For those of you who have followed me in the past, I wanted to give you a heads up that I am about to head out again on another War Memorial & Commemoration adventure! If you receive an email notifying you of this post and do not want to continue to receive notifications please let me know and I will take you off the email list (you will still be able to see the blog).
It has been 2 years since my last trip to Europe when I went across southern France and then to Angiers to teach at a summer class for St Edwards University and my friend Mity Myhr. That was a wonderful trip. The last two summers I have co-lead along with Dr. Jason Clark-Miller a travel study class Landmarks of Social Memory with students that focuses on these same themes; this year's trip to Washington DC was fantastic and we are already working on returning to DC next summer! The plan is to try to head to Europe in 2018 and so I am doing some scouting as part of this trip.
This summer I will leave in a few days for an extended trip in which I will also participate in the CIEE Professional Development Seminar; Ruin and Revival: History, Modern Memory and Revival. The seminar is for 11 days in Poland and Germany and focuses on places of memory especially from WWII to the present and the ways memory plays into national and personal identification. We will be in Warsaw, Krakow, Auschwitz and Berlin and the topics fit my focus on history and commemoration perfectly! I am very excited about this unique program and look forward to meeting the 12 other members. I have already completed almost all of my readings...lol
Now prior to the seminar I will be traveling again on my own to a few places I have not yet visited. First to Germany where I will stay in Nuremberg with a day trip to Regensburg. I am then off to Ostrava, Czech Republic which is the region from whence my grandfather Matysek originally came. I am hoping to play golf in a golf and ski resort in the mountains near the village of Ostravice which is the closest to where the Matysek's once lived and I will be checking out the area. Then the seminar will begin in Warsaw. After the seminar I am heading to Amsterdam for a few days to enjoy the canals. I then head to Cologne where I will have a day trip to Aachen to see Charlemagne's Cathedral and also in Cologne to have day cruise on the Rhine. Hopefully I will conclude my trip in Frankfurt by meeting a Matysek cousin of my generation who is part of the Germanized side of the family.
I hope you will follow me on my journey as I again investigate war memorials and sites of memory!
