College of Lake County students spread around the world this summer
While their peers start summer jobs or return to campus for summer classes, around 50 College of Lake County students will travel internationally for course credit and a unique learning experience.
Cooking in Peru, soaking in the culture of Japan, playing music in China and touring Europe are some of the experiences students and faculty members will have on study abroad trips this month.
The trips are coordinated by the CLC's Center for International Education, which recently won the Innovation in International Education Andrew Heiskell Award for outstanding work.
"CLC has a long history of providing a breadth of study abroad experiences at a reasonable cost," Liliana Ware, of the CLC Center for International Education, said in a statement.
Culinary students and faculty chefs will venture to Lima, Peru to study and practice Peruvian cooking and baking techniques. The 15 students and two faculty chefs will be hosted by Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola. There will also be sightseeing and a trip to the world-famous Machu Picchu Archaeological Park.
Eleven CLC students will travel to Ehime University in Matsuyama, Japan, to learn about Japanese culture and international films. The students will live in dorms and stay with local families. Students also will visit important sites in and around Kyoto and Tokyo.
Four instrumental music students will visit China from May 17 to June 1 to perform jazz music at the American Culture Center at Xi'an International University and two other Chinese universities. The group will also visit famous historical and cultural sites, such as Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, the Great Wall of China and the Beijing Olympics Campus.
The China trip is sponsored by a U.S. Department of State American Cultural Centers grant. In 2012, CLC won a State department grant that established an American Culture Center at XAIU, the only community college selected.
Some 17 students of all ages will visit Milan and Venice in Italy, Ljubljana in Slovenia and Zagreb, Split and Dubrovnik in Croatia during a two-week trip.
"I'm looking forward to the thrill and excitement on the students' faces when they ride in a gondola, taste real gelato in Venice, climb the city wall of Dubrovnik and wander through the ruins of Diocletian's Palace in Split," English and Humanities Professor Nick Schevera said. "Many of these students have never traveled internationally before, and I hope this experience will whet their appetite for future travel."