Hi This is Sawyer Stone. I wanted to take some time to write about how the time we had in Italy has forced me to reflect on how the past is presented in many parts of the world and how in the presentation of history we often affect how we perceive the past. Seeing such a huge variety of historical landmarks and important sites in such a short amount of time and how the different presentations and understandings of the sites and how we were presented showed how often the smallest things such as clear labels the attitude of the workers presenting the site. And the amount of time we were given to appreciate something could drastically alter the understanding you have of those items.
The most memorable and amazing sites on our trip, at least to me, were due not to the places themselves but the passion and context we gained through the tour guides and experts who helped us understand them. A notable example was we spent a week focusing on the different catacombs of Rome, and in one day managed to have one of the most amazing experiences with a passionate tour guide telling us the detailed history of the catacomb we were exploring and illustrating the value of each piece of art we were viewing. Later in the same day we participated in a larger tour of a more famous catacomb where it felt like being herded through a maze quickly stopping at each site in order to say we had seen it with a standardized explanation of the basics being presented to us.
Our group has been incredibly lucky both to have instructors that deeply care about sharing their knowledge and passion for history with us, and that we have gotten a lot of passionate tour guides and experts to show us locations and history in a truly engaging way.