Expectations

Although I am by no means an artist, I greatly appreciate the Arts.  This class exists to enable students to discover the Renaissance, Arts and artists of central Italy, to appreciate and discuss our opinions of texts and artists as they apply to the culture of Italy and to the Renaissance, and study each text within its appropriate area of concentration.  The set up of this class is ideal; it is interdisciplinary with a small handful of diverse students which enables intimate conversation from various perspectives.  Also, arguably most importantly, we are living in Italy.  We are not just visiting Italy for a short time, we are living here adjusting to the culture, understanding and appreciating it from a very close distance.  We are able to physically see, hear, read, touch, feel, smell and taste the many fruits of Italy and all they have to offer.  Instead of leaving the classroom and proceeding with our lives, we leave the classroom and are living the lab; we are able to apply every piece of what we learn in class to our lives here in Italy.  This is a fantastic opportunity and one that would in no way be possible in the United States.

As I mentioned before, I am no artist; however, I plan to take this class and everything I learn from it (living experiences in Italy included) and use them to enrich my life.  I often feel unintentionally closed-minded because I have only lived in the southern states of America and I have only traveled out of the country once to Ecuador on a mission trip.  I feel that, because of my inexperience, I am completely unknowledgeable of the world I live in.  I am hoping that through this class and this opportunity to live in Perugia I will eliminate at least a bit of this problem.

Albert Einstein once said  

"Never regard study as a duty, but as the enviable opportunity to learn to know the liberating influence of beauty in the realm of the spirit for your own personal joy and to the profit of the community to which your later work belongs." 

I would like to interpret that quote and apply it to this Italian experience.  As Gardner-Webb students we willingly applied for this opportunity to study abroad.  That is willingly signed up to pay to take classes during the summer instead of whatever other plans we may have had recreational or lucrative.  This fact implies that we as students must have found merit in spending the money to come here.  For me, it is because this opportunity is enabling both personal enjoyment (because I love the Arts and living in Italy is the opportunity of a lifetime) and educational enrichment both in a knowledgeable and logical sense.  Coming to Italy has already begun making me more well rounded, quick to adapt and flexible.  It will also allow me to gain perspective from the European point of view, therefore expanding my world view (this I believe is invaluable, the greatest factor of "the opportunity of a lifetime".  To me, all pieces of knowledge and wisdom are priceless; they are applicable to life in unimaginable ways both now and in the future.  Learning isn't just the route to success or just the path to your occupation; learning should enrich your life.  The more intellectual riches you have the farther you can dispend them, hopefully creating new ways for yourself to think and enriching other people’s lives at the same time.

Having said all of that, there are a lot of things I wish to do before I die; a lot to see and a lot to do.  I want my life to be one giant enriching adventure, for every day to present a new challenge and to teach me something new.  I want to push the boundaries, I want to broaden my horizon; I want to threaten my beliefs with new information.  Knowledge is power obtained through books and experiences; wisdom is the application of that knowledge to the benefit of ourselves and others. This is my opportunity to put these words into action, to become more knowledgeable and wiser.   It is what makes me excited and what I expect from this class.  In order to become the woman that God and I want me to be, huge steps like these - steps away from the comforts of home and familiarity - must be taken to grow, inspire, and test me, to teach me to rely on Him.  In Him I find the true comforts of home.