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18 strangers, 5 European cities, 3.5 weeks. All expenses paid.
Nope, not a new reality series, but an incredible opportunity to better understand Europe by experiencing it with a group of young (defined as 28-40 years old) Americans. This should have been a no-brainer, but when I was nominated for this "Young Leaders" fellowship, I actually grappled with whether to take a month off to pursue this. I'm so glad I did.
Arriving in Europe days before President George W. Bush's first European trip, I found that we often heard conflicting assessments of the importance of his visit and the future of U.S.-European relations. In Brussels, NATO Secretary-General Lord George Robertson met our group briefly (boy, that was cool) and emphasized the significance of continued U.S. military involvement in NATO and Europe. Many European journalists I talked with disagreed, saying European leaders are looking inward, with an eye on enlarging the European Union to become a rival superpower on par with the United States.
A common theme as I traveled to Copenhagen, Marseille, Warsaw and Berlin was the struggle posed by immigration. In Copenhagen, it was the Turks; in Marseille and Berlin, it was the Africans. In Warsaw, there still remained a "Jewish Question." And everywhere, people talked about the problem with the Roma. Free movement throughout most of Europe is now possible with the 1995 EU Schengen Treaty, but there is growing resentment that illegal immigrants are exploiting the liberal welfare policies offered by most developed European societies. Even for the legal immigrants, the challenges are heartbreaking. We met a dynamic first-generation Pakistani woman, the first minority broadcaster on Danish television, and learned about the high price paid by immigrants trying to fit in yet preserve their cultures.
From the perspective of a journalist, this trip was very helpful in dispelling some oversimplified notions I had about Europe. At Auschwitz, Poland, I gradually understood why the Poles did not seem to mourn (more) the systematic elimination of the Jews there. It turns out while 3 million Jews died in Poland, 3 million Poles were killed as well. This is not a valid excuse but does help explain why the Polish people did not do more for the Jewish population after the war.
All told, this whirlwind adventure was fantastic, exhausting and very educational. Those 18 strangers are now friends for life, and part of a growing network of American professionals who have had a chance to experience Europe in a profound way. I highly recommend this program, and you can learn more about it at www.gmfus.org
Susan Han is a producer at KCTS-TV 9.
By Carey Quan Gelernter
Well, sure Lori - I'll tell you what it's like to be attending Stanford University surrounded by students young enough to be my kids, smarter than I am (if, at least, more naive), and certainly a whole lot skinnier and fitter!
Let me back up a minute. My husband, Jerry Large, was awarded a Knight Fellowship for mid-career journalists. The fellowship allows a group of national and international fellows and their spouses or partners the chance to take any classes they want for the year, plus hosts special seminars and field trips for them, and pays fellows a $50,000 stipend and some expense money.
Here's the best part - fellows and "courtesies" (as spouses/partners are known), don't have to take any tests or write any papers! You just go to class and do the reading you choose to. And the fellowship directors actually encourage you to take some "fun" stuff in your mix of classes (which is why Jerry can now play "Yesterday" on the guitar).
We just finished the first quarter, and my accomplishments include finally reading "The Sound and the Fury" and actually understanding it; learning the samba, coco and maculele (OK, so I danced off in the wrong direction at our end-of-quarter recital...), and getting my Chinese dynasties sort of straight.
Plus getting to know what life is like for journalists in such places as Nigeria, Romania, South Korea, Hong Kong and Zimbabwe.
Feeling fat, old and frumpy compared to the Stanford uber-students (the joke among us mostly middleaged fellows and spouses is that Stanford jettisons any student applicants who aren't attractive and HWP), is a small price to pay for this kind of education.
Of course there is a downside -- life here in Silicon Valley is so outrageously expensive (we pay $2500 for a real dump of a house), that there's a considerable financial sacrifice involved, especially if you're married and you're losing one spouse's salary
for the year.
Still, I'd encourage anyone interested in the Knight (or any of the other fellowships) to check the deal out (the deadline for next year, for national fellows, is Feb. 1; more info on the Stanford Web site.
Feel free to email me, Carey Quan, if I can answer questions or otherwise help.
You, too, may find that this is a great chance to get away from deadlines for awhile and get in touch again with your inner intellectual.
Carey Quan Gelernter is on leave from her job as an asst. features editor at The Seattle Times. Her husband, Jerry Large, is on leave from his job as a columnist for The Seattle Times.
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By Susan Han