In awe of the Sainte Chapelle, Paris, France

Author: Victoria Best | Major: Architecture | Semester: Fall 2022

Studying abroad was nothing I had ever considered much before. I am a person of habit. I like for things to be familiar and stay the same. So, studying abroad just never really crossed my mind. But, luckily for me, my architecture program at the University of Arkansas requires it for graduation. It felt like an odd requirement at first. We had already studied so many of the buildings in Rome in our previous history classes, so I was not sure what more we would get out of being there… but I found out very quickly. A huge part of architecture is understanding scale and underlying organizations.

All something you can think you understand by studying plans and sections, but not something you truly get the full sense of until you are standing in front of a towering ancient Roman building. Being in person allows for a different level of analysis and observation of details and design methods that studying pictures does not cater to. And of course, being directed by professors who live their lives every day fully surrounded by that kind of architecture and culture gives a different perspective than a professor at home who has only studied them the same way as I have.

A lot of people talk about culture shock while studying abroad. But I think I experience architecture shock more. We started our semester by taking a four-week course called Architecture of the City. This course could not have been more impactful to me as a student, future me as an architect, and the overall experience of my time in Rome. This course taught us how to navigate the city, find our footing in this new place we were to call home, and fully immerse us in the educational benefits that studying architecture in person has to offer. We focused a lot on the connections throughout the city that integrate the architecture and the pedestrian seamlessly. This class was the perfect beginning to the semester of a lifetime.

Once feeling acquainted enough with this new home of ours, my friends and I began to venture outside of Rome and to places that seem pulled directly out of a fairy tale. I was truly in awe at every new place we went to. It is so hard for me to pick a favorite because each one was so different, almost incomparable to any other place. But while I cannot pick a favorite place, I do have a favorite experience. For as long as a can remember, my very favorite work of architecture is the Sainte Chapelle in Paris, France. Something about the stain glass, the intense saturation of colors, and the immaculate details throughout the whole building has always been all encompassing to me. The day I got to stand in the center of that cathedral is a day I will never forget. And likely an experience I never would’ve had without studying abroad.

So to those who may be like me, they love their home, and find comfort in familiarity, take the leap and do it anyways. I was not as uncomfortable as I would have thought. The majority of people I encountered while in Italy also spoke English, making it much easier to communicate as someone who is still very much in the process of learning Italian. They had incredible food (of course), deep culture, and obviously amazing architecture. They had everything I needed and so much more.