ACHTUNG NEUER TREFFPUNKT!!

Seasoned world traveler and WCC instructor takes students on a trip without leaving the classroom

by Erin Fedeson
Staff Writer

Washtenaw Community College instructor Elisabeth Thoburn holds a passion for imparting the significance of other cultures in her students.

“There’s a layer in book learning, but getting the hands-on experience is extremely important,” said Thoburn, a humanities instructor from Pinckney.

Thoburn, a native of Germany, has been traveling for 40 years – since she was 16.

At 19, during summer break, she hitchhiked with a friend from their hometown of Dresden, Germany to Bulgaria – more than a 1,000-mile trek.

Thoburn moved to the United States in 1985 when she married.

When she was younger, she never kept a list of the places she had been, but in 2007, she decided she wanted to start documenting her travels. She started a travel blog, http://www.elisabeth-thoburn.com which her son helped her set up, and has documented her travels to North Korea, Japan, Mali, France, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Egypt, Israel, Turkey, Iran, Dubai, Syria, Lebanon, and Pakistan.

While she travels, Thoburn dedicates four hours to her blog. She takes between 50 and 300 photographs a day, and uses travel guides to help her write.

She enjoys sharing her photos with her students, and they say that they take a lot away from sharing in her experiences.

“It’s never boring,” Emily Freeman, 21, a student studying nutrition, of Blissfield, said. Seeing pictures of Thoburn meant more, Freeman explained, because they were proof she was really there.

Ann Farrah met Thoburn when she took her art history class at WCC after retiring from a career as a psychologist. She still visits Thoburn’s blog frequently.

What impressed Farrah was Thoburn’s ability to tie her personal experience with the culture and people, which adds a dimension to the subject matter in a way Farrah has not seen before.

“Teaching is an art. Few can teach it,” said Farrah.

Next, Thoburn will travel to Indonesia, she said.