a trip to egypt and fourth grade

When I was younger, one of my elementary school teachers had a unit on Egypt. In fourth grade I thought it was so cool to see my teacher on camels and in a seemingly far, far away land. We learned all about pyramids and Egyptian culture, or at least enough for twenty something fourth/fifth graders to understand. Fast forward ten years and I find myself in fourth grade again, this time at an exhibit featuring Egyptian artifacts in Madrid, rather than in the fourth grade pod at West Elementary school in Andover, MA. Suddenly information I learned ten years ago comes flooding back to me as I see the artifacts scattered all over the exhibit.

After class yesterday, my friends an I visited the Caixa Forum where an exhibit from the British Museum is being held. This exhibit is all about Egypt and various Egyptian artifacts the British museum houses. Like I said before, I was immediately transported to fourth grade when I entered the exhibit. The exhibit was really amazing because different things I had learned about when I was little, as well as throughout my education, were right in front of me. Names of pharaohs like Hatshepsut and Ramses II refreshed my mind when reading the summaries of different artifacts.

One of the artifacts I liked the most was a door jamb from the tomb of General Horemheb (photo below). There are hieroglyphics written on the entire door jamb and a picture of Horemheb praying to the sun god Ra. The entire jamb is still intact which is not uncommon for Egyptian architecture as they were skilled architects but still amazing to actually witness with my own eyes.

Overall, the Egyptian exhibit was amazing to see and I was shocked at how much I was transported back to being younger and in elementary school back in the US. I guess I have my elementary school teacher to thank for that (thanks Miss Mohammed :)) It has been wonderful to see so many different cultures while I have been in Madrid, and it has only been one week! Keep up with my journey here and on instagram! More to come during my semester abroad!

xoxo, j