Angelica
March 22, 2002
Refreshment

dear friends and family,
it has come time to tell you my story. Many a suprised email i've received by those unaware i returned early february to the states. so yes, the return flight from vienna was effectively uneventful. Something i wrote my friend Audrey on cultural reflections:

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Personally, the whole trip was fantastic. wonderful people, wonderful places, a real real view of life in a major active transition phase. Certainly I will want to go back, but I've been on a Continent stint for a while, and I'm up to Asia, followed by Africa.
Europe is a VERY cool place to live. Overall, everyone's perspective on issues are right in synch with mine and I am a huge fan of social capitalism. if i went back I'd work on the accession process of eastern-european countries, probably from Prague. What the united states has though, while excitement was present in eastern europe, is an edge to it. American culture is not afraid to offend and force ideas into conversations. We are a forceful people with almost no history, and that frees us from fearing stepping on other's toes because in our youthful aggression, we know no such repercussions.

mmm. europe fits me better, but i like america's roughness. the roughness is of course balanced by superficiality, but each of these characteristics can be found everywhere in certain amounts if you know where to look.

I'm certainly going to grad school but probably not till fall 2004. most likely i'll study international relations/development. perhaps it'll be more focused on NGOs or EU accession or evolving demographics... whatever it is, it'll be about the new counter-movement to network people and grass-roots organizations locally and globally, in reaction to the intense networking of corporations and cheap migrating labor.

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Since my trip finished I've been at home stewing, down for some sun and grandparents in Florida for a week, and now in Boston about to see some of the West Coast (Seattle and San Francisco).

The United States is quite an amazing place. There are numerous things I appreciate much more fully about this country than I did before I left. While yes, our media system thrives on scandals, we do have a self-cleansing system. The corporate and accounting failures that were realized by Enron are in the public scrutinization phase with at least a general initial intention to correct the flaws in the system that led to this situation. This would not have happened in many other countries where the system is corrupt to the point that the only possibility for improvement is a new regime.

Although, the issue is the capitalist system not inherently the democratic system and the government is ideally democratic. Thus overthrowing the current president would change the democratic system slightly and not the capitalist one, yet they are oh-so-intricately woven together that change is never linear... ah the complexity of the American system.

So, I'm weighing the coasts at the moment, testing the lifestyles, mentalities, health and especially energy of my internal rivals: Boston and San Fran. In the process I'm also looking into working in both places at organizations like OxFam in Boston and Global Exchange in San Francisco; OxFam being an internatioal relief and development funding organization and Global Exchange being a research, education and action center focused on promoting international and local partnerships.

Life Love and Energy keep running through my veins, in and out, up and down... remembering the adventures and random moments of my winter in eastern europe. still in communication with many friends, it seems ease of communication is key in relationships. i joked with a friend while we walked from MIT to BU tonight, making random plays on different american accents and we both fell into laughter easily, completely understanding contextual references. While the world shrinks, there are more and more experiences we share unaware with people many many miles away. I remember listening to music with a friend (Tomek!) in Krakow, Poland and talking about our equivalent junior high experiences that corresponded to certain music we both had listened to then.

Yet the more I travel, I see people as a manifestation of the community and geography in which they live. Flying across the country and leaving my friends in Boston I will begin to compile them into my 'Boston experience' and then go to meet new people in a new location. I travel but the surroundings I arrive and depart from remain constant. At many points I have wanted to stick to a place, literally; stick culturally, emotionally, socially, romantically, professionally... Often one or more of the categories is fulfilled, and the more one travels the less one learns to expect from the destination, as long as it is a destination and a stopping place.

I have rambled, it seems. Bumping into many of you, it amuses me to realize that you have shared so intricately in my recent journeys. I have nothing to explain. That is comforting. Almost as if you have all accompanied me on this trip and I can make inside jokes with you about certain experiences I alone had and you'll understand. The internet is incredible.

ALright, on with life and love and energy!
Best of luck to you all whereever you are. I am looking forward to the mild weather of the west coast after the cold snowy intense winter of eastern europe.
If any of you are in Seattle or San Francisco, please tell me! Also as I am in this phase, if you become aware of jobs in Boston or San Francisco, please give me a heads-up as well. :-)

Peace and contentedness to you and those you love,
Angelica

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