rationing in Detroit, but it was much more severe in England. Tough the dollar went far, there were few luxuries to buy. A coin-operated gas heater warmed her dorm room, and the girls were allowed just one bath a week—at an appointed time. Still, if life wasn’t luxurious, it was


grand, nonetheless. She took frequent train rides to London, where great seats at the theater cost 50 cents. Aſter dinner in the dorm, she enjoyed formal coffees in the faculty room, and introduced her British classmates to tea bags, a novelty she was told would never catch on there. (It did.) York is convinced she wouldn’t be able


to afford college these days. “Back then, tuition was less than $50


a semester, and I worked for my room and board,” she says. “I’d never be able to afford college today.”


cover cheap room and board. When he started tutoring, he earned enough money for weekend travel across the country, and to visit Poland and Austria. His food bill was low because every day he ate Germany’s favorite fast food: a huge 3-euro Turkish “doner kabob,” similar to a Greek gyro. Communication back home was


T


obviously more difficult and costly for York than it was for Fischer. “Technology was basically a life saver,”


says Fischer, who was able to call home on his German cell phone for 9 cents a minute. “I kept in touch with tons of people on Facebook. I used to have a regular time that my girlfriend called me from the States, and Skype is the greatest invention known to man.” Fischer says most of the Germans


he met during his year in western Germany were either hot or cold about


Eastern | WINTER 2011 25


he euro was worth $1.59 when Fischer was in Germany. As a Fulbright scholar, Fischer earned 800 euros a month—enough to


Americans at first. “Tey had the stereotypes from TV,


music videos, movies, and all the political news they get,” he says. “Some people loved Americans and wanted to talk about American culture nonstop. But others didn’t trust us. Tere wasn’t much lukewarm feeling in between.” It was different for York. With the


Photo of Jay Fischer ◆ by John Harte


memory of World War II still so fresh, the Brits loved Americans and were eager to express their appreciation. “Tey felt we saved them,” recalls York. Fischer says the scholarship offered


everything he’d been looking for in a study abroad program, and he was thrilled to learn he’d be paid to spend his senior year studying and teaching


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