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Modern Values and Religion +++ Marriage +++ Fasting +++ Progressive vs Conservative +++ Absolutely Intercultural 313

Hello dear listeners and welcome to show 313 of our podcast Absolutely Intercultural. Our topic today is one that touches the core of many societies: “Are modern values diluting religion?” We live in a time of rapid change, where new social norms often clash with centuries-old traditions. Does this mean faith is watering down, or is it simply evolving? Today, we will hear from three guests with very different perspectives on whether modern life and traditional belief can coexist.

As always, here at Absolutely Intercultural, everyone is free to think and say absolutely anything. However, we understand that today’s topic might stir up strong emotions. If you feel triggered by any of the opinions shared, please feel free to take a short break.

In our first story, absolutely faithful, we will listen to Matthias, a student and coach who believes modern values are indeed diluting religion. He argues that faith provides necessary direction but admits that fitting traditional values into today’s world is a struggle.

In our second story, absolutely secular, we will hear from Oleksii, a student who transitioned from believer to atheist. He shares why he doesn’t need religion, fasting, or prayer to be a good person, yet he maintains a deep respect for those who do believe.

In our last story, absolutely inclusive, we will listen to Louisa. She challenges the idea that modern values dilute religion. Instead, she focuses on marriage and the LGBT community, arguing that the Church must adapt its rules to be more just and inclusive.

In our first story, absolutely faithful, we have Matthias. Matthias is a student but, and for him, the dilution of religion by modern values is a real concern. He believes that believing in God is essential and that the Catholic Church is doing a good job guiding people.

What about you? Do you think modern values are a threat to religion, or are they saving it from becoming irrelevant? We’d love to hear your stories! You can leave a comment, send us an email, or even reach out for a follow-up interview.

On our web page, absolutely-intercultural.com, you can get more information about this show and previous episodes. And if you enjoyed the show, please like us on Facebook too.

Our next show will be coming to you on 2 January from Anne Fox in Denmark. Until then – Bleiben Sie absolut interkulturell!

The host of this show is: Lorena Peposhi (Albanian)

Chief Editor: Oleksii Tsapenko (Ukrainian)
Assistant Editor: Lorena Peposhi (Albanian), Eltun Khudiev (Azerbaijani)

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Culture Wars +++ Food Cultures +++ Vegetarianism +++ Food Choices +++ Absolutely Intercultural 305

Hello dear listeners and welcome to show 305 of our podcast “Absolutely Intercultural”. Today’s topic is “culture wars” and more specifically “fights between different food cultures”! There are those who decide to not eat a specific category of food perhaps because of health reasons or for ethical reasons, and things can escalate pretty quickly when food is the main topic at the table. Words like “vegan” or “vegetarian” are used to categorize some of those people who may be different from us: a “vegan”, for example, is someone who refuses to eat anything related to animals: meat, fish, eggs, milk, even honey. Today the focus will be around this life-changing decision, how choosing to limit yourself to not eat a certain kind of food can drastically change your usual interactions with friends and family.

absolutely vegetarian

In our first story, we will listen to Natalia, a dedicated vegetarian. A vegetarian doesn’t eat meat, or seafood like grilled fish, but does eat animal products like milk or eggs. Today Natalia is sharing with us her journey and the challenges she faces in a world that often prioritizes meat-based diets. Natalia used to eat meat when she was younger, but she has changed the way she feels about animal food.

absolutely traditional

In our second story, we will listen to Camilla, who eats meat on a daily basis and buys it from the supermarket. She is aware of all the problems around the meat industry, but that doesn’t stop her from following her traditional diet.

absolutely pescatarian

In our last story, we will listen to Jakob, who tried to be vegetarian for some time but then switched to a “pescatarian” lifestyle. A pescatarian does not eat meat, a bit like a vegetarian, but does eat seafood like fish or mussels. Jakob tells us how he feels about his new fish-based diet after years of sticking to only vegetarian food.

What about you? Do you have a strong opinion on your food? Have you ever changed your diet to accommodate certain needs? We’d love to hear your stories! Feel free to share your opinion with us here on the podcast. You can leave a comment, send us an email, or even reach out for a follow-up interview in one of our next shows.

Write a comment or mail us, we could do a follow-up interview with you in one of our next shows. On our web page, absolutely-intercultural.com, you can get more information about this show and previous episodes, and you can leave comments. And if you enjoyed the show, please like us on Facebook too.

By the way, did you know we are also on iTunes or Apple Podcasts? You can subscribe to us there for free and give us a rating and a comment.

Our next show will be coming to you from Anne Fox in Denmark on 2 May

Until then – bleiben Sie absolut interkulturell!

The host of this show is: Michele Varvara (Italian)

Assistant Editor: Era Meço (Albanian)

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Legal Cannabis: Triumph or Tragedy? +++ Decriminalisation +++ Intoxication +++ Passive Smoking +++ Absolutely Intercultural 297

Hello dear listeners, and welcome to episode 297 of our podcast “Absolutely Intercultural.” Today, let’s dive into another cultural topic that many of you might have strong feelings about: the legalization of cannabis. Germany has partly decriminalised marijuana use as of 1 April 2024. So, have we experienced a cultural change as a result? Does legalisation mean that in the evenings, we Germans now smoke weed on our sofas in front of television instead of drinking our traditional beer? I’m afraid personally I’m a little old-school and still stick to my red wine, but then some of my friends claim that alcohol is worse than weed, so perhaps I should join one of the new Cannabis clubs?

Using drugs touches on cultural values and societal norms, but also on personal beliefs shaped by our own experiences. Our aim today is clearly not to endorse one viewpoint over another but to create a space where different people can share their diverse experiences and personal opinions.

absolutely economic

In our first story, we will listen to Nika. Currently, Nika is an international lecturer from Georgia at RheinAhrCampus, and he speculates on how the future legalisation of weed could impact the economic development of his home country.

absolutely intoxicated

In our second story, we will listen to Ani, who is an international exchange student. Ani does not give us a clear yes or no for legalization but she shares with us what happened to her and her teenage friends in Georgia where cannabis is not legalized.

absolutely disrespectful

In our last story, we will listen to Sebastian, a German Student at RheinAhrCampus. Sebastian will be sharing with us one of his biggest concerns regarding the legalization of cannabis, especially the connection with smoking and passive smoking. Have cannabis smokers ever heard about the human right to clean air? Well, we found one of the best advocates for keeping the air we breathe clean.

What about you? Do you see the legalisation of cannabis like a triumph or a tragedy? Have you or someone you know ever smoked weed and faced unexpected consequences? Or do you use it reasonably like others consume alcohol? Get in touch, feel free to share your unique story with us here on this podcast.

By the way, did you know we are also on iTunes, Apple Podcasts and Spotify? You can subscribe to us there for free and give us a rating and a comment.

Our next show will be coming to you from Anne Fox in Denmark on 6^th September.

Until then – find out what you think are the pros and the cons of legalizing weed und

Bleiben Sie absolut interkulturell!

The host of this show is: Dr. Laurent Borgmann

Chief Editor: Sebastian Berg

Assistant Editors: Oljana Haskja, Fikret Küey , Diogo Vital Maia and Xavier Sutton

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Media Consumption +++ Infotainment +++ Fake News +++ Absolutely Intercultural 290 +++

Hello dear listenersand welcome to show 290 of our podcast“Absolutely Intercultural”. Today’s topic is all about the impact of our media consumption. I am Laurent Borgmann, your host, and as I am over sixty years old, I feel obliged to start with a bit of media nostalgia. Back in the good old times, yes, in fact,more than 50 years ago, every house in our street got a newspaper on their doorstep before 5 am every morning. Subscription was the rule. People would read it during breakfast, and this seemed as essential as the first cup of coffee in the day. In our city, we had two papers to pick from, but honestly, although one was slightly more left and the other slightly more right-wing they were like twins separated at birth. They sometimes even shamelessly used the same pictures on the front page. At school I learned that they were actually produced in the same printing house. And the effect? In the 1960s, when you caught up with the neighbours over the garden fence, it was like a big gossip party. All neighbours knew the same news stories and were ready to outraged by the same scandals. The update in the evenings was also the same–at 8 o’clock, families all over Germany tuned in for the TV news, and you could bet most people were watching the same news show–Die Tagesschau! Of course,even then people had different takes on the same news, depending on their political affiliations or demographic backgrounds. But we could all still join the chat because everyone had the same input. Those were the good old days.

absolutely informed

In our opening story, “absolutely informed”, we’ll tune in to Emanuel from Germany. As a young adult in Germany, Emanuel is interested in what is happening around the world. However, finding out which news reports can be trusted and which are only an opinion for the bubble they are meant for, seems a constant challenge for us nowadays.

absolutely independent

In our next part “absolutely independent”, we’ll hear from Rozana, who is from Albania and now she works as a guest lecturer in Germany. Rozana shares with us her concerns about potential government influence on the contents of the news.

absolutely positive

In our final story, “absolutely positive”, we’ll hear from Krishna, originally from India and now an exchange student in Germany. Krishna does not like to follow the news as he prefers to keep his surroundings positive.

Now, we’re curious about your own experiences with Media, are you a keen news reader like Emanuel or do you keep negative information out of your life like Krishna? Are you good at detecting fake news and do you ever report any?

Share your story with us via comment or email, and you can feature in one of our upcoming shows. For more information and previous episodes, visit our website at absolutely-intercultural.com. If you enjoyed the show, please give us a thumbs-up on Facebook.

And did you know we’re also on iTunes and Apple Podcasts? You can subscribe for free, leave a rating, and drop a comment there.

Our next show, hosted by Anne Fox in Denmark, will be out on 2 February.

Until then – look out for fake news! and

Bleiben Sie absolut interkulturell!

The host of this show is: Dr. Laurent Borgmann

Chief Editor: Natalia Obikhod

Assistant Editors: Mariam Bilge, Sebastian Berg

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Discussing discrimination +++ Why We Discriminate +++ Learning From Discrimination +++ Absolutely Intercultural 285 +++

Hello, dear listeners, and welcome to episode 285 of our podcast, “Absolutely Intercultural.” Today, we are going to discuss a very sensitive topic: discrimination. Have you ever wondered why people discriminate against each other? Whether it’s occasional or regular, intentional or unintentional, spoken aloud or merely in our thoughts, people from different cultures have a tendency to single out others. Whether it’s a social bias or a so-called “harmless”stereotypes, those who experience discrimination may easily feel hurt and marginalized. In this episode, we aim to discuss the topic of discrimination openly. We will hear personal stories from individuals with diverse cultures, backgrounds, native languages, skin colors, genders, and so on. Together, we will explore the reasons behind discrimination, and understand how people feel when they experience it, and most importantly, learn from the experiences of our interview partners.

absolutely sugar free

In our first story, “absolutely sugar free”, we will hear from Jana, a German guest who has lived with her genetic diabetes since her childhood and has often faced discrimination because people think she got it because of eating too much sugar as a child

absolutely confronting

In our second story, “absolutely confronting”,we will hear from Sandie, a lecturer from Australia. Sandie recalls one day in her teaching career when she had to stand up for one of her indigenous students, that means an aboriginal Australian student, who faced discrimination during Sandie’s class.

absolutely forgiving

Finally, in our last category “absolutely forgiving”, we listen to Thinley who comes from an Asian country -Bhutan. This is a story about the bias that many people in the West have -“Do All Asians look Chinese?”

What about YOU? Do you have any experience connected with the discrimination? Get in touch, and feel free to share your unique story with us here on this podcast.

By the way, did you know we are also on iTunes or Apple Podcasts? You can subscribe to us there for free and give us a rating and a comment.

Our next show will be coming to you on 1st of September

Until then – try hard to embrace the diversity around you – und

Bleiben Sie absolut interkulturell!

The host of this show is: Dr. Laurent Borgmann

Chief Editor: Natalia Obikhod

Assistant Editors: Sonam Tashi, Teona Tepnadze

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100%forthe children +++ Signe Møller +++ Kenya +++ Ghana +++ SDGs +++ Absolutely Intercultural 234

Happy New Year! In this show, we are going to go back to shows 70 and 74 in 2008 and 2009 when I talked to Signe Møller here in Denmark about a new charity she had just set up.

This show, 234, is ten years later, so why am I re-visiting Signe’s charity 100% to the children? Because I bumped into a stall for her charity at a local Christmas market last November and I was curious to find out how this one-woman organisation was doing.

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Soliya +++ Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange +++ African Science +++ Absolutely intercultural 232 +++

What is a virtual exchange? Maybe not what you think. We’ll be digging deeper into that in this special edition of Absolutely Intercultural coming to you from Denmark. My name’s Anne Fox and this is show 232. Today’s show is mainly about promoting dialogue between different groups of people. So what is dialogue? And can you tell the difference between dialogue and, for example, debate?

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SIETAR +++ Cultural Mentor +++ Sustainability +++ Absolutely Intercultural 215

At the end of May I attended the SIETAR congress in Dublin, Ireland, which was all about cultural dexterity for turbulent times. Welcome to show 215 of Absolutely Intercultural which today features three of the speakers from the Congress. Plus I was there to talk about the culture of sustainability
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Absolutely Intercultural 214 +++ Erasmus 30 +++ Teaching Staff Mobility +++ Study Abroad

Welcome to this special episode dedicated to the 30^th Anniversary of the European Erasmus Program. In today’s episode we are going to hear from three participants of the program sharing their experiences and stories about how they decided to leave their comfort zones and made a bold move to internationalise themselves. Listen to the the stories of two international Erasmus Exchange students from Azerbaijan and Georgia, and a guest lecturer from Canada.

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Absolutely Intercultural 201 +++ power of language+++ biculturalism+++ life coach+++

In today’s podcast we focus on people who speak more than one language and on how these languages have an impact on our daily lives and even on our thinking. We will hear Issa Assaf from Jordan who tells us how he learned first Arabic, then English and now German and which new worlds these languages have opened up for him. Issa tells us stories and mentions some books which could potentially change your life, so – beware! Also we will listen to Thomas, who grew up with an Austrian mother and an English father. Is there really an advantage in growing up in a bilingual environment?

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