knew!?

After our hour hanging out there we moved on to our next location, which was Royal Atheneum Antwerp, an extremely picturesque high school with a unique approach to learning. Their policy and mission is to have a diverse makeup of students in order to provide a strong intercultural and tolerant environment. As the head master and some other teachers emphasized to us, their goal is to provide the students (who are mostly under-privileged and under-funded) with self-confidence above all else so that when they leave the school they feel comfortable and capable in the real world. The intercultural school introduces the students to issues of sexuality, religion, and respect, combined with a more standard curriculum in order to recognize and eventually elliminate the "isolating forces of differences." They want to avoid raising children in an atmosphere which denies diversity- a quote that i really enjoyed was what one of the teachers said- "an intercultural society is not a choice, its a factual existence; its not something to be avoided." i thought this was a great statement. its a school with an educational task, but more importantly, a social one.

Then we went to Dar es Salaam, the first women's association that brings women together in a space that allows them to talk and spend time with each other. The center provides them with activities and trips that help to bring the women of the Muslim community together. i think we all enjoyed this time; there were a lot of questions answered and stereotypes broken about Muslim women that many of us were happy to learn. We were told by Tisam, Wisam, and Abraham about the power of a Muslim woman being the "interior of a house and the man's is the exterior" but the power is equal. This was a great thing to learn because as the three told us, the American media has portrayed Muslim women as v. oppressed and subordinated; this session helped us to see that this is not the case everywhere, and instead women have much more power than we had previously thought.

I wish i could write more but the internet cafe is closing, unfortunately. I didn't break anything or make too much of an ass of myself, besides the shoe thing. So all in all id say it was a great day. Sadly our last in Antwerp. But i think we learned a lot here; about integration, religion, and community. We had to say farewell to Omar, but im sure we'll see him again in the future!

Next stop- AMSTERDAM!

May 30th - City Hall

Today the main event was our visit to the city hall here at Utrecht. My first impression of the place was actually quite interesting. We arrived at the place from the back side of the building, so we only saw the stairs the lead down to a club. All of us were confused and thinking there is no way that this is their city hall. As we walked around the building more, we finally saw the group and the entrance to one of my favorite buildings thus far.
The first part of our visit was a talk with Bouchra Dibi, a city counsel member who was kind enough to come in to speak with us even on her day off. She was very humble and kept saying her English was not good, but was actually very well spoken and barely had an accent. The discussion was very informative and interesting. We talked about topics ranging from politics, to religion, and also gained some insight about the political system here. Some the main issues the Bouchra's party deals with is helping the poor, sex workers, refugees and senior citizens. She also mentioned that "health is a right" in Utrecht. Every person can get health care no matter his or her status. We also did some camparisons between the U.S. system and the system here. BOuchra is very proud of the current system and was critical of the American way.

After hearing Bouscha speak, we went on a tour of the building with Ankie Fischer, who is a volunteer guide. We walked around the main areas as Ankie explained some historical background and pointed out some of the aesthetic points of the architecture. We were a pretty big group so it was a bit difficult to follow and focus at times, but even just looking at the building itself was fascinating. It was renovated in an extremely innovative way by a Spanish Architect. He emphasized opening up the space and letting natural light in, as well as creating a feeling that the people of Utrecht are all around. There are many windows and the juxtaposition of modern and traditional styles was very dominant.
After the tour, Ankie talked to us a bit more about her own personal background. She used to be a GP and then decided to do volunteer work which she found through a program called Gilda. Gilda helps people find employment opportunities and volunteer work. I also thought it was very interesting when Ankie spoke about the idea of tolerance. I really appreciated the way she approached it. She said that although she knows the importance of it, she still finds it hard to be completely tolerant. Because of her background and experience with the war, she struggles with overcoming her impression of Germans. She says she is still working on being more tolerant now.
After the tour, we all had lunch at a wonderful restaurant calledWInkel SInkel. The decor was very stylish, with disco balls, firy colors along the walls and a colorful ceiling. As we ate, we discussed potential topics for individual projects. Everyone's topics are really interesting and I look forward to hearing more about everyone's findings.

Our Day in Den Bosch--Tuesday 29 may

Hi Everyone! Here is my very first blog entry...
This morning we met at Utrecht Central Station at 8:45am. This group has been so respectful of the program structure as everyone has made great efforts to arrive on time to everything. Thank you! It may sound like a small thing but it really is much appreciated! Today is no exception, all met at the window statue on time. We arrived in Den Bosch/Avans Hogeschool at 10am. Youssef Azghari, who is a lecturer in communication and sociology, author, and columnist, met us at the station at walked us to the university. Born in Beni Said, Morocco, Youssef came to the Netherlands at the age of six. I met Youssef one year ago when he came to the University of Michigan as part of a Department of State visit. We began planning this collaboration last November when I was here in Den Bosch and it was Youssef who introduced me to Omar.

Our time here started with an official welcome from Ms. Ine van Zon who is the Dean of Social Studies. She talked briefly about the differences between tolerance and acceptance here in relation racial and gender power and access. While she spoke we were treated to coffee and Bosche Bol. Bosche Bol is unique to this part of Holland and can be compared somewhat to a french chocolate e'clair (only much better!) Dean van Zon also kindly offered to pay for lunch for the entire group.

Youssef talked with the group about culturally determined communication and gave comparisons between eastern and western styles. Most students had a opportunity to have conversations with Dutch university students, while some were interviewed for the university newspaper.

After a short tour of Den Bosch, we were free to travel back to Utrecht.

~Dan

Monday, May 28th

Day 2 in Utrecht. Basically our day was made up of 2 parts: first an interactive training on sexual diversity and religion. After lunch, a look at multicultural Utrecht.

Examining how sexual diversity and religion relate or interact was very tricky. Today we studied it in terms of Islam, but I think this issue can be just as difficult in other religions and cultures. Nonetheless, the focus on Islam was refreshing because it is not as familiar to us as Christianity or Judaism may be. On that note, a distinction can be made between how homosexuality can be reconciled in the Catholic and Muslim faiths. Omar talked about the sources that Muslims turn to when they have questions: the Koran, the Sayings, compensation, etc. If a Muslim wanted to challenge a norm that is supposedly dictated by God, then he or she would have to prove that it is not dictated by God, but instead that the norm is an interpretation that is more arbitrary than justified.

On the other hand, when Catholics have a question, they turn to the Pope. His decisions are supposedly guided by the Holy Spirit. It makes me wonder then, who will have a more difficult time accepting homosexuality: the Catholic faith or the Muslim faith? It seems like there is a strategy to cracking the barrier between Muslim and Homosexual identity, but in terms of Catholicism it seems like it all depends on one individual (the Pope)...and how he will interpret the Bible and other things (omens? i dont know how he makes decisions). But don't lose faith (no pun intended), maybe there is a strategy to bringing homosexuality to the front of Catholic issues and revealing that both identities are compatible.

Multicultural Utrecht:

We talked to people in the Mosque and on the street and both experiences were enlightening. I don't want to spend too much time on this because I want to write about Ulu, the Turkish Youth Center, but I will just say that it was really something to hear a little about Dutch values from the Dutch people themselves. As Sophie was saying, it seems like we've been talking about how the Dutch are this and that, and how great Dutch society is, but to hear how tolerant people are here, from both Dutch Muslims and "mainstreamers" was great.

To me visiting the Turkish Youth Center has been the highlight of our stay in Utrecht (so far). Where to start? Well the music was amazing. I love all kinds of music, including "foreign" so it was great to hear them play. At one point the percussion reminded me a little of samba music from Brazil. But the band and the music also reminded me a little of a musical genre in Argentina called "cumbia villera" ("villa" means "slum" in Argentina). But it's not because they sound alike, (although the keyboard is extensively used in both) but instead because of what they represent. In mainstream Argentina cumbia villera is not very popular. Instead it is mostly enjoyed by the poor masses, especially among immigrants or people of immigrant background, immigrants from other parts of South America like Bolivia, Peru or Colombia, who for the most part look as different from Argentines as the Turks do from the Dutch. Seeing the Turkish guys sing and dance to their music, (a genre which I imagine is far from being mainstream in the Netherlands) reminded me of cumbia villera, and it reminded me of my own experiences as a minority when I lived in Argentina, and of being a minority now that I live in the States.

What I think was so great about the experience with the Turkish Youth was that we didn't talk much about politics (which is unusual for me, especially in situations like these, which I usually take advantage of). This time, for some reason, these issues never came up. Everything was just about having fun; whether it was solving riddles, playing cards, playing pool, dancing, or making music, and hopefully on Wednesday we can find some time to play soccer with them. If I didn't talk about multiculturalism, or Islam with the Turkish youth, does this mean that I blew a fine opportunity to learn something? Certainly not. This time, I can let not talking about that stuff slip. As Luis said, today we can all draw something from our experiences, from our interactions. Today I learned volumes about making friends with people of a very different cultural background. We've all met Muslims before, but how often do we come across those who live in a country such as the Netherlands, whose liberal values we thought inevitably clash with those of the Muslim faith. Kudos to the staff for their flexibility in terms of dinner today. Having dinner at the Youth Center was a better idea than going out to a restaurant--by far.

For May 27th-FIRST DAY IN UTRECHT-Max Arifin

HALLO everyone!

So the day basically started off with us getting up bright and early and meeting at Amsterdam Central Station to go to Utrecht, a mid-sized city just outside of Amsterdam. Something really funny/interesting actually happened to Jess and I while we were waiting at the train station entrance. This guy from Suriname all of a sudden came up to Jess and just started rambling on to her about random stuff. He was obviously under the influence of marijuana (he admitted it himself) and kept on saying how he wanted to go for a sex change and how Americans ''played with people's feelings'' etc. He meant no harm, and was probably just spouting inane things, but I guess I wanted to share this with everyone cos it's just an example of the many colorful characters that we've encountered so far in Amsterdam.

So when we arrived in Utrecht we immediately went to a mosque. It was actually my first time inside a mosque (and also a lot of other people's first times) so it was really interesting to see the whole religious service where the Muslims all prayed in unison. After the service a man came and kind of gave us a lesson in Islam, and there were a lot of mixed feelings about his ''lecture,'' as some people felt that he was trying to impose his religion, but I personally did not see it that way.

Anyway, after that we had a debriefing session in a park before meeting up with our homestay parents. I'm staying (together with Adam) with two Dutch men who are married to each other and have 2 kids. One of them, Jan, is very friendly and generous and cooked for us a great pasta dinner. His house is hands down the most beautiful house that I have lived in, compelete with a spectacular garden and filled with animals of all kinds- dogs, birds, rabbits, fish. The rest of the people stayed with other homestays; most of the girls stayed with a Turkish family.

After dinner Adam and I walked around the city center for a bit, found a nice bar to chill in, before finally heading back at around midnight. All in all, it was a fantastic start to our time in Utrecht.

Reflections for May 26 - Jimmy Brown

It seems that I will be the first facilitator to write for the blog. Unfortunately I am only able to access the blog site with Dutch instructions, and so I do hope that this turns out. We have been spending a great deal of time together as a group and yesterday was no different.

Led by Rob Voerman, an artist here in Amsterdam, we visited no fewer than 9 galleries and also two gallery openings. Yesterday was a quite chilly day with temperatures the lowest we have had for the entire trip. Thankfully it did not rain on us. The first stop on our gallery experience was the gallery currently displaying Rob's work. If I can manage to upload a photo you will be able to see an example of his work. We were also given the opportunity to chat with the gallery owner who told us about the relationship between him as the gallerist and Rob as the artist.

The galleries were incredibly diverse; some of the artists used wax (some of us are convinced that it was actually soap); some used videos; some relied on paint, pencil, chalk or photography. My favorite was the final gallery opening we attended. The artist was making political statements regarding a variety of topics, but war (and particularly the war in Iraq) seemed to be large themes. The artist used video collages with rather graphic flashes to tell stories of destruction and absurdity.

Currently we are in Utrecht, Amsterdam and I’m sure the next blogger will give a better detail of our day spent in the center of Holland.

Regarding the 24th day of the month of May

So we have been moving around alot over the last couple of days, and therefore I was not able to report back on the 24th of May. Lucky for me however, I have just located what must be the slowest computer known to mankind, and therefore I can invest my time in frustration and error messages for the rest of the night. So the 24th was mostly a travel day from Winterthur to Amsterdam---the deal was that we all had to meet up at the SIT (Student International Travel--I think) offices in AMsterdam at 5pm. So we basically traveled in three groups---one group via overnight train, one group via a morning flight to Amsterdam, and Louis, Jimmy and Dan on their flights to Amsterdam. So Jimmy Dan and Louis' flight from Zurich was delayed, which caused the following chain of events: missed connecting flight--> forced into another two flights to get to Amsterdam--> grinding of teeth and a raised voice when speaking of or to anyone that is employed by any airline---> eventually get to Amsterdam. Dan managed to make the meeting just in time even though they were re-routed through almost every country in the EU. So we all met up at the meeting at 5pm and we met the friendly people from SIT (whom were in charge of matching us up with our home-stays). All the home-stay families then came over at 7:30 to have pizza and to meet everyone. Everyone hanged around for a couple of hours, and then we all departed to our new houses. So yes, therefore I will bring my tale to an end since the computer I am working on just started making a noise that sounds very much like the opening of a porthole into a parallel universe, and therefore cant be good.


cheers from Amsterdam

Niel

Behind the Curtains: Red Light District - May 25

Man alive! It has been fairly difficult finding time to get to an internet cafe. So as you can see, we are a day or two behind on these blogs. But this post is for yesterday's adventure.

Steph and I are staying together in a homestay right next to Vondelpark, one of the largest parks in Amsterdam. We got up early and walked around. It was so beautiful! With all the nature, it was hard to imagine it being in such a huge city. We saw atleast three blue herons and for me, that means a very good day is ahead. Which it was. Steph and I finished our park tour with a little session of yoga using some stretches I had learned a bit ago. All in all, it was a great way to start the day.

Next, we rode the tram to Dam Square to meet up with our group. We ate some lunch in the University of Amsterdam cafeteria where we were treated to quite the interpretive dance by some random lady. She was doing all the crazy flips over the cafe tables but it turned out it was just some performance for a class...she wasn't nuts as we all suspected. Afterwards we took a canal boat tour. The city looked amazing from the boat even if the canal water looks so dirty. But pretty nonetheless. Then we met up in the Red Light District which is where the meat of our day took place...

We met at the Prosititue Information Center (PIC) in the heart of the Red Light District where we talked with the center's organizer, Mariska. She was a former sex worker so she was extremely well versed in the inner-workings of the sex profession. She knew much about the business-side of the profession and has helped fight for worker's rights and respect. I want to first describe the scene of the Red Light District for those of you who have never seen it. The district is one of the oldest in the cities, with cobblestones and gorgeous old buildings. As you walk down these streets, there are all kinds of pubs and bars and sex cinemas. But there are also these tiny glass doors with windows where women in bras and underwear just stand hoping to attract a customer. Above the door is a neon red light, hence the red light district. Beyond the shock and surprise of trying to understand that these women were selling and having sex behind these curtained doors, there is also a church, the Old Church, in the middle of this. So here stands an amazingly old church and right across the ally are prostitutes. Mariksa showed us around the district and explained to us how the profession works. Ask your GIEU student about this because my thiry minutes on this computer is almost up! But it was simply fascinating. There were so many delicate issues at hand. As a feminist, it was extremely interesting to hear a former sex worker discuss this issue as a profession, and not feel outraged about the degradation of women. So from this tour, I learned so much about the complex issues about the Red Light District.

Well I am off to continue the rest of my art tour which Jimmy will describe for you later.

-Alex R.

Michigan Time: Isn't it for everyone? My excuse for a late blog entry. May 23rd, 2007. (Alexander Yu)

After a long day of school yesterday, we were all ready to enjoy the city of Zurich.

So, like a true Michigan student, we went out, stayed up late, but woke up in time for another day of exciting classes. Unfortunately, also like a true Michigan student, we arrived ten minutes late. Who knew the Swiss don't have Michigan time? Luckily, Sam wasn't mad; none of his students had arrived on time either! I can tell that the best part of this experience will be watching Dan, one of our facilitators, stress out about being on time, while Jimmy and Luis trail an average of 20 paces behind everybody.

So after entering our non-airconditioned lecture room (I love the energy efficiency of the Swiss) we got down to the issues at hand. Sam gave several lectures in his field of research, Intercultural Management. We began the day looking into the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity, or DMIS for short. Quite simply, this model looks at six stages of sensitivity among intercultural boundaries. The first three, which are Denial, Defence, and Minimization, fall into what is referred to as Ethnocentric Stages. On the flip side, Acceptance, Adaptation, and Integration fall into the Ethnorelative Stages. One of the most interesting points we discussed was how important it was to enjoy the differences between people (Acceptance) and not to believe in a universal value system (Minimization). Though Minimization allows for people to treat others equally, we must realized that there will always be biases surrounding people of different races, creeds, and genders, and accepting the differences ultimately allows for the growth of intrapersonal relationships as well as global intercultural sensitivity.

Sam has been an amazing professor, and I believe all 17 of us (students and faculty) have really enjoyed his presence. After a long day's lecture, we reunited (and it felt so good) at the GIEU reception in the lobby area of the Winterthur satelite campus of the University of Zurich Applied Sciences. With a great selection of food and light refreshments, we were able to talk casually amongst each other, interacting with the Swiss students as well as the faculty from both Zurich and Michigan. It was a very memorable ending for a great experience at the University, in a comfortable environment (party with the professors? No way!). One could tell we all enjoyed our stay at the University and the company we kept. Dan has pictures. Like a thousand.

Finally, after the reception ended, we had to say goodbye to half of the GIEU students because they were taking an overnight train to Amsterdam while Voni, Sophie, Minna, Kate, Alex R. and I stayed behind for a flight the next morning. Save the tears of goodbye, we knew we would be together once again at SIT the next day. Our experience in Zurich was amazing, one filled with good times, good friends, and a great team. See you in Amsterdam!

Alex Yu

Lovely day at the university

Hello all! So our day continued bright and early when we had to meet up at the University of Zurich-Winterthur. In order to make it to our 8am class, we needed to leave the hotel at 7:30am...way too early for those of us up until the wee hours of the night. Today was our first day in a classroom setting where we would all take part in intercultural learning. But as Kate admitted later, no one really had a clue what intercultural learning really entailed. We began the first class with another class of Swiss studentsw at the University who were there to study intercultural management. John Rankins and Sam van der Berg were the facilitators from the University in charge of leading several activities focused on the topic of leadership. Although many of us GIEU-ers expressed some concerns about the notion of teaching what leadership means using a one-fits-all definition. It made for an interesting conversation though as we listened to John's lecture regarding both leaders and managers. After the lecture, we were given a lengthy break to interact with the Swiss students and enjoy the beautiful day outside! I think that we all really loved chatting with the Swiss students. Personally, I was in total awe to listen to the number of places many of the students had traveled as well as the number of languages many can speak (several spokes up to 4!). But with that said, I was also astonished to discover that several of our own GIEU members were multilingual. Once many of the Swiss students left to make it to other classes or work, I was able to sit down for a game of Euchre. I absolutely love this game and was excited to teach others, and it was also really pleasant to play a game that reminds me of my own family back in Michigan. Then we headed over to a smaller classroom where Sam led a fascinating discussion about the differences in communication across cultures. We played this great game where each student was given a card describing a communication style for us to replicate. For example, my card said that I was from a culture that did not like to speak impulsively so I should count to 7 seconds in my head before responding to a question. From this point we were told to mingle and observe how others interacted. Once 5 minutes passed, we tried to guess which culture was represented by the different patterns. So continuing with my card as an example, some people in Asian countries do indeed wait to speak after a question to be deliberate and clear about their answer. Sam also showed slides that illustrating more points to think about during intercultural communication. One quote that seemed to really affect our group was, "You might be right, but you are probably wrong" - meaning that you may draw certain conclusions about a person from the communication style, but these conclusions are based on culture and perception, so you are most likely incorrect about this person. As the university experience came to a close, we debriefed and then headed to dinner where we treated to moundfuls of delicious french fries and chicken with pesto butter. Bon appetito! I got back to the hotel to find Adam and Andrew playing a little futbol so Lucia and I joined in. A perfect way to end a perfect day!

Tot ziens van Switzerland,
-Alex R.

Day 2 for GIEU Netherlands in Switzerland! (Jessica)

Day 2 of our GIEU adventure hardly seemed like only the second day. Our group started the day off with a united energy and excitement. I woke up and met everyone in the breakfast 'nook' where an amazing breakfast of fresh european bread, jam, eggs, meat, tea, coffee, yogurt, juice, and more awaited our group. We all ate well and then packed our lunches to head off on a day tour of Zurich. We walked to the train station, took the train from Winterthur to Zurich and started a tour of the city in a trolley bus. Everyone had their cameras ready to capture numerous gorgeous views of the city. We saw the old, immaculately maintained architecture of the city, hundreds of upscale big city stores, a beautiful lake surrounded by the city and mountains of zurich, and of course the diversity of Swiss people. On the final stage of our tour we took a metro into the mountains and climbed up to one of the highest city points where we were able to look out over the city and see all of Zurich. Zurich is almost unbelievably beautiful! Everyone in our group couldn't help but get excited about all there was to see and do in one day. Afterwards our team leaders left for a meeting while all of the students stayed at the top of the mountain overlooking the city where we spent time just talking, and getting to know each other more. I really admired the determination of our group to stick together and keep up with one another throughout the day. Even as we went our seperate ways we all came together again before continuing on to stores, dinner, and the ride back home. After dinner we all hung out in the bus station and we were just really able to laugh and have fun kicking around the soccer ball. We made it back to the B&B just in time for reflection where we shared our first day experiences talking about the differences between tourists and visitors, being aware of ourselves and our surroundings, and appreciating each thing that happens at that specific moment. Overall it was such a relaxing day--The best part for me was just seeing the beauty of the places we went to and getting to know group members--including the team leaders more just through small conversations. I think we are all excited about seeing what will happen throughout the rest of our trip and how the group dynamic will change and grow.

May 20 - Reunited at last - Voni Deeds

It's been a long three weeks since GIEU Netherlands was last together, and the group is excited to be together again! We're using this blog, which will have at least one entry from every team member, to share our individual experiences during our time abroad. Today we met at Hotel Hessengüetli in Winterthur, Switzerland for a five o'clock team meeting just before dinner. (The hotel, by the way, is amazing. It's in between a mountain with a stunning view of the area and a river with a walking path where many "sunny patches" and interesting artifacts can be found. The hotel manager, Trudy, is one of the nicest and most helpful people we have met.). Despite stressing about missing my flights and the possibility of being delayed by three days, I was a mere fifteen minutes late for our official start time. I was extremely relieved and excited to stroll down Oberfeldstrasse and see 16 familiar faces after two days of traveling alone. My arrival completed the group and GIEU Netherlands began. At our meeting, everyone shared a few interesting stories about how they arrived here, which included missing flights, losing luggage, being surrounded by Swiss police, and plenty of Europe traveling adventures. Already our group interacts like we've known each other for years, although we've only had a handful of group meetings in Ann Arbor. Our group felt the language barrier right away as we had dinner at the local Italian pizzeria and could barely understand the menu and had several confusing interactions with the staff. Regardless of the new feeling of being unable to speak the native language of a country, the meal was delicious and we enjoyed watching a pick-up cricket game afterwards with colorful commentary and explanation from Niël. After dinner a few jet-lagged travelers went to sleep, while others went on a run up the mountain next to our hotel and on a walk down the cobblestone alleys in Old Town Winterthur. Overall, it was a relaxed and satisfying first evening of GIEU and everyone, including me, is looking forward to future adventures.