27 March 2012

A Distant Place from Home x Whiteboard Journal


Traveling was like a dream to her. She saw things she had never seen before, touching things she would only see on the World Wide Web, meeting people she thought only exist in her mind. All of those above occurred during a half sabbatical year, spent mostly in a small city called Hildesheim with fellow exchange students from across the universe.

“A bunch of interesting creatures,” she thought. Not saying that she was not weird enough to be in the coterie.

Some say exchange students study not, only enjoy the excess fun of their travels. Well, she did a bit of study for she enjoyed playing around with arc torch and band saw. Metal flowed like a stream, saw dust flew like a tornado, silkscreen stood in between paint and the white space.

If culture is better experienced, then she could not think of any better ways to do it than to experience it in person. She traveled with no expectation but came back with a thousand stories to share. Who would have thought that half a year of holiday would be so challenging - indeed very eye-opening. It was half a year of collecting ideas and harvesting experiences. The happiest thing was probably riding her bike along the river, across the woods, into the wild, under the sun.

Dare you to put your life on hold for six months and slowing down your pace? She suggested dropping all your possessions for it means nothing compared to the joy of being young and restless. Take all the fuss away, do the paperwork, get yourself lost from your well-planned track. Mind you, do not get too wasted - or you might if you have worked hard, therefore go and enjoy your prize. Being present was the most important thing, for she would not waste a second of her life in the “land of poets and thinkers."

Brezel, bratwurst, and beer, with love she takes you on a journey to a distant place from home from the perspective of 1450mm from the ground. Not everything you will see is entirely true, for it is you to judge what is relevant and real to the self.

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