Amazing Four Weeks in Italy

I heard about AHA completely by chance after striking up conversation on a train with a college student who was going home for winter break. At that point, I had decided I wanted to take a gap year before college and she recommended some programs to look into. She said that one of her friends had spent a semester in Italy studying art history with AHA and described it as one of the best experiences she ever had. After that glowing report and some superficial online research, I decided to take the 4 week summer course.

I was a four sport varsity letter winner in high school, so from the age of twelve onwards, I spent the entirety of my summers training, practicing, and competing on playing fields. I had always wanted to take summer courses or go abroad during the summer but knew it wouldn’t be logistically possible. After spending four weeks studying art history with AHA, I am so happy that I decided to try something different (and can’t believe I spent all those years sweating on a field in New Jersey when I could have been studying Michelangelo and Caravaggio!)

The course was the perfect way to cap off my senior year of high school due to the passionate tutors, the sights we saw, and the people I met. I hadn’t taken an art history course before the trip but quickly learned that it wasn’t necessary as the tutors used concise yet evocative and thought-provoking language to describe not only individual paintings but entire time periods. The art and architecture we saw gave a whole new dimension to the European history I learned in school; it is undoubtedly worth seeing in person. To top it off, I was traveling with an intelligent, diverse and fun group of peers. The first two weeks I was with a majority of girls and the second two weeks there were six boys and two girls including myself. I had a fantastic time with both groups and made friends that I still keep in contact with and hope to keep in contact with longterm. Overall, my experience with AHA was intellectually and socially enervating and fantastic.

I cannot recommend AHA more highly and wish I had discovered it earlier! I know that what I learned about the canon of western thought as well as how to be a responsible and curious traveler will serve me well in college and beyond.