Walking the streets of Montpellier, France. Performing at the International Fringe Festival, the largest cultural event in the world. Living on a yacht in the Caribbean.

Sound like a dream vacation? These are some of the opportunities available to students during this year’s inaugural January term. The J-term fair, held Sept. 5, exhibited all the exciting options for both internships and studying abroad.

This will be an opportunity for students to engage in learning experiences that are unavailable during traditional semesters. This year’s opportunities include study- away projects, on-campus seminars, internships, service learning projects, and independent and group projects.

The faculty and staff have high hopes for the experiment and its effects on students.

“The January term’s experiential and integrative learning projects and activities promote self-motivated and applied learning on curricular, co-curricular and also extra-curricular levels,” said Jeff Favolise, assistant to the president for planning and management, via email. “The January term provides opportunities for students to learn through experiences and connect classroom lessons with real-world activities.”

Students are also enthusiastic about the new term.

“I think it’s a good opportunity to study things that aren’t required and do experimental learning, which I think is really important,” said sophomore Raina Martens.

Guilford is offering a multitude of options for the semester. These are just a few of the opportunities.

Study Away — International

The Oxford Fantasy Writers program will allow students to experience the places that inspired Lewis Carroll, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and Phillip Pullman, known as the original fantasy writers.

“The beauty of it is the idea of seeing how writers respond to a place; to everything from the lamp post Lucy sees in ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,’ to the Imperial War Museum that affected Tolkien,” said Caroline McAllister, professor of English and the program’s faculty leader.

This study opportunity is ideal for English and history majors or anyone interested in fantasy literature.

Students can also study religion in France, attend the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin, Ireland, or study marine biology in the Caribbean.

Study Away — Domestic

One of the major options is the Ghost Ranch Experience. This will be held in New Mexico and will offer many different study opportunities for people of different interests.

Some of the programs offered at the Ghost Ranch will be arts-related, such as black and white landscape photography or Southwest weaving. Other programs include a camping and wilderness trip and an archeological study.

On-Campus Seminar

Woodworking and Furniture History, led by Jim Hood, professor of English, will give students an opportunity to learn a hands-on skill.

“This is a class for anybody, from environmental studies majors to art majors to business majors, or anybody interested in a craft hobby,” said Hood.

This seminar will include classes and field trips to places such as Old Salem and the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts.

Other on-campus seminars include developing apps for iPhones, exploring the logistics of a college pep band and learning fly fishing.

Internships

Internships will also be offered based on individual interest. Students can contact the Career Development Center with ideas for internships, or experts at the center can brainstorm with students.

“Students can do short term research for a museum or company like Syngenta, or work for a nonprofit like Downtown Greensboro Inc.,” said Megan Corkery, coordinator of internships and career counselor.

The exciting opportunities of the January term do not come without a price. Study away opportunities can cost over $6,000.

These high costs worry some students and discourage them from participating.

“My number one concern is just the cost. That makes me really frustrated. Many of the options look so awesome, but I can’t do any of them,” said Martens.

“I’m personally not going to do it because of the cost,” said early college junior Kristen Witkemper.

January term grants will be offered, but will be given based on demonstrated need and merit.

Despite the high costs, January term will be an exciting change for Guilford.