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Herbst launched two new study abroad courses in 2018—one to Spain and one to Austria. These join Herbst’s highly successful Rome and China courses.

The Spanish trip started here in Â鶹ӰԺ, during the spring semester, when Diane Sieber taught a new course on Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes. In May, after the semester ended, she took her students to Madrid and the surrounding countryside for nearly two weeks. Since Diane has spent many years living in Madrid, this amazing trip gave students a real insider’s look at the city and its culture.

Incidentally, this new course design is called a Global Intensive seminar; it combines a full semester course in Â鶹ӰԺ with post-semester travel. In these Global Intensive seminars, course themes can develop over a matter of months in Â鶹ӰԺ, rather than over a two- or three-week period abroad. 

In Maymester 2018, Laura Rabinowitz and Lisa de Alwis piloted their co-designed and team-taught seminar, Voices of Vienna. This course made full use of both teachers’ expertise throughout each day’s instruction and excursions. The result was a complex, densely woven fabric of art, music, philosophy, history and science. A few class meetings in Â鶹ӰԺ during the spring semester introduced the historical context and main themes of the course. Then Laura and Lisa met their students in Vienna on May 14 for the on-site adventure. They report that the students fell in love with this beautiful city!  

Herbst’s third 2018 study abroad course was a repeat of Paul Diduch’s highly successful Maymester course, Culture Wars in Rome. This course combines history, architecture, philosophy, politics, art and religion, all synthesized into an incredible 14-day experience for the students.

Herbst’s remaining study abroad course, Self-Awareness and Images of the Other, was not taught in 2018. Anja Lange leads this Maymester course to China in alternating years, and 2018 was an "off" year.