Past Blocks Away
WHY LOOK AT PAST PROGRAMS?
When will the 2025-2026 Block Away Options Be Announced?
Off-Campus Blocks for the 2025-2026 Academic Year will be announced in mid-December. At that time a new webpage will be added with information on each program. The Semester & Block Study Away Fair is scheduled for Thursday, January 30th, and we would recommend that all students interested in study away attend the fair. February 1 will also be the first day when online applications will be open. They will remain open through March 15. Students are encouraged to apply on Summit during this period to maximize their potential to earn a Block Away financial aid award. Late applicants are far less likely to obtain an aid award due to demand for the limited pool of block away aid.
2023-2024 BLOCK AWAY COURSES
Course Full Name: 19th Century Paris: Art & Cultural History
Course Number: AH285/HY200/FR316
Faculty Leader(s): Gale Murray (AH) & Tip Ragan (HY)
Prerequisites: None
Major and/or College Requirements Met: Fulfills 1 unit of Art History in the Art Major, or 1 unit of electives within the History major
Course Location: Paris, France
Course Fee: $3,500
This course explores the development of French philosophy from the interwar period to the present. Using the city of Paris as its context, the course examines how social and political challenges influenced the paths of French philosophical reflection, moving thinkers to question the foundations of knowledge, morals, and politics, leading ultimately to what might be called a “decentered” cosmopolitanism. Topics covered include existentialism and the dramatic events of the interwar and Second World War periods; feminist and postcolonial theories and the liberation struggles of colonial Indochina, Algeria, and the “Third World” more generally; structuralism and the ideological and practical battles of the Cold War; poststructuralism and the 1968 student and worker uprisings; and contemporary multicultural and cosmopolitan philosophies and the developments associated with globalization, postcolonial immigration, populism, and terrorism. Taking full advantage of all that Paris has to offer—countless museums, a diverse cultural life, streets marked by historical events, and an ongoing intellectual tradition in which philosophy is expected to have a direct impact on how people live and in which philosophers themselves often become cultural “stars”—this course will survey the intertwining of 20th and 21st century French philosophy with the recent social, political, and cultural history of Paris.
Course Full Name: French Philosophy in Context
Course Number: PH205
Faculty Leader(s): Dennis McEnnerney (PH) and Jonathan Lee (PH)
Prerequisites: None
Major and/or College Requirements Met: Major: Meets 1 Modern European or AMerican Course requirement under Historical and Cultural Perspectives within the Philosophy Major. This course can also be counted towards the Philosophy minor or the European Studies minor.
Course Location: Paris, France
Course Fee: $4,300
You will live and learn ecology hands-on in the primary and secondary rain forests, and small coffee farms in the Tilran Mountains near Monteverde, Costa Rica. The class will cover a standard ecology curriculum ranging from ecophysiology and animal behavior to co-evolution, population interactions, and ecosystem science. We will also consider some socio-ecological questions of human impacts on the rainforests with respect to tropical agriculture, deforestation, and conservation biology.
Course Full Name: Ecology & The Environment
Course Number: EV209
Faculty Leader(s): Miro Kummel (EV)
Prerequisites: EV 128 and MA126, or CH107 and 1 course from BE105/BE106/BE107/GY130/GY140
Major and/or College Requirements Met: This course counts towards the EV Science, EV Studies, and OBE Majors
Course Location: Monteverde, Costa Rica
PROGRAM WEBSITE: https://sway.office.com/Onu9RoYL5Imhiv9N?ref=Link
Course Fee: $3,700
An interdisciplinary study of the history and politics U.S. film through an immersive exploration of New York City and films about or set there. We approach the urban setting as a dynamic landscape where different peoples, interest groups, political movements, and other forces vie for power, wealth, recognition, and representation. Topics include race, class, gender, immigration, gentrification, infrastructure, counter-publics, underground art, comedy, and more. For each topic, we will examine key films in the history of New York City filmmaking. Representative screenings include The Apartment (1960), The Pawnbroker (1964), Midnight Cowboy (1968), Shaft (1971), Born in Flames (1983), She’s Gotta Have It (1986), Man Push Cart (2005), If Beale Street Could Talk (2018), and Joker (2019).
Regular excursions include walking tours of the Downtown (Lower East Side) and Uptown (Harlem), museums, live theater, public film screenings, and other cultural events.
Course Full Name: Topics in Film: Politics, Film, and Culture in New York
Course Number: FM200
Faculty Leader(s): Scott Krzych (FM)
Prerequisites: None
Major and/or College Requirements Met: This course counts towards the Equity & Power graduation requirement
Course Location: New York City, New York
Course Fee: $3,500
For centuries Vienna has been considered 'Music Capital of the World.' It has been a residence to some of the greatest composers in music history including Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Mahler, Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern, among others. The unique characteristic of openness, multinationalism and diversity has enabled Vienna to turn into a place of tremendous cultural wealth. The class will explore this city and its surroundings as a focal point for artistic, literary, and scholarly exchange.
Course Full Name: Experiencing Music in Vienna from Classical to Modernist
Course Number: MU227
Faculty Leader(s): Ofer Ben-Amots (MU)
Prerequisites: MU199
Major and/or College Requirements Met: Music History course requirement within Music Major
Course Location: Vienna, Austria
Course Fee: $4,500
Course Full Name: Topics in Computer Science at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Course Number: CP341
Faculty Leader(s): Danielle Ellsworth (CP)
Prerequisites: CS275 is required. Students who have also completed CS274 and CS307 will be prioritized for this course.)
Major and/or College Requirements Met: 300-level elective within the CS major.
Course Location: Livermore, California (Bay Area)
Course Fee: $500 (Reduced Cost thanks to Gift & Endowed Funds)
Colorado College will send a small delegation to the annual United Nations global climate conference COP28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates during block 4. Qualified students submit applications to join a team of COP civil-society observers, participants and ethnographers, working through the broader Youth Environmental Alliance in Higher Education* and the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). -- 1 unit.
Course Full Name: Community-Based Field Study: Engaging COP28 in Dubai as Ethnographers
Course Number: AN380
Faculty Leader(s): Sarah Hautzinger (AN) and Myra Jackson (Innovation)
Prerequisites: Consent of Instructor
Major and/or College Requirements Met: TBD
Course Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Course Fee: $1,200 (This program is subsidized by several grants and funds from across the college to allow for a smaller group size and full-coverage of on-site costs.)
The Mattel Company has a long history of creativity and economic impact, bringing toys from concept through creation and marketing for nearly 80 years. Their brands include Barbie, Hot Wheels, Fisher-Price, and American Girl, demonstrating generation-spanning appeal to children and parents alike,
This half-credit course will spend nine days on site at Mattel in Los Angeles with two Colorado College faculty, learning from company experts about the toy development process, from ideation through retailing. We will explore: how Mattel collects insights about consumer trends, play patterns, and shoppers; how designers and engineers create toys with desirable features based on those patterns; and how sales/marketing teams work with retail customers. Learning will be hands-on, in small teams based on student interest, with curricular support from our multidisciplinary faculty, and informed by recent college graduates who can advise on the career path ahead. As a culmination, faculty will advise students as they to complete team-based consulting projects to present to Mattel executives.
Course Full Name: When the Work is Fun: Creativity & Innovation at Mattel
Course Number: GS222
Faculty Leader(s): Dan Johnson (EC) and Ryan Banagale (MU)
Prerequisites: Sophomore status and declaration of a major.
Course Location: Mattel Headquarters, El Segundo, CA
Course Fee: $1,650
This course travels to Chicago’s Newberry Library so that senior history majors may gather materials for their final research projects in a world-class library.
Course Full Name: History Senior Seminar
Course Number: HY410
Faculty Leader(s): Carol Neel (HY)
Prerequisites: Senior Status, HY399
Major and/or College Requirements Met: This course is one option for the History Senior Project within the Major.
Course Location: Chicago, Illinois
Course Fee: $1,200
Encounter the history of Christian martyrdom and sainthood in Rome, Italy. Examines the beginnings of martyrdom in the early church, particularly in the context of the Roman Empire, and the legacies of the apostles Peter and Paul as well as the emergence of later saints, especially in the Catholic tradition. Historical study is attentive to ways in which Christian communities construct and memorialize—through literature, art, and space—martyrs and saints. In Rome, explore imperial spaces, ancient catacombs, and the Vatican; beyond Rome, we'll venture to Sicily to experience the Feast of St. Agatha.
Course Full Name: Martyrs & Saints
Course Number: RE200/HY200
Faculty Leader(s): Pamela Reaves (RE)
Prerequisites: None
Major and/or College Requirements Met: Historical Perspectives
Course Location: Rome, Italy
Course Fee: $3,600
Course Full Name: From Pearl Harbor to Honouliuli
Course Number: PY178/PA250
Faculty Leader(s): Jason Weaver (PY)
Prerequisites: None
Major and/or College Requirements Met: This course
Course Location: Honolulu, Hawai'i
Course Fee: $2,250
Course Full Name: Contemporary French Society
Course Number: SO270/FR317
Faculty Leader(s): Gail Murphy-Geiss (SO)
Prerequisites: Any 100-level SO Course or Consent of Instructor
Major and/or College Requirements Met: College-Wide: Global, Equity & Power. Major:
Course Location: Toulouse, France
Course Fee: $3,700
Course Full Name: Art & Power
Course Number: HY200/IT320
Faculty Leader(s): Susan Ashley (HY)
Prerequisites: None
Major and/or College Requirements Met: TBD
Course Location: Florence, Italy
Course Fee: $3,300
Two Block Option: Students who enroll in both HY200 (Bk 7) and IT320: Gusto (Bk 8) are enrolled as a half-semester and may be able to waive the program fee (see the "Billing for CC-Led Semester & Half-Semester Programs" on our Semester Abroad Billing webpage for more information on this option.) The half-semester option also includes a meal allowance and airfare voucher, which the 1-block option does not.
An introduction to Freudian psychoanalytic theory with forays into object relations theory, self-psychology, Lacanian theory, intersubjective psychoanalysis, and complexity theory. Course sections also survey the influence of psychoanalytic theory on Hollywood film from the 1930s to the present, the influence of behavioral/cognitive psychology on screenwriting and approaches to storytelling, and other topics regarding subjectivity, media marketing, and the visual arts. Course sessions will meet regularly at the Contemporary Institute for Psychoanalysis, including Q&As with practicing analysts and therapists about their research and techniques.
Course Full Name: Topics in Film: Cinema & Psychoanalysis
Course Number: FM200
Faculty Leader(s): Scott Krzych (FM)
Prerequisites: None
Major and/or College Requirements Met:
Course Location: Los Angeles, California
Course Fee: $4,000
Course Full Name: Linking Literacy, Language & Linguistics
Course Number: ED110
Faculty Leader(s): Lynne Fitzhugh (ED)
Prerequisites: None
Major and/or College Requirements Met: Society & Human Behavior graduation requirement.
Course Location: Various sites in Spain
Course Fee: $5,400
Meet and study with important psychoanalysts who share their work and talk about case studies. We also explore the art, architecture and city life of Chicago.
Course Full Name: Global Berlin: Film, City and Identity
Course Number: GR220/GR320/FM200
Faculty Leader(s): Christiane Steckenbiller (GR) and Baran Germen (FM)
Prerequisites: None
Major and/or College Requirements Met: College-Wide: Global, Equity & Power. Major:
Course Location: Berlin, Germany
Course Fee: $4,000
Course Full Name: Gusto: Italian Food as Art, Culture, and Tradition
Course Number: IT320
Faculty Leader(s): Amanda Minervini (IT)
Prerequisites: None
Major and/or College Requirements Met:
Course Location: Rome & various sites, Italy
Course Fee: $3,350
Two Block Option: Students who enroll in both HY200 (Bk 7) and IT320: Gusto (Bk 8) are enrolled as a half-semester and may be able to waive the program fee (see the "Billing for CC-Led Semester & Half-Semester Programs" on our Semester Abroad Billing webpage for more information on this option.) The half-semester option also includes a meal allowance and airfare voucher, which the 1-block option does not.
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2022-2023 BLOCK AWAY COURSES
COURSE NAME: Paris on a Precipice
PROGRAM FEE: $3,350 includes lodging, ground transport, excursions and international health & travel insurance.
An exploration of the development of French philosophy from the interwar period to the present. Using the city of Paris as its context, the course examines how dramatic social and political challenges influenced the paths of French philosophical reflection, moving thinkers to question the foundations of knowledge, morals, and politics, leading ultimately to what might be called a "decentered" cosmopolitanism. This course meets the Critical Learning AIM requirement.
PROGRAM FEE: $4,000 includes lodging, ground transport, excursions and international health & travel insurance.
PROGRAM FEE: This program is grant funded and will have no program fee. The program includes lodging, ground transport, excursions and international health & travel insurance.
PROGRAM FEE: $3,850 includes lodging, ground transport, excursions and international health & travel insurance.
PROGRAM FEE: $4,350 includes lodging, ground transport, excursions and international health & travel insurance.
PROGRAM FEE: $1,200 includes lodging and full access to the Newberry Library resources.
COURSE NAME: Development & Grassroots Resistance in Latin America
COURSE NUMBER: SO267
COURSE LOCATION: Santiago, Chile
FACULTY: Prof. Eric Popkin (SO)
PROGRAM FEE: $3,800 includes lodging, ground transport, most meals, excursions and international health & travel insurance.
PROGRAM FEE: $3,250 includes lodging, ground transport, group meals, excursions and international health & travel insurance.
PROGRAM FEE: This program is department-funded and has no program fee. Program includes lodging, ground transport, and excursions.
PROGRAM FEE: $1,700 includes lodging, ground transport, group meals and excursions. Students who do not require lodging can pay a greatly reduced fee.
PROGRAM FEE: $3,700 includes lodging, ground transport, excursions, most breakfasts and dinners, and international health & travel insurance.
PROGRAM FEE: $3,200 includes lodging, ground transport, excursions and group meals.
PROGRAM FEE: $4,000 includes lodging, ground transport, excursions, group meals and international health & travel insurance.
PROGRAM FEE: $3,350 includes lodging, ground transport, excursions and international health & travel insurance.
PROGRAM FEE: $3,000 includes lodging, ground transport, excursions and group meals.
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2021-2022 BLOCK AWAY COURSES
Prof. T. Roberts
Program Fee: $3,325
Prof. J. Riker & Prof. M. Dobson
Program Fee: $1,700
Prof. O. Ben-Amots & Prof. M. Grace
Program Fee: $3,600
Prof. S. Krzych
PRogram Fee: $2,900
Prof. J. Smith
Program Fee: $800
Prof. M. Kummel
Program Fee: $3,500
Prof. J. Weaver
Program Fee: $1,850
Prof. G. Murphy-Geiss
Program Fee: $3,500
Prof. L. Hughes & Prof. B. Sarchett
Program Fee: $3,200
Prof. S. Ashley
Program Fee: $3,700
Prof. N. Wood
Program Fee: $3,200
Prof. A. Minervini
Program Fee: $3,300
Prof. C. Cornette
Program Fee: $3,300
Prof. A. Bull
Program Fee: $2,600
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