Now that we’ve had basically every day walking miles and miles looking at the different wonders that Rome has to show to us, Thursday became a much needed lecture day. The lectures that we had were informative lectures by not only the students, but one of our much appreciated Italian friends on our trip, Claudio.

Claudio started his lecture at around 9 in the morning, and it consisted of a quick rundown of history of Ancient Rome to modern day Rome. This talk sort of mirrored our lecture that we received from the president of John Cabot University, but it swayed a little less from political issues and economic standings of modern day, and sort of put perspective on how Italy became what it is today. It was a very interesting lecture; learning the roots of a country different than your own is like opening a book that you’ve seen on the shelf, but haven’t read.

The latter part of the day, around 1 O’clock, the students got to present their own presentations as well. These presentations were based off of experiences had in Italy so far, and sort of comparing and contrasting the customs of the United States to those in Italy. Again, these lectures were very interesting because a lot of us agreed on the differences that we’ve all noticed. From dining etiquette to traffic laws, Italy is a slightly different country when you look at the big picture.

Overall, the day was more of a needed rest period. Our days in Rome are coming to an end in a couple of days, so the recuperation of body and mind is needed as we continue our trip to Naples and Florence. We’ll be traveling next Monday, so expect to hear some great things from both cities! Ciao!

– Alex Manning