Here Just For the Credit

"So, I don't want to do all of the talking myself today. I want to give you a chance to introduce yourself and say a couple of words about why you are taking this course," said my new professor teaching New Media Technologies and Social Change. "And don't be afraid to say you are here because you need the credit," she added with a smile.

My first communications classes for Spring semester began today in the University of Massachusetts (Umass), Amherst and confirmed my opinion about this school's culture. It consists of a rich selection of Communications courses, big classes, resourceful professors, and immature students.

Answers to my professor's requests varied from "Yeah, I am here for the credit," and "I am taking this class because it fits into my schedule," to "I saw the word 'media'" and, my personal favorite, "I want to do TV and stuff."

Naturally, every professor will want to receive a clear picture of her students' level and ambitions but to me this experience today was absolutely disillusioning. I am certain that there are people truly interested in the topics and materials for discussion, and would love to occupy one of the seats in the classroom. Moreover, they will make the most of it. I just regret that half of my class doesn't include such individuals but is interested in simply receiving their diplomas without applied knowledge to support these otherwise empty of meaning pieces of paper.

Hold On to the Rail

Tonight in Springfield was the second time I set my feet on an ice skating rink and tried to balance my body weight with zig-zag movements. The first time was in St. Petersburg after midnight. So, in your mind you are probably already begging me not to compare these two experiences. But I will, anyway.

I would lie if I said that I didn't have any expectations from ice skating in St. Petersburg. I paid the equivalent of $20 to rent skates and buy a ticket and had put the stakes high for the night. Dance music was playing loudly and I felt pumped up and ready to go. Until I fell once, twice, three times.

After a while, my friends and I concluded that this is an alternative club culture for the younger Russian crowd. Upbeat music, fresh outfit combinations, hidden alcohol in the lockers, flirty games and lots of awkward dance movements.

I would lie if I said that I didn't have any expectations from ice skating in Springfield. The cost for both the skates and the actual skating was less than $10 but the poor state of the lobby and broken bathrooms instantly lowered my anticipation to skate. The song "I believe I can fly" by R. Kelly well epitomized the DJ's interesting music choices. Although no one flied, people had fun falling down, throwing themselves at the transparent walls and holding on to the rail. Most charming, of course, were the youngest little guys wearing their black and yellow hockey outfits and racing around swiftly like bullets.

I guess what I tried to say with this comparison is that I am glad my first time ice skating was in Russia, and that it will be really beneficial for the Springfield ice skating rink to hire a new DJ.

Malls Represent Culture

Today I made a quick trip to the Holyoke mall for a long-hesitated lap top purchase. I arrived there at 5 p.m. and was already holding my new Acer at 5:17 p.m. The rest of my time in the mall I spent observing consumer practices and comparing them to those in Bulgaria.

In the US the purpose of malls is to provide a rich product selection in a consumer-friendly and practical way that adequately responds to the clients' needs. In Bulgaria, however, the role of malls is different. People visit them not so much to buy stuff but rather to immerse themselves in a social environment. That is why the structure of the malls in America and Bulgaria also varies to fit its customers' characters.

In the Holyoke mall, for instance, the food court is located on the first floor where you go once you get hungry from all the shopping you have done. Dressed in sweatpants and baseball hats, people examine the information signs to find out the exact location of the store they need.

Though smaller in Varna, malls are full of cafes, restaurants and entertainment centers on every floor. Priority here is not the actual shopping experience but the activities before and after it. People like to show off their new clothes and shiny shoes, and could spend a whole day in the mall watching movies, having coffee and playing pool or bowling.

I find these shopping practices representative of two distant cultures and descriptive of the different character of their targeted audiences.

Candle for Gaza

It took me a couple of days after I arrived back on campus to feel intellectually at home again. I was in a circle of people, holding a candle and staring at the Pakistani girl in front of me reading a prayer for the victims of the war conflict in Gaza. That was my first time holding a vigil.

"Let us not be too late for this crisis, let it not take the same trajectory that many did in the past, let it not be simply an object of intellectual engagement to be analyzed ex post facto, with people wondering where the conscience of the international community lay while the atrocities were perpetrated," she read. I was trying to listen but my eyes were glued on her breathing pattern and brown eyes, in which tears welled up. Then I looked around the room to recognize the emotion coming out of her voice communicate itself to the other participants.

There weren't more than 20 people in the chapel but they were all from diverse ethnic backgrounds and carrying the same hopes and dreams. Although the reason for keeping this vigil is truly horrifying, the actual event brought me inner satisfaction and humbleness. I felt proud to be sitting next to people who care and believe in peace. I was proud to share the flame of my candle with the next person in the circle.

Goodbye Adventures, Hello Routine

For the first time in my life, I think, I experienced culture shock. I am sitting at the Boston bus station and waiting for the Peter Pan bus to take me to Amherst, MA where I will transfer for the last time before reaching South Hadley.

For the last couple of months I visited so many places and gathered such vivid impressions that the stagnation I found here seems unbearable. As soon as I arrived I encountered the same tedious images -- same bald Customs Service employees at Logan airport who are not rude but can never be truly friendly; same disproportionally fat people eating huge amounts of McDonald's food; same monotonous voices coming out of the speakers to announce that there is a public parking available outside. No one is making eye contact except for the giggling Chinese ladies sitting behind the Fung Wah Bus line information desk. Right now the Magnificent Wind seems to be the only thing I have missed here.

I am experiencing this culture shock maybe because I headed back to the States with preconceived notions, or maybe because I am too weak to fight against the routine, or maybe because I am not in the best of moods. Whatever the reason, right there at the South Station in Boston I felt my soul slowly emptying.

Next Destination: London

When I arrived at 4:30 pm in London's Heathrow airport, I was mentally prepared to spend the whole night here, waiting. My connection flight to Boston wasn't until next morning and I had the laziness to not check my flight details carefully beforehand. Fortunately, I decided to explore the city and remained totally blown by the beauty of this Western European capital.



I guess I have always underestimated London, Paris and Berlin -- the western European cities everyone visits. As my former roommate once said, "France is for pussies," and she chose to study abroad in Lebanon. But in my attempts to avoid the mainstream, I realized I had neglected some wonderful sightseeing destinations.

I was charmed to see the colorfulness of London, which as opposed to New York, wasn't reflected in people's street fashion but in other, more creative forms. Refreshing were the small car models, classical building architecture, red telephone booths and famous double-decker buses. Attractive were the diverse passers-by with their British accents. The city was rich in cultural heritage, filled with humid warmth and open for explorations. Somehow, it seemed to present the perfect amount of public and personal space. Go in a pub or to the movie theater, and you will be surrounded by people. (A huge crowd had gathered and cheered in front of the cinema across from the Leicester Square Garden. I think it was the movie premiere of Chandni Chowk to China.) Enter an antiquarian bookstore or walk along the romantic Hungerford footbridge, and you will find privacy.

London definitely charged me with positive energy and prepared me for the hours of waiting left at the airport.

Top 5 Photos Taken in Russia

These are my top five pictures I took in Russia during the study abroad program in the Fall.











1. near St. Peter and Paul Fortress
2. Gatchina
3. Tallinn, Estonia
4. Pavlovosk
5. Арка Генерального штаба at Dvortsovaya Square

Gas Crisis in Bulgaria

These days on the news in Bulgaria you can hear about two main stories -- the gas crisis and the crisis in Gaza. Though the word play is kind of funny, the last thing we can do while watching the news is laugh.

Nevertheless, the news story that shook us directly was the first one.



On Thursday 21 schools were closed in the capital due to the low temperatures inside the class rooms. Classes were cancelled in other regions of the country. Students living in dormitories in Sofia had to either move in with friends to escape the coldness in their rooms, or study and shower by candlelight. Factories throughout the country faced big losses because they have been forced to shut down for four days now.

The low winter temperatures, Russian-Ukrainian gas conflict and Bulgaria's poor governmental response to the gas crisis resulted in bringing more misery and stress in the lives of ordinary people.

Never Again, AlItalia

You would think an air carrier has a limited number of screw-ups. For instance, they can lose your luggage once or cancel your flight, or not serve you lunch, or forget about the English translation of their on-board announcement. But, let me tell you, Italy’s AlItalia definitely breaks the record and wins first prize for most screw-ups.


On 27th August I arrived at St. Petersburg Pulkovo airport with only carry-on luggage and had to live for three days with the several clothing items I had in my backpack and lady’s purse. On 21st December I arrived at Sofia airport with these same belongings for 3 more days. Both times my red suitcase was wandering somewhere without me in the unknown company of AlItalia staff.

Of course, lost luggage is nothing new and, when eventually found and returned, makes for a good story. Cancellation of flights, however, is truly scary. When my friend residing in Italy called me the night before her flight to St. Petersburg to inform me that AlItalia had cancelled her domestic flight “with no alternatives available,” I thought she was joking. Less than 24 hours before her actual flight, she had received an email notification about these urgent travel changes. Apparently, it was “due to protests by Alitalia employees opposed to the carrier's takeover by Italian businessmen.” (www.fxstreet.com) Nearly 100 AlItalia flights were cancelled in November due to the same reason.

On 20th December when I was already standing in line for the security check at the St. Petersburg Pulkovo II airport, I looked up at the digital departures board only to see that my flight to Rome was cancelled. Panic. After a good amount of stress, I ended up flying to Rome though Milan where I had only half an hour to transfer. I hadn’t received any lunch or decent snack besides two thumb-size biscuits.
Having arrived in Bulgaria, exhausted, hungry and without my baggage, I sighed with relief, “Never again, Alitalia!”