Eastern Student Samantha Vreeland of Trumbull Completes Global Field Course to Poland, Austria and Hungary

2016 Jul 12

A group of Eastern students recently completed a two-week global field course that focused on the nature of culture and communication in Poland, Austria and Hungary. The course, titled "The Nazi Aftermath in Central Europe: History, the Media and the Holocaust," was led by Eastern Communication Professor Cesar Beltran, who described the trip as "varied, packed and intensive."

Samantha Vreeland '17 of Trumbull was one of the students who participated in the course. Vreeland's major is New Media Studies.

Professor Beltran noted highlights of the course included official briefings provided by the American embassies in Warsaw and Budapest; lectures at prestigious European universities; a meeting with the director of the Centropa Jewish Historical Institute in Vienna; afternoon tea with a Holocaust survivor and encounters with communication professionals in the areas of public relations and investigative reporting in Warsaw, Krakow, Vienna and Budapest.

Among the historic sites visited were the newly opened Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw; the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi extermination camp; the Schindler's List factory and Wawel Royal Castle in Krakow; Vienna's sumptuous Imperial district; the restored Jewish Quarter and Dohany Synagogue in Budapest; and the majestic Budapest Castle district that overlooks the Danube River.

The field course also included cultural activities, with a special viewing of the Leonardo DaVinci portrait of "A Lady with an Ermine" at the Wawel Castle; frequent stops at famous coffee houses and cafes; an evening concert at the Great Hall of the Franz Liszt Music Academy in Budapest; and a relaxing morning spent soaking in Budapest's baroque Szechenyi Thermal Baths.

According to Vreeland, "My favorite part about the trip was visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau. While it was very emotionally difficult to deal with, it was one of the most eye-opening things I've ever witnessed. We had an amazing experience on the trip when we had a chance encounter with a Holocaust survivor. The woman happened to sit at a table with my professor and myself, and she talked in Polish with him. She explained that she had escaped the Warsaw Ghetto when she was 7. I was amazed to have met a survivor. It was completely unplanned and to me, it seemed like a miraculous chance encounter."