Field Trip Summary

   Last Friday our interior design class at Monticello High School went on a field trip to the James J. Hill house up on Summit Avenue in St. Paul. It was a full day trip and all in all, it was pretty fun. We made it to the James J. Hill house a little late because of some 'minor' setbacks. Despite said setbacks, we continued on with our adventure and did all that was planned for the day.
   At the James J. Hill house we looked around the outside and a select few went inside for a bathroom break, including myself. The upstairs bathroom was full and had a fairly long line so a guide took us to a downstairs bathroom, giving us a sneak peak of the inside. It was pretty cool and exceedingly large.
 
   After the bathroom break, a guide took us for a loop around the neighborhood to see the houses on and around Summit Avenue. All of the houses on the avenue were beautiful, eccentric, and unnecessarily large. The roofing was mostly slate or an approved slate substitute, because there are rules and guidelines protecting the history of the neighborhood. As soon as you aren't on the sloped side of Summit Avenue, the buildings become more reasonable and are mostly just upper class homes instead of elite houses.


 
  
   The last place we visited was the International Market Square, a 5 floor interior design 'hub' in the words of Ms. Ambrosius. The I.M.S. has a history, unlike a lot of buildings in the cities. It was once a factory, and the city wouldn't let the owners tear it down to build a shiny new building to host their interior design needs, so they simply renovated it and rented out rooms like in some type of office building. People from all over came to rent an area to display examples of their company's work. Depending on the people, they could be open to the public including sales, open to the public but excluding sales, or closed to the public in general, only selling to interior designers (the 'trade'). We walked past a lot of places that were 'Trade Only', making it difficult to see if we liked their products or not.




   The day was fairly enjoyable and much more fun and excitement than Geometry and History.