Twenty six FMU students spent three days in the “City of Brotherly Love” this month.

The students, all members of the Honors Program, left by charter bus for Philadelphia Wednesday, Nov. 17 and returned Sunday, Nov. 20.

English professor and Honors Coordinator Dr. Pamela Rooks organized this year’s Honors Trip to Philadelphia.

“It is for fun, although they ended up learning a great deal,” Rooks said.

While in Philadelphia, students had options of where they wanted to go. The eight faculty chaperones who traveled with the students took groups to places around the city that corresponded with their areas of specialty such as theatre, biology and political science.

This year the group went together to visit the Liberty Bell Pavilion, the National Constitution Center and the Independence National Historic Park Area.

While in Philadelphia, the group also saw protestors taking part in a recent movement “Occupy Philly.”

Giuliana Thomanek, an  exchange student from Germany who is studying at FMU, offered some remarks on her first time visiting Philadelphia.

“Philadelphia is like New York without the noise and the stress,” Thomanek said. “It’s such a beautiful place.”

Rooks, who has been on every Honors Trip since 1996, said that she looks forward to next year’s trip to Washington, D.C.

The Honors Program organizes a trip every year during the fall semester.

The destinations rotate between Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. and New York City. These three cities were chosen primarily for their historical aspects, cultural devices and accessibility.

The annual trip is open to full-time, degree-seeking, Honors-eligible students as well as international exchange students.