Learning Beyond the Four Walls

What is the point of studying abroad?

    This question is one that students often get asked by strangers. Is it to experience living in another country? An excuse to travel with friends? A vacation in disguise of learning? During week 2, this is a question I find myself asking when I try to make meaning of the students experience here. What are they gaining that is missing from their traditional education in the US? I think the answer boils down to exposure and experience. The students, and admittedly I, have fallen in love with their professor Christina who’s professional life consists mainly of archeological work around Europe and Africa. She is an amazing woman with rich knowledge about the statues and art work we encounter on our excursions. As an educator, I do not mean to dismiss the work of those who share my field, but the hands on experience and knowledge that comes with discovering Roman treasures is something that I and many others can not bring to our classroom. The students love picking her mind and exploring the depictions of ancient gods in museums with her as their guide. Sculptures and paintings take on a new meaning when you understand the hidden symbols within the armor. 

     Often times, students have reported feeling inspired to write after spending the morning with her strolling through museums and discussing the fine details that make these works masterpieces. Even better though, is the excitement they feel when they encounter statues on the street and are able to identify who they are based on the knowledge they gained in class. Beyond this, she challenges them to think creative about depicting experience. Students have written stories about hidden heroes in paintings, the smell of a statue, and even given birth to guy fury the ancient Roman version. This, I think, is the core of their experience. Writing in a way that so often is not available to them because of the standardized learning of the American education system. The opportunity for students to use SIMS as the background of their retelling of Ulysses travels or create a play from scratch is a rarity among testing dates and makes this whole study abroad worth the hot weather, homesickness, and so much more. While its fun to make pizza and travel to the beach, the real gem of their time here is the knowledge they are gaining from experience and exposure.

Student work:

  Writing from the sense of smell

      BOTH
Persephone’s flowery aroma of freshly picked flowers, spring air, and newly grown grass was drowning in Hades’ overwhelming stench of ancient bones, fresh blood, and decaying flesh. The salty smell of his sweat and her tears intermingled with the musty and smoky smell of the cerberus fur as their pungent odors drew nearer to her.
HADES
The smoky, fiery smell chased Hades as he rose up from the underworld. As he reached the surface he took in the grainy smell of the fields around him. Then he caught a whiff of the sweet aroma that drew him from his Hades was confident in his chase, as he drew nearer to his prey, the salty stench of sweat grew stronger, almost overwhelming the smell of his prey. Along with the smell of aromatic flowers, damp earth, and morning dew on the grass and petals, Hades could smell her fear, the briny odor of her sweat and tears as he drew closer to his target. As her aroma grew more overwhelming, he knew that he was close to his capture. He finally caught her, leaning into the flowery aura she presented, letting the smell of spring overpower his senses as he finally captured his prize.
PERSEPHONE
As Persephone was sitting in the fields, basking in the nutty scent of the grain beyond, she appreciated the aromatic fragrance of the flowers around her and the musky scent of the earth, damp from the morning dew. Suddenly she caught a whiff of a horrible, pungent odor. It smelled of death itself, rotting flesh and decaying bones. As her heart rate started to increase, she turned and saw him coming, racing towards her like and arrow towards a boar. Panicking she started running, trying in vain to escape the monster behind her. Through her panic, she faintly recognized the briny scent overpowering the aroma of the spring around her as the smell of her sweat and tears as she ran for her life, away from the personification of death behind her. Slowly. she realized he was gaining on her, as his odor became more prominent to her nose and the salty smell of his sweat mixed with hers.

The hero in disguise

  On a rainy afternoon, Signore Pacman Pacmannio receives a draft notice in his mail. The island he was born on, Paclandia, has been taken by the Bulgarians. Mrs. Pacwoman Pacmannio comes into the room and sees her husband gripping the letter tightly in his fist, with his head hung low. In a trembling voice, she asks him what's wrong. Pacwoman leans over his shoulder and notices the dreadful words on the paper. She hugs him immediately and tears stream down her face. Pacman can do nothing but sit still and picture his fate. He realizes his chances of survival are low: Paclandia is a small island lacking major resources and, to make matters worse, Bulgaria is known as a ruthless, unstoppable power. As he walks through the door, he looks back at his pregnant Pacwife, fully expecting that he will never lay eyes on his pac-child. Several months later, little improvement has been achieved. Paclandia has been losing troops by the thousands and the Bulgarians have nearly conquered the whole island. No matter how from the situation seemed, the Pacs have always kept on fighting. Pacman Pacmannio has been particularly valiant, earning him a promotion to the rank of general. The Bulgarians were quickly closing in, and time was running out. Their ships enveloped Paclandia. General Pacmannio had to make a decision: surrender himself, his people, and his homeland, or die defending them. He imagined a picnic on Paclandia’s famously luscious grass, free from Bulgaria’s wrath. His pacwife and pac-child would play on the grass, never again having to worry about the enemy capturing their home. That vision gave him the strength he needed to do what must be done. General Pacmannio slipped on a vest with Paclandia’s top-secret weapon in the center, the Pac-Bomb. He dove under the clear waters of Paclandia and headed straight toward the Bulgarian mother ship, from which Captain Ivan sent all his orders. Pacmannio knew that destroying the mother ship would effectively end Bulgaria’s invasion of Paclandia, as well as his own life. But there is no turning back now, because there is no other way for his homeland and his Pac-family to be free from Bulgarian oppression. Pacmannio managed to make it aboard the mother ship. He fought soldier after soldier until only Captain Ivan was left. As their eyes met, the General produced a sly smile and activated the Pac-Bomb, decimating the mother ship and the flabbergasted Captain. 

Five years later, little Pacboy is running around the now peaceful Paclandia when he stumbles upon a statue of his parents, devastated at the news that his father, whom he will never meet, must depart for war. But small, innocent Pacboy is still too young to comprehend General Pacmannio’s courage. One day, years from now, Pacboy may become a hero of his own, hoping to follow in the footsteps of the great hero of Paclandia, Pacman Pacmannio.