Traveling to Europe changed my life. I know that statement is a pretty bold one to make, but it is true. I was able to see so much history, art, architecture and culture while I traveled to Rome, Siena, Florence, Padua, Venice, Paris, Canterbury, Dover, Leeds, and London. I brought back so much insight from traveling to these places that it is hard to even begin to describe what I experienced.
Before leaving, I did not know what to expect. I had never traveled that far from the United States and I had never been away from home for three weeks. I was very excited, but also a little nervous. The plane ride was long and everyone was very anxious to arrive in Rome. Once we arrived, we went to baggage claim to discover that our bags had not made it. We did not let this interfere with our schedule, though. We had many places to see and so much to learn.
We left the airport and rode a bus to Hotel Marsala, which was our home while we were in Rome. Many memories were made in Hotel Marsala. We adjusted to having no air conditioning or television and learned to wash our clothes in the sink. We were exhausted by each day’s end because we walked around 15 miles a day with Dr. Halaby and Dr. Pemberton leading us the whole way. I cannot think of my trip to Rome without mentioning the Vatican. Everything about the Vatican is so immaculate and pristine. It was surreal to stand on the same ground that the Pope and the Cardinals stand on while reaching out to others through worship. I was absolutely at a loss for words when we walked into the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo’s works are incredible. Every inch of the ceiling and the walls are covered with his paintings. I can remember seeing The Last Judgment fresco and noticing the intricate detail on each person’s body. Also, everyone in the painting, including Jesus, was portrayed in a bold and muscular manner. The painting I was looking forward to seeing the most was The Creation of Adam, and it more than exceeded my expectations. The vibrant colors, the facial expressions and body language of Adam and God are full of so much emotion. I stared at this painting on the ceiling for several minutes.
Another highlight of visiting the Vatican was seeing St. Peter’s Basilica. We were able to stand on Charlemagne’s coronation site. It was a circle on the floor near the front of St. Peter’s. Read more about Lauren’s adventures in Europe at www.obusignal.com.
Another piece of art that exceeded my expectations was Michelangelo’s Pieta. Mary was shown holding Jesus during his final moments of life. The emotion in this statue is so powerful. It was a religious experience to see this piece of art.
After our tour of the Vatican was over, a small group of us decided to make the 500-stair trek to the top of St. Peter’s. While the climb was very hot and strenuous, reaching the top and seeing Rome from the top of the church was incredible. You could see the city for miles and miles. We stood at the top and took in the scenery for a while and took many photos I was glad I decided to climb to the top because it was definitely a highlight of the whole trip!
Visiting the Coliseum was incredible. I never thought I would stand in the same place where people had battled 2,000 years before. Seeing this massive historic structure really made me think about how much history had taken place in the past 2,000 years. Another place that really made me think was the Mamertine Prison. This was the prison where Peter and Paul were once imprisoned. As I walked down the steps into the damp, dark prison and saw the upside down cross monument, I was honored that these two Christians risked their lives for the religion that I can so freely follow today.
The last place and one of my favorite museums of the entire trip that we visited was the Borghese Gallery. It is a beautiful white building with sculptures all around the outside. On the inside, the Borghese looks like a royal palace. All of the rooms have marble floors with painted frescoes gracing the ceilings, large doors that separated the palatial rooms, and ornate gold frames around each painting. It was in this beautiful museum that I saw the actual sculptures by Bernini. The detail of each sculpture, down to its fingers, was unbelievable. My favorite sculptures were Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne and Bernini’s Rape of Persephone. I was so fascinated by the fact that Bernini was able to create life-like sculptures out of one piece of marble. It was really neat to see my colleagues get excited about seeing Bernini’s work. I think everyone left the Borghese Gallery with a whole new appreciation and love for art.
After spending four busy days in Rome, we traveled through Tuscany and Siena and arrived in Florence. I was really excited to see Florence because I had heard so many wonderful things about the city. As we got off the bus and took our first aerial view of Florence, I instantly noticed the beauty of the city. Florence is much more mountainous than Rome and has so much greenery. It is also smaller and more quaint than Rome in size. I enjoyed the art and history of Rome, but I loved the atmosphere and beauty of Florence.
One piece of art that I will never forget seeing was Michelangelo’s David at the Academia in Florence. The David was the biggest statue I have ever seen. His hands and feet were incredibly large. Also, the position of his body, with his head turned and leg pointed at a slanted angle showed movement and grace. I could tell I was gaining more knowledge and understanding of art at this point in the trip. Dr. Halaby was teaching us how to study, interpret and appreciate a piece of art rather than just see it.
Florence was a great city to experience Italian culture. We spent our days studying art in the museums and enjoyed each other’s company over dinner and souvenir shopping at the Leather Market. We would also try many yummy flavors of gelato each night! I have fond memories of Florence because everyone on the trip seemed to grow closer and get to know each other better in this city.
After having a great time in Florence, we drove through the Po River Valley. The mountains, greenery, and bright red-orange flowers were beautiful! We stopped in Padua for part of the afternoon and then drove to Venice. It was so relaxing to be surrounded by all the water and the constant cool breeze. We rode into town on a vaporetto (a water taxi), which was fun, but also stressful because we had our luggage and many of the locals seemed frustrated with us.
Some highlights of Venice included seeing the mosaics all over the walls and ceiling inside St. Mark’s Basilica. It was amazing to see such small tiles of gold and vibrant colors to create massive pictures. They were all so shiny! I also loved the feel of the grandeur inside Doge’s Palace. Each room had beautiful ceilings and floors, large windows and chandeliers, and huge paintings. Walking across the Bridge of Sighs was an interesting experience. It was disturbing to think that people took their last walk across that bridge before being executed or to being sent to serve their life in prison.
We all took the vaporetto to Murano (the world’s glass making capital) for an afternoon and were able to watch people perform the art of glass blowing. It was so neat to see it produced from start to finish! The finished pieces were so beautiful! We all spent a long time staring at the glass art in awe.
We left Venice and rode an all night train to Paris. This was a really fun experience! Even though we were without air conditioning for the first part of our trip, we made it fun by staying up and playing games in our couchettes. It was neat to spend the night inside a couchette and wake up to the famous city of Paris!
Paris was different than I expected. I thought Paris was going to be just like any large city, but it has gorgeous scenery with green trees and ponds everywhere. The weather was sunny , and a nice breeze was a welcomed thing.. The Arc de Triomphe was one of the most beautiful landmarks I have ever seen. I loved being able to see the city in the distance while standing underneath the Arc. Seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time was amazing. I gasped out loud when I saw it. We have learned about the Eiffel since we were young children, and I was finally standing feet away from it. It was an amazing moment.
The Louvre was a highlight of Paris. It is an enormous museum full of outstanding artwork. Dr. Halaby once remarked that if one stood in front of each work of art inside the Louvre for 30 seconds, it would take over six months to see everything in the museum. We saw the Mona Lisa at the Louvre. It was much smaller than I imagined it to be. There were so many people crowded around the painting wanting a chance to see the famous woman. Another highlight was hearing the Vivaldi concert at Sainte Chapelle. To see so much beautiful stained glass in one building was absolutely breathtaking! Each segment of stained glass told a story from the Bible. There were various colors and designs on each panel of glass. I was absolutely in awe! And the music was so moving. Dr. Pemberton showed us just how moving the music was when she cried at the end. I will never forget that concert.
Paris was also a memorable city for me because I got asked on a date there! Madison asked me to dinner and to see the Eiffel Tower at night. Dinner was great and standing on the Eiffel Tower while it was twinkling was amazing! Not too many girls are able to say they’ve been on a date in Paris. I was definitely humbled!
I loved the gardens at the Rodin Museum and the Impressionist art at the Musee Orsay. At the D’Orsay, I loved seeing works of art by famous artists such as Lautrec, Degas, Monet, Van Gogh, and Manet. I soaked up everything at these museums and cherished every paint stroke of these Impressionist and Post Impressiongiants. I would love to go back to Paris one day and take my family because there are so many wonderful places to see.
Another highlight of the trip was seeing the secret war tunnels in Dover. We got to see the tunnels where wounded soldiers were kept during World War II. There was a hospital and a kitchen and even beds for the soldiers to sleep. It was such a historic site. I wished my grandfathers could have seen this since they fought in WWII. In London, Westminster Abbey was one of my favorite places. This is the beautiful gothic style church that was built in 1275. There have been many royal weddings held at this church, including Princess Diana’s funeral. There are over 300 historical and literary figures buried in this church. It was amazing to learn that so many famous and influential people were buried there. We had a wonderful tour guide for this church who was very informative and kind. She showed us that Princess Diana is so highly regarded in London. Our guide teared up just talking about her. That was a very neat moment to experience.
Other highlights of London were seeing the police escort the queen out of Buckingham Palace in their cars, going inside the London Eye and seeing the amazing view of London, and watching Blood Brothers, Les Miserables, and Wicked. All of the shows were awesome!
In reviewing the thoughts I recorded in my journal, I realize now how much I have grown intellectually, socially, and personally. From taking this class, I have gained a vast knowledge of how to appreciate art and understand its meaning. When I look at a painting or a sculpture, I see it through a different perspective because I was taught to feel art rather than just look at it.
In reality, as citizens of this world, we are all walking forms of art works. Each one of us who took this class did not know what to expect initially. Individually, we added our own “strokes of color” to the trip. Many of us did not even know each other before taking this class. However, our differences and our styles of studying and learning about the countries we visited added variety and interest to each day of the trip. I made lifelong friends while traveling throughout Europe for three weeks. Dr. Halaby is a bold stroke of color on the canvas of life. His excitement and enthusiasm for teaching is contagious. Each day of the trip began with Dr. Halaby giving us a detailed explanation for what we would be seeing that day. He gave us background information on each work of art we studied. He truly cared about each one of us and he reminded us of the unique educational opportunity we had at our fingertips. Dr. Pemberton’s businesslike manner kept the trip running at a smooth pace. If I had to describe her as a color in the canvas of our trip, I would choose the color blue in the background of Michelangelo’s Last Judgment because she was calm and encouraging with her daily Bible verses. She was like our Mom in that our best interests were always first and foremost in her heart. I formed a unique friendship with many people on this trip. We enjoyed writing in our journals together, eating exciting foreign dinners, and making memories that will last a lifetime.
In conclusion, I am a changed person because of the experiences I had on this trip. Visiting various countries, I learned to appreciate different cultures. It was interesting to learn that Italians seemed more outgoing and welcoming towards us than the French did. Much like the members of our group, the people in each country had a variety of personalities. Some were quiet and subdued, others were outgoing such as the man who kissed me on the cheek while I was waiting in line to go up to the Eiffel Tower. But the main lesson I learned is that we are all basically the same no matter where we are from. We all live to learn from our experiences and are bonded by our passion for life. Because of this trip, I have gained a passion for travel, a desire to study about other countries and their people, and an undying appreciation for art, architecture, and history.
