Author: Sydney Stewart | Major: Political Science & International Business | Semester: Summer 2024
A colorful historical parade in Florence to remember the beheading of one of their leaders.
I chose this summer to study abroad in Florence, Italy, because of my knowledge of study abroad benefits as well as my interest and proficiency in art. Having previously participated in a study abroad program, I knew of the positives study abroad has to offer and wanted to be able to experience them again through a program that could count for credit at my home University. I always loved art and believe it to be critical to any society, and since I needed to fulfill an art credit, I figured that doing it through an external program that could also teach me about another culture would grant twice the benefits! What sparked my interest in Florence was its
already established rich artistic history. Not only in what it holds in the museums, but in the culture and in the style of the city. It was the perfect place to study the styles of painting en plein air. I was absolutely grateful to have stayed there for 3 weeks, but I regret my decision not to do more.
The academic aspect of my journey abroad was more rigorous than I had anticipated but ended up being extremely rewarding. We practiced for 3 hours a day with at least 3 hour homework assignments to follow, overall spending 6-7 hours or more painting in a day. While it did take away from time to explore museums, the walks that we took to find painting inspiration showed me parts of the city that I could never find otherwise. While painting, our instructor would describe the history of the area, its lovely attributes, and how they applied to the painting
style. When I began this class, I was nearly appalled at the work that I was producing. Yet, by the end of the course, I was creating pieces quickly and efficiently using the techniques picked up in class. The lesson that stuck out most to me while being there was the lesson about selecting and framing. As a painter, I always thought that a painter’s job was similar to a camera, record reality as perfectly as you can. What my instructor was able to teach me was that once I was the painter, I became the controller of all that was around me and how it was perceived by those who saw my paintings. I could include or exclude as much as I wanted, as often as I wanted, as long as I
maintained my frame and my focus.
One of the moments that stood out the most to me was my first weekend trip outside of Florence. I had made some friends the day before class at a scavenger hunt and free dinner hosted by the program and we all decided to plan a trip to the Amalfi coast. We stayed overnight in Pompei and had planned to take public transport the next morning, but everything began to fall apart. Public transport ended up not being an option and we had to take a taxi. We had wanted to hike, but it started pouring down rain on us before we could reach the start. We had wanted to swim, but it was now 60 degrees outside, and the coast was close to miserable. When we found the only open sandwich place near the beginning of our hike, we collectively decided that our original plans just wouldn’t be feasible, and we should completely play it by ear. That ended up being one of the best weekends that we all had together because we stopped letting the things we could not control, control our trip. We found a small grotto to swim in where the water was calmer and a bit warmer. We went shopping around instead of hiking and
took lots of pictures on the beach with gelato and pizza. On top of that, we managed to make a new friend who was backpacking that would travel to meet us in Florence so that we could see each other again. This unplanned and frankly chaotic trip gave us so much more than I think a planned trip ever could. We learned more about each other’s strengths, weaknesses, and personality traits through all of the chaos, and it bonded us together for the rest of the trip.