CLASSICS TOUR: An editorial perspective
By Maya Britbart
On March 28th 2016, twenty frantic teenagers and two teachers gathered at Tullamarine Airport with their families. Some were worried, some were nervous, some were completely unapologetically ecstatic, and after some lengthy goodbyes and the first of many group photos, we all left our families and began our long journey across the world.
What ensued was three weeks of incredible chaos as we experienced all that Italy had to offer. We began in Milan, sleepy-eyed and exhausted from our day-long plane trip, but stood amazed nonetheless at the sheer magnitude of the city, its spiky Duomo capturing everyone’s utter fascination. The next day we took the train to Venice, and if we were impressed with Milan, it was nothing as compared to the winding city of canals and architecturally diverse churches. We saw all of the things Venice is famous for: St. Marks Basilica, the Doge’s Palace, the amazing collection at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum, but perhaps the highlight of Venice was just wandering around and getting lost; it was during these long walks that the trip stopped feeling like a lengthy school excursion and more like a proper overseas trip with a group of friends.
Next we hit Florence, hard. We arrived after a morning train and immediately embarked on a guided tour of the Basilica, the Medici Chapel, the Academia Gallery (which, yes, means the David, and no, there is no photo that can do it justice) and the Uffizi. For a small group of us, the Uffizi was so intriguing and beautiful that we spent two days’ worth of free time exploring it until the guards hastily shuffled us out. Florence, however, was the place that we got our first taste of Italian incompetence: 45 minutes waiting in line to climb the famous Duomo only to be told it was closed for the day was not something we appreciated, especially after being told by multiple tourist stands that it was open. But it was hardly a point of anger, we were in Italy! Who cared what happened?
Our second week was spent taking a bus along the Sicilian coast, visiting multiple cities each day and staying in a different hotel each night. Taormina had arguably some of the most incredible views I have ever seen, while the ruins Agrigento were so intact that it felt like we had stepped back in time. Our tour guide for the site, an archeo-anthropologist, was very knowledgeable and engaging, such that Agrigento proved a highlight for many people. Another city, Erice, was not so much a time-traveling experience as a space-travelling one. We arrived on top of a mountain at Erice ready to see a supposedly astonishing temple on the cliffs, but upon reaching our stop, we realised it was so foggy and thick that you couldn’t see ten metres in front of you. For some people – Mr. Scacciante – this was a bit of a disappointment, but personally it was one of the most amazingly atmospheric place I had ever been, definitely from another world.
The rest of Sicily presented us with similarly gorgeous historical sites and cities, and while the culture was not exactly to everyone’s taste, we were all sad to go. We took an overnight ferry up to Naples (not a very fun experience for a few of us who got hit by seasickness), stopping in Pompeii on the way to Rome. Our last days in Italy were spent exploring the Roman forum, a stand-out for many Latin students on the trip, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain and just generally enjoying the atmosphere of the city. We had the best gelato in existence (lemon and basil, if you every get the chance to try it, take it) and all grappled with the fact that we would soon have to return to normal life far too soon. Sure enough, the flight home came and was painful, maybe because of the lengthy time in transit (24 hours!) or maybe it was because we knew it was the end of an experience that we will never get again. This really was the trip of a lifetime, and whether you love Classics or you’ve never taken a class on it in your life, the Classics Tour is something incredibly worthwhile. It’s fast-paced and absolutely jam-packed (I still don’t know how we did everything in just three weeks) and basically a whole lot of freaking fun. Great places, great students, even better teachers. If you ever get the chance to do it, listen to us and take it.