Today was the second day of our weekend trip with the Georgia Tech Lorraine (GTL) students. We loved getting the chance to show 15 of our peers what we have been studying for the past three weeks. We spent the day touring the beautiful city of Strasbourg, France!

After meeting at GTL for a bus ride through the French countryside, we arrived in Strasbourg at around 9:30 in the morning. We began our day by attending the 2018 European Youth Event. This is an annual event hosted by the European Parliament in order to inspire the youth of Europe to take charge of their future. There were plenty of booths providing information and interactive activities regarding the plethora of policy issues that affect future of the youth of Europe. For more info, check out the European Parliament’s web page on the event at http://www.europarl.europa.eu/european-youth-event/en/home.html.

Upon arriving, Dr. Birchfield found a French student participating in the Europe Calling competition, where youths of Europe compete in numerous debates in the presence of the European Parliament regarding the issues that affect Europe today, such as racism and crime. The young woman’s debate topic was entitled “Freedom of Speech: From Tinder to Facebook.” She asked us about some of our political views as Americans, and then we asked about her opinions on the current state of French politics. She explained to us that she wasn’t a huge fan of French President Emmanuel Macron at first, mostly because he was young and new to the political scene, and needed a few years to show the nation his ideas and values. However, over time, she has aligned with Marcon’s pro-European platform and his “neither left nor right” stance on the political spectrum.  It was so inspiring to see other students who are the same age as us take such an active role in French, European, and even global politics. At the end of our talk, she took a picture with our whole group. Some of the robotic puppets who came through the festival as entertainment wanted to join in our photo as well!

After this, we were given some free time to explore some of the booths set up for the event. Dr. Birchfield expressed to us that this was the perfect time to talk to European youth about the issues that affect them most, so I went around to the various stations to ask questions to the young volunteers. At the mental health station, I spoke with a young woman from Rome. In response to a prompt on the wall, I asked her about how she felt about her country’s healthcare system. She explained to me that in her opinion, Italy’s public healthcare was very poor quality and ineffective, and that to receive proper treatment, people must pay for private health care. This bothers many Italian citizens, who feel that they are paying too much in taxes for a healthcare system that is so poor. She told me that she believes the system needs serious reform.

Next, some of us spoke to a young woman from Galway who was volunteering at the event. She told us that the Irish often feel disconnected from the rest of the European Union due to their geographical separation. She expressed her excitement about Galway being named as a culture capital for the 2018 European Year of Culture, and that there would be similar events in Galway to highlight the city’s unique culture. Lastly, she told us how excited she is to be in Strasbourg and to see the European Parliament, where she considers the center of European democracy.

One of the stations that attracted the most amount of attention was the Google Arts and Culture booth. Here, they had sample Virtual Reality (VR) headsets, highlighting Google’s new VR features related to European Arts and Culture. Here, I asked the attendant, Justine, about this project, which will be featured through July in alignment with the European Year of Cultural Heritage celebration. I had a long conversation about the efforts of the “find your culture” movement. She told me about her views on the recent push to foster a sense of European identity through the rich history of the continent, proclaiming to me that “European heritage connects us all” and that “heritage is alive.” I also learned that Google and YouTube are staging a large collaboration effort to create VR experience videos, so that anyone with internet access can experience a 3D view of some of Europe’s best museums and cultural sites. After our talk, it was my turn to experience the hype of the VR headsets. I loved watching the impressive 3D video of a dinosaur walking through a museum!

The last station that I went to addressed Europe’s commitment to safeguarding the environment, as well as a call for a common world language, Esperanto. The goal was to implement the language of Esperanto throughout Europe to connect the continent’s people, however citizens are expected to still keep their original language, and simply use Esperanto to communicate with people who don’t speak their same language. The lack of a single language has been a barrier within the EU, and the youth of Europe clearly recognize this and are making a strong effort towards European integration.

After our free time to explore the festival, we headed over to the Simone Veil Parliamentarium museum. Our favorite feature of the exhibit was definitely the interactive “Ode to Joy” speakers. We had a fun time dancing the hip hop and rock renditions of the European Union’s famous anthem.

Next, we went out to lunch, where Dr. Birchfield treated the group to typical Alsatian fair, tarte flambée! The meal is similar to a flatbread pizza, without marinara sauce but featuring delicious Munster cheese, the local favorite, as well as various toppings.

After lunch, we began our guided tour of the city, starting with the massive Strasbourg Cathedral, one of the 10 tallest cathedrals in the world!  From its beautiful stained glass windows to its intricate external and internal architecture, it was an incredible sight. We learned all about the churches history of being Roman Catholic, then Protestant, and now Catholic again. I thought it was very interesting that there was no damage to the cathedral during any of the World Wars, but our guide did point out an unexploded shell lodged in a building just across the way. It was just meters away from hitting from the beautiful cathedral!

For the rest of our tour, we walked through the city as our guide highlighted cultural elements such as bakeries, the cheese shop, and the wine shop, as well as the “Petite France” district, and a local school. We finished off our tour at the famous Guttenberg statue. After a fun and informative day in Strasbourg, we headed back to the bus to go back to campus and rest up for our upcoming  free day on Sunday.

Friday was quite an interesting day filled fun adventures and many meaningful lessons. We started the day with a visit to Robert Schuman’s house and ended the day visiting one of the most important institutions of the European Union – the European Court of Justice.

Our bus ride over was quite an experience! Our EU study abroad group was joined by about 17 students from the GTL 2000 class, so we used a large Schidler bus to transport the group. On our way to Robert Schuman’s house, our bus driver had a bit of trouble navigating the small city streets. We drove down a road that gradually became too small for the bus to continue. With a little help from some local men on the street, our bus driver was able to partially reverse and drive us up to the top of a hill.

Contrary to our hopes that the hill would yield a clear passage for the bus to continue, there was only a house at top of the hill – a dead end. As the bus driver tried to reverse and maneuver us back down the hill, an older French woman watched skeptically from her balcony window and did not seem pleased to have strangers that close to her house. I think she was about 2 minutes away from calling the authorities!

Luckily we made is out – major props to our bus driver! We showed our gratitude with a hearty round of applause. As we made our way back down the hill, we were met by the mayor of the city and he escorted us back to the main road. We all waved goodbye to him when we finally made it out to the main road, but he didn’t seem too please with us lost Americans. Needless to say, with his dutiful public service he’ll have great material for his reelection campaign.

Thankfully we made it to Robert Schuman’s house in one piece. The EU program students had been to the house on a previous occasion, but the GTL 2000 students had not been there before. We all sat through a short presentation on the evolution of the European Union and the important role Robert Schuman played in its development. Because of our extensive discussions of Robert Schuman in class, we were able to actively participate when asked questions and offered nice insights when prompted.

“Say EU!” at Robert Schuman’s House

After the presentation, the GTL 2000 students went on a tour of the house and our group played Kahoot, a game similar to trivia, to test our knowledge about the EU. Shout out to the ‘Cool Team,’ which was made up of Simon, Hamid, and me, for winning the game! We started the game in last placed and made a big comeback to win it all – what a game!

After the game, our group toured the exhibit in the lobby area of the facility and it was pretty fascinating. There were several prints of beautiful parts of the city, pieces devoted to the Found Fathers of Europe, and a timeline of the development of the European Union.

We left Robert Schuman’s house and headed to the European Council of Justice. As I have a deep passion for the law and the vital role it plays in the stability of government, I was particularly excited for this visit! We started off the tour in the main courtroom in which all 28 judges make up the full bench.

As you can see, the room was incredibly beautiful and words don’t do it justice! The tour guides gave us a rundown of how a typical procedure would work. In their description, they highlighted the essential role linguists play in court proceedings. There are 24 official languages of the court and because French is the working language of the court, there are about 1,000 linguist and interpreters working daily to translate court documents from the various languages to French and vice versa. Because all judges and lawyers must speak French, the translation is primarily done for the public and institutions and people in the member states. After our tour guides finished explaining, we took a nice group picture and plenty of individual pictures.

We then went to another section of the building for a more detailed presentation on the composition of the court and some recent high-profile court cases.

Our presenter was a press correspondent from the United Kingdom. She explained how the court is divided up into subsets and how they have different jurisdictions and serve various purposes. Some of the recent cases were especially interesting as they dealt with discrimination in the workplace as well as American companies, such as Google and Uber, and their adherence to European laws.

We finished up the tour after the presentation and went to beautiful entrance of the building as well as a smaller courtroom where a small panel of judges convene for certain types of cases.

As the power of the Court of Justice has substantially increased over time and its purpose of safeguarding the constitutionality of EU law and balancing the power of EU institutions constantly becomes more important to fulfill, it was surreal to stand in such a sacred legal institution. This has definitely been my favorite visit so far! 🙂

Around 8:30 AM, our class boarded the bus and headed out on our next adventure. Today, we visited the Verdun memorial, a WWI museum, the Verdun museum, and the Verdun trenches. During the bus ride, we shared our feelings of anxiety about the upcoming exam. I felt prepared but anxious because I do not like tests. However, all of us were grateful to get the exam out the way before going to Brussels. I took a short nap, as many others did, during the bus ride. 40 minutes later, I awoke to sites of manicured fields and rolling hills. The landscape of Verdun was absolutely breath-taking. The juxtaposition of the calm green environment against the somber war memorial was stark and quite jarring.

We got off the bus and entered the memorial through the gift shop and visited the chapel and memorial area. Verdun is essentially a giant mausoleum. There were scores of names written on the white walls.  Then, we went to the movie theater and watched a film about the memorial. The film began with saying that it was a one of kind theater because behind it were the bones of 130,000 men. It gave some general background on the battle and discussed the development and creation of the memorial. The memorial was built in order to commemorate the Verdun battle of WWI. The project was spearheaded by Maurice Genevoix, a veteran and member of L’Académie Française. The memorial was constructed in the 1960s and opened to the public in 1967. Many prominent politicians have visited the site to pay their respects. The most interesting part of the film was the commentary on tragedy and peace. Despite the mass damage and death caused by WWI, another war occurred. While I am fortunate to have never lived through a war of such magnitude, war and violence persist. I am reminded of the countless civil wars and terrorist attacks. When will humanity learn that war only causes death and destruction?

After the film, we went outside and ambled about the graves. Each grave was marked by a white cross. There were hundreds and hundreds of crosses. They seemed to go one forever. From the names, you could see French and German soldiers. It is alarming to hear that thousands of people were killed in a battle, but it is terrifying to see all of their graves. It visually demonstrates the true price of war. Before we boarded the bus, we peaked through the bottom windows of the memorial and saw piles and piles of skeletons. It was surreal and extremely haunting. Some students were to freaked out to peek through the windows, and I can’t blame them.

Our next stop was the WWI museum. This museum gave a holistic perspective on the war. It showed what equipment soldiers had, explained their duties, and the effects of society. I found it pretty cool that women were able to work during the war. They took men’s places in the factories, trained to be nurses, and joined associations. After the war, French women still could not vote unlike women in the UK and USA. Citizens were affected by the war through rationing. I saw a little ration card for bread, and I wondered what would happen if you lost your card. If I lived during that time, I would probably lose my card. Another segment of the museum talked about the medical and technological advances of the war. Firepower and the number of guns utilized increased. Camouflage was also invented by two artists. Aviation was not only used for observation, but also for combat through bombardments. Additionally, there were several medical advancements such as a recognition of the importance of hygiene and psychiatry becoming a field. We ended our visit by going outside to the gardens and celebrating one of classmate’s birthday. It was a nice break from the somber mood of the exhibits.

Next, we visited the Verdun museum which went into great detail about the battle. There were numerous exhibits about very specific aspects of the battle such as the food eaten, letters sent and received, and clothing worn. This museum was very interactive in that there were numerous video and audio exhibits. You could also walk on fake mud among military equipment. My favorite exhibition was the letter section because it gave great insight into the life and feelings of the soldiers. Interestingly, letters were to be censored in order to keep locations and military strategies secret and families from getting too upset. There was this one letter I read that was from a soldier to his wife. He told his wife how he loved her and that he may be dead soon. He told his kids that he loved them and the child to come. He also told his other family members to take care of his wife and kids if he did not return to war. The letter was beautiful, and I could tell how much the soldier loved his wife. I really hope that woman’s husband returned to her.

The last site we visited was the Verdun Trenches. It was a small exhibit, but it has some interesting characteristics. The trenches were real except for the wood plats on the ground. We walked around and went through the tiny walkways covered in wood. The living conditions were awful. It was hot, humid, and cramped. The living quarters were comprised of small rusty bunk beds and dirt floors. The second and last part of the tour was going over the equipment found at the trenches. There were French and German equipment at the site. The tour guide compared the different weapons. The French had the better bayonet while the Germans had a better gas mask. The tour guide also brought up the fact that this was the first war in which gas was used. They used chlorine gas which has prevented crops from growing in certain areas in Europe. Finally, the tour ended and we took the bus back to the dorm.

The visits today were very informative and reminded me of the perils of war and how society is affected by war. There were impressive technological and medical advancements made, but families were torn apart and entire cities were destroyed. Are wars worth the cost? Nonetheless, it is amazing to see how far Europe has come from the war-torn continent it once was to 70 years of peace. The EU is most definitely responsible for the continuing age of peace and unity in Europe. Overall, I now have a greater appreciation and understanding of the achievements of the EU in bringing peace to Europe.

The day started off with the last of our member state presentations. We went through the 4th enlargement, working our way to Croatia. It was interesting to me because I do not usually keep up with current events in Latvia, Estonia, or even Poland. I know that as an International Affairs major I should keep up with the news, but it is not exactly the priority of American News channels to report on the possibility of Czexit when there are larger stories that are more relevant to their demographic.

My presentation was specifically on Latvia. At first, it was a challenge to find information that was relevant and interesting enough to mention in comparison to the rise of Populism in Italy or the Good Friday Agreement in Ireland. But then, I stumbled across a few articles on the Baltics’ exploration in the digital world.  This really shocked me given that when I was first assigned to Latvia, I was less than thrilled. What relevance does Latvia play in the European Union? Let alone, how many common American citizens were even aware that Latvia was a country? As an International Affairs and Modern Languages student with a Computer Science minor, this truly peaked my interest. It is interesting how if you given a struggling economy the access to technology it turns into a basis of development. For example, Air Baltic, in Latvia, was the first airline to accept Bitcoin as a form of payment. Latvia is primarily based on an agricultural economy, but ever since they have joined the European Union they have had an increase in competition, especially in agriculture. So they found they explored the digital market with their neighbors Estonia, the European Union’s digital leaders.

I really enjoyed being briefed on each of the member states. I would have never explored Maltan politics before this course, and who would have? It gives students an overall look at the state of the nations, and how the citizens interpret the European Union. I thought it was interesting to see the comparison of states who had self-sufficient economies in comparison to those who relied heavily on the European Union. All of the post-communist states who recently received independence from Russia, all had positive views on the European Union.

After 12 briefings, we headed to the Hotel de Ville as a group to be briefed on Metz. We walked through a brief recap of the past of Metz and looked on to the hopes for the future of Metz. One comparison, he made was that Metz was the “Luxembourg City of the Middle Ages.” And as I looked out the window, it was definitely hard to imagine that this was once a town of great wealth when all of the building (except the Cathedrale of course) looked so modest. Now, 19,000 citizens of Metz commute everyday to Luxembourg for work which really strains the transportation infrastructure.

I have studied France extensively and never have any of my professors mentioned Metz. I was shocked to find out that it was in the Grand Region according to the EU for infrastructures and development and also apart of the Quatropole. Metz is also the only Metropole that shares its border with 3 countries. There seems to be endless possibilities when at the doors of 3 European Markets, but as I mentioned earlier there was a lack of infrastructure to support the transportation of tens of thousands daily. Also, it is difficult because Luxembourg is a state in itself, it does not have to relay information and seek approval before it can make decisions like Metz has to go to Stratsbourg.

However, Metz is swarming with opportunity. It hopes to double its highway in order to account for the rise in transportation. In addition, Metz offers a combination of arts, geography, research and creativity. Soon Metz will be hosting the World E-Sports Convention which kind of relates to my earlier thoughts in that introducing technology into struggling economies helps develop and retain its citizens. Metz is also home to French Tech, which employs more than 2000 citizens of Metz. It is a signal to the young people of Metz to be ambitious and entrepreneurial in terms of start-ups and digital development. Further, in relation to research, there is a slew of Universities that have set up there campuses surrounding Metz including Georgia Tech Lorraine.

Thinking back to the four main draw Metz offers — arts, geography, research, and creativity — I truly understand which Georgia Tech chose to put a campus in this region. Georgia Tech’s Atlanta campus is located in the middle of the hub on the brink of innovation. It offers Liberal Arts students the chance to receive a Bachelor’s Degree of Science mixing art, creativity, and research in a geographic location that allows students to access opportunities within the city or easy access to highways and the busiest airport in the world. Metz is truly a gem of a city, and I hope that many others will come to the same realization in the future.