We have returned!

We have returned! Please enjoy the updated photos from our trip participants and the full chronicle of our trip. As we settle in to enjoy the rest of our summer and either begin post-graduate life or prepare for next semester, Joseph Seal, Lesley Zambrano, and Samantha Ceja volunteered to write some of their final reflections.

“This was an incredible trip, one I have no regrets in taking, and at the risk of sounding like an infomercial, it has changed my life for the better,” Joseph wrote. “For instance, I've made new friends on the trip who I plan on keeping in contact and meeting up with in the near future, both on the CSUN campus and elsewhere. These guys are incredible people who made the trip more than a simple tourist experience in Europe.”

Joseph Seal

“I just want to say that signing up for this trip was the best decision I've ever made. This experience has worked wonders for my soul, especially the people that I've had the privilege to meet,” Lesley wrote. Lesley also enjoyed the camaraderie of this group trip, saying of her new friends that she has been following posts on social media, and that seeing trip photos continue to make her smile. “I still can't stop talking about the people I've met, the fun we've had, the sights we've seen, and the things we've learned.”

Samantha, a self-proclaimed “history buff,” loved having the opportunity to visit the sites that she had read about over the years. She called this trip an experience of a lifetime. “I felt as if I was traveling back through time as our tour guide walked us along where the walls of the Warsaw Ghetto once stood. Then they took us back to the year 1320, through the interior of a Pre-Renaissance cathedral in Krakow, and even further back to 9th century Baroque and Goth castles in Prague.”

Joseph has been inspired to teach himself Polish by using an app called DuoLingo. He hopes to continue exploring his family’s history so that he can return to Poland and have a better idea of where his family came from and also hopes to bring his family with him! “Three days each in Warsaw and Krakow is not enough for me, and I've every intention of exploring those cities and others in Poland further with loved ones, family, and friends, or even on my own.” Joseph found visiting the Anne Frank House such a moving experience that it encouraged him to begin reading The Diary of Anne Frank. He said that everybody must go to the Anne Frank House and other Holocaust-related sites at least once in their lives. “Everything you read or see about Auschwitz does not compare to seeing it in person and feeling the atmosphere of that place. I feel a bit wiser and more reflective after having such an experience, and I hope to become a better person because of it.”

Samantha Ceja

Visiting Auschwitz was also a deeply moving experience for Samantha. “This trip provided me with a window into a world where unbearable atrocities were committed and even praised. This history is an intersection of violence, hatred, survival, domination, and ultimately vindication.” Walking on the grounds of the concentration camp made Samantha feel a closer connection to the victims. “I felt their pain more deeply than before, I heard their cries as if they were with me.”

Lesley’s favorite part of the trip was visiting Krakow. “I loved this city from the moment our bus first drove in, there was a certain charm I found in it. There was so much to take in at every city we visited, I felt like a wide-eyed child again.”

Lesley Zambrano 

During this two-week trip, the student travelers weathered jetlag, exhaustion, and even a cold outbreak, but nothing, according to Joseph, could keep him from looking back on the journey as “anything other than one of the best experiences [I have] had so far.” The others agreed. “I would like to thank Dr. Myers and the Jewish Studies Program for giving me the opportunity to be part of this trip. I will forever cherish the memories I've brought back from this wonderful venture,” Lesley concurred. “My passion for learning and preserving the history of people and their cultures greatly deepened my appreciation of history and gave me another lens through which to understand it,” wrote Samantha. “I am immensely thankful to Dr. Myers and Dr. O'Sullivan, to CSUN, and to all the participants on the trip for making this an unforgettable life experience,” concluded Joseph.

After-the-trip movie night