During the Art module at Excel College, students learned the oft-overlooked skill of reading paintings and sculptures. Since long ago, much has been communicated through this medium -- before the printing press, this is what most "read." If art can be read, then where could one find the most timeless classics to study? You likely guessed it -- Italy. From the Forum in the Eternal City of Rome to the Florentine Duomo, to charming Assisi nestled in the hills of Tuscany; we traced art back to its "rebirth" — better known as the Renaissance. While the food was delicious and the layers of history overwhelming to comprehend, my newfound literacy to read paintings/sculptures significantly impacted how I viewed the ancient world as well as our own. This trip was the final crescendo of our transition from phase 1 of the Core into the final phase of the Excel experience in the Practicum. The chance to study and journey through the old world alongside my class proved to be an enriching and fitting symbol of our own "renaissance" into a lifetime of application that begins with our next step.