Study in Barcelona – Summer 2026
Want More Information?
Join us for an information session!
Learn more at this informational session on Zoom, 1:30-2:30 p.m. Thursday, December 4, 2025.
You can also:
• Watch the video from our information session on Monday, Sept. 29.
• Submit the online interest form so you can get more information and the application for the Barcelona 2026 trip!
Join us on a learning adventure in this historic Spanish city. This integrated Humanities and English program takes you to Barcelona, where you'll explore literature and visual arts in ways that simply aren't possible in a traditional classroom.
When you're outside your comfort zone in a new culture, you start to see perspectives on human experience that you might miss when everything feels familiar. You'll read diverse literary works and analyze visual art while exploring your own creative skills through photography and sketching, all while experiencing Spain's incredible cultural heritage firsthand.
The Barcelona setting gives you real immersion in Spanish language and culture, helping you understand how your location, background and personal identity shape the way you interpret art, literature and ultimately the world.
One of the most exciting parts of this course is taking your camera or camera phone and sketchbook into the streets
of Barcelona to find and recreate scenes that connect to what you're studying. Whether you're exploring themes from feminist criticism or other analytical approaches,
you'll discover that the ideas you encounter in literature and art are still alive and relevant in the city around you.
You'll also work with AI tools in a unique way that helps you see how your interpretations compare to others’ perspectives. This iterative process helps you become a stronger critical thinker while showing you how your personal background and cultural position influence everything you read and see. By the end of the course, you'll have developed both analytical writing skills and artistic abilities while gaining a deeper understanding of how interpretation works in our interconnected world.
Classes Include
- ENGL C1000 (formerly EWRT 1A): Composition and Reading
- EWRT 1B: Reading, Writing and Research
- EWRT 1C: Literature and Composition
- ENGL C1001 (formerly EWRT 2): Critical Reading, Writing and Thinking
- EWRT 30: Introduction to Creative Writing
- ELIT 10: Introduction to Fiction
- ELIT 21: Women in Literature
- ELIT 39: Contemporary Literature
- HUMI 1: Creative Minds
- HUMI 2: But Is It Art? Questions and Criticism
- HUMI 6: Popular Culture
- HUMI 15: Discussion on the Arts
- HUMI 18: History as Mystery: A Critique of Western Perspectives in a Global Context
Meet Your Instructors
Kim Palmore, Language Arts
Dr. Kim Palmore believes that the most powerful learning happens when students step outside their comfort zones and discover that literature isn’t just confined to a page but exists as a living, breathing force in the world around them.
Both as a teacher and a lifelong learner, she cultivates classrooms where students take an active role in shaping discussions rather than sitting as passive listeners. Her teaching is hands-on and experiential, grounded in the belief that walking the streets where Hemingway wrote or standing before the art that inspired movements creates connections that traditional lectures alone cannot offer. These immersive moments allow students to see literature as an active conversation between stories, places and people.
With a Ph.D. in English Literature, specializing in 20th-century British and American writing, Palmore brings expertise in modernism, postmodernism, queer and gender theory, and substantial background in ethnic and race-based literatures and critical theory.
Her genuine passion for languages and cultures was deepened when she co-led a study abroad trip to Paris with colleague Sal Breiter in 2022, an experience that reaffirmed her commitment to teaching in global contexts. She believes the strongest writing and most critical thinking develop at intersections of difference: across cultures, perspectives, and creative practices.
Whether drawing connections between literature, visual art, or even emerging tools like AI approached with integrity, Palmore encourages students to embrace learning as a way of transforming not only their skills, but their sense of the world and their place within it.
Sal Breiter, Humanities
Salamander Breiter brings a unique anthropological perspective to Humanities education, grounded in the foundational belief that meaningful learning happens when students look beyond their own cultural contexts to perceive their biases and develop empathetic understanding of how others see the world.
With disciplinary training in Anthropology, he approaches Humanities instruction through a multidisciplinary lens. His commitment to the democratization of knowledge drives his passion for experiential learning and contextualizing education within real-world environments. This philosophy was reinforced during his successful collaboration with Kim Palmore on a study abroad trip to Paris in 2022.
Breiter's teaching methodology centers on project-based learning that meets students at the intersection of their individual interests and academic goals, encouraging self-reflection while providing distance from positions of comfort. He believes in creating collaborative learning communities where students share progress, seek feedback and learn from one another's diverse perspectives and discoveries. His approach emphasizes both analytical thinking and creative expression, often incorporating visual documentation and storytelling.
For Breiter, the ultimate goal is not just academic achievement but personal growth, helping students develop critical thinking skills and cultural awareness that will serve them long after they return home. He sees each international experience as an opportunity for students to become more thoughtful, empathetic global citizens who understand their place in a complex, interconnected world.
Program Contacts
Kim Palmore
Language Arts
- palmorekim@deanza.edu
- 408.574.3005
Sal Breiter
Humanities
- breitersal@deanza.edu
- 408.864.8366
Leah Riley
Administrative Contact
- rileyleah@deanza.edu
- 408.780.9719