1. Introduction

Hi Art of Travel bloggers!  I’m getting started a bit late (in more ways than one-- more on that later), but I’m happy to be joining the group.  My name is Alicia, and I’m a recent graduate from Gallatin.  My concentration was in Linguistics, Language and Identity.

Hello everyone! (Sorry for the late introduction, I just added the course). My name is Michelle and I’m currently spending my semester abroad in Paris. I can’t believe I’ve finally made it here; living in Paris has been a dream of mine since I started learning French in high school. And as a New Yorker, Paris has always had a special appeal to me- New York and Paris have a long-standing love affair; both cities are widely romanticized as bastions of vibrancy and culture.

I’m here for both the specific experience of being in Paris and the more general experience of living abroad and being away from the endless familiarities of home. I’m here to experience the anonymity and overwhelming stimulation of being somewhere new and foreign. I love that this course is called “The Art of Travel” because I think that there truly is an art to traveling, and I’m here to practice it.

While I’m here I also intend to really push my French. I chose to study at AUP (the American University of Paris), which means that I can all too easily fall into the trap of staying in an American bubble, without immersing myself in French language or Parisian culture. I’m taking two courses conducted in French- literature (Montaigne, Rousseau, Descartes, etc.) and Paris Cinema, aimed towards understanding Paris through its films. On top of speaking French in my classes, I’ve been meeting French people- the best way to use the language.

Hi all, I’m Marieke, and I am writing this post from my apartment in Paris, where I will be studying all year. I came to Paris for a variety of reasons. My motivation lies more in the act of travel, of living life abroad, than in the culture itself. I don’t consider myself a Francophile, and speak French at a first grade level. That being said, I love the city of Paris, and after spending three months living alone here last summer, I knew that I had to come back and give it another try. Last summer I came to know the city very intimately, and loved the pace and beauty of it. At the time, however, I spoke even less French than I do know, and so my experience of Paris was almost entirely aesthetic. This time around, I want to explore Paris socially, and to get to know the character of its inhabitants. Ultimately, I want to move to Europe, and am thinking of this trip as a preliminary survey, a way of discovering how livable this city would be for me.

My name is Sloane Martin and I’m studying abroad at NYU in Paris for the 2008-2009 school year. I’m a sophomore in the Gallatin School of Individualized Study, and I haven’t yet decided what my concentration will be. I’m interested in studying literature, travel, and bookmaking, but I’m not sure in what way I want to combine my interests. I am originally from San Francisco, and I went to the public arts high school there to study creative writing.
I don’t quite know what my goals are in terms of studying abroad. I’d like to do as well as possible in my language classes to advance my fluency as much as possible, but I don’t have a definitive point that I’d like to reach during my stay in France. I’ve never lived abroad, though I have traveled a lot, and I’m excited for the experience of being out of the realm of comprehension. I love the unique isolation that traveling in a foreign country affords. It heightens awareness and observation, because of the lack of distraction from language.
I’m still unsure why I chose France to study abroad. I’m not a particular Francophile, and I don’t have an especially good grasp of the language. I wanted to go somewhere that wasn’t London, so that I could try and learn a new tongue, but mostly Paris just seemed to be a better fit than most other places. Though I love New York also, San Francisco is my home and always will be and I passionately love and miss it whenever I’m away. Paris, to me, has the same odd urban-yet-provincial feel that San Francisco has, and it was important for me to travel somewhere that meshed with my likes and dislikes. I like bread, I hate being out late, etc., etc.

Hello everybody, My name is Sophie Maarleveld, I am a junior in Gallatin and I'm studying abroad in Accra, Ghana this semester. I've already been here for 3 weeks, and so far my experiences have been incredible. The nightlife, the music (Ghanaians are known for their music and one can always hear music playing on the streets of Accra), the fruit (pineapple, mangoes etc) and the classes. Somehow NYU in Ghana has managed to recruit some of the greatest academics in Ghana to teach our classes, which is both daunting and fascinating. My creative writing class has six students and two professors. They are both well known in Ghana and throughout the literary world as accomplished poets and novelists and one them has been Ghana's ambassador to the UN, Cuba and Brazil. Both were involved in politics during the independence process in Ghana and both are still actively involved. Speaking of politics, the Ghanaian general elections will be held in early December, not long after the US presidential elections and the atmosphere throughout Ghana is fraught with tension and excitement.
Over the course of the semester I am planning on reading and analyzing works by Ghanaians, Americans, Europeans and writers and academics from other African nations. My concentration in Gallatin is Middle Eastern Studies and Anthropology, so I have a lot of material to choose from. I hope to read and explore a lot of Ghanaian poetry, particularly some written by my professors.
I look forward to hearing about everyone else's travels and sharing my experiences in West Africa with all of you. Goo

Not Actually Argentina but uruguay is close enough even for a day trip: Day Trip to Colonia, photo courtesy of Lisa Harowitz

Hello I am Crissy Gardner. I am a Gallatin student studying abroad in Buenos Aires. My concentration is focused around Creative Writing and Urban Studies. I am currently taking intensive intermediate Spanish, Democracy and Dictatorship in Latin America, and a creative writing workshop.  I am hoping to drop the workshop in leau of translating a book of poetry from the Argentine poet Tamara Kamunszan as part of an independent study. I have traveled to Argentina in hopes of connecting, interestingly, with my Mexican roots. My mother's family is from Mexico and are mostly spanish speakers. I hope that I will become one as well while I am here. So far my language acquistion is going smoothly. I seem to be losing english almost as quickly as I am gaining spanish. I also am here to experience a very different culture than I've encountered before. Buenos Aires was a city that I rarely thought about visiting before I decided to study abroad. Upon arriving I had a wonderful time generally. However there have been a few set backs, today I had my first bout with food poisioning (i think.)

I'm still not sure which books I'll be reading. I have the art of travel and the motorcycle diaries. I might steal some ideas from my fellow portenos here and I'm thinking about picking up a Pico Iyer book I read a chapter of his entitled "La dolce vita meets the Hyper" in my creative writing class here and I've enjoyed his insights about Buenos Aires circa 1996.

Hey guys, sorry this is late, but it is very hard to come across some reliable internet here. My name is Courtney Dunn, and I am currently studying abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina! I am from Annapolis, Maryland, which is just a small sailing town east of D.C. I am a junior in Gallatin, and am working on a concentration in film/costume design and business.  I chose to study in Buenos Aires for a number of reasons, but mainly because i wanted to explore something new (i have never been to South America before), i have heard great things about the artistic nature of the city, and i want to improve on my spanish. When i was a baby, i spoke fluent spanish before i spoke english because my parents both worked full time and i had hispanic nannies. Eventually my parents got frustrated that they could not communicate with their daughter, so they sent me to school and i lost most of my spanish. since then i have taken a lot of spanish in middle and high school, but have been unable to grasp the language like i could as a child. I hope that the immersion in Argentina will help bring it back.

Hey and sorry this is coming in late. My internet has been up and down here. My name is Paz Pet er sso n (legally, it's "Pascal," but I've never been called that). This right now is my first blog entry ever, so it still feels a bit strange. If I understood correctly, I'm trying to introduce myself, so here I go: I'm in Buenos Aires right now, typing on my laptop in my room in a neighborhood called "Recoleta." I'm staying in a homestay, which for me means living with a single, recently-widowed older woman. This is not what I expected when I signed up for a homestay, but I've sort of come to love her over the past two weeks. The other housing options for NYU students here are residences, with other international (mostly American) students living in them. I chose a homestay because above all things, I'm here to learn Spanish.

Relating that to my concentration--I'm trying to study international politics regarding environmental and social change. That's the best way to put it at this point. Spanish fits into that as a second language which I'll know, and be able to use in many different parts of the world.

My name is Victoria Nunez and I am a junior at NYU. I am in Gallatin and my concentration is Business Management, Public Relations, Fashion, and the Arts. I am currently studying abroad in Florence, Italy for the semester, and come from Long Island, New York. I have decided to travel to Italy for numerous reasons. I have always had an interest in art and art history, especially the historic architecture that surrounds the beautiful city of Florence. I wanted to discover a new culture that I could become completely immersed in, as well as become an active member of a thriving community. I will be taking Elementary Intensive Italian, History of Italian Fashion, and Renaissance Art while abroad. Throughout the next few months living and traveling around Europe, I hope to grow as an individual both intellectually and spiritually. When I arrived to Florence on August 25th, I immediately fell in love with the sense of ease and welcoming faces that surrounded me. I noticed the contrasting lifestyle and could not wait to participate. During my first week in Italy, I gradually adjusted to a new schedule and living situation. However, my friends and I took the initiative to travel on our first weekend. We visited Pisa and Viareggio, a beach town about an hour and a half outside of Florence. The books I plan to read for this tutorial include The Art of Travel, Italy: A Traveler’s Literary Companion, Lost Hearts in Italy, Italian Neighbors, and Italy-A Love Story: Women Write About the Italian Experience.