All posts tagged: Medieval

Madrid for the Weekend

Published by

It has been brought to my attention that I may look like I am addicted to traveling. From my recent trips to New York, Liverpool and London; to the ultimate trip of my life thus far to Paris; this weekend seems to just emphasise that I may indeed have a ‘problem’. I, Roisin, am addicted to travelling. This weekend I flew across the country, and landed in beautiful Madrid to visit my boyfriend who is currently an Au Pair there. Sadly I could only stay for two nights, and thus didn’t get to see the whole of Madrid. This means that I’ll definitely have to come back again – what a hard life! You can see all my photographs on my flickr account: https://www.flickr.com/photos/roisingrace/sets/72157648961345350/ Once landed, I made my way through the metro system of Madrid to go towards the east of the city to one of the suburbs where Malek lives. I must say, the metro is much nicer than Paris’, and it seems much cleaner! Although, who doesn’t like the smell of urine wafting around …

A picture I took from the top of the Empire State Building

One week till New York!

Published by

I cannot believe that this time next week I shall be on my way to New York, hell yeah!  Just over three years ago (wow, I feel old writing this) for my 18th birthday I was given the trip of a lifetime to stay with my Auntie in Chicago. Whilst there, we had a little vacation to New York to see some family and friends, and I absolutely loved it. The only negative part about the trip to NYC was the weather. We travelled there during the peak of a heat wave, and it was just way too hot to do much. So, this time round, my Mum was adamant that we went during a ‘cool’ time of year, and October seemed perfect! I cannot wait to go there! I really do love America, and perhaps could see myself living there for a year or two in the future. I’m not too sure what we’re going to get up to, although I do know that a must is a visit to the Morgan Library and Museum …

Oxford Post-Graduate Trip

Published by

After what feels like a decade away from academia, my mother and I ventured to the quaint city that is Oxford to have a noisy around the University and Colleges. As many may have read throughout my blogging, I am hoping to continue further study after my year in Paris and want to complete a Masters focusing on Medieval History of Art. As I will be away for the next year, I thought it was probably wise to get started in looking at potential universities so that I get a ‘proper’ feel for the place before applying. I have only been to Oxford once, and that was when I was only a small child so my memories of the city are quite limited! The city is beautiful. It shares many similarities with York, which I love. One of the main advantages of the university is that it is spread out throughout the entire city. Oxford truly is the University’s city. I am not saying at all that I did not enjoy the centralised nature of …

J’ai fini!

Published by

Wow, I cannot quite believe that I am writing this post. It’s official. Yesterday I graduated from York with a First! I am over the moon! It was such a lovely ceremony, and it was great to see everyone before and after. Despite my gown taking every opportunity to try and wriggle its way off me, I managed to survive the graduate fashion. After the graduation ceremony, the History of Art department hosted a lovely get together with some yummy pastries and drinks! From there, me and my family ventured onto the Minster to take some photos by York’s iconic building. I don’t like the thought of calling myself a graduate now… I am still a student at heart! So now I have a month before I move to Paris for the year, and from there, I plan to begin studying for a Masters in History of Art so do expect more to come from my blog! I hope that everyone had a wonderful day yesterday – everyone looked so lovely, and it was sad not too …

MET: ‘Radiant Light Stained Glass from Canterbury Cathedral’

Published by

Between February 25th and May 18th the Cloisters Museum at the MET in New York is hosting an exhibition presenting stained glass from England’s historic Canterbury Cathedral, dating from 1178-80. I find this concept quite unusual I’m not going to lie, as the exhibitions features six Romanesque-period windows that have never left the cathedral since their creation. Bringing stained-glass from the Cathedral to the MET – why when you can just go to Canterbury itself? I guess through bringing the glass over the pond, so to speak, allows more people to see the beauty of Canterbury’s windows. However, I feel that taking such works out of their religious context renders them almost ‘dumb’ in the sense that they’re not functioning in the religious manner that they should be. I guess times have changed so much anyway, that perhaps the religious function of the stained glass windows are becoming more over-looked and less part of their identity. Having studied Canterbury Cathedral last term, I fell in love with it. I have never been there myself, but having seen …