Jackson Owen- Spain

The Flight

On June 28th, I left by myself from the Nashville airport to meet up with my EIL group at the JFK airport. There I met the 15 other students from across the United States who were also in my group. We did not know it yet but we would grow to become very close friends. From there we left for Madrid, Spain, an eight hour flight which landed at 10:00 am. This was the beginning of a four week long adventure with a brand new group of people in a country completely foreign to me.

Madrid

My first day in Spain proved to be rough, I had hardly slept on the plane ride and landing at 10 am I had to fight my fatigue and continue the day, resisting the urge to sleep. With its interesting architecture and friendly people, Madrid proved to be one of the most interesting cities of the trip. As my group and I grew on one another we began to come out of our shells and had some great memories in the capital of Spain. Since the theme of our program was contemporary and historical culture and diversity, we started every city off with a scavenger hunt to get to know the city and the history more. In a city filled with history we made many sight-seeing escapades. With these scavenger hunts we were able to learn what was most dear to the people of Madrid and the history behind many of the buildings and statues. We stayed in Madrid for five days before it was time to move on to the next town, Toledo.

Statue of Don Quixote in Madrid

Toledo

Toledo was the oldest and most historically rich city that we visited over our four week stay in Spain. It contained one of the biggest and most important cathedrals in all of Spain and was a very religious city. We were luckily able to go inside the ‘Catedral de Toledo’ and witness the incredible architecture on the inside of the building. The Cathedral started construction in 1226 and construction did not finish until nearly 270 years later in 1493. We met many unique individuals and had a great time in our short stay of 3 days in Toledo. We took a bus to our next destination: Bilbao, where we had our stay with a local family.

Bilbao

I was definitely nervous going into my homestay. I was living with a family that I’d never met speaking a language that I had only studied for two years. Luckily I had Sr. Kamm as my teacher so my spanish was just fine. My host father, whom I called ‘Aita,’ which is the word for Dad in the Basque language, picked me up from the bus station in downtown Bilbao and drove me to their house and the smaller, suburban city of Umbe. It was there that I met my wonderful host family of Aita, Ama (the Basque word for Mom), Julen, Xabier, and Nerea. Julen was 17 years old so I spent most of my free time hanging out with him and his friends when the family didn’t have something planned. My family however, had a lot of stuff planned and I kept very busy. I went to a music festival, the San Fermin Bull Run, the beach and many other places as well as eating delicious food throughout my 11 days. I made very close relationships with my host parents and brother and I will never forget the kindness and love they showed to me. We still keep in contact and they are urging me to return to Spain this next summer. I was nervous going in, but I was sad to leave as Bilbao was easily the most fun portion of the trip and of my whole summer.

With my host family at the San Fermin
Bull Run Festival

Estella and Barcelona

Next up on the list was a 5 day stay in the small town of Estella. We spent most of our time doing community service work and teaching a class of young children english through games. Estella was a town rich of culture and it may not have been on of the more fun cities that we went to, it was exciting to see how close the town was together and I learned a lot. Finally, we had a 3 day stay in the popular tourist city, Barcelona. This begun my favorite part of the trip. We went, to the beach, visited La Sagrada Familia and stayed up all night with my group in the apartments we had rented. We celebrated my birthday at dinner and took trips down the famous street La Rambla. Overall it was a fantastic journey and I am so glad that I was given this opportunity.

With members of my group in Park Guell in Barcelona

Thank You

Firstly I want to thank the Wilson Family and Mr. Gioia for making this trip possible. Thank you Sr. Kamm for everything you taught me the two years that I was in your class. Thank you Sra. Victoria and Sr. Paolicchi for making sure everything with the grant and trip went well. Thank you to my gracious host family the Prieto's for providing me with a great family and awesome experiences along the way. And finally thank you to the leaders and everyone else in my group for making the trip everything I could've dreamed and more.

Daniel Lee, Latin, 2016

Latin in Rome: Daniel Lee

This summer I was given a Wilson grant to study Latin in Rome at a school called St. Stephen's. Coming to the program, I didn't know what to expect but in the end the trip was worth it. St. Stephen's campus was located in downtown Rome and was about a 15-minute walk from the Colosseum and a 5 minute walk to the Circus Maximus. When I arrived in Rome it rained for about 10 minutes but from then on out it was clear skies.

Each day would begin with breakfast at the school and from there I went to my first class, Roman topography. After that, would be lunch and then Latin class.  Latin class would then be followed by creative writing and the day would be finished with dinner and a night activity.

Trajan's Column

Topography class was basically a four hour walking tour of Rome every morning, and we could go anywhere with a small trip on the metro. My favorite site had to be the Triumphal arch of Constantine which was located right next to the Colosseum. One cool thing is that at the Colosseum I saw an MBA graduate who recognized me through my MBA all sports camp t-shirt. Another of my favorite places was the ruins of the old Roman forum and being able to see the Curia (Roman Senate house) and the various temples. It was amazing to be able to witness the structures that I had seen in textbooks. We also saw the Pantheon, which was amazing since it was at one point the world's largest unsupported dome. Inside the Pantheon, I saw the tomb of the Renaissance artist, Raphael. Apart from seeing ruins, my class would also visit museums. In just one of these museums, I was able to see a pot owned by Mithridates and the original statue of the She-Wolf. In another museum I saw a huge bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius on horseback. What's amazing was that this was all just the first part of my day.

Painting of the Famous Tale of the Horatii and Curiatii

Temple of Jupiter

An Image of a Roman Charioteer

Statue of Marcus Aurelius

In creative writing class, we would either write short stories or poems. In order to get some inspiration we visited the Protestant Cemetery in which John Keats is buried, which also happens to be a cat sanctuary. At the end of the grant, our class had composed a small anthology. Latin was also interesting because on the first day I was moved to the Italian class since it was only a beginners Latin course. Here, I was able to study Italian grammar and give short presentations of dialogues.

"Roman" Pyramid Near the Protestant Cemetery  

My favorite part the day was the nightly activity. I remember one night where we watched the Italian national soccer team face off against Spain on a projector in the dining hall. One night we went to see a ballet where the stage was set up among the ruins of the Baths of Caracalla, and another night we went to see a light show at the Forum of Augustus. Here, images of what the ruins would of looked like were projected. However, my favorite nights were Friday's since we would walk down to the Tiber and walk around a small festival where they were stands and vendors. It was like a weekly MBA carnival along the Tiber.

A Statue of Caesar near the Forum of Augustus

View of Sorrento

On the weekend between the first and second week, we went on a trip to Sorrento and Pompeii. At Pompeii, we saw the ruins of the Roman city and the gruesome remains of Roman people. It was fascinating to see a Roman city so well preserved. In Pompeii, we also saw a Roman villa with its wall frescoes still intact in full color. Then in Sorrento, we stayed at a hotel that was right near the beach. We were also able to walk the streets at night and luckily there was a cultural festival going on.

Tiles of House in Pompeii

In the final few days, we visited Vatican City. It was fascinating to see how large the Vatican was. The ceiling frescos and sculptures what's even more interesting is that I met another MBA graduate who knew me through my older brother. It just comes to show the global influence of MBA.

Ginger the Cat

Overall, having the opportunity to journey to Italy and see everything that I have studied for three years was overwhelming. In addition to touring Rome, I was able to meet some amazing people and an nice cat named Ginger. I would like to again thank the Wilson family for giving me the chance to travel to Italy and allowing me to discover that I wish to study Latin or Italian in college.

Our Group in Italy

Brian Lu: Experiencing Ancient Rome

Learning at St. Stephen's

I came to Italy and St. Stephen's with my classmate and friend, Daniel Lee. We were both excited to visit Italy and finally come face to face with the places, people, and objects that we had learned about in class. We came, expecting to absorb even more knowledge of Latin and ancient Rome. However, it seemed that St. Stephen's only offered a Beginner's Latin Course. Quickly realizing that we would not learn much in that class, we switched to Italian. However, this setback proved not to be extremely detrimental. Through the Ancient Roman Topography Class, which essentially was a course dedicated to exploring and examining Ancient Roman ruins and relics, that Daniel and I both took, we had the opportunity to analyze and roughly translate many Latin inscriptions. Both of us learned an astonishing amount about these Roman artifacts since our teacher was so exceptional. Unsurprisingly, he seemed to know almost everything about the ruins and places we visited such as the Forum, Colosseum, Capitoline Hill, etc. We could also apply our Latin language skills to learning Italian, since Italian is a Romance Language.


Exploring the City- Ancient Roman Topography

On the first few days, we ventured to the Roman Forum and the Capitoline Hill Museum. The instructor gave us an extremely good understanding of the events that led up to the construction of the sites we visited and recounted each building or relic's story. We examined the art portrayed on many of the columns, walls, and ancient ruins. The instructor was fabulous throughout the rest of the course as well, taking us to the Colosseum, Trajan's Column, Pompeii, Ostia, and many other historical sites. At each of these, we discovered something that we had not known before. Because of this course, I have a deeper and more profound appreciation for Roman history that might not have developed had I not gone to St. Stephen's.

Daily Life in Rome

Every morning, we woke up to a delicious breakfast from the staff at St. Stephen's. The provided us with a different assortment of pastries everyday with fresh fruits and other tasty treats. We would then explore the historical sites of Rome until lunch, where usually we ate at St. Stephen's again. We would then study Italian with a brilliant teacher who has improved my Italian greatly since forgetting most of it at the Concordia camp. After the language class, we would be greeted by an elective class, including Creative Writing, Studio Art, and music. After the electives, we would have a study hall to relax and take a break from the abundance of knowledge that we had absorbed that day. Then we would have dinner, sometimes in the Cafeteria and many times out in Rome itself. We then would do an evening activity ranging from watching the Euro Cup for Soccer to watching a Ballet at the Baths of Caracalla. Each night there was a new surprise and an exciting activity to experience.

Ostia, Pompeii, and Sorrento

For me, the highlights of all the amazing locations we visited were Ostia, Pompeii, and Sorrento. In Ostia, we were able to have fun at the amazing beach that was covered in black sand. Visiting the beach was a great way to relax during the weekends which I greatly appreciated. In Sorrento, we visited the beach, but we also visited several of the shops in the lively town. We got to eat at several pizzarias which were absolutely astounding. In Pompeii, we finally got to see with our own eyes, the devastation that Mt. Vesuvius had caused to thousands of Romans. We were able to see the bodies preserved in stone and ash. We saw firsthand, the elements of a Roman town and many of its basic characteristics. We saw several villas and houses from people of varying social classes. We saw the fortifications that Roman soldiers patrolled. We saw the Roman theaters that entertained the masses. It felt as if we were experiencing Pompeii as it had been 2000 years ago.

Appreciation

Thank you to all of the staff that supported and helped us at our stay in St. Stephen's. I would first like to thank my RA, Big Bro Mike, who was really friendly and chill to all of us campers. I would also like to thank Kabir, David, Nilasha, Giulia, and Maggio for helping me get through the transition from living in the US to living in Rome extremely quickly. At first, Daniel and I didn't even know how to use the washer but thanks to these amazing people, we eventually figured out how to live regularly at St. Stephen's. Thank you to my fellow campers for being friendly and kind to us even though we were strangers to them. Thank you to Ms. Ellery for finding this amazing program for us even though our original program was cancelled from low participation. I appreciate the work she put into finding a different camp very much since it allowed us to have the opportunity to finally visit Italy. Thank you to the Wilson family for giving us so much money for the chance to go on this trip to Rome. I truly appreciate all the people who helped us make this trip as fulfilling and as amazing as it was. Thank you.