STUDY TOUR TRAVEL WEEK!!!

Alright everyone, it's the moment you’ve all been waiting for: STUDY TOUR TRAVEL WEEK!!

{Now where exactly could the inscrutable Scandinavian Airlines be taking me??}

Just this past week, I was able to travel with my Core Course: Modern Frames: European Art and Cinema(it’s a mouthful I know, but a mouthful of AWESOMENESS as you’ll soon see), on a weeklong Study Tour to Vienna and Prague. As I have stated in previous blogs, my Core Course focuses on the twin areas of Art and Cinema at the turn of the 20th Century, marking the entry of both mediums into the Modern Era, hence the lengthy yet apropos course title. So, for our Long Study Tour, we first flew to Vienna, Austria, to focus on Modern Art, and then we took the train to Prague in the Czech Republic to zero in on Modern Film. 

{Our methods of class transportation - planes, trains, but certainly not automobiles ;)}

COULD YOU ASK FOR A COOLER WEEK??? No, dear readers, you certainly could not. From the immediate start of our Study Tour to our oh-so-soon ending, our week was jam-packed with everything incredible within the arts and cinema world(for clarification we left on a Sunday morning and arrived back in Copenhagen midday the following Friday). We went to not one, not two, but THREE art museums in Vienna, all varying from being culturally relevant, historically significant, or just drop dead gorgeous. And in Prague, we made our own stop-motion animation as well as meeting an active working director and listening to his thoughts about film from both a historic and contemporary lens. Talk about academic immersion!

{One of the displays in the Leopold Museum that we saw - Vienna was kinda the place to be in 1900}

The entrance to the National Film Museum: where we got to make our own stop-motion animations!

But besides everything that we did that related directly to what we covered as a part of our class curriculum, we also had the opportunity to experience direct aspects of the culture in both Vienna and Prague that makes each city completely unique. In Vienna, our entire class brought a pair a business casual clothes and dressed up for a classical music concert, as well as taking a historical walk of the city’s inner center. In Prague, we took part in a glass-making workshop, where with the help of a professional glass-blower(thanks Bob from Australia!), we each got to make our own little glass creation, an art form that Prague as a city is famous for. AND the day after that we toured the Prague Castle and saw what real artistic masterpieces looked like at St. Vitus's Cathedral, with its one-of-a-kind stained glass windows.

{From left to right - glass-making, a classical music concert, and some mind-boggling stained glass}

It was in these cultural immersion experiences that I really was able to get a feel for each of the cities and how each place prides itself on different aspects of European life. In Vienna it felt like every block I walked down and person I met was oozing with authenticity, tradition, and respect for such a classic and historical city. Prague felt similar in some aspects, being also a city with a very storied past, but the people themselves also felt super alive and willing to talk with you, share their stories, and hear about your own experiences. 

Prague's historic Old Town at sunset: an unmissable event

One of my favorite moments of the trip was when I went in my free time to go get a snack around the city. I was looking for a kolache(a traditional Czech pastry with dough around a fruit or custard filling, sorta like a danish), and once I found a place, there was a map on the wall where people could put pins in saying where they were from and if they had any stories about kolaches. And in fact I did! As you know from my bio I’m from Nebraska, but on my mom’s side I have Czech heritage, so I have actually made kolaches before as a part of a class project in middle school related to traditional family meals. The recipe I used was given to me by my grandparents, so it was a wonderful full-circle event to try the food that my family had grown up eating in the place where it originated. So, Bompa, if you’re reading this, this one’s for you!

{A mixed berry kolache from the heart of Prague: capital-D Delicious!!}

Whew, that was a doozy! I feel like I didn’t even get to mention a billion things that happened on my Study Tour, from a breakdown of the exact things that I actually did with my class, to all the things I saw in my free time, or even all the other foods we had along the journey. But hey, if you ever want advice for things to see in do in Vienna or Prague, just reach out and ask! I’d love to fill you in on all the little moments I had in each city(in my opinion that’s kinda what makes the trip!) But get ready for next time, where I’ll be recounting all my subsequent travels over our upcoming academic break(spoilers, it’s going to be awesome).

{My Core Course Class outside of the concert venue in Vienna - who would I be without these guys?!}

See you next time!