SPICE 2018: West Virginia University @ Universität Erfurt

UPDATE 2 July 2018: We're going to go ahead and cancel this year's event, due to many of our US students being away from Erfurt this week. Enjoy your travels, folks! 

Erfurt, DE --  Our first week discussion will have us talking  Communication Accommodation Theory , first introduced to the field of human communication by noted scholar  Dr. Howard "Howie" Giles  of the University of California - Santa Barbara. In general, the theory attempts to explain how individuals come to adapt their communicative styles to one another as they spend more time with each other. While the theory is not specifically or uniquely restricted to the study of intercultural communication, it is not hard to see how the theory might help explain variance in both our initial and continued interactions with folks from another culture; after all, one way we can understand cultural differences is in terms of communicative behavioral differences (both at the verbal and  non-verbal  level). A particularly interesting phenomenon associated with this is that of  code-switching , which tends to really get at folks who are bi- o...

Morgantown, WV --   With about one month to go before we leave for SPICE 2018, we've got some fantastic news: the accommodations for our annual trip to Bruges, Belgium, have been finalized. We've arranged for two nights' accommodations (breakfast, included) for all of our WVU SPICE students at the " Hotel Koffieboontje ." There, you'll be staying right in the heart of Bruges for two nights of intercultural experience in the Flanders (re: Dutch-speaking) region of Belgium. Below, an interactive map that shows the route to the hotel from Stationsplein--the Bruges main train station. We'll plan on leaving Erfurt rather early on the morning of Monday June 25, likely on ICE1638 leaving at 07:50. Indeed, our proposed travel plan is below, and it would get us into town (into Bruges) around 15:00 (3:00 pm); disregard the pricing however (as we'll use your flex pass for this one): What are we in for when we get there? I'm keeping most of it a se...