Mermaid Avenue

It's been quite a week, and let me just tell you that I am overjoyed to be chillaxing on a Saturday night.  Ahhhh.

On Wednesday, I had my first Writing About Art class.  I'd been pretty excited about it since the instructor, Martha Schwendener, writes for the New York Times.  Class was scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m., and many of the students (including myself) arrived early in anticipation of our well-known professor.  To our collective annoyance and awe, Professor Schwendener straggled into the classroom at 6:40 p.m., sweat dripping from her brow, mumbling something about deadlines, a re-route on the metro, and Ad Reinhardt.  Not one of us knew what to make of the black-clad woman before us explaining that, not only was she 40 minutes late for our class, but she had also misplaced our class roster and syllabus.  However, I was immediately purged of my judgements when she began her lecture (however haphazardly outlined).  She is obviously a superb writer and actually has a reputation within the art world for being quite a harsh critic.  Whatever her level of organization or punctuality (or lack thereof), I am thrilled to be her student.

My last class of the week was on Thursday evening, Modern Art, with Professor Weinstein.  He's a great professor, and modern art just so happens to be my favorite subject.  However, including the readings Professor Weinstein assigned, our total number of pages to be read before next week adds up to about 800.  Hence, I've spent the past two days reading nearly non-stop.  Thank goodness for the long weekend and shady benches at Madison Square Park, or I think I would have jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge by now.

FINALLY I decided to take a break today, and met up with my long-lost friend Andy from the dear W&M.  I met him at NYU (where he's currently studying) and we hopped on a subway train bound for Coney Island!

I have always heard about Coney Island and fantasized about the world-famous roller coaster and hot dogs and so on and so forth.  When we actually arrived at the station (which was about 45 minutes outside the city) I couldn't believe how much it reminded me of Virginia Beach!

I felt so at home amongst the tourists, boardwalk festivities, and tiny swell.   Andy and I made a fabulous afternoon of riding the 1927 wooden roller coaster, walking the boardwalk, snapping

photos, listening to the Weepies on my iPod while the sand blasted our indigo denim, and eating hot dogs from the first-ever Nathan's.  (Note:  It is where they hold that ridiculous hot-dog-eating contest every year.  The current record is 66.)  One highlight of the day was a street named Mermaid Avenue.  

 Another highlight was the 1500-calorie order of chili cheese fries we shared.  We did not ride the roller coaster again after that endeavor.

I am looking forward to taking it easy for the rest of the weekend.  I still have hundreds of pages to read and a busy week ahead.  I have five interviews in the next few days, plus Fashion Week and classes to top it all off.  I couldn't be more excited

FDoC

Well, it finally came.  The First Day of Classes, or FDoC.   AND I'M OVERWHELMED!!!  First, we had graduate student orientation.  There are only 18 students in my class, all female, and they had some seriously impressing resumes (like working for Chanel, Estee Lauder, Intermix, Niehaus, Nike, etc).  I kept thinking, "Why am I here?!" but I decided to just try to learn as much from them as possible and use their experiences to my advantage.  My first class, on Monday night, was Principles of Gallery Management.  My professor, Sheri Pasquarella (Google the woman) is one of the most impressive people I've ever met.  She is 31 years old, and has written and edited over 10 books, founded 3 companies, and makes millions of dollars a year.  And I'm learning from her.  (Side note:  she was adorable, and was wearing a black sparkly Versace dress and giraffe-print stilettos.)  First thing, she passed out papers numbered 1-45 and we had a pop quiz of artwork, important people from the art world, and galleries on a slideshow that we had to identify.  I'm extremely embarrassed to say that I only scored a 20%.  But I wasn't alone.  She decided not to use the quiz for a grade, but she couldn't believe how much our class doesn't know and implored us that we had better learn them all by the end of the semester!  I'm 

 overwhelmed, but so excited to learn from her!  She continued to lecture for three more hours.  I thought my brain was going to explode.  

 After that experience, I definitely needed to wind down, so my friend Elkin and I took a sunset cruise around Manhattan.  It was absolutely beautiful, and we were able to take so many great pictures (thanks, Aunt!).  The city really is beautiful at night, especially from the water.  Unfortunately, my camera died halfway through the cruise, but Elkin took an amazing picture of the Statue of Liberty all lit up that I'll post soon.  FDoC wasn't too bad after all. 

This morning (prepare yourself)...I went to my first sample sale!  IT WAS RIDICULOUS!  It was for the boutique Intermix and was held in a huge warehouse on 19th and 6th.  There were women climbing all over more than 50 racks of clothing and shoe boxes piled up to the ceiling, all discounted up to 90% off!  everywhere I looked, there were women ripping off their clothes and pouring themselves into Chloe dresses, Missoni sweaters, and Lanvin shoes.  It was a bit exasperating, but totally worth it as I walked out two hours later with a few goodies of my own.  I can't wait for the next sale!

Tonight, I had my first class in Marketing Art for Profit and Non-Profit Organizations, which deals with advertising and business in the art world.  My professor, Rose Polidoro, was extremely friendly and I'm really excited about the class.  We already have an assignment to come up with our own business, write a business plan, and give a presentation to the class, so I have a lot to do!  My apologies if my blog posts become less frequent from here on out, but I promise I will keep updating.  I'm so excited about this semester!

By the way, I found out that I'm definitely working Fashion Week, so stay tuned.  I hope I'll have tons of fabulous stories to tell! 

The Balloon Dog and Other Adventures

Well, I made it through my first full weekend in the city.  The highlights consisted of one marathon of a stroll and my first visit to the Met.

On Saturday morning, Teneka and I decided to go for a walk.  Just a little weekend stroll around the city.  90 blocks later, we returned, with ailing feet and nearly nothing to show for our journey save a few photos in which we look sweaty and exhausted.  But it was glorious!  During our trek we saw the Empire State Building, Trump Tower, Bryant Park, the Henri Bendel, and countless other fabulous shops such as Prada, Salvatore Ferragamo, Pucci, Cartier, and Tiffany.  'Twas worth the callouses. 

Today, I visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the first time in my life.  It was extraordinary.  I saw some of my most favorite works ever in person!  

Andre Derain, Regent Street, London

There is a roof garden on the very top floor of the Met, and there were three works from Jeff Koons on display.  They were fantastic to see in person, especially on the roof of the museum with the city view all around!  This one was my favorite.  I had to let out a little giggle at the would-be art connoisseurs sipping Pellegrino with lime, babbling about Koons' aesthetic tradition.  It's a balloon dog. 

Jeff Koons, Balloon Dog

Oh, and did I mention that I navigated my way via metro to the Met and back without any trouble?  I suppose it was a bit straightforward, but I was thrilled nonetheless.  I also was able to spend some time in Central Park, which has become my new favorite hangout.  Classes start tomorrow, and I couldn't be more excited to meet my professors and dive right in.  Wish me luck!

Carnivores & Cupcakes

On Wednesday, we had a day free of meetings, etc. so Neeks and I spent a lot of time exploring the city.  I love snapping photos right and left because there is so much to see!  It's a fact: I will never master the subway system.  Every time I think I have it down, I get on the wrong train and take an hour-long detour through the Bronx.  It may take me a little longer, but I generally get where I need to go (good thing I haven't been on a schedule yet).

Don't the taxis look adorable all lined up?  Wrong.  They are the Devil.  I'm nearly plowed over at least 5 times every day by an impatient driver honking and cursing at me to get out of the way.  Hence, I brave the subway.

On Wednesday, the subway took Neeks and I to the Museum of Natural History.  It's the same one that's in the movie "Night at the Museum" with Ben Stiller (you know, where the dinosaurs 

and Pocahontas and Roosevelt all hang out at night).  The dinosaur skeletons were HUGE but I couldn't get any good pictures of them because there were dumb little kids flocking around all over the place.  Anyway, after the third hour of trekking through mazes of Trobriand Islander clay pots and miniature villages, I was ready to chill.  We crossed the street to Central Park where I was able to take some fabulous pics.  It really is an oasis in the middle of the city, and it was so relaxing!  

Of course, I couldn't be in the city for 4 days without going to Magnolia for cupcakes.  I had a glorious reunion with Giuliana over vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting and sprinkles.

It couldn't have been better!  On the way back to FIT, I stopped in the Marc Jacobs store and nearly fainted.  New York is wonderful.

Yesterday, Neeks and I woke up in a collective bad mood, so walked 30 blocks to go to MoMA (the Museum of Modern Art).  They had a Salvador Dali exhibition on the 6th floor that was absolutely magnificent.  We were just blown away by some of the works on display and the scope of the exhibition.  Greatly improved moods ensued.  After MoMA, we went to Century 21 (finally!!!!!).  It was insane.  I'll spare you the gory details, but Neeks and I emerged with a load of fabulous stuff (including a pair of rose gold Marc Jacobs shoes for me.  They are currently on display in my dorm room).  Needless to say, it was a productive day, until our 2-hour-long subway fiasco trying to get home.  Unimportant:  A 15-minute subway ride took us nearly two hours.  Important:  We still made it home in time to order out Taco Bandito and make outfits.  Everyone wins!

On a side note, New York Fashion Week is September 5-12 and Neeks and I both signed up to work it!  SO EXCITED!!!

I feel more like a New Yorker already.

On Broadway

I just returned from my first Broadway musical experience...The Little Mermaid.  Obvi.  It was absolutely magnificent!  The show was excellent and the costumes were just spectacular.  I can't wait to go to my next show!   I had so much fun with Aunt and Brenda while they were here.  They're ridiculously scatterbrained, and pretty much everyone thought I had two moms, but it was entertaining to say the least.  I purposely dressed to match the show tonight, but I had no idea they were both going to wear turquoise also.  We looked like a school of fish walking down Broadway.  So much so that some passersby asked if we were in the show!  

I'm still in disbelief that I'm actually here in NYC.  Walking down the street today, I was listening to "Marching Bands of Manhattan" on my iPod and it struck me that, hey!  I'm in Manhattan! 

I think I can get used to this.

FITnycFINALLY

I'm here!!!  And I must say, I've experienced city love at first sight. The noise, the crowds, the near-death experiences every time I cross the street, I HAVE ARRIVED!  I've only been here for 24 hours, and I feel more at home with myself than ever.  There is so much to learn and experience here.  I've already met so many intriguing individuals, and it is unbelievable to me how such a gigantic place with such a diverse array of people can feel so much like a community.  I love people-watching: on the street, in the subway, even on campus. Unsurprisingly, FIT students are notorious for their avant-garde ensembles, and I find myself unabashedly gawking more than just a few times a day.  I'm working on finding a way to stealthily photograph some of my favorite getups so I can post them.  I saw a girl today dressed head-to-toe in fluorescent orange (including her hair and makeup).  Now that's what I call a traffic-stopper.  I've been a bit overwhelmed, but I snapped a few (non-stalker) photos around campus.  The photo at the top of the page is my state-of-location, and this is a snapshot of street art made of recycled materials on campus:

Speaking of street art, walking down a NYC street is like walking through a gallery; not only because of the fascinating graffiti, emblazoned advertisements, and flashing lights, but also because of the people, the sounds (taxi-drivers' horns, the buzz of the metro below, chit-chat of pedestrians, sirens, music), the smells (hot dogs, perfume, exhaust, kebab, body odor), the tastes (coffee, pizza), and the sensations (asphalt beneath my feet, rushing air through the vents).  Walking in the city is an artistic experience that extends beyond aesthetics and appeals to all of my senses at once.  How could I not be inspired to create?! 

On a different note, shopping in the city is fantastic (as expected).  And I've never seen so many great outfits (and horrible ones) at one time.  When I'm on campus, it is completely exhilarating to be surrounded by so many people who are as fashion-obsessed as I am (if not even more so).  I know, it's hard to believe that anyone else is as fashion-obsessed as yours truly.  But they are.  And they are so beautiful and inspiring!  I let out a little shriek of joy when I found that my large closet and dresser provide more than enough storage space for my various and sundry pieces of fashion, and room for more!  Also, there is a sewing machine lab and spray-painting room on the bottom floor of my dorm.  How cool is that?!

Well, I think that's all for now.  I'm so, so thrilled to be here and so thankful for the many opportunities I'm going to have!  Stay tuned and plan a visit!