School trips can have a great impact on students, but few will beat a trip to Italy. In my last post I talked about my impressions of the school Italy trip in October 2008. I thought it good for me to add to this the impression of one of the students on the trip. Here is the true impact I was looking for when I spent so much time and effort organising this trip.
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Italy Trip Report by Dan
Friday:
Everyone was tired at 3:00 am on the Friday morning when we were expected to be leaving Sherfield for Heathrow. Mr Griffiths greeted us warmly (even though it was freezing!), and miraculously, we flew through the names on the register with none absent, and we were on our way. Heathrow was surprisingly busy at 3:30 and at last we past customs and were on the plane. Spirits were running high and so was the plane! Most of us dozed on the plane hoping to catch up on some sleep, but we were rudely awoken by a jolt as we touched down in Italia. Almost as soon as we had left the airport, we experienced the efficient public transport, the metro and buses. We checked in to our gleaming hotel, and flung ourselves into our rooms, only to be dragged out again and taken to see the famous Colloseum.
The Colloseum was an experience none of us will ever forget. As we emerged from the labyrinth of the metro tunnels, the colossal building towered above us and we were all eager to go inside. The teachers organised guides, who took us around the inside, upstairs, through arches and around the stadium, pointing out details and facts that a brochure would not have been able to supply. We saw the seats of the stadium that were expected to seat… and the underground passages that the fighting animals were to be kept in and the bowl of the arena, that could be filled with water to re-enact sea battles and contests.
After leaving the Colloseum, the guides accompanied us to the very heart of Ancient Rome, the ruins of the forums and temples of the gods. We worked our way through the work booklets that Mr Roberts had prepared for us, sketching buildings and making notes on what the guides said. As the perfect end to the perfect day, we were led through the city to a pizza restaurant.
Saturday:
The Vatican City! I think I can speak for all of us that we thought today was going to be the best day of the trip. We were not wrong. Of course, we had all heard of the renaissance and we were all eager to see Michelangelo’s masterpiece, but there was a lot more than I thought there was going to be. Vatican City was a whole new state, so we had to go through customs just like at an airport. When we had got through and forced our way through the crowds, we went out to a courtyard, giving us an excellent view of the city. Domes and towers and pillars and gardens stretched out in front of us. There was so much to see, we were whisked into the museum. This museum easily rivalled the Louvre, displaying the most incredible works of art I have ever seen. The museum led us through a maze of halls filled with paintings, covering all the walls and the ceilings. There was a long corridor with Maps the size of a large classroom floor, showing Mediterranean Islands, Italy up to the Alps and parts of northern Africa. These were to show visitors that their hosts were educated about the area they were living in. Mr Murphy O’Connor and Mr Roberts told us all they new about everything we saw and at the end of the day, our heads were buzzing. We had seen so much in so little time, and most of it was extremely famous. But the museum visit increased in magnificence until it reached a crescendo of the sighting of the Sistine chapel at last. I was captivated by the awe inspiring paintings, 50 feet up, that had been painted by a man lying on his back for years on end. Each section of the chapel should have taken 10 years each to paint, but there were about 20 of these sections and more made by Michelangelo elsewhere in the museum. Not only was there the paintings part of the museum, but museums have history things too. Whole rooms dedicated to the Egyptians, with mummies and statues, halls of stuffed animals and the creation painting. We were taken out of the chapel for some lunch with painful necks from staring at a ceiling for ten minutes. We left the museum to go out into Saint Peter’s Square and Basilica. This was incredible too, with towering pillars topped with 12 foot tall statues of the other saints and past popes.
We had pizza again for dinner that night, but when we got back to the hotel, Miss Driver had prepared a quiz night for us and we split into teams to compete for chocolate! In the end, Mr Roberts helped the year 10s win, and we dragged our feet back up the stairs to bed. We were waking up early tomorrow, to travel south!
Sunday:
We hauled our cases out of our rooms and down the marble staircase of the hotel. We bundled into the coach and we drove down the west coast of Italy. We were to stop off at Pompeii and get a guide. She showed us a roman villa that had been left in fantastic condition after it had been covered in ash. The guide led us through the streets of Pompeii pointing out buildings of interest including the basilica, a Mc Donald’s restaurant and a forum. In the forum hundreds of items like pots, hairbrushes, dolls, tools and bones had been collected, as well as a few of the most famous plaster of Paris sculptures of the Pompeian people in their last positions at the time of the eruption. We were driven up Mount Vesuvius as far as we could go in the coach, and walked the rest of the way which was tiring but worth it. We got to stare deep into the cavernous depths of the great volcano, as it snoozed and emitted bursts of steam at random intervals. After our visit to Pompeii, Mr Roberts and Mr Murphy O’Connor had planned a little detour to Casino, to see the Monte Casino Monastery. The building had been completely obliterated except for a single brick in World War 2, when the Americans had decided it was best to bomb the holy building until it was no more, to try and get rid of the Germans who were in control of the hills and mountains either side of the valley that the city of Casino rested in. Mr Murphy O’Connor had researched the history of the area and gave us a long but interesting talk about it under the sun. We moved from there to Britain by coach. This might be confusing but it’s true. The Italians had designated an area of land for the British soldiers to bury their dead after the end of ww2. It was a shocking experience walking through the gates and seeing the gravestones stretching out into the distance. The gardeners had even planted oak trees to make it seem like home and there was a beautiful mosaic surrounding a pond in the centre of the graveyard. Colossal stone slabs bearing thousands of names of soldiers who had fought in Italy at the time, from all parts of Britain and other countries, towered up into the sky. The sun was setting on the horizon and there was a slight breeze. It was very moving and we spent some time there until it started to get dark and we were hungry. We moved on in the bus and arrived at Sorrento as the sun disappeared over the mountains. The bags were put in our allotted rooms, had dinner in a splendid dining room, and went out for an evening stroll through the city. The night was warm, until it rained, and lots of souvenirs were bought. We dragged our heavy feet back to the hotel and crawled into bed.
Monday:
The last day. As soon as we woke up, we were told to get dressed and packed. We put our cases on the bus, but we weren’t going straight to the airport. A mammoth trip to Pompeii had been arranged and we were also going to Vesuvius to peer into the depths of its crater. Everyone knew about the huge dormant volcano that had blasted its top off and engulfed whole cities in its pyroclastic flow, but we didn’t think we would have to climb it! To be fair to the bus driver, he took us as far as the bus could possibly go, but then we had to walk the last part. The air was much thinner at the top even though numerous clouds proved the gasses were present, and the hole in the top of Mount Vesuvius was a lot bigger than I thought! It stretched across my whole view and bursts of steam or some other gas spat out of various hidden holes in the sides of the crater. After a while of staring into the depths of a hill that had killed millions of people, we stumbled back down the side to the bus to be taken to Pompeii. Personally, Pompeii was my favourite part of the whole trip. I had read a lot of books about Pompeii and had done a lot of projects on the city in my old school. I was captivated by every metre of the place; hanging on the guide’s every word. She took us into a Pompeian villa, pointing out every aspect of the ancient domicile. My old Latin textbook had pictures of Pompeii and the plaster casts of the people and animals who had lived there so long ago and I had always imagined going there, and even living there in the days of the roman empire. The guide showed us all sorts of shops including a Mc Donalds and an Odd Binns. I really loved visiting Pompeii so when our circuit was complete and we headed away to the airport I was sad to be going because I had had such a great time with my friends and exploring the wonders of Italy that still survive hundreds of years later. When we got back to England it was pitch black and the pilot treated us to a glide around London, to see the luminescent glow of the cities night lights.
The Italy Trip has been the highlight of my life, and if you haven’t been to any of the places described above, and you get the chance, I recommend you take it.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
The 2008 Arts and Cultural Trip to Italy
In one of previous posts I described my travels into Italy over the summer of 2008 and how I was preparing for a school trip to Italy being planned (here). I attach now the write up for this trip:
The 2008 Arts and Cultural trip to Italy
On October 24th sixty-five staff and students embarked on a journey soon to be remembered by us all as a great time of learning, camaraderie and exploration. Organised and set in place by the Humanities departments in the school - Latin, History, Religious Studies and Geography – this trip was principally aimed at exposing students to concepts and ideas brought down to us by momentous moments and times in the history of Italy. The Classical world of the Greeks and Romans stood at the forefront of this but so too the marvels and wonders of the rebirth of that world – the Renaissance. Here the links to the broader Arts (Art, Art History, Architecture and Music) became apparent and provided the trip’s connections into our Art and Music departments at the school.
Our trip started with two days based in a not so little known city called Rome. We stayed in a hotel near the busy main railway station of Termini. Arriving by midday at our hotel there was time to unpack and have lunch before heading off on our first trip to the Coliseum and the Forum of the Roman Republic and Empire. Arriving at the Coliseum by mid-afternoon we quickly found our guides Luca and Francesco. Around the Coliseum there was a medley of musicians, stalls and Italian men trying to look like Roman soldiers – and all trying to make us depart with money. Avoiding these we were quickly inside the Coliseum and its still impressively wide skirted interior. Luca and Francesco proved to be guides of great excellence and filled us in with a variety of intriguing insights into the complex and its use in ancient Rome.
Going to the Roman Coliseum was very interesting and educational for me and all the others on the trip. It was a great experience to go to the famous Coliseum where Gladiators and animals fought against each other.
It was also interesting to see how the Coliseum was made and that in Roman times it was possible to go for free. We learnt that the Roman Emperors held great games and spectacles to keep the people of Rome happy and entertained. Tom, Year 9.
In the later afternoon we continued on the Roman Forum. Our guides, Luca and Francesco, proved to be just as knowledgeable of this area. Before our eyes and amidst the ruins they brought to life the edifices of one of the great civilizations in history. Here we saw the Senate House, in another direction the Emperor’s palace and the Palatine Hill, elsewhere the Arch of Titus and the temple to Julius Caesar deified as just some examples. With thanks to our guides for such experiences and with the night time coming on it was time to head to the Time Elevator. Here, students were able to experience a 3d History of Rome experience – moving seats and three screens, as well as surround sound, helped to keep things exciting.
The next morning we headed to the borders of another state – the Vatican City. Here we walked the hallways and galleries of one of the great Museum’s in the world – the Vatican Museums. We discovered famous artworks, rich and decorated courtyards, artifacts of cultures ancient and modern and a long hallway of maps. But perhaps nothing compared to the richly decorated rooms we were soon to encounter. Here works by Raphael competed with Michelangelo’s, but soon even these were to be surpassed for the Sistine Chapel was coming near. Here students had the opportunity to take in the ceiling work of the greatest artist of the Renaissance.
In the afternoon we took a self-guided tour to the outskirts of the Vatican City and took up temporary residence in St Peter’s Square with the famous Basilica behind. Here we observed the symbols and status of a power still – the Roman Catholic Church. But we could tarry not and we soon took a turn into the city centre and to the site of the great temple to the universal gods built by the Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AD – the Pantheon. Built at great expense its domed roof would later provide inspiration to Renaissance architects in Florence and it is the burial place of Raphael. It is also a testament to religious changes – being now a Catholic church. Right next to its doors lay another former temple (dedicated to Minerva) and since converted into a church. Mr Murphy O’Connor was able to reveal that this was the Parish church in Rome of his Uncle - Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor.
On our last night in Rome we had a quiz organised by Miss Driver (and won by Mr Roberts and the Year 10 boys), but our next two days were to be spent somewhere a bit different from Rome – the southern coastal region of Sorrento. With our glorious sunny weather continuing we departed by coach down to Sorrento. First though we stopped off in Monte Cassino. Here the oldest monastery in Western Europe had been founded some 1500 years ago. But more importantly for us this was the site of one of the greatest series of battles fought in the 2nd World War – some 250,000 men had died fighting over the mountain we were on and the valley spread below. Poignant moments were had by all when we visited the British and Commonwealth cemetery located below. The graves of 20 year olds brought home to us the grimness of war.
In a more light-hearted manner we were able to enjoy touring and shopping in Sorrento that night. But it was serious business again the next day. Arriving in Pompeii Dolores and her colleague were to be our guides for the morning. We had an enjoyable time exploring villas, main streets, chariot ways, the amphitheatre and even the less savoury places of ancient Pompeii. We saw the castes of some of the people who had died in the explosion of 79AD - even a dog. In the afternoon we headed to Mt Vesuvius, sleeping for the moment, but still steaming in its crater – letting us know that it is around yet. This was living Geography and poignant in its reminder of the power of nature. 
I thought that Mount Vesuvius was a really incredible place. It was hard walking up there because of the thin air but it felt great when I finally reached the top and realised I was level with the clouds and looking down into the crater. Dan, Year 9.
The visit was described by several students as “the best trip I have ever been on”, a view echoed by all of the staff members. The trip was indeed very successful and thanks goes to the students who made the trip experience so worthwhile with their interest and participation in the places visited. Thanks also to the staff (Mr Tregear, Miss Driver, Miss Bennett, Miss Prescott, Mr Anderson and Mrs Smith) who provided such excellent help and guidance.
Mr Murphy O’Connor (Italy Trip Leader) Mr Joshua Roberts (Italy Trip Organiser)
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Edinburgh Enlightenment
First time in Scotland and a good way to begin it. Met up with some friends and enjoyed the sights of an impressive city and its surrounds.
6th-7th Sep, 2008
6th-7th Sep, 2008
Location: Scotland
Arthur's Seat in the background overlooks the city.
First view of the city centre and the Royal Mile.
The Scottish Enlightenment began in Edinburgh and many of its dignitaries are now buried within its confines.
For example, none other than David Hume.
Yeah, see, David Hume's tomb in the background.
So stereotypical...sigh!
Sir Waltar Scott - or at least a close approximation of him.
First proper sight of Edinburgh Castle rising on its monolith of rock.
Meetup time with Benni and Sean, friends from my 2007 Summer Camp experience. Out for the night afterwards. Good mates shot.
Contemplation...
Start of the Royal Mile, Edinburgh Castle works its way down to the Holy Rood Palace and the Scottish parliament.
St. Giles' Cathedral or the High Kirk of Edinburgh is a Church of Scotland place of worship. Considered the mother church of Presbyterianism.
Canongate Kirk.
An unusual and stylised inside.
Grave of the famous economist Adam Smith in the church graveyard.
End of the Royal Mile - Holyrood Palace, the residency of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II when she is in Edinburgh on official business.
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