The faculty in the Religious Studies Department is well-traveled.  We teach about religious traditions throughout the world, and some of our members conduct their scholarly research in various foreign countries.  For that reason, we encourage our students to enrich their study of religion by means of college-sponsored study abroad programs.  In the recent past our students have studied on six of the seven continents of the world-North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia.  The religious studies courses that our students take in foreign institutions count toward their religious studies major or minor at Gettysburg. Although most of our students study abroad for a single semester, students are permitted to study for two semesters in two different locations.  Therefore, we encourage students to study abroad during the sophomore year, so that they can go abroad again during one of the two semesters of their junior year or during the first semester of their senior year.  As you will see from the testimonials that some of our majors and minors have written, study abroad adds an important dimension to one's educational experience at Gettysburg College. 

 

Erica Sieg

I studied abroad through the Washington Semester Program at American University. Each student enrolled is expected to have an internship in DC as well as enrolls in a seminar.   I chose the "Peace and Conflict Resolution" seminar, which took us to meetings with officials within the State Department, The United States Institute of Peace, NGOs, IGOs, and Ambassadors all over DC. My DC experience was incredible, I loved my internship with a small marketing company as well as meeting influential people all over the Nation's Capitol. In March, my class of 16 students traveled abroad for one month working with individuals in Cyprus, Greece, and Turkey.  My time there was life-changing. In Cyprus, we met with individuals striving for peace and reunification between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots as well as we helped rehab families with members who went missing during the Civil War. My class worked with UN officials and even saw a facility that housed the remains of missing persons from mass graves. We met with the current and former President of Greek Cyprus as well as the former president of Turkish Cyprus. In Greece, we worked with former victims of human slavery and helped support the cause of the NGO the "No Project" (which rehabs and negotiates for human rights of human slaves).  We also saw Greek Parliament and got to sit in on a Greek Parliament meeting before the continued uprisings in April as well as we observed public unrest.  In Turkey, we worked with human rights advocates for Kurdish and Armenian individuals within the state as well as we studied the actions of the current AKP government and the changing rights of women within the state.  We also had a private meeting with the Turkish leader of the Greek Orthodox Church in the heart of Istanbul as well as we were able to see the Blue Mosque and the Ana Sofia.  I do not have one negative thing to say about the program--it is an experience that I will remember for the rest of my life. 

Some of my classmates and I outside of the temple of Athena on the Greek Island "Aegina."	The Acropolis in Athens, Greece
Image of the ceiling inside of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul	Turkish Embassy:" My classmates and I with the Consular from the Turkish Embassy in DC.

Dallas Grubbs

While in England, I had the opportunity to study in both the Georgian city of Bath and the medieval city of Oxford through the Advanced Studies in England program. Both of these famous cities have a colorful-and sometimes controversial-history that is deeply rooted in the Christian tradition. As a student at both ASE Bath and St. Peter's, Oxford, it was relatively easy for me to immerse myself in the rich cultural heritage of the island, a proud land whose traditions, language, and customs proved both familiar and shockingly dissimilar from our own.

The Ruins of Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh, Scotland	View of All Soul’s College from the spire of the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford
The Column of Victory on the grounds of Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire	Tudor and Stuart England class with Professor John Stevenson outside Montacute House, Somerset

 Kyra Jenney

I spent my Spring 2011 semester abroad in Brisbane, Australia studying religion and philosophy at the University of Queensland.  Taking a variety of courses in religion, including a course on Buddhism and a course on the body and soul, I furthered my studies in the major while also having the opportunity to travel across Australia and to South East Asia.  One of the best experiences of my Gettysburg career, studying abroad in Australia opened my eyes to the wonderful world of traveling while also giving me an appreciation of and understanding for people of different cultural and religious backgrounds. 

With two friends on an IFSA-Butler outing to the Hinterland near Gold Coast in southern Queensland.	With two friends on a road trip through Queensland. We're stopped in the hills outside of Burleigh Heads, Queensland
With a friend in the Muslim country of Brunei during my Spring Break. Brunei is the smallest country in the world!	Me at the Tiger Temple north of Bangkok in the Katchanaburi province. Buddhist monks can be seen in the background having breakfast following the morning giving of alms.

Caitlin Kaltenbach

In the fall semester of 2010, I had the amazing opportunity to expand my love of history and my appreciation for world culture when I studied European Culture and History at the Danish Institute for Study Abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark. I lived with an wonderful family, the Rechendorff Møllers, who opened my eyes to the Danish way of life. My host father, Frank, worked for the Danish Ministry of Culture and it was very important to them that I learned what it meant to be a Dane. Together we explored all of Copenhagen visiting museums, art galleries, and the occasional cafe. As a History and Religious Studies double major, I furthered my studies by taking interdisciplinary classes such as Czech Republic: Memory & Identity; Muslims in the West; Women, Art, & Identity; and Holocaust and Genocide. During my Muslims in the West class, we spent a day at a Danish-Muslim center and interviewed members on what it was like to be Muslim in a country as secular as Denmark. I continued my out of classroom learning by taking week long study trips with my classes to Jutland, the Czech Republic, and London. Choosing to study abroad in Copenhagen was my best decision as a Gettysburg College student, besides of course declaring my Religious Studies major! This experience gave me a much greater understanding of religions and cultures from around the world.

With my Danish host sisters, Anna and Maja!	Overlooking Prague
Nice, France- Nina Li '11, Caitlin Kaltenbach '12, Brittany Brown (Religious Studies minor) '12, Niki Shrestha '12	Nyhavn with Nina Li '11