2-credit interdisciplinary seminar, runs second half of semester, Fall 2008

Enrollment restricted to students studying abroad in the spring of 2009.

This course is for students preparing for a study-abroad experience during spring 2009.  Working in small groups and on individualized projects, students read travel literature and other works about the place they’re going, study its culture (art, architecture, music, history, food, etc.), and work with maps, guidebooks, and other orientation tools.  In order to practice getting into the mindset of the traveler, the course also encourages students to look at New York through the eyes of the foreigner by exploring the city as a tourist (visiting museums, tourist attractions, etc.) and by reading travel writing about New York.  Students are required to blog about their responses to the readings and other assignments, and to work with the students abroad who are taking The Art of Travel course.  Enrollment is restricted to students studying abroad during spring 2009.  Reading assignments are individualized for the city and country of each study-abroad site, but some readings are for the whole class: these may include selections from de Botton’s The Art of Travel, Urry’s The Tourist Gaze, MacCannell’s The Tourist, and Leed’s The Mind of the Traveler.