Like most Americans, I did not learn to speak a foreign language until I was a teenager. My first attempt, German, was a disaster. I managed to somehow eke out a passing grade during my two years of German, and can confidently count to twenty, say ja und nein, please, and thank you. I can also order a beer, but that was not part of our middle school curriculum: I learned to do that while traveling in my 20s.

Hey, travel friends! Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and Guide Collective wants to be your Valentine!

Hey, travel friends! Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. Our guides are feeling full of love, and we’d love to share a bit of Valentine goodness with you!

Could there be any better way to be challenged than to have an actual, honest conversation face-to-face with people towards whom you would not normally gravitate because they do not sound or look like you? When information is available in a safe setting, you are able to make your own decisions. Building bridges is more constructive than building walls.

Because of the great ethnic and cultural diversity within each of the countries as well as the interconnectedness of all these countries with one another, there are actually more than 200 languages spoken throughout Europe. How do you bridge political, economic, social, and cultural divides when the mere act of communicating in the same language might not even be possible?