Chicago Semester

Experiential Learning in 16 European Cities:  My Summer Trip

Posted by Clinton Stockwell in Staff Advice in Staff Stories | Jul 06, 2011

I’ve always been a bit envious of those who do a travel seminar, so I was excited when I was invited to do one of my own this summer--a trip to Europe!  Among the many things I learned, three of my "learnings" are as follows:

First learning:  You may not get much sleep!  I got on the plane in Chicago and arrived May 4^th in Frankfort am Main, Germany at 11:30 pm Chicago time, which just happened to be 6:30 am Frankfort time.  My gracious host showed up.  “Good morning, are you ready to go?”  “Sure” I said, so off we went to Cologne to see the Cologne Cathedral (pictured right), then to Hamburg for a city tour, and then dinner with friends of my host.

It was a great day, and boy was I tired, but after barely sleeping through the night in Hamburg, it was off to Hafen City the next day, which is the largest urban development project in Europe. Then we were off to the Reeperbahn, the “entertainment district” of Hamburg.  No, don’t worry; we just walked around and gawked in stunned silence, and then looked for a quiet restaurant to end the evening.  And, yes, I was still tired that evening too.

Second Learning:  You may get lost, and not know where the heck you are!  After travel to Berlin, and much of Germany, my itinerary called for an overnight stay in Budapest, Hungary.  So, after attending a conference in Dresden, Kirchentag, I arrived ithe next early am after an overnight train ride.  The taxi driver, for 15 Euros (I had no Florins), took me through town to my hotel, dropped me off. He pointed to the right, so I went right, and I could not find my address. I walked up and down the block, but no Hotel Leonardo.  Then I looked at the address on my travel itinerary, and discovered that I needed to go left, up the block, not down the block, and there was my hotel.  Once I checked in, I knew I only had one day to “discover” Budapest. 

So I walked outside the door of the Hotel, and looked left, straight ahead, and to the right; there seemed to be a clearing to the right, so there I went (I had no idea whether this was East, West, or toward the river?).  Sure enough, there was a major street with a Tram.  My German was fairly good, but my Hungarian, well…  So, I tried to ask the Tram driver if his Tram would take me to the Danube, but “Ich no Verstehe Magyar.” 

Bewildered, I looked around, and ah, I saw a tour bus, so over I went.  To my surprise, the recruiter spoke English, so on the tour bus I was given a splendid tour of Budapest, up to the Castle, the Citadel, Parliament Building; Heroes Square (pictured above)--the whole bit; then I knew where to go back to once the official tour was over.  I knew I wanted to go back to Heroes Square, because there was a Fairy Castle, a lake, and it was not too far from the Lutheran and “Calvinistic Church.”  So, I purchased a day pass for, gee 1400 Florins which seemed like a lot of money, and then, down to the Metro underground, only to go to the wrong station.  I returned and, with hand gestures, queried the attendant as to which train to get onto to get to Heroes Square.  With assistance to directions, and armed with a map, I was ready to go.  By the way, the added benefit was that the Underground Metro took me to the train station the next morning for no additional Florins or Euros; what a relief that was!

Third Learning:  You might be afraid, but be prepared to be surprised by what you will find!   At the end of my trip, my itinerary called for me to meet up with my host again, this time in Sarajevo, Bosnia.  I was to speak to a group of students at the University of Sarajevo, and this went very well.  But, during the next day came the event that I was fretful about, a tour of the City of Sarajevo, the “Tunnel Museum” and “Serb Fortifications”  up on one of the hills.   This was like going into the wrong neighborhood, with someone you didn’t know, I imagined, since I was this American tourist in a city that was 80% Muslim (well, you know what I mean).  So, the tour guide picked us up, and he turned out to be an eloquent young man who was just finishing a MA in history from the U of Sarajevo, and since I was a history major myself, well, you can imagine the dialogue.  So, off we go, Old City Market, Habsburg-era architecture, the old Communist cinder blocks, the Tunnel Museum (where people smuggled goods into Sarajevo during Bosnian-Serbian War (1992-1995)), and at last, what I feared most, Serb Fortifications where one could see clearly “Sniper Alley.”  I must say, that Sarajevo, due to its history and current demographics, turned out to be the most interesting of cities on my itinerary (and this included Rome and Prague).  The rich but troubled history; the 80% Muslim presence; and the incredible Old Market (pictured below) was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.  So, what I learned was to trust your friends who say it will be fine, “suspend judgment,” and most of all, open your eyes and heart.  The result:  you will be surprised and encouraged by what you will find.