In a time when it seems most of the world drips with anti-Americanism, one might question the logic of spending five months overseas. But even in this sensitive time, I could think of no place where I'd rather be learning about the wider world. Amidst the regular studies of classes and readings possible anywhere is a more subtle learning only possible here in Denmark.
Of course, the overseas experience can be motivated by many factors. Yet, most fundamentally, it is a search. It is a search for the context in which we fit into the larger world, to discover new places and their uniqueness and to realize that what we knew was true is not actually so at all.
Among the first things that stand out when you arrive in Europe is just how European it all looks. Aside from the obvious language barrier, the cars are smaller, the advertisements skimpier and people drink alcohol much earlier in the day. Looking a little deeper, though, life abroad reveals what really makes it a different experience.
These are the features not visible during a week's vacation. It is the trouble fitting into a university social scene knowing you will be there for only a few months. It is the frustration at not being able to shop on Sundays, or even after 5 p.m. on a weekday. But it is also the joy of finding a cozy bakery to sit with your coffee and watch how other people live without Starbucks. Of knowing that, since everyone is done with work so early, that also means they'll all be home for dinner.
Clearly, then, expectations are different. Certainly classes are conducted differently and gleaning the lesson can be that much harder when compounded by language issues. More generally, though, one sees the cultural divide that separates us. According to a recent survey in The Economist, only in the U.S. and Canada did more than 60 per cent of people consider success a personal matter and in the U.S. only 35 per cent considered government's job to ensure no one is in need.
In Europe, by contrast, especially in Scandinavia, where taxes can reach nearly 70 per cent of income, the assumption is that the state will ensure that no one falls so far they can't get back up. But even the concept of the nation has been evolving since the development of the European Union. As states move towards "an ever closer union" with a "United States of Europe" in mind, a growing proportion of Europeans hope to emerge from our shadow and stand next to us. After all, that is what France has been hoping for since it first began the European project over 50 years ago and continues with Jacques Chirac's policies today.
The animosity that Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld tried to point out when he made the distinction between an "old and new Europe," is evident. But it is not necessarily split along that line. In Denmark, "new Europe" by virtue of its nearly 500 troops in Iraq, I was told by one girl that Americans are uncultured and never travel abroad (even as we talked thousands of miles from home), but also heard how much another loves George Bush and his policies.
All this is surprising. Back home, it is hard to imagine much mention of Europe at all, let alone an informed discussion of the institutions that 25 countries from France and Germany to Hungary and Poland have built in the European Union. On the continent, though, it is hard to imagine a day going by without seeing or hearing what, as one person told me, "George Bush has done to screw up the world today." While we may feel isolated between two oceans, there is most definitely a world looking at us.
But by and large most people are curious, otherwise our movies would not be shown in theaters; McDonald's would not be crowded even at four in the morning; our brands would not be exported so successfully. Perhaps the curiosity comes from not being able to understand us. When so many West European nations have struggled to accommodate old colonial immigrants it must seem miraculous that a country of foreigners has thrived on its diversity.
For all Americans' perceived unilateralism and uncultured outlook, there remains much ignorance on this side of the ocean. Among the problems is how much non-Americans think they understand the U.S., based on news reports, TV or movies. While Beverly Hills 90210 was obviously a farcical depiction of high school to us, it is not so apparent overseas. And this should be a lesson, both for Americans to be more wary of how we export our image, and also to Europeans that they don't assume we are what we seem on the screen.
This situation, though, facilitates one of the best opportunities an overseas education can bring. In addition to the benefit and fun of learning amidst the history and culture you are studying, it is the chance to be an ambassador. A boisterous debate on American policies in Budapest is ill-advised, but the chance to teach and understand our view and perceptions is impossible in any other environment.
Along with obligatory assignments and realization that classes are still important, there is the chance to fulfill the maxim of not letting one's schooling get in the way of an education. The greater continental classroom affords the opportunity for travel to many places, to see the way others live and to have the unique chance to observe and participate in shaping the evolving relationship between America and wider world we influence.
David Leiman is a senior Near Eastern Studies major who is studying abroad in Denmark this semester.
