What can I say about the last few weeks? Actually, quite a lot. My best thoughts always come after I’ve spent time in solitude to digest the pieces then put them together into a whole, sort of like a jigsaw puzzle. I ask myself all of time why I chose to study the Holocaust. After all, I’ve only been a serious scholar of the Shoah for less than 2 years. Just as there are many different pieces of a whole, there are many different reasons I took this path that are both professional and deeply personal. Hardly a moment went by anywhere we went in Poland that I didn’t know I was in the right place, and I was there for the right reasons. Mission accomplished!
We had so little time together before the trip, I fretted that students might come back home without understanding it is nearly impossible to comprehend the history of the Shoah without invoking geography. Well, I worried for nothing. Judging from their many questions, observations, interactions, discussions, reflections, etc. while we were in Poland, all of them were ‘practicing geography’. So, congratulations to the historians, they are now honorable geographers.
I also learned much from the group…..For example, did you know Alex can eat an entire Zapiekanka all by herself? Impressive. Dan knows his Bison grass Polish vodkas, Logan can sleep upside down on a bus, and Kelly studies the perogies on her plate like a rabbinical student studying the Torah (very seriously). All valuable life skills. Elena also has admirable detective skills finding something on the menu that didn’t include meat or dairy (a real challenge in Poland). Kaerra hates the camera almost as much as the camera hates him, and don’t ever serve cold apple pie in Melonie’s presence. Last but certainly not least, Dr. Finley missed her calling as a boot camp trainer (my legs fell off somewhere near Lodz).
