Kasteel Well

Well Castle
Kasteel Well
Well, Limburg, the Netherlands

Well Castle
Well Castle
Coordinates 51°33′09″N 6°05′20″E / 51.552406°N 6.088936°E / 51.552406; 6.088936
Type Castle
Site information
Owner Emerson College
Open to
the public		 Castle: No
Gardens: Yes
Condition Restored
Site history
Built 14th century
Materials Brick

Well Castle (Dutch: Kasteel Well) is a fully restored 14th century medieval castle[1] located in the Dutch province of Limburg, in the small village of Well, The Netherlands. It is located near the border with Germany, and it is approximately 2 hours southeast of Amsterdam. Kasteel Well itself is made up of two buildings: the Main Castle and the bailey. There are two courtyards within Kasteel Well. There are also two moats: an inner and outer moat. These moats once provided protection to the castle and today provide a place to swim for many birds including multiple varieties of ducks, black swans, and geese. Kasteel Well's gardens are available for the public to walk around and admire the grounds. Here there are several well-maintained flower beds, shrubbery, fountains, tower ruins, and trees. From time to time, Kasteel Well's third building, a barn, is used for weddings and other events.

Emerson College obtained Kasteel Well in 1988 and since then has been using it to house students participating in a study abroad program. Over the years since it was obtained by Emerson, they have made several renovations, the latest of which added new rooms bringing the student capacity per semester to around 80 students.

Every fall and spring semester, approximately eighty students from Emerson's Boston, Massachusetts, campus live in and take classes at Kasteel Well. The classes at the castle have a European focus.[1] The program is spearheaded by the program director, Dulcia Meijers, who is assisted by Rob Duckers and Chester Lee serving as Assistant Directors. Students studying at the castle have class a maximum of four days per week (Monday-Thursday) and therefore have three-day weekends for travel. Therefore, as a part of their education, students are given the chance to travel throughout the European continent on those long-weekends and also participate in two mandatory educational excursions with the faculty and staff of Kasteel Well. Of late, the first of these mandatory educational excursions has been to Amsterdam, the capital city of the Netherlands. For several years, due to European Union regulations regarding the duration of stay in the Schengen Region,[2] a third excursion was required. Starting in the Spring semester of 2009 however, Emerson shortened their study abroad program at Kasteel Well to fit 90 days exactly, therefore negating the need for and avoiding the cost of an additional excursion.

List of Mandatory Excursions by Year [3][4]

Semester Excursion 1 Excursion 2 Excursion 3
Fall 1999 Amsterdam Paris Florence
Fall 2001
Fall 2004
Fall 2005
Spring 2006 Munich
Fall 2006 London Prague London
Spring 2007
Fall 2007
Spring 2008 Dubrovnik
Fall 2008
Semester Excursion 1 Excursion 2
Spring 2009 Amsterdam Prague
Fall 2009 Berlin
Spring 2010 Prague
Fall 2010 Berlin
Spring 2011 Prague
Fall 2011 Berlin
Spring 2012 Madrid
Fall 2012 Berlin
Spring 2013 Madrid
Fall 2013 Berlin
Spring 2014 Madrid
Fall 2014 Vienna Bratislava
Spring 2015 Madrid

References

  1. 1 2 Emerson College Kasteel Well Page
  2. ↑ Schengen Area Wikipedia Page Schengen Area#Right of stay
  3. ↑ Current Academic Calendars
  4. ↑ Old Academic Calendars
Dutch Rijksmonument 526581
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