Chelsea goes to Chelsea!!!

Donald Sultan Work

The latest adventure i embarked on brought me to the streets of my namesake, Chelsea, and the galleries found there. Although my initial motivation is somewhat obscure and off centered, my experience there was phenomenal. First, I must admit, that seeing places with my name everywhere, was a little bit entertaining. Of course I snapped a couple shots of cute places with Chelsea on the sign, and then I began my adventure at the gallery of Keith Haring. Keith Haring's gallery consists of a stark white room, with three ginormous canvas works hung on separate wall, and there are then two rows of display cases in the center of the room featuring his smaller pieces. His work was not only awe inspiring but I feel like it was a great place to start for me because there was so much to explore. I found it interesting to look at the huge canvas paintings in a variety of ways because with each turn of the head or squint of the eye, a different image popped out. The over all affect of the large works was astounding. They seemed to be interlaced with a story and a message but then seemed so simple, characters jut interwoven and connected by concrete lines. His smaller works were a bit more sophisticated I'd say, a lot of them containing images of phalluses, which reflects a lot about his homosexuality that was part of his defining identity especially in the 1980's when homosexuality was greatly scrutinized. The pictures all matched a number, which, on a separate page, revealed where the images where drawn, which included locations such as, in front of Tiffany's, in Central Park, or at the MOMA. I think this was an interesting way of viewing the art because imaging what he was thinking at each place and why the pieces turned out as they did, is a strange correlation.  He also had a quote that I found particularly intriguing written on one of his smaller works which stated "the relationship between boundaries is realized by composition, composition is realized by isolation, isolation is defined by association, association is realized by observation, observation defines composition, composition is defined by boundaries, boundaries are defined by limitations." For some reason I seemed to find this compelling because I think it can apply to art, as well as life. Finally, my favorite piece of work by Haring that I found in this gallery was titled "eggplant tomato casserole for eight." I'm not quite sure why I liked this piece so much but it just had a lot going on and it seemed to jump out as something fitting to my life. I then proceeded to walk through Chelsea, finding myself in various galleries of artists I'd never heard of,but was equally impressed and intrigued by. One artist I particularly liked was named Donald Sultan, and I thought his work with flowers, was beautiful. I viewed a gallery that included "monumental photos from the 20th century", which included some interesting images that I probably wouldn't have chosen as monumental but viewing them in context made me appreciate them more I think. I visited around 5 or 6 galleries that afternoon,  and it was close to 100 degrees, and I walked around 20 blocks that day total which was killer. I wandered down to Chelsea Piers to see what that was all about, was slightly under whelmed, and then found my way 8 blocks uptown to work for 5 hours. All together it was an incredibly successful day. Seeing those galleries and all of the different artists and trying to grasp their perspective really opened my eyes a great deal. I think this was a great way to start off my summer of art, and I'm so excited to get to the Met and such. Slowly but surely, I'm getting out there and exploring this crazy city, pretty much on my own most of the time, and although being alone is hard at times, I don't think there's any other way to do it because I feel like I wouldn't be able to formulate my own opinions and be as sure of them if I was surrounded by others. So hooray! And I shall move on to the next adventure!

Home Sweet Home

although I haven't posted in over a week, this post, unfortunately does not contain lots of juicy information about adventures in NYC. instead, this post, perhaps one of its kind, is about my trip home this past week. This was the only trip I'll be making home all summer, which is a little bit daunting, when i consider that I have two entire months left in the city. I guess going home was a strange feeling because I didn't realize how much I missed it until I was there. Being in my own bed room, walking through the front door late at night as i'd done in high school, roller blading on the side walk in front of my house. These are all memories from my past that this week I was able to relive. I think that because I left Brunswick and Bowdoin so early, I never truly realized that I was missing out on anything. Of course I knew I was missing my best friends, but I took for granted the little things that a small New England town has to offer. I suddenly became more aware of how unique it was being on the mall downtown, surrounded by people I'd known for years. And of course you see people you don't want to see, and have to fake smiles and give hugs, but it didn't seem as bad as i thought it was. Coming back to the city, and today taking a trip to an area I'd never been to, make me so much more aware of how small I am here. And although I first thought I'd like it, i'm starting to realize that I'm the kind of person that wants to make a different, wants to be known, wants to be heard. At a place like Bowdoin I am able to do that, to be an active participant in the community in which I live, rather than another New Yorker trying to get where they're going on time. Going home was a strange experience because I guess I'd never been away from home in that sense before. Taking a shower and not remembering how to make the water warmer was definitely a first for me. And the smells. The smells in that house brought me right back to all the things I loved. I miss that house. I miss the way you can smell the salt in the air from the ocean rolling off the coast. These things became so apparent after living in a completely different environment. I couldn't help but feel the entire time I was home that I didn't want to return to new york, I wanted to stay here, and live my maine summer at the beach, riding bikes, eating cote's, soaking in everything my hometown had to offer. I know it probably seems crazy, because I never even left my home town, but being at Bowdoin is different, because you don't appreciate things about Brunswick in the same way. Now that I'm back in the city, a lot of these feelings have passed, and I am happy to be on this adventure, but at the same time, in the back of my head, I cannot wait to be back at Bowdoin enjoying life the way it should be. I keep thinking that after Bowdoin I'll want to work In New York at a Law Firm or in Boston or a big city, but I think I'll need to consider that more now that i've had this experience. In the next two months I'm really hoping to find peace with my current state of being more alone than usual, and more bored than usual, and more independent than usual. Really I want to use this time to be okay with my choice of bowdoin, to be okay being alone when i return to bowdoin, to be strong enough to walk away from the things in life that aren't worth fighting for. And I hope that being here, in this city, where supposedly if you can make it here you can make it anywhere, I will find the strength to do all of those things and be ready to face whatever challenges life throws at me. 

Guido Central

I realize this post does not necessarily pertain particularly to my list of things to do this summer, but it is an important part of my experience thus far. So I joined a gym, because I need to workout obviously thanks to the drinking habits I developed at college this year. This gym is exactly what you'd picture the cast of jersey shore working out at. It's so great. While I'm on my cardio machines, and I can look ahead of me and see very tan, Italian looking men, in tank tops, with huge muscles benching, and squatting hundreds of pounds. So, I just continue sweating on my elliptical, picture my body 20 pounds lighter, while in front of me, I am fascinated by the men in the tight shirts. When I venture down to the weight lifting section I am more than intimidated by these men, but im slowly learning to suck it up and do my best. This experience is more than entertaining and I look forward to all of my interactions at the gym this summer, because it's definitely keeping me on my toes, and interested.

Hudson River Park

So today I had some free time and I took the bus down to W55th to visit part of the Hudson River Park, as that is one of the things on my list. Every several wrong turns and attempting (and failing) to cross the West Side High Way, until I found a crosswalk. I then entered the Clinton Cove part of the Hudson River Park. The park is beautiful. There was a huge lawn where people were lounging and there was a nice dock with benches right next to the water that I decided to occupy. I sprawled out on a bench with a copy of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility and read for an hour. I guess the thing that most surprised me about this adventure was the calmness of the area I found myself in. It seemed like in this little section of the world, I wasn't in New York City anymore, and I could've been on a dock in Maine somewhere, or a beach. There were people kayaking in the river next to me, families walking on the path, dogs everywhere. It was all together a really nice place. There was also a bike path, that I am definitely more anxious to explore. I was really disappointed to have to leave this little piece of heaven, but I know that I will definitely be back to explore more of the Hudson River Park. I walked back to the bus stop feeling refreshed, and in a weird way I felt a connection to Maine that I had not yet felt in the city. I guess one of the hardest parts about connecting with the city for me was the anonymity of it. With none of my friends here yet, I literally walk down the street knowing no one. And I've become strangely accustomed to it pretty quickly I think, but it's still a strange feeling. At Bowdoin the "Bowdoin Hello" is such an important part of campus that it's easy to think that everyone in the world is friendly and welcoming. However, I am not sheltered to believe this as true. I haven't really had a problem without it though, which I think is great for me, to be okay with this. Another thing that's really strange about being here, is all the people I meet have this "new yorker" mentality that they want to share with me. They assume that because I'm from Maine I'm really nice and easy going and a little out of the loop. Although this might be true compared to them, they have this idea that the city is going to change me, to make me into this hard person, who's tough and ready to deal with anyone. I can't say that this isn't true, because by the end of the summer I may be sick of dealing with everyones bullshit and be that person, but I think it'll be interesting to see which of my character elements change, and which ones remain. I can't so I wouldn't appreciate becoming a little tougher, loosing some of my push over, nice girl mentality. I dont know, I can't really say but I will say that my first adventure of my list to the Hudson River Park, was truly a success.

List of Things to do in NYC

The Met

New York Botanical Garden

The MOMA

Movie in the Park

The Guggenheim

Bodies-The exhibition

Whitney Museum of American Art

Chelsea Piers

American Folk Art Museum

Storm King Art Center

Hudson River Park-West Side Highway

South Street Seaport

I think I'll just post part of the list at a time so I feel like its more manageable, and then when I actually start accomplishing things I'll add more

Here goes nothing...

The idea of a blog has forever been a foreign concept to me, but I thought that this opportunity was as good as ever to give it a try. For nineteen years I've lived in the comfort of my home, with both of my parents and my younger brother. I've never went away to sleep away camp, (minus my first attempt at this city when I was eight years old and lived with my grandparents for a month), didn't do anything too daring in high school, and spent most summer frequently visiting the beach and my favorite ice cream shop, in my small New England town. I'm sure there are tons of other people that also leave home and don't feel compelled to write about it, but I think this will make it easier for me at least. After going to school five minutes down the road for college, I began to strongly question my ability to live on my own. I love my parents to death, but I started to feel like I was never going to know if I could do it, unless I tried. So fast forward to Mid-April and I'm taking a job as a hostess at a restaurant in New York City for the entire summer. I guess you could say it was a little bit of an impulse decision, and the fact that I needed money and hadn't found a summer job yet, nor did I want to spend another summer working my job in retail. But recently in life I've learned to live more impulsively, and here we are. I guess one of the biggest reasons I'm excited about this summer is because it's one of my first opportunities to live without a limit? In college everything is lined up for you, you walk five feet to get to everything you could possibly need. And although I am living with my grandma, the rest is essentially up to me. I have this notion of walking down 5th avenue alone, all by myself, surrounded by 6 million strangers, and finding myself extremely happy. I'm excited to be in a city like New York where I think (and I'm hoping) that independence is not only embraced, but encouraged. After my first year, I've come to the realization that college has a funny way making you want to be more dependent on the people around you, while being less dependent on your parents. From meals, to the gym, to studying and even sleeping, college has definitely made me feel like if I'm doing anything alone, it's strange, and even abnormal. So...here we are...I'm hoping to embrace my independence this summer, to bask in the glory of being alone, and most importantly, to learn to love solitude. I've compiled a list of things I'd like to do in New York this summer, probably many average things. A lot of the list is full of art museums. Art is one thing in life that I've never had an appreciate for, and despite coming to New York a million times, I've never once stepped foot in an art museum here. So I think that will be a project, an adventure for me. I want to learn about art, embrace it, appreciate it. I want to walk around the Met and the MOMA alone and fully appreciate what surrounds me. I know this probably seems ridiculous but everyone has to start somewhere right? So the list follows, i'm adding to it more every day, and hopefully I'll get to experience a lot. Most importantly this summer is a time for me. It's a time to move on from my freshman year, all the baggage I've claimed from the time I spent at college, and to find a fresh start in a new city, where my life is an open book. And when I return to college in the fall, I'm sure I'll find my skeletons that I'm trying to lock away in the closet, but I hope that this summer will help me be more capable of dealing with whatever comes my way. So...that's that. I'm not sure how often you're supposed to blog? But I guess I'll just see what happens. Here's to a fabulous summer, away from vacationland, in the city that never sleeps. Hello New York, hopefully I'm ready for you.