A week that was very humbling.

This week pretty much began with our trip to Vienna. It was an early morning, and I didn't get much sleep on the plane to Vienna. I've found that I have a lot of trouble sleeping on planes. On buses and trains I can sleep easily, but on a plane I just can't. It may be due to the anxiety I get when traveling by plane. I'm still very new to traveling, in fact flying to Vienna was about my fifth time on an airplane. There's something very unsettling about airplanes that freak me out. Anyways, Vienna was shockingly beautiful. I had no knowledge of Vienna before I visited. All the grand buildings really amazed me. I feel if the Roman Empire were around today that Vienna would be the spitting image of that Empire. Everything was clean, efficient, and grand. All of the museums were a lot of fun to see. My favorites were the Belvedere and the Natural History Museum. I went to the Belvedere alone, and that was already an interesting experience. I was able to take the right trains to get there and back. I saw a lot of Gustav Klimt's works. Most notably was "The Kiss", in my opinion I've seen other works that seemed more influential to the art community than "The Kiss". There was certainly better works at the Belvedere. There was also a lot of people taking pictures of it and posing with it, which I thought was fine but it showed that they were not concerned with the beauty of the painting itself. Nevertheless it was interesting seeing all the art. However, Vienna didn't have as big of an impact on me as going to Krakow, Poland did. We took an eight hour bus ride to Krakow, and that may have been one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life. It was hot, I needed water, and the seats were not comfortable. I was able to sleep for most of the time, but it was less than ideal. The heat was probably the worst part. So we get to Krakow at around 6 am, and we head to the hostel to store our luggage before check in. Then we catch a bus to Auschwitz. During the bus ride I got to sleep a little more, but when I awoke a sort of dread set in on me. I felt horrible; I felt as though I were being shipped to Auschwitz. An awful realization was settling inside me. Suddenly I no longer wanted to go there. I was scared. I could only imagine how the Jews felt being sent there in train cars. Once we were inside I felt terrified. Thousands of people were killed here. There I was, living a free life, standing where so much hate and oppression tormented so many helpless people. It was so humbling being there. I covered almost every inch of the camp, I needed to fully grasp the magnitude of what had happened here. When I walked in the gas chambers I was hit with so many emotions. I wanted to cry, run, stay, look away, and look on. I didn't like the gas chamber one bit. I was horrified being inside there. Afterwards I went to Birkenau, and there I felt even more terrified. Seeing as how this place was built with the sole intention of genocide. At least Auschwitz 1 was built before the Germans occupied it, so it seemed more humane. Birkenau was the furthest thing from humane. It looked like hell. If I could imagine hell, that is what it would look like to me. It seemed that my gaze could never escape the lands of Birkenau.

My biggest takeaway is my realization of the magnitude of what the Nazis had done. I had read many books about the holocaust, but they did not compare to being there in person. It wasn't fun experience, but I felt as though it was necessary for me as a person. For my own human development, I needed to witness that horrible place.

Now, I almost forgot to talk about school. I didn't learn much this week in terms of actual school material, but I did learn a lot from the museums that I visited. I learned the most from the Auschwitz museum and the Sigmund Freud museum. It was tough managing to do my homework while traveling, but I was just able to sneak enough time to get it done. One thing about this study abroad that is truly priceless is everything I've been learning. It is certainly too much to discuss, but I am learning a lot about human behavior through everything. That is something I'll be able to take with me forever.