by Shernice Rabess
Several months ago when Dr Esprit mentioned the idea of the trip to New York, I was marveled at the idea however, when I was chosen to partake in this trip my excitement was peaked even more. Now that we are here in New York I can truly say there is never a dull moment in this big city. It has been a wonderful experience thus far from our visits to Atlantic Center, Barclays Center, the American Museum of Natural History, Central Park, 9/11 Memorial and Museum, African Burial Ground, Marcus Garvey Park where we viewed Macbeth and of course Medgar Evers College; where we presented our various projects. Not to mention, our never ending entertainment on the train as at least one New Yorker makes it their stage, be it singers or dancers.
On Friday 29 July, we visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art; although I liked the museum of Natural History, in my opinion it is one of the best museums we have visited so far. The Museum contains over 5,000 years of art from every corner of the world. While touring, we viewed different exhibits such as Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, Greek and Roman Art, European Sculpture and Decorative Arts as well as Arms and Armor and much more.
When we arrived at the museum, it was packed, however, that did not affect our overall experience. Out of all the exhibits in the Metropolitan museum, I looked forward to seeing the Greek Artifacts exhibit; my excitement for this was driven by my love for Greek mythology. However when I got there there were not many sculptures depicting the gods and goddesses and sadly I only saw one Athena statue. Nonetheless, the other statues made up for that. They were all beautiful and the talent of the artists were clearly shown in their depictions. As I have only seen a wide variety of statues in movies, pictures and books seeing them in real life was extremely satisfying and amazing. When we entered the Arts of African section, we could clearly see how the artifacts differ due to culture.
After we visited the Metropolitan museum we went to Time Square, one of the busiest places in New York. We saw street performers, and I got to take a picture with persons dressed like Olaf and Elsa from frozen. We also got to see artists spray painting in the street. To end our day we went to see movies at one of the many movie theaters.
Overall, I loved visiting the museum because I love art and everything to do with ancient history. Seeing the various artifacts up close and personal was a great experience. The whole scenery was just so beautiful. Also it showed how people were viewed in their different eras. Each sculpture, weaponry , paintings and different clothing had to be grouped as each had different attributes depicting favorable views of that era; they showed what was beautiful and pleasurable in that time. Some of the artifacts in the museum continue to be unknown however, the workers assured me that they are working to uncover who the sculptures are.
Also, seeing some of the colleges so far has been fun and enlightening. Everyday we experience, see and learn something new. For this once in a life time experience, I will forever be thankful and grateful for the endless efforts of Dr Schuyler Esprit and the sponsors who made this trip possible for us.
