Ben Franklin Fellows in Purdue

One of the programs that the State Department has that I find particularly exciting is the Benjamin Franklin Transatlantic Fellows program.

The Benjamin Franklin Transatlantic Fellows Initiative gives students aged 16-18 from Europe and the U.S. a chance to foster relationships in order to advance links and awareness of shared values, encounter principles of freedom and cooperation as challenges of the global 21st Century. The inspiration for the program is American statesman and diplomat, Benjamin Franklin, who prized religious tolerance over intolerance, social mobility over class privilege, and was a firm believer in free speech. The program works to create an environment that encourages individual expression, communications, and information sharing in an effort to advance positive relationships among the various ethnic, religious, and national groups.

Each year, Embassy Tallinn tries to send two of Estonia's top students to the U.S. for this program, and this year we sent two really impressive young women, Elis and Pille-Riin.

And from the sound of Elis' blog, To The Other Side of the World, they are getting the most from their adventure!

Already, Elis is figuring out some of the "major and minor differences between Estonia and US":

She writes:

* The food. Everybody knows that Americans eat a lot of unhealthy food, but it's still weird to see all 10-year olds eat Fench Fries, hamburgers and a lot of other greasy stuff for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

*The rules. They are very conservative. I'm supposed to be staying in the land of Freedom and Liberty, but the rules here are over the top ridiculous. A boy and a girl can't go somewhere (even in public) just by themselves. If there are only 2 people going somewhere, they have to be both girls or both boys. Also, girls can't go to the boys side of the dorms and vice versa, but in the US people our age can get married.

* Politeness. Everybody is so polite. In the stores, there's always someone who comes to ask if you need any help finding something. Then they sometime start a conversation with you and ask where you come from. After hearing the word "Estonia" they nodd with "what-are-you-saying" faces and go on with their talking. Also, everybody's always holding doors open for everybody and you definitely have to remember to say "Thank you".

* Religion. Everything revolves around the church. They have so many different types of religon and churches on campus.

* Sororities and fraternities. You can see the Greek houses everywhere and although it's summer, some of them have quite a lot of people living in them right now. Basically, they were supposed to be all about the parties.
You can follow Elis' continuing adventures here.