Students adventured around the globe this winter break, seeing sites in cities from Rome to Cuzco to Berlin.
INDS 214: Journey to Rome: Approaching and Exploring the Eternal City (Rome, Italy)
Isabella Lu ‘25 was drawn to the Rome trip because of its focus on art history and classics.
“I’m working on a thesis that’s basically a graphic novel based on ancient Roman culture,” she said. “So I really wanted to go on this trip because it would allow me to actually see ancient sites or artifacts in person from Italy.”
According to Lu, some days of the trip were more classics-focused and some more art history-focused. They visited sites including ancient Roman ruins and churches.
She noted that while on the trip, students were “always interacting with history.”
Lu said that the ruins of Ostia Antica in Rome were “one of the more memorable places” on the trip.
INDS 281: London and Dublin Theater (London, England, and Dublin, Ireland)
The trip to London and Dublin focuses on theater, allowing students to see 12 different productions across the trip, including the Park Theatre’s “Cyrano,” and the Ambassador Theatre’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”
“Theater is not something that, based on my schedule at Lafayette, I’d really be able to engage in with a lot, but I do love watching shows and performing arts,” Elise Trocker ‘26 said. “I wanted to be able to experience it and learn about it in a setting that was different than where I normally study.”
This trip started in Stratford-upon-Avon where students viewed shows from the Royal Shakespeare Company, according to Trocker. The group then spent most of the trip in London.
“We really were encouraged to make the most of our free time to experience everything that London had to offer us,” Trocker said.
Students also spent a few days in Dublin, Ireland.
“We did a literary pub crawl, since Dublin has a really rich theatrical and literary history,” Trocker said of the Dublin portion of the trip. The students’ time in Dublin also included visits to “neolithic burial site” Newgrange and the Abbey Theatre.
INDS 208: Exploring Peru’s Indigenous Populations in the Modern Day (Cuzco, Peru)
Indigenous culture and history were at the forefront of the experiences of students who traveled to Cuzco, Peru.
“The first few days were tours of Ollantaytambo, Machu Picchu, Chincero, of a few different towns,” said Sean Drahouzal ‘26, a student on the trip.
Drahouzal said that the trip’s accompanying classwork included cultural reading assignments and presentations highlighting the culture and indigenous people of Peru.
According to Drahouzal, another key element of the trip was the group’s volunteer work with local children.
“For around two weeks of the trip, we were working at a local kindergarten,” Drahouzal said.
INDS 279: Conflict in Eastern Europe: Past and Present (Krakow, Poland, Prague, Czech Republic and Berlin, Germany)
According to Olivia Naum ‘26, this trip took students to important sites in Eastern European cities to explore these sites’ history.
“It’s about how the history of that region is still present today and how people are still memorializing and understanding it in those specific cultures,” Naum said of the trip’s course.
Naum said that main topics of the course were World War II, the Holocaust and the influence of communism and the USSR.
“We went to a lot of museums, which was amazing, I was so happy about that,” Naum said. “I love museums, so to go to a museum in a different country was insane.”
Naum feels that the trip gave her a deeper appreciation for history as a whole.
“My biggest takeaway is how recent history is,” Naum said. “History repeats itself and it’s very recent and it continues to be a very present part of our present.”
GEOL 140: A Geologic Exploration of New Zealand’s Dynamic Landscape (New Zealand)
Catherine Carlton ‘28 went on the geology-based New Zealand trip, which took students to New Zealand’s North and South Islands.
“We were going to visit national parks and volcanoes, mountains,” Carlton said. “We hiked on Mount Taranaki, that was definitely a highlight.”
Carlton cited Queenstown as her favorite place she traveled while in New Zealand.
“We had a free day where we got to explore the area and talk to some of the locals, which was really exciting,” Carlton said of the place.
Carlton said that the group got to touch glacial ice on a glacier lake in Mount Cook National Park.
“I’m just really grateful for the opportunity,” Carlton said.
