Salzburg…your new home?
The Salzburg Yearlong Program offers students the opportunity of a lifetime
Waking up to the sound of chirping birds outside her frosted window, Cat Rechsteiner hurries to turn off her alarm clock before it wakes her roommate. From there she closes the quarter-opened window, typical of Europe, to warm up the room. After a quick shower, the UP sophomore heads downstairs to consume a bland, but adequate bowl of rice flakes. After the uneventful first meal of the day, Cat hurries outside, walks 50 feet across cold cement from her residential building into the classroom situated between the computer lab/library and a floor of more housing. She finds her seat and takes a deep breath prior to breaking open her Kontakte German book. She is about to endure yet another hour of German class where she’ll be expected to produce fluid sentences composed of correct punctuation and articulation. Although Cat dreads it, she realizes how important speaking the language is for her current situation. There is just no way to avoid it, she must speak German, at least to get by while living a year in Austria.
Cat was one among 40 University of Portland sophomores who participated in the 2008-2009 yearlong Salzburg program. For the past 45 years, forty ambitious students have been selected each year, lately by Father Art Wheeler, director of the Salzburg Abroad Program. From there, they are thrown into a world of diverse and eye-opening experiences that will alter their lives more than they could have ever imagined.
“After getting past the language barrier,” said Melissa Craig, a past Salzburger, “It became easier to navigate around the country. That’s when I realized all the history that was it this place. It’s not like the United States: Sites and buildings aren’t a couple hundred years old, they’re thousands.”
Experiencing new things and emerging oneself into new cultures is the primary goal of the Salzburg Program. Along with a regular curriculum, including 16 hours of fine arts, music, English, philosophy, political science, statistics, theology, and German, the students participate in two tours, one in the fall to France, and the other in the spring to Greece and Italy.
“Being in France for a week was amazing,” said Nick Etzel, “The best part was traveling up the unsteady elevator to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Although freezing, the view of the city was magical.”
“The best part about spring tour was the food,” said Jessica Stacy, “I literally developed an obsession with baklava.”
Besides the organized tours, students were awarded three-day weekends, intended for independent travels. Robyn Bruton’s favorite country was Egypt. “Even though I got sick for three miserable days because I ate contaminated lettuce,” said Bruton, “having the opportunity to ride on a camel to the pyramids, made it all worth it.”
Over the three-week Christmas break, students had even more time to develop a deeper understanding of a country’s culture. Annie Medrzycki seized the opportunity to spend a week in Ireland. “Because I had a greater length of time,” Medrzycki recalls, “I was able to see and experience more than I would have been able to over a three-day weekend.”
Although most students visited at least ten countries over the course of eight months, they all agreed that they shared their deepest connection with Salzburg. “After spending such a long period of time together, we became a family and Salzburg was our home,” said Jamie Kerr, current student coordinator of the Salzburg Yearlong Program.
Spending such a long duration of time with one group of people, left many memories behind. “I miss walking over the bridge and seeing the Salzburg Fortress upon the hill,” said Liz Vogel.
Gullian Keller expressed her fond memories of walking with fellow students to the local Irish Pub, O’Malley’s, and then stopping for a kebap on the way home.
Although eight months may seem like a long time, students agree that it flies by. “Although I was nervous about leaving my family for so long, the time was gone in a blink of an eye,” said Krista Morasch.
“I will forever be grateful for my time abroad,” said Rechsteiner, “I have see things I never imaged and experienced things that have changed the way I see the world. Salzburg was the best time of my life.”
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- Nick Etzel at the Eiffel Tower
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- Robyn Bruton, Katie Chapman, and Jessica Stacey in Cairo, Egypt
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- 2008-2009 Salzburg students
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- Salzburg under the moonlight
Great story. i liked how the story started out by explaining a typical school day studying abroad. Good sources. The only thing i would say might be to mention some of those tours the school organized.
I love the introduction! Very interesting- it makes me want to read more. I thought you shouldn’t have broken up that first quote by Craig. I love the content in this; it makes it very personal and easy to read. The lettuce story is a good touch.
You hear of your peers doing this program, but it seems like you never really know what a day in the life is like. I felt that I got a taste of that through your story, and it was very nice and interesting! Something I experienced that I couldn’t have experienced anywhere else.
I would have liked so see a more detailed day in the life sort of a thing, but I like the story just fine as is!
I really enjoyed hearing the details about the program. I also thought that the pictures were amazing. I think it would have been cool to see how the program has changed, but I don’t think that would have worked well because of the word limits. Good job! I liked it a lot
I really liked the descriptive anecdotal lead – it was great how you only mentioned the word “Austria” at the very end of the paragraph.
Did you get quotes from current students there? It would be nice to juxtapose current students perceptions with past students.
Also, which year are the past students. Where they all there just a year ago?
I really enjoyed reading about the experiences of the students. It is a good story. Some little things though: I like the delayed lead because it got my attention, but I personally think it is a little long. The line “Diverse and eye-opening experiences that will alter their lives more than they could have ever imagined.” is kind of subjective.
I enjoyed the story a lot! It was interesting to read about. I think it would have been nice to maybe broaden the spectrum and talk to professors who have also taught abroad. I really liked that you didn’t just focus on Salzburg, but rather covered other places as well.