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It is an honor to be chosen as the face of November at Mercator College!  My name is Magdalena Narozniak and as a first year master’s student in the International Relations program I am extremely pleased to represent the small, yet, significant graduate population. I am from Poland and America and have also received many questions during Orientation Week about my precise heritage.  I truly consider myself a part of both societies and represent both sides as best I can.  I am obviously American from my speech to my dress.  But it is fortunate that my home state of Connecticut has a large Polonia population so that I have been able to remain connected to my fellow immigrants through a comprehensive social and business network.  For example, I attended a private school where I learned Polish history, literature and language simultaneously as I was enrolled in the American public school system.  Various clubs and religious organizations supplemented the cultural foundations of my Polish character.  This duality has been hard to live with at times, but moreover I feel it has contributed to a richer, meaningful life.

Let me share with you my short “biography”, as our College Master and my academic advisor Dr. Klaus Boehnke calls it.  My parents emigrated from Poland to Connecticut in 1989, just as our native country was going through tremendous political and social change.  In my new country, I remained fascinated with the events unfolding in Eastern Europe.  This first led me to study the Russian language intensely in high school and then influenced my choice of university.  In 2001, I began studies at Fordham University in the melting pot of Manhattan where I majored in Political Science and International/Intercultural Studies with a focus Russian area studies.  I spent a semester abroad at St. Petersburg State University in Russia where my concentration and appreciation of Slavic culture deepened.  During my last year in university, I choose to study the theoretical background in which this cultural context was set.  Finally, interest in European affairs and comparative politics led me back to the continent and to the MAIR program at IUB.  I wanted to be a part of the internationality of IUB, a sentiment shared by many students here.   The program has had an immense impact on my understanding of Europe and its relation to world.  I will complete my master’s here and in the future I plan to pursue a law degree in, naturally so, international law.

Mercator College has been an exceptionally welcoming community and it is wonderful to meet so many multinational students who are in the same situation as I am.  It has always been difficult for me to have one home but here I feel as if I fit in more than anywhere else.  From the extremely friendly College Office team and the Polish

undergrads to the greater Graduate Student Association, many people have come forward to make my stay at IUB truly cheerful and hospitable.  The resident graduate students are an on-campus source of knowledge for all undergraduate students and I encourage anyone who has questions about study in the States, life in Poland or the MAIR program to approach me.

As I write this, I cannot help to wonder how much Germany will have an effect on my character.  My long term love affair with Russian culture has had a great impact on my understanding of social relationships between people of different nationalities.  Hopefully, this immersion into German society will add another level of appreciation to my global perception.  So I end on this note, thank you for your time and auf Wiedersehen!