Lubbock Christian University encourages all students to take advantage of opportunities to study abroad. Whether your cross-cultural experience be part of a class curriculum, a three-week Global Experience trip, or our fully immersive Semester in Spain, we offer a trip that meets your objectives and schedule.
Learning happens both within and outside of a traditional classroom. Your educational journey abroad can take you outside the walls of a traditional classroom and into the adventure of studying in a new and unique environment.
Where will you learn today?
Classes
Your degree plan may offer classes that include a travel component. The number of classes incorporating this kind of experiential learning is growing. In the past, students have taken weekend to week-long trips to Chicago (to study finance), San Antonio (haunted history), and London (the history of science). Your advisor can tell you more about the specific classes offered in your discipline.
E Pluribus Unum
If you are an incoming LCU student, there is an opportunity to travel the first week of August to Philadelphia, Boston, and Washington D.C. Not only will you earn a history course credit, but you will also develop relationships with other incoming students. Some of these students will remain friends and traveling companions throughout your career at LCU.
Global Experiences Trips
In May 2023, LCU students and professors took their first three-week long trip to study Reformation History throughout Europe. We are now offering 2-3 May trips each year, along with expanding the locations to which we travel. Students take a class during the Spring semester that counts toward their Cultural Awareness requirement in the University Core Curriculum, then travel during May to the various sites around the globe they have been learning about. In the past, students have taken trips from Greece to Ireland and Rome to London, with multiple stops in between. In May of 2025, we will have a group travel to Japan and another group travel to Europe, where they will explore sites from Krakow, Poland to Paris, France.
Semester in Spain
Our original Study Abroad program, founded in 2016, offers students a full semester of coursework in Ávila, Spain, a city west of Madrid. Partnering with the Catholic University of Ávila (UCAV), students live and eat in the UCAV dorms while taking classes offered by LCU faculty. Students will also take a Spanish course taught by an instructor at UCAV.
Students will take a full load of classes (12-15 hours) in Spain. While the entire group will travel several places together during the semester, students will also be able to travel throughout Europe. Rome, Paris, Vienna, and Switzerland have been favorite locations of former students.
The greatest benefit of the entire semester in Spain is the ability to be fully immersed in the culture by learning the language, the customs, and the worldview of the Spanish people.
Contact Information
Whatever your goal, there is a Global Campus trip opportunity that can help you achieve it. Click on any of the links above to find out more about each trip, or schedule an appointment to visit with Robert Anderson, Director of Global Campus, for more information.
No problem! You will be required to take a beginning Spanish course during your semester abroad. You will also get plenty of experience in day to day life. If you would like to get a head start, sign up for a Spanish course with Señor Mata.
Not to worry! We want to help you and your advisor make this semester work for you. In addition to taking online classes, your advisor can substitute classes offered in Avila for classes required on your degree plan. Make sure you talk to your advisor before you decide to study abroad!
The study abroad fee allows LCU to book your plane ticket to and from Spain, group excursions and tours you will take during the semester, and travel insurance.
Your regular financial aid will go towards your tuition and fees, room and board, books, and your study abroad fee.
Your first payment will be your $250 application fee. This will be due with your application in the fall semester you are applying. Your next payment of $750 is your deposit to lock-in your place for the program. This deposit will be due early in the spring semester after you have been accepted. The remainder of your program fee will be on your fall tuition bill of the semester you travel to Spain.
You will be responsible for your tuition and fees at the block rate for 12-18 hours, and room and board fees equal to the price of living in the Courtyard with full meal plan. You should also expect to purchase books, and be prepared for online course fees. The dormitory will provide three meals a day, but you are free to eat elsewhere at your own discretion. The group excursion price is included; however, any other travel you choose to do will be your responsibility. The Study Abroad program recommends having an excess of $3000-$5000 set aside for independent student group travel.
LCU takes the safety of its students extremely seriously. Every effort has been, and will be, made to ensure that students will feel comfortable in their study abroad environment. In addition to the security provided by the dormitory complex and the Catholic University of Ávila, the city is also home to the nation’s police training academy. As with any travel, whether across the state of Texas, the United States, or abroad, some safety risks are present, but LCU includes safety training in the orientation part of the Study Abroad process.
You are encouraged to make your own travel plans outside of class time and group activities. Classes will meet Monday-Thursday, which allows for three-day weekends each week. Students will be required to travel in a minimum group of three outside of Avila.
Yes. The dormitory and college have free WiFi access. You can also find WiFi at various cafes around town.
International data plans are available through your service provider or an international SIM card can be purchased for use. Using WiFi, FaceTime, Skype, and WhatsApp are great resources for calling home.
LCU recommends accessing cash through ATMs located throughout the city. Be sure to notify your bank before you depart that you will be traveling overseas. It is possible to exchange cash at local banks, but is not recommended. If you have not yet received a chip card from your bank, please talk to them about obtaining one prior to August.
As with life on the Lubbock campus, you are free to connect with any church in Ávila you choose. LCU has contact with a church that has a very similar faith background to churches of Christ, which will be pointed out upon arrival. Weekly chapel meetings will be held on Sunday evenings led by the visiting LCU faculty, and other times determined by the directors.
Travel insurance is covered in your study abroad fee, which should cover a variety of medical problems. There is a hospital centrally located in Avila that accepts the travel insurance. Aside from student group independent travel, a faculty member will be available to accompany students in an emergency.
Of course! You will be responsible for attending your classes, and other required meetings, but your free time is yours to spend how you choose. Family will be required to purchase their own flights and lodging, and are not permitted to eat in the dormitory cafeteria.
Passport forms are available online at www.travel.state.gov. Follow the instructions on your form to send in your application. It is imperative you obtain a passport as quickly as possible so that your flight to Spain can be booked.
Students will be required to attend on-campus orientation before they depart for Spain, beginning on the first day of classes. Students will need to be in Lubbock at that time. You will be responsible for your own living arrangements for those few days.