Faculty Exchange Program (which city?)

How would weather play into your plans, or would it even matter? I am thinking that January-April I might be more likely to think about Spain or Italy.

Thank you for your reply. I've spent plenty of time in the summers in Europe in the past. I'm happy in 4 seasons. I'd say weather is a non-issue.

I can only comment on Madrid and Bilbao. I consider both of them very walkable, but both also have good city transportation. Inter-city buses tend to be inexpensive, as are regional trains. Food costs in Spain are generally fairly low, noticeably lower than in Italy, for example. The food in these two areas was much more appealing to me than what I encountered in some other parts of Spain (much meat, few vegetables, non-existent herbs and spices). I hope you like ham, though.

The Basque Country is really pretty; lots of green (in the summer, anyway) and hills/mountains. There are many attractive small coastal towns (possibly dead in the winter, though?) served by buses and/or the FEVE (slow) train. Vitoria-Gasteiz is a worthy weekend destination, as is Laguardia. San Sebastian, Hondarribia, Burgos, Pamplona, Santander and even the French Basque Country are within weekend striking distance. The Picos de Europa area in the southern part of neighboring Cantabria is a gorgeous mountainous area. Fabulous in the summer with a lot of active tourism, but I'm not sure what the winter conditions are like; it might be suitable only for skiers during your time period.

There are many fabulous destinations accessible from Madrid on long day-trips or weekend jaunts (Cuenca, Toledo, Segovia, Avila, Salamanca...), and there are two nearby destinations I enjoyed, Chinchon and Alcala de Henares. But the countryside in the immediate area is generally not very interesting. On the other hand, Retiro Park is huge and convenient for outdoor exercise in the city.

I know you said you didn't think weather would be an issue, but I urge you to check the stats. It's my understanding that Madrid has very, very cold winters. Bilbao tends to be somewhat rainy and cool even in mid-summer but might actually be more pleasant in the winter than Madrid; I haven't checked. I have a strong suspicion that Alicante is the pick of the litter from a weather standpoint, but I've never been there.

Are you fluent in German, Italian, Spanish and French? Which would you be most comfortable living in? Which language would you be least comfortable living in?

Which of the universities on offer has a program closest to your speciality?

Lyon is the most centrally located for weekend trips to other places. It has great transportation connections both inter and intra city. It seems to tick most if not all of your boxes.

Thank you for your replies. To answer your questions:

I don't speak any of the European languages. I had several years of Spanish in middle/high school, so that would probably be the easiest to reacquaint myself with. I volunteered several years in SE Asia and speak conversational Thai, but that won't get me anywhere in Europe! All teaching at the university would be in English.

I've narrowed down the complete list of cities/universities to only ones in Europe in my academic discipline (business). That's the list in my original post.

Hi,

You have a great chance (and option too!!)...prima! Based on your list (plus/neg..I get bored at beaches too...easily), I would pick without question Lüneburg since I know that area the best as regards the list. It's a great town to be situated if you want to be in North Germany traveling further north or east. Now if you read German at a certain level, all the better in tracking down museums, two of which are on history, (esoteric stuff on Prussian history), reading the info on churches, which Lüneburg has..4 famous ones.

I've known that town ever since 1971 when I spent my first full day in Germany as a day trip from Lübeck where I was staying at the hostel. Over the years I've been back to Lüneburg to unwind, relax numerous times, to be sure on a week-end, and for that it is a good walking town. The bus system assembles in the Zentrum at the Am Sande, which takes ca 30 minute walk from the train station.

The closest airport is Hamburg. The Lüneburg train station is not only for regional trains but also for the ICE and IC trains.

Lüneburg is close to Lübeck, Hamburg through which the trains north, east, south, west have to go, the junction point for North Germany. Other towns for day excursions are those on the lower Elbe...Lauenburg/Holstein (where the British crossed the Elbe in 1945), Celle, Munster/Õrtze, the British War Cemetery is located in the Lüneburger Heide, From Lüneburg you have direct train lines going to Mecklenburg and Schleswig-Holstein.

There are numerous Thai restaurants in Berlin, a few are on Kantstrasse not far from Savignyplatz in Charlottenburg.

Is this a formal academic thing that allows you to be in the Schengen countries longer than 90 days? Or do you have to get some kind of special visa for the country where you will work?

It sounds like where you go is more important than the content of the job you will do.

Alicante is on the Mediterranean. Bilbao is on the Atlantic. Both have beaches which you don't care about. They have very different climates. Pau and Bilbao are fairly close to each other. Lyon and Turin are fairly close to each other. Luneberg is kind of a cold outlier, but is within striking distance of a possibly colder Scandinavia, and there's likely to be more English spoken.

I guess it's all about your language skills and how different you want this experience to be from your life in AZ. Except for Madrid and Turin, the places you listed are of medium to small size.

Please note that the mealtimes in Spain are very different from ours. If you choose to go there, it will take some adjustment -- http://spanishsabores.com/2015/06/17/spain-dining-guide-when-are-spanish-mealtimes/.

I lived in Nürnberg and worked in Erlangen for 3 years in the early 80's. I enjoyed my time there and a big advantage was the proximity of places to explore. I don't know what your work hours will be or what your housing situation may be, but you are likely to need to do the normal things you do at home like laundry, getting groceries, cleaning, you name it.

Depending on where you go, the hours available to do some things related to that may be much more limited than here. The point is that you may not have as much free time to explore and play as you'd like. I sure didn't, but then I could get to Paris on the train in 5 hours.

If I had your great opportunity, my first choice would be Alicante for its beautiful location and milder winter weather. My second choice would be Lyon for its proximity to other countries and its food, which doesn't have to be fine dining. My third choice would be Madrid for its location as a central hub to get to other places and the large number of things to see and do there. Potential costs of living in those places would no doubt affect my final choice.

Wow! I'm getting strong recommendations for every destination on the list (Besides Turin). Shame I can only choose one. You've given me a lot to ponder. I really appreciate you all taking time to share recommendations and justifications for those recommendations as well!

I'm on full-time faculty in America, so it's just a semester abroad of teaching at a local European university. Pursuing job prospects isn't among my goals.

Yes, I am aware that "dinner" in Spain is usually no earlier than 9pm. That would be a tough adjustment, since I'm an early-to-bed, early-to-rise person. But it's a cultural adjustment I'm more than willing to make.

Your situation is unique. I think you're the first academic I've seen that isn't planning for a sabbatical.

People sometimes ask about working in Europe, not realizing that it's a difficult thing to do without being specifically hired by a company or organization that will take care of the complications.

I was wondering about how long the semester is. And, if it's more than 90 days, how will the overstay in whatever Schengen country you end up in be handled? And if you need a work visa to do the exchange, regardless of how long the semester is.

I would suggest Lyon for its offerings and central location.
Aside from that, you may want to investigate the universities of the different countries. Reports from friends returning from sabbaticals indicate that the universities in some countries are better funded than others-- not for your salary, which would be paid by your home institution,--but for office space, physical plant, funding for conferences and speakers, and the treatment of colleagues with whom you would work. Some took real hits in 2008 and haven't recovered.

If you pick Lüneburg, which institution will you teach at? Or, is Lüneburg the site for the place to stay and you intend to commute? Off hand the nearest universities I know of are Hamburg and Kiel.

My guess is it would here:

http://www.leuphana.de/en/university.html

I'll give you one vote for Turin. (Too bad that Vienna, where I did my sabbatical, is not on your list. It fits the bill on all counts. And the University of Vienna has a great business program.) So, looking at your list, I would suggest investigating Turin. We have a friend who is a professor there and we visited her two years ago. You can side trip to Milan, Lake Maggiore, Paris (by TGV), Switzerland, etc. Food was great. We did not take much public transport since our friend had a car, but the one time we took the subway, the part of the system we rode on seemed very new. As for churches - Turin is of course home of 'the Shroud', with Roman ruins right next door to the church.

Thanks for more great replies.

No, this would not be considered a sabbatical, just an opportunity to teach 2 courses at a foreign university (a very reasonable course load for a semester!). My salary would be paid by my home university, so I wouldn't be receiving a salary from the host university. Not sure what that means for visas, but it looks like the host university receives some funding to process my visa and assist me in locating housing, so they must take some of the burden of the responsibility. I've applied for over a dozen visas in the past and while time consuming, I've never had big issues and many of those were for developing countries.

I've updated my original post with the host universities. They all seem large and decently/centrally located in their respective cities.

Based on your list, I'd vote for Turin too. It's a terrific walking town, great public transit, and the citizens I've met were very sporty and active (ok, I was there participating in the World Masters Games, so it was self-selecting, but there were tons of locals of all ages also participating). The skiing is world class, of course, since they hosted the Winter Olympics. Hiking, both in the Alps and in the lower hills of the Langhe, is fantastic. Wine, food are great and I thought reasonable. It was the home of the Savoy dynasty for centuries, so you've got history in spades. It's also a very business-focused town, home of Fiat among others, so you might get some good case study material. Anyway, based on your question, it's the one that jumped out for me.