Ciao! My name is Mackenzie Patureau. I am a junior Studio Art and Art History major in the School of Art. This summer, I took two studio courses - Perspectives on Rome, History & Drawing, and Space, Light, & Points of View at the University of Arkansas - Rome Center.
During my stay in Rome, I lived in a three bedroom apartment with six other girls, some I knew before, others I just met. However, we all became immediate friends. It was located in the quaint neighborhood of Prati - walking distance to school and the Vatican City. The air-conditioning in our apartment, like most of Italy, was lacking. Therefore, we would open our windows for the majority of the time. The benefit to this was in the evenings we heard all the street musicians serenading. Living in a bustling, local neighborhood allowed us to get a feel of the Roman lifestyle.
We would buy our fruit and vegetables from a store down the street. Most importantly, the most delicious gelato shop was steps from our door. Frequently, after dinner, we would purchase our gelato and people-watch in our backyard, AKA the Vatican! We could not have asked for a better location - we were able to experience life in Rome like the locals.
Our first night in Rome, we ate at a restaurant right across from our apartment building and met the nicest waitress, Lori Donna. She helped us with our Italian by basically only speaking it to us. Being an Italian minor, I tried to pick up as much of the language as possible. I would start almost every conversation I had in Italian - some I could make it all the way through without any English but sometimes not so much! Often when local people realized I was American, they joked that they thought I was Sicilian because of my Italian! I do not know if they believed this, but it made me confident enough to keep working on my language skills.
Besides gelato, my favorite local treat was coffee! I will always recommend going to a hole in the wall kind of place and getting a regular cappuccino but it was HOT. I would opt for a Caffe Shakerato the majority of the time. This drink you can find on almost any Italian menu. It is coffee with a little cream and finely crushed ice shaken, it’s almost like a coffee slushy and a great way to caffeinate and cool down.
As you are reading this, you must think the only thing I did during my five weeks in Rome was eat and drink coffee - but this is not true! We would attend school four days a week at the beautiful Palazzo Taverna or around the sites of the city. During our class, we would take in popular tourist’s destinations like Borghese Gardens, the Colosseum, the Cat Pit (where Caesar was killed) and my favorite, the Roman Forum. We saw countless cathedrals, each one more breath-taking than the last. The church I liked best was the Contarelli Chapel. It is a French church that holds three Caravaggio paintings.
If you have the opportunity to study abroad - do not hesitate! Attending UARC (University ofArkansas - Rome Center) was the perfect way to experience living in a foreign country for the
first time. The familiarity of having professors and friends from Fayetteville made the experience
a little less intimidating. This will be a summer I will never forget!
first time. The familiarity of having professors and friends from Fayetteville made the experience
a little less intimidating. This will be a summer I will never forget!
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Studio Art & Art History major Mackenzie Patureau spent the Summer 2019 term abroad at the U of A Rome Center with the help of our Office of Study Abroad Scholarship and the Department of World Languages, Literatures & Cultures.
Don't miss your opportunity to study or intern abroad! Start your search at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search/
Studio Art & Art History major Mackenzie Patureau spent the Summer 2019 term abroad at the U of A Rome Center with the help of our Office of Study Abroad Scholarship and the Department of World Languages, Literatures & Cultures.
Don't miss your opportunity to study or intern abroad! Start your search at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search/
