Since arriving in Brussels, I have noticed that the Europeans like their risque advertisements. It is not uncommon to be sitting in a bus stop, glance up, and see a large photo ad of a man in his skivvies modeling a cell phone or bottled water. Nudity is just not weird here (at least in the minds of Europeans). A girl in one of my classes offered me her gossip mag once she was finished with it, and I excitedly accepted. As I flipped through the pages, I noticed that this little gem was not quite the same as my American favorite, People - and not just because it was in French. While this magazine featured a similar section of celebrity photos, the actual content was very foreign to me. There were photographs of topless women that would never have made it on to American newsstands. This cultural discrepancy has inspired me to research the advertising gap between the US and Europe for an assignment in my Intercultural Communication class. I have already found some really interesting websites that highlight this stark contrast, including AdsOfTheWorld.com.
As I write this entry, I can't help but be distracted from my thoughts by the noisy street below our apartment. There is always an ample amount of honking going on. The drivers here are really rather aggressive. More than once, when I've been Skyping with someone back home, they overhear a car engine as it roars through the streets and ask, "What is that???" But it's just the sound of European road rage. No big deal. People like to stop very suddenly, and accelerate just as quickly, and scrape past one another with tricky maneuvers that would make me cringe were I driving on the road with them. They truly love zipping about in their little green cars.
Overall, this week has been pretty uneventful and low key. I think that I am finally getting used to the work and class schedule. I've definitely gotten the whole bus thing down, so I can just tune into my iPod on the way to work and not really pay attention. I haven't quite gotten used to the abrupt stops and holding my balance while standing on the bus, but I somehow feel that my clumsiness will prevent me from ever mastering such tricks.
Last night at our weekly Furman meeting, we had a guest speaker. His name is Jonathan Addleton, and he is the new Ambassador to Mongolia. He has worked in Brussels for the past few years, focusing on aid and development in the EU, and he has worked in a number of different places including Cambodia, Yemen, and Jordan just to name a few. One of the points that he made that really struck me in light of our trip to Ypres was that the devastation of the world wars is apparent as you travel through Europe. While I have learned about these wars in history, it is quite another thing to actually encounter these "foreign" territories and witness the tension that still lingers below the surface.
As I write this entry, I can't help but be distracted from my thoughts by the noisy street below our apartment. There is always an ample amount of honking going on. The drivers here are really rather aggressive. More than once, when I've been Skyping with someone back home, they overhear a car engine as it roars through the streets and ask, "What is that???" But it's just the sound of European road rage. No big deal. People like to stop very suddenly, and accelerate just as quickly, and scrape past one another with tricky maneuvers that would make me cringe were I driving on the road with them. They truly love zipping about in their little green cars.
Overall, this week has been pretty uneventful and low key. I think that I am finally getting used to the work and class schedule. I've definitely gotten the whole bus thing down, so I can just tune into my iPod on the way to work and not really pay attention. I haven't quite gotten used to the abrupt stops and holding my balance while standing on the bus, but I somehow feel that my clumsiness will prevent me from ever mastering such tricks.
Last night at our weekly Furman meeting, we had a guest speaker. His name is Jonathan Addleton, and he is the new Ambassador to Mongolia. He has worked in Brussels for the past few years, focusing on aid and development in the EU, and he has worked in a number of different places including Cambodia, Yemen, and Jordan just to name a few. One of the points that he made that really struck me in light of our trip to Ypres was that the devastation of the world wars is apparent as you travel through Europe. While I have learned about these wars in history, it is quite another thing to actually encounter these "foreign" territories and witness the tension that still lingers below the surface.
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