The Experience

Preparation, On-Site Immersion, Post-Travel Integration

The Experience: Your World, Expanded

This isn't a vacation. It's the moment your world gets bigger. Some lessons can't be captured in a classroom. They happen in the middle of a bustling night market in Seoul, during a sunrise hike in the Andes, or while navigating a conversation in a language you're just beginning to learn.

Whether you're traveling for course credit or as part of a non-credit Elevate program, The Experience is designed to push you beyond your comfort zone — and help you see the world, and yourself, differently.

A Day in the Life

7:00 AM: You wake up somewhere that isn't home. The sounds outside your window are different. The air smells different. You grab your journal and write down three things you noticed yesterday that surprised you.

9:00 AM: Your group heads out — not on a tour bus, but on foot. Your guide isn't just pointing the history of monuments; they're introducing you to the people who live and work here. You practice a phrase you learned before you left. It lands. Someone smiles back.

12:00 PM: Lunch is an adventure. You order something you can't fully pronounce and are not quite sure what's coming out of the kitchen. It's the best thing you've eaten all week.

2:00 PM: The Observation Challenge. No phone. No headphones. Just you, your surroundings, and 30 minutes to notice everything. You'll be amazed what you see when you're actually looking.

5:00 PM: A structured conversation with a local community member. They ask you questions you weren't expecting. You ask some back. You leave thinking about it for the rest of the travel program.

8:00 PM: Dinner with your group. Someone says "I didn't expect to feel this way." Everyone nods.

The Journey: Three Phases of Growth

Every Elevate travel program follows a structured arc — designed to ensure you don't just visit a place, but truly understand it.

Phase 1: Prepare

Before you even head to the airport, your journey begins. Through cultural orientations and survival language basics, you'll arrive with confidence and curiosity — not just a suitcase.

Phase 2: Experience

Once on the ground, the world becomes your primary text. You won't just be a tourist; you'll be an active participant:

  • The Observation Challenge: A tech-free exercise that sharpens your senses and helps you notice the small, vital details of a new environment
  • Cross-Cultural Encounters: Structured opportunities to engage with local community members, hearing their stories and sharing your own
  • Guided Immersion: Exploring neighborhoods, markets, and historical sites with experts who connect what you see to global systems

Phase 3: Apply

The travel program doesn't end when the plane lands. Through re-entry reflections, you'll process how the experience changed your perspective — and learn how to articulate that growth to future employers, in interviews, and in your everyday life.

 

Why Travel?

  • Build Career Readiness: Employers value global fluency. Navigating a new country proves you're adaptable, resilient, and capable of working across cultures. That's a story worth telling in every job interview.
  • Challenge Your Perspective: Step outside the Moravian bubble and see how your field of study (or your sense of self) operates in a global context. You'll come back with questions you didn't know to ask before you left.
  • Find Your Community: Travel creates bonds like nothing else. You'll return with a network of fellow Global Greyhounds who shared the same transformative moments, and that community lasts long after the travel ends.

Is This For Me?

Yes.

You don't need to be a seasoned traveler or speak another language to participate. The Center for Global Education works proactively to ensure our programs are inclusive and accessible — investigating terrain, housing, and dietary needs so every student can focus on what matters: the experience. If you are uncertain about your participation, contact the Center for Global Education team at studyabroad@moravian.edu.

"I think people can learn quite a lot from traveling abroad. No matter what their future plans are, they will have to interact with someone different from them one day and I believe studying abroad provides the best opportunity to connect with those different from ourselves." — Current Moravian Student

Ready to Start Your Journey?

 

Course Information