Essay for Italy Application
Mollie See

In sixth grade I was assigned to chose a destination of my “dream vacation.” Without any hesitation, I chose Italy. At the time this choice was based mainly on pizza being my favorite food and the post card I had recently received from my Grandmother who was traveling in Italy at the time. Now, almost eight years later and entering my sophomore year in college, if asked the same question of where I would go, if I could go anywhere, without a doubt I would still choose Italy. In addition to my lasting love for pizza and other Italian food, as I have become more mature, I have also discovered many more reasons for wanting to travel to Italy. Florence would be an ideal location for me personally because it is filled with art and culture.

In high school I took a Fundamentals of Art class. While, I found the class to be enjoyable, I always preferred looking in the art books at other people’s work. I would spend whole class periods looking at great works of art and trying to convince my teacher that I was still “looking for inspiration.” It was during these art classes that I discovered Sandro Botticelli’s Birth of Venus. This was the first painting that I fell in love with.

After finishing Fundamentals of Art, I took my first art history class and I loved it. While many students found slide after slide to be hard and monotonous, I found it to be interesting and exciting. As a freshman in college at the University of San Diego, I took another fascinating art history class. It was during this class that I discovered my favorite style of art to be surrealism and modern art. Both of these types of art, however, would not be what they are without the artists of earlier times, particularly those of the Renaissance. I would love to go to Florence and see in person paintings such as the Birth of Venus, and others, which had such an enormous impact on the world of art.

I am strongly considering majoring in art history and have hopes of opening my own gallery one day. Hopefully, being immersed in a culture that has produced such amazing works, I will be steered in the right direction of where to specifically focus my career. I am so excited to see all the art in Italy.

In addition to the art, I am really looking forward to experiencing and being immersed in the Italian culture. In high school, Italian wasn’t offered so I took four years of Spanish, but in college I had the opportunity to take an Italian class and was very intrigued by the language. I have gone to Spanish speaking countries and had the chance to use my Spanish, and would really like to have the chance to become more advanced in my Italian. Because I believe that the best way to learn language is to be surrounded by it, I look forward to the challenge of communicating with Italian speakers.

I also think a big attribute of the Florence program, would be all the opportunities I would have to meet new people. Not only will I have the chance to meet new people from City College, but I will be able to meet people with different backgrounds and beliefs from all over the world.

In closing, while pizza remains my favorite food, a chance to visit Florence would not only enhance my educational career, but quite possibly my future career as well. Thank you for considering me for this opportunity.

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