Studying Overseas

My name is Inês Dias and I'm 18 years old. I live in Portugal.

Through this means, I'm hoping to achieve the passport to my dreams, the passport to better means, the passport to learning and improving, the passport to a whole new experience that I haven't yet had the chance to grasp. 

I love drawing and painting, it's been my passion ever since I was a little child. Sometimes I look out there and wonder, what makes me different than all these other art students, these young talented people, from writers to painters to singers to dancers. 

And then, I realize, there are works out there that make me wonder if I'll ever reach such level, if I'll ever be that good. 

Then, there is a force that pulls, avoid me from to getting stuck, dwelling on doubts.

This is not just my dream, this is my life.

I live to learn. It's the reason why I wake up everyday. It's not the paper you receive once you've finished college. No. It's the whole process. It's this insatiable desire to overcome myself, to overcome any challenge, to give something out to the world. I will do it, even if it's the last thing. This won't be just a dream.

This image just above was an exercise, my self portrait, finished by being unfinished. The  white spots have their own purpose. 

Specially in this era, where everything just seems so noisy, so busy, I want people to read my stories and message, through my ink, shape, colour, form... and stop for a second. Maybe it is joy, maybe it is sadness, maybe it is something undefinided, and maybe it is  all the emotions someone hasn't had the time to simply feel, the sensation and the experience. Breathe. I want to reach people. I want to inspire people.

Art means so much to me, in all it's vast fields and possibilities, that I tear up writing and thinking about this. Not only drawing and painting, I combine my poetry, my singing, my photography works into my artistic journey.

That is why, I am requesting your help to further my education.

I've finished highschool with great grades but I haven't been sucessful at finding scholarships overseas available to foreigner students specially for art. I'm currently working part time in order to save as much money as possible as well as studying with free resources and on my own. 

Anything, and I really mean it, anything! is a huge help towards this goal. 

Finally, I leave you a poem, written by me that deeply connects with the struggle of getting a shot at having a voice in this big world: 

"Searching for life, looking for the feeling, from behind this wall, beyond that half-made bridge,

I stop, sit,

right at the edge of it,

noticing the overwhelming nebula that permeates all field.

sight does not reach the bottom,

so I wonder,

if I could ever jump

in the name of hope."