opening doors to the world… the lausanne way!

Dr. Julie Elb in front of the ParthenonOn the gallery level inside Hagia Sophia: (Back row, L to R) Louisa Perlberg ’10, Taylor Dargie ’10, BethanneKadien ’10, Carolyn Ashmun ’11, Josh Steiner ’10, Logan Scheidt ’10, Aaron van Alstine ’10; (Middle row)Hannah Law ’10, Emily Walker ’10, Rachel Dudash ’10, Elspeth Sweatman ’10; (Kneeling: Ian Fennesy ’10)A Once-in-a-Lifetime Adventure in Turkey & GreeceBy Julie Harper Elb, Ph.D., Lausanne Upper School History Department ChairUpcoming LausanneOverseas Study ProgramsIn March 2010, I had the pleasure of leading a group of 12 of my humanities students,with my colleague Jonas Holdeman, on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure to Turkey andGreece. As the crossroads of East and West and a city of well over 12 million,Istanbul took everyone’s breath away with its exotic sites, ancient city walls, freshlamb kebabs and the sounds of the Muslim call to prayer which rang five times dailyfrom every mosque in the city. One of the highlights of the trip was seeing Istanbul’scrown jewel, the 6 th century Byzantine church of Hagia Sophia, believed by theemperor Justinian to have surpassed all other architectural marvels in the world.We toured the Blue Mosque, visited the Topkapi palace complex, ate Turkish delightand drank every tea imaginable in the Spice Bazaar, studied in the archeologicalmuseum and shopped in the massive Grand Bazaar, which satisfied even our mostdedicated shoppers with its more than 4000 stores. On our last full day in the city,we enjoyed a day cruising up the Bosphorus to the mouth of the Black Sea, watching1400 years of history pass along both shores. It astonished all of us that the morethan 20-mile trip was all part of downtown Istanbul. We ended our cruise with alunch in the fishing village of Sariyer, overlooking the mouth of the Black Sea.After a short flight to Athens, we hiked the Acropolis to tour the Parthenon,desperately being renovated after centuries of alteration and abuse. We saw the newAcropolis museum, open less than a year. Its glass floors allow you the dizzyingexperience of walking and seeing all the way through to the excavations underneaththe building, even from three floors up! As our tour guide explained, there are toomany precious relics in the city to just clear land for new structures; they have to finda way to excavate and preserve while still moving forward. Because of potentialstrikes in the city, we revised our plan and traveled south to see the temple ofPoseidon at Sounion and had perhaps the most perfect weather of the whole trip.We spent the entire day outdoors exploring. In Greece, we took a day cruisethat took us to three smaller islands in the Mediterranean, one of which has nomotor vehicles of any kind and everything (even washing machines) must becarried by donkey.It was certainly a unique experience for all of us getting to compareEastern and Western culture in such a short time span and seeingeverything we’d studied in class come so vividly to life. The studentscame back brimming with excitement over having experiencedsomething we’d only ever talked about in the classroom. We cameback with new friends and experiences that we’ll never forget.Summer 2011Michelangelo, FranceStudents will learn en plein air painting inLoches, France, in the Tourainecountryside, with Kate Manzo, ourMichelangelo Project teacher. They will takeart classes in the morning and haveexcursions through the countryside in theafternoon. Participants gain one semesterfine arts class credit.French Immersion, FranceStudents will attend the St. Denis School inLoches, France to learn French. They willbe immersed in French language classes inthe morning and have excursions aroundthe Touraine countryside in the afternoon.Rising 9 th grade students will stay in thedormitory, while rising 10 th to 12 th gradestudents will stay with a host family.Spanish Immersion, SpainThis trip will take students to Madrid,Spain, where they will be immersed in theSpanish language through a collaborativeprogram with Suffolk University. This is foran immersion credit that will count towarda World Languages diploma.For more information about Lausanne’soverseas study program, contact StephenCampbell at scampbell@lausanneschool.com.14 L A U S A N N E s p r i n g 2 0 1 1 w w w . l a u s a n n e s c h o o l . c o m 15