252 and beyond

2012

2012-01-15T01:58:00.001+01:00

Resolution #1: Have a post for every month.

What a great start to the new year! I moved into a little studio apartment in a historical building downtown and got a job five blocks away. I'm also pleased with my first photos of the year. Here's a small portrait session with my friend Chris.

earlybird solo excursion

2011-03-12T18:34:00.020+01:00

Things still seem to be moving slow, but I often forget that I'm super excited about EVERYthing and therefore become very anxious if I'm not doing anything. So, one morning I decided that I would wake up early enough to catch the sunrise at Garden of the Gods.

[morning at Garden of the Gods]

It was nice to get back on the road again. After the trip out here, going to Alabama with Katie and that horrible ordeal after Thanksgiving, I think I might have been having a bit of roadtrip withdrawal. =)

[going down into Royal Gorge]

Sunrise doesn't last forever, so I was done with that by 8am. It was supposed to rain/snow after 3pm, so I decided I had time to keep going south to Royal Gorge. Found a little ma-n-pa place with a Sunday buffet (delicioso!) and got to the gorge just as it was opening at 10am.

Bummer that the sky started getting blanket-like overcast. I managed to get that interesting photo with the halo cloud on the incline lift. Haha, definitely more crude than the inclines in Pittsburgh or Japan. Check out the cage contraption in the album.

[Phantom Canyon Rd, aka CO67]

I love Colorado! Two lane roads are 65mph, interstates 75mph and there are official unpaved state highways. Took an alternate route on the way home, winding along a historic byway that was formerly a railroad during the gold rush

I think my car hates me now. It was well over 30 miles of unpaved, one lane road with ample curves and incline, no guardrails and several areas covered in packed snow. I didn't crawl through it, either. ;)

[snowcaps somewhere by Cripple Creek]

I popped out the other side of the canyon with an open view of Pikes Peak and a line of snowcapped mountains. Oh boy, I never get sick of that sight!

Going this way added an extra hour or so to my way home, of which I stopped and napped in a Burger King parking lot for an hour before reaching Colorado Springs and there were snow flurries when I got back to Denver. Oh, the adventures to come!

from 252 to 303

2011-02-14T05:55:00.026+01:00

Welp, Iza fianly dun gahn n gradgeeated raht foor Krissymas.

Sorry about the lack of writing. It took a lot out of me to finish that last semester. I didn't photograph for almost two months after graduation. Rachael and Erin finally forced me to go on a photo-shoot with them. I suppose it made for a nice last-glimpse-of-Greenville moment.

[the Dickenson Ave train]

And so commenced the change of home base. Found someone looking for a roommate on CouchSurfing, half-packed my Bug, drank some coffee and made it Kansas in a day.

[Mount Airy looking like a nipple at dusk]

I drove through Tennessee at night again, was well on the west side of St. Louis by the morning rush hour, drove through mild snow and didn't get a break in the clouds until Kansas City.

[The Arch at dawn]

After so many hours of muddled low-visibility, Kansas City downtown was a bit of shock. I just blinked and thought, Where the hell am I?! I thought that my years in college were a limbo. No. I was fucking depressed as shit. ALL the time. From Winston-Salem to Kansas City was limbo. There my eyes finally opened. I had a goal in sight.

[First sight of the Continental Divide]

I know I've talked about 'home' a whole lot in this blog. I beat around the bush whenever I describe myself, my values and whatnot, but let's face it. My 'home' is being on the move. I may seem chill, sometimes too much, but the core of who I am is super dynamic. I'm not afraid of what I don't know, so I'm eager to try out a variety of things and if I don't have a steady fix of new and fresh, I go into a huge roller-coaster ride of carnal anger and mental self-mutilation.

Damn, I'm glad to get out of all that. Instead of Luke's 'itusedtobeme,' I get say 'itstherealme.'

Hello, Life. Glad I finally got to meet you.

wieder die Schwierigkeiten

2010-10-29T05:56:00.020+02:00

well, it's been crazy readjusting. then add the factor that i'm working on my senior show. gah!

quick spit about my last month in Germany: apologies to Anderson. i totally forgot to include swinging by Köln again at the end of the Pfingsten holiday. we did lovely things like cook together, afternoons in the park and salsa dancing until 5am. thanks for coming to Tübingen for my birthday as well, my friend!

came home to three-week-old coffee that was growing mold. oh yeah, and my birthday party was a blast. absolutely no pictures on my part. lame. i know. it was definitely a blast, though! like i always say, "freut mich, wenn ihr aber da seid." =) screw photos, time spent with friends deserves my undivided attention.

so, i've added lots of stuff to my miscellaneous Tübingen album. there's some interesting compositions with my in-room dryer (eg: socks and underwear hanging EVERYwhere).

a totally random night with an awesome Baltic band playing in the streets, complete with being shooed away by the cops. look at the crowd they had!

then i did a short little Ja!-product study. cheers, Francino. ;)

did a little hiking excursion with Andrew and his tandem, Konstantin. Bad Urach is always a beautiful place. we had lots of lovely conversations as well (outside all the World Cup craziness).

[Andrew und Konstantin]

made a few going-away photos with the Lustnauers.

[Ya-En und Ondřej]

have a few from our art show as well. aw man, makes me feel nice and special inside. officially exhibited in another country!

[Philip und Herr Weckworth]

then i handed the camera over to Grégory on my last night. what fun! it was the best last night i could have possibly had! right after a somewhat embarrassing moment with the Hausmeister while only wearing a towel, Grég and i headed straight to the grocery store that afternoon for a case (20 half litre bottles) of beer and promptly sat ourselves on the church steps like normal.

[mit Guy und Boris auf den Treppen]

i miss drinking in Germany. not being an alcoholic, but the attitude about it is a lot different. people look at you carrying a case of beer and, instead of scowling at 'you hooligans with your beer,' they smile and say, "Oh, what are you celebrating?" then i would explain that i had been studying abroad and tonight was my last night. it sparked several conversations about Tübingen with random people that brought a warm sense of familiarity.

the next morning i was woken up at around 4am from a violent thunderstorm. had coffee with Grég as usual. it slowed up, but rained the whole way to the train station as if Tübingen was crying. the conductor said 'adele' (very southern german dialect) as he handed my ticket back. the trains were packed, but me and a group of punks helped people get on an off despite the mess, just to make things easier on everyone. it was a wonderful last day; so wonderful, that i was too pleasantly happy to cry about leaving. couldn't have had a better ending. (pause for thought)

and so... here i am again. i miss Germany a lot, of course. i've exchanged tons of letters and emails. chat on Skype a bit. finished the book Francesco recommended. still savoring Nik's german rapseed honey. it's not the same, though. it's been real tough filling in the huge hole left by that other life i made. I MADE. it was a treat getting my clothes and books back in the mail. i'll speak german when i'm talking to myself in the mirror about useless things, earnestly in anticipation for the unknown day that it's again a part of my everyday life. been working relentlessly on my senior show. haven't made digital photos for months. i just keep plodding along; patiently, head held high, dreams tucked away in a box that waits for it's Pandora.

shout out to my Tübingers

2010-07-29T08:00:00.014+02:00

hab die Sachen gepackt und sitze jetzt im ganz leeren Zimmer. Schade, oder? was macht man denn? naja, könnte es allein nicht. nicht gleich, wenn ohne die Freunden. cheers!

euch kennenzulernen freute mich sehr, aber wir sind kaum fertig! also, wir kennen uns, sind Freunden und so weiter, aber ich weiß ja wie oft es passierte, dass ich alles nicht klar verstanden hatte und eine dumme Antwort gab oder wie ich immer vergaß und euch mir was ZIGmal wiiiiieder gesagt hattet. habt Geduld, bitte. trotz der Langsamkeit bin ich echt =S und bitte, kennt gut: mir scheißegal, wo ich genau bin oder inwieweit die Zukunft geht. ich hab immer Lust uns wieder zu treffen. bzw, bleibt in Kontakt! bin auf Facebook und wenn das nicht ihr Ding ist, sagt mal ihre Postadresse (weil jeder möchte etwas anders als Rechnungen) oder schickt mir was via spunktkuratomiangmailpunktcom.

danke danke danke für ein schönes Jahr!!

Hamburg, ich bin verliebt!

2010-07-23T20:24:00.010+02:00

in the semester break i had passed through the Hamburg train station and something about it made me add this city to my list for the Pfingsten holiday. it just felt right.

[Hamburg Hauptbahnhof]

and so i fell in love. the lack of a blue-collar scene in Tübingen had been nagging me for ages and even still, i felt there to be a clash in other cities as well. here in Hamburg everything felt alive, like a mass of crazy different-sized gears turning and clicking together, well oiled. no matter if they were big and slow-moving or tiny and whirring like hummingbirds. serenity.

[Deichtorhallen House of Photography]

it was also my first experience seeing a port city in full swing. you could not escape from the port atmosphere. most cities, it just lies along the body of water, but here there was water in every nook and cranny. everywhere i walked, there were canals and ships and cranes. and yet, Hamburg is just on a river. it blew my mind!

[Sandtorhafen]

there was also a strong sense of aesthetic in the city. maybe the nature of design grows naturally from an area based highly on function. you know my practical side. Hamburg gave me a home. oh, and then there's all the St. Pauli-ness. remind anyone of the Steelers?

[neuer Teil vom Sandtorhafen]

when i live in Germany again, i hope to be in Hamburg. between all the photo institutions and a huge art community and an age old international scene, i'm sold. my CouchSurfing hosts Karen and Martin were an amazing older couple. i got to meet their daughter's best friend, who also happens to be an art major, plus two other guests as well. aufwiederseh'n? sicherlich!

am Meer ist immer schön

2010-07-21T13:50:00.008+02:00

and here is the place that was the beginning reason for this trip. i was determined to see the German seashore. i read about Fehmarn in a train magazine a long time ago and it seemed pretty cool. "why not southern France? it's so much nicer." i don't think some people understand. there is a whole different atmosphere on an island.

[Schwan am Meer]

and i was not disappointed. there was only one CouchSurfing host on the island, who had never had anyone before, so they were super enthusiastic. again, it was a perfect blend of doing my own thing while the hosts ran errands, then sitting together over coffee with nice conversations.

[Himmel über Fehmarn]

Frauke, her sister and their roommates were a bunch of awesome girls about my age, so i fit right in, whether it was about drinking, baking, working, boys... didn't speak a lick of English either. i've come to find that sometimes the language barrier is only like a knee-high hedge, though it makes me wonder who constructed the walls with six stacks of concertina wire that i sometime run into.

[Windräder neben dem Deich]

after a fun going away party for one of the roomies, i walked along endless fields of rapeseed (honey from these plants is aMAZing) and photographed all the wind turbines scattered between them. the next day i helped my hosts with their first yard sale. super fun!

[Max]

and so i keep falling deeper in the rabbit hole. the friendships grow stronger everyday and the awkwardness fades away, although the end of my stay in Tübingen is rushing in and it gets harder to sleep at night, as i think about the future and how i'm going to manage to keep Germany in my life. oh well, i tend to surprise myself when faced with challenges. wir werden sehen.

Anfang der Pfingsten Ferien!

2010-07-19T02:51:00.006+02:00

so, the Sommersemester began, i loved my classes (omg i'm already done with them! wow, i'm behind with the blog) and gobbled them up with so much excitement that i didn't do anything but study until the Pfingsten (Pentecost) holiday! i know, a bit unbelievable, but it's true. after being the States for a month and away from German, my understanding skyrocketed. Elisée said the same, which was refreshing to hear that someone had a similar experience. whoo hoo!

i budgeted the second half of my year abroad and decided that i would squeeze in one more grandiose run, keep it inside Deutschland, and save my free time (and money) at the end of the semester to fully enjoy my last weeks around home in Tübingen. now that i have fast forwarded two months and the semester is actually over, i can say that i made a good choice. ;)

[Im Moore 31]

it was nothing but CouchSurfing and Bahncard50, Baby! first stop: Hannover. and... the CS host fell through. no worries. luck have it, a photo journalism student (who wasn't actually there) had a flat full of AWESOME roommates that housed me last minute. remember what i said about my German skills? yeah, so i didn't realize until two weeks into this trip that i hadn't spoken a PEEP of English. yes, that is no more that maybe three WORDS per person that i just didn't know the German equivalent. i am quite proud, thank you.

[der Herrenhäuser Garten]

super-duper thanks to Lucille for leading me around, kind of. she still had to work, so i just planned my schedule around hers and we mainly just spent evenings together. i found my way to the botanical gardens, walked around to the Marktplatz, a few churchs and a super cool new-musik artwork? in town, then to the Rathaus, where i rode a nifty little elevator to the top and looked onward to the Norden, ie: the next destination of Fehmarn!

[Aussicht der Kuppel via toller Aufzug]

i tried doing a slightly impromptu meeting for coffee with another CSer, but it was a bit too spontaneous. oh well, Lucille got me a student price ticket to the opera house to see the German version of Fiddler on the Roof. the next night we watched an intense mini-series on German history, complete with discussion afterwards. three hours is a bit much, but when managing two separate minds of understanding actual dialog-spoken and the-plot-as-a-whole exhausts me, i can still retain enough bits and pieces to blurb out about two cents worth in a discussion. well, maybe it was only a pence or so. =P

again, thanks to Lucille and pity that i never saw Jo in person or got up with Moritz when i was in Hamburg. i always have hope for a second chance. hoffentlich bis nächstes Mal!

Hafenstadt neben den Bergen

2010-06-14T10:30:00.013+02:00

[die Küste Genovas]

bwah. do i even need to say anything about this scene?

Francesco said i would like Genova and i certainly did! after a quick walk through at his university, we drove with his friends out of the city and up into the hills. then it was a little hike to some ruins/picnic area were we grilled and drank homemade wine. perfekte!

now add the factor that Francesco is a philosopher and one of his grade school friends is an artist. combine to two pools of colleagues to create a great mass of thinking and rhetoric. i was right at home. =)

[Campoligure]

Francesco's town is like what Glen Hope must have been back in it's prime; little town, nestled in the mountains, where everyone knows everything about everyone. am i right? Schwaben has hills, but it's not the same as a string of hairpins where you stay in third gear. more lust to have a motorcycle. =P did i mention that everyone in Italy has paintings all over their house? most likely the one who lives there is the artist too. there was a Genova cityscape by Francesco's mom that i could not stop looking at. the colors and reflections made me super excited about taking the painting survey next semester!!

[Grab im Staglieno Friedhof]

first stop was the amazing cemetery that Fabio had mentioned the day before. the graves were extravagant and covered with dust that exaggerated their volume even more. in fact, some of the portrait reliefs reminded me of Daguerrotypes because the contrast was so extreme. check out the album. big graves, little graves, halls that felt like i was walking through a spinal column, giant chambers of traditional Genova black and white marble stripes... oh, two hours was nothing! i was not surprised when Francesco said the keeper knew him by name.

[Wirbelsäule von Gräber]

i said in Milano that Italy felt decadent. there it was more on the gluttonous side, but in Genova it was not so vulgar. the age to the city was not the same as in Prague. i don't know how to explain it properly. it sucked me in and i could do nothing to stop it, but i really didn't care. i happily let my memory drown me with thoughts of world history class with Mason and flood my mind with the absurd amounts of mythology i read with Chia when we were in elementary school.

but it wasn't imaginary anymore. walking the promenades, sitting on the wharfs, buying lunch at the market, that was just the icing on the cake. and damn was it decadent. try to tell me those colors are not juicy like ripe strawberries in a Carolina April.

[die Innenstadt Genovas]

in addition to the philosophy department, i was also introduced to the art school. 'nuff said. picture marble steps so old that they are worn down to where you can barely walk on them. genau.

back to the countryside. the next day we took a little stroll in the hills, well a day-long stroll with a wealth of conversation (all auf Deutsch) and a few lessons on Latin. oh man, visiting friends in their hometown is quite magical. there are no locked doors, no crazy mazes. i'm not saying people are so easily influenced by their surroundings, more that it makes the subtle parts easier to understand. and you know how i like subtleties. =D Francesco knows me well enough to add a dash of suspense too. it was close to sundown and we had no idea where we were. of course a couple instinctive choices and we connected an unknown area to a childhood regular. no worries!

[Wanderung oben Campoligure]

and so closed a jam packed semester break. super thanks to Francesco! i may chuckle at your love of the kitsch, but i never find your ideas far-fetched. ;)

food for thought: everyone i visited is an Einzelkind like me. interesting, or?

Aliiiiicheyyyyy!!

2010-06-12T13:06:00.009+02:00

i have been here so long. when the weather was warming up in Tübingen, i had a rush of memories from us sitting on the church steps in the night, drinking beers and chatting. they were real memories. they felt so far away. and what have i done since then? wow.

i was visiting Alice in Milan. i had been sending her postcards and little trinkets. i visited Jessica earlier in the States. i still see Elisée probably at least once a month. same with Oli. Reece sent me books. Erika and Gianluca invite me to parties and what not. naja, you can't exactly watch the grass grow, but i think through my photos it was like i made a stop-action film of the grass growing.

it was like my road trip from last summer. you know someone is a real friend when their friends are like instant friends for you. =D Alice took me around town for a bit, but we spent most of the time at her apartment and her friend, Fox. conversations were easy and interesting. the dialog just sang and i learned so much stuff about Italy! amazing.

then we went to Sanremo on Easter Sunday to stay with Alice's mom. enter: introduction to the Mediterranean Sea. lovely. Elena complained that the weather was not fit, but it was like the snow in Brussels to me. i was just happy to be there (shout out to Heath). the clouds were lovely. the rain was lovely. the Colomba was lovely. dinner together and long talks on the balcony were lovely. this smile is lovely too.

thanks for keeping me, Alice! seeing you again after the Sommerkurs was amazing and i hope we can meet many more times. =D

Paris, ohne Fotos des Eiffelturms für die Faule =P

2010-05-17T10:17:00.014+02:00

i couldn't resist. i had to see it and why not use my InterRail Ticket to catch a night train from Berlin to Paris when there was a full moon? worked out lovely. arrived early morning, stopped by the hotel (all hostels and couches were full), dropped off my things and promptly went wandering.

[kleines Zimmer mit Dégas]

for Paris, my room was quite inexpensive, and especially considering it was directly over a subway station for Montmartre. i definitely fell in love the area. Paris is freaking expensive, but i felt i could skate by as a starving artist.

[Friedhofs Katze]

so i spent my first day just wandering on foot around the Montmartre area, inside and out. i found a cool cemetery underneath one of the main streets, browsed through artist stands around Sacré-Cœur, checked out the Moulin Rouge, marveled at the old subway entrances, drank coffee outside at a tiny café, got asked fifty million times if i wanted to buy an Eiffel Tower keychain, chilled in my tiny little room for a bit and repeated almost the same process at night, without my camera.

[retro Metro]

day2: more walking. lots of walking. i took the subway to the Arch de Triomphe, then walked to a beautiful outlook on the Eiffel Tower from the Palais du Chaillot, across the Parc du Champ-de-Mars, photographed the Ecole Militaire, continued to the Esplanade des Invalides, walked along the Seine, looked at the line going into the Musée d'Orsay, decided against actually going inside, crossed a bridge to the Île de la Cité, photographed Notre Dame, crossed to the other side of the river and settled at the Louvre for a moment.

[der Louvre]

i rave about seeing art in person, and well it applies to I.M.Pei's Pyramid as well. damn. you see it in a book and you're like, "yeah, it's pretty neat. and?" see it in person. see the different pyramids in relation to one another. see it surrounded by the enormousness of the Louvre. see the clouds reflect off the glass and the water together. go inside. see the world through the pyramid. look closely at how it is put together. see the sunlight make patterns around you. ... i would love to be there with rain pelting against the glass.

[Straßenkünstler vor der Sacré-Cœur]

Elisée once said that you should go to Paris with friends. now i understand. the beautiful buildings and parks are all amazing, but at the end of the day it would have been perfect to sit at a café and chat about everything we had seen. there is something about Paris that is so finished, constructed and finished. i guess you could say it was like an artwork in itself. naturally, as an artist, that leaves Paris open for LOTS of discussion. ;) next time.

endlich, Berlin!

2010-05-08T14:32:00.014+02:00

so, not visiting Berlin would definitely have been more sacrilegious by my book than missing Oktoberfest. ;)

i don't even know where to begin. of course there is all the heavy stuff about Berlin that first comes to mind, but i was also well aware of how alive it is. plus, Greg and i had been planning this visit together for a while, and were totally psyched about getting to hang out with our other (good) roommate, Marie. her family was just a nice and bubbly as she! couldn't have been better.

[Gebäude wie eine Jet-Turbine]

the good company made up for the shitty weather. Marie took me and Greg all over the city, complete with nights out. we had wonderful meals with the family, with long discussions over many bottles of wine. after the piano got tuned, i taught Greg the lower part to Heart 'n' Soul and we jammed away for a whole hour.

[Mischung auf dem Potsdamerplatz]

i felt the city had a general lust for new and modern, but more than just material things. there was so much thought put into concept. we randomly found the Science Center for Medical Technology that was amazing. check out the link, but the kicker was a video artwork that would have impressed Twarog. in the lobby hung three pendulums with three flat screens each. it began with images of hands that interacted between the screens, reaching towards one another or pushing and pulling against one another, all in sync with the actual motion of the pendulums. from the outside, the screens were just colors that blended when the pendulums overlapped one another. ganz geil!!

[Holocaust-Gedenkstätte]

the Holocaust Memorial was tenfold as well executed, as well as one-hundredfold heavier. i cannot begin to explain how this museum was a work of art in itself. the maze of monoliths on uneven ground, illuminated floor exhibits like glowing graves, exhibits hanging as stalactites in heavy blocks, a dark room with names being read... the stories were so disturbing, but the beauty kept drawing me back in. respect.

[Brandenburg Tor]

more walking and more beautiful Berlin. i found a photographer on Behance with some nice collections of the city. check it out.

[im Museum für Naturkunde]

further on museums: i had never been to an older natural history museum until now; didn't have enough time while i was in New York. wow. i've always been a closet science enthusiast and seeing exhibits in a building this old, with taxidermy this old, with archives of specimens this old... blew me away.

[das Archaeopteryx]

despite the common idea that Americans have superficial friendships, i have been lost in a sea of new people with no interest in opening up to a temporary resident. to be in the home of friend is one of the greatest gifts ever. thank you so much, Marie!

Wolken über Dresden

2010-04-27T16:40:00.006+02:00

when i walked out of the old school train station, everything was new and big, almost like the States, with an urban sprawl kind of feel. then i realized that it was my first time out of southwest Germany. biiiiig difference. as i made my way towards the city center, i began to link the old and new buildings. maybe the clouds added to the heaviness. let me just say, it's probably good that i travel so often alone. my head is always swimming with thoughts and i am seldom sure if it would be possible for me to function with the presence of company.

imagine the majesty of Prague, but broken, and then patched together again, like a quilt. you even saw it literally so. the Frauenskirche used some of the old stones (black from age and siege), so the building is a beautiful salt and pepper mix. also refer to the cathedral in Köln with a new white chunk in one of the corners.

i will talk about Berlin later, but there was a definite contrast between the two cities. i felt a kind of stony pride out of Dresden. i couldn't completely understand the context, but at the same time, there was a familiarity in how i enjoy holding on to memories both good and bad. i wanted to come back later in the spring when there were flowers and the trees weren't bare. there were wide open promenades and meticulously trimmed gardens, café terraces and riverfront walkways that would seem to shine differently; another perspective to help me unlock the city.

oh boy. i think everyday about how little time i have left in this study abroad experience.

Anfang in Osteuropa

2010-04-25T22:14:00.007+02:00

yay for Inter-Rail Passes! first stop: Prague. i liked it from the moment we arrived at the train station. it was beautiful in that old-fashioned, regal sort of way with a nice touch of aging that i love so much. Alphonse Mucha prints hung on the walls in the main hall, then you go down to the regional trains and there are modern murals spray painted on the walls. the subways were super deep, too. i think it is in part from how long ago they were built (less knowledge about the structure). not entirely sure on that one.

[der Hauptbahnhof]

the hostel was amazing. it was close to night life, squeezed in a downtown strip a lot like J-Hoppers in Japan. the ceilings were high, with a great big bay window and an awesome mural directly outside!

[Ausblick von meinem Fenster]

everywhere, the city had a wonderful blend of old and new. maybe it's just something about the Neo-Classicism when it's old and darkened that feels so decadent, and especially when it stands directly next to an Art Nouveau or Cubist building. the mix lets the different styles accentuate each other. i love it. feels like me; so many contrasting characteristics that only make you wonder how they all came to fit together.

[schöne Straße]

it is embedded in my heart that i want to come back, but the likelihood this year is very slim. =( oh well, these toe-in-the-water experiences are good alone, but i would need company to really immerse myself. btw, randomly ran into a classmate! Pavel had told me that Prague was considered the biggest 'little town' and by golly if i don't see him in the train station on my way out.

Prague is definitely the fiery broad that keeps a cowboy coming back. hope to see you again soon, darling.

das aktuelle Heim

2010-04-25T10:08:00.002+02:00

last day: didn't sleep in my own bed (i'm getting too attached to this couch surfing business), drama on Holly Street, Mom had already left for AT and my dad literally just dropped me off at the airport. quite uneventful.

[mein typischer Flugzeug]

so, one month back in the States and three out of four weeks were spent traveling. gotta make it worth it, eh? i didn't sleep at all, despite the fact that my flight left at 5pm and arrived at the beginning of a new day. the movies were shitty, but i had an entry level German/English reader to keep me occupied. i didn't check the clock at all, was back in Deutschland in no time, three more hours on the train, all the -ingen names being read off and... hello Tübingen, i missed you so much! ♥

sunshine. middle of the week. bus line direct to Viktor-Renner. mailbox with a postcard from Marianna. Schlüssel in der Tür. not so clean apartment. perfekt. home sweet home.

Marie's old room was open and completely empty. the Hausmeister came in at one point that afternoon without knocking, looked at me grumpily, asked me if i was the only roommate there at the moment, slammed shut the door to the empty room and told me that the floor needed cleaning. seriously, Dude. i arrived THAT day! oh well, i took a shower and proceeded to clean the whole apartment. i put away all the dishes, wiped all the counters, cleaned the inside of the fridge, swept the floors, mopped the floors, mopped the bathroom twice and even scraped the caked grease off the fan hood above the stove. damn did it look good!

i bought some Brötchen, tomatoes and Mozzarella to make sandwiches, then left for Prague the next day; only sorry that i was leaving Tübingen so soon.

quick run through

2010-04-25T06:44:00.009+02:00

leaving NYC, i took a Chinatown bus (note the irony that i was the only 'not Chinese' person and yet, was still obviously some sort of Asian) to Harrisburg. my scheduled taxi was 45 minutes late and there was no bus stop. i stood in an empty parking lot with three other people at close to midnight. the taxi driver had the fade set totally on the back speakers and the music was loud enough that i could barely think. at least i like D'Angelo. 'nuff said about that experience.

i proceeded to crash on the couch at Mike&Mike's without waking anyone up. they went to work early in the morning, but i knew that Sarah had the day off, so i went to her apartment to catch up. her roommates all remembered me from my short stint with them in the summer and we all hung out as if we'd known each other since childhood. after a while, i figured that i might as well wait to see Little Mike when he got off work. found out he had the next day off and then it was drink time. yet another night on a couch and to the Waffle Shop in morning. mmm, good times!

no one was home when i got to Glen Hope, but Grammy and Karla came back from a day of shopping not ten minutes after. i putzed around the house with them for a bit and then went to JoAnn's to see the new kitchen. my cousin Jason figured that i was bored as hell and took me off-roading in his Rhino to his favourite bar. oh my. i may be the black-haired bastard child in a pot of curly blond blue-eyes, but we are indeed family by blood. let me just say, Budweiser and tequila the whole afternoon.

in the morning, said my goodbyes and headed down to Virginia to meet my Dad at Ernie and Pegg's. i missed seeing the grandkids, but it is always fun to talk with Pegg and she misses chatting with my mom. i guess i've grown enough to make a good substitute. =) back to the couch. the next morning, Dad and i hit the slopes at Wintergreen. mmm, i love slush!

back in Gville, i did my rounds at the uni, talking with professors and filling out paperwork. sooo stoked about finally having a class with Gil! went to The Stockyard with my mom, tramping through the stench of animal piss trying to find raw peanuts. read my first Jailbird, and thankfully didn't know anyone in it. started packing my things for the return to Deutschland and then off to the island with Katie.

we sat on the ferry deck shelling peanuts and smoking from a corn cob pipe. got in touch with Luke without having a phone, met him at Zilli's and spent the afternoon drinking German beer outside in the salty air. the next day we were out sunning with Joe and i got to see why Brian was banned from the seashore. i love the beach when you still need a hoody. i kept thinking about what a good idea it was to come here before i left again. maybe it's the feeling of sand between your toes while drinking Tecate with two of your best friends and having the sun shine off your hair. KT and i took the early ferry home and watched the sun rise over calm purple water. picked up the truck on the mainland, biscuits and gravy for breakfast and singing to Motown on the way back. bliss.

i apologize for the lack of photos, but my time with these people was too precious. ♥

"these streets will make you feel brand new"

2010-04-17T06:20:00.018+02:00

and so i tried the CouchSurfing in America. Mathew was an awesome host! no worries, all accommodations and a living encyclopedia of New York City. i arrived via Amtrak and Bayardo by bus. props to Bayo for not bailing out like everyone else. him and Nick are the best travel buddies ever. hard to imagine our discovery of that just a year ago in Dallas. pause for good memories.

NYC, omg! i mean, i've been there before, but this was my first time independent of school or the 'rents. i got to really throw myself into it and damn was it beautiful. maybe it's just because of this time in my life and all the opportunities i've got after graduating this year. who knows, but every moment of walking through the streets, i could NOT get that Jay-Z/Alicia Keys song out of my head.

[Bayardo in Times Square at night]

even now when i go back and watch the music video, their pride looks, feels so inclusive, so alive. i loved how EVERYwhere there were quotes about the city. sometimes they are on construction fences. sometimes they are on window decals. sometimes they are engraved in granite facades.

[construction by South Ferry]

additionally, i was blown away by the internationality. maybe i was especially sensitive after my travels through Europe. of course there were lots of tourists too, but even from the people walking out of apartment buildings, i overheard so many people speaking German, Spanish, French... keep on going. Again on history, my mind was a total whirlwind.

[Statue of Liberty from Battery Park]

with a big dash of luck, Bayardo and i got to be present for the beginning of a performance piece, ...and Counting by Wafaa Bilal, who had come to ECU last year. amazing man. in this work, he had a map of Iraq already tattooed on his back and this night he was having a dot for every American and Iraqi that had died so far in the war. let me clarify: that is 105,000 pricks in 24 hours. go to the webpage to get the entire description. the names of all the dead were also to be read while the tattooing took place.

and wow. never been part of a performance piece before. there is something about the time frame that sets it apart. first off, documentation of the event (ie: photos) are very important, but what appeals to me the most is the brevity. it ends. it dies. and after that, the memory of it is what's important.

[filming Wafaa]

anyone could read names, and most would read a page and then the next person would come up. for my turn, i chose the list of American soldiers just so i wouldn't butcher the pronunciation and also because i'm familiar with the abbreviations for military ranks. reading a list is quite redundant and when i finished one page, i automatically flipped to a second and kept reading. it didn't strike me until i was around the eighth or so that i had gone so far.

i choked a bit at the feeling of actualization for this work by Wafaa. it was the same feeling of overwhelming that i usually get when i start making connections between a city and it's history and then applying it to the present day; except this time i was part of a piece of art, so it touched ME personally. it was like grabbing on to an electric fence and not letting go. and i had no desire to let go.

Wafaa Bilal. check out his work. especially Domestic Tension.

pause.

okay, i could probably have made that bit a post of it's own, but maybe the length of this one helps explain my feelings about New York.

and on to Coney Island. unlike me, Bayardo was hopping around and staying in a different place every night. i went down earlier in the morning with Mathew, who went to buy a couple gifts to give on his own CouchSurfing travels that were coming up soon, and we met up with Bayo there on the boardwalk. i had no idea how popular the movie The Warriors was OR how thick Coney Island was with Russians.

[polar bears sunning in 50°F weather]

Mathew left us after some nice conversations and Russian pastries, then Bayo and i took the bus up to Prospect Park. originally we wanted to go to some museums, the botanical gardens and maybe the zoo, but somewhere in our wandering we ended up in the public library and opted to go straight to Dumbo and the bridge.

the timing was perfect. it was late afternoon and natural sidelighting always makes for good photos. we probably spent an hour on the bridge, photographing and dreaming of living somewhere in the Upper West Side, biking daily across the Brooklyn Bridge to a studio in Dumbo.

[Bayo on the north side of the Brooklyn Bridge]

last stop: art museums. i had no idea how big the Metropolitan was. almost 5hours and i barely saw half! not to mention, it's free to get in. there is so much stuff from all over. makes me wonder how the hell anyone can accumulate it all. gotta love having Graziani as an art history prof. made me appreciate the old stuff a lot more. =)

[a cappella group in front of the Met]

Bayo was bored with the Met, so we went on to MOMA. again, i can't say enough about seeing artwork in person. there is no way a textbook can do an 8' x 8' Picasso painting justice. i suppose one could go back to the concept of how the human eye has a bigger tonal range than a camera. that is, without Photoshop. ;)

[men in front of Matisse]

oh, and of all things, ran into Brian McBride after hitting up B&H Photo. i felt like Uncle Tosh, seeing people i know everywhere i go. but really, more than all the sightseeing, good company wins overall. like Nick, Bayardo and i had lots of good conversations as well. it was nice to talk about language barriers and have a mutual understanding, plus a lust for travel. after all the new friendships in Europe, there was a great relief to come back to something established and even watch it grow more. thanks, Bayo!

Philly, you nice, but you ain't the 'Burgh

2010-04-16T15:36:00.001+02:00

after a week of what i guess you can call rest, it was off to Philadelphia for the photo conference. College Park, MD happens to be conveniently on the way and i got to visit Jessica from the Sommerkurs!! it was also conveniently the night of the Maryland/Duke upset. whoa. you Terrapins are crazy, but the cops were indeed a bit over dramatic about everything. i could see myself living in DC, though. especially for the international route. hm.

it was a quick drive to Harrisburg, where i parked my car at my aunt's house and got a taxi to the train station. i know! trains in America?! felt like home (ie: Germany). a bit as if i stepping to a time capsule from 30 years ago, though. =P the conductor had an old skool get-up and hand-wrote little tickets to tuck in the rack above your head.

enter: Philadelphia

mmm mmm, American urbanity. i forgot that Philly was one time bigger than New York and i didn't think so much about writing the Declaration of Independence until i got off the train. i know i talk about the impact history has on me when i visit a city. well, the States have hardly let me down. at least here, i don't need a tour guide or brochures because i remember learning everything in grade school (or more likely, from my father).

i didn't have time for sight-seeing. the vibes i got from Mr. Brotherly-Love were just swimming in my head as i sat through the lectures with SPE. the conference as a whole was not too exciting or invigorating like Dallas. i kind of expected that. after KKΨ, i know better than to get caught up in the glam of big organizations. still, i enjoying hanging out with the our photo department, seeing old faces and meeting the new crew (even though it meant four nights of sleeping on the floor). perhaps it was really just a ploy to visit Philly and the Big Apple. ;)

Grenzen ganz löchrig

2010-04-15T12:29:00.006+02:00

at least i managed to wash my sheets before i hopped on the plane, but i did leave my room in quite a mess. the trip wasn't bad. the plane was half empty, so everyone got a chance to lay down in the center at some point. wow, did that make everything ten times better!

things didn't feel strange until i landed in Charlotte. the white rocking chairs were a nice familiar sight and i met an older couple from Greenville at the bar, but i just spent a lot of time looking out the window after that. i think it was watching people working outside that really got to me. i know it's the same situation in every country, as labor is never a fun event, but the tediousness of it hit hard; like i got pulled back into the clockwork.

the sky was a thick blanket of clouds, but little pockets of light started opening up. i noticed because spotlights popped up on the Tarmac. i looked up and noticed the holes in the clouds. behind the claustrophobic grayness, the blue was so bright and clear. it reminded me that had seen another place sometime before and, despite where i was at the moment, i could not have that memory taken away from me.

then i climbed into the little propeller plane and off we went. so many people are scared shitless of them, but i love it. there is a slow crescendo as the engines start up and the vibration makes the plane feel like a living being. it was like an alarm clock waking me up to the fact that i was really going home to people who knew me.

and that was that. my dad rode with my mom to pick me up. we went straight to Ham's to meet up with some friends. drank home brewed beer until late. woke up and went to class the next day. i know, i'm a dork. talking with Dr. Jensen was amazing, though. she was tickled pink that we could have real conversations auf Deutsch after i had only finished German II. found out that Colleen from KKΨ was taking German. after class, who should walk in but President Mike Miller! oh yeah, forgot that i knew everyone and their brother. etc. etc. and so goes returning to Greenville.

ein Besucher!!

2010-04-14T21:44:00.011+02:00

i have been envious of all my european friends that can easily get visitors, so when Nick mentioned coming across the pond, i was super excited. never really had an exact date and time, but i told him the name of my town, gave my class schedule and included directions from the train station to my place just in case. that crazy nut didn't write down my telephone number, couldn't get in touch with me and i got a call from my roommate around 10pm when i was out at a bar saying, "your friend is in our kitchen." oh well, that's how we roll and everyone over here is completely flabbergasted that it actually works.

after the Faschingsumzug in Tü with the Narrenzünfte, i thought it would be something interesting and with a local twist. we walked to a neighboring town with another Ami, Andrew, via a trail that i had done with some StudIT friends earlier.

[Wurmlinger Kapelle mit Schnee]

it was awesome as a first experience in Deutschland, i think, and especially for photos. in Rottenberg, we met up with Oli and had a mini excursion like our crew from back in the States. the train ride home was a bunch of photo talk. Nick was stoked about coming to me and Oli's class later and getting to see the facilities.

[Fotografs sind in ein fotografisches Gespräch vertieft]

it was so nice to muck around with another photographer again. i took him through Tübingen and cooked Schupfnudeln. we walked to another neighboring town, Bebenhausen, and photographed the cloister. the Prinz Karl dorm threw a Karneval party that was totally insane. a visit to Heidelberg ended by staying with Stephen from the plane to Ireland. for one week, i can't think of a better time! even Greg benefited from having so much english in our apartment. =)

[Schnee in Heidelberg]

the highlight though, was probably all the conversations. Nick and i had plenty of time to talk, on account of the close quarters, and we already have a good dialog, but he has also seen me evolve as an artist and understands better where my ideas are coming from. it was nice to constructively talk about ideas. oh dear, made me homesick for the rest of my friends. still, means a lot to have a visitor and, like i said, i love to share. so really, it was the kicker of my first six months. thanks again, Nick!

oje Neujahr, du hast mir schon hintergelassen!

2010-04-12T11:11:00.002+02:00

and how do i go two months without a post, you ask? keine Ahnung. i pretty much spent a lot of time studying, Nick came to visit and then i was back in the States for a month, not to mention a fifteen day trek through Europe not even two days after my return to Germany.

so, i only went out photographing once in January, but it was magical. enter: die Narrenzünfte. Carnival is popular all over Europe and similar in time and manner to Mardi Gras in New Orleans. although, things are different around the Black Forest. Narrenzunft translates into 'fool's guild' and these groups get together for parades in every town around Carnival time. what happens: they drink a bit and then put on wooden witch masks and terrorize the bystanders. include marching bands. i loved it.

[ein Schwob mit meinem Karneval, bitte]

it was like any other parade. the participants throw candy at the crowd and whatnot. BUT, there is the risk from not knowing if it's a good witch or a bad witch. sometimes you get goodies, sometimes you get a faceful of confetti before your reward. personally, i think it's a wonderful mix of fun without too much glam.

[Tübinger Teufel]

reminded me much of Halloween when working at Sheetz. people are definitely different when in costume. for a college town where it is just an excuse for girls to dress like sluts, it usually means that people are overly obnoxious, but here, with masks, the barrier made the mischief less personal. blah blah blah. artistic discussion about the aesthetic symbolism of masks. puh, i saw it as people coming to an event for the sake of a fun time.

needless to say, it was a nice break from the books. it had snowed the night before and the streets were a bit icy. i stood at my favourite corner and got to look out over the square when things really got hopping. at the beginning, some kids were throwing fake snow out their window and down on the crowd, but the real snow later was icing on the cake. i think this picture captures it all.

[der Holzmarkt vor der Stiftskirche]

die Ferien bei Familie

2010-01-11T08:09:00.016+01:00

9am Christmas Day: wach und bereit. Eva's mom was the only one awake and we sat in the kitchen having a nice catch-up chat over Irish tea and milk. i must have woken Eva up when i crawled out of bed, because she joined us shortly after. tell me this not the best smile to see on a Christmas morning!

[Eva früh an Weihnachten]

the McElligott lowdown: Jim is a first generation American-born Irish that went to Ireland to study and met Jacinta. they eventually made their way back to the States and had seven kids. Eva's the true middle child, and will always be my favourite. =) we met in high school and would regularly visit each other in undergrad; especially after her parents moved back to Ireland with the youngest two, Keith and Liah. her unique blend of smarts, fun and hard work with heavily seasoned wit has been close to my heart for over a decade now.

[St. Stephen's Green]

on Boxing Day we headed into Dublin to make use of newly acquired TopShop giftcards. unfortunately, we found that Trinity would be closed until the day i was scheduled to leave. no Book of Kells for me. =(

the next couple days, it just kept snowing. we attempted driving, but after a few miles of sliding all over the road, we opted to go back home and walk to the Vartry. that in itself was still a tough task and because of all the ice, we took about three times as long to walk just 100m.

[Jimmy, Keith and Eva gegen 4 od. 5h]

i think my average bedtime in Ireland was 6am. i didn't even sleep in as much as the others! for all the nights we were stuck in the house, there was plenty of beer to entertain ourselves. just as the mood would get mellow in the wee hours, the guitars would come out and we would be up for a few more hours singing and drinking. then someone would suggest a fry and we would be eating breakfast at the normal time and THEN going to bed.

New Year's was a blast. we had an epic snow fight with at least three generations of McElligotts. wish i had my camera, but i got to be neck deep in the mayhem. the house had six sizable bedrooms, but there were still no free sofas, chairs or warm spots by the fire! Eva and i walked with Deirdre and her mom, Geraldine, back to their house for beds and blankets. somehow we missed the boys coming later (we got there around 4 or 5am) and could not stir Kevin in the morning to catch a ride back to Roundwood. can't blame him, though. he hadn't had an actual bed for over a week at that point.

[Glendalough]

eventually, i said 'screw the snow' and planned to go to Sally Gap. everyone was down for it the day before, but no one woke up the next day. Kevin (the next younger than Eva) took Celtic out for a walk with me around Roundwood, trying to give the others time to crawl out of bed. still not a soul. the roads were still bad as well, so no Sally Gap, but at Glendalough we had a nice four hour chat as we walked and i took photos. towards the end, it started snowing hard again, so we turned to get back to a pub and have a few beers. Eva's dad came to pick us up, one more round and then we were back home.

[typische Sammelung von Mäntel und Schuhe, mit der Katze Fae]

back to the recurring theme about 'home,' the McElligotts are the alter ego of my family and i love them for it. i wouldn't be complete without them. wish i was better showing that in my photos. much much thanks for sharing everything with me, then a holla to Mom and Dad: glad you find the 'holidays' as insignificant as i do, and i will see you soon. XOXO to everyone and Happy New Year!

Interludium vor Irland

2010-01-11T08:08:00.021+01:00

continuation: more ICE action. puh, trains rides are nothing after last night. =) i was fairly early for the flight, possibly out of fear that i would attract more abnormal happenings. it crosses my mind for a split second, what it would be like in Ireland speaking English with family. again, a dash of fear.

as i wait to get my boarding pass, there are several English speaking people conversing around me. i clam up and make no effort to talk. we are waiting in line and an Irish man behind me is very agitated and is bitching about a woman in front Chatty Cathy-ing her bullshit all over the poor attendant. she is quite hideous; an older woman (and not with a good body) wearing a 20something's clothes. that in itself was bad enough that i shied away from the negative attitude of the Irish man. after a few minutes i feel like a complete zombie from the mixture of lack-of-sleep, waiting in line and completely not being myself by being so silent around people i can actually talk to. fuck it. he's still ranting about her and fidgeting all over the place. i open my mouth. "as if she didn't LOOK bad enough already." insert a few awkward steps and then the basic introductions. welcome my new friend, Frank.

who's Chatty Cathy now? i was still pretty reserved. i had no idea what to think of all this. i enjoyed all the conversations i had on the road trip this summer, but in this moment, i had a lot of fear that i would be throwing away my German experience and going back to old habits; just being the same person, with no personal development. fuck it. lose yourself in your typical blur of being interested in everything, Sabrina.

Frank had just moved into Frankfurt at the beginning of December. he was an older dude, so plenty of life experience, which i always love interacting with. there was really too much to remember, as the conversation bounced around like a ferret on crack. i threw in my two cents here and there, but just went with his flow for the most part.

i was hoping to get a Döner or something, but that's typical of a train station, not an airport, and the only thing open by our gate was Burger King and the line was around the corner. still, we found a table to sit at and Frank offered me a ham sandwich that he was not going to eat. perfect. the only thing missing was a beer to help me cope with shock of so much English.

an hour or so later, i give him a business card and we go about our separate ways on the plane. omg, so... much... English! i clung on to snippets of German i could manage to hear, but to no avail. somewhere in the ride, i started talking to a military man and an Irish dude about my age. i think that somewhere in the mess i was missing hearing my parents and their Army talk, while at the same time wondering when Jonathen was getting back from Iraq and when Martin was going and if my dad would really catch a cargo flight over and why my mom never hinted at doing the same, etc.

somewhere in the middle of our conversation, a flight attendant comes up and asks me if i have a friend on the front row. what the fuck do i say? "uh, yeah, uh, i know someone in first class?" the attendant had a funny look on his face as he hands me a bottle of champagne with a plastic cup and a scrap of paper with a note scribbled on it. the dudes get funny looks on their faces and then (sure that the surprise on my face is the funniest of them all) i chuckle, stick the note in my pocket and open the bottle.

why the hell do i sometimes feel that i am a normal, boring person?

the military man and the Irish dude were fun. for the umpteenth millionth time i have to explain my family in Ireland in relation to me and Eva going to high school together and me studying abroad. it's like a taped recording by now, but at least the Irish dude knew exactly where Roundwood is and was tickled that i was going there. there was an announcement that the plane was about to land. i was given half the leftovers of a strong cider/whiskey mixture. we toasted to Christmas Eve and then went through the mess of lines in Customs.

needless to say, i had a bit of buzz. i grew anxious waiting for Eva since it was my first time in a while relying on other people. no worries. she and Liah showed up big grins and many hugs. oh my, sometimes i forget that Liah was only 5 years old when i first met her and now her driver's license is in the mail! i recapped my insanely long day and the randomness of the plane ride and Eva just smiled and said, "We're meeting the family at a pub."

insert a blur of neverending introductions similar to being an exchange student in Germany. wow. me and Deirdre were so excited about finally seeing each other in person. it was delightful to see Sarah Louise again. Kevin was his same drunken self. Keith, oh dear. the pub was packed. i have no idea how many pints of Guinness i drank. father/son clash on the car ride home. memories of the house on the river, bonfires, Jacinta's cooking, a herd of golden retrievers, late night singing, four people to a bed... what a wonderful end to a crazy day. after 45 minutes into the country, i plopped myself into bed and passed the fuck out!

Kuckuck aus Köln

2010-01-07T11:15:00.011+01:00

i have a habit of always saying 'Köln' instead of 'Cologne' and often forget that my English-speaking friends probably don't know what city i'm referring to. what can i say? es passiert.

Köln is quite amazing. my host Sigfried was quite nice, straight up tour guide with his description of the city. and, D was quite right about how you walk out of the train station directly in front of the cathedral. i arrived in the evening and promptly went through all of Sigfried's books to plan the next day.

i could have been sharper the next morning and noticed when all the people with luggage got off the Straßenbahn. oops. turned out okay, though. got off at the first stop on the other side of the river and walking across the bridge was my first experience of the day.

nobody told me about the padlocks! i mean, i've seen a few here and there, but never to this magnitude. apparently i never got the memo and it's quite common. made for some neat photos, for sure. i also enjoyed seeing the tracks from the former site of the Hohenzollern bridge. Köln was pretty heavily damaged in WWII, zB: the part of the cathedral that got replaced.

again, influx of history overwhelms my brain and i love every bit of it. now throw in a museum of Roman artifacts, the scandals of Agrippa and tile mosaics in their original place. oh my. the Römisch-Germanisches Museum was laid out VERY nicely. remember me complaining about the lighting at that museum in Straßbourg? this place was the exact opposite. the volume of the sculptures was perfectly defined, right down to tiny figurines, and just the atmosphere of the room with all the jewelry was amazing. oooh, i still get chills.

now sadly enough, that was the extent of my touristy ventures in Köln. so, i broke the heel of my boot shortly thereafter. i walked around the downtown area looking to buy a new pair of shoes. of course everything is super expensive and i was in no mood to spend money on something i'm not particularly fond of. i give up. i remember Garry walking around for several hours with wet sneakers and decide that i can deal with missing an inch or so on one leg. i walked to a couple more churches, but i had wasted a lot of daylight in the futile attempt at shoe shopping and they were all closed. just keep taking photos, baby. i go back to Sigfried's apartment hoping maybe he could point me in the direction of a Kaufland od. etwas. he was not home. i waited an hour and some, thought about places to go the next day and edited some photos. still not home. with enough time to myself, i thought: "why the fuck not go back to Tübingen? you have your hiking boots, which would have been the better choice anyway. dumb Sabrina. oh well, no going back on that one. it's kind of late. hm. do i leave a note for Sig? omg, how do i explain this auf Deutsch? fuck it, just go. i can write it in English. shit, i can't even explain it in English without it seeming completely odd. dude, it was your ONLY pair of shoes for Ireland. you have the time. okay, wtf just go. you are really weird, you know."

so, i lock the keys in the apartment and try to formulate a voicemail for Sigfried. it sounds horrible. oh well. i hop on the ICE to Stuttgart. my arrival overlapped THE last train to Tübingen by two minutes. two minutes! i am officially stuck in Stuttgart for five hours. oh well, shit happens. i know i'm crazy enough to handle a layover. but, it was pretty damn cold. i paid 50cents to use the bathroom in the train station because it was 2am and everything was closed. i sat on the toilet for a good 15minutes (because every place for sitting in the station was taken by other people) before i decided to battle my crazy thoughts with more craziness. there are night trains and what not. i was going to just ride the trains all night. i had a fucking railpass, why not fucking use it? it is only a few hours. trains are warm. i could sleep a bit if i wanted AND i don't have to pay to use the bathroom.

and so, i bought a coffee, sat on the floor, then got on the next train to München. i planned it out that i would make it back to Tü just in time for the first run of 22 back to my dorm. it was definitely a little surreal. oh well, not good to spend too much time re-living experiences. might as well make the most of the choices i made.

the apartment was clean, other than the typical Oliver dishes. i fixed some food, reorganized my things, enjoyed the view from the kitchen a little longer and then headed back to the Hbf. please note that the story continues directly to Ireland.

M-M-M-Maastricht

2010-01-07T11:13:00.010+01:00

stop #3: Maastricht. since i was in the area, i was interested in seeing the city where a friend had studied the year before. shout out to Kristin and many apologies to D for not making it to Njimegen yet. though, i swear that i saw your friend Florian on the train between Heidelberg and Saarbrücken.

my host was awesome; older hippie dude studying neuroscience in the medical school. wow Kristin, didn't know what a big medical school they had there! Phil took me on a quick tour, we ate some fries at the Marktplatz and had a cup of coffee, and then some beer. and then some more. originally he was from Belgium, so my sampler from Brussels kept going.

eine schöne Stadt, stimmt. more Weihnachtsmarkt action. didn't feel like toting around more Glühwein mugs, though. i definitely enjoyed the idea of sharing some of the landmarks with Deanna and Kristen. it was almost as if i was visiting the actual people. well, i suppose i was at least visiting a memory of theirs. =)

my favourite spot was a cathedral turned into... a BOOKSTORE!! mmm, i've been reading a bit more since i arrived in Europe. something about the train rides and books. perfect match. reminds me of all the long car rides as a kid. in turn, also makes me miss my road trips. soon enough. i'll take the trains while i have them. can't wait to try a night train!

Phil was a great guy to talk with. he cooks like me, just throwing things together. i showed him how easy it was to make Glühwein and we had dinner on his kitchen floor. it is definitely a lot different when couchsurfing. i enjoy the company, but often get distracted from the city that i'm visiting. six and a half doz the other, though. i'm glad to get both in the same package!

kein Bezug in Brüssel

2010-01-01T19:39:00.014+01:00

so, here is my first official couch surfing experience. i'm not one for expectations, but everything was as good as i had hoped. Garry was a great host. it was sooo nice to get out of the academic world. not only that, he's a cameraman for a public news station and we matched at a lot of points on my photojournalism side.

we started a non-tourist tour at a market. note: go when the farmers are closing up because they will practically give away vegetables. Garry bought about 2 kilos of mushroom for 3€. i was later an assistant in slicing them all and putting them in the freezer.

the snow kept coming. the streets were covered and all i had was slightly too big pair of boots with no traction. though Garry commented that Brussels was not usually so quiet, it added quite an element in the photos. i was prompted to come again during warmer weather.

the photos from the park across from the palace are my favourite. there is something about parks in urban areas that i enjoy. it is obviously a manufactured setting, but it speaks a lot about the city. insert conversation with Francesco about how fabricated things can say just as much, if not more, than being candid. somehow i think it is unfair to try and judge a person on characteristics that are often out of their control. why not appreciate what they willingly share?

enough crap. yeah, so my head was somewhere else in Brussels. Garry described me as mysterious, but i suppose that isn't the worst reference to have on my Couchsurfing profile. i think i really needed the break from classes. speaking so much English was very strange to me; caught me off guard, almost as if i forgot who i was. i was too used to being the dumb American in Germany.

despite me being spaced out and Garry sick from Copenhagen, i managed to try a bunch of Belgian beers and wonderful food, as well as sight-seeing. cheese with celery salt is a great partner with beer! i was also very keen on being in the heart of a city. there was an edgy feel that i was missing in Tübingen. a success for sure. it was great meeting new people, exchanging music and whatnot.

i will definitely be setting aside more time for travel. still a lot of places on my to-see list. liebe Grüße!

latenight Luxembourg

2010-01-01T19:36:00.013+01:00

really, this and the last entry were in the same day. about that 'getting up early' nonsense: yeah, kinda stumbled upstairs around 4am and didn't wake up until noon. then i had to finish packing. time swept by and it was 5pm before i left Tübingen.

so, bought the rail-pass in Stuttgart and didn't leave there until 8pm. yup, that gets me arriving in Luxembourg at 2am. and i left the directions to the youth hostel in Tübingen. thank god for Google. i vaguely remembered what the map looked like and recognized a streetname when i hopped on a night bus with no clue where it was going. add in luck that the bus driver was younger, cute and spoke German.

[Umsteigen irgendwo in Saarbrucken und ohne ein Gebäude während es schneite]

there was something in the bus driver's attitude that pleased me, reminded me of working overnight at Sheetz. gotta love night owls. i didn't feel the slightest bit out of place wandering blindly late at night in a city that mainly spoke French. the snow added a nice touch. i got off the bus and walked under this massive stone bridge by lamplight down a cobblestone path.

[Brücke von der Eisenbahn]

after the solitude of traveling alone, i had my first shock by throwing myself into a youth hostel dormroom full of girls sound asleep. i didn't bother trying to dress the bed in the dark, just put on my sweatpants and crashed. in addition to being the last arriving, i was the first to wake up. breakfast started at 6am. i woke up at 6, took a shower and headed downstairs for food. came back upstairs, one girl was awake and the others were still asleep. i began to realize that this little excursion might not be average, sorted out my baggage and checked out at 9.

[der Alzette]

i leisurely took photos, but walked in the general direction of the train station (which was not the route of the bus the night before), planning to get a glimpse of the schedule and call my host from CouchSurfing before i tryed getting into touristy things.

turns out that i forgot how short winter days are. i told the host i would arrive in the afternoon, meaning while it was still daylight. to get to Belgium by then, i would have to take the 1pm train. i decided that i didn't have time to try finding certain attractions and set out from the train station just wandering.

[Avenue de la Liberté und Avenue de la Gare]

criticize the brevity of my visit to Luxembourg all you want. you might be surprised how much i managed to get out of it. Luxembourg has the beauty of France without being too frilly, plus a touch of Germany and being nestled in gentle hills. not quite as harsh and Pittsburgh. nestled in, not draped over. i am careful with my descriptions, mind you.

i really do wish i had more time there. it's all my fault, but i take it as my little glimpse that motivates me to return.

"put your hands up for Detroit!"

2010-01-01T19:30:00.010+01:00

enter: end-of-class festivities. before spending Christmas with Eva, i planned a week-long loop through Luxembourg, België and de Nederland. i was supposed to leave the day after classes were done, but Gianluca and Francesco were having their birthday party that night and i couldn't bring myself to miss it. what's one day? i wouldn't stay late and leave Tü early the next morning.

i was watching Enchanted with Diana an hour or so before, when they showed up at my door and asked if i would photograph the night. wasn't really expecting that, so i explained that i couldn't do the entire night. no problem. finished the movie, was surprised i liked it, put on my flip-flops and headed downstairs with my camera and *gasp* my flash.

i was feeling a bit stiff, but the boys gave me free run of the alcohol in the fridge and i took a beer to loosen up. insert mayhem.

[typische Italiener]

when i got to the point i felt more than buzzed, i took my camera back to my room and finished my night free from managing expensive equipment. not too bad, despite being slightly drunk. i promise you that the only shots i took out were ones with ganz hässlich expressions on people's faces. i call it success. no shots of the ceiling. no horribly off-center crap. the auto-focus was a difficult from the lack of light and a few are out of focus, in addition to me not knowing jack shit about using adjusting a flash. but overall, not too bad. i definitely identified some areas i need to work on.

so, not studio portraits, but check out the album. it was fun.

echt muss ich irgendwann meinen Blitz benutzen

2009-12-26T13:44:00.009+01:00

so in the ongoing collection of Glühwein mugs, Esslingen was highly recommended. with an impromptu invite from my roommate, we left late in the evening and wandered trying to find the "Middle Age" Weihnachtsmarkt.

i know it must seem redundant, but each experience has been different right down to superficial souvenir mugs. for instance, the food stands in the Middle Age market were all from the era, ie: lots of open flame or stone oven cooking. einfach, aber lecker! i was also pleased to see that no one sold similar things. it was almost as if the merchants had to sign up for what they were selling.

there were also lots of activities from live music or medieval games. definitely cooler than your average ring-the-bell, shoot-the-duck sort of thing.

this week was lots of fun, beginning with Greg's birthday and a few days of hanging out with him and his visitor. Julian had a blast and insisted on coming back in the spring. holiday season away from home isn't killing me. =)

weil jemand Schokolade mag =)

2009-12-26T13:40:00.006+01:00

after the first touch of Christmas in Heidelberg, the season broke open in Tübingen with a chocolate festival that we share with Perugia, Italy. since arriving in Germany, i have reestablished a love for chocolate, but this really tops it off.

[Schokolade auf dem Holzmarkt]

i mean, Ritter Sport definitely exceeds Hersheys and Eva had been bringing home Irish chocolate for years, but i never knew about chocolate with ginger or chocolate with chili. amazing! i got a set of pralines with some pretty odd mixtures of spices, nuts and sauces that convinced me that chocolate is a universal platform for deliciousness.

[Pralines]

by the weekend we decided on a cheaper option involving extra time hanging out with friends and had a fondue party. like usual, i wasn't keen on using my flash, though the light was terribly dim (also usual), so i let Pavel take over the camera for a moment.

if i want to get good photos of people, i'm going to need to break my flashless habits. this is especially so, considering how little daylight we have. though sometimes, i just want to relax and enjoy the moments i have while i'm here.

[Schokolade-Fondue]

Löwen streifen Heidelburg herum

2009-12-26T13:33:00.012+01:00

okay, backdating time. Entschuldigung.

for once we managed to keep a group ticket to just five people. i invited Andrew to join our Startkurs crew and take some photos. we didn't leave too early. the trains weren't crowded. no plan, no problems. together we wandered until we found what we were looking for.

[suchen den Weihnachtsmarkt]

Heidelberg was beautiful as expected. i was hoping to see a bit of the university, but we spent a lot of time in the castle. i pointed out to Shiori that only one of the lions lining the outside of the building had his mouth open and then we noticed that every last one of them had a different face. couldn't get that small detail out of my head. thought of WWII. insert influx of wishing that i knew more.

[Burgruinen]

we found out that Davide would be going home to Italy for Christmas and not coming back for the rest of the semester. Shiori, Nikola and i immediately began planning a surprise going-away party. certainly nothing will be the same without his crazy attitude.

[Nikola, Davide und Arsch von der Pavian]

not much overall. it was our first trip together since the semester started and our first Weihnachtsmarkt. i had already had homemade Glühwein at a few parties, but discovered the mugs from the fests and promptly started a collection. my photos weren't stunning, but i enjoyed the opportunity for getting out of Tübingen for a day. i would love to get Andrew, Guy, Oli, Tillman and Penny together for a photo excursion. not too hopeful, but the thought is in mind.

warme Winter

2009-12-13T00:14:00.012+01:00

i know, the title seems a little out of place, but it's how i feel. i'm enjoying the Christmas scene here. the Weihnachtsmärkt give me the same vibe as Oktoberfest. i know that in reality, everything is just as kitch as in the States, but i've brought back the "i'm just happy to be here" quote from Heath in Japan. can't think of a better way to put it.

we had our first snow. i was so happy that i put on a skirt with two layers of tights underneath and my new above-the-knee socks with the used boots i found for 20€, then rode in to town on my bike for the Markt. call me crazy, but you have no idea how much i'd anticipated that moment. i was prepared. the cold was fitting for the season. the colors looked different with all the whiteness the snow. the pedaling kept me warm. my camera was across my back. i was free.

[Schnee an der Wohnheim]

i took my favorite way into the Altstadt. from Nonnenhaus and the park, it goes up Pfleghofstraße to the church. etwas von dieser Weg klingt gut in meinem Herz. maybe it's the tunnel acting as a portal. maybe it's the beginning with thin alley ways and tiny restaurants. maybe it's seeing the intersection that is now finally through with contruction. maybe it's the uphill walking. the kicker is how Pfleghofstraße ends at Kirchgasse. you just walked up a hill, turn the corner, and then your view overlooks Holzmarkt. i usually just stand there for a moment a let the scene soak in. it is always a moment to be enjoyed; even the night before, when i went to see Feuerzangenbowle in the rain.

[Geist von Weihnachten vorbei?]

everything Christmas-like in Amerika comes from Deutschland, at least all the stuff that i like. it is amazing how much more sense the carols make! boughs adorn the stands. the one closest to me has roasted chestnuts. the smell steams in the cold air. i am so happy to be in Deutschland for Weihnachten.

[Weihnachtsmarkt, Tü]

i was photographing a man roasting almonds. he told me that in two minutes it would give off a lot of steam. it was similar to the photos with fire for the Feuerzangenbowle. i came back later to buy their almonds.

i snuck in a quick shot of a brat stand. i was looking at my camera when an older man working there used a skewered brat to get my attention and said "these are the best brats!" i took the cue to take a photo and smiled.

my favourite accordion player was out, as well as many other kids, a choir and a couple substantial wind instrument groups. i was most attracted to the sound of the clarinet today, but there was also a guitar player with wonderful tunes and a wonderful voice. i stopped in ice cream shop that i've been to a few times to break a bill for the musician (or perhaps i really like ice cream, even on cold days). the Kellner, who always politely asks if you would like a cup or a cone, said "you want that in a cone, right?" i warmed up my feet while watching passerbys from the windows that used to be completely open during Sommerkurs.

it was a wonderful day to be alone and just experience.

Dank gibt mehr als man messen kann

2009-11-27T10:03:00.007+01:00

Thanksgiving. Thanks giving. To give thanks. Giving. Thanking. cause and effect. dialog. interaction. i wish i could always break things down so simply, aber das ist eine andere Geschichte.

[beautiful Thanksgiving view]

what a simple holiday, and yet it only takes a moment to uncover so many complexities. everyone can celebrate. all you do is share what you have, even if it is not very much. even just time spent together is something. Marie could only have an hour with us before she left for Berlin, but she wrote me a thank you letter. something American well received. my heart melts like Pap's turkey in your mouth.

speaking of which, my turkey was pretty dry. honestly, that's not bad considering i had to be in class for three hours while it cooked. i need some serious counseling on stuffing, though. i have no clue. it may taste alright, but it looks like shit. literally. no, more like the organs you have to pull out of the turkey. another side note: Oli totally knows about cooking the giblets. Grammy, i've found your partner. the biscuits flopped. in all of my fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants recipes, i really need to take more time getting to know the difference between baking powder and baking soda. the sweet potato pie was awesome, and the sweet tea too. the Texan liked it. today had a bit too much English speaking for my taste, but i guess it IS an American holiday.

[sweet potato pie with minis from the extra]

again, i have the most awesome roommates. Grégory gave me an American flag to hang, even though he knows i'm not so gung-ho about my country sometimes. it was funny though, when i was so careful to not have it touch the ground. i was alone in the kitchen this morning taking it down (only for special occasions), wondering what i was going to do with it, and then i remembered teaching Kirsten how to fold a flag in 5th grade. i'll save that for Grég later today when we eat our skimpy leftovers together.

quick shout out: 5th grade was amazing because i had the coolest teacher (Keith Hindman), who rode a motorcycle to school, and i had both of my best friends (Kirsten and Ashley) in my class. when Kirsten and i would take down the flag at the end of the day, i always loved the feel of the stars stitched into the blue fabric. thanks to Mom for giving me respect for Old Glory. she'll reprimand superior officers for displaying a tattered flag.

btw, i just made some bangin' turkey pastry.

Schloß im Nebel

2009-11-24T13:44:00.010+01:00

so, we took this excursion to Hohenzollern three weeks ago. sorry. got a little caught up in living. the week after was a party in Geissweg, the Aufbaukurs Abendessen, Shiori's birthday party, Hungarian goulash with Gabor, helping Lisa for several hours with her resumé in English and an Abendessen with the roomies and a couple guests... all in consecutive days.

the slow, quiet day in the castle seems so foreign now. nice to flashback, though.

it was beautifully foggy, the first bout of cold weather. people complained, but i relaxed in the eeriness. plus, the stones of the building were damp and brought out the colors. gorgeous, in my opinion.

this was my first time actually inside a castle that had an inside to be seen. damn, bitch! check out that bling! you know how i am about woodwork. i spent a lot of time just looking at the ceilings. there are a couple pictures in the album, but the light was minimal and we weren't supposed to be taking pictures at all. haha! did you expect any less of me?

these were also the first death masks i had seen. i have seen dead people, and their faces, but not death masks. i love it! brought back memories of Robin's dad, Brent, working at a prison in Canada were they made death masks of all those executed. it's a wonderful surprise to delve into your reserves and have new experiences with what you already know.

after the castle, we walked back to the train station. again, complaining. i just took pictures and enjoyed the weather and the scenery. no beautiful pictures of a castle on a hill. reminds me of my first time at the Matterhorn. brought back slightly more pleasant memories of Asshole-E. doesn't make me regret my choices, though.

insert crazy, aforementioned week. next week = test on Monday (makes me feel like shit), darkroom photography (thankfulness that my life is not as crazy as when i was submitting to the photo program), brief chat with Tangredi (reminds me of Uncle Tosh), getting a package from friends (surprising flash of INSTANT homesickness, love you though), meeting Francesco's friends from Italy (amp up the missing-the-friends factor), talking with Guy (glad to contribute some photo knowledge and be well-received), bought a turkey with the roommates (thrilled that they are excited), Pirate Party (blow out the homesickness speakers), woke up with my painted-on eyepatch and felt right at home.

Sunday morning was very pleasant. the roomies enjoyed the eyepatch. we sat in the kitchen in our PJs and talked over coffee for a while. the weeks before had a vibe of stress coming from everyone. the parties seemed to work out the kinks. after we got everything out of our system, that morning there was a general atmosphere of camaraderie.

curious. perfect precursor to Thanksgiving.

side note: in several conversations that i have had about roommates, i have the best in the world. can't wait to share Thanksgiving!

btw, i also apologize for lack of captions. not feeling too creative today. grammar time in the studying, not vocabulary. you're smart. fill in the blanks. =)

normale Monat

2009-11-04T19:11:00.008+01:00

i got a card from Robin this week. a photo that i took for the wedding was on the front. i read as i was going up the stairs to my Wohnung and walked two floors above mine. my memories of that week are beyond words.

my bike officially has only one gear now. it's not too bad, so i've been lazy about getting it fixed. Vodaphone put advertisement covers on everyone's seat. it was a very welcome surprise since i fight for sheltered parking when it rains.

we finally started Aufbaukurs. i got a sour reminder that in Sommerkurs and Startkurs, i should have been aggressive about getting into a higher class. Giorgio made it into B2 and i was very proud of him.

i didn't feel like spending money on posters that i would probably not take home, so i just hung orange paper on my wall. it's as good as painting, i guess.

had coffee with Guy and also a very nice American conversation. i've got my selective English speaking organized. Diana is for computer/anime geek talk and winter in the mountains. Frances-Kate is for smart-ass North Carolinian. Patrick for books and sailing. Gregor... once he gets rolling, it's out of control and i just go with the flow.

i randomly tried making cookies without any form of measurement and they were quite successful. i tried again and it was catastrophic. still, plain old chocolate chip cookies are in my lineup for Thanksgiving dinner with the roomies. the rest of the team includes turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, coleslaw and homemade popcorn. i'm debating about trying my hand at sweet potato pie.

got my SLR body in the mail. only one roll of slide film, but i'm excited to test it out. i missed the best part of Autumn for color. =( we still have the orange and red leaves, but not yellow. my favourite season passes by too quickly here.

looks like not too much activity coming up, so you'll get little blurbs like this. we'll see. Guy and i want to go to Stuttgart and check out the art museum and there is always the photo class.

Erfolg!

2009-10-26T05:54:00.004+01:00

i saw the lady who gave me flowers after i left her a gift hanging on her gate. she was pre-winter pruning and gave me the remnants of her Blumen! i managed to gather that her name begins with 'Th'.

ein Teil aus Frankreich

2009-10-26T01:49:00.008+01:00

Adam and i had talked about going to Straßbourg for a while now. all we needed was three other people to split the cost of a Baden-Württemburg ticket. well, five people turned into twenty-five, and so we created another große Exkursion like Oktoberfest. the weather was gray and we got a tiny bit of rain at the end, aber alles gut. viel Laufen auch. we took the train to Kehl and then walked into France.

this was one of those instances where the groups mixed together and i never really know who to hang out with. the Startkurs (mainly from Fichtenweg) made a distinct mob and there was my Mitbewohner, his girlfriend, two more aus Frankreich and Violet. the later broke off pretty early natürlich, weil sie nämlich aus Frankreich kommen, und danach gibt es nur Elisée, der nicht in dem Startkurs war. ja ja, das ist ein bißchen mehr als notwendig, aber ich hatte Sprechen auf Deutsch angefangen. entschuldigung. i told you, these things usually aren't important anyway.

[französches Putz-Modewarengeschäft]

France is always beautiful. i was pretty much in straight up tourist mode. Elisée laughed at me taking pictures of everyday französche things. seriously though, EVERYthing is beautiful in France. there is a nice quaint and personal mood ingrained in subtle details. and of course, i love details and subtleties. call me a cheater, but at least i had someone for Erklären. insert interludes with comical Bier posters and honey bread with Kaffee.

[la Cathédrale]

after das Münster, we decided the group was too much and planned a meeting point for later. all was very confusing with managing tickets and what not. oh well, das ist vorbei. Straßbourg has several art museums and i'm not entirely sure which one i was at, but there were a couple works that i recognized from my textbooks. it is always amazing to see works in person. no print can capture the real thing.

[Musée des Beaux-Arts]

i also enjoyed having a fast lens. i would have gotten no photos from the museum without it. even then, most were still too blurry to be worth much, so i made compositions with the environment instead of actual works. check out the album, though. i managed to get the details in a ridiculously small set of paintings (part in why i took the photos). it was fun to look at the layout of everything after taking ART4000. i also noticed discrepancies in the lighting on some of the sculptures. shame. though i feel a bit smarter.

Hochstadt von Baden-Württemburg

2009-10-12T01:03:00.008+02:00

i need to write before this leaves my memory. nothing too eventful, though. StudIT made a day trip to Stuttgart. like i said earlier, i bounced around a lot. met a few new faces, ganz toll immer.

[Violet]

sorry to flip flop languages, but i've come to find that some phrases i can only express auf Deutsch. you can look up a translation if you really care. diese Dinge sind schon nicht so wichtig.

um, yeah. Stuttgart. not exactly the prettiest town. it's nice to have a city close by, though. i guess. i'm more interested in snowboarding at the moment. i couldn't go to sleep the other night after Eva said she could bring my board. i'm still debating matters with money, but i think i deserve to have one indulgence (and prep for moving out west). =)

[Schwäbisches Oktoberfest]

not much else is going on before the semester. had a small get together last night with tons of dip, hamburgers and on the fly potatosalad. i'm using the leftover meat for chili. thank you so much to my father for packing Gewürze into film canisters for me (and then to Mom for having the sense to label them with something other than numbers). Leben ist ganz besser mit lecker Essen! i'm enjoying sending my photos as postcards. it's expensive, but something i purposefully prepared myself for. leave your address if you like mail that's not bills. i eat Joghurt for little kids because you get magnets with letters of the alphabet and a corresponding animal. i'm totally going to have thunder thighs when i get back to the States because of the hill my Wohnheim is on. it's already below freezing at night. can't wait for that snow! ... or Weihnachten in Irland ... or the semester to start, for that matter.

suchen einen Platz

2009-10-11T22:20:00.007+02:00

i guess it's time to settle down now. the day after Startkurs ended, people had already left for home. i had a small dinner get-together with Shiori, Adam and Diana. things started to unwind. Tuesday we had a more official dinner from Shiori, Miho and Asahi in Fichtenweg.

the photos aren't great. i'm still learning the new lens. apparently it is much more sensitive to color, especially in combination with the low light. i've also found how the short DoF can be have a lot of contrast in close quarters.

still, it's nice to focus (on content) more. editing these images gave me a new perspective on my environment over here. it is definitely not as wild as the Sommerkurs. since i took these photos, David has had an italienisch Abendessen and i've begun planning an amerikanisch Grillparty while the weather is still nice. it will be interesting to see how our networks develop.

maybe i just have a complex where i always think i'm different, but it seems a little off since i've been in Tübingen longer than others and established friends all over the place. i had to leave dinner before all the fun started to try meeting my StudIT mentor, Jasmin (unsuccessful AGAIN). i spent most of the trip to Stuttgart bouncing between Startkurs people, my roommate's friends and StudIT staff. i left David's dinner for Elisée from Sommerkurs. by the time i finally met Tandem partner Gregor yesterday, i didn't even know who i was.

maybe i just need to get a cell phone.

ein Objektiv haltet meinen Herz

2009-10-11T00:09:00.014+02:00

so, i've finally gotten off my lazy ass and learned a few things about glass. i knew i was lacking in the aperture department, but not this much. i can never go back. just like how i will probably never go back once i get a full frame camera. though, the short depth of field has gotten me using auto focus more often. call me a sell-out, cheapskate, whatever... i can't afford eye surgery and i would still choose getting more lenses over it anyway.

[memories of Gianluca, Alice und Elisée]

sooooo back to the 50mm, he is my newfound joy. i waited diligently for the UPS man to return (after the weekend!) and promptly went out shooting. i had completely misread an email from my Tandem partner and ended up blowing an hour in the Mensa. no problem. i was definitely occupied.

i still OWN at Tischfußball, btw.

[what i wished my bicycle looked like]

i wandered around die Altstadt for a bit, getting used to the length. i really should make an album of my exkursions in the Altstadt and call it 'Sessions with Martin'. i swear i run into him every time i have my camera out. we're going on three now.

i was still exploring even when i got home. since it's a portrait lens, naturally i had to play with shitty shots of myself. i dunno, maybe it's more interesting than a hand towel on my desk. it's all quite boring and any photo majors are probably still flabbergasted that it took me this long to get something f1.8 and fixed.

oh well, more fun to come. i played with motion as well. it seems to happen a lot lately. also, the aperture still won't do without a flash at a lot of indoor functions. get used to the fuzziness. i'm not perfect... yet.

noch ein andere 'zwitte mal'

2009-10-10T19:33:00.006+02:00

i was very pleased that the weather was still warm enough for another ride on the Neckar. this class was better prepared, bringing food and drinks. our Stocherkahner was fun as well.

[Klasse 1 with Tutorin, Felicitas]

he let a few students try their hand at Stocherkahnfahren, which was a hoot of course. Pavel was first up. we zigzagged our way down the river, almost ending up on the banks at least twice. the response of the boot was similar to the Japanese girls fore. =)

[David's self-portrait]

Zahlina and Elvira followed suit, also with little success. our guide just laughed... while he got to sit and drink with the rest of the class. clever man.

[the apprehensive duck]

and so went the last Tutorium of the Startkurs. of all the second time around happenings, there were no goodbyes that wouldn't be undone in a couple of weeks, and that was comforting. i can't be getting too attached to all these second-chances, though. ;) i've got a feeling that i might still get a slap in the face once the Semester starts.

Nachmittag an der Insel

2009-10-02T18:04:00.010+02:00

one of my favourite places in Tübingen is a small island in the middle of the Neckar River. there are two rows of giant trees (always beautiful) and you get a perfect view of the leaning houses along the Neckar and in front of the castle. you can also see the famous Hölderlinturm. the houses are colourful and the light is perfect at every time of day, not to mention all the Stocherkähne.

i was leaving Tutorium and Diana looked bored, so i invited her along. we had a nice chat about artsy stuff (her parents have a gallery in Colorado) and the afternoon was as peaceful as the photos. shade v. light is really contrasty, which goes for screwy white balance and bad exposure, but i'm really not that bothered by the images. it just enhances the dreamy sort of feeling.

our next class activity was to be another Stocherkahn ride for me, so sorry about the excess of Stocherkähne. i'm still in love with them.

it feels good to go out just for the purpose of taking photos. earlier this day i bought a bicycle, so i will extend my exkursions through town and might not pay to travel far before the semester starts. we'll see. after all the walking, the bike seems so fast and i need a bit of time to adjust. i think it's helping me prep for a motorcycle, though. maybe it's just from how UNsafe the US is, but riding a bike makes me very conscious of everything on the road. also, i never realized how much i didn't know about a bicycle until after the motorcycle course. i'm catching on to the two-wheel concept pretty quick. =)

Oktoberfest (brauchst du Erklären?)

2009-10-01T14:33:00.020+02:00

so, i knew i wouldn't hear the end of it if i spent a year in Germany and did not go to Oktoberfest. enjoy.

the day after the Bodensee Exkursion, i got up at 5am so our 20some group from the Startkurs could leave on the 6.30 train to München (gotta have the real deal and not the Stuttgart spin-off). it was still dark outside! after the first train, we were packed like sardines in Tokyo. some people were already drunk.

[playing with bad exposures on the train]

because we left so early, i didn't eat more than a pear and, because of the packed trains, had no time to grab a Brezel between stations. i ended up by Patrick (from ECU) on the last leg and fell into the trap of speaking English. it was about sailing, though, which puts it up a tiny notch on the 'acceptable' scale. classic East Carolinian, he brought along a bottle of Cap'n Morgen. oh boy.

arrival: our group was too big, so we split at the station. Patrick followed me with Diana (fellow Ami, from Colorado) and her brother Pete (who lives in München) and a couple of his friends that were visiting (for Oktoberfest, of course). the whole day was out of the ordinary, because usually i avoid English speakers like the plague. but, what happens happens. still had fun.

[fliegend Bavarien]

it was like a State Fair, but a million times better. kitchy game booths, food vendors, portable amusement rides... didn't matter. all the Lederhosen und Dirndls made the experience worth it. i was expecting kitchy and fake, but it didn't feel that way. maybe it's because men look absolutely amazing in Lederhosen! yum.

the enormity of everything was pretty impressive too. just now i found an aerial shot on Wikipedia. whoa. and i walked through that big mess! all the walking was not as bad as all the standing. the morning after, my arms hurt something awful and i was very confused before i remembered that i had spent the whole day holding a liter glass full of beer.

[ein Festzelt]

i only consumed two, thank you, but i didn't eat until after that. bad idea. i guess i was too distracted by everything going on. i didn't get sick like the guy in the album, but had a 15min 'nap' in the city park. Pete claimed my camera, and so you have it: Sabrina passed out in public. had to share for the sake of entertainment and consequences of my actions. =) the lighting is pretty nice as well.

[16.00ish]

we had walked to the town center and checked out the giant Glockenspiel before the park (which had a couple beer-bikes? circling around, sorry no pictures). other than that, it was pretty much just the festival and Diana getting to see Pete. all was very enjoyable, though little Deutsch. i don't know how much of the day Patrick remembers. according to Diana (when she was the sober one), "at least you didn't speer bill."

the ride back was 5hrs instead of 3 and EVERYone was at least tipsy this time around, if not completely belligerent. the trains were running late and we had to run to the next platform at EVERY stop. once, i tell you. only once.

zweimal, aber noch schön

2009-09-27T21:53:00.023+02:00

Bodensee again. much more enjoyable.

as soon as i found out our departure time, i jetted off on my own. Konstanz is such a beautiful city! it had pretty close ties with the Roman Empire way back in the day and holds a lot of history in all the lovely architecture, gardens and statues.

[das Zentrum von Konstanz]

i wandered through another part of town from everyone else and finally got into the scene i remembered from the year before. tons of interesting stuff. definitely check out the album. i can't even begin to post everything on here.

[der Turm und ein Mann ohne ein Haus]

i really got into thinking about the presentation for SPE next fall. obviously i need photos, so i'm working on the door v. window idea. i didn't edit all that for the album (thought it would get boring), but i might load it separately when i get more images.

[Gesichter, Fensters und Türen]

i wasn't sure how far i had gotten away from our meeting point, so i hurried back and ended up with time to spare. insert silly little flower shots. the colors were very nice, to say the least. got a nice one with purple and gold for my ECU fans. there's also a Piraten Partei poster that i came across.

[der Garten bei dem Dock]

here is the highlight of this trip the second time around, though. the weather lacked beautiful clouds, so i took pictures of our group for two hours straight. people got used to my camera pretty quick and the images are a lot of fun. makes me even more impatient for that 50mm!

[Ana, Shiori und Miho zuhören Japanisch Musik]

[schöne Magda, Adam und Pavel]

also, Weingarten was much more enjoyable with a more open aperture and a wider angle. everything's still a bit blurry without a tripod, but i'm actually proud of myself. the fastest shutter speed was a whole second long! i appreciated the Basilica for what it was worth, even though the repertoire on the organ was exactly the same.

[Füß von der Engel]

there weren't as many motorcycles to fuel my lust, but the hills were just as nice. i've got more fun photos from the bus ride. all in all, i kept the photography streak strong and was happy with the variety. i should be, after filling a 2GB memory card and then some more! i'm also impressed with my time spent editing today. one more post to come about my first Oktoberfest experience. oh boy.

Abend um Fotos

2009-09-27T21:20:00.010+02:00

so, i've finally gotten into the swing of things photo-wise. Oli, a fellow photographer from Sommerkurs, invited me out for a photo shoot in the beautiful Tübingen evening. while waiting, i found a three-legged cat, some boys in playing badminton in the street and a group of girls singing. i love the space that i have over here, time to think.

[spielend Jungen]

it was also nice to have company. i've been missing the art program a bit; impromptu photo outings with Nick, Bayaro, Aileen or Deanna. we went to Tübingen's castle just in time for a gorgeous view of the city and some nice dusk colors.

[Kugeln]

i ordered a 50mm/f1.8 on Amazon. i need to have a fast lens for indoor stuff here. i also hope to get some really sharp portraits. all my purchases now are pretty long term and i want to get good equipment that will carry over for when i can afford a full frame digital camera. i think i'm going to follow in Nick's footsteps and get a 5D with the same setup of my 30D. oh well, that's a ways away.

bis dann.

[the south part of Tübingen and the Neckar]

Überraschung-Geburtstag-Party!!!

2009-09-23T18:52:00.004+02:00

oh, how i love Italians! i was walking home and ran into Gianluca trying to find me to tell me about a surprise birthday party that night for his fiancé, Erika. i had been running errands and was a little tired, so i rested in my room for a bit before i realized that i needed to head out primo fast to even have a chance of finding a florist. in my rush down the street, i did a quick u-turn when i saw a neighbor out tending her garden. mind you, i am speaking with an elderly lady with years of weight added to her dialect. i manage to successfully ask for some of her lovely flowers and run back to my room to change clothes. i then proceed to walk from Lustnau past Fichtenweg (4.4km) in the rain. don't know the Bus Linien so well, and just assumed that i would run into Nm.5 somewhere along the way. nee. i finally asked a lady at a grocery store and she pointed me to a Bushaltestelle that had a group of people speaking Italian with a case of beer. bingo. the rest of the night was sold.

Brinuccia is totally my new nickname. i am also covering a cheap notebook with lovely paper from the wonderful paper shops for the ever so nice Nachbar.

Leben von die Mönchen

2009-09-23T13:30:00.008+02:00

funny how churchs stand the test of time better than most, eh? as unreligious as i am, it goes to say something.

our first class activity with Startkurs started with a bus ride to the most densely populated dorm area, from which we walked over some hills into the next town. the transition was a little ironic and made me smile.

[Bebenhaus]

Bebenhaus is a tiny little town with a Cloister. by tiny, i compare it to Glen Hope. hence, the picture of the Firehouse/Townhall combo. much love to the fam. =)

[Feuerwerk und Rathaus]

i know, there are fifty million old churches all over Germany and blah blah blah, but like the castle ruins, you can't really ignore the history. insert tangents on Martin Luther that take me back to music history classes.

[das Kloster]

sorry for the lack of writing. most of the photos are all about personal reflection anyway. i'm being a good student throughout the day. i've only just realized how little English i speak (other than too much time spent here and on Facebook). i've got a nice spread to work with between talking with other Ausländers, to my very understanding Leherer and to straight up Germans. actually, the ten minute conversation i had with a salesperson at the camera shop was the most English i've had since the weekend. sehr gut!

it's no St. Louis to me, but i hope that history and i get a little more intimate in the future.

ein bisschen von Hause

2009-09-19T19:32:00.017+02:00

a bit slow on the editing, but this is from my last week in the States. two days before i left, my dad flew out to California to play in the National Senior Games. he and my high school wrestling coach finished 5th in badminton men's doubles. pretty good for 62. go Pops!

[die große Turnhalle von meiner Uni]

i'm seriously considering spending some decent money on a wide open aperture. still, i got to play with motion in the shots. sehr toll zu schauen! i've got to figure out what i want to prepare for SPE in March without being overly cheesy. any suggestions from the fine arts crowd?

[mein Vater]

the next Exkursion was nothing compared to der große Autoreise aus Juli, but this lovely little island has a place in my heart and i had to visit before i left. side note: when i have to describe meine Staat, i always mention Ocracoke ('cuz everyone LUUUVZ pirates).

[Luke and Dan playing paddleball]

in English, though, i can better explain the atmosphere of this place. there really is nothing else like it. one could say that people fall trap to it's allure and become beachbums, but what does this matter if you're truly happy? to each his personal own, but Ocracoke works for most.

[the ferry ride home]

natürlich i need something with a bigger rush, though. hence, the trip back to Swan Quarter was pretty fitting. my 'peace' of mind is better when thrown into unknowns. mistakes and mishaps are welcome. perfekt is relative just like everything else. ACHTUNG! leave now and go look at the photos if you don't like philosophic babble.

so, over here i feel right at home when everyone asks why i do things. i was a little defensive at first, with memories of the ever prude Amerika, but i gain confidence as my German improves. actually, i explained to a German dude last night that the language is so hard for me because, as an artist, i think on the level of subjective verbs and naturally, this is pretty advanced grammar and way over what my skill can handle at the moment. he was very supportive and i got a little boost about being a good American representative.

don't take the crack on the US too seriously. perhaps i have grown to love my country a little more, but (back on the relative topic) it's no more than cultural differences. i am happy that studying abroad helps me better explain my knowledge, because i DO have it. even here in Germany, i can pick out who is truly open. our world, unfortunately, still has a bit too much hate for my taste. at least, they take hate too seriously. i know i'm a bit of a free soul, but everyone has contradictions. zum Beispiel: i may live for the chaos, but it still needs tending.

which brings me back to my broken idea of 'home'. i have definitely found that, though big in actual size, the US is not big enough for me in/by mind and perhaps this is why i am plagued with wanderlust. Germany has proven the same, even with the restriction i have language-wise. again, don't think too negative. i am currently calling Amerika 'home', but for different reasons than most assume. namely, it is figurative as well as relative. =)

i could keep going. don't know where the energy level came from, but i should channel it in the direction of learning German. i am totally pumped about registering for my classes and getting this show on the road. i guess the waiting is a decent platform for making myself a little smarter. i'm never one to waste time, even if i'm not physically doing something.

bis später.

wissen nicht für was man wartet, kann eine schwerige Notwendigkeit sein

2009-09-11T22:40:00.009+02:00

where do i start? after a weekend of rest and a solid week of editing photos and immatriculation, i don't know what to do with myself. since Saturday it has only been time for me to build up anxiety on my abilities this coming school year. it wasn't until Tuesday that i ran into some Lehrer i knew at the International House and had them talk down my silly preconceived fears. trust me, after the super fast-paced Sommerkurs, four days is like eternity. oh well, now i know a few more verbs, most of them in Perfekt and about half in Präteritum. still very slow.

[trockend Chili und Oregano]

my photos are taking after Aileen's study of her personal surroundings. nowhere near as elegant, though i am eyeballing a 50mm/f1.8 for 19€ at a local camera shop. i also bought a lambency shade for my flash. i have no earthly idea where i will be using it in the near future, but you might find some random self-portraits in my miscellaneous album. nothing special.

i always have the cows. there is one photo where i think they could hear my shutter and both looked up towards my window.

[Kinder von der Kühe]

Tuesday night i met with StudIT in the Ratskellar. it was wonderful to finally have real conversations! at the same time though, the past couple of days have been pretty boring in comparision. i mean, i make sure i go out every day. typically i just walk around shops and have snippets of dialogue with people in the store. i don't really like the idea of going out drinking by myself. it's kind of depressing to spend money with no purpose and it's not like i brought tons of clothes to dress for drawing attention. that's not my life in the States and it won't be here either.

which brings me to the question, what exactly, is my life going to be like here? nothing really begins until the school year starts. the wait is agonizing. who will i meet? what will be made from that? patience has not always been a virtue of mine, though i try.

[meine kaputt Kleiderschranktüren]

there are so many possibilities and i am open to all of them. i am waiting for things to happen, but with no anticipation, no expectations. sure, that makes adjustment easier, but what is 'adjustment' to me? i live most of my life like this. it almost dampens my motivation in a way, i guess.

i'm sure some people would say that thay would kill for this extended in-between time. i've been getting accquainted with everyday life, which is supposedly to hard for most, but has never been an issue with me. not to brag, but putting so much weight those kinds of differences are pretty childish. correction: pretty material, minus missing people from your environment. even then, though, i also call that somewhat material. i always rave about how well established a lot of my friendships are; to the point that i feel like they are always with me, despite not physically being present. not everyone is as lucky as i. i take back any condescension. apologies.

even the more distinct cultural differences, i was prepared for that. i am understanding. it's no big deal. the more subtle, but deeply burrowed characteristics, i fear, i do not have the language comprehension to understand. back to square one. i need school to start. i need to make friends with German-speaking people.

enter my recent thought process. ie: nothing but worry. oh, how i wish i could just road trip alone.

[mein Lieblingsmotorrad in Tübingen]

okay, so i slightly miss having a car. the independance i associate with it and use to full capacity is ever valuable. even moreso, i wish i could ride a motorcycle. it would be a release and a development at the same time.

other things i have discovered: and undying love for small crunchy pickles and gummy bears. who would have thought? the pickles are a nice munchy food and the gummy bears are just plain addictive. i didn't realize how fresh they were! the pickles are also considerably cheaper than olives. oh, my vices. that is enough for now, though. i must head off to the flea market to have a nice walk and some interaction. tschüß!

Sommerkurs ist vergangen =(

2009-09-01T22:01:00.020+02:00

okay, i told myself that i would work back from the most recent photos and start off with a new post. took me two days. i've been pretty alone since the Sommerkurs ended and finally being able to work on my photography has been perfekt.

the past month has been chock full of fun and awesome people that i don't want to forget. here's our last day together:

[breakfast behind Hegalbau]

we got our final test scores, certificates for the course and time for goodbyes. our Leherin (Lena) and Tutorin (Sandra) were fantastic. we gave them gifts. kitchy, but full of love. besides, it's kind of hard to not be kitchy when there are some many different cultures trying to operate together in the simplest way possible in order to get things done.

[Lena practicing her new Ohashi with Yuko]

we also took time to relive our funnest moments, and make new ones! entertainment was never out of the question. even though i was disappointed how the course was mainly review, i wouldn't give the Sommerkurs up for anything. i have a feeling that i'll really appreciate the laidback attitude once things really get rolling at the university.

[Alice showing Takuya the video of us singing in class]

this hardly captures everything. ask me questions about people, places, moments, whatever! i could talk your ear off, but only if you want me to. ;)

[Alice and Giorgio acting out a bull fight]

after meeting with our classes, the whole group got together in the InfoZentrum. check out the album! we looked pretty silly with over a hundred people parading through town with balloons like little kids... or perhaps "99 Luftballons."

[walking up the hillside together]

still, i broke out the fisheye and got some great photos. it was the only way to get everyone, plus the sky was fantastic (fantastically horrible to edit) and one must have a beautiful sky when there are so many Luftballons. and yes, that was a big hill to hike up. it's not that exaggerated.

[setting our balloons free]

picture time again. with more people. again, ask questions. i've got stories for everything, plus more. ie: people who don't show up for things and are too much of a hater, Reece. =P

[Ayumi and Yuki]

the goodbyes were sad, but the hillside was pretty romantic. as much as one wants to say that the whole ordeal was cheesy, it still felt nice in the end. definitely more that can be put into words.

„quadratisch. praktisch. gut.”

2009-08-31T09:25:00.005+02:00

apparently all the other classes had an organized trip to the Ritter factory except us. Jessica wanted to get gifts for all her chocolate-lover friends and i thought it would be a lot more colorful than touring a brewery, at least.

apparently we still missed out on the chocolate museum. we thought a factory tour was something else that would cost more money. either way, we found a pretty kick ass art exhibit. natürlich, it was based on squares.

[rotating sphere made of squares]

yeah, yeah, squares are the easy way out. there's tons of stuff from fore like Malevich and what not, but i still enjoyed it immensely. every time you turned your head there it seemed like there was a composition of geometric shapes; formed from squares, though not necessarily making squares.

i also got really slack on my editing because of all the black and white. i think i need to take a break from the blog photos and do some serious work on ones to send as postcards.

[painting with angles based on π]

the squareishness reminded me of M.C. Escher and how mathematical he was. note: my references on similarities between things are very vague, just a product from my train of thought. you can see how far that has gotten me. *rolls eyes at self*

the chocolate shop at Ritter was no Willie Wonka experience, but all the colors were fun. if you're not familiar with Ritter Sport, all the chocolate bars are in squares and the different kinds are distinguished by different colors. my favourite: dark chocolate with hazelnuts. though, i decided i would buy something new from the factory. check this out, white chocolate filled with peach and passion fruit jogurt. crazy sweet. almost an overload.

[inbetween the museum and the chocolate shop]

also, check out the building in the album. pretty freaking amazing. i know, TONS of squares. everywhere. when does one call it over-thematic? i guess the squares are so square that they go with anything. okay okay, i'll stop.

on the walk back to the bus stop there was a random comical fountain. enjoy.

der Schwäbischen Alb

2009-08-30T19:09:00.011+02:00

minor Exkursion time! much better in a smaller group. it was basically the same size as our classes, but with new faces to talk to.

Bad Urach was the town where Graf Eberhard (ie: Eberhard-Karls Universität) was born. teeny tiny. BIG church. we hiked up to some waterfalls. very beautiful. not Bridal Veil Falls, but very nice. it was great to be out in the woods, fond memories of many many hikes. i found my teacher for the next course and one of the Tutorium, Clemens, is getting ready to spend two years in Eugene, Oregon. later, he and i had a pretty long discussion about microbrews.

meh, you get the 'picture' that it was just another activity for interaction. successful. here are some PHOTOS.

[playing with water at slow shutter speeds]

following the falls was another hike up to some castle ruins (every town has them, on top of a hill of course). i can't complain too much about the steep hikes. the view is always worth it. we were especially lucky because initially it was supposed to rain all day. die Wolken in der Himmel made the feeling even more dramatic.

[some of our crew on the edge of the ruins]

this place was very peaceful. it kind of reminded me of St. Louis and the Arch. i am still amazed at how that structure can be plopped in the middle of a city and have the same effect. one cannot ignore the history attached to ruins. Germany still has a lot for me to unlock while i am here.

wo ist mein Kabel?!

2009-08-29T19:07:00.008+02:00

so, i happened to find some unedited photos on my portable harddrive. for lack of aktuell fotos, here is a tidbit from a roadtrip to Dallas, TX this past April. the Society for Photographic Eductaion had their national convention there during a regular school week. our university had a scholarship that paid for your plane ticket and hotel, but of course we only have money for four undergrads and four graduate students. in short, my buddies Bayardo and Nick were with me in saying "oh well, we're still driving!" and so we went on our merry little way for 20hrs.

i don't know, maybe there is something about being around so many other photographers, but i wasn't feeling too in to it. hence, these photos never really got any attention. shows you have desparate i am to get you pictures from Germany, eh?

ein sehr sehr lang Tag

2009-08-23T17:51:00.012+02:00

week2 = big trip to Bodensee. big trip = waking up at 5am to meet the bus at 6:15 and not getting home 'til Mitternacht. not to complain, but i'm not a huge fan of group trips like this. you get all rushed and stuff. still, it was fun.

[morning fog]

first stop was old castle ruins. we had breakfast here on top of a hill looking down on the country side. the morning had a nice bit of fog going on, but by the time we had the nice aerial view, it was all gone. breakfast was nice. waiting a two hour bus ride for it was pretty painful. add 20 minutes on an incline. i ate two bread rolls with cheese, a pint of Joghurt, a Banane, a Bretzel and a cup of OJ, Milche and Kaffee (separately). sehr hungrig!

i didn't get the chance to walk around much, because i thought we were supposed to be hanging out together and would then have more time. nope. breakfast, group picture and then back down the hill. we spent an equal amount of time waiting on everyone to use the bathroom.

[Frühstück at Hohentwiel]

stop two: Konstanz. been here before. very beautiful. the architecture is quite stunning. didn't get a lot of pictures of the stuff i like because we had a group game of treasure hunt taking us to certain points. my group got distracted at die Kirche and took the time to walk to the top. by then we had to find a place to eat before meeting with the big group for the boat ride. let me just say, i love Italians! there is never a dull moment with Alice (ah-LEE-chey), Giorgio, Gianluca, Erika and Dario. fast forward to the bus ride home: everyone else is tired as shit, Gianluca breaks out his cell phone and starts playing Italian electronica while we're basically dancing in the back of the bus.

[Dario, Jessica and Gianluca in Konstanz]

Konstanz brought back a lot of unwanted memories of Asshole-E. on a happier note, i realized how attached to the water i have become living eastern NC. i saw a lot of people afraid of being on a boat and freaked out about me sitting on the railing. gotta love that air rushing off the water through your hair. Bodensee is a very big lake. not the ocean, but kinda close; TONS of sailboats and there always seems to be a Zeppelin in the air. btw, Friederichschafen was the site of the first Zeppelin flight.

[the vineyards of Bodensee]

there was something about the different types of boats. i felt like i got a little glimpse of the owner's character by what type they had. i kept seeing a certain style sailboat that was always leaning rather sharply, yet the occupants looked so at ease with how close the edge was to the water. sehr sexy! where is a man to take me sailing? ...and on a Stocherkahn. ;)

[my favourite sailboat]

we then had a quick stop in Friederichschafen. i was bummed we didn't get to see the Zeppelin museum. we basically just got off the boat and onto the buses for Weingarten. there was the infamous Orgel. 6,666 pipes! Die Basilica was goregeous, but i wasn't impressed with the music, just the organ itself. i instantly felt heartache for the music building and all our amazing professors. not to mention, Colin Andrews when he used to play for my mom's church. i wanted Bach's "Toccata and Fugue" in all it's glory! i've been singing in our little Sommerchor once a week, but it's nowhere near as serious as the SoM. got to get some information on Camerata Vokalis here at Tübingen during the regular school year.

[die Orgel in Weingarten]

the next part was killer. the ride from Weingarten to the Höchsten Berggasthof (for amazing Schwäbish dinner) was through beautiful rolling hills that reminded me of PA, complete with passing through tiny little towns AND at least 50 motorcycles passed our bus! it was the perfect day for riding and there are so many riders everywhere, everyday. all i can think about is how much of my riding knowledge i'm losing. you have no idea. heartbreaking.

the last leg was pretty gruesome. from Weingarten to Höchsten was at least an hour, plus our bus got lost. then it was at least another two hours home. like i said, long day.

der Roman von Tübingen

2009-08-23T16:06:00.009+02:00

from my very first day in Tübingen, i noticed the Stocherkähne. think of Venetian gondolas. there is a little platform on the tail end where the Stocherkahner(-in) stands, usually barefoot, and uses a very long pole to push the long, thin boat down the river. it's very shallow and hardly has a current at all. the boats have slots where you slide in a wooden plank to lean back on. just yesterday afternoon there was a group of four boats, one with a string trio playing arias for the others. amazingly romantic. wish i had my camera that moment. =( usually there are a bunch of people in the Stocherkahn with a picnic basket of food and wine, but there are more intimate moments too; a father with his kids or a man with his date.

[another class out on the Neckar]

i was elated to find that our first class Aktivität was a trip on a Stocherkahn. after the episode with Bayardo ;) i was a little nervous about bringing my camera, but it was all gravy. the Stocherkahner was having a lot of fun rocking the boat and hearing the Japanese girls in our class squeal. it seems as though they are really hard to tip, but i don't exactly know why. there's not a lot of the boat showing above the water.

[the Japanese expression of anxiety]

after riding along the Neckar, our class met with a couple other classes at the Biergarten on the river. being the first week, this was our first time with real exposure to the other classes and i really enjoyed talking with new people.

anywho, the Stocherkähne are special to Tübingen and i'm game to learn how to move them around. everyone says it is hard, but as long as it was just me, i think i could do it. it would make for a nice afternoon with any visitors (hint, hint)!

[me at der Neckarmüller, compliments of Giorgio]

es tut mir viel viel leid, aber keine Fotos

2009-08-22T09:22:00.015+02:00

of all things in the world, how does a photographer forget the USB cable for her camera? i will add photos as soon as the mail comes. promise.

so, here i am in Germany. for a year.

i had the most awesome last night with my friends possible. didn't leave the bar until it was almost closed; had to pull myself out of one too many hugs and kisses. danced my heart out to Of Montreal while packing the last bit. got two fat hours of sleep. took a shower, loaded up my carry-on, locked the suitcase and headed out the door.

the trip was not bad. i organized my musik and photos in the four hour layover at Charlotte. the movies were good. i was occupied. most of the plane ride i spent thinking about how i wasn't thinking about things enough. perhaps i felt ein bißchen desensitized from traveling my summer away in the States. maybe i was awkward with having everything fall into place perfectly after months of anxiety from the chaotic mess it took to make this happen. it was just another day and it was so normal that i didn't know what to do.

the most miserable part was the train ride. the ICE was packed and i spent two hours sitting on my suitcase with my head resting on the wall, having to move out of the way as people tried to walk by and find seats. on the regional out of Stuttgart i managed to get a seat and held on to it with my life. actually helped a French exchange student understand the train system with my very rusty two semesters of German.

Tübingen: my suitcase is an inch too big for the lockers. this is just about the 24hour mark after minimal, drunken sleep. i have 25€ in my pocket. it is half an hour before the student housing office closes. i walk uphill two blocks with all of my things in the summer heat wearing jeans and a hat (for my airplane hair) before i decide that this is a bad idea. i turn around and go to the youth hostel. i get the key, tuck the suitcase out of my sight and plop my butt on the bed. no roommates. the brilliant high noon sunlight shines it's bratty little rays all over me. i open the huge European window that i love so much, take a shower and set out to find the nearest place to buy Apfelschörle.

i have abandoned the hiking boots for the trusty Rainbows. after a Schokoladecroissant mit meine fizzy apple juice, i proceed to walk to campus, walk around campus, find the international house, find the cafeteria, find the place i must go to the following Monday (it's Friday), inspect the bus schedule at the stop on campus, find a map, find how to get to the Studentenwerk, find out how to get to my yet ficticious dorm, plan my bus route for getting to these places, walk to the Altstadt, check out some of the shops, decide against getting a Dönerkebap, walk past the Kirche, promptly get lost in die Altstadt, walk some more to get myself unlost, walk back to the bridge where i can turn to go back to the hostel... i see a bank across the bridge, walk to the bank, set up the bank account i don't need for another month, walk back across the bridge, debate getting a Bier at der Biergarten, decide against it, walk past the hostel, walk along the river, sit at a private boat dock, walk back to the hostel, inspect the tourist brochures, go back to the room, meet a roommate, she leaves, i look at my suitcase, decide not to open it, read some of my German grammar book, look at the camera i have yet to use, read my camera book, take pictures of the room, play with the flash, make use of the cable Nick gave me, read a little more German grammar and decide that 10pm is a good time to go to sleep.

that was 'day' 1.

[view from the Jungendherberge]

insert two more similar days with more sociable roommates and lots of broken German between an American, Brazilian and two Japanese girls; complete with more getting lost on foot and double the distance getting unlost.

luckily, the first day of Sommerkurs was only check-in and a small evening gathering at a restaurant near your respective dorm. i was glad to discover that the address i used to make the bank account was indeed the address that i would stay at for the Sommerkurs AND the Akademikjahr. i had a lot more paperwork than the other students since i'm staying for the year. my dormroom is very small (just like Umstead/Slay, but no roommate) and the hallway is very dungeon-esque, but i have one big square window and all that i can see out of it is a hillside with cows.

[das Fenster in meinem Wohnzimmer]

omg, what more could i ask for? i keep the blinds shut at night, so the early sunrise doesn't wake me up and my first action of the day is opening the window wide. it is also the first thing i do when i come home. for those that don't know, i LOVE European windows. you can swing it open like a door or crack it at the top, which keeps out the rain. practicality at it's finest. yet, it seems to also make for a fine topic in a senior show. hmmm... =)

[die Kühe]

i'm still feeling normalcy problems. i have been trying to spark some emotion with nicknacks from home. nothing. there is nothing weird about being thousands of miles from my homeland. i love my friends. i would love to talk with them. i would love to hang out. but, i don't miss them. i miss giving them love, for sure. i think of them when i do things they would like to do. i see tons of gifts they would like, but i really really really have to be conscious of money over here. i'm running off of savings. fixed income. REAL fixed. actually, no income at all, really. AND the dollar is not worth as much as the Euro. oh boy.

no worries, i'll get a better idea soon. the Sommerkurs isn't a good example. i didn't realize the big difference between me and people that are only here this month. i get a bit more respect for that. feels good. i've met a few folks that will be in Tübingen with me too.

all in all, stuff goes good. i've already learned so much, language-wise AND culturally. the Sommerkurs is great for giving me a glimpse of TONS of other countries. really, every day, every moment, i learn something new. i definitely dig that! i hope this post wasn't too much; had a lot bottled up for the past few weeks. for some reason i thought this blog was worthless without photos. then i realized how much stuff i would have done by the time i actually got the camera cable. that's not including all the editing i would have to do on top of that. silly Sabrina.

i also hope the blog makes due for lack of individual contact. like i said, we'll see as stuff unfolds. tschüß!

[„Aufwiederseh'n, kleinen Koffer!“]

making the heat of the summer useful

2009-07-21T23:54:00.016+02:00

one thing that i did not miss about North Carolina is the ridiculous temps and humidity, not to mention the FLATness! my grade school friend, Charles, thought it was an opportune time to have a water fight for his twin girls, Sadie and Ellison.

a quick history on Greensprings Park: we used to come here quite often with PVC pipes covered in foam and duct tape to look like swords and beat the crap out of each other. i mean, it WAS somewhat organized. we had hit points and such, plus certain games like Village v. Ogre.

basically the girls were our excuse for not growing up.

[Sadie]

[Ellison]

[the twins' mom, Sarah, with her twin, Courtney]

it was baby parade with my friend Dan's nephew, Sam, in with the bunch. never too young to use a water gun.

[Sam and Eva]

Sam's dad, Matt, is an instigator. you might notice in the album that the first picture is him and Katie. go figure. that is definitely how the course of events opened. in this photo, the ladies retaliate.

[Matt, Aaron's girlfriend and Sarah]

here is a very common expression the whole day. granted, one gets used to getting shot with water. i believe Garrett's face is especially agonizing due to someone filling their gun with melted ice water. it was quite the shocker. you never knew who had the cold water, so it kept things on edge.

[Garrett]

and yes, there are people older than us that never grew up. Charles' dad doesn't seem as lovable now. =)

[Eva and Jon]

all in all, it was a very fun day. we kept going long after the kids left. now, Jack and Dan have been notorious for pairing up. this is just a good example. also, Katie never chooses sides. she's basically out to annoy everyone and will turn on you in a heartbeat. poor Charles attempts to be the valiant knight against the Jack/Dan duo.

[Charles, Jack, Dan and Katie]

sorry there's not a lot to write about. i take that back. i'm just sparing you the book that i COULD write if i elaborated any more. the group dynamic is something that just can't quite be explained. insert a myriad of inside jokes that have accumulated over the 10+ years we've all known each other. i hope the photo album is even half the entertainment we had.

home sweet home?

2009-07-19T02:27:00.018+02:00

so, here i am. back in Greenville. 3,000 and some odd miles added to my odometer, and my life (my car is a douche and resets the trip at 1,999... as me, Bayardo and Nick disappointedly found out when we drove to Dallas).

[actual mileage = 3,320]

i came back to State College from Glen Hope on Wednesday around noon. my laundry was already clean and there was minimal packing to be done. the Mikes wouldn't be off work for a while, so i parked in the Pugh St. garage and wandered around campus.

the variety of buildings is pretty awesome. i know the album may seem boring, but i was checking out all the different styles of architecture. i kind of made a game for myself out of trying to guess which department was in the building by the aesthetics of the structure. for all you Penn Staters, i tried to keep the names out of the pictures so you can try to remember them all. ;)

[Old Main at Penn State]

i only saw about half of main campus before all the solo wandering got a little depressing, so i stopped and did the touristy thing of amusing myself with all the ducks around the Alumni Center. mind you, half of campus means takes about four hours to cover, which i equal to the distance i walked in Pittsburgh's downtown.

[bunny and ducklings]

i walked around downtown a little more, found a hat shop, had pizza at The Canyon in the Canyon (where all the 'high-rise' apartments are) and discussed They Might Be Giants with the cashier. by the time i got back to the house, Mike and Mike were home. i went with Little Mike to Sarah's for a few goodbye drinks with her and the roommates, Andrew and Alex.

for some reason i am still surprised about the trail of common interests that runs through friends of friends. from Lyndsey to Steve to my 79-year-old grandmother's friends, it's all been a good time and i could easily hang out with these people on a daily basis. hopefully Facebook and all those business cards can keep some of this alive.

anywho, awesome last night with friends, filled the gas tank, good sleep and warm goodbyes in the morning. i was definitely ready to attack an 8hr drive. Virginia was hell-ish as usual, but there were no stops 'til i ran out of gas just north of Rocky Mount. i saw the traffic ahead was almost at a standstill and quickly cut across two lanes thinking 'omg, i'm too hungry to wait getting to the next exit.' then i took whatever road that was just to get away. it wasn't long before i ran into my usual route off I-95, and everything was cake.

[an average meal on the road]

Katie wasn't at the Holly St. house when i got off the Greene St. Bridge, so i headed over to my mom's to pick up my cat. oddly enough, my dad was at her house using the Internet. she came home from work to me fixing potato salad (i think i have been on a cooking rampage ever since i complained to Luke that school took up too much of my time to refine my culinary skills) and her friend Stuart came over, so it ended up being a four person dinner. i stayed talking and drinking beers with Stuart until at least 1am, took Sugi home and barely recognized that i was in my own bed.

well, that's that. i wish i could say that i learned something, but i pretty much just reinforced what i already knew. travel is more 'at home' than actually being at 'home' for me. if 'home is where the heart is,' it only makes sense that MY home is wherever my friends and family may be. doesn't narrow things down much.

oh well, time to tackle the first of my consequences from this trip.

[bugs on the front of my Bug]

for Pap

2009-07-15T16:04:00.003+02:00

both of my grandfathers were called George. both were great men, but this is the only one i knew in person and i was his only granddaughter. yesterday my grandmother wept on my shoulder. he married her when she was sixteen. he served in World War II. he worked in the coal mines. he worked building the local infrastructure. he volunteered with the fire department for 29 years. he was the fire chief. he was town mayor. he had a carpentry shop in his cellar. he mowed the grass at the town park. he tended his garden. the last week of his life, all of his children were in his house with him, the house they grew up in.

the family loop

2009-07-15T04:37:00.005+02:00

okay, if i finish this post tonight, i will be completely caught up! that's four in one day, thank you. my grandmother is already commenting how much time i've spent on this today. =P

Saturday evening i made sweet tea, potato salad and burger patties in a birthday celebration that the Mikes and Sarah could join me for. Tim had a week off and was in town with his college buddies, so i finished off the Arts Fest partying with them. Sunday we went for a bike ride and kicked it at Greenwood Furnace on the lake. that night was more of my cooking and a little LeBatt.

i need to head back to North Carolina soon, so i decided that Monday was a good day to make my way to Glen Hope to see my grandfather's grave. i have also been itching to drive up Wycoff Run to my dad's old farmhouse and take photos. insert long, useless discussions with photo profs.

[where my father grew up]

the farmhouse is in the tiny not-even-a-town Inez. imagine a Japanese family of seven farming in rural Pennsylvania. well, being post WWII, they couldn't own land without a sponsor of sorts. theirs died with only a year or two left on the mortgage and, since none of the heirs were willing to pick the family up, they lost everything and had to move into Coudersport.

it's easy to see from 872 and we always passed by it driving to Coudy when everyone still lived there. my dad has given me a detailed tour of the former farm many times as a young child, to the point me and my cousins would roll our eyes when him and his brothers started babbling about it. still, the significance runs deep. like i said, long discussions with photo profs. the place has a lot of baggage that i don't feel like sharing with pretentious fine art floosies just yet.

the house is pretty big and, though the roof fell in the front, the inside is still sound. there's a lot of someone's junk, hence the 'no trespassing' signs, but i still climb in the window, of course. i really wish i could have done this with my dad and hear all the stories again; maybe newly resurfaced ones. i have a notebook full of medium format negatives from that house, with tons of tales to be told.

there are some cheesy abandoned house photos in the album that have no importance to be shown on this page.

[my favourite road]

part two: Wycoff Run. this is the summertime route from my mom's family to my dad's. i've prattled about how much fun it is to Tim several times, though it wasn't a prominent memory in his bank of motorcycle rides. he left State College the same day and was headed in the direction of the farmhouse, so he asked for the coordinates to check it out. since i was so close to Coudersport, i had to stop by. my cousin Trevor is the only one still living there and his wife Jen was home, so we chatted for a bit. we really didn't think our timing would match up, but Tim texted me while i was still in town and we ate at a local place. i was very disappointed that Erway's was no longer open. everyone in the family always ate there. even so, the waitress at The Maple Leaf knew my dad. Kuratomis certainly leave a mark.

sorry, back to the road. i typed it in Google to plan my route, but a YouTube video popped up before i even clicked on GoogleMaps. you should check this out!! we only took Wycoff in the summer because the road was closed in the winter. you have to be careful in the mornings and evening due to fog.

[George B. Stevenson spillway]

going away from Inez, the spillway comes up before the Wycoff's real serious curves. Tim and i stopped here before he went off for some serious riding. not that my driving is not serious too. ;) i try not to go over 65mph, though. my theory is: i can handle 30mph over the recommended speed easily and the actual speed limit is 35, so i shouldn't get any bad surprises. fair enough, right?

[wrong-turn landscape outside Karthaus]

after a day of very fortunate events, i winged it on my way to Glen Hope without directions, a map or Garmin. i may get off track, but i know the area well enough that i don't go too far in the wrong direction. hey, i came across another beautiful area. no loss.

after this trip of so many new homes, Glen Hope is the one VERY familiar resting place. Google it. props to you if you've heard of it before. there are definitely people from the same county who don't even know of it's existence.

Arts Fest fun

2009-07-15T01:33:00.006+02:00

so, i was lucky enough to land in State College during the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts. check out the website for a basic idea. they already have next year's dates. when i was planning this trip, anyone from Pennsylvania mentioned the Arts Fest. Greenvillians, imagine the Pirate Fest on a much larger scale. i did my usual Internet time at Schlow and then set out walking through all the vendors.

[Allen Street]

total time: 10am-8pm. oh, i saw everybody. of course, i couldn't spend any money (because there was so much i liked), but i talked with a lot of people too. raises my hopes for my post-college artistic life. along the way i met a past student of Bob Ebendorf, one of ECUs metal design profs, who gave me a note for him and Victoria Sexton, an artist who often has pieces at the gallery i worked at in Greenville, Emerge. small world.

if you don't know about Penn State, campus runs alongside the Loop, the downtown area contained by two one-way streets, Beaver Street and College Avenue. Allen Street is a road that crosses the Loop directly in front of Old Main, the first major building. Allen is packed with activities between Beaver and College, expanding into food vendors in front of the library (Schlow) and artists past that. the rest of the artists extend the other direction into campus. when they say 'Arts' Fest, they mean ARTS. there are dance and music performances as well, with many different locations for all four days.

[the Allen St. stage with Fieldstone]

i had started with the booths by the library and then worked my way down Allen to the ones on campus with a break for lunch at a pizza joint. the whole area was packed all day. note the photos i have of a guy preaching on the Corner. he's not quite as vulgar as the guy who comes to ECU, though. =)

[crowd crossing College Ave.]

[the gate in front of Old Main and vendors]

it was definitely an experience. i collected a lot of business cards. don't know if i'll check all of them out online, but it's nice to see new stuff. you should check it out in person if you ever get the chance. the Arts Fest has been around since 1967 and it shows in all the planning and work that is exhibited.

Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts.

Pennsyl-tucky my ass

2009-07-14T22:18:00.008+02:00

okay, here's the home stretch, love of my life and gem in my heart... Central PA. coming down from Buffalo, i opted for my path to go through the Allegheny National Forest. you know how i love mountains. well, after crossing I-80, those hills open up into lovely rolling farmland with a nice dash of trees and warm sunsets. US-322 plopped me down right off Atherton at my uncle Mike's house in State College. oh, it's nice to finally rest, and what better place?

the next day i went with my cousin Mike to help his girlfriend, Sarah, and her roommates move into a new apartment. it felt nice to do something for someone else. also, since i used to drive a Silverado with an 8ft bed, i'm quite accustomed to moving people's stuff. i liked the whole crew from the start and it was a very productive day. By afternoon i had gotten a tour of town and dinner from Big Mike. then me and my cousin hung out at the new apartment late into the night.

July 8th was an laid back birthday. i found a card on the table since the Mikes left before i woke up. i looked up a camera store in the phone book and made my way to Beaver St. to check out downtown on my own. the shop was just a hole in the wall with nothing i needed, so i walked the entire loop and bought myself a pair of sandals on sale at this neat shoe store on College Ave. it was my birthday. i deserved an easy day and a nice treat. i found a grocery store and stocked the fridge with a few things. i fixed a rice and veggie dinner for me and Little Mike, going out to a local brewery for a couple pints afterward. not a big shindig, but very satisfying. the next day was devoted to the task of replacing my car's headlights and finding a place to fix my laptop.

i started the day using my two hours on the public computers, trying to catch up on the blog. then i found a foreign parts store in the phone book and came home to tackle the task myself, only to find that the front end of a Bug is packaged so tightly that i would probably have to take off the fender. that is definitely more than i can chew. i called the dealership in the area and the soonest they could schedule was the following Thursday. understand, i have been without both headlights for most of this trip and am sick of using my brights the whole time. i called a place i had passed by a few times and they were like "oh, you have the parts? we'll do it for free." apparently they couldn't do it either and referred me down the street a ways. that shop was booked 'til Tuesday. after that, i just stopped at every auto shop i saw until i found someone that worked on Volkswagons. i ended up paying more than it would have cost at the dealership, but at least the job was done.

anywho, after getting all wound up and nixing the effort for looking up computer shops, i had to drive out of town. the nice thing about State College is that all you do is turn a corner and you're out in country. i guess the past two days put me in travel withdrawal. off on 26 towards Rothrock State Forest i went.

[outside McAlveys Fort]

tell me that's not one of the most pleasant looking landscapes. for about thirteen years, i spent my summers in PA with my grandparents and now i realize how long it was since my last time. most of what i remember is lots of driving through the countryside. that's probably why the act of driving is so comforting for me.

[familiar scene through my windshield]

i went past Whipple Dam and Greenwood Furnace 'til i ran into US-22 and took 45 back towards town. no photos in the hills. there's not really a place to pull off and i enjoy the winding roads too much. ;) along 45 i found an Amish barn that was in the process of taking down. don't know when i'll come across that situation again.

[Amish barn skeleton]

scattered in all the rural stuff, you'll find huge luxury homes too. my favorite find are old stone houses, though.

[somewhere around Graysville]

the drive helped me get my head on straight again. insert philosophies on the journey of life and the stress relief of not knowing the destination. =)

the antsy photographer

2009-07-14T20:18:00.005+02:00

perhaps i went ahead too fast mentioning PA. the flight to Chicago got off to a late start and i amused myself by taking photos on the plane. there is only so much room to work with, but i popped out some compositions from the nothingness. slight glimpse back on my intro days. enjoy.

once i was in O'Hare, i still had a three hour layover. before having a few expensive airports pints, i roamed from concourse to concourse. note my earlier post: i love airport architecture.

[the O'Hare rush]

Independence Day at the Gateway to the West

2009-07-14T04:21:00.008+02:00

i looove flying in to cities at night. this night, the horizon had a perfect blend of the entire color spectrum. i know you can't really see it, but the photo is enough that you can fill in the gap.

[the night sky over St. Louis from the plane]

Tim is lucky enough to have a loft downtown, so i just put on some earrings and out we went. Saint Louis is definitely more than i expected. it's cleaner (and less cold) than Chicago, but still has a lot going on. not even a stone's throw from the loft is an outdoor bar with two beach volleyball courts and has a weekly tournament. most of the attractions are free too!

Forest Park is apparently bigger than Central Park in New York City and houses a golf course, a zoo, a substantial art museum, giant turtle sculptures and tons of picnic/pavilion areas. it was beautiful just driving through it.

[the mall in front of the St. Louis Art Museum]

the art museum had a little blip of an Ansel Adams exhibit, but the prints are still impressive. i liked the variety of what they had. it is always great to see artwork in real life. i value all the stuff in my art history textbooks, but they really don't do the actual pieces justice. the colors are ten times more vivid and the textures are irreplaceable.

i was craving coffee, so we headed to the Loop shopping area to scope out cafés. along the way was a pretty nifty thrift store with sub-culture trendy threads, shoes, glasses and WIGS. there were some very awesome cowboy boots, but i couldn't bring myself to even check the sizes. no extra money for luxury spending. people-watching will have to do.

[drinking coffee on the Loop]

right between the Arch and the Mississippi, you can drive and park on the Riverfront. very neat. it's an easy hangout spot, though most of it was blocked off for the Independence Day celebrations. we walked down for the fireworks the night before, which ended up much better than the actual holiday. it rained most of the day and the left over clouds kept all the smoke from blowing away, so the fireworks got masked out. bummer. apparently there are usually fireworks the day after also, but those got canceled.

[parking at the Riverfront]

the Sunday after, Tim mentioned wanting to go up in the Arch before his project in St. Louis was over. it was an interesting experience. the tram up is like an enclosed ferriswheel and you're in these tiny Star Trek looking pods that hold up to five people. i guess it's only fitting. the Arch itself is an interesting thing. i've seen documentaries on how it was made and the history behind it. very very neat. i'm a huge fan of our frontier history and the Arch is like its own museum.

[St. Louis from the Arch]

the Arch also lent itself to very interesting photos. i dig the design and it is definitely something you can't find anywhere else. that helped me open up a bit, i think. in a lot of the other photos in the album i was feeling very impersonal and cutting people's heads out of the shots. down at the Arch, in all its originality, i got out of zombie mode and back to my everyone-is-an-individual mindset. the Riverfront did the same thing. you've got the most random assortment of cars parked down there and people are all doing their own thing.

poo on all the people who think the Arch is a gaudy eyesore and waste of money. i'm all about how strongly the arts are supported in the MidWest. so what if it's 'weird'? because it doesn't exactly have a label to be placed under, i got the impression that people all got their own thing from it without strings attached. there's a nice sense of peace about that and i got that vibe from everyone there too.

[my beautiful new friend]

[line of horse buggies between the Arch and the Riverfront]

[sparklers by the Mississippi River]

well, that's that. it was interesting to have a skip in my travels. i was so used to driving to all my destinations. still, an enjoyable tangent to the big loop i have going on. parking in Buffalo wasn't bad. i kind of left the city in an odd blur from just getting off a plane, but i got a little juiced up after a few counties since my next leg was straight into Central PA in all its beauty.

end of the motor tour

2009-07-10T20:03:00.010+02:00

so, my dad used to live in Buffalo back in the 60s and told me about the original Buffalo wings, which were made at this place called Anchor Bar. i have also been lectured by a friend from Buffalo about the proper way to make them and how to judge them. i ended up parking close to downtown and walking ten-ish blocks to get to the bar. well worth the journey.

[good ol' New York hotdog stand]

Buffalo is pretty neat. it's got an old feel about it and lots of abandoned buildings like Detroit, but that's mainly on the outskirts. the subway runs underneath Main Street and pops up above ground in the downtown area so that there is no car traffic. i thought this was a rather clever way of manipulating the city via infrastructure. i also thought the highways were laid out nicely. reminded me of Dallas in that everything seemed to piece together well without having to do crazy things from intersection to intersection.

[Frank & Teressa's Anchor Bar, home of the ORIGINAL Buffalo wings]

i forgot to take one of the menus with me (they were printed on newsprint and had the story of the wings in the centerfold) and left without pictures of the motorcycles inside. maybe it was the delicious wings, beer and conversations at the bar.

back to the point of the trip to Frank & Teressa's: i can definitely see that these wings were the original. i mean, they were exactly as they should be; fried to crispiness, delicious sauce that's not ridiculously hot AND they were huge. i have been told that if you let the chickens get too old in order to obtain good sized wings and legs, you can crush the bones with your teeth and be a slight bit disgusted. nope, not here. straight, simple and to the T.

at the bar i met an older man who was really into photography, a marine that had lived in Jacksonville NC and a dude who had been snowboarding for 21 years. again, how can people not have things in common? got a bit distracted, though, and had to take a quick pace back to downtown. getting to the airport was cake. i didn't know anything about the price of parking, so i just went to the one farthest from the airport. there i had to depart with my buddy the Bug and put the road trip on hold for a while with some air time to visit Tim.

waterfalls are definitely wonderous

2009-07-10T17:10:00.006+02:00

slowly, but surely. i only get two hours of time on the computers in Schlow Library. gotta get crackin' on fixing the laptop at least to the point of Internet use. =(

so, i had the joy of being at Niagara Falls for the Canada Day fireworks. sorry no photos of the pyrotechnics. i had no idea on the time of festivities and didn't have my camera ready. then i really just wanted to sit and watch the show. got to try out night shots of the falls, though. check out the album, for sure.

[both the American and Canadian falls]

there were a lot of international people, which i thought was really cool. couldn't find a bar close by (that wasn't an American chain), despite all efforts. festival-ish stuff was set up at the end of the Rainbow Bridge was all pretty G-rated. i could have wandered deeper into the bustle, i suppose, but i was exhausted. there's been lots of walking on this trip; sooo much cheaper AND i dig the slow pace to absorb everything.

[Canada from the Rainbow Bridge]

i've seen tons of bridges on this trip and am getting quite attached. they each definitely have a personality of their own, especially ones that cross borders. the checkpoints at the ends compare to airports and train stations in their design. i think it's the union of motion and structure that draws me to that sort of architecture. the building seems more like a mechanism and not just a stolid mass. where's Nick to back me up?

transportation is just another thing that defines a city. Sandman readers, Gaiman talks about the fear of cities waking. i say that buildings like airports and train stations are the arteries that keep moving even while a city sleeps.

[the American checkpoint]

anywho, the American checkpoint looks great, but charges 50cents. wtf? i only had a five dollar bill and nothing Canadian the change machine could convert for me (it only had one option which i, of course, did not have). needless to say, i ended up with a shit ton of quarters AFTER i had to get change to do my laundry. there are worse things in life.

the next day i didn't feel like paying $10 to park again and just walk the same path. i paid the same amount, but this time on Goat Island, which i have never been to before. i saved the Cave of the Winds for another time and just walked around the park to the point by Horseshoe Falls and the small islands on either side of Goat Island.

i have got to get a friend who flies helicopters.

[Maid of the Mist getting pushed away from the falls]

the Falls got me on a camera trip and i used the Garmin to find camera stores on the way to the airport. no satisfaction. oh well, more time to kill walking through Buffalo.