Accademia delle Belle Arti di Firenze
Welcome to Firenze, now a city I call my own. In the beginning I too walked around with a map and camera in hand, gasping at every corner. In the August heat, the first thing I wanted to see was this “Accademia” where I hoped to attend. So I pin pointed the place on my map and searched for hours. I read about this university one afternoon in a book shop in California in a Italy travel guide book. Unimaginable, how nervous and curious I was. Now looking back at that moment my heart still flutters with excitement.
Here it is, the courtyard of the Accademia. Often I see the tourists stumble into this place thinking it’s the Galleria dell’Accademia, where Michelangelo’s masterpiece David is housed. It’s right next door! What an honor, I always think to myself. It’s always a lovely sight stepping into this place. The courtyard is always full of young, aspiring artists speaking about their lives. I am always shocked to see the number of foreign students at this institute, including myself.
So the week we anticipated arrived: the entrance exams. I stepped into this room, astonished to see all the creatively executed works of art. It was more beautiful than I imagined, an inspiring environment indeed. I scoped around the room to see the diverse group of students this place attracted. 
We were told to paint the still life placed in the center of the room on 70x100 paper. I started without hesitation… after all painting is what I’ve been doing for the past couple years of my life. I was ready. It was interesting to see the styles of the different artists, traces of academic influences from around the world. We were all here, at this moment for the same reason— passion, the love of art.
I struggled a bit. My mind kept wandering into the future. “What if this isn’t good enough, what do I do if I do not pass the exam?” After six hours, the first part, day one of the entrance exam was complete. Following are some photos from other parts of the week:
Prompt: draw the nude figure
Prompt: design an empty wall inside a waiting room in an airport
Work in progress: nude figure
The 13 “Studio Art Girls” can understand how rigorous the waiting process for the results was. Here is when I started to feel the difference between my own university, Cal State Fullerton, and the Accademia. Many people excused themselves, saying “Welcome to Italy, we do things on our own time.” Nevertheless, I thought it was a perfect opportunity to reflect how much I wanted this, to study at an Italian art school. Also, why I am studying painting— half way around the world. The result was sweet, us CSU girls have all been accepted.
I am fortunate enough to study with the professor who teaches in this room, the one that inspired me during the first week. The paintings in the room continue to excite me each day. Here, the strange looking chairs in the front row is called “cavaletto”, or drawing horse in English. Students can choose to sit or stand while drawing the model.
We study here, eight hours a day, Monday through Thursday. This is the greatest difference between my home campus and here. Here, we only think of making art, speak of art. We seek inspiration in each other’s words and works, continuously thinking of how to improve ourselves as young artists. This classroom, no, my classroom is always filled with an unimaginably talented and passionate minds that continue to inspire me to push myself, continue to always think critically.
This is the other side of the room where second and third year students study. This table belongs to our professor Bimbi who’s always surrounded by admirers eagerly waiting for criticism. In the afternoons, he reads his students poetry of Italian and foreign students for inspiration. His students digest his words willingly. He is unlike any professor I’ve had the pleasure of studying with. During his first lesson he told us, “Non siete qui perché vi piace l’arte, siete qui perché non vivete senza arte.” (You are not here because you like art, you are here because you cannot live without art) Bimbi speaks of not what to do but allows me to guide myself through my own artistic process— open to understanding the personal styles of his students.
This is only a fragment of the Accademia delle Belle Arti, how I see it. I am so fortunate to study among the Italian students, learning about their culture and language. In the end one of the most important thing I’ve learned was that we share the same thirst and passion to become a part of the ever so mystical world of art.
—-
Everyone is so essentially good. But people don’t see it.
“You’re a terribly hard person to forget.”
Good, within everybody.
“Life has been some combination of fairy-tale coincidence and joie de vivre and shocks of beauty together with some hurtful self-questioning.”
― Sylvia Plath
(A guilty conscience needs to confess. A work of art is a confession.)
Travels and other thoughts—
I’m sitting in a florentine apartment located 20 kilometers from a 13th century church. The world is in 5 dimensions here. I’m realizing the beauty of people having their treasured cultures, from across the globe.
We only exist in memories.
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