Thank you for joining us on our Leir 2025 Summer Study Abroad Program to the Mediterranean!

This year we will be traveling to Spain and Turkey from May 19 – June 16.

We will visit many cities, monuments, historical and geographical sites as we study the course themes of the medieval Mediterranean region’s geography and topography, urban environments, and cultural heritage.

For a link to a detailed course syllabus and our daily itinerary, click here!

Students will be learning about art, archaeological, and architectural history through the lens of urban studies and cultural heritage. Walking tours, readings, faculty and student presentations will give us a rare focused opportunity to dive deeply into these cities’ unique histories while engaging with them in the contemporary moment. 

Included in our exciting itinerary in Spain are the cities of Madrid, Toledo, Sevilla, Cádiz, Córdoba, Granada, and Málaga including an exciting day trip to Gibraltar, then by ferry across the Strait of Gibraltar to the Spanish city of Ceuta, which is on the coast of North Africa. From Málaga, we fly to Turkey, where  we will spend a week in the great metropolis of İstanbul, and then take trips around the Sea of Marmara to the Aegean island of Bozcaada, to ancient Troy, İznik, and Bursa. While based predominantly in Europe, on our trip we will also be visiting (briefly) the continents of Africa and Asia, as well. Three continents, three countries, in only four weeks!

In both Spain and Turkey, we will travel by local buses, by hired shuttles, and also by ferries, allowing us to consider and experience a variety of ways of navigating the Mediterranean’s complex coastal geography and topography.

We are extremely grateful to Clark’s Study Abroad office and to the Leir benefactors for supporting this incredible opportunity.

Please feel free to explore our WordPress website, which includes bios on each of this year’s Leir program participants, including faculty, staff, and students. 

You can also stay tuned for daily blogs by the students of our daily activities. See the tabs above for Spain and Turkey, which are organized by date.

These blogs are part of the student’s grade and will be updated as regularly as possible.

Please feel free to comment and send your encouragement to the students as we go along! We look forward to sharing our exciting experiences with you!