Andrew's Mediterranean Story

Andrew taking notes with kitty cat in Venice, Italy

I would not have been able to participate in the ECHT program without the assistance of the Fenz scholarship. The scholarship essentially paid for my plane ticket and got me there. Allowing me to have all the fine cuisine I had dreamed about the months leading up to the trip, I had the opportunity to get lost, stuff myself with gyros, wine, pasta, pizza and espresso without having too much worry.

Andrew's captured sunset view of the Arno River, Florence, Italy

The full impact of my trip did not hit me until I came back to find familiar places alien. I felt new in them. The figurative stripes I was accustomed to seeing were joined by new polka I discovered while hopping from hostel to hostel. Coming home was an intense challenge because I felt at home abroad, the jumping from spot to spot was part of the schedule just not life happenstance; I wasn’t doing it alone. Each city offered excitement and a new host of people. Ranging from kind local fruit venders or a street musician playing “Knocking on Heavens Door” with an Italian accent. New cities to become absorbed in…to desperately attempt to record by drawing, writing and photographs, trying to capture the whole scene down the to sea salt in the air and the scummy gyro wrapper making its song in the gutter.

Venetian canals as observed by Andrew

I came to know myself better standing in the canals of Venice. The wonderful labyrinth of canals at night, bloated with shimmering black paint. Each niche of the city full of its own awe inspiring details: the juxtaposition of decaying buildings with graffiti to ones with fresh paint and scaffolding.

I pushed myself on the trip. In Delphi I was supposed to join the rest of the students on a mountain climbing exhibition and I lost them. I got all turned around and after being chased by some dogs I stumbled onto a scorched hill that started me up the mountain. I had no water; I figured I would meet up with the group at any moment. I climbed up a crumbling staircase carved into the mountainside. After two hours I reached the top keeping a tongue and cheek survival journal along the way. Here’s an excerpt: “It’s been two hours since I’ve seen any one from the group. The sun is murderous and these ancient steps seem like they’ll never end.” I was being a bit dramatic and was having fun with it.

Lost in Delphi, Greece

I went way past the other group and found myself in front of a ranch. I was so thirsty. I walked to the door and saw a large tree stump with a handmade meat cleaver stuck in the hard wood. A nearby shed door creaked and slammed shut in campy horror film fashion. I knocked on the door, “Yahsu?” No one answered. I wandered next store and found myself in the midst of a pack of screaming boar. The owner of the house appeared at this point in a Jeep wrangler and questioned me. I accepted that I may well die in that moment. Instead he told me water was 500 meters away. After some wandering I found myself in the middle of a field where a fountain shot the sexiest water I’ve ever seen into the air.

Michelangelo's David, Florence, Italy

Learning art and history onsite was one of the most wonderful aspects of the trip. Structures, art and people I’d read about in books for years, were now in front of me. Stories I had heard now had a real setting. I can remember seeing the assassination site of Caesar. These moments are the equivalent of finding out all the fairy tales you heard as children were true. When it came to surrealist art we went to Peggy Guggenheim’s home in Venice, received lecture in front of original paintings by the modern masters. When it came time for Renaissance art we stood in front of the David, we walked around it; there was no photograph to limit our experience. Each of your senses is stimulated. It’s more than just seeing the piece of art, you walk through the city and soak in the culture gaining pieces of the artist’s life and then you see the work. Time stops mattering and there are moments when one is transported back and we forget ourselves. Whether it be standing in a Medici garden or studying the Acropolis’s unique architecture, you are there. The dirt is sticking to your shoes and you nothing if not overwhelmed. All of my classes have been enriched, the world is larger now and much more detailed than I ever imagined.

Caryatids, Erectheion at the Acropolis, Athens, Greece

There are so many more adventures to tell, so many other moments to account for. I’ve barely scratched the surface of some 35 days of travel. All I can tell you is that if you’re reading this and considering traveling, go. Go now before you have too much responsibility. Push off getting a car if you have to. Graduate a semester later. Do it for yourself because the memories and moments you experience will stick in your mind forever.

~Andrew Stevens, Dr. Fenz scholarship recipient, 2008 Mediterranean Cultural History Tour