09/02/2026
Have you taken a moonlit boat ride down the Danube? Strolled along the Charles Bridge eating ice cream after shopping in the center of Prague? Enjoyed a Viennese communal meal in the shadow of a Baroque palace in the old town? Have you ever stood below a giant Communist statue of Lenin in a monument park outside of Budapest? Listened to a Viennese Concert in the garden of a Palace? No longer trapped behind the Iron Curtain – the vibe and life in the Heart of Europe remains intoxicatingly upbeat and its cities are moving fast toward the future.
Join this study abroad trip that will explore fortified castles, medieval feasts, Ruin Bars, Gothic churches, Turkish baths, and cavernous salt mines, as well as make a humbling visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. This 2027 study abroad program offers educational adventures and history unfiltered.
With stays in Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary and taking in numerous cities and sights, we will unpack how culture and memory is shaped and influenced politically, regionally, and internationally. We will also discuss linguistic prose and discover delicious regional cuisine. A once in a lifetime experience, this course will enable students to understand why local and global, mass violence and peace, history and memory, inclusion and exclusion, as well as dictatorship and democracy often coincided: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. (Dickens)”
