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.