Honors trip traces history of democracy

By Harold Bosstick, News editor

Over the mountainous terrain of Santorini, through ancient ruins of Delphi, among the cathedrals of the Vatican and across the wine-dark Mediterranean Sea, ISU students sought the origins and development of democracy during an honors program study abroad trip to Greece and Rome.

Marilyn Bisch, honors and classical studies professor, said that the trip was meant to supplement a class entitled "The Quest for Democracy"-which she co-taught with honors and political science professor Linda Maule and geography professor and the director of the honors program Greg Bierly-as well as act as another class in itself.

Bisch said the trip gave the students a chance to see the places they discussed during the class, where the Ancient Greeks and Romans began creating democracy, including the Acropolis and Parthenon in Athens, the ruined city of Delphi and the Vatican.

"It seems like everywhere we went…there was something straight out of our class," Bisch said.

Maule said the trip spanned 20 days from May to June: three days in Washington, D.C. exploring the Capitol, four days in Athens, four days on a cruise ship on the Mediterranean Sea, and seven days in Rome.

She said her portion of the class dealt mostly with the political aspect of the ancients and helped tie it into U.S. history.

Maule also said she, Bisch and the 17 students who went on the trip all experienced the surroundings, giving everyone a glimpse at the settings where the subjects of the two classes took place.

"For me, if anything stood out it was watching the students experience the Parthenon or Delphi or the Vatican," Maule said. "Since we live in a country that's history is only 200 years old, it's amazing to visit a country that's [history] is much longer. That is remarkable."

Bisch said both the spring semester class and the trip's class allowed for a variety of students-including political science and classical studies majors and others who had an interest in the subject-which is why both she and Maule co-taught the class.

"[Maule and I] had so many students in common, and they had an interest in Democracy," she said.

Kelly McKay, a senior English teaching major who attended the trip, said the student diversity allowed her and other students to teach each other on top of Bisch's and Maule's instruction.

"It was, like, coeducational," she said. "It was cool. We were all learning from each other."

Greg Bierly, professor of geography and director of the honors program, was originally slated to go on the trip as another professor, but decided to remain at ISU to help prepare the honors portion of New Student Orientation earlier this summer, as well as for family reasons.

He said his portion of the spring semester class focused on how "aspects of the landscape and the climate of the region influenced the development of the political systems there in just about every way possible."

Since this trip spanned nearly three weeks and included hotel, travel and food expenses, the trip was on the pricey side.

Bisch said the trip to Greece and Rome alone cost around $4,200, plus the cost of the stay in Washington, D.C. and spending cash, which came to around $6,000 total.

The students were helped with financial costs with study-abroad scholarships and fundraisers hosted at various Terre Haute restaurants, said Bierly.

McKay said, despite the aid, she still spent "more than $7,000" on the trip.

"It was worth it," she said.

Bisch said for the next trip she is planning, she wants to increase fundraising so that more students could afford to go.

Besides the educational aspect of the trip, some students enjoyed the experience of being in another country.

Cody Hedges, a sophomore science teaching major, went on the trip to experience a culture other than small-town American culture.

"I was interested to see how the rest of the world, or at least some of it, lived," he said. "I was raised in a small town so I didn't get to see much of what the lives of other peoples were really like; so I had to crack out of my shell somehow, and a trip out of the country seemed to be the best option."

Besides the educational and cultural experiences, some students just had fun on the trip.

McKay said she was able to take many pictures, with most of them turning out beautifully.

"You don't have to be a good photographer to take good pictures there," she said, referring to the beauty of the landscape.

McKay also said this trip was more enjoyable than the trip she and other students took to the same area with Bisch during ISU's Spring Break in 2008 because people were much nicer than the people she met during the previous trip, who she said were "standoffish and elitist."

"This time was like meeting old friends," she said. "Last time it was like being a stranger in a strange country."

Hedges said he made many friends with the many different people he met while on the trip.

"I now know, and am friends with, people in London, Australia, France and Canada," Hedges said. "Some call it networking; some say it's a good social skill. I say that I was just having a hell of a good time."