After having noticed that I've read several books on Europe since my arrival, Morgane asked me what my conception of Europe was before I first came this past summer. Furthermore, she wanted to know if it has changed and how. This troubled me. Not the questions themselves but the fact that I couldn't rightly recall what image I had in my head for Europe. The questions themselves, like the answers are elusive. As cognitive beings we are constantly forming and reforming thoughts, constantly remolding conceptions of the world around us as well as those of the larger world--even the unknown parts--through the books we read, the websites we check, the TV we watch.
It's interesting to look back on oneself in the past, to examine the ideas and conceptions we once had. Embarrassingly enough I had the conception of Poland being strikingly similar to that of Siberia, which is to say a frozen expanse of tundra (and that, as I was to learn, proved to be a double fallacy since Siberia has a varied geography).
So, the fact that I've been unable to ascertain what my overall conception of Europe once was is fairly frustrating. The best analogy I can conjure is that of a haircut. I've found on occasion that I've been unable to visualize what a friend's hair looked like after a somewhat drastic cut--say shoulder length to shaved head. I know that I know what they once looked like yet I'm unable to truly visualize it. And that is where I am today--struggling to remember what my image of Europe once was instead of what it is now.
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