Traveling abroad with Northeast gives students a unique learning experience.

To travel abroad with Northeast, students need to be enrolled in a class. For every trip Northeast goes on, there is a corresponding class. Students need to be enrolled, active and passing the class. The class prepares the students for the trip. Any student can enroll class to go on the trip.

A student may go on any trip, though some are designed for specific majors, Saalfeld said. For example, a trip was scheduled to go to the United Kingdom for agriculture. Although the trip was more for agriculture students, anyone could come. Those who came and weren’t agriculture students did do some farming activities, but they still were able to explore castles and go to a Harry Potter themed park and do fun activities as well.

Studying abroad at Northeast is a bit different than other schools, Saalfeld said. At Northeast, studying abroad is more of a short-term faculty-led travel trip. This means instead of studying broad for a semester, the trip typically lasts anywhere from ten days to two weeks.

Northeast knows that money can be an issue for students. Keeping that in mind, Northeast tries to make studying abroad as cost effective as possible. Saalfeld said the rule of thumb is to try to keep the cost of the trip under $4,000 per person. Lodging, airfare, activities, some meals and transportation will all be inclusive.

A trip was to Ireland was postponed due to Covid 19 and is now rescheduled for May 2020. There is some talk about a trip to Japan in the near future along with Costa Rica said Pam Saalfeld, director of the Center for Global Engagement.

Depending on where the trip is located, students and faculty stay in hotels, and students’ room together. Saalfeld said health and safety are her biggest concerns.

Students are allowed free time on the trip, once the students become somewhat comfortable with the country and feel safe, students can go on their own for a while, said Saalfeld. Of course, there are restrictions such as curfew and limitations as to how far a student can roam, but this is only for safety precautions. No one is forced to go off on their own, if they don’t want to.

It is extremely cool to study a subject and then go on and see it physically. She said students spend a lot of time staring at books and computers, but not a lot have the opportunity to go out and explore. “Being able to travel is a learning experience alone” said Saalfeld.