Studying the Holocaust Abroad
My Travel Story
I have been given the opportunity to study abroad this coming May! With classmates and an amazing English professor, I would be traveling to study the Holocaust in detail. We would start the trip in Berlin and have a guided tour bringing us to historical sights within Berlin, Germany. We would visit museums and memorials regarding the Holocaust, and we would write, take notes, and reflect on the lifes and stories in the places. Next we would travel to Warsaw, Poland and visit monuments, the Jewish Ghetto, and museums and while there write about what we are experiencing, and read poems and stories that were written during the Holocaust. Next we would travel to Krakow, Poland and visit Auschwitz and Birkwenau. We would read aloud works that were written there, and write and reflect on them. Our final destination before arriving home is Prague, Czechia. There we would visit the Jewish Quarter, the Jewish Museum, a Jewish Cemetery, and two synagogues. After we get home, we would collect all of the work that we had written during our time on the trip, and combine it to be published.
This could be an amazing opportunity for me. I would be able to take this experience and use it to teach in classrooms after I graduate. I feel like this could be truly a life changing experience, and one that I would never forget. I could possibly have some of my written work published into a book, as well as possibly tour the book with the people I went with after it is published.
The holocaust has always been a time in history that has interested me. The mere fact that one person could manipulate such a sadistic army to kill off an entire people is beyond my belief. It is incredibly difficult for me to fathom that so many people were tortured, starved, and killed in such a brief time in history.
A few years ago I lived in Cambodia, and when I was there I learned about the Khmer Rouge geneside. After learning that almost an entire generation was killed off, I was fortunate enough to be able to visit a school that was turned into a jail, and the killing fields. On the day that I visited the jail, there were two survivors there who had written books about their time during the Khmer Rouge, and I was able to meet them and I purchased the two books. After meeting them, reading their books and walking through blood stained hallways, I was able to, in a way, put myself into the Khmer Rouge. When I visited the Killing Fields and touched the tree where children were beaten to death, I sobbed for a long time and could feel the inhuman pain that was present in that hateful place.
I feel like learning about the Holocaust while growing up, reading the stories of survivors, and watching documentaries about it is vastly different from actually placing yourself in the places where it all happened. I know that this trip isn’t going to be all laughs, and tourism, but that is why I want to go so badly. I like to travel with a meaning behind the reason for going, and I feel like I will grow as a person, as a writer, as an educator, and experience something that I would never be able to experience at the age I am.
After experiencing what I experienced in Cambodia in regards to the Khmer Rouge geneside, I was able to understand the state the country was in. I was able to converse with the people in a way that I would have otherwise been unable to do. I was able to relate on a very small level than if I had just gathered information from books or movies. There is a part of me that wants to be able to relate to the people who have died during the Holocaust. I want to gather some form of understanding of what they went through not just for my understanding, but with the hopes that I will one day be able to pass that knowledge down to future students. I want to be able to share my experience with the younger generation in hopes that it will help to stop the remaking of history. I feel like when children are informed on past events in a detailed way, it helps them to recognize the hate and racism that plagues our world today. I want to be able to inform children about the Holocaust not just with books and documentaries, but with rich experience and a slightly deeper understanding than some might have.
This trip would truly help me to better understand what happened during the Holocaust, discover more surviours that I may not have learned about, and explore the sorrowful places that hold so many people’s memories, struggles, and deaths. I am incredibly interested to learn more about Hilter himself. I want to attempt to understand his reasoning, his process of thinking, and his motives. I wish to understand how he managed to brainwash so many people; a whole nation for his personal opinion about a group of people. I want to gather more information about his speeches, his way of manipulating words, and how he managed to become a nation’s leader with such unthinkable motives.
Lastly, I have never been to Berlin, Warsaw, or Prague and can only dare to hope to be able to visit if I wasn’t able to go on this trip. Europe is on my bucket list, but I don’t just want to go to cross it off the list. Italy is on my list of places to go, but I have family there and would love to visit and meet them. When I went to Cambodia, I went there with the purpose of completing some humanitarian work, not just to go to Cambodia. Going to these places with the English class would give my traveling a reason, and create a richer experience for me. I like to have a purpose when doing things with my life. I would also step on board with people I don’t really know, and step off sharing an experience with the same people that I would not be able to share with anyone else. I would feel connected to a group of people in a way that I have never been connected before, and through the trip I would gather more than just an experience, I believe I would gather a whole new group of friends.
My hope is to be considered for this trip; I believe I have something to offer as a writer, and an educator. I have something that no one else on the planet has, and only I can experience something in the way that I experience things. I have the ability to write down what it is that I experience, and in doing so, creating a soft voice that someone might hear.
We will leave in the middle of May 2020 from Montrael International Airport.
Updates
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October Update!
Good morning everyone!
I have some exciting news! I have gotten wind that there has been over twenty students who signed up for the trip which means that it becomes cheaper for me. I don't have the new total of the cost yet, but I believe it will drop quite a bit.
I was also able to officially submit my lengthy application to the school for the trip, and I am hoping that it will be accepted. I am in the process of applying for scholarships to help me out financially that I will use for the trip.
Fall up here in Plattsburgh is getting cold, rainy, and windy but the foliage is breathtaking. I have just finished up my midterms, and starting next week I will be meeting with my advisor to schedule my Spring 2020 semester classes. I am truly loving it here. I love my job I was fortunate enough to get, as well as my school experience, my professors, and my classmates.
Thank you all for your support and encouragement. I hope your October is going as well as mine is. -
Sold!
My professor who is organizing and attending the trip held a yard sale at her house to help fund the trip. We sold over $100 worth of items from her house and of items that were brought by the students. We will have a few more yard sales in hopes to sell more for money towards the trip.
More Travel Information
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$ 4,505 USD
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Cost Calculator
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Program Fee
$ 4,378
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Medical/ Travel/ Accident Insurance
$ 27
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Application/ Deposit Fee
$ 100
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