When we headed to Rome from Athens, I had no idea what to expect. We learned that the ancient Athenians were trailblazers for every empire that followed while setting the groundwork for what global leadership looks like today. This left me questioning if Rome would leave me underwhelmed in the teachings it could offer. Although you can find great influences of Athens throughout the city, the Romans had their own lessons on display that led to an amazing trip.
Of my experience in Rome, the architecture was the most impressive and surprising part of my trip. I have never been in a city that was filled with such grand architecture, not to mention the fact that many of these pieces were built hundreds of years ago without modern technology. For starters, the St. Peter’s Basilica inside of the Vatican City left me speechless because of the mere size and attention to detail attached to every aspect of the church including statues and murals. This paired perfectly into what we learned about how powerful the Catholic Church is as a whole, and how it is a global leader of its own. This entity has around $5 billion in assets and holds political weight that can be seen through the Pope’s powerful influence in modern day Rome. This pushed me to realize that every important empire in our world’s history has possessed an undeniable and cohesive dedication to religion in order to reach, and keep, global dominance. This is an important connection to make to today’s United States because we live in a relatively godless country. Where there is religion, it isn’t followed closely, and the diverse split of different religions our citizens follow causes conflict and division in our own empire. To put this thought into perspective; over 80% of current day Athenians are Greek Orthodox, over 80% of Romans are Catholic, while the highest percentage of Americans that share the same religion are Protestants at 25%. When a leader is echoing the values of over 80% of their followers, the amount you can accomplish is astronomical compared to the division we see in America. Although I do not have the answers to this problem, it was the most important aspect of global leadership that I learned while in Rome.
It would be a crime not to mention the other impressive structures we had the opportunity to visit like the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. These areas were the earliest forms of sport that we see today when you turn on the TV to watch a NFL game. We also were lucky enough to attend an AS Roma soccer game which was one of the highlights of the trip even though it did not teach me much about global leadership. I also learned countless lessons about leadership styles through stories of the juggernauts of this era like Julius Caesar, Augustus, Marcus Aurelius, and Cleopatra. In conclusion, studying in Rome was an amazing experience and I can’t wait to visit again.
