This summer, 10 Students and two faculty members are traveling to Italy to examine the Etruscan, Greek, Roman, medieval, renaissance and modern footprints on the Italian peninsula and in Sicily. Please enjoy this blog post below from Charlie ’26 and Maeve ’27 as they share about a full day of ancient ruins, terrace breakfasts with nuns, Latin lessons, and unexpected adventures.
Today we awoke to an early breakfast after our first restful night in the convent. The nuns were super nice to us as we ate on the terrace. We got to practice our Italian with them.
After our breakfast, our new bus driver (also named Antonio) picked us up to go to Pompeii.
Once there, we toured around the huge ancient city which had long ago been a bustling center of ancient Mediterranean cultures. In 79 A.D. the town was tragically destroyed but very well preserved due to a volcanic eruption from Mount Vesuvius, which we will hike tomorrow. The streets were lined with Thermapolia, which are basically ancient street food vendors. Lower class people often ate there. Then we visited higher class homes, called domi, with a lot of beautiful frescos, mosaics, and lararium (interior spaces dedicated to household gods). The Temple of Isis was also a great stop!
Antonio picked us up again to go to lunch. We split into groups to find places to eat in walking distance from the convent. After lunch, we had free time to nap, shop, and hang out with friends. For example, Sophia ‘26, Maeve ‘27, and Charlie ‘26 played card games in our air-conditioned rooms, after buying a bunch of snacks.
Then, we joined up again to practice some Latin, namely Tacitus, where Charlie ‘26 and Sophia ‘26 led the group through a riveting discussion about the passage taken from Annales.
Then we walked to dinner locally and had a nice big meal before heading to bed.
Events of note:
– [ ] Joshua’s phone is now working (his AirPods are still in Salina)
– [ ] Jonathan and Torge had the most expensive lunch of the trip (they claim it was worth it)
– [ ] Maeve, Raffaella, and Ms. Delwiche got lost in Pompeii
– [ ] Chelsea and Skylar went swimming on a rocky beach
– [ ] Emily and Suditi had an all vegan meal plus gelato
– [ ] Torge and Jonathan almost met Tim ‘27 (he not affiliated with this trip)
– [ ] Charlie taught airhead (card game) to Maeve and Sophia
– [ ] Dr. Houston distracted the group by showing them goats
– [ ] Bug bites were prevented due to Sophia’s newly purchased bug spray
