I sat down with Emily Stone, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC ‘16), to discuss a recent trip she made thanks to Fordham’s support. Stone is a visual arts major with a concentration in photography who recently received a travel grant to the Trans-Siberian railway. This trip was made possible through the donation and financial support of Ildiko and Gilbert Butler to the visual arts department. Every year, select students who have applied for photography grants and are selected are given a grant to travel internationally.

Stone said, “I knew I wanted to travel and this was the right time to travel before graduation.” After Stone narrowed down what she wanted to do, where she wanted to travel and how much money she’d need to cover expenses, she made a proposal to the visual arts department. After the application process was completed and her proposal was chosen, Stone was given a $3,000 grant to travel to Siberia via the Trans-Siberian railway.

After traveling from St. Petersburg through Irkutsk, to Mongolia and finally ending up in Beijing, Stone said her six-week trip across the Trans-Siberian Railway was “a wonderful experience. It won’t be forgotten and will be regarded as one of my fondest experiences in college.”

Stone knew that she didn’t just want to take the train straight to Beijing but rather make the most out of her trip. “I planned to stop in cities that were fairly large and gave me the urban experience outside the U.S.,” Stone said. What had initially began as an architectural and landscape proposal quickly turned into visual art humor that she encountered throughout her trip.

Stone said, “photography lets you slow down and take a look at the world around you.” But in this trip, Stone did not only photograph buildings. “I tried to play with humor and the absurdity of everyday life,” she said when her trip began, she wanted to highlight the “the humor you can find when you look at the right things.”

A 21-year-old traveling by herself out of the country can be a frightening experience. “This was my first time out of the country by myself and not speaking the language, but I learned how to travel on my own and how it’s not as scary as people may think,” Stone said.

She found ways to communicate with natives, made new friends and shared experiences with others who were also traveling. Stone added, “being able to understand that there is a lot you don’t know about and being curious about these things brings you a new perspective.” Stone was able to fully embark on the experience of a lone traveler. Stone also mentioned that she helped herself by learning to speak and detect certain phrases that would get her through the day. “I learned how to order coffee, which was always the most important part of my day,” she said.

Stone also revealed that a 36- hour train ride is quite common in Russia—travelers make it into a communal event. “Train travel seems to be a very important part of Russian life, where they even bring their own picnic.”

Finally, as her final stop approached on the Trans-Siberian railway, she arrived in Beijing, Stone added that it was a different experience compared to her prior stops. “In Beijing, I unintentionally ordered and ate a little bit of intestines, which I had never had before. It was interesting, and I don’t think I will have it again, but it was a good experience.”

Stone said Beijing was the most populated of all the cities she came across and the most fun. “Beijing differs completely from Mongolia and even Moscow, where even though they are all connected by the train, Beijing is a whole different world.”

Stone’s trip across the Trans-Siberian railway will be shown in her final senior exhibit. “The grant is meant to be a learning experience…[where] it’s about expanding your horizons and taking an active interest in the world,” she said. “Being able to  understand that, there is a lot that you don’t know about and being curious about it brings you a new perspective.” Stone encourages other students who want to travel and might be afraid to do so to “be cautious, but also don’t be afraid, and do what you want to do.”