My Writers in Florence Trip
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My name is Mark Robles-Long and I am a second-year student at New York University. I am majoring in neuroscience, pre-med, and minoring in creative writing.Weird, right?
The combining of these two disciplines may seem unconventional and from most of the research scientists and poets I've experienced, it most definitely is. Nevertheless, it is an attractive idea. Researching and understanding the human brain and subsequently the human mind from a creative, poetic perspective is something I strive to accomplish. Just as any pre-med student will tell you, however, sometimes you have to be willing to put your "dreams" on the backburner so you can devote (all) your time to science–especially organic chemistry. While very few manage to get ahead in credits to give themselves some leeway for their minor or even their second major, most pre-med students, like myself, are stuck in the most bittersweet situation: studying science and nothing but science. While I always had the desire to study creative writing (namely poetry) at NYU, I never found it plausible. With one of the most demanding majors offered at NYU intermingled with extra pre-med classes, not to mention the NYU-required classes (composition, cultures and societies classes, foreign language, etc.), my idea of becoming the next
Oliver Sacks
, the "poet laureate of medicine" was not looking too auspicious...until late fall of last year.
One friend, raised in Florence, Italy, had always raved about her hometown: the villas, the food, the beauty. Whether it was the fact that I had never been further away from my home in California as where I am now or that I oftentimes was bewildered when she would taunt me in Italian, Florence seemed like some surreal place.
Traveling to Florence and experiencing that which my friend adored so much was something I always promised to do yet knew I wouldn't be doing until the far, post-medical school loans future. As melodic yet unrealistic as the idea sounded, last October I was provided with an opportunity that would allow me to travel to the NYU campus in Florence for four weeks during the summer, participating in a program called Writers in Florence. Needless to say, my previously-hindered creative mind just about screamed "finally" at the sound. To study poetry in Florence under the pen of renowned, award-winning faculty is a surreal thought, an ideality. However, soon enough, it became clear to me this opportunity was the most perfect academic necessity. Completing a creative writing minor at NYU requires 16 credits (4 classes). This number is dwarfed by the credit loads for
required classes
and
neuroscience/pre-med
which is exactly what makes fitting these 4 classes and completion of the minor so difficult. The benefit of Writers in Florence being during the summer is it allows students to finish 2 of the 4 required classes in only four weeks, leaving those having nearly inflexible class schedules to fit in a significantly lighter course-load.
This opportunity is one offered not to many and one taken by even fewer for multiple reasons. While I feel honored to be attending this university, I am not blind to the amount of student loan debt that piles up after every year. With NYU having one of the highest tuitions of any university in the country and offering some of the least financial aid, student loans (and a notable yet fractional scholarship) continue to carry me from semester to semester. Though I am confident I will succeed in the field of medicine, neuroscience, and writing, all the while with the very modest financial support yet strong moral support of my family, opportunities such as this only appear as burdensome Bursar statements, letters sent by NYU's financial administration.
As much as I truly believe this program is the ultimate opportunity and perfect necessity for my collective field of study, what it would cost my family renders attending Writers in Florence nearly impossible–$10,000. From this, I recognize I have to pursue all other possible ways of funding: extended family, close friends, the community, private societies, oodles of scholarship essays, and whatever other ways there may be. I appreciate the time you have given to reading my story and hope to be considered as both an aspiring neuroscientist and a hopeful writer determined to reach Tuscany.
The combining of these two disciplines may seem unconventional and from most of the research scientists and poets I've experienced, it most definitely is. Nevertheless, it is an attractive idea. Researching and understanding the human brain and subsequently the human mind from a creative, poetic perspective is something I strive to accomplish. Just as any pre-med student will tell you, however, sometimes you have to be willing to put your "dreams" on the backburner so you can devote (all) your time to science–especially organic chemistry. While very few manage to get ahead in credits to give themselves some leeway for their minor or even their second major, most pre-med students, like myself, are stuck in the most bittersweet situation: studying science and nothing but science. While I always had the desire to study creative writing (namely poetry) at NYU, I never found it plausible. With one of the most demanding majors offered at NYU intermingled with extra pre-med classes, not to mention the NYU-required classes (composition, cultures and societies classes, foreign language, etc.), my idea of becoming the next
Oliver Sacks
, the "poet laureate of medicine" was not looking too auspicious...until late fall of last year.
One friend, raised in Florence, Italy, had always raved about her hometown: the villas, the food, the beauty. Whether it was the fact that I had never been further away from my home in California as where I am now or that I oftentimes was bewildered when she would taunt me in Italian, Florence seemed like some surreal place.
Traveling to Florence and experiencing that which my friend adored so much was something I always promised to do yet knew I wouldn't be doing until the far, post-medical school loans future. As melodic yet unrealistic as the idea sounded, last October I was provided with an opportunity that would allow me to travel to the NYU campus in Florence for four weeks during the summer, participating in a program called Writers in Florence. Needless to say, my previously-hindered creative mind just about screamed "finally" at the sound. To study poetry in Florence under the pen of renowned, award-winning faculty is a surreal thought, an ideality. However, soon enough, it became clear to me this opportunity was the most perfect academic necessity. Completing a creative writing minor at NYU requires 16 credits (4 classes). This number is dwarfed by the credit loads for
required classes
and
neuroscience/pre-med
which is exactly what makes fitting these 4 classes and completion of the minor so difficult. The benefit of Writers in Florence being during the summer is it allows students to finish 2 of the 4 required classes in only four weeks, leaving those having nearly inflexible class schedules to fit in a significantly lighter course-load.
This opportunity is one offered not to many and one taken by even fewer for multiple reasons. While I feel honored to be attending this university, I am not blind to the amount of student loan debt that piles up after every year. With NYU having one of the highest tuitions of any university in the country and offering some of the least financial aid, student loans (and a notable yet fractional scholarship) continue to carry me from semester to semester. Though I am confident I will succeed in the field of medicine, neuroscience, and writing, all the while with the very modest financial support yet strong moral support of my family, opportunities such as this only appear as burdensome Bursar statements, letters sent by NYU's financial administration.
As much as I truly believe this program is the ultimate opportunity and perfect necessity for my collective field of study, what it would cost my family renders attending Writers in Florence nearly impossible–$10,000. From this, I recognize I have to pursue all other possible ways of funding: extended family, close friends, the community, private societies, oodles of scholarship essays, and whatever other ways there may be. I appreciate the time you have given to reading my story and hope to be considered as both an aspiring neuroscientist and a hopeful writer determined to reach Tuscany.
Organizer
Mark Adame
Organizer
New York, NY