SU London offers several weekend trips to different countries throughout the semester to places like Paris, Scotland, Berlin and Istanbul. These trips allow students to see a different country without the hassle of planning the trip themselves. The school organizes transportation, the hotel, several meals, tour guides, sightseeing and even provides chaperones in case you need any help. When I traveled to Barcelona by myself, I had the freedom to do whatever I wanted, but wasn’t sure what to do. I couldn’t even get the cab driver to take me to my hotel without calling my Spanish-fluent friend and handing over my mobile phone. Traveling with the school’s group narrowed my itinerary options, but it eliminated the worry of winding up in a foreign country not knowing the language and having no clue where to go.

Two weeks ago, my class went on a fieldtrip… to Belgium. The beauty of studying abroad in Europe, aside from getting to know a different culture, is that weekend trips to foreign countries are typical. Every Thursday PSC409.1: The European Union studies how the EU and NATO work, but this weekend we saw it first hand. If that sounds slightly boring, consider that Belgium produces around 750 different brews of beer, and you can see how this weekend was both educational and entertaining.

Friday morning the group spent an hour or so seeing the main square of Brussels, which was full of old-fashioned buildings and lots of chocolate shops. We saw Manneken Pis, which is to Brussels as the Eiffel Tower is to Paris. Like the name suggests, it’s a statue/fountain of a tiny boy peeing and, for debated reasons, has been a national icon since the 1600s.

Later we went to the European Union headquarters and had four sessions with various EU employees who explained their jobs to our class and answered our questions. Being able to discuss Europe’s issues in such a small group was an opportunity no student could have organized on their own. After a quick tour of the EU building we went to NATO headquarters and discussed the organization’s involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan with NATO and US Mission employees. It was amazing to be able to talk so candidly about such important issues with the people directly involved in them.

On Saturday, we toured the quaint city of Bruges and indulged in some of Belgium’s finest products: amazing chocolates and mussels. Not to mention frites (fries) with mayonnaise, which may sound gross, but they’re a Belgian tradition and some of the best fries I’ve ever tasted. Belgium is also the home of waffles, and they are so fresh, light and sweet I don’t ever want to eat an Eggo again. We also took a guided tour along cobbled streets, viewed a sculpture by Michelangelo, saw how lace is made and went on a boat tour. It was relaxing to be away from the bustle and busyness of London.

Each night we returned to the hotel before dinnertime and had the rest of the night to ourselves, in which we paired off into small groups to explore. I hung out in a pub, which had more than two dozen different beers on draft. I tried mango, cherry, Christmas tree, and honey flavored beers, all delicious. Belgium beer is a lot stronger than most U.S. brews, including the one I drank out of a glass boot that had around eight percent alcohol.

The trip allowed me to see great speakers I normally would never have access to, really get to know my class professor, bond with my classmates from other universities and explore two new cities I never would have thought of visiting. Some of my favorite European cities are ones I didn’t even know were there.

Courtney Egelston is a junior magazine journalism and political science major. Her column appears weekly and she can be reached at cbegelst@syr.edu.

Published on December 1, 2009 at 12:00 pm