Philosophy Professor Dr. Lawrence Hundersmarck, along with some of his former students, made a pitch to first-year honor college students to join him for his 13th annual Rome: The Eternal City travel course in Spring 2017 in Alumni Hall classroom Thursday night.

In the course, students are taken to Rome for three weeks where they will visit sites like the Coliseum, Florence, and Michelangelo’s Pieta. Hundersmarck describes the city of Rome as “the textbook” for the course.

“What I’ve noticed from this experience is that most students just fall in love with the material. Now it’s extraordinarily beautiful, it’s highly engaging, it’s delightful, it’s the richness of civilization. [That may be the difference between this and other courses] students are not tortured by the thought of ‘oh my god what am I going to do with this’, but rather ‘look what I’ve become because I’ve engaged in this,” Hundersmarck said.

Veterans of the trip explained how their lives were changed by this experience.

“I wanted to come back to Pace to share with students an experience that changed my life and shaped my years as a student,” alumnus Andreas Christou said.

Aside from exploring Rome students must complete 21 questions in short answer form during the spring semester, and reflect on those questions again once they are actually in Rome, as well as complete a 10-page paper stating what they learned about themselves over the course of the trip.

“Don’t be intimidated by the questions what-so-ever. The beauty is when you’re [in Rome] you are literally at the question, and Dr. Hundersmarck is explaining everything and you are seeing it in person, you can count the little details on the architecture or the painting,” alumna Julia St. Clair said.

Students who wish to take the course must register for both Religious Students 101 and Interdisciplinary 197G. The course counts as an Area of Knowledge II, an honor’s course –if taken by an honor student- and is a learning community course.

A limit of 30 students may register -15 from each of Pace’s campuses-. Hundersmarck then decides on 24 students based on his approval, while students who did not get approved will have a guaranteed place in next year’s course.

The estimated program fee is $5100; however, it is possible to request financial aid. Honor students are given $1000 towards a travel course. The Office of International Studies works with students who cannot make payment deadlines.

“Since you sign up for the spring semester, that money is part of your flat tuition rate,” Hundersmarck said. “The money you’re paying is that which you’re paying for a flight, an entire three weeks in the residence, an entire day trip to Florence back and forth on the bullet train, and two grand banquets.”

Alumnus George De Feis said that based on the stories he’s heard from his friends that the trip is “well worth the cost.”

“Money shouldn’t factor into this decision. It’s something you can’t experience by yourself. I can go to Rome later on when I feel like I can afford it, but it isn’t going to give me the same experience as what I would have had if I would have gone with Dr. Hundersmarck. It’s a tremendous learning experience from what I’ve heard and I wish I had tried to do it when I was in school,” De Feis said.