27.8.09

changing

I found out something very interesting about myself, something that I am a complete idiot for not figuring out earlier. Change is the key, the fuel that keeps me inspired.

The main entrance to the design facility building where I will be studying.
Over my last semester I noticed that my inspiration and motivation were disappearing faster than I could hope to replace them. The cause wasn't that the year was coming to a close, it wasn't that I was getting distracted by friends or relationships, and it had nothing to do with the level of classes that I was in. When I look back at the whole thing it was because of my mundane and seemingly boring routine that I followed every day; the same environment and atmosphere that I surrounded myself with.

Now that I have come to this completely new country, surrounded by things that seem so unfamiliar and strange, I find that my mind is being stimulated to the point where I feel energized and excited for the next something to happen. As I ride my bike around this city I'm constantly looking up at all the buildings, seeing all the signs and advertisements and design work, and looking at all the culture amongst the people here and my brain is always trying to keep up, trying to grasp everything that is going on around me. I've started doing things that I never really did while I was back in the States. I've started to write in little journals that I bring along with me everywhere I go (thanks for the idea, Alex), I've begun to take photographs of everything that I find an interest in no matter how small, and I've started to make a regularity of my reading habits. I never have been much of a reader, in fact I only finished one book this entire summer, but now I've started reading at least an hour each day since arriving here in Hildesheim. I'm also reading these very off-beat things such as the basic teachings of the great philosophers in history and interesting papers on large psychological studies. This is all triggering parts of my mind that I never really worked on because I never seemed to find the time or need to think out off-topic things like that.

Amongst these changes comes the biggest one: being immersed into the German language. I have not been taught anything about this language yet so it's something I am constantly trying to grasp as the people here talk around me. When two individuals are engaged in a conversation I try to concentrate on all the little details that are going on such as the tone of voice between each of them, the facial expressions that are made and the hand gestures and eye movements. These little parts are tools to help me decipher what is being talked about and I begin to understand what is happening within the conversation.
This is how they park on all the streets around here,
halfway on the sidewalk... interesting and strange.

This little critter kicks major butt.
This is just some of the heavy change that has been happening to me and it's lead to some great concepts and ideas for art and design projects. I also feel more attentive of my surroundings and more motivated to do a number of things throughout my day. This whole thing comes down to me embracing change in my life. I need to start changing my routine more often. I have to get lost when heading to a familiar location only to find a new route to my destination. I have to paint my walls different colors and move furniture more often. I need to meet new people and talk about complete unknown topics just to get my brain working. Change is never been something I have been afraid of but it is something that I've never completely engaged.
Speaking of changing the color of the walls in my room, for some reason I've really
been into purple right now and, what do you know, my new room has a large purple wall.



Where creativity will take over. Hopefully over this semester some cool concepts
can be turned out while sitting at this wonderful drafting table.
Change is nothing but a new way of seeing the world and an ever changing world is what everyone searches for. Bringing about the change is what becomes the challenge. I find the only thing I can ask myself each day I wake up here is: What next?

22.8.09

just go with the flow

Alright, so my flight out of Toronto was my first Int'l flight and it was on a huge B-777. I really played the "Dumb American Tourist" for that one while I was boarding. First off, I got on and threw my carry-on up in a compartment but it wouldn't fit all the way in. I figured it wouldn't be a huge deal because they would just shove it in and close the door on the compartment. Instead I was called out by one of the flight attendants and told to find a different spot for my stuff. After doing that I sat down and realized that someone next to me was confused why I was there because she was sure that her and her granddaughters had the entire center row. So I had to check my boarding pass and of course I sat in the wrong seat. Real nice... With all the blood rushing to my face because of the embarrassment and stupidity I finally got into my proper seat and prepared for the long flight.

It wasn't such a bad flight even if it was about six and a half hours. I just ended up reading a large chunk of my book and enjoyed some of the free personal music and movies. I did take a break from my in flight activities to watch as the horizon turned into nothing more than a line dividing the last bit of light in the sky from the dark, solid mass of the earth below. It became dark much faster than a normal day because the plane was flying eastward. Before I knew it, I could see nothing but black out of the window. Pitch black. The darkness of the night only lasted for about 3 hours or so because the plane met the sun on its way back up.

Once in Frankfurt Int'l Airport I was relieved/excited/anxious. I stepped off the plane and suddenly felt only one thing... confusion. Frankfurt's Int'l Airport is HUGE, and let me tell you, that's an understatement. I got my final boarding pass and was told that I had to travel over 3km to reach my gate all the way at the end of the Lufthansa facilities. The really funny part was the security just let through customs without any questions being asked and without any searches. It was actually kind of weird and I don't know why they simply had me skip through the line but I was't complaining. While walking along to terminal A I had to pass through this long underground tunnel with moving pathways all the way to the end (see picture below). It was an amazing sight. Then I came across these really interesting facilities that were basically smoke booths. These glass cubes had sliding doors to allow a smoker to enter the small space to light up a cigarette within the airport as to not break the rules of no smoking in the terminals... It was as though these people were being put on display while they enjoyed the full effect of their precious lung-blackening smoke that filled the glass enclosure. I didn't take any pictures because I'm sure none of them would have appreciated (no matter how interesting the notion of having these things around the airport was to me).


This is the Frankfurt Int'l Airport underground tunnel to terminal A. Cool stuff.

From Frankfurt I took a flight that was no longer than 45 minutes in the air to Hannover. I chose a window seat to view every detail below. It was far beyond beautiful, these little villages that were so tightly nit into neat straight-edge shapes. I could see all the red from all the traditional ceramic roofing used on every home and business complex. The extensive number of fussbal (soccer) fields spread throughout villages large and small. I was more than ready to land. Once off the plane it was an amazing feeling to be done with flying and to see that my baggage had made the whole journey safely with me. My good friend who lives in Hildesheim and is very soon due to graduate was waiting for me outside the baggage claim area and I was ecstatic to see her because I wouldn't have made too far without her guide.

Let me tell you one thing, exchanging the American dollar into euros is complete crap. I felt like I was robbed!! The exchange rate there is 1:1.60... it was horrible watching all of that cash disappearing like that. Horrible... but that just makes me much more conscious of the money I have to live off of while I'm over here. Me and Jen had small talk while on the hour long train ride to Hildesheim while I watched out the window in amazement and she enjoyed my reaction to this foreign land.


This is the ridiculous face I make when I am super tired. Pretty dang scary, wouldn't you say?

19.8.09

little change in plans

So I don't know what to think about the start of my great adventure. Ha! Basically I had a delayed flight out of MPLS and I couldn't catch my connecting flight from Toronto to London. So I've been spending some time here in Toronto, prepping for the flight out later today.

But I guess I can't complain, I mean this is what an adventure is all about: doing something completely unexpected and spontaneous. Basically things I'm not really known to do in an average day. Actually, now that I think about it, I don't do anything spontaneous at all. I'm a damn boring person let alone artist. The realization of this just makes me that much more excited to be on this journey because I'm hoping to find something in myself that I've never really explored before (no matter how cheesy it sounds) that's one of the main reasons I'm doing this whole thing. Plus, don't tell me that no one has felt the need to get lost for the chance to find something, not knowing exactly what, just something. Yes, that makes complete sense.

My trip will be starting back up at 17:30 19.8.09 when I fly out to Frankfurt, Germany instead of my previous flight to London, England. I must admit that I was pretty excited to see one of the worlds largest international airports even if I would have been racing through it to catch my following flight. Hopefully I'll get a chance to explore London a bit more once I start getting trips planned out, who knows.


That's all I have for now.

- Oh! On a completely different note: go see 500 Days of Summer. It is a fantastic movie with a great twist on the romantic comedy genre (I know people will be rolling their eyes at that one). It's really a work of art in the way it was written and directed, the cast is perfection (Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt), and the soundtrack kicks major butt. Some old and new age British punk rock and ambiance tracks really push it home. Well, that's it for my completely random movie review. Ha ha!

- auf wiedersehen -

i didn't know that could really happen...

I couldn't help but post this for all the design and type nerds out there. It's just way too funny to see this scene played out (because everyone has imagined the scenario in their heads at some point in time)

- enjoy -