Hey y'all! So we have been in Slovakia (No, not Czechoslovakia...that's not a thing anymore...c'mon go do some world geography) for about 6 days now for my study abroad and I can already tell it is going to be one of the most amazing experiences of my life! If you ever get ANY opportunity to travel abroad, PLEASE TAKE IT. Preferably to some place like this where not every rich white girl who wants to get "cultured" has been, like...I don't know...Paris or London! I'm sure they are great places to visit, and I hope to one day, but Slovakia? This place is amazing!
I want to take the time to write a funny post about some things I have learned here, but yesterday I had a pretty eye opening experience on the train back from Vienna that I wanted to share. So I'm sorry ahead of time, but this post has a little bit more of a serious note to it, frankly because I am pissed!
(I promise I will make it up to you with hilarious stories about my European adventures later, but for now....it's soapbox time.)
So yesterday my whole group went to Vienna so we could learn how to use the train system when leaving the country. Plus ,Vienna is a really cool city. It's more tourist oriented than Bratislava, where I currently reside, and most people spoke English, and they had delicious sausage, pretzels, and beer, as to be expected! The city was great! I had Starbucks (#whitegirl I know I know) The train ride back, however, was not.
I sat with three girls who are very nice, and I was glad because they aren't people I get a chance to talk to
very often on our trip. Then across the aisle from us was a group of four women who I at
first thought were mother daughter pairs. When they heard us speaking English
they asked where we were from, so we introduced ourselves and chatted with them
briefly before returning to our respective conversations. They were from
Pennsylvania which should have been my first warning…damn yankees ;) The girls
and I got onto the topic of education (since two of us plan on becoming
teachers) and how they are passing that new law that requires 8th graders to choose either a college prep path or a career prep path and what we
thought about it, etc. As the other girls began to take over the conversation I started
to zone out a few times and listen to the people around us, which is when I picked
up that one of the women across from us was talking about us.
She was doing so
in a hushed tone, but it was loud enough that I could hear her. She began
talking about how pitiful it was that all American teenagers in our generation
use the word “like” as every other word when we speak. She then told one the
younger girls with them (who couldn't have been much older than us) to listen to us talk to one another and they would hear it. Then she got quiet for a
while and they responded that they couldn't hear anything, we sounded normal.
Then the older woman said, and this is a direct quote, “Oh just listen. They
have been saying it this entire time. It is disgusting to hear people who plan on
becoming educators of our youth to talk in that way.” The other one responded
with “It’s just so sad.” Her tone was so bitter I felt like I could taste it. At
this point I was silent, and very angry. I was trying so hard to build up the
courage to say something to her, but I am simply just non-confrontational. I
could feel my chest turning splotchy and my cheeks getting red as her words
sank into the pit of my stomach. I also began to notice every single time on of our girls used the word “like,” which was more often
than I wanted to admit after over hearing that woman.
After a few minutes one
of the women leaned over and asked how we were all on this trip together;
basically, what was our common denominator? I knew she wanted confirmation that
we were education majors. So of course we told them that we were honors
students, which only seemed to make their words sting that much more. We told
them our majors: elementary education, kinesiology, environmental science, and
agricultural development with a teaching certification, and I made sure to go
last. At which point I took over the conversation, discussing where we were
from, why we were here, and what it meant to us. Then I asked about their trip.
They were two professors and two education students who had just received their
masters and were studying different types of education systems. I made sure to
speak so clearly, and with as much confidence and eloquence as I could muster.
I didn't use the word “like” or "uh" or "um" one single time. I watched the mean woman’s face
change as she recognized the mistake she had made in judging us as a whole,
based on a casual conversation with friends.
Let me also point out that we weren't talking about the latest gossip girl episode...we were talking about becoming teachers and current American legislation. So judge away lady, but I was impressed with our conversation.
From then on they were very kind
and had a lot to say to us. We talked about job opportunities, America’s opinions
of teachers, the role scholarships play in school, and what we would do if we
were given the opportunity to be teachers over here. At the end of the train
ride one of them grabbed my hands and held them and said “It was really so nice
to meet you. I hope you have a wonderful experience here.”
It sickens me that here, in a
foreign country, where WE are the outsiders, the most judgmental and rude
people we have encountered were fellow Americans. The Slovaks, and Czechs, and
Austrians have treated us with nothing but kindness, a little bit of humor at
our meager attempts at their languages, and at most slight annoyance. Americans,
who ignorantly expect the world to speak English, who treat foreigners so
poorly, and are so quick to judge them for their attempts at English…we are treated
like normal people here, and have been shown so much understanding. Don’t get
me wrong, I love my country, and I love my state. And the woman spoke a lot of
truth. The kids in my generation use fillers in sentences that don’t need them,
especially when we are having a casual conversation with our friends. But this?
To assume that we were unintelligent, and would be disappointing as future educators?
This was the most disappointing thing that has happened so far on my trip. Americans
needs to quit perpetuating the stereotypes that we have in other countries when
we travel abroad. We shouldn't be the rude, complaining, hamburger eaters who
only take escalators, that people over here think we are. We should be open
minded and friendly, and at the very least should be enthusiastic to meet
fellow Americans abroad, not talking shit about them on a train. I mean come on
lady, we were three feet away.
So to whoever you are, you rude spiky haired, Pennsylvanian
education professor, I say shame on you. You seemed like a very intelligent
woman and posed a lot of questions I hadn't thought about before, so it is disappointing
that you felt the need to talk about us in that manner. All I can say is that I
will never attend school in Pennsylvania, and I will never speak ill of someone
on a train.
Until next time,
-L
