Travel Opportunities | High School Study Abroad Program
Source: https://www.cbury.org/student-life/travel-opportunities
Archived: 2026-04-23 17:16
Travel Opportunities | High School Study Abroad Program
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Travel Opportunities
Open Your Mind and Heart to the World
Over the past three decades, Canterbury has offered its students various domestic and international travel opportunities. These are amazing opportunities to expand your horizons, be exposed to different points of view, build upon your classroom experience, walk in others’ shoes, and foment understanding, empathy, and interconnectedness.
Immersion Trips
Some of the travel experiences that Canterbury offers are an extension of the classroom. The San Cayetano Exchange and The Canterbury Institute—travel programs in different regions of Spain—provide students in our Spanish classes the opportunity to live and learn while immersed in the language and culture of the host country. You will gain more through travel by experiencing firsthand what you have learned in the classroom. For example, you deepen your cultural understanding by eating Spanish foods on the Spanish schedule. You are able to experience the sights, smells, sounds, tastes, and feel of a place to truly learn about and connect with it. You also attend classes and then go out and use what you learned while immersed in the culture. Linguistically, the benefits cannot be underestimated.
Service Trips
Our longest-running trip offering is the annual service Pilgrimage to Lourdes, France, which began in 1992. In Lourdes, you work with volunteers from all over the world to serve the
malades
(people who are ill) who travel there for physical and spiritual healing.
Whenever possible, we plan to connect with our vast web of Canterbury alumni from around the world who may be in the area we are visiting.
Julio Omaña
Pilgrimage to Lourdes, France
Women in Science & Service Trip to Acadia, Maine
Canterbury – San Cayetano Cultural Exchange
Saints Walk El Camino in Spain
Canterbury Institute in Spain
August 9 - 18, 2026
Service trip to Lourdes, France
This is a 10-day service trip to Lourdes, France. Canterbury students and faculty work with other volunteers from Italy, France, Spain, England, and Ireland. They help
malades
(people who are ill) who travel to Lourdes to bathe in its healing waters. This pilgrimage started in 1994 and has run consecutively since then. It is chaperoned by Director of International Travel Programs Julio Omaña P ’19, ’20; Director of Health Services Colleen Cook, R.N. ’02; and Theology Teacher Tracy Garcia LaVigne P ’14, ’16, ’17, ’20, ’23. This is Canterbury’s longest-running trip offering. The trip is run by Our Lady’s Pilgrimage (OLP), a non-profit organization led by Hope Carter, former parent, grandparent, and President of Canterbury’s Board of Trustees. This service opportunity is offered to Canterbury students of all grades, even recently graduated Saints.
Photos
For more information about Lourdes:
lourdes-france.org
To register, make payments, or learn more about this trip:
ourladyspilgrimage.org
Cost:
Approximately $3,600 (Scholarships available)
Contact:
Julio Omaña (
jomana@cbury.org
), Colleen Cook (
ccook@cbury.org
), & Tracy Garcia-LaVigne (
tlavigne@cbury.org
)
application deadline:
MAY 1
Payments made through OLP website
$1,800 deposit
due April 1
$1,800 balance
due May 1
Dates TBD
Women in Science & Service Trip to Acadia National Park, Maine
This trip is open to girls interested in science, service, and travel, with preference given to rising Fifth and Sixth Formers. Students will travel with Science Teacher Cammy Roffe P ’12, ’15 to the Schoodic Institute of Acadia National Park (
www.schoodicinstitute.org
) on the Schoodic Peninsula in Winter Harbor, Maine. The trip offers students one week of hands-on science and service projects, where they will split their time working with scientists on current projects and doing service projects that will benefit the park, gain exposure to real-world scientific data collection, and see firsthand what is being done to understand climate change and its impact.
Students will participate in a variety of activities, including marine debris cleanup, an intertidal biodiversity blitz, hiking Schoodic Point, visiting Mt. Desert Island, climbing to the top of Cadillac Mountain, whale watching, developing a protocol for energy movement from the sea to the forest, and collecting plant phenology data, and will be stopping for a college visit (Bowdoin College, Colby College, University of New England). Evenings will be spent star viewing, completing data entry, journaling, playing games, and/or watching videos. The group will stay in a comfortable townhouse and have meals provided by the Schooder Commons dining hall where they can accommodate those with dietary restrictions or allergies.
Contact:
Julio Omaña
&
Cammy Roffe
Tentative
Canterbury-San Cayetano Cultural Exchange
A five-week family-to-family exchange. Canterbury students travel and live with a Spanish family on the island of Mallorca. In turn, Spanish students come to New Milford to live with their Canterbury host family. Canterbury students travel and live in Mallorca at the end of summer into the start of the school year. Students from Colegio San Cayetano come to the U.S. in mid October and stay through Thanksgiving.
Website:
http://www.colegiosancayetano.com/
Approximate Cost:
Between $1,600–$2,000 (includes airfare, travel to and from airport, spending money)
Contact:
Julio Omaña (
jomana@cbury.org
)
36 Hours in Mallorca
Read more about the San Cayetano Exchange
EXCHANGE FAQS
Tentative
Saints Walk El Camino in Spain
Science teacher Sally Ruderman walked El Camino the summer before starting teaching at Canterbury. El Camino is a traditional Catholic pilgrimage to Santiago—the city of St. James (where his body is buried). Christians have been making this pilgrimage for close to 1,300 years. The complete walk begins in France and covers more than 900km; Canterbury Saints will have the opportunity to cover the last 100km of the journey to Santiago. Canterbury students will begin their walking trip in Sarria, and will be eligible to receive a Compostela (certificate of completion) once in Santiago for covering more than 100km of the trip. Students will have the opportunity to meet pilgrims and travelers from all over the world and share the journey. The group will also spend several days sight-seeing in Santiago and visit the city’s Cathedral and the gravesite of St. James. The last portion of the trip is to walk for four more days from Santiago to the coast at Finisterre (“the end of the world”). The trail marker in Finisterre reads 0.0km, and the journey is truly complete.
Additional information can be found
here
.
Contact:
Julio Omaña
&
Sally Ruderman
PHOTOS
Tentative
Canterbury Institute in Spain
This is an academic and homestay experience for Canterbury students. Students travel to Barcelona and then head to Puigcerdà in the Cerdanya region of northern Spain, which lies in the Pyrenees, on the border with France. The students stay with Spanish host families, go to classes each weekday morning, and participate in afternoon activities in the surrounding region (hiking, mountain biking, ropes course, pastry making class, and bread making workshop are examples). Students will eat meals at their host homes.
Approximate cost:
$3,800 (includes airfare, transportation, afternoon excursions, museum fees, weekend excursion to Girona, Figueres and Catalan coast, three nights in Barcelona)
Contact:
Julio Omaña
Application deadline:
Please complete the application (see below) and personal profile and submit to Mr. Omaña (along with deposit check)
by April 30
.
Payment deadline:
Initial $1,500 deposit due
no later than April 30
(along with application and personal profile form if not already submitted). Second payment of $1,500 is due
May 15
. Balance due
June 1
.
Help us match you with your host family by filling out the application below.
(Click the button below to download, fill out, and submit with your deposit.)
Institute FAQs
Trip Brochure
Skip To Main Content
Travel Opportunities
Open Your Mind and Heart to the World
Over the past three decades, Canterbury has offered its students various domestic and international travel opportunities. These are amazing opportunities to expand your horizons, be exposed to different points of view, build upon your classroom experience, walk in others’ shoes, and foment understanding, empathy, and interconnectedness.
Immersion Trips
Some of the travel experiences that Canterbury offers are an extension of the classroom. The San Cayetano Exchange and The Canterbury Institute—travel programs in different regions of Spain—provide students in our Spanish classes the opportunity to live and learn while immersed in the language and culture of the host country. You will gain more through travel by experiencing firsthand what you have learned in the classroom. For example, you deepen your cultural understanding by eating Spanish foods on the Spanish schedule. You are able to experience the sights, smells, sounds, tastes, and feel of a place to truly learn about and connect with it. You also attend classes and then go out and use what you learned while immersed in the culture. Linguistically, the benefits cannot be underestimated.
Service Trips
Our longest-running trip offering is the annual service Pilgrimage to Lourdes, France, which began in 1992. In Lourdes, you work with volunteers from all over the world to serve the
malades
(people who are ill) who travel there for physical and spiritual healing.
Whenever possible, we plan to connect with our vast web of Canterbury alumni from around the world who may be in the area we are visiting.
Julio Omaña
Pilgrimage to Lourdes, France
Women in Science & Service Trip to Acadia, Maine
Canterbury – San Cayetano Cultural Exchange
Saints Walk El Camino in Spain
Canterbury Institute in Spain
August 9 - 18, 2026
Service trip to Lourdes, France
This is a 10-day service trip to Lourdes, France. Canterbury students and faculty work with other volunteers from Italy, France, Spain, England, and Ireland. They help
malades
(people who are ill) who travel to Lourdes to bathe in its healing waters. This pilgrimage started in 1994 and has run consecutively since then. It is chaperoned by Director of International Travel Programs Julio Omaña P ’19, ’20; Director of Health Services Colleen Cook, R.N. ’02; and Theology Teacher Tracy Garcia LaVigne P ’14, ’16, ’17, ’20, ’23. This is Canterbury’s longest-running trip offering. The trip is run by Our Lady’s Pilgrimage (OLP), a non-profit organization led by Hope Carter, former parent, grandparent, and President of Canterbury’s Board of Trustees. This service opportunity is offered to Canterbury students of all grades, even recently graduated Saints.
Photos
For more information about Lourdes:
lourdes-france.org
To register, make payments, or learn more about this trip:
ourladyspilgrimage.org
Cost:
Approximately $3,600 (Scholarships available)
Contact:
Julio Omaña (
jomana@cbury.org
), Colleen Cook (
ccook@cbury.org
), & Tracy Garcia-LaVigne (
tlavigne@cbury.org
)
application deadline:
MAY 1
Payments made through OLP website
$1,800 deposit
due April 1
$1,800 balance
due May 1
Dates TBD
Women in Science & Service Trip to Acadia National Park, Maine
This trip is open to girls interested in science, service, and travel, with preference given to rising Fifth and Sixth Formers. Students will travel with Science Teacher Cammy Roffe P ’12, ’15 to the Schoodic Institute of Acadia National Park (
www.schoodicinstitute.org
) on the Schoodic Peninsula in Winter Harbor, Maine. The trip offers students one week of hands-on science and service projects, where they will split their time working with scientists on current projects and doing service projects that will benefit the park, gain exposure to real-world scientific data collection, and see firsthand what is being done to understand climate change and its impact.
Students will participate in a variety of activities, including marine debris cleanup, an intertidal biodiversity blitz, hiking Schoodic Point, visiting Mt. Desert Island, climbing to the top of Cadillac Mountain, whale watching, developing a protocol for energy movement from the sea to the forest, and collecting plant phenology data, and will be stopping for a college visit (Bowdoin College, Colby College, University of New England). Evenings will be spent star viewing, completing data entry, journaling, playing games, and/or watching videos. The group will stay in a comfortable townhouse and have meals provided by the Schooder Commons dining hall where they can accommodate those with dietary restrictions or allergies.
Contact:
Julio Omaña
&
Cammy Roffe
Tentative
Canterbury-San Cayetano Cultural Exchange
A five-week family-to-family exchange. Canterbury students travel and live with a Spanish family on the island of Mallorca. In turn, Spanish students come to New Milford to live with their Canterbury host family. Canterbury students travel and live in Mallorca at the end of summer into the start of the school year. Students from Colegio San Cayetano come to the U.S. in mid October and stay through Thanksgiving.
Website:
http://www.colegiosancayetano.com/
Approximate Cost:
Between $1,600–$2,000 (includes airfare, travel to and from airport, spending money)
Contact:
Julio Omaña (
jomana@cbury.org
)
36 Hours in Mallorca
Read more about the San Cayetano Exchange
EXCHANGE FAQS
Tentative
Saints Walk El Camino in Spain
Science teacher Sally Ruderman walked El Camino the summer before starting teaching at Canterbury. El Camino is a traditional Catholic pilgrimage to Santiago—the city of St. James (where his body is buried). Christians have been making this pilgrimage for close to 1,300 years. The complete walk begins in France and covers more than 900km; Canterbury Saints will have the opportunity to cover the last 100km of the journey to Santiago. Canterbury students will begin their walking trip in Sarria, and will be eligible to receive a Compostela (certificate of completion) once in Santiago for covering more than 100km of the trip. Students will have the opportunity to meet pilgrims and travelers from all over the world and share the journey. The group will also spend several days sight-seeing in Santiago and visit the city’s Cathedral and the gravesite of St. James. The last portion of the trip is to walk for four more days from Santiago to the coast at Finisterre (“the end of the world”). The trail marker in Finisterre reads 0.0km, and the journey is truly complete.
Additional information can be found
here
.
Contact:
Julio Omaña
&
Sally Ruderman
PHOTOS
Tentative
Canterbury Institute in Spain
This is an academic and homestay experience for Canterbury students. Students travel to Barcelona and then head to Puigcerdà in the Cerdanya region of northern Spain, which lies in the Pyrenees, on the border with France. The students stay with Spanish host families, go to classes each weekday morning, and participate in afternoon activities in the surrounding region (hiking, mountain biking, ropes course, pastry making class, and bread making workshop are examples). Students will eat meals at their host homes.
Approximate cost:
$3,800 (includes airfare, transportation, afternoon excursions, museum fees, weekend excursion to Girona, Figueres and Catalan coast, three nights in Barcelona)
Contact:
Julio Omaña
Application deadline:
Please complete the application (see below) and personal profile and submit to Mr. Omaña (along with deposit check)
by April 30
.
Payment deadline:
Initial $1,500 deposit due
no later than April 30
(along with application and personal profile form if not already submitted). Second payment of $1,500 is due
May 15
. Balance due
June 1
.
Help us match you with your host family by filling out the application below.
(Click the button below to download, fill out, and submit with your deposit.)
Institute FAQs
Trip Brochure