Six cities. 28 students. Three professors. Eight days. You could say we were a little bit busy…and to say that we all weren’t completely exhausted by the end of the trip would be an understatement. As I mentioned in my wine tasting post, our class traveled to Northern Italy from September 14th until the 21st. But before I tell you about my highlights of the journey, let me explain how a field trip works in the world of archies.
Each day starts early (between 7:30 and 8:30). After a quick breakfast, we all trail out into the city and immediately start exploring palaces, ruins, gardens, museums, churches, churches, and more churches. At each site, our professors give us background information and introduce ways to think critically about the structures and their various elements. Then we are invited to observe the site on our own – this may last anywhere between 15 minutes and 2 hours. This means tons of photography and analytical sketching (we will be graded on these sketches at the end of the semester). The class activities last the entire day, usually until 7pm, and then we are free to eat, explore, and relax for the rest of the night.
Here are some photos of archies in their natural habitat…
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As you can see, there is a lot of ground to cover. So instead of trying to cram all my favorite things into one massive post, I will break the trip into two (small towns and Venice). Hopefully this will make it easier on your eyes and my memory!
p.s. Unfortunately I do not have any images of the actual sketches…people can be shy about their sketchbooks (including myself)- but hopefully I’ll gather some in the upcoming months!