ABSTRACT
During the Salzburg Academy, students gather together with peers and faculty from all over the globe. They bring their unique perspectives and beliefs, expecting to be challenged intellectually in this multinational environment as they move to become productive, global citizens. While this academic opportunity is indeed challenging, intense, and powerful, it is often in the seemingly small, informal spaces that transformation truly occurs. Connections are forged over cups of coffee, during after-dinner walks around the lake, on bus rides and explorations on field trips, at concerts, and on mountain excursions. These connections are at the core of building relationships and establishing trust, and it is this trust that is necessary for Salzburg Academy participants to enter into much deeper, important discussions as they begin to build bridges of understanding with those whose beliefs may differ substantially from their own. These discussions start with media, but move beyond as relationships expand. This essay explores and shares examples of the powerful transformational results developed within these informal spaces as students face the inevitable struggles of their own direction, identity, and belief structures.
