Learning to Explore: Jan Term in Italy
By Victoria Woo, ‘26, and Jin Yue Trousil, ‘26
This morning, we met in the classroom to learn about rhetoric. Dr. Pell opened the class by stating his definition of rhetoric as the “study of shared meaning” and Aristotle’s definition as “the discovery of the available means of persuasion.” This was our first time learning about rhetoric in depth. We learned that the rhetorical triangle connects the speaker, text, and audience. There needs to be balance between the three points for truth and meaning to emerge. After this lecture, rhetoric still sounded complicated, but we were excited to learn more about this subject.
The first statue we saw in the Borghese Gallery was the Rape of Persephone. We were overwhelmed when we walked into this room. This tense scene was surrounded by numerous other sculptures and the ceiling was covered in paintings. As we looked around, we could feel how special this gallery was. From the floor to the ceiling, the room was filled with art.
The artwork that drew my (Jin Yue’s) attention the most was Apollo and Daphne. I took fifteen minutes to closely observe this piece. From one angle, the sculpture looked solid. However, as I walked around, I realized that almost half of the space was air. The details of the waving hair, straining muscles, and sprouting leaves were incredible. Before this trip, I read and watched videos about this sculpture and the myth it is based on. It was special to see this piece and observe the intricate details in person.
What caught my (Victoria’s) attention was the ceilings. As I am not used to seeing art works in the ceilings back in the States, the ceilings in the Borghese were especially eye-catching. For every room I walked into in the gallery, the ceilings kept catching my attention. While I observed in depth and thought about what stories they might have behind them, I found out that in Europe and Asia (where I grew up), art works in ceilings seemed to be praising God. Although it was unexpected that I spent the majority of my time looking up at gorgeous ceilings, I felt thankful that I had got to see all those in the Borghese gallery.
After the Borghese Gallery, we decided to independently explore for the rest of the day. We chose to eat lunch at Oregano, which Rick Steve recommends in his travel guide. At first, we were nervous about going somewhere on our own, only relying on Google maps. However, we were easily able to find the place, which gave us more confidence. When we walked inside, we could tell the difference between the tourist-y restaurants we had been to and this one. The restaurant was not advertised for tourists, and we saw many locals. We ordered bruschetta and a margherita pizza.
We sat down next to an elderly Italian couple. During our meal, while we did not speak the same language, we had many conversations through eye contact. We guessed that they must be talking about us because they smiled a lot at us. As the couple left, they waved goodbye and said ciao.
Even though we did not speak the same language, we still felt connected to this couple. There were two Korean girls who sat by us as well. I (Victoria) talked to them in Korean. We learned that they were traveling for a month in Europe, and this was their first day in Italy. We were impressed that these two girls, around our age, were traveling all throughout Europe by themselves. This inspired us to think about traveling abroad by ourselves someday.
After having a satisfying lunch time, we made our way to the Spanish steps. The area was very crowded, as we expected. Although we had to make our visit quick because of how crowded the space was, we were thrilled to be at the Spanish steps in person. It also made us feel very accomplished for being able to find where it was. We headed to the Spagna metro station to go back to the hotel. However, when we got to the station, we saw the sign that the station entrance was closed temporarily. We did not panic, but instead, we managed to find another metro station nearby which was Baberini station. As we started to feel comfortable using public transportation, we felt like we were managing our first day on our own successfully. When we got off at St. Pietro station, after taking another train from Valle Aurelia, we were thankful for making it back safely.
There was a local fruit shop on the way back to the convent. We wanted some fruit. However, ordinary activities like buying groceries become big obstacles when communication is difficult. Using simple English, the little Italian we know, and physical communications, we successfully bought oranges and bananas. We felt we were experiencing authentic Italian culture as we bought fruit from a small local store.
At first, we were skeptical about exploring sights in Rome independently. Throughout the day, we gained confidence in our ability to navigate. Resources such as Rick Steve’s book and Google maps helped us build unforgettable moments on our first independent traveling journey. We will never forget the joy we felt in experiencing a new culture.