Author: Claire Callaway | Major: Interior Architecture & Desgin | Semester: Summer 2024
This picture was taken in Castel Gandolfo! It was my first visit to a place outside of Rome, and I was mesmerized by the views and amazing town
This summer I studied abroad in Rome, Italy for five weeks with the interior design program! I chose Rome because I wanted to experience the historic architecture and rich culture of the city. I had also seen many past students study abroad in Rome and had heard only amazing things. The interior architecture and design program at Arkansas requires us to study abroad, in order to enrich our learning experience. I am so grateful for that part of our curriculum because I might not have gotten the chance to study abroad otherwise!
It’s difficult to talk about every moment from my study abroad experience, because every second in Italy was so incredibly amazing and fulfilling- I can’t include it all! I took two classes at the Rome Center, both revolving around the architecture and design of everything in Rome. The first class was Modern and Contemporary Rome, which was split between lectures and walking tours of different neighborhoods around Rome. The main goal of the class was to learn how the city developed, from the time Italy came together as a country to present time.
My favorite assignment was our final project, where we were tasked with comparing and contrasting two of Rome’s neighborhoods in order to understand how two places within the same city could develop so differently. The other class I took was Design Tours, which was a collection of tours of different buildings, museums, churches, and historic sites throughout Rome. Every class day brought a new tour, focusing on different aspects of design, from materials to lighting to overall design composition. The Rome Center also arranged visits to touristy places that you can’t miss on your trip, like the Colosseum and Vatican Museums, for our group of interior design students. The architecture in Rome is drastically different from Fayetteville, so it was such an enriching academic experience to be able to examine and dissect design we haven’t been exposed to before.
My favorite part of my study abroad experience was traveling to different parts of Italy on the weekends, which was highly encouraged! My first weekend in Rome, my friends and I traveled to Castel Gandolfo, which is a small, peaceful town overlooking a lake. It’s around a 40 minute train ride outside of Rome which was the perfect distance for a day trip. We spent the day visiting the Pope’s retired summer home, shopping, eating seafood, and sitting on the beach. The next weekend, we had a field trip for the interior design group, so we all traveled together. We spent Friday in Orvieto and Saturday in Florence. Both were filled with amazing tours of churches, underground caves, museums, and more, but my favorite place out of the two was Orvieto. I had never heard of Orvieto before and was so surprised by how much I loved it.
The Duomo there was gorgeous, the town was so peaceful and quaint, and the people were so incredibly friendly. We visited a hog themed restaurant where visitors could sign their placemats to hang them on the wall, and we spotted a group from the University of Arkansas! After we ate amazing sandwiches, we signed a placemat and left ours right under theirs. The next weekend, we went on another field trip with the school, and we spent three days in Milan. Milan was another one of my absolute favorite places. The architecture was much more modern than any
other place we visited because it is a very urban city. Milan was also my favorite set of tours we had. We visited the Armani Silos, Triennale Milano (a design museum), Villa Necchi Campiglio, and we were able to climb to the top of the Duomo. The nightlife and community in Milan was also amazing to experience. If I was able to study abroad in another place, Milan would be my top choice! For our last weekend abroad, my friends and I went to Positano on the Amalfi Coast, which is definitely the most picturesque place we visited. We spent Friday shopping and exploring the town, and on Saturday we spent the day at a beach club! We had so much fun swimming, relaxing, eating good food, and finding cute souvenirs. Although the stairs were exhausting, it was an amazing place to visit and I would definitely do it again.
I will really miss the day-to-day life of a study abroad student in Rome. I was lucky that our program was very well balanced between class and giving us personal time. Our first class was Mondays and Wednesdays and the second class was Tuesdays and Thursdays which gave us three day weekends. Each day’s class was also only 3 hours long, so we had the rest of the day for ourselves to explore the city. My friends and I loved getting cappuccinos and croissants before class and aperitivo (which we should totally bring to the US) in the evening. We loved shopping around and walking throughout the city in our free time. We also loved making pasta together in our apartment. It was so nice to not have to go out for every meal, and we felt more at home being able to cook for ourselves.
The one piece of advice I would give to future study abroad students is to stay busy! If you have free time, don’t spend it all inside. Go out into the city and explore so you can absorb as much of the city and culture as you can! I had such an amazing experience in Rome and would do it again in a heartbeat. I’m already planning my next trip!