Sunshine & Stress

This week has felt like what I’d imagined studying abroad in Italy would be like for the whole semester (with a little added finals stress)! The weather has been incredibly beautiful; Florence seemed to skip right over spring into summer. In between classes, I’ve had some time to explore the city. I finally got to sit and draw in Piazza Santa Maria Novella, which is right near my apartment but it’s been too cold to until now! I also found a spot right down by the Arno river dam to sit in the sunshine; the water sounds and the view are wonderful, and my friends and I are down there almost every day.

On Saturday, my art history class took a day trip to Bologna. The weather and the city were beautiful! It was one of my favorite field trips because it wasn’t raining, but also because we did a few things out of our field trip norm: we toured many churches as usual but also a medieval dissection room and a wax museum with amazing and creepy anatomy models! We also were treated to ice cream at the end of the day by our art history professor. 🙂

This past week has also been full of shows! On Friday, a group of photo students took a trip to Montevarchi to our very own photo show at Bottega Antonio Manta! It was such an amazing opportunity to have the show, and it was so cool to see our work professionally printed and hung. SACI also held a few student shows, and three of my photos and one of my drawings made it in!

I turned in my High Renaissance term paper on Wednesday, which was about the different Annunciation paintings through the High Renaissance, Mannerist, and Baroque periods and how the style of each period was shown in that subject matter. I’ve also been studying for the final for that class which is next Wednesday, printing my photographs for the final color photo critique which is on Tuesday, and preparing for my final critiques for painting and drawing which are Monday.

Lately, I’ve not only been juggling this studio and art history work, I’ve also had home on my mind all of the time. New England School of Art and Design is only a few blocks away from the Boston Marathon finish line where the bombings took place on Monday. Thankfully, all of my friends and loved ones in Boston are safe and sound. Even so, and even though I’m not in Boston, I’m still shook up by what happened. When a tragedy hits so close to home, it’s hard not to think about it all the time. I wish I could be home to hug my friends in Boston, but I’m thankful for the NESAD community and the service men and women of Boston for keeping everyone calm and safe. My good friend Jess wrote a beautiful post on this week at NESAD, which you can read here.