Identity snippets ****************************************************************************************** * Identity snippets ****************************************************************************************** This article is a submission for the "30 years of the Erasmus Programme" competition organ European Office of Charles University. It was written by Melis Omalar, a Political Science Brunel University London, currently hosted by the Faculty of Social Sciences of Charles Un formatting of the piece is on purpose. Think of this as a chance, a chance to prove them wrong, i told myself they founded a union to trade trillions and create capital but for us, this was always about much more - we made this about so much more - where are you from, the first question, after your name. sometimes even before. i have ans million times already. i feel as if i am pressing a button inside my drunk soul when germanturkishbutistudyinlondon, i reply so quick i don’t think he even realizes i did you what? i am german and turkish but i study in london and now i am on erasmus in prague so i am european, i think but don’t say - I think of jack who voted leave and is now on erasmus in helsinki, traveled to sweden over is planning on visiting brussels this one irony isn't it - the place is getting so crowded that i almost don't spot pam as she enters with anouk pam is from california but studies in london with me and though she doesn’t like beer, she she is also currently having an existential crisis as she realised that there is no such t i am just sitting in the tram and thinking, i could get up now and leave and travel all of i don’t, she tells me with a shaking voice as we are on our way to do groceries, we are ju these societal standards, we are our own prisoners melis well, i say, the twenties are a confusing time we are both nineteen - so do you think he is cute, kuku?, alice winks at me as she points with her pen uhm, i don't know, i have only ever been in love with spanish boys french boys, they just confuse me we both laugh i have never been in love - how did your presentation go, elvira asks as arielle joins us oh me non, law is so complicated, my case is really,… what is the word, melis do you mean relevant no i mean confusing, all over the place, not easy to understand - is there a word for that uhm what is it about again, tabea asks as she enters with a big bowl of gulasch the european union ahhh - i have never been to turkey, the girl on the table next to me admits me neither, i have always wanted to go! where exactly are you from, ferda? i am from tokat but i study in istanbul oh nice, what is it like there?, her friend wonders well, we don’t have democracy but we have twitter, and i guess that counts for something i leave the bar, i don't wanna hear the rest of that talk turning my back and leaving them back - melis what does transparent mean, alejandra wants to know as we as we are spending sunday it means, i explain, that you do not hide things and are open about what is going on, what you are planning on doing okay so, i have always been transparent with you, right? no, you are honest with me, you use transparent to describe institutions and organisations oh, she looks disappointed and so do i - we were discussing this study in class today, quino tells me, that when a natural crisis i animals will know - they will sense - beforehand and flee is this the case for all animals, i wonder curiously uhm, i actually don't know, but humans in many parts of the world were able to use this be warning sign, find themselves shelter and... his voice becomes quite as i recognize the song playing you gotta swim, don’t let yourself sink just find the horizon it is not as far as you think - i moved to london, i remember as manina and I are sipping slovakian white wine, three week vote what was the city like? it was, i don’t know, people were sorry… everyone in london seemed to disagree with the vo public had made i think, she summarizes, the leave vote wasn’t against us, it was about them but i thought, shaking my head, we were done being selfish and stupid? - I have lived in six different countries now, almira remembers taking master classes is a real challenge but you meet the most interesting people you said you lived in bosnia, right? so when we are talking about the un in our class peacekeeping and peacebuilding, that must be all too real for you… yeah, she falters, having seeing it first hand, it just…, lacking the words she cuts off I, I want to tell her, I don’t want to see it first hand - okay so, lara summarizes, the goal is to travel as much as possible we are in the center of europe, everything is so close by i nod, vienna is four hours away, krakow six, kiev is basically around the next corner my point exactly so, i smirk, where are we off to next? no borders, no limits, no partition - we are connected now, he whispers as his lips touch mine eyes closed, open door, snow falling we were always connected open your eyes i wish we had done this earlier i wonder why we are so scared of making connections i only have best intentions, he winks i wish i could say the same about myself russian men are something else, let me tell you - where are you from, i ask as we walk towards our faculty i was born in bulgaria but we moved to bucharest when i was a kid and now i am on erasmus smiles as we cross the street so you are european, i think but don’t say so i am european, he says and what about you melis, he asks as the door opens me? i am european, too, big smile across both our faces - proving them wrong