Immersed in the culture
Short-term opportunities
Most students fulfill their cross-cultural requirement through a May term experience, typically at the end of the sophomore or junior year. While each experience is unique, all provide an opportunity to interact with people in the host community, through formal presentations and in service settings.
Lodging is usually in a group setting (guest house, hotel, conference center, kibbutz or convent), with some opportunities for overnight or weekend home stays with host families.
Long thought to be somewhat culturally backward due to the geographically irrational assignment as “Eastern European,” the Czechs actually provide a very interesting balance between Western ideals and their former Soviet ideologies.
Culture, language, human right to movement and history
Musuem excursions and community organizations provide insight into how Guatemalans are today working through a difficult past, and yet building their country’s new future.
Sharing with Appalachain People
Students work with and for local homeowners, building relationships that enrich all involved. Students do a range of work from painting and fixing leaky roofs to assisting with home additions and renovations, all the while getting acquainted with the families whose homes are being repaired.
Cultures and History: Past and Present
Learn why the Ohio River Valley is known as the Rio Grand of the Midwest. With this geographic focus, students will learn about Ohio as a prominent historic setting for past and present cultural groups that made and now make Ohio a “homeland.”
Washington, DC is a city of dramatic contrasts. Staggeringly powerful decision makers work within sight of communities struggling with deep and entrenched poverty. Students will explore the city together and try to understand how all of this fits together.
Contact
Elaine Suderman, Asst. Director of Cross-cultural Programs
sudermane@bluffton.edu
419-358-3360
Building relationships on campus and abroad
“The discussions we had in classes, the cross-cultural experience and the whole Bluffton package encouraged my passion and drive to be part of something bigger,” said Holly Metzger '05, now an enrollment counselor at Bluffton.