Abigail Smith is a freshman at Princeton University, born and raised in Houston, Texas. Born and raised, that is, until the year of her thirteenth birthday when she was abruptly uprooted by her family’s decision to move to Brisbane, Australia where her father was doing business. Although extremely unhappy with having to leave behind her close group of friends and incredibly terrified at the prospect of living on the other side of the world, Abigail braved the move. After struggling at first with homesickness as she had never experienced it, as well as slight alterations in “normal” foods (Vegemite on toast??), Abigail adjusted. She took the time to look around and really experience the fantastic opportunity she had been given to live in such a new and different culture. She made some of the best friends of her life, and although she only lived abroad for a year and a half, Australia and its people will always hold a special place in her heart.
She originally took the Impressionism and the Making of Modern Art class simply because she likes going to art museums, and she thought it might be interesting to write about them. When the final research paper came around, Abigail was at a loss for an artist to study. She had developed a pattern in previous essays of choosing very obscure (i.e. entirely unknown) artists, and she found it exciting enough to want to continue the trend. Even though her incredible experience Down Under has led her to constantly search for excuses to study the country she grew to love, this time the thought had not even crossed her mind; instead, it happened quite fortuitously. The assignment bound only by the term “Impressionism,” she typed it into the Search bar on Groveart.com. The second entry to appear immediately caught her attention: Australian Impressionism. There are Australian Impressionists?? Abigail had no idea! Her curiosity had her hooked. After a little further research, she settled on a study of Tom Roberts, and that was how it all began.
Aside from her omnipresent interest in everything Australian, Abigail also enjoys cooking (especially cookies!) and dancing. She has a younger brother and a younger sister, and misses her family terribly as they are all the way back in Texas. She is a Religion major, as well as being on the pre-med track, planning on attending medical school once she graduates from Princeton. But for the moment, Abigail is enjoying every bit of college and secretly hopes that her next three years here never end!