The Beginning

Well, it certainly has been an exciting week and our group has learned much about and the present alike. Our journey begins in London, far from the birthplace of the printing press but still absolutely relevant to the history of communications and higher learning.

Our first stop was the British Museum, home of antiquities from across the world, including the famous Rosetta Stone which is a perfect artifact to illustrate the power of the written word. The Rosetta Stone is of course the most important key historians have to decoding the ancient Egyptian world, as it had a royal decree from the Ptolemaic pharaohs written in 3 different languages including hieroglyphics and Greek. Therefore, this stone, unearthed by Napoleon's army in the 1800s, allowed Egyptologists to finally translate the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics using a language they already knew. Because of this, historians gained powerful insight into the inner workings of Egyptian culture in ancient times. Gazing upon the Rosetta Stone in person sent chills down my spine, as it is considered by many to be one of the most important artifacts ever uncovered.

The next point of interest was the British Library, one of my favorite stops so far, as it contains some of the most important works of writing ever produced including the Magna Carta and a Gutenberg Bible. The Magna Carta was the first political document to ever outline rights for free men, in this case English Barons. The ideals within it helped inspire our own American Constitution and there are only four copies of the original Magna Carta left, and we were lucky enough to see two of them. This was an incredible experience for me as I got to see firsthand one of the first steps in the development of personal freedom and democracy. As our course's name implies, the Gutenberg Bible is one of the greatest innovations in mass communications as it made it relatively simple to print copies of publications quickly and in large numbers. With less than 50 original copies remaining, it is a real experience to see one up close. And the one in the British Library was the first of two we will have the privilege of viewing on this trip so I consider myself lucky indeed.

Some other awesome artifacts at the British Library include a magnificent collection of Illuminated Manuscripts, beautiful hand-written and decorated religious documents from all over the world; pages from Leonardo Da Vinci's notebooks, written in his "mirrored" handwriting with incredible illustrations; original handwritten lyrics by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison of the Beatles; some of the earliest maps of all seven continents; and many more incredible pieces of communication from across the world from many different unique cultures. These works had a profound impact on me as I have always had a great love for books and writing and without them, modern thought and philosophy would not be the same.

We have just arrived in Berlin and I finally had enough energy to sit down and write. This whole time difference thing has been totally draining me but I look forward to my next post. Well, I think I'm going to end this section here but stay tuned for more. Goodbye, cheers, and auf wiedersehen! -RGIV