fhe Battalion
ar
IFESTYLES
13
fhursday, September 7,1989
The Battalion
\S
ummer of ’89
ggie students, professors
njoy studies far from home
lr.
A
By James A. Johnson
Of The Battalion Staff
1 As must happen with all good
■tings, summer vacation has come to
Hn end. While thousands of Texas
HmcM students and faculty members
Bsed their summer months either
Bor vacationing or for continuing
■heir college activities, 40 Aggies
Bombined the best of two worlds by
lltudying overseas as part of the
■Texas A&M Study Abroad program,
i Students eager to combine sun-
: shine with literary enrichment
Backed their passports and maroon
Bags to spend nearly six weeks in
Btaly under the leadership of two
B&M professors: Dr. Craig Kallen-
dorf, associate professor of English,
Tnd Ober Helman, professor of
modern and classical language.
I Kallendorf, who has traveled to
the country eight of the past 10
Bears, said there were several rea
sons for making the trip.
1 “Our primary goal was to learn as
Biuch as we possibly could about Eu
ropean culture, its language and life
style,” Kallendorf said,
p A part of the Texas A&M summer
Curriculum, the class lasted from
Blay 25 through July 5. The adven
ture was for students of any major
with a desire and adequate financial
I esources to study beyond the
ealms of Aggieland.
The summer experience exposed
■tudents to cultural diversity while
allowing them to gain college credit
in world literature.
E After a 20-hour plane flight, the
Bnxious Aggies arrived in Italy to
find the unique landscaping and an
cient architecture they had only read
jibout before the long-awaited arri-
fe Laura Monroe, an accounting ma-
lor from Houston, said 4hat compar
ing Italy’s culture tp^that of the
United States is like comparing night
to day.
i “Everything was set up so differ
ent than what we’re accustomed to,”
Monroe recalled. “Most buildings
and structures were at least 500
years old. It was a nice change in en
vironment.”
Devoting equal time to studying
and touring, the class spent the ses
sion in the Italian cities of Venice,
Naples and Castiglion Fiorentino (a
small city of 11,000 people located
on a train line between Rome and
Florence).
Two attractions which Kallendorf
said the students found especially in
triguing were the Leaning Tower of
Pisa and Vatican City.
“It (the tower) is so dramatic,”
Kallendorf said. “It appears to lean’
more when it’s seen in person.”
After leisure time ended and it
was time to resume studying, stu
dents had little difficulty finding
rare literary works to read. The stu
dents enhanced their appreciation
of such books by visiting places that
had some relation to the literary
works.
“We made it a point to visit sites
that were part of an author’s or po
et’s life, because it means more when
students can actually see such histor
ical settings,” Kallendorf said while
sorting through the various fliers
and souvenirs he saved from the
outing. “We chose books to read that
were associated with where we were
visiting.”
The group spent three days in
Rome where they viewed historic
sites, including the Vatican library.
The group also had the opportunity
to see original copies of books which
could not be found anywhere else.
When the students were ready for
a change of pace, they took breaks
from academic endeavors and dis
covered that Italians also find the
beach to be an inviting vacation site.
Monroe spoke enthusiastically
about Italy’s beaches.
“1 couldn’t get over how beautiful
the water was,” she said. “It was so
blue- I’ve been to Galveston, but it’s
just not quite the same.”
Costs for the entire expedition to
taled nearly $3,000 per student. Be
cause the course was part of the Ag
gie curriculum, students were
relieved to find that tuition was the
same as for regular A&M classes.
One cultural difference noticed
by the A&M students pertained to
Italian shopping habits. In Italy,
most businesses are open from 9
a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 4 p.m. until
8 p.m..
Department stores are scarce
since the cities rely on specialty
stores. Most stores specialized in sell
ing one product or one group of
products. Because individual shops
sold numerous kinds of specific
products, townspeople had a wide
variety of brands to choose from.
For example, cheese stores offered
mozarella, cheddar, provolone,
Swiss and even American cheeses.
Jodi Miller, a political science ma
jor from Huntsville, said food served
at the restaurants the group visited
was particularly good.
“I can’t remember any major com
plaints about any of the food we
had,” Miller said. “Their ice cream
was even better than ours.”
Monroe echoed Miller’s senti
ments.
“We must have had pasta two or
three times every day,” Monroe said.
“But we never got tired of it.”
Kallendorf said they were fortu
nate they took the trip when they did
because they learned that almost ev
ery business closes its doors for sum
mer vacation in late July and does
not reopen until after August.
“It’s quite possible you could
starve there in August,” he said.
While in Italy, the students lived
in a former boarding school. Kallen
dorf said the only complaint raised
by students concerned the absence
of locks on the doors, which lead to
some petty theft. But because there
is such little violent crime in Italy,
most of the students realized they
were safe, he said.
Kallendorf characterized Italians
as mild-mannered people who do
not have the stereotypical hot tem
pers many people attribute to them.
Kallendorf said he was touched by
the concern Italians expressed about
the unity of society beyond their own
country.
He cited the recent example of
how appalled many Italians were at
Photo by Scott D. Weaver
Dr. Craig Kallendorf, associate professor of English at A&M, holds a page from an authentic 15th century
Italian choir book. Under the Texas A&M Study Abroad program, Kallendorf accompanied A&M students to
Italy this summer.
the ongoing incidents in China. To
join in solidarity for China, some
Italians went so far as to rename one
of the town squares in Castiglion Fio
rentino after Tiananmen Square.
Miller also said that he found
many Italians to be relaxed and easy
going.
“They are much more laid back
than what I expected,” Miller said.
“Their businesses are less concerned
with competition than here.”
Cheryl Drummond, a business ad
ministration major from Plano, was
amused by the deep interest many
Italians expressed about Americans
and our culture.
Monroe said she has fond mem
ories of the experience.
“It’s the best time I’ve ever had,”
she said. “We had some problems,
but none that could possibly have
spoiled the trip.”
enya trip proves valuable for student
d
By Don Kopf
Of The Battalion Staff
, be if Tired of the same old summer with good of
study mom and dad? Sick of spending your summers
nsts.K' rorking at the local grocery store?
’ fislif So was Lori Jo Learned before she took a sum-
pner class/vacation to Kenya with the Texas A&M
||tudy Abroad program.
a ntl Learned, along with other A&M students, did
ducenlfnd saw all sorts of exciting things, ranging from
)nie eBlimbing Mount Kenya to watching ostriches
lltrut in a mating dance. Before going to Africa,
learned had to receive a number of vaccination
Shots to protect her against everything from ty-
ipov jphoid to yellow fever. She also was required to
;e Of take a one hour class to prepare her for the Afri-
iblisf |f |
deolofi
>nesf
can cultures she would encounter.
Learned said that when she arrived in Nairobi,
giraffes were running around right outside the
airport fences. As the group traveled by bus
through the countryside, many people were
amazed to see animals in the wild, she said.
At first, passengers scrambled about the bus,
attempting to photograph the animals. By the
end of the trip, however, the group was not sur-
f irised when an occasional elephant or zebra —
ree to wander across the fenceless savanna —
was spotted on the road.
“We got charged by a rhino on the road,” she
said, adding that the bus also was charged by an
elephant during another phase of the trip.
The group spent much of its time traveling,
but camped for one week on the savanna to study
wildlife.
“We were woken up one morning by lions
roaring at 6:30,” she said.
Elephants, giraffes and tigers were not the
only animals the group encountered on its trav
els. Every day when group members left their
camp, they had to tie their tents shut in order to
keep baboons from getting into them and dam
aging their gear.
“They would sit on the edge of camp and wait
for us to leave,” Learned said.
The group’s meals often consisted of goat
meat, peas and carrots, and every morning they
See Kenya/Page 16
‘Kolache Capital’ will
host 5th annual pastry
festival on Saturday
By James A. Johnson
Of The Battalion Staff
If you’re one of the more than
40,000 Aggies not quite ready to
end your summer vacation or de
vote every moment to studying,
then this Saturday’s Kolache Fes
tival in downtown Caldwell could
be the place for you.
After four successful years, the
daylong festival has become an
annual crowd-pleasing event, cel
ebrating the Czechoslovakian
heritage of Caldwell and the city’s
ethnic prominence.
After a 1985 kolache bake-off,
Caldwell city officials decided to
name an annual festival after the
See Koiache/Page 16
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Live Jazz • No Cover
Thursday: Don Pope & Greg Phelps
Friday: The Mady Kaye Trio
Saturday: The Mady Kaye Trio
9:30-12:30
Happy Hour I I a.m.-7 p.m
SEAFOOD & STEAKS
505 E. University • 846-5388