Quincy Hall
Graduate Student, pursuing Masters of Education, School Counseling
Hometown: Saginaw, MI
Describe your expectations as you prepared for the trip -
what were you particularly excited/anxious about? Did you research any of the
cities or attractions?
-
I really
didn’t know what to expect, really. I did a lot of reading up on the different
types of cuisine that I would be exposed to, language, beliefs and perceptions,
and even on general livelihood of the area. I don’t think that reading about it
prepared me for the actual experience though, not in a bad way, but in a good
way of experiencing a kind of culture shock, almost… seeing in first-person
that there is life beyond our shores and that people do live a little
differently than we do in the United States. I would have to say that I was anxious
about the language and the cuisine… would be people be able to understand me
and vice/versa? Would I be OK with the cuisine and live off of it for an entire
week and a half? I think that I did just fine… :)
Describe your first impressions of Europe – sights, sounds,
tastes, etc.
-
I was
certainly blown away with the amount of history that Europeans live among. I
loved how fresh and crisp the air smelled when we went outside of the airport
in Prague. I love how clear the blue sky was when we got up the next morning
and looked out. I loved the occasional, cool breezes that we would get over the
course of our days… something that we definitely do not get much of in the
summer time in Alabama. It made me think of how lucky the Europeans were to
live among hundreds and hundreds of years of history, tradition, and culture,
something that we only have a little bit of here in the United States, being a
young country and all.
Describe similarities/differences/unique experiences in
relation to the cities we visited: Prague, Hodonín, Bratislava, Budapest,
Eisenstadt, Vienna.
-
I think
that Austria was the most friendly of all of the countries that we visited,
most definitely. Budapest was the city that we went to that was the most
representative of a metro-area in the United States in my opinion and kind of
had an NYC feel. Eisenstadt and Hodonin were probably the two cities that were
the most similar that we visited… both are cute, smaller towns.
Favorite places?
-
I would
say that my favorite country was Austria. I loved the small town feel that was
emitted in Eisenstadt, the greenery, the country-side and then the nice
contrast of being in Vienna, a city that has been around for hundreds and
hundreds of years, being the city for music, the city where so many brilliant
composers forever shaped the world of music. It was humbling being in the very
room where Mozart first performed for the court in Vienna, being in Mozart’s
home, and being at the Cemetery in Vienna at “Composer’s Corner"
and standing right above where Schubert, Beethoven, Strauss, and my favorite
composer, Brahms are all interred. It was humbling and honestly, got me pretty
emotional.
Favorite food?
-
Schnitzel.
DUH! :)
…but wait… can GELATO be a favorite food as well? Zanoni and Zanoni is EVERYTHING
in Vienna!
Favorite moments?
-
Being on
the river boat, cruising the river in Budapest while having dinner and enjoying
the nightscape and definitely going on Gelato runs in Vienna, for sure.
