USNA News Article

Midshipmen Share Travels in Italy

July 19, 2012

By Midshipman 1st Class Tim Keller

Four Naval Academy midshipmen traveled to Italy this summer on a faculty-led cultural immersion trip. Midshipman 1st Class Tim Keller shares his experience:

The goal of the program was to understand the importance of the Mediterranean Sea in a global context as well as to immerse ourselves in a new culture and gain appreciation and experience of a different style of living than that of our own.

To fulfill this objective, we traveled throughout Italy, starting in the northern area of Tuscany, visiting the cities of Florence, Siena, and Pisa. We started our trip with a tour of the Italian Naval Academy where we met the superintendent and saw the Italian midshipmen in their daily lives.

Throughout Tuscany we saw many buildings and were exposed to many traditions that date back centuries. We watched a parade march through the entire city of Pisa, with representatives from each district wearing traditional uniforms. After the parade, the northern districts battled the southern districts as they tried to push a large structure onto the opposing side. In Siena we watched each city represented by a saddle-less horse race on an uneven, and obscure shaped track in the center of town.

We also traveled to Venice, where we discussed the geopolitics of the Mediterranean Region at the Italian Navy Center for Strategic Studies and learned traditional Venetian rowing. After Venice we visited Rome and the Vatican. While in Rome, we visited the U.S. embassy and the headquarters of the Italian Navy.

We attended a meeting with the ambassador and his staff during which they explained current affairs with the surrounding countries and answered our questions regarding life as an American in a foreign country.

Following Rome, we traveled to Naples and visited the U.S. Navy’s 6th Fleet Headquarters and NATO Maritime Command Headquarters, taking time out to enjoy the island of Capri and the Amalfi Coast.

After Naples, we took a ferry ride to Sicily where we went underway on an Italian patrol vessel and observed a typical Search and Rescue mission. The trip culminated in a climb up the active volcano Mt. Etna and lunch overlooking a crater formed by an earlier eruption.

In the end, our trip was extremely successful as we learned the importance of the Mediterranean and the impact it has on the world's trade routes. We dove into the Italian culture for almost three weeks. As we prepare to become commissioned officers in less than a year, our interactions with both Italian and American officers on our trip has given us a new perspective on the world which we will use in our future.