UC Blue Ash Study Abroad Program Expands its Horizons

A group of UC Blue Ash College students helped break new ground for the study abroad program by traveling to Peru for the first time.

The college has hosted more than 25 study abroad trips since the program was founded at the school in 1997. Students and teachers have learned and explored in locations such as Germany, England, Austria and Costa Rica, but never in Peru until this year.

“Peru is such a beautiful and unique country. As the main host of the Inca civilization, it is a great place to learn about history, art, culture and the pre-Columbian and pre-Inca civilizations,” said UC Blue Ash Spanish professor Angel Anorga, who led the study abroad trip.

The group of 11 students and one professor spent a little over two weeks in the country in May as part of the college’s accelerated study abroad program. They climbed hundreds of steps to reach historic Machu Picchu, visited the bustling city of Lima, studied the Sacred Valley of the Incas and stayed in Cusco, the capital of the Incan Empire.

The focus of the trip was on improving Spanish language skills and learning more about Latin American culture. The students attended daily Spanish language and culture classes and lived with local host families who spoke very little English.

Jimmy Mills, a political science and economics major who participated in the trip said he was surprised by his ability to carry on lengthy conversations in Spanish. “I never thought I could do that. The whole experience was amazing, and it has definitely made me more confident in my abilities to explore new places and meet new people.”

For UC Blue Ash junior Taylar Glasgow, the trip was her first outside the U.S. She was apprehensive about going but now has a new appreciation for stepping outside of her comfort zone. “This trip completely changed the way I think about traveling. Before, I would have never thought about spending more than a few weeks out of the country, but now I am considering spending a year living abroad.”

Mills and Glasgow both said that the 90-minute climb up the steep steps to Machu Picchu was one of the hardest things they have ever done. It was grueling but worth it to see the ancient site that is located in the Andes Mountains and serves as an example of the Inca civilization’s architectural, agricultural and engineering prowess.

Another part of the experience that stood out was the food. From alpaca – which tastes like very lean beef – to corn soup, the students raved about how most of the food was fresh and organic.

UC Blue Ash also sponsored its annual British Summer Study Abroad trip to England that spanned over four weeks in May and June. Students learned more about the Beatles, Charles Darwin and the processes of cultural and biological transformation while visiting sites that included the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, the British Museum of Natural History, and the childhood homes of John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

The college usually hosts at least two study abroad trips each year. To learn more about the program, go to

www.ucblueash.edu/academics/study-abroad

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UC Blue Ash College is a regional college within the University of Cincinnati. It offers one of the best values in higher education with access to a nationally recognized UC education in nearly 50 degrees and certificates, as well as tuition that is about half of most colleges and universities. The college is located on a scenic 135-acre wooded campus in the heart of Blue Ash, Ohio. To learn more, call (513) 745-5600, visit us online at www.ucblueash.edu, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.