treehouseblog

Hello dear people who made it to this blog one last time,

Now this semester is almost over and what a great few month it has been. I just remember how I came late for the first lesson because of the queue at the university entrance and then I could not find the room.

I never had a psychology course because it is not in my studies and I didn’t know much about systems theory beforehand. Nevertheless the course seemed like a good fit and now I can say it was a great choice to take it. I learned so much new stuff about me and the world plus I could intensify some knowledge I had before. I believe by now I did grasp the concept and I can apply it. When I think of some of the best moments I class the lesson where we were drawing a together comes in my mind I somehow really enjoyed that. Other parts that stuck out for me was the Idea of the Anthropocene as I believe it has a lot to do with systemic thinking. All the beautiful examples from nature are really astonishing and show on what a special planet we are living.

I have no real structure yet and will try to expand on the last point. It was one of the biggest realizations I had. I once read an article from Donna Haraway where she proposed to dissolve the dualism of nature and culture. However I did not really understand what she meant. Now it seems clearer to me. We live on this earth and as humans have a huge influence on the things going on here as the idea of Anthropocene shows. Living in a city like Athens and seeing pictures of a wild landscape like the movie about the wolves in the beginning can seem super distant yet it is not separated. I really like the slogan ‘think global act local’ and system theory fits to that. Only if we have the bigger picture in mind and think of the consequences of our actions they can be sustainable. If people engage in local communities and organize life there in a peaceful way the world would be better. A systemic thinking could make this more attractive to people and change their minds and actions just as it worked for me and maybe for you in this course.

I also realize this is a lifelong process and one can’t just learn and understand system theory and then it’s over.

The setup of the course was special in a way. I enjoyed the whole experience of being in class and writing the blogs.

Writing a blog was new to me. I really enjoy about the blog writing the part of processing and sorting your sorts and putting them from the brain on a medium in this case a laptop. My brain is active the entire day however often just subconsciously. On top of that I do also think sometimes about me, life in general, politics, the past present and future. Doing this can be messy as my thoughts just fly through my head. I never took the time and effort to sit down and write somethings which concerns me. Usually I do this for University or when I have to do it for other reasons in a forced or narrow setting. In this course it was a requirement as well however it felt so different in a positive way. I think it was because we were taught there is no right and wrong here which gives space to unfold and express oneself. Despite that I am aware of the fact that I really enjoy the process of writing I always do it very late like today. Although often enough I had a lot of time to do it before I procrastinated it. I will never understand why I do it:/ I am looking forward to read the blog in the future to understand some of my feelings during Erasmus and to see how some of my ideas and values might have or haven’t changed. Furthermore I am motivated to continue to sometimes write down some thoughts on a specific topic just for myself. Maybe even on this blog since as it is already a space filled with content of me.

Furthermore in class I always felt comfortable. I could express my thoughts without feeling stressed about them being wrong. The round table setup can be very advantageous for a discussion among the class. Unfortunately I have felt people did not engage that much in talking in the class. I would explain it with the new topic and that we despite the nice atmosphere felt unsure what to say. Although I believe if we had the same people again next semester and could dive even deeper into the topic there would be much more energy in class. Imagining it actually makes me happy and sad because it’s an exciting and warm thought however it’s not going to happen at least for me. If the course will take place again I will definitely recommend it to newly arriving students (I feel kind of old/experienced thinking of them and how exciting it is for them) or others from my home university who plan to come to Athens.
From drawing as a group over choosing our feelings with the dixit cards to all the group works and discussions the means of this course where extraordinary in very positive way. (Now I said extraordinary because it is not the norm but why should it not be the other way around?. I just try to imagine if more courses would try out different methods as it is a much more thorough way of understand complex matter). Working in pairs then in groups and then in class is such a solidary and equal way of approaching a topic. It teaches to think on your own and then to listen and to come to an understanding with a partner and then bringing this understanding to a next level and merging it with the other group. I will definitely remember this. Another part I will not forget is the map of our origins. It’s a great way of getting to know the others and to understand (or not) why we are here at this point of time in this room. It gives an understanding for your group and opportunity to leave an egocentric perspective.

As I tried to explain I found this course extremely enriching and mind opening. Nevertheless I am wondering if will further engage in the studies of system theory in my free time or during my studies as would love to continue learning. Because I am a little frightened that daily life and conventional media and university courses will alienate me again from this topic. Then again I found a very appealing master programme which relies on systemic thinking that I might end up doing in the future.

It was a pleasure to go to class with you all and to meet so many nice people. I hope you are well and enjoying your last week’s here. I wish you all the best and maybe see you sometimes and somewhere in the future.

Cheers

Happy new year,

before I started to watch the movie I wanted to  pay attention to several things but I completely forgot about that as the movie just caught me instantly. I also didn’t know what to expect. Thinking of it now from a point of view analyzing not the content however instead the artwork of the movie like setting, cuts, acting (I don’t know much about these things anyway) and so one there is not much to discover (or is there?) as the most important thing is the content of the dialogues.

The watching of the movie for me was also surrounded by some coincidences as just before I was learning something about Theodor Adorno whose ideas seemed very close to those of Sonia. Then I listened to some music where unexpectetly two artists made references to Adorno. When I told this to my roommate he said ‘its all interconnected’ without knowing that I just watched a movie about things being interconnected. To add to this I was going through some old pictures and I saw one of a text from school being about Rene Descartes. All of this within one afternoon seemed so strange to me that I had to share it.

Now to the movie. Sonia said so many great things and it really fits our class and helped me to understand systemic thinking much better. Talking about the huge clock in the beginning she says ‘they mistook the model for the real thing’. The start of the enlightenment began a certain thinking which we didn’t escape yet. Adorno also criticizes the enlightenment. He says due to enlightenment, rationality and now modern capitalism humanity lost its way of the real live and everything we perceive is untrue (bad translation sorry) – kind of like the model of the clock. Sonia says as well that scientist ‘came to believe things’ because they are never objective. Adorno is also of the opinion that science is always connected to ideology and will always be mystified like the ‘science’ of the different races before and during National Socialism. The fact that science is never purely for a gain of knowledge but instead bound to several interests like the US military is shocking and fits also to Adornos thinking and I just realize to that of Donna Haraway as well who seems kind of similar to Sonia. We always learn that science is objective and helping humanity but never question some darker sides to it and this movie and Adorno today really opened my eyes to that.

The comparison of an orange with the size of earth and cherries that would be the size of atoms blew my mind as well as the idea of the emptiness within atoms. I never knew that and it gives a new perspective to life.
Furthermore Sonias point about Native Americans who think 7 generations ahead is totally unthinkable nowadays. Which is crazy as the decisions of today in this powerful age of time have such in impact for the next centuries.
I had some problems giving a meaning to the end maybe you have some better thoughts. I’m really glad I could watch this movie I could take a lot away from it and will recommend it to more people.

However it also makes me sad that over 30 years ago Sonia mentions starving of children, destruction of rainforest, pollution of rivers and the destructiveness of the patriarchate and in 2022 these things still worry and bother me a lot every day.

This was a long blog entry maybe you made it to the end. It was also a long movie and now my mind is more sorted and even more over the place 😉

Cheers see you in class

After the short introduction to Rhizomes my partner and I tried to discuss the concepts. However we had some difficulties. We had Ideas which we through away and others of which we were unsure. Finally we came to a conclusion in the end. Why I am writing this is because I realize our discussion was also kind of a rhizome. We had a dialoge that went on and from which several ideas spread out. The dialogue took different paths and took a lot of turns. Some of our ideas where better than others but even the ‘wronger’ ones where very good as they helped us to come closer to grasp the complex theory. Similar to the quaking aspen trees/ideas emerged, got older and then new ones came to continue the the process of the rhizome. Then after joining with the a new group of two all of sudden the dialogues merged. The rhizome got more complex and as we combined our ideas a new rhizome developed.

When we got the paper and pencils at first we wanted to make kind of plan and coordinate but then we just let it happen and created something together. It is also kind of a map; unfinished, without end and without beginning. After many conjunctions and joining of ideas our class presented 4 drawings. However there lies so much more beneath these paintings. And even though they are all different they somehow have the same DNA/origin just like the quaking aspen!

I will try to learn more about rhizomes in the future. Other than that today I dont have much more to say. Enjoy your holidays and for some the coming together with friends an families in your homecities and connecting back to a system that you left a while go. It will be interesting to hear experiences how it is to leave the erasmus behind you.

Cheers

After unfortunetly missing the last two lessons I was a bit afraid that i would not understand what whats going on but last lesson was a good opportunity to connect with the systemic thinking again. We saw all places of origin on a map and could comment on them. It was so simple yet so mindblowing. I never really took the time to zoom out of the daily activities to have a look like this on my fellow erasmus students. There is so much to discover right infront of our eyes we just need to take the time and a good approach to grasp it.
It is at the same time so random and so great to acknowledge that we all grew up at a specific place and because of certain choices or other circumstances we now meet in this specific room every Thursday in Athens. Sometimes I start to wonder about the hundreds of erasmus students who are currently in Athens (does anybody know how many there are exactly? I would like to know) as well as the Erasmus students in all the other european cities where we could have ended up as well. Then I feel kind of lost and that all my actions and relationships are meaningless as there is so much stuff happening anyway without me. However this is only sometimes I do feel very connected to the friends and made here which gives me stability and happiness. I dont have much more to say for last weeks session but I look forward to the next class. See you there!

From the lesson on thursday the idea of anthropocene stuck in my head. I was really moved by the short trailer. I often think about how us humans live with each otheras well as how humanity impacts this planet. Anthropocene does not have to be a negative idea per se (for me the current state of the earth because of humans definetly is negative). However seeing all the devasting effects of it like decrease in biodiversity, million tons of plastic in the ocean, cutting of the rainforest to only name a few just makes me sad and emotional. This is why I do love where this course is going at the moment. I mean we live in this specific age and on this specific planet without alternative. Earth is so small and so huge at the same time and it concerns EVERY living being what happens to it. Why don’t we talk about it more often in this holistic way of anthropocene. In my opinion only by seeing this bigger picture we can try to make changes to leave a world worth living on for future living entities. We should just acknoweledge the fact Sir Ken Robinson mentioned that the North American way of life would just be possible for 1.2 billion people on this planet! So the knowledge is there that this system of capitalism which shapes our existence on earth is neither a solution for everyone right now nor for future generations. Unfortunetely it is not known or accepted by many.
One solution for that could be education. We need a big shift in what and how we learn. Sir Ken Robinsons speech we watched in the lesson is so inspiring and more people should listen to it. However I find it hard to change our view on the world outside and within us as we just grew up with very fixed perceptions of everything around us. This will be the challenge to find a new way on looking at things. And I believe this course is a way to do so. It is so different to other university courses I attended and every week I can learn new stuff about me and the world. So I’m hyped for the next lesson. See you there 🙂

γεια σας

In last weeks lesson we learned a lot of interesting new ideas. First of all I really enjoy all the astonishing examples the professor shares with us. I knew about the ants which build bridges without a leader who gives commands. It is just incredible how they build structures like bridges or swimming islands/rafts just by communicating to the ant next to them. The slimemolds too are super fascinating and they seem so abstract that it is hard for humans to understand and make sense of them. In the group my partner and me where wondering if it would be possible for humans to work on a bigger scale without an authority who is in charge and tells people what to do. We are just so used that we are told what to do that it is difficult to imagine a society or place where it woud be possible. However in my opinion it is possible people just need to be less egocentric and individualists.
Talking about how certain norms and daily processes shape our way of thinking I want to add that the idea of reductionism is very prominent in our sciences and our thinking. I experience difficulties to get away from it.

The metronom video was very impressive as well. This weekend was the Athens Marathon and 10km race and when I saw the people running I was wondering if this is now an act of emergence and self-organization or not as they could just run on their own but nevertheless they decide to run next to many other people. I had a similar thought when I was at a club where people danced together and somehow adapt to the music a little bit like the metronoms. Of course it is rather for their own fun or individualist succes (at the race) and both events are organized from someone else and not just by the participants. Anyway it is nice to see that this course is special as I think about the contents in my daily life wheras for other courses I sometimes stop concerning about the contens after class.

Cheers

Dear fellow students,

I really enjoyed the lesson on thursday as the general idea of systems theory got much clearer for me now. The distinction between collction vs. system and summing vs. system is very helpful although as we saw the perspective of the observer makes a big difference and there is not necessarily a right or wrong answer to it.

For me the wolf movie we watched was very moving and inspiring. However I could not stop thinking about this bigger and wonderful system called earth which we humans are destroying. Forests and other wild landscapes are having a hard time and many species are endangered. Nationalparks account only for a small part of the world and of all mammals only about 4% are living in the wild as the remainder are humans and livestock. However it was amazing to see that an ecosystem can adapt and that this beautiful system of the yosemite national park is working in a more diverse way again. The short movie brought a very positive thought to my mind that when something is not working and it seems uncorrectable a minor change can fix it. I also enjoyed the way we structured the class. First we had time to process the movie and make our own thoughts. Then we could exchange with a partner and afterwards we formed groups. Finally we shared the sentences we formed in the group with the whole class. It was kind of a staircase of processing the movie and on each staircase we connected with more students and created a more complete understanding of the wolves in the park and our thoughts about it.

On that note have a nice weekend and see you all next week.

Cheers

Hello dear fellow students,

this is actually the first time I am writing a blog so I am looking forward to try out something new as well as reading your post. Linking up our Erasmus experience with the ideas of the first lessons seems very interesting to me. We decided to spend a semester in a city for several reasons. For all of us that means we leave something we know behind and move to a new country. In the city where we lived before we knew many people, had our favourite cafes and bars, we knew the streets on which we walk and have our daily routines and all of that connects us to the place. Coming here all of that becomes inaccessible and many arrive without knowing anything or anyone in Athens. Everything seems already set up and connected and following its flow. But by slowly checking out supermarkets and restaurant, walking around the city and of course meeting new people we get to know our surroundings. In my opinion this is an interesting process and when I rewind my first month here I see how I connected more and more to this place on many different levels. From my experience Erasmus students tend to stick together a lot and form kind of a bubble. Leaving your ‘normal’ system and coming here without beeing connect to the context surrounding gives us a similar experience and the human urge to socialise brings Erasmus students together and creates a unique and special experience.

Let me know what you think on the start of your erasmus experience and enjoy the long weekend.

Cheers

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