This five-week summer session program explores the history and culture of Spain from the base cities of Madrid and Barcelona.  Coursework includes History Field Studies (one unit), an overview of the past 500 years of Spanish history, and Creativity and Culture (three units), a humanities class featuring experiential learning opportunities about Spanish art, food, and cultural life in general.  After a week on the GCC campus covering material and orienting ourselves to the logistics of studying abroad, the program moves to Madrid with a three-week stay in the exclusive Salamanca neighborhood.  In the Spanish capital, we will visit the world-famous museums the Prado and Reina Sofia, sample delicious Spanish cuisine (including chocolate con churros), and take in the beauty of flamenco.  Outside Madrid, we will also day-trip to the romantic medieval cities of Toledo and Segovia.  We then take high-speed train to spend the remainder of the program in Barcelona, where we will visit Gaudí architectural masterpieces, study the early career of Picasso, and stroll around the seaside Gothic Quarter.

PROGRAM COSTS: $3,350

Program Fee Includes:

Accommodations:

• 19 nights Madrid
• 6 nights Barcelona

Group airport transfers and high-speed train transportation from Madrid to Barcelona

Admissions to Prado, Reina Sofia, Casa Mila, Picasso Museum, and Sagrada Familia

Side trips to Toledo and Segovia including bus transportation; admissions to Toledo's Cathedral, Santo Tome, and Santa Maria la Blanca; and admissions to Segovia's Cathedral and Alcazar

Admission to flamenco performance

Welcome dinner, breakfast fund, churros tasting, and farewell dinner

Price Does Not Include:

Airfare LAX to MAD and BCN to LAX (estimated at $1,500 if purchased early)

GCC tuition for four units of coursework (non-residents are required to pay out-of-state fees)

Mandatory travel insurance (depends on cover limits and age but can range from $50 to $200+)

Textbooks

Most meals and beverages

Visas (needed for all travelers)

Any Covid-19 quarantine expenses or testing for airlines and country entry requirements (if needed)

Excursions and entry fees beyond those listed

Anything else not specified as “included”

If you cancel, all payments are considered non-refundable. However, if we find a qualified replacement for your spot a refund will be issued minus any non-recoverable costs.

Space is limited to approximately 24 students, so act quickly.

Additional charges may be incurred for late payments or returned checks.

The courses that are offered as part of the program are usually transferable to the University of California and the California State University. Check with your academic advisor for possible exceptions.

Students must enroll in both courses offered as part of the program (four credit units).

• HIST 48: History International Field Studies (one unit) taught by Prof. Kevin Mack
  Madrid (and its environs) and Barcelona will be considered open-air laboratories for thinking through history and its contemporary resonance as historians. The field studies course will ask students to apply Spain to many major trends of the past few centuries: cultural conflict and coexistence, nation-building and colonialism, nationalism and the nineteenth-century nationalistic struggles, and fascism and twentieth-century total war. On-site learning experiences will facilitate creative imaginings of past lives as well as considerations of the use of history in the construction of national, ethnic, gender, sexual, and religious identities.
  
  

• HUMAN 117: Creativity and Culture (three units) taught by Prof. Maite Peterson
  HUMAN 117 asks students “to explore the creative process and ask what has led to, as well as what results from, works of art” as well as to “analyze, synthesize, draw inferences, propose new ideas, support theses, reach logical conclusions, and become active participants in the artistic process.” The museums and cultural sites of Madrid and Barcelona are incredible classrooms for investigating different forms of art and creativity, including architecture, music, and dance. Spanish historical sites offer first-hand evidence of the many influences relevant to creativity, such as religion, war and conquest, and other historical factors. Moreover, the program will feature multiple experiential learning opportunities beyond the tourist sites. For instance, while in Spain we will consider the influences of the Romans, Moors, Italians, and French on the creativity of Catalonian cuisine.

Prof. Kevin Mack

E-mail: kmack@glendale.edu

Students are required to complete a formal application.  The application includes a character reference, an academic reference and personal information.  Complete applications with the required deposits are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Most participants will be 18 years or older.  Accommodations can be made for those under 18 with parental permission and recommendation from a counselor.

A pre-departure conference with each student by the Study Abroad program director must be held.  When a concern is raised, an instructor can ask the Study Abroad Director to conduct the conference before a student is admitted to a program.

Students should have a minimum GPA of 2.5 and no history of disciplinary action at GCC or any other campus.  Exceptions may be granted by the Study Abroad Director.

Students will be notified promptly in writing should they not be accepted into a program.

Program participants will be required to sign the forms “General Release of Liability” and “Assumption of Risk for Participation in Voluntary Activity.”

Students do not need to have a declared major in the classes they are taking abroad, and there is no language prerequisite for the program.