No more workshops for me, just the sketch walks. Somehow, I ended up going with the limited group of sketchers on a bus ride to the Municipal Cemetery instead of the large group hiking to the Miradouro das Virtudes that morning.
In the afternoon, Lois Bender and I found a nice table at the Estambul Doner Kebap facing the Avenida dos Aliados. I would later find Samuel Berner in the crowd. He's from Zurich, Switzerland, a friend I made last year from the Chicago Symposium. I briefly sketched with him for the final sketch walk in front of the "Fonte da Juventude/Menina Nua". Too bad, we didn't find time to hang out here in Porto.
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| My favorite of all the sketches I made during the Symposium. |
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| A few minutes of sketching with Sam. |
How could the Symposium be over so soon? It was only like yesterday when a crowd of 800 attendees from 46 different countries descended in Porto for four days of fun and excitement. Now, in front of the Porto City Hall, all of us smiled at the camera for one memorable group photo of a lifetime! See the red arrow pointing to me.
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| The NYC USk banner and delegation. |
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Later at the closing ceremony, I won a prize bag for the Yellow raffle ticket# 48. I kept some items and later gifted the rest to a young family friend.
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| The raffle prizes I kept. |
A bitter sweet ending for the four day event filled with memorable experiences with my "tribe". I picked up my symposium certificate of attendance and waited for THE announcement. And waited...and waited...and waited.
It was a little past 9:00pm. I couldn't wait any longer to hear the announcement for the next symposium host city. I hurriedly left the venue for the Ribeira.
Five minutes later, my phone buzzed and the screen lit up. Mark was live texting the countdown.
God willing, I hope to attend next year's symposium in AMSTERDAM.
Love your sketch from the final sketch walk! That crowd was amazing.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Joan. That sketch turned out well and is my favorite for this symposium. Really amazing crowd, wasn't it?
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