From 20-24 April, 15 students and staff from the Archaeology Department, departed for a four-day study tour of Rome, its monuments and museums. The first day of their trip coincided with Romes’ official birthday so, although many of the principle monuments were extremely crowded they were also free. In four days, the group managed to visit all the major and most of the minor architectural monuments of Roman history, along with the modern city's most important museums, and the Vatican. “In educational and academic terms, the trip appeared to be an undoubted success.” Dr. Julian Bennett of the Department of Archaeology said and continued; “This was a chance for the students, who have only heard and read of many of these monuments, to actually experience them first hand.” It was also a great success in a wider way, as the members of the group individually and collectively enjoyed “la dolce vita” in their precious spare time while considerably helping the Italian economy.
Ahmet Çağan, when asked about the trip had this to say. "It was an educational trip for me. I had a chance to see the actual examples of the monuments that we have studied in our courses. Before this trip, I had only seen the photographs of the sites from our books. This trip has allowed me torealize how the original buildings and monuments look and also it helped me to understand the importance of preserving historical buildings and artifacts.