date last updated: 5 February 2003
Travel Courses
2002-2003
Each of our travel courses revolve around finding the deep questions which help us to interact with our world. Courses are a combination of direct instruction, self exploration, and a rich opportunity to explore a new terrain. The tours follow a thematic subject area and function through a daily combination of lecture and discussion, visits to sites of significance, and generous time for personal reflection and interaction with local cultures and cuisines. With all courses, we who don’t tell you what to think of what you’re experiencing, but offer you room to discover, interpret, and explore in the company of other creative and intelligent thinkers.
Participants can take all travel courses for credit. Registration details and policies are listed below. Families and friends are welcome and encouraged to join us!
The Minds of Our Ancestors
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18-24 May 2003
Perigord Region, France
What can we learn about our prehistoric ancestors from what they left behind? What do we know about their culture, their thoughts, their worldview from the evidence we have? What are the pitfalls of attempting to interpret prehistoric art and culture? In this one-week trip in the Perigord Region of France we will be in the heart of Prehistoric Cave country. By exploring a variety of caves and interpretive museums, we will have the opportunity to formulate questions which might help us to understand the minds of our ancestors. Dr. Sharpe has spent over thirty years engaged in exploring the prehistoric caves of the world and is a specialist in prehistoric finger flutings. He will share his ideas and questions, as well as the results of the current research, which he and Dr. Van Gelder conduct at the Grotte de Rouffignac.
The Perigord Region of France is one of the most picturesque regions, with high limestone cliffs and valleys, winding rivers, and hills covered with the black oak from which the Perigord gains its name. The Perigord Region is also famous for its goose liver pate, fine cuisine and proximity to the vineyards of Bordeaux. May is warm and comfortable. The pace of life is slow, meant to be savored – giving us ample time to appreciate the food, people, and places which are home to some of the most unique remnants of prehistoric thought in all of the world.
Our course will be based in La Bugue and each day will be a combination of lecture/discussion, a group visit to a site(s) of significance, and free time to reflect and experience some of the local culture.
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Wilderness and Imagination (click for more detail)
1
December - 12 December 2003
The South Island, New Zealand
What is the relationship between wild places and our imagination? Are there places that feed your soul? In this twelve-day long course we will focus on exploration the ways in which we are influenced by places and the ways in which our imaginations shape our interactions with those places. The South Island of New Zealand offers some of the most dramatic landscape in the world, and in this setting we will be free to explore our own inner landscapes while taking in the varied environments of New Zealand. Our lectures and discussions will revolve around topics such as the role of language and the brain, the power of stories, verbal and nonverbal forms of communication, and the relationship between spirituality and place. Participants will engage in a variety of creative activities in many media, which will help them to engage personally with the questions the course raises. Ample free time will be afforded to permit participants time to helicopter to the top of the Franz Josef Glacier, or hike into some of the most unique temperate rainforests in the world.
Our trip will begin and end in Christchurch, the largest city on the South Island. From there, participants may want to arrange transportation to the North Island or any of the islands of the South Pacific. We will be traveling in the end of spring and beginning of summer in the Southern Hemisphere. Weather varies widely throughout this period, but the days will consistently get longer as we move towards their summer solstice. We will travel by comfortable tour bus.
Most days will be a combination of direct instruction, a group visit to a site with learning activities involved, and time for personal reflection. The pace of life in the South Island is not rushed, and we will take time to appreciate the land and people of New Zealand.
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Details
Science and Spirit in the Ancient World
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Greece and Cyprus (planned for February 2004)
Evolution of the Human Mind (click for more detail)
Kenya and Tanzania (yet to be scheduled)
Click for a special note for current or prospective Union and Vermont learners