Americans Have No Culture

Because it's basically an ERASMUS-Heim, my dorm seems to be built on the principle of cultural exchange in a way that I've never experienced before. Sure, I had plenty of international friends at Harvard. But at Harvard, the specific countries where my friends came from were not that salient to their public identities. We talked about sex in Georgia, transportation in France, educational philosophy in Nepal, etc. whenever it came up, but because we were all trying to fit into the cosmopolitan culture of Harvardland, national identities were not a huge part of our daily reality.

Here, it's altogether different. I've already talked about how this represents the first time many of the students here have gotten the opportunity to meet people from all over the world. And part and parcel of that is a kind of "food and festivals" multiculturalism that seems to be pretty common in the Heim.

First (Third?) Impressions

Like every child of the 1990s, I love Harry Potter. But several things about the books have always bothered me: (1) If Europe's Christians decided to make witches and wizards their bitter enemies for several hundred years, why does the (witchcraft and) wizarding world still celebrate Christmas? (2) Are Muggle-born children really ready to give up their entire culture at age 11 and never look back? (3) Dumbledore's explanation aside, isn't it immoral to not share the "technological" advances of wizards with the rest of the world? It's this last one that irks me the most, though. Not because 100 million people died from the Spanish flu, which a quick spell could have healed, but because every time I travel, I think to myself, "Damn, I really wish I could apparate."

What I Did During My Summer Vacation

The Harvard Office of International Programs wanted me to write a final grant report detailing what I learned during my summer abroad. (They seem less interested in more concrete things, such as receipts to prove I actually went to Austria.) I've posted it in all its thanks-for-the-money glory after the jump.

Dreams Do Come True

Tracht -- traditional costumes (think Dirndls, Lederhosen, and the funny hats you wear while yodeling) --- is a huge point of social division in Austria. As my work colleague Marlene explained to me, "You either wear a Dirndl all the time, or you've never worn one."

And there are indeed people who wear Tracht just because they feel like it. My favorite example of this was at Donauinselfest, where I saw a teenager wearing a Slipknot t-shirt and a Lederhose. I just cannot fathom what went through his mind as he ruffled through his closet that morning: "Ok, so I'm going to a concert. I'll wear my heavy metal T-shirt, of course, but what should I wear on the bottom? Oh, right, my Lederhose! Great idea!" But such thoughts occur in the minds of Austrians more commonly than one would think, and I find that simply hilarious.

When I realized that Tracht has not disappeared from everyday life in Austria, it became my secret dream to see someone I knew in the traditional costume. My hopes were not very high: Sometimes a friend of mine from the dorm would come back from a weekend in their village with tagged photos of them on Facebook at some Dorffest in a Dirndl or Lederhose. But someone I knew, in Tracht, in the flesh? As my work colleague Andreas told me, "Wrong Bundesland." Tracht is conservative, traditional, rural -- everything Austrians are trying to avoid when they come to study in the Big City.

It's Not Goodbye, It's Auf Wiedersehen.

Because we have to see each other again. We just have to.

My semester abroad is over. During my last weeks in Austria, I was asked many times whether I was happy to leaving or not. "I have mixed feelings" was always my answer. And now that I'm back at Harvard, my mixed feelings are even stronger. I'm happy to be in the company of my friends, of people who care about me, social justice, and overly-intellectualized radicalism; excited about my classes (even if I'm not excited about the amount of reading); and loving the perks of campus life, like a gorgeous, spacious single bedroom and a chocolate fountain for Sunday brunch. But at the same time, I miss the Austrian customs to which I've grown accustomed. I greet everyone I pass by in Kirkland House. I make eye contact with strangers on the street -- especially important as we both try to navigate the very tiny paths between the four-foot piles of snow covering the streets of Boston this week. I really just like eating grilled vegetables. When entering a room, I immediately take off my shoes and put on Hausschuhe. I go to bed at midnight and wake up at eight.

On Saturday night, I was explaining how I felt like I prioritized relationships during my semester in Austria, and that I was able to lead a more balanced and fulfilling life there because I wasn't so damn busy all the time. "Well," she asked me, "how are you going to bring Austria back to Harvard?" And that's the question. I do feel that I've grown a lot as a person during my semester abroad, and I want to transfer those lessons back to my life here. I don't want to be the college freshman who slept until 11am, then threw on sweatpants before running to class, and stayed up half the night finishing her papers. I want to lead a more balanced life here at Harvard, too. Let's see if it's possible.

All the Small Things

Sometimes I feel like it's cheating to go to Europe for an "intercultural experience." Austrian and American cultures really aren't that different -- on the surface. We consume the same products and lifestyles (thanks global capitalism!), think on the individual level, believe in progress (we're Westerners, after all), and have a strict concept of time. It takes time to recognize cultural differences between Austria and America, because they're hidden below the surface of this hegemonic Western consumption-oriented cultural facade. That's why I'm here for five months, instead of two weeks. And during my first week of classes, some of these small differences made themselves clear.