Tuesday, October 21st
Today’s International Studies class was a trip to the British Museum. I was saving this to do for when Becca came to visit due to all the sculptures from the Parthenon, but ended up going today instead. We started off in the first room by walking directly into none other than the Rosetta Stone. Wow. Way to start off. The stone carries an inscription in three different languages which helped to decipher the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic script.
We continued on through the Egyptian exhibits and it was awesome seeing the statues and sarcophagi in person. They are absolutely massive! It was also interesting seeing the statues and how they stood and what positions they were in due to the analysis that we studied in my art history classes.
We continued on to Assyria and saw how really intimidating their artwork really was. Everything was based off of putting fear in anyone who passed by, not to mess with them because they will kick your ass… basically. Seeing the giant, fierce figures, and the many friezes of lion hunting, I think they did the trick.
Next was the Greek exhibits. WOW. It is set up so that we walked through it backwards, from Helenistic to Geometric, but I am glad that we did because it is that much more exciting when you go from the end figures, to the pottery, to the PARTHENON! There isn’t a huge selection of Helenistic sculpture, which really is my favorite of all the sculptures because of how obscure and absurd some of them are, but it was great getting another taste of the attic black and red pottery in addition to what I saw in the Louvre.
I was also particularly excited to see MINOAN pottery and some of their artwork. I absolutely loved learning about them in class, and I want to go to Crete sooo badly someday. Their culture and artwork fascinates me. Becca understands. Ha.
Finally, Cody and I made it to the Parthenon gallery. Oh my… INCREDIBLE! I started freaking out when I got inside. This entire trip has been a year of art history flashing before my eyes, and seeing all of this in person, and imagining it to how it was in the past is simply amazing. I got to see the friezes that span across the west and south side of the structure, in addition to many other of the sculptures of the temple. Seeing the statues from the pediment was the absolute highlight, and I was going crazy with excitement. I would reiterate all the history and concept and amazingness behind all of this, but I elaborate too much already… Oh Prof. Larry Ball, the inspiration you have instilled in us. Haha. I cannot wait till Becca comes here to show her!
In the Parthenon exhibit, there were many artists doing sketches of the figures, which I am sure I will have to stop in and do some work here for my figure drawing. A bit of a different approach than in the states. Oh, what did you do today? Ya know, just did some sketches from ANCIENT GREEK SCULPTURE GENIUS!
Stopping only to grab a quick lunch in the museum café and to browse the gift shop, Cody and I spent five hours in the museum… only on the first floor. We are definitely going back so that we can finish the entire museum. We still have to see the Roman, Chinese, and other exhibits that are also going to be awesome, I’m sure.
I came back to my room to find Rachael trying to operate our vintage oven. The room started filling up with smoke when she tried to use it, so we quickly turned it off, while fanning the smoke alarm, opening all the windows, putting on the fan, and swinging the door back and forth to create the most possible airflow to make sure the alarms didn’t go off. It was hilarious to be completely honest. I guess we will be using the stove down the hall from now on.
The evening consisted of my first experience of West Side Story. We had to go to a theatre all the way on the other side of town, so it was a bit of a ride, but definitely worth it. New Wimbledon Theatre was beautiful, and the production was awesome. Not my favorite so far, but still really good. I think I also had really high expectations because it is such a big deal production. The dancing was really good, and I really enjoyed the pit orchestra. Overall it was really good, but I was sad with how sad the storyline was.
We made our way back afterward, and I spent a bit of the ride calling home to say hello. However, after the train started the transition back into the underground, I lost my signal and cut my mom off… sorry about that…
It was funny walking back to our room because Cody, Rachael, and I were completely silent the entire walk back because we were all so exhausted. We laughed about it quite a bit when we got back to MTH. Oh well, no time for sleep in this city!
Today’s International Studies class was a trip to the British Museum. I was saving this to do for when Becca came to visit due to all the sculptures from the Parthenon, but ended up going today instead. We started off in the first room by walking directly into none other than the Rosetta Stone. Wow. Way to start off. The stone carries an inscription in three different languages which helped to decipher the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic script.
We continued on through the Egyptian exhibits and it was awesome seeing the statues and sarcophagi in person. They are absolutely massive! It was also interesting seeing the statues and how they stood and what positions they were in due to the analysis that we studied in my art history classes.
We continued on to Assyria and saw how really intimidating their artwork really was. Everything was based off of putting fear in anyone who passed by, not to mess with them because they will kick your ass… basically. Seeing the giant, fierce figures, and the many friezes of lion hunting, I think they did the trick.
Next was the Greek exhibits. WOW. It is set up so that we walked through it backwards, from Helenistic to Geometric, but I am glad that we did because it is that much more exciting when you go from the end figures, to the pottery, to the PARTHENON! There isn’t a huge selection of Helenistic sculpture, which really is my favorite of all the sculptures because of how obscure and absurd some of them are, but it was great getting another taste of the attic black and red pottery in addition to what I saw in the Louvre.
I was also particularly excited to see MINOAN pottery and some of their artwork. I absolutely loved learning about them in class, and I want to go to Crete sooo badly someday. Their culture and artwork fascinates me. Becca understands. Ha.
Finally, Cody and I made it to the Parthenon gallery. Oh my… INCREDIBLE! I started freaking out when I got inside. This entire trip has been a year of art history flashing before my eyes, and seeing all of this in person, and imagining it to how it was in the past is simply amazing. I got to see the friezes that span across the west and south side of the structure, in addition to many other of the sculptures of the temple. Seeing the statues from the pediment was the absolute highlight, and I was going crazy with excitement. I would reiterate all the history and concept and amazingness behind all of this, but I elaborate too much already… Oh Prof. Larry Ball, the inspiration you have instilled in us. Haha. I cannot wait till Becca comes here to show her!
In the Parthenon exhibit, there were many artists doing sketches of the figures, which I am sure I will have to stop in and do some work here for my figure drawing. A bit of a different approach than in the states. Oh, what did you do today? Ya know, just did some sketches from ANCIENT GREEK SCULPTURE GENIUS!
Stopping only to grab a quick lunch in the museum café and to browse the gift shop, Cody and I spent five hours in the museum… only on the first floor. We are definitely going back so that we can finish the entire museum. We still have to see the Roman, Chinese, and other exhibits that are also going to be awesome, I’m sure.
I came back to my room to find Rachael trying to operate our vintage oven. The room started filling up with smoke when she tried to use it, so we quickly turned it off, while fanning the smoke alarm, opening all the windows, putting on the fan, and swinging the door back and forth to create the most possible airflow to make sure the alarms didn’t go off. It was hilarious to be completely honest. I guess we will be using the stove down the hall from now on.
The evening consisted of my first experience of West Side Story. We had to go to a theatre all the way on the other side of town, so it was a bit of a ride, but definitely worth it. New Wimbledon Theatre was beautiful, and the production was awesome. Not my favorite so far, but still really good. I think I also had really high expectations because it is such a big deal production. The dancing was really good, and I really enjoyed the pit orchestra. Overall it was really good, but I was sad with how sad the storyline was.
We made our way back afterward, and I spent a bit of the ride calling home to say hello. However, after the train started the transition back into the underground, I lost my signal and cut my mom off… sorry about that…
It was funny walking back to our room because Cody, Rachael, and I were completely silent the entire walk back because we were all so exhausted. We laughed about it quite a bit when we got back to MTH. Oh well, no time for sleep in this city!
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