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Hi! My name is Morgan Clupka. I’m a Fay Jones Interior Architecture major who studied Interior Architecture in Rome for five weeks this summer. I participated in the interior architecture summer program created by the University of Arkansas Rome Center, and am now blogging to share my experiences and what I have learned from them.
For me, as an interior architecture major, studying abroad is required to graduate. So, even though the thought of traveling without my family and leaving the country for the first time was quite nerve-wracking and scary, especially, with war and sickness as large topics in the world right now, I had to go abroad to earn my degree. In the end, this was actually a good thing for me because it got me out of my comfort zone.
First Generation Experience
I never really was the type to fantasize about traveling the world or leaving the country. Mainly because my family has never had the means to do these things. As a first-generation college student, I have been the first in my family to experience a lot of things. All the way from the first to fill out the FASFA to the first to get a passport being a first-generation can be hard. Our families want to help us with these new experiences, but a lot of times they just don’t know how to help or even where to begin. Everything is a learning process. If studying abroad wasn’t required for my major I would have never been able to go because traveling abroad is not considered a financial priority for my family. I am very lucky to have had the opportunity to study in Rome this summer. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me that I will never forget.
The Hard Truth
To be honest, not everything was sunshine and gelato. Living in an apartment with three other girls, trying new foods, figuring out transportation, struggling with the language, etc. can affect people. Stress can make people act completely differently than they normally act on a day-to-day basis. This is one thing that I wish I would have fully understood before studying abroad. They tell us during pre-departure meetings and orientations that studying abroad can affect your mental health, but I did not expect the drama that would ensue from the stress of being abroad. In my apartment, my roommates and I struggled largely with communication in times of stress from tasks like transportation to and from places to things as simple as agreeing on a restaurant. No one's study abroad experience will be 100% perfect.
Soak It All In
Studying abroad, in general, is A LOT. You’re living in a whole new country, learning the culture, learning the language, taking in all new views, and you’re doing all of this basically by yourself. You may be lucky enough to have a few school friends with you, but you still won’t have the same support system that you are used to having back at home. Studying abroad, when it’s only for five weeks, is also very fast-paced. Everything was go, go, go. We had little time to rest and even less time to do the required homework. Rome itself is also very fast-paced, it can be hard to take it all in. My advice would be to take it slow and try not to get overwhelmed. There is no need to walk fast in the streets. Try looking around, maybe stop in a shop to check it out, grab a coffee, or if you are in a rush make sure to take note of fun places you see and want to explore later. Keeping visual reminders of everything I experienced was very important to me. I would recommend that if you have a phone with low storage like me, then you should invest in a flash drive that connects to your phone and stores pictures. Pictures will QUICKLY take up A LOT of SPACE. When I went on excursions, I took pictures of everything, even the tiny little details. Just don’t forget to put the phone down and take it all in with your own eyes in between photo montages.
Journaling
One thing that worked well for me was using a sketchbook to journal, sketch, and scrapbook my experience. I brought one of my favorite sketchbooks from home, but you could easily buy one from anywhere you are studying. It was actually required for my studio class that we fill four pages worth of our sketchbook for every class that we had. This added to a lot of sketches, as we had studio almost every day. Trying to keep up with this was definitely stressful. I would recommend if you are required to do this make sure you stay on top of it and do the four sketches everyday. If you fall behind four turns into twenty and that is basically impossible to find the time to do. Also, I recommend that if your classes give you a syllabus with a schedule on it, make sure you keep that and check it every day to see what you’ll be doing, how to prepare, and to keep up with outside-of-class assignments. I am grateful that I journaled and sketched for my classes because it gave me an outlet, a place to put all the fun things I had learned and seen during my time in Rome. I placed ticket stubs, metro passes, and postcards in there too for safe keeping and memories. Studying abroad was an excellent academic experience for me. I loved seeing all of the art and design from art history in person, all things that I had learned in class previous to the trip. It was kind of like getting to meet your celebrity crush or famous mentor. Tears of joy were definitely shed when visiting places like the Uffizi Gallery, the Laurentian Library, and the Sistine Chapel.
Coping Resources
Another thing that I would like to add about journaling your experience is that journaling can also help you cope with the stress and overwhelming emotions you may be feeling while abroad. You can write about how you feel each day and why you feel that way. Writing out how you are feeling often helps you process and it will be nice to look back later and remember exactly what was going through your head while you were abroad. Another resource for coping while you are abroad in Rome to be specific would be the staff at the University of Arkansas Rome Center. These people are here to help and they care about you and your experience abroad. They are super nice and will listen to anything you may be going through and need help with!
The Bottom Line
With COVID still around I wasn’t sure if I would get to study abroad or if the experience would be as enriching as it had been for others in past years. After getting to study abroad recently I can honestly say that studying abroad is one of the most enriching experiences of a lifetime, even with COVID in the world. The only things that were affected by COVID were transportation (with the requirement of an FFP2 mask) and some of the places that were allowed to travel to and visit as a large group. This blog really only skims the surface of the overall study abroad experience and how exciting and fulfilling it can be. I hope if you choose to study abroad yourself, you will take my advice and take it slow, soak it all in, document memories, and reach out if you need help!
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Interior Architecture major Morgan Clupka spent the Summer 2022 term in at the U of A Rome Center with support from the Office of Study Abroad Scholarship.You can start planning your adventure abroad today! Dive in to our Explore page at https://studyabroad.uark.edu/explore/index.php, and start your program search at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search/
