traveling

It is hard for me to believe that I have been back in the states for 3 weeks and in less than a week and a half I will be heading to Wyoming where I will be doing the NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) Wind River Wilderness course.

I have been wanting to do a NOLS course for quite some time and this is the one that I finally got my parents to agree to but now that it approaches I am starting to get nervous. I know that everything will be taken care of but I am still nervous. I just have to remember that this school has the wonderful reputation it does for a reason.

London Calling

The internet at our hostel in London has not been great but it is working now so I can update you on my London adventures.

Tuesday, after a four and a half hour train ride from Edinburgh to London we walked into the hostel and basically had enough time to drop our stuff off and unpack a little and then we were off again. wE got on the tube and when we came up and walked a little bit there was Big Ben (he's not as tall as I had imagined), the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. We walked across the river to the London Eye which is like a giant ferris wheel that lets you see all over London. We went up as the sun was starting to set and had a magnificent view of the city.

Wednesday we watched the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. Then after that we walked through Hyde Park and ate lunch at a cafe there then went to St. Paul's Cathedral. I was blown away by St. Pauls, it was so beautiful (no pictures allowed inside though) and we walked up all the 500 and something steps to the very top. Wednesday night we went to different theater shows, I chose the Phantom of the Opera, playing at Her Majesty's Theatre. It was a wonderful performance and what made it better was that I had blackberry ice cream during intermission.

Thursday we started off at the British Museum which has a little bit of everything and I was overwhelmed walking though there. Then we went to the Design Museum which I loved. There was an exhibit on sustainable innovation which showed new products, buildings, etc that were making moves in sustainability including a solar powered boat, new packaging for puma, and recycling rain coats into bags. After that we went to the firm uscreates (http://www.uscreates.com/) and talked with Mary Rose Cook, one of the founders, about what they do. They were service designers but their main focus was changing social behavior. One of their recent projects was getting more people to get tested for chlamydia. Then we went to radarstation (http://www.radarstation.co.uk/) which was one guy who did more of managing and coordinating people to work on projects.

Friday we went to Prospect (http://www.prospectdesign.eu/) where we talked with Richard Eisermann who I was very impressed with. He studied at RISD and has lived all over. He has been working for quite some time and told us a lot about how he has made transitions into new things. We ate lunch at the Black Friar and then headed to Seymour Powell (http://www.seymourpowell.com/). I think everyone was pretty impressed with Seymour Powell. Out of all the firms we visited they do more of what we are specifically trained to do. Their main focus is researching the future and doing a lot of forecasting. After that I walked through the National Gallery where I saw Van Gogh's Sunflowers and Da Vinci's Cartoon. Then I went to the National Portrait Gallery and then a few of us went to see Date Night.

Today I went to an exhibit at the British Museum that had Renaissance drawings then to a little French cafe near the hostel for lunch. After that I took the tube to the Tate Modern Gallery and then walked to Westminster Abbey which was closed for visiting by the time I got there. I did get to see a protest against the war in Afghanistan which was interesting. Then I came back to the hostel and I guess I'm about to start packing for my last travel day, my journey back to the states tomorrow.

Arthur's Seat and Art Museums

Yesterday a group of us decided to go hiking. The name of the mountain/hill is Arthur's Seat and it is only a mile walk from the hotel and it was such a beautiful day that we couldn't pass it up. We prepared by buying pre-made sandwiches from Sainsbury's and then we left the hotel sometime after 11. We made it up to the top in about an hour and ate lunch there. We waited to hear the cannon fire at one (this is the way that the ships set their clocks) and then we went to another ridge and got an excellent panoramic view of the city and then we went down. Most of us got soft serve from the ice cream truck at the bottom and then we came back to the hotel.

Today I woke up and went to St. Mary's Cathedral for mass and then came back to the hotel as some members of the group were leaving for St. Andrew's. I decided not to go after seeing the weather and realizing that it would literally be an all day event. Instead I got directions to the Art Galleries and set out. The first two were about a thirty minute walk from the hotel. I got a little lost but I found a beautiful footpath by the river that brought me right in front of the Dean Gallery. It was a smaller gallery but had some nice Dada and Surrealist pieces. I ate lunch in the cafe there and then walked across the street to the Modern Art Gallery and walked around there for awhile and then headed to the National Gallery of Scotland which had pieces from about the 15th century up to the Impressionists.

I love Scotland!

Glasgow was amazing to say the least. We had a fun project that had us thinking in a whole new way. The day we finished our project we had a tour of the Mackintosh building. It was so strange walking around in this building after seeing so many pictures and learning so much about it. The building exceeded my expectations for sure. I was sad when the guide first told us that we were not allowed to take pictures but as I was walking through it I realized that pictures would not do this building justice.

After the tour we meet up with Sarah and her partner Lauren at a nearby bar where they both gave some advice on social networking and meeting important people for jobs, so really valuable information. We left to go get dinner after about two hours and went to a place called Bella Italiano that turned out to be a longer walk that we originally thought. However, it was worth it because it was wonderful food and we had 2 for 1 coupons.

The next day we had off until 4 which is when we were leaving for Edinburgh. I ended up walking through the park to the Kelvingrove museum. There I saw Dali's Christ on the Cross and a Monet, Van Gogh, and Matisse. After that I went to the Mackintosh House which was picked up from its original location and moved to the University of Glasgow campus. The house was amazing as well, I truly enjoyed that tour. After that I meet up with the group and we got on a train to Edinburgh.

Today I walked the Royal Mile and ended at the Castle where everyone was supposed to meet at 2. So after the group got together we went inside the walls and walked around all the buildings and saw the crowned jewels and the stone which the royals are crowned on. After that more walking and city touring.

Day 2 in Glasgow

Today we ate lunch at the Willow Tea Room, designed by Mackintosh. The lunch was small but very good. I had the ham and cheese and got honey and almond tea which had a smooth taste and was just sweet enough for my liking.

The main idea of the project stayed the same but individually we changed course a few times throughout the day. Aft the beginning of the day I was in a group of four working on improving the library for families and a tech geek. By the end of the day I was working with a partner on creating a system to benefit the unemployed and the system is run through the library.

I am liking the idea of service design, it makes a lot of sense when you really about it. Our leader, Sarah Drummond, started a company called Snook and he and her partner work on improving services by learning about emotions while experiencing the service. It seems very interesting and it makes sense that people would need to be doing this sort of work. I think it is something I will have to look into in the future.

The Design Factor: Belfast

We had an office visit in Belfast and I was very impressed with William Lee and The Design factor. William Lee gave an excellent presentation about the things they were doing in the office and then gave us all some great tips for getting a job or internship and just overall things for our futures.