It has been a while... Since our last update many things happened;Cohort 2014-2016 can now officially call itself EMTM Alumni, Cohort 2015-2017 is looking forward with bright eyes to gain professional experience and unravel the facinating world of tourism, and we must welcome our Cohort 2016-2018 who is now maturing its bond of friendship and eagerly waits to reunite in Ljubljana to kick off the second semester. Our EMTM family grows on and on and on, until even Trump can't ignore us any longer.
As an introduction to the newly born EMTM cohort, our friend Lauren - Canadian with Hong Kongese and Japanese roots- wrote a short reflection on the start of her EMTM experience in Denmark. You can also folow her blog 'Travel & Muse': https://travelandmuse.com/ Almost 5 months ago, I arrived at Copenhagen airport, sleepy-eyed and jet-lagged from a long flight from Vancouver. I didn’t know a lot about my classmates at that point, but our brief exchanges on Facebook showed me that they’re keen travelers, curious about cultures, and open-minded. Iceland from Lauren Chan on Vimeo.
Lauren and her EMTM classmates during fall break in Iceland
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During the christmas break Anna-Maria our German classmate from Generation 2014-2016 was volunteering with the non-profit organisation Soup and Socks e.V. in Greece. The team consisting of 8 people arrived on the 28th in Athens with two vans full of kitchen equipment, food, medicine and donations of many kinds. Anna will tell us more about their work and experience there. Being part of EMTM does not only mean to have the opportunity to study in a multicultural environment, travel & live in different countries and create bonds & friendships all over the world. Most importantly it also strengthened my consciousness and understanding towards global problems and my desire to play an active role in our society. The current migration situation in Europe worsens every month and no solution seems to be found. Getting the chance to learn about many different perspectives on a personal basis without depending on news from media is one of the high values of our programme. Having these experiences in mind I felt an even stronger responsibility to actively do something. That is why I decided to join the team Soup and Socks e.V. of some of my friends in Greece. The group consisted initially of only three people that shared the idea to drive with a van along the Balkan route to cook soups and distribute cloths for people on the run. Within a month the project grew enormously, more volunteers joined, a lot of donations were raised thanks to many generous people and a second van was mobilized. Can you be a mom and study at the same time an international academic program like EMTM? Is it even possible to keep following your academic and career goals when being a single mom? Yes, you can! Statia, our amazing EMTM mom from Trinidad and Tobago, gives her account of what it takes to grasp the opportunity and be a role model for her son. She opens up her heart and tells us her story about the fight against her self, and against the social stigmas in her society, about how her son motivated her and EMTM classmates supported her. It was a loop of faith, but Statia would do it over, every time again! There isn’t a more fitting name for my EMTM blog contribution than “Out of the mouth of babes”. “Babe”? You may ask. Yes babe! There is a passage in my bible that says “ Out of the mouth of babes, the Lord ordains strength”. His name is Caelen, my 4 year old son who initiated, rather, motivated my application for this amazing journey (EMTMlife). In one of our “adult” conversations he asked in a very calculated manner and adult tone; mummy, when are you going back to school? The deadline was quickly approaching, and I battled tremendously with the decision to submit my application. I mean, what kind of mother leaves her four years old son to journey half way around the world to study? Who will take care of him while I’m away? Is it financially and academically feasible to travel from country to country every four months with him? Can’t I study tourism in Trinidad and Tobago? Or even the Caribbean? Off course I could have. Conventional wisdom dictated that I should have. But! If I don’t apply, how do I fulfill my academic and career goals? And fulfill my parental obligation to my son, the love of my life? EMTM afforded me the ‘best’ opportunity to achieve, not only my goals, but my most pertinent parental obligation i.e. to teach Caelen by example how I strived, persevered, believed regardless of critics, obstacles, failures, despite every bone and fiber in my body saying, “Statia it’s okay to settle”. Believe me, the obstacles were great, the road tumultuous, but at the end of the tremendous battle occurring in my mind I could not ‘settle’ into the conventional single parent cycle of dependence and blame. That would benefit neither me nor my son.
Starting the journey without knowing how life would be in the end... the diversity of many nationalities together creates a bond of a big family.
Another EMTM story from generation 2013-15, Anna, our Russian friend shared her 2 year journey from Kolding travelled a bit down to Ljubljana and ended up in Girona last September. But wait...its not really the end because you will always find a family wherever you go...
Why EMTM? I tell you...
I always make random decisions, it’s kinda my thing. EMTM was one of them. I had half a year left of my Bachelor in wonderland called Finland and was searching for another adventure which will postpone working life as a true grown up for couple of years. I kept applying to programs in the UK but, if I may say so, something went wrong and I spontaneously ended up on EMTM webpage and applied couple of hours before the deadline. Surprisingly, the acceptance letter came two weeks later and it was the happiest day! I didn’t realize at that point what a hell of a ride it would be and how lucky I was. Not even 2 months left together. Generation 2014-16 is now getting quite emotional as everyone will be leaving soon to different part of the world for their thesis. It is the time that every second counts, every group hug is worth more than before. Brandy, our sweet Vietnamese friend, shared her EMTM experience from the very beginning in Denmark, how life cannot be expected, till now where we are so closed to each other and how EMTM has changed her life forever... .......Before leaving for Denmark to start our first semester, I didn’t know what to expect. It’s like having cold feet before knowing that your dream is coming true. The dream that you have waited for so long to realize, and at that moment you start asking yourself “Am I ready for this?” I have always thought I am quite socially awkward, and the fact that there would be so many of us from all over the world frightened me a bit. We had created a facebook page EMTM 2014-2016 before, and by some initial stalking I could know these 32 people with awesome stories, diverse backgrounds and amazing profiles. Yes I had some intercultural experience, but being together with 32 people for 2 years is really something different. “What if I cannot fit in?” “What if I am not good enough?” “What if I am not cool enough?” “What if…”
Vladimira, our Slovak friend, wrote a personal piece on EMTM and the power of the group. Read how she stands in life and how she believes the EMTM familiy is important during the two years away from home.
Every good relationship has its great times and difficult times. And most of the time, it is the difficult ones that indicate the quality of the relationship.
Get ready and prepare for the ride with EMTM roller coaster! After spending time together for more than a year, many things have happened either good or bad, sad or happy... Violet, our Argentinian clasmate from generation 2014-16, describes these emotional experiences as a roller coaster with loops, falls, ups and downs. I have always liked analogies. And if the metaphors can help me express my feelings, I am even more contented! It is so hard to word how emotions strike you, how itinerant a simple feeling can be, how 246 different sensations can impact your persona... how do you describe some moments (or most of them) in experiences such as EMTM?
A book and many class disccusions on heritage, authenticity, interpretation and destination management are even in EMTM not the same as the experience of visiting a destination through the eyes of a tourist and destination manager. In the light of the courses on Cultural Heritage, lectured by Timothy Dallen, and Destination Management, by Louis Mundet, the students of generation 2014-16 were divided into three groups, visiting the Catalonia region.
Barbora, the Danish country representative, wrote a story on her experience on the field trip. EMTM is a two-year away-from-home experience. That unknown away-from-home place, in Kolding, Ljubljana, Girona and wherever EMTM takes you, becomes your new home. Sadly, this means also leaving people behind. Everyone who is reading this post right now has probably experienced this feeling in one way or the other. Tjasa, a Slovenian student, wrote a very personal piece on Erasmus Mundus and the meaning of friends. When I was first leaving my home country to join the EMTM circus, my group of friends was my life and meaning. We had the whole going-away-party extravaganza, with UNO tournament, presents and my awesome lasagna (I make a mean lasagna, by the way, just dropping that in). In the next few days, I was off to new adventures in Denmark – it wasn't my first time living abroad, but we weren't as close with the group as we were at the beginning of my EMTM.
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