Your Course HSS 315

Sorry to have delayed getting this to you...your course work this semester will consist of posting to this blog. As I said, I would like for you to post on your observations of the first 24 hours...when you visit your UNCG pals in Estonia or Poland, keep a record of that "first impression" too. The rest is up to you. There are some suggestions below!

HONORS IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE:
A Study Abroad Program in Estonia, Poland, and Russia
HSS 315

Kathleen Ahern 2009


SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION ON BLOGGING

Weekly Reports
Once a week you will be expected to write a brief blog on some aspect of life in the city or country in which you are currently staying. The first blog should be written within 24 hours of arrival either in Tartu or Wroclaw. This first blog should simply be your first impressions of the place. Among the things to think about are the following: to what extent is the place what you expected (does it relate to the readings you did prior to arrival?); how you feel about being there; expectations; concerns; excitement.
Every other weekly blog is more under your control; we simply require that you write about one or other aspect of your experience on a weekly basis. The following is simply a list of possible topics. Some of them can be about the sorts of things that you might typically do.
Visit to a local market (equivalent of a farmers’ market in Greensboro)
In a supermarket
Food and drink
Trying to buy [sausages] without yet knowing any of the language
Evening life
The university
Impressions of the students and the classes
A day in my life
Comparison with a typical day in my life in Greensboro

Other topics focus more on your thoughts about life in this society, and the changes (or lack of changes) over the past decade or so.
Life outside the city
Inside someone’s home
What’s life like for children?
What’s life like for students?
What’s life like for the elderly?
The past is still present (continuing impact of “state socialism”)
Things that are just like home
Unbridled capitalism?
Who visits museums, and what do they see?


You don’t need to restrict yourself to these particular suggestions, but the idea is that on a weekly basis you’ll have the opportunity to reflect on the realities of life in this city.

After you’ve visited the “other” city (those of you from Tartu have been to Wroclaw, and vice versa) you’ll have three cities to compare—these two plus Saint Petersburg. Your later blogs should include a comparison of what you’ve seen in the three places.