In three days I am taking

[severian]

40 college photo students to Rome. Your advice to me is........

Severian, Autarch of Urth, Journeyman in the Society of the Seekers of Truth and Penitence
Jack B

 

[Pinholemaster]

Learn how to herd cats very quickly.

Have fun. Good luck. A friend just did the same thing in January.

Dead Link Removed

 

[copake_ham]

40 college photo students to Rome. Your advice to me is........

Severian, Autarch of Urth, Journeyman in the Society of the Seekers of Truth and Penitence
Jack B

Simple.

1) Make sure you have duly executed "at your own risk" waivers.

2) The vast majority of them will be shooting digi and many will max out their media. Bring a laptop with a couple of outboard 100GB HDs to store their pics on.

3) Since at least one of them will lose their passport - send an e-mail now to the US Embassy in Rome with your arrival date, places you'll be staying at and visiting and a roster of the travellers.

 

[David Brown]

When in doubt, eat it.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Having studied abroad as an undergraduate, taking students abroad is one of the duties of academia that I've left to my colleagues who have more fortitude for such things.

 

[Jim McD]

Drink heavily

 

[haris]

Don't do it

 

[Bob F.]

Break them into smaller groups of 4 - 6 and arrange assignments so they do not all turn up at the same location at the same time...

They are college students and so presumably are all, nominally, adults. Make sure they have maps and change, have a piece of paper with their hotel address on. Give them their assignments, tell them to get on with it and then go do your own thing until it's time to meet up back at the hotel or wherever.

Can't help with locations as I've never been to Roma...

Most importantly, have fun! Bob.

 

[Ole]

Tell them that if they see something nice in a window, with no price tag, they can't afford it. The are around the Spanish Steps is the worst. I almost went in to look at a very nice suit before I realised why there was no price label in the window: The bottom left corner of the window itself had tiny little gold letters saying "Versace"...

 

[Sirius Glass]

When in doubt, eat it.

Yes, but just eat it; do not ask what it is made from!

Steve

 

[blaze-on]

Xanax

 

[BradS]

Remind the students again about the pickpockets. None of them believed you the first time. Nor could they comprehend it. Remind them again as it is happening.

Yes, at least one in the group will loose or leave behind a passport. Contacting the embassy in advance is a very good idea.

Imodium AD is the traveller's friend. Everybody in the group should bring some. Aspirin, bandaids and tripple antibiotic ointment too.

Change your socks every time you stop (wouldn't that be funny??!?!).

Relax, relax, relax...relax and enjoy the trip.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

People, this is Italy, not Cambodia! There is virtually nothing on the menu that they haven't encountered already at home, albeit in highly adulterated form. No need to fear the food, or not ask what it is made of. Three times on the passport advice. Tell all the boys to carry their wallets in their front pockets, regardless of how uncomfortable/dorky this may seem to them - it has worked as a 100% pickpocket deterrent for me in 20+ years of international travel. Girls, well... they will carry purses, and not keep wallets in pants pockets no matter what you tell them. Ask them to NOT bring large purses with them, as it makes them more of a target. When walking on a sidewalk, keep the purse/bag/etc on the sidewalk side of your body, not the street side, to prevent thieves on Vespas from snagging it off the shoulder as they speed by. Also watch out for someone who "accidentally" spills something on you. There will be an accomplice at a nearby shop/cafe/etc who will offer to help clean your stained garment. In the process, your bag will be lifted. Oh, and one last one, ignore begging children. Don't let them surround you. Most likely they are part of an organized panhandling/pickpocketing gang.

 

[Ole]

There is virtually nothing on the menu that they haven't encountered already at home, albeit in highly adulterated form.

Except possibly the "carpaccio di cavallo". Highly recommended, by the way - can be absolutely delicious.

I had one strange experience in Roma; I overheard an American couple complaining about the pizza. I just wasn't like they made them back home...

Earlier the same day a different American couple demonstrated a certain "lack of tact" on the roof of St. Peter's Church: My cellphone (which I'd forgotten I had with me) rang, and it turned out to be a large order for the studio backgrounds I was importing to Norway at the time. But I couldn't help noticing the backgroud comments (in mid-western accent): "G*dd*mn Eytalians - even here on the roof of St. Peters they're takin' orders for drugs!"

 

[copake_ham]

.....

Earlier the same day a different American couple demonstrated a certain "lack of tact" on the roof of St. Peter's Church: My cellphone (which I'd forgotten I had with me) rang, and it turned out to be a large order for the studio backgrounds I was importing to Norway at the time. But I couldn't help noticing the backgroud comments (in mid-western accent): "G*dd*mn Eytalians - even here on the roof of St. Peters they're takin' orders for drugs!"

Ole,

I'd like to think you were exaggerating but don't think so as just this past Sunday I overheard a couple of patrons in the diner where we were having breakfast refer to the "war in Eye-rack"!

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I tend to think and would like to believe that the college students who would go to a place that has carpaccio de cavallo on the menu would A: be able to figure that one out on their own, and B: be the adventurous types willing to try it anyway. More than likely, that will be out of their budget (knowing the prices in Italian restaurants and college students budgets). They will sadly stick to the touristy food venues proximate to the sights on their trip, and get mediocre, watered-down Italian food that is far too much like the crap they would get at a strip mall here in the US.

Ole- you should have turned to that midwestern couple and said something to let them know they were caught with their pants down so to speak. I love it when ugly americans get their comeuppance overseas when someone understands what they said and responds back. For that matter, I love doing it to Spanish speakers who think I don't understand what they're saying. Latinos turn a lovely shade of red when you surprise them .

 

[David Brown]

When in doubt, eat it.

Yes, but just eat it; do not ask what it is made from!

People, this is Italy, not Cambodia! There is virtually nothing on the menu that they haven't encountered already at home, albeit in highly adulterated form. No need to fear the food, or not ask what it is made of. ...

Well, that's really what I was getting at. When I visited Italy years ago with a group, "When in doubt, eat it." was the last piece of advice we were given at the airport by the tour organizer. She was absolutely right!

Severian: Have fun. Just use a little common sense. Rome is one of the more civilized places in the world; thieves and American tourists notwithstanding. :rolleyes:

 

[ijsbeer]

drink espresso, capucinno, caffe latte, double espresso, ristretto and coffee.
in Rome Coffee is the best you can wish for.

 

[copake_ham]

Damn! Don't you wish you were a college kid again and doing this trip - 'cept knowing all that you now know?

It's true, "youth IS wasted on the young"!