Bridging Cultures Beyond Borders: An Experiential Education Program for Exploring Third Places in Global and Local Contexts

While experiential education has gained popularity in recent years, options for experiential education opportunities unrelated to an international internship or service-learning program are relatively limited. Furthermore, opportunities to learn through engaging with third places in both one’s home community and host community are quite limited. The following proposed program aims to fill this gap by focusing on immersion in third places in one’s home community and the host community of Madrid, Spain. This program is also designed to address the need for experiential education that goes beyond traditional structures, offering students the chance to engage deeply with their environments. It encompasses critical reflection through multiple modalities, and it has been designed so that students can learn through discovery, interaction, and self-exploration. Qualitative data gathered from interviews with professionals currently working in the field of experiential education inform the program’s design, including the role of reflection activities and third places in the program design, as well as potential benefits and challenges to implementing the program. The proposed program provides an innovative, concrete example of an immersive and engaging experiential education program which adds to the field of experiential education and can expand a provider’s program offerings. Keywords: Experiential education, engaged learning, third places, critical reflection