I haven’t even thought about leaving this place. I’ve only been thinking of reuniting with my family and friends when I get back that I completely failed to think about the fact that I’m leaving. I’m leaving this place I’ve considered home for the past 4 months. This place that forced me to be with the same group of people 24/7. Leave all these people that have influenced a part of me in some way. People who have been a part of my everyday life. Leaving behind locals that I now consider my friends. I will no longer be waking up to this beautiful green landscape made of mountains and embedded with history. I won’t be living in a beautiful thatch cottage looking out at the Bay. Nor will I be breathing in the fresh air and walking to the sounds of nature.

It is strange.

I really can’t anticipate the feelings I will have tomorrow morning boarding our flight. Or even when we all go our separate ways at the Newark airport, for those of us on the same flight. I am definitely going to miss a few people that I’ve grown close to. I think it will be sad departing, but then also extremely exciting to be that much closer to home.

At this point the excitement outweighs the sadness, but I guess I’ll have to wait and see what tomorrow brings.

Many people keep talking about regrets that they have about this semester. And one of the things I promised myself before leaving was that I was going to push myself outside of my comfort zone and try anything that was put in front of me. Which I believe I have done. I can truly say that I don’t have any regrets and I don’t wish anything would have went a different way.

I don’t even know if I would be able to recall everything that I have seen, done, experienced, and/or witnessed. I’ve been all over Ireland: Dublin, Limerick, Cork, Dingle, Galway, Connemara, and every village in between. I’ve been to plenty of museums and galleries, hiked a few mountains, got lost on a few trails, encountered some wild animals. I’ve been exposed to a completely different culture, met people from all over the world, and have realized how much I truly love home.

Most people I talked to told me this would be a life changing experience with very challenging parts throughout. I now know exactly what they were talking about. I had days where if the opportunity was available I would have been on the next flight to the USA. Days where almost every single person was annoying me in some way shape or form, and days where all I wanted was to be around people I genuinely cared about and they felt the same way about me. It is quite the experience being placed into a new country with new people in which you are around 24/7. However, looking back on it I know that I don’t actually hate any of them, although I may have said that every once and awhile. It was just hard not having those people I could call when I knew they would be the ones to help me with whatever I was dealing with, My appreciation and gratitude towards my family and friends has grown so much throughout these four months. I now know who exactly are the important ones in my life.

I also have come to appreciate CIA and the education in which I am receiving there. Don’t get me wrong, I have loved The Burren College of Art and it has been extremely amazing focusing on my art and my studio practice. On the other hand, I am ready to have intense deadlines, be pushed to my limits, and just get my work torn apart. As much as I was fed up with CIA upon leaving I am SO ready to go back and start my BFA. Which I feel completely prepared for because of my time abroad.

And of course having two of my best friends be able to come visit and my mom and sister made the whole experience that much more enjoyable.

Another thing that I have been missing besides my family and friends is homecookin’ and delicious restaurants. Upon my arrival back to the states I will be hitting up taco bell, mi pueblo, melt, and eating some REAL ice cream.

http://video.msnbc.msn.com/morning-joe/46703715#46703715

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He is an artist making a change in the world along with other artist collectives, groups, and non-profits.
He organized this project: http://watershedmke.wordpress.com and worked with this group http://sweetwater-organic.com. You should definitely check them out. Amazing things are happening because of his work and the work of others like him and all of their collaborations.

It was a lot of information all at once and was one of those lectures where you just leave feeling so inspired to make a change. It was also reassuring that making a change is possible as an artist. I over heard a couple of ladies talking at lunch one day and one of them was talking about her daughter graduating and her future plans and said, “She wants to go out and change the world but she doesn’t realize you can’t just go out and do that.” That statement was shocking. I just wanted to scream that the world could be changed but there are people like you who don’t encourage it! I’ve heard so many times that people what to take action to make the world a better place but they don’t think any of their ideas are good enough or big enough. It doesn’t take huge ideas. It all starts with a simple idea.

Besides all of the ideas going through my head of what I could start when I get home, I can’t stop thinking about my mom and sister coming!! I can’t wait for them arrive! ONLY 11 MORE DAYS! March has by far been one of the best months so far. I had two of my best friends come and visit during their spring break, We went to Cork this past weekend, St. Patrick’s Day is this weekend, and then my mom and sister will be here! I’m pretty sure with all this excitement in one month that April is going to go extremely slowly. Although, I’m hoping it won’t. Since we have to organize an end of the semester show and classes end April 10th I’m praying it all goes by rather quickly. I can’t believe I only have 4 weeks until classes are over. FOUR WEEKS! That is just cray cray. I feel like I have so many things to get done, probably because I do. So I should probably go and start working on things and all that jazz.

HAPPY PI DAY!

Hope everyone survived midterms. Now you can take a break because it is Spring Break. YEAH!

I finished my taxidermy Fox Squirrel. Now I  just need to come up with a good  name for her.  I was thinking of either Betsy or Shelia. I am still not sure what I will name her I am still deciding. If anyone has any suggestions I am open to anything. I mounted her on a piece of drift wood so it looks like she is crawling down a tree trunk and it can hang on a wall.  The squirrel is drying in my apartment for a couple of weeks with pins in her. The pins are used so that the skin won’t shrink around the eyes, mouth, and also I used them to set the feet in the correct spot on the wood, so it looks like she is gripping the wood.  She looks like she is having acupuncture.  Next we are going to taxidermy chipmunks. I am very excited.

Spring Break will be a lot of fun. I am going to Orlando and Miami in Florida for spring break. It is supposed to be really nice in the lower 80′s and sunny. I will be working on my BFA project while I am down there, but I hope I get a lot done before I leave on Monday.

Hope everyone has a great spring break and don’t work to hard.

As artists, we’re talented at looking at things a different way, re-appropriating and re-contextualizing. “Make the most of what you have” is similar to the excellent creative challenge of working within strict limitations. It may be annoying or frustrating, but it teaches us to flourish as problem-solvers.

I don’t mean to get overly sentimental by calling it a “life lesson” but, as an avid thrifter, scavenger and efficiency nut, this idea holds special interest for me. I equate it on a certain level to the fine art of bargaining. When haggling, you can usually bring a price down by 20-40%. “Aggressive” or determined haggling is a delicate process, dependent on a lot of factors like your personality, appearance, word choice, how much money you have/bring/show…that’s barely the tip of the iceberg. Point is, it’s a surprisingly good exercise for forcing you to think on-the-spot, adapt, and determine the best way to use your resources for a desired outcome.

I am NOT advising anyone to go out and con or finagle. Simply to use that inventive and resourceful art-student brain to think more deftly when you get that awful trapped feeling we all fall pray to now and then. Break things down, and think how you can use what you DO have to achieve what you don’t.

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