What do you see in this picture? Maybe a couple holding hands? Semi-famous sculptures? A tourist snapping a picture of said statues? In tourism studies, we learned various aspects of tourism, aside from the obvious fanny-pack (or in this case front-pack), picture taking, every-staring tourist. Tourism is more than what the tourist looks like, it is also about what drives a tourist to a site, what makes a site so special, and even theories as to how tourists interpret a site. As can be seen in the left of the picture is the site marker, which tells about the site, but does not have to be a sign or written description, it also could be a tour guide, or a tour-book. All of these things are a part of tourism, something that is hard to imagine when most people do not give a second thought about something many people participate in.

This is my homepage for the blog I created for Tourism Studies. As you look at the collage of pictures, you see an entire semester laid out in front of you. An whole semester was documented in these blogs for Tourism Studies homework. The writing and prompts were as diverse as these pictures are, but they all come together to tell a story, my story, on a truly life-changing semester abroad.

This picture is of a tray of bruschetta I prepared for our final dinner at Professors Clark and Peterson’s home. They spent all semester cooking for us eleven students, and it was wonderful to finally get to help out for the meal. Our weekly Tuesday dinners after our discussions ended were the lifeblood of the Tourism Studies class, without which the course and the study abroad program would not have been the same. This photograph represents to me the entire semester of this class, and the small contribution I was able to make at the end of the year.

I chose this photo because I feel the roof is such a great classic Italian symbol and because the time I spent up there was mostly spent observing the people below, whether they be Italians or tourists, they all inter-weaved.

During my semester abroad, I was not only able to experience Italy through my own lens, but I was also able watch how another culture influences others. This photo was taken in the small Tuscan town of Montepulciano and features my classmate Catie while she’s taking her own picture. I believe this photo shows how I was always surrounded by beauty that can be captured at any angle. In a more figurative sense, this picture symbolizes the fact that I was always behind a door of possibility. Everyday I woke up and looked at the same door, this door being my apartment, but as soon as I opened it, it brought me into a new adventure of museums, nature, and cultural experiences. This photo was also taken on one of my favorite weekend trips to several towns scattered across Tuscany.

This photograph is a selfie I took with members of Tourism Studies on the Ponte Vecchio. Some of the most thoughtful discussions we engaged in examined typical tourist reactions, like taking selfies, by using theory we had read in class. For the most part we concluded that taking a selfie is a way for a tourist to connect to the place they are visiting, to prove to themselves and to others that they were really there.

On a small island off the coast of Sicily, there is a little rocky beach where I learned to skip rocks. I wanted to watch the water spray up off the rocks for hours; I was mesmerized by the foam swirling around the stones like white-and-blue smoke. For Tourism Studies, my blogs had this recurring theme of water; I discussed why people are drawn to it, why it is such a source of tourist interest–I don’t feel that I fully answered that question, but I think the magic of water was a significant part of both my class work and my fascinated interest in touring Italy.

I learned in Tourism that being a tourist can sometimes be seen as a negative thing. But I’ve also learned that there is an upside. That by being a good tourist, it can mean gaining a new cultural experience and understanding which is valuable. This is the moment I did not feel guilty for being a tourist and doing touristy things. Gondola rides are good for the soul.

This photo is off the entire Tourism Studies class (aside from Stephen taking the photo) walking down an alleyway in Montalcino. This was the first group trip we did together, and we are still getting to know each other at this point. Ironically, this is a group photo where we are all not wearing red Badger gear. We are walking away, in the mist, downhill. This is indicative, in a literary fashion, of our metamorphosis through the semester, where we reemerge on the other end changed people.