A Whole New World

A Whole New World

The titanium silver BMW 760Li darted by the other vehicles on the highway creating a vivid blur of energy and sophistication. Yana Vasil, the driver of the German sedan, looked down at her Van Cleef and Arpels wristwatch and noticed she had only fifteen minutes to make it to her office before her secretary would initiate the conference call to the New York office. She accelerated and began to weave in and out of the lanes passing everyone in her path, hoping she’d make it to the office in time. She pressed a button on the dashboard and in a few seconds, the sound of a phone dialing could be heard. “Irina, I’m running a little late, but I should be in the deck in less than seven.” She didn’t even wait to hear Irina’s response, but instead pressed the button again and the call was over. Continuing to pass all the cars on the road, it was evident that Yana Vasil loved being in control and loved the success and wealth she had accumulated over the last few years. In a few minutes she had reached her office building and pulled into the executive parking spot boasting her name. Born in Bulgaria, Yana had never experienced anything of this magnitude before. Her parents were poorly educated, but she had managed to study at Cambridge and even had made quite a name for herself and chose to display her success and wealth by purchasing the finer things in life. Twenty years ago, however, Ms. Vasil would not have led this life of luxury that she has become accustomed to. Communism would not have allowed such hopes and dreams of this nature to be made and no social mobility of class existed at that time either. However, now that democracy and capitalism had spread all throughout Europe, a whole new world now exists.

In her book Café Europa, Slavenka Drakulic recalls observations and personal experiences of life under communist rule. She mentions that “Europe has been divided by the different historical development of its component parts, communism and most...