November 1st marked the Honors Program’s field trip to the Mummers Museum and the Italian Market. The field trip was put together by our Honors’ director Lisa Rosner and the two other Honors’ seminar professors, Heather McGovern and Georgeann Lenard. Before this trip I was completely unaware that there even was a Mummers Museum in Philadelphia; the only thing I knew about the Mummers was what I saw on television every New Years’ Day. This field trip to the museum gave me insight into something I may have never thought to research on my own. The tour guide was a very nice man with a somewhat crude sense of humor and the costumes that the Mummers performed in were incredible.
While we toured the museum we were allowed to try on the Mummers’ costumes and we all took a nice group picture that was put onto the honors webpage. After the tour, we went downstairs and were given a challenge. We were told that we were separated into groups and that we had to make up and perform our own Mummers strut for our professors. The performance was Halloween based and all of the performances by the three different groups were very original and somewhat comical. We were all having a great time and it was a really good day even if it was raining and cold outside.
When it was time to leave the museum we went back onto our bus and it took us to the Italian Market. We were given time to split up into groups of our own and look around the market. My group went off and found a traditional Italian restaurant where we stopped and ate. I had ricotta gnocchi for lunch and it was delicious. As if we didn’t already find so many good things to eat, there was a chocolate restaurant across the street from the restaurant we ate at. We all got delicious gelatos and chocolates of all kinds.
When our fun was over, it was time to get back on the bus and take the hour long trip back to Stockton. The gloomy weather put the whole bus to sleep on the trip back home. We had a long, fun day and a nap was something we needed more than anything. The field trip was not only a fun time but also one filled with new knowledge of things that probably none of us ever knew about before that day. Now when I watch the Mummers parade on New Years’ Day this year, I will be watching it with the knowledge I gained by attending this field trip.