I've thought a lot about academically study abroad since my exchange program in Japan with the Chelsea-Shimizu Sister-Cities program and going to London/Paris/Switzerland with my Girl Scout troop. I've fluctuated with the places I've wanted to go. Most recently I really wanted to study in Germany and Austria until I realized that I'm terrible at German and that would be an exercise in frustration. I definitely want to go back to Japan, which is why I'm filling out application materials to USAC for KGU (I promise that I'll send out my application on Monday :s''', it's that damn personal essay that's causing problems).
This Fall I thought about Austria (fail), and then I decided that I would be content going to England, but Chatham didn't want to offer me any aid, so I was going to take out a bunch of loans (something like $20k) for the semester in England. That's the cost of a semester at Chatham, but I have a lot of scholarships and grants, so I pay significantly less than that. My study abroad adviser Karen Goldman suggested that I look at the Chatham programs, and the American University of Rome had the museum studies course I needed for my minor (although, I'm kind of throwing that away for my year in Japan, but whatever). All of my scholarships work for AUR, so it's essentially free. AUR took forever giving me my courses and I was worried that I was going to get a crappy schedule, so I also applied and was accepted to GSE's Scuola Lorenzo de' Medici, and that looked fantastic. It had more study abroad aspects that I wanted (homestay, more interesting classes-- like this one where you work with contemporary artists in Italy, and another where you are graded on giving a gallery talk in the Uffizi, location in Florence), but Chatham wouldn't help me with that at all, so it was another $20k, and after I got my schedule from AUR, I ultimately decided to study in Rome. This is a decision I've kind of regretted until a few days ago.
AUR had a lot of courses that looked interesting to me, including one on Art Crime. This was one of those classes that made me realize that I definitely had to apply for AUR. I read this book two years ago called The Art Thief . The reviews are mixed, but I loved it. I harassed my dad to read it, and he also loved it. I bought a copy and it's now circulating around people at his work. It's definitely a fun read, and extremely fast, so I would recommend it if you spend your weekends reading in bed, like I do.
I never really bothered looking at more than the descriptions of courses, but on Thursday when I was at the Warhol, I was talking to people from RMU who are going to AUR (more on them later). I find this linked on the front page. He's intelligent, he's dreamy, he's the author of The Art Thief and he's TEACHING MY ART CRIME CLASS. God. I'm going to spend half the class drooling over him and the other half saying extremely witty things which will seduce him.
While on AUR's press page, I also saw this article on AUR's Campus Girl Scout troop at Thinking Day. I was a GS for a million years (13) and did a bunch of shit, so I was pumped that I could join. I've already contacted the adviser (middle), who is awesome and did her undergrad at Duquesne (another university in Pittsburgh). She invited me to join their facebook group. How fun.
They're at a holiday party there, which is badass because I love holiday parties and I'll be studying abroad during the Fall which is when holiday parties happen.
After being excited about GS in Italy, I decided to see what GS in Japan are like. I found this page and it looks like 2010 (when I will be studying-- assuming I get into programs, blah blah) is the 90th anniversary of GS in Japan. I'm hoping for some badass events to take place. Also, the "symboltype" for the 90th anniversary is fucking adorable. ^5 Japan.
～ 2010, the year for Girl Scouts ～
After writing that, I realize that this post is boring. Suck it internet.
