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February 16, 2009 at 1:37 pm · Filed under Postcards
While I was in Glasgow, I had friends scattered throughout a variety of other foreign cities. A friend of a friend was at Oxford, an on-and-off roommate in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and then a handful of friends and acquaintances in Ireland. Europe has Ryanair, a super-cheap, ‘get what you pay for’ airline that flies to a variety of inconveniently located airports. Inconvenient if you’re heading to a big city, but completely wonderful if you’re flying between Glasgow, Scotland and Ballyvaughan, Ireland. Return tickets between Prestwick and Limerick were only £15, which meant visiting friends and experiencing a little of Erin was graciously simple.
I stopped in Galway for the night both times I flew to Ireland, waiting for a bus. My short time in Galway was interesting, but Ballyvaughan was an experience. The community of American art students magically transported to this quiet, tiny town was in itself bizarre. But it was amazing to see how they slowly began to fit in. They took Irish dancing lessons from a man a couple towns over; some of them acted as stage crew for a community drama club. After a few months, it seemed like they’d gotten used to the fact that they went to school at a castle, or that they could take a break from the studio with a climb up a towering hill, through fairy forts. When you walked home after dark, you had to hold hands and watch the faint outlines of trees against stars, because everything else was shrouded in shadow.
I wish I could have been there longer. On my first visit the weather was surprisingly cooperative, and I spent a few days wandering about, taking pictures and trying to be very quiet. I climbed I came face-to-face with a mountain goat with the hugest horns I’d ever seen, and we parted ways without incident.
"Have you met Rex yet?"
"He was the first person... er, dog I met."
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February 15, 2009 at 3:50 pm · Filed under Postcards
I didn’t spend much time in Edinburgh while I was in Scotland, regardless of the fact that this was the city where I originally intended to live. My mom and I visited briefly in the first 2 days of being in the UK, but after that I only went once. The first time was mostly filled with train-station stress, lugging bags to a last-minute hotel, lugging bags up lots of flights of stairs, and looking at a pretty monument out our window. We managed to go to the Edinburgh castle, which was certainly nice (but maybe not as nice as the Sterling castle).
My second time in Edinburgh was exceedingly exciting. I met my flatmate Kat’s father (who was at the same time charming and intimidating), further explored the Royal Mile, and ate ice cream in a park with my friend Elizabeth. Elizabeth was working for a family in a small town outside of Edinburgh, so I rode the bus there and watched a horse parade, explored the grounds, stroked an old cat, and watched a town A cappella concert with singers no younger than 30 and no older than 80.
"I'm pretty sure I went to that exact same restaurant in Texas once."
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February 13, 2009 at 10:47 am · Filed under Postcards
From Oban, we decided to visit Iona, a small isle in the Inner Hebrides with not much more than a couple shoppes, a handful of houses, sheep, and a monastery. Iona is an important figure in Scotland’s history of Christianity: Saint Columba (ie, Colm Cille) founded the monastery in the 500s. He used the small settlement as a stepping stone to the mainland, and began to work on converting Scotland and much of northern England to Christianity. Iona came to be known as a center for education and enlightenment, a holy island where several kings of Scotland, Ireland, and Norway were eventually buried.
Of course, we went to Iona completely and utterly off-season. All Scottish weather can be unpredictable, and it goes without saying that January weather can be the worst. But this didn’t phase us. We bundled up, pulling on waterproof pants and boots borrowed from our innkeeper. We caught the ferry to the island of Mull, road a bus cross-island, and then caught the tiny ferry to Iona.
"I'm originally from Pink Panther country, yeh know. Dun-doon, dun-doon, dun-doon-dun-doon-dun-doon..."
"Oh, hon, you don't need 10 pence, just pull the bar towards you and slip in." (On pay toilets)
We must have stayed on Mull for maybe 3 hours (counting to and back), most of which was spent either on a bus, or huddled in a small ferry waiting room. But the scenery there still managed to make an impression. I’d love to go back, maybe in milder weather.
The ferry to Iona was tiny, a little thing that we had to board on the same loading deck as cars might need to drive upon. We managed to hop over the little waves, keeping our feet relatively dry. And then, soon enough, we were on Iona. We easily navigated the streets of the waterfront town, mostly deserted for winter, finding our way to the monastery. Everything had a very special feeling… something about the permeating history of the place, and the strange time of year for our visit. I can’t imagine walking among these ancient, quiet places while surrounded my a pack of tourists. We were lucky our timing was odd.
And the weather played into our hands, going from stormy to sun, clouds to light, as if the sky couldn’t make up her mind. It was the best of both worlds, and when the rain would come we’d hide in the gift shop. We found shelter in a small chapel and ate a lunch of cheese and oatcakes. Waiting for the ferry, we shared a small overhang with a group of other brave visitors, an older couple from England, and a young couple and daughter from Glasgow. I saw my first European Robin. The sea was choppy and a storm was building, and it wasn’t as easy to beat the tide this time. My boots were soaking as we rode back to Mull, and then to Oban once again.
"If you see somebody coming, hide the food. I don't want them to know we're picnicing in a chapel." (Making the most of things)
"Well, you're fine as long as you don't see white. But once the white horses start comin', the ferry won't."
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February 13, 2009 at 7:14 am · Filed under Postcards
My mom made the initial trip to Glasgow with me, helping to settle everything. It was nice having her there, and as rushed and hectic as things were with getting everything in my flat sorted out and figuring out registration, etc. at school, we still had the chance to do a little exploration. We’d planned on bringing 3-use train passes, but my mom left hers on the kitchen counter back in Pennsylvania. But we still took a couple train rides, primarily to get us to the Western coastal town of Oban. The mother of one of my mom’s friends lived there, and we wanted to pop in and say some hello’s, as well as get a feel for the countryside.
The train ride alone was breathtaking, my first glimpse at the Scottish highlands. It had snowed in some parts, and our train passed between green pastures, looming hills, snowy fields, white forests, and seashore. The variety was amazing.
Oban was lovely. A quiet town with winding streets, cobbled hills, and protected inlets, Oban is the kind of place where I’d like to end up. This was my first chance at seeing the beauty and frequency of Scottish rainbows. The weather was unpredictable, sunny one seconds, pouring the next. I loved it.
"Aye, the fellow was saying he was from Oban. And I says, 'No you 'ent.' And he says, 'What? Ah've been here 10 years.' But I say, 'My wife's been here 50, and she 'ent a local.'"
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February 13, 2009 at 6:41 am · Filed under Postcards
I made 5 sets of London postcards, dispersed between a few different trips. My first time in London was my first time in the UK, and my first real impression came from dragging my gigantic bags (packed for 6 months) through the London tube, up steps and down steps, and through busy streets with “look this way” painted on the pavements. My second impression came from experiencing super-busy New Years. In lieu of cramming in with everybody at Embarkment to watch fireworks, we went back to our hotel and craned our necks out of the window to see a sprinkle of lights over the rooftops. We weren’t the only ones; I could see the faint outlines of neighbors sitting on rooftops, clearly proud of their birds-eye view.
I loved London. But there’s always so much happening… it’s similar to how I’ve always felt about New York. I adore going up for a weekend, but I can’t see myself living there, a permanent fixture. I need somewhere slower.
"Oh, I'll show you the good and bad parts. This here is a good neighborhood... that's a bad one. I wouldn't drop you off there."
"The funny thing about London is that nobody here is actually British."
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February 12, 2009 at 11:48 am · Filed under Updates
If you’ve visited fromyoufromthere.com before, you might notice some changes. It had been awhile since I updated things on the site, and I was thinking it was about time (if not long overdue). I’d been meaning to update the ‘archives’ section for a really long time, and it just seemed overwhelmingly hard. I designed the website before I had a solid grasp on the how-to’s of website design, and I’d been cringing over the layout for a while, not to mention the difficulty of updating. So I refurbished the look of everything and changed the archive into a blog format. Which will come in handy, considering all of the postcards I started-out selling on the site are now outdated.
I started From You, From There last spring while studying abroad in Glasgow, Scotland. I’ve always been interested in combining digital and traditional mediums in my artwork, and the thought of pairing an interactive website with traditionally printed lithographs was exciting. I decided to make postcards that depicted scenery of the UK, documenting my time spent away from my native US. I designed fromyoufromthere.com, started offering the postcards for purchase (people could order a postcard by paying a minimal postage fee and giving me a message to write on the postcards, which I would then mail from Scotland), and started advertising. Business picked up a little as Winter turned into Spring, but I never fully got the hang of advertising; this was still just my first try. And I was on an ever-looming deadline, set to return to the US in early June.
Now, things have changed slightly. Lithograph postcards and a website where they can be purchased have stayed very much the same. But the visual subjects of these postcards have shifted to something relevant to my place: Baltimore.
Soon, I’ll update archives of old postcards and messages that have been sent. Then I’ll start updating with new postcards up for the sending!
