International Programs

Global Semester

In 2006-2007, Donna McMillan led St. Olaf College’s Global Semester program.  Global Semester is a five-month long study-abroad program, during which Donna and her husband, Steve Bayne, and 28 great St. Olaf students traveled as a group to seven different countries: Switzerland, Greece, Egypt, India, Thailand, Hong Kong & mainland China, and South Korea.  Throughout these five months they all lived together, traveled and went on tours together, and attended courses together. The group took five courses, including one psychology course, Culture and the Self, which Donna taught.  The Global Semester experience is intense and exciting. Inevitably during the five months there were plenty of physical, mental, and emotional challenges, such as fascinating but exhausting six-hour tours in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings (that began at 6:30AM with temperatures over 100 degrees Farenheit), flights at 3:00AM, and the ever-present challenge of getting to know different cultures, people, and languages. The challenges are worth it, though, as Global Semester – and study abroad in general – is a unique and wonderful learning opportunity.

Global Semester 2006-2007 in Egypt	The Group in India
Famous Hong Kong Skyline	Hong Kong’s Natural Beauty