My week was awesome at the start! Seeing the email regarding classes being cancelled  made my entire day. I finally had a chance to catch up on work and sleep; I primarily did the latter. My communications class is slightly stressful though given that I’m behind on class work, but I trust that I’ll catch up. I have a first exam for my calculus class coming up, and it’s honestly the most stressful part of my week because I’m just so bad at the subject. All of my other classes are fine though. I hope to have some ‘me’ time during this upcoming weekend because I really need it in order to de-stress and better my overall mental health.

For my first reflective writing assignment, I chose to focus in on an academic enrichment activity. More specifically, I elected to visit The Metropolitan Museum of Art- A famous, grand museum located on 5th Avenue and 82nd Street on the Upper East Side in Manhattan. I had a particular interest in the museum because of its well renowned reputation, choice of admission price, and its feature in one of 2018’s best movies- Ocean’s Eight. Although I did not get to see the fictional ‘Toussaint Necklace’, or practically any significant amount of jewelry, I had the opportunity to delve into many historical and cultural exhibitions.

Throughout my visit, I was hard-pressed in my ability to know where I was going.  As such, I spent most of my time navigating the museum aimlessly- rendering my visit to last over three hours. Nonetheless, I had the opportunity to spectate all corners and displays of the museum. Some of the more interesting sections of the museum that I visited include the panoramic view of the Palace of Versailles, the faberge egg display, and the American wing. The panoramic view of Versailles was the best feature of the museum due to the uncanny realism of the display; I felt as though I was actually visiting the garden and palace at Versailles, so much so that I spent ten entire minutes attempting to make the display tangible. The faberge egg display had three beautifully decorated eggs- all of which were produced and came from Imperial Russia. Finally, the American wing of the museum was monumental in architecture, featuring a transparent windowed ceiling and a bronze statue of the Roman goddess Diana, whom was the goddess of the moon and hunting.

Overall, I enjoyed my day trip to ‘The Met’ and wish to visit it again soon. Although I was very confused and lost at particular times during my visit, I still reveled in the broad displays of human achievement and excellent; such a feeling is the reason that I would strongly consider visiting again.

For my last freshman/first year seminar class, I was introduced to two excellent guest speakers; one of whom was a representative from the study abroad office at Baruch, and another was a representative for the Honors program at Baruch. The former was particularly interesting because of my expressed ambitions to study in a foreign country. During his presentation, I not only paid close attention to the criteria and details of the program, but I also jotted down many cities I had interest in studying in. I was especially delighted by the financial aspect of study abroad, where I was informed that my financial aid, as well as potential scholarships, could cover all costs. Overall, study abroad is an experience that I express a strong desire to partake in, and I hope to be fortunate enough to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.