On the seventh day of our New York trip (May 14), our class took a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art as an all-day excursion. I was excited to visit this iconic tourist attraction because a friend of mine had recently visited New York and absolutely raved about the Met. Before exploring the exhibits, I did a quick walkthrough of the gift shop, and aside from a few containers of loose leaf tea, I wasn’t interested in anything that they were selling.
I started at the Egyptian art section because it was the closest entrance to the exhibits, and it was nice to explore and take some photos of pieces that stood out to me, but I immediately shifted gears after finding the entrance to the Asian art exhibits.
I felt drawn to the Asian art section because I’m very out of touch with my family’s cultural background as an American-born son of immigrant parents, and I’m always eager to have the opportunity to learn more. I started with the Chinese art exhibits, and I was particularly interested in the scrolls and 14th-century colophons because I wanted to see if I could read any of them (I couldn’t) and because I find character-based languages and calligraphy to be beautiful. 
Next was the Southeast Asian art exhibits, where there were a lot of Cambodian and Thai sculptures, many of which were based on figures and motifs that my mother told me about. My favorite was the Guardian Lion.
Another piece that stood out to me was a hanging sculpture based on the Buddha, created with numerous strands of woven rattan. I found the fact that only the shoulders and up were woven to be interesting, and I liked how it was hung from the ceiling, making it look as though it was floating, resembling an apparition.
I then made my way to the European and Medieval art exhibits, but one of the museum’s attendants told me that I couldn’t wear my backpack in the museum and that I had to carry it in front of me. This made my museum visit a little less enjoyable because it was hard to check my map of the museum while walking, and I had to sit down more often because my backpack was a bit heavy.
I decided to take a longer break at the Met’s American Wing, where I sat in front of a statue called “Medea.” Fortunately, I planned ahead that morning and brought my iPad with me, which I used to sketch Medea and some of the other statues on display in order to pass the time. I had a friendly passerby keep me company since he was interested in watching me draw.
At around 4 PM, I finished my sketches and decided that I was done for the day. Since this was an all-day excursion, my class agreed that we didn’t have to meet up before leaving the museum, so I went out for lunch and had the rest of the day to myself. Although, I didn’t see everything that the Met had to offer, I still had a great time. Taking the time to sketch the statues in the American Wing was my favorite part of the day.