One of the best parts of this Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship has been the opportunity to meet dozens of Rotarians across the Netherlands. I have given Rotary presentations at many Rotary clubs here. I have talked about West Virginia and shared facets of my amazing home state. The connections and pals I have made through Rotary have been blessings. When I did not have housing my first two weeks in the Netherlands, who housed me? A Rotary family. When a friend was visiting, who hosted us for dinner? A Rotarian. Rotarians were also there to help me get my first bike, and help me acclimate in every way to this new country.
Of course, this is all possible because of the Rotary clubs in West Virginia who believe that sending young people to other countries as cultural ambassadors helps both Appalachia and the world, by spreading goodwill and increasing knowledge. Thank you all~! I want to also thank my host club in Utrecht for inviting me to go on an all-expense paid trip across Europe tomorrow. For the next sixteen days I am helping chaperone 30 high school students on a tour of Europe. Without the Utrecht Rotary club (which I would not know without West Virginia Rotarians!) this trip would simply not happen.
Though I have been to a few incredible European and Scandinavian countries this year, there is still much to see. I visited Paris—amazing! I went to Berlin for a class trip—eye-opening; and visited family in Stockholm Sweden in winter—cold and unforgettable. However, there are so many places in Europe to go to. The truth is, I’m not as fearless as I would like to be. While an intrepid adventurer on my home turf—America—when it comes to being abroad, I sometimes get cold feet. I’m not one of those folks that hops on a plane each month to visit a new country(something many of my friends do while abroad, and something I applaud them for.) Sometimes someone has to light a match behind me to get me to jump! For this reason, I am so fortunate to have been invited by Rotary to visit a host of countries for two weeks. Rotary is the match, and I am sure I’m going to have one blazing-awesome time. When I get back I will supply you with colorful words about the trip. My schedule is the following: Berlin (3 days); Prague (2 days); Vienna (2 day); Venice (2 days); Rome (2 days); Barcelona (3 days); and Paris (2 days). It is going to be an awesome trip! Thank you all.
Paula
Friday, May 27, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
The Beauty of Song or Surprises in the Library
I am in the library studying; no surprise. Then----music!
The main wing of the library has been converted into a concert hall. The room is capacious, open space extending for six floors. The acoustics are superb.
I do not know what composer they are playing. Bach? The melody is everywhere, reverberating off lamps, rising off books... Dancers, clad in blue, dash across the floor. I have prime seats by my computer which is behind the fantastic live orchestra and about fifty-fold-out chairs for the ticket paying audience. It is a full house.
The performance does not last long enough. The stage is cleared.
Afterwards:
“Did you manage to study,” a gentleman asked. “I didn’t want to,” I said. “I watched the whole time.” And I did not tell him that for the previous two-and- a-half-hours I had been bewitchingly mesmerized by their rehearsal, rarely lifting my fingers from my keyboard to type. Later, I congratulated the performers.
The welcoming surprise library concert was great. It reminded me of a few things.
Paula’s List of Things the Surprise Concert Reminded her of:
1. Think outside the circle. How many of your doors are white? We can paint our doors different colors! Or, even paint designs on them (a turtle, rabbit, sunrise, mountains.) Or, an even more radical idea, we can not have doors, we can travel the world for a year...
1. Everyone has an artistic gift to share with the world, creativity is a mindset, and there is so much we can give to each other through song, dance, writing, art, and the things we make everyday—whether we put a birdhouse together with help from a kit, craft a desk in our woodshop or knit a scarf at the breakfast table for our sister or grandchild. There are so many people in my life and family that are creative. They make things all the time. For some reason, I never thought of them as artists, as creators, but, they are. One does not have to make money from art to be considered talented and unbelievably creative. Here I would like to give a little shout out to my Uncle Tim, who can make nearly anything from wood!
2. Music reminds me to be ambitious. I am reminded of Lady Gaga, the current best-selling pop-singer who said in a recent New York Times article, “I have a one-two-punch: ambition and drive.” The point is, creating something amazing takes work. Hearing the superb violinists, cellists and violists today reminded me of the value of discipline and hard work. Without hours of practice and an intense love for music, the sounds I heard would not be feasible. I am reminded to pursue excellence.
3. There is always time for music and nobody is too busy to enjoy art. Maybe this is the voice of a student with time on her hands speaking, but I want it to be true for everyone. I am reminded of an article I read a few years ago in which the Washington Post paid a concert violinist to play in the D.C Metro station for an amount of time. The musician was video-taped. It was rush hour. Later, the journalist doing the story analyzed the film and saw that hardly anyone stopped to listen. There was an exception: children. They all stopped, craning their necks, before being tugged away by their busy parents. The point of the article was to stress how we rarely take time to enjoy beauty when it is staring us in the face. To read this fantastic article, which ended up winning the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 2007 See: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html (if this link does not work type Pearls Before Breakfast into google)
4. Most importantly: I am reminded of how much unexplained, unexplored and unexpected BEAUTY surrounds us at every turn. I hope I spend more time with eyes open to it!!!
As I am posting this blog something wonderful happens: A second performance begins... Studying will happen tomorrow.
The main wing of the library has been converted into a concert hall. The room is capacious, open space extending for six floors. The acoustics are superb.
I do not know what composer they are playing. Bach? The melody is everywhere, reverberating off lamps, rising off books... Dancers, clad in blue, dash across the floor. I have prime seats by my computer which is behind the fantastic live orchestra and about fifty-fold-out chairs for the ticket paying audience. It is a full house.
The performance does not last long enough. The stage is cleared.
Afterwards:
“Did you manage to study,” a gentleman asked. “I didn’t want to,” I said. “I watched the whole time.” And I did not tell him that for the previous two-and- a-half-hours I had been bewitchingly mesmerized by their rehearsal, rarely lifting my fingers from my keyboard to type. Later, I congratulated the performers.
The welcoming surprise library concert was great. It reminded me of a few things.
Paula’s List of Things the Surprise Concert Reminded her of:
1. Think outside the circle. How many of your doors are white? We can paint our doors different colors! Or, even paint designs on them (a turtle, rabbit, sunrise, mountains.) Or, an even more radical idea, we can not have doors, we can travel the world for a year...
1. Everyone has an artistic gift to share with the world, creativity is a mindset, and there is so much we can give to each other through song, dance, writing, art, and the things we make everyday—whether we put a birdhouse together with help from a kit, craft a desk in our woodshop or knit a scarf at the breakfast table for our sister or grandchild. There are so many people in my life and family that are creative. They make things all the time. For some reason, I never thought of them as artists, as creators, but, they are. One does not have to make money from art to be considered talented and unbelievably creative. Here I would like to give a little shout out to my Uncle Tim, who can make nearly anything from wood!
2. Music reminds me to be ambitious. I am reminded of Lady Gaga, the current best-selling pop-singer who said in a recent New York Times article, “I have a one-two-punch: ambition and drive.” The point is, creating something amazing takes work. Hearing the superb violinists, cellists and violists today reminded me of the value of discipline and hard work. Without hours of practice and an intense love for music, the sounds I heard would not be feasible. I am reminded to pursue excellence.
3. There is always time for music and nobody is too busy to enjoy art. Maybe this is the voice of a student with time on her hands speaking, but I want it to be true for everyone. I am reminded of an article I read a few years ago in which the Washington Post paid a concert violinist to play in the D.C Metro station for an amount of time. The musician was video-taped. It was rush hour. Later, the journalist doing the story analyzed the film and saw that hardly anyone stopped to listen. There was an exception: children. They all stopped, craning their necks, before being tugged away by their busy parents. The point of the article was to stress how we rarely take time to enjoy beauty when it is staring us in the face. To read this fantastic article, which ended up winning the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 2007 See: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html (if this link does not work type Pearls Before Breakfast into google)
4. Most importantly: I am reminded of how much unexplained, unexplored and unexpected BEAUTY surrounds us at every turn. I hope I spend more time with eyes open to it!!!
As I am posting this blog something wonderful happens: A second performance begins... Studying will happen tomorrow.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Studying in Napoleon's Palace
Spring gets into your bones and does not let go. I love this weather. I wish Dutch weather was like this all year! Today I biked home the entire way (23 minutes) with no hands! (minus stopping and sharp turns…) It was a good day overall. Lately, my days are dedicated to my thesis. Oh, the thesis! I have two months to produce something worthy of my Dutch masters degree. Ready. Set. Write! For the most part I enjoy the reading and the writing, though I do get momentary sunshine envy when I see peers strolling outside or sleeping in the grass! If I was not able to bike to and from the library each day (getting both exercise and sun) I might go loco. However, soon the thesis will be packed away in my little suitcase and summer will be here.
In the meantime, I look for good study spots. I spend my days in various locations with a book across my lap, or my laptop propped on my knees. Unlike some people who have A Special Corner in The Library where they study, I study wherever. Yesterday you could have found me lying in the grass beside a canal, half-way hidden behind a tree’s shadow. Today, it was a park bench in the center city.
You can tell I am working on my thesis because certain things in my day have changed—such as the cessation of most social activity, irregular meal and sleep times, and bike bags that will not snap shut they are so stuffed with reading material.
I have been pretty pleased with the libraries in Holland. The library in Utrecht’s city center used to be one of Napoleon’s homes. It has elegantly painted tiles on some of the walls, gesturing towards its former glory days. It is presently undergoing renovations, and therefore crowded, but Note: One can usually find a free room up the back staircase.
The other library I use on the new university campus is like a big, black, shiny box. From the inside, this “library box” is transparent. There are images of bamboo etched all over the walls and when light comes through, bamboo shadows streak the floors. Another neat feature is that all the walls are actually revolving windows that are temperature-sensitive and automatically open, depending on the weather.
Another favorite library is the Amsterdam Public Library, though I have only visited twice. That library has a piano anyone can play. It also has amazing light fixtures, rotating art being exhibited and Mac computers with chrome mouse, keyboard and screens that look so new they could have been made in 2016. Perhaps the only thing the Amsterdam Library lacks are....sheep. (The new Utrecht library has lambs grazing beside it.)
So now, off to the library, for another productive morning in which I research food, identity and slavery, and the intersection between the three.
The cool Amsterdam Public Library
New Utrecht University Library (on the Uithof Campus)
The Utrecht City Center Library (one of Napoleon's former homes)
In the meantime, I look for good study spots. I spend my days in various locations with a book across my lap, or my laptop propped on my knees. Unlike some people who have A Special Corner in The Library where they study, I study wherever. Yesterday you could have found me lying in the grass beside a canal, half-way hidden behind a tree’s shadow. Today, it was a park bench in the center city.
You can tell I am working on my thesis because certain things in my day have changed—such as the cessation of most social activity, irregular meal and sleep times, and bike bags that will not snap shut they are so stuffed with reading material.
I have been pretty pleased with the libraries in Holland. The library in Utrecht’s city center used to be one of Napoleon’s homes. It has elegantly painted tiles on some of the walls, gesturing towards its former glory days. It is presently undergoing renovations, and therefore crowded, but Note: One can usually find a free room up the back staircase.
The other library I use on the new university campus is like a big, black, shiny box. From the inside, this “library box” is transparent. There are images of bamboo etched all over the walls and when light comes through, bamboo shadows streak the floors. Another neat feature is that all the walls are actually revolving windows that are temperature-sensitive and automatically open, depending on the weather.
Another favorite library is the Amsterdam Public Library, though I have only visited twice. That library has a piano anyone can play. It also has amazing light fixtures, rotating art being exhibited and Mac computers with chrome mouse, keyboard and screens that look so new they could have been made in 2016. Perhaps the only thing the Amsterdam Library lacks are....sheep. (The new Utrecht library has lambs grazing beside it.)
So now, off to the library, for another productive morning in which I research food, identity and slavery, and the intersection between the three.
The cool Amsterdam Public Library
New Utrecht University Library (on the Uithof Campus)
The Utrecht City Center Library (one of Napoleon's former homes)
Friday, May 6, 2011
Glass Houses, Boats & a Great Blue Heron
When the sun is setting (8:00) I go for a walk and search for art's best friend: light. I take pictures wherever I see splashes of sun. I notice greenhouses (glass houses, glowing from the inside out), people plying the canals in their canoes and motor boats, and, off in a shady corner: an eerily still great blue heron. Each morning I spot a different duck shepherding her flock of ducklings through the reeds. Here it is not difficult to notice nature changing, and animals being born all around. My spring is filled with nature's elegance. I hope, in your corner of the world, spring is equally beautiful. Whether it is taking a walk in the evening or saluting the sun as it rises above the hills, I hope you take time to enjoy it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)