Not only are travel courses fun, but they also present students with the opportunity to apply concepts they’ve learned in the classroom to real-life situations; immersing them in new cultures and experiences that will veritably expand their worldview. An added outcome is that most will also come away from such an experience with the ability to perceive and approach challenges in a more creative way. This past June, a cohort of fifteen students along with Dr.’s Kelli and Patrick Fuery traveled to London on a ten day summer travel course titled CCI 333: CCI and International Contexts. During the course they were given the opportunity to explore the multiple intersections of culture, creativity and the CCI’s through the context of the city of London. This included visits to cultural institutions such as The National Gallery; walks around iconic landmarks such as Camden Market and Shakespeare's globe; tastes of new foods at local restaurants and street markets; and individual explorations of the city through the interests of each student.
Layla Moore ‘23, a Business administration major and Karsyn Aoki ’23, a Philosophy and Political Science double major were among the fifteen who decided to embark on the journey across the pond. Both Layla and Karsyn had never taken any CCI courses prior to their trip, nor are they CCI minors. However, when both of their study abroad programs were canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, they knew that they still “wanted a chance to go abroad with Chapman to a great location for a shorter period of time compared to a regular semester.” In their search for the perfect destination, they quickly found that aside from traveling to London– a place famous for its art, architecture, food and fashion; they both enjoyed the possibility of being able “to explore a wide range of creative topics, and view the art and history of the city through a different lens”, in addition to learning new concepts in different areas of study that they hadn’t been previously exposed to in their current academic courses.
Reflecting on her experience two months later, Karsyn explains how her favorite part of the trip were all the museums she was able to visit such as, “The National Gallery which had famous and iconic works of art that was amazing to see in person.” She also enjoyed working with professors “who gave the course life and showed why they were passionate about the things they were teaching which overall was really a special kind of insight to gain.” Similarly, Layla expressed how “every activity [they] did throughout the course was fantastic”. According to her, “the Fuerys’ made everything so fun and enlightening, and their passion for the subject and the city was the best part.”
Both Layla and Karsyn feel as though their time abroad ultimately opened up their eyes to the interconnectedness of the world and the role that the creative and cultural industries play in it. They both said that they would “one hundred percent recommend this trip to any student (CCI minor or not), because the professors are incredible people, the city is remarkable, and the trip showed a snippet of the world that [they] had never seen before.” Layla explains that as a business major “from the business perspective it was interesting to see how much CCI in big cities stimulate the economy. CCI is very similar to business in the way that they both focus a lot on innovation and growth.” As a Philosophy and Political Science major, Karsyn felt like she “was able to get so much more from the experience that [she] ever anticipated.” She explains that “even though I'm not a CCI student, being able to look at all of these different industries in the international context it was in gives me such a better understanding of others and how influential creative industries really can be. I’ll definitely take this experience with me as I enter the workforce and grad school in the coming years!”
Photo L to R:
CCI students eating at Swann Pub. Photo of the Oxford Botanical Gardens. Photo of inside Borough Market.
We would like to extend a thank you to all the students who participated in this course and Dr.’s Kelli and Patrick Fuery for embarking on this journey with their students. If you and your friends are interested in partaking in this travel course, we are excited to announce that CCI 333: CCI and International Contexts will be running this coming January 2023! For more insight on the trip, check out this awesome video that one of our students; Ashley Konheim, put together of her time there this Summer!
Be sure to keep an eye out for a general description, updates, and first steps that will be posted soon on the Center for Global Education's web page and the CCI instagram page.
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