The last weekend of November my art history class Michelangelo, Caravaggio, and Bernini travelled to Rome to visit some of the artworks we had learned about throughout the course of the semester.  Along with our professor, Tiziana Landra, we had the chance to tour the Vatican Museums, the Galleria Borghese, Santa Maria della Vittoria, and several other churches that housed works from masterful artists. Walking amongst pieces I had learnt about in art history courses throughout my academic career was an incredibly surreal experience. To learn of these works in a lecture setting is one thing, but to be brought face to face with the brush strokes of Caravaggio, the grandeur of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, and the soft flesh-like transformation of Bernini’s statues (to name just a few) was something beyond what I ever could have imagined. A truly unparalleled experience.

I will look back on the Rome field trip as one of the most memorable weekends during my time abroad. As the semester comes to a close I’ve become so grateful that studying abroad with SRISA has given me such incredible opportunities that I will treasure always.

Michelle Wright is studying Art Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is a study abroad student with SRISA for the Fall 2018 semester.