SPU History Classes Explore Italy and Switzerland

Dr. Maria Americo’s HS-298 Living Ancient History joined forces with Dr. Lori Buza’s BL-495 Exploring Legal Concepts Overseas class to explore Italy & Switzerland over the spring break. Check out some of their amazing photos from abroad.

(Photo 1) Undeterred by having their original Athenean excursion postponed, the class still found a way to learn about the ancient Greeks at Le Musée Olympique (The Olympic Museum) in Lausanne, Switzerland! This museum is an official partner of the International Olympic Committee and part of the Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage, which seeks to exalt not only physical wellness and balancing of “body, will, and mind,” but to promote the education of culture, art, and history, with their participating nations. This philosophy of Olympism sounds pretty Ignatian!

(Photo 2) This photo of the whole group was taken in front of the snowy Swiss Alps; they had just crossed the border into Switzerland!

(Photo 3) Professor Sookram, Dr. Americo, Asthi, Nick, and Matt say cheese!

(Photo 4) And speaking of cheese… check out this cheese factory in Gruyères, Switzerland! The group spent the day in Gruyères sampling their famous cheese and drinking Swiss hot chocolate. Mmm!

(Photo 5) Popularized in America as a feature of 1970s house parties, fondue actually originated in Switzerland centuries ago. Fondue, which comes from the French for “to melt,” is a Swiss national dish of melted cheese (usually Gruyère) and wine, served in a communal pot over a portable stove. It is eaten by dipping pieces of bread into the cheese using long-stemmed forks.

(Photo 6) Although, unlike the cheese, the Alphorn was not created in Gruyères, our students found this circle of Alphorn players there. It is not known exactly how long the Alphorn has been in Switzerland or what it was originally used for, but this large instrument can make surprisingly beautiful music!

(Photo 7) Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) may have been born in a small town near Florence, and he may have traveled nearly everywhere throughout the Italian peninsula and even into France during his lifetime, but it is the city of Milan that claims the Renaissance Man as their son. It is during his 17 years in Milan that Leonardo was commissioned to create some of his most famous works including The Virgin of the Rocks and The Last Supper. Additionally, it was during this time that Leonardo submitted plans for a dome on Duomo di Milano, he drew sketches of a (very) large equestrian monument dedicated to Francesco Sforza which was never completed, and where he draw his famous artistic and scientific study of the human form the Vitruvian Man.

(Photo 8) Geneva, Switzerland is home of one of the four major offices of the United Nations (New York City, Vienna, and Nairobi are the other three). The main administrative offices are located here in the Palais des Nations, which was originally the home of the League of Nations from 1929-1938. Several special agencies, programs, and funds have their headquarters here in the Geneva Office, including the Conference on Disarmament, the Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the World Health Organization.

(Photo 9) In case you thought going abroad over spring break was all fun and games, we have photographic evidence that our students worked hard and continued to learn despite their jet-lag. Here we find our weary travelers stopping for a rest in the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Lausanne, Switzerland.