Hello Everyone! I finally went to the Metropolitan Museum of art to do my project for art history. While I was there, I got to see lots of art from all the different time periods, including the rococo and post-impressionist times. The line to pay my $5 was long, unless if you wanted to get the express tickets for $25. Afterwards, I went upstairs to find paintings i was assigned to go see. The first painting was easy to find because it said it on the floor plan. However, the other 3 were hard to find, i spent almost an hour trying to find them using the complex organization style. The museum did look really nice though. One of my favorite paintings was the one below, which depicts our natural waters in the middle and the boats in the background. That paintings in that room all had to do with nature, which are my favorite types because they make you feel relaxed and away from the city for just a bit. It surprised me how crowded the area was, because usually most museums i had to go to are always struggling to get more visitors in. I know its supposed to be one of the most famous museums in the world, so people come from all over. The art itself seems very diverse as you can find Egyptian, Indian, Chinese, European and Native American art. After i finally found all the art pieces, I decided to go outside and have some halal. It wasn’t as tasty as the one by the 23rd st (6) station, but it still filled me up. Then i had to rush on the 6 to make sure i got back to Baruch in time for English. The experience made me feel a bit like a tourist and made me realize there’s always a place in NY waiting to be discovered.

For the last blog, I had to fulfill the academic portion of the blogs, so I decided to write about my experience in the Met (Metropolitan Museum of Art). Honestly, I had to go to the museum because we had an assignment for art history and since I went to a museum for another class, might as well use it for another class! To me, everything in the Met was pretty fascinating. I normally don’t go to the museum because I find them boring, but coming to this one has made me realize that not all museums are boring. Coming into the museum, I was pretty amazed already because the stairs are so wide and big that it made it feel like it was calling my name to enter.

In this particular picture, I am standing in front of the painting named Death of Socrates and in this particular painting, it shows the death of a very important Greek philosopher, Socrates. As you can see, he did not die in a bloody scene. He looks like he is reaching out for the cup of poison that another person is holding out extending to him. This painting is very significant because in this painting, it shows that Socrates was willing to die for his beliefs instead of change his beliefs and it can teach us humans who live in the 21st century, to never give up on what we believe in.

I also went to the Egyptian side of the museum with my friend in the Met. On their instagram page, they posted a picture of this place inside the museum and it was beautiful. There was a lot of sun entering in through the huge glass windows with water in the center and people are allowed to sit on the edges of it. I would go there again if another person was willing to go with me, since I only got to see one side of the museum and not the other. 

For this blog, it was around the time that I went to the Rubin Museum. I went to this museum to do my Art History Assignment at the time. This assignment was one of the very first assignments that came out for Art History. I wasn’t much of a fan of why I needed to go out and explore around. This experience, however, brought some limelight to my conserved thinking. This is because exploring is basically what college is about. Even though I reside in New York City, I had never even visited or even heard of the museum. This would mean that it was already a new place to visit. I always stayed at home and never liked the idea of going outside. However, when I did go outside, I tried to explore as much as possible.

With this activity, I saw an opportunity to explore around the area around campus. This is because this place was quite close to campus. However, it was a little walk away. It was at a small part of a block. That is why it had to be on separate floors in a small building. Visiting this museum was quite a different experience than other museums that reside within Manhattan. This is because the main museums are the Museum of Natural History and the Met, which are way bigger in comparison to the Rubin Museum.

Even though the main point of the visit was to do an assignment for a class, I still see it as an opportunity to be able to explore the many things that were within the city I live in. I didn’t stay within the building for long because there really wasn’t much to do and wasn’t quite that much to look at. I also don’t see myself continue pursuing something that related to why I went to that museum. Visiting the place was interesting,but not something I would probably do again.

A few days ago, a friend and I decided to visit the Museum of Modern Art. I haven’t been to a museum in several years, which made the experience very new to me. When attending the MoMA, I didn’t realize how crowded it would be, since we attended on a free-admission Friday afternoon. I didn’t know that admission is free on Friday afternoons, which is an admirable promotion by MoMA. Even though the place was extremely crowded, the employees at MoMA were very polite and kept the lines of people organized. The layout of MoMA was very structured, as there were five large floors filled with diverse works of art. Even though some floors did not interest me, the 4^th floor stood out above all. There were works of art from various periods, including fauvism, expressionism, surrealism, and pop art. The variety of art on display gave me the opportunity to experience all that art had to offer. On the 5^th floor, there was a replica of Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night, which was surrounded by at least 30 people. Personally, I would have enjoyed the museum more thoroughly if there were less people in attendance.Since I had an Art History assignment based on attending the Museum of Modern Art, I expected myself to leave as soon as I found everything required. Instead, I found myself looking through the entire museum, analyzing each work of art. I critiqued the artworks based on the techniques I’ve learned in class, such as the use of colors, objects, and so on. All in all, visiting the MoMA allowed me to connect the experiences outside of the classroom to what is learned inside of the classroom. As a result, linking these various aspects of learning together allowed me to fully understand what was being taught in the classroom. 

For this assignment, I decided to go to the MoMA. I have been to MoMA before a couple years ago, but I completely forgot how much I liked all of the artwork in there. In a lot of museums, a lot of the art can come off as old and of the same nature, but MoMA really has work that is more striking and bold in my opinion. It’s probably because as the name suggests, the art is more modern. When I first walked into the museum, I was quickly overwhelmed with how many people were in there. However, the fact that the museum was well organized and easy to navigate through made that a little better. A lot of people were gathered around a certain painting and I got the chance to see that it was Van Gogh’s famous Starry Night, which is even more beautiful in person. This painting was on the fifth floor, which was my favorite floor. It’s the floor with all of the collection galleries, having all of the famous pieces of artwork that I have grown up seeing and hearing about from artists such as Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, and Frida Kahlo. I saw paintings that I totally forgot I previously analyzed for art in middle school, such as Dali’s Persistence of Memory and Rene Magritte’s The Lovers. It was cool seeing the physical art pieces that I have analyzed before from the computer. Outside, there is a courtyard that is really nice for fresh air, places to sit, and more artwork to admire. It’s especially nice considering the amount of people inside the museum. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the entire day to look through all the floors and see all the artwork, but I thoroughly enjoyed the exhibits I did get to see.

This week I had the pleasure of visiting the study abroad fair. I chose to check this opportunity out because I heard Baruch has great study abroad programs and that couldn’t be truer. Baruch offers a vast amount of options when it comes to studying abroad as they have a list of countries, covering almost all of Europe. As a high school student growing up I would always dream of spending my time learning in a different country. I was excited to not only excel in school but to also learn the culture and traditions of a European country. Baruch offers its study abroad program for juniors and seniors mainly. To go through the study abroad process one must meet with their advisers and set up their courses of the semester they will be studying abroad as it is vital to stay caught up on your education during your stay. Some of the countries I dream to visit would be Amsterdam and the Czech Republic and maybe Prague. These countries are of interest to me because they are so different from New York City and I want to take that opportunity to learn the culture and the ways of the people that live in these countries but also to take a step away from hectic city life and try something new. At the study abroad fair I was able to meet with people that took this opportunity and were able to study abroad. This is what excited me the most about the fair since they got to share their experiences with me and really got me excited to seize this opportunity in the future. My junior and senior year I will definitely take part in these programs and fulfill the dream I had since high school. With Baruch’s great many programs and options I know I will be able to study abroad to experience the ways of life in Europe and to also excel in my education, as the new experiences will definitely reflect on my work in the classroom.

I thought I knew what I was expecting when I first entered the Rubin Museum, as it was the second time I visited a museum for art class. Little did I know that my time at the Rubin Museum last Friday would be a profound and unique experience. This experience expanded my mind and exposed me to art I’ve never explored or seen previously. The close examining of details and context in the artworks of these exhibits will definitely come in handy in future art projects. The Henri Cartier-Bresson: India in Full Frame exhibit was the first I visited. I immediately noticed the dark and dreary style of interior design which reflected the grim nature of the art. I learned about the photographer, Henri Cartier-Bresson and his experience in India from 1947-1950. Alive during this time was Mahatma Gandhi and the exhibit featured the leader’s final days of life. The art assignment asked us to examine themes of religion and deities in the art. Although Gods are usually prayed and looked up to, it seemed they were portrayed more abstract and dark in this exhibit. One photograph I found really beautiful was with a peacock contrasting an unattractive and dreary background. The peacock not only has religious meaning but to me, represents that there can be beauty found in unexpected places. The next exhibit I went to was The World is Sound which combined interesting and complex multimedia and sound technology that enhanced the artwork and experience. If you touched certain walls or entered certain rooms, you could hear all kinds of music and chants that reflects concepts of Tibetan Buddhism. The room itself takes you on a cyclical journey from life to death. If you ever wanted to feel like you’ve reincarnated or time-travelled, I would highly recommend visiting the Rubin Museum.

I usually go to the basement during my free time here at Baruch.  Usually everyone from the soccer team meets down there and we usually go and sit in our coaches office and just talk.  This past Thursday there were about ten of us down there having our lunch right before club hours and saw people coming down to help set up for The Study Abroad Fair.  Coming into college studying abroad is something I’ve been looking forward to so I saw this as an opportunity to not only complete this assignment, but also gain a better understanding as to what I need in order to study abroad.  Baruch offers you the opportunity to attend many different countries, but they usually only allow juniors and seniors study abroad.  The options are endless covering almost all the different parts of Europe.  Usually you go away for a semester, but you have to make sure you take courses that will keep you on track with your graduation plan.  You have to meet with an advisor and have to file a special application in order to take advantage of this opportunity.  The countries that stood out to me the most were China and Netherlands.  Chinese culture and very interesting and I would really love to experience living in China for a semester.  Now Netherlands on the other hand just stood out to me because I want to experience life in Amsterdam.  Foreign Exchange students from there were explaining to me how much cheaper it is to live over there and how life in Europe isn’t as stressful as it is in New York.  All these students in the fair are exchange students here at Baruch this fall semester.  They were advertising their schools and trying to convince you to come out and explore not only their school, but also their country.  I was already looking forward to studying abroad, but now I’m even more anxious to do a semester in China and enjoy myself in Amsterdam.  I have something to look forward to.