London is home to many, many, many museums. Museums are a great opportunity to learn about the culture and history of the country you are studying abroad in. The best part about London’s museums? They are all beautiful, and free!
As a part of our curriculum at the Foundation of International Education, we have excursions outside of the classroom and utilize the city as a learning tool. I think this is a really great idea, because we are able to engage in London to learn about our subjects, and get to see more of the city. So far, we have visited three museums as a part of our classroom trips. Thankfully, living in South Kensington, we are about a ten minute walk from some of the most famous museums in London.
The first museum we visited was the Science Museum for our Nursing Genetics course. It is right around the corner from our house in London, Metrogate. We went to the “Who Am I?” exhibition at the museum, which is a permanent display dedicated to genetics, identity and brain science. We spent half an hour touring the exhibit before heading back to the classroom to discuss what we learned. Although we only saw one exhibit, we were able to learn a lot DNA profiling, in a fun and interactive way!
The second museum we visited was the National History Museum, also for our Nursing Genetics course. We went here to visit the functioning DNA lab at the museum, which scientists still work in every single day! As we are learning about genetics and DNA in this course, it was very interesting to be able to see a real DNA lab.
The third museum we visited was the Tate Britain, for our British Life and Culture course. The Tate Britain is an art museum that houses the National Gallery of British Art, and has an impressive collection of United Kingdom art. It is one of the largest museums in the country. We went to this museum to learn about the art and culture of Britain, specifically art in the 19th and 20th century. Although this museum is not right around the corner, we took the tube, and were able to see a new borough of London. We spent about an hour and a half exploring this beautiful museum!
To me, there is no better way to learn than to actively engage yourself in monuments around the city. After being introduced to these museums in class, I have found so many different exhibits that I want to explore. I will definitely be visiting the museums on my own time in the near future!
