20 " It was wort h a ll the money I pu t into it. I wish I could somehow desc ribe how good it is..." "The sad pa rt about it is that yo u j ust have to go so fast. .. t here's not t ime to stay and enjoy it. . . " T hese were some comment s made by typ ical Hard ing students. But for t hem , Ha rding was very d if ferent because it was situated in the ancient cit y o f Florence, Italy. In the summer of 1979, President Gan us wen t to Florence to exami ne t he poss ibi li ty of beginning an In ternat ional Studies Program . His stay was br ief, but Florence was invi ting and t he idea was appealing. In May of 1980, Dr. Ganus returned to Florence to aid in preparations for the fa ll opening of Hardi ng Unive rsity in Flo rence. UPOIl' his arr iva l, Dr. Ga nu s was met by Dr. Don Shac kelford , d irector of the International Studies Program, who was in It a ly wit h campaigners. The two were j oined by G ianfra nco Sc iolti , the Italian churc h membe r who acted as t he program ' s admi ni stra tor Harding in Florence - Courtesy ofPublicity Offier Doorway into tomorrow; A step toward International Education and It a li an governmen t a nd business liason, in addition to teaching the It a lian language to Harding st udents. Sciolt i was also in - st rumental in secur ing the bui lding which served as the branch school. Located o n the bo rder o f Florence and Scandicci, the school was a fo rmer apar tme nt comp lex, now owned by t he church in Scandicci. The build ing was used for several years to house young Ita lian Christ ians as they studie·d the Bi ble and fi nished schoo l. T he faci li ty comfortab ly housed thirty, a nd t he It a li an student s, who were very few in numbe r , left much space unoccup ied. The bui lding was three blocks from a bus sta tion, whic h in turn was on ly fiftee n mi nutes from downt own Flo rence. " It aly has a very good publ ic tra nsit system," o bserved Ganu s. "Students bought bus passes one mont h at a time which was very econom ical." Hour ly tra ins and buses a llowed stude nts to do much inde penden t tou ring, and t here was much to see. For examp le t here are fortytwo art ga ller ies in Florence alone. Several sight --seei ng trips were planned each semester for t he ent ire group of Florence students. In the fall of 1980, they t , aveled by train and boat t hro ugh the route the apost le Pau l traveled on hi s second miss ionary journey. Gan us made the tou r himsel f d uring hi s two-week stay abroad. " I think it was a wonde rful exper ience for t hose who understood Paul' s journeys and accompli shment s in Greece," said Ganus. Nineteen studen t s. rankin g from fresh man to graduate level, atte nded Ha rding in Florence in the fall of 1980. Each class was related to the It alian environment; Dr. Ga ry Ell iott taught huma nities, Dr. Shackel ford supe rv ised stud ies in t he Biblical world and arc haelogy, and al so in the life and writi ngs of Paul. Gianfranco Sciotti taught the st udent s the It alian language. Up 10 eighteen hours coul d be earned. with the cost roughl y eq ual ing t hat of one year o n the Searcy campus. The group flew to Amsterdam fir st, where they stayed for two days before boa rdi ng a train which took them o n a magnificent journey thro ugh the Swi ss Alps, en route to Flo rence. Upon arrival at the Bible Schoo l, the group wa s , accor d i n g to D r . Shacke lfo rd, "pleasant ly surprised to find how nice eve ryt hing is here at t he schoo l. .. The school had a fres h coat of pa in t inside, a ll of the beds were made and ready for the weary travell ers; a hot mea l had been prepared, hot showers were ready. . " The day afler arr iving the group wen t sight-see ing around t he city. They a lso received t heir Eurai l pass (in - duded in t he cost of t he trip) wh ich enabled them to go al most anywhere on the Continent. Thus, afte r a four -day week, individ ual student s we re free to take a trai n 10 any coun try t hey desired for a three-day weekend. Although plan:.. te ntatively ca ll - ed for a three-year tr ial per iod , in - it ia l response seemed to be hi ghl y favorable for st udents who wished to study in a Christi an environment, bur also in historic and cu llural :.. urrouIH.ling... .
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