So It Begins

One of the reasons I wanted to study abroad was to get a change from my education classes.  This past year I did not take any courses outside of Peabody, and next year will be similar.  I love all of my classes, but I was definitely looking forward to exploring a different area of study.  This summer I am taking and introductory Italian language course, a course on Italian culture entitled Italian Cultural History, and a course in renaissance art and architecture.  My Italian Language course is very practical, I’ve already learned a lot.  Although I wish we had it more than twice a week. It is hard to learn a language in only a couple of weeks, but we are already learning a lot of vocabulary and grammar.  My Italian Culture course is challenging me to think differently about how you perceive culture, and I will have to describe the contents of this course in more detail in a later post.  Finally, my art history class is like getting a private tour of the different churches and museums around the city.  My professor is very intelligent and presents art history in the form of stories making it both entertaining and much easier to remember.  All of my art history classes except for test days are onsite so we can look at the actual painting/sculpture/building while we are hearing about it.  The picture above is of our professor, Peter, who guides us around the city on his bike.  I look forward to learning more about Florence and Italy through these classes and I believe they will definitely provide me with more insight into where I am living than if I were just visiting.