Random Shuffle - Michael Bublé, Alan Silvestri & Johnny Cash

"I've Got The World On A String" - Michael Bublé
From the album Call Me Irresponsible

In my 33 years of life I've learned a couple of things, maybe. One of them is that no matter how incredible it seems, not everyone likes the same music I do. Its understandable that some people don't like a 33-minute improvisational jam on "Dark Star," or that others might cringe at the ultra twang of Hayseed Dixie's bluegrass versions of AC/DC songs. I get that. I've always gotten that. But it took me some years to realize that not everybody loves hearing Katrina & the Waves' "Walking on Sunshine" played at loud volumes on a warm summer's day. Some people even don't like the Beatles, which ought to be a sin, if you ask me.

During my teenage years I used to blast my favorite songs at major decibels whenever I could. On road trips I'd bring a stack of tapes and get really annoyed if the group didn't want to listen to them for the entire ride. There's no accounting for taste, or something. I've since realized my folly and now I keep my music down, and plugged into my ears.

In our three month educational jaunt through Europe this past fall we lived in a nice, but relatively small housing facility. There was one fairly large dormitory and two small ones, a dining area, a small kitchen, a mid-sized classroom (with couches and a TV that made for a play room in its off hours) and a couple of bedrooms for the adults. It was a reasonable amount of space for a temporary residence, but packed with 31 students and six adults over three months it often got cramped.

I had dreams of spending a lot of time hanging out with the students, sharing music, schooling them on movies (I brought a stack of DVDs which included everything from Casablanca to Wild Strawberries) to playing games. I dedicated a good chunk of suitcase space to a few board games that I imagined everybody playing all the time. Reality, as it so often is, was entirely different than my imagination. I watched maybe two movies with them during the entire stay, and the one time I brought out my games I only got indifferent shrugs. The students were very busy with their studies but when they did have down time they were attached to their MacBooks (the university has some program where essentially every students gets a MacBook.)

Article Author: Mat Brewster

Mat Brewster is a periodic ex-pat wondering if he'll ever find a home. You can find him musing on pop culture, and obsessing over concert bootlegs at The Midnight Cafe.

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