Most students spend the summer lounging around and working at part-time jobs trying to earn cash for returning to school. Eastern students now have the chance to spend the summer with two English professor, Dana Ringuette and Richard Sylvia, touring around England visiting exciting literary sites.

The English 3970 Study Abroad course (Literary Masterworks) is an opportunity for students of all majors to study some of England’s most revered writers, said Richard Sylvia, professor of English.

Students spend five weeks living at Harlaxton Manor, a 100 room nineteenth century manor house owned and operated by the University of Evansville in Evansville, Ind., reading and discussing great works of English literature and traveling to famous literary landscapes, Sylvia said.

Authors that students read include Wordsworth, Coleridge, Emily Bronte, Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy and Henry James.

The readings are supplemented by weekly visits to literary sites that give students the opportunity to experience firsthand the landscapes that the assigned writers have made famous, Sylvia said.

Travel includes overnight visits to Hardy Country, the Lake District and London, Sylvia said. Day trips include a visit to the Bronte parsonage, the house many believe to be the house of the Bronte sisters in Wuthering Heights, Sylvia said.

“The country is still very wild,” Sylvia said. “It looks much the way it could have when Bronte was there. It’s a very interesting place to be.”

Students will also see a Shakespeare play at the new Globe Theater in London and visit other London sites. Students will be in class two to three days a week and traveling one to two days a week, Sylvia said.

On the weekends, students are free to make personal travel plans around England and Europe. The dean of students at Harlaxton can help students with travel arrangements. Sylvia encouraged students to travel on their own; however, he said that many students decide to stay in on the weekends to rest and catch up on reading.

The course counts for six semester hours for English majors with approval from the department. Non-English majors can receive credit for 3010G. “Students can work with their advisors to get these hours to fit where they need to fit,” Sylvia said.

English graduate students receive graduate credit, but there is an additional research project required in addition to the regular trip studies for graduate students.

The trip’s total cost is $2,740 plus tuition and fees. The cost includes all transportation, lodging, meals at Harlaxton, room and board and admissions into all the sites, Sylvia said.

The deadline for entry is Thursday and $150 is due by Thursday also. Another $750 is due by the end of February. Twenty seats are allotted for Eastern students.

Sylvia led the first trip to Harlaxton in the summer of 1997. “It was one of the best teaching experiences I’ve ever had,” he said. “It’s a wonderful thing to be a part of an experience that opens up the world to students. The enthusiasm and joy I saw from students was very genuine and made all the work worthwhile.”