FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 24, 2012

MUW Honors students return from study in Belgium

COLUMBUS, Miss. -- Students in the Ina Gordy Honors College at Mississippi University for Women recently returned from a month-long study abroad trip to Brussels, Belgium.
                                              
Fourteen students, two student mentors traveled with MUW faculty members, Dr. Kendall Dunkelberg and Dr. Brian Anderson, and lived in the city of Brussels near the European Union headquarters.

Students took part in two honors seminar classes, “Modern European Literature and Art” and “Toward an ‘Ever Closer Union’? European Integration and Identity.” In conjunction with their studies, students visited nine art museums, including the Royal Museums of Ancient and Contemporary Art, as well as museums dedicated to Pablo Picasso, René Magritte, Victor Horta, Vincent Van Gogh, M. C. Escher, and Hergé, the writer and illustrator of the “Tin Tin” comics. Students also toured the European Parliament in Brussels, the European Commission, the European Council and the European Economic and Social Committee.

Each weekend, the group went on cultural excursions to Bruges, Ghent, Amsterdam, The Hague and the World War I battlefields of Ypres. Many students took advantage of their free time in Europe to travel on their own, visiting Paris, London, Dublin, Frankfurt and other destinations both in and outside of Belgium. Upon their return to the United States, students are completing research projects on European Union policies and 19th or 20th Century Belgian poets, playwrights, painters and architects.

In addition to their academic lessons, students gained valuable cultural experience living in a major metropolitan, French- and Dutch-speaking, European capital. Students bought their own groceries and cooked their own meals in shared apartments, and they traveled by metro, train, bus and tram.

Students who took part in this study abroad opportunity have successfully completed their sophomore year in MUW’s Residential Honors program. They include: Casey Duke, Gracie Carroll, Olivia Young, Alex Woolbright, Brooke Guyton, Douglas Knestrict, Anna Haden, Ashley White, John Hendren, Mary Wildsmith, Nichole Larson, Julie Foster, Christina Mortenson and Dustin Vance. Student mentors, who have traveled abroad with the Honors College in previous years, were Madeleine Gardiner and Harley Fain.

Contact:  Dr. Kendall Dunkelberg
               Mississippi University for Women
               Dept. of Languages, Literature, and Philosophy
               1100 College St., P.O. Box MUW-1634
               Columbus MS 39701
               kdunk@muw.edu
               662-329-4734