From Florence, Italy to Bonn, Germany to trips around Poland and Greece, Lafayette students traveled to Europe this summer for a wide variety of academic and cultural experiences.
Anna Silver ‘25, went to Poland and Germany for a course called “Conflict in Eastern Europe: Past and Present,” in which students learned about the history of Eastern Europe. The class was taught by professors Sanborn and Ceballos of the history department.
“You’re kind of as a class exploring World War II and its effects, the Cold War and then the current Ukrainian-Russia War,” Silver said.
“We were talking a lot about the relationship of European Jews in Poland since a lot of them lived there before World War II,” Silver continued. “We also explored ideas of nationalism, how that can play out in museums in the present and how different countries choose to display their own role in wars or genocides. We also focused on how Poland and Germany are responding to the current refugees from the Ukraine and Russia War.”
Students went to Krakow, Warsaw and Gdansk, Poland for two weeks, followed by one week in Berlin, Germany. According to Silver, getting to experience the culture of each of these cities while also learning about the history of them was an enriching experience.
“It’s one thing to sit in the class here for 15 minutes, learn about [something], and then go about your day on campus, but it’s another to learn about something in the morning and digest that as you’re walking through the city or hanging out with friends and seeing what is a part of history,” Silver said. “Everything that we looked at [was] a part of history and still is.”
Christian Festa ‘24 traveled to Florence, Italy for three weeks on the trip entitled “Florence: Language, Art, and Culture.” He feels that the academic experience was a healthy mix of both Italian language and cultural learning.
“While I was over there, I was taking … a language class with a professor from Italy,” Festa said. “And then there were also some sessions with Professor Giovanelli in the philosophy department for Lafayette who kind of supplemented with some more cultural lessons.”
Festa also noted that the weekends of free time on the trip provided an opportunity for students to travel to more areas of Italy. The class field trips were a major part of the Italian cultural immersion as well.
“On the weekends, we really tried to take advantage of the free time,” Festa said. “We saw Venice, Cinque Terre, Pisa and then a couple other smaller local places … for example, we saw the Academia or La Academia … which is the gallery that has the David. We were able to see a lot of different cultural landmarks.”
Riley Anderson ‘24 took a trip to Bonn, Germany sponsored by Lafayette’s German program. The trip featured two classes, one mandatory and one optional.
“The actual course that I was being graded on was a 300-level German course,” Anderson said. “It focused on two topics, more about the art of Germany, like the music. The other one was the history of German Americans in the United States,” Anderson said.
In addition to Lafayette students, students from Texas A&M and UNC Wilmington were also a part of the study abroad program, sponsored by the Academy of International Education. The classes were both taught by professors from other universities.
In addition to seeing major cities and landmarks in Germany, the group also had the opportunity to visit Vienna, Austria, which, according to Anderson, was a highlight of the trip.
“This was my favorite memory of the trip, [going] to Vienna,” Anderson said. “[I] love that city, my favorite city hands down, and my favorite memory.”
Lily Gilmore ‘24 went abroad to Greece on the “Greek Stories/Stories About Greece” trip and felt that the experience provided a broad scope of knowledge regarding Greek culture and landscape.
“Throughout the three weeks, we went to Athens, Delphi, Nafplion and Crete. On Crete, we went to Heraklion and Matala, then we went to Santorini and a bunch of museums … and archaeological sites,” Gilmore said.
The curriculum spanned centuries of the Greek zeitgeist from classical sculptures and landmarks to the country’s role in the World War II.
For Gilmore, the trip was a very meaningful academic and personal experience.
“It ended up being one of the most beautiful experiences of my life,” she said.
