“Realms of Gold:” WCC Senior Reflects on Summer Abroad with UD Program

“Much have I traveled in the realms of gold/ and many goodly states and kingdoms seen.” The vibrant blues of the Mediterranean Sea shimmered below me as I shouted these words over the roar of the water and wind. Beside me on the railing of the ship were two students from the University of Dallas (UD) and Dr. Susan Hanssen, a professor of history at UD. We were gazing over the water as the islands of Greece meandered by.

In the early morning, a few of us had woken up to see the shores of Ithaca only a few miles away. My heart had trembled as I considered that Odysseus himself had seen that same sight, and that the waters below me contained the bones of his companions—and those of so many ancient seafarers. In this moment, however, as we were captivated by the treacherous beauty of the sea and the refreshing spray of the waves, my mind wandered to less ominous considerations. Dr. Hanssen was asking me continually to repeat “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer” by John Keats, as she used the poem to draw out a lesson about the beautiful and the sublime. I was the only one who had the poem memorized, thanks to my freshman year Humanities class at Wyoming Catholic College (WCC).

A new and miraculous world had been opened to my mind in Lander, and now my weary feet and eyes were beholding it in the flesh. Before me were the palaces of emperors, the prisons of martyrs, and the bones of saints.

The three of them listened closely as I recited the poem, and I began to realize that as a WCC student, I had indeed traveled much in “realms of gold.” While this was my first trip to the Mediterranean and my first sight of Greece, the experience had a strange feeling of “home” to it. Later in the trip, as I stood overlooking Athens from the Acropolis or as I gazed in wonder at the Agora where Socrates held his dialogues, I had the same feeling. I had been here before. Not physically, but somehow spiritually—from a small classroom in Lander or from the light of passion and love I had seen in a professor’s eyes as they discussed Plato or Homer.

A few weeks later, I was one of only a few students who were willing to make the arduous 20-mile “Seven Churches” pilgrimage, which stops at each of the seven major basilicas in Rome. Towards the end of this journey, in the sweltering heat of an Italian summer day, we made a quick detour to the gravesite of John Keats in the Cemitero Acattolico. After peering through the wall at his gravestone, I was again called to recite “Chapman’s Homer,” this time with Dr. Andrew Moran (the director of the UD Rome Summer Program). The poem was yet again a testimony to the wondrous sights that we were seeing, and to my education at Wyoming Catholic, which allowed me to see such sights with the same “eagle eyes” as “stout Cortez” when he stared at the newfound Pacific. A new and miraculous world had been opened to my mind in Lander, and now my weary feet and eyes were beholding it in the flesh. Before me were the palaces of emperors, the prisons of martyrs, and the bones of saints.

Throughout my experience in Italy and Greece, while many other tourists and students spent their time exploring various bars and party locales, myself and Bren Whitten––another WCC student—spent most of our free time exploring churches and ancient ruins. We spent our time walking the same paths that the great souls behind the Great Books walked thousands of years ago. It was in those timeless places that we found our solace, and even though we were thousands of miles away from the familiar faces and scenes of Wyoming—we were home.

John Walsh (’24)