Welcome to the SVA MFACA program!!!

Now before you turn your tongue into a tourniquet, SVA is short for my graduate school, the School of Visual Arts. and MFACA stands for Masters in Fine Arts, Computer Arts!

Time to meet and greet your fellow SVA grad students!

It was really great. They had this meet and greet on top of a gallery in Chelsea, and the weather was perfect!

School of Visual Arts!

This is it... I've travelled halfway around the world for this school. Its different seeing it in a website or through forum comments and all... now I am standing right in front of it!!!


freebies galore!!! Filipinos love freebies. :)


oh yeah... I went to the wrong school. apparently the graduate building is 3 to 4 avenues away. silly me.

I am in NEW YORK!

It's a good thing the NJ Transit is quite organized so you know where youre going. after harrassing a few passengers with a few "where am i" tourist questions, I was reassured that I was on my way to New York.

90 minutes later, I arrive in port authority, excited with what lay beyond these walls. I step out to be "greeted" by people selling the daily times and handing out the AM newspaper, and some hotdogs too. To my surprise, Times Square was just a few blocks away!

I made it!!!

from Tanjay, Negros Oriental...




such a beautiful day too! well time to be tourist-y for a while. The naked cowboy scared me.

PS: Happy birthday Glob!

-Ramon

Fulbright Gateway Orientation: Portland, Oregon

From there I met all the other Fulbrighters who are starting their program for 2007.
An amazing group of people, and you can see that these guys will somehow shape the world later on. They were all so intelligent.

The most smartest peoples! :P

Anyway, yeah this was probably the largest group of intelligent people gathered in one area at one time. All of a sudden I started wondering what was I doing here...? :-S


One of the aspects of the Fulbright program was the orientation of the foreigner to US culture, to minimize culture shock, and culture crashes (i miss that comic!- its a local comic. google it).
It was pretty interesting, but I must say coming from the Philippines which is pretty westernized already, I had an easier time adjusting than others. In fact, the Philippines is so westernized, it's like we're the unknown state of the US.

But we're not.

me and some of my Fulbright buddies. one of the more interesting things you find out when meeting people from other countries especially if you share a common history, (our four countries- Philippines, Mexico, Argentina, Panama all have Spanish ancestry) you just cant help but be amazed at all the similarities you share. similar language, same expressions, same celebrations, same cuss words (well similar ones), similar mannerisms! it's like finding a long lost cousin. :)

Portland, Oregon

nice of them to explore the town inbetween orientations! :)

Arrival at Ondine Hall

We were all given a residence called the Ondine Hall, a dorm in Portland State University.
A beautiful dorm I must say.

nice beds, great desk!
yeah i like the window. :) shotgun!

nope, this is not a hotel, its the dorm's bathroom. never saw one so clean and pristine! i guess you can tell a lot about the town by their bathrooms.

Ondine Hall is a student dormitory for Portland State University. A really nice place to stay btw...
I've seen the town passing through, its really beautiful! but more on that later...

17 hours later...

17 hours later I landed in San Francisco international airport. And wow, was it a mad house. Everyone was rushing to get through but everyone had to funnel through these xray gates, metal detectors, and airport security examining or at least trying to examine every piece of hand carry we had.

My backpack was one heavy brick to carry around too (i had my laptop and other important documents and chargers inside!). So lugging that around was no picnic, believe me.
it was pure chaos. good thing it didn't take so long as I had a 40 minute window to run across the whole airport to get catch my connecting flight!

Pictures would have been great here, but given that this is a point of entry of the USA, I decided not to tempt fate by snapping pics for my own amusement and having that being mistaken as something else.

Phew! 5 hours later, I make it to Portland, Oregon!




10pm, local time, I am in the luggage pick up area. Its cold, I'm tired and I dont know anybody at all. Then in a little corner I found something quite reassuring...


woohoo! I was in the right place! I was tired but at least I was not lost! and my bags were with me too! Yeah!

-Ramon

Leaving for Portland!

This is it... August 20. I'm leaving my home for a very long time.

I was pretty down thinking, or hoping that I would still have the day of Monday to spend with my family, (hoping that it was an evening flight!) but noooo.... I get a 6am flight! which means I have to be at the airport by 4am! Ohhhh fate how you like to play...

It was pretty tough letting go... tears and all. But then again, I will only be gone for two years, and I will be back in no time!
well at least that thought makes leaving not so bad...


Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport
-to -
Hong Kong International Airport
Flight time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.
Not bad.

Goodbye Philippines!

Sheesh I never thought this day would arrive. I'm actually going to leave my country and live somewhere else for the very first time! I am at a loss of words right now... except that this roller coaster ride called 2007 isn't getting any slower.

my friends and family of course wanted to throw a farewell party. back home they call it a Despedida. Now either they're happy for me that I'm leaving or they're happy coz I wont be in their hair for the next few years. wahahaha!!!
my swim team mates. the fastest people you'd meet in the water!

the family friends!

the famous friends!

the two girls to the left are from a girl group called the Kitty Girls
they're also in the cover of FHM Philippines' December 2007 issue.

Ha! have you got friends like that? huh? huh???


The coolest people on earth! Errrryyyt bro!

and of course...

even my girl friend's happy i'm leaving too! (just kidding, baby!) :P

I'll be seeing you guys in a few years!

I'll miss ya all! (including the many others who arent in these pics!)

-Ramon