My name is Alex Economos. I am an Aquarius who loves a good bottle of wine, and most of all a good laugh. I live my life in the spirit of the pursuit of creativity and knowledge and kindness.
I've always been drawn to visual art and was creating in some form since I was a child. I've been producing paintings since an oil painting class I took in college in 2007.
For the past 10 years, I have been weaving in and out of my painting craft, with the intermingling of travel and photography, and a career as an English language teacher.
One of my biggest life passions is travel and it is the fuel for my creativity in writing, painting, and photography.
“I am not the same having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world.” - Mary Ann Radmacher
My love affair with travel began when I was 23 years old. My head was ping-ponging between a conversation being had on my behalf by a helpful flight attendant and an irritated city bus driver at the airport in Incheon, South Korea. As I attempted to board a bus for a destination I was only familiar with through email references and internet searches, I frantically dug through my envelope of cash to retrieve a 5,000 won note as indicated by the splayed fingers of the flight attendant and scrambled on.
My life packed in one big awkward suitcase clunking up the stairs of the bus, I perched on the edge of a bench that was unoccupied, rigid with adrenaline and determination. I was inundated with images I couldn’t have dreamed up on my own. Bridges spanning distances that dwarfed my references back home, compact vehicles buzzing in and out of lanes branded with characters I had not yet known how to read. Mountains pushing through the clusters of buildings stacked high as though trying to rival their magnitude. Neon signs pulsing along with the energy of the masses, stepping out in front of traffic as to not miss their connection. I couldn’t wipe the smile of my jet-lagged face. This, I thought, . . Is living.
To travel, to me, is to live and I express my inspiration through writing, painting, and photography. Foreign cultures are my meat(less meat ;) ) and drink. I have faith that my whole life will be one of adventure, travel, writing, taking pictures, painting, and learning.
I grew up in the southern United States, in Nashville, Tennessee, the home of country music, with my mother, father, 2 sisters, and my brother. I moved to Knoxville, Tennessee for University, and received a bachelors degree in rhetoric and writing in December 2008, and moved to Bucheon, Korea in the summer of 2009 to teach English. My one year only, turned to 2 and a half years. I had the opportunity to travel to Shanghai, Tokyo, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand during my years living in Asia. I stayed in Bangkok, Thailand for 2 months, and received my TEFL.
Currently, I am a teacher at Metro Nashville Public Schools in Nashville, TN. Since 2013, I have worked as an English Language Teacher to children of varying backgrounds. My students are Hispanic, Burmese, Kurdish, African, and Nepali and I get the opportunity everyday to immerse myself in diverse cultures through working with them.
My most recent adventures include a week-long trip to Istanbul in October 2014, France, Spain, and Italy for 5 weeks in summer 2015, and a trip to Big Sky Country: Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone National Park October 2015. A trip to South America, to Quito, Ecuador in March 2016. In the summer of 2016, I traveled 2 weeks in India and 3 weeks in Nepal. I also went to Australia in March 2017. I traveled to Greece in the summer of 2017, Tanzania in the summer of 2018, and Mexico and Canada in the summer of 2019. I cannot wait to hit the road again and to meet people along the journeys that speak to my soul.
