2008 Woodie Awards
Students study abroad in England
Benjamin Billman
Issue date: 10/8/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
This summer, 28 students went to classes together, lived together and traveled together.
They visited sights glorious and unknown to them, learned new customs and stories and got to know each other.
And oh yes, they lived in a castle.
"My favorite part of the trip was going to Paris for Bastille Day. The sites and fireworks and people really showed me what the French culture was all about." said second-year SCSU student Heather Smith.
Every semester for the past 26 years, SCSU has been sending students across the Atlantic Ocean to a small town not more than 30 minutes from the Scottish border, Alnwick (pronounced AN-nick), England.
This town is on the whole, unremarkable, unless you count the huge castle that has been there since the 1100s.
From May 23 to Aug. 1, students and two SCSU faculty got the chance to find out what England was all about.
Through field trips and weekend traveling, the students got the chance to see many historic places: ruins of ancient castles, the North Sea shore, London, Paris, York, Haworth...the list is endless.
Beyond living in a castle, the students also had a week-long break, in which they could travel throughout Europe and see things that weren't on the Alnwick program menu, so to speak.
Stephanie Skalicky, of Beroun, Minn., and several others went on a three-city tour from Prague to Vienna to Budapest. Her most memorable experience was simple.
"I would probably have to say that living in Beroun, Minn., and then going to Beroun, Czech Republic was the sweetest thing ever and so cool to see," Skalicky said.
There was also school for these students.
Along with the two SCSU faculty members, there were two British professors, Roy Todd and Christine Mitchell, who taught contemporary Britain and history classes, respectively.
The classes were nothing too difficult, and didn't take up too much time that could be spent learning outside the classroom.
The opportunities to learn outside the classroom were abundant. The director of the program, Wade Sherman, and his assistant, Lyndsey Andersen, as well as the graduate intern, Nicole Hulstein, kept the students abreast of activities in the area and shared their extensive experience of the town with them.
Skalicky said one of her other memorable experiences was "just traveling everywhere with our built-in tour guides, like Christine and Roy."
When the end of the trip came around, there were tears and heartfelt goodbyes, but now the students could see each other on campus, and know they went through something many people won't be able to even fathom.
"The castle was the best thing that ever happened to me," said SCSU student Bridget Baumgartner.
They visited sights glorious and unknown to them, learned new customs and stories and got to know each other.
And oh yes, they lived in a castle.
"My favorite part of the trip was going to Paris for Bastille Day. The sites and fireworks and people really showed me what the French culture was all about." said second-year SCSU student Heather Smith.
Every semester for the past 26 years, SCSU has been sending students across the Atlantic Ocean to a small town not more than 30 minutes from the Scottish border, Alnwick (pronounced AN-nick), England.
This town is on the whole, unremarkable, unless you count the huge castle that has been there since the 1100s.
From May 23 to Aug. 1, students and two SCSU faculty got the chance to find out what England was all about.
Through field trips and weekend traveling, the students got the chance to see many historic places: ruins of ancient castles, the North Sea shore, London, Paris, York, Haworth...the list is endless.
Beyond living in a castle, the students also had a week-long break, in which they could travel throughout Europe and see things that weren't on the Alnwick program menu, so to speak.
Stephanie Skalicky, of Beroun, Minn., and several others went on a three-city tour from Prague to Vienna to Budapest. Her most memorable experience was simple.
"I would probably have to say that living in Beroun, Minn., and then going to Beroun, Czech Republic was the sweetest thing ever and so cool to see," Skalicky said.
There was also school for these students.
Along with the two SCSU faculty members, there were two British professors, Roy Todd and Christine Mitchell, who taught contemporary Britain and history classes, respectively.
The classes were nothing too difficult, and didn't take up too much time that could be spent learning outside the classroom.
The opportunities to learn outside the classroom were abundant. The director of the program, Wade Sherman, and his assistant, Lyndsey Andersen, as well as the graduate intern, Nicole Hulstein, kept the students abreast of activities in the area and shared their extensive experience of the town with them.
Skalicky said one of her other memorable experiences was "just traveling everywhere with our built-in tour guides, like Christine and Roy."
When the end of the trip came around, there were tears and heartfelt goodbyes, but now the students could see each other on campus, and know they went through something many people won't be able to even fathom.
"The castle was the best thing that ever happened to me," said SCSU student Bridget Baumgartner.