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Thought and Reflection – Andrew

Throughout this course, I found a common underlying characteristic of having to visualize and comprehend the gravity, importance and value of each site. Throughout this journey I was able to have these important aspects told and sometimes acted out, but within myself I found it still difficult to fully grasp and appreciate that almost two thousand years ago, the roman empire constructed that lighthouse I was standing in. This amazement and awe remained as I saw more and more places.

While I saw the significance of the buildings or the figures that inhabited them such as Hampton Court Palace and King Henry VIII, it is still seemingly unbelievable that this man, who transformed the religious order in the country and the nation’s military strength, walked the same pathway and the same halls that I walked through. The constant presence of grand significance kept being outdone and became a normal experience to visualize the extraordinary people and events that occured in these places. The Queen, the actual Queen Elizabeth II, was taking residence in Buckingham Palace at the time we visited and at Windsor. Yet it is still hard to imagine that a person of this stature was moving in as I saw the flags change to indicate this arrival. A few days later I was standing in front of Stonehenge which was constructed in 2500 BC. The impressive feat of moving these stones weighing several tons each and then putting them in a specific formation that aligns with the celestial movements is seemingly to complex for these Neolithic Persons and yet there it is. Its difficult to imagine these places throughout their centuries long histories as even the events that did happen appear to horrid to be true. Stepping into the Tower of London reveals the old castle and the modern tourist arrangement it exists as today. But within the walls and along the pathways I walked were past historical figures who were sentenced to execution by hanging and drawn-and-quartered. These acts were done within a few city blocks and even imagining the spiked heads on London Bridge seems feasible, but appears more storybook than reality.

Through this A-Term I had the opportunity to experience and see some of the greatest wonders and a world of yesterday that mixed grandeur, elegance, and brutal acts. While these places lay beneath my feet and before my eyes, the recreation of these past events still seemed beyond reality. This notion that the past is difficult to imagine really portrays the actual change over the past thousand years to create a society that is both recognizable yet distant. I found this trip to be enlightening as while I tried to imagine these places as they were used in the past and I am even more puzzled about their future. Will these ruins or palaces still be museum pieces or in active use in the next hundred years? How will the buildings of today be used in a time that has yet to exist?

By Andrew

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