“Global understanding” - project which connected people from different countries, different cultures, different thoughts about life, different lifestyles, different religions and different ideal families. I would like to write about my expectations and feelings about this project.
First of all, this project is more interesting than I expected! I thought it would be some boring conversations, everyone would be shy and not talkative - but fortunately I was wrong.
Our first connection was with Americans - I was nervous and stressed, because their English
is perfect. I was worried that I will not understand them. But I think it was not bad, like for the
1st year student.
About topics. That subjects were mostly easy to talk, I think. We are very similar countries
in many ways. For example, family - parents and two kids, usually. Typical time for marriage
is usually after college, around 25 and sometimes around 30, like in Poland. We have similar meanings of life - religion, family, education.
I was surprised because of two things. Firstly I thought that Americans have some jokes about Polish people, but I was wrong. Deepa - my American partner - said that she never heard jokes about Polish people. For me that was strange but after a moments' thought I realized that she's American and not English.
Secondly, I didn't know that in America kids can drive a car! Kids - I mean 14 years old people. It's insane for me, because they're just a kids.
I wasn't surprised about college life. I used to watch some American movies and there are typical American college with “college team”, big campuses with canteens, buffets, coffee shops
or places, where can use free internet. Of course, we have many similar things too. We like spend our free time with our friends to go to some pubs, go to parties and just have fun.
And the last thing I didn't know is about costs. They have to pay a lot of money for studies - about 20,000 dollars per semester in public school and about 50,000 dollars in private schools.
It's a lot of money.
About connection and condition - I hope in the future we will have a special room for video chat. That's all, because I think as for the first time there were very, very good conditions.
Sum up, I'm really grateful for this opportunity and chance. For me “Global understanding”
is very helpful to get some knowledge about different cultures, which is interesting for me.
In this semester we had “Global understanding”. We have communicated with teenagers from America and Pakistan by chat and video chat. We had to do collaborative project “Visiting”. Unfortunately I didn't get any response from my American partner and my Pakistan partner,
so my project is not complete.
If my partner was going to come and visit me for 10 days, I don't know what should I show him… I really don't know. Generally, my life is boring, I can say. Maybe just I would take him to Rymanów Zdrój - I live there. There's a beautiful park and river, when you can swim and sunbathed and also we have healthy waters, but not so good. But if he would want to know something more about Poland, I would get him to Warsaw to “Museum of Warsaw Uprising” to get some historical knowledge about Poland. I think that Polish parties are different than in Pakistan or in America,
so I would take him there too. I would take him to some Polish restaurant with traditional Polish food and to Polish football match - it would be fun, I think.
I think that he will meet me more when he will just spend with me some time - I think 10 days will be enough.
Have you ever wondered about your country? What special places you have? What can you show other people from other countries? For some people these questions are really difficult.
Some of you are not interested in history of your country and monuments, which could be shown.
I want to describe places in Poland, which are very interesting, historical and great for holidays
for Polish people and which you can visit in 10 days.
First of all, you have to see capital city of Poland - Warsaw, which has very interesting history (“Museum of Warsaw Uprising”). Warsaw lies on the Vistula River, which flows through the entire country and has an outlet in the Baltic Sea. It's a place where you can do everything, generally
(if we talk about culture, sport, free time).
Moreover, you can go to Szczecin. The most popular event, I think, is “The Tall Ships Races”. Ships coming from all over the Europe - and it's a big event once a year in August. It's worth to see.
I think that for lovers of sailing the best place is “Masuria Lakes”. I don't know what else
can I say but it's a perfect place for sailing.
About mountains. I think that the best and the most beautiful mountains in Poland are “Bieszczady”. You can see there lots of animals (bears, deer, wolves) and variety of flowers
and plants. You can spend your free time on the nature and just breathe.
And next, Solina. There is the biggest in Poland water dam and Solina lake. You can sailing there, sunbathed and have fun with your friends. I think, it's a great place to take a rest and breathe.
It's also surrounded by mountains, where you can climb.
These places are very interesting for me. I would like to spend my free time there, my holiday.
I think I will relaxing there and just have fun and of course get some new knowledge, for example
in “Museum of Warsaw”. I think my choice depends on my lifestyle, because I like spend
my free time in active way and just relax.
Global understanding - Collaborative Project
Dominika Dzidziul Page 3