Montserrat in Manhattan

Hi there, everyone!

Last Sunday my Montserrat class left the confines of the Hill and headed to the significantly flatter land of New York City for a fieldtrip.

The main event of our fieldtrip was a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan. Led by a pair of art history majors, we viewed and discussed several paintings before breaking into small groups to explore America’s largest art museum on our own. Several friends and I viewed galleries focusing on modern, African, and ancient Greek art, all the while combining serious art viewing with light-hearted photo taking. Between the tour and our own wanderings, we saw works by Van Gogh, Cézanne, Seurat, Monet, Manet, and Jackson Pollock.

Jackson Pollock’s Autumn Rhythm (Number 30)

Leaving the Met, my group walked down the streets of Manhattan on a beautifully sunny but windy and cool March afternoon. We walked along Central Park for several blocks with trees to our right and bustling New York traffic to our left. We then worked our way further into the sprawling cityscape making stops to peruse New York souvenirs stores.

Eventually we satisfied a group wide desire to treat ourselves to an Empire City staple, New York-style pizza. Despite filling ourselves on the warm, crispy, cheesy, and generously topped pizza, we decided to stop for coffee and cheesecake at a nearby café. I should say my friends stopped for cheesecake and coffee because I was full after eating two large slices of pizza and was more than content to limit myself to a frothy cappuccino.

New York-style pizza in New York

After enjoying the three big New York food groups of pizza, cheesecake, and coffee, we started making our way back to the Met via Central Park. Just before entering the park we came across a sidewalk bookstand. Being a group of Holy Cross students, we succumbed to the draw of literature and we spent several minutes reading through the available titles.

Books on the tables of a Manhattan bookstand

Once inside the park, I quickly grew to appreciate the merits of a natural sanctuary inside the manufactured buzz of the City. We climbed a rock, took a break from our busy day, and took pictures to serve as reminders of our trip. Descending from the rock but not from the pinnacle of our youth, we returned to the Met and boarded our bus back to our own Hill.

The goal of Montserrat is to create a living-learning program that builds knowledge and communities. Thanks to a bizarre combination of art, pizza, coffee, earthbound boulders, and a high-resolution camera our Montserrat trip to New York no doubt enabled us to learn and to live.

Until next time, take care, everyone.

Michael

*Big, special, and copious thanks go out to my friends Cat and Maxine for letting me share some of their pictures from our trip!

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