Semester in the Eternal City reveals ancient culture in modern day setting
IRVING, Texas — Elizabeth Depew, a University of Dallas student from Grove City, learned a lot during the 2014 fall semester she spent abroad at the university's 12-acre Eugene Constantin campus just outside Rome.
She studied philosophy, traveled to Greece, discovered a taste for gelato, viewed Bernini sculptures and picked grapes in the campus vineyard.
Since 1970, University of Dallas students have had the opportunity to spend a semester in the Eternal City studying, traveling and experiencing the art, architecture, literature, philosophy and deeds that have formed the basis of Western civilization.
Depew, the daughter of Nathan and Julie Depew of Grove City, picked the university after being home schooled and taking classes at Grove City High School.
She said, “It's got a really good business program and a really unique study abroad program, and it's a good Catholic school, too, and I really like all the people here.”
Depew, a sophomore business major concentrating in environmental science and Spanish, left Pittsburgh at the end of August and arrived back in the United States at the beginning of December.
“I flew out of Pittsburgh, and we all met up at the airport in Rome. There were about a hundred of us from the University of Dallas,” she said.
She said home for the autumn was the campus.
“We had a three-floor dorm and a separate building that we had our classes in, and we also had a dining room and a vineyard,” she said.
“We had to work in the vineyard — not a lot — during harvest time, and we made our own wine,” Depew said.
Classes usually ran Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. In addition to classes in theology, art history, Western civilization and philosophy, she took an extra one-credit course, People and Places, one day a week.“We would go into Rome and study specific people and places,” she said.“I liked the fact you could be walking down a normal street, say in any big city, and then come across some ancient artifacts, like the Colosseum is in the middle of the city,” Depew said.“I really liked the Villa Borghese,” she said. “It has a lot of the artwork of Bernini. Even after an entire semester of seeing art and sculptures, when we saw his sculptures, everyone was so impressed because they were so lifelike.”“The last day we were there, we ran around Vatican City. It's a sovereign state, and we ran around it,” she said.'“Then we would go and get gelatos. That is the best tasting thing I ever had,” she said. “It's basically ice cream. It's a little thicker because they make everything so fresh, and they don't add preservatives or artificial colors.”“One of my friends was fluent in Italian and that helped,” she said.Depew was able to pick up basic Italian because she had studied Spanish, a similar Romance language.“I could ask for directions. I could do a lot of the basic things. I wouldn't say I am fluent in Italian, but I could usually understand what people meant,” she said.Despite the Autumn season, she said the weather was very warm. Figs and apples were still growing, and it was very sunny during her whole stay.The grape harvest was in October, which was especially important since the students were expected to pick at the campus vineyard.“The whole student body turned out. We clipped the grapes and put them in buckets and took them up to the main tractors,” she said.As for the wine, Depew said the workers actually made it, a red wine“We got to try some from the year before. It was all right. It wasn't the best wine, but it was pretty good for homemade,” she said. “Past students from the University of Dallas helped make the wine that you were drinking.”In addition to taking study trips to locations such as the Colosseum and the Vatican, students also traveled throughout Italy on professor-led tours.A 10-day study tour of Greece was also part of the semester.“We took a bus down to southern Italy and took a ferry across to Greece,” she said.“The land was rocky and had a lot of mountains. We went to different ancient Greek temples.”While in Greece, the students got a glimpse of the economic turmoil there.“When we were driving we saw some homeless people had set up communities with tarps. It was noticeably different from the way it was in Italy,” she said.The students also performed scenes from plays at various stops.“I was Desdemona in 'Othello,'” said Depew. “and played it on a mountain fort outside on the ramparts.”“Before we would do a scene, the professor would talk about where it was we would be performing. It was really fun doing that. It wasn't very serious,” she said.“There was plenty of time to memorize (your part) on the bus, so I could study it then,” she said. “It was the scene where they are waiting to hear if Othello had returned from the fighting.”“On our last night in Greece, we were walking along the Mediterranean. It was a full moon so we decided to go swimming in the Mediterranean at night,” she said.Depew has good memories of her months in Italy and Greece.“In general, the people were really friendly,” she said.“It's hard to say what I didn't like. They didn't have any peanut butter, and you have to pay to use the bathroom. You just can't walk into a restaurant and use the restroom.”Roman men are still catcalling women in the street, too.“It was kind of annoying. There was a lot of 'Ciao Bella' which is not what people do in America. You just kind of ignore them, but people are always saying stuff,” she said.But despite a few drawbacks, Depew said the trip was an amazing experience.“I don't know if I will ever get an opportunity to go back, but if I do I will definitely take it,” she said.“It was kind of unusual. I had a full 16 credits. Usually in study abroad you have less,” she said. “I was very, very busy. I had a lot of fun then had to study really hard.”Depew gained many friends during the semester abroad.“With 100 people living together on one campus together, we all became good friends,” she said.
