IPSL: Colombia - Post-Conflict Studies and Afro-Caribbean Culture

Financial Aid is available for eligible students. IPSL also accepts AmeriCorps Segal Education awards.

SOME COURSES, RELATED TO THIS PROGRAM, ARE AVAILABLE ONLINE. PLEASE CONTACT IPSL FOR MORE DETAILS.
Start online NOW...Travel later (save money)! Online courses are taught by the same in-country faculty, scholars and scholar-practitioners that IPSL is partnered with. 

The IPSL Global Institute at the National University of Natural Medicine (nunm.edu) has designed and delivered international programs focusing on experiential learning, ethical service & engaged research for 40+ years. IPSL programs combine credit-bearing coursework, ethical volunteer service and advocacy research opportunities to provide a meaningful and impactful study abroad experience. Like IPSL, NUNM has been focused on educating, serving and supporting the development of healthy communities for many decades! 

Experience both the vibrant, modern energy of Medellín, the "City of the Eternal Spring" AND the sunny, historic, colonial city of Cartagena on the edge of the turquoise Caribbean (for an extended excursion).  

Courses include: 
*Beginning to Advanced Spanish Language
*Introduction to COSA (Community Organizing, Social Activism)
*COSA in Colombia
*From Escobar to Santos: Socio-Historical Perspectives on Modern Colombia (elective)
*Conflict, Peace and Reconciliation: Comparative Peace Processes in Colombia, South Africa, North Ireland and Rwanda (elective)
*Afro-Caribbean History and Culture (elective)

Volunteer opportunities may include:
*Migration / Displaced Persons (forced internal migration and conflicts)
*Peace Process in Post Conflict Areas
*Reconciliation Organization
*Animal Welfare
*Social Services
*Home Building
*Education
*The Elderly

Undergraduate students live with a Colombian family in both Medellín and Cartagena. Most meals are included. An integral part of the program, the homestay offers you the opportunity to make life-long friends, gain higher proficiency in the language, and experience the culture from "the inside." All IPSL host families are carefully selected and experienced with hosting students. Graduate students have a choice of living in a homestay or living in single or double dorm rooms or apartments. 

Excursions and activities in Medellín may include:
*A guided tour of dynamic, mountainous, Medellín  
*Mirador de las Palmas (gorgeous panoramic views of the city)
*Barefoot Park
*El Castillo Museo
*Museo de Antioquia  
*Plaza de Mercado-Minorista
*Folklore Latin dancing
*Sculpture Plaza (including Medellín’s own Fernando Botero

Excursions and activities in Cartagena may include:
*A guided tour of beautiful, colonial Cartagena visiting its many historical sites 
*Casa de Gabriel García Márquez (Nobel Prize for literature in 1985) literature tour
*Museum of the Inquisition and Gold
*San Felipe Castle
*Water sports
*Salsa lessons and dancing

IPSL engages students, educators, and grassroots organizations around the world in hands-on service to promote equitable relationships, social justice, sustainable change, and a commitment to our shared humanity. 

IPSL, the founder of Service-Learning, is a global education institute within the National University of Natural Medicine (nunm.edu). They invest over 83% of our revenues directly back into the communities where they serve.