Last spring I participated in a CHID study abroad program in Central Europe. Living in Prague and taking field trips across the border, this comparative history program focused on regional political science, history, public space and collective memory in the context of 20th century Central European WWII, Holocaust, and Communist history. Thinking through the ways Prague, Vienna, Krakow, Berlin and Budapest construct and portray their historical narratives gave me a critical lens through which to experience my brief visits to each of these cities. Each international field trip was chock full of visits to museums, memorials, cultural places, public spaces, art exhibits, and social and political organizations to consider the various and complex ways that these cities deal with their image and their past.
Having visited several of these cities on my own several years before participating in the program, the academic experience was a welcomed reflection on the ways I was oriented to history, culture, urban demographics and tourism as a visitor. The personal time I had last spring to explore these cities anew was constantly in conversation with the academic content of the program, and I began to reflect more critically on the way I observed others in these spaces. I was interested in exploring the poetry of these issues on a personal level.
The prose-style poem collection I’ve written is meant to express a critical impression these field trips left on me. At times a very judgmental tone comes across, and this is meant to counter the often over-simplified postcard-esque impression that these cities leave on visitors. Central Europe is often discussed through the dichotomous framework of East versus West, and tourists—even fellow study abroad classmates—can perpetuate this limiting impression. As critical as these prose essays may read, I had a lovely time with each visit, and I am excited to start a Masters program in Human Rights at Central European University in the fall in Budapest, Hungary.
Poems:
Budapest’s caves are the least scary thing
CHID major making little things a big deal.
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