Each academic year only 16 students are selected to be a part of European Art Classroom. To say that it is a privilege to be in Aix and travel around Europe is an understatement. Proctor has challenged and stretched me as a student and as an individual.  Being here as a student in Europe is no different. We might not have the same rigid 8:00 am to 5:30 pm schedule, but we are challenged in other ways. We are given more freedom to explore and when I say explore, I do not mean just the sites. 

This was our first time traveling and leaving our little Aix bubble and the daily routine we follow each day. We were taking a break from “hanging around” and going on a “Grand Tour” of France’s capital, Paris. It seems that in Paris, everything happens due to it’s artists and historically showing it all off at the great Expos of the past.

Living in Aix-en Provence for the past three weeks has felt so surreal to me. It’s as though I need to keep pinching myself so I know that I am not dreaming.

As a lifetime resident of our little town of Andover, but still a traveler of the country and the world, I had been looking forward to every aspect of European Art Classroom since I first heard about it as a prospective Proctor student - which, as a ‘faculty brat’, has really been since I was born.

The week started with everyone packing up the house for the last time. A bittersweet feeling knowing we only have this week left. We then piled into the car and drove the short distance of only an hour and a half to Nice, France.

It would be easy to write something sappy about how this week was our final week spent at our home in Aix and how sad it is that it is coming to an end. But it has been such an incredible week, filled with excitement and adventure, and we still have plenty of things to look forward to next week!

It is hard to believe that we have been in Europe for 6 weeks. With just two full weeks left, it is especially important to soak in all of the precious moments as we experience them. I personally find it sad.

Squeaking out of Boston Sunday night on a flight to Lisbon just before the biggest storm of the winter rolled across the Northeast, this was my week to visit Proctor's off-campus programs in Spain and France. I caught up with Dave and Jen and the European Art Classroom students in Madrid to wander Centro De Arte Reina Sofia, the Museo Sorolla, The Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, and the Museo del Prado to stand in front of works that ranged from Picasso's "Guernica" to Sollera's "The Horse Bath" to the black paintings of Goya.