The mid-winter break is always a time for traveling and vacationing. No one knows this more, perhaps, than the 30 CHS Latin and Italian Art & Culture students who’re traveling to Italy in February, where they’ll spend ten days traveling up and down the peninsula.  Jason McKnight, Community’s Latin teacher, is leading the trip, along with art teacher Steve Coron.

The trip will be a culmination of months of preparation: “When we take off in February, it will mark sort of the end of about a year and a half of planning and work that Steve and I have both done,” said McKnight.

The group will be visiting many places such as Rome, Sorrento, Pompeii, the island of Capri, Florence, Orvieto, and Venice over the course of the break. But, having gone on many trips, McKnight has developed a few favorites. “I have to say two cities really stand out,” said McKnight. “I love Florence, and I love the Renaissance and how it’s right at your fingertips. And the last time I went, I fell in love with Rome. Our tour-guide is a native Roman and he showed [us] a lot of the hidden treasures and beauties of Rome.”

Aside from scheduled itinerary, students will have an opportunity in the afternoon to explore in small groups during their free time. Over the years, students have found unique ways to delve into the culture. “We had a group of students last time do as much hiking as they possibly could and so, three of our students hiked to the outside of Florence and made it to the top of a hill and sat on top of the hill and look down over the city took pictures,” he recalled. “[There’s] a lot of shopping.” Of course, there’s also the amazing food. “I know a couple of days I spent the entire afternoon eating, sampling as many local dishes as I could,” said McKnight.

Nora Dwyer, a CHS sophomore who’s going on the trip, agrees. A pescetarian, she noted that “Italy is actually the only place where I would regret not eating meat.”

Although very excited for the trip, McKnight acknowledged the trouble of taking a large group of highschoolers to a foreign country. “The sheer number of bodies together in a group makes simple things like crossing busy streets and fitting into small shops sometimes difficult,” he said. “But one thing about the country of Italy is they’re very accommodating, especially to large groups.” He noted that “practically speaking, you can survive in Italy not knowing any Italian at all.”

Dwyer agreed. “Italians especially use a lot of hand motions, so you can kind of guess what they mean, even if you don’t know what they’re saying.”
This will not actually be Dwyer’s first time going to Italy; she has visited the country a few times before. “I have family that live there,” she said, “My mom’s dad was born in Italy and he had 6-7 brothers and sisters … His wife still technically owns their original house in the town he’s from.”

The town, Fara Filiorum, was where Dwyer visited most, though she has been to Rome once or twice. She looks forward to going to Italy again. “I’ve always wanted to go to Pompeii, actually,” she said.

Most students, though, haven’t been to Italy. Mcknight said he enjoys watching their initial reaction. “I love watching the students see this stuff for the first time and watching their expressions and watching their faces and seeing the connections being made in their brains.”

“I try not to sell it as a Latin trip, because it’s definitely not a trip where we’re going to be practicing the language,” he noted. “But teaching a Latin course, so much of it is about culture and the influence of the Romans even on sort of what we do everyday. So to see that birthplace I think is a really important experience for my students and I really enjoy it.”

Preparing for the trip has been tough for McKnight, but he says it’s all worth it. “It’s a hefty trip to take on, but so far the rewards have outweighed the costs… As long as it keeps being as rewarding as it has been, we’re going to keep doing it.”