Annual Baltics Study Abroad Accepting Applications
By Jack Freedman, Staff Writer
From June 1 to 24, 2027, Stephen Barnes will be hosting the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor’s seventh annual trip to the Baltics and Poland. The trip will overlap with the university’s Summer I term and is open to all students regardless of their major. Applications close December 15.
“We’ve hosted this trip every few years since 2017, and I’m the only one who’s led it so far,” said Barnes. “I love doing it every time.”
Students will travel through Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland learning about how eastern Europe was affected during the Cold War. Only two classes will be offered during the trip, these being global perspectives and contemporary global literature, which count for upper level English courses. Barnes recommends the trip to any English, history or psychology major, with the only requirement being to have completed Composition I and II.
“We read literature about why people who were opposed to Soviet Marxism bought into it and study the psychology of prisoners of the USSR, so it’s not just history,” Barnes said. “We’ll talk about why humans keep coming back to totalitarianism.”
Students will leave from the DFW airport on June 1 and arrive in Vilnius, Lithuania. In-person classes will last one week in Klaipeda, Lithuania, before they set out across the Baltics in a coach bus. During the trip, over a dozen sites and cities will be visited, including the Cold War Museum, Auschwitz and Palanga. The trip will conclude in Krakow, Poland.
“We did one or two major cities for each country, including Klaipeda and Vilnius,” Mikaela Waden, a senior, said about her experience. “We went to Daughaphills, which is not a major city, but we went to see what life was like for people in the capitals. We went to a lot of museums, and the coolest museum was the Museum of the Occupation of Poland.”
In addition to viewing the external traits of the Baltics, many students find the residents insightful.
“It was cool to see another culture’s way of thinking about the world,” Waden said. “They each have a cultural pride, but respect each other due to the oppression they faced in the USSR. It was really encouraging to see a people who were proud of their heritage.”
The trip requires at least eight people to sign up. As of the writing of this article, three students have registered and 15 have expressed interest. For students concerned about financing this trip, a scholarship of $2,500 will be offered to every student who is accepted into the program. Since the semester-long London study abroad trip is no longer being offered by UMHB, the Baltics trip is now the most extensive trip the university offers.
“It costs more than others, but you get the most bang for your buck,” Barnes said. “Every student can get a degree requirement from it, which you can’t say from 100% of the trips.”
