September 2007
September 26, 2007
Hello everyone. My name is Ivo Dimitrov and I am a senior at Willamette University, as well as a long-standing participant in the LLC World News project. I major in History and Spanish literature, enjoy studying modern languages, competitive debate, cooking, and fine European chocolates.
This year, I will try and bring to you articles that reflect the highlights and difficulties of Bulgaria's membership in the European Union. How will Bulgarian society change culturally and economically in its integration with the larger European community? How does civil society affect everyday citizens' lives? What places Bulgaria on the world news stage?
I hope that you may enjoy the newsblog and I look forward to your comments!
=== Bulgarian Students Return to School ===
It seems rather appropriate that my first newsblog entry should include this piece of news. On the 15th of September, Bulgarian students flocked to their schools to celebrate the first day of school. The event is traditionally marked by numerous rituals: all children bring a bouquet of flowers for their teachers; they recite famous poetry that praises their country and school, and they sing songs.
Continue reading "Introduction and the First Day of School"
Hi,
My name is Morteza and I'm from Sweden. I am 24 years old, and yes I know, that is old here at Willamette but i manage to cope with my age. I was actually born in Iraq, "moved" to Iran when I was just a few months old, and then sort of "moved" or fled to Sweden when I was 10 years old. I have lived most of my life in Sweden and will primarily report news from that country. But because of my heritage and my interest in politics I probably will also report about Iran. I am also interested in sports, especially football (soccer) and if you are lucky I will also report about some fun and random news about these countries. Every day I spend a lot of time reading the current news so I think that this would be a good way to share my reading for you all.
I am almost done with my Political Science and International Relations studies in Sweden, unless I don't go to graduate school for a master degree. I do not exactly know what I want to do with my diploma, but I know that I want to do something that will help people. I guess I have to find out exactly how to do that. Last year I had studied at Willamette for one year as an exchange student and I had the time of my life;it was great. I got the opportunity to be back here for one more semester and to write my bachelor thesis at Willamette for my University in Sweden (which I still don't have a topic for). I know that this will also be a good semester, although it feels a little weird to be back. Also, I want to point out that Sweden is not the same country as Switzerland, both neutral countries, but very different from one another. If you have any questions about these topics, feel free to contact me by email.
I am Rafael Cocios from Ecuador. I am a lawyer and I recently arrived to Willamette University College of Law in pursuit of a Masters Degree in Transnational Law. In 2000, while I was attending eleventh grade at American School of Quito, I was chosen to represent my country, Ecuador, in the Global Young Leadership Conference, to be held in Washington D.C. and New York. This journey influenced my life positively because I had the opportunity to share knowledge and experiences with students from different countries, races, and cultures. In this Conference we analyzed international politics, finance, culture and diplomacy with key world leaders and news makers. Also, we had the opportunity to discuss international issues like terrorism, drug trafficking, and global warming among others. We participated actively in the resolution of conflicts and learned techniques for negotiation and arbitration. Furthermore, in this Summit we explored international law, human rights and national security issues. Before the end of this event, we went to the United Nations Headquarters and assumed rolls of world leaders in several international crisis simulations. It was in that congress when I realized that it is necessary to cross cultural barriers in order to achieve conclusions that benefit everyone. The future of the global community depends on suitable relationships between different countries. So here I am again, studying for a Masters Degree that will provide me with the necessary learning to face a more competitive and modernized world.
Continue reading "Hello Willamette Community"
My name is Karen Cresp and I am one of the Spanish Language Teaching Assistants for this year. I’m from Viña del Mar, Chile. I was born on the Patagonia, in Punta Arenas the most southern city in the world! It is a cold city but has great views with lots of ice and penguins. I now live in a warm, fun, and cool ambiance beach in the middle of Chile. Vina del Mar is surrounded by vineyards, cultural activities, cool beaches, nice people, great weather and a lot of night life; all of which is next to Valapariso. Willamette has an exchange program with Valapariso which is the principal port of my country. If you are interested in this program, feel free to contact me and we can talk. Who knows, maybe I will be showing you around my country soon.
Continue reading "Hola Po!"
Dobry den, my name is Jan Taborsky and I come from the Czech Republic. This is my second year at Willamette and also my second year of contributing to the Willamette World News. I spent my junior year of high-school at Sprague, here, in Salem, Oregon, as an exchange student. Then I went back home, finished my high-school there and thanks to a lot of help from a lot of people was accepted to Willamette. My major is in economics and I see my future in business management and international business. I love the outdoors - climbing, mountaineering, snowboarding, running... But my main passion is cycling - either racing collegiate series with my Willamette teammates, riding the abundant mountain bike trails all around the Northwest , or racing the muddy cyclocross in the fall. Besides working for the Institutional Research and Salem Hospital, I try to find time to volunteer - write articles for the Willamette World News and give presentations about my country to Salem middle and high-schools, through the new Willamette program Language in Motion. I look forward to informing you about the European happenings! For more information about the Czech Republic, please check out:
Continue reading "Dobry Den from the Czech Republic!"
..... Let me reverse my introduction and start from the end, namely from my dreams. So, sometimes I imagine myself playing piano late in the night in a spacey and empty room, being totally immersed into subtle and deep sounds. Other times I imagine myself living alone in Siberia, far from the modern world, spending my days on gaining the necessities to survive, reading books, and observing nature. Sometimes I dream to have a big family, raise my children, play with them and share my entire life with people who I love. Those are my dreams. Presently, I am in my last year of my philosophy major. The more I learn and discover, the more questions and unknowns emerge in my life, despite that my philosophy of life is based on two basic and stable principles. The first principle being that I am deeply convinced that the world has cosmos; the second being that I believe people are good, regardless of where that goodness may come from. Returning to the beginning of my introduction, my name is Michal Kawka, I am an exchange student form Poland. My latest passions are music, fishing, and photography.
Privet! Hello! Hola! Bonjour! Konnnichiwa!
My name is Katryne, you may call me Kate, but in Ukraine it is Katya. I am 18 years old.
I am from the Ukraine,peninsula Crimea, Simferopol. I study in the National Tavrida University at department of law as a junior. NTU is the most prestigious University in the Crimea.
I like traveling. I spent a lot of time abroad and i am interested in cultures of different people. Whenever I arrive in a new country I plunge in their country with curiosity. I haven't yet in America. But i am very happy that fate has presented me with such this chance to learn. I hope that this trip will be unforgettable and I hope i will gain more knowledge. I arrived here as an exchange student and I will be studying here only for one semester. I am a tutor of Russian language as well.
Also I have my motto:
"I want to live,not exist"
Thanks and good luck everyone!!
Keep in touch!!!
Poka.
My name is Caroline and I am the German Assistant at Willamette University. I am from Munich which is in the south of Germany. Last year I was freshman at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich. My major is Art History and my minors are Business Administration and Communications. I chose this combination because I want to work in the occupational field of art trade. After high school I lived in Boston for a year and worked as a Nanny for my host family. I took classes at Harvard Extension-school and traveled as much as possible. I am grateful that I had the chance to experience another culture and learn its ways of living and thinking. It was one of the best years of my life and I am very excited about experiencing the West Coast this time around. I am very interested in other cultures and languages. I think in today’s world it is important to get to know other cultures and learn to be open to other points of views. This is one of the reasons I want to be part of the Willamette World News. It gives me the possibility to see and learn about the world through other people’s eyes. I can’t wait to read the upcoming articles and share important news about Germany. Feel free to contact me via email (cstraube@willamette.edu). I’m looking forward to this wonderful year at Willamette University.
Bis bald,
Caroline
Hello. My name is Takafumi Yamada and I’m from Japan. I am part of the Tokyo International University; it's probably famous for the TIUA here. I was a TIUA student in 2006, so this is my second year at Willamette University. Now, I have joined WU full time. I’m a junior and my major is sociology.
Through the TIUA life, many cultural and social experiences stimulated me a lot. For example, I visited a Native American reservation to do community service called the TAB Trip. In this past summer, I've traveled around the US for a month by Greyhound bus. Of course, my daily life at Willamette ignited a social imagination and also gave me a motive to challenge myself because it is such a fabulous environment. I was really eager to study here again. That’s why I decided to come back , so i could continue learning inter cultural aspects.
My life at Willamette University is great, but sometimes I feel misunderstood among different cultures. I had been thinking about what I could and should do for the Willamette community. Then, I found the Willamette World News. Through it, I will try not only to learn new things but to also show and to express my own culture, ideas, style, etc. I’m looking forward to telling you about Japan and what Japanese people think nowadays.
Thank you,
Taka
Hi everyone!
My name is Florence Kaczorowski and I'm the French language assistant for this year at Willamette. I am from Tourcoing which is in the north of France in the Lille metropolitan area. Lille is a great place to live, it has a very rich cultural life (it was the European Capital of Culture in 2004, by the way, and being there at that time was awesome!.) It is also not far from Paris (it takes us an hour to go to the capital with the TGV) and it's just a few miles from Belgium! So if you come to France someday, don't forget to visit Lille, you'll just love it! I'm so happy to be here this year; i will be able to share what I know about my country and its beautiful culture while also discovering yours! In France, I studied English as a foreign language to hopefully become an English teacher. So, as you can guess, it's a really great opportunity for me to be here. And I already love it here. When I see something about French culture that I think may be of interest to you, I'll post it on the blog.
See you!
