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As an art history major focusing on modern and contemporary art, I spent August 2025 in Leipzig studying German with the interDaF program (funded by the German Studies Department). During the program, I vastly improved my spoken German and used my free time to embark on something of a Dada tour—traveling to Berlin several times and spending weekends in Zurich and Hannover. Highlights included attending my first international art biennial, the 13th Berlin Biennale at the KW Institute for Contemporary Art and the Hamburger Bahnhof; seeing Silence (1951), a rare large-scale work by Sonja Sekula, an artist I am researching, in Zurich; and visiting the Sprengel Museum and Kestner Gesellschaft in Hannover.

Spending my Spring semester abroad in Berlin, Germany, was a transformative process both art historically and personally. As Berlin is in the heart of Europe, I was able to explore numerous other cities and their unique museums, such as Vienna’s Upper/Lower Belvedere, Paris’ Louvre, and London’s Tate Britain. Similarly, Berlin itself is a hub of diverse cultures, histories, languages, and social life which made my study abroad experience particularly special! Engaging with Berlin’s rich public memory through museums, memorials, and street art allowed me to gain a greater comprehension of the city’s complicated history. Overall, studying abroad was such an amazing experience and greatly informed my tentative career plan, as well as let me see my favorite pieces in-person rather than on a screen (which I highly recommend to any art lover!).. 

I studied abroad in Sevilla, Spain, a city riddled with cultural and historical complexities, which manifest beautifully in its rich architecture. While there, I had the opportunity to attend the University of Sevilla, taking Art History classes ranging in topics from Islamic Art to Prehispanic Art. These supplied me with the tools to apply a certain intersectionality and sensibility to the lens through which I viewed my surroundings. It became clear to me, the longer I explored the city (and country!) that to truly engage with what you see, perceive, and interpret, you’ll encounter (and learn to appreciate) a non-stop process of construction and deconstruction of theories, methods, and principles.