Day 14: Tourism

Today we presented our tweaked presentations to the client. We had a few hours left beforehand to fine-tune them. We changed a couple things and fixed a couple things in our presentation. Overall it was good. For lunch we had Domino’s pizza, kind of lame I know, but it actually tasted different from Domino’s at home. We headed out for the rest of the day to London. We all went together to a restaurant downtown. I had a meat pie, cause apparently that’s an English thing. We split up into smaller groups from there. My group went towards Parliament. We rode our first double decker bus. We also saw Big Ben, now called Elizabeth Tower. We saw the London Eye in the distance as well. It was good to do touristy things. Now we’re back at the compound getting ready for our free weekend. We get about four days off to travel around. The three other art guys and I are going to Ireland for the break. We’re hitting up Dublin for a night and then taking a train to Belfast for two nights. After we get back from that we’re going to work our butts off. I might not update for a few days since I don’t know what my internet access will look like, or if I’ll even have access.

Day 13: Follicles

Sorry this one is late, our internet went out yesterday and we just got it back tonight.

Today was a good day. We presented our concepts for the entry space in the main visitor building on campus. My group went last and I discovered that I don’t like going last. My group’s presentation was the best out of all four, but don’t worry, I had nothing to do with it. Our Profs had bad things to say about all of the presentations too, so it wasn’t perfect or anything. Since we finished our presentation we’ve been working diligently on making them better for tomorrow. We are presenting to our client tomorrow so they have to be professional caliber. We also reshot our last photo for the project we started last week. We turn in all of the edited photos tomorrow. After we present tomorrow we’re pretty much done for the week, which will be nice.

Today two of the other seniors and me were put on a team together to develop an App for the WYAM base here. It will be for smart phones and tablets. We haven’t started work on it yet, but I think it’ll be exciting. As far as I know we won’t be doing the actual coding. What we’ll be doing is designing the front end of the app. We will design what it looks like and each of the different pages. We’ll also design what the interactive elements will look like. I’m excited to start working on that project.

So today I went into town and got a haircut, actually I got all of them cut. They cut off a good six inches or more. I was tired of having long hair. It always gets in the way and it always gets gross if I ever skip a shower, I don’t know how you ladies do it! Also I thought it was time to go back to the haircut of my youth; the comb over. That’s right dad; we match again! Also, I am so stinking happy with my hair it’s ridiculous. I love short hair, and I lasted longer with long hair than I thought I would. It was a long (get it, long) adventure. And if you want to see it, check out Facebook; there’s a before and after floating around in the interwebs. The only real complaint I have about it is that my ears are cold.

I’d like to give a shout out to a special lady in my life. It’s my mother’s birthday today. From the very beginning I’ve given her trouble, especially with the whole trying to die at birth thing. She’s put up with a lot over the years and usually does it with a smile. She’s one of the most caring and loving people I know, and she’s also one of the best cooks too! She has made it difficult to find someone that is wife material because I’ve seen what a great mother and wife looks like, and that’s not easy to find. I love you dearly and look forward to the next time I will see you. Happy birthday!

Day 12: Brain Dead

Today was a bit of a break for me mentally. I started by skipping breakfast and sleeping in until nine. It was glorious. I finished editing the photos from the project last week, which is a large amount of stress that ended. We spent the day before lunch working in our groups getting presentations ready for tomorrow. We’ll be presenting our concept for an interior space here in the main building where the offices and café are. We also presented our group ideas for the prayer walk in the woods today. It was nice for my mind to not be freaking out the whole day. It feels good to slow it down a little. We’re still working on a lot of projects but my brain doesn’t realize it, so that’s nice.

It was nice to put some of the things I’ve learned here to practice. Things such as, don’t question the creative/art director. Things like that have been a bit difficult to get the hang of. I don’t mouth off or anything, I just like to insert my opinion, which usually conflicts. It’s been a very humbling experience. I’m glad I’m actually learning from this trip and not just sweeping my experiences under the rug. It’s definitely a different type of learning than I thought it would be. But it’s very good. Today was also very exciting in the realm of my personal work. My buddy Max and I figured out some cool stuff for the future, which I’m super pumped about.

One thing I realized I’ve missed here is a day of rest. We had three days off from work, but they were just as busy and full of things as the workdays. God gave us a day of rest and I need to find a time to rest. I also need to find time to spend with God. My time and relationship with Him has been lacking since I’ve been here. We’re so busy that it’s hard to find time for Him, but I need to put aside that time. I think it would really help.

Sorry I’ve been posting short lately, my brain is fairly decimated. Oh one thing I did want to say that I forgot the other day. When we visited Salisbury Cathedral, I licked it. That is all. Goodnight. Oh oh, I’m super tired of my hair too, and I wore yellow pants today. Ok, peace out!

Day 11: Design

We started working on the big design project today. It was mostly brainstorming and research. I’m also still working on the photos from last week. It was another mentally draining day. There is a lot happening and I wish I could tell you what all that is, but my brain doesn’t have the capacity to work it all out right now. I just wanted to give you a little something from the day. It was a long day.

I had a cup of tea, which was wonderful. I played some volleyball, which was short and I did less than wonderful. I had a good talk with some of the guys tonight and figured out what to do to resolve some conflict. So I’m going to be figuring that out in the next couple days. Also, I really want a haircut. Sorry for the short post, like I said, it was a long day.

Day 10: Beauty in the Simple

Today was our last day off before jumping back into work. We woke up at six in the morning and were ready to leave by six thirty. We all hopped on a bus and a little over two hours later we arrived at Stonehenge. It was pretty cool to see in person, but also somewhat disappointing. Some things, like the Grand Canyon, you have to see in person. You see photos, and in person it’s so much better, Stonehenge isn’t really like that. I feel as though it is as impressive in photographs as it is in real life. I’m still very glad I got to see it, but it was a bunch of big rocks. I’m sure there are those that would staunchly disagree with me, however.

After Stonehenge we went to Salisbury Cathedral. So very good. This is a cathedral I have literally studied before. I’ve studied photos and even paintings of this cathedral for years now. It was so amazing to see it in person. I would compare my experience of Salisbury Cathedral to that of the Grand Canyon, it is better in real life. The spire is so tall it’s ridiculous. The size of the cathedral as a whole is extremely impressive. Another thing that is so impressive about this particular cathedral is that it was built in thirty-eight years, so unlike many other cathedrals, it only has the elements of one architectural movement; and now I feel like a nerd.

For lunch I tried some authentic English fish and chips, not my favorite thing about the day. To salvage my lunch I stopped by a bakery and everything was all right in the end. From there we went to Lacock Abbey and Fox Talbot Museum. It was an abbey that is fairly rich in history, but the main attraction is the fact that this is where William Henry Fox Talbot created the first photographic negative. Another distinguishing factor about the abbey is that parts of several of the Harry Potter movies were filmed there. And just down the street in the small town is where Harry Potter’s house from Godric’s Hollow is. So that small little town definitely has its claim to fame in a couple different ways.

We ended the day with dinner in downtown Harpenden. It was a long day and the bus made me sleepy every time I was on it. With all of the busyness and running around of the day, it was easy to get lost in it all, but one of my favorite moments of the day didn’t involve grand ornate architecture, or mysterious stone structures. One of my favorite moments of the day came from listening to Beirut and Alexi Murdoch while watching the English countryside roll past with all of the green and yellow. It rains here quite a bit, or so I’ve heard, so everything is green, and there are also fields and fields of what seems like endless yellow flowers. The flowers are grown for rapeseed to make cooking oil. It is one of the most beautiful things I have ever had the blessing of seeing. It’s funny that at the end of the day, I saw centuries of man made buildings, some of which are so grand and beautiful it left me in awe. But the grand works of man aren’t what I remember best; it was the simple beauty of yellow as far as the eye can see. It wasn’t in the exciting and grand commotion; it was the calm and subtle beauty that caught my eye the most.

Day 9: Tired Feet

Today we spent the day in London again. We went to St. Paul’s Cathedral for church this morning. It was my first time at an Anglican church. It was also my first time drinking booze in church. For their communion they use actual wine, wine is gross, I definitely don’t like it. The service was very good. It definitely was not Baptist, the sermon was only about ten minutes. It was a liturgical service, which is good because I like liturgical services. There were lots of robes involved. The cathedral itself was the most impressive building I think I’ve ever been in, or at least close to it. Since we were there for the actual church service we weren’t allowed to take pictures. The cathedral was not only a massive building; it was ornately decorated with statues and gold leaf engravings. It was cool to see architecture like this in person. I’ve studied buildings like this for years and it’s nice to finally see one of them in person.

After church we went to a modern art museum, Tate Modern. There were some really cool exhibits there. There were also some really stupid pieces there, or at least I think so. It was very cool to be able to see, in person, some of the art that I’ve studied. It was exhilarant walking around the corner and seeing a Piet Mondrian painting. I’m so familiar with his paintings, which isn’t a large accomplishment, that I instantly recognized it. There were also several installments by Dan Flavin that were exciting to see. It’s strange to see art that I recognize, but have never seen in person. There were numerous other artists that I could go on and on about, but I will refrain. Outside the museum there was a guy making huge bubbles. That was extremely exciting also.

We had to be back at the compound by seven for dinner, so with what time we had left we went shopping. We went to a place called Primark. It is only in the UK and I have known about it for a couple of years. They don’t have an online store so you can only get clothes from there while over here. I’ve heard good things about it so I thought I would check it out. The clothes are pretty cool and the prices are cooler. The day did not seem as long as the last few ones have, but my feet feel like it was still a long day. I’m getting pretty good at navigating the Underground too, which is pretty cool. Now for a night full of relaxing and photo editing, and away I go!

Day 8: London Adventures

Today was a vacation day. We didn’t do any work; we only did touristy activities. We all went to downtown London today. We started at London Bridge. It was very big, and contrary to popular belief it was, in fact, not falling down. We went to the Design Museum after that. There were a lot of new inventions displayed that haven’t hit the market yet that were intriguing. After that we went and ate our bagged lunches and went to the British Library. We saw an exhibit on propaganda, which was curious. In the library they have several treasured documents. I saw original manuscripts from Shakespeare, Leonardo Da Vinci, and the Magna Carta. Sadly I didn’t get to touch any of them.

We went to a place called Camden town. You know in the movies when people are walking through a very crowded market where there’s no space to get through and there are vendors all over? That’s what Camden town is like. We walked around there for several hours. Got some lunch from one of the local vendors, and hopped on the Tube to discover other parts of London.

I talked to lots of people today, which was quite fun. I talked to too many to remember all of the conversations but I’ll tell you about the most memorable ones. The first man I talked to was playing the violin down by the subway. He was from Brazil and said that when people with cameras that are rude to him get too close he “licks their lenses.” He also told me that I was more polite than most people. The second very memorable conversation I had was with a gentleman that was with a group of Hare Krishna. They all came through the train station dancing and playing music and passing out literature. It was quite exciting. I talked with him for a while about his beliefs and what they were doing and why they were dancing around. I got his email too! I’m going to convert him.

The night was filled with walking the streets. I got some good night photography and quite a few good videos. There were some street performers by one of the large intersections. There were several break-dancers, and one statue guy. He was dressed all in gold-covered clothes. Even his face was covered with a gold mask. He would stand motionless for several minutes until eventually he would move suddenly and scare people. It was intimidating. He was very good at standing still.

The day was filled with adventures. I also had the chance to get many photos taken! I have a bit of a back up on editing my personal photos since I’ve been working on projects so much. But they will appear eventually, don’t worry. My feet are very sore, and they don’t like me.