I knew I wanted to go abroad at some point during my Quinnipiac experience, but I changed majors enough freshman and sophomore year to use up all my electives. Also, I love QU too much to leave for a full semester - so the QU301 classes with the travel component seemed like my best option. I ended up picking the course taught by Professor Callahan: Meanings of Freedom. I didn't know much, or really anything for that matter, about Poland or Prague (the travel part of the class). But I picked the course anyway for the material. I figured it'd be a great fit - me, a Chronicle staffer interested in how freedom of the press operates in different countries, learning about how freedoms are applied/withheld around the world. I was did not expect learning nearly as much as I did.
First, we spent a week in Krakow, Poland. I quickly fell in love with the beautiful city - partly because it was so authentic. It wasn't dedicated to tourists. People spoke English, but almost nothing (street sign wise, etc.) was translated into English. We often needed our professor's help with the menus (although we almost always chose pierogies anyway - BEST Polish food ever.) There, we were completely immersed in a European culture. I came away from everything fascinated with the consonant-heavy language - even though I can only remember "Good morning" - Dzien dobry!
On our first night, we sat with a class of history students at the University of Krakow (my professor's alma mater) and discussed communism and how they viewed America and its freedoms. I remember someone from our class asked why they hadn't seen a Polish flag flying anywhere in the city yet. A Polish student responded, "I knew someone would ask that! Americans are crazy about their flag!" Moments like these, getting these perspectives of each others' countries and cultures, were just... truly invaluable. Plus, the students were generous enough to spend time that night and for the rest of the week showing us different parts of the city.
Besides that, we toured... seriously toured. We saw the Old Jewish Quarter of Krakow, several churches and synagogues, Nowa Huta - the old Communist part of Krakow, the Wieliczka Salt Mine, a castle (which we took horse-drawn carriages to no less), many, many museums and most unforgettably - the Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps. Everything tied into our course - determining the meaning of freedoms and what happened when they were taken away from so many of these people in history. I don't mean to sound cliche, but it meant so much more than skimming over the details with a highlighter or annotating for class discussion. We stood in Block 11, which the prisoners called "the death block" for many disturbing reasons, and we stood by the roll call stand where Nazi officials once made prisoners stand for 19 hours straight. It was depressing, mind-blowing, life-changing.
From Poland, we took a night train to Prague. I woke up Wednesday, May 25, and watched as we pulled into the city from my bunk - pretty sweet. At this point, I thought I was more prepared for Prague than Poland. Whenever I said I was going to Prague, everyone would say: "OH - it's just gorgeous. You'll love all the old architecture." But what I didn't expect was for this old city to have such a vibrant feel - if I closed my eyes and blocked out the cobblestone streets and old architecture, Prague felt like Manhattan. We toured the heck out of this city too - on bikes, by boat and with our feet (which ached at the end of every day by the way), we saw Prague's Old Jewish Quarter, John Lennon's wall, the Charles Bridge, the beautiful Prague castle, an underground museum and much more.
I understood as I was experiencing these things how emotionally blown away I was. It wasn't until we had our "final" -- a brainstorming session at a cafe on the river in Prague (hands down, the best setting for a final I've ever experienced) - with small groups connecting our travel experiences with what we had learned in a classroom at QU that I realized how much I was blown away educationally also. It was so easy, connecting the stories from the tours and places we have visited to the course materials and the best part - almost everyone connected/remembered something different.
So I came home last week - with more than a few souvenirs, a few pounds heavier (thanks to all the pierogies and Nutella), way too many pictures of buildings I thought were "pretty" at the time but now have no memory what they are, a determination to someday learn Polish and a class full of friends to share my unforgettable memories of two cultures we barely knew before. Beaming, I came off the airplane and told my parents that it was one of the best decisions of my life to go on this trip... And I honestly don't think I've stopped talking about it since.
The entire class on our last night abroad. Old Town Square, Prague.
