LOCAL CONVERSATIONS AND VIEWS

In all the conversations I had with people about the European Union the biggest benefit that the people saw about the EU was the conveniences of traveling and living in Europe. Almost every person discussed how great it was that they didn't have to stop the trains to stamp passports at every border. They also appreciated the Euro for the most part so they didn't have to continually exchange currency.

One interesting conversation I had was with a German citizen who was living and working in Switzerland. He loves Switzerland and has been living there for a number of years. Like many others he really liked the EU and the fact that it was easier to travel around, and he wished that Switzerland would join, not for the economic binding or the furthering of the cause of an integrated Europe, but so he didn't have to change money when he went out of the country.

It almost felt like I was never going to get to the heart of what the EU stands for in conversation. Number one it was hard to find those who spoke enough English, and two, it was hard to find people that would talk long enough. Those who did talk, wanted to show how much they knew about US politics, which was quite impressive. I think many Europeans would do well on Jay Leno's "Jay Walking" show on US info. It might be fun to do a US versus Europe show... Other than some local politics (which I didn't know anything about) there was seemingly very little knowledge of the EU and its institutions.

I think one of the reasons that the EU goes unnoticed is partially due to the fact that there is no permanent front person to look to, and it is perceived as a bunch of lawyers in Brussels and detached from the countries. As we traveled through Europe I saw constant updates on the Lisbon treaty. As part of the treaty the Europe would have a single president for a longer period of time and a more unified foreign policy, both of which would add more recognition and legitimacy. I think in the future many more people will be educated in European politics.

Of course, I spent quite a bit of time with Rashid, and he was extremely knowledgeable with the EU, and it was great to gain many of his insights. We were able to talk about everything from the environmental regulations on cars to the Shengen and Euro Zones and UK perspectives.

DAILY LIFE

I have always been amazed that languages follow geographic borders so closely, and I wondered how it would really be traveling throughout different parts of Europe. I think one of the best things I did was just to be a little flexible especially when ordering food. Though I mostly got what I wanted, the times I didn't because of language differences didn't matter as much. I also tried to do my best to show I valued and appreciated their culture by learning as much of the day to day things as possible. Weeks before we left I had downloaded multiple language applications to my iPhone in Italian, German, and French (these really helped a lot!). While we stayed in mostly in French speaking parts of Europe with the exception of some Dutch areas of Belgium with the group, during our weekends off we traveled around and experienced other languages. Though I felt like I would never be able to absorb all of the French that Kaden was teaching, I am glad that I went. French is entirely different than it looks, and without having a little exposure to it I would have had a hard time with it. On our first weekend we went to Bern and Interlaken where the predominate language is Swiss-german. I had taken german in middle school so I was less intimidated by german, even though I remember next to nothing from classes, butI am able to understand and pick up lots of different words and get around ok. Italian was a different story. My brother had taught me the basics of Italian but had little more to go off of. But I was traveling with Bill who speaks Spanish and was able to get around for the most part by using Spanish. We also stayed with a family in Bergamo, Italy. They all spoke fairly good English and helped us get around.

On our weekend trips it seemed that all we did was church hop, that is in every major city we would hop out of the train station and find the famous cathedral and walk around it, in it, and sometimes on top of it. Then we would meander our way back to the train station and on to the next city. It was amazing to see all of the grandeur and wealth that the cathedrals had. Now days it seems like the large cathedrals are used as a symbol of what Europe is built off of. Churches seem to be on every corner each with its own patron saint and story; however, It seemed that they weren't attended very well when the bells rang calling in mass. Even though most buildings were overly touristy complete with shops, it was worth visiting all of them. I also visited the LDS ward in Paris which was interesting mostly because it was slightly hard to find as it was in an inconspicuous building and not a giant church at all. It was also interesting to see how they balanced all the different languages spoken with little microphones and earpieces.

We used a taxi a few times and had a mostly positive experience every time although, because I have had terrible experiences with taxis in foreign countries before, I was much more careful. It was interesting to talk to our taxi driver in Cologne, Germany, who was from Iran. He seemed to really like the European Union but mostly because of the conveniences of travel.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

During the trip we used both Swiss Francs (CHF) and Euro (€). The CHF stayed fairly constant hovering around a one-to-one exchange with the dollar, with the best being at $1=.9622 CHF near the beginning of the trip, and gradually climbed until we left Switzerland to $1=.9823 CHF. Because the CHF and the dollar are so close to value, it would be easy to think that it is fairly easy to visit Switzerland; however, everything in Switzerland costs significantly more than it does in the US. Therefore, it wasn't necessarily an advantage. The Euro is definitely a different story from an exchange rate perspective. The Euro has been stronger than the dollar for a couple years now, and over the trip it hovered around $1.5=€1. I entered Italy, the first eurozone country I visited, on Wednesday, October 14, and exchanged at the lowest rate of our time in eurozone countries at $1.4881=€1 (other than the day we flew out). The Euro hit a high for our trip on October 23, with $1.502=€1, and has since gone closer to $1.47=€1 rate of exchange. It was difficult to remember that even though the prices didn't seem to bad when they were presented in Euro it in reality was 1.5 times that to get to a price in USD that we would really be spending. Thus, I found Europe to be extremely expensive to travel and live in, but in the little bit people shared about salary information it seemed that in general European workers are payed more to be able to compensate for cost of living.

Going to grocery stores in Europe were quite different. There weren't any superstores or giant stores; rather, the stores were much smaller in comparison. My favorite part was the bread and section of the Coop stores where there was always fresh bread and croissants. Presentation was important as well as even the cheaper options (comparatively) looked to be well packaged and higher end. The grocery stores also had the customers buy any bags they used, in addition to having a trough that your groceries slid down so you could bag them all yourself.

FOOD

Although I am not sure if it is because it was less expensive food or because they offered free wifi, but I ate at McDonald's more during our month in Europe than I have in over two years in the states. It is always interesting to see how the menu is different from country to country and Europe definitely has its own unique options. In general the stores were well designed and felt much nicer than in the US, and the menu had what I perceived to be more gourmet options.

I also visited many local cafes and restaurants as well. In these experiences I found both the stereotypical poor European service and the very helpful nice experiences as well. One of the funniest examples of this is when we went for mussels with Dr. Shahidi on Sunday night in Belgium. For both lack of hunger and to share costs the six students decided to share the meal. When it came time to order our waiter got worked up and looked away in disgust explaining that he could not do it. I'm not sure why the shift came, but we got a new waiter who ended up being far more helpful, but by far the worst dining experience I had was on our l

ast day at Disneyland Paris, where I was again with Dr. Shahidi. We were confronted with horrible food that must have spent at least a few days under a heat lamp, a lady behind the counter that was unhelpful if not incompetent, and a manager that was totally clueless as to anything customer service oriented.

Overall, I tried to eat something important to each area, crepes in France; mussels, frites, and gaufres in Belgium; gellato and pizza in Italy; and raclette and lots of chocolate in Switzerland. I can honestly say I loved all of those, but my favorite is raclette. I really enjoyed how fresh all of the food was and that a lot of it was natural food that wasn't over processed.

Pre-trip Thoughts

Though I have been excited for the trip to Europe since I first learned about the Huntsman Scholar Program, as it grows closer I am struggling to know how I can ensure I make the best of the experience. I realize that it will be up to me to make this happen. I am extremely excited for all of the wonderful opportunities that we have to visit such high profile organizations and for the the people we get to meet. Of course, I am also excited to travel through Europe and experience life there; however, I am slightly concerned that the demands of travel will add further stress and take away from my ability to fully take in everything. Overall, I expect to get to talk to people and understand how their organizations work and what they do, and I want to travel through Europe and better understand the political and cultural differences that affect business there.