First-Year Experience Abroad

The College of Charleston’s First-Year Experience Abroad is designed to challenge students to explore a topic through cultural immersion. These academic programs will broaden the student's initial experience in a subject and allow them to explore an area of strong interest early in their college career.

The programs aim to demonstrate the benefits of study abroad experiential learning and encourage students to make plans early to undertake a more extensive study abroad experience later in their college career. FYE Abroad is an optional course experience for students during the spring semester of their first year. These one-credit courses are meant to introduce students to their study abroad options.

First-year students are eligible for these courses regardless of whether they complete their FYE requirement in the fall or spring semester.

Learn More About Study Abroad
FYE Students visit Nyhavn Harbour in Copenhagen, Denmark. Accent Image

Go abroad during your first year!

FYE Abroad students visit Nyhavn Harbour in Copenhagen, Denmark during Spring Break 2024

Watch a short video of FYE Denmark
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FYE Abroad Spring 2027 Opportunities

For specific information about cost, signing up, and course requirements, please contact the course's program directors, which can be found beneath the course descriptions. Applications for FYE Abroad 2027 open on August 17, 2026 and are due by October 15, 2026.
  • Happiness & Sustainability in Denmark

    FYET 132: Happiness & Sustainability in Denmark

    In a major cross-cultural study of happiness, Denmark consistently rates in the top 5 happiest countries in the world. Why are the Danes so happy? How does one’s life satisfaction relate to cultural factors in particular? In 2021 Denmark was ranked as the second-highest nation for sustainability, and Copenhagen in particular has transformed itself in the past 4 decades. We will explore these issues in the city of Copenhagen and on the Danish Island of Bornholm. We will meet weekly in January and February to discuss book chapters and readings. We will learn more about hygge (a Danish sense of coziness/belonging), and the traps of materialism (gaining pleasure from material objects), both in terms of the health of the planet and our personal mental health. There will be two or three short writing assignments.

    Program Directors: Lisa Ross and Jen Wright

    Learn more about the Denmark first-year experience in the Summer 2024 issue of CofC Magazine!

    The Pursuit of Happiness

  • No (S)pain No Gain: Walking the Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain

    FYET 116: No (S)pain No Gain: Walking the Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain

    This FYET explores the transcultural phenomenon of pilgrimage and more specifically the Camino de Santiago, a network of medieval heritage routes stretching across Europe. The Camino has undergone a renaissance in the last 30 years and is once again walked by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims every year. This course prepares students to undertake (on foot) the last 6 days of the pilgrimage from Lugo on the Camino Primitivo and the Camino Francés into Santiago over spring break 2027. We will meet weekly before departure, and then once again upon our return.

    Program Directors: Lisa Signori and Alison Smith

  • United Kingdom: Soccer Experience

    FYET 169: UK Soccer Experience

    An examination of the role of football in English society provides unique opportunities to investigate the complexities of contemporary England. The course examines historical and philosophical meanings associated with the sport of football as well as the role of football within English culture, politics, social conflict, and social change. The main goal of the course is to understand the socio-cultural dynamics of the relationship between football and English society. The course is designed around four main tenets: League Structure & Divisions; History & Culture; Geography; Stadiums & Grounds.

    Program Directors: Bruce Fleming and Cam Saleeby