Saturday, March 28, 2009
Students Weigh In
Since we didn't have an easy way to pull this off in Italy, I hope the students will take the opportunity now to share their reflections on the trip by commenting on this post. You can access these comments by clicking on the header of this post or the comments section at the bottom of the post.
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Posing as a student, I (Mr. Newman) will add the first blog entry. Perhaps I desire to return to my youth, by regardless here are my thoughts of the trip....It was an amazing adventure with all of you and I appreciate all of you on many levels for what you brought collectively and individually to the trip. I could not imagine doing anything better (wait, perhaps I could) than sharing with all of you my passion for learning about and exploring Italy. I hope you discovered the beautiful symbiosis between the ancient and modern in the cities we visited. Based on the number of visitors I have had to my office lately (I was often alone before only with my computer and thoughts) to discuss the trip and laugh about different stories, it is clear that the trip has touched many of you deeply and I am proud of that fact. It was a pleasure to go with all of you and I enjoyed your company a great deal. Look for T-shirts soon and I will let you know the details. Andiamo and Ciao!
ReplyDeleteItaly is an amazing place in terms of history alone. The merger of ancient and modern is incredible: Marcus Aurelius’s Column is across the street from a shopping mall; the buildings that have incorporated Roman ruins as walls; and, of course, the inscription across from the Pantheon describing how the Pope cleared out all of the cheap taverns several hundred years ago – which is above the local McDonalds. I do wish, however, that they still staged gladiatorial games in the Coliseum. It may be huge and impressive, but without entertainment, it’s like walking around the Q when there’s nothing going on.
ReplyDeleteIf there was any negative to the sites, it is that it is too difficult to grasp that they were once fully functioning locals. Pompeii, for instance, seems more like a theme park with its authentic cobblestone roads, standing buildings, and variety of structures: amphitheatres, temples, lots of shops, the Lupanare, etc. It is hard to believe that tens of thousands of people lived there, worked there, got buried in volcanic ash there… I just wished we could have spent more time exploring it. (That goes for the rest of the places we went to.)
Yes, Michelangelo created a lot of artwork, but is David really that impressive compared with some of the other pieces we saw? While David might be really big, compared to the Berninis in the Villa Borghese, Michelangelo is an amateur. Being able to see the art up close and first hand reveals so many details the art history books can’t capture. Titians look nice in a book, but being able to see the different textures used up close multiply his talents. Bernini sculpted marble so realistically that the viewer can see imprints where the skin was touched. And the Laocoon Group shows more emotion than any other statue I’ve seen.
All the museums were excellent, but it was frustrating to arrive eager to see a specific piece only to find it not on display: the Prima Porta in the Vatican; The Judgment of Solomon at the Naples Museum; The Battle of San Romano at the Uffizi; and Bernini’s Aeneas at the Villa Borghese. Of course, there were hundreds of other outstanding pieces in their stead. The Capitoline Museum, for instance, had room after room of portrait busts of famous Greeks and Romans (including the bust of Cicero) and hundreds of inscriptions lining the hallways. (The Capitoline Museum is my favorite museum that we went to, probably because its architecture incorporates the foundations of the Temple of Jupiter, the Temple of Veiovis, and the Tabularium, in addition to offering a great view of the Forum.)
The food in Italy was excellent, especially the pizza. I just can’t fathom how “Insalata Caprese” counts as a dinner entrée when consisting of six slices of tomato and six of cheese.
Overall, the Italy trip was a great trip as well as a learning (and exercising-by-walking) experience. I am very glad that Mr. Newman and Mr. Fletcher were able to make it happen.
My name is Otis. I am a sock dog that traveled to Italy with my family. We stayed in a glorious Villa in Tuscany. I am blogging about our daily tours. Please check out my blog and follow. I have just begun as I have been to Italy twice, and we had lots of wonderful adventurers. http://otis-sockdog.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteFYI
Four of our family members are Hawken Alumni.