Rome
21°Each year the AUR Department of International Relations offers students from all majors the opportunity take exciting field trips in Italy, Europe and beyond. These are excursions that apply to every academic program of study – because as the workforce developes a better understanding of the impact of our global society the sights and encounters experienced on these excursions will provide students with insights that will make a difference in everything they do in their life.
Join us!
Fall Semester 2011
International Organizations and International Relations in Brussels
November 17th – 20th, 2011
3rd American University of Rome field study trip to Brussels.
This is a weekend trip to the city which is not only the capital of Europe but also possiblely the first country of the EU to split. It hosts one of the best collections of African objects and culture in Europe, testimony to one of the darkest periods of European-African relations.
You will meet with specialists at the two most important international organizations in the city: the European Commission and NATO. These meetings are an opportunity to examine issues in depth and analyze the ways in which the two organizations approach them.
You will get insight into the issues and stakes in the debate on Belgian unity and separation.
We will visit the Royal Museum for Central Africa at Tervuren which gives a detailed picture of central Africa and a broad picture of the whole continent.
There will be optional visits, non-political or semi-political (Brussels art nouveau, the Waterloo battle site &c.)
Approximate cost: €130-150
Winter Term 2012
Ghana: Democracy, History and Development
January 5th – 20th, 2012
9th American University of Rome field study trip to Ghana.
This is a two week intensive field study course composed principally of four elements: 1) history; the Atlantic slave trade, colonization and independence. 2) the development and consolidation of democracy. 3) development economics. These use the Ghanaian experience to illustrate the points. The fourth element, international relations, looks at the whole of West Africa. The course integrates classroom learning with seminars from distinguished lecturers, field trips, community work, cultural experiences and informal encounters. It develops theoretical skills with a very practical approach.
Participants visit the political and media institutions of the country; examine development projects, such as the Kakum rain forest where we spend the night in tents in the forest and walk through it at night, and the Akosombo dam; we visit refugee centers that were established as a result of conflicts in neighboring countries. Students study the country’s slavetrading and colonial past with visits to Anomabu, Elmina and Cape Coast Castles where so many slaves started their journeys to the Americas. Students will also participate in community projects at the Cape Coast School for the Deaf where AUR has funded a new poultry unit and at the local school in Kokrobite in order to make closer contact with the society itself. Students from Ghanaian universities also participate in the program as part of the ongoing exchange initiative promoted by AUR and the Kokrobitey Institute.
Cost: €2000 including board and lodging and transport in Ghana, excluding airfare. Participants may make their own way to Accra but the main group will almost certainly (January flights are not confirmed yet) take Alitalia AZ844, leaving Fiumicino on Friday 6 Jan. Dep. 14.50 arr. 21.45, returning AZ845 Friday 20 Jan. Dep. Kotoka 23.55 arr. 6.40 on 21 Jan. (cost of Alitalia flight €493.93, and credit (€400).
Spring Semester 2012
Montenegro: Nationbuilding and Institution Building
March 1st – 4th 2012
3rd American University of Rome field study trip to Montenegro.
Montenegro provides the perfect setting to study and observe the nationbuilding process in a new-old nation-state, of the development of national institutions and the role of international organizations. In two and a half days, students meet representatives of the government (executive and legislature), local government (the mayor and representatives of the Podgorica city council), business and civil society groups (both local and international NGOs). Students also meet foreign representatives (US and EU). They will visit the old capital of Cetinje in the mountains, the port city of Kotor and resort of Bar. There are informal meetings with Montenegrin students.
Approximate cost: €270-300 including airfare and hotel, transport in Montenegro. Excludes meals.
