Summer Education Abroad

Learn Spanish and Explore Literary and Visual Arts in the Highlands of Peru!

Peru

Visual and Literary Arts and Spanish Language
6 undergraduate or graduate credits
Visual and Literary Arts: May 25 – June 20, 2007
Spanish Language: May 25 – July 5, 2007
Javier Tapia, Michael Schreffler, Scott Mills, Gregory Donovan and Monika Ciesielkiewicz
Peru@vcu.edu
Visual and Literary Arts: $2,430 + airfare + applicable VCU tuition
Spanish Language: $2,700 + airfare + applicable VCU tuition Registration deadline: March 23, 2007*
Download printer-friendly program description [PDF]

*The deadline for turning in a passport and International Student ID card (ISIC) is March 15 for students participating in the Inca trail.
Anyone who does not turn in a copy of their passport and ISID card by March 15 will not be guaranteed a spot on the Inca trail.

The Office of International Education, the School of World Studies, the Department of English and the School of the Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University are pleased to announce the newly expanded summer program in Peru. Participants will travel to Lima for a short visit, and then on to Cuzco for an extended visual exploration of the countryside and culture of the highlands of Peru. The program will include visits to museums to explore ancient, colonial and contemporary art, as well as visits to ancient ruins and colonial sites. Of particular importance will be the group’s participation in the Festival of Corpus Christi in Cuzco. An optional four-day hiking and camping trip along the Inca Trail will expose students to a biological and culturally diverse region of the country culminating at Machu Picchu.

Course and credit options: Students may enroll for 6 undergraduate or graduate VCU credits. Participants can choose two of the following 3-credit courses offered by the departments of Painting and Printmaking, instructed by Javier Tapia; Photography and Film, instructed by Scott Mills; Art History, instructed by Michael Schreffler; English, instructed by Gregory Donovan; or Spanish, instructed by Monika Ciesielkiewicz:

Painting and Printmaking: PAPR 324 Intermediate Drawing, PAPR 421 Advanced Drawing, SCPT 491 Drawing, Works on Paper, SCPT 591 Drawing, Works on Paper and PAPR 621 Graduate Drawing.

A peripatetic investigation of direct observation, on-site drawing. Emphasis will be placed on the development of a suite of drawings in which on-site references become spinal elements in multimedia two-dimensional constructions. Documentation of your daily activities will be maintained in an illustrated diary or journal.

Photography and Film: PHTO 491 Videography and Photography, SCPT 491 Video and Photographic Art I or SCPT 591 Video and Photographic Art II.

A course of study for still- and moving-image media to include video, film and photography. The program will allow students to work independently and experiment with attention to light, subject matter and point of view with assistance from individual instruction. Professor Mills will also lead students on additional walks and hikes that are of particular interest to photographers and video and filmmakers. Students are required to bring all equipment needed including cameras (video and or still), tape and film (a one-hour tape, multiple memory cards or 24 exposure-film is recommended per day), rechargeable batteries (extra batteries are recommended), battery charger (for video and digital cameras) and an AC-power converter (220v to U.S. 110v). A wide-angle lens is highly recommended. Inexpensive wide angle lens adaptors are required for students shooting video. Tripods are optional and in some instances may not be recommended for hikes. Flexible ‘mini tripods’ are recommended. A comfortable, durable, rugged camera bag is important since students will encounter differing environments that include moisture, dust and vibration. It is essential to have lens cleaning capacities.

Art History: ARTH 489 Advanced Art History in Peru or ARTH 591 Advanced Art History in Peru.

Art and architecture of Inca and Colonial Peru: An in-depth study of visual culture in the Andes, c. 1500-1800. Lectures held throughout the duration of students’ stay in Peru will be supplemented with visits to art and archaeology museums in Lima and Cuzco. The course will focus on the Inca, the dominant empire in the Andes prior to the Spanish conquest, as well as the colonial culture that emerged under Spanish rule in the 16th through 18th centuries. Each student will be required to complete a series of assigned readings and a workbook, which must be submitted to the instructor at the end of the course.

English: ENGL 305 Creative Writing, ENGL 435 Advanced Workshop in Poetry, ENGL 437 Advanced Workshop in Fiction, ENGL 439 Advanced Workshop in Nonfiction, ENGL 666 Workshop in Poetry, ENGL 667 Workshop in Fiction, ENGL 672 Workshop in Nonfiction, ENGL 391 South American Literary Traditions or ENGL 691 South American Literary Traditions.

ENGL 305, 435, 437, 439, 666, 667 672: Students will sign up for the course in the genre of their interest. Students will attend group workshop meeting involving all students, as well as meet with the instructor for individual tutorials. Primarily a workshop focusing on the writing of its participants, the course will provide a forum for discussing the approaches and techniques of contemporary writers with a special focus on writers from South America, and will enable workshop participants to expand and improve their own writing. The course offers students a chance to benefit from their travel in several ways — through experiences that are richer because they are recorded and reconsidered in writing, as well as through encountering the voices, rhythms and strategies of writers from other cultures as well as their own. The course’s final product will be a portfolio of writing in the genre chosen by the student, which will be presented in its final form to the instructor after our return from Peru.

ENGL 391, 620: Offered at the undergraduate and graduate level, this course will offer a survey of important literary figures from South America, including Peru, and will examine important movements and approaches such as “magic realism.” Students will read most work in translation, but will also be offered the chance to engage in some translation exercises and comparisons themselves (for which previous formal language study will not be required). The course will ultimately result in a final writing project to be turned in after the students’ return from Peru.

Spanish: Students will have varied assignments during the first four weeks of the trip depending on how they have registered for classes. Students then will spend the final two weeks of the program (June 20 – July 5, 2007) in intensive language courses complemented by an immersion in Peruvian culture by living with families in Lima.

Students will be expected to complete the following course work during the first four weeks of the trip:

SPAN 201 and SPAN 202: Complete readings and answer questions in written form. They also will be expected to keep a word list of words and phrases that they learn from each day’s activities, as well as conduct simple interviews with native speakers.

SPAN 205: Students also will be expected to compile word lists from each day’s activities. As this class is conversational Spanish students will be expected to conduct and record in a journal numerous interviews about topics relevant to their travels and Peruvian culture and history.

SPAN 300: Students will be responsible for completing readings and answering questions in a written form from their textbook. They also will be expected to maintain a journal in Spanish that records their observations and analysis of their travels as well as interviews conducted during the trip.

Program cost: Visual and Literary Arts: $2,430 + airfare + applicable VCU tuition
Spanish Language: $2,700 + airfare + applicable VCU tuition

The program fees include the following:

Accommodations
Study visits and tours
In-country transportation to sites in Lima, Ica, Cuzco and Machu Picchu
Some meals
VCU administrative fees
International Student Identification Card
Program director’s expenses

The following are NOT included in the program fee. Students are responsible for:

Tuition
Airfare
Some meals
Other miscellaneous personal expenses (estimated at $550 – $800)

Please budget for these additional expenses.

Tuition: Tuition is charged separately and additionally at standard VCU rates for in-state students and at a 40 percent discount for out-of-state students. Estimated costs, based on current tuition per credit, are as follows: undergraduate in-state, $179 (per 3-credit class: $537); undergraduate out-of-state, $401 (per 3-credit class: $1,203); graduate in-state, $379 (per 3-credit class: $1,137); graduate out-of-state, $533 ($1,599 per 3-credit class).

Payment of fees: The nonrefundable registration fee of $50 is due upon registration. A nonrefundable deposit of $200 is due two weeks after receipt of acceptance packet. Students who register after April 1 must pay the deposit and registration fee together upon registration. The balance of the program fee and the tuition costs (based on the number of credits taken) will be billed separately through VCU Student Accounting after May 2007. (Both amounts may be billed at the same time.)
Airfare: Airfare is not included. Participants are responsible for their own roundtrip travel arrangements from the U.S. to Lima, Peru. Javier Tapia will assist participants in identifying a low-cost option for the group. For the best fares, students should purchase their tickets prior to April 15. Although students may choose a personal travel agent to buy the airline ticket, they must arrive at the same time with the rest of the group. Contact Javier Tapia for the specific arrival time in Lima.

Application deadline: March 23, 2007.* Applications will be accepted until the deadline, or until participant space is full.
*If students want to hike the Inca Trail, March 15, 2007, is the deadline for turning in a photocopy of their passport and ISIC to the Education Abroad office.

Activities and excursions: The program begins in Lima, Peru, where students will spend three days visiting museums and cathedrals. The group will then begin a three-day trip to the Urubamba valley to visit Inca ruins and the Maras salt mines. Participants then will head to Cuzco for 15 days punctuated by the amazing Corpus Christi festival and an optional four-day trek on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. After leaving Cuzco, the group will travel to Ica for a variety of activities including a boat tour of the Ballestas Islands. After returning to Lima, those who are participating in the Spanish language program will stay in Lima for two weeks while the rest of the group will stay for only one day before returning to the U.S.

Please note: Participants must submit a photocopy of their passport to the VCU Education Abroad by March 15, 2007, in order to be eligible to hike the Inca Trail. Students not already in possession of a valid passport should apply for one no later than Jan. 23 to ensure receipt by March 15.

Accommodations and meals: Participants will be housed in a variety of accommodations including hotels, a historic monastery, hostels and camping facilities for those on the Inca Trail. Most meals are included as a part of the program. Students who participate in the Spanish language program will stay in a family homestay for the final two weeks in Lima. Breakfast and dinner will be included during the homestay.

Financial aid: Eligible VCU students may apply for need-based financial aid to participate in this program. Contact VCU Financial Aid, Ginter House, Room 110B; call (804) 828-6669 or e-mail faidmail@vcu.edu. VCU offers its students a limited number of scholarships for study abroad participation. Contact VCU Education Abroad or click here for further details.

Passports: If you have a passport, make sure it is valid for at least six months after your return date. If you do not have a passport, apply early because the processing time is up to eight weeks. For more information on how to apply, visit http://travel.state.gov.

Program directors: Drawing courses are conducted by Javier Tapia, a professor of painting and printmaking at VCU for 18 years who has led the trip to Peru for the past 10 years. A native of Peru, Tapia has extensive knowledge of the area and the culture.

Photography, film and videography courses are led by Scott DuPre Mills, award-winning filmmaker, photographer and multimedia artist. The founder and director of the VCU International Student Film Festival, Mills is working on his Ph.D. with VCU’s new Media, Art and Text program. He holds a B.F.A. in Sculpture and a M.F.A. in Photography and Film. Mills is producing a documentary about the world renowned VCU French Film Festival and is involved with the development of streaming video content for VCU’s Blackbird online journal. Mills screened his ongoing documentary film “VCU in PERU” in Cusco in 2004 and has served as an instructor with the study abroad program since 2003.

Michael Schreffler conducts the art history courses. Professor Schreffler received his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in 2000 and is a specialist in the art of colonial Latin America. Gregory Donovan, a poet, fiction writer and editor, leads the writing courses. His work has been published in such journals as “New England Review,” “The Southern Review,” “The Kenyon Review” and “Alaska Quarterly Review,” as well authored the poetry collection “Calling His Children Home.” Winner of the Devins Award, Donovan is a senior editor for Blackbird, the online journal of literature and the arts.

Monika Ciesielkiewicz, a VCU Spanish instructor and professional interpreter and translator, is pursuing her Ph.D. in applied linguistics at the University of Granada, Spain. She has taught all levels of Spanish (graduate and undergraduate) and has directed two study abroad programs to Spain.

Every effort is made to provide updated and accurate information at the time of publication. The sponsors reserve the right to make necessary changes to the programs and costs.