Liberal Arts Program - Field Trips & Excursions
The study program is enhanced by field trips to several of Central
Europe’s most beautiful cities, including Krakow, Vienna, Budapest,
and Berlin. For the most part, during their time outside of Prague,
there is no formal classroom. Instead lectures are given by local
scholars at cooperating institutions and during tours of museums,
galleries, churches, and other historical landmarks.
Five-Day Trip to Krakow
The town of Krakow has been considered
Poland's Heart for a thousand years. It provides the lifeblood
for the country’s creative genius; to understand Krakow is
to understand Poland. The decision to take our students to
this important city is an easy one, for it provides participants
with a chance to view another face of Central Europe.
Poland is an overwhelmingly catholic country whose proud
history includes many chapters of direct confrontation with
its eastern and western neighbors. The weeklong program
of study concentrates on themes such as Jewish Krakow,
with lectures on the Holocaust, a visit to Auschwitz,
an examination of Primo Levis’ seminal work, and
neighborhood walks of Kazimierz.
We also expose the students to lectures and a shared curriculum
with students at the Dartmore Institute’s main cooperating
institution, Jagiellonian
University, Poland's oldest and most prestigious
institution of higher learning. The students move through
a diverse curriculum that includes Polish Poetry, presentations
on Polish culture, history, post communist social development
and its relationship to the E.U., and visits to
museums and galleries. Students visit the legendary
Salt Mines, spend
a day in nature in a beautiful national park, tour castles
and attend cultural performances. The academic program runs
each morning from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m., and the rest of each day
is given over to non- mandatory cultural activities. Students
are offered group dinners and time to explore this charming
and intimate city on their own. Students are housed in a
very high quality small hotel. The Dartmore staff and students
are the hotel’s only guests for the week, so we will have
the undivided attention and service of the hotel staff.
Three-Day Trip to Vienna
To witness an equally rich and historic dimension of Central Europe,
one must journey to Vienna,
renowned for its architecture, composers, and painters. While walking
the Ringstrasse, the famous street that encircles the historical
center of Vienna, you are transported back in time and feel the
spirit of creativity. Vienna, the home of such influential and
important individuals as Mozart, Wagner, Freud, and Klimt, was arguably
the premier city of Europe in the late 19th and early 20th century.
The city reads as a living text that chronicles many of the major
events that shaped the development of modern European art, architecture,
and culture.
The goal of these three days in Vienna is to place students inside
this historical text. Students spend the majority of their
time not in the classroom, but in the city with a single guest lecturer
each day speaking about a particular aspect of the city’s life.
They tour many of the most famous places in Vienna, including Stephansdom
(St. Stephen’s Cathedral), the 13th century gothic masterpiece
that towers over the city’s center, and the Hofburg (Imperial
Palace), the famous Habsburg palace that also dates back to
the 13th century. Other visits include Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum
of Fine Arts) and the baroque palace, Schloss Belvedere, which
houses the Austrian National Gallery.
Students also have an opportunity to meet other university
students in Vienna. We stay close to downtown, about 10 minutes
by train, in a clean, airy, and well-equipped pension. This trip
is three weekdays and an optional weekend.
Three-Day Trip to Budapest
Students experience the intriguing mix of eastern
and western influences that Budapest
offers. You can smell the spices of the orient and feel the
influence of former empires, both Ottoman and Austrian. The
Danube River cuts this beautiful city into distinct halves.
Buda, the western and older half, contains remnants of the
city’s medieval past. Students begin their journey into the
intriguing world that was medieval Europe in the heart of
Buda at the Magdalen Tower, all which remains from a Gothic
church destroyed in WWII. Students then visit the Royal Palace,
which contains the National Gallery and the Budapest History
Museum.
Once crossing the Danube via the famous Chain Bridge, students
visit the Citadella,
the imposing fortress built by the Habsburgs to defend the city
after the 1848 - 49 Revolution. Now firmly in Pest, the tour of
the city continues to the Vajdahunyad Castle,
the Museum
of Fine Arts, and the neo- Renaissance St. Stephen’s
Basilica, and the cafes, gardens, and hot springs of Margaret Island.
Students may also spend their time in any of the city’s famous bathhouses.
Students also have an opportunity to meet other university
students in Budapest. We stay close to downtown, about 15 minutes
by train, in a clean, airy, and well-equipped pension. This trip
is three weekdays and an optional weekend.
Other Field Trips
As a way of experiencing how Czech citizens live outside
of the capital, students spend one weekend in Brno, the capital of the
Moravian region of the Czech Republic. They experience the
distinctive traditions and cultural flavor of this region.
The second trip will be to Cesky
Krumlov, a medieval city protected by UNESCO. It is located
in the breathtaking region of South Bohemia. These two trips
are covered by tuition. In an effort to expand students’
horizons even further, the Dartmore administrative staff will
arrange additional weekend excursions to other cities and
towns throughout the Czech Republic. These excursions are
not a part of the formal Liberal Arts program.
Staff members at the institute can also arrange further travel
and study plans across Europe. Students who are interested in obtaining
travel information about trips to Greece or Italy, for example,
or in studying French or German, can rely on the help and guidance
of the Dartmore staff.
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