By Kara Korab
Summer 2013
Every Friday the BU Washington program takes us on mini-outings all around DC. These field trips have included places such as the National Portrait Gallery, the Pentagon, the National Bulding Museum (read Vlad’s blog post about that), a Washington Nationals baseball game, and countless others. Being from the DMV (That’s DC, Maryland, Virginia to you non-Mid-Atlanticers) area, I didn’t expect to be wow-ed by any of the places we went. After all, I’ve been doing field trips to the National Mall since elementary school.
The Newseum
I am delighted to say that BU Washington proved me wrong, every Friday outing brought us to a new and interesting place I probably wouldn’t have gone on my own. This being the last blog post I’ve had plenty of time to consider every outing. While I loved something different about every one if I had to narrow it down the clear winner is our first Friday event — the Newseum. The Newseum’s seven floors are packed with interactive exhibits that explore how news has affected our experience of history. It is a perfect trifecta of all the things I love; journalism, history, and politics.
View from the Newseum balcony. Unfortunately it was raining when we were there.
I could have spent days exploring its fifteen theaters and fifteen galleries. As a photojournalist I found myself particularly drawn to certain sections of the Newseum, including an exhibit on the photographs of the only journalist who died in the attack on 9/11 and an exhibit on every photograph to in a Pulitzer Prize. The Newseum also does a tremendous job keeping current and up to date with new media forms of broadcasting the news, including an entire room devoted to the daily headlines in almost every country around the world. With a gorgeous view of the Capitol Building(see photo below), heart wrenching exhibits on 9/11, the Berlin Wall, and the assignation of JFK , and even an Interactive Newsroom (that’s right, where visitors get to play the role of a live action reporter!) the Newseum is hard to beat.
In front of the White House
Kara Korab is a senior majoring in International Relations. Before coming to DC she had participated in the BU Abroad Paris Internship Program.
