Aetherology Fourth Quarter Experience

Within the Aetherology Department, the final quarter of your year is not spent in a classroom — it’s spent exploring the world. 

The Fourth Quarter Experience is the capstone of the Aetherology curriculum: a globally immersive program during which students travel to remote and sacred sites to deepen their mastery through lived experience, cultural exchange, and elemental fluency. Here, you will apply your years of training in magic and language in real-world settings where air is woven into daily life — each location selected for its unique relationship with the element and its traditions of air-wielding.

Students choose one of several elemental immersion tracks, each blending applied aerodynamics, intensive flight work, and language instruction in regional dialects. No two quarters are the same, and the experience is tailored to match your concentration and goals. 

Featured Immersion Destinations

Wind turbines on grassy hills at sunset. https://drawdown.org/solutions/onshore-wind-turbines

Location: Students travel to different locations every week, across all three continents, exploring unique ecosystems in each region.

Experience: Students learn about the current use of wind turbines to create green energy and the ways in which these practices change in different regions. At the end of the quarter, students, as a class, create a design and prototype of a new wind turbine to improve how these turbines harness the wind, minimizing air pollution. 

A large glacier next to a turquoise lake with mountains and colorful trees in the background. https://www.carbonbrief.org/melting-glaciers-set-to-release-more-organic-carbon-as-temperatures-climb/

Location: Students travel to the farthest north of Alsteria, close to eastern Duramore, a glacial region.

Experience: Here, students learn about differences in the density of cold and warm air. In addition, the students experiment with how varying densities affect sound waves in this unique region.

City skyline at night with tall buildings lit up against a red and purple sky. http://jackcornphotography.photodeck.com/media/89d64dc0-2b2e-11e1-8a7c-1d9425628efb-chicago-skyline-with-red-sky

Location: Students travel to Avalon, the central commercial hub of Duramore.

Experience: Here, students analyze the effects upon air quality in Avalon from the war as well as from the city’s prominent commercial activity. They then collaborate as a class to work to purify the air.