Travelling through Europe’s most fun city with an amazing group of friends.
This Europe Trip edition, we will visit … During the trip, we will do all kinds of activities, like tasting the local beers, exploring the city centre with all the old buildings, tasting local culinary dishes, and experiencing the amazing nightlife that somehow keeps going long after your you do during carnaval.
Of course, no European city exists without its churches, because let’s be honest, almost every big city here was built around one. Long before cocktail bars and questionable late night food decisions, people gathered around towering cathedrals that were basically the original city landmarks, meeting points, and skyline flexes. Did you know that in several medieval cities, church towers doubled as fire watch stations and even early weather observation points, because they were often the highest structures around and monks were among the few people who kept daily written records. We will wander through ancient squares where bells have been ringing longer than our entire family trees have existed, stepping into quiet stone interiors that smell like history, candle wax, and centuries of dramatic life choices. Some churches are breathtaking works of art, filled with gold details, painted ceilings, and stained glass windows that look suspiciously like medieval Instagram filters. Others are more mysterious, slightly dark, slightly cold, and perfect for pretending you are in a historical drama while your friends whisper loudly and get shushed by someone’s grandma. And here is a thought to keep in mind while walking through these spaces: how many of these streets were first laid out when the Roman Empire still decided where roads should go and where towns should grow?
And while visiting churches might sound like the calmest activity on paper, they are actually full of strange details most people walk past without ever noticing. Outside there is chaos, street music, beer terraces, and endless debates about where to eat. Inside you might be standing on a medieval labyrinth like the one in Chartres Cathedral that pilgrims once walked on their knees as a symbolic journey to Jerusalem. You could be looking up at the Cathedral of Mallorca, home to one of the largest rose windows in the world, so big that twice a year the morning sun creates a perfect floating circle of colored light inside the church. In Milan’s Duomo there is a brass line on the floor that once worked as a giant sundial to track the movement of the sun for both science and faith. Cologne Cathedral supposedly holds the Shrine of the Three Kings, turning it into one of the most visited pilgrimage sites in medieval Europe. High above Notre Dame in Paris there are beehives quietly producing honey in the middle of a busy capital, because apparently even sacred rooftops can host urban agriculture. Some old churches still have tiny doors called devil’s doors that were once opened during baptisms to symbolically let evil spirits escape, and in certain cities you can find graffiti carved by bored medieval visitors who treated stone walls like the original guestbook. Whether you are there for architecture, odd historical traditions, or the random realization that people have been gathering in these exact spaces for over a thousand years, churches become strange little museums of human habits. They are the calm pause before the next round of nightlife decisions and the moment where you wonder how different the city looked when Roman traders, medieval pilgrims, Renaissance artists, and slightly lost modern tourists all passed through the same streets with completely different expectations.
Now back to the trip. Some practical information:
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We will depart on April 13 and return on April 19.
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All necessary transport is included, like train to the airport, the flight, and mandatory transport at the location.
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Accommodation for the full duration of the stay.
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A minimum of two diners is included.
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A trip of a lifetime, you will never forget.
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Participation fee: max €400
Registration
All econometrics students who have a strong liver and are interested can register!
This event is organized by the Europe trip committee. Note that, afterward a survey will be send which needs to be filled in and later a contract will be send and needs to be singed. Do you also want to join a committee? Become active by sending a mail to Vice-Chairman@Asset-Econometrics.nl