By Sofia DaCruz Walking through the streets of Amsterdam with my friend Emma I admired the rows of houses lined along canals, and the leaves covering the streets. As I brushed the leaves while I walked, I noticed a glimmer of brass which I recognized as a Stolperstein or “stumbling stone”. Together we bent down […]
By Andrew Emerson Pope John Paul II is a figure whose legacy continues to loom over the modern state of Poland and the expanded Catholic world. When you travel to Poland you will feel him looming over you. As the statues and portraits erected in the squares and hung upon the street corners seem to follow […]
By Charlotte Goodman It’s a beautiful day. You’re walking outside. Listening to the sound of the birds chirping and the gravel shuffle under your feet. Taking a deep breath fills your nose with the smell of freshly cut, maintained grass. Your eyes focus on a butterfly that whizzes past you. As you follow the butterfly’s path, […]
By Leanne Rivera During the Second World War, countless children were affected by brutal violence. They endured physical suffering, danger, catastrophe, exploitation, and loss. A multitude of children tried to flee but couldn’t; some witnessed a loved one’s death, and sadly enough, others were forced to participate in the violence that surrounded them. Before coming […]
By Sierra Kaplan Every Rynek can leave the average tourist entranced by beauty and history. Buildings of all hues and intricacies decorate all four sides of each historic market square, enmeshing and transporting the sightseer into the distant past. To be in a market square is to concentrate on the details and traces of the […]
By Kennedy Snyder Throughout our time on the traveling seminar, I have found myself repeatedly becoming confused and uncertain about the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the World Heritage Sites. I had so many questions that returned at the many sites we visited. Three sites in Poland particularly caught my attention: Malbork […]
By Ian Eisenbrand In Polish, Kotwica means anchor. It is also the term used to describe an enduring, highly contested symbol of Polish resistance dating back to World War II. The Kotwica was conceived in Warsaw in 1942 as an emblem for the Home Army, the leading underground resistance movement in Poland during German occupation. During […]
By Maddie Hartog When walking through Krakow, I was inclined to purchase a multi-colored stuffed dragon. I do not collect stuffed animals, nor do I love dragons, but the different colors, sizes and shapes made this dragon stuffed animal compelling to my tourist mind. Instead of purchasing, I began questioning… What is the story behind the […]
By Suryansh Singh For me, visiting a castle is a mystical affair. Almost like a teleportation device, these architectural marvels hold the power to transcend one into a world very different from their daily existence, seamlessly coalescing the domains of fantasy and reality. While they are built to withstand arrows and cannonballs, more importantly, they […]
By Sofia DaCruz I have visited many museums in my life, subconsciously consuming the collections and messages they portray with little analysis of their function or purpose. As we have moved through museums in Poland, guided by questions and discussions about their purposes, I have found a new lens to examine museums beyond their literal […]