By Ciera Moore The influence of Jewish culture and religion is apparent all throughout Europe to this day, despite the efforts of the Nazi regime to destroy it. Even if there were no remaining synagogues or religious places, there are monuments commemorating the victims of the Holocaust. Every city we visited in Europe thus far […]
By Abbey Metzler Let me tell you a story. The year is 1963. You live in a town up in the hills outside of Budapest. Your country, the Hungarian People’s Republic, is run by the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party. Or really it is run by men in Moscow who have never been to your town, […]
By Edward You The year of 2018 marks the 5th anniversary of the “Belt and Road Initiative”. The name of this program itself is an attempt to echo the very early contact between China and Europe along with other neighbor countries. The “Road”, as you may imagine, refers to the famous Silk Road trad web […]
By Meredith Conway How can we accurately and fairly recount history? Who should be memorialized and who should not be? These questions ran like a constant thread throughout our first two weeks of traveling to four different cities. The first time I found myself trying to find answer these questions was after visiting Szabadsag (Freedom) […]
By Sarah McLafferty There are certain elements of European history that even those disinterested in the subject are familiar with. Among the most prominent are the events of World War II, and specifically the Nazi perpetration of the Holocaust. While this is discussed throughout middle school, high school, and beyond, oftentimes the history of how […]
By Kristen Varganova Although all the countries we visited throughout our first two weeks of travel were exceptionally beautiful and filled with unique history; the city that resonated most with me was Prague. From the delicate architecture to the painful stories of the Czech-Roma, Prague was the hardest goodbye yet. As soon as we got […]
Written by Ivan Laryionenka Loud, radical, passionate and extremely organized. Unlike the rest of the group that I went to a recent Slask Wroclaw soccer match with, I wasn’t surprised to see a group of a couple of thousand youngsters gathered up behind one of the goalposts. In Europe, soccer fan culture differs greatly from […]
Written by Ivan Laryionenka A strong, prosperous and proud alliance, where each member is ready to cooperate and work side by side with each other for the greater benefit, and is eager to show off its membership in every way possible – that is how I viewed the European Union before beginning my semester abroad. […]
Written By Deborah Sue-Ho As I walked past barracks where people were housed like animals, buildings which were destroyed to keep in dark secrets, gloomy pictures of people pulled apart from their loved ones, I can only imagine the anguish and pain. Our tour guide painted the picture of the time with gory details as […]
Written By Caroline Bartholomew Throughout its long and tumultuous history, Poland’s borders changed constantly and even disappeared from the map entirely during the 19th century. However, despite numerous occupations and two world wars, Wawel Castle in Krakow remained a concrete symbol of Polish identity. As a foreigner and a student learning about Polish history, visiting […]