Day 4 (October 1) did not start out auspiciously. Arlington is only 18 minutes from Fairfax but traffic more than doubles that time and I found out first hand. On top of the regular traffic, there was a layer of fog that morning that made things even worse. I was late-late-late to Sandra Bullock's high school, but the fates smiled down at me and the planets aligned: I found a visitor parking spot at the front of the school, I managed to get through the whole presentation in 30 minutes and still had time to review one student! At the next school, the students were quite surprised to learn that their teacher was a MICA alum! I reviewed four students there. The last visit of the day, later that afternoon was in Annandale, and the after-school arts program seemed to be in hiding (it was located in a suite next to The Room Store). I reviewed ELEVEN portfolios in two hours after doing my presentation and still made it back to the hotel in time for the season premiere of "Pushing Daisies" but I was pretty wiped out! I'm getting the hang of driving here, but I'm glad I'll be on my merry way soon enough!
Day 5 (October 2) was a much nicer day: sunny and cool, the first autumn-esque day of my visit. I could have used a coat, but maybe that's just my compulsion for outerwear. My favorite time of year is when the weather begins to turn and the snap in the air calls for a light jacket. Somehow I managed to not buy a jacket at Tysons the other day. My grey dress, however is awesome.
Not only does it resist wrinkling, it repels adhesive nametags and goes with absolutely everything. I'll just pack this dress and use it on all my visits this fall.
So the first visit this morning was only eight minutes in theory, but double that in reality (so THAT'S the trick to figuring out travel in No VA: double or triple the time!). The first school was less a school and more a large collection of trailers with very inconvenient parking. The teacher is from Towson and went to school with Robert Tillman, a former MICA admission counselor and occasional reviewer. I was there for an hour longer than I was supposed to be, which made me a bit frantic, but I saw some great work, some not so great work, and still made it to Marshall's next door to snap up a couple of Andy Warhol tote bags for pretty cheap. (Thanks for the tip, Ama!)
The second school was "still a ways a way" as Michael Stipe would sing, but the course was relatively straight. I drove around and around looking for visitor parking, then a nice woman walking to her car told me that she was leaving and could take her space. My parallel parking is choppy and embarrassing at best, but I managed to make it close to the curb (too close?) without hitting anything! Two students I had met before were at the second school (one was amazed that I remembered her name!). I didn't quite make it to the end of the presentation (the bell rang) but the kids loved the show, especially Coraline. They all said please and thank you, and one of them even handed me a piece of cake (they had had refreshments during class, I guess).
One more day in No VA and I still haven't been to the Bombay Bistro! Tonight is my last chance and I'm not that hungry...odds are not in its favor, but we'll see....
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