Category: Alumni Travel

Life with K

France Alumni and Friends Trip with President Gonzalez 2026

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Kalamazoo College alumni and friends enjoyed a 10 day tour of France with President Jorge G. Gonzalez and Suzie (Martin) Gonzalez ’83 on May 3 – 12, 2026.

Kalamazoo College Alumni and Friends Trip - France


Trip highlights included:

  • Connecting with the study abroad program at the University of Strasbourg, talking with K students currently studying there, and visiting the Strasbourg Cathedral.
  • Exploring the Alsace region and visiting the Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg, a medieval castle in the region.
  • Crossing into Germany and exploring Freiburg, a vibrant and eco-friendly city at the edge of the Black Forest.
  • Visiting Beaune and viewing the former hospital, the Hospices de Beaune, known for its remarkable architecture and its role in Burgundy’s wine history.
  • Connecting with the study abroad program at Clermont-Auvergne University in Clermont-Ferrand.
  • Creating lifelong friendships and drinking great wine across France.

Germany Trip with President Gonzalez in 2024

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Kalamazoo College alumni and friends enjoyed a 11 day tour of Germany with President Jorge G. Gonzalez and Suzie (Martin) Gonzalez ’83 on May 14 – 24, 2024.

Trip highlights included:

K Alumni and Friends Germany Trip
  • Touring the Cologne Cathedral in Frankfurt and visiting the Beethoven House and Drachenburg Castle in Bonn.
  • Stopping at St. Lamberti Church, the historic principal marketplace, The Hall of Peace and St. Paul’s Cathedral in Münster.
  • Touring Hanover with visits to The New Town Hall, Old Town, Kropcke Square and a group dinner at Broyhan Haus with traditional food and beer.
  • Enjoying the loveliest wine region in Germany, Saale-Unstrut with a vineyard tour, wine tasting and lunch.
  • Visiting the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg to connect with K’s study abroad students and viewing the Erlangen Botanical Garden.
  • Touring the Nuremberg Castle, St. Lawrence Church, Schoner Brunnen and Old Town in Nuremberg.
  • Traveling to Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial for a guided tour and time for reflection.
  • Enjoying a guided tour of Munich with a plethora of beer gardens, award-winning gastronomy and shopping while finishing the tour with a traditional Barvarian farewell dinner.

Spain Trip with President Gonzalez in 2019

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Kalamazoo College alumni and friends enjoyed a 11 day tour of Spain with President Jorge G. Gonzalez and Suzie (Martin) Gonzalez ’83 on May 4 – 14, 2019.

Trip highlights included:

  • Touring the monumental 18th-century Royal Palace in Madrid.
  • Visiting Toledo, a UNESCO World Heritage site and capital of medieval Spain until 1560.
  • Traveling to the Moorish city of Cordoba and embarking on a walking tour of the Mezquita.
  • Viewing Columbus’ tomb in Seville, taking a walking tour of the quaint old Santa Cruz quarter and enjoying an authentic flamenco show.
  • Journeying through the peaceful Sierra Nevada to Granada and touring the world-famous Alhambra, an immense hilltop palace.
  • Visiting the bustling central market, a 13th- century Gothic Cathedral and the City of Arts and Science in Valencia or having a “paella experience” which features a boat ride on the canals, going to a traditional fisherman’s home and an authentic paella demonstration and lunch.
  • Enjoying an in-depth look at vibrant and lively Barcelona, one of Europe’s most beautiful and exciting cities.

Iceland Trip with Alumni and Friends in 2017

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Iceland Alumni Trip Brochure CoverKalamazoo College alumni and friends enjoyed a 9 day trip to Iceland on May 7- 15, 2017.

Tour Highlights Included:

  • A walking tour of Reykajavik
  • Traveling to the Golden Circle, one of many Iceland’s natural wonders
  • A journey to the spectacular Gullfoss waterfall
  • A choice between a lava cave adventure or walking the lava fields
  • Learning about the 400-year-old tradition of catching and preserving Greenland shark

Costa Rica Trip with Paul Sotherland in 2015

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Kalamazoo College Professor of Biology Paul Sotherland led an 8 day alumni trip to Costa Rica in November of 2015. The trip sold out quickly.

Tour Highlights Included:Costa Rica - 2015 Kalamazoo College Alumni Trip

  • Discovering the rainforest surrounding the Arenal Volcano from a unique perspective on the Arenal Hanging Bridges tour
  • Taking a floating safari through the tropical rainforest to visit the Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge
  • Hiking the Children’s Eternal Rain Forest and viewing this area’s amazing biodiversity
  • Experiencing turtles nesting at night, one of the most incredible phenomena of Mother Nature
  • Taking a tropical sunset cruise

A message about the trip from Paul Sotherland in 2015:

Professor Paul Sotherland digging in Costa Rica

Alumni and Friends,

I am interested primarily in the ecological physiology of vertebrate eggs. Much of my attention for the past 40 years has been on factors affecting developmental trajectories of birds, turtles, and alligators while they develop in their eggs. For several field seasons at Playa Grande, Costa Rica, I focused on trying to understand how leatherback turtle embryos develop while in nests buried nearly one meter below the surface of the sand. So…come with me to Costa Rica, where we will explore cloud forests near an active volcano and beaches on the Pacific coast. ¡Pura vida!

– Paul Sotherland

Rhine Getaway Trip with Joe Fugate in 2014

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Rhine Getaway with Professor Emeritus Joe Fugate and K Alumni in 2014

Kalamazoo College Professor Emeritus Joe Fugate led an extraordinary and sold out Viking River Cruise that visited all the highlights of the legendary Rhine in March of 2014. In Germany, they saw many charming castles commanding the riverbanks as they sailed by, and toured both Marksburg Castle and the ruins of Heidelberg Castle. Admire Cologne, the jewel of the Rhine, with its awe-inspiring Dom, and experienced the lush landscape of the Black Forest region. They explored Holland’s famous windmills and waterworks, encountered multicultural Strasbourg in France, and took part in the inviting nightlife in Rüdesheim’s Drosselgasse.

A message about the trip from Joe Fugate in 2014:

Dear Alumni and Friends,

I want to invite you to participate in the 2014 Kalamazoo College Alumni Trip down the Rhine River from Basel to Amsterdam, a location shrouded in history, legend and tradition for some 2000 years. If you are an alum of Kalamazoo College you will have a chance to revisit some of the places you probably first got to know while on study abroad.  If you are a first time Rhine River traveler you will experience a number of unforgettable sights. Although my wife and I have lived in two of the areas on the itinerary and have visited them and been up and down the Rhine numerous times, each time we always discover something new and exciting.

– Joe Fugate

Southern Italy Trip with Anne Haeckl in 2012

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K Faculty and Alumni in ItalyKalamazoo College alumni enjoyed a K faculty-led study tour to one of Europe’s most popular tourist destinations — southern Italy. The sponsoring organization for the tour was The Vergilian Society, Inc., a private foundation that promotes “the ties of culture between Italy and America.” Vergilian Society tours are open to everyone (with or without K College connections), but especially to those who have a life-long learning interest in the ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome.

The tour — The Archaeology of Identity in Coastal Campania: How Ancient Italians and Greeks Became Romans on the Bay of Naples occurred on July 30 to August 11. Anne Haeckl, Roman archaeologist in the Kalamazoo College Classics Department (who has excavated with K students in Italy and Egypt), and George Mason University’s Dr. Christopher Gregg, led the study tour of major Roman archaeological sites museums in Campania and the Bay of Naples. A previous Italian tour directed by Profs. Haeckl and Gregg in 2010 was a great success, with five K College students and alumni among its 28 participants.