Last week my grade went to The Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh, NC. I was looking forward to the visit because I’d been there before and it was really fun. I was also looking forward to sitting next to one of my best friends on the bus.
I was sitting in my advisory the day of the trip and no one told me that the ENTIRE GRADE was going into my advisory so that they could talk about the field trip. Which in hindsight maybe they could have talked about before. So, they talked about some of the exhibits and about acting maturely. That is all fine but they went on and on for what felt like eternity. I was relieved when we said we were going to get on the bus.
There I was sitting on the bus with my friends. After a quick announcement I was excited to be on my way to Raleigh. The bus ride was 40 minutes, so not that long but very loud. I would like to clarify that me and my friends weren’t the loud ones. We passed the time by playing games and singing songs, but we also just talked for a lot of it.
Even though the bus was fun, I was glad to finally be there. After we got of the bus, we were coerced into single file lines divided by advisory. After one final check, we entered the museum and took the escalator all the way to the 4th floor where we would work our way through the floors.
The first exhibit was the race exhibit. This was not my favorite exhibit, but was the most thought provoking, and I think that was by design. This exhibit covered everything from the history of racism to the economic effects of racism to why a race exhibit is in a science museum. The other thing was that we had to write down the answers to questions while at this exhibit and that made it worse for me.
The second exhibit was about arthropods and was by far my least favorite. I HATE bugs and as soon as I caught a glimpse of one of the live arthropods, I kept my head down for the rest of the exhibit. Luckily I had a teacher that was also scared of bugs and that made me feel better.
For the next exhibit you had a choice of two groups. Luckily, the one that I chose was exploring one of my favorite things: gems. All of the different gems and minerals were magnificent. This was one of my favorite exhibits because it was about something I’m actually passionate about.
Next was my favorite, and I could have spent hours there. The engineering and 3D printing exhibit. It was super hands-on and engaging. There were countless 3D prints and robots, all of which you could try out. The small 3D printers really caught my attention. The really big prints also got my attention.
After lunch and a few less notable exhibits, we went to see a few statues of controversial people. That includes slave owners, white supremacists, and Andrew Jackson who started the Trail of Tears. The statues were there because North Carolina, sadly, has a past of slavery.
We drove away with lots of new knowledge and new perspectives. To pass the time, some friends and I sang all 100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall but, half way through, our teachers made us change beverages. The drink we chose was milk and we finished the rest.
Not all of the exhibits I cared for, but overall I had a great time.