Trips of Interest to History Majors

China	Among Christians, Muslims, and Jews	Revisiting the Reformation	Castles, Cathedrals, and the Canon

Select a trip from the options above to see more details.

*Note: Not all of these trips are offered every year. For more detailed information including the trips being offered this year please visit http://www2.gcc.edu/international/.

HUMA 302 in China

Overview:  Led by Dr. Gary Smith, this two-week version of Modern Civilization, takes students to China to examine major historical sites.

Course description: For 11 days students visit major historical, political, and cultural sites in Beijing, Nanjing, and Shanghai.  Highlights of the trip include Tiananman Square, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, the Soong Ching Ling residence, the Great Wall, the Nanjing Massacre Memorial, the Taiping Rebellion Museum, the Nanjing city wall, the Nanjing governmental complex, the Shanghai Museum, the Jin Mao Tower, the Pudong, the Bund, the Nanjing Road shopping area, the building where the Communist Party began in Shanghai, and the Lin Shun Museum.

Click here to see the gallery of pictures from China.

HIST 390: Among Christians, Muslims, and Jews: Salonica and Istanbul

Overview: Led by Mark Graham and Tom Pappalardo, Vice President for Institutional Advancement, this two-week trip visits Thessaloniki and the Isle of Thassos, Greece as well as Istanbul and Ephesus, Turkey.

Course Description: At Salonica and Istanbul, cultures and civilizations have mingled and struggled over the millennia.  A short list of their inhabitants includes Alexander’s Greeks, ancient Romans, Byzantine Christians, Slavic invaders, Norman Crusaders, Italian Sailors, Ottoman Turks, and Jews displaced by the Spanish Inquisition.  Today, this vibrant past lives on in monuments and architecture, in the faces on their streets and markets, and in the “ghosts” of cultures long gone.  This course presents a “Tale of Two Cities”—Thessaloniki and Istanbul—whose histories have met and diverged in fascinating ways over the ages.  We peer behind the seemingly homogeneous contemporary façade of cities now inhabited by modern Greeks and modern Turks to examine the dynamic interaction of some of histories’ greatest cultures and ideas in two of the world’s most fascinating cities.  This travel course aims to provide a fascinating window into both the diversity and sameness of humans through time, as well as cultivate an appreciation and respect for the differences.

RELI: 390 Revisiting the Protestant Reformation

Overview: Led by the religion department faculty, Dr. James Bibza and Dr. Paul Schaefer, this course takes students on a two-week journey to many sites throughout Europe.

Course description: During 15 days students visit the major sites of our Reformation heritage in Europe. This trip begins in London, where students have walking tour, visit Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Christopher Wren's masterpiece, St. Paul's cathedral, and many other sites.  After leaving London, students journey to Oxford, Stratford, and Canterbury. Following visits to the sites in these towns, they cross the English Channel to Paris. While in Paris, they see many popular sites including a stop at the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Louvre. From Paris, they go to Geneva where they visit John Calvin’s church and the Reformation Memorial. While they are in Switzerland, they journey to Lucerne, Mt. Pilatus, and Zurich. From Switzerland, they travel to Innsbruck Austria to see the Goldenes Dachl and several other sites. The journey culminates in Germany were they spend four days visiting Munich, Rothenburg, Dachau, Worms, Heidelberg.

For more information about the trip, see the Religion Department webpage.

RELI 390 or HUMA 102: Castles, Cathedrals, and the Canon

Overview: Taught by Dr. George V. Campbell, this course can be taken in place of RELI 390 or HUMA 102 and involves a two-week journey through London, York, England, and Edinburgh, Scotland.

Course description: The course focuses on resources available in the United Kingdom dealing with the history of the transmission of the Bible from its original documents to English translations, including ancient Old Testament, New Testament, Septuagint, Vulgate and Guttenberg Bible manuscripts, medieval illuminated Bible manuscripts, artifacts from the ancient Near East contemporary with the Old Testament, and artifacts from the Roman world of the New Testament period. The course also explores the history of the English Bible, including history and manuscripts relating to John Wycliffe, William Tyndale, and the King James Version of the Bible.  Students visit the British Museum and Library, Westminster Abbey, Hampton Court, Oxford, York, and sites in and around Edinburgh, Scotland.  In addition, the course focuses on the literature of the Bible, emphasizing the conventions of the various Biblical genres and the literary artistry and structures of numerous Biblical books. Students have ample time for other things of interest such as the Tower of London, the London Theater, and even playing golf at St. Andrews, Scotland, world’s oldest golf course.

For more information about the trip, see the Religion Department webpage.