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David Young ’08 (Bensalem, Pa.) is a Marquis Scholar working toward a dual degree with a B.S. in electrical and computer engineering and an A.B. with a major in computer science. He spent his winter break in Austria and Germany taking the three-week interim-session course The Colorful Sunset of the Habsburg Empire: An Apocalyptic Waltz, taught by Edward McDonald, professor of foreign languages and literatures, and Robert Allan, associate professor of psychology. Below is a first-person account of his experiences. Many students share their experience and images of interim-abroad courses in “Through My Eyes, In My Words.”
Our trip took us to Vienna, Salzburg, St. Anton, and Munich, and it dealt with the end of the Habsburg monarchy—which lasted for over six hundred years. We dealt primarily with literature that was produced or related to turn of the nineteenth century Vienna. Our class discussions focused primarily on how the social atmosphere shaped the literature, art, and thinking of this time period. The themes of the writings of these great creative minds foreshadowed the collapse of the monarchy that occurred with the concluding treaties from World War I.
We arrived at our first stop, Vienna, Austria, on the morning of Dec. 28, 2006. For the next several days, we toured the city as a group seeing sites that helped us create a fuller understanding of our course material.
These included St. Stephens Cathedral—complete with extensive catacombs underneath and a towering steeple above, and also many other smaller churches that were no less grand. We also toured the winter and summer palaces of the Habsburg royal family, learning their history as far back as Maria Theresa. Our tour allowed us to bathe ourselves in the wisdom of Sigmund Freud by visiting his home/office.
We celebrated the New Year on the streets of Vienna, and it came in with a quite a bang, literally. Hundreds of fireworks and the bells from the Cathedral made the night completely unforgettable. After seeing the opera Hansel and Gretel, we proceeded across the country to Salzburg.
Salzburg was a much quieter city than Vienna, but no less elegant. The one major claim to fame that Salzburg has is that it is the birth place of the world famous composer, Mozart. We were able to tour the house where he was born and there was also a special exhibit that was coming to an end entitled, Viva Mozart! Although separate from the course, it was enjoyable to learn so much about such an important person.
We also visited a fortress called Festung Hohensalzburg which stood high atop a cliff overlooking the city. This fortress was formerly in the possession of the bishops who ruled Salzburg. In its 500 year history, it never suffered defeat to a siege, although they did surrender to Napoleon without a fight. The Sound of Music was filmed in Austria, not too far from Salzburg. Luckily, we had enough time to view some of the locations of scenes from the movie and the Basilica where Maria Von Trapp was married.
The next destination was a lull before our trip finished with a bang. We stayed in the Austria Alps for several days in the tiny skiing village of St. Anton. Everyone in the group had several options for how to spend our three days there. The more adventurous individuals chose to ski, including the few students who had never skied before right up to the highly experienced. Other activities available included quiet shopping in the town, tobogganing, and ice skating.
On the last day, about half of us drove to Innsbruck, the capitol of the Tyrol. There we were able to visit yet another palace of the Hapsburgs, an art museum, and we had time to check out the Olympic ski jump—which is still used in yearly competitions.
Our trip finally came to a close with a week spent in the German city of Munich. This was my favorite part of the trip. With the free time on the last day, I was able to buy plenty of authentic German souvenirs for myself and my family.
On our way to Munich, we stopped at the Neuschwanstein Castle, the inspiration for Cinderella Castle at Disney’s Magic Kingdom. It was magnificent. Our visit to Dachau concentration camp on the other hand was very humbling and somber. Dachau was the only concentration camp used for the entire twelve year reign of Hitler, from March 1933 to 1945. It’s one thing to learn about the Holocaust, but it’s something completely different to be able to feel and see what the prisoners were subjected to.
We also visited some exciting places in Munich, the Hofbrauhaus, a world-famous beer hall, and the Deutsche Museum, a well-known science museum. These were fascinating ways to learn about the local culture and scientific progress respectively. We also had the opportunity to visit the Olympic Park in Munich, home of the 1972 Olympic Games, and the soccer stadium from the 2006 World Cup. For an avid sports fan like me, these were wonderful opportunities, as was the entire trip.
My time in Europe was thoroughly enjoyable. I couldn’t imagine a better way to spend my break than to learn first hand about the cultures of Germany and Austria. The sites were magnificent, and I loved meeting the local people. This was an adventure that I intend to continue again one day.