the crew

grecian beaches to crystal coast

sadly, my trip is coming to an end!

I am sitting in the airport in Athens, Greece... just said goodbye to the boys after a midnight ferry ride from the Mykanos Islands!

I am on my way home to North Carolina beaches just in time for 4th of July, nothing like fireworks from an airplane I guess...

But I think I am ready to come home, it has been a life changing experience... I cant wait to share more details... but for now I have to navigate my way home!

See you soon america.

Rome to Athens!

I know these are quick and I will elaborate later when I have some time!

After Milan, we made it to Rome! We have checked out the Colosseo, the pasta, the wine, the Vatican City, the Fountain and just wandered the streets. Everywhere I look it is picture perfect.

We are off to Athens tom. after we check out the Pantheon and just a couple of other Roman ruins!

Hey to all, roomies, I cant wait to see you all soon!!! MISS YOU

naschle praha, chow italia

hey all..

I do not have much time to write this post, but I had to say goodbye to Prague and I made it to Milan yesterday! We spent the entire day walking and shopping the streets of Milan.. we checked out the castle some cathedrals and got denied from seeing the Last Supper (apparently you need a reservation). We are Rome bound tomorrow morning around 11, so we are still on the go!

I am having the best time, cant wait to post all of the pictures once I slow down!

See you on the 4th of July!

Most bizarre thing I have EVER done.

This is going to be the most random post, I just got back from this experience and I just need to get it all out.

Today for our STS class, most of the class went on a trip to a model concentration camp... for the rest of us who had other classes to take care of we just had a normal day of class. UNTIL Bob says, "Well classs" pronounced well claaa-yus.. I found this amazing place and we are going to go today. Its going to be a little walk, and we are going to have to wait in line.

We walked out the door ... it was basically a double wide in one of the side streets with a line of people waiting to get in. It is a cafe that is run by blind people, and the money goes to support the cause... honestly it was amazing. The place is completely dark, absolutely no light. We had to walk in groups of four.. holding onto the shoulders of the person in front of you. The first room was a waiting room so that light would not shine into the cafe each time a person walked in. Instantly I felt enclosed and ready to turn around. I was very uncomfortable with the dark and not knowing anything around me, but I could not turn around because I was leading people behind me.

Finally hands grabbed mine and led me to a seat. The entire time we were saying each others names and explaining what was happening to let the others know where we were. We sat down, everyone was talking about how we were automatically hunching because we couldn't figure out how tall the ceiling was, or where the walls were, or how close we were to the people beside us. Our waiter came over and told us to place our hands on the table, he found each of our hands and asked us what we would like to drink. We ordered and he came back a little later with our drinks and knew exactly who ordered what. I was on the end of the table closest to him, he found my hand instantly and placed the mug into my palm.. all so carefully. Then even though I could not see him I could feel him reach over and do the same with the others at my table. He served us milk and sugar by tapping the items into the palms of our hands. Talking to us the entire time. How he managed to find his way through out the room is unreal to me. There were atleast 10 tables in the cafe, music playing, people talking, you could hear the coffee machines running. After about 20 minutes I became totally relaxed with the situation.

We were trying to imagine what the room looked like, what color the table was, what color the coffee mug was...everything.

Being blind has always been a HUGE fear of mine, because I feel like it would completely handicap me from being able to see graphic design. I feel so selfish saying this now. After doing this I have an overwhelming feeling that I can not even describe. I just said to myself, if it does happen... there is a way to make it.

When the coffee was done, they took us by the hand and lined us up to leave. I was holding onto someone I did not know, and guiding my group behind me. It was just amazing how sensitive we all were to the touch, even when the waiter found my hand, it was so comforting to know that he was there.

When we finally stepped outside, the sun was so bright and I just felt like I was shaking a little. It was like limbo or something, because all of the sudden I had a grip again.

One of the most memorable things I have ever done, hands down.

http://svetluska.centrum.cz/clanek.phtml?id=2

check out the photo gallery here...

Back from Berlin

Ok I am so behind. I still need to post up a TON of pictures, but I will put them on flickr.

I went to Berlin for the weekend, and loved it. The only let down was the bauhaus archive... we had to find our way there, only to find out that it was under construction. We still got to see the building and a small little set up of things, still way cool. I picked up some postcards to make a little something when I get home.

We saw the Reichstag, had a little beer in the beer garden, and then went to the Holocaust Memorial. The memorial was amazing, something that you would never be able to understand unless you go. The space is covered with cement rectangles of all heights. It seems like they are all on the same plane, but once you get closer people start to disappear because in the middle of the space the floor goes down. It was like a maze, but it makes you confused. Such a good solution to the memorial.

On day 2 we went to the Berlin Wall, and then we were on the Metro and saw a museum with an airplane on top... decided to go. It was a technical museum that had an old viking boat with a sail that went 4 stories up in the museum, old planes, and machines/engines... I really enjoyed the displays the most. I will have to post some pictures.

After that we went to the Zoo which was smack dab in the middle of the city, and I feel like I paid money to see animal cruelty. It was awful, the animals were in cement walls behind bars with a random stump to play with. Yes, they were feet away but they all looked so sad, skinny, and just depressed. The animals were completely out of their element, and it seemed like they did not even try to make it seem like their element. I could rant about this for a while...

All in all, we made it home on Monday morning at 3:00 am. The night train arrived in Prague at 12:30 and since the Metro stops at 12:00 we had to find our way back via tram... which takes forever because they don't run like they do during the day. But its always fun to see this city at night, so it just added to the adventure.

PS-

Here is the typeface I have been working on here... inspired by prague.

Update on some work I am doing.. just in case you forgot

my beer stache

So yes, I am here for school... sometimes I forget that.

Last week in Usti we had to make posters... spit them out quick so we could play at night.

Yes I will toot my own horn, mine seemed to be a hit with the Czech students... I am not ultimately satisfied with it yet.

Here is my poster, it has a shape that is defined by the path we took on our "journey"... the words define the path because we got simple directions to guide us in the right direction.

No Map No Direction