Despite living a minimally structured lifestyle, my days have been packed with new experiences. Between resolving tensions in my social world and struggling to paint the ripples of the Mediterranean Sea, there are always challenges to be overcome.

Euro focuses on traveling through Europe to see the wonders of our past and pushing the limits of our own artistic abilities, but I’ve found it to be so much more.

It has taught me to focus on my potential and to understand what I’m truly capable of. It has taught me that I don’t need to sit still for 8 hours a day in a stuffy classroom in order to learn or be seen as intelligent.

Sure I can sit down for hours with a few pencils and an eraser in attempts to make a picture perfect drawing, only accomplished after intense perseverance and a drive for success, but it is just as important to know that I can make something astounding with just a few flourishing brushstrokes of intentionally mixed colors.

I now understand what it really feels like to accomplish things I didn’t know I was capable of.

European Art Classroom has given me a new perspective. I’ve always pictured life to be a daunting task that requires so much skill and dedication, almost like a beautiful painting. However I have come to understand that a painting's beauty lies in the detail of its individual brushstrokes coupled with confidence and freedom. If I continue to focus my energy on each brushstroke of life, I will find that I can create a masterpiece.

~ Thomas '22

Below, enjoy some random photos.