Kristen Erickson

Italia! 2008

              I believe that we learned so many things, both in the classroom and in Italy.  Personally, I enjoyed our small, intimate conversations in the classroom.  I think our small class size helped to create a solid group, which proved very useful in Italy.  Obviously it’s hard to compare what I learned in the classroom with what I learned in Italy but each is valuable in its own way.  I really don’t believe that what I learned in our class I would’ve really had an opportunity to learn in any other setting.  The things I learned and discovered in Italy were more amazing that I could’ve imagined.  I’m really very thankful that I had this opportunity, and I truly hope to experience this again, someday.  Honestly, though, I have to say that the most important thing I learned from this class and the trip was how many truly amazing people are out there.  The people I met in our class and on our trip was truly my most rewarding lesson.  This experience is one I doubt I’ll ever be able to top.

              I found our class discussions incredibly intriguing.  The discussions about Roman Mythology I think I learned the most from.  With everyone contributing different ideas and theories about what these Gods meant to the Romans, what attributes and characteristics can we ascertain were valuable from the attributes of their Gods, and what the different Gods and Goddess’ meant to the Romans were all discussions I’d never really encountered in such a small comfortable setting.  I also enjoyed our discussion of “Roman Fever” and “Daisy Miller”.  These were two stories I’d never read before and I seriously doubt that I’d have gotten half as much out of the stories if I’d read them on my own.  Between our class and D2L discussions I think our class had some very intriguing ideas on these two stories.  I think I found “Roman Fever” the most interesting of the two because the ideas about women and Rome, while interesting, seem to be shattered by the revelation we learn at the end of the story.  This short story has so much to that I would’ve never realized without our class.  I must say that due to a missing space bar on my former computer I was less inclined to contribute to D2L as much as I wanted to, but I do have to admit that on the subject of “Roman Fever” I think Katie did an excellent job of analyzing the story and increasing my enjoyment of the story as a whole.  I was also excited to watch  “Julius Caesar”.  I think our D2L discussions were really interesting about this movie; I especially enjoyed people’s responses to which character they found most effective.  I think these questions helped to get us thinking about these ideas in new and different ways.  Like the question about why it was Shakespeare’s play that was adapted instead of the more accurate historical assumptions about Julius Caesar’s life.  I really enjoyed these questions and thought they brought a lot of good discussion to our class. 

              I did enjoy a lot of the activities we did as a whole group as well.  Several of the movies we watched had a lot of good information in them and I enjoyed the discussions with everyone.  I also think that the activities that we did as a group helped to ensure that we at least knew each other’s names before we left.  I was really thankful that you and Kunkel gave us so many opportunities to ask questions.  In the beginning I didn’t even know what I should be asking but with every question that was asked I began to form my own questions, so I’m happy that you guys allowed for so much time to calm any fears we had.  To be perfectly honest I was about ready to walk out of the room when we started to play that name game going around the room, but I have to admit I probably wouldn’t have known half the names I did if it weren’t for that game. 

              There were two discussions in our class that I thoroughly enjoyed were the discussions about what were expected of women’s behavior in their public and private lives during the late 19^th and early 20^th century and the discussions about the different saints.  I think it was really intriguing to read literature about the subject of women’s behavior during that time period, and I think our class did a really good job of finding several areas to discuss.  I had some idea of what was expected of women during that time but reading some of the exerts from the books and hearing what the other students in the class found in their books far exceeded the previous knowledge I had.  I had no idea that women were judged by not only their outside appearance but also the appearance of their room, the appearance of their servants, and even the way and what they discussed in company.  I can’t even imagine the pressures that women felt during this time, and I believe that these discussions really helped us to better understand the context of Daisy Miller.  I think out of everything we discussed I found the saints discussion to be the most interesting.  I can’t think of one instance in my life where I was taught anything about the saints or their lives, and I don’t really see any point in my college career where we would go into the depth we did in the saint’s lives.  I really enjoyed those discussions and learning the meanings and histories behind their lives.  I think that we found several similarities between the acts and lives of the saint’s and how they were thought so highly of because of those acts and the Roman god’s and how their attributes and characteristics were obviously attributes of value to the people of that time.

              Overall, I really enjoyed our class discussions and I found the D2L postings intriguing and extremely helpful.  I really enjoyed the small class size and the people in the class made all the difference.  The only idea I have to improve the class is that I would make the individual classes longer in the beginning, maybe even to the point of meeting just in individual classes for the first two weeks, and then meeting as a larger group for only an hour and a half, tops.  I’m suggesting this because I found our small class discussions much more helpful and interesting, and often times because we had no more issues to discuss in the larger group we would leave a half hour or so early.  Also, I think that if the videos we watched about Italy were introduced in a way that related to us better I would have found them more interesting than I did.  I wish that when we were shown a video about Rome it would be introduced as; “This area in the video is about three miles away from where we’ll be staying and if you want to get there you’ll take…” something like that would’ve made the videos a lot more relatable to me.  Sometimes I can be an impatient person and often times while watching the videos I would wonder where this was or why this was important.  Otherwise, I enjoyed our large group time and was really excited to meet so many people between the two classes.

              Now, to Italy! I have to admit that for me, the plane ride was the scariest part of the trip.   I was thankful to be able to sit next to Aaron on that first ride.  I’m a ‘Worst Case Scenario Girl’, so the whole time I was on the plane I was planning for the worst.  I figured they’d lost my luggage, I’d lose my ticket, get lost in Amsterdam having a smoke, get strip-searched by security, lose all my money, or miss my plane.  So, you can imagine my utter joy at arriving in Rome with my ticket, my money, and my luggage. Driving into Rome was not what I expected.  There was garbage, graffiti, and tons of people in tiny little cars and tiny little mopeds.  I think our tour guide was really helpful in making us feel welcome in the city, and she gave us a lot of information.  I think that I got really lucky and the first night went to dinner with ten people who would become my family on this trip.  We all just kind of happened to gather on the steps outside with us smokers and between all of us we all knew someone that someone else knew.  It was a comfortable little group and we all made each other feel a little more comfortable in this huge, new country.  I would like to add here that for about the first two hours I was actually in Italy I basically kept an inner dialogue that consisted of: “You are in Italy”, “You are more than a whole hand away from Minnesota on a globe”, “You’re across an OCEAN!” and “Oh my God, If Grandpa could see you now…” Honestly, these thoughts were constantly passing through my head in between my attempts to keep some understandable conversation with other people.  After my roommate, Josh, went to bed at 6:30 I decided to sit outside and watch the people and cars go by.  Honestly, that is one thing I will never forget.  Just the feeling of sitting in the center of Rome, being in the middle of their daily commotion was such an amazing feeling for me.  Sadly though, I couldn’t stay awake much longer and fell asleep about an hour after Josh.  But we both woke up at about 4:30 in the morning and spent an hour just sitting in the window of our hotel room in awe of where we were.  I think the first day, where we toured the Coliseum, the Forum, Circus Maximus and the Pantheon.  That was an amazing day! Just to be walking around in Rome seeing all these things we’d read about was an unbelievable experience.  I think that the Pantheon was one of most amazing things I’ve ever, and probably will ever, see.  I think that out of everything the Pantheon was one place that completely blew away all my expectations.  It’s so amazing to walk around and touch things that were around thousands of years ago; to touch things that were around during the same time that all these famous people in history were there.  This was also one of the first days that I really got to know so many of the amazing people in our group.  A bunch of us went to dinner together that night and just enjoyed walking around and exploring Rome.

              The next day was the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel and the Basilica of St.Peter.  I have to admit that as amazing as it was to be in those places they weren’t really what I was expecting.  I think a big part of that too was that we were all so exhausted from the full day of walking around the day before, the Whisper things weren’t working right, there were so many people there, and we had to rush through so many things.  It was honestly a frustrating day.  If I could change anything about the trip I have to say that I would pick a different day to do that or just make it an optional trip, so if people want to go on one of their free days they can and if they don’t want to go they don’t have to.  I really did enjoy seeing things that I had only seen in books before, but the day itself was just too much.

              The next two days, on our free days, I think I enjoyed my time the most.  I went with different groups to different places and always found people who wanted to see the same things as me.  I think my favorite thing has to be the Borghese Gallery.  Not only was that house in itself spectacular but in every room there were a hundred priceless objects that amazed me.  I have to admit that the Pluto and Persephone statue was one of the most spectacular things I’ve ever seen in my entire life.  The entire museum was amazing, and I’m so happy that I went with Josh, Aaron, and Matt (who showed up fashionably late) because we all were so interested in what we saw that we could discuss different pieces with each other and enjoy it even more.  That same day we also went above the Plaza de Popola and saw one of the most amazing views that I think exist on Earth.  You can’t put a price on the beauty of that view.  Our group did so many things during our time in Rome; we rode a bus, rode the subway, got incredibly lost, did a ton of shopping, talked to Italians, explored and discovered without any inhibitions.  It was amazing! One thing I’d also like to mention was the Dark Heart of Rome Tour.  This should be on the itinerary.  That tour was so detailed and interesting I was amazed with how much we learned in a couple of hours.  Everything that he told us stuck with me throughout the trip and I was able to share a lot of my knowledge with everyone else. 

              The museum in Naples was really interesting, and I think that it really prepared us for our trip to Pompeii.  The mosaics in that museum took my breath away, and I really can’t even express how amazing those mosaics were.  How did they do that? I really have discovered a new interest in me that I believe I will carry with me throughout my life.  Pompeii and way more than I expected, I could’ve wondered around there all day.  There are no words for the feeling I had walking around a city, nearly perfectly preserved, that is almost two thousand years old.  How do you talk about that?  What can you say, other than it was yet another unbelievable experience on an unbelievable trip full of unbelievable experiences.  Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius blew me away.  I had huge expectations for that day and they were completely blown away.  I’m so happy that for the rest of my life I’ll always be able to say to myself that; “You climbed Mt. Vesuvius!” 

              I think Sorrento was a perfect way to end this trip (other than the FOUR hour bus ride there…).  That city was so calm and beautiful.  Matt, Josh, Craig and I spent an afternoon walking on the Mediterranean. Our first night there we also got to see what appeared to be the whole town, walking down the street performing the Stations of the Cross.  It was an incredible sight; to be in Italy watching that ceremony.  I have to say that I explored every inch of that city and I’m so happy I did.  I hope I never forget those ten days, they were too amazing. 

              I have to say that out of everything that I will take from this trip the best thing will be the friendships I’ve made.  I grew so close to so many people during my time there that I have promised to keep in touch with them the rest of my life.  I feel so privileged to have had to opportunity to experience all this with such wonderful people.  I can honestly say that I was well looked after and taken care of while on this trip and I’m lucky that I had such good people who cared about me enough to do so.  Every time we’ve gotten together since the trip all the good memories come flooding back and we immediately feel like the family we built in Italy.

             I learned so much from this class! In Italy I used every day to its full extent and went on several independent explorations, but I always stopped to reflect on where I was and how lucky I was to be there.  I have so many memories from our trip, and I hope I get to go back someday.  I’m glad that I went to so many places and scheduled my days to their fullest. I truly feel like I squeezed everything I could out of this class but I know that there is so much more to see and do.

            I’ll be back!

What’s not to love!?! Kristen with our Roman guide, Sandro Pellegrini