Diary of a World Traveler

Name: Leigh Anne Lieberman

Year: Class of 2006

Hometown: Delray Beach, Florida

Major: B.A. / M.A. Classics, minor in Mathematics

Favorite Hopkins Extracurricular: Barnstormers!  I was on The Barnstormers' Executive Board for two years as a producing Vice President.  We're the largest and arguably the most enthusiastic student group on campus.  Check out one of our many showcases every school year!******************************************************************************************************************

I've been in Baltimore for over a week now after five months abroad and I'm still not finished unpacking my room!  Being a world traveler has its perks - you can definitely get away with living out of a suitcase for an extended period of time.  But, trying to settle back into life here at Hopkins is just another adventure that I'm excited to take on. 

Last spring, I was awarded a Provost's Undergraduate Research Award to study the connection between Ancient Greek religious practices and modern theater.  I was able to go to a lot of fun places with the grant from the university - I spent some time up at the ancient archeology collections at Harvard and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and at the Metropolitan in New York.  I also spent a lot of time in the theatre, working on and watching plays both here in Baltimore and in New York.  At the end of the summer, I actually moved my research to Athens, Greece where I was focusing specifically on the Theater of Dionysus on the Acropolis.  Three weeks to explore the city and the sites!  The Award itself allowed met to combine two of my favorite interests, theatre and classical traditions, but I was actually really intimidated by the entire project.    I didn't speak any modern Greek upon arriving in Athens and I only knew one person who would be in the city with me.  Left to my own devices, I was able not only to get a lot of work done for my project, but also to explore the city I'd been learning about for so many years inside a classroom.  I'm presenting my project to my department at the end of the semester, and I'm also going to be able to actually stage an Ancient Greek play, Euripides Cyclops, that I translated during the fall.  I was really lucky to have the opportunity to research things that not many undergraduates even consider to be research-able!

Although I was sad to leave Athens, I had Italy waiting for me!  In the fall, I studied at the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome. Thirty-four Classics students from all around the country picked to live in Il Centro - studying, eating, playing together. Oh the wild times that would ensue!  One of my favorite places in the city was the Ancient Forum.   After my semester in Rome, I could tell you the name and significance of any and every building in the Forum.  We spent at least one day a week with class in the Ancient Forum, walking around with our special academic permissions to get into certain areas that the general public could not enter.  I found it amazing how much of the Forum was still preserved and how the medieval and modern elements were built right into the ancient structures.

One of my favorite trips in the city was to the Largo Argentina.  The four temples that are now relatively well preserved have really left archaeologists at a loss - these structures are very hard to date and it is difficult to identify their appropriate function.  Today, the area stands as the large center of a busy public area.  It's completely closed off to the public, but our group was able to obtain special permission to go inside. The area is also famous for being the home of a Cat Sanctuary.  Hundreds of stray cats make their home in the ruins, strolling along the ancient structures and taking naps in the tall grass nearby. Technically, you're not supposed to touch the cats - they are strays, after all - but some of them were just too cute to resist, so risks had to be taken.

We also traveled all around Italy - we spent a week in Sicily and a week in Campania (southern Italy) on site all... day... long.  It got to be tiresome at times, but what an experience!  My favorite sites in Campania were those that were destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.   Herculaneum, had been covered with pyroclastic mud when the eruption occurred, while Pompei was covered in ash from the blast.   Both cities provide evidence for a sort of "Day in Life" view of what things were like for the citizens in Campania. One of the books I bought in Campania, How To Eat Like A Roman Emperor, provides all the recipes for dishes found in Pompei when excavations began.  I'm really excited to be able to cook an all out regal meal for my friends here in Baltimore!

I had a fabulous time studying abroad - you just can't match the experiences I'd had and the friends that I'd made during my time in Europe.  With second semester quickly approaching, I'm looking forward to finishing up my undergraduate career here at Hopkins.  I definitely missed Baltimore, and my time abroad only made my heart grow fonder for the eccentricities of Charles Village.