Fall 2017 Travel: Kaori Kuahara

"The whole trip was such an incredible and rewarding experience. It started off with a little rain but that didn’t stop us from going out to see the 9/11 Memorial and Museum which I was lucky enough to visit about 3 years ago. Only at the time, the memorial was open and the museum was still under construction. Visiting the 9/11 Museum was breathtaking and chilling. They have created a walkthrough exhibition of the timeline leading up to the terrorist attack and even after the attack and it was all set up in the foundation of the North Tower I believe. 9/11 was meant to break our nation but it ended up bringing our nation together in remembering the victims. The next stop was at the American Museum of National History which was the location that inspired the movie Night at the Museum. It was right next to Central Park and I was able to visit the wing that featured African art and artifacts which I happened to have learned about in Dr. Ryan’s class, Intro to African Art. It was amazing to be able to see these exhibitions up close and be able to see every little detail that never showed up in the photos inside our textbooks.

On the following day, we made our way over to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was bustling with people who were constantly walking in and out of exhibits and the most exciting part was that with our ticket entrance, we were allowed to go along tours around the entire museum for free! Everyone was so kind and they were very passionate about what they were talking about as they guided us throughout the different wings of the Met. Towards the end of the trip, we visited the Guggenheim and MoMA. I couldn’t believe my eyes when we saw the Guggenheim. The building itself was an architectural marvel, a piece of art which stood there next to Central Park, covered in a fluffy layer of pure white snow. Walking up the main gallery which was in the spiral portion of the museum, it was such a new take on how to view artwork and a very unique experience. MoMA has to be my favorite museum thus far. I don’t know how to explain it but I loved everything about the museum. There was even an ongoing exhibition about an artist named Francis Picabia who is now my favorite artist of all time. His artwork spanned over several decades and he covered almost every type of art possible, while also creating pieces that were over 6 feet tall. His attention to detail was impressive and the exhibition did an amazing job detailing his life and how he prepared to create his masterpieces. "