Updates on the way to Naples
Hello, blog readers!
FROM MARY YOEST - STUDENT, THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
The MV Explorer is now less than one day out of Naples, Italy. In the past few days, I’ve received an update from Mary Yoest, a wonderful student from The Ohio State University. Below are her comments about her recent trip to Belgium and her classes aboard the ship.
We spent a day in the city of Ghent, which was the largest town in western Europe during the 11th & 14th centuries. It’s now the 3rd largest city in Belgium. The ethnic diversity of the people resembles that of an American city. The difference between here and my country was in the surroundings. All around us were Gothic-style buildings built in the 10th century, French-influenced architecture, and canals that make the city a mini-Venice. We were lucky enough to walk around an area of the canal that was preparing for a large musical festival the next week. It was at this festival where the highlight of my day was seeing Costa Rica’s flag flying on one of the stages. I never imagined seeing it anywhere in Europe.
Semester at Sea did a fantastic job selecting the faculty aboard the ship. All of my professors are not only well qualified but really experienced (Peace Corps, living abroad, emigration experiences, etc.). I think that’s very relevant to this whole trip. Classes are nice because we are fortunate enough to have frequent “long weekends” in different countries. And thanks to temporary Internet problems aboard the ship, we even had the luck to get an extension on our Global Studies midterm (Global Studies is a course the entire ship board community is required to take). After today, there are only 8 classes left, so most students have been quite busy wrapping things up on the ship. Lots of papers and projects!
Posting your comment
Gothic | August 1, 2008 @ 10:04 am
Naples is an awesome city, I just love a lot of the gothic architecture from that area of Europe.