A study abroad australia Study Program for College Students seeking a semester off campus

The CRI study abroad australia expedition holds Community Learning central to its general mission. The Castle Rock Institute sponsors a semester-long learning program for college students that combines exciting outdoor adventure activities and college courses in the Humanities. This is a unique study abroad australia program. Unlike other such programs, the Castle Rock Institute semester has a significant adventure component.

An Alternative to Ordinary College Life

Organizing a study abroad australia program, the Castle Rock Institute is a wilderness-based research center for the Humanities affiliated with Brevard College (a liberal arts college in western North Carolina). It seeks applications from college students and scholars from the United States and abroad to live, study and experience the outdoors together for a semester. 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. Based in a lodge set in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, the Institute aims to enliven the study of the Humanities both through focused interdisciplinary classwork, and through organized group wilderness activities.

Caving in TN

College Credit

All Castle Rock study abroad australia students enroll in 4 courses taught at Castle Rock by Institute Senior Fellows. Each course meets regularly throughout the semester and awards 4 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, students are on the move almost every day. Through this expedition, the Institute strives to balance and integrate scholarship and adventure, and believes that doing so can realize significant benefits for both. Learning in this context can be an awakening for many college students.

The Institute's program encourages interdisciplinary thought and experimentation by focusing each semester on a theme drawn from the Humanities. This theme serves as the main topic of discussion and area of research for expedition participants.

A learning opportunity to travel and Study Abroad Australia

The expedition takes a small group of college students on a faculty-led trip through the continent. Visiting extremely remote areas, the group will experience adventure far beyond what other students and tourists encounter. There is no other program like this 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 expedition 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. Like the best learning, it sees, in other words, a mutually reinforcing relationship between direct and intense contact with the natural world and the scholarly goals central to the Humanities. Focusing on meaningful expressions of this relationship, the expedition challenges students to find a balance between real life and their studies.

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