Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Success after failure
This is one of the moments where I found that had an important insight in Three Cups of Tea. Personally I found that Greg Mortenson wanted to bring a change in the village and the villagers so he did something humanitarian a social cause to the people out there. When he was not able to climb Mt. K2, he could have just gone back to his country and carried on his life but he had different things in his minds and helped the villagers for a noble cause. This was one of the most beautiful aspects of the book. Not even caring for his own family, he used to stay and help the villagers for the whole half of the year.
Talking about my experience in Global Beginnings, I did go through a lot of situations where I had to make choices and these choices have a positive and a negative impact. The first ten days in Paris was something which everyone would not even think of doing. Instead of getting to know about the French culture and people, I was so lazy to go out. In a sense, I was not at all interested in the learning about the French culture. As we began to experience many things about the French culture, I found many difficulties whether it is the language or the understanding about their culture. This made me feel completely left out and thus slowly and steadily, I started to socialize with the French people showing a keen interest in their language and culture. During this period of time, I encountered various aspects about their culture which not only broadened my knowledge of understanding but has helped me to connect it with my daily life as well. There after I have started to respect and appreciate different cultures.
A Gobal Lesson
It is obvious that this adventure of Greg Mortenson is not an easy route to lead one’s life for the sake of others. Likewise Greg Mortenson, a commitment to serve others has always been on the forefront. As a young Christian student, I have always been engrossed in helping my community. We were taught to serve mankind. My involvement in community service has always meant a lot to me. It brings a feeling of satisfaction to help people in need. I am committed to assisting others and being part of a cause which drives me in my personal philosophy of life.
As for now, Global Beginnings has not only helped me to become who I am but also has taught me different aspects about life. These aspects are concerned with the culture around me. It has helped me not only to experience the cultures and lifestyles of different people but develop ideas on how I can contribute something for the people around me. Now, I see myself as a person who is willing to lend a hand to contribute something to the society where I become a part of it. One aspect that I have learned from Greg Mortenson experience is that one must respect and appreciate each other’s culture in order to bring peace and harmony thus during my stay in Global Beginnings, I am here to push myself further to gain a wide range of knowledge from the European culture and implying that knowledge in my daily life. With some dedication and determination we can all contribute and change the world in which we live.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
A day not to be forgotten
Moving on with my tight schedule, the first thing I usually do in the first hour is open my computer, see if there is any connection to internet. Talking about internet, the place where I am staying has one of the worst internet connections I have ever encountered so far. Luckily there was connection on this particular day. Going to the official college website has always been like face booking or using skype these days. More then anything else, I use the college website every five minutes. The consequence of not going through the college website is that you miss everything that has been assigned. The best part of going through the college website is to look at the grades for different courses. This is the only thing that motivates me to do better on my academics.
After hours of wondering what I should do or where should I start from, I start to open my word document and type few lines about the events and activities we had gone through. Well this is the most interesting and the most boring part of writing a journal. The most interesting part which is one can describe the things they did as they want and the boring part is to write journal for every events. Sometimes I feel that I don’t have anything to write and the words that come through my mind are lost before my hand starts typing. Knowing what to and what not to write, I began to flip the pages of “Indecision” which is the book for our philosophy classes and started taking notes. This lasted for five minutes and then I felt like the gravity is pulling me and trying to convey the message “go back to sleep Sugam.”
Not able to concentrate on a particular thing, I start to stretch myself in order to gain my consciousness. I remember most of the times, Professor Bill Thomas with his wicked look and smile told me to get out of my room and explore the city around and in that way I will be able to learn and concentrate on my work. Its not that I want to spend everyday staying at my room, trying to figure out the things I need to do. I am quite an outgoing and a compatible person but the only thing that bothers me is that it consumes much time to go to the nearest city. After spending hours and hours of time playing guitar, sleeping and thinking about things which are not supposed to be thought, the sun slowly started to move towards the west.
As Professor Bill says to connect everything with “light” which is the main theme for the course, I decided at least to end the day with something useful and worthy. The courses that we have been taking has been designed in such a way that each one of them offers and integrated theme for the semester an this has been very useful as I have been able to make connections through each and every course so far. As of now, we have been experiencing the French culture for a while, I decided to meet one of the French students from a Business school in order to share a bit of culture and get to know their culture more. It was around 5 pm when I finally decided that I should move out of the Chateau and meet a student in the city of Strasbourg. When I reached the city, I met this student called Guiyom who was just waiting for me. As we started walking around the city, we shared many aspects about our culture and got to know each other well. The main purpose of our meeting was to learn more about each others lifestyles and the language we speak. Basically, our conversation was mostly based on the studies we have been taking and the experiences we have gone through. It was an amazing experience to get to know the French student and this helped me a lot with the courses I have been talking as well.
After spending couple of hours with the French student, I started heading back to the Chateau as it was already 8 pm. As I reached the Chateau I took a moment to remember the things I had done on that particular day. I started the day being a bit sloppy as I was not able to concentrates on any thing but as I went to the city to explore a bit about the French culture, the day seemed quite fine and at least I had something to work on. Now I have realized that sitting in the room for hours and figuring out what I should do and end up doing nothing, it is better to explore different people, places and cultures around you. For instance, I have learned to be more conscious about the people around me rather than trying to analyze the unnecessary things in life.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Something to learn about European Parliament
Moving on with the European parliament, it is the only directly-elected body of the European Union. With the members comprising of 736, the European Parliament are there to represent the citizen. The elections held once every five years by the voters’ right across the 27 member states of the European Union. There are generally 7 political groups who work together and help to achieve a positive result in the election process. The Building comprises of more than one thousand offices for staffs and administration and nearly three thousand people work every day. During office hours about 250 staffs and civil servants are seen working throughout the day. Furthermore, I came to know that the twelve starts on the European flag represented a symbolic flag which symbolized perfection. Altogether there are twenty three official languages that are spoken in the parliament. The Parliament organizes its work, through a system of specialized committees. The work of the European Parliament is important because in many policy areas, decisions on new European laws are made jointly by Parliament and the Council of Ministers, which represents Member States.
Parliament plays an active role in drafting legislation which has an impact on the daily lives of its citizens: For example, on environmental protection, consumer rights, equal opportunities, transport, and the free movement of workers, capital, services and goods. Parliament also has joint power with the Council over the annual budget of the European Union. It particularly focuses on the human rights and the democratic values throughout the world. The right to speak, read and write is basically what Parliament focuses on.
So after few hours of discussion with the concerned person at the Parliament, we finally ended our yet another interesting journey at the European Parliament. With some knowledge on how the Parliament functions and the important roles that they have been providing not only with the European nations but all around the world, we finally end our journey in the political world. Even though it was just a brief introduction to the European political world, this will definitely help much in the coming few years as most of students focuses on this particular field.
Monday, November 16, 2009
"City Light" The Charlie Chaplin Movie
Moving on with the movie, I was thrilled to watch Charlie Chaplin’s movie after ages. Throughout the movie, I kept my eyes open as I didn’t wanted to miss even a single part. The most remarkable thing about the movie was that it was shown on a projector and was interpreted with the huge orchestra. This was totally an amazing experience for me as I had never encountered such a show so far in my life. Throughout the show the musicians showed their composer and quality performance in order to compliment the movie. While watching I had the sense of idea on how much the musicians had to put efforts to provide the background music for movies.
As the movie began to flow with the music from the orchestra, I was able to pick out certain themes that would relate in my daily life. As far as I understood the movie, it had all the ingredients that a well directed and well written movie is all about. It had comedy, tragedy, and a moral story that would resemble with our everyday lives. The movie was all about how Charlie Chaplin meets this beautiful blind lady, starts falling in love with her and tries to make her feel that she is one of a special kind none the less of her blindness. Charlie tries to help her out even though he has been going through with his own troubled life. Even though he himself can’t afford anything himself, he is able to sacrifice everything for that lady and make her happy. During this course of time, he goes through a lot of difficulties but in the end he makes his way to her heart and makes her see the world through her own eyes. For me this movie was not just about humor but it had the essential elements that we go through every day. The show ended with an amazing performance from the orchestra group and the performers received a huge round of applause from the whole crowd as everyone completely loved the show.
Friday, November 6, 2009
A reflection on the dance performance
If I had to go back and think about the performance, I would just be able to appreciate the performers as they had put forth so much effort to make the whole show energetic and lively. It was praiseworthy to see the endurance, fluidity and flexibility of the performers as they were the ones who kept the crowd look totally astonished. Personally, I believe this was one of the best visits I have encountered. This has not only made me think again and again but had inspired me that human can achieve anything if they have the will and determination.
Friday, October 30, 2009
An Instrumental person in my life
Looking at my own experience in Global Beginnings, there has been someone who has been the most instrumental person guiding me throughout the process and that man is none other than my father. He has always been a key to my success. This is my first travel outside my home country and I have never travelled without my family. It is quite difficult for an international student to adjust with the cultural differences. So far, the first semester in France has been full of ups and downs. As we move towards the end of the semester, the screws are getting tighter and the courses are getting tougher. Apart from home sick, work overload, relation with different professors and the cultural differences that I am going through, I have been really stressed out. This has been the toughest times and I am still trying to hang on. I have always admired my father for his support in what I do. He has always motivated me when I struggle and hence push me further to excel whether in academics or life in general. My father calls me almost every day in order to make me feel that I am not alone. Generally, when I tell him about my assignments and workloads, he is always ready to help me and give advices. If I would say that a person who has really had a hand in my success is my father.
Friday, October 23, 2009
"Musee de Alsace" a musical experience
As I went inside the auditorium, I saw some instruments on the stage. To my knowledge I knew some of the instruments but the rest was totally a new for me. The crowd gathered in silence and the musicians positioned themselves to start the show. As I have taken guitar courses in my childhood days, I know exactly how much dedication and discipline you need in order to get the vive of the music. The chanting vocals and the sounds of the classical instruments made the whole music into a beautiful piece of metaphor. There was so much melody in their music that everyone was carried away. It was so peaceful and elegant that I felt like I have been enriched with the knowledge of various emotions. Whenever I experience something, I recall and gather my thought from the past. I could clearly remember my childhood days when I sat down with my guitar for hours in the room practicing guitar lessons. After hours of hard work and dedication I would finally come to know how to play those tunes. Now if I connect this with what I saw that night in the concert was the knowledge of light.
Music has a purpose and its main purpose is to capture the minds and soul of the listener and send messages and build up connections. As the show was getting more interesting, I was questioning myself what was the main theme of their music and I wondered sometimes. I felt that their music was based on a knowledge which were emotions pouring out from their hearts. Remembering the bad times I have gone through and most importantly being away from my parents, I was literally in tears as I was listening to their music. I think this is how music defines a soul.
The show was approaching towards the end and the feeling towards the music was more intense. As the musicians played their final piece, everyone in the crowed made their ears and eyes wide open as they knew that they wouldn’t get this opportunity to hear them again. The show ended with a fabulous piece of music and the musicians were appreciated with a blazing sound of clapping hands standing applause. Everyone in the crowed enjoyed their performance and I was literally trying to get a glimpse of their music on my camera and I did as well. The show was just reviving and I personally felt that I had a lot of memories to share with my families and friends.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Group Dinner at the Chateau
It was on the 11th of October that we finally realized that we should do something as a group and so all the group members were pumped up with organizing this dinner. The day earlier some of the members went to buy the groceries from the nearby supermarket from Germany. We started preparing the meal at 5 pm and everyone seemed quite helpful in contributing something to make the dinner successful. Some were busy cutting the vegetables, some were cutting the meat, some were washing the dishes, and others were arranging the decoration of the dining table. After three hours of hard work and patience, we finally prepared our meal for the evening. Apart from the Global Beginnings group with Professor Bill Thomas, there was Sven who was our coordinator and Kate who arrived a couple days back in order to write an article about the Global Beginnings tour. They were the guests for the evening. The meal consisted of Nepalese food which was blended with the Chinese cuisines as well. Professor Bill Thomas complimented the food with his few bottles of wine and so it was one of the interesting dinner we had so far.
Personally I believe that this was not just a dinner, it was a way to see whether the members were compatible with each other and how well they communicate as a group. So basically the whole dinner was a complete success and everyone appreciated the night.
Friday, October 9, 2009
So Far So Good!!!
The best part of this learning experience has been the weekends. After consecutive days of intense work, research, presentations, writing, reading, we finally have time to spend our time the way we want. Forgetting about the work overload and the assignments, we take our time to explore the beautiful city of Strasbourg. We go for shopping most of the times. I am particularly conscious about my diet and so I often go to the market to get some healthy foods. This is the only time where I can think about nothing and relax the whole time. There is so much to learn in so less time and so much to grasp on our minds.
The classes have been so surprising and it has a lot to do with testing one’s ability. We had an assignment and that was completely different from the rest. The main focus of the assignment was to test each individual’s skills and abilities. We were assigned in pairs and our work was to explore the places without knowing any knowledge about it. We were given just the instructions where we had to follow it and find the places and deal with everything. It was definitely an awesome experience and a great way of learning the French culture. This is how we have been spending our time here in Strasbourg and so far everything is just fine.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Culture Shock!!!
It has almost been a month in France and the cultural differences that I have seen is just an amazing experience so far. I stayed in Paris for a couple of weeks and I did go through lots of cultural shock. I had always expected that Europeans were good in communicating with foreigners but I was shocked to see them silent and not willing to speak even a single word. Before I came to France, I stayed a couple of weeks in the United States of America and it was a different experience than what I have been experiencing so far. Americans do know how to communicate. Even if you’re walking down the street and you see a stranger passing by, they greet you with the most pleasant smile and a word “Hello”. I did expect the same with the French people but it is quite the opposite as they only feel secured within the circle of people they know. Till now I haven’t met any French greeting me while I am walking on the streets. Rather than being forward they are more preservative. This might be because they possess a different nature and their perception of thinking is different than what we have.
In my culture consumption of any form of alcohol in the daytime is strictly prohibited and one might get penalized if not followed the law. But in France I saw an opposite side of my culture. The people occupied every restaurant in Paris consuming different forms of alcohol. I noticed one of the best features of French people that made them stand among rest is that they don’t consume alcohol to get wasted rather just for the taste.
One of the other cultural differences I have gone through is that French people express their love wherever they want. I came across many couples kissing passionately everywhere. No wonder France is known as the “City of Love”. This is totally different from what I have learned from my culture. It’s difficult for the couples to roam around even if they were just holding hands. The society might take it as an immoral activity.
If I try to point out the cultural differences that I have gone through, then I would write a book out of it. No matter what you do or how you do it, it is all based on the customs that each country plays. Wherever I go I have always respected the fact that the people I meet have different perceptions towards me and I have a different perception towards them. All in all, cultures play a vital role in human’s lives and these are the ones which helps you to identify.
Friday, September 25, 2009
The first week in Château de Pourtalès
I have never taken any philosophy classes during my high school and it is quite difficult for me to understand the key element in knowing the exact definition of philosophy. This is one of the classes which I found really interesting even though I lacked a lot of knowledge about it. I noticed that philosophy helps us to broaden our thinking capacity, perspective and our perception towards what we see. The next class we have is quite interesting as it is concerned with the European integration where you have a lot of issues to deal with. I was awestruck to see the number of questions we had when we dealt with some of the topics on the economy, warfare, trade and the integration among the European nations. Learning about different cultures has always fascinated me and so the other class we have deals pretty much about the civilization and the origin of the countries and their contribution towards the people all around the world. Each and every day I have been experiencing a lot of different things and have made my intellectual capacity growth higher. During my time here in France I want to make the most of it and take every day as a new challenge. I want to take as many memories and knowledge with me when I return to Colby- Sawyer and cherish the moments I have with me for a lifetime.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Something to know about the French Culture
From the first day in Paris, I have noticed a couple of things about the French culture. France has played an important role in offering high culture and decorative arts among the people. French people are more familiar with the modern art, cinema, fashion and cuisine. These are the specialty of France which had made this country one of the most stylized countries in the world. Even if you’re walking down the street, you can see a lot of people dressed up in the most fashionable clothes that one can ever see in other places. France has its trademark in the world of fashion. It has conquered greater heights than any other country in the world of fashion. History always offers the common identity among the people where they belong and so do French people show a keen interest in their rich culture. More than the foreigners walking down the street to visit the museums and the local places, the French people are seen talking pictures and asking a lot of questions.
One thing about the French culture that fascinates me the most is the interest of the French people in having a lavish lifestyle which includes good food, best quality drinks, well furnished apartments, fashionable clothes and above all maintaining their common identity. With this kind of feeling every French people has been able to accomplish what they are today. I personally feel that French people do know how to live their lives to the fullest and so French culture offers more than what we really know.
Friday, September 11, 2009
The memory still remains...
There are several other places which I found really fascinating. Most of the places we visited were mostly museums but each of them had so many things to offer to us. One thing I personally noticed is that France is really rich in architecture and the lifestyle the French people live is simply amazing. I will definitely cherish each and every moment that I have spent here and these moments will always be stored in my book of memories.
Monday, August 31, 2009
live and Learn
As we have just about couple of days left for a new global process in France, I hope that it is the best experience of my life. France has always been a dream spot for me and I do have many expectations. I want to live and learn during my time there and have the best experience of my life.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Time
One thing I have learned a lot from the qualified faculty is that they make me think beyond my capacity to bring the best out of myself. I have learned to accept all my weaknesses, challenge them and most importantly overcome them. I have learned to utilize my time to the fullest and bring out then positivity within myself. Time management had always been one of my weaknesses but now I have been able to manage my times and overcome the obstacles I had. So all in all I have learned to be on time one must be ahead of the time.