Senator J. William Fulbright

So the Fulbright orientation  was much more intense than I expected. There were three days of meeting people, hearing about what the American Fulbrights (midway through their exchange) are doing, and learning a little bit about what to expect at graduate school.

There was an entertaining discussion on dating in America by some of the Fulbright Alumni who have recently been there. Apparently if someone of the opposite sex asks you to go to the movies on a Saturday this is qualified as an official ‘date’, but if you are asked out on a Sunday, or at the last minute, you are possibly the second or third down the list of people they have asked out, and should consider declining such an offer.

In New Zealand I think we would ask people to grab a coffee, we are much more indirect about the way we do things here. We don’t really do dating, one alumni described our way as “going to the pub getting trashed and hooking up with someone the next day”. I would like to think that kiwi culture is a little more sophisticated than this, but perhaps it would be fair to say that we don’t really ‘court people’ in the same way that American’s do. We get involved in relationships quite quickly and we wouldn’t usually date two people at once. I quite like the way the Americans do it, it is possibly a little more romantic.

Most of our time however, was focused on much more important things, like understanding the differences in learning styles between graduate schools in the States and post-graduate study (as they call it here) in New Zealand. To make a sweeping generalisation, it sounds like students in America work incredibly hard, and immerse themselves in their work, integrating their social lives with their studies, where as Kiwi’s are inclined to make clear divisions between the two.

If this is true, I must be a lot more suited to the American way, as this is practically the way I go about my life and work at the moment. Being a filmmaker is an intensive process, which consumes me in both healthy and unhealthy ways. When ever I go out my meetings with friends can sometimes (I hate to admit it) turn into production meetings about some funding round we must apply to or the state of the film industry. Even when I am asleep I often dream about films. Sometimes my dreams are black and white, sometimes 16-mil sometimes shot in the style of a home video. I even once had a dream in clay animation. It was about a whale in an aquarium. All the water was being drained from the aquarium and flooding out into street. Imagine bright blue cartoony waves and colourful sea urchins all in plasticine. Oh how I digress!

During the three days we also learnt more about the history of the Fulbright program, which began in 1946 by Senator J. William Fulbright. He was a unique and inspiring politician often challenging the political views of the time, fighting for change in the direction of Vietnam, and bravely challenging the views of his own party (including the President).

As a young man Fulbright had the opportunity of visiting England on a Rhodes scholarship. This was an experience that changed his life dramatically, and inspired him to create his own exchange program in America. Apart from the fantastic opportunity of giving students around the world access to more educational opportunities, which they might not have in their own countries, Fulbright wanted his program to “foster leadership, learning and empathy between cultures”.

I think this concept is what makes the program so worthy. The exchange was set up only two weeks after Hiroshima and Fulbright was scared of the potential for a World War III to begin. He also used the scholarship to cancel post-war debt between countries.

Apparently when the Fulbright Act was first signed it was a bit of a non-event. But now it exists in hundreds of countries and is considered one of the most prestigious exchange programs in the world. Alumni include many well-known leaders, Nobel Prize winners, and artists.

I got to Auckland late last night loosing my cell phone some where between the airport and my car. I am feeling quite tired after such an eventful few days, but at least I’ve finally got something tangible to write about. I think I’ve spent too much time in my dark editing room, which has made me a little boring with not much to say. Hopefully when I venture off to the States I will sound even more interesting… and RIP Michael Jackson.