Travel and Exchange Programs

The Senior Project in France offers an immersion program of activities aiming to provide students with a culminating appreciation of French culture, language and history. This seven-day home-stay on the French Riviera followed by a five-day exploration of Paris and its environs promises enrichment opportunities at once exciting and educational.

In Cannes, students participate in an authentic student-to- student exchange with the Lycée Stanislas, one of France’s finest secondary schools. The Cannes International Film Festival winds down during our stay, so students will feel some of the excitement and pizazz that annually gathers movie stars, cinephiles and paparazzi. Day-trips bring us to Nice, the Château de La Napoule, l’Ile Saint-Honorat, and the Fragonard Museum in Grasse; evenings spent largely en famille extend opportunities for immersion in French language and culture.

In Paris, we stay four nights in a 4-star hotel on the right bank, and enjoy meals in selected restaurants that serve traditional French food. Our stay in Paris includes: a dinner-cruise on the river Seine; the iconic sights and monuments of Paris; walking tours of historic gardens and quartiers; museum visits; a market visit in Versailles, followed by picnic and bike-ride in the gardens of the palace.

Please note that all participants in this program must also meet the requirements of a complementary senior project during the two weeks prior to traveling. We require that this portion of the senior project be service-oriented.

Sample Itinerary

The China Senior project consists of two parts: research/ preparation, and travel throughout China. The first 2.5 weeks of the Senior project will be conducted at Thayer Academy. The group will be learning about culture, customs, food, political climate, economy, and the three cities the group will be traveling to. The students will also be working in pairs on a research project that will be presented to the rest of the group.

The second half of the Senior project will be traveling to three different cities in China: Beijing, Hangzhou, and Shanghai. In China, the group will visit a number of important and historical landmarks such as Tian ‘an Men Square, The Forbidden City, The Great Wall, and The West Lake. Upon arrival in Shanghai, the group will meet their student hosts at The Wei Yu School, Thayer Academy’s sister school. Thayer students will spend the weekend with their host families and explore the dynamic city of Shanghai.

Sample Itinerary

Since February 2014, Thayer has maintained a rewarding alliance with Students Shoulder-to-Shoulder (SStS), a non-profit organization promoting experiential learning, service, ethical leadership, and global citizenship. Since the summer of 2014, over 20 Thayer students have traveled with SStS to such foreign destinations as Bolivia, Nicaragua, Kenya, and Cambodia; and to domestic locations such as Detroit, New Orleans, and South Dakota's Pine Ridge Reservation. Over that time, two Thayer faculty have served as trip counselors. All involved have reported tremendous excitement about these SStS offerings and profound and lasting impressions left by the experiences. In the coming years, we hope to see continued Thayer participation in the broad array of programs offered by SStS.

As envisioned, our relationship with Students Shoulder-to-Shoulder has demonstrated value on a number of fronts. Among other things, this program:

• Complements Thayer's mission as we seek to inspire our students toward excellence, achievement, and contributions “to the common good”
• Offers Thayer students access to a set of truly intriguing and unique travel experiences
• Encourages an ethos of global citizenship that will augment our current Learning-Through-Travel efforts
• Provides valuable professional development opportunities for Thayer faculty members, more of whom we hope will become SStS course instructors
• Corresponds fittingly with our Global Scholars Program, which has been so well-received by so many elements of the Thayer community

Our membership in the Global Schools Coalition assures one spot for a Thayer student on each of the SStS trips. Those spots are held until February 15, after which student applications from non-member schools are considered. A limited amount of financial assistance is available. 

This Senior Project to Sicily serves as a capstone experience for Thayer students. A unifying theme across the diverse range of activities of the expedition is the cultural complexity of Sicily as we strive to understand and appreciate the conflation of Greek, Roman, North African, Arab, and Norman influence upon the art, architecture, culture, and history of the island.

Upon arrival in Palermo, our driver will pick us up from the airport on a private bus in which we will travel for the duration of our trip. Our first stop is Castellamare del Golfo where we will hike the Riserva Naturale del Zingaro to explore dunes and coves, taking in the stunning coastal views as we fend off the jet lag. The following morning brings us to the mountains southwest of Palermo to hike the ancient site of Segesta—originally an Elymian settlement, later settled by Greeks, colonized anew by the Romans, and the eventual site of a Norman fort. Segesta is the location for the first of several episodes throughout our trip in a mini-seminar on Greek Doric architecture, as well as on Greek history in Sicily. We then proceed to Erice, looming over the plain upon which the funeral games of Anchises, depicted in Book 5 of Virgil’s Aeneid, had been set. The importance of food as a bearer of cultural identity is brought home by the evening’s cooking class with Maria Grammatico, Erice’s renowned maker of traditional Arabic marzipan pastries.

From Erice, we venture to Marsala and ferry to Motya where we explore the island’s archaeological park, admire the famous Charioteer of Motya, and enjoy a traditional Carthaginian/North African barbeque lunch. From Motya, we continue southwards to Selinunte which presents students with the most expansive archaeological site found in Italy. After a visit to the three temples outside the city walls, students move to the acropolis. A special feature here is evidence of continuing North African presence alongside Greeks and then Romans, indicated by a mosaic of the Carthaginian goddess Tanit in a house entrance-hall.

The next day we visit the archaeological park of Agrigento, with its prominent ridge of Doric temples, and continue with a third installment on the fine points of Doric architectural fashion. Agrigento also includes a museum visit so students can see and be dwarfed by one of the monumental telamones that decorated the temple of Zeus here, one of the largest Greek temples ever built and the greatest in Sicily. The afternoon concludes with free time on the beautiful beaches of the Scala dei Turchi.

Our itinerary then takes us to the Villa Romana del Casale, one of the largest & richest collections of ancient Roman mosaics in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage site. The afternoon introduces students to the baroque presence in Sicily through visits to Modica and Noto, where the Norman architecture presents a remarkably harmonious complex of churches, monumental staircases, municipal halls, and broad avenues, all placed in strategically theatrical positions vis-à-vis the landscape. Food is featured as well, with a sampling of the distinctive production of chocolate - for which Modica is known - at one of the oldest chocolate factories in Italy.

Our next stop is the city of Syracuse. The group visits Ortigia, the island that was the focal point for both the fateful Sicilian expedition of the Peloponnesian Wars and the second Punic War, when the scientist Archimedes was killed here by the Romans. Students then make their way to the spring of Arethusa, the remarkable fresh-water spring that attracted the first Greek colonists to the island, and hear the myth of Arethusa’s journey to this spot from mainland Greece. A high point of the day is the Duomo of Siracusa—yet another baroque church, built not anew but incorporating the substantial remains of the Doric temple of Athena erected in the 5th century BCE. Later that afternoon, in the archaeological park of Syracuse, students learn about the Greek soldiers held prisoner in the quarries there and test the acoustics of the great cave known as the ear of Dionysius. The Greek theater provides a setting for an introduction to Greek drama and its relationship to the design of the space. Finally, in the evening we visit Catania where we will embark on a street food tour, tasting various Sicilian treats while taking in the vista of Mt. Etna along one of the city’s broad avenues. Once again, the cultural complexity is evident everywhere, from the baroque Duomo and municipal buildings all constructed of volcanic stone to the Egyptian obelisk surmounting an ancient elephant, perhaps Carthaginian or Roman, sculpted from the volcanic rock.

The following day we head for Aci Trezza, one of Catania’s suburban beach resorts, to admire the large rock formations in the water that are fancifully associated with the rocks the Cyclops threw as Odysseus and his men escaped from the island. The next two days, students experience the natural history of the island through a visit to the largest volcano in Europe, Mt. Etna, covered as it was in a layer of snow, as well as a guided trek through the Alcantara Gorge, a natural wonder carved out by the Alcantara River. Our trip culminates with an evening and morning spent in the peaceful seaside town of Cefalu as well as the nearby archaeological site of Solunto before bidding our final farewell to Sicily.

Sample Itinerary

This Senior Project to Greece is a capstone experience for Thayer students. Greece, considered to be the "Cradle of Western Civilization," has had profound influence on the literature we read, the art we admire, and the societies in which we live. Our driver, Dionysus, will pick us up from the airport on a private bus in which we will travel for the duration of our trip. We spend the first few and the last few days of the trip staying in the heart of Athens, situated between the Plaka and Syntagma Square. We walk in the footsteps of great minds that created democracy, philosophy, theater, etc.

From Athens, we head to the Peloponnese through Corinth. Here we witness the city and its naturally fortified citadel that dominated trade in the ancient Mediterranean, recite the words of Saint Paul ("Love is patient, love is kind...") from the exact bema from which he spoke them, and hike the Akrocorinth to take in the commanding views of the Gulf of Corinth from the most impressive monolith of all of mainland Greece.

From Corinth, we venture to Nafplio, Greece's original capital, in the Argolid for two nights. Thayer students on this trip in previous years have dubbed Nafplio "the Newport, RI, of Greece," due to the charm of this seaside town. While staying in Nafplio, we explore Agamemnon's home of Mycenae, we sing and recite poetry in the impressive Theater of Epidauros, hike 1,000 steps up to the Venetian Palamidi Fortress, and spend some time relaxing at Tolo Beach where we swim to a small island to visit the church there.

Next stop is ancient Olympia, home to the first ancient Olympic Games dating back to the 8th century BC. In addition to racing in the ancient Olympic stadium, we also enjoy swimming and a hands-on cooking class at a local establishment run by Greek women. After feasting on delicious Greek cuisine for several days, it is fun to try our hand in making the food that we are coming to love so much.

From Olympia, we head to the Ionian Island Zakynthos for two nights via a one-hour ferry ride from the port Kyllini. In Zakynthos, we soak up all that this beautiful island has to offer. We visit a museum to learn how olive oil is made, kayak through the Blue Caves, take a boat ride to "Shipwreck Beach," and visit a nesting ground for loggerhead sea turtles.

After our fun on Zakynthos Island, we head back to the main land on the ferry to Mount Parnassus to the famous site of Apollo's oracle, Delphi. Here, at the "bellybutton" of the ancient world we enjoy the crisp mountain air and breathtaking views of the valley of Phocis stretching to the Gulf of Corinth after a hike up to stadium at the peak of this sanctuary site. Next, we head back to Athens, stopping for lunch and shopping in Arachova, an alpine resort town with great restaurants and artisanal shops.

Back in Athens, we enjoy authentic Greek music and dancing in a taverna in the Plaka, as well as a trip to the renowned National Archaeological Museum. On our final afternoon in Greece, we take a quick trip to the serene and idyllic Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion, the southernmost tip of Attica. At Sounion, we take in the majesty of the expansive Aegean Sea while telling stories from Greek mythology and history. Returning to Athens, we enjoy one last dinner together under the illumination of the Acropolis

Throughout this trip, students and chaperones read excerpts from literature pertinent to each site; we consider the chronology of Greek history; we examine how the ancient landscape shaped the culture; we reflect on our own customs and values. This is a trip that will awaken an academic curiosity in each student as we learn by experiencing the landscapes that beautiful Greece has been offering to "Westerners" for thousands of years.

Sample Itinerary