Tarrytown, NY

Recently I've been buried under the stress of a summer course and the impossibly frustrating task of moving. I'm packing up my things and moving them into storage while simultaneously packing for my 4 month stay in Prague AND clearing out all of my apartment since I will be moving to Brooklyn when I return. It's definitely crunch time however it seems I've been spending a lot of time in my room procrastinating rather than being productive. I haven't even gotten to shoot much with my new Canon S90 - a fantastic, versatile little camera that takes good photos without the bulk of my 5D.

Today was different though. I went to meet Noah in midtown to grab a late lunch before he had to catch a train to go shoot a wedding. Because of some inconveniences, I ended up being over 10 minutes late and having very little time to see Noah (between my class and packing during the week and his work on the weekends, fitting in time to see each other has been tougher than usual.) So, instead of returning back to my apartment to sulk over empty cardboard boxes, I bought a ticket and got on the MetroNorth train to Tarrytown, NY.



After a 40 minute ride, Noah caught a cab to get to the wedding location and I wondered around the small town. It's definitely not the most exciting place in the world but it was great to get away from the city during the beginning of tourist month. I wandered, read a little, wandered some more, and then caught a train back. Nothing too exciting but I think it's safe to say it beats packing. It was interesting, however, to wander around a suburb that wasn't my own. For all you DC-area readers (aka my Mom), it reminded me a bit of Kensington- small and closed on Sundays. It's nice to see a suburb of an East coast city that isn't hellbent trying to be a city itself (I'm looking at you, Bethesda). Tarrytown is a little rough around the edges visually but it makes it all the more interesting and sincere.












Unfortunately, the sun didn't come out until my train ride back to the city, however it made for much nicer photos. Also Tappen Zee, where the Hudson River widens, is beautiful. I hope in the next few weeks I get the chance to take the train up in that direction and spend some time by the water. The final photo is Harlem, right before MetroNorth disappears underneath Manhattan.

Film from Salvador

So this post should've been up six months ago but I figure it's better late than never. It gave me a chance to look through all my Brazil photos again and reflect on the trip now that I've had some space.

While I'm so thankful that I was lucky enough to be in a program at NYU that provides me with these kinds of travel opportunities, some unforeseeable mishaps occurred. Scheduling problems meant we were left to our own devices and in a very touristy area of the city. In fact, our hotel was quite segregated from the entire city of Salvador, sitting on top of a large hill. It was hard to get a feel of Salvador being so removed. As for the community service aspect of the trip, I still don't quite know how I feel: we helped do minor renovations on a school in the slums of the city but there's a certain point where I wonder how much it's for our own self-fulfillment.

Kacey's roof

Earlier in the summer, Kacey and I spent a lot of time drinking cheap wine on her roof.