Concordia students, faculty experience history, literature and culture in Europe over Christmas break

From December 27, 2024, to January 9, 2025, a group of Concordia students and faculty spent time in historical European cities like Prague, Vienna and Budapest on the university’s annual European study tour. The tour is Dr. Daniel Thurber’s 27th with the English department. Joining him was Professor of Geography Dr. Joel Helmer and several students and friends of Concordia.  

Some of the trip’s highlights included visits to Christmas festival markets and a New Year’s celebration in Prague, Czech Republic, Prague Castle and Old Town Square, as well as palaces and museums in Vienna, Austria and the Danube River near Budapest, Hungary.  

Thurber said that preparation for the annual trip takes place year-round. Starting in the middle of each spring semester, he distributes flyers around campus to which interested students can respond. Travelers then commit to the trip in July and receive ongoing information about plans and itineraries.  

“I try to do this to make it as cost-effective as possible for students to go,” Thurber said. This, he added, involves removing any additional costs that would arise from the use of a travel agency or similar tool. “I never take the students anywhere I haven’t been to at least twice...I’ve walked every step that the kids walk, and I know it all very well.”  

The value of this trip is what you’re learning about yourself and how the Lord is preparing you to minister more fully to the people that will come into your life.

Over the years, Thurber has taken over 550 faculty, staff, students and even family members and friends along on his various study tours. They’ve walked the streets of many European cities, learning not only about popular sites but also about the everyday lives of people in the areas they visit.  

“We go visit a number of places, and we learn about those places, but we’re also going to learn about the real people who live there,” Thurber said. “There is a larger world out there, and we are a part of it.” 

Furthermore, he emphasizes the educational value of the annual study tour, regardless of participants’ academic major, career or place in life.  

“We are travelers on this trip; we are not tourists,” he said. “Travelers bring back memories and moments, and we bring back new insights about ourselves...the value of this trip is what you’re learning about yourself and how the Lord is preparing you to minister more fully to the people that will come into your life.” He added that international travel is also “broadening and deepening,” giving students new knowledge about their own lives as well as placing them in the context of global issues.  

“I think we get a better sense of our place in the world as a United States citizen by becoming more informed about what’s going on...for example, in Prague, the peaceful defeat of communism took place only in 1987...the specter of communism is very recent.” He said that Budapest, Hungary, one of the cities featured in this year’s tour, is close to Ukraine, where current conflicts are taking place.  

“We read about these things in textbooks here, and it’s easy to remain far removed, but you get over in central and eastern Europe and you feel the immediacy of what these people have been through. That’s enormously important for students,” Thurber said. 

Students who embark on the Europe study tour can elect to receive academic credit for their participation at a discounted rate as well. Thurber said that students in majors from English to history and journalism can complete follow-up assignments and projects after returning from the tour to reflect on their experience and demonstrate their learning.  

In addition to the cities the travelers visited on this year’s tour, Thurber has taken students to various cities in England including Cambridge, Bath and Stratford-upon Avon, as well as Dublin, Ireland, Brussels, Belgium and Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Germany. As someone who has completed extensive travel abroad, Thurber also reflects on his favorite parts of study tours as a faculty member.  

“The joy for me as a teacher is to see the students’ faces the first time they see these places that they’ve only read about and heard about...and the journey, the daily journey in the less-traveled neighborhoods.”  

Concordia Nebraska offers an annual European study tour for students who are interested in learning about the history and literature of the various sites. Study tours abroad are an opportunity for students to gain a global perspective, see the world and gain academic credit on a short-term basis. Learn more about the English department here and other study tour opportunities here.