Submitted by Sarah Meding on the 2014 winter session program in Italy sponsored by the Honors Program…
After many adventures, we ended our week in Rome, with Ostia Antica and volunteering at a refugee center nearby. As for Ostia, Richard (our wonderful tour guide) showed us around this wonderfully preserved ancient city for most of the day. We learned and saw just how people back then lived and flourished. In a way, it was interesting to see how similar their lives were to ours. Minus the very public restrooms open to the public and the public bathing areas, these people had shops, schools, town halls, and many things we have today. It was incredible that this town could be so well preserved after so long.
The following day, our last day in Rome, was one of my favorites by far. We made our way to the “St. Paul inside the Wall” refugee center. Here, our group was able to interact with, help, talk to, and play games with refugees from Africa, the Middle East, Syria, and other places currently facing issues of religious and political persecution. It was incredibly rewarding to see how happy many of the people were to simply have someone to talk to or play a game with. I think we really gave some people hope, even if for one more day. Some people in the group said many of the refugees were eager to learn about America and even offered us some of their food. Many of these refugees are trained professionals; doctors, surgeons, engineers, who simply cannot find work because of language barriers or discrimination. It was astounding that those individuals who seem to have so little would still offer us their food. I left inspired to do something back in the States to help people not just by giving money, but by talking and giving them dignity.
Once we left Rome, we headed off to Sorrento for the remainder of the week. Sorrento was a lot quieter than Rome and had an off season beach town feel to it. Sitting beautifully on the Mediterranean Sea, we got some amazing views of the water while here. The first day, we took a train to a nearby town called Naples. This is the oldest town in Italy, originally inhabited even before Jesus was said to walk on Earth. Although we did not see it, there is a whole underground city under Naples that people built Naples on top of. We also made our way to the Archeological Museum of Naples to see all original sculptures, fresco paintings, and other artifacts from Rome and Pompeii. I found it especially impressive that glassware from Pompeii was perfectly preserved under the volcanic ash of Mt. Vesuvius after it erupted. Speaking of Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii, we spent the next few days exploring both places. We toured Pompeii, which for being 2,000 years old, was perfectly preserved. We also hiked to the top of the dormant, but active, Mt. Vesuvius, where we got breathtaking views from above.
In Sorrento, many were able to see the beach and shops. On our free day, one group went to see the shopping capital, Capri; while others (including me) got some much needed catch up sleep and walked around Sorrento for the day. I was even able to get some nice photos of the water before heading to dinner for the night.
Looking back on this week, one of my favorite experiences was our dinner at Donna Sophia (restaurant dedicated to Sophia Loren). We received amazing service and completely homemade antipasti appetizers, dinners, and desserts. The staff threw in some free gifts and drove us to and from the restaurant. Needless to say, we all felt pampered for the night.
For classes, we have further discussed pluralism in Italy. I found it interesting that as Italy moves towards becoming more pluralistic, or having more religions, the youth are the ones making the push. In other words, many of the youth of Italy are increasingly from other countries. As they increase in numbers, it is clear they desire to have a more accepting and pluralistic country to live in. They hope for the future that the country will become more accepting and pluralistic and less predominantly Catholic.
Well, we head to Florence in the morning for about a week. The experiences so far have been wonderful and fulfilling and I know that it is only half- way. We all have plenty more to see and experience here and I am interested to see just how much more we will learn and get from this wonderful program.