Guest blogging: Roarke

Several students have been keeping their own journals of the trip.  Their reflections take a variety of forms, and a few students have encouraged me to share their narratives here on our blog.

Roarke has enjoyed reflecting on each city as we conclude our time there.  In considering Rome, he wrote:

Rome was a very interesting and cool city. It was filled with history in every corner. With so many important sites to see from the Pantheon to the Forum to the Spanish Steps, my favorite was the Coliseum. It was a spectacular site and was very interesting. Made during the Flavian Dynasty, it was used for public executions, feeding discriminated Christians to lions, bears, water battles and more. In the morning, executions would take place then the battles. It could seat thousands of people and even slaves were allowed to watch but with their own part of the seats. After the "bread and circuses" era stopped, it was taken over by nature and homeless people. It was then eventually made to a site for the people.

Roarke has expressed himself in a wide variety of ways in this trip so far, from asking penetrating questions to helping with logistics, and from reflective writing to playing at the beach!  Here, he and Justyna, our coordinator, are paddling away at Glyfada beach near Athens.

Photos by Hannah Welch