Montserrat

I had forgotten about this blog

Summer beams with its warm glow, turning yellow things that weren't, just months ago.

I've just returned from a 1-month road trip with my buddy Nate. Didn't turn out the way I planned (couchsurfing, meeting locals, cooking at people's houses, collecting photos, stories, and recipes). Nevertheless, I still had fun (learning how to rockclimb, geeking out at the Guggenheim Bilbao, nighttime canyon descending with some hot Belgians, watching lots and lots of South Park episodes). I even hung out with my best friend, Annie, in France, and met her husband for the first time.

Here's a list of the places we visited: Barcelona, Montserrat, Pamplona, San Sebastian, Bilbao, Potes, Picos de Europa, Santander, Santiago de Compostela, Vigo, Torla (the Pyrenees), Andorra, Toulouse, Lyon, Marseille, Paris, Trelaze, and back to Barcelona.

I'll post photos as soon as I get around to converting them to jpeg.

Throughout the trip, and even more since then, I've been giving my future life lots of thought. With the new Post 9-11 G.I. Bill, going to art school looks more and more affordable. I've already narrowed it down to two schools: School of Visual Arts in New York, or California College of the Arts in San Francisco. Both have amazing photography programs, but are very different from each other. It depends, I guess, on what I really want for myself - to be a competitive, industry-savvy artist (SVA), or a community-oriented, well-rounded one (CCA). Regardless, I'm applying to both, and we'll see which one accepts me.

There's still 2 dark horses: Parsons Paris (it's like a dream to be able to study photography in such an amazing place), and the Corcoran in DC (great photojournalism program, and I'm very well-acquainted with the city already).

23 more months until my contract expires. I'm sick of waiting for my life to start.

In the meanwhile, I'm enjoying the distractions that living in southern Spain affords me.
I think I'll head to the beach after work today...

Happy New Year

It's already 2009. Where did my youth go?

I'm in Antwerp, staying at my first couchsurfing host's (name: Bram) apt.

Today, I walked all morning in the snow, feeling the wetness seeping through my black Pumas, slowly turning my toes to ice. I circled round and round a little platz (park), trying to find the laundromat I saw two nights ago.

I stopped inside a cafe to warm up, ordered some tomato soup, and ponder on the past few days.

Madrid. Prague. New Year. Antwerp.

And the following days to come:

Brussels. Brugge. Gent (perhaps, if time allows). Amsterdam.

After the light lunch, I finally asked a lady walking down the street for some direction, and she pointed me towards the laundromat. I didn't know how to work the machines, so I asked this girl to help me. Come to find out, she's an art student, studying in Antwerp. She offered to take me on a tour through her school today, and of course i said yes.

Finished laundry. More snow. Central Station to drop off my shit in a locker.

Art school tour. Reminded me, or reinforced to me, my decision to move forward as soon as feasible, to apply to art school and cultivate my mind. I know I have unplumbed depths, I just need direction. Met a sculptor, creating a woman from plaster. She is sitting down, her face concentrated, as if pondering on the paradoxes of existence. I take a picture.

Sarah, the girl from the laundromat, is in the In-situ program, sort of a hybrid between performance, mixed-media, sculpture, and space design. She had a 4-year collection of forks from various events and memories, all lined up, labeled with a small note. "Chinese Restaurant." "I love to dance." "Pumpkin Pie."

In art, anything is possible. I am like a catterpillar in a coccoon, not yet awakened. I shoot through life, my camera pointed at anything and everything. All at once, innocent, jaded, and hungry.