A new ISEM 101 course aims to challenge how students think about general education courses by opening students’ eyes to the wider world early in their University of Idaho career.
The course will take first-year students to two Spanish cities — Sevilla and Madrid — in summer 2020. Titled “Myth and History in Ancient Spain,” the three-credit course will blend the modern history and culture of Spain with the archeology and mythology of the country’s ancient past, according to Alyson Roy, an assistant professor of ancient history who will be leading the trip.
Students will spend three to four weeks in Spain during the summer after their first year at UI. The majority of the trip will be spent in Sevilla in southern Spain, where participants will be paired with local host families to offer cultural and language immersion.
Students will spend some time in the classroom studying the mythology and history of ancient Iberian cultures, but the trip is distinctly “experience-focused,” Roy said. Students will be in the field much of the time, applying what they’ve learned in the classroom to hands-on archeology in the ancient Roman cities of Italica and Merida, Roy said.
Students’ time in Sevilla will also include an Andalusian cooking class and flamenco dancing lessons taught by locals, Roy said. Participants will have weekends off to explore the city as they please.
The second portion of the trip will be based in Madrid. No classroom time is included in this part of the course — students will instead spend the time experiencing museums, architecture and the recent history of Spain’s capital up close and personal.
“We’ll get a good taste of two very distinct cultures within Spain,” Roy said. “It really captures the whole point of an ISEM course — cultural awareness and discovering things firsthand.”
The course will culminate with a final project tying together all the knowledge and experience gained over the trip. Students will be able to adapt the focus of their work to their interests and majors, with something for everyone, Roy said.
Kate Wray Chettri, director of Education Abroad, said the new course grew out of an interest in combining general education and the experience of studying abroad. She was particularly interested in gearing the course toward first-year students to give a taste of education abroad in a structured, short-term setting with the hopes of inspiring them to do more exploring later on in their college career.
“(Roy’s) course had such great potential for study abroad because it already has so many of the broad themes ISEM courses are built around — how to conduct research, comparing and contrasting the new and the old,” Wray Chettri said.
Wray Chettri said her office is working with university administrators to see if an ISEM 301 course could be added to the program, which would open the trip up to juniors and seniors. For now, the course’s development remains focused on first-year students.
Wray Chettri said students could expect the trip to cost roughly $5,000, including airfare, housing, most meals and all course-related outings. Grants and scholarships are expected to be available later on.
Students who are interested in this opportunity can apply online beginning late this summer.
The program will accommodate up to about 30 students, so those interested are encouraged to act quickly and start planning soon, Wray Chettri said.
Roy said all students, not just those with an interest in Spain or ancient history, should consider this experience to broaden their world view and open the door to new curiosity.
“Spain is an amazing place,” Roy said. “In three weeks, you’ll see 4,000 years of Spanish history and all the culture and people along with it — it’s hard to replicate anywhere else.”
Riley Haun can be reached at [email protected].