We Are So LA - Apparently

A and I love supporting our school's art gallery. Seeing as we both went through art programs here, we try to make it a point to get to as many gallery openings as we can. Luckily we happened to be in town for this one. As we pulled into the parking lot my old roomie from LA called to see what I was up to. I told her we were heading into the gallery opening and she thought that was "very LA of us"! I couldn't help but laugh because I don't think I ever went to a gallery opening the entire time I lived in LA.

This is the first piece of the collection that caught my eye. This opening is actually for two separate artists - one who works with wood and metal (Carlton Bradford), the other with chalk (Brian Benfer). 

A repurposed violin case...

This artist had installation pieces. Apparently he came into the gallery a week prior and painted and chalked the walls. It's literally chalk paint with chalk etched over top. 

It's an interesting concept that grows on you the more you look at it.

Or maybe it's the punch/wine!

These pieces were pretty interesting. The one in the foreground is huge and the artist only completed it a couple months prior to the opening.

A and Helga being silly!

These two images show the installation pieces in all their glory. It was actually really cool that something so simple can have such a dramatic effect. 

I guess the next time we're living in LA we will make it a point to actually go to some gallery openings! But until then we will have to stick to our small town gatherings!

Laugh of the Day: Liberal Arts Students

To anyone who has attended a Liberal Arts school knows that there are some students who you can't help but laugh at.  Well, my school is certainly no acception, and now I've run across this twitter feed that posts ridiculous things Liberal Arts students say.

Professor- "Everyone PLEASE remember to wear shoes on our field trip to the zoo."
— Liberal Arts Wisdom (@LiberArtsWisdom) September 6, 2013

Professor- "Introduce yourself and tell us about your summer." Barefoot Bobby- "I recently took up birding."
— Liberal Arts Wisdom (@LiberArtsWisdom) September 6, 2013

Professor- "What did you do this summer, Hanna?" Hanna Homesteader- "I read ecopsychology books and contemplated what it means to be human."
— Liberal Arts Wisdom (@LiberArtsWisdom) September 6, 2013

Gretchen Granola- "They should invent coffee that stays hot." Me- "Maybe if you didn't drink coffee from a mason jar, it would stay warm."
— Liberal Arts Wisdom (@LiberArtsWisdom) September 6, 2013

Just amazing.  Go check out more of these fantastic tweets @LiberArtsWisdom 

Wilderness Orientation

My school likes to torture people before allowing them to take any classes!  Jokes.  Well...I'm not entirely joking.  Prescott College has a Wilderness Orientation for all incoming students - Fresh-persons and transfers alike.  

Under the best circumstances the orientation is 3 weeks of serious trekking through Arizona wilderness that few venture to.  Add on the fact that I was an incoming student in the Spring, meant we got to do our orientation during the winter.  Oh, and I had never backpacked before, nor truly camped, was a great addition.

Our group was lucky enough to trek through the Grand Canyon and Superstition Mountains - something that most people only dream of.  We were 'lucky' in the sense that we were given an incredible opportunity to see some of the most beautiful spots in the US.  The 'luck' didn't really carry over to the weather...

Day 1 - At the Rim of the Grand Canyon

Now, I'm usually a baby when LA gets "cold weather", but winter in the high desert meant something else entirely.  Before this trip, I could count the number of times I have been to snow on one hand.  Now, I'm well into the double digits!

Before I went on this trip we were each given a gear checklist.  Upon reading the list I saw that they were requesting we bring a 0 degree sleeping bag.  

"That's not bad", I thought, "They think that we're going to be around freezing conditions. I can do that."

You see, growing up in New Zealand I have a very skewed sense of measurements.  I can read temperature in fahrenheit, but I have a better grasp of freezing and boiling points in celsius - I mean really...who came up with the freezing and boiling points of fahrenheit!? So...as I was reading the checklist I read it in terms of celsius not fahrenheit!  Much to my dismay, Andrew pointed out that a 0 degree bag meant that we would be in temperatures far below freezing point!  Damn.

Our first night was spent in a miserable -14 degrees - that's in fahrenheit!  Over the course of the next 3 weeks we went through an impressive 92 degree weather change.  Unfortunately the majority of the time the weather hovered at a balmy 35 degrees.

Snow everywhere.  At times it came above our knees...

My group went through an incredible journey.  We lost one team mate around the second day due to a terrible ankle sprain.  We spent the next week and a bit descending and then ascending the Grand Canyon.  We trekked from Rim to river, along the river, and then back up to the Rim. And that was just the first half!

Ami (the girl who sprained her ankle) and me.

It was the first time I had ever seen the Grand Canyon!

Everyone sticking close on the trail

Day 1 - Looking back up while breaking for lunch

For more photos and the rest of the story, click below!