Rome: The Vatican, churches around Rome

Today's post is a special one.  Hannah Welch, our staff photographer, has been giving advice to a few students who are avid photographers, and the student photographers have grown and developed their skills significantly in only a few weeks.  Just for the day, Hannah passed the torch to Claire Blood-Cheney, one of our students who has been photographing the trip avidly, and so Claire's photos illustrate this blog post.  (If you're following Hannah's photos, don't worry, you'll see more of her work in the next post.)

This is Claire in a rare moment in front of the camera rather than behind it.

On our final day in Rome, we visited the Vatican museums, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's.  The Vatican museums house many beautiful objects.  As we have done in previous museums, students were given options--they could follow us instructors and hear our perspectives, they could explore on their own, or they could mix those approaches.  We saw amazing tapestries, frescoes, and other pieces of art.  Max has been particularly attentive to ceilings, and the Vatican offered him many ceilings to photograph and inquire about.



One pleasant surprise in the Vatican museums was the modern and contemporary art collection we encountered near the end.  Zhouyi enjoyed considering the Vatican's contemporary art pieces.

Although the Vatican museums were pretty crowded, as they often are, we still had a few opportunities to stop and contemplate the significance and beauty of the place, as Alex is doing in this picture.




After we returned to Rome, students had free time to explore, with an optional tour of a few key churches in Rome in the late afternoon.  This was also a day when a number of students used a portion of free time to develop and discuss their final projects.  Each student has been invited to construct a project exploring a theme that we have encountered in our travels that is of interest to them.  The project can take a variety of forms of media--photo essay, written essay, video, fiction writing, and many more.  Alexis and Alex each took some time to consider and research ideas for their final projects, and they have both proposed very promising projects!

 Photos by Claire Blood-Cheney

Rome: Da Vinci Museum, Spanish Steps, Pantheon, Aventine

On our fifth day in Rome, July 20, we had a few optional activities in the first part of the day.  Some students chose to visit the Da Vinci Museum exhibit, a hands-on exhibit conveniently located near our hotel.  Also, many students chose to visit the Spanish Steps.  Some students did both!  

Later that day, we gathered as a whole group to visit the Pantheon.  It was built in the early generations of the Roman Empire, and is important architecturally and historically.  It has served many purposes over the the last (nearly) two thousand years.

Before we entered the building we paused to briefly make observations and guesses about the building, and we had a short lesson on the story of its construction.

Once inside, we spent time walking around independently.  Students could choose to follow one or more of the instructors around the Pantheon, and as instructors we each offered a different perspective and different facts, stories, and analytical contributions.  They could also explore on their own.  Most students combined those approaches.

The dome of the Pantheon is massive--a tremendous feat of engineering.  JJ and Griffin, both of whom have expressed strong interests in architecture, were most impressed.

After visiting the Pantheon, we went to a park in the Aventine.  Justyna, our coordinator, had invited Max, Nila, and Emila to help to select and gather items for a picnic dinner in the park.  They brought delicious traditional Roman foods, including the artichokes which Rome is famous for, and they even brought a game to play.

 It was a perfect night for a picnic, and the park we visited was beautifully situated, with a view of much of the city of Rome.  After working hard to prepare the picnic, Nila and Emila enjoyed the view with Chloe.

Cora, Claire, Alex, and Alexis also enjoyed the scenery, and chatted animatedly together about the trip so far.

 The park not only had a great view, it had a special secret nearby.  The "Aventine keyhole," located in the entrance of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, is cunningly placed to offer a beautifully framed view of the dome of St. Peter's.  If you look through the keyhole, this is what you see.

It's difficult to get a picture that captures the view through the keyhole, but Hannah, our staff photographer, managed it!  She was able to give tips to some of our avid student photographers, who also tried to get pictures through the keyhole.  I think Claire succeeded!

Photos by Hannah Welch

Rome: Borghese Gallery, Capuchin Crypt, Forum

On July 19, our fourth day in Rome, we had an eclectic and full day of experiential learning.  We began in the Borghese Gallery.  Each student was randomly assigned one significant artwork, and was asked to find it and spend at least five minutes with it.  This is a technique of close looking that can aid in deepening both analysis and experience of an artifact.

Along with locating and considering their single assigned work, students had time in the gallery to connect with pieces they admired.  Many of us--staff and students alike--were affected intellectually and aesthetically by Bernini's sculpture of Apollo and Daphne.  We had learned about the story of Daphne in Athens, and seeing Bernini's all too realistic version of this fantastical story was amazing.

After taking a long lunch break to explore the grounds of the Villa Borghese, we went to a very different site of art.  The Capuchin Crypt, also known as the Bone Church, was awe-inspiring.  The crypt is a multi-room monument to mortality.  In the 18th century, parts from over 3,000 skeletons were used to make an extraordinary art installation.  It's a remarkable place, and it's also a place where photography is prohibited.  The rule against photography meant that students looked at the crypt only with their own eyes, and fully experienced the aesthetic and spiritual elements of the crypt.  It was a very special day for many of us.

We ended the day with a walk through the Roman Forum.  In Athens, we had looked at the use of public space in the Agora and other spaces; we continued that thematic thread in our analysis of the Roman Forum, learning about political rhetoric, market practice, and sacred space.

Standing on the very ground where the ancient Romans stood was truly powerful.

Photos by Hannah Welch

Rome: Capitoline Museums, Colosseum

On our third day in Rome, we visited the Capitoline Museums in the morning.  The Capitoline Museums are a vast and rich collection of artifacts from the history of Rome.

The Museums were built originally to house a few critically important bronze sculptures.  One of them depicted a moment in one of the founding legends of Rome: when a she-wolf found the abandoned Romulus and Remus, and raised them as her own.

Later on, we studied the uniqueness and the commonness of the Colosseum, and observed how it compared to other theaters and public spaces we had seen in Athens.  Claire has been documenting the formation of national identity (a potential final project?) and considered the Colosseum carefully in relation to the ways Romans constructed their identities.

We learned about gladiator fights and other public entertainments that took place in the Colosseum.  Max, Griffin, JJ, Roarke, and Zach practiced deciding a gladiator's fate!

Photos by Hannah Welch

Rome: Naples and Pompeii

The day after we arrived in Rome, we took a day trip to visit Naples and Pompeii.

Once we reached Naples, we visited the Naples Archaeological Museum.  Students divided into small groups and each group agreed on a theme to provide a thread to follow through the museum--they could choose any theme they wanted.  Themes included facial expressions in ancient art, comparisons between Greek and Roman statues, and sexuality in the ancient world (the museum has a famous collection related to sexual expression).

Griffin, JJ, and Paris traveled through the museum rapidly and thoroughly!

Claire explored the museum with her camera, documenting evidence for her group.

After walking through the museum and studying their chosen theme as represented in the museum's collections, we reconvened as a larger group and discussed and reported on what we found.  

The students observed that some of their themes related well to other groups' themes, and took note of how they were able to get a clearer whole picture of the ancient Roman world by integrating multiple groups' findings.  For many students, this was good practice and inspiration for their individual, customized final projects!

At lunch, we celebrated a very important day: Cora's 16th birthday!  

We sang her "Happy birthday" in Italian, and briefly talked about the evidence that ancient Roman women celebrated their birthdays too!

Later on, we explored Pompeii.  It was magnificent in its ordinariness!  One of our favorite spots was the baths, where we were able to really imagine ancient Pompeiians socializing, working out, and washing up.

Photos by Hannah Welch

Rome: Arriving and Exploring

On July 16, we arrived in Rome.  Although we had had a long travel day, we still wanted to spend some time exploring the city where we had newly arrived, so we took a walk.  We began in the Campo de' Fiori, which is perhaps a two minute walk from our hotel.

From there, our stalwart navigators, Griffin, JJ, and Zach, studied their maps and led us around some nearby places in Rome.

We went to a bridge over the Tiber River.  We all enjoyed the beautiful views of the river from the bridge.  Claire and Alex, both enthusiastic student photographers, remarked on the loveliness of the light nearby--it was almost sunset.

We tried our first (first of many!) gelato, at a shop near Campo de' Fiori.  They had a wide variety of flavors.  Some, like chocolate and strawberry, were familiar to most of us, while others, like fior di latte (milk) and straciatella, were more unusual.

After gelato, some students felt tired, and so they went back to the hotel.  Other students wanted to explore more, so we visited Piazza Navona.  Piazza Navona has a number of important pieces of public art, including the Fountain of the Four Rivers by Bernini.

In the coming days, we would see many more pieces by Bernini, so this was a good introduction to his work, and to Rome in general.

Photos by Hannah Welch

Farewell, Athens!

From Rome, I'm reflecting now on our final couple of days in Athens.  In our second to last day in Athens, one group of students went to the beach, and a smaller group of students stayed in the city to explore the agora, the Library of Hadrian, and other sites.  We also spent some time as a group on our rooftop--we reflected on the program so far, distributed anonymous feedback forms to the students, played a game, and enjoyed the outstanding views!  Many of the students enjoyed posing for photos with the sunset, including Alexis, Chloe, Nila, Alex, and Emila.

On our last day in Athens, students broke into small groups to explore the Plaka and Monasteraki neighborhoods independently.  They returned to sights they had enjoyed, shopped, people-watched, and generally soaked up the atmosphere of the city.  That night, we had a traditional Greek dinner on the rooftop terrace of a restaurant.  Students told stories and showed each other the results of their small-group explorations--their purchases of traditional Greek products like sandals and worry beads, and many, many selfies!

Then, we went to the Dora Stratou Dance Theater to learn some Greek folk dancing together!

Paris and Claire even got to try on traditional costumes!

Photos by Hannah Welch