J-term Abroad: Roman Structures, Engineering & Society - A University of St. Thomas School of Engineering Blog site

J-term Abroad: Roman Structures, Engineering & Society

Field Trips!

Departure! 1-26-26

First blog post in the states!

 

This was the longest day of our trip! Most of the group tried to pull an all nighter to stay up for our first flight at 6:40 AM. People were hanging out in the lounge, playing pool, watching sports, and trying to have as much caffeine as possible without crashing.

Once (most of us) successfully stayed up till 3:00, we met in the lobby and headed out to the airport! People were definitely feeling the lack of sleep on the bus, including Erik, who dropped all of his yogurt on the bus chair…

We made it to the first airport, got through check-in and had to say our goodbyes to Claudio. The group had a great month with him, it was sad to say bye.

Flight #1 was just a quick jump over to Amsterdam where our long flight to the Twin Cities was departing from at 12:10 PM. We had a layover there for a couple of hours and some people were beginning to crash, but we managed to get our final group Tommie Family photo.

Not much to say about the flight other than that it was long, there were babies crying, and there was free food. Once we landed in MSP, we all got our stuff and said our goodbyes! Definitely a bittersweet feeling. Such a good bunch of people with so many unforgettable memories.

 

Thank you to all the lovely people who I got to spend this with 🙂

CIAO

– Taye Walls

January 26, 2026 by
Field Trips!

Last Full Day in Italy – 1/25/26

Ciao!

Today was the last full day that us Tommie’s had to explore Italy! Since it was another free day, there were lots of adventures being had. Starting with “The rental car boys…and Sam” which included Taye, Coen, Eric, Erik and Sam, explored a rainy Venice for the morning. They met up Jack who stayed in Venice and grabbed an amazing breakfast at Fluffy Brunch in Venice. Then followed by an excursion looking for the mission impossible bridge where Isla Faust died in the movie, which was a success (pictured below). After the bridge was found, Jack was dropped at the train station and the boys made the last leg of their journey home.

Lily and Greta ate lunch at Melaleuca where they are famous for their cinnamon rolls and took the bus back to the hotel to pack, going to dinner tonight with the girls. (Picture from dinner tonight)

McKernan, Aveline, Brynn and Carly did a 3 hour pasta making class this morning and then wandered around Florence.

Otherwise, Tommie’s took the day to wander around Florence one last time or just rest up from that last few weeks of fun but busy days. Tomorrow morning we leave at 3 am so we will be hitting the road early.

 

Ciao,

Sam Zupfer

January 25, 2026 by
Field Trips!

Free Day – 1/24/26

Today a group of us took a day trip to Venice using the high speed trains, which in itself was a cool experience. It was impressive how quickly and smoothly we were able to travel between cities, especially compared to transportation systems in the U.S. The group included Jacob, Ben, Blake, Cullen, Jack, Sam, Hillary, Courtney, Hanna, Greta, Matti, Avery, Lily, and me. Once we arrived, we spent most of the day just exploring. We stopped at a cafe, went shopping, got gelato, visited a few churches, and let ourselves get lost while walking through the narrow streets. A smaller group of us (Blake, Jacob, Ben, Cullen, and I) also took a gondola ride through the canals, which was a highlight. Seeing the city from the water gave a different perspective and really showed how important the canals are to daily life there. For dinner, we went to Baraco Quebrado and had pasta, which was a great way to end the day.

From an engineering perspective, Venice is fascinating because the entire city is built on wooden pillars driven into the ground. It is impressive that structures built on such a foundation have lasted for centuries. I have also never visited a city with no cars before. Everything is walkable or accessible by boat, which feels like stepping into the past and seeing how cities functioned before modern transportation.

Other classmates also took various day/weekend trips.

Bryce and Larissa went to Parma to stay with a family friend and explored the city center of Reggio Emilia.

Aveline and Grace made some friends along the way on their trip to the five cities in Cinque Terra.

Mckernan, Carly, and Brynn explored Siena and went to the Siena Cathedral and Piazza del Campo.

Josh explored more of Florence including the Uffizi and Boboli Gardens.

In addition, Taye, Coen, Eric, and Erik explored and hiked near Lake Como.

January 25, 2026 by
Field Trips!

The Last Lunch – January 23, 2026

Our trip is quickly coming to an end. Today we had our last class of the trip, everyone was devastated. The final group presentation ended with Roman materials looking into the Pantheon and Colosseum, reminding us of where we started entering this trip. We were tasked to give a one-minute elevator speech in front of the class. Many of us reflected on how this opportunity developed cultural awareness and how engineering has shaped culture throughout history. We have grown together and truly become a Tommie family with a number of us noting how building these connections have provided a space to foster a welcoming supportive environment for diverse levels of engineering backgrounds. Perhaps one of the most important connections is from Vitruvius and how engineering incorporates strength, beauty, and utility. Strength and utility are often emphasized in modern engineering contexts; this trip has allowed us to have concrete context of how beauty is an equally important consideration. To finish our last class Claudio, our guide and trip coordinator, gave a crash course in some Italian history and day trip options for our weekend.

After our class we had our version of The Last Supper, obviously inspired by our trip to Milan this last Wednesday, but because we are original creative thinkers we had The Last Lunch. It was a brilliant time where we were able to share a meal and memories with the whole group before going off the rest of our day and weekend to small group adventures.

After our lovely meal we broke into small groups. Some beginning weekend travels north and others of us taking the opportunity to continue exploring Florence. We experienced some grey skies and drizzling weather, some of the limited not as ideal weather of the trip. However this clearly provided a great opportunity to observe some stormwater management in Florence. Or perhaps a good excuse to find a cozy restaurant to have dinner in, or explore the spa at the hotel.

Thank you to our amazing Tommie family for a fantastic journey and great company! I hope everyone stays safe and has lots of fun on their weekend exploration before our flight on Monday. Don’t forget to enjoy some gelato before departing for the States. Anyone else thinking of a five-year reunion in Italy?

Ciao,

McKernan Boland

January 23, 2026 by
Field Trips!

Travel to Bologna – Ducati, Lamborghini, and Pagani (01/22/2026)

Ciao!

Today we were up early for breakfast and quickly on the road to 3 car manufacturers: Ducati, Lambourgoni, and Pagani. We started our day by driving roughly an hour and a half to the Ducati plant where we were guided through the facility, seeing the assembly line and the museum. The Ducati factory uses robots to guide heavy machinery across the facility and had multiple different assembly lines. We took a class picture with/on the four motorcycles in the museum.

We then traveled to the Bull Bar where we were provided lunch and the option to either see the Lambourgoni museum or test drive a Lamborghini or both. A couple of us test drove and were up to drive up to 185 km/h! We took another class picture with the two Lamborghinis we were able to test drive.

Finally, we visited the Pagani manufacturing plant where we were shown the assembly line, the museum, and a backstory of how the company was created. The base cost for a Pagani we learned was $2.2 million dollars! We learned that the difference between a Ducati and a Pagani is that fewer Pagani’s are made but are more personalized, but Ducati makes more of the same motorcycle. We took one last photo in front of the Pagani plant.

We then drove another hour and half back to our hotel in Florence. This day was different than the other days because the main focus was mechanical engineering. We were able to gain an insight in the process of building intricate vehicles. As small as seeing how the engine works with the pistons and gears to seeing the final product and quality checks. It was interesting to see the difference in manufacturing between Italy and the US. Overall, today was super fun and we had an amazing time! Tomorrow, we get a little bit of a later start, so we are all looking forward to some rest!

Ciao,

Matalin Mosiman

January 22, 2026 by
Field Trips!

Milan – 1-21-26

Ciao! 

  

Today we took an early morning train to Milan! 

 

Once in Milan, we took a walking tour of the most contemporary city in Italy. We paused at Piazza Gae Aulenti to view the many skyscrapers, including the magnificent Bosco Verticale (Vertical Forest) and Unipol Tower. 

   

We then walked to Castello Sforzesco and took a brief tour of the courtyards. The castle was used as a military stronghold and a Renaissance stronghold. 

After, we walked to the Duomo di Milano, a Gothic marvel and the largest church in Italy. The marble appeared pink in the sun, and the outside features over 3,400 statues including a dinosaur(???)! We admired the outside for a little moment with the pigeons before heading inside for our guided tour. We saw the world’s largest stain glass windows and the statue of Saint Bartholomew Flayed. 

We reconvened after a brief lunch before getting to see Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper”. The history of its preservation was very interesting! During World War II, sandbags were placed in front of the work, which saved it because the roof and adjacent walls of the room were destroyed. This work was done differently than other similar works from the period. The typical technique was the frescos, when the paint was applied onto a wet layer of plaster and the pigment would sink in, but with this, the painter had to be quick. Da Vinci liked to take his time on his works, The Last Supper one taking 3-4 years, so he painted on dry plaster, meaning the pigment was separate from the plaster. The famous piece was originally in the cafeteria of the monastery, the doorway under the painting leading to the kitchen. Mold and other damages were caused by daily use of the room, and little of the remaining art is part of the original done by Leonardo da Vinci.We then had some free time to ourselves, some groups opting to do some window shopping at the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, others exploring the area surrounding the Duomo (including the official Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics megastore!!). 

We then all met back up to go to the train station, taking the late train back to Florence and doing some stretching. 

 

 

January 21, 2026 by
Florence

January 20, 2026 in Firenze

Ciao from Firenze!

Today we were up bright and early for breakfast at Hotel Grifone, after which we had our usual class at 9 am and then went off to explore the city of Florence. While getting on the bus, our group was too big to get in all at once, so we got split up, and Claudio had to wait for us at the next bus stop.

Once we got to the city center, we visited the Accademia Gallery and saw the sculpure of David together, and then explored the rest of the museum for a while until lunch. We split up for lunch and a lot of us ate at I’ Girone De’ Ghiotti, where we got amazing Tuscan-style sandwiches.

After lunch, our class met up again at the Opera del Duomo Museum, where we saw models and sketches of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore before going to the Cathedral and walking up the 463 stairs to the top of the Dome. Walking up the last few flights of stairs, you could see and feel the outer shell of the dome curving in on you, and some of our classmates commented on how it made them dizzy. From an engineering perspective, it was fascinating to see the interior shells of the Dome, built using Brunelleschi’s signature herringbone brickwork that allowed it to be built with no centering. It was equally amazing to be able to see the frescoes on the inside of the Dome from up close.

Once we finally all made it to the top of the Dome, we took some more group photos of our Tommie Family, and I had way too much fun waving the flag around and trying to hold onto it in the wind, which admittedly brought most of the rest of the group a lot of anxiety.

The view from the top of Santa Maria Del Fiore was like nothing else – it was a completely clear, beautiful day, and we could see the entire city surrounded by mountains.

 

Buona notte,

Larissa

January 21, 2026 by
Field Trips!

Buonasera everyone, today we had the honour to travel to Pisa and see the Leaning Tower, Cathedral, Baptistery of San Giovanni, and Monumental Cemetery. We started the morning by making our way down to Hotel Grifone’s breakfast buffet and then traveled the long distance two rooms down to our new meeting space for a class on the engineers and advancements of the Renaissance era (Thanks, Brynn, Larissa, and Maddy) along with art analysis. After wrapping up, we loaded up the bus and left Florence through the rolling hills and mountains of Tuscany towards Pisa 

 

Upon arriving, we had to change to a train that rivals only the high-speed train from earlier, the Tschu-Tschu, which took us right to the central square. 

 

Our first sight of the day was the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which leans because of the loose sandy soil that Pisa was built on (Before the modern era, the area of Pisa was underwater). Additionally, most buildings in Pisa actually lean as well; however, due to their foundations having a larger surface area, the effects are less dramatic. The tower also closed several years ago due to its lean getting too large; it has since had additional foundations built to prevent the lean from growing larger. Here is a photograph of the class imitating the lean that the tower has.  

The second thing that we saw was the Cathedral of Pisa. This was the very old church that has been around since 1118. It also suffered from a fire that burned most of the roof in 1595. This led them to having to rebuild the roof. Which now has this beautiful 24-carat gold pattern to it.  

 

The next thing that we saw was the Baptistery of San Giovanni is a very old round building in Pisa where people were baptized. It has a mix of Romanesque and Gothic styles. The building is famous for its great acoustics, where sounds echo beautifully inside. Its acoustics come from its dome, which is a double dome with an outer pointed dome, an inner hemispherical dome, and most importantly for the acoustics a hollow space in between the two, escaping soundwaves reverberate in this hollow space causing sounds in the baptistery to be sustained for longer. 

 

The last thing we said was the Pisa Monumental Cemetery. This was built in 1277 and was the cemetery for the people of Pisa. At the time it was built, every person who lived in Pisa was buried there, regardless of their class status. This is no longer the case as just Bishops and Archbishops who are from the area are buried there. Additionally, during the Second World War an American bomber accidently dropped a bomb on the cemetery causing a fire to break out in the wooden roof, melting its lead roof tiles and damaging the artwork on the walls. Fortunately, this story has a happy end, after the end of the war an American artist traveled to Pisa to help the town repair the cemetery, as a thanks to him, he was allowed to be buried in it. 

 

Finally, we loaded back on the bus to return to Florence to rest and recoup for tomorrow and another fabulous day in Italy. 

Until then, 

Ciao 

-Joshua Ryberg and Jacob Jude 

January 19, 2026 by
Field Trips!, Rome, Travel

TRAVEL DAY TO FLORENCE – 1/18/25

Ciao!

Today was not a very packed day with structured activities, but rather a travel day from Rome to Florence. While our time in Rome was indescribable, we spent a total of 12 days in the city and have now traveled to Florence for the remaining 8 days to finish off our Ancient Engineering trip.

Today, bright and early, we had breakfast available for us for the last time at Hotel TwentyOne in Rome at 6:50 a.m., which allowed some of us a much-needed refuel before the travel day began. Next, at 7:15, we loaded into vans to take us to the train station, which Claudio very kindly arranged for us. Once we arrived, we ensured everyone had their bags and all other belongings from the hotel (see Figure 1).

(Figure 1) Arrival at the Train Station

Following our arrival, we boarded the train at 8:15 a.m. Claudio arranged first-class tickets for us, and the train departed promptly. A photo of the train can be referenced in (Figure 2). Some fellow students and I engaged in a cribbage game during the 1 hour and 30 minute train ride from Rome to Florence (see Figure 3).

(Figure 2) Picture of High Speed Bullet Train

(Figure 3) Me and Fellow Travelers Playing Cribbage

We then arrived at our destination in the wonderful city of Florence, where we lined up and counted off before taking a bus to our new home for the concluding week of our trip, Hotel Grifone. We arrived at the hotel at 10:50 a.m. However, after arriving, we were unfortunately notified that our rooms would not be ready for another couple of hours, which prompted many students to go out and explore the city. Our bags were stashed in the front lobby while Claudio thoughtfully watched over them (see Figure 4).

(Figure 4) Picture of Me and Bryce with everyones luggage at the Hotel

The day concluded with official activities around 3:00 p.m., at which point everyone was checked into their rooms and ready for their fended sandwich establishment, while another group visited a nearby jazz café. At the time of submission, I believe everyone has made it safely back to the hotel and is preparing for a well-deserved night’s rest.

— Jack Dolan

January 18, 2026 by
Rome

Free Day in Rome

Ciao!

Today we had the freedom to do whatever we wanted in Rome and as a class we found many different ways to spend it.

Brynn and I started our day off by taking a journey to the south part of the city to go to a cat cafe for brunch called Romeow. Afterwards we then decided to continue and went shopping for a little bit before returning back to the hotel to work on our homework. We decided to finish our day off by going to this cute little Italian restaurant where we sat out side and talked for a while before getting ourselves some gelato for dessert.

A small group of the guys—Ben, Jacob, and Cullen—went and took a tour of the University of St. Thomas Bernardi campus that we have here in Rome, which is luckily just a short twelve minute walk away from where we are staying.

Another group of girls—Carly, Grace, and Aveline—went to the Piazza Navona area for the day. They started their day off shopping around, as seen in the picture below, before grabbing pasta for lunch. Afterwards they took the metro further east to go get some charms for their Italian charm bracelets, a keepsake a lot of the girls on the trip have gotten (myself included).

This morning a larger group of guys went to see Mussolini’s victory memorial in central Rome where they got pizza together. After this they then went to H&M to get a little bit of shopping done before splitting off into smaller groups. One of the students who split off to do his own thing is Jack, he ended up going to the Vatican to get a pendant for himself and some rosaries and crucifixes for his family. After this he continued to go around and do some more shopping by himself, as seen in the picture below.

Last but not least, some more of the girls took a trip to see an art exhibit about flowers, afterwards they too also decided to do some more shopping before we leave the city.

With how busy we’ve been in this last week, having this small day to rest and get to see things that we won’t be able to see as a class on our last day in Rome has been really nice. Overall it has been a great time in Rome and it’s been really great getting to know everyone better. It’s been amazing getting to go from a classroom setting to being able to connect the material directly to something later in the day.

Alla prossima!

-Hillary Festvog

 

January 17, 2026 by