Spring Tour Abroad, A Student Perspective

By Matthew Koch, Class of 2014

The band trip to Paris, Brugges and Amersterdam this year was one of pleasant surprise, triumph, new friendship, exploration, cultural exposure, defying the norm and incredible musicality in even more incredible venues. The trip started with a three day stint in the magical city of Paris, which some consider the music capital of the world. Saturday started bright and early with the cheery call of a United flight attendant asking if you wanted coffee or tea. The heavy fingers of jet lag soon dissipated as 92 Americans stared out the windows of their respective coach buses, piling against each other to get pictures of the three hundred year old (or older) buildings surrounding them on both sides. But life was even better outside the air-conditioned buses as the perfect, sixty-five degree weather of spring Paris accompanied us all the way down the Champs-Elysees, into the famous arcades, and underneath the 170-ish foot stone monument to fallen French soldiers – the Arc de Triomphe. The general consensus that night in the hotel was one of, "I could get used to this."

The next two days in Paris passed in the blink of an eye, from the visit to the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, Napoleon's Tomb, Latin Quarter, Luxembourg Palace, and the Place de la Concorde. The performance in the La Madeleine church was stunning, no other word for it. From the outside, you would be surprised to know that what looked like the United States Supreme Court was actually one of the oldest and most beautiful Catholic churches in all of France, if not the world. On the inside, you found yourself winding through narrow, stone passages as if siphoned from a castle, until you stumble into the main hall – vaulted ceilings, life-size statues of saints dotting alcoves all along the hall, and then the altar, with its massive sculpture of angels, each about seventeen feet tall.

Our last evening in Paris was spent in the Montmarte neighborhood, a labyrinth of twisting, cobblestone roads draped across hills, which rose and fall with a random order. It was there that I think both American tourists and French shopkeepers had a bit of a revelation. The American side was that not all French people are rude. In fact, that reputation is completely ill deserved. If you get lost and need to ask for help, first do so in French - the shopkeeper who we asked actually left his customers and pointed us in the direction of 42 Rue le Pique. He was slightly stunned when we told him we were Americans, because of how polite we were!

Arriving in Brugges, Belgium was like walking back in time. The small town is almost identical as it was five hundred years ago, when it was in its heyday. The rustic, cobblestone roads coupled with buildings, most of which are older than the United States, created an atmosphere of an idyllic paradise. Even the cold rain couldn't dampen our spirits with the help of a nice hot Belgian waffle, dripping with semi-melted chocolate and sprinkles. Brugges had its fair share of churches too: the Basilica of the Holy Blood and the Church of St. Mary, which contained the only Michelangelo sculpture North of the Alps.

Pulling into Brussels was like pulling into Paris, only people were yelling in Dutch, not French. It had the same old time feel, with its cobblestone roads and 14th century guild halls. But while Paris was a monolithic iron tower, Bruxxles, as the locals refer to it as, has something a little smaller – a statue of a peeing boy, about a yard high. The Musical Instrument Museum contained over five hundred instruments, ranging from violins designed to be carried in an inner pocket to bagpipes taller than a person. This was all jolly well and good, except for one thing. The King of Belgium, who received all the instruments, hated music. He called it, "An expensive way of making noise." Oops.

Amsterdam on the other hand, had a completely different feel. The canals, or grachts, glistened in the afternoon sunlight. Street performers competed with each other for the crowds, who ebbed and flowed with the influx of people getting dropped off by public transportation. And above all this, there is that retro-futuristic feel you get nowhere else. On the olden side, you get churches and palaces and Buddhist temples. On the futuristic side, you get traveling troupes of acrobats, tumbling across the streets, neon signs proclaiming BUY SOUVENIERS HERE on Damrak street and right next door, the heavy thumpa-thumpa of a techno track blasting from dance club.

In short, there are a lot of ways to describe Europe 2011, but the best way is eye opening.