What does it take to make learning come alive, beyond the classroom, beyond the textbook?
That’s the idea behind our Curriculum-Specific Trips (CSTs): programs designed to connect academic subjects with real-world contexts in a meaningful, hands-on way. While all CAS Trips combine travel, service, and intercultural exchange, CSTs go one step further. Each one is carefully crafted around a subject area, like language immersion, environmental systems, or art and design, and built in close collaboration with both teachers and local partners.
It’s a unique approach to itinerary development. One where the city itself unlocks a part of the curriculum, and students aren’t just visiting, they’re engaging, creating, reflecting, and contributing.
To learn how these trips were put together, we spoke with four members of the CAS Trips team who helped design them. They shared their inspiration, challenges, and the moments that made it all worthwhile.
Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at how the CSTs were built.
Madrid: Speaking the Language of Life
Designed by Michael
Madrid, for Michael, is a city where Spanish isn’t just taught, it’s lived.
“Even to order a coffee, you need to speak un poco español,” he laughs. “Madrid holds on to its customs, its siestas, its rhythms. It’s a beautiful challenge for language learners.”
This CST Trip pairs practical Spanish lessons with immersive daily activities, each one designed to build student confidence in real-world contexts. “At the start of each day students learn the vocabulary and grammar they’ll need,” Michael explains. “So before a cooking class, we go over food names and cooking verbs. This way, they’re ready to engage and eat!”
There is also plenty of time for less structured language learning. The flamenco class, in particular, has become a student favorite. “It’s a cultural immersion involving movement, expression, and community,” Michael says. “You see students relax into it, open up, and connect in new ways.”
Madrid, with its blend of cultures, thriving art scene, and constant stream of sounds and signs, becomes a vibrant classroom. Michael illustrates, “As the capital of Spain, it is the epicenter where all Spanish customs and Latin American customs mix together. You can hear every Spanish accent possible in the city. There are more museums and venues than you can count, with rotating expositions throughout the year on any number of topics and areas of life.”
That richness of culture is something students gradually begin to participate in. As they navigate markets, order food, ask for directions, and interact with locals! They start using the language in small, meaningful ways building confidence.
“The city opens up the more you speak Spanish,” Michael says. “And as students start to feel that shift, it’s powerful.”
Dublin: Language, Literature, and the Power of Storytelling
Designed by Klára
Dublin’s literary reputation precedes it, but designing a language immersion experience in a city so steeped in English-language tradition presented a unique challenge for Klára, especially as someone new to Ireland.
“I’m not a Dublin native, so I turned to the locals, and they were full of brilliant ideas,” she says. “They helped me tap into the richness of the city’s cultural heritage in a way that feels fresh and welcoming to students, especially those learning English as a second language.”
That openness is at the heart of the itinerary. From a student- and alumni-led tour of Trinity College, featuring access to secret corners and stories not often told, to a creative writing workshop designed to spark expressive freedom, the trip focuses on language as a living, evolving tool.
“I’m especially excited about the writing workshop,” Klára shares. “For many students, this may be the first time they realize how their words can positively affect others.”
Rather than a single “aha” moment, she believes Dublin’s literary legacy will gradually settle in during the week. “There won’t be just one click. The city itself, and everything we’ve planned, creates many,” she says.
Walking the same streets that inspired James Joyce and Oscar Wilde, hearing Irish Gaelic alongside local English dialects, and immersing in a UNESCO City of Literature, this trip invites students to experience language not just as a subject, but as a story they’re part of.
Florence: Art, Identity, and the Renaissance Reimagined
Designed by Tereza
Florence is often treated as a postcard, its Renaissance masterpieces admired from behind museum glass. But for Tereza, the trip she designed aims to challenge that view.
“My aim was to help students see how deeply art is woven into every layer of society,” she explains. “It’s more than history, it’s power, commerce, identity. And it’s still shaping the city today.”
This CST Trip balances classic art history with themes like sustainability, urban development, and social inclusion. One standout experience is a workshop with Tuscany’s first inclusive orchestra.
“Students don’t just watch, they collaborate in recording a soundtrack using archival footage of Florence,” Tereza explains. “Some may even meet musicians with disabilities, which offers a powerful message about access and creativity.”
From sketching in the Tuscan hills to crafting sustainable art from local flea market finds, students are encouraged to see art as both expression and action. “They also contribute to a blanket-making project for the homeless,” Tereza adds. “It shows how creativity can be compassionate.”
And while the trip includes its share of masterpieces, what Tereza loves most is that students leave Florence with something more. “Students don’t leave Florence thinking the only Florentine they’ve met is Michelangelo’s David. Instead, they come to understand what David symbolized for Michelangelo, and how the city still lives and breathes art and beauty today.
They will meet people like the inclusive orchestra, who live through music and embody the very spirit of Michelangelo’s humanism: the belief that everyone deserves the chance to express themselves, connect, and be uplifted through art. That’s the real heart of this trip.”
Brussels: Sustainability, STEM, and Student Empowerment
Designed by Ania
In Brussels, where EU policy meets eco-innovation, Ania saw an opportunity: to show students that even beyond the lab, STEM is a living, breathing tool for shaping a better world.
“We wanted students to see sustainability in action,” Ania explains. “To feel that their actions matter, and to understand the connections between science, cities, and society.”
This CST Trip includes hands-on activities that blend STEM with social and environmental responsibility. Students fish plastic out of city canals, simulate climate solutions at Belexpo, and explore plant science at a botanical garden where they physically experience abstract concepts like root pressure and capillarity.
“Technopolis is another favorite,” Ania says. “It’s a science playground where everything is hands-on. It shows that STEM can be fun, interactive, and deeply creative.”
But the heart of the experience comes in the quiet moments, during reflection workshops, or after cooking rescued food in a zero-waste challenge.
“We love to hear students say they feel empowered,” she shares. “That sustainability is no longer abstract, it’s personal.”
Ania hopes students return home both informed and inspired. “We want them to believe they can be part of the solution, to carry a sense of agency with them.
Beyond scientific knowledge or environmental awareness, our goal is to cultivate curiosity, empathy, and collaborative problem-solving skills. Whether it’s designing a sustainable project in their own community or simply making more conscious choices, we want students to return home with practical tools and the confidence to take initiative in their lives, schools, and beyond.”
Designing with Purpose
What unites these four CST Trips across different countries, languages, and disciplines is the deep intentionality of their design. Each trip was crafted not just to teach content, but to nurture confidence, empathy, and curiosity.
And at the center of each design? People.
Whether it’s students sharing poetry in Dublin, recording music with inclusive artists in Florence, dancing flamenco in Madrid, or brainstorming eco-solutions in Brussels, these moments of connection are what elevate each CST Trip from educational to transformative.
As Klára puts it: “The most meaningful experiences aren’t always the ones we plan down to the last detail. Sometimes, it’s the city itself, or the people you meet, who do the teaching.”
