Elizabeth's European Adventure - Part 6

In her own words: 

I think it's safe to say that Prague was hands down the best city that Sophia, Abby and I visited. Our airbnb host sent a driver to the airport, and the drive into the city was beautifully scenic. Our airbnb was situated in the Old Town area of the city, so we were right in the thick of all the historical landmarks and culture.
On Saturday, after dropping our luggage off at the airbnb, we set out to explore the city. We crossed one of Prague's many bridges and hiked up to the famous Prague castle. We then proceeded to climb up the castle tower (over 280 steps) where we could see a panoramic view of the city. Unfortunately the skies opened up  and it poured and thundered for about two hours (this was actually really cool to see from the tower!). Luckily Abby, Sophia and I were prepared for this to happen and we managed to fill the time by eating lunch at the castle's cafe.
We explored more of the city in the evening, going to the Old Square and the Charles Bridge, and stopping in a bunch of touristy shops. On Sunday, we got brunch and continued to walk around and take in the city, enjoying time in parks and a flea market. Prague was a really relaxing and enjoyable experience for all of us, and we wished that we had more time there!
Now, we return to Park for the last segment of our study abroad "may-mester".
Shoutout to [Lee's cousin Alison] for recommending places to visit and eat in Prague.

Our favorite view of the castle.

Prague Castle

Charles Bridge

Elizabeth's European Adventure - Part 5

In her own words:

Our travel through Germany and Poland was without a doubt the most difficult part of our entire study abroad experience. Sophia, Abby and I encountered every problem that could exist, beginning with our security issues in the Amsterdam Airport, a delayed flight, rude customs officers in Germany, our overnight bus being delayed by an hour, then our bus seats simply not existing on the bus, very few English speakers in Poland, and more.
We traveled to Poland to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau. We had a tour scheduled for 12:15pm, and it was abruptly changed to 2:40. All trains from Krakow to Oswiecim appeared nonexistent, even though we had checked all details before the trip. A train station officer helped us find a train to a different town and told us we would be able to get to Auschwitz from there, so we hopped on a train and hoped for the best.  The ride was two hours, then we were told to take a bus to Oswiecim. From there, we waited for a shuttle to Auschwitz. We proceeded to wait 30 minutes for our tour guide to show up and then decided that we would go in ourselves when she never came.
It was an incredibly frustrating process, but all that matters is that we made it to the memorial, and we were able to see Auschwitz-Birkenau ourselves. It is a place that all of us were really looking forward to seeing and even though we were unable to get the full experience, it was still very moving.
It took us roughly 4 hours to get back to Krakow; waiting for shuttles that never came, walking 20 minutes to a bus stop, no running trains, etc. We eventually made it onto a bus where we stood in the aisle throughout the hour drive back to Krakow. We finally got back to our airbnb at 10pm!
Germany and Poland were definitely interesting and exhausting experiences. We had to make a lot of adjustments, keep calm, and learn a lot of life lessons. We also discovered that one of the best ways to keep a positive mindset is to use humor to get through.
Our last destination before returning to Paris is Prague, where we will spend Saturday afternoon and all of Sunday.

In Berlin airport searching for our bus.

Auschwitz-Birkenau

Inside the camp.

Old town Krakow

Snack dinner in our airbnb. We were able to budge enough money to get a really nice apartment in a safe part of Krakow, and it was a really pleasant surprise after an exhausting day. Definitely brightened our moods to see three comfy beds and a kitchen!

Elizabeth's European Adventure - Part 4

In her own words:

The last educational leg of my study abroad trip ended this past week in the Netherlands. After arriving on Monday night, we spent Tuesday and part of Wednesday in the city of The Hague, a coastal city which hosts two international organizations; the OPCW (organization for the prevention of chemical weapons) and the ICC (international criminal court).
We visited the OPCW on Tuesday, where we met with an officer from the public affairs division, who explained the values and processes of the OPCW, then fielded questions from my class for almost 30 minutes. It was definitely my favorite of the organizations we visited - the representative was very informed and discussed parts of the OPCW that applied to multiple majors and career paths. The rest of Tuesday was free for the students so we took the opportunity to visit the coast of the North Sea.
On Wednesday morning, my class had its last international organization meeting: the ICC. Unfortunately, the trial that we were scheduled to sit in on was delayed two weeks, so we instead had a presentation followed by a Q&A. While very informative, everyone was definitely sad to have missed the trial!
In the afternoon, my class split in half: we were given the choice to either return back to Paris or continue on to Amsterdam. Naturally, Sophia, Abby and I decided to join the group going to Amsterdam, where we spent the first day of our free weekend. On Wednesday night, we stayed in a hostel, meeting up with classmates to go out and explore as well. Thursday consisted of a canal tour in the morning, followed by the Van Goh museum and dinner with one of our professors.
Now, the three of us awaiting our flight to Germany, where we will take a 9 hour bus through the country and into Poland, where we will spend the next two days.

Elizabeth's European Adventure - Part 3

In her own words:

My political science class spent this previous weekend in the country of Belgium. After a morning train on Saturday, we arrived in Brussels, the capital of Belgium. The rest of Saturday was spent exploring the Grand-Place, as well as a visit to the European Parliament building. Unfortunately, the Parliament was not in session so we were unable to see the actual chamber, however we were able to tour the rest of the building.
On Sunday, the associate professor and I organized a day trip to Brugge, another city in Belgium. A small group of students took the train out to Brugge, where we spent the day exploring the small city. The highlight of this day trip was definitely the chocolate; there were chocolatiers every other store front and we all ate too much!
Monday entailed a trip to NATO headquarters, where we had three back to back meetings with NATO officials about security issues within and also outside the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. As a national security major, these meetings were incredibly interesting and provided me with insight on security priorities in other regions of the world.
Belgium is definitely at the top of my list of countries that we have visited so far. The architecture of both Brussels and Brugge was incredible beautiful, and the food was excellent. I tasted two of Belgium's famous dishes, waffles and mussels, both of which were quite good. I also visited Mannequin Pis, one of Brussels' most comical, yet famous landmarks.
Monday night consists of a train to the Netherlands, and specifically The Hague, where we will spend the next two days.

Grand-Place

Belgian Waffle

The best hot chocolate in Belgium.

European Parliament

NATO Headquarters. We were not allowed to take photos inside.

Elizabeth's European Adventure - Part 2

In her own words:

In the early morning hours of Tuesday, June 6, my political science class boarded a 3 hour high-speed train to Switzerland, arriving around 9am in Geneva.  After dropping off our bags at hour hotel, we rode the tram into Geneva's international district where we met with a representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) for the afternoon. We engaged in a lengthy discussion of the history of WHO, its core values and missions, as well as an in-depth look into the international affects of the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines.
This was the first of 5 meetings over the next three days: on Wednesday, we met with a communications offers from the World Trade Organization, followed by a meeting with admissions representatives at the Geneva Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Interdisciplinary Studies. On Thursday, we met with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, followed immediately by a tour of the United Nations Headquarters.
This class trip to Switzerland was packed with official meetings and tours, however, some time was allotted for exploration of the city. Sophia, Abby and I managed to accidentally stumble upon the oldest restaurant in Geneva for dinner, sampled Swiss chocolate from various chocolatiers, and swam in Lake Geneva with other friends.
I found that the train rides in and out of Switzerland provided the most breathtaking views of the trip. While Geneva was an excellent city for us nerdy political science majors, it is certainly not as photogenic as the mountains and rivers our train passed by. 
Overall, Switzerland was incredibly educational, beautiful, and definitely flew by quick! Now it's back to Paris for one more day, then the back-to-back journey to Belgium, The Netherlands, German, Poland and the Czech Republic begins.

At the WTO

The famous Geneva Geyser

Elizabeth's European Adventure - Part 1

In her own words: 

My big adventure for the summer of 2023 is my study abroad "may-mester" to Europe. Over the course of the spring semester at the University of New Haven, I took two level-4000 (senior special topics) courses in Global Convergence and Migration, the "lab" portion to be completed during a month's stay in various European countries, with a home base in Paris.  From May 22 to June 19, I will be visiting 8 European countries: France, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic.
During the program's first free weekend, students were given free rein to travel across Europe. Two friends and I took the opportunity to visit Spain. We stayed in Valencia, Spain's third largest city. Our lodgings were a small hostel within Estacio del Norte, one of Valencia's train stations, where we shared living and sleeping spaces with roughly 10-20 strangers. Definitely an experience!
Friday and Saturday, we explored the city's historical sites and landmarks. We spent significant time at La Oceanografic, Europe's biggest aquarium, as well as Valencia Cathedral, Museo Historico, Municipal de Valencia, and El Micalet.  After dinner, we also explored Valencia nightlife. 
On Sunday, we spent the day in Ibiza. An unforeseen thunderstorm altered our plans of spending a relaxing afternoon on the beach, however we made the best of the day by exploring Ibiza's many small alleys and climbing Ibiza Castle once the rain let up. Finally, three hours before our flight back for mainland Spain took off, the sun finally came out and we celebrated with a brief dip in the Mediterranean.
Although many of our plans fell through or got rained out, we took every opportunity available to experience Spain. Now, it's back to France for a week and a half and then off to Switzerland.