Dickinson College Humanities Program in Norwich

To continue my research on the experiences of international students in East Anglia, I decided to visit INTO, that modern building near the Medical Center where I had never been inside.  I had always wondered why that building looked much modern than the rest of the University and who lived there. 

It is no wonder that a project like INTO is developing in places like the United Kingdom and the United States, only the two top destinations of international students. Many times, international students find that they are not entirely ready to access university right out of high school, not only because they might not be completely fluent in English but also because their education system might be very different to the ones in the UK and the US. This is why INTO offers international students intensive preparation for undergraduate and postgraduate study. The programme provides a whole year of extra English language teaching, academic preparation and cultural education for a university degree and is directed to students who have completed their secondary education in their own country. At the moment, there are twelve universities that offer the INTO program. It began in UEA and is currently being expanded to other universities in the UK and US (currently University of South Florida and Oregon State University have it).

The INTO center at UEA covers 1.3 acres and has teaching and accomodation facilities for 600 students. Furthermore, it provides 24/7 student support. I must say that my visit left me very impressed. The building has several common rooms that are fully equiped: from a ping pong table to a plasma TV. It also has a very stylish cafeteria and a resource center of its own, apart from the access that the students already have to the UEA library and the rest of the facilities.

I had the chance to interview some “INTO students” and realized that the project is a great idea it works as a bridge in the life of the international student: from their home country to pursuing a university degree because ee in a new one. The building at UEA makes it even more effective in that the students feel very contained and among people who are going through the same experience as them.

Hours: 4

Today I went to Strangers’ Hall with the notion that I was going to be helping out with some children’s project or making another “robot” out of a box. Sadly, today was completely normal. After learning about what I was supposed to help out with today, my boss and I got on the subject of my research paper. This enthused her so much that I ended up doing research for my project instead (which I am not complaining about in the least!).

For the couple hours I was there we bonded over “museum talk” or the pains and joys of being involved with museums. In a mere two hours or so that I was at Strangers’ Hall, I learned its life story and why it is the way it is today. She brought out dozens of newspaper articles and photo albums of the museum in its heyday, about 30 years ago. Seeing the museum as it is today compared to what it was back then I couldn’t believe the difference.

What I noticed the most through my exploration of Strangers’ Hall’s history was the massive collection the museum houses. But what I noticed even more was that about 1/18 of that is on display today. I had no idea about the amount of “stuff” the museum owned. I learned that the Hall owns about 25,000 objects and artifacts, but the majority of them are stored away. Even the objects strewn about the museum today are reproductions. With reproductions it allows a museum to become “more accessible” to the public because it makes them feel like there are less barriers around and that they can touch “historical” objects.

This got me to thinking about what is better, accessibility to museums (through reproductions) or having more of the “real stuff” on display. I briefly discussed this with my boss, who told me a  story about the National Trust in England. The National Trust basically protects, preserves and funds sites all around England. What the National Trust is supposedly doing now is working with certain museums to “bring down the ropes” or the barriers behind authentic items to make objects and museums more accessible and have the “real stuff”.

Although that may sound like a great idea, I happen to disagree with the National Trust. In my years of working in museums, I have learned all to well that it is the adults you have to worry about more than the kids when it comes to handling objects. I’ve witnessed adults open closet doors, pick up priceless artifacts, try to go past “No Admittance” areas and even touch my personal objects. Sure there are also plenty of children that can be as bad and be reckless, but I believe adults are just as bad, or even worse.

Despite those qualms,  I am a fan of reproductions and authentic items and I think a museum needs a balance of both. I love reproductions because people can actually handle historical objects and understand more the lifestyle and people of the past. And I also love authentic artifacts because people do come to museums to “see the real thing” and there is so much more meaning in seeing a real, historic object compared to a reproduction of the same thing. My question to any of you reading this entry is, what do you think?

Hours logged: 2 1/2
Total hours: 11 1/2

Several weeks ago, Audrey, Kelley, Chelsea and I took a tour of the Great Hospital which was given by a member of the Board of Trustees for the Hospital, Pam Petersen. Pam, a vivacious elderly woman with a quirky yet endearing sense of humor, proved to be a wealth of information regarding the Hospital, medieval life, and fun, strange facts about Norwich and Norfolk.

The tour began in the Church of St. Helen, a small, modest church which was, at the time it was built, one of the most impressive church buildings of its kind in the city. As The Great Hospital, originally St. Giles’s, underwent multiple renovations and restorations, certain areas of the church were walled off and transformed into hospital wards. Pam pointed out several interesting features within the Church, including the elaborately decorated vaulted bosses in the chantry chapel, a special stained glass window and carved wooden bench ends. The bosses are all hand-carved, hand-painted, and depict significant biblical scenes. The stained glass window was donated from a church which was largely destroyed during the air raids on Norfolk during WWII. Amazingly, the window survived, and now rests within the walls of the Church. The bench ends were carved by John Hecker between 1519 and 1532, and are fine examples of medieval woodworking.

From the Church of St. Helen, Pam led us into Eagle Ward. Eagle Ward was formed as a result of the renovations previously mentioned, and was converted into accommodation during the mid-fifteenth century, and served as such up until the first part of the twentieth century. The ceiling of the Ward is adorned with 252 tiles, each painted with an eagle. The creation of the ceiling was to celebrate the coming of Anne of Bohemia, the wife of King Richard II, to Norwich. Today, the Ward serves as an exhibit and is preserved to look as it would have in the first part of the twentieth century, complete with tea cups, doilies, reading glasses, bed pans and other period artifacts that would have belonged to the residents who lived there.
We moved on to the Refectory, which is where the priests of the medieval hospital would have taken their meals, and where events, meetings and small banquets are still held today. The ceiling of the hall is supported by exposed beams which feature carved dragons, similar to those which can be seen in nearby Dragon Hall. An antique table stands at the back of the room and was cut from a single tree. The table is very unique and quite valuable, according to Pam. Among other artifacts, including banners and framed documents, the Refectory houses a slightly more grotesque artifact: a goose quarterer. St. Giles’s was known for their annual goose feasts, and even boasted its own swan pit. The walls of the Refectory are lined with photographs of feather-plucking – which was, according to one caption, a social affair – and charts depicting the various branding marks which would be cut into the beaks of the swans.
As we left the Refectory and made our way to the Ivory Room, Pam spoke about the current operations at The Great Hospital. Currently an assisted living facility, the hospital houses 126 residents and offers three different types of care: independent with no care, independent with some care (help with dressing, household chores, etc.) and full care. However, there is no nursing service offered by the hospital.
The Ivory Room, actually a house in its own right, was built and restored by the Thomas Ivory family, with whom the hospital maintained a close relationship. The building is quintessentially Georgian, and features Roman style murals and trompe l’oeil throughout. The Ivory Room is currently undergoing major restoration, but the grandeur of this magnificent building is discernible even through the scaffolding and littering of paint cans and toolboxes. In a room which faces the Norwich Cathedral, painted cherubs adorn the silk-lined ceiling, and the entire celestial scene is lined with crisp crown mouldings.

From this room in the Ivory Room, I looked out onto the steeple of Norwich Cathedral, slightly silhouetted against a pink-grey sky. It seemed like the perfect location – and ambience – in which to end our tour. Before wrapping up our tour, Pam shared with us a recipe for Swan, laughing all the while. We made small talk as she showed us back out to the road, and asked us where we were all from. We answered and Pam responded that the only American geography she knew she had learned from The Simpsons. We, laughed, thanked her and walked along Pottergate, under the Norwich sunset.

Length of tour: approx. 1.5 hrs. Total time logged: 2.5 hrs.