stephanieNY

After traveling for 20 hours on Saturday (including a 3 hour delay in Miami airport), returning to my apartment in New York at 2:30am which was actually 3:30am because of stupid daylight savings time, getting on a bus after a few hours of sleep, breaking down on the side of the highway for 2 1/2 hours in Connecticut before another bus came to collect us and bring us the rest of the way to Boston...a delicious spread was waiting for me last night.  ahhhhhhhh.   

Hi!  I'm in Brazil.  A quick recap so far:  

The first two days we were escorted around Curitiba on a public city bus...except that it was just for us. Our professor is the ex-mayor / ex-governor of the city of Curitiba and its state, Parana. He's HUGE here. Everywhere we went, people stopped to point and stare, and some even to come over and shake his had, thank him, and get their picture taken with him. He's apparently very well-liked and is responsible for many of the aspects of the city today that make it really incredible.  We rode the BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) with him for which he is most well-known. I tried to think of an analogy of what it was like for locals to see Jaime Lerner riding his own bus system....and the best we could come up with was like seeing Bill Gates at a Best Buy buying a computer.  (I think I can do better, but that's the best for now.)  We went to Jaime's beautiful office (pics 2 & 3). and were taken out to some incredible meals and some Brazilian music and dancing Saturday night.

We're in Sao Paulo now starting last night.  Again, we got carted around the city in some private vans.  We're studying "sustainable" public mobility systems in cities for this studio, and have been looking at the paralyzing congestion of the streets here.  Why I am the only one that thinks that driving around in vans and not using the public transportation systems while we are here is hilariously ironic, I don't know.  Hehe.

Anyway, I luuuuuv Brazil.  I'm having a really great time.  And I don't want to strangle anyone from my group of 15 people yet, so that's good.  And it's summer here!  Today was in the 80s and mostly sunny.  My hair is mostly frizzy from the mostly humid air too.

Here are a few pics for now.  I'll put together proper photo albums after the trip.  Tchau!

My iCalendar sent me a reminder just before midnight to go to Brazil tomorrow.  Thanks.

I got my visa, my tickets, and a new ISIC (international student identity card)...remember those from studying abroad anyone?  It brought me back...

No doubt, I'll remember to go to Brazil tomorrow.  Tchau!

Adam was on the news last night after writing about some local North End issues on his blog.  The clip is hilariously dramatic, kind of misses the point of his original blog post, and depicts him as a real diehard concerned citizen.  Heehee.  

It reminded me of an incident a few years ago.  My friend Kimberly and I were out at a bar in Cambridge for a beer and were approached by a reporter from the Boston Globe with a little pad of paper and pen in her hand. Her question for us..."Can or bottle?"...as in beer can or beer bottle?...as in which do you prefer?  We answered thoughtfully and intelligently (as intelligent as you can answer such a question). But to our dismay that weekend when we saw the article in the Sunday Globe, we had been grossly misquoted.  Our words weren't even twisted...they were totally removed and replaced with new words.

First off...

"Newton defended her beer against Sam Adams, saying the aluminum keeps the beverage frostier than bottles, and cans make it easier to gulp."  So, Kimberly's a frat boy.

And then...

"And there's just something sexy about a bottle," Power said.  "You can't get that in a can."  And I'm a pervert.  Thanks.

(Please note: I did not say anything close to that.  That's totally sick.)

It's been five years and I guess I'm not over it yet.  But more than anything, it's pretty hilarious.  And I learned my lesson...don't talk to reporters.  Not that I think they will all put words in your mouth like this girl, but it's just that I don't want someone else editing my words for final print.  Never again.

More video-chatting with Lizzy....She's smiling too :)

Yesterday, in the middle of the crazy snow storm, our photography professor sent us all out to take more pictures for class. A few of my buddies and I went out to Coney Island to shoot it in the storm. By the time we got all the way out there and stopped at the original Nathan's Famous for lunch, the snow had stopped and some cloudy sun came out. I was looking forward to dreary, grey, snowfall pictures of the site, but the light was a nice consolation. The strip and the boardwalk are incredible. I wish that I could go back in time eighty years and hang out there. Like this girl...

It was amazing yesterday.  Mid-winter, after a snowstorm no less, it was so quiet and deserted.  Here are some of my shots, mixed with some touristy ones for you too.

NYU's Bobst Library today:

Philip Johnson

The next assignment for my graphic design class is to design four icons. i.e. the symbols we all know of mens and womens restrooms and the no-smoking symbol. Yesterday in class, we looked at the icons used for the Olympic Games.

Mexico City, 1968: On top of the awesome type, the two dimensional icons are so simple and clear.  

Munich, 1972:  Ah-mazing.  Torsos and limbs are all oriented in 45 degree increments.  Love it.  Look at the soccer player!  Amazing how it captures the movement even with the strict geometric rules they set up.

London, 2012:  Really?  Where do I even start?  I think the most offensive part about these is that they've completely abandoned the two dimensions by adding perspective (i.e. the mountain biker half-way down on the left).  The colors, the non-sensical construction lines shooting out at random points.  None of these things make them any more clear and definitely not more beautiful.  

I'm so happy to be in here and not out there right now.

Gross wet snow is bogging down the city right now, along with my life it feels like.  Ugh.  I just ran into this image on Google street view in my neighborhood.  People on the streets are wearing light jackets, if any.  And there are tulips....ahhhhh, tulips.