My New “Rome”

Since coming home from Rome, I have been taking my courses online. This has been an odd phenomenon for me for a few reasons.

First, I have never been an online student before. I have always been one to learn from lectures, allowing me to interact with my classmates and professors. Zoom, the medium on which we have classes now, has proven to be an excellent resource for lectures and group projects. However, nothing compares to in- person learning.

Second, the courses that I am taking deal specifically with Rome; taking these courses from US soil proves to be difficult. This is specifically difficult for my on-site class, Christian Art and Architecture. Each week, my class would travel to a site in Rome to visit and evaluate famous pieces of art. My teacher would lecture on the significance, history, and meaning behind each piece. Obviously, visiting these sites is no longer an option for this class. Zoom is also not an option as the city of Rome is shut down and my teacher has no way of taping her lecture. This class will be the biggest struggle for me. As a medical major, I am not keen on artistic mediums and the hidden messages behind art. This is a skill that has never been asked of me before. The class was hard enough in person, and now, proves to be even harder remotely. However difficult it may be, Art class was the one class I was truly going to miss when leaving Rome. I got to visit places I never would have been able to visit including the catacombs, the excavations under Saint Peter’s Basilica, and the Vatican.

Third, adjusting to learning online is such short time proved to be a challenge. Online learning takes a lot of self teaching, patience, and time commitment. Attending an online lecture is just the first step. I have learned that online classes come with more work than in- person classes. I have experienced additional homework, projects, and participation to make up for lost time due to travel. As hard as this transition has been, I only have one more month of online learning until the semester comes to an end.