By being in art history with professor Gail Levin, I, as well as most of you had the (mandatory) chance to visit the Museum of Jewish Heritage here in New York City, near Battery park.
I’ve visited many sites and museums around the city but this happened to be one which I’d never been to, so it was interesting to see. We had a tour guide take us around to some different areas of the museum. He was really informative. I liked seeing the photos of the victims from when they were all alive and happy – it was surreal. It made them seem like people, who had lives and families rather than mere statistics.
We were assigned some questions to answer based on what we saw at the exhibits, which I found distracted from the real experience, but then again it was a class trip, so it was expected. At least it wasn’t too long. Professor Levin herself gave a little presentation in front of a sculpture hanging on the wall.
There were so many areas of the museum which we didn’t get the chance to explore at all, so I’m considering going back to check those out. There was also a great view of the Statue of Liberty. One of the best parts of the trip was that we got to see a real holocaust survivor, who also happened to be a Baruch graduate.
Overall, I’d say that I much prefer visiting museums over attending regular class lectures. I think it was a creative and engaging way to relate art to history and to keep us entertained.
(I didn’t take a picture at the museum but I was there – you can ask)