The People You Meet

Ok, so this will be kind of a hodge-podge post that combines a couple of things I've wished to write about.

First, earlier this week, on Monday night, I walked up the stairs to the train stop in Differdange to catch the 10:00 train home. As I climbed upwards a familiar sound reached my ears. Though there were no other Miami students at the stop, I heard English. As I approached, I recognized one individual who I had seen last week in Esch with a Boston College sweatshirt on. So when I realized they were speaking English, I had to know more (i.e. introduce myself). So it was that I met Ella, Walter, Bierette (spelling?), and some other lady whose name I cannot remember but who was definitely from Mexico. Turns out these four individuals are students working towards their Masters degrees in international studies and relations. They are doing that through the university in Leuven, Belgium. So I learned that for their program they are spending eight months in Differdange and Luxembourg and then going back to Leuven for the last three months of their year-long program. It was fascinating, and refreshing, to meet students who are not as crazy or as loud as the Miami students. You see, from the train stop, one can see the MUDEC student body's favorite bar, "Cafe le Notre," more commonly know as "Das Boot." The juxtaposition was ironic and comical for me. To hear the rowdy Miami students from the bar (on a Monday night, no less), and to hear the stories of Walter, a student originally from Belgium, Ella, who came from Armenia to study, and Bierette, who was from Estonia, was a little saddening. Even the internationalism presented by the MUDEC students pales in comparison to that of the Europeans.

Basically, it was cool to hear all of their perspectives on Luxembourg and on university matters. It was nice to meet other students in a relatively similar situation as ourselves. And, we'll hopefully get a chance to see them all again (as I learned that everyone from their program lives in either Differdange or Esch).

Fast forward to Wednesday night. For our mandatory activity, this guy Paul Dostert from some official Luxembourgish government office came and spoke about the Resistance in Luxembourg during World War II. While many of my fellow MUDECers studied for tests or spaced out, I in the front row stayed at least attentive during his hour and a half speech.

I heard the story of a 19 year old who started a strong anti-German resistance in Luxembourg's north. This student, two years later, was to be arrested by the Germans and instead he shot the two German police officers and then took his own life. I learned about how in 1939, Luxembourg defiantly celebrated the centennial anniversary of its founding as an independent nation. I thought it was really awesome that this small country had the guts to basically spit in Germany's face, even as war loomed. This was all during the hour and a half spiel to the whole of MUDEC. After that however, there was a reception scheduled (which I had signed up for - because there was going to be cheese and wine), and so I got to basically hang out with Mr. Dostert, the MUDEC theatre professor (still don't know his name), Assistant Dean Raymond Manes, Kelley (our student activities coordinator), and two other students for another hour. That's when I really learned some interesting things.

Mr. Dostert spoke about Bulgaria during World War II. He told us how not a single Bulgarian was ever taken to a death camp or concentration camp (which are two very different things, as I've learned). He told us how after the war the Bulgarians had tried to claim themselves as a shining example of protecting their own jewish community, and even went as far as to blame other nations for not doing better. To Mr. Dostert, this was hogwash, as he explained that basically the Bulgarians had just not been forced by the Nazis, and that they themselves made no distinctions between protecting Bulgarians and protecting jews. Mr. Dostert also spoke about the interrogations of the Nazi leadership after the war, which John Dolibois (for whom MUDEC is named) participated in. He told us how the Americans took a very "ambitious" policy of taking Nazi leadership into questioning. He said that they had kept them in Luxembourg's north where many interrogations took place before the Nuremburg trials. Now, although it was only his personal theory, he said he had read documents suggesting that Americans actually went so far as to kidnap Nazi leaders from parts of Germany and Luxembourg so that they could question them before they got to Britain or before the Allies' had come up with rules about how the German prisoners were to be treated. Mr. Dostert even said that this tactic was basically designed to make sure that the German prisoners were not taken into Soviet custody. Fascinating. This whole history thing can be really interesting sometimes.

Anyway, I've got to go. This weekend I will be in Cologne and Aachen in Germany. I will definitely take pictures and write a sweet post when I return on Sunday. Thanks!