Southeastern Louisiana University - Rome Summer Study Abroad Program

18/11/2023

24/11/2022

We’re back!

28/04/2020

We couldn’t be happier or prouder! - “I am so excited to announce that after graduating Southeastern this May, I will be attending (if covid-19 allows me) Leuven University in Belgium for their History Masters program. I wanted to say a special thanks to Andrew Traver and Kurt Corbello for introducing me to the world of study abroad, and encouraging me to further my education. Belgium here I come!!!!!”

10/03/2020

Re: Cancelation of Southeastern - Rome 2020 Summer Study Abroad Program

Hi everyone!

It is with both disappointment and relief that I must inform you all of the decision by me and Dr. Andrew Traver to cancel our Southeastern - Rome 2020 Summer Study Abroad Program. We are not being forced into this decision by the University (Drs. John Crain and Tena Golding), nor by the Study Abroad Office (Dr. Lucia Harrison) or the Department of History and Political Science (Dr. Bill Robison), all of whom are always supportive of our study abroad efforts. This decision is entirely about making a prudent and timely response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its accompanying health problems and economic disruptions, both current and projected in a worse case scenario.

Right now, many tourist sites in Rome are deserted. Anyone who tells you that Rome will be fine for us to visit by June is engaging in wishful thinking, for at this time we do not know precisely how this disease will run its course. Time is not our friend right now, as decisions are approaching to pay vendors large chunks of non-refundable money. In your cases, that means non-refundable airline tickets and perhaps only partially refundable personal European travel arrangements.

By “worse case scenario” we are also referring to the growing possibility (or probability) of an economic downturn that stretches through the summer, or beyond. The dramatic and historic volatility in the stock market in the past few days, combined with plummeting prices in the oil market raise the specter of a deep recession that may affect all of our ability to pay our bills. You, or someone, worked hard for the money you would use to pay for this program, and any personal travel you engage in due to your participation in it. That money may very well be needed back home this summer. In addition, we do not want to become victims to bankruptcies by airlines, hotels, or other vendors.

It has been suggested that we look into trip cancellation insurance. However, the fine print on these policies leaves one with the impression that they are written to provide the insurer with the ability to deny coverage for which you thought you were paying. We would each be taking a risk that may leave us penniless in dire circumstances. Again, the focus has to be on the “worse case scenario.”

As a coordinator, I cannot escape viewing this event from the point of view of a parent, which I am. You are not simply students. You are loved by someone, as family. Neither I nor Dr. Traver are willing to keep travel plans to Rome intact just to say we went there again this summer. That is not our purpose. Our first concern must be with your safety from this disease.

Again, we are cancelling the trip to Rome. All of your payments toward the program fee are fully refundable. Dr. Lucia Harrison gives her full support to our decision, but give the Study Abroad Office a day or so to digest it. In addition, if our decision means that you will not be able to fulfill curriculum requirements in a way that is needed, Dr. Bill Robison will work with us on a case by case basis to help you with reasonable alternatives.

Finally, in our discussions this morning, Dr. Traver and I decided that we like you all so much that we hope you will join us for Southeastern - Rome 2021!” Plan on it, and help us recruit your friends and family, starting next August.

As aways, let us know of any questions or comments.

Missing you all already,
Dr. Kurt Corbello

19/11/2019

First Venice, now Florence!

Flooding situation critical across Tuscany.

03/11/2019

Now recruiting students for Southeastern - Rome 2020. 14 nights, up to six hours for credit or audit, fee of $3,095, and open to students or those ageless “students” who want a study abroad experience for once in their life. Don’t assume that it isn’t possible for you! Come on! Join Southeastern Louisiana University in Rome! Southeastern Louisiana University Study Abroad

27/08/2019

https://www.wantedinrome.com/news/neros-first-palace-opens-to-the-public-in-rome.html

The ruins of Emperor Nero's first palace, known as the Domus Transitoria, have opened to the public in Rome following a decade of restoration and structural works.

21/06/2019

We said our goodbyes tonight, at one of our favorite places, in business since the owner’s grandfather started it in 1928. I always love and appreciate the staff at Il Tempio di Minerva. As I said before, I love these students, and I miss them already. I am doubly appreciative of the hard work round the clock put in by my friend and colleague, Dr. Andrew Traver! Arrivederci, to all, and to Rome!

21/06/2019

Thanks to Jeremy Poole for having the foresight to take this photograph while most of us were walking through the beautiful park grounds of the Catacombs of San Callisto (Saint Callixtus). Most of the time I am behind the camera. The smile on my face is genuine! I love this group of students for our 2019 program in Rome, and Andrew Traver is an absolute workhorse! This program can survive without me, but it would die without him. Our program is one that requires work on all of our parts. We get by on foot and public transportation (most often hot and crowded), and we are guided by Drew’s excitement and encyclopedic mind for history, ancient and medieval. Each of these students is unique and autonomous, but with characteristic anxieties. I wish I had the body I had at 20, but not for “anything” would I trade my decades of knowledge through successes and failures for the anxieties and uncertainties of college-age adults! Our trips are built around some level of uncertainty, so that students learn by doing. Still, we try to let them know that we always “have their backs”, that we are always taking head-counts. Thanks to Allie Bennett, Karley Bordelon, Sydney Chauvin, Shemira Jefferson, Ryan Magee, Micah “Map Man” May, Hannah Ober, Kayla Parker, Jeremy “Why are you sleeping?” Poole, Ryker Rowe, Maeghan Staley, Alexis Waguespack, Shanon Waguespack, Brytanni Weems, and Cooper Wills for taking the risks inherent in traveling far from their individual comfort zones with people they did not know before hand. Tonight we will close the last night of our program with a meal at one of our very special places. Then, in the morning we will strike out on our own, most going home, others getting a little more European travel time in before having to fly back to the U.S.A.! More later tonight!

21/06/2019

The day after the tour of the Palatine and Forum, the group made its way to the Circus Maximus, the Temple of Hercules, and several other sites, before we all met up on the Tiber Island bordering the Jewish quarter and neighborhood of Trastevere. A couple of days before, this island in the Tiber was the meeting point of the Eating Italy in Trastevere Tour that I enjoyed with my sister Debbie Elmer, her husband Dan, and their sons Michael Elmer and Bryan Elmer, my nephews. With my group, we ate a fantastic meal on the Island, inside the restaurant Tiberino. You can eat take-out sandwiches, or you can go inside like we did, and have the good stuff. Then we passed the Circus Maximus again, on the way to St. Peter’s Basilica. I am in awe every time I walk into St. Peter’s. I walk through the door, see Michelangelo’s Pieta to the right, and every voice in me goes silent. Then there’s the trip up to the dome, and at the very top, the cupola. The heights at which you see inside and outside the dome of St. Peter’s are breathtaking, but no more so that when you walk up winding, claustrophobia-inducing, stairs around the inside of the dome to the cupola at THE VERY TOP OF SAINT PETER’S BASILICA! This climb is better when you forget how hard it was when you did it the previous year, yet gratifying when you reach the top, not to mention when you see people younger than you having a hard time completing the journey. Once you are on the roof of the basilica, you are overwhelmed at the views from the top, but you are gratified to still be alive. This climb is NOT for the faint of heart, but there is no shame in turning back, except that at a certain point you can’t!