{"id":492,"date":"2012-03-06T15:16:14","date_gmt":"2012-03-06T15:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-center\/?p=492"},"modified":"2012-03-06T15:16:14","modified_gmt":"2012-03-06T15:16:14","slug":"the-perks-of-being-a-history-major-abroad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-center\/2012\/03\/06\/the-perks-of-being-a-history-major-abroad\/","title":{"rendered":"The Perks of Being a History Major Abroad"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the course of the last seven months, I have had the incredible opportunity to study abroad in Bologna, Italy<\/a>.\u00a0 While this particular Dickinson program is not particularly adverse (due to the absence of a language requirement and virtually all courses being taught in English), the breadth of foreign scholars that have taught our lessons has been immense.\u00a0 In terms of the history courses I have enrolled in specifically, there are two professors that stand out as interesting examples of just why studying abroad can teach a student a thing or two about “how the other half lives.”<\/p>\n

\"Bologna<\/a>

Aerial View of Bologna<\/p><\/div>\n

In the Fall, Professor Mark Gilbert<\/a>, an Englishman employed by Johns Hopkins’ SAIS program, taught a course on the development of the European Union.\u00a0 Currently, Professor Mario Del Pero<\/a>, an Italian teaching at numerous institutions, brought a course to Dickinson titled Transatlantic Relations.\u00a0 While the courses are very similar in content, these two scholars have nearly diametrically opposed viewpoints on the relevance of certain individuals and events.\u00a0 In fact, I usually end up feeling a bit silly when my contributions to Prof. Del Pero’s course include information learned from Prof. Gilbert that is almost immediately dismissed.\u00a0 For example, Prof. Gilbert is what some might label an “integrationist.”\u00a0 In essence, he is a general fan of the EU.\u00a0 Therefore, the minor organizations and treaties that built up to the formation of the EU play a principal role in his lectures, in addition to America’s altruistic contributions.\u00a0 Prof. Del Pero is quite the opposite.\u00a0 He does not see the US as altruistic at all, and is more concerned with the development of the Cold War as a means to integration that probably should not have occurred as it did.\u00a0 I happened to suggest in class that the Marshall Plan was crucial to Europe’s economic recovery<\/a> following the Second World War and that it was based on American generosity.\u00a0 Needless to say, Prof. Del Pero enjoyed poking fun at me for the rest of the lesson.<\/p>\n

\"Poster<\/a>

Marshall Plan "Propaganda"<\/p><\/div>\n

I have personally never noticed such a distinct professional difference among Dickinson’s faculty in Carlisle.\u00a0 While we study historiography in History 304 and beyond, seldom does a history major get to experience it first-hand, in the classroom.\u00a0 These two excellent and engaging scholars struggle to find common ground, yet they encourage meaningful thought about what they are teaching (at least for this history major).<\/p>\n

Classroom experiences like this are probably the most valuable part of studying abroad.\u00a0 For all of you future-study-abroaders out there, don’t be afraid to step outside Dickinson’s limestone walls and into the red brick of Emilia-Romagna.\u00a0 You just might accidentally learn something.<\/p>\n

\n
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Over the course of the last seven months, I have had the incredible opportunity to study abroad in Bologna, Italy.\u00a0 While this particular Dickinson program is not particularly adverse (due to the absence of a language requirement and virtually all … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":759,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/759"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}