Being Abroad by Patricia Booser
I have a vibrant love for captivating pieces of artwork, delicious treats and coffees, beautiful architecture and landscapes, and leather boots and purses, so it’s no wonder why I choose Florence, Italy to spend four months studying abroad. Though almost every day I got to indulge in at least one of these loves of mine, my experiences abroad were so much more enriching with memories and experiences that I will treasure even longer than my new pair of authentic Italian boots.
Living Abroad
Florence is the most amazing city in the world! Okay, I may still be on my study-abroad high, but I truly love that beautiful Italian city! I am so lucky to be able to close my eyes and walk my mind to my favorite sandwich or gelato shop or my favorite piazza with the best view in the city. I hope I never forget the smells of pastry shops and leather factories, the sights of villas in the distant hills and the artwork that covered the walkways, and the feelings of my own renaissance happening as I continually walked those streets I now so clearly remember. I remember a day when I was walking home from class an Italian woman stopped me on the street to ask for directions. That was the day I felt at home and as much as I felt like I fit in the crowd, I knew this place would always stand out to me forever.
Eating Abroad
I was in Italy, so how could I not talk about the food?! I do not know if I ever had a pasta dish, sandwich, or scope of gelato I did not love. It was all incredible, just as I dreamed and just as you suspected. They had such a talent for simplistic perfection! The food prepared in the family owned and operated ristorante most likely came from the fresh street markets, was thoughtfully handled (maybe even sang to), served as part of a three hour five course meal paired with the finest Chianti wine in the world, and enjoyed around loud, lively conversations with friends.
Studying Abroad
Art and langue-culture classes in Italy added tremendously to my experience abroad. I was learning to speak the sultry language in the classroom, walked outside and understand the conversations on the streets (and even sometimes tried to add to them). But my favorite courses
were the courses I took in art history, drawing and creativity. I studied during the day and then saw the works we had been discussing and created works of my own. I have always loved art but never had I been moved to tears when standing in front of a work by an artist I truly admire. My professors, being quite typical Italians, poured their hearts into what they taught us and helped revive my passion for art. I ended up creating a video art piece that summed up a lot of my experience throughout my time there. It was a video of a self portrait drawing, inspired by one of my favorite sculptures in Florence, being created, and interspersed with a video of the sun rising over the city of Florence. It told of the growth that occurred while hope and change was poured in through my enlightening experience while living there.
Traveling Abroad
Though I loved staying in Florence and exploring my home city, I got to travel out of the city, and out of the country to places I had always dreamed of visiting and those which I thought only existed in my dreams. I did as the Romans do when I was in Rome, I wore a beret and ate crepes in Paris, I signed the John Lennon wall in Prague, I ate sausages in Germany, I strolled through the Christmas Markets in Vienna, and I hopped on trains to Italian villages and vineyards. I know that may sound like quite the traveling resume boaster, but to me it was showering blessings that will forever be cherished and will continue to attribute to my personal growth and widening outlook on the world.
Missing Abroad
Though being back on campus has been great, I do miss my mornings of cappuccinos, days of enriching classes, afternoons of museums, and nights of long incredible meals. I have yet found things that taste, or smell the same as they did in Italy, but I often see and feel my experience abroad continually inspiring adventure and growth in my life. I miss the Italians love of life and concept of beauty. I will always remember how they were never afraid to call something “perfecto!” whether it be a painting or a pasta dish. I think if an Italian knew how I felt about my experience abroad they would kiss their fingers and say, “Perfecto!”
I have a vibrant love for captivating pieces of artwork, delicious treats and coffees, beautiful architecture and landscapes, and leather boots and purses, so it’s no wonder why I choose Florence, Italy to spend four months studying abroad. Though almost every day I got to indulge in at least one of these loves of mine, my experiences abroad were so much more enriching with memories and experiences that I will treasure even longer than my new pair of authentic Italian boots.
Living Abroad
Florence is the most amazing city in the world! Okay, I may still be on my study-abroad high, but I truly love that beautiful Italian city! I am so lucky to be able to close my eyes and walk my mind to my favorite sandwich or gelato shop or my favorite piazza with the best view in the city. I hope I never forget the smells of pastry shops and leather factories, the sights of villas in the distant hills and the artwork that covered the walkways, and the feelings of my own renaissance happening as I continually walked those streets I now so clearly remember. I remember a day when I was walking home from class an Italian woman stopped me on the street to ask for directions. That was the day I felt at home and as much as I felt like I fit in the crowd, I knew this place would always stand out to me forever.
Eating Abroad
I was in Italy, so how could I not talk about the food?! I do not know if I ever had a pasta dish, sandwich, or scope of gelato I did not love. It was all incredible, just as I dreamed and just as you suspected. They had such a talent for simplistic perfection! The food prepared in the family owned and operated ristorante most likely came from the fresh street markets, was thoughtfully handled (maybe even sang to), served as part of a three hour five course meal paired with the finest Chianti wine in the world, and enjoyed around loud, lively conversations with friends.
Studying Abroad
Art and langue-culture classes in Italy added tremendously to my experience abroad. I was learning to speak the sultry language in the classroom, walked outside and understand the conversations on the streets (and even sometimes tried to add to them). But my favorite courses
were the courses I took in art history, drawing and creativity. I studied during the day and then saw the works we had been discussing and created works of my own. I have always loved art but never had I been moved to tears when standing in front of a work by an artist I truly admire. My professors, being quite typical Italians, poured their hearts into what they taught us and helped revive my passion for art. I ended up creating a video art piece that summed up a lot of my experience throughout my time there. It was a video of a self portrait drawing, inspired by one of my favorite sculptures in Florence, being created, and interspersed with a video of the sun rising over the city of Florence. It told of the growth that occurred while hope and change was poured in through my enlightening experience while living there.
Traveling Abroad
Though I loved staying in Florence and exploring my home city, I got to travel out of the city, and out of the country to places I had always dreamed of visiting and those which I thought only existed in my dreams. I did as the Romans do when I was in Rome, I wore a beret and ate crepes in Paris, I signed the John Lennon wall in Prague, I ate sausages in Germany, I strolled through the Christmas Markets in Vienna, and I hopped on trains to Italian villages and vineyards. I know that may sound like quite the traveling resume boaster, but to me it was showering blessings that will forever be cherished and will continue to attribute to my personal growth and widening outlook on the world.
Missing Abroad
Though being back on campus has been great, I do miss my mornings of cappuccinos, days of enriching classes, afternoons of museums, and nights of long incredible meals. I have yet found things that taste, or smell the same as they did in Italy, but I often see and feel my experience abroad continually inspiring adventure and growth in my life. I miss the Italians love of life and concept of beauty. I will always remember how they were never afraid to call something “perfecto!” whether it be a painting or a pasta dish. I think if an Italian knew how I felt about my experience abroad they would kiss their fingers and say, “Perfecto!”
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