Published: July 04, 2008 12:31 pm            

Europeans make cultural connection

Dimitris Christopoulos said the cultural differences between the United States and Europe are not as vast as one might think.

“The similarities you can find between this place and Europe are more than the similarities between here and New York, said Christopoulos, a professor from Athens, Greece.

He is one of six Europeans visiting Effingham this weekend as part of the Marshall Memorial Fellowship cultural exchange program.

The group arrived in Illinois Thursday and is scheduled to stay until Sunday. Sinne Backs Canon, an ethnic Dane who lives in Belgium, said she can’t get over the space of the Midwest.

“It’s so vast,” she said. “When you sit on the porch, it just goes on for miles.

“It looks a lot like farming country where I am from — and it’s so quiet,” added Backs Canon, who lives and works in Brussels — the seat of the European Union, or as she puts it, “the Washington D.C. of Europe.”

While Christopolous and Backs Canon have visited the United States in the past, it was Aleksandra Lojek-Magdziarz’s first trip across the Atlantic.

Lojek-Magdziarz, a Polish national who works as a freelance journalist in London, said the most striking difference between the United States and London is the friendliness of the people.

“People are colder in London,” she said. “And people who live in former Soviet bloc countries (including Poland) still have issues with trust. That means when you are out in the street, you won’t always get friendly responses.”

Christopoulos, Backs Canon and Lojek-Magdziarz were joined as German Marshall Fellows on this trip by Roland Theis of Germany, Salim Murad of the Czech Republic and Robert Zitnansky of Slovakia.

Host families were Jim and Rosie Gibbons of rural Edgewood, John and Donna Loy of rural Effingham, John and Kathy Adams of rural Altamont and Norbert and Linda Soltwedel of rural Shumway.

The Marshall Memorial Fellowship was created in 1982 to introduce new generations of European leaders to American institutions, politics and people through a traveling program. Since 1999, a companion program has enabled Americans to experience a changing and expanding Europe.

The program has attracted more than 1,500 young professionals from all sectors, including politics, media, business and nongovernmental organizations. Marshall Fellows hail from the United States and 22 European countries.

Program coordinator Larry Wilson of University of Illinois Extension said the fellowship program is rooted in the Marshall Plan for European reconstruction after World War II.

“We bring groups across the Atlantic to examine differences and similarities,” Wilson said.

But why Effingham?

“Effingham provides us a good setting for our groups to experience Midwestern life,” Wilson said. “We’ve also utilized Champaign County, but Effingham gives us a more traditional view of small town life.”

Gibbons said the group’s Effingham experience is unique from most of the rest of their trip.

“In the cities, they go to meetings and stay in hotels,” she said. “In Effingham, they get to meet the real people.”

Hostess Rosie Gibbons said the differences between Europeans and Americans aren’t that distinct.

“We get to meet people very much like us who live someplace else,” she said. “It’s amazing to me. We’ve had people from Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Romania and they are so much like we are, but they live someplace else.”

Hostess Kathy Adams said the visitors have increased her awareness of the outside world.

“People don’t really experience other cultures,” she said. “I’m not a big traveler, but this has been a wonderful experience for my family.”

Bill Grimes can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 131 or bill.grimes@effinghamdailynews.com.