Manchester University offers many great opportunities to grow and learn on and off campus. One of the unique ways Manchester allows students to learn off campus is through short study abroad trips that take place during the JanTerm section of the year. Students can travel abroad to other countries with professors and fellow Manchester students during the month of January. This unique set-up allows for students to get a taste of what studying abroad for a semester or whole year would be like. It allows for them to interact within different cultures, learn outside the walls of a classroom, and build lasting memories and relationships with classmates and professors. In January 2020 I got to go on one of these unique opportunities traveling with the Psychology department to France to study cultural psychology and social psychology within the French culture. We spent 16 days in France and traveled to 3 different cities: Strasbourg, Lyon, and Paris. I would like to take you on a journey through my experiences in Strasbourg.
Welcome to Strasbourg France!!!! We arrived in Strasbourg from Paris in the early afternoon on January 6th. I was immediately in awe of Strasbourg. It was overwhelming and exciting. It was a huge culture shock being in another country and having everyone around you speaking a different language that you don't fully understand, but that is the point of these JanTerm trips. To explore new cultures, learn about them, and get out of our comfort zones.
We arrived in Strasbourg via the TGV train which is a high speed train making travel between the large cities in France faster and easier. We arrived from Paris at the Gare de Strasbourg-Ville. It is an old style train station with the glass dome built over the top of the original station in order to preserve and protect it from the weather and elements. This was our first view of how France strives to protect and preserve its history instead of tearing down and replacing the old with new and modern.
After we settled in at Hotel Hannong it was time for our first trip out and about in Strasbourg. Our first afternoon was spent on a walking tour of the city center. City center in Strasbourg is entirely surrounded by canals, making it a island in the center of the city! As we began to walk down the street we got to take in all the amazing scenery that made up Strasbourg. The first thing we saw just at the end of our street was the beautiful exterior of the French department store Galeries Layfayette. It was stunning with all its lights and decorations up for the Christmas season. Christmas is celebrated all the way through to January 6th ending with the Epiphany. They celebrate the Epiphany to honor the arrival of the three kings in Bethlehem. As we continued our walk we came upon Kleber Plaza. The plaza is a gathering place where you may find anything from an ice skating rink, fresh produce market, or book market set up. We would walk through the plaza nearly everyday we were in Strasbourg. Sometimes it was to get from one place to another and sometimes it was just to check out what markets were there that day. As we continued on our tour, our professors seemed to be taking us on a bit of a long, and somewhat round about journey, but as we turned the street corner we immediately learned the reason. It was so that we could round the corner and take in the immediate beauty of the front facade of the Notre Dame-Strasbourg. I know that I stopped dead in my tracks as I came around the corner. I had never seen anything so eerily beautiful in my entire life. All I could do was stare up at it. I tried to capture its beauty on camera but I can assure you that pictures don't do it justice and if you ever get the opportunity to see it in person, GO!!!! Go see it and just stand there for a while and take it in slowly, absorbing its beauty, its history, its stories. We went back by again that night on our way to dinner and as the fog rolled in and the cloud coverage lowered, it became even more beautiful as the spire was lost in the clouds and the lights cast an eerie glow over the square around it. It was an amazing way to end our first day in France!
January 7th: On the morning of our second day in Strasbourg was spent visiting the Notre Dame-Strasbourg and taking the time to walk around inside it and its adjacent museum which houses artifacts from the cathedral itself. Often statues and other pieces of sculpture from the cathedral need to be removed due to wear and tear caused by weather and time. These pieces are moved to the adjacent museum where they are preserved by the museum staff and appreciated by thousands of visitors to Strasbourg every year.
A little story of why I took a picture of this little dog. Hopefully I understood the guide's French well enough to translate properly and tell the story. The guide was a lovely older French woman who had seen me taking a picture of the pulpit as a whole. She came up and said something in rapid fire French. I only have basic french under my belt on a good day. I told her in French, "I'm sorry. I speak very little French. I am just learning." She slowed her speech down and gestured for me to follow her. I followed her around to the other side of the pulpit where she pointed out this little dog. And if I got this right the dog seems to be lucky in some way. "il porte chance" she said. I knew "la chance" meant luck so I was pretty sure she said it was lucky. So I said "la chance" and pointed to the dog and said "luck" in English. She must have had enough English to understand me because she nodded and said yes in French, "oi" then placed my hand on this little guy's head and gestured for me to pet him. I did as she demonstrated and she smiled pointing to the dog then me again repeating "il porte chance." I thanked her and then took his picture because he was cute and well if he was lucky I thought I better get his picture!!
The altar within the cathedral. Of course oriented towards Jerusalem which happens to be southeast of Strasbourg. The stained glass behind the alter is so beautiful. We learned that the blue color used in these windows has never been replicated because no one has been able to determine what formula of chemicals or dyes were used to make it centuries ago.
January 8th: On our third day in Strasbourg we had the chance to visit the Grande Mosquée de Strasbourg. This amazing opportunity was arranged by one of our professors Janina P. Traxler. We were welcomed into the Grande Mosquée where we were able to learn about the history and culture of the religion of Islam. We were also able to learn about the architecture of the Grande Mosquée de Strasbourg and its significance to Strasbourg and the Islamic culture.
The afternoon and evening of our third day was spent taking part in a tour and wine tasting of the historic wine cellars of the Cave Historique Hospices Strasbourg. It is a completely functional wine cellar beneath a hospital in Strasbourg. It has been in place since the 1400's when patients of the hospital would pay their medical bills in either wine or plots of land from their vineyards. The oldest wine in Europe is contained in a barrel in the very rear of the cellar. It dates back to 1492!! They have a bottle of it carefully on display as you enter the wine cellar.
January 9th: Our time in Strasbourg continues. Today we visited the European Parliament that is located here in Strasbourg. European Parliament is where all the representatives from the 24 countries in the European Union meet to discuss legislation regarding the EU. They are not in session currently. The Parliament building was amazing. It is very different from much of Strasbourg that we have seen so far, with the more modern architecture, but it is still amazing to see. We also learned a little about Brexit and how it will proceed in Parliament as the United Kingdom prepares to leave the EU.
Chamber room of the European Parliament. The small group of seats to the far right of the photo are reserved for the representatives of countries wishing to join the Union. The representatives of the United Kingdom also currently sit in this section as the United Kingdom has chosen to exit the European Union and no longer participates in discussion and voting on legislature. They will vacate the seats completely once the exit from the Union is finalized.
Our second stop of the day concluded our cultural immersion into the religious cultures of Strasbourg. Thanks to the connections of another one of our professors, John Planer, we were welcomed into the Synagogue here to learn about the Jewish culture and history in Strasbourg. It was again an incredibly unique experience for us as students studying the cultural and social aspects of psychology here in France. We are incredibly lucky to have been able to have such incredible opportunities for learning and cultural growth on this trip so far!!!
January 10th: Our last full day here in Strasbourg! I'm sad to leave it, but ready for the next adventure in Lyon. Today we had quite a bit of free time to explore so a large group of us decided to go to Germany today!!! Since both France and Germany are part of the European Union, the borders are open. It's pretty much like going between the states in the U.S., no customs to go through, no passport needed. We took the tram most of the way through Strasbourg then walked the rest of the way across the bridge into Germany.
As we were walking into Germany we saw this memorial as were were leaving France. We translated this as we read it and it is in honor of Reverend Jean-Baptiste Houchet who lead troops from Normandy to Alsace and liberated Strasbourg from Germany. There are many memorials like this one all throughout Strasbourg and France.
To round out our last night in Strasbourg we visited the Alsatian museum. Alsace is the region of France that Strasbourg is located in and has a lot of German influence since Alsace was part of Germany officially until 1919 at the end of WWI. Of course it was reoccupied by the Germany during the second world war but at that time it had officially become part of France again. The Alsatian museum is housed in an old Alsatian home so as we walked through we were essentially walking through the homes of Alsatian families from different historic time periods, different religions, and different social classes.
Credits:
Robin Berghoff M. Coulter-Kern