The monastery Mont Saint-Michel rises out of the flat French landscape like something straight out of the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien. It was, in fact, an inspiration for Minas Tirith, the massive fortified city in the third Lord of the Rings movie.
During the Hundred Years War, England could never conquer Mont Saint-Michel because of the abbey's imposing fortifications. But this past summer, 20 University of Illinois students conquered Mont Saint-Michel in a way that may have never been done before. The class scaled the abbey's hundreds of stairs with a very determined LAS student who just happens to use a wheelchair.
As they made the amazing climb, the staff at Mont Saint-Michel "waved us on-maybe cheered us on," says John Lynn, the U of I history professor who led the group on their four-week adventure in France. "Finally, there we were at the top, and we have pictures to prove it. Symbolically, the bells were ringing. No kidding."
This climb unified the group and inspired their group motto, "Everyone Gets to the Top."
Dana Fink, an LAS sophomore in international studies and a member of the national champion U of I women's wheelchair basketball team, was undaunted by this fast-paced study-abroad trip, which meant navigating French subways and museums. However, Lynn says he initially panicked at the idea because France is not especially wheelchair-friendly.
"But the better angels of my nature insisted that I am a teacher, and Dana wanted to be taught," he says. "So I agreed to give it a go."
Lynn says he couldn't have been happier with the outcome.
"Yes, Dana is in a chair," he says, "but she was also the most fit among us." With incredible upper body strength, "she overwhelms you with what she can do, including negotiating flights of stairs out of her chair as long as there is a sturdy handrail and someone to carry her chair."
Despite this independence, Mont Saint-Michel seemed insurmountable because it simply had too many stairs (and no handrails) for her to manage without assistance. It looked as if Fink would be forced to wait on the bus while the rest of the class climbed to the top of the abbey.
"But the guys said no way," according to Lynn. "They would make sure she went up with the group."
So each of the 10 males on the trip took turns carrying Fink up the long flight of stairs, taking special care that none of them put her at risk by pushing themselves beyond their limit.
"People who saw these young men carrying Dana probably said, 'How kind of those boys to help that young woman,'" Lynn says. "However, it became clear to me that the kindness and sacrifice worked both ways. Dana also made a sacrifice when she accepted a dependent role that chaffed against her self-reliance."
This triumph helped to solidify bonds among the students, which is typical on study-abroad trips, says Lynn, who has been leading students to France since 2000. In contrast to the solitary, competitive nature of traditional classes, study-abroad classes create a more cooperative group-learning experience.
"It fosters a special kind of camaraderie," Lynn says. This history class focused heavily on art and military history in France, taking students on overnight trips to Normandy and Verdun, as well as day trips to Versailles, Fontainebleau, and Giverny. But Mont Saint-Michel stands out among them all. "This was the test. This was the triumph," says Lynn. "There may be no elevators at Mont Saint-Michel, but my class brought 10 to lift one gutsy woman."
The College of LAS offers three- to six-week-long study abroad courses over winter and summer break, as well as semester-long and yearlong programs. The longer programs allow students to learn a language and be immersed in another culture, including France, Austria, Japan, and Spain.
