872 photos, seven Italian cities, five weeks, two classes, a handful of close friends and a lifetime of memories. While this lede sentence may sound cheesy, or like a MasterCard commercial, trust me when I state that a study abroad experience is one for a lifetime. I took part in Iona’s May to June five week program in Rome, Italy and those five weeks turned out to be some of the best of my entire life.

 

30 Iona students left New York on May 19, landed in Rome about eight hours later, settled into our various apartments scattered in the Trastevere neighborhood immediately South of Rome’s Tiber River and got down to experiencing our own “Roman Holiday” adventures. The group visited the very sites that Audrey Hepburn visited in the classic “Roman Holiday” film, including the Vatican, the Coliseum, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, the Roman Forum, etc. Group tours were held almost every day, including tours to the most popular tourist sites, but also to the more obscure sites, such as the Catacombs, the cemetery for the Roman Holocaust victims, the Jewish ghetto, the Basilica di San Clemente and other countless churches serving at the center of Roman art.

While the trip was exciting and entails a laundry list of historic sites and museums visited, the classes taken also had a huge impact on everyone’s individual experience.  The study abroad program offered five classes: Basic Italian, Italian History, Religion, Business, and Fine Arts. 

Taught by Iona’s own Professor Robin Tedesco, and held entirely inside museums, churches, and outdoor spaces,  Rome’s Fine Arts course truly enriched the study abroad experience. Where else would students have the opportunity to fulfill the three-credit fine arts requirement in Italy, face to face with some of the greatest artists of all time? Needless to say, learning about the most famous Italian architects, painters and sculptors such as Michelangelo, Raphael, Bernini and Carvaggio by viewing the original pieces face-to-face is an experience I will always treasure.

The Study Abroad program, however, was certainly not exclusive to Roman art and attending classes. Students also traveled to Florence, delving into the art and history of the cradle of the Renaissance, not to mention encountering the unique phenomenon that is MTV’s “Jersey Shore” cast. 

Many students also took our own excursions to other Italian cities. We went to Venice, fed pidgeons in St. Mark’s Square, took the Vaporetto around the Grand Canal and posed in glittery Carnivale masks.

We rode a train to Pisa, taking the classic tourist shots holding, kicking and battling with the famous Leaning Tower. Finally, the group traveled to the beautiful Almalfi coast, visiting the Isle of Capri, Sorrento and Pompeii.  We became beach bums, eating too much gelato and soaking up the sun with Pompeii’s ominous Vesuvius Volcano acting as the backdrop.

Reflecting back on my experience this summer, it is apparent that the study abroad experience is one that no student should miss. Iona Study Abroad offers summer programs in Rome, Paris, London, Athens, Barcelona and Oxford, as well as semester programs in Australia and Ireland, a year-long program in Oxford and an intense spring break program in Auschwitz. Proposals are also being put forth to initiate programs in Morocco and China.

Senior and Assistant to the Director of Study Abroad Robert Bucci urges students to “not be afraid to expand their horizons…[or] to try something new.  Oftentimes, given the largely Italian and Irish backgrounds existent at Iona, a student may feel compelled to study abroad in the land of his or her ethnic background.  While there is of course nothing at all wrong with this mode of thought, it may often limit the possibilities of what a student wants and is able to achieve while abroad.  Approach studying abroad with an open mind and consider the boundless opportunities that are available all over the globe!  The world awaits!”

Anyone interested in studying abroad with any program should stop by the study abroad table at the involvement fair at noon on Thursday, Sept. 1, attend a meeting, or email [email protected] for more information.  Rome may be the eternal city, but the study abroad opportunity only lasts four years.  Iona patricians, seize the opportunity Iona has made available to you and get ready for the experience of a lifetime.