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Since Global College's educational approach is firmly rooted in the concept of experiencial learning, fieldtrips and excursions make up about half of our curriculum. Listed below are some examples of the fieldtrips offered through each Global College Center.
Costa Rica Center Case study fieldtrips give students a well-rounded knowledge base about global issues and how they are manifested in Latin America. In the fall, fieldtrips include an extended trip to Nicaragua, and various shorter fieldtrips within Costa Rica where students have exceptional opportunities to visit an indigenous community, a farmer’s community, a banana plantation, the Monteverde Cloud Forest, and the Caribbean coast. A two-week fieldtrip to Ecuador takes place during the spring semester, where students listen to Quichua guest speakers who articulate the struggles indigenous people have in Ecuador and other lectures from economics and history professors. In a crafts town in the Andean Mountains, students speak with Don Jacinto of the Otavaleno indigenous tribe, to better understand how global economic changes have had an effect on his family business of creating famous traditional ponchos. Additionally, a trip to the Amazon region is designed to introduce students to sustainable eco-tourism through the experience of living with an indigenous group. In a sophomore year Area Studies fieldtrip in China, students may meet with Buddhist monks during the Ghost Festival at Upper India Monastery in Hangzhou, when pilgrims burn symbolic possessions for deceased ancestors. Students may visit the ancestral homes of the First and the Fourteenth Dalai Lamas where they live in a Buddhist monastery. Students may collect spring water high in the hills of Hangzhou above the Dharma Purity Monastery where they discuss the urgent environmental crises in waterquality with the local monks and city residents. Students may be introduced to the ancient history of Chinese herbology and the philosophical principals of a medicinal diet at a traditional apothecary. Students may drink Dragon Well tea, which farmers sell at auction for a price higher than gold, while having an economics lecture about this phenomenon. Students may visit Beijing and discuss Sino-American relations with the Chinese government’s top political strategist; later that day, students may also be introduced to the representatives for the US Department of State for a briefing on bilateral relations. Fieldtrips from the India Center may include a visit to Tamil Nadu (south India), where students meet with Siddha practitioners and observe their traditional medicinal practices. A fieldtrip to the Orissa Coast (central India) is taken to view the habitat destruction of OliveRidley Turtles due to deep sea fishing and shrimp exports. Students may also embark on a trip to Gurgaon, an important industrial hub of India near Delhi, to study the cultural and economic impact of globalization in comparison to Bangalore. In Dharamsala (north India), students may visit and interact with the Tibetan Refugee Community in their settlements. Other fieldtrips may include a visit to the Narmada Dam Project, a site where the people of Gujarat (northwest India) had been displaced by the state government, and various other trips with social, political, economic and environmental foci. In a third year fieldtrip to Hiroshima, students may speak with the elderly survivors of the atomic bomb and hear their concerns about how the next generation will carry on their efforts to speak out against nuclear proliferation and communicate world peace. In a fieldtrip to Koya San, students may speak with a resident American monk about how monastic life is being affected by the proliferation of cell phone and internet technology, and how a once secluded monastic village has rapidly become a tourist attraction prized for its special tofu. In Okinawa, students may meet with a local activist engaged in a battle to prevent US Marines from relocating their largest air base to the habitats of Japanesemanatees. In a day trip to Gion, the traditional entertainment district of Kyoto, students may speak with a geisha to learn how the influence of Western feminism has caused young women to desire careers in office work, particularly the travel and fashion industry, leaving the geisha arts to fade into history. Tokyo’s Harajuku district with its explosive youth culture is an excursion where students may learn how the creative genius of a whole generation of young Japanese exerts a huge influence on global popculture – from anime to manga, and fashion to cinema. Excursions and field trips are currently being developed for our newest center. Please contact globalcollege@liu.edu for further information. Since each student in the fall semester of their senior year is engaged in independent research, Global College does not organize formal cross-cultural activities or excursions. General orientation materials are shared with students. Students participate in ongoing peer-to-peer support sessions, designed to supplement the regular conversations with their faculty advisors. In a senior year fieldtrip from New York City, students may go to the United Nations and its agencies in New York or to Washington DC, and learn about the interaction of government, nongovernmental organizations, and lobbying groups at national and international levels. Courses also involve meetings with local people and institutions contributing to the distinctive social fabric of Brooklyn and New York City. Course visits have included the World Health Organization, the Office of the President of the Borough of Brooklyn, the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, and the Friends National Legislative Committee. |
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