Today was our first official day in one of the two capital of the Netherlands, Amsterdam. Our daily “adventures” only have us at a half day. HALLELUJAH! 🙏🏽We had a new tour guide today who took us to the Rijk Museum which hold Amsterdams most prize possession The Night Watch. But let me tell you, this museum was HUGE, and huge is an understatement. It’s easily comparable to the Smithsonian. 🙀

At this museum, we where told to choose one painting and to discuss it on the blog. You know, the usual. The painting I chose was Festoon of Fruits 🍑and Flowers 🌸by Jon Davidsz de Heem. It this painting you see very intricately painted fruits and flowers, but only from afar. Up close you see the fruit and flowers opened and exposed. They have been nipped and nibbled at bugs and flys exposing the inner colors and flesh like wounds. This painting was composed in or around 1683 by a sumptuous and Flemish still-life painter. You can see that all kinds of 🐜 (insect) life forms populate the festoon of both fruits and 🌺 (flowers).

My free day consisted of one of my favorite word. It’s eight letters. Can you guess it?? SHOPPING!! The Europeans have it right here! The fashion is absolutely beautiful. The colors and styles it’s all just ahhhhhh. I don’t know how to explain it any better the culture here embeddes themselves in the fashion. It’s such a huge part of their everyday lives and I love every bit of it. I can’t add more than to just say I love it. And I can’t wait to bring back the colors and fashion but also a little piece of their everyday styles and designs.

And to add to my fantastic day, at the end I got to go out and have a girls night, typically for women you know who can go out to bars and drink, and go out and talk and relax. It was probably the most stress free day I have had in a long time. I don’t promote drinking or anything like that but the fact that I could go out and just have a nice time with a good friend or friends was just the cherry on top of the whole night.

What’s was my favorite part of the day??  Mmmm well it’s hard to decide. We spend a lot of time doing the same thing back to back to back so all the museums become just one big blur to be honest. So, so I have a “favorite” part yes; is it a specific painting or  Cathedral we saw, not really.

My favorite things so far was a weird, surreal kind of out door jungle thing st the MSK. This piece of art or exhibit type thing made you kinda feel liked it was a weird Alice in wonderland scene plucked right from the story. It had a huge flat beanbag type thing that spelled if lavender that u could sit on as well as a water bed. You could just lay there and look up into the hanging streamer type things and the blue branches of what might have been a tree. I can definitely say it was a interpretation of the artists but it was quite cool and relaxing too.

Today, our first stop was the St. Ann’s Cathedral in Brugge, Belgium. This was a beautiful traditional catholic styled church, though once Romanesque style church. This church was built on the old relics of the previous church and the archives of the Romanesque now can be seen in display in this church.

Inside the church, we where able to see three different types of interior architecture. I was able to experience displays of mock renaissance as well as 18th and 19th century alter designers and the detailed thumbs built into the church. Also, while there I was able to see the tumbs of the duke of burgundy as well as his daughter. The details and money needed to assemble such a highly recognized and appreciated church is unthought of in America. It was an amazing sight to witness.

While in Belgium 🇧🇪, we where able to go to one of the museum that houses the most art work from the past 500 year (mostly all 16th & 17th century). While there, I was able to see this beautiful sculpture, La Nature, by Alphonse Mucha. The artist of this sculpture lived from 1860 – 1930 and was said to be made between 1899 – 1900. This piece is made completely of brass with gen stone accents on the main crown stone and the earrings.

When I first saw this piece I was blown away, but after looking at all the specific details put into this piece I was astonished. Alphonse Mucha created a realistic and beautiful piece. Especially with its age, the upjeeping and protection of such work is key in its survival for all art lives to see and admire. This piece definitely draws attention to its self even without introduction due to its craftsmanship and detail, and is a key attraction in the end of the century exhibit in the masters museum.

Hello everyone, my name is Elisia (the one on the right). As you can see I’m in a sorority, Chi Omega, and I’m in the beta delta pledge class. I am a exercise science major: Clinical physiology. I also am a double major in gerontology and psychology. After college, my first four years at least, I plan to be applying to graduate school; hopefully at the university of Virginia. After that, my plans are kind of a blurr. I have never been abroad before. I think will be a great trip to determine if I really want to be aboard for a full semester. My artwork I studied was was portrait of a young man by Raphael. The what sparked me most throughout our discussion was the legality of our ship of art, and while overseas I think it would be nice to see some of the art that caused all these issue between countries. I am very excited to, other than experience the culture, but to also eat some of there delicious food and shop in the different countries.