College Field Trip!

Going on a "field trip" in college is a lot of fun. There is no tape placed across your door to implement curfews, you get to ride a charter bus, and best if all: you do not have to stay in a group.


*Quick note*
If you are able to join the Honors Program, do it! The Honors Program participants get to go on a lot of interesting field trips! If you are not in the Honors Program, then look for chances in which other classes or organizations get together with them so that you can join in with them... like I did ;) This particular themed trip was a part of the African American Experience honors class.
*End of quick note*


Today, we made a trip to the Muhammad Ali Center. It was awesome because the information displays were so creative. And, yes, of course I would love something totally awkward like the layout of the place. Forget your regular and boring museum setup. This museum incorporated highly interactive displays (which were all the rave with the one hundred elementary school students who arrived shortly after we did). The Ali Center contained a full-sized boxing rink on which to watch film clips from above, an area where visitors lay flat to experience the film on the ceiling, red stock market-style crawls of succinct information, and an area where you can practice your boxing skills. I will not give away any more about the Ali Center because you should experience it for yourself!

I already knew quite a bit about Muhammad Ali before going to the Ali Center, but I never knew that a center could be laid out so creatively. It is cheesy, I know, but you learn the weirdest things when you least expect it. Perhaps, one day I will need to set up a creative display and I will be inspired from the amazing design talent that I saw today. Who knows?!?

Anyway, we had a fabulous "soul food" (traditional Black American food) lunch afterwards, and then headed up to Cincinnati, Ohio. Tomorrow we will retrace the trails of the Underground Railroad and visit the Freedom Museum.

Learning outside of the classroom (whether it is on a study abroad trip or with the Honors Program like this one), is always a special experience. Not only do you become immersed in what you are learning, but you also get the chance to bond with people beyond the usual "hello" and "see ya" that you say to each other at the beginning and end of class. That in itself is priceless.