In today's post, Mariah talks about her summer Travel Writing class with award-winning author and professor Michael Meyer, what their class trips were like, and the importance of documenting the city and practicing the art of travel writing.
I knew my decision to take the Travel Writing class would be a good one. My teacher, Professor Michael Meyer, is a fun and easy-going University of Pittsburgh professor who takes us to different museums and places around London to explore. Along the way, he assigns us weekly readings and encourages us to write about our experiences while teaching us different writing styles to improve our skills.
For our first class, we went to Hyde Park. As many of London’s park attractions, the park was full of green. Statues stood tall on every corner we turned and tourists wandered through the beautiful gardens and pathways. For this exploration, he wanted us to imagine a scene. We were told to take notice of what we see around us, engaging our five senses of smell, touch, sight, and sound. It was an interesting day where he told us to sit down, ‘open our eyes’ and just ‘take notice.’ I was meant to be the ‘fly on the wall,’ observing all that I see.
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