Category: May Term

2018 Summer, May Term

Donald Barry: Post 1

Don Barry H-SC May Term Abroad Münster, Germany Summer 2018 I chose the Muenster Program because of the opportunity it offered for an immersive cultural experience in a city that is far older than our country. I am double majoring in Foreign Affairs and German at Hampden-Sydney College and I believe to truly understand how foreign countries operate you must experience these countries first hand. I was very pleased with the level of hospitality given by my host family. I feel like I am becoming more and more a part of the German society daily by riding on public transport, […]

May Term

Winner of the VFIC Experiential Learning Scholarship

Jack Dawson Spain 2016 During my airplane flight to Spain for the Hampden-Sydney May Term, I was a little apprehensive because I had never studied abroad. I knew Spanish at a decent level, but was concerned I would not be able to converse with my instructors or my host family enough to communicate properly. This was the first trip I had taken where I had to manage getting back and forth to school, handling my own problems (in a foreign language) and exploring a country and its cities on my own (there were some group activities). Since Spanish was the […]

2016 Summer, May Term

Nick Browning: Post 3

Nick Browning H-SC May Term  Abroad Madrid, Spain Summer 2016 Finally Getting Accustomed Classes this week have been more interesting in the sense that we’re finally being able to see how Spain’s history is affecting life today. Most of the issues that Spanish people are dealing with are due to a combination of medieval history and the struggles that the country faced over the last one hundred years. For nearly forty years, from 1939-1975, Spain was ruled by the dictator Francisco Franco. I’m not going to go into all the details of his reign, but just know that some of […]

2016 Summer, May Term

Korbin Bordonie: Post 1

Korbin Bordonie H-SC May Term Abroad Madrid, Spain Summer 2016 Week one After I stepped off the bus into the city of my new home earlier this week, I noticed things were a lot different in Spain. Along with the extremely fast language they speak in Spain, something as small as the layout of their grid of the city is different. This first week I found myself pulling out my phone quite a bit after I got lost a few times to check my GPS. The grid of the city is set out however it fell hundreds of years ago. […]

2016 Summer, May Term

Nick Browning: Post 1

Nick Browning H-SC May Term Abroad Madrid, Spain Summer 2016 My First Week Back I have been lucky enough to be able to return to Alcalá de Henares for the second time during my career at Hampden-Sydney. We are lucky that we are able to return to the historic town and study at one of the oldest universities in Spain: La Universidad de Alcalá de Henares. When I came back, I felt like I never left. The town hasn’t changed at all over the past two years, and with laws in place that maintain the historic feel, I don’t see […]

2015 Summer, May Term

Matt Carter: Post 4

Matt Carter H-SC May Term Abroad Münster, Germany Summer 2015 July 11, 2015 Hello for one last time, the summer Münster program has ended and all of the students have returned home. The experience was definitely one to remember and one I hope that other students will take in the future. Although, it is quite different once you get across the pond; Germany drives on the right side of the road, but much of the similarities stop there. The architecture is a beautiful mixture of old buildings hundreds of years old and modern architecture with glass as the main element. […]

2015 Summer, May Term

Josh Miller: Post 4

Josh Miller H-SC May Term Abroad Mendoza,  Argentina Summer 2015 June 30th I’ve been home for a few days now. I was surprised how large the shock would be returning to an English speaking community. Many of my classmates and I were still saying “por favor” and “gracias” without thinking. I am somewhat relieved though to be back in the states. I really became close with my second host family. I enjoyed getting to know the kids and grandparents during the weekly asado’s on Sundays. I’ll also miss the family’shyper border collie, Símon. I know that I’ll keep in touch […]

2015 Summer, May Term

Josh Miller: Post 3

Josh Miller H-SC May Term Abroad Mendoza, Argentina Summer 2015 June 30th Now that I’ve been in Mendoza for a little more than three weeks, I feel that I am finally getting into the routine the people follow here. Typically, after classes are over at 1:30, I head home for lunch with the host family. In my new host family, the host parents are often busy at work during lunchtime. I usually eat with the three kids and the housekeeper. It is an interesting family dynamic to get used to but I really enjoy the change from the typical American […]

2015 Summer, May Term

Matt Carter: Post 3

Matt Carter H-SC May Term Abroad Münster, Germany Summer 2015 June 28 Today marks a month since we have been in the beautiful country of Germany. We are now wrapping up the semester with final projects, oral exams, and our final written exams in the coming week. Since my last blog the students have done quite a bit here in Münster. As I mentioned in the last post, some of the students were invited to an Opera at the Münster Theater where we were able to watch a French Opera adapted to the German language. It was a very interesting […]

2015 Summer, May Term

Matt Carter: Post 2

Matt Carter H-SC May Term Abroad Münster, Germany Summer 2015 Hello again! Es tut mir leid (I am sorry) about the wait! It has officially been two weeks in Münster and classes are in full swing! So far the students have been enjoying their classes and the city of Münster. A while ago, some of the students embarked on a day trip to Bremerhaven, Germany where we explored the Auswanderer (Emigration) Museum and the Climate Museum. In the Emigration museum we followed the tales of a German man leaving everything he had behind him in Germany as he embarked on […]