On Saturday, exactly 60 Antilles School students, parents and chaperones will head across the Atlantic for an educational tour of Italy beginning in Milan and traveling as far south as Pompeii. The evenly divided group of students and adults includes two art teachers, a humanities teacher and five Italian speakers.
Their eventful itinerary covers the major destinations; Rome, Venice, and Florence, but also includes stops in Verona, the legendary hometown of Romeo and Juliet and at least two gentlemen; Bologna, home to Europe's oldest university, founded in 1088 A.D.; the Tuscan town of Siena; and the religious center of Assisi.
"The trip will be packed with experiences that will broaden the worldview of students growing up on a small island," said Joan Amerling, the school's development director. Although the days won't be filled with educational lectures, students will have the opportunity to experience history and see art and architecture that they have only been able to view in textbooks, she said. The group will visit such fabled sites as St. Mark's Square in Venice, the Uffizi art gallery in Florence, and the Vatican.
"To prepare for the trip the students took a crash course in Italian and viewed some slides to whet their appetites," said humanities teacher Roger Lakins. Lakins, who will accompany the group, said he hopes students will want to try the Italian cuisine. "My only rule is that they don't have the same flavor of gelato twice!" he said.
For the past seven years, Antilles has planned educational travel to Europe during spring break. In previous years the school has planned trips to Spain, France and Greece.
For some students, paying for the trip is not a problem, but others work hard all year babysitting or working part-time jobs to be able to afford it. This year a record number of students and parents are participating.
