Visit to Ostia Antica Archaeological
Author: Benjamin Ebbesmeyer | Major: Architecture
Walking towards St. Peter’s Cathedral in Vatican City I looked at my roommate and said, “pinch me, I must be dreaming.” As cheesy and cliché as it sounds, I truly felt that I may have been dreaming. I was in Rome, living in an apartment with my three of my friends, attending courses in Palazzo Taverna, a former royal family palace, and eating some of the best food of my life. Little did I know that the dream had just begun and over the next four months it could only keep getting better.
Before I left for Italy, most everyone I talked to would tell me about culture shock, I wish that I had listened closer. Culture shock is not a bad thing, it is not a good thing, it is something that happens, and you must do the best you can with what you are given. I found myself wondering why I had agreed to live halfway across the globe for five months during the middle of a world-wide pandemic. Looking back, I wonder why I ever doubted my decision.
About two weeks into my study abroad experience, and as classes and travel started to ramp up, I found myself forgetting about culture shock and diving right into the full experience. Visiting historic architecture around the city of Rome with my classmates and professors, attending mass in Italian, and using weekends to see sights, taste food and drink, and engulf myself into the life of a Roman.
Amalfi Coast Trip
By the time fall break came around and my family came to visit me in Rome, I had already traveled across much of Italy seeing the Dolomites, a portion of the Alps in Northeast Italy, Cinque Terre, five beautiful villages along the Western coast of Italy, Florence, the commercial capital of the world for much of the dark ages and the birthplace of the renaissance, and Siena, a small religious city in the heart of Italy. I had also been to the beaches of Rome, rode the wonderfully efficient and easy to use Italian rail system, and learned many paths, landmarks, and icons in the city of Rome.
With my family visiting we traveled up to see the beautiful and awe-inspiring city of Venice. Built on a lagoon, Venice is traversed in two ways, by boat or foot. The city is peaceful and when you lay your head down to sleep at night you can hear the soft waves of the water in the canals. My family was still recovering from jet lag, but we found the time to make it to the top of St. Mark’s clock tower and to look out over the city. Standing at the top of the tower the impact of the first two months abroad washed over me. I realized the way I saw the world had changed. I was no longer looking at the Italian signs and descriptions of things wondering why it couldn’t just be English but wanted to know more about the vocabulary and language. I didn’t look out over the city of Venice and think it was weird that it was different but instead saw the beauty in a place adapting to its circumstances. I quit comparing things to America and my culture and started to strive to understand the Italian culture for what it was.
The next two months flew by in a blur with studio work gearing up for our final projects and final reviews and cramming in as much travel across Italy as I could. Days strung together to form weeks and before I knew it the semester was ending. As studio final reviews drew nearer and nearer, looking at my project I could see the impact and influences of the travel and study I had done in the past four months. My urban plan was not an American solution but rather a solution derived from local typologies of Rome and other Italian cities. Looking back at my time in Rome and the educational experiences I received, and the knowledge gained I now fully understand the importance of study abroad to the architectural education.
My favorite class of the semester had to have been the Architecture of the City course. In this course we would spend a morning once a week walking around the city of Rome seeing the beautiful architecture, space, proportion, façade, and urban design of one of the oldest cities in the world. We visited sites from the time of the Ancient Romans to the Renaissance and Baroque periods learning about how the city evolved and expanded to meet the demands throughout its life. With the guidance of our professor, we would curate a board of drawings each week to capture the architectural essence of the spaces visited that week.
Looking at my upcoming graduation and the end of my time as a student I cannot begin to describe the immense impact that the study abroad experience has had on me. I find myself more confident in my architectural skills and knowledge knowing that my ideas have my experience of historical spaces behind them. I am now viewing the world in a different lens than previously and with less comparison and more understanding. This past holiday season I have been home with my family and friends celebrating the end of this year and the start of a new one. As I was home, I encouraged my younger friends and family still attending university to find the time in their schedule to participate in a study abroad experience. I would encourage anyone who has the chance to see the world, travel, learn from others, immerse yourself in something new, don’t compare just to see what’s different, but learn and understand something new about the world. If you are so lucky, maybe you will have an experience like me and live a dream.