After spending last fall studying Homer and Virgil, Plato and Aristotle, and Greek drama, Whittier students flew across the ocean during JanTerm to see history come alive. Led by Professors Wendy Furman-Adams and David Hunt, the class traveled through Italy and Greece over the course of 20 days.
The journey began in Rome, where students spent eight days exploring such sites as the Roman Forum and Colosseum, as well as braving the crowds at the Vatican Museum. They also took part in an exclusive tour through “necropolis” under St. Peter’s Basilica. One of the highlights of the trip occurred when four students were selected to participate in Sunday Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in front of a congregation from all over the world. One of the participants, Jourdan Zelaya ’18, had the opportunity to read the epistle for the day. “[Jourdan] pulled it off beautifully, with expressiveness and grace,” said Furman-Adams. “We were incredibly proud of her, and Whittier College, at that moment.”
The class also visited Pompei and then flew to Athens to see locations they had only read about in their classroom. And despite the cold weather, a few members of the Poet cross country team who were on the trip couldn’t pass up the opportunity to run an ancient course before leaving Greece.
