Students Blog about Studying Abroad
Check out these students blogs about recent off-campus studies:
Paideia 450: Green Germany
Course Description: This course explores environmental sustainability in an area of Europe that is significantly ahead of the U.S. in the development of wind, solar, biomass, and nuclear powers, as well as in the education of citizens about the conservation of nature. We will consider long term ethical and practical issues associated with alternative energy sources by visiting nuclear and biomass power plants, a German green school, a Norwegian outdoor kindergarten, and urban nature areas. We will also meet with citizen-based environmental groups, including Germany's Green Party. Faculty: Ruth Kath (German) and Craig Mosher (Social Work).
Paideia 450: Green Germany blog
Music 249: Listening Live in London and Glasgow
Course Description: This is a course about broadening the contexts that inform our musical listening experiences. It is intended for students from all majors - the wider variety, the better. Taking full advantage of the range of musical performances available and the rich musical history and cultures of London, we will spend the first 14 days attending concerts in the evenings and spend the afternoons visiting sites that help provide the context for the music we hear. Daily morning class time will be devoted to discussions not only of music, but of art, literature, and historical and current events as they relate to the cultural climate of the musical works. Every few days the group will gather for an informal discussion over afternoon tea. For the remaining seven days of the course, we will travel north to Scotland, focusing on less formal musical venues ranging from Cathedrals to pubs and folk clubs in Cambridge, Nottingham, and York - as a contrast to the concert experiences in London and as a way of exploring different audiences, functions, and styles of British music making. The course will culminate in attending events at Celtic Connections, a highly-renowned folk festival in Glasgow. Through reading, writing, and discussion, we will explore the ways in which our knowledge and differing perspectives affect the experience of listening to musical performances. and how our own individual musical identities interact with the many musical cultures we encounter through concert music, musical theater, folk traditions, church music, and other modes of live music making. Faculty: Brooke Joyce and Kathy Reed (both Music).
Music 249: Listening Live in London and Glasgow
English 239: Tales of the Sea
Course Description: This J-Term course in the Virgin Islands involves reading the literature of the sea while sailing on a two-masted schooner. Students will stay aboard the windjammer, Roseway, home of the World Ocean School, where they will read the stories of lives and characters transformed by the challenges of the sea. Texts will include classic works such as The Odyssey and Conrad's The Shadow Line, as well as contemporary texts like H.M.S. Surprise. During the course students will learn some basic elements of seamanship and navigation, and also learn to sail a small craft. Faculty: Nick Preus (English)