Fall 2017 Travel: Margaret Milford

"Receiving this travel scholarship greatly aided in my ability to travel to London. With this award, I purchased my plane ticket to London, which was one of the most important expenses for the week. 

During my time on this field study, I had the opportunity to visit numerous museums and see eight plays. Being an art history major, I so enjoyed visiting London’s museums, as I had never had the opportunity to do so in my previous trips to London. We visited the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum, the Tate Britain and the Tate Modern, the Courtauld Gallery, the Wallace Collection, and more. It was amazing to see masterpieces in situ, such as Caravaggio’s Supper at Emmaus at the National Gallery and Fragonard’s The Swingat the Wallace Collection. I learned about the controversy surrounding the Parthenon marbles at the British Museum and also saw the Rosetta Stone and Cleopatra’s sarcophagus.  I also had the opportunity to see the collection of African art at the British Museum, which furthered my interest in studying African art. 

In addition to the museum visits, we also saw seven plays and one musical. The plays varied in genre, some being comedies, dramas, and one horror. We chose one play to see on our own time, and I chose to see The Woman in Black, as I was interested to see how a horror-themed play could be successful. Outside of class, I traveled to different historical destinations, such as the Tower of London and Buckingham Palace. 

This trip to London allowed me to explore both the cultural and historical areas of the city, which is something that I had not been able to do in the past. This trip to London made me a more culturally competent student, and I also made new friends as a result of this trip. Thank you so much for this award, as my travel to London would not have been possible without it; I am currently saving to fund my living expenses after college, and this grant helped me have the opportunity to travel abroad once more during my time as an undergraduate. Again, thank you for this opportunity; I am so grateful to have received this scholarship."