Ralph Guerra (’24) was a participating student on the Maymester trip to Central Europe that traveled in May 2023.  Leading the trip were Dr. Stefan Wiecki (History Department) and Dr. Drew Brandel (Psychology Department).  The History Departmental Assistant, Maya Reyes (’24), conducted the interview.

Reyes: Where did you travel to and how long? Describe your experience.

Guerra: My recent trip to Germany and other countries in Central Europe was exciting but also a profoundly moving and thought-provoking experience. We traveled Europe for about two weeks and visited Munich, Germany; Vienna, Austria; Kraków, Poland; Prague, Czech Republic; and Berlin, Germany. I have never been to Europe, but the sites and the historical events that occurred at these places are what interested me. It was an enjoyable and educational experience.

Reyes: How was traveling with the PC History Department different from other travel experiences? What was it like getting to travel with your professors and peers?

Guerra: Traveling with Dr. Wiecki and Dr. Brandel was terrific.  Dr. Wiecki was our tour guide since he is from Germany and has traveled to these places multiple times. The trip to Europe was different because we were all adults, and the professors gave us a lot of freedom to explore independently.

Reyes: What did you learn or take away from your Maymester experience?

Guerra: The trips to these historical sites, Auschwitz, Dachau, and Terezín, and the memorials we visited give more insight and a deeper understanding of what we were learning from Dr. Brandel with Frankl in class. It is different reading about the Holocaust from actually visiting the places where this event took place.

Reyes: How did traveling to the places you learned about in your history courses further your understanding of the material?

Guerra: Visiting these places puts a picture in your mind of the conditions and the culture. It sometimes shocks me to walk through these cities to know a massive war happened and people were killed because of their identity