Run Away!!!!!

So this is a post I had started working on last week but completely got sidetracked with....you guessed it....LIFE. I used this title mostly because my sisters and I have a love for all Monty Python references, and because I fleed the US just in time to experience the worst from far away. I can't claim to have had a premonition or anything...I was aching for something new, and now the money I've been able to somehow make while on an intern salary will certainly come in handy. The post is mostly about random things that connect the US with Slovakia, and my reactions to the things I read.

Taken from one of the Slovak news periodicals that I read each day:

POLITICS

"George Bush will meet Slovak president Ivan Gašparovič in a week in the Oval Office.
The main topic will be Slovakia’s participation in the fight against terrorism and Slovakia’s commitments in NATO. Gašparovič is also convinced that he will return home with news on the cancellation of the visa duty for Slovaks traveling to the US.
Interior minister Robert Kalinak is also traveling to Washington, where he should sign an agreement on the exchange of information on criminal acts, which is a condition for the cancellation of the visa duty." (SME/1)

The United States is EVERYWHERE!


This actually already happened! The Slovak Pres met with The W, and now travelers from Slovakia can bypass the visa requirement! So much for the title of this blog! It will probably all be be realized once the US implements this new ESTA system. What is interesting to me is that Slovakia achieved this before the Czech Republic. IN YOUR FACE PRAGUE! I don't really feel that way, because I am an American national and therefore don't have to deal with that crap because I have an automatic visa for most places (sans Cuba and some other destinations of interest). However, the CR has always seemed to be just a couple of steps ahead of its "runt" sibling, Slovakia. Things change I guess. (Bethany, do not get any ideas.)

NEXT!

My father asked me if I would comment on how the people in Europe, especially Slovakia, are reacting to the global financial crisis. Here is another blurb that I read:

ECONOMY

"The global financial crisis is only affecting Slovakia marginally so far and the Slovak banking sector is not significantly endangered by it. Nor is the Slovak economy yet. "We consider the banking sector in Slovakia as secured and stable," stressed PM Robert Fico. He thinks that within the Slovak financial sector, pension management companies are the most endangered by the crisis. According to the NBS, the Slovak banking and financial sector is safe at the moment. All banks have sufficient capital and liquidity and the crisis in other states does not have any impact on their situation. The NBS also verbally supported the Slovak branch of UniCredit Bank, Italian parent of which faces financial difficulties at the moment". (SME/1, 9)

So in general, no one here really gives a crap. The people who do care are mostly developers who were waiting for financing and now can't get it. People here are more concerned about getting the money under their mattresses into the bank before the automatic (and therefore FREE) conversion from the Slovak Crown to the Euro occurs. Many people speak about how it is affecting Americans however. Its easy to hate on the United States. We have a diversified population, lots of natural resources, and a tendency to dominate all things we decide to be involved in. We are a nation of entrepreneurs, rags to riches, baby bottles to boardrooms. The word "Ambition" doesn't quite cut it there. In our excessive pursuit of profit and the American Dream we can lose sight of the bigger picture and thus dig ourselves a grave so deep that we have develop new means of getting ourselves out. I haven't been in contact with the majority of the people I graduated with, but I am hoping that those who went into investment banking haven't lost their jobs, or at least were able to switch divisions before the real cuts were made. Having a degree from Cornell University, though incredibly weighted in terms of credibility, can't save you from bankruptcy if your employer made some bad calls. What it does provide you with is resolve. We walk through the nastiest of weathers to face some of the most unforgiving of professors who see it as their calling in life to make our lives a living hell. Granted, they are only trying to pass their wealth of knowledge to us to ensure our success, but the means can make the ends seem desolate. Get through that, and everything else is a piece of tiramisu (if you're into that).

I'm not sure how the financial crisis is going to affect me when I return stateside in 2 months. (That's right! You heard it here first! 2 months and counting!) I have a decent savings that I left over there to appreciate on a CD, so now my task is to find a job. GOOD LUCK. My family seems to be doing alright, so I'm not too worried. The Cordell family always prevails somehow. Its just in our nature.