Categories
2021-22 Europeans in the USA

My Fulbright Experience at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

During the first COVID lock-down in my hometown Vienna, Austria, writing a Fulbright proposal for visiting the United States felt strange. My partner and I did not even dare to celebrate when we received the request to sign the contract and submit our documents for the visa procedure. When we finally touched ground in California, we could not believe our luck. We could finally taste the life we only knew from the movies, music and, in general, our pop-cultural upbringing. Until our departure, I never stopped marvelling at this alien world, beautiful and seemingly endless landscapes, diversity in biomes and cultures, buzzing urban areas, but also its enormous divide between rich and poor, ubiquitous slums and the currently prevailing grand polarization of the American population.

Categories
2021-22 Americans in the EU General

Vous êtes francophone?: Language in the heart of Europe

On a beautiful, sunny day in early May, I stepped out for some fresh air, an EU policy study tucked into my bag, and headed to the park to do some reading. As I sat trying to brush up on the regulations governing eCommerce and digital services, a group started playing frisbee on the lawn. […]

Categories
2021 Europeans in the USA

Labour of love 

I visited Columbia University during the fall semester of 2021. As chance would have it, this was the semester during which Columbia University’s student workers went on a 10-week strike which saw them win a range of improvements over previous working conditions

Categories
2022 Americans in the EU

A sense of community

In my line of research, I often ask respondents, “do you feel a sense of community” in their country of asylum. This question prompts various responses, where some have found their “tribe” and others feel like a lone wolf. Their answer often informs my follow-up question: “do you regret your initial decision to leave your […]

Categories
General

Another Place

It’s scary here. I can’t find my footing. I don’t feel the earth beneath me. I’m floating. Untethered. It’s a privilege to be here. To be a voyeur in people’s lives with my camera and tell their stories. To try and make meaning of what’s happened to them…of what happened to me. The road is […]

Categories
General

Street-level reception in Europe at a time of war

Street-level accoglienza (reception) is a concept that I developed while doing ethnographic research on migrant reception and solidarity initiatives in the Central Mediterranean between the years of 2014 and 2019. The concept is derived in part from Michael Lipsky’s “street-level bureaucrats”, i.e., those state actors who are thought to enact policies and give them shape […]

Categories
2021-22 Americans in the EU

Belgitude

When I arrived in Belgium for my Fulbright grant a few weeks before winter 2021 I was, about as literally as possible, a fish out of water. Upon getting my bearings and meeting locals I began to receive a common question: why did you choose Belgium? To this I had come up with a pithy […]

Categories
EU-US Young Leaders Seminar

EU-US Young Leaders Seminar on the Future of Democracy

From 27 to 29 April 2022, the Fulbright Commission in Brussels facilitated the participation of 25 current American Fulbrighters and 25 European alumni of EU-funded exchange programs in the 2022 EU-US Young Leaders Seminar on the Future of Democracy. The event marked the fifth iteration of the EU-US Young Leaders Seminar, which was first held […]

Categories
2021-22 Americans in the EU

Gluten-free adventures

I have celiac disease, which means I have a gluten allergy. If I eat food that contains gluten, I get sick.  Moving to Vienna, Austria and spending extended lengths of time in Sweden for my Fulbright research means I have spent a lot of time staring at the shelves in supermarkets, trying to figure out […]

Categories
2021 2022 Europeans in the USA

Shelter from the Storm: How I experienced the recovery efforts in post-Ida Louisiana

Are you familiar with Bob Dylan’s “Shelter from the Storm”? Inspired by this song, this blogpost is dedicated to all people and organizations in Louisiana who give, advocate for and lay the groundwork for the delivery of decent shelter to all human beings from recurrent storms and other stormy life events. I invite you to listen to this beautiful song while you read this post.