Karaline / Tyler, Texas

moth & leaves

I took these photos at my favorite park where I live. I've run many miles across the same bridges at this park, passed the same people and the same trees and felt the same calmness and challenge when I run. It's a safe and familiar place for me. It's funny, when I moved to Tyler for college, this park wasn't a place of comfort, and it wasn't part of my routine. I think a lot about when change happens, and people have to adapt and find new, familiar places. It's ironic, really, because people resist change so much, but then get so comfortable adapting to that change that it becomes routine and normal.

Photography is so important to me because there is always a part of the photographer in each photo. I've always wondered, too, if I have a certain style when I do my photography. I'm taking a photography class this semester, because I'm self-taught, and I've never known about the technical aspects of a camera. I've thought about what other people think when they see my pictures, whether they recognize my personality within the photos. I think that inherently, who I am as a person transcends into each photo. I even feel as though my emotions leak into my photos, too.

It's fall now, which is my most favorite season. It always comes so slowly in Texas, though; I can see a few leaves on the ground, and the others with yellow edges. It's been a complicated and different semester for me. I have an internship where I have my own cubicle, which I love. I wake up around 6:30 every day during the week and wear dresses and cardigans, polyester shirts and slacks to work with my suede oxfords that my mom bought for me when I was 14. Those oxfords have always been too nice for school, and I'm glad that I finally have a chance to wear them.

After work the other day, I went to get my nails done in a color that I thought was more maroon, but it turned out to be bright red. The girl who did my nails, Lyn, told me that I looked like a girl from England, and it made my entire day. I've started a new crochet project, too. It's a taupe, short sleeved pullover sweater that drapes in the front. After finishing that, I'd like to make a scarf with hanging tassels on the ends.

I've missed taking pictures of things that are seemingly uninteresting, but so interesting to me.

dallas

Andie and Molly

Belgium

Belgium changed my life. Visiting this country on a whim while studying abroad in Spain was one of the best decisions that I've made. I can't get thoughts of this place from my head; even though I was in Spain for so long, everything goes back to Belgium.

I had no idea what I was in for, but I can say, truthfully, it was one of the best weekends of my life. The night before our flight, everyone stayed out too late and drank too much. We met at the train station the next morning, Seebree running on less than two hours of sleep and the rest of us with four or five. I sat on the concrete ledge by the large, winding tree and ate the apple from my packed lunch. We waited for the bus, but the stop had been temporarily moved, so we took a cab instead. Once we made it on the plane and landed, the entire climate had changed. In my head, it must have been 65 degrees, and it felt amazing.

Before we left, I purposely didn’t look up pictures of Belgium; I didn’t want any expectations, like those that I had for Spain. I just wanted to be somewhere new.

In Brussels, we took the train to Gent, my favorite city. Seebree and I stopped at a fried food shop, where the fryers are at the highest temperatures I have ever seen, and you choose what you want from a glass case in front of the store. I remember walking into a similar shop in Brussels and listening intently to men speaking French, not understanding a thing, just admiring the way that words are laced together. French is a language that I've only heard a few times in my life, and hearing it so frequently in Belguim was like hearing an entirely new genre of music. Seebree and I sat on the steps in the center of Gent and ate fries with mayonnaise, fried meat and fried cheese. I admired the people; their outfits, especially their shoes, came straight from a European movie. There were so many colors, too, and there must have been at least a thousand bikes sitting right in the middle of everything, under the trees. We took the wrong train that day, but I was alright with it. I watched the cows out the window and the old brick houses and finally stopped in Knokke, where we met Seebree’s oma.

Oma was one of the best and kindest people that I have ever met. She offered us chocolate and bought us icecream and Belgian beer on the first night. I remember nearly falling asleep, sitting at a small, outdoor table with a Karmelite, one tiny bowl of nuts and another with potato chips. It was 11 p.m. and the sun had not yet gone down. I was amazed, overwhelmed in the best way, and so content.

Belgium is nothing like Spain, it’s ten times better, based on my experience. We went to bed late in the cleanest apartment, with air conditioning, and woke up to a breakfast of Nutella and bread, chocolate, coffee, Belgian cheese and different spreads. Oma let us pack sandwiches and fruit and we took the train back to Gent to get Belgian waffles. We sat at a small café near the cathedral and drank coffee, they didn’t serve waffles until twelve. Then, the boys showed up and we ate our waffles together—I was happy. Then, we spent the day walking around, admiring buildings and cafés, the people and the atmosphere, and taking pictures. That night, Oma took Seebree, the boys and I to dinner and we helped her pay. We drank rosé (the alcohol seemed so much stronger there) and Seebree and I ate mussels; the best mussels in the world. I’m not sure that I ever find some as good. Sam and Tanner ate horse steaks, which I feel terrible for trying, but they were surprisingly delicious.

We ended the day once again at the same café as the night before. That night, I drank scotch, which I really loved. I swear the smile never left my face the whole time that we were in Belgium.

The next day, in Brussels, I listened to men speaking French, others speaking German and Spanish, even English. All of us rode the train together that time, and we laughed so much. We talked about foods that we liked and hated and really got to know each other, I felt. Even the train rides were enjoyable, fulfilling. We ate more fried food in Brussels and explored downtown. The plaza reminded me of the one in Madrid. I bought a sweatshirt from a souvenir shops, which haunts me a bit now, after finding out that someone attempted to bomb the Brussels train station just two days after we left.

It's funny how a single, spontaneous weekend trip has had such an influence on me. One wonderful thing about life is that there are an infinite number of places to see and things to learn. Belgium will be forever in my mind.

- ryan

Studying Abroad

I'm in Spain! I have so many different thoughts about studying abroad so far, and I'm not sure that there's a way to translate every sensation here.

First, I arrived in Madrid. We stayed in a hotel downtown, in the middle of everything, for five days, and it was completely overwhelming. When I landed and exited the plane, I felt so out of control; it was as if everything was being thrown at me simultaneously. I woke up early every morning in Madrid to a completely new place. First, the sight of the city itself was a brand new and the sounds of the city, the people and the language followed close after. It's crazy to be in a place with a completely different culture. From the beginning of the trip I have been watching people, their mannerisms and the way that they show each other love (both so different from where I live); their eye contact, too, and the openness and the way that people express themselves. Madrid is nothing like New York, the people are noticeably more relaxed and never appear to be in a rush; and the air is lighter and more clean, even with the smell of cigarette smoke that follows close behind you.

Drinking is different, too. In Spain, you can find alcohol anywhere-- at mcdonalds, at the icecream shop, at the bakery; every restaurant that I've seen has had a full bar. Spanish people drink casually, at any time of the day, and normally with every meal, and as far as I've seen and heard, they're not fans of getting drunk like Americans. I've been out a number of times now, and it's been an entirely new experience for me, because I can't go out in the U.S. It's incredibly fun to go to a bar or a club in a different country and dance to good music, get dressed up late at night and order as many drinks as you want. Maybe it will get old once I'm 21, but the spontaneity and newness of it is liberating.

The friends that I've made here are those that I'd love to keep close to me for the rest of my life. All of us have an equal passion for traveling and a desire to get something out of this. I'm incredibly proud of myself for finding my way around, memorizing the location of the beach and the school and the tram station. Considering how directionally challenged I am, this is crazy for me. This is the first place where I've been alone, and I'm completely acclimated and even comfortable now, in more than one sense. I actively speak Spanish every day and I've improved both my speaking and listening skills tremendously since I've arrived. More importantly, I've learned about trusting myself, and relying on myself here. I'm used to asking for advice from others or having someone close who can be there for me, but on this trip I have to be completely responsible for myself. I am here for myself and no one else, and the fact that I had an idea to do something (crazy, in my mind) like this years ago, and then continued to go through with it, tells me that I can accomplish anything in the world after this.

We fit so many things into the five days that we visited Madrid that I cannot describe them all. The first five days were filled with my wide eyes and late, late nights, new food, new flavors of icecream, walking everywhere in the city and exposure to an immense amount of history.