After finding her feet in week one and taking on the city with vigour in week two, Summer 2015 Student Samantha Sanders was feeling boyant as she entered the third week of the program.
Artistically I was on a roll; everyday I woke up ready and excited for what the day had coming for me. It was unreal knowing that I was already in my third week at the program and in fourteen days I’d be on my way home to America.
The third week was filled with impressive sites to work at, the Colosseum; the Arch of Constantino and the Roman Forum. Being able to sit and draw inside the Colosseum was a dream come true.
Avoiding being run over by tourists was the only issue I faced on any of these days at these sites. If someone wasn’t trying to get you to buy a selfie stick, someone was either standing in your line of view or peering over your shoulder. That is why on my personal work day (Wednesday) I would go off in search of a very private place to work.
On the third week I found myself along the Tiber again, doing pastel drawings and this gave me a sense of nature and calm. If you come to a city like Rome it is key to find a place where you can find peace and be alone with yourself; that is something important I’ve learned during my stay.
We ended the week by taking a day trip to Florence. We had an art history tour of Santa Maria Novella, painted at the Duomo and ended the day on top of a massive hill, over looking all of Florence. The day went by fast and was filled with breath taking sites. Florence was by far one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen – if I could, I would have stayed there a whole week!
The whole week was really a blur. As the week came to an end, it became very real to me that in another week I’d be leaving Rome and heading home and I was both saddened and excited. The further into the program I went the more and more I enjoyed it and my third week in Italy was pretty amazing to say the least…
Samantha Saunders, Summer 2015
Find out Samantha’s thoughts on her last few days in Rome, next week.