Jana Henry, who will be the Millikin faculty member leading the semester, writes as follows about what she is planning for this very full semester. (Links by KBorei)

To learn about each new city, you will have scavenger hunts. (That works especially well for countering jet lag when you first arrive in London!)

Museums: sounds boring? You just needs a great guide (ME!) to tell you what it all means.  Of course, there are many items in the museums that will directly connect to our class work, such as, for those of you taking History of Styles, imagine looking at the great finds of Egypt, rather than just talking about them.

Some of the museums we will be visiting, in London and beyond, include:

• The British Museum ("world cultures from Prehistory to the present day" - including all the treasures brought back from the Colonies and expeditions to the East)
• The Victoria and Albert (7 miles of exhibits!)
• The National Portrait Gallery
• The Design Museum (just plain cool)
• The Wallace Collection ("a national museum in an historic London town house.")
• Sir John Sloane's Museum (link is to page by Karin Borei, March 2005)
• The Dulwich Picture Gallery (features Canaletto, the ultimate Venice painter)
   
• The Museum of Costume in Bath (the best costume collection in the world)
• The Irish National Museum (see what the fight for independence was all about)
• The Louvre in Paris (many famous pieces, but also many underestimated pieces)
• Musee d'Orsay (picks up where the Louvre stops. Impressionism through modern)
• The Red Cross Museum in Geneva, Switzerland (looks at the role of the Red Cross and Red Crescent from start through wars to today's genocide situations)
• The Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland (inspirational and emotional. See torches and medals from history. Watch footage of competition)

We will see: Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Versailles, & Sacre Coeur, in Paris; the Alps; the hot spring baths in Lavey, Switzerland; glass in Murano, Italy; the Doge's Palace, and the Basilica San Marco in Venice, and many other amazing sights.

Trips: Besides our month on the road, I will be taking weekend trips to Bath (February 15-18) and Scotland (March 8-11), and  you would be welcome to tag along.

Activities: of course, there is so much to see and do, but here are a few things.

• London- We'll see shows, do brass rubbings, take historic walks through the city, go to street markets in areas of town most tourists never see.
• Bath- Ever read a Jane Austin novel? This is the setting. You'll see the history of the period come alive as we walk through the town. See the famous Pump Room where people went to see and be seen.
• Cliffs of Mohr- 400 ft cliffs in Ireland. Truly wild.
• Guinness Brewery- great tour. See what goes into producing this Irish national drink.
• Aran Isles- We'll read Riders to the Sea. You'll understand the hardships of Ireland in the past and what the people have done to overcome them. Or where the hardships have overcome the people.
• Switzerland: We'll spend some time in classes with high school students at an international boarding school. Help in an ESL or Theatre class for a day. I would like to maybe put on a little performance to show what we have to offer! We will eat fondue dinner and hike (really more like walking) around a mountain with unbelievable views of the Alps from France to Italy.
• Venice: Called the perfect city. The Doge's Palace and San Marco. This city has so much history to offer. It was once a city-state and a major player in world politics. How did it get that way?

Evolving day-by-day schedules of activities are available for you in my office (Old Gym Costume Shop) and in the International Programs Office (Staley Library 105).

I know many of you are on the fence, waiting to hear about finances. Please don't let that be the only deciding factor for you. Talk to Sean Morrissey or Laura Ledford about the experience of a semester overseas. You'll find that they won't talk about money spent, but about experiences that last a life time. When I was a college student, I studied in Spain. It was amazing and I still talk about it all the time. And it was the opening to a life of traveling that has taken me from Central America to Africa to Europe to Asia to the Middle East.

I've attached a little photo of the view of the Alps from Leysin, Switzerland (above left). Just one of a thousand photos you'll want to take on this trip. Please email me if you have any questions/concerns about the trip. Or make an appointment and we'll talk about it.

Jana Henry, Assistant Professor/Costume Director       jhenry@millikin.edu
Department of Theatre & Dance
Millikin University
217-424-6372