1

HRTM 495 Final Project

Forum-Nexus Study Abroad
Gracen Tilton

Forum-Nexus Study Abroad has been challenging students to

expand their cultural intelligence for twenty-six years. Every year, the

program adapts to a new group of students, and is constantly trying to

make improvements that will better fit each individual students wants

and needs. Typically, we collect information and opinions for these

improvements through end of program surveys about the professors,

classes, professional visits, and locations that we visit. This year, we

plan to do the same thing, but, due to the fact that I have participated

in the program previously last year, I was fortunate enough to make

suggestions to the program director, Hugo Hervitz, during the duration

of the program itself.

This year, Forum-Nexus has sixty-four students, and twelve

faculty members with the program. Our staff in comparison to last year

has almost doubled, and majority of our success this year, in my

opinion, has been from this increase. When traveling in large groups, it

can become difficult to monitor each student, make sure they are on

task with the program and accounted for in each city. Our staff has

been extremely successful in smoothly transitioning the large student

body to and from each city, and the students have been better

informed with each transition than previous years. Since the program

is improving every summer, this project gave an opportunity to

 2

propose a new concept to the students that would help their transition

to each new city or country, and help them get a better understanding
A
of their surroundings. This project is
p
p
especially helpful in countries where there is
e
n
a strong language barrier, since majority of
di
x
students participating are not bilingual.
B
Countries like Spain, France, Italy and

Greece have their own native languages,

and English is not as common as the

students may assume before arrival. This

project will focus on better preparing each student for the upcoming

city, and providing them with important information they may have

missed out on in class. Since the program is constantly improving

every year, this project gave us an opportunity to make a change in

areas that may have been previously overlooked by the faculty and

staff.

Together, the program director, Hugo, and I were able to discuss

possible project ideas that would better prepare each student for the

city the group plans to visit that week or weekend. Before beginning

this assignment, it was vital that this project showed students what to

expect before arriving to each new city, and key essentials they would

need during their stay. After much discussion, we were able to create

City Essential Guides for each city and country that the program
 3

visits. These guides were presented in a PowerPoint format, and

emailed to each student before their arrival to the next location. In

class everyday, the professors were able to go over important

information with their students about each new destination, but

Cord
ineu
there was not a standard format for this information to be
Wine
ry
presented. Having a general platform would help the program stay
Visit
consistent, and keep each student informed to the best of our

abilities as staff. I was able to choose this project after our arrival

to Barcelona, Spain, where majority of the students did not speak

Spanish or Catalan, and had difficulty maneuvering around the city. As

a team, we felt as though it was vital that the students understand

general words in each native language, and were given information

about general essentials such as laundry and gym services, common

foods in that area, and our hotel address for those who choose to

travel out of the base city for the weekend. Since the creation of the

City Essential Guides students have been able to access these

services with better ease and confidence than before.

Majority of the students participating in Forum Nexus are from

the United States, and can barely speak the languages of the various

countries we visit. Especially in countries like France, people can

become extremely offended when students try to communicate in

English, versus French, even in situations as simple as ordering a meal

off a menu. The City Essential Guides for these countries, in

 4

particular, gives students an opportunity to learn basic phrases that

can help them in day-to-day interactions with the locals in that area.

On top of reducing the language barrier, the City Essential A

p
Guides has helped students better locate the closest p
e
supermarkets, pharmacies, gyms, and laundry services to our n
di
hotels. Since the information is given to the students upon arrival, x

this reduces the chances that they will wander each of these cities, in

search of items they may need. Since most of the students traveling

with the program do not have international plans or cell phone service,

it can become extremely dangerous for them to wander in search of a

specific good or service without a means of communication. The

creation of the City Essential Guides has reduced the threat of a

student getting lost in an unknown city, or separating themselves from

the group, without anyway of finding their way back to the hotel. These

guides also provide students with each hotel address in each city, and

a directional map that shows other landmarks and attractions nearby

that they could visit in their free time during the afternoons after class.

From personal experience, having each hotels address on hand is

extremely convenient when taking a taxi or metro line back home after

a long day, and many of the students have agreed after using the

guides in countries where English is not very common.

After vising Barcelona, Spain for the first week of the program,

Forum Nexus allowed the City Essential Guides to become

 5

implemented in the program to better help students in the upcoming

cities. Being an intern, I was responsible for other miscellaneous tasks

Ni that involved emailing all the students each
m
e morning, and staying updated on each individual
s,
Fr status throughout the trip. We were able to
a
n implement these guides after attaching them to an
c
e email to the students upon our arrival to Chamonix,
Vi
France. Alongside this guide was information

including roommate assignments and upcoming

projects for each class. Due to the fact that Chamonix is located in the

French Alps, we felt it vital to provide students with information on how

to locate the nearest hiking trails and popular tourist attractions in the

area. Emailing each student throughout the program was the most

convenient way to get the information across, and properly implement

the guides into the program.

There have been many positive responses since the creation of

the City Essential Guides for each city. Many students feel as though

they are better informed on basic necessities in each city, since the

guides have been implemented into the program. During weeks that

consist of multiple professional visits, and day trips, the students are

informed of the weather within the guides and daily schedules that

include wake up, breakfast, and departure times. This helps the group

stay organized, and collective as a group. The results throughout the

 6

trip have exceeded the expectations originally set for the guides, and

the program director has agreed to assign an Intern in future programs

to create guides similar to the ones used this year. The guides have

simplified the daily tasks for many of the students, and as a staff, we

believe that this is one of the main reasons A

p
they have been so successful. Without data p
e
packages, or internet access it can be hard n
di
for many of the students to locate and visit x

the places they intended to, and in many

instances the guides have helped students

see the cities to the fullest extent.

Personally, I did expect the guides to be

successful since they are an easily accessible platform that lays out

exactly what each weeks activities will consist of, and they explain the

best locations for many necessities students need throughout the

month. However, I did not expect my supervisor to adopt the Daily

Essential Guides for each city, and actually want to continue using

them in future summer programs. Forum Nexus positively adopted the

project, and they received the information for each guide multiple days

in advance before traveling to each new city. Due to the success of the

guides, how proactive the Intern staff was in completing each guide

and delivering them out to students on time, they were received and
 7

used for each city that we visited by Forum Nexus for the remainder of

the program after the first week in Barcelona.

 8

This assignment, in particular, helped the Forum Nexus Study

Abroad program in many ways, and will continue to be used for future

programs since it was so successful. Not only did it positively impact

R the staff by making their jobs easier, it

o
o also helped the student body obtain
m
in information for each city. The format of
g
Li the Daily Essential Guides was uniform
st
D throughout the program, and was easy to
ra
ft understand for both students and staff

alike. This project positively impacted this

summers program by simplifying and

condensing majority of the information given to students in class, and

gave them one information packet that contained all the information

they would need for the upcoming week. One Forum-Nexus student,

Mary Catherine White, from North Carolina State University said, the

guides helped me feel more comfortable on a daily basis because it

gave me the opportunity to research the different attractions in the

area, and have more knowledge on each destination or professional

visit in general, (Appendix C). These guides also reduced the

confusion from professor bias, since some students gained some

information from specific professors when others who were in other

classrooms with different professors did not.

 9

Unifying the student body was the overall goal, since the Daily

Essentials Guides gave each of the students the same access to vital

information that helped them throughout the trip. These guides helped

student maneuver around each city, especially on travel days when we

crossed over borders into new countries. On a personal level, this

project helped me connect with the student body over the course of

the program, and allowed me interact with my classmates and

understand what they were interested in each city, so I could meet

their needs. Overall, this project organized the program this summer,

and kept each student safe within these unknown cities and countries.

Appendix A

Introduction
. 1
How the project was
chosen.. 2
Needs that were met by the
project.. 3
 10

How the project was

implemented 4
Project
Results
5
How the project was
received... 5
How the project benefitted the
program 6
Conclusion
. 7

Appendix B

For each city visited by the Forum-Nexus program, a City

Essential Guide was created to inform students of fundamental goods
and services they might need throughout their stay. Attached, are each
of the guides and the information they contain for the following cities;
Barcelona, Spain, Chamonix, France, Zurich, Switzerland, Milan, Italy,
Rome, Italy and Rhodes, Greece.

Barcelona, Spain
Hotel Catalonia (July 6-13)
 11

Chamonix, France
Hotel LHeliopic Sweet and Spa (July 13-18)

Zurich, Switzerland
Crowne Plaza Zurich (July 18-22)
 12

Milan, Italy
UNA Hotel Century (July 22-26)

Rome, Italy
Hotel Universo (July 26-31)

Rhodes, Greece
 13

Sheraton Rhodes Resort (July 31-August 6)

Appendix C

The information within these guides was a combination of

Internet research, hotel interviews or suggestions, and personal

experiences from the cities previously mentioned. These guides

contain information on the nearest laundry and gym services, whether

outside or within each hotel, nearby tourist attractions, the hotel

addresses, and words to remember for each language. Each

PowerPoint ranges from six to ten slides, and larger cities with more

tourist attractions are typically longer in comparison to smaller

centralized locations. Each guide was created before the start of the

program, since many of the interns and staff members arrived before

the general students taking classes.

Bibliography
 14

Barcelona, Spain

"Hoteles Catalonia Book Hotels in Barcelona, Madrid and the

Caribbean."Http://www.hoteles-catalonia.com. Catalonia Hotels and Resorts, n.d.

Web. 19 July 2016.

"Barcelona 2016 - Top 10 Tourist Attractions Barcelona." Barcelona 2016 - Top 10

Tourist Attractions Barcelona. Barcelona Yellow Pages, n.d. Web. 19 July 2016

Chamonix, France

"News." Heliopic Sweet & Spa 4 Star Hotel Chamonix. L'Heliopic Hotels, n.d. Web. 19

July 2016.

"Best Walking Routes in Chamonix." , France. Powder Blue Ltd., n.d. Web. 19 July

2016.

Alexander, Lisa. "14 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc |

PlanetWare." 14 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc |

PlanetWare. Planet Ware, n.d. Web. 19 July 2016.

Zurich, Switzerland

"Zurich All Things To Do." All Things to Do in Zurich. Viator, n.d. Web. 19 July 2016.

"Crowne Plaza Zurich." IHG. Intercontinental Hotels Group, n.d. Web. 19 July 2016.

Milan, Italy

"Welcome @ UNA Hotel Century." UNA Hotel Century Is a Business Hotel in Milan

Italy near Milano Centrale Railway Station. UNA Hotels and Resorts, n.d. Web.

19 July 2016.
 15

"10 Best Things to Do in Milan: A Local's Guide." 10 Best Things to Do in Milan: A

Local's Guide. SkyScanner, n.d. Web. 19 July 2016.

Vida, Stefania. "Shopping & Dining at Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II." Where Milan What

to Do in Milan RSS. N.p., 28 Feb. 2015. Web. 19 July 2016.

Rome, Italy

"Hotel Universo Rome." - Best Western Italy. Best Western, n.d. Web. 19 July 2016.

"10 Top Tourist Attractions in Rome." Touropia Travel Experts. N.p., 14 Apr. 2016. Web.

19 July 2016.

Klein, Christopher. "10 Things You May Not Know About the Vatican."History.com.

A&E Television Networks, 12 Mar. 2013. Web. 19 July 2016.

Rhodes, Greece

"Sheraton Rhodes Resort: Sharing Memories of An Island Escape." Sheraton Rhodes

Resort. Starwood Hotels, n.d. Web. 19 July 2016.

"Top 5 Things to Do in Rhodes Island, Greece - David's Been Here." Davids Been Here.

N.p., 05 May 2013. Web. 19 July 2016.

"Ministry of Culture and Sports | Acropolis of Rhodes." Ministry of Culture and Sports |

Acropolis of Rhodes. Oddysseus, 2012. Web. 19 July 2016.