Short-term Trips Abroad Offer a Unique Learning Experience

Traditionally, students who chose to study abroad spent a semester attending classes and living at a college or university in another country. That experience is changing, as more college students are choosing short-term study abroad trips, a less expensive option that often fits better into their four-year academic schedule. According to the 2008 edition of Open Door, an annual national survey conducted by the Institute of International Education, the proportion of students going on short-term programs (lasting between two and eight weeks) rose from 52.8 percent in 2005-06 to 55.4 percent in 2006-07. "Many universities have been investing heavily in short-term, faculty-led programs of late," the report stated.

York College is no exception. For several years, a handful of faculty members have taken students on such short-term trips. Nursing students have traveled to Guatemala and Uganda on service-learning trips, and chemistry professor Keith Peterman has taken students in his chemistry and society course to Costa Rica during spring break.  

Thanks to the initiative of some newer faculty members and financial support from the College, a greater number of York students will have the opportunity to experience short-term study abroad. Two groups recently participated in such trips during Minimester in May. David Fyfe, assistant professor of geography (Department of History and Political Science), led a group to Peru for his geography course Culture and Environments Field Series: Peru, Land of the Inca, and Eric Ling, associate professor of criminal justice (Department of Behavioral Sciences), traveled to London with students in his Comparative Criminal Justice course. 

"It's great to work at a college where innovative ideas receive such support," said Dean of Academic Affairs William T. Bogart. "The College is encouraging these trips by providing financial assistance to students because we recognize the realities of study abroad that might prevent some from participating. We're making an effort to make the experience more affordable and convenient." 

In addition, helping students better appreciate globalization, including enhanced study abroad opportunities, has been one of the College's ongoing strategic planning goals. 

Research by the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities suggests that students who go overseas for a short period of time, four weeks or less, are just as likely as those who study abroad for several months or even a year to be globally engaged. "That's the outcome we're looking for," Bogart said, "so the College will continue to support these short-term experiences if students can attain global awareness through them."

Planning is underway for several more trips during next summer's Minimester. Fyfe will offer the second in his series, a visit to Egypt to explore the pyramids, raft down the Nile River and visit the Valley of the Kings. Ling will return with his students to London, and faculty in the Department of English and Humanities are also planning an England trip.  

Peru

David Fyfe and ten students (with various majors) visited Lima, the capital of Peru, Cuzco, center of the Inca Empire, and Machu Picchu, the "Lost City of the Inca," during their Minimester course. Throughout the trip, they studied the human and physical geographies of Peru, covering topics that included globalization, sustainable tourism, cultural and historical geography, economic development, climate, topography and environmental conservation. The nine-day trip took them around the country, allowing each student to study individuals topics based on his or her academic interests. 

"I take students to locations and cultures very different than ours to look at issues from a different perspective," Fyfe said. "They often learn more about a place in two weeks than they’d learn in an entire semester." 

After they returned from the trip, Fyfe's students were required to share the journal they kept and present a photo essay to members of the campus community. 

Fyfe teaches world regional geography, and he knows from personal experience that learning on-site is most effective. A former paratrooper, he's traveled extensively. "I've studied a lot of places, and I know best those that I've visited," he said. "I want students to have that opportunity, too."

The Student Perspective

Jamie Gray '10, a psychology major from Delta, Pa., wrote this article for the York College Magazine as an assignment for the course culture and environments field series.

We arrived in Lima to briefly visit Peru's major metropolitan area, which is similar to the chaotic urban areas of the United States. However, some critical differences between Lima and U.S. cities were apparent. Transportation in Lima is based on independently operated buses, often filled to capacity. A surprising aspect of Lima's climate stood out.  During the majority of our time there, the desert city was covered in a blanket of dense fog due to the cold Humboldt Current off the warm coast. It also took some time to adjust to the "fishy" smell that was rampant especially near the airport.

Travel from Lima to the more elevated dry climate of Cusco required an adjustment to the altitude and the intense sunlight of the highlands. Within the city, we found colonial Spanish architecture, as well as ancient ruins. Some of the Spanish churches and cathedrals were deliberately built on top of the Incan ruins. We often had the opportunity to interact and barter with the local vendors. Some of them spoke English well and many were children. The food was delectable and, at times unique. One doesn't find alpaca and cuy, a.k.a. guinea pig, on an American menu.

Two major Incan ruins were visited in the Cusco area. The puma-shaped Sacsaywayman overlooks Cusco to the northeast and is integral to that city's Incan history. The incredible Incan site of Ollantaytambo is in the Urubamba River Valley to the east of Cusco. The Urubamba flows north to the final major target of the trip: Machu Picchu.

After an early-morning train ride from Ollantaytambo, we arrived at the quaint town of Machu Picchu Village. We then ventured nearly 2000 feet up the switchback mountain road by fast moving bus to tour the famous ruins. This gave us our first glimpse of the incredible landscape surrounding the majestic highland retreat of the Incas.  

We were all appreciative of the opportunity to participate in this first Cultures and Environments Field Series class and to experience Peru and its people "on the ground." Students were able to learn not only about another culture and way of life, but more about themselves. The knowledge students gained on this journey will remain with them for the rest of their lives.

David Fyfe

David Fyfe is originally from a small town in the northern Catskills of central New York. He served in the 82nd Airborne division of the U.S. Army for three-and-a-half years. During that time, he spent six months in Egypt on the Sinai Peninsula as part of the Multinational Force and Observers upholding the Camp David Accords of 1978. 

After the military, Fyfe backpacked Europe for nearly four months before entering college. He then earned a bachelor's degree in history and geography from the State University of New York College at Oneonta. He received a master's degree in 2004 and a doctorate in 2008 at The Pennsylvania State University. 

Fyfe's research interests include historical geography, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), tourism and service-learning. His dissertation examined patterns of connectivity in small-town America around the turn of the 20th century. He used GIS to map and analyze historic hotel guest registers, local newspapers, business invoices, as well as diaries. Other research topics include historical geography of the bottled water industry, traveling vaudeville and circus routes, small-town heritage tourism, and the impact of transportation and communication technologies on rural America.   

Fyfe is planning to teach a course, International Service Learning: Making a Difference in a Globalizing World, to be offered during the Fall 2010 and Spring 2011 semesters that will include an international travel component to south India for two weeks during the Winter Break. While in India, students will work in orphanages operated by the organization Homes of the Indian Nation (www.hoina.org). 

London

York College students who took Comparative Criminal Justice have in the past traveled to New York City as part of the course. Eric Ling, who taught the course for the first time during 2009 Minimester, decided to venture overseas to offer his students a glimpse of the criminal justice system of another country. "It seemed appropriate to offer an international experience with the course," he said, "and my previous contacts in England allowed me to arrange a trip during which students could find out for themselves more about the three components of criminal justice: courts, corrections and law enforcement."

Ling's students met several times before the trip to help them prepare. "They participated in the planning and asked questions about criminal justice, the weather, what to pack, etc.," he said. That prep time paid off at the first site visit, the Peel Center, when every student in the class asked a question. "That visit set the tone for subsequent visits," Ling said. "The interesting thing is that the visits turned out to be a great collaborative effort because law enforcement personnel from London also asked students questions about the U.S. criminal justice system."

Ling and his students also visited the Royal Courts of Justice, the Tower of London (which served as a jail until World War II), the British Transport Police, and Her Majesty's Prison in Sudbury, an open prison where students met with an inmate who had a key to his cell that contained his personal items and a car that he drove to work. 

"The open prison was an eye-opener for students," Ling said, "This course is about comparing systems of criminal justice. These students could see the differences between England and the United States for themselves. That understanding was reflected in their journals and class reports."

The Student Perspective

Doug Bilter '10, a criminal justice major from Marriottsville, Md., who has worked as a seasonal police officer for the Ocean City (Md.) Police Department, had some interesting observations about police practices in England compared to those in the United States. 

During our trip to the Hendon Police College (Peel Center), we spoke with a detective – chief inspector Dave Little – who was very knowledgeable on current events and trends. He explained that the police academy in London is shorter than ours and said it was more of a college type atmosphere. There are no drill instructors yelling at the recruits, which I thought was nice. 

Little shared that London has approximately 200 murders a year with a clearance rate near 90 percent. That is unbelievable! Baltimore has 200 murders in a long week. The crime rate in London is incredibly low compared to the United States.  I wondered how that could be, and I drew some conclusions. For one, London is a city that does not have gun problems. Citizens are not allowed to bear arms unless a permit is granted. Because of this, the crime rate with a firearm involved is very low. This could be one of the reasons why police in London do not carry firearms unless they are in a special unit. 

During our briefing, Little also talked about how the community generally like police officers and are very supportive. It seems to me like the majority of people in the United States do not like cops, because they give tickets and write up people for crimes. Maybe people in London are more grateful for what they have than people in the United States.

London has totally changed my perspective on how policing is done and how it should be done, and has taught me things to do and things not to do. It was  life changing to see the cultural differences between countries and the interaction you have between people from different parts of the world. The presentations and interactions between police officers from London were great and very informative. It also gave me a good perspective on what people from other countries think about Americans.

I think my perspective of the policing field will be different due to this trip, because I was able to see how police in London handle things. This trip to London was a great help to having a well-rounded education in the field of criminal justice, and it is a trip I soon won't forget.

Eric Ling

Eric Ling joined the faculty in January 2007 as associate professor in the Department of Behavioral Sciences. He earned a master's degree and a doctoral degree at The Ohio State University, having completed his bachelor of social science at the University of Birmingham in England. He earned his Certificate of Education in England as well. 

A native of England, Ling worked there with inner-city youth, first as a part-time detached youth and community worker – responsible for making contact with "disaffected youth" in the inner city. He was later employed as full-time detached youth leader with special responsibility for immigrant youth. 

Ling's work with young offenders and at-risk youth also included employment with the English government's Intermediate Treatment programs, where he met with small groups of young offenders to deal with issues around offending and relating to others.  

Ling's current research interests are with social inequality and crime, and sentencing disparities. He is a member of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, where he regularly presents papers at its annual meetings. Ling is also a member of the York County Gang Prevention Initiative.

When a group of York College students spent a week in Russia in April of 1973 with Leonid Murog, PhD, their experience was a bit different than that of today's students. 

Linda '73 and Chris '73 Michael Wyomissing, Pa.

As I remember, the country had just recently been opened to Western travelers, and we were shown pretty much what the Soviet government wanted us to see. I had traveled to western Europe and Scandinavia in the past and was not prepared for the restrictions and the lower standard of living that we found in St. Petersburg and Moscow. On the other hand, we were introduced to incredible art and historical artifacts at the Hermitage Museum, the current scientific advances at the Aerospace Center, as well as fantastic cultural experiences such as the Bolshoi Ballet.  

Travel is always an enriching experience, but the most profound and lasting impression that I think it made on all of us students was the realization that we are very fortunate to be Americans and how wonderful it is to come home.

Maryll Nokes '74 Dover, Pa.

Our trip was the first time Murog had returned to Russia since escaping 25 years before. It was a unique opportunity for us students, because at that time not many people were able to visit Russia. That added a bit of excitement and intrigue. 

We flew out of JFK and landed into Leningrad, then took the midnight train to Moscow. Evidently, the government didn't want us to see the countryside, so we had to travel at night. There were other similar restrictions placed on us. For instance, we received a long list of things, like bridges, we couldn't take photos of. And a group of us almost got arrested. In exchange for chewing gum, the Russian children would give us little Communist medals. We had a little gathering (pictured) in front of St. Basil Cathedral, a ceremony during which we paid our respects to Larry Cartwright '73, a classmate nicknamed "The Colonel."  The government didn't appreciate that, and we were asked to disperse.

Alyse Reesie '73 Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

Priceless works of art at the Hermitage, Gleaming gold turrets at the Summer Palace, Faberge Eggs, and chandeliers in subways! These were a few of the things that dazzled us during the trip from April 18 -25, 1973.  But what has made a lasting impression on me was the stark contrast in cultures.   

I don't think any of us were prepared for the stark contrast of the USSR to the free wheeling USA of the '70s!  What immediately jarred us into the realism that we were no longer in the Land of the Free, happened immediately after disembarking the plane was when everyone's luggage was thoroughly searched! Socks unrolled, personal items overly scrutinized, and magazines and Bibles were confiscated! I'm not sure if my memory plays tricks after all of these years, but I think the confiscated items were returned when we left the country.