American Student Abroad, With Retrospective 50 Years On

Sandra S. Navarro’s 1969-1970 student-abroad experience took place when there were no computers, mobile phones, or other of the many devices and conveniences indispensable to students today. Twenty-four years after the Second World War, the European Union did not exist, though the Eastern Bloc did. Sandra tells of waltzing in a Viennese palace, traveling behind the Iron Curtain and sharing a 40-hour train ride to Athens with hundreds of migrant workers. From obtaining her first passport to hitchhiking 4,500 miles after the school year, her transformation lies at the heart of this deeply personal story.