deartraveller

Dear Érica,

Today, sadly, will be the last day I’ll have this much fun writing to you since I’m leaving my last destination – Orlando, Florida - of this enlightening journey. And what’s synonym of fun? Disneyland!

 But let’s not fill our hearts with sadness. In a week time we will be seeing each other again and I’m absolutely certain it will be a BLAST!

Of course I want to hear everything about Boston (don’t know why you didn’t wrote about it on your last e-mail, but curiosity isn’t deadly, right?)

There was one thing in your letter that filled me with joy: you find yourself in every aspect that you had planned (and in others too but what happens in India, Virginia, a train station, New York, China, Lapland, Austria, Rome, Portugal and Boston stays in the privacy of our minds and e-mails).

I’ve made some discoveries myself and I’m now ready to enter this crazy world we call ‘Work’.

But let’s stop for a minute and enjoy the moment when we finished high school: we were so full of doubts and questions. No one seemed to understand our point of view and even those who were sure of their choices and ideas were shaking inside with fear of the unknown that it was to come.

Those were crazy times.

Now here comes the craziest: being an adult.

I must say that writing this to you it isn’t easy. Recognize that the times of fun, and laying back on the couch with a slight sense of guilt for not being studying, are over, takes a lot of this little heart that it has only now started to understand the world.

I ought to be thankful for the support that our school as provided, the nursing of some teachers and all our colleagues and, last but not least, this amazing journey that I shared with you, and a very kind person that as commented on our e-mails (someone called ‘Mark A’ I guess, ahah).

It’s with tears in my eyes actually, that I leave this so well-known sphere and step on different roads. Not tears of sadness, but of excitement and joy for I feel nostalgic just remembering the smallest jokes. You know I’m a poet, please don’t laugh too hard.

But now, jokes aside, I feel prepared to face whatever may come. I care. About me, my future and about the good I can bring to the world, so if you want to join me in yhis big jump, let’s dance it off like we did when applying to a certain contest (HSM – All for one, eheheh).

I’ll shake my head to the beat of whatever crosses my path and with my head pulled up high I’ll meet you on the other side. Farewell!

LOVE,

Sara.

Dear Érica,

Do you have any idea on how long have I waited for you to step in a museum by yourself? (If you reply to me saying that you were in a Darway I'll actually kill you!) Kidding, I'm actually very glad and, as always, you had that inspiring way of seing things that was the key to our friendship.

Thank you very much for the tacos, it is officialy the dinner in those nights when I have no patient to cook and Gabriel is dying in the couch because Yoga practise was too hard. (can't stop laughing when looking to the leggins he wears).

Concerning your script: I loved it! You were always good on your essays at school.

Following your inspiration I choosed a paint from an artist I've always told you about (for some reasons that you'll understand later, but I talked about it, that's waht matters) as one of my favourites which is Andy Warhol.

 People's opinions are torn over whether this is genious and a creative new idea for the postmodern age, or whether it is a load of rubbish. Others believe that pop art is worth way more that it is worth to look at. Pop art is post modern as it has created a new version of art combining both high art with low art.

As you said it, objectively, this collage has eight photographs of Andy Warhol with vivid colours and sentences in all of them,

Now, subjectivily, this sentences are the very essence of Pop Art.

«the world fascinates me» and «i think everybody should like everybody» are a clar statement from this post war period.

«art is what you can get away with» now, this sentence is Pop Art, being standardized and mass produced (Big Business), this art is for everyone and through it even pop stars had lost theire aura of untangibility becoming part of the living room at really low prices.

Well you can imagine the lecture I gave to Gabriel! 

Bye for now, my dear friend, 

love,

Sara.

Dear Sara,

Can you believe that an entire year has gone by since we jumped on a plain and started the adventure of our lives? All the places I visited, all the people I met, all that I experienced… I can’t even begin to describe it! I remember being kind of afraid at first, but I would do it all over again. It has been the best year of my life! I have so many good memories: visiting the colosseum in Rome; running on the Wall of China; the view from the top of the Empire State Building; the warm seas in Hawaii; the greek islands; the lights of the Eiffel Tower at night; the queen’s jewelry collection in the London castle; volunteering at a summer camp in Africa; Robert falling from a camel in Marrocco… I have like a billion pictures. I’m thinking of making a scrapbook and file it on a shelve marked “Érica rocking it all over the world 2012/2013”, so that I can look at it when I’m old and weary and think “I had a damn good life!”.

Despite all the good memories, now that this journey is near its end, I can’t help feeling kind of sad; but I still have this week before going back to Lisbon and, like Robert said: “If you found out that you were going to lose your leg tomorrow, would spend today in the couch crying or would you go out, run and do some awesome air kicks?”. I decided to follow his advice. I didn’t actually do any type of air kicks but I decided to end this adventure in Sydney, Australia. Since I’ll see you in a few days, I’ll tell you all about my last stop then. However, I have to stress the beauty of the Opera House: it’s beyond this world!

As you remember, I decided to go on this adventure because when the time came to fill in the applications for collage, I freaked out as if someone had just told me that all my favorite dresses were lost in a fire. I couldn’t think straight. I tried to image myself at the age of 30 and it was all a blur. My future wasn’t clear at all. I travelled the world from one end to the other this year trying to broaden my horizons and find something to connect with, but I ended up discovering myself. Life is too short to waste it! I’m not going to do the same thing my entire life. There are so many things I love doing, why not do it all? My mind is clear now. Next fall, I will fill in an application for the Law University but I won’t give up a career in fashion. I know it’s not easy to do both things at the same time but I don’t really care if it means work. When you do what you love, it doesn’t feel like work at all. Now I truly believe I won’t regret my choices. One journey of my life may have ended, but a new one it's just begining. It's time for new adventures!

I hope that your journey has helped you the way mine helped me. Don’t worry, we may be back to our old lives, but we’ll never be boring!

See you soon!

Love,

Érica