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European Travel Study Program
Explore some of the most wonderful cities in Europe.

Program Description and Itinerary

The European Travel Study program is open to students of all majors and all tracks, including online student. Our next scheduled travel will be summer of 2021. Below is information from the 2019 program.

The Department of Music's 2019 Europe Travel Study program is a unique opportunity to experience some of the most important cultural, artistic, and historical sites in the world while completing course work moving you closer to graduation. We anticipate having the services of a professional guide who speaks 5 languages in addition to 3 BYU-Idaho faculty who will be at your disposal to teach and discuss everything we are learning and experiencing.

We will travel three weeks during August 2019 (final dates to be determined), leaving from Salt Lake CIty and flying to Rome. We anticipate continuing to Florence, Ferrara, Padova, and Venice in Italy; Vienna, Melk, Mathausen, and Salzburg in Austria; various sites in Bavaria (Southern Germany); then on to Strasbourg, Verdun, Reims, Versailles, and Paris in France. We are still finalizing specific activities and daily schedule of the itinerary. Students will be sent a final daily itinerary of activities several weeks in advance of the tour.

    Planned Trip Highlights

    Rome, Italy
    Students will visit the Vatican Museum & St. Peters Basilica, Borghese Gallery, Colosseum, Roman Forum, Pantheon, and numerous churches important to music history, Christian History (including 1st century archeological sites), and Art History.
    Florence, Italy
    Students will see Santa Maria Novella, the Duomo and Baptistry, Uffizi Gallery, San Marco, Santa Croce, & Academia in Florence (Michelangelo's David), etc.
    Padova & Venice Italy
    Students will explore Scrovegni Chapel with frescos by Giotto in Padova and then make their way to Venice to see San Marco, Doge's Palace, church and the orphanage where Vivaldi worked and composed.
    Vienna, Austria
    Students will see Schoenbrunn Palace, St. Stephens Cathedral, Mozart's home, Haydn's home, Beethoven's apartment, and a fantastic music museum. Melk Abbey and Mathausen Concentration Camp on our Way To Salzburg.
    Salzburg, Austria & Germany
    Visit Mozart's Birth House, tentatively a Vienna Philharmonic Concert at the Salzburg Music Festival, other free festival concerts and activities. Oberammergau, Neuschwanstein, Lindenhof, and the Weiskirche in Bavaria.
    France
    Students will stay overnight in Strasbourg and then then travel across France on to Verdun (WW I battlefields), Reims Cathedral, Versailles Palace, Louvre, Musee d'Orsay, Sainte-Chapelle, Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, and Musée de la Musique, etc.

    Student Participant Comments

    "Since the travel study I have developed a stronger love for learning...I feel a greater connection to Christians of all faiths. The New Testament makes so much more sense now that I have an understanding of the many peoples taught by the prophets and apostles."
    "I especially enjoyed mass at St. Stephen's and sacred music at Notre Dame...What a blessing it is that I had the opportunity to learn and travel!"
    "I feel a greater connection to the... people we study about. Being able to walk the streets where they lived and worked, walk through the houses they lived in and the concert halls and churches and palaces they performed in, was just incredible."
    "As I have gone on this tour...I have such a better love of the gospel of Jesus Christ but I also have a higher respect for other religions and their beliefs."

    Additional Information

    All travel plans are reviewed by security personnel of the university and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The Church has experts in security who have contacts throughout the world. Travel will not be permitted to proceed if there are known, credible threats to student safety.

    Additionally, faculty and students in the program undergo personal safety training as part of our preparation for travel.
    Watch these videos to learn how to be ready for the travel study.

    Packing Information

    Security, Safety, Insurance; France
    The fee for the program is $4300 and includes:

    • Roundtrip airfare from Salt Lake City to Rome and then Paris to Salt Lake City
    • Ground transportation (chartered bus and subway passes)
    • 2 meals per day
    • Entrance fees/tickets for all included sites and activities
    • The services of a professional multilingual guide
    • Supervision and teaching of 3 BYU-Idaho faculty members

    Additional expenses may include:
    • 1 additional meal per day and snacks
    • Optional activities and/or concerts
    • Souvenirs, gelato, pastries, etc.

    Students must enroll in and pay tuition ($167/credit) for at least one of the following courses offered in the program: Music 101/102, Music 301, Music 302, Music 464 (Organ Lit and Pedagogy), FDREL 352 (Christian History), possibly FDWLD 201, FDHUM 110, ART 395R.