The visit

Rumors of this blog’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. In an attempt to destroy self-bets involving cheeseburgers, and to dispel rumors that I’ve died or been abducted or joined a cult, I post once again.

Flashback to the 30th of July (whooshing sound effect goes here).

For the graphic design class, we set a date for our visit to ITLA (Instituto Tecnológico de Las Américas, and I’ll leave you to figure out the translation). A Thursday afternoon seemed to work we best for most of us, although I was very concerned that I wouldn’t be early for my 5:00 class.

We agreed to meet at the southern gates of Mordor, early in the afternoon. As I’d been having more health issues than I usually do, I had to get up and have lunch earlier than the usual, so my food would have time to settle.

I got there just in time … to see that only one other person in class had arrived. I had some waiting to do before everyone got there, so I went to print some work that I had for my 5:00 class. When I went back to the gates, no one else had arrived. I had the camera with me, of course, and I checked if the batteries were working properly and made a few test shots.

All but three people in class arrived (two weren’t going, and one was “on his way”), in addition to the teacher and her husband, who would be driving us. Four others had withdrawn from class already, bringing it down to six, of which only four were going on this trip.

The one who was on his way was stuck in traffic, so we all managed to fit in the small car, driven by the teacher’s husband, with the other guy meeting us at a halfway point. Taking advantage of the situation, I readied the camera and made several car-window shots (even though I was in the middle of the back seat). At one point, we passed that evil school I graduated from and, almost immediately, some newspapers that were in the back were rustled by the wind and began to attack us. It was the school’s doing. I’m sure of it!

After crossing the Juan Pablo Duarte bridge, we drove some way ahead and waited for the other guy to join us. We had stopped at one of the many places where transit is at its most chaotic, and were looking in every direction, waiting for a sign. After a long while, his car stopped in front of us, and he took out his hand to indicate to us that he was willing to take two passengers (well, that, or he was just making the peace sign). Myself and a girl in class quickly got out of the car and ran toward his. That way, each car carried three occupants.

It was better for me this way, because the trip was finally made comfortable, and even enjoyable. I was alone in the back seat, the air conditioning was at full power and the guy (whose middle name is my first) is a big, big fan of Michael Jackson, and perhaps had a bigger rediscovery of his music than I did after he died. The entire way was accompanied by some of the best songs from the King of Pop (and even some from the Jackson 5/The Jacksons).

We kept singing along to every song we could. There were some cases where I could finally connect a song with its title, having heard it before but not knowing what it was called. We had lost sight of the other car a while ago, and we stopped. I took advantage of that moment to roll down the window and capture the Caribbean Sea, which was to my right (those shots resulted in the panorama featured in this post).

After a while of not seeing the other car, we decided  to just keep going, in case the others were actually ahead of us, or in hopes that they would eventually catch up. We finally got there (and took me a while to get to this part of the post). We were the first to arrive. The others weren’t there yet, and so we waited inside the car.

When they finally got there, we all got out and made our way to the Arts building. The whole place is looks magnificent. Colorful buildings, scattered here and there, and its initials, written in big, blue letters, stood out under the cloudy sky. The Arts building, predominantly orange and yellow (on the outside), has quite a lot of glass in it. Many door-to-ceiling windows, glass panels, and a long skylight allowing for the sun to do its part for the lighting. Energy efficiency win.

The first thing I noticed when I was inside, was the abundance of laptops. No, really. There were a lot of artsy-looking kids (I say kids, because I’m clearly older at this point), each one sitting down on the floor, or in one of the few chairs, staring at a laptop. After this short first impression of the place, our tour guide led us to an auditorium, where she and this young fellow readied the standard presentation. The auditorium had many large screens in the front, but the presentation only used one. Through it, we were shown the history of the place, its purpose and its many departments.

During the show, I started to feel less than great (gah!), and I knew I had to make a quick trip to the restroom. After the presentation, we were led out to the hallway, so we could see some of the works made by students. Some are quite good, I have to admit. As we looked (and as I kept getting worse), an older man, older than our two guides, arrived. He was a teacher, and was going to talk about the art courses.

We were back in our seats in the auditorium, and our new host talked about the courses, the pricing, duration, requirements, and so on. It seems our teacher’s husband is also very interested in 3D animation, but kept mixing up CAD and standard 3D modeling (and kept getting corrected).

After we were done with that, our tour guide led us to the second floor so we could see some classrooms. I spotted a restroom close to the stairs, but I didn’t want to miss the tour, so I kept going. We saw a few classrooms (I spotted a girl working on a 3D model of a car), and more student work displayed on the walls. I couldn’t stand it for longer, so I asked the tour guide where the restroom was. I knew where it was, but I didn’t want to give her the impression that I was straying from the tour. I went and … well, that ended quickly. My plan to eat earlier was an effective one. Still, it sucks that I had to feel that way during an interesting visit.

When I went back to where the classrooms were, I saw no sign of the tour guide … or the rest of my group. I asked a student who was sitting on the floor if she had seen them, but she missed them, as she had been working on her laptop. I walked around the place and went upstairs to the third floor. Turns out that there is no third floor. The staircase led up to the roof. I went downstairs the ground level and found them there. The tour guide was gone, and the tour was over. That’s it?!, I thought.

That was it. Of all the buildings and facilities that ITLA had to offer, we had only seen one, and the whole tour lasted less than the way there. Good thing it was free!

We went outside, and the sky had cleared up a bit. I quickly made several photos to create a panoramic view of ITLA. I’m surprised it turned out decent.

One of the others saw me with the camera and called to the rest of the group. We needed a group shot. Many group shots were made, including some in front of the big, blue letters. The camera didn’t expose correctly at first (resulting in some very dark, but fixable images), but it eventually gave in to the temptation of actually capturing what was in front of it, just as it looked.

After that, we were back on the road, and I was back to singing along to Michael Jackson. When I didn’t sing along, I took my time to make more window shots of the sky and the road. Good times.

Before we knew it, we were back in the city. I guess I expected too much of the visit, seeing that it was too short and not overly impressive. The time on the road was great, though.

In the end, I made to the classroom some fifteen or twenty minutes before my 5:00 class began. Whew!

Okay, that’s plenty of words and pictures for today. I think I’ve made my point here, but I’ll make it again: I’m not dead, and neither is the blog. I’ve just had little reason/motivation for posting, as of late.

Expect more frequent posts from now on, reader(s). If I’ve got so much free time, it’s the least I can do.