What a crazy three weeks it has been. From the start of our travels here to Budapest, sunny Prague, a modern Warsaw, a quaint beachside Gdansk (or Danzig if you're of German background), or Berlin, to hearing about the run-off results to that sweet College World Series Championship back in Carolina, it has been quite the adventure for the 14 of us.
Now, as weary travelers waiting for our normal lives to catch up with us back in Columbia, I just want to take a moment to look back on some of our exciting and not so exciting moments.
As we landed in Budapest none of us quite knew what to expect. We had all seen movies with a dark and dreary 1970s Eastern Europe, but as we landed it didn't appear so. There was hustle and bustle all over the city, and things looked fairly prosperous. As we began traveling between countries, we saw the steady increase in prosperity all the way t
o the Brandenburg Gate. Socialism as they knew it was history, and all of the countries were looking forward to brighter futures.
Some times were better than others. Everyone please make note of this: unless you are traveling on the Orient Express, always fly over training in Europe. It must be because we got blessed with "the best 2 weeks of weather for all of European summer" that we were cursed with trains with no windows and broken air conditioning. It's ok, don't worry. No student were harmed in the making of this class on trains; however, there were times that we all thought there was no end in sight on an 8 hour ride and were ready to get off at any stop along the way.
Now that I'm sitting comfortably in my air conditioned apartment, I'll move back to the finer things of Europe. Most of the meetings we had throughout our thre
e and half weeks were exceptional and really supplemented what we all learned in the classroom. The backgrounds of some of the people were complex, intruiging, and all around just what we needed. From former Communists, to journalists working in communist Germany, to students who only know their parents' stories, we've started to gather a sense of what life was really like during Socialist control and how life has changed for the overall betterment of this part of the world.
I also enjoyed meeting people outside of our meetings. If you go to the right place at the right time, its amazing who you will actually meet. For example, after getting a dinner recommendation from Dean Bierbauer in Warsaw, I met with the leader of the majority party in Polish government there dining with his family. He sat and talked with me and Ashley for quite some time about journalism and government and the complex relationship it can have. Then in Berlin, after a very disappointing loss to Spain in the World Cup semifinals, I ended up hanging out with interns from another major political party in Germany. We talked about everything from culture to how the party has reshaped its goals once Communism fell and Germany was reunited.
I guess I'll close now, and although there is more I would love to tell you, it is buried deep within my brain, processing right now, trying to find its way around my jet lag. Because like any three week, intensive hands-on class moving about Europe every 5 days, time catches up with you on that plane ride back. So until August and Carolina Football,
Eljen! Hura! Nasrovia! Probst! and Cheers!
Auf Weidersehen and Carolina love,
Zach
