Ninth Story

Traveling abroad whether across Germany or throughout the the beautiful mountain valleys of Austria is an experience that cannot be taught in a classroom.

Andy Perovich is a local resident of Coon Rapids who got his start at ARCC. Perovich ended up at Bethel college a few years later receiving a double major in educational studies, elementary education with a minor in social studies.

This social studies teacher and part-time math teacher knows a thing or two about the value of experiencing other cultures. Perovich loves to travel whenever possible.

Perovich took his first trip to Europe earlier this year with a few good friends. They got started by taking a connecting flight from Minneapolis over to Atlanta and then 8 hours later landed in Frankfort, Germany.

Perovich's thirteen day adventure began by driving to a friend's family's place in a small town just north of Frankfort. This city is the fifth largest in Germany and the largest financial center in continental Europe.

"It was cool to see the reminisces of World War II," he said. "Just on our drive from the airport, we saw some of these. In the countryside I saw bunkers, old barbed wire fences, and an old airplane that was from the war." A fading, olive draft painted Douglas C-47 sat near an airport near Frankfort.

"The Douglas C-47 was just like a museum piece sitting out at the airport. It probably had been sitting there since the end of the war," Perovich said. The plane was used by the allies during World War II and remained in front line operations through the 1950s. These were mainly used for the transportation of troops.

The next day they headed on the autobahn and then into Eastern Germany. Perovich used this express highway, with its advisory speed limit of 80 m.p.h., whenever possible during their trip. Perovich added, "Of course the autobahn was built during Hitler's time."

The architecture everywhere they went was like seeing a museum. "The Medieval city of Rottenburg was very interesting," Perovich said. They kept it well preserved with the old houses and cobble stoned streets." Perovich was quite fond of the food but especially the people there in Germany.

Perovich spoke very little German and on numerous occasions would apologize for not knowing more of their native language. "They were very understanding," he said. In Germany, they're surrounded by so many countries so they are a bit use to the language thing.

Perovich spoke more about the German people, "They are very giving, we were welcomed guests but they are very forward though I learned. Very cut and dry," he said.

Perovich remembered a fun story when in Augsburg, Germany which is in the southeastern part of the country. "My friend hesitated at an intersection and he got a horn from behind him. We all started laughing..no tolerance in Germany. But I think my mom told me that a person's true character comes out behind the wheel of a car. So I think that's really revealing. I mean its very regimented..very structured way of thinking," he said.

Perovich then headed into Prague, which is the capitol and largest city of the Czech Republic. "We toured around and looked at the huge Orthodox Cathedral," he said. They had tons of shops there. It is a beautiful city with a lot of old cultures," he said.

"Its interesting because in the western part of the Czech Republic, a lot of people speak German. The closer you get to Prague the more the Czech language picks up. So about the time you get into Prague, it sounds similar to Russian to me; its a Solavic language and most everyone there speaks Czech," said Perovich.

The cities and the skylines of the Czech Republic were real. They didn't have a lot of brilliant, vibrant colors. A lot of the stuff there is older with stone work, dark greens and grays. "Its like old Europe," Perovich said. " I find that very interesting. I think there's an effort to keep it that way."

After arriving in Austria, Perovich and his companions took the train to Vienna. "Beautiful, beautiful city," he said. "Your not going to beat the architecture in Vienna."

Heading back through Austria, a place Perovich's parents visited in the 50's, and towards Germany, snow topped mountains could be seen in the backdrop.

Back in Germany for their last day, Perovich stayed again with the host family. This time, they celebrated Easter with them. "A lot of the same traditions. They have the boiled eggs. They have meat and cheese, breads, wine and coffee. I found tea is the big thing there," he said. Everything is closed there the Friday before Easter. "Families spend time together," Perovich added.

Most of the foods in Germany are a lot better tasting Perovich thought because the food there is more natural. Natural ingredients and not the processed food like a lot of the food we have here.

One of the things Perovich learned was that his country is not perfect. Their transportation, their rail system is, there's nothing here that can touch it. The Austrian Tran System is fast and its quiet; on time. "Of course the country's smaller so it works for them," he said.

One of the biggest things Perovich admired over there is the people are not typically snobbish about the kind of work that you do. It doesn't matter if your a street sweeper or a doctor. They just wanna know that your working. That your contributing to society. "The people there are very genuine," he said.