The personal statement responses will have a significant impact on the application review. Please take some time to reflect on your goals and how they have lead you to choose this particular program before responding. Please describe why you are interested in this program. How will participation in this program further the achievement of your academic, career, and personal goals? (300 word maximum)

- love for cities o human scale of venice’s architecture o opportunity to live as a city-dweller, but not NYC/Chicago - opportunity to be immersed in architectural studies o aside from studies, no other commitments to spend time on o ability to slow down, be fully immersed - excitement of Europe o accounts from students who studied abroad last year (all the trips) o challenge of language, culture

My love for urban life predates my interest in the Venice program, but serves as a foundation, if you will, for my excitement about this opportunity to study abroad. Compact living and close proximity to shops and venues have, for me, become the most compelling facets of cities. While I have traveled to and around various American cities (in awe of towering skyscrapers and expansive landscapes), I look forward to the extent of the human-scale in Venetian streets. I have rarely been able to spend time in public spaces that were meant for temporal human dwelling. The possibility of immersion in such a celebrated place is more enticing because of my architectural studies. I hope that traveling to Venice with a consciousness for the built environment will dramatically expand my knowledge and abilities as a student of architecture, including how I understand space, intentioned or not. As a rising fourth year student, I anticipate that the challenges I face studying in Venice will enable my continued academic growth, even as I go into my final semester at university. This is especially in light of the fact that I must begin to define my trajectory into the field of architecture post-graduation. The time I spend in an ancient European city, studying its spaces and the architecture that generates them, can only give me greater and deeper personal resources to draw from in my return to the United States. I look forward to gaining new perspective.