Letter to Prospective Students

I’ve wanted to give this letter for all of the future study abroad students a lot of thought – as well as digest what was of critical importance to relay to you.

For starters, I want to encourage students who have an interest in studying abroad to do so while they are attending college (MIAD) now. Opportunities like these are always valuable – I do find, however, to stress the importance of time. It proved to me to be a lot more efficient to travel while I was still housed in Milwaukee permanently. There was no worry of where my belongings would go, or about a permanent job that I would have to request off of for an extended period of time.

College most often allows for flexibility in scheduling, and this is prime/key for travel. Please, do take that into consideration. I find that I would enjoy traveling in the future, but with many plans to intern next summer and potentially moving after graduation along with rent…a prolonged period of time abroad doesn’t seem feasible, but a class like this was.

I’m glad to have chosen this course.

For starters, to be able to apply my new understandings, observations and all around experiences from traveling to my future course work and studio work is refreshing and exhilarating.  

The travel to Paris (and a short time in London) has been a vitally new source of inspiration. Yes, of course, you can read about Paris in literature, and see the photographs of the architecture and art, however there is nothing that that will compare to being in direct relationship/existance with that singular or multiple work(s).

In a cultural context, understanding the history of the piece(s) and being able to see the detailing of paintings, each brush stroke in its presence….that is indescribable to me. There is something so emotinonally inducing about being in the same space as the work of art or architecture itself. To understand the piece(s) in their original context, or even being occupied within the same space they house is impeccably different than reading it on a two-dimensional format with text that articulates the object of thought -  surrounding it.

I would like you take a moment and think, “How am I willing to expand my thought upon my current and future work “ as well as  “How do I want to progress as an artist/designer in the present moment”– answer those two questions honestly to yourself, generate ideas and further self exploration in thought and then please proceed to read on.

I have broken up this post into three parts… the introduction, a more serious outlining of the course, and the last, an elaboration upon Paris itself and how I identified with being there.

When it comes to traveling abroad you may foster many expectations along with a bit of anxiety, … and that is okay, but I would highly advise you to suppress any of your pre-existing expectations or notions of the culture or city. I advised that you not allow them to linger with you when you depart from the states.

Instead I challenge you to allow the experience to invite you in and adopt into it fully and truthfully to yourself.