Taking an entire football program overseas is a tremendous undertaking. You’ve got passports that have to be in order for the entire team, travel arrangements, itineraries for once you’re there to account for every minute, and all the equipment that needs to go overseas to ensure that you don’t miss a beat.

On WMVP-AM, Jim Harbaugh explained that they’ve spent the past nine months secretly planning for their groundbreaking spring trip to Rome, and they’ve got some really cool activities planned for the team during times that they’re not practicing

“I can’t wait, it’s going to be a tremendous educational and athletic experience where we’re connecting with people and all the things our guys are going to be doing over there are going to be amazing.

“We’re going to the Vatican, we’re going to visit the troops, we’re going to visit a Syrian refugee camp. We’re going to the opera. We’re going to the Colosseum.”

“We’re going to be in Europe, we’re going to travel as a team, it’s going to be so amazing and enlightening.”

Harbaugh shared that the trip to Italy has a personal feel to it as well, as his grandfather, Joe Cipiti, came to the US from Italy when he was just four years old, and added that Michigan’s outlook on education has been a huge help in making the trip possible.

“The world is our classroom. We could think of it that way and to have a university that supports that kind of perspective, and supports it financially, and supports the rationale of it, the idea of it. I credit the university. It’s an international mindset,” he shared, according to the Detroit Free Press.

“I’m proud to be associated. I can’t wait to go. I want to see the Colosseum again, I want to go to the Vatican, I want to see Pope Francis, I want to go to an opera. I wanrt to play football, I want to see what AC Roma is like. I want to meet people, I want to connect. It’s going to be great. I can’t imagine it getting any better.”

Read more from Harbaugh’s interview with WMVP-AM here.