A College Education in Empathy: Travel
A Short History of NYU Baedeker by Isabella Bernabeo.
Photo from the Baedeker Fall 2024 Release Party.
Edited by Jack Sloan.
Natalia Badger is swimming in an ice-cold Swiss lake, trying her hardest to beat her family to the enormous trampoline submerged in the middle. She reaches safety and catches her breath – only to be thrown off by her cousin a few moments later. She tries again. The whole family is laughing. This is summer.
"Traveling is my favorite thing in the world,” Badger said. “When I think about things that I want and the rich life that I want to live, it all revolves around places that I want to see and people that I want to meet."
Badger isn’t just an avid traveler, but was the standing president of Baedeker, New York University’s travel magazine, for the fall of 2024.
Baedeker has existed since 2003, publishing its first travel-related prose, poetry, recipes, photography and other works from NYU students, staff and alumni in 2005. According to former president Bohan Ma, 22, the club was named after Karl Baedeker, a German publisher who set the modern standard for travel guidebooks. Karl Baedeker approached traveling with a distinct respect for others’ cultures, taking the time to learn and engage in the local languages and traditions of his environment.
Baedeker’s most current edition was released Saturday, Dec. 7 at its biannual release party. It’s Baedeker’s first edition to feature people on the front and back cover.
“We realized we were revolving so much around nature, we felt like we were becoming National Geographic,” Badger says. “That's what sets this magazine apart from previous ones that we've had. We recognized that we needed to integrate more people into our magazine.”
In the spring of 2023, two students who shared this love for traveling: Jonny Rothberg and Shuhe Ma, restored Baedeker Magazine after it was shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Bohan Ma.
When they found no club on campus to share their experiences with, they dug deeper to find out about Baedeker. When Rothberg sees Bohan Ma at a local event, the two start talking, leading to Rothberg encouraging Bohan Ma to join their team and help restart the magazine on NYU’s main campus in New York City.
While Rothberg and Shuhe Ma studied abroad in Florence, Italy in the fall of 2023, Bohan Ma worked his way up from chief of logistics to president of the magazine, representing a fundamental figure in its revival.
“People are drawn to the pretty pictures, the captivating anecdotes and the flowing narratives that we create out of our magazines. But people ultimately stay for the community and the like-minded people they meet here,” Bohan Ma says.
Baedeker’s inaugural abroad edition was published at NYU Florence when its restorers studied away. Fellow student, Miranda Womack, 20, was studying abroad in Florence at the same time as Baedeker’s restorers and was onboarded when she returned to New York the following semester.
Current head of global strategy, Womack is in charge of overseeing Baedeker at the international level at NYU study-away locations, currently in Florence, Madrid, London and Paris.
Womack is actively looking to expand Baedeker to the rest of NYU’s abroad sites and help them receive funding and faculty support, especially through communication with NYU’s Office of Global Programs.
NYU has been ranked No. 1 in the United States and the International Education Evaluation for their study abroad programs, with 90% of undergraduate NYU students stating that they want to study abroad during their college experience, according to Matthew McClure, 35, coordinator at NYU’s Office of Global Programs.
About 40 to 50% of undergraduate NYU students study away during their four years, according to McClure. OGP is working harder than ever to get that number to 100% by working with the financial aid, immigration and housing offices, as well as course registration advisors to create new courses and study away locations. Baedeker Magazine helps students that study abroad share their experiences with the rest of the NYU community.
McClure is an advocate for the life-altering experience of traveling as a student.
Yosemite by Nicolas Galvis.
“No matter where you're from, even if you were born and raised in New York City, you develop this bubble mindset. New York City is very diverse, but it's still a very specific way of life,” McClure says. “When you go to another place, you experience a bit of a culture shock, but that's a good thing because it helps expand your mind and your viewpoints. It makes you more open to kindness and to understanding and being empathetic.”
Travel is one notable way empathy can be learned as traveling is the foundation for starting meaningful conversations and understanding challenges that other cultures may face, National Geographic believes.
According to a study conducted in 2018 by Harris Poll, 68% of business travelers report that traveling to another country and coming across a new culture has increased their empathy. This can lead to personal and societal change, by realizing what different parts of the world is like individuals who travel are able to avoid narrow minded prejudice and have broader perspectives on the world
Traveling is important for people learning and recognizing a diverse set of landscapes, languages and lifestyles, allowing people to “escape the insulation of [their] comfort zones,” according to Nicholas Kristof’s opinion piece in The New York Times. However, people still need to realize that travel must be done with respect for other cultures and their environments.
Opening up peoples’ perspectives to a wide range of philosophies is exactly Baedeker Magazine’s goal for the NYU community, which has the privilege of sending thousands of students abroad every semester. Baedeker member's love of exploration and the vast study abroad opportunities leads to the very make up of the club changing each year, yet its core values stay the same.
In the spring semester, Badger stepped down as president to conquer her study-abroad opportunity at NYU Florence. Olivia D’Allessandro, chief of marketing, succeeded as president for her final semester.
“I’ll graduate knowing I truly put my heart and soul into it, and I can leave it in a place that I have faith in it being even better after I go,” D’Allessandro, 22, says.
People come to this club to talk and share their travel experience, but many times its members stay for the friendships and their similar passions for showcasing what travel is at its core.
Womack quotes Baedeker’s simple slogan for why should people travel:
“Life is short and the world is wide.”