19 March 2009

The Last Post

I realized that I never came back to update once we got home last fall. Let this post serve as a belated bookend to my chronicle of our overseas semester. I'm happy to report that all of our students from both schools made it back safely to the United States, and several wasted no time before they started planning future trips to Europe.

Unfortunately, the economic crisis that started last September has complicated the future of the program. Recently we were informed that Freed-Hardeman had canceled their plans for an Italy semester this fall because of financial constraints. Ed Hicks has been working on an alternative plan for the Faulkner students who have put down deposits for Fall 2009. It may involve London or Athens. I hope that the Faulkner/Freed partnership will be revived next year and become a permanent feature of both schools' international program offerings.

Thanks to everyone who read this blog and supported our group in other ways. If you wish to see more of our photographs from the semester in Italy, my wife Vickie has uploaded several hundred of them to her Facebook account.

Arrivederci!