by Erin Burns, Evan Gabriel, Jonathan Parsons, Melanie Schmuck, Alyssa Oue, and Katelyn Freund
Christmas Break is the most extended period of time throughout the year in which we are not required to attend classes. Students took advantage of this opportunity, many with the accompaniment of family and friends visiting from the states, to hit the road and visit countries they otherwise may not have had sufficient time to experience. Below are short descriptions written by a few students, describing their Christmas break adventures:
During christmas break I visited Banska Bistrica, Slovakia, Krakow, Poland, Olomouc and Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic. All were new places and I thought they were great, Eastern Europe is very cheap and remains untouched for the most part. One bummer: Most everything was closed in Krakow on and around Christmas, which was when I was there. Christmas eve dinner was a kebab in the train station, being that it was the only place available. Nonetheless, it was fantastic. –Evan Gabriel
I was able to travel around Germany and Austria with my parents for a week around Christmas. Highlight of the trip? Probably Christmas night, cosmic bowling in a 50’s-themed American-style bowling alley after spending all day in the train to get to Amsterdam for their return flight home the next morning. After that, I visited a friend from the cross-country team from UP at his home in Norway! Definitely worth the trip, probably won’t have many chances to head there in my lifetime. –Jonathan Parsons
During Christmas break my parents, sister, and grandma came to Salzburg and we spent a few days here exploring and spent Christmas here as well. For a Christmas lunch, we got together with two of the other families from the center and at the the St. Peter Stiftskeller. It was a really nice meal. All of us then spent some days in Frankfurt, Germany visiting the rest of my family. When my family left and I was back at the center, I went to Dublin with a few of the students here. It was an amazing trip. We all had a great time and we saw a lot. We even took a tour into the countryside of Ireland and saw the Hill of Tara and Newgrange. It was one of the best trips I have done so far! –Melanie Schmuck
Over break my mom and I got eurail passes and we went to Vienna, Munich, Venice, Florence, day trip to Siena and Pisa, Nice, Monaco and Liechtenstein. We had so much fun seeing all these new places and eating lots of good food. –Alyssa Oue
My family visited Austria and we visited the Lake District and got a taste of life in St. Gilgen and St. Wolfgang. Then we went to Vienna and attended a concert where Strauss and Mozart were performed. We also went to Schönbrunn Palace and it was snowy and wintry but beautiful. We stayed in Salzburg for Christmas time and afterwards, went to Munich, Germany. There we visited the BMW museum, among other things. It was great to have my family here and to show them what Europe is like at this time. –Katelyn Freund