The people here inspire me. I arrived in Greece just about one month ago, which feels very short considering what I have done and seen. No offense to Concordia, because no one has forced me to enroll there and it is because of that school that I have found what I love to do, but the people here at HISA, the professors, and the students, carry an energy about them that I have been craving since going to college.
They care about what they are doing and they realize that there is no right way to do it.
I sit in my classes and doodle most days. It probably seems to my peers and professors that I am not listening to a word of what's going on, but most of the time I am doodling as a way to internalize the amazing conversation that is taking place around me. In my creative writing class I listen to my peers read their most personal reflections written in a way that inspires me to do the same. It is not uncommon to feel like crying in this class, sometimes people actually do, and it's okay because we all understand that the physical act of writing is a meditation on all of the little things that have made us who we are right now.
The process of writing has been somewhat confrontational in the sense that I have so much freedom in what I am doing and an abundance of time to consider what is most important to me, events in my life that
have altered my path, and the people who have changed the way I see myself and others around me. The confrontation is a positive side effect enabling me to look clearly at what I am doing and why. We talk a lot about intentionality here and how it is the most important aspect of both art and life- a sentiment that is the subject of many conversations in my family, and now seems to be coming full circle.
All of my classes and experience seem to mesh with one another as I am slowly allowing myself to figure out my path here in Paros, Greece. I walk about a mile to class along the beachfront every day, and every day the overwhelmingly nostalgic smell of dense salt water reminds me of my family, Barbados, and everything else that matters. The one aspect of living in Paros that has been quite serendipitous is the way that little details from my childhood, or even my recent past have crept in and found a home here with me, and seem to be reminding me once again, that home is not defined by a geographical location.
