Field Notes: The Media School Travel Blog

Before this semester, I had never been to the American West coast. I have traveled outside of the U.S., but I’ve only gotten the chance to explore my own country a few times.

This Semester in Los Angeles program gave me the chance to work and live in a city completely unlike the one I grew up in. Palm trees and “Euphoria” billboards are not things I’m used to seeing, having grown up in Indianapolis. But there are also some things L.A. shares with Indy. One of those is a deep love of art. 

There is a ton of art everywhere you look in L.A. Not far from our West Hollywood apartment complex was the Arts District, with cool independent shops and theaters, and colorful graffiti everywhere. And of course, L.A. is a haven for films and music. What I didn’t expect was such a presence of traditional art as well. 

I have always appreciated classic art, especially the Impressionists and the similar branches of that movement. Monet, Degas, Cross — all of them had such an eye for color, strong shapes and evoking emotion on the canvases. But, to me, none of them top Vincent Van Gogh. 

In L.A., there is an immersive Van Gogh exhibit where you step inside this huge warehouse and watch his paintings come to life on the walls and floors around you. I visited this exhibit with my roommate early on in the semester. My mother and aunt had visited the version of this exhibit they have at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and we could bond and discuss it even though we were hundreds of miles apart. 

That exhibit really opened up L.A. to me and showed me that I could have such new and incredible experiences, and really allow myself to grow in a lot of new ways. I know I grew not only in knowledge of culture, art and media — all those things that are kind of important for my chosen field — but I also grew more confident and curious. Los Angeles is a wonderful city, and living here has only made my love of every kind of art grow.