The idea of spending a month abroad may bring to mind images of bus tours and cameras snapping away at majestic castles. But for students who travel with May Term courses at Illinois Wesleyan, there is more to discover than famous sites and guidebooks. They find themselves immersed in the differing cultures, peoples and ideas.
May Term is a month-long opportunity for IWU students to study a single subject intensively. The concept is designed for total immersion in order to erase the barrier between in-class and out-of-class learning. Illinois Wesleyan professors take students on a wide range of locales across the globe, such as sociology professor Teodora Amoloza, who journeyed to Hawaii with students to explore the cultural impact of immigration on a state has no majority group. Students of Scott Sheridan, associate professor of French, traveled to Italy to take in not only the art and artistry of Renaissance Italy, but the present-day lives of residents of the country.
This May Term, Professor of English Jim Plath took students to Ireland to study Irish poetry and art, which meant meeting with Irish artists. After visiting the tourist-friendly areas of Galway and Killarney, students stayed with Irish families in the remote village of Allihies. Near the village is the Allihies Language and Arts Center, where some of the country’s most noted Irish artists and poets came to speak to the students. “There are two things to do in Allihies—talk to the locals or commune with nature,” said Plath. “It’s kind of a hippie area where you find farmers and artists, a rugged and beautiful part of the country.”
Some of the students stayed with families who had no heat in their bedrooms or had to walk for 30 minutes to get to town, and cross a small river. “They all had their stories and adventures, and that’s what writers seek out,” said Plath, who believes the rural nature of the village drew students to the local culture and people. “When you rub shoulders with the locals and combine that with the dramatic beauty of the landscape—the wind, the rain, the mist—the students received an inspiration and an education that goes well beyond books,” he said.