Bericht von START-Wien Stipendiat Vuk über seinen USA-Aufenthalt im Rahmen des Benjamin Franklin Fellowship Programms. Ein besonderer Dank gilt der US – Botschaft in Wien, die diesen Austausch seit vielen Jahren in Kooperation mit dem US Department of State ermöglicht und damit unseren Stipendiat:innen die Teilnahme an diesem einzigartigen Programm ermöglicht. Homepage-de – US-Botschaft in Österreich Nun berichtet er über die dritte Woche seines Aufenthalts in den USA:
14. Day: New Contender, July 7
Doctor Jeff Spanke, the most enthusiastic man to walk the planet, had arrived and he was ready to bless us with some knowledge. The first lesson had me awe-struck. From his energy, to his motivation to the subject at hand, I was amazed and thrilled to be learning from him. The second lesson was with Doctor Dan Jones, which was still great, but dwarfed by the amazing performance beforehand. After lunch we had another lesson with Doctor Jones, which was a bit more intriguing. Then, after spending all of my free time in the gym with working out and swimming we headed back to the dorms to play some Jeopardy. I had a great deal of fun guessing with my team and we even came in second, which was a great surprise. Finally, I went back to my room, read a few pages of my book and went to sleep.
15. Day: Incredible Talents, July 8
The day started off with a new type of lesson that has never been done before in the history of BFTF. We were divided into three groups and got approximately one and a half hours to read through a few pages from some books / watch some news and then discussed what we had observed. It was incredibly fun and I made some new insights, which weren’t all that amazing, but the way we came to those conclusions was pretty interesting. Then, in the evening, we prepared for the talent show, and I have to say that this might have singlehandedly been one of the best talent shows I have ever seen in my life. All of the fellows that showed off their talents were amazing, and the comedy made by the American fellows was definitely my favourite. I did not perform because my stunt was a bit too dangerous, but I ended the day having even more respect for all the other fellows than before, which I had not thought possible.
16. Day: Host families, July 9
The classes were only our groups rotating through each mentors’ topic of discussion, so I won’t get into that as I explained it yesterday, because the thing I have been waiting for has finally come. We got into our host families! And mine was none other than family Rapaport, the leading organiser of the BFTF program. After being picked up we drove to his house, put our stuff down, got acquainted with their pets and headed outside for a drive to check out the area. Then we went to a grocery store to get something for the morrow, where we saw another host family with three other fellows. After a short chitchat we headed to a store that mainly sells work equipment and got some gloves to be able to work on Friday. Finally, we drove back to the house, tried some Almdudler together (everybody liked it) and then headed to bed, as we had to leave early for Chicago the next day.
17. Day: Chicago, July 10
We went to Chicago, a long-awaited trip. First, we visited the Willis Tower, which was an amazing experience. Then we had a boat tour, which informed us about Chicago’s architecture and was all around interesting. The most fun part was definitely recreating the famous Titanic scene with everyone. After deboarding we drove over to the Chicago tower to do a project with the young diplomats, which was incredibly underwhelming. Next up was the Bean, and although it was really cool, I’d say it’s quite overhyped as it is literally just a big metal bean. We did however get some free time to explore, which is exactly what I did. I headed to a mall with a few of the other fellows to grab some food and check out the area, which was quite entertaining. Finally, we drove back to Harrison and got picked up by our host families to go back home and rest up for the next day.
18. Day: Volunteering, July 11
Today’s agenda was mainly focused around volunteer work for the people of West Lafayette, as there are over 100 people who experience homelessness on a daily basis and the local shelter could definitely benefit from some free work. That’s exactly what we did. My team, consisting of four people, reorganised and cleaned the room which stored most of the supplies that are given out on a regular basis, while the others helped out wherever necessary. After volunteer work, the classes consisted of us doing our community projects, which was quite fun and I actually got most of mine done in the timeframe we were given. Then, after being picked up by our host father, my host brothers and I headed to the nearby pool and had a blast. Genuinely one of the most fun days in the program. Then we drove back home, had dinner and went to sleep.
19. Day: Drive, July 12
The first day that we mainly spent with our host families was amazing, at least from my point of view. We drove to a historical reserve for native Americans, which turned out to be closed due to bad weather, then we wanted to find a seven eleven, which didn’t happen, so we went to a second-hand store which had some really cool stuff. Then we headed to the most abandoned mall I had ever seen to grab something to eat. The food and the atmosphere were really nice; I liked it a lot. Then we decided to go to a pool party hosted by another host family. Everyone was invited and quite a few people came, which made it amazing and the talks we shared really stuck with me. This group is filled with interesting people I truly want to learn more about. At around 10 P.M. we headed back home and immediately went to sleep.
20. Day: Chicago part 2, July 13
Second day with host families, even better than the first. We drove to Chicago and visited the aquarium, which was huge and actually insanely informative. I especially liked the eels, whose reproduction cycle is still unknown for some reason. Then we went to another thrift store, because every penny saved counts. This one was quite a bore so we drove to the museum of science and industry, which was definitely the best part of the whole trip. The giant Tesla coil as well as the machine that created a miniature tornado really showed me how far the human race has come in regards to technological advancements. We also saw some historical weapons of war, like the U-505 (Stern), a German sub used in WW2. After the museum we drove back home and went to bed.
