Connected?

Although I am spending a lot of my parents' money, I found a way I am helping them out right now.  On Friday, my dad and sister were driving the van and hit a deer.  The van is totaled and my dad is disappointed that he can't claim the 10 point buck as a trophy, because hitting it with the car doesn't count as hunting.  However, since I am here, my mom, who normally drives the van, can use my car (which I'm obviously not using) and my family can have plenty of time to go van shopping.  So you're welcome, Mom and Dad, now please send more money.  

Many people have asked if I am homesick, as most of the people here are becoming.  As the study abroad people showed before we left, there is a graph of how people feel when away for a long time.  If you put how you feel along the vertical axis and time along the horizontal axis, the graph becomes bowl-shaped.  You feel excited and everything at the beginning and it hits a low point in the middle, before turning up when you are approaching the time to go home.  Sunday was my halfway point in Europe--57 days down, 57 to go.  I have mixed feelings about this.  I'm sad that I only have so much time left, but in a way, I'm anxious to get home.  I feel like I'm learning a lot, but much of the time spent in Brno, we don't do much.  We go to classes and do homework, but other than that, there isn't much to do.  Boredom is sure a common thing for everyone.  European colleges don't have a student life at all.  Students go to school and that's it, no organizations, no organized sports, etc.  Masaryk University has about 28,000 students, but they hide them pretty well.  So, when we complain about nothing to do in Ames, there really is stuff to do, compared to here.

We have all decided we need a break from everyone.  We hang out with the same people all the time and everyone has said that although they like their roommate, they just can't wait to get away from them.  People who act like they are best friends here always say how much they would just like to have time with other people.  At home, this is very easy.  Here, not so much.  We hear the same stories from everyone so many times.  As nothing new or exciting happens, there's nothing really new to talk about, so conversations are mundane and repetitive.  Everyone's attitude is just that of same old routine, same old people.  Going away for weekend trips brightens everyone's outlook because they are such a change of pace and a chance to interact with new people.  

Fortunately, with technology being the way it is in our glorious modern era, this problem can be helped.  Although it is not exactly experiencing a culture, it really helps.  I'm talking about the wonders of the internet.  Everyone here (at least the foreign students) thrive on it and would die if the internet went out.  I have been able to talk to friends at home online through instant messaging.  Facebook allows us to see what's going on at home, personal things that don't get reported in the newspapers.  We also can see pictures on Facebook posted in real time.  We are very connected to people at home.  The only thing that is different is that we have to subtract 7 hours whenever we are talking to people at home.  (For this week, I am only 6 hours ahead of CDT as daylight savings time ended yesterday here in Europe.  The US will do this upcoming Sunday.)   The best thing has been using Skype.  Skype is talking to a computer's microphone and contacting other computers or phones.  For $8, I bought a pass to call any cell phone or landline in the US for 3 months.  Yes, $8 for unlimited calls home for 3 months.  I use it a lot to call my family and friends and just shoot the breeze.  I have also used it to take care of business at home.  I had to set something up with the bank at home.  I had called them and they told me I should just come in to the bank and get it taken care of.  They had no idea I was actually 4700 miles away at the time.  Video messaging is a feature on Skype and some IM services, meaning I can talk to (and see!) friends and family from here.  Everyone here uses this feature.  We are never out of the loop.   I even registered for second semester ISU classes while I was here, contacting my adviser via email and doing the online registration.  I am updated with what is going on in my organizations at ISU as I am still on all the email lists and get emails all the time.  Whenever I miss ISU, I just go to website with the webcams overlooking the campanile and the library lawn and see the campus.  I can even zoom in and see faces of people walking to class (creepy, I know).  

I also get all my news here.  While I can't go to ABC or NBC and stream TV shows like at home (copyright restrictions against playing things for free in Europe), I have found some places where I can get some TV shows, at least "The Amazing Race," one of my favorites.  I also download the NBC Nightly News podcast from iTunes and watch it every day.  I can also download songs and everything from iTunes, which gives me comforts of home.  Some of the local news stations, ie KWWL and KCRG, also have downloadable news programs or clips, so I can see the local news.  I also check the Des Moines Register and Waterloo Courier websites for news from home.  Since I am asked about the US Presidential election every time I meet a new person, I have done a pretty good job of keeping up to date on every aspect of the election.  Also, I voted absentee last week.  I had my ballot sent here and I simply sent it in to my county from here.  So, my Facebook status that day was "David just voted and he's 4700 miles from home.  What's your excuse?"