Taking photos of the Palazzo Pitti

Author: Bryant Xie | Major: Mathematics | Semester: Summer 2023

During the summer of 2023, I studied abroad in Florence, Italy, for three weeks under the SAI program. I chose this program primarily because it offered the students the most flexibility. In particular, I knew that while applying to study abroad programs, I was already dealing with a lot of travel anxiety, but I knew it would be a shame to completely forgo such an experience. For this reason and the fact that I wanted some free time over the summer to prepare for graduate school, I chose SAI because they offered comprehensive three-week programs. While in Italy, I took two courses: one in digital photography and one in Italian Renaissance architecture. I chose these two courses because underlying both is a strong foundation in the intuitive interpretation of different geometries in mathematics. Having such an intuition for the more geometrical aspects of mathematics was always something I struggled with, so I thought these courses would develop that intuition. For instance, while taking photos with solid compositional techniques, the photographer (whether he or she consciously knows it or not) needs to have a strong understanding of projective geometry, which is the process of taking a 3D space and projecting it onto a 2D plane (See my submitted photos for examples of my final portfolio). In architecture, understanding the way architects exploit different perspectives to achieve a desired effect in a building further develops the subtle differences between reality and how we interpret it. One of my favorite examples would be the fascinating illusion at the end of the Santa Maria at San Satiro. The church, designed by Bramante, had a T cross design that differed from the standard Latin cross design most churches exhibit due to the fact that the edge of the church was constructed along a road. To remedy this, Bramante cleverly paints a fake barrel ceiling at the top of the T design at just the perfect angle where someone walking into the church would think the end of the church is actually much deeper than it is in reality.

Overall, I really enjoyed both classes. There was always a perfect balance between learning the theory in lectures and then directly applying it on the streets of Florence. For photography, this meant exploring the city for unique angles of beautiful landscapes or being very observant of interesting interactions between people. For architecture, this meant going out directly to the churches, palazzos, and gardens we learned about in class and analyzing them on site. Indeed, both classes were structured so that the first half consisted of lectures and the second half consisted of some activity in Florence. This was a very pleasant difference from my typical classes at the University of Arkansas, as there were much more opportunities to immediately apply what was just taught in a way that also naturally immersed me in Italian culture.

Outside of academics, my most notable experiences in Florence involved the food and travel infrastructure. Likely to no one’s surprise, the pasta dishes and panini sandwiches in Italy were phenomenal. I think I ordered a different pasta dish every night, ranging from pesto ravioli to pici pasta with mushrooms and a boar sauce. Funnily enough, with the help of my roommates, I also found a fried chicken restaurant and a Chinese restaurant in Florence. The fried chicken restaurant beat any fried chicken I’ve eaten growing up in the south, and the Chinese restaurant served dumplings that were on par with dumplings I’ve eaten in China. These were hilarious surprises that became great breaks from Italian food. Traveling to Florence was another unique experience. The city is very walkable, and over my three weeks there, I averaged 12,000 steps a day. The sidewalks are very narrow, and the roads are pretty much always filled with pedestrians regardless. I could not imagine owning a car in Italy. All the drivers I observed traveled at an average speed of maybe 5–10 miles per hour and were almost universally 3–4 feet away from a pedestrian at all times.

My final work from my photography class.

I would highly recommend this program to any student interested in studying abroad in Italy. While I did the 3-week program, they do offer 6- and 12-week summer programs as well. Again, SAI is great for its flexibility. The program doesn’t place many restrictions on students when they are in Florence, either. In fact, they encourage students to take short weekend trips to neighboring cities or explore Florence however they like. One bit of advice I wish I had known beforehand is to make sure your cell phone works internationally. I purchased an e-sim card from a third-party website since it was cheaper, but the services were a bit unreliable. My biggest challenge was finding alternative ways to contact people when I couldn’t receive calls or text messages. My roommates and many other students used their US numbers internationally, which tends to work better, but depending on the provider (I have AT&T), your SIM card needs to have specific identifiers to work in Italy. Based on my research with AT&T, this is an issue in Europe that is unique to Italy.