Ducks Beyond Athletics: Study Abroad Was Eye-Opening For Rockey

Author Samantha Little is a member of the UO acrobatics & tumbling team. "Ducks Beyond Athletics" is a series of feature stories about UO student-athletes and their interests outside of sports.

As a senior studying business, and with a break in her training schedule this summer, Oregon soccer player Michelle Rockey decided she could not pass up the opportunity to study abroad in July. The University of Oregon urges students to take a global context course that counts towards their desired degree. Thus, for four weeks this summer, Rockey experienced life in Copenhagan, Denmark, and then parts of Poland

For the first three weeks of her four-week term, Rockey lived in dorm-style apartments in the heart of Copenhagen. "I was [abroad] for four weeks and I did something new every single day," said Rockey, who begins the final homestand of her UO career when the Ducks host Utah on Thursday (7 p.m., Pac-12 Live Stream). "I made great friends who loved to find new adventures."

When she wasn't in class, she found a group of locals online who met regularly at a park several times a week to play soccer. She biked to play with them every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Classes took place five days a week, and she was always eager to attend because her professor, Torben Jorgensen, was so knowledgeable and personable.

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While Rockey's trip provided countless fond memories, her course of study was somber and serious. Professor Jorgensen has studied history all his life, written multiple books, and even worked as an archaeologist searching for the remains of Holocaust victims. He provided insight into Rockey's course of study: European genocide.

The subject matter was heartbreaking. But Rockey didn't shy away from the chance to learn about one of history's darkest periods. "I thought, if I'm in Scandinavia, why not study something that's so pertinent to that niche of the world?" Rockey said.

After weeks studying in Copenhagen, class moved to Poland, where Rockey and 30 classmates traveled to World War II concentration camps. The first destination was Warsaw. Professor Jorgensen began his lesson in Chelmno, the very first "killing centers," where hundreds of thousands of victims were murdered. Rockey recounted that, as the class followed a road about one mile into the forest, they stumbled upon long rows of unmarked rock that served as a mass grave. "Today, you can still see shards of bone at the site," Rockey said.

As they continued on their journey to visit more sites, they wound up in Krakow, Poland, where they would see Auschwitz and Birkenau. Because Auschwitz had higher security than the other camps, a tour guide assisted them through the camp, taking them into a room filled with hair, and another filled with more than 40,000 pairs of shoes. Rockey is still shaken at having learned during the tour that Nazis would shave the hair off of victims' heads and use that to stuff their boots and keep their toes warm during the winter.

In Birkenau, Professor Jorgensen himself was able to lead his class through the camp. "We spent four hours there that day," Rockey said. "He told stories, personal accounts, facts, and numbers about the camp. It was incredible."

After every 'class' spent in Poland, her professor would go to dinner with his students. This enhanced her experience abroad through the sense of community and friendship that was created with the culture, her professor, and her fellow classmates. Rockey loved how progressive Scandinavia was, she said. The trip impacted her to such an extent, Rockey said, that it has inspired her to consider working abroad in the future.

With a deeper understanding of world history and culture, it's easy to imagine Rockey as an emissary for Oregon soccer well beyond this weekend's final home games.

- goducks.com -