Tash Mahnokaren
Staff Writer
Next March, students and faculty from Idaho State University will have the opportunity to earn credit while taking a 12-day cultural immersion trip to Spain, France and Italy during spring break from March 19 through 30, 2015.
The short-term study program through the International Studies program at ISU provides students with the opportunity to travel abroad at fairly reasonable costs.
Students are given the opportunity to choose the destination of their choice, after which they are generally taught about the food, customs, history, culture and art of the chosen destination. These courses are designed to be taken months prior to the actual travel date.
Over spring break, the short-term study program has organized this 12 day trip to Spain, France and Italy.
The cost of the trip is currently $3,500 and includes food, hotels, transportation and airfare.
Credit can be earned by registering for International Studies course 3300 for 3-6 credits prior to embarking to the destination.
The class will familiarize students with some of the architecture that they will be seeing during the course of the adventure. Students can also choose to partake in the trip without committing to the course aspect and vice versa.
“We will be talking about Princess Grace and the country of Monaco and some of the history of Carcassonne,” said Lori Warren, study abroad instructor and affiliate of the International Studies faculty at ISU. “This trip will be geared towards architecture and the artists of the Renaissance.”
The hope is that through immersing themselves into a different culture, individuals will be provided with valuable perspectives that will essentially guide them throughout their lives. It is through travel and interaction with people of different backgrounds and life experiences that an individual’s ability to sympathize, assimilate and serve is developed.
During their time in Spain, the travel group will feast on the visual pleasures of the constructions of modernist architect Antoni Gaudi. Modernism art encompasses the modern aspects of movements, theories and attitudes, of which Gaudi is well known for expressing through his architecture. Gaudi’s architectural designs emerged in the nineteenth century, a time when culture and politics were in resurgence.
Participants will have the opportunity to visit the La Sagrada Familia cathedral built by Gaudi and also the St Peter’s Basilica a Late Renaissance church located within Vatican City.
“Michelangelo was commissioned to do the dome for St Peter’s basilica. The Pietà, the sculpture done in marble of mother Mary holding Jesus after he was taken off the cross, was also done by him,” mentioned Warren.
To reserve your space, contact Lori Warren at 208-282-2943. Prices are subject to increment increases as travel dates near.
