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May 18 – June 9, 2025
Contact Lisamarie Bensman (bensman@hawaii.edu) to apply.
Application deadline is January 31, 2025

Interested in seeing more of the world? Spend three weeks experiencing European cultures as you actively learn about psychology, earning 3 course credits and tour 3 countries.

  • Bulgaria: Sofia (4 nights), Plovdiv (2 nights), Veliko Tarnovo (1 night) & Varna (2 nights)
  • Romania: Bucharest (3 nights), Brașov (4 nights), Sighișoara (1 night), & Sibiu (1 night)
  • Hungary: Budapest (2 nights)

This trip is part of PSY 250 Social Psychology (CRN: TBD).  You’ll need to enroll in this summer 2025 class in order to go on the trip.

Interested in joining the trip? Please do the following:

  1. Complete a study abroad application by 31 January
  2. Get a passport (if you don’t already have a valid one)
  3. Submit your first trip payment ($500) by 18 February
    • Plane tickets to be purchased 11 March; payment of $650 due 1 April; another payment of $650 due 22 April; and a final payment of $700 due 6 May
  4. Register for PSY 250 summer 2025* (CRN: TBD)

* If you have already taken PSY 250, let me know and we can figure out an alternative course.

Trip highlights include:

  • Swimming in the Black Sea
  • Day trips to Dracula’s Castle (Bran Castle) & Peleș Castle
  • An overnight in the most haunted town in the world (Sighișoara)
  • Museums, museums, museums:
    • Bulgarian National Art Gallery, Bulgarian Museum of History, Sofia History Museum, Dracula’s Palace, Village Museum, Budapest History Museum, Faust Wine Cellar, Hungarian National Gallery, Hungarian National Museum, National Szechenyi Library, & the House of Terror
  • Historic synagogues, mosques, churches, & basilicas galore
  • An overnight train ride from Sibiu to Budapest
  • Boat cruise along the Danube river
  • A visit to at least one Bath
    • Lukacs Baths, Rudas Baths, and/or Szechenyi Baths
  • Ride on the Budapest Eye Ferris Wheel and a funicular

Costs:

  • $2500 trip fee
    • Includes all hotels (double occupancy), in-country travel, excursions and itinerary activities, plus per diem. Does NOT include alcohol or shopping.
  • Airfare
    • ~$1,600
  • Passport (if needed)
    • ~$160
  • Travel insurance (required)
    • ~$90
  • Enrollment in PSY 250 (CRN: TBD)
    • $393 for summer 2025
  • Anticipated total (for everything above): $4743

Scholarships funds are available

  • Hawai‘i residents with G.P.A. of 3.5 or higher can apply for a $800 Honda Scholarship 
  • Pell recipients can apply for a Gillman Scholarship 
    • Scholarship amounts vary from $1000 to $5000
  • Various other scholarships are available as well
    • The sooner you apply for and are accepted to the trip, the sooner you can begin looking for scholarship money.  Here are some websites to get started:

Have questions?

Contact Lisamarie Bensman (bensman@hawaii.edu), course instructor/trip leader.