Instructor of Classics Dr. Kristin Harper, of the Department of Languages, Cultures and Religions, led a group of 13 Missouri State University students to Rome, Italy, March 10-16, 2024, under a new Education Abroad program.

Students who were interested in the program and had faculty recommendations could enroll in “Vita Romana: Art, Poetry and Cuisine from ancient to modern Rome.”

The program was connected to the International Culture and Study Abroad (IDS 297) and Major Authors in Translation (LLT 296) courses.

The students who enrolled in this inaugural program were Josh Brushwood, Cooper Hays, Jess Zeppenfeldt, Hadley Hicks, Gretchen Lampe, Emily McKenna, Emily Knoppe, Jaden Melnick, Marianne Prax, Julia Walker, Eli Birdsong, Kailey Taylor and Eliot Gudreau.

Immersive learning experiences

“Vita Romana” encouraged students to learn more about the city of Rome and its culture, with a specific focus on its ancient roots, according to Harper.

“Rome is the city that blends so much of the ancient and modern together,” she said. “There is so much history, art and food that is preserved within the city limits.”

For Harper, Rome presented the ideal place for students to explore culture and history in an immersive learning environment.

“We focused on archaeology, art history, poetry, ancient Roman mythology and religion as well as early Christianity, trade routes and economics in the Mediterranean, military expansion and governance, and entertainment, literature and food distribution and production,” Harper said.

Combining immersive learning experiences with traditional assignments helped the students stay focused on these themes.

Before they even departed, the students researched and gave presentations on key sites they were scheduled to visit, Harper said. Then during the trip, they selected an artifact, art piece, poem or architectural example to research its history and cultural relevance and present on it once they returned.

“Our tours and assignments often included readings about the mythology, poetry, and history of the Latin language and Roman cultures—through the regal period, under a Republic, and then finally as an empire—in conjunction with seeing how modern Rome built upon, refashioned, or deviated from those myths, civic priorities, artwork or expectations of its ancient past,” Harper said.

Students had to write journal entries and complete worksheets for every archaeological site visit or museum visit. The worksheets included scavenger hunts, photos and interpretations.

The group visited sites such as the Galleria Borghese, where they were given a private tour, the Basilica of San Clemente and the Catacombs of San Sebastiano.

“It was amazing to get to see some of the most miraculous pieces of artwork with ancient mythological tales depicted by Renaissance and Baroque artists,” Harper said.

“San Clemente was such a cool place to visit because it was a building that literally contains levels of Rome’s history and its transition from a site of Roman religion to a hub for Christianity,” said Emily Knoppe, a graduate student working on a double MA in History and Religious Studies. “If you started at the lowest level, you could literally see and experience the transition of life and religious practice in Rome for the last 2,000 years.”

Dining in an Italian café

One of the immersive activities the students encountered was to dine in an Italian café.

Knoppe described the “Modern Café” activity as a valuable learning experience, especially because it allowed her to make clear comparisons between Italian and American cultures.

“Getting to encounter the everyday culture of Italy was amazing,” she said. “The experience of eating at a restaurant really stood out to me.”

“Opposed to American restaurants, where they want to get you in and out as fast as possible, in Italian restaurants you have [to] let the waiter know when you are ready to leave,” Knoppe continued. “There is no rush to pay the bill, and most people are not on their phones. At these meals it felt like people were seeking to be intentional with their time and actually engage with those around them.”

Knoppe said the activity helped break down cultural and language barriers by encouraging the students to speak in another language.

“Although challenging, casually speaking with a local was actually a neat experience, as the individual that I spoke with was excited to have visitors in Rome and was interested in why we were there,” she said.

Ostia Antica: A chance to “time travel”

Both Harper and Knoppe cited their visit to Ostia Antica as one of the most memorable moments of the entire trip.

Ostia Antica, an ancient port city of Rome, has been preserved by sand and silt from the ocean and from the Tiber River, Harper explained.

“Students absolutely loved this site, as they got to walk around the city’s streets, explore homes and apartment buildings, see floor mosaics and even ancient Roman toilets,” she said. “The city is a source of time travel and brings the things we have been learning about to life—as you can easily imagine yourself walking in the footsteps and literal stones others had walked on two thousand years ago.”

“It was a surreal experience to be able to walk through this ancient town in which many temples, buildings and roads were still well-preserved,” Knoppe agreed. “It helped me conceptualize what life would have been like there for an ancient Roman.”

Knoppe also enjoyed the chance the site gave her to practice her Latin.

“Since this was an ancient Roman port city, most inscriptions were written in Latin, which gave me the opportunity to use my knowledge of Latin grammar, vocabulary and translation that I had acquired from Dr. Harper’s Latin course,” she explained.

Practicing languages, comparing cultures

Among the course’s learning outcomes were a clearer understanding of global culture and the importance of learning a second language, Harper said.

“I hoped students would come back realizing a bit more about their own country in the global landscape,” she explained. “I also wanted students, no matter their background in Latin, to see the benefits of learning a second language, how it is a gateway to communication but, more than that, it is a way of learning more about their own culture—how something is expressed in one language reflects the expectations and virtues of that culture or civilization.”

Harper was extremely pleased with program’s outcomes, describing the entire experience as a “wonderful success.”

“Reading their journal entries, it is evident to me that all of them had a wonderful cultural experience and learned a lot about archaeology and preservation/conservation, religion, mythology, Latin and second language acquisition, as well as ancient and modern culture,” she said.

“From this trip, I have learned the importance of learning the local languages of the places that you visit,” Knoppe said. “This allows you to not only communicate more easily, but also to connect with locals better.”

“This trip has also taught me that history does not have clear levels or phases,” she added.

Hoping to do it again

Harper wants to return to Rome for another education abroad experience, but she is aware of the practical obstacles she faces. She hopes she can arrange a trip every other year or every two years.

“I would love to conduct another study abroad trip again, as I think it was very worth it to my students,” she said. “However, I do not think I could do something like this every year. It is a considerable amount of work planning, purchasing all the tickets, making arrangements, writing the curriculum, presenting the lecture materials, running the program and keeping us on schedule, as well as completing all of the financial paperwork and grading when we return.”

Still, Harper said all the effort was worth it simply from enjoying the experience through the students’ eyes.

“For me, it was worth all the planning to see my students eyes light up, when they excitedly pointed out an artifact I talked about from my Classical Mythology class, when they told me about their success ordering in Italian and joking with the locals and when they connected to the peoples of the past both in poetry and stone,” she said.

Harper recalled the lessons she learned from her own first experiences traveling abroad.

“I had amazing experiences learning about cultures that were not my own and connecting with other people, seeing the humanity in everyone and learning more about what it means to be human,” she said. “I wanted my students to be able to have similar experiences, to gain confidence, to learn about the world around them, and to reflect on themselves and their own sense of human cultures.”

Knoppe clearly had a similar learning experience through “Vita Romana.”

“History really comes to life when you are able to place yourself in the actual spatial aspects of it,” Knoppe said.

Explore opportunities in languages, cultures and religions