My best experiences here at CWRU has been my two Spring Break trips – I went to Salamanca during my freshman year and then to Buenos Aires during my sophomore year. If all goes well, I will head over to Costa Rica as a senior! Both trips were academically sound, culturally invigorating, and overall, a wonderful experience. Whether I went with my friends or met new students there, I learned a lot about the respective countries and their views on bioethics and made a great group of friends. For students who are not able to take a semester abroad due to academic constraints, this is definitely the best alternative that CWRU offers. You get to spend a week abroad with fantastic faculty, and a group of interested students who want to do something unique during Spring Break. If you fit any of the following categories, you have to go! First, if you are interested in any field of bioethics; second, if you enjoy traveling and making memories with your friends; and third, if you want to do something unique during spring break. I definitely recommend the bioethics spring break trips to everybody!
- Manik Aggarwal
As a freshman, I had dreamed of spending a semester abroad--but with no foreign language skills and a full plate of academia, I did not expect the opportunity to present itself. Fortunately, I found out about the bioethics department's international programs. Spring of my sophomore year, I spent the most memorable 10 days of my college career in Amsterdam learning more about medical ethics, European culture, and myself than a whole semester back home could have taught me. The professors from CWRU and Amsterdam were insightful, the students from Amsterdam were great, and the experience of meeting individuals involved in the worlds of drug rehabilitation, euthanasia, and health policy was enlightening. I was so impressed that I traveled to Spain with the department in my junior year and had a whole new experience with organ transplantation, feminism, environmental issues, and soccer...I can't wait for what this spring brings. Whether you have an interest in ethics, health issues, public policy, foreign culture, or simply can't fit in that semester abroad, I recommend the department's trips to everyone!
- Tim Anderson
Last spring break I went to Buenos Aires, Argentina and it was by far one of the most amazing college experiences I have ever had the opportunity to encounter. In Argentina, despite the hazards of simultaneous translation, we learned so much from different scientists and ethicists. And we learned even more from the Argentine students who became our classmates turned tour guides. We were exposed to the multi-dimensional culture of Argentina through our lectures and our sightseeing. I made friends with CWRU students I had never met, and got closer to those I already new. And speaking as an affirmed liberal arts major, I have never enjoyed science as much as my Bioethics trip to Peron's home town.
-Bhavani Raveendran
When I first arrived at CWRU I was completely clueless as to what major I should choose, what classes I should take, and which clubs to join. The only thing that I was certain about, was that I wanted to study abroad. When I first heard about the Bioethics Spring Break Study Abroad course I knew that it was for me. It was affordable and extremely easy to fit in with the rest of my classes for the semester. The Women's Health course in Amsterdam was incredible. Tours of the Red Light District, lectures from some of the most distinguished professors today, and one-on-one conversations with local Dutch lead me to have the most memorable, 'eye opening' experience -- it was everything that I could have hoped for and more. When I came back to the U.S. my perspectives on various Women's Health issues, such as prostitution and abortion, were changed because of the knowledge I obtained in The Netherlands. Who knew that someone could gain so much in only 10 days?
-Monique Farone