Text Box: You may have heard that in recent years demand has exceeded space in our existing semester programs in Spain and Honduras. You may have wondered why we’ve had no program in South America. Well, wonder no more. The Spanish Department is proud to announce a third semester study program, and the location we chose after our research team visited 19 institutions in Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and Argentina is ... Arequipa, Peru. This new fall program, hosted by the Universidad Católica San Pablo, will be inaugurated in August of 2011. Arequipa, at approximately 900,000 inhabitants, is Peru’s second largest city. Founded in 1540, it is known as the Ciudad Blanca because many colonial buildings in its beautiful casco histórico, designated as a UNESCO world heritage site, are built from white volcanic rock. It is set between three mountain peaks in southwestern Peru, and because its altitude is 7800 feet, its climate is temperate all year long. During the fall semester it will be sunny and dry every day. Arequipa has a high student population, with a very large public university and another Catholic university in addition to San Pablo. Nearby our students can visit the Colca Canyon, the deepest in the world, and on weekends they can raft, canoe, hike, or Text Box: visit the Pacific coast, two or three hours away by bus. The Universidad Católica San Pablo currently enrolls some 5000 students. Founded by a Catholic community, the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, this institution follows a mission similar to Calvin’s: “to enter the realms of philosophy, theology, the humanities, sciences and technology illuminated by faith and empowered by reason, with the confidence that we can discover humanity and create and contribute to the building of a better world, more humane and more reconciled.” San Pablo particularly emphasizes service to youth and to the family, solidarity with the poor, and the evangelization of culture. We are excited at the prospect of dialogue with fellow Christians who are also responding with a message of transformation and reconciliation to the culture in which they find themselves and to the needs of society. At San Pablo, our students will take courses from Calvin’s major and minor program, taught by the director and by Peruvian professors, as in our other programs. A new feature with the creation of this program will be the requirement that every student take at least one of San Pablo’s courses together with Peruvian students. More advanced students can enroll in more Text Box: than one, and we are planning whenever possible to make available classes within the Calvin student’s areas of professional interest, such as Business Administration or Teacher Education. San Pablo’s staff is well organized to support students with such services as a doctor on campus, staff advisors and mentors, and a Student Affairs division that organizes a variety of extracurricular activities and enrichment workshops such as theatre, arts, sports, and musical ensembles. This semester will offer wonderful travel opportunities, both group excursions and individual travel options, to sites such as Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca, Lima, the Nazca lines, the Islas Ballestas, mountain villages, and the Amazonian rain forest. A week of on-site planning this summer has confirmed the many on-campus and off-campus challenges and possibilities for our students, the diverse cultural heritage and academic offerings that will enrich their awareness of the many forms the Hispanic world can take, and the well organized and caring people that are eager to receive us. This new program has been made possible by strong student interest, by the support of Calvin’s faculty and administration, and by the success of our existing programs for people like you, our treasured alumni. Text Box: New Semester in Arequipa, Peru!

A group of Calvin students in front of Machu Picchu
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www.calvin.edu/academic/spanish/