Blog 5: Vocation-Aryne Feldman

While studying abroad at the American University of Rome in Italy, I will be making the most out of my time.  Throughout my entire life, I have been infatuated and in love with the idea of fashion.  Throughout high school and middle school, I have always wanted to have a career in fashion, but not actually designing the clothes.  Maybe a marketing opportunity or advertising but still focusing on the fashion aspect.  Going abroad, I signed up for fashion marketing classes, which is not offered here at Maryville College.  That will contribute to my vocational goals enough right there, but I want to do more.  I decided that while I am there, I will be finishing my last two chapters of my thesis on fashion.  I wrote mainly about plus size women in America and what it says about our culture, but then I decided that I want to value my time abroad in a different way than others, and that I would take my two courses in Italy and on my down time work on my thesis.  After talking with my thesis advisor, we decided it would be best to observe women in the magazines in Italy, and walking around.  The problem with that is, most women who are in the heart of Rome are mainly tourist, as it is a high populated tourist area.  Therefore, I need to go outside the city and explore and maybe take a couple days to observe local women.  This is one step toward achieving my goal and career choice of fashion marketing.  I hope to gain skills in understanding consumer wants and needs, demand for what products, and what is making the big bucks basically.  The class itself will help a lot with underlying the key factors in fashion marketing, which would be needed for working with fashion in a career.  It will also look awesome on a resume to have that I studied fashion marketing in Rome (how cool is that?)  Studying abroad will be five steps forward in my career, and when I come back I will have the tools and knowledge of what it is like to do field work for my thesis regarding fashion, and to have taken a course that contributes specifically to what I want to do with my future.