Top of a 6 mile hike on Lake Como

Author: Ben Harp | Majors: Mechanical Engineering, Physics | Semester: Summer 2023

While in Italy, I took two classes. One of them was a basic course in the fine arts and the other one was a basic course in economics. While I originally chose these courses because they fulfilled my university requirements, looking back, I would have taken them no matter what. There probably isn’t a better place in the world to take a fine arts course than in Rome. Out of fifteen total classes, only six of them were in the classroom. The other 9 were spent learning about famous works of art while standing right in front of them. This class differed from any of the classes at the U of A because of the proximity of what we were studying and the small class size that allowed us to interact with the professor in a more familiar way. The economics class was also surprisingly unique. In the fine arts class, there was no real comparison to America, but in economics we were able to incorporate the comparison between European and American economics. The example that I found most interesting, especially in Rome, was the dependency on tourism. Because the class was both about American and European economics, it was not one sided at all. What I mean by this is that the professor taught us about economics, and then asked us about examples in America that we were more familiar with than he was. He was then able to tell us whether they had similar examples in Europe. Because most things can be related to economics, I learned a lot about Italian culture in this class as well. The professor was super enthusiastic about what he was teaching which made the course a lot more enjoyable. He also gave us a unique opportunity in the class. We were able to work with a local startup on a project involving their expansion into the US. It was super cool to be able to present a unique perspective to this company that had the potential to help them out.

There is certainly no lack of culture anywhere in Italy. The historical sites and statues, natural marvels, and food, make Italy truly unique. As everybody does, I had many preconceived notions about how different aspects of Italy were going to be. The museums, churches, and natural beauties in Italy easily exceeded my expectations. Although I’d seen pictures of most of the art or churches that I went to, seeing them in person was still truly amazing. There is no way to qualify the scale of the buildings without going to them in person. The same can be said about the beauty of the numerous works of art throughout Italy. That being said, the food certainly did not meet my expectations, with a few exceptions. As long as I’ve been alive, I’ve heard about how good the food in Italy is. While the food wasn’t bad, I often found myself thinking that Italian food in America was better. One exception to my disappointment with Italian food was the pizza in and around Naples. Naples is known for its pizza, and it certainly did not disappoint. I stayed in an area around Naples for 3 days and had pizza 5 times. While this may have been overkill, it was hard to resist the low prices and high quality of the pizza there.

If given the opportunity, any student should attend the summer campus in Rome. Spending a month living in a large city in another country was an experience that I don’t think I’ll ever forget. The program has honestly given me a different perspective on the rest of the world that I didn’t have before. One thing that I wish that I’d known beforehand was Italian. I know that it sounds a bit obvious, but I think that if I go on another study abroad, I’ll try to learn more of the language before I go. The first thing that I did when I returned home was go to my favorite Mexican place in Springdale. I’m not exactly sure what it was, but Mexican food filled the gap that Italian food for a month left in me.