This course takes place on the Greek mainland, the Greek islands, and a cruise ship on the Aegean Sea. It combines an introduction to Greek culture and history with a specific focus on virtue and the good life in Greek thought. Students tour some of the most famous historical sites in Greece — the Parthenon in Athens, the Oracle at Delphi, the palaces of the Minoan civilization on Crete — and take the opportunity to experience the charm of contemporary Greek towns and the beauty of Greek beaches. For four days, the course is on a cruise ship that visits a number of famous Greek sites from antiquity. The intellectual thought of ancient Greece is very rich, serving as the source of much of the Western intellectual tradition. We read original works of some of the greatest Greek writers and thinkers, from the perspective of understanding the nature of the good life. We will also discover the profound parallels between ancient Greek thought and the insights of Maharishi Vedic Science. Both intellectually and experientially, this course provides an exploration of the good life. (4-unit course, including 2 units of General Education credit)

In this course, students visit the cultural centers of Italy, viewing Italian painting, sculpture and architecture. In addition, students learn beginning Italian, which they can use while experiencing the rich culture of Italy. We may visit several of the following historical locations: Lake Como, with trips to Bellagio, the Villa Balbianello, and the Villa Carlotta; Milan, home of the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, the Gothic Duomo, La Scala opera house, and the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele II; Venice, where students take gondola rides down the grand canal and visit the Basilica di San Marco, the Accademia, and the Peggy Guggenheim Museum of Modern Art; Florence, the cradle of the Renaissance, where students see the Duomo, the David by Michelangelo, the Convento di San Marco, and the Uffizi Gallery; Rome, where the group visits the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica, and the Piazza Navona. Students also visit smaller Tuscan villages, such as San Gimignano, Siena, and the Cinque Terre, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The focus of the course is on the Renaissance, the cultural and artistic awakening of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, which is often thought to form the foundation for modern Western culture. We study the art of the great masters of the Renaissance, including Michelangelo Buonarroti, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Botticelli, Filipo Lippi, Brunelleschi, Fra Angelico, Giberti, Giotto, and Donatello. (4 units)

This is a leadership training course in Australia and all students will take an active part in the leadership of the course. We actively interact with local cultures and ecosystems. We will travel by a combination of transportation ranging from bicycle, car, train, and bus, to boat. Every 2–3 days we will stop for another adventure, such as surfing, snorkel diving, hiking, mountain biking, sea kayaking, and white-water kayaking/rafting. This will be a self-sufficient trip where we will tent and prepare our own food as we travel. Australia is a large country so we will travel by motorized transportation on many occasions as we move between ecosystems. (4 units)

New Zealand is the setting of this leadership training course, and follows the same format and activities as the Australian excursion (see above), except that New Zealand’s size makes this trip a compact adventure lover’s paradise, so we will travel by bicycle as much as possible. (4 units)

From Mark Twain to John Steinbeck, some of the world’s most admired writers have found inspiration in the topic of travel. In this course students learn the conventions of travel writing as they visit the following locations in Italy: Lake Como, with trips to Bellagio, the Villa Balbianello, and the Villa Carlotta; Milan, home of the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, the Gothic Duomo, La Scala opera house, and the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele II; Venice, where students take gondola rides down the grand canal and visit the Basilica di San Marco, the Accademia, and the Peggy Guggenheim Museum of Modern Art; Florence, the cradle of the Renaissance, where students see the Duomo, the David by Michelangelo, the Convento di San Marco, and the Uffizi Gallery; Rome, where students visit the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica, and the Piazza Navona. Students also visit smaller Tuscan villages, such as San Gimignano, Siena, and the Cinque Terre, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Course work includes reading examples of popular travel writing on Italy. By analyzing the work of top travel writers and through in-class writing workshops, students become familiar with techniques of travel writing and learn to apply them in their own writing. As students visit cultural centers in Lake Como, Venice, Florence, Rome, Tuscany, and the Cinque Terra on the Mediterranean Sea, they record their personal observations of Italian people, places and daily life in a travel journal. The course culminates in the writing of a personal travel essay. (4 units)

This course explores the nature of Total Knowledge and the sequential unfoldment of Maharishi’s teaching, from his original inspiration to spiritually regenerate the whole world to current global programs to create prevention-oriented, problem-free administration and permanent world peace. Students visit places in India where Maharishi himself taught or established important centers of learning. They also enjoy Maharishi’s taped lectures, Sanskrit recitation, and presentations by leaders of the Indian Transcendental Meditation program Movement. Sites visited in recent courses include Mumbai, Thiruvananthapuram, Kanyakumari, Chennai, Varanasi, Allahabad, Jabalpur, Bhopal, Haridwar, Rishikesh, Maharishi Nagar, and Delhi. (4 units)

In this course, students read the Vedic Literature in Sanskrit and view videotapes by Maharishi on the Vedic Literature from the unique videotape collection available only in Seelisberg. Students live in Maharishi European Research University, located in the Swiss Alps high above Lake Luzern. Formal class is held in the morning, and in the afternoon students take group excursions to experience the beauty of Switzerland. Boat rides on Lake Luzern include visits to Weggis, Vitznau, Brunnen, Luzern, Herchenstein, Stans, Buochs, and Engelberg. Students also climb alpine paths around the lake and take lifts to famous peaks, such as Rigi, Pilatus, Mount Titlis, and Stanserhorn. (4 units)