Immersion experience brings students in touch with history

By: Dustin Looney
Features Editor

Two short weeks ago, while most Monmouth College students were preparing to come back to school, 22 of Monmouth College’s finest were taking advantage of an amazing opportunity to immerse themselves in another culture. These students traveled to Athens, Greece from Jan. 9 through Jan. 15.

The students were accompanied by two Monmouth College professors, Cheryl Meeker and Tom Sienkewicz. The trip was immensely successful and the students enjoyed it greatly.

“It was an amazing experience, I would totally do it again,” sophomore Amanda Luedtke of Downers Grove, Ill. said. “I can’t describe what we saw over there…it’s so beautiful.”

In addition to the beautiful sights, the students were also lucky enough to enjoy a climate that featured 70 degree weather nearly every day.

Many students are hesitant to travel to other countries because they are worried about language barriers, but this was a non-factor for this group. Luedtke said many of the signs and even menus in Athens were written in English as well as Greek, and many locals spoke some English. She also noted that the locals greeted tourists with open arms.

The students had a schedule planned for them each day, and they would go to various museums and other historical sites in and around Athens.

Meeker, who is a professor of art, and Sienkewicz, Capron professor of Classics, served as guides for the students. Both professors have studied many of the places the group visited and contributed their own personal perspectives.

Among the locations visited on the trip were the Acropolis Museum, Athenian Agora, Mycenae, the Temple of Poseidon and Delphi (Shrine of Apollo).

After long days of soaking up the history and art at these world-renowned sites, the group would travel back to their hotel and the students would have the night free to do what they pleased and take advantage of modern Greek culture.

All Monmouth College students were allowed to apply to make this trip, but the majority of attendees were art or classics majors. Each student earned credit for this trip -- one credit if they kept a journal throughout the trip and two credits if they wrote an essay about their experiences.

Meeker said the trip went very well and the students all gained valuable knowledge from the experience.

“For art and Classics students, it really makes a difference if you can experience the art first-hand; if you can stand and see how the temple was planned,” Meeker said. “To stand on Delphi and to look down over those mountains in Greece was just an amazing experience for me and the students who have studied it. You study it and you see it and it’s just a whole different thing.”

The trip was such a success that Meeker and Sienkewicz are already planning to offer the opportunity again in January 2008.