Wednesday, June 19, 2002
Cadiz, Spain: Americans at Sea
No phone. No cars. No radio.
Not a single luxury.
Like Robinson Crusoe,
It's primitive as can be.
Not exactly. No phone, no radio, no newspaper, no internet, no e-mail. But great food, surprising amounts of storage space in the cabins, and an incredibly doting crew. So far, that has been my experience since we left the port of Piraeus, Greece.
We have 19 faculty and 25 staff members from Semester at Sea, and their 11 family members. This includes kids and grandkids aged three to 16, and a group of 13 “senior adult learners” who have agreed to call themselves the Baker’s Dozen.
And also 367 all-American (and two Canadian) college students. 72% are female and only 28% are male. You can feel those hormones popping.
The student body is 85% white. Only 17 Asians, 10 Hispanics, five African-Americans, two Native Americans and 19 mysteriously categorized as “other.” Very different from my classes in South Florida.
Where is the famed American diversity? This isn’t a purely monetary issue. True, signing up for a whole semester on board a ship sailing throughout Europe isn’t cheap. But there is financial aid available that many less than wealthy students can and do avail themselves of. Apparently, not enough of them.
The program attracts suburban white kids who are studying business (21%), and communications (14%), which is what I am teaching, and a variety of other majors. There are also 12 law students on board and members of the University of Pittsburgh Law School faculty to teach their classes.
The students come from 43 states (but almost one-fourth are from California). Surprisingly, only 13% are Pitt students. The next largest group—four percent—comes from the University of Colorado at Boulder where the program used to be headquartered.
Only seven are from Florida—one each from the University of South Florida, Tampa, St. Thomas University, and Rollins College; one ’Nole, from Florida State, but two ’Canes, from the University of Miami.
Also one from my alma mater, Lycoming College, who I have yet to meet.
We teach and the students take two classes each day that we are at sea. Everyone on board (except the 200 crew members who wait on us hand and foot) attends the morning course, known as Core. The students will take tests and be graded on this. Each faculty member presents a section on his or her specialty area related to the upcoming port. For the past week we have been hearing about the culture of Spain—bullfighting, the Civil War, Guernica, flamenco. We are now experts and, most important, can correctly pronounce the name of the city we are docking in: Cadiz, CA’ deeth.
In the evening there are more informal presentations and films on different aspects of the culture.
For some legs of the voyage, Semester at Sea has hired Interport Lecturers, academics from the culture who answer questions and talk about their country.
When possible, there is also an Interport Student from the upcoming culture who can interact with our students and prepare them for what they can see and do in the upcoming port.
On this first leg we are fortunate to have with us an Interport Student, Magdalena Munar Munoz. Originally from Palma, in Mallorca, she has a degree in Pedagogy (or Education, as we would say) from the University of Barcelona, and is currently doing a specialty study on Education for Peace.
I have asked Magdalena to tell us a little about her impressions of the American college students she has met on this trip.
Gypsy Teacher: Magdalena, I know that you spent some time in the United States before this, so you have some experience with Americans. But overall, what is your impression of this group of students?
Magdalena: As you said, you have to have a lot of money to do this, so they are not regular students, we call them “students of their fathers.” That means that they have had things done for them, more or less. That's my impression. They are very nice and they are very kind and they are very enthusiastic about doing this program.
GT: Have you found that their expectations of what they see in Europe are different from what you know they will see? Do you think they will be surprised?
M: I think so, because they don't know Spain very well, and I think they are looking for, not a poor country, but poorer than America. Spain is very different from America, but it is not a poor country. We are a developed country. People are quite similar to American people. Not in language, but if you see people walking around the streets, you cannot say, he is American and he is Spanish. They are going to be surprised about that, I think.
GT: Have you found many who could talk to you in Spanish? Because some of them study it in school. Were there any who spoke good Spanish?
M: I found two students with Mexican background, so they speak very good Spanish. And some of them who are studying Spanish in America can speak a kind of Spanish a little bit, but it is different Spanish.
GT: You should come visit us in Miami. Everybody speaks Spanish. Have you found too that the American students seem a little younger or a little older than you are used to in Europe?
M: They look younger, if I compare them to our students the same age. They think like a younger student in Spain. I think it's because they have a nice situation at home. Their economical situation in the States is much better than in Spain, so in Spain you have to carry responsibilities earlier and you have to work earlier and you have to worry about other things very early, so you grow up.
GT: I think, too, that if they can come on this trip for two and half months, they probably aren't working at home. At my university, we do have a lot of students who work and go to school, so they can't take two and half months off. Even though you lived in America, were there any things that you were used to about Americans that surprised you.? Maybe some of our students didn't fit the stereotype of Americans. Was there anything different about our students?
M: Most of the students are interested in nightclubs in Spain or how much does the alcohol cost in Spain, and things like that. But I found a small group who are very focused on Spanish culture, who want to have contact with it, real contact with it. I think that's great because that's the meaning of this experience.
GT: I think, no matter what, they'll have a great experience, don't you?
M: Yes.
GT: Thank you, Magdalena.
One of the important aspects of culture that has been emphasized in our morning Core course is that of values. The professor leading the course asked all the students the first day to write a paragraph describing what they thought they would be doing when they are 45 years old. Just fantasize. I told him that personally I'd love to fantasize about being 45 years old again.
The results surprised the students, but not the faculty. The ones he read out in class the next day—which he assured us were representative —were all amazingly similar: I want to be happily married to a faithful wife or husband. We will have children and a dog. I—or my husband—will be wealthy and will travel everywhere. Many of the females said that they would no longer “have” to work because their husbands would be rich and they would do volunteer work in their community.
Surely a happy family with a faithful spouse and children is not a bad, nor uniquely American, value to have. The reality, of course, is that, if the current statistics hold, half of them will be divorced at least once by that age. But the continued mention of material wealth was very disturbing to many of the students and the staff. One of the nurses said to me, “Where's the spirituality? Where's the giving back?”
The professor assured us that there were answers that included working to help the disadvantaged, world peace, etc. But he estimated that 90% described the American dream in very commercial terms.
That exercise has made the students reflect on their own values. In my course on creative problem-solving, they have to come up with their own project. Many have very creative ideas. One group will interview people of different ages in each port, and on the ship, to see what their thoughts and feelings about other generations are. Another group wants to ask the same set of questions of people their own age in every port: What's the first thing you would do if I gave you one million dollars (or euros)? What do you think of the color red? Where were you on September 11th?
Another group wanted to find out what each country uses to say “Cheers!” I encouraged them to include other phrases, such as Good luck or Happy New Year, to lure their research out of the bars.
According to the head of security on board, there have been few incidents. Rather than banning drinking—i.e., spitting in the wind—Semester at Sea has a bar for the students with restricted hours in the evening, and so far none has abused the privilege. When the physician on board addresses the group, he always mentions that there are free condoms sitting outside the medical clinic. Remember, the ratio is three women for each man.
After being on an amazingly calm Mediterranean Sea for the past five days, tonight we passed through the Straits of Gibraltar. I willed myself to stay awake until midnight so I could go up on deck and watch it. It was a clear night, so on one side you could see the lights of North Africa—someone said it was Morocco—and on the other side the lights of Southern Europe, with a black space that is the Rock.
You could almost feel the moon.
Tomorrow we are going to spew forth 400 American college students and others on unsuspecting Cadiz. There is a national strike throughout Spain, and a meeting of the European prime ministers in nearby Seville. We will amuse ourselves walking the cobbled streets of a once-walled city that was founded by the Phoenicians in 1100 BC. Then on Friday we'll root for the US to beat the pants off Germany in the second round of the World Cup.
Next week we will be approaching one of my favorite cities—Dublin! Where my husband, Tony, will join us.
Until then, for the WLRN Radio Reading Service, this is Kathleen Dixon Donnelly—at Sea.
No phone. No cars. No radio.
Not a single luxury.
Like Robinson Crusoe,
It's primitive as can be.
Not exactly. No phone, no radio, no newspaper, no internet, no e-mail. But great food, surprising amounts of storage space in the cabins, and an incredibly doting crew. So far, that has been my experience since we left the port of Piraeus, Greece.
We have 19 faculty and 25 staff members from Semester at Sea, and their 11 family members. This includes kids and grandkids aged three to 16, and a group of 13 “senior adult learners” who have agreed to call themselves the Baker’s Dozen.
And also 367 all-American (and two Canadian) college students. 72% are female and only 28% are male. You can feel those hormones popping.
The student body is 85% white. Only 17 Asians, 10 Hispanics, five African-Americans, two Native Americans and 19 mysteriously categorized as “other.” Very different from my classes in South Florida.
Where is the famed American diversity? This isn’t a purely monetary issue. True, signing up for a whole semester on board a ship sailing throughout Europe isn’t cheap. But there is financial aid available that many less than wealthy students can and do avail themselves of. Apparently, not enough of them.
The program attracts suburban white kids who are studying business (21%), and communications (14%), which is what I am teaching, and a variety of other majors. There are also 12 law students on board and members of the University of Pittsburgh Law School faculty to teach their classes.
The students come from 43 states (but almost one-fourth are from California). Surprisingly, only 13% are Pitt students. The next largest group—four percent—comes from the University of Colorado at Boulder where the program used to be headquartered.
Only seven are from Florida—one each from the University of South Florida, Tampa, St. Thomas University, and Rollins College; one ’Nole, from Florida State, but two ’Canes, from the University of Miami.
Also one from my alma mater, Lycoming College, who I have yet to meet.
We teach and the students take two classes each day that we are at sea. Everyone on board (except the 200 crew members who wait on us hand and foot) attends the morning course, known as Core. The students will take tests and be graded on this. Each faculty member presents a section on his or her specialty area related to the upcoming port. For the past week we have been hearing about the culture of Spain—bullfighting, the Civil War, Guernica, flamenco. We are now experts and, most important, can correctly pronounce the name of the city we are docking in: Cadiz, CA’ deeth.
In the evening there are more informal presentations and films on different aspects of the culture.
For some legs of the voyage, Semester at Sea has hired Interport Lecturers, academics from the culture who answer questions and talk about their country.
When possible, there is also an Interport Student from the upcoming culture who can interact with our students and prepare them for what they can see and do in the upcoming port.
On this first leg we are fortunate to have with us an Interport Student, Magdalena Munar Munoz. Originally from Palma, in Mallorca, she has a degree in Pedagogy (or Education, as we would say) from the University of Barcelona, and is currently doing a specialty study on Education for Peace.
I have asked Magdalena to tell us a little about her impressions of the American college students she has met on this trip.
Gypsy Teacher: Magdalena, I know that you spent some time in the United States before this, so you have some experience with Americans. But overall, what is your impression of this group of students?
Magdalena: As you said, you have to have a lot of money to do this, so they are not regular students, we call them “students of their fathers.” That means that they have had things done for them, more or less. That's my impression. They are very nice and they are very kind and they are very enthusiastic about doing this program.
GT: Have you found that their expectations of what they see in Europe are different from what you know they will see? Do you think they will be surprised?
M: I think so, because they don't know Spain very well, and I think they are looking for, not a poor country, but poorer than America. Spain is very different from America, but it is not a poor country. We are a developed country. People are quite similar to American people. Not in language, but if you see people walking around the streets, you cannot say, he is American and he is Spanish. They are going to be surprised about that, I think.
GT: Have you found many who could talk to you in Spanish? Because some of them study it in school. Were there any who spoke good Spanish?
M: I found two students with Mexican background, so they speak very good Spanish. And some of them who are studying Spanish in America can speak a kind of Spanish a little bit, but it is different Spanish.
GT: You should come visit us in Miami. Everybody speaks Spanish. Have you found too that the American students seem a little younger or a little older than you are used to in Europe?
M: They look younger, if I compare them to our students the same age. They think like a younger student in Spain. I think it's because they have a nice situation at home. Their economical situation in the States is much better than in Spain, so in Spain you have to carry responsibilities earlier and you have to work earlier and you have to worry about other things very early, so you grow up.
GT: I think, too, that if they can come on this trip for two and half months, they probably aren't working at home. At my university, we do have a lot of students who work and go to school, so they can't take two and half months off. Even though you lived in America, were there any things that you were used to about Americans that surprised you.? Maybe some of our students didn't fit the stereotype of Americans. Was there anything different about our students?
M: Most of the students are interested in nightclubs in Spain or how much does the alcohol cost in Spain, and things like that. But I found a small group who are very focused on Spanish culture, who want to have contact with it, real contact with it. I think that's great because that's the meaning of this experience.
GT: I think, no matter what, they'll have a great experience, don't you?
M: Yes.
GT: Thank you, Magdalena.
One of the important aspects of culture that has been emphasized in our morning Core course is that of values. The professor leading the course asked all the students the first day to write a paragraph describing what they thought they would be doing when they are 45 years old. Just fantasize. I told him that personally I'd love to fantasize about being 45 years old again.
The results surprised the students, but not the faculty. The ones he read out in class the next day—which he assured us were representative —were all amazingly similar: I want to be happily married to a faithful wife or husband. We will have children and a dog. I—or my husband—will be wealthy and will travel everywhere. Many of the females said that they would no longer “have” to work because their husbands would be rich and they would do volunteer work in their community.
Surely a happy family with a faithful spouse and children is not a bad, nor uniquely American, value to have. The reality, of course, is that, if the current statistics hold, half of them will be divorced at least once by that age. But the continued mention of material wealth was very disturbing to many of the students and the staff. One of the nurses said to me, “Where's the spirituality? Where's the giving back?”
The professor assured us that there were answers that included working to help the disadvantaged, world peace, etc. But he estimated that 90% described the American dream in very commercial terms.
That exercise has made the students reflect on their own values. In my course on creative problem-solving, they have to come up with their own project. Many have very creative ideas. One group will interview people of different ages in each port, and on the ship, to see what their thoughts and feelings about other generations are. Another group wants to ask the same set of questions of people their own age in every port: What's the first thing you would do if I gave you one million dollars (or euros)? What do you think of the color red? Where were you on September 11th?
Another group wanted to find out what each country uses to say “Cheers!” I encouraged them to include other phrases, such as Good luck or Happy New Year, to lure their research out of the bars.
According to the head of security on board, there have been few incidents. Rather than banning drinking—i.e., spitting in the wind—Semester at Sea has a bar for the students with restricted hours in the evening, and so far none has abused the privilege. When the physician on board addresses the group, he always mentions that there are free condoms sitting outside the medical clinic. Remember, the ratio is three women for each man.
After being on an amazingly calm Mediterranean Sea for the past five days, tonight we passed through the Straits of Gibraltar. I willed myself to stay awake until midnight so I could go up on deck and watch it. It was a clear night, so on one side you could see the lights of North Africa—someone said it was Morocco—and on the other side the lights of Southern Europe, with a black space that is the Rock.
You could almost feel the moon.
Tomorrow we are going to spew forth 400 American college students and others on unsuspecting Cadiz. There is a national strike throughout Spain, and a meeting of the European prime ministers in nearby Seville. We will amuse ourselves walking the cobbled streets of a once-walled city that was founded by the Phoenicians in 1100 BC. Then on Friday we'll root for the US to beat the pants off Germany in the second round of the World Cup.
Next week we will be approaching one of my favorite cities—Dublin! Where my husband, Tony, will join us.
Until then, for the WLRN Radio Reading Service, this is Kathleen Dixon Donnelly—at Sea.
posted by Kathleen at 8:40 AM
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