It Starts

Hello there everyone. My name is Evan, this is my blog. I am keeping this as a current journal; I have reached an interesting period in my life, which I would like to document and share with family, friends, and whomever else may be interested. Please feel free to read it at your convenience and comment if you feel so inclined. I always enjoy hearing what others have to say and will do my best to respond in turn. I will try to keep this blog current, but please bear in mind that I am quite unsure how accessible the internet will be for me during the upcoming months.

With the exception of passing through Canada once or twice on my way to Michigan, I have never really traveled out of the US. Fresh out of college, with a degree in Graphic Design from ASU in Boone, NC, my first realistic opportunity to travel abroad presented itself. I have no job, no educational responsibility, and certainly no desire to sell myself into slavery to work within the dark walls of a cubical.

I would eventually like to travel the entire world, but as a starting point, Europe seemed an obvious decision. So tonight, December 28, 2009 I boarded a plane from JFK in New York to Heathrow airport in London with a small amount of money and sixteen pounds of gear in a backpack (not including the laptop sitting on the pull-down tray of the seat in front of me).

I spent the holidays playing pool with my dad and friends at the pub, eventually saying goodbye to my family and friends in North Carolina. I visited the town I grew up in, Stanfordville, NY after the holidays with my Mom and stayed with some old friends there. After giving my Mom a big hug I boarded a train to NYC to meet up with my friend Kegan there.

I spent about two weeks in the city with Kegan and we had a blast. We frequented bookstores, went out to several concerts and dance performances, visited with friends and saw copious amounts of priceless art. We actually had the pleasure of meeting and sharing an afternoon with one of my favorite artists of the past decade, Alex Grey. Kegan and I went to visit his studio in Manhattan only to find that he is relocating to a space upstate. Everything was being packed up so we offered to help and found ourselves spending the afternoon moving his art to the truck downstairs (including one beastly 700 lbs. sculpture of bronze). Kegan and I also signed up for daily Yoga classes with a Bikram studio (hot yoga: the room temp. starts at 100 degrees F and steadily increases for the next 90 minutes). It was a real treat to continue my practice with a challenging style that I have never experienced. We visited a warehouse called five-points, the building is about an acre in size and four stories tall. Every inch of the structure is covered with work from the best graffiti artists in the world. We ate out at falafel shops, several fantastic Indian restaurants, a Pakistani tea-house, and a gourmet restaurant that specializes in raw food. I was also lucky enough to have my friend Chan come up to visit during my last few days in the city.

So that’s what I have been up to so far, the plane should be landing in London in a few hours. My aunt Margaret will be meeting Kegan and I in the morning. We will spend several days visiting and staying with her in the countryside. After that Kegan will catch another flight to start a new school semester in Spain, and I will be moving towards downtown London with my house in a bag on my shoulders. Beyond that, I do not have much of a concrete plan.