I had originally made up my mind
that I would study abroad in Spain to utilize the Spanish I have been studying
since high school. When I first read about the Mathematical Beauty in Rome
program, however, I completely changed my plans within two days. I cannot
imagine passing up this opportunity.
Even old ladies were out until 3am.
The city was always awake. There are activities for all different moods, such
as enjoying live music, shopping in outdoor markets, sitting at a café and
sipping an espresso, rowing a boat on a lake with a soothing waterfall, or even
sitting in a local park and listening to animated storytellers entertain the
children (although, yes, you’d have no idea what they were saying… it’s still
fun to watch). Some weekdays I would get up and jog to and around the Vatican
before going to school. A typical weekend could include hopping on the metro,
panini in hand, to one of the most popular shopping streets and carving out a
path using one of your soon-to-be most-coveted phrases, “permesso” (excuse me).
 If you have even the smallest
interest in geometry then you will love the curriculum. To discover that such
epic structures were designed using only a compass and straight edge fosters a
new dimension of appreciation that I couldn’t have gotten from learning about
them in my humanities classes in the past.
This trip has enriched my life in
many ways in addition to the knowledge I have gained from class, as I have
experienced the excitement of Roman culture, made GREAT friends, and met not
only an excellent professor, but also a very approachable, friendly guy. Be
sure to ask Professor Pasquale to teach you how to play the Italian card game,
Scopa!
Elise is a senior at UCSD (Muir College) studying computer science. She participated in Math in Rome 08. |
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