The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies offers students a chance to change their world-view in a remote village in Israel. The 3 year-old Arava Institute is an environmental education facility based in the Arava desert of Israel, situated near the border of Jordan on the southern tip of Israel. According to the Arava website, the program is designed to provide students with a balanced scientific, political and social understanding of complex environmental issues, as well as to promote cooperation between different cultures.
Students can choose to take either a semester or a full year of classes.
It's a very different experience from studying abroad in Israel. The institute is situated in the Kibbutz Ketura, a small isolated farm community where resources are pooled, Benheim said. Cars, equipment, housing, land and food are all communally owned. Erin Dikel, a campus student currently attending the institute, spoke highly of the Kibbutz Ketura in an e-mail. There are trees everywhere, and a pool, horses, camels, a basketball court, a soccer field and a former chicken coop that serves as a pub.