Margaret Wright

I never expected to have an opportunity to view churches. My original plan included many more than I actually did visit. Life became involved and I did not accomplish all that I had to do. Instead, I rerouted my course and planned around my academics. I saw unique buildings that I would never have been able to see if not for the donation.

My main goal was to see York Minster. It has over eighty percent of the original medieval glass. I went to York itself for five days and spent two of them just looking at the windows. I went on two tours, one lasting more than two very long hours, but I learned many different facts. The church glass is currently being restored, so for the first time in history, people can see how much detail that is in the smaller frames of glass. It was simply magnificent. 

My journey also took me to Salisbury and Bath. Abbeys and a certain minster became the theme of the process. The most impressive view would have to be St. Giles in Edinburgh, Scotland. The churches offered a view into how history, and culture, evolved. Salisbury Cathedral had bare walls, and little medieval glass, compared to York Minster. The impressive histories that these churches endured left me speechless.

I found smaller churches along the way. One day that I was in York, I found a small church that used to be a Cistercian church. It was not as grand as the Minster, but the intimate feel gave it a warmer welcome. These small victories are what mad the project the best that it could have possibly been, due to the drawbacks.

One major drawback was time constriction. When I wrote my original proposal, I thought I would be able to travel every weekend and manage my schoolwork and personal time. Little did I know that the schoolwork would take up more time than I had anticipated, specifically the month before my internship because it was the final academic month. So, I weighed my priorities and rescheduled them.

The other fact that bothered me sometimes was the fact that I traveled on my own. It was a giant leap out of my comfort zone. I do not regret it, but looking back I wished that I did have the time to get my own traveling companion to go with me. however, despite all the hang-ups that occurred, it was a great adventure.