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Hey guys, Henry (IAML) again, and unfortunately, my time in Europe has come to an end. The EU program spent our last week in Paris, and it lived up to its reputation. 

Paris was full of beautiful architecture, amazing food, and all the iconic landmarks that you have already seen without even going. It has only been a week since I got home, but I am ready to go back already. Looking back over the summer, the 10 weeks flew by. Even while I was there, I felt like time was moving too quickly. Yet, while it may have felt short, the EU program was one of the coolest things that I have ever done, and I would highly recommend it to anyone that is thinking about going abroad. 

Now, here are some things that I learned while I was abroad. First, I need to learn French. Besides English, the most commonly spoke language everywhere that we went was French. Additionally, most people know two or three different languages that are not their own. This is why I think that foreign language education should be more prominent in the United States because we are really behind the rest of the world in that area. Second, Downy Wrinkle Release Spray is a life saver. If you ever see it, grab a bottle because it does the job of an iron 10x faster and it is much easier to pack. Third, do not underestimate the luxury of air conditioning. While we were in Belgium, Europe went through a two-week heat wave with temperatures in the 90’s and most buildings do not have AC. However, when I asked people why they did not have air condition, they said this type of weather is abnormal so it is not worth it to them to have it for the one or two weeks a year that it would be necessary. Finally, and probably the most important, I learned how different people are. Meeting people that had not been educated the same way and that had a completely different environment then that in America was truly eye opening. Even within Europe the difference between the French and the Germans or the Romanians and Dutch was staggering. 

Overall, the EU program was a great way to spend the summer. I got 12 credit hours of upper level international affairs classes completed, I got to travel to 9 different countries, and I got to meet a ton of amazing people at European Institutions that helped me shape my future career ideas. While I am sad that it is over, I am ready to start another semester back on campus.

Hey guys! It’s Henry Tharpe, IAML, and I have a quick blog update from Switzerland! 

During our time in Brussels we had one free weekend where we could travel. I took this opportunity to visit Switzerland, a country that I have always wanted to see. So, at 5:00 am on Saturday morning I was off to the airport to take a one-hour flight to Geneva. Geneva is a smaller city in Switzerland but proved to be the perfect size for a small weekend trip. Surrounded by the snow-capped Swiss Alps, Geneva sits on a lake that is am amazing color of blue. I found a hotel right in the center of the city, so all of the main attractions were walk able. The first day I saw the famous fountain which is just a jet of water that shoots 140 meters into the air. You can see it from almost every part of the city. 

I also visited a church that was constructed in the 12thcentury that sits on a hill overlooking the city. After walking around the city and exploring the narrow streets, I decided on Fondue for dinner which is very popular among Swiss people.  After a course of cheese and chocolate fondue which was delicious, I made my way to a park overlooking the lake and the mountains to sit and watch the sunset. The next day, I had a flight to catch at 6:00 pm so I did not have much time. I got up early and made my way to the United Nations headquarters in Geneva. As an INTA major this was an obvious choice on my list of sights to visit in Geneva. By the time that I was finished at the UN it was time to head to the airport to get back to Brussels.  

Hey guys! It’s Henry Tharpe, IAML, and it has been a while since my last check in from the EU program. As I mentioned last time, our next stop would be Belgium. 

Well the three weeks that we spent there were filled with lots of work and lots of play. Consequently, this blog post will be an overview of our time in Belgium, it would be impossible to outline the details of all the amazing things that we did. After getting an unlimited metro card, we were off to our first site visit: the NATO headquarters in Brussels. Here, we were treated to many interesting briefings by high level NATO officials on a variety of topics from nuclear proliferation to alliance management. Not to mention the three-course lunch in between. The next day we were happy to welcome Dean Royster, Dean of the Ivan Allen College, to our program. Thanks to her work with the Royal Museum of Central Africa, we were able to have an exclusive tour and reception at the profound and reflective museum. Our next big site visit was the European Parliament, one of the three governing institutions of the European Union. In the following weeks we would visit both the European Council and the Council of the European Union. Together, these three institutions make and enforce the laws for all 28 members of the EU. For each site that we visited, we were usually given presentations about the work and issues that the institutions are currently facing along with ample time to ask any pressing questions that we may have for the speakers. Other site visits include the European External Action Service, the US mission to the European Union, and the Brussels Parliament.

However, there was much more to Brussels than just the site visits. One of my favorite aspects was getting to stay with hosts families. Each student is welcomed into the home of a family in Brussels where you live for the entire three weeks. Every night our family cooked us dinner which was usually full of traditional Belgian food. During this time, we also got to have conversations with them to learn more about typical life in Belgium. Getting to know these new perspectives was extremely interesting because it was surprisingly different than home. It is always nice to understand new customs and a new way of life. 

While we were in Belgium, we took a day trip to Ghent and Bruges where we took canal tours and had free time to explore each city. They were both beautiful towns loaded with history dating back for centuries. Brussels was also full of food. For example, there are stores that are solely dedicated to selling fries and Belgian chocolate is famous around the world, so I did a lot of eating while we were there. Some of my favorite moments just came from walking around the city and exploring shops and restaurants along the way, and Brussels always has some activity going on. There are parks all across the city to enjoy and musical festivals happen almost every weekend. I was lucky enough to be there during a large festival with concerts all across the city and it was completely free. Our time in Belgium was concluded with a fourth of July celebration with all of the students and their host families which was a nice end to this chapter of the program. 

Hello from beautiful Paris, France. Paris is the final stop on the GT European Union and Transatlantic affairs study abroad program this year, and I found this itinerary to be quite fitting. In Paris, we were able to visit many of the foundations of the European project as well as come to understand the many concepts that bridge the Atlantic partnership like republican democracy, rule of law, and separation of powers.

I began my time in Paris on an extremely high note. My peers and I had the opportunity to take a dinner and dancing cruise on the River Seine on the night of La Fête Nationale (Bastille Day). This day, July 14th, commemorates the French common people storming the Bastille military prison, a piece of French history often revered as the embodiment of revolution against tyranny and injustice. It is celebrated with military parades and great fireworks displays. Our dinner cruise parked right in front of the Eiffel Tower before the show began.

*Our beautiful view of the over one hour long fireworks and light show- truly once in a lifetime experience!

The following days, we had lots of site visits interspersed with free time. Since my program was focusing on the European project (i.e. the European Union and its many precursors), I loved to see the many foundations of the European project that can be found in Paris.

In a building called the Parthenon, the French state keeps crypts containing greats like Voltaire and Marie Curie. Two other figures interred there are Simone Veil and Jean Monnet. Monnet, along with Robert Schuman, were considered the “Fathers of the European Union” after WWII after creating the European Coal and Steel Community. Veil was the first president of the democratically elected European Parliament from 1979-1983 and is often seen as the steward of the modern Parliament.

*Tombs of Monnet and Veil, architects and stewards of the European Project. 

At the French Ministry of European and Foreign Affairs, I was able to visit “La Salle des Cloches” (The Clock Room), from which Robert Schuman gave his famous Schuman Declaration on 9 May, 1950 which established the Coal and Steel architecture that served as the framework for the modern European Union. 9 May is now celebrated as Europe Day to commemorate this speech. 

*La Salle des Cloches, ca. 1950 and now.

Following our visit to these icons of the common European identity, I had the privilege to visit the two seats of the French national executive- l’Assemblée Nationale and the Sénat. The French system is similar to that of the American, save for the fact that the Sénat is appointed by other elected officials in the government. 

Since both bodies were on recess, I was able to stand on the debate floor of each one. What an awesome experience to sit in some of the French governments’ “hot seats”! 

*Plenary chamber of the Assemblée nationale, with velvet benches ca. 1920s.

*View of the exterior colonnade of the Assemblée Nationale with beautiful gold leaf and relief accents.

*Future President of the Sénat Français? 

The final leg of this trip returned us to some of the foundations of modern Europe’s society, industry, and governance. Both visits were tied to the history of the American Marshall Plan, which doled out billions of dollars of development aid to (mostly) Western European recipients following WWII. 

First, I visited the George C. Marshall Center Paris in the beautiful Hôtel Talleyrand, right on the Place de la Concorde. We learned about the rich history of the building as a place of diplomacy and dialogue which culminated in its function as the headquarter for the summits and meetings held immediately after the war to build and carry out the Plan. 

*Stunning view out of the Hôtel Talleyrand.

Following this, I visited the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in western Paris. This organization was created via the Marshall Plan in order to efficiently distribute funds; today it has over 35 members and dozens of other partner countries. At the OECD, we were briefed by senior American foreign service officers stationed at the OECD. I learned about how the OECD is regarded as one of the best impartial economic research institutions in the world, the new GAFA (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon) tax being levied across Europe, and even how the OECD prevents exploitation of tax havens by the wealthy. 

This week in Paris helped me to tie together the various concepts and ideals that I have come to understand during these 10 weeks abroad on the GT European Union study abroad. À bientôt Paris!

One of the things I love most about Washington, D.C. is the fact that there are so many museums here and some of them are completely free to visit. The museums are all amazing; you could spend all day in just a single one, or visit multiple back-to-back. 

Recently I visited the Holocaust Memorial Museum. Entrance is free, but you do have to get a time ticket for the permanent exhibit - you can pick these up in the museum, and it’s just meant to limit the number of people going through the exhibit at a given time, since it wasn’t designed to hold huge crowds. There are also temporary exhibits like “Americans and the Holocaust” which examines how the American people and government reacted to the Holocaust as it was happening.

Nearly everything about the museum is designed to have some effect on your experience; I spoke to a docent briefly and she told me that the architect designed the building to create a feeling of being in that time period. There’s lots of brick and iron to simulate the industrial nature of Germany at the time, and the interior of the museum is dark and somewhat cramped- especially on a crowded day, to give us a vague impression of what the victims had to go through. You start on the top floor and work your way down through the years leading up to and during the Holocaust, so you get a picture of how it began and how the world allowed it to happen. It’s so well done, and the information it presents is so important to our understanding of that horrific time period. I’d say that everyone should visit the Holocaust Museum at least once. I hadn’t been since I was maybe 10, so it was a good experience to visit again now that I’m older and can understand the gravity and significance of genocide, and how people could do such things to one another. 

The picture below is of one of the glass walkways, and across the entire walkway are town names all over Europe whose Jewish populations were mostly or completely wiped out during the Holocaust.