Harvey Scholar Travels - Claire in Rome

This is the first picture I took in Rome. Here you can see the sun setting over the Tiber River, sillouetting St. Peter’s Basilica

The summer of 2019 I was given the opportunity to spend a summer semester at John Cabot University in Rome, Italy. One of the courses I took there was Ancient Technology, which allowed me (and my class of one other person) to explore aqueducts, ruins, museums, and historical reenactments as well as being the most engrossing course I’ve ever had the pleasure of taking. It wasn’t quiet the Indiana-Jones-exploration esque thriller I originally expected it to be, but it was still incredibly informative and amazingly interesting (the closest we got to true pop culture adventure was befriending Roman centurion reenactors at a country reenactment fair and seeing a snake in the Ostia Antica Ruins). There were still quiet adventures to be had. From touring the (normally sealed) aqueducts beneath American University to traveling to see the Baths of Caracalla to finding an aqueduct integrated with a modern presentation light projection in the basement of a mall, the class offered discoveries aplenty. All of this exploration was improved upon by the knowledge and enthusiasm of the professor, Dr. Jens Koehler.

Girls from the nearby village (Otricoli) dancing in the Ocriculum archaeological park during an annual reenactment.There were traditional rituals, foods, boats, and battles.

The class in general not only allowed me many multiple amazing experiences, but allowed me to appreciate ancient roman inventions and technologies.  The other course I took was statics, which also had a wonderful professor and was very interesting. One of the great things about John Cabot was that it had three day weekends. These long weekends made it easy to explore places away from the city and enjoy cultural events. One of the most meaningful events that I got to participate in was the 25^th annual roman Pride Parade. I was able to attend this event and celebrate the LBGTQ+ community with a fantastic group of people who made the parade even more special.

25th annual Roman Pride Parade

              Some other weekend expeditions included going to Naples to see the ruins of Pompeii. While in Naples we were also able to explore the city and go to the archeology museum. The archeology museum was especially interesting as it had many pieces that were pertinent to my ancient technology course and a staff that was very interested in helping others learn. 

    The sun setting over one of the cargo boats leaving Livorno

One of our other big weekend trips was to Livorno, a small port city off of the coast of Tuscany. This city was not a big tourist area; this resulted in a bigger language barrier than we normally faced, but also much cheaper pricing on foods and housing. There were also multiple free public beaches that weren’t nearly as crowded as those closer to Rome. These beaches also had beautiful tide pools and lots of sea glass to enjoy. Overall, travelling to the less touristy areas really enriched my understanding of what the real Italy looked like.

This trip allowed me to rome around the world (I can spell, I just really like the B52’s and wordplay), learn more about one of the world’s greatest ancient civilizations and how their past twines with their present, and discover more about myself and my abilities. Below are a few more of my favorite memories from this experience.