ICR Paper part 1

I am doing my ICR requirement through the IACA. When I transferred to Butler and learned that I had to complete an ICR requirement in the community, I rolled my eyes and thought what a waste of my time. I am starting the graduate part of my degree and finishing the core curriculum was not something I was looking forward too; however, my China and Islamic Middle East class has been slowly wearing down my resentment and has brought out an appreciation for something I did not think I would have. I was not looking forward to my China and Islamic class, and I was not looking forward to doing my ICR requirement within the Chinese, Islamic community. A few things changed my point of view on the ICR requirement.
First, a group of us went to the Indianapolis Museum of Art where Benny, representative of the Chinese community, took us on a tour. Besides looking at everything in the entire museum, we spent a bulk of our experience in the Asian section on level 2. My first impression was that the art was beautiful. We were able to see the different pottery made. They had art pieces dating from the Shang dynasty to today. Art pieces ranged from bronze, stone, and different raw materials. One art piece from the Tang Dynasty was sculpted of a white man on a camel. Benny explained to us that the Chinese sculpted this because Europeans were coming on camels to China to trade. I thought it was neat to see how cultures influenced one another and it was evident in art. I had a good time at the museum and obtained a new appreciation for a civilization. It was also neat to see how the Shang dynasty used bronze to make art pieces that included various animals. You could see how following dynasties advances in technologies in their art had because the Tang dynasty had copper and iron. I liked being able to see paintings because you could see clothing that ancient Chinese wore.
I felt this experience went along with what we are learning in class. We had just finished learning about Chinese History. These art pieces are from the dynasties we are discussing in class (Shang, Tang, Han, etc). In class we learned about the Silk Road. The Roman women wanted Chinese silk, while the wealthy Chinese wanted Roman glass and gold. Since there was a Silk Road, diseases that were Europe or China would slowly make its way to the other civilization. By learning all this history, I feel I could have conversations with Chinese individuals and be able to understand their background more.