Over the course of this journey there are several things I
look back upon and still think, wow, that was fantastic. This post is all about
what makes those things so memorable as I wind down the trip. In fact I am sitting
at the airport in Amsterdam awaiting the plane for the last leg of my journey.
These are just off the top of my head and in no particular order, except, of
course, for the first one.
Stephanie – Without her support and love such journeys would
not be what they are. I depart knowing full well that she is right there with
me. It is always more wonderful traveling with her but it is also amazing that
she provides such encouragement for doing these trips. Not everyone is so lucky
and it is something I can’t take for granted.
Modern Communication – Truth be told this is both a favorite
and a hated thing, but within the context of friends and family it is a
favorite. It is not seamless by any means, but once internet connections are
strong enough in my locales, being able to regularly see and talk with loved
ones is excellent. It is much more about the difficulty with connections and
internet services that made this difficult. I did not miss having a mobile for
most of the trip with access through these other means.
Experiental Learning – One of the most brilliant aspects of
the International Traveling Classroom is choosing locations for your classes
that allow you to make the most of your surroundings. As the program is all
about doing things and learning beyond the classroom, the opportunity to truly
provide an academic foundation for material, followed up by real world
experiences is invaluable. Even better is being able to see that process in
action over the following days. It makes this program special, one that has
continually worked to find the balance between student experience and
independent travel.
A Room with Toilet – It is just funny how things are
assumed, especially when those assumptions are not upheld. For short stays in
places I have not been concerned as much with the bathroom being en suite, but for a stay of more than a
week, it took a great deal of patience not to have that facility available. I
made the mistake of not identifying that while the room had an option of a
shower in the room (which I chose) that did not mean you got a toilet thrown in
with the shower. You always have to make the best of things, which I managed to
do, but I also now know to not assume a room is en suite even if it has a shower.
Public Transportation – It doesn’t have to be just the large
cities that have public transportation available, even the smaller cities have
ensured that there are choices that don’t require having an automobile.
Freiburg’s population is just over 200,000 and they had a highly effective tram
system. There was no time that I was waiting for longer than 10 minutes for the
next tram. Bruxelles was about 10 times bigger and had buses, trams, and
subways connecting so much of the city. The waits here were even shorter and
most of the time only had to wait 2 minutes or less when switching routes. It
is amazing to see how effectively people can move about with just a little support
for pubic transport.
Walking Distance – It is stunning to realize just how spread
out American cities are, making it difficult to really consider walking
everywhere. In contrast, most everywhere I was, felt very walkable and I spent
a good deal of my time just walking about. While there were times I did take
public transportation for speed between locations, there was even more time
that was spent walking. In many cases I would even walk beyond the most immediate
transportation stop, just to have the chance to wander a bit further and wider
afield. It is also great that so many spaces allow so little automobile traffic
in order to encourage foot traffic.
Live Sports – This does not mean “live on tv”, but rather
seeing it live and in person. As you may have ascertained from the earlier post
on going to the game, but I did have a good deal of trepidation about having
the students in terraced ends. I hadn’t even been on the terraces before and
did not truly know what to expect. In the end though, it was an amazing
experience. The energy, the excitement, and the emotion of the crowd always
make a sporting event more worthwhile. In fact I am quite excited that even
after my nine hour flight today, Steph will pick me up at the airport and we
will get up to the Minnesota Wild hockey game tonight. I will be tired from the
journey, but going with such an intense Wild fan will surely energize me for
the whole game.
