In the past weeks, the Oklahoma Christian University Vienna program took a group trip to the city of Ljubljana and the town of Lake Bled in Slovenia, along with the Italian cities of Venice, Treviso and the island of Murano. During the trip, along with exploring the cities independently, the program took a walking tour of the city of Ljubljana and toured the world famous Venetian church, Campo de Frari, and St. Mark’s Basilica. The program also had the opportunity to tour the historical Venice jewish ghetto and visit a few important synagogues on the island.
Kinslee Corley, a freshman nursing major at Oklahoma Christian, is participating in the Vienna study abroad program this semester.
Corley expresses her feelings about the group trip taken by the program to Slovenia in the first half of the week’s travels.
“The group trips have been amazing. They’re a huge part of why this experience is so awesome,” Corley said. “In Ljubljana, I really liked how it was such a small little town. It felt like you were just in your own little world, which is so awesome. It was really beautiful. The walking tour was so awesome. We got to see and learn the history of Ljubljana, which is really important to know the history of places when you go there. We got to see Lake Bled in Slovenia, which was an incredible experience. Taking pictures with all of our friends, walking around the lake, and just spending real quality time, even though we didn’t have exactly a plan or an itinerary. Spending quality time in a beautiful place with friends, just finding things to do was so awesome,” Corley said.
On her experience in Italy, Corley said:
“Italy was, of course, a great experience. I haven’t had one bad experience, but Venice was amazing. I think everyone would want to go to Venice, regardless if we did the group trip, but I had the opportunity to do a gondola in Venice, and it was so surreal. I never would have thought that I would be on a gondola ride in Venice with my friends. It was just crazy. So beautiful. Even doing the water taxi, just a little thing like public transportation was still like, wow, this is incredible.”
Corley went on to say, “Murano, getting to see all the glass and spending time in a smaller area that’s not as crowded as Venice. Venice was very, very crowded, but being able to spend time in Murano and sharing ice cream with friends and shopping for all the glass was really cool.”
During program group trips, all of the students and sponsors along with our director, Ashley Burklin, get to have a group dinner all together in each place they visit. On this trip, the group dinner was in Slovenia at a restaurant which served traditional Slovenian food that the program shared family style. Corley discusses her experience with the program dinners:
“I love group dinners. It’s so awesome to be in one place all together, because even though we all live together, it’s really hard to have us all sit down at one time because of travel and schedules and conflicting things. So being able to just put everyone in one room and share a meal is incredible. It really also fosters new connections with other people. I think we can kind of get in a bubble… and in this case, being with everyone, you get to really create new friendships and bond with the group as a whole. And it really does create this awesome environment where everyone’s just excited to be there and share memories with friends. It was a great thing for our group to bond and it makes the energy so high. I think in every group trip, the energy and the excitement and the love has been really, just exciting,” Corley said.
As we are approaching the end of the semester, students are reflecting on the time and relationships formed during their time in Vienna.
“I do think that these people have kind of become my home away from home. When you’re just thrown into this environment where you’re living with a bunch of people that you might not know very well, it’s inevitable that you create these deeper connections. And I think through that, not only have the people here been amazing, but just the love that’s in Dos Mil is unreal,” Corley said. “I knew that I would create friendships here, but I never would have thought I would have such deep connections with all these people. And I really miss my family a lot, of course, but the people here truly make the home sickness and missing out on things so much better. And anytime you’re feeling that way of, ‘I miss home’, they’re there right to talk to you and be a shoulder to cry on or give advice to. They make all the difference in my experience, and my homesickness hasn’t even been that bad because I have such a great community around me.”
Isa Gonzalez, a sophomore majoring in biology with a minor in bible is also an Oklahoma Christian student in Vienna this semester.
Gonzalez explains her experience with the program community in Vienna.
“I’d say it’s been really good. Like everybody here has been super sweet, super nice. And we have these weekly get-togethers that are really fun, and it’s just a good time to bond and not have to talk about homework or school or what the next travel plans are. It’s just hanging out, kind of like a family does, which is nice. But also, especially on group trips, I feel like there’s a lot of bonding going on, especially during group dinners,” Gonzalez said. “I think by our group trips, we were able to bond more and get to know each other better, we just felt like family,”
Gonzalez talked about how her community has been helpful to find comfort and positive perspective as the end of the trip comes closer and homesickness begins to get stronger.
“I feel like there are certain people that I know that are in the same boat as me, and we are thinking the same things, and so it’s easy to talk to them about more of the harder times, the homesickness and stuff,” Gonzalez said. “Being able to bond over that and also being able to talk with each other and be like, ‘hey, there’s only this many days left’, and ‘we’re gonna make it, it’s gonna be great’, we’ve had a great time. But then, like, on the other side, there’s people who help remind me that this has been super fun, and this is a great place, and I’m having all these awesome opportunities, and seeing all these awesome things.”
As the semester comes to an end in the next few weeks, the Vienna program will be spending a lot of intentional time reflecting on their experiences and soaking in the sunny spring days in the city.
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