Daily Life

My new place in Florence was on the third floor in an apartment with four other guys, and it was a good experience. I think it contributed because we didn’t have microwaves and washers and dryers, so we had to do everything the Italian way.

A couple of my friends and I had been running in this amazing park just south of where I lived. As it turns out there was a 10k race. I decided the morning of [the race] to run it. It was really cool running throughout all of Florence. It started at Santa Croce, which is Michelangelo and Galileo are buried; it was crazy being surrounded by all of this.

Italian, Art, and Italian Art

I studied two semesters [of Italian] before I studied abroad, and I took my third semester over there. I feel like being there you learn so much more than being in a class because you just hear things and you ask questions about what words mean. It really just builds your vocabulary more.

I took oil painting, watercolor, and Renaissance art history class. The Renaissance art history class was defiantly my favorite art history class I’ve ever taken because you go somewhere every week to learn about the paintings your talking about as opposed to looking at pictures of them in textbooks. That was amazing for me. My art classes were cool, because I was taking art in Florence! I wouldn’t necessarily say they were harder or easier. It was a different way of teaching, which was nice. It helped me grow as an artist.

Stepping out of the Bubble

I learned about myself. You’re taken out of your little bubble of University. It’s easier to live in the States and not recalculate your life; when your abroad you get to ask questions like what I am I dong and what are my goals, and things like that. In general, it was great going abroad and getting to travel. Seeing all these things that you always here about. It was a very worthwhile experience. I [now] want to learn more about European cultures, Italian cultures, and just in general, working with different groups of people.