Self-Assessment

I think that the grade that reflects the work that I have done in this course, and thus earned, would be an A -. I think that I was prepared for class and that I stayed focused. What hindered me was a prompt response in the blogs. My last week of blogs were a little late and I find them to be weaker than previous entries.  I was present for every class and I came with knowledge of the topic we were going to be studying.

I think my best strength in this class was my attentiveness in class. The first day I tried to record the lesson only to realize that my computer was not equipped with a microphone. Therefore, my note had to be excellent because there was no way to recall the information. I took both written and electronic notes. On days when I realized the computer (and its internet connection) was going to be a distraction, I wrote out my notes. I think this was a good plan for me because I was able to recognize when focusing was going to be difficult and I was able to prevent that disturbance. I was also able to keep my shenanigans within the allotted break. For example, I drew a picture for Courtney on some of the days but I did not allow that to take away from the class period. I was focused during the lesson and would think about other things at the appropriate time.

My next strength would be my blogs. I took them very seriously. Despite the fact the last 5 were below par (according to me and discussed about further down), I still spent a good deal of time on them. I wanted to make sure that each blog conveyed what I wanted it to. I also wanted to make sure that there was a point to my blogs. I wanted to write for the sake of substance not for quantity.

Examples of my strengths in the course all focus around the art and literature we studied. My strongest day(s) in class were the days we studied certain concepts in art and when we analyzed texts. I was particularly prepared for Dante’s Inferno because it is one of my favorite pieces from this time frame. I think that was the day that I asked the most questions and was able to use the response from the class and the professors in a blog I wrote later about my confusion with the text. I am also glad that we addressed the works that inspired the Renaissance because I think it was a nice reminder for me. I was able to recall the concepts at a quicker pace because of this foundation.

I don’t think that I was as versed in the arts as I should have been. I recall the first day not being able to name a technique for achieving balance. I know that I should have been able to do that, but I was too nervous and shy in the beginning to be outgoing. I think that is one of my weaknesses. I do not speak up in class and prefer to learn by listening. I remember Courtney using one of the things I said under my breath in one of her arguments (she did give me credit). I think my experience in the classroom would have been better for me intellectually had I spoken up and shared my thoughts instead of musing on them and not getting any clarity on my confusion.

Another weakness that presented itself was my “random thought” blogs. I did not really stay within the classroom setting in some of my blogs, and I fear that some of them are not as useful to my education as the others. These blogs include The Roman Nose and Stargazing. Although they were relative to the time period, they were not really connected to what we were studying in class. I think that I was just so excited to find things out in the world that was Perugia that I wanted to write about them despite the fact that it was an outlier topic. However, I also think this is one of my strengths. I did not limit myself to the classroom but to the outside world as well. I used the surroundings that I was so happily placed in to enhance my learning experience. Despite the fact that these blogs topics are coming from the left field, they do illustrate my learning outside of the classroom, which is of course one of the main perks about studying abroad.

My final weakness that I have thought of at this time is my inability to comprehend the music. I feel as if I understood at least three quarters of the music but I think that I should have made a better effort to confirm my thoughts on the other fourth of the equation. Honestly I thought I would be more experienced in this section because I have had 10 years of Piano lessons but it was an abrupt wake-up call when that section of the class started. I found myself just copying the melodic curves of those around me instead of trying to understand the concept for myself. That is the area of the class that I feel least prepared in and also the area that I wish I would have devoted more time in. I regret not writing a blog based solely on music because it would have been beneficial to not only my understanding of the terminology associated with this part of the class but it also would have helped prepare me for the third essay that is required.

In summation, I think that I have completed quality work for this class. I took it very seriously and I learned a lot. When I think about getting grades in a class I think about the amount I learned. I think that my knowledge should reflect the grade I earned. In this course I think that I have gained so much knowledge about the Renaissance and myself that it would be difficult to consider anything below an A- as my learning level. Again, I put the minus there because I was not always on time with my blogs. My weaknesses do not overpower my successes in the course and I feel very confident in how I carried myself in the classroom.

Synthesis

I am surprised at how my opinions became stronger as the course went along. In the beginning I really stayed true to what I knew when I was writing my blogs. They were primarily about the art and the assignments in class. Towards the last two weeks of blog posts I started to expand into things we haven't seen, like Giotto's Lamentation, or things that inspired me outside of class like my discussion of the Roman nose and how women are treated in art history. I think this is because I wanted to apply what I was learning in class to the outside world. I wanted to use what I was learning in the classroom and apply it to what i was experiencing. I think this is evident in my blog about star gazing as well as my comparison of Siena and The Prince. I wish I would have done more blogs like the one I did on the Trevi Fountain. I think that would have pressed further my understanding of techniques used by renaissance artists. I also wish that I would have done at least one blog on the music that way I would have been more prepared for the third essay that is centered on that topic. I also wish that I would have used a more direct approach to the central concepts of the Renaissance. I think I would have remembered them better had I used a word for word use of each concept and their connections with certain pieces of work.

I acknowledged in my great expectations blog that what I thought would happen would really be subpar to the experiences I was going to have. I was correct in that assumption. Everything was much better than I could have ever dreamed it to be. It is difficult to explain, unless you've had the same experiences I've had. My happy art noise was let loose on multiple occasions. I was not disappointed by any piece we saw. I cannot say the same for the first time that I saw the Mona Lisa. So I think that is a small sort of accomplishment. I was impressed with all of the churches and guides that we had. But most importantly I was impressed with my instructors. I don't think that my experience could have been any better because of the professors and the other students in the class. It wouldn't have been the same, obviously, but I strongly believe that it would not have been so wonderful had one person been different. What i was most pleasantly surprised with were the two trips we took during class to Assisi and Urbino. I had not heard of the ladder and on the plane I learned from the couple I was sitting beside that Assisi was not that interesting of a place. They were wrong. I think I learned more on those trips in just the one day than I did on the weekend trips to Florence and Rome. I am also very pleased at how I was able to get a deeper understanding of texts I have already worked with. I have read Dante's Inferno in snippets in 4 different classes before this course. However, I still learned something new. I was able to look at the piece in a way I haven't before; the punishment aspect. I am glad that I have a background in Medieval and Renaissance literature before this course because I could expand on what I already comprehended and I was able to have a deeper connection with the texts. I am disappointed that Praise of Folly was cut from the syllabus. This is actually the second time in my academic career that the text has been removed from the assignment list and I am really getting antsy to read it.

I think that re-reading my blogs after coming back to the States was very helpful to my self-understanding. Separating myself from the assignments and the location allowed me to see the difference in my writing style in the beginning of the semester to the end of it. As for my self-understanding, I can definitely see that i started to focus more on my own thoughts and views rather than just an analysis of what the piece said. I was willing to look more into how i operate rather than just an impartial discussion of the work. For example, you cannot hear my voice in my first blog about Pico. It wasn't until later that I was comfortable saying "I think" openly and often in a blog. I took me a while to realize that I cannot be wrong in my opinions. I can be incorrect, and later have why I am confused explained to me, but I can’t be punished for my thoughts. I feel like sometimes my blog did not express the amount of confidence that I wanted it to. For example, the blog about the Courtier. I would have liked to have been more forceful with my beliefs on the perfect person. However, I feel that I just circumnavigated each adjective until it had the semblance of being a thought. I feel like I did the same thing in the final blog. I was not very confident in my thoughts on the use of the senses or reason. In the beginning I did not thing that I was mentioning anything in my blogs that were profound. I kept comparing myself to the great things that were said in class, and I did not think that anything I had to say was that deep. I still don’t know how much I brought to the intellectual table, but I do know that I can tell I learned a great deal while in Italy.

Senses or Reason or Both

We were asked in class on Monday if we trust our senses more or our ability to reason. I think I am a happy medium of both. I don’t fall too easily into my emotions. In fact I would prefer if I did not have to share what I am feeling with the world. It is part of what makes me an introverted person. I don’t feel like everyone should know how I am feeling or what is going on with my life. However, I do think that I share an appropriate amount of information about myself as to not go completely insane while alone in my thoughts. I believe that I follow my head too often. I do not buy something without deep consideration as to if I really need it or not. I am not a creature to give way to my desires and wants. This is partly because of the way I have been raised. My father knows the value of a dollar and he has instilled that knowledge into me also. As for matters of the heart I am forever talking myself out of potentially good things. So I think I reason too much there. But the reason I reason (ha) is because I don’t want my emotions to get destroyed. I don’t always think that following your senses is a good thing. It can get you into a lot of trouble. For example, if you are constantly in want of a certain taste you are ignoring all of the other things that are out there and available to you. We were blessed with the ability to reason by God (thus giving us the ability to either climb the ladder into the heavenly realm or descent into the world of the brutes – thank you Pico) and I don’t take that lightly. Because I am capable of thought I want to make sure that I do everything that I think is right for me and for those around me. I do not want to be pushed around by my senses but I also don’t want to miss out on life experiences because I am too busy thinking about things. I think this trip has been a way for me to figure out what I want in the world and how I can achieve it. I thought about my money situation and converting money but if I wanted a gelato I would purchase it. (Again, bear with me if this is a bit deductive, but I’m musing about my life.) I do not really know anyone who is completely driven by their senses, although I do think I know some people who are driven by their ability to reason. I can’t imagine not having both. I think that this is another Aristotelian mean thing. You can’t be on opposite ends of the spectrum. You won’t get everything out of life that is possible. The reason we have both the senses and ability to reason is because we were meant to use both. And that is what I think.

Star Gazing

Again, this weekend in Tuscany I had a revelation. A group from the institute went outside onto the grass in front of our picturesque rooms in order to talk and look at the stars. It was absolutely amazing. However, there were some lights on in the buildings so a few of us walked down to the lake for a better view. With the nature and the tranquility that surrounded me I couldn’t help but think how different it would have been in the Renaissance and before even, to find out the information that they did not using the internet or iPod apps. I have taken an astronomy course at GWU but it was either too long ago or I have lost all that I previously knew because I was not successful in finding constellations. I had to resort to using another student’s iPhone’s GPS locator in order to get my bearings and figure out where the little dipper was. In the Galileo Museum I watched a video that stated Galileo mapped out sun spots every day using a telescope. That is something I cannot even comprehend. The technology that we have today is outstanding but I do not think that we are more intelligent or advanced than the people of the Renaissance. I think that without their discoveries, whether they were wrong or not, we would not have been able to come as far as we have as a civilization. It is argued that our generation is more advanced but I don’t really think you can compare the two. I think that it is all a building process. One curious mind leads to another inquisitive mind after the first one makes a discovery. It is all about testing and hypothesizing and improving upon what was previously thought. We are living in different times. We cannot know what that civilization would have been capable of had they had the information that we do now. However, I do think that education is slipping because of some of the technology. I do not feel that I am as smart as my grandparents who can do things without the use of a graphing calculator. My spelling is awful because I can access spellcheck any time I want (and I do so frequently). So I guess what I am trying to get at (this is a very free flowing blog) is that we cannot compare this time period to previous ones because they are different. There are different circumstances and beliefs and restrictions for both of the different ages. However, I think that it can be argued that education is slipping despite, if not a direct cause of the advances we have made.

Siena and The Prince

Siena's city square where the Horse Races are held

This past weekend the institute provided us with a trip to Tuscany. The first day we went to Siena and were able to have a guided tour throughout the city. One of the main focuses that Margarita, our tour guide, really stressed was the different sections of Siena. They are basically like little neighborhoods or burrows that have their own animal symbols and flags. It is very segregated in Siena. Each separate section has their own standards and ideals and it is very taboo to think about another section in anything else other than rivalry. We were told that once you move to Siena it is nearly impossible to move from one segment of the city to another one. Also if you marry someone from a different neighborhood than during social events you have to stay with your original home section while your significant other must stay with their original one. However, this rivalry between burrows really comes into play during the horse races. There are two a year and the whole city gathers in the center of town to watch this event. Each neighborhood has their own jockey and horse and whoever wins gets the bragging rights and also the rights to celebrate in the Duomo with the artwork of the Virgin Mary. It is a large part of Siena culture. While we were learning about this throughout the course of the day I began to consider how Machiavelli would have assessed this event. I began thinking about him when another student and I realized that all of the Italian cities were built on hills to prevent invasions from other city-states. Because of Italian history and the fact that it wasn’t a nation until 150 years ago, it is understandable that all of the cities were built on hills and had towers and medieval walls. It was for the protection of the city. I think that both of these things would have been appreciated by Machiavelli. Even though his instructions were for how the prince should act, I think that it is also applicable to the city because it is the job of the Prince to maintain the state. The different sections of Siena would have appealed to Machiavelli because they had such rigid rules. It would be against the good of the city to intermingle and lose that respect/tension between each region. I think he would have encouraged the horse races and the rewards because with that competition there was also the respect built into the winning. So despite the fact that this is not based on one person but instead a whole community, it is possible to see the Machiavellian ideals applied to the Italian city states.

The Courtier

Today in class we travelled to Urbino in order to discuss Castiglione’s text The Courtier. It was very plato-esque in its execution. The speaker is having a discussion with other intellectual types and it is an attempt to persuade the others of the characteristics that would make the perfect noble man. Some of these qualities include knowledge of the liberal arts, of military techniques and modesty in this knowledge. Ever since reading this text I have been trying to find out what qualities the perfect person would have. When asked to write down those qualifications during the class discussion it took me no time at all to write down kind, resourceful, logical, respectful and strong-willed. However the more I think about it, the more I realize the flaws in those seemingly good characteristics. Something I believe that Machiavelli noticed is that a person cannot be too kind. If so they will be trampled on. In my life this has happened over and over again. So why is kindness such a good quality? Obviously a courtier should be generous and decent but there should be a balance between selfishness and kindness. A person should not be so absorbed in their own desires that they ignore the world around them. Yet they should also not be so kind that their resolution and willpower deplete. This is where the Aristotelian mean comes into play. According to Aristotle a person should strive to meet their own personal mean between the two extremes. I think that this is what The Courtier is saying as well. The courtier is supposed to be modest but not self-degrading. They should not let compliments go to their heads nor should they recognize their own greatness – even if they recognize it to themselves. I still think the resourcefulness is a quality that the ideal person would have. There has to be the ability to go into different situations without getting flustered or distracted by the change in surroundings. I think that being resourceful also leads to an air of confidence. If a person is resourceful then there should be no reason they are to get into any trouble. I think logical is still a good quality although I think that there should also be a smidge of emotion behind that logic. I would not necessarily say that the mean between logic and emotion should be met, because I feel that emotion is seen as a lesser quality. I think that kindness and respectful go hand in hand in this section. They are both good characteristics to have but there needs to be the mean between them because of the need to stay in control. Finally I think that I countered my own argument when I put kind and strong willed in the same list. Obviously, there are not polar opposites. They are not going to cancel each other out because each has a characteristic of its own that the other one cannot null and void. However I think that a happy medium between the two can be achieved and the perfect person would have that quality. It is so easy to argue against each characteristic that it is a wonder that Castiglione was able to create a whole text describing the perfect person and putting reasons behind them as well.

Stumbling Upon a Deja-Vu Moment

Due to a missed train, Saturday I was able to explore the town Folignio while awaiting the arrival of a bus to continue my journey to the beach. While there, we stumbled upon a gorgeous church amidst a bunch of modern clothing shops. It was the Folignio cathedral that is also known as the Cathedral of San Feliciano. As we walked inside, the thing I immediately thought was that it bore a striking resemblance to St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. There was a mosaic on the outside that mirrored that of the one that was inside the basilica in Rome. One of the things that was really parallel to that of Vatican City’s cathedral was the altar piece (or the baldachin.) It appeared to be an exact replica of the one that is above Peter’s tomb. The one in Folignio even had the bees on the posts which was symbolic of the Barberini family. It was obviously not as large as the one in Rome, but it mirrored it quite closely. Another thing I noticed about this cathedral was the use of the same sculptures as in the roman cathedral. The sculptures of the saints that acted as the pillars for the relics and dome in St. Peter’s Basilica were also a part of the architecture of the Folignio Cathedral. They were located at the top in the dome. From what I could see, which were only two of the figures; they were Saint Helena and Saint Veronica. They were not the exact replicas as the ones in Rome but I was able to tell who they were based on the items they were carrying. One was holding a piece of cloth; Saint Veronica and the other was holding a cross; Saint Helena. One of the major differences between the two churches, I think, was the dedication to Mary. This church in Folignio had a fresco on the ceiling of the last judgment. It was similar in content to the ones we saw in the Sistine Chapel and the Saint Francis Church in Assisi except for one major thing. Instead of placing Jesus or God in the center of the painting, the Virgin Mary was there. She was the central focus of this church which is an added emphasis on the belief of Mary as the essential mediator. The meaning of having her in the center shows that she does have power as the Queen of Heaven and that she has the ability to decide your fate when the day comes. The church also had a plan for a rose window. I do not know if it was lying to the side because the window was destroyed or if they are planning on installing one. The rose window is also a symbol of Mary. It was her flower. Most of the Notre Dame cathedrals in France have them because they are the churches of “Our Lady” (Mary). I find that Mary is a very important figure of the early Renaissance and later. I am surprised at the amount of art that her presence is seen. I think that, in a religious sense, that this shift of importance could be used as one of the identifiers of the Renaissance period. Michelangelo’s Pieta and Giotto’s pieces all have that hierarchy of importance based on size and Mary is the largest in most of these works. Having the representation of Mary in so many locations and in different ways is definitely representative of the faith of the time and how religion was not just focused on what the bible says but about emotional connections as well. The Christians appealed to Mary for their sins because she was Jesus’s mother so they recognized the bond between the son and mother as something that impacts everyone – even the holy.