So, what exactly is Matt doing in Germany?

The Transatlantic Summer Academy (TASA) is a yearly summer program that focuses on a particular area of European – North American relations. This year the subject is terrorism and there are 24 students from 10 different countries. 14 of us are either Canadian or American, and the other 10 are mostly from Southeastern and Eastern Europe (Generally, the academy only invites members from non-European Union countries). The school, organized through the University of Bonn, is 3.5 weeks of intensive lectures, discussion, and travel pertaining to the philosophical, economic, political, and legal consequences and causes of terrorism. Our lecturers are all well known experts in their fields. In fact our first speaker, Paul Wilkinson, is something of legend in International Relations literature. We also take some equally impressive excursions, with visits scheduled for Berlin, NATO headquarters, and the European Parliament.

I’ve really enjoyed our group so far. The Americans and the Canadians initially gravitated to each other because we are all (either by national stereotype or coincidence of individual personalities) all loud, extroverted, and talk really fast. Half the fun of hanging out with the Canadians is making fun of them. Best Canadian joke so far: “Canada is like a quiet apartment over a really cool party.”

This year’s TASA is culturally diverse; we have 3 Muslims participants who have made our discussions very interesting. We also have a few odd-balls. For instance there is a girl from Illinois with, what sounds to me like a Persian accent, but she is a 100% homegrown American. When pressed about this fact, she told us that she developed an accent while studying abroad a few years back. Umm…okay…We’re pretty sure she’s an Al-Qaeda spy.