Previous Study Abroad Experiences
SU Professor Scopes Out Dublin City University
by Kate Figiel
In April 2006, Lynn Duncan, professor of accounting, had the privilege of going on a SU-sponsored tour of Ireland. The tour was led by CIEE, the Center for International Educational Exchange, one of the two study abroad agencies with which SU collaborates.
Mrs. Duncan previewed CIEE’s study abroad program at Dublin City University in order to raise interest for future students. With a small group of representatives from colleges across the U.S., Lynn experienced an entire semester for a study abroad student in a whirlwind of only 5 days. In that time, they surveyed the campus, toured Dublin, and visited Belfast and a monastery in the southwest of Ireland.
The University is near the airport, and only 15 minutes outside Dublin, the beautiful Irish capital. Students usually live with other international students in furnished, well-equipped, self-catered suites at the DCU campus. There is also a homestay option where students can live with a family, and if they get a good match, this can be one of the best cultural experiences of their semester. The campus of Dublin City University is clean and modern, almost futuristic, with central green areas, cafes, a convenience store, travel agency, and bookstore, as well as a theater, a sports center, and a library Mrs. Duncan enthusiastically describes as “to die for.”
Mrs. Duncan’s trip featured one day in Dublin, and she describes the city as an economically vibrant city of gorgeous Georgian architecture, the home of an excellent art museum, top-notch educational system, a blossoming technologies industry, and not a bad cultural scene either. It sounds like an ideal study abroad location, with particular appeal to business majors.
At the crux of the CIEE program is the resident director, Don Niall, a native of Dublin. He teaches a course called The History of Ireland which is required for all students in the program. It is this course which draws the students together and provides them with a fun and supportive community. Mrs. Duncan told me that Don and his course were the two greatest strengths of the program, besides travel. Study abroads at DCU have the flexibility to take a wide range of courses. There are also opportunities for internships for credit; CIEE arranges student placements at businesses such as Guiness Ireland, Bank of Ireland, and the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.
But of course there is more to study abroad than study. CIEE organizes two trips across Ireland during the semester, both of which Mrs. Duncan’s group sampled briefly. One trip covers a northern circuit of Ireland, including a tour of Belfast. The second trip goes to the southwest corner of Ireland, to see some of the lovely islands and peninsulas, including an old monastery south of Dublin and several centuries-old castles. And of course, throughout the semester, students take advantage of low air fares and travel all over Europe. Mrs. Duncan talked to students who visited Greece, Rome, and London.
Lynn sings high praises for CIEE and all they do. She described them warmly as “classy” and “absolutely fabulous.” Don and the two tour directors, Cari and Melissa, fulfilled every wish for her tour group and she felt that the students received the same kind of support and attention. The woman heading the international office, she told me, was like a mother hen the way she took care of everyone.
The trip emphasized the importance of studying abroad for Mrs. Duncan, who has always been a supporter. “I think it’s the best thing a student can do in four years of college,” she told me. “Travel is the best thing a person can do as far as broadening horizons and accepting differences in others.” She said that our goal as Americans should not be so much “diversity” as we refer to it, but “global awareness.”
The DCU program is a wide open opportunity for students. The total cost for spring 2007 is approximately the same as what it costs to attend SU (with housing and meal plan). If you would like more information about DCU or other fabulous study abroad opportunities, please contact the study abroad office at studyabroad@mail.vjc.edu.
SU Honors in London, Spring 2006
by Kate Figiel
Joseph McGraw, Humanities and Public History Department Chairperson, has always been passionate about travel abroad. In fact, it was he who headed the University study abroad program when it began in 2001. So it’s no surprise that Professor McGraw initiated a weak long honors trip to London last spring. He worked with Casterbridge Tours to take ten honors program students and one parent on an academically rich sightseeing trip.
The group stayed at a hotel in central London, next to Hyde Park, from which they walked, bused, and took the underground all over the city to all the must-see tourist attractions. On the agenda were Westminster Abbey, Parliament, the British Museum, and St. Paul’s Cathedral. As a professor of history, a highlight for Mr. McGraw was a boat tour on the Thames, which gave a stunning view of riverside sights from Parliament to the Tower of London’s Traitor’s Gate.
On other days of the visit, the entire group went on guided tours of the famed London theater district and Shakespeare’s London in the St. Paul ’s area. Other highlights included featuring the theatre sites and pubs of Shakespeare’s London. Other highlights included a visit to the Knights Templar Church (of recent Da Vinci Code fame) and the church where Chaucer was married in the 1300's. The British Library was an exciting stop for the students because it contains many rare, ancient manuscripts such as two copies of the Magna Carta, the oldest extant manuscript of Beowulf, dated from about the year 1000. Other excursions included shopping or visiting the National Gallery and the National Imperial War Museum. Finally, the group toured the reconstructed Globe Theatre and attended a workshop on Shakespearean performance taught by an actress who worked at the theater. They also saw an evening Globe performance of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus.
All in all, the students had a marvelous time learning and sightseeing on the trip. Professor McGraw suspects that for the students it was like discovering the tip of the iceberg. Hopefully some of these students are now inspired to continue their travels by studying abroad!
1525 Greenspring Valley Road, Stevenson, MD, 21153-0641 • 1-877-468-6852