Space: The Final Frontier (via npr.org).

Emails have started coming. Serious conversations with advisors have begun. Yes, for the sophomore class, the decision about whether or not to go on off-campus study looms close on the horizon. While seniors contemplate comps and first-years contemplate where in the Dickens is this place called Weaver, sophomores are poring over guides to study abroad programs and trying to make potentially life-changing decisions. Yet, some of these programs just seem so boring and a little outdated for the average fun-loving Kenyon student. Here are a few modest suggestions for the CGE to include in their thoughts as they flesh out next year’s choices.

1. The Renaissance Fair: Get some real-world experience while studying-off campus. In this program you will learn a detailed history of the Renaissance while simultaneously apprenticing with a number of different craftsmen. Travel around the United States and southern Canada while learning about the intricacies of European history. Learn such skills as cooking delicious turkey legs and building marshmallow-launching catapults, then learn the economics of running a small business. It’s the closest thing you’ll get to Game of Thrones this side of HBO. Recommended for History, Sociology, Economics and American Studies Majors.

2. The Lewis & Clark Experience: If you like adventure and the outdoors, this off-campus study program is for you. You’ll travel throughout the United States on the same trail that Lewis and Clark did so many years ago, killing animals to taxidermy and writing ‘reports’ to Thomas Jefferson while living off the wilderness. This adventure culminates in a show down with a grizzly bear in the Pacific Northwest. You will be graded on your ability to defend yourself and your friends. Recommended for Outdoors Club members and those with powerful digestive systems.

3. Famous Art Heists Around Europe: Interested in the law? Interested in art? Interested in finding a way to link both of these passions while simultaneously getting drunk and flirting with cute Italian boys? Maybe this program is for you! You’ll take a year-long tour of Europe, examining the cases of different famous art heists in the very locations they were committed! Learn about the various thieves and their punishments while appreciating the greatest art Europe has to offer. This all leads up to one final project: steal a piece of art! If you don’t get caught, you get an A along with the added bonus of being put on a list of international fugitives. Recommended for Studio Art, Art History, Sociology, Classics, IPHS and Law and Society Majors/Concentrations.

4. Mars: Go to Mars. Start a colony and repopulate the human race. Never return but know that while other people were going on life-affirming safaris, you were giving hope to the human race. Recommended for Physics majors or those without any earthly bonds to tie them down to this god forsaken planet.