CLASS OF 2000: Barbara Zaucer

The world at her fingertipsThe world at her fingertips"Penn is a university becoming. It's developing now. So am I." Barbara Zaucer speaks five languages fluently -- English, German, Italian, Serbo-Croatian and Slovene. She plans to learn Swedish next year. She has lived with roommates from Italy, Slovenia, Norway, Sweden, the Ukraine and Jordan -- "the one from Jordan prayed three times a day." She attended an International Baccalaureate program at the United World College in Italy and spent a year at the University of Ljubljana in her home country of Slovenia. These days, she's a 20-year-old freshman German Literature and International Relations major at Penn. She intends to submatriculate into the German Department's graduate program before continuing on to Oxford University for law school. After that, she plans to become an international diplomat and then (maybe) president of her home country, though she concedes it would be a "great responsibility." "I think it's cowardish not to recognize that," she says, tucking a strand of hair behind her left ear (a gesture she repeats every several minutes). "Once you are elected, you are actually taking care of a whole nation. I'd love to do it if I could do it really, really well. That is such an awesome responsibility." The self-assured Barbara has never shied away from a challenge, though. "Coming to the United States was a big decision for me," she says. "My life would probably take a completely new direction. I thought, 'Am I sure I want to leave here and go to a whole different continent?' I wasn't really sure I wanted to do that." She explains that since her home country is not a member of the European Union, its two million citizens cannot enjoy the privilege of a reasonably priced European education or scholarship money to study outside of Slovenia. Had her family not been "well-off in terms of Eastern Europe" and open-minded, she wouldn't have had the option to study overseas. Still, she let her acceptance to Oxford University expire, then turned down offers from Harvard and Yale and decided to focus on her studies at home in Ljubljana. Repeated calls from Penn's admissions office and a "really nice" scholarship made the final decision easy. "I love Penn because the spirit of belonging to the University is so strong," she says, glancing out her Hill College House window at the lights illuminating Franklin Field. "People say, 'I go to Penn,' which means 'I'm a part of Penn'." The transition to American culture, which Barbara describes as "much more pragmatic and goal-oriented" than that of Eastern Europe, was not simple. "Coming here, you face all those stereotypes -- you're from Eastern Europe so you have a chic haircut, you eat pizza with utensils, you're sophisticated and cultured or you're snotty. "I have friends from all over the world, which makes me a much more tolerant person. I don't care where a person comes from or what their dad does," Barbara says. "And in a way, I think I'm more mature than many of the people here who are away from home for the first time." But she has found an open-mindedness among Penn students. "While I've met a couple of people here who are like my stereotypes of Americans, many people surprise me about how open they are," she offers. "I think people find it very hard to approach someone from another ethnical background," she explains. "We are familiar with people and events that are part of our everyday routine. When you are confronted with something that's totally new, you're going to be more cautious. "For me, being European and being different, I just have to convince people that I'm me. I have to behave spontaneously." Barbara says, though, that her time spent in the United States has affected the way her high school friends perceive her. "We had a reunion over Christmas and everybody got together and I showed up saying, 'Hi, how's it goin'. I had never said 'like' and 'um' until I got here," she laments. "My friends said that shows weakness of culture since we had learned [Received Pronunciation] English, a very stuck-up British sort of thing. They were ripping on me big time." Her friends also drilled her with questions about her new home. "In Europe, there is still the misconception of America's being one big democracy. That's not the case. But they ask me what the food's like and what music you all listen to." Barbara says e-mail has helped her correspond with friends from around the world, including her boyfriend/friend (she wouldn't clarify) at Oxford. But she emphasizes that in this "global village, one-boat concept" world, nothing can compare with a hand-written letter on real stationary. She also keeps in touch with friends and family on the phone -- racking up telephone bills as high as $350 per month. "My mom is my alarm clock," she says. "She calls often so I wake up pretty early. I try my best not to sleep in, anyway." After all, Barbara is busy with several international affairs organizations on campus and is considering joining the horseback riding club. She also plays the violin (seven years of lessons), loves to downhill ski and paint glass -- "I painted our house in Slovenia, above all the doors and stuff." She finds time to party downtown, where "I never get carded." And she has had "the ultimate Penn experience of going to frat parties." "There were all sorts of weird drinks there 'sex on the beach,' 'screwdrivers'," she laughs. "I said, 'Excuse me'?" But for Barbara, the challenges of adjusting to a new country have only been the beginning of the changes she has faced. "You hear so many things about intellectual challenges. It's actually time to face them now. Penn is a university becoming. It's growing and developing now. So am I." n

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