English: American Writers and Artists Abroad

Program Courses

All students will enroll in two required courses while attending the program:

• ENGL 119 (5 units)
• ENGL 177 (5 units)

Course Descriptions

ENGL 119: Literary Cities – Florence (5 units)

ENGL 119, Literary Cities (Florence): Florence is a city that was loved by many American writers and artists, who visited the city, lived there, and wrote and made art there. We will study the city through their eyes, visiting the churches, parks, piazzas and other places that appear in their works. Lectures, walking tours, museum explorations, and site visits will familiarize us with the city as they saw and felt it. In Edith Wharton’s short story, “The Fulness of Life,” for example, her protagonist experiences an aesthetic and spiritual thrill in the Church of Orsanmichele: we will visit the church and experience its atmosphere for ourselves.

• English 119 may fulfill any ONE of the following requirements: for the English major–Historical period requirement 1850-1900, or a breadth area requirement in either Gender, Race, Ethnicity, Disability or Sexuality Studies,  Imperial, Transnational and Postcolonial Studies, or Genre Studies, Interdisciplinary Studies and Critical Theory, or for the American Literature and Culture major—the Identities area requirement.

ENGL 177: Interdisciplinary Studies of American Culture (5 units) 

ENGL 177, Interdisciplinary Studies of American Culture: We will read novels and short stories by American writers, as well as the works of sculptors and painters, that were inspired by or set in Italy, and that often featured the lives and works of expatriate American writers and artists. Henry James’s novel Roderick Hudson, for example, is about a young American sculptor who moves to Italy to pursue his artistic career. We will also study the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous translation of the Florentine poet Dante’s Inferno, perhaps the most profound engagement of an American writer with the rich Florentine past.

• English 177 may fulfill any ONE of the following requirements: for the English major–Historical period requirement 1850-1900, or a breadth area requirement in either Gender, Race, Ethnicity, Disability or Sexuality Studies, Imperial, Transnational and Postcolonial Studies, or Genre Studies, Interdisciplinary Studies and Critical Theory, or for the American Literature and Culture major—the Identities or Media area requirement.

Optional Course

ENGL 199: Directed Research (4 units) 

Students also have the option of enrolling in ENGL 199, allowing them to do an additional research paper on a topic related to the travel study program.  Instructor consent is required to register, so be sure to obtain your instructor’s approval on the subject and format. There is an additional fee for this optional course.

Students can enroll in optional courses by submitting the Optional Course Registration Form, as well as proof of instructor consent, to info@ieo.ucla.edu. You can enroll up until the Friday of the second week of your program.

Schedule

All schedules, itineraries, and group activities are subject to change at the discretion of the instructor.

Textbooks

You are responsible for purchasing your own textbooks. We strongly suggest you read as much of the text material as possible before you depart. More information on textbooks will be available at a later date.

Budget Estimate	UC Undergrads	UC Grad Students	Visiting Student
Program Fee	$6,600	$7,200	$7,200
Textbooks (estimate)	$150	$150	$150
Airfare (estimate)	$1,800	$1,800	$1,800
Meals (estimate)	$1,000	$1,000	$1,000
Spending Money (estimate)	$800	$800	$800

Program fee includes registration and course fees, accommodations, program excursions and health insurance.

Airfare, textbooks, optional courses, meals, optional excursions, and any COVID-19 testing required for travel are additional.

Fees are subject to change by action of the UC Regents. View full fee disclaimer.

Document Fee

Non-UCLA students will be charged a $50 Document Fee. This is a one-time document fee which covers fees for first-class mailing of official transcripts, diploma and much more. Please visit the Registrar’s Office Website for more information. Matriculated UCLA Students: Please visit the Registrar’s Office Website for document fee information.

IEI Fee

All undergraduate students will be charged a $61 IEI fee per summer. The IEI (Instructional Enhancement Initiative) fee is a course materials fee that is charged in order to support the use of technology in undergraduate education at UCLA. For more information please click here.

Budgeting

We recommend that you budget accordingly to cover optional sightseeing, laundry, emergencies, etc.  How much to budget depends on your travel, entertainment, and souvenir choices. It is always best to overestimate your spending. Take the time to research the cost of living in your destination and the activities you want to participate in while abroad.

Purchasing Airfare

Please do not purchase airfare until instructed to do so by your Travel Study Program Coordinator.

Optional Course Fee

Optional 199	UC Undergrads	UC Grad Students	Visiting Students
Course Fee	$279 per unit	$349 per unit	TBA per unit

Fees are subject to change by action of the UC Regents. View full fee disclaimer.

Financial Aid

Financial aid for Summer Sessions Travel Study programs is available to qualified UCLA students. All other students should inquire about financial aid at their home institution. For details about the financial aid application process, please visit the Financial Aid section of this web site

Program City

Walking tours of Florence and its surroundings, visits to the Uffizi Gallery, the Pitti Palace Museum, the Boboli Gardens, and the nearby hilltop town of Fiesole—all enchanted locations for these writers—will allow program participants to experience firsthand the city of Florence that Americans loved so well.

Accommodations & Study Center

Students live in centrally-located student apartments in Florence. Students will stay in double or triple occupancy rooms with shared kitchen, bathroom and laundry facilities. Students will study at the Accent in Florence Study Center.

UCLA Travel Study reserves the right to change the housing location. Should this become necessary, we will arrange comparable accommodations elsewhere.

Meals

No meals are included. Accommodations include a shared kitchen for preparing meals.

If you have strict dietary requirements, this program may not be able to accommodate your needs. Please let us know when you apply for this program if you have special dietary needs as well as any physical or medical conditions. We will advise you accordingly.

Tentative Schedule

This program includes several excursions as part of its curriculum. Excursions in Florence and the surrounding area include visits to Fiesole, the Uffizi Gallery, Pitti Palace, Boboli Gardens, and the Church of Orsanmichele. The program also includes an overnight excursion to Rome with visits to the Vatican and Capitoline Museums. This list is subject to change. A schedule of excursions will be available at a later date.

Limited free time is built into this program for independent sightseeing. If you plan on traveling extensively, we recommend that you budget additional spending money.