Judith Beizer, 6th Year Pharmacy,
Rome
Clinical Professor/Clinical Pharmacy Practice
The 5th weeks in Rome were an amazing experience for me, and for
my students. Besides the classroom work, we also volunteered
at the Little Sisters of the Poor nursing home. In groups of 3, we
helped the nuns serve dinner throughout our stay. It allowed
my students the opportunity to see a nursing home in Rome and to
interact with the seniors (only a few spoke English, but smiles and
gestures can go a long way.)The othe service learning project was
with Sant'Egidio, a charitable organization that collects unused
medications to send to third world countries and to stock free
clinics in Rome. We helped sort and organize the medications
in their warehouse. There were so many outdated medications
that we had to throw away because no one had been keeping up with
the piles of donated medications. This gave the students the
opportunity to learn the generic names of medications in Italy and
to realize how many medications are wasted. The students
really took advantage of being abroad. It seemed that every
weekend they were traveling to different countries and to various
parts of Italy.
Jane Paley, Paris, January 2010
Assistant Professor
Liberal Studies - College of Professional Studies
“Paris: Food for Thought” - The recipe for study abroad in
Paris has many ingredients: scholarship, service, exploration and
surprise. We learned about French history and culture and in the
process become more intellectually enriched and tolerant. We were
given an opportunity to return the kindness of our host city with
service at Le Mie De Pain, a local soup kitchen. The adventures,
(by that I mean the mishaps, communication glitches and getting
lost as well as the thrill of discovering something new and
wonderful quite by chance) provided laughter and made memories. Our
group may be among a very few visitors who had a snowball fight in
the gardens of Versailles. There was an abundance of serendipity:
strangers who helped with directions or recommended a favorite
café; docents who took extra time to share insights; homeless
diners at the soup kitchen who reached out to practice their
English skills. Add to this the pleasures of French cuisine in many
settings, including the home of a French chef, cafes, green markets
and even supermarkets. And voila! What a remarkable, life-changing
experience in the splendid City of Lights!
Carmela Scala, Italy Summer Session I, 2009 &
2010
Professor
Languages & Literatures - St. John's College
Teaching in a different country is a 'revolutionary' experience!
You never know what will happen especially because you never know
how the students will react to a different cultural
milieu. Being able to teach internationally in Italy has
broadened my view of teaching. I have learned more than a
traditional education class could ever offer. The best part of
my experience was seeing the students’ wonderment when they walked
through the streets of Rome, Florence and Naples or through the
ruins of Pompei and the temples of Paestum and “breath”
history. I have grown up in Italy and I have seen those
places many times before but seeing the reaction of my students who
had never been in Italy made me appreciate them in a different
way. Furthermore, being a leader in a study abroad program
means spending much time with students and that also is a rewarding
experience. By confronting myself with their questions about
“why Italians do “that”…and why don’t they do “that” ”, I
had a chance to teach them aspects of Italian culture that would
have never come up in a classroom setting , at the same time I also
had the opportunity to reflect once more on my own cultural
background and understand why after many years in the States I
still feel so ‘Italian’!
Richard Stalter, Galapagos Islands, 2009 &
2010
Professor
Biological Sciences - St. John's College
I thoroughly enjoyed my Galapagos experience. The students
were great the guides exceptional. All in all it was a very
rewarding experience...a trip of a lifetime.
Christopher Bazinet, Galapagos Islands, 2008 &
2009
Associate Professor
Biological Sciences, St. John's College
I take students to the high Andes and the Galapagos because the
combination of travel in the third world and the experience of some
of nature’s greatest treasures is a wonderful learning experience
and a great adventure. Study abroad is a doorway to
adventure, to learning that can be exciting, and to a life of
active learning that extends beyond the classroom. To travel
and learn in such circumstances teaches us much about the great
beauty of our planet and the amazingly powerful principles of
evolution that explain so much of how it got this way. Just as
important, this kind of travel teaches us much about the diversity
of people---how very much we have in common with people who can
seem so different from us, and how truly fortunate we
are, as we swim with the sealions, watch the mating dance of the
blue-footed booby, and rough it with the hummingbirds in the
cloudforest. I particularly enjoy leading this trip because
it tends to attract independent-minded, adventurous students—the
kind that are the most fun to teach!! The world is our
lab.