A study abroad australia expedition is offered by the Castle Rock Institute. We sponsor a semester-long adventure program for college students that combines a range of outdoor activities, attention to community life, and college courses in the Humanities. This is a unique study abroad australia program.

The Castle Rock Institute is a wilderness-based center for the Humanities affiliated with Brevard College. Each semester it seeks applications from college students to live, travel, study and experience the wonders of the natural world together. Based in a lodge set in the Mountains of North Carolina, the Institute aims to enliven the study of the Humanities through focused interdisciplinary classwork, community work, and through organized group outdoor adventure activities. The Castle Rock Institute study abroad australia expedition is dedicated to investigating links between scholarship in the Humanities and the practical dimensions of human life in the natural and social world.

The Institute encourages interdisciplinary thought and experimentation by focusing each semester on a particular issue, idea or theme drawn from the Humanities. This theme serves as the main topic of discussion and area of study for expedition participants.

All CRI expedition students enroll in 4 courses taught by Institute Senior Professors. Each course meets regularly throughout the semester and awards four hours of college credit. Students also spend several full and half days per week participating in small group activities like rock climbing, backpacking, and paddling. During the expedition, however, students are on the move almost every day. The Institute strives to balance and integrate scholarship and adventure, and believes that doing so can realize significant benefits for both.

Different from the historical approach of most college Humanities programs, the curriculum at the Castle Rock Institute is organized thematically. Instead of sweeping through a series of "great books," all of the courses offered during each semester at the Institute address a single issue, idea or theme drawn from the Humanities. Accordingly, each class explicitly considers how insights offered by the other disciplines can contribute to an overall understanding of the theme at hand. For example, a semester devoted to the notion of "Otherness" may consider how the use of masks in African religious rituals or how French Existentialist conceptions of self can inform a Henry James novel, or can affect the composition of a painting or ink drawing.

Castle Rock Study Abroad Australia for College Students

As a complement to its academic mission, the Castle Rock Institute organizes for its residents a variety of outdoor adventure activities. The Institute takes seriously the idea that there is a fundamental connection between body and mind, between the embodied practice of lived experience and the more abstract, theoretical concerns of the intellect. It sees, in other words, a mutually reinforcing relationship between direct and intense contact with the outdoor world and the scholarly goals central to the Humanities. Focusing on meaningful expressions of this relationship, this study abroad australia program challenges students to find a balance between real life and their studies.

A typical day of the CRI study abroad australia expedition combines individual study, group discussions, and opportunities for experiencing some of the most remote and scenic natural areas on the continent. Just imagine, one morning you will wake up, and after a hot breakfast, spend a few minutes preparing for the day's class discussion. You might need to finish up some reading or polish a group presentation you're doing with a couple of other students. You'll spend a few hours in a class setting discussing assigned readings, listening to a faculty lecture, or perhaps a guest speaker. After lunch, everyone will gather gear for a short mountain bike or rock climbing trip. The expedition keeps students very busy. It offers unique challenges, amazing cultural experiences, and fantastic memories. Again, this is different from most other study abroad australia programs.