Reflection

I absolutely loved this class and I'm so glad i took it. I was really disappointed with my first quarter of college but this class really made up for that. Working on the PBLs with my group was really fun, I really liked my group they all were really great and helpful. The prompts were also really interesting. I'm used to high school with much more straight forward prompts. never in a million years would I have thought I would be doing this sort of stuff. Even without the trip to Rome I felt like the class was really really rewarding and really enjoyable. I definitely worked the hardest in this class out of all of them. Obviously the trip was a major perk. I had a really great time and i met so many great people. I wish I could do it again! Italy was amazing and beautiful and as a whole the trip was really great. I couldn't've asked for more. Looking back, I realize how much I gained from this class. I learned a lot and I felt like I've matured into a college student, because I was barely one when I started and now because of this class and this experience I feel a lot older and a lot more mature. It might have to do with the fact that almost everyone on the trip was older than me. I've experienced a lot more because of this class. It was my first problem-based learning class, my first honors seminar, my first night class, one of my first classes in general, my first project in college, my first group project in college, and my first time to Europe.

When in Rome...

Anticipation:

After looking forward to the trip for the whole quarter, I was definitely ready to finally go to Rome. I was a half an hour early at CVG, but I wasn't the first one there. As we were waiting to board Jordan got me and Tyler and Justin into the Delta Crown room as you can see in the picture of Tyler. And we hung out there in Atlanta also. Eventually we actually made it to Rome after a pretty long and tiring plane ride, even though I didn't sleep a wink, I was energized and ready to go. After getting a metro pass and a train ticket and manuvuering my suitcase through tiny spaces and crowded streets we finally made it to the street our hotel was on, and we were accosted my men selling umbrellas and rained on, but it didn't matter to me because we were in Rome finally!

Day one: I can't believe we're in ROME!

After what seemed like weeks of traveling, but was merely hours, we finally made it to our hotel. I was plesantly surprised by how nice the hotel was. We were the only people in it and I was on the first floor and my room was the first to get our keys so we didn't have to wait around as much as everyone else did. My roommates were Allison and Ashleigh. I sat next to Allison on both planes, but other than that I had never talked to them before, but they seemed (and I later found out are) really nice. I was really happy because there was a little nook in our room with a little bed which became my room. We also had a really nice balcony with tables and chairs and a nice view of a garden. I explored the rest of the hotel and quickly came to the conclusion that we had one the best rooms in it for sure.

After relaxing for a little bit I went in a group of twelve to a nice little pizza place. Afterwards me, Jordan, Justin, and Tyler went to the Spanish Steps, which were beautiful and then we went to the Trevi fountain, which was more beautiful. My impression of Rome from then on was definitely good.

Day Two: Let's See Some Sights!

The first sight we saw as a group was the Circus Maximus. I wasn't that impressed, it was cool, but I didn't realuze that there weren't really any remains, so I expected more. After that we went to the Baths of Caracalla which were really cool, I was definitely impressed. Even though I was really tired I really enjoyed it it was so pretty. There were some stray cats that we played with while we waited for the rest of the group to join us.

After the baths we all went to the theater of Marcello which was pretty interesting, but we weren't able to go inside and there wasn't that much to see, then we explored a bit and found some cool places and climbed a lot of stairs.After that we had lunch and then we went to the Pantheon. That was really cool because it was the first fully intact building we went to and it was indoors so we didn't have to worry about getting rained on.
After that me and some other people wents on a shopping trip, in the rain, and we got lost and ended up going in a circle. After that me Justin, Jordan, Brian, Molly, and David tried to find a disco or a "piano bar" but after many failed attempts we ended up at a bar right by our hotel.

Day Three: More Sights!

The first place that we went was the Colosseum. It was really cool there was a lot left. It was massive and there was so much to see. I didn't realize what the bottom of it was like. Afterwards me and a bunch of people walked a fairly long way to a flea market by the river. When we were there I made some impulse buys and Brian laughed at me. It was kind of bad because me and Brian mainly stuck together, which was a bad idea because neither of us had a watch or a phone and neither of us knew any italian, but we made it to the rest of the group and walked back to the Colosseum to meet up with the rest of group.

We got back to the meeting place early so a small group of us decided to get gelato, it was the first of many gelatos for me, I got cherry and it was really delicious. Then it was time for the forum. Even though it was almost completely in ruins it was really cool. What was left of the bascilia was really awesome. Me, Tyler, and Brian decided to venture off on our own up the steps to the Casa di Augusto which was really cool. It was one of the many amazing views from the top of buildings in Italy.

Later me Tyler, Phil Sour, Ashleigh, Kat, and Allison and David decided to go on a tour of Christmas trees. We started at the Spanish Steps and saw the pretty cool metal one there.

Then Allison and David went off on their own and the rest of us had dinner and this less then great place and then headed over to the Vatican. Even though it was really dark by then and it was raining pretty hard the Vatican was really cool. I'm not Christian and I know very little about Christianity but it was just so beautiful anyway, although the huge tree was a little disappointing.

Day Four: Where's Apollo? (Pompeii)

I was definitely looking forward to Pompeii ever since we started the second PBL and it was definitely one of my favorite activities. Although the bus ride was a little long I had a seat all to myself and I was able to sleep a bit. Once we got to Pompeii, Me, Jordan, Justin,Tyler, Molly and Remo, and then later Andrew, all decided to go to the alternate eatery instead of the first one. The food was decent. After, we finally got ot Pompeii and Our tour guide started to give us the tour. Since this was one of my groups research topics I paid close attention and I was very happy because I knew most of what he said already from my research.

Pompeii was definitely really interesting and as we got to more and more specific locations I really learned a lot. I was really happy that we went. It was really cool to finally see Apollo's statue and all the other things that I had read about.

Day Five: HOLY CANNOLI! The Vatican and Dinner

This day was a lot less planned out. We went to see this weird place with a bunch of skeletons in the morning, which I must admit sort of creeped me out. We had the choice to go to other churches, but instead a group of us decided to got the Vatican before we had to meet up again. Me Chris, Brian, Molly, KJ, and Tyler all went to the museum part also. I was really impressed, at first the art was boring, but as we went it got better and better. There were so many chapels and amazing ceilings that I was starting to get tired of looking up. When we finally got to the Sistine Chapel it was really amazing, but not what i expected.

St.Peter's Bascilia was AMAZING. It was so beautiful, I think it was probably my most favorite place in Rome. After that all the other churches looked like nothing Later Dean Newrock took us out for dinner and it was the best food in Rome, by far. Me and Molly were a little late and I sat at the head of the table. I had a glass of both the red and white wine and they were both amazing. We had a five-course dinner and I personally loved every course. It was really really fun. Day Six: Florence

This day we went to Florence. I was really excited because my dad told me that Florence was his favorite place when he went to Italy. The bus ride was good, although I didn't have a seat to myself. Me and Remo played a little dot game, but I either slepts or read most of the way there. Florence was really beautiful. But I really didn't want to see the church, I'm not Christian and although it was pretty its really not interesting to me at all especially after seeing SO much Christian art. Me, KJ, and Remo went shopping a bit before we all went to the Domo. The Domo was really really cool. Although I felt like passing out because of all the stairs and Phil S. had to half push me half encourage me to get up there I was really glad I did the views were really really amazing.

After that we went to the museum and saw the statue of David. I hadn't realized how huge David was, but he was really really amazing and I am really glad I got to see hime. Of course I didn't take a picture because you are supposed to. Although it was definitely really tiring it was Florence was really fun.

Day Seven: This is like Pompeii, but not as cool. Ostia Antica

This day we went to Ostia. I wasn't that excited because i didnh't really know anything about it. At first I didn't really like it but the more and more I explored the cooler I thought it was. My favorite part was when me, Molly, and Jordan decided to run across the field and see the very edge of Ostia. It was really cool to climb up the walls and see below you.

Afterwards, Me, Jordan, and Remo decided to go get something to eat instead of seeing the EUR. We got these calzone like things, which were really cheap and really good. Then me and Jordan helped Remo find perfume for his girlfriend. But it was mainly just jordan Smelling Dolce and Gabbana light blue, me hating all the perfumes and the sales lady spraying Remo with perfume. Once he finally got something( which he went back and exchanged later) we went back to the hotel. Jordan was really scruffy and decided he wanted to go to the barber shop to have a shave. Later me, Remo, and Tyler went out shopping and sight-seeing. We went to a carnival and I was really happy because I won a bottle of sparklink wine, later i found out it was really horrible and cheap.

Day Eight: Pisa and Florence

This was our free day and me and Tyler decided to go to Pisa to see the tower and then go back to Florence, so we could have more time there and shop. We decided to leave at 5, but of course Tyler knocks on my door at like 4:30 and we're both ready by 5 and so we go and we have to wait around in the cold for the metro to open at 5:30. The train ride to Pisa was pretty nice and I slept for most of the way there, since i got about 3 hours of sleep the night before. While I was dreaming of me and Tyler riding a train, Tyler woke me up to tell me we were in Pisa.The city of Pisa wasn't that nice compared to Rome or Florence. But The tower and surrounding sites definitely were really nice. The leaning tower was really really cool and I was so glad i saw it. When you walked up you could actually feel it leaning. It was amazing.


After that we caught a train to Florence. Florence was fun we shopped and ate and had a good time.

Day Nine: Departure

This was the day we left Italy. I didn't eat breakfast because I needed to finish packing and getting ready. The whole trip back I was tired, but ireally didn't sleep, i have trouble sleeping when I can't lie all the way down. I read a lot on the plane and watched all three movies. Since our flight was late it was a scramble to get on the next flight everyone ran. I was one of the last people past security and when I was at baggage claim Tyler was still waiting for his bag, so I decided to wait with him instead of running ahead alone. Phil and his new friend did also. We weren't even close to getting there on time, so we just went ahead and got our boarding passes for the 9:35 flight. Then we waited, luckily we weren't the only ones. i was a little upset at the professors because none of them were there until a lot closer to the flight and I had no idea where anyone was and if everyone got on the flight. I only knew jordan and Logan got on the first one. I was a little worried and kind of mad and extremely tired.

Pompeii

The Prompt

Global worming is affecting the quality of life in ways that were not anticipated by the world scientists. It has affected the atmosphere. The world has a dark cloud blotting out the light just as the eruptions of Mount Vesuvius blocked the light and rained terror down on the citizens of Pompeii. People around the globe are becoming fearful and are acting in extremely hostile ways toward their neighbors. Nations under tremendous stress are becoming more and more belligerent to each other, both to friends and foes. This morning BBC, CNN, and almost every newspaper in the Western hemisphere reported on a Greco-Roman cult announcing that the Statue of Apollo has been transformed into flesh and blood and is strolling the ruins of Pompeii. With a sarcastic tone yet a sense of mystery many reporters have announced the return of Apollo, the Sun God and God of healing:
“Apollo is leading the Gods reclaiming the town of Pompeii… they are seeking the reconstruction of Pompeii, curing all its ills and bringing back their City of Light.” Countless citizens have flocked to the ruins of Pompeii. They attest hearing Delphic Oracles of Apollo, around Mount Vesuvius calling out "know thyself", "nothing too much", "avoid hubris”, and so on while referring to the end of the Hellenic period of religion.
In Rome, the oldest copy of “De Architectura” has disappeared from the museum. Meanwhile, around the world a number of widely respected, signature architects have been talking to their friends and colleagues about a bizarre dream they had the night before. Every one of them had dreamed of conferring among many, around a white round table with Vitruvius himself.
In the US, religious leaders from all sects are condemning the newspapers’ countless articles glorifying the “pagan” Gods and Goddesses, and their various interpretations claiming “the end of world religion.”
Curiosity was booming, newspaper headlines across the world were asking:
>> “What will Apollo, as the Sun God and God of Healing, change to bring back the light and atmosphere?”
>> “How will the past and present, and the old and new be reconciled in
Pompeii?"
>> “How will the reconstruction of Pompeii serve to influence the rest of the world?”

The Presentation

It took our group a long time to finalize our project, but in the end we pulled it all together. We started our presentation with me and Tyler. Tyler was posing as a GNN News network corresepondant covering the 2008 Global Climate Change Summit, and I was the one speaking at the summit. Tyler introduced me and I gave a short speech on the "dark cloud" that is currently covering the Earth and about how global warming was causing. After a little while my speech is interuppted by Tyler whispering something in my ea and handing me a paper and I turn my attention and the audiences to a related "GNN news broadcast" which we filmed. As soon as the broadcast is over there is a loud trumpeting music and Justin and Jordan burst into the room. Justin is wearing a toga and is pretending to be the God Apollo and Jordan is one of his followers named Hermes. They take over the summit and answer questions me and Tyler ask them and they explain the New rebuilt green Pompeii and pass out the brochures and handouts. We ended with a little tif between me and Apollo and then questions.

The News Broadcast




Reflection

When I first saw the prompt, I had no idea what to think, I thought it was a joke. I had absolutely no idea what we were supposed to do. Once I got in my group and we went over it together and started actually brainstorming and thinking up ideas, I started to see how much we could really do with the presentation. As the time went by our ideas continued to shape and change into new and much more interesting things. Our original idea was to create a twenty minute news broadcast, but we realized that that was probably not the best way to go, after weeks of working and changing our ideas we came up with our presentation. A lot of it came together at the end. I really feel that this time we worked together more, rather than just putting individual research together. We all helped with the video in some way this time and we all had some input on the scripts. Me and Tyler worked on the brochures together and Jordan and Justin had input for us when we were done. Although we had a lot of last minute additions and changes, I felt like this time around we were all much smoother. We all already knew each other and knew each other's strengths and weaknesses. The prompt this time around gave us a lot more room to be creative and I really enjoyed that. Although there were stressful parts of it, it was really easy to just have fun and laugh during this presentation, there was a lot more room for comic relief.

The Other Presentations

Yet again our group, four, went third. The first group that went was group five who did their presentation as though it was a PBS pilot show about Roman History. It was very nice and the props they used definitely worked well. I thought it was creative and interesting. The next group had a prompt about the Panethon. They did it as a news broadcast, similar to our original idea, but it was very interesting because only half of it was video, a lot of it was live. They also included a lot of funny things, like a cannoli commercial, which I thought was really funny and creative. Then we went, although we had some technical difficulties at first. The next group did a full video for their presentation. Unfortunately, the DVD stopped working a little ways in. The next group went while they tried to figure things out. The last group also had a really wacky prompt like ours. They did it as a business presntation. The models that they made were definitely really cool and you could see how much research and work that they put into it. After their presentation the video presentation was finally able to work. The video was good, but there were a lot of thing said in passing that came out a little offensive to me and should have been worded differently or explained better. All in all, I think everyone did a really great job and I'm really excited to go to Rome!