What I'm Learning (last in the "academics" series.) part 5 of 5

I’m coming home in two days. I cannot wait!

It feels like a lifetime since I have seen my family. How have I changed? Well, now that I have a penchant for fresh bread, I will be frequenting Libby’s bread shop in Charleston, near the farmer’s market. It is a pity I have to drive. Might the new governor consider putting in some bike lanes with electric bike signs that are safe enough for children to use...?

Here is a list of 10 things I did these past three months:

1. Hosted a Harry Potter Party potluck dinner for my Dutch classmates
2. Consumed raw herring
3. Biked through days of Dutch rain and iced-over roads
4. Temporarily trapped myself inside an old Dutch army fort when the gate
locked me in and had to crawl through two sheep fields to get out
5. Meandered through Dutch limestone caves in the southern town of
Valkenburg where some Jews hid during the war and were liberated by the
Allies
6. Found a place to buy a bicycle lock that weighs more than my new bicycle
7. Spoke some form of Dutch, daily
8. Ate a Parisian crepe
9. Sipped raspberry beer in a jazz club in Paris with two of my former college
roommates and visited fantastic French art museums!
10. In Holland, kissed everyone I saw three times on the cheek—left, right, left

And my academic program is great. I came here to study European matters. However, it turns out that my professors are encouraging me to study what I am slightly more familiar with, topics that have a domestic resonance. At present, I am working on two American history topics. The first, is on the painter, famed for his splatter-style: Jackson Pollock. I am writing on his involvement during the Cold War and how his art was used and perhaps exploited to showcase American virtues of freedom during the time. The second history paper is on American female slave and ex-slave narratives and diaries. Charleston Public Library, here I come!