A couple weeks into their dream internship—working at an European think tank—Will Edwards ’28 and Scotty Semler ’28 hit a snag. In late May, cities across the continent began to exceed 90°F, at a time of the year when typical highs are around 70°F—where many of these areas do not routinely have air conditioning. Their summer home of Vienna, Austria was no exception, and neither was their overheating apartment.
“It was pretty bad for like a week and a half or two weeks,” Scotty explains. “Thank goodness there was one fan right in the apartment—and we just had to buy another one.” At one point, the Austrian Economics Center (AEC), which hosted the internship, arranged for Will and Scotty to travel for a couple of days to cool off over the weekend at a lake near Salzburg.
They persevered through the heat, staying on for another two months, but by the end, the heat wave had become just a footnote. “It was such a unique experience, living on your own in a different country,” Will reports. “It was the best time in my life…I was used to the heat playing lacrosse over the summer,” says the Carmel native.
As they adjusted to European life in slightly more challenging conditions than expected, Will and Scotty still reported to work in central Vienna at the AEC each day, learning and assisting with research on a variety of economic issues. “We spent a lot of time on the taxes and restrictions that the U.S. puts on AI [companies] and how that impacts Europe,” Will explains. European businesses are sometimes forced to use Chinese models that are “months behind American models.” They also worked on an index comparing the economic freedom of various European countries, and assisted with a research project comparing Hayek and Fukuyama.
“The people [at AEC] are fantastic, very helpful, in so many different ways,” says Scotty, and “they helped me with my German, too.” A German minor, he is so enthusiastic about Austria that he is even returning to the country after only a month-long break, this time in a study abroad program this fall in Salzburg.
Another Wabash student sponsored by the Stephenson Institute also spent time in Europe later in the summer, this time with less of a heat wave. About a four hour train ride from Vienna, Andres Ornelas ‘28 attended a nearly three-week-long program run by The Fund for American Studies in Prague. There an international cohort from over a dozen nationalities together “explores fundamental issues related to political philosophy, political economy, and conflict management.”
For Ornelas, from Brownsville, Texas, it was his first time in Europe—and a broadening experience in so many ways. “It was eye opening….like a range of people. There were a lot of people from Ukraine,” learning firsthand with people from literal war zones. While the program covered a range of topics, Ornelas, who is considering a military career, was particularly engaged by a simulation for the EU that analyzes Russian and Chinese attacks, including walking the students through a simulated invasion of Taiwan. The program’s open nature did not shy away from controversial questions, with one talk on immigration by a UK politician prompting a few students to walk out. “I had a lot of tough conversations with a lot of different people that really did expand my understanding,” he says.
Ornelas’s roommate was from Kosovo, from whom he learned about Kosovo’s deep admiration for the United States, including their giant statue of Bill Clinton and the “Thank you USA” song.
“I could not stop talking about Wabash to everybody over there,” he says, showing how his time was a genuine two-way exchange of ideas and experiences.
