Intersession is a week where students do not attend their classes, but learn and participate in activities on-campus or off-campus. It is a time of year students look forward to and some took the opportunity to travel the globe on the Bella Italia Intersession course and travel to Italy for ten days.
The trip was organized by Social Science Teacher Wendy Connolly and Counselor Christina Christenson. The sophomores, juniors and seniors traveled to Venice, Florence and Rome and saw everything these historic places had to offer.
Tigers started their international journey in Venice, where students got to explore Doge’s Palace, Saint Mark’s Basilica and numerous other historical sights. On the way to Florence, students stopped in the city of Padua to see the Basilica of Saint Anthony and the University of Padua, which was where famous astronomer and physicist Galileo Galilei taught. Upon arriving in Florence, students participated in non-stop activities.
Over two days, students visited the oldest pharmacy in the world, the Duomo, Roman Catholic Church; the David, a sculpture sculpted by Michelangelo between 1501 and 1504 that stands in the Academia Gallery of Florence and so much more.
In the middle of the trip, members of the course hopped on a bus and headed to Rome, and on the way there, students visited the wonderful City of Assisi and saw the Basilica of Saint Francis. After arriving in Rome for three days, they got a tour of the Colosseum and took a bus to Vatican City, where members of the trip got to see the Sistine Chapel and Saint Peter’s Basilica. Students also saw the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps and numerous other historical sights. This trip was filled with endless amounts of gelato and students got to taste some of the oldest gelaterias in the world.
“My favorite part was walking around with people and my friends,” described junior and attendee Sianna Kiebler. “Just getting to see civilian life and history and just enjoying the company of my friends was such an amazing experience.”
This trip also provided students the opportunity to build a community with others.
Senior Lucy Livingston, described how she grew in ways she would not have expected, “[As a senior,]I don’t necessarily work with sophomores that often or very much of the juniors, however, we grew together so much. Roaming with someone you don’t know very well bonds you in different ways that no other experience will.”
This trip was an unforgettable experience and students will cherish the memories they made on this trip for the rest of their lives.
