New York - Day 4 - My First Time at the Met

In addition to visiting MoMA on our New York trip, we also visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The duration of our time there was disappointingly slim, but we were determined to make the most out of it. After realizing the flaw of our analytic museum tactics, Maddy and I knew we had to carefully plan this one out. We only had 2 hours to skim through one of the world's largest art museums. We would have to be swift but careful to not neglect the big highlights. 

As much as we prepared ourselves, it was not an easy task to explore the Met. It was like walking through a giant corn maze, except harder and more aesthetically pleasing. It was especially difficult because we had walked for miles and miles beforehand. My feet were aching but I was determined to not displease the art museum gods. 

While we were going through the galleries, I recalled E.L. Konigsburg's From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, a novel that we read in our fourth grade English class. To be honest, I don't remember much about the book, but while we were going through the 18th century bedrooms, I remembered the scene in which the Kincaids slept on an elegant bed. Maddy and I were debating which of the beds the Kincaids may have rested on (I later found out that the original bed they slept on is no longer on display).

The highlight of my museum visit was on the second floor, where the 19th- and early 20th-century European paintings were. I kid you not, a teardrop rolled down my right cheek when I saw a Renoir painting for the first time. Even now I get chills just thinking about it. I was strolling through the entire section ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the paintings. "That Degas painting used to be my phone wallpaper!", "This Degas painting is taped to my closet!", "This Monet painting was in the Titanic!" I felt like I was walking on air, going through Degas, Renoir, Monet, Vermeer, Picasso, and all the other greats.

MATISSE, YOU GUYS, MATISSE!!

The saddest part of my visit was probably at the tail-end of it. We had arrived at around 7:00, 2 hours before they close. At the end, Maddy and I went looking for the modern and contemporary section. We wanted to see a Dali painting before we left. Unfortunately, they closed the section off because it was getting close to closing time. Had I known they were going to close that section early, I would have gone there earlier. 

My feet ached an awful lot by the time I was done. I limped all the way to the Empire State Building and on the way to the hotel. Visiting the Met was an enlightening experience, just imagine if there were no time constraints! Should I ever become the supreme leader of any given benevolent dictatorship, I would command all my subjects to visit the Met. Hopefully it won't be long before I come back. 

For anyone that dare question the gloriousness of the Met, or anyone that wants to know more about in general, click here. For anyone that doesn't remotely recall reading the Mixed-Up Files or its connection to the Met, click here.

New York - Day 4 - My First Time at MoMA

The first time I ever went to an art museum was the 21st of March, 2014, on our journalism trip to New York, at the Modern Museum of Art. It was a visit filled with out-of-body experiences and other exciting things.

After visiting Grand Central Station, half of our group took a bus to the museum. We got there at 3:38pm. We found out they give away free admission tickets on Fridays starting at 4:00, so we decided to hang around the gift shop for a bit. After we were done with the gift shop, we got in line, which stretched all the way around the block. We thought we were gonna be stuck for a while, but the line actually went by pretty fast and we were in within less than ten minutes. 

The first few floors included contemporary galleries, drawings, photography, and special exhibitions on Ileana Sonnabend, John Cage's 4'33", and Robert Heinecken.

Maddy and I explored the first few floors in great detail. But shit officially hit the fan on the fourth floor. We were merrily walking along until we bumped into Jackson Pollock's Stenographic Figure, the painting I posted on my Facebook wall on Pollock Appreciation Day. I started tearing up and bursting into happy spasms. We explored the rest of the floor in a semi-rushed, happy daze. There were a few other Pollock paintings, including Number 1A and One: Number 31. Also on the fourth floor, there was Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg. It was absolutely amazing. 

We were given less than 2 hours to explore the museum; Maddy and I were too busy thoroughly inspecting each item to realize that time had gone by very fast. By the time we were finished with the fourth floor, we only had a few minutes left. As we approached the escalator going downwards, Maddy overheard a French man. She couldn't understand anything that was going on, but then she heard him say "van Gogh." 

And then it dawned on me that I haven't looked at my museum map once since I had gotten it. I looked at my map for the first time and glanced at the contents of the fifth floor: Paul Cézanne, Frida Kahlo, Henri Matisse, Piet Mondrian, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, "and others". 

We had one minute left. I had a panicky feeling, an adrenaline rush of sorts. Why did it take us this long to realize all the good stuff was on the fourth and fifth floor? We had wrongly assumed that we would have enough time to explore everything in peace. I almost began to mourn, but then Maddy and I impulsively hopped off the downward escalator and began going up. 

We frantically ran around the fifth floor, trying to take in as much as possible from the five minutes we allowed ourselves. I ran around with tears in my eyes, gasping loudly and squealing every time I encountered a famous work I recognized from art books and Wikipedia pages. The stash of Monet's Water Lilies nearly gave me heartburn, and Frida Kahlo's self portraits knocked the life out of me. And then we found a group of people crowded around a painting. Maddy and I poked our heads into the crowd, and alas there we were, standing in front of Starry Night. And then we had to leave.

Because it was super crowded, I couldn't take a picture for myself, but this is what it looked like. Original photo here.

My experience at MoMA was both a tragic and joyful one. I 
was naïve and foolish for thinking that 2 hours was enough time for me to explore an art museum (I didn't even know the museum had 6 floors). But it was worth it-- the last ten minutes was particularly exciting and gut wrenching. Next time I come to MoMA, I will be better prepared. 

New York - Day 2 and 3

Wednesday was a wild day, but very exciting indeed. It was the first day of the CSPA Convention. 

During the first session, a few of us went up to the fifth floor to get our publications critiqued. We brought with us two issues of this year's Advocate, as well as a laptop to show our online news website. I wasn't nervous at first, but then our critic opened up by talking about the importance of visuals, which implies that you can't have a good publication if your design editor (i.e. me) sucks. But then she looked at the covers of our Advocates, which I designed, and said they were "absolutely gorgeous." And then I felt like all the life got sucked out of me in a totally cool way. I almost cried. But let it be known: Brenda Tran makes Columbia Scholastic Press Association approved news magazine covers.

The rest of the day went pretty well. After our sessions, we went out to Ellen's Stardust Diner and then to Cinderella. It was pretty well done, props to Carly Rae Jepsen (those dress changes!) and Fran Drescher. Then we hung out around Times Square, then went back to the hotel. Oh, and it was pouring outside so it was awful walking around with no umbrella and soggy boots.

Thursday, today, was even more jam-packed. Quite a few things went awry and a lot of us were cranky by the time it was 4:00. I almost got run over by a U-Haul truck. Highlight of my day: going to a Hungarian Pastry shop nearby the campus. I had a cherry cheesecake strudel. We also visited the World Trade Center/9-11 Memorial and Soho.

After all that, we went back to our hotel. Maddy, Dalena, and I then tried peel-off facials for the first time. They're very fun, except when the goo gets stuck in your eyebrows and hairline.

New York - Day 1

Alas, the Mayo Journalism team embarks on the journey to the CSPA Convention at Columbia University. The first day was extremely exhausting-- we took a shuttle to Minneapolis at 3:30 am and took a plane at 6:50. Once we got settled in, we visited the New York Times building, went to Chelsea Market and High Line Park, and then took the Staten Island ferry. It was an incredibly exhausting day, but exciting nonetheless.