Beginnings

I applied to study abroad in Prague without much consideration. I believed a brief departure from the states to be inevitable during my career as a college student, but the particular timing and choice of location were impulsively decided. A week before the deadline I scrolled up and down the pages of the study abroad website and wondered, “why not?” rather than the habitually mindful, “why?” A photo I took on day 2
My concentration at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at NYU is involved in what I perceive to be the ethos of creativity. I have always been fascinated with how and why ideas form and originate, as well as the necessity of creativity for cultural progress. Gallatin allows me to have access to a number of theories and discourses as well as methods of the creative process. I have always paid great attention to the pattern and method in the act of creation and cognition, and am quite interested in the evolution of those patterns and methods. We stop moments in time in order to comment on the constantly changing tides of human interaction; I use my senses to rearrange what I am surrounded by, to create a piece of art shaped by my context.

My goal is always to create. I believe that there must be some sort of preparation or constitution in order to thrive as well as to make a product out of the act of traveling through life. I do not speak Czech, but my mother’s ancestry is from the Carpathian Mountains. I hope to be able to articulate and record the stories I see and imagine. I packed away paintbrushes and ballpoint pens the night before I left my home in Needham, Massachusetts, as well as an assortment of photographic equipment and other art supplies. It seems to me that the “art of travel” will embody my interaction with myself and the people and places around me as I embark on this journey. I will be recording my wandering in written and visual forms, such as travel journalism and sketchbooking using the mediums of collage, pen, and watercolor.

I have been in Prague for exactly a week now. Before I left the states I bought a railway pass, and plan on traveling both within the Czech Republic and through surrounding countries. I have been lucky enough to have traveled through the United States as well as to France, India, and Mexico. These experiences, as well as my location in New York City over the past year and a half, established my wanderlust and allowed me to witness that which is both familiar and strange. I plan to explore in order to create, but even as I stand still my thoughts flow. I could never cease my role as an artist, a storyteller, a creator and observer. I am but a student.

Location