that’s right… went all the way back to ireland for one night of drinking guinness… and it was totally worth it… actually… my flight home just went out from ireland so i had to get there and spend a great night in the air port where apparently irish highschoolers hang out after their proms… quite a strange night hahaha
anyways… last i wrote i had been in hamburg but since then i went over to england to see my good friends millie and alice and it was super amazing! it was really fun to venture around london and see big ben and get all choked up about missing my bestie in MPLS! i saw a show at the globe theatre so i can finally get credit for my theatre classes i took in high school! and i went to a bunch of art museums and science and history museums too!!! WOOOO!!!! then of course to brighton which was amazing… fell asleep on the beach and woke up to being rained on with a seagull staring me in the face… i think it was a sign of my deteriorating hygiene… **sigh**
after england i went to france for a volunteer work camp ! located in Altenach in the Alsace region (north east) of france where wine and wood times are a tradition! soooooooo good! we cooked all organic food from the farms nearby each night and even learned to cook with these two alsacian women who came to visit every other day! we worked at an oil mill repairing the walls that were made of cob (mud and straw) and it was really fun! i got super sick halfway through and everyone took care of me hahaha! in my sickening state it was hard to do heavy work so i took the extra clay dirt and made some clay for everyone to learn how to make coil pots! then i dug a hole and we had a huge bonfire / pit fire to cook the clay pots! it was great to end the travels in a nature center and clean my mind from the crazy holland life!
I am now home and cleaned up and shaven and i’m exhausted… i’m still not used to it and probably won’t be adjusted even when school starts… i have to go get my driver’s license renewed on monday so i will be missing the first day of class which sucks 
but i will see you all sooooo sooooooooon!!!
thanks to everyone in europe who gave me a hand in helping me out! whether it was a bike to ride, a place to stay, food to eat, or suggestions of where to go, i greatly appreciate it! thanks so much!
keep in touch!
PS: Ben… let me know if the number of pics is exploding the server… 
Hamburg has been an amazing place to visit! and I’m starting to think Germany is a cool place in general… 3 cool cities in this visit! Berlin and Bochum were earlier and pretty awesome as well!
But Hamburg is by far my favorite of the three!
The city is so beautiful and it’s kind of in the middle of what you might expect for a euro vacation… no sunny Mediterranean… no beautiful mountains… but amazing food, night life, side streets that are just as active as the center, happy people, and a river that runs through from the harbor!
I visited an art school while I was here called HFBK… it seemed interesting and i seriously thought of learning german and maybe applying! but my reality seems to think that i will be in the states for a bit after MCAD to try my hand at a studio practice and then eventually back to school somewhere… but it was in a really nice neighborhood and the advisors seemed nice
Simon has been a great host and yesterday we went to visit his grandma’s house in a small village an hour south of Hamburg! I beat the germans 25 – 13 at a game called Boule (like batchee ball ((spelling???))) We had amazing food and his 80 year old grandma had made so many pies for us to eat after getting home!! WOOOW!!!! I had american torte, mandarin meringue, and an apple cream pie… omg… so delicious… and to say also… I never knew how German I was until I came to Simon’s grandma’s house… We were the only young people there and all of the others looked exactly like my own grandma and grandpa… the same clothes, the same smiles… i was having major flashbacks of them… it was a really great feeling! I will really miss this place
I visited an art museum as well that had a show on Climate Capsules of the future and it gave me a lot of good ideas for my nomadic home that i’ve been seriously pondering and researching on for my senior year… I can’t wait!! Michael Rakowitz, Gordon MattaClark just to name a couple of artists
Also… photo exhibition by Nobuyoshi Araki… My Wife Yoko really great
And of course… I had a hamburger… and a bunch of bratwurst hahaha
goodbye hamburg… it’s on to Brighton to see Millie and Alice and this one place where my two best friends got married one day long ago… 
hope you are all well! time is going by so fast now and the adventure is so close to continuing into the states!
see you all soon!!!
It was a grand time… stressful at times… but i can’t start to describe how much I’ve grown at this internship. I feel like I have some sort of grounding on this art world thing and i’m starting to see how to be a living practitioner of aaaaaaaAAAaaAAaaart!
I said my goodbyes at work… it was nice…
I paid a visit to a bunch of museums during these last few days…
I held a bbq for 50 some people… ran that grill for 6.5 hours… made KC proud
I finished my chair…
I packed my bags… and now i’m headed for germany, england, and france… only one more month and this adventure will soon be done
If i ever come back… I will live somewhere… with other people… shipping containers are just not meant to be homes for such long periods of time…
thanks AVL… good lessons learned
Until next time! (if i have internet in the next countries to come i will keep this updated!)
see you all soon! can’t wait to hug everyone!!!!
It’s true… before I say anything else… let me just say that the world cup final was crazy!!
A lot of friends went to bars to watch the game but my three friends anouchka coco and chris went to find the public square! and hoooooooooly crap! there were so many people! we weren’t even let in to the main gated area but we were front in line for the fence behind the barrier so we all stood on the fence for the whole game… it was amazingly loud and super awesome but during the second half people started getting drunk and you could sense the craziness that was starting to happen… i fell off the fence once and scraped my arm and thankfully it was during half time when people were kind of chilling (which means playing drums and dancing) so people helped me back up! but then during the second half the whole ground was shaking… almost like an earthquake… people were lighting flares, running around with fireworks… police men had shields and helmets and smoke grenade guns… two people actually got into a fight and started chasing each other and the whole crowd started running! i seriously thought i was going to witness someone get trampled and i was going to be devastated!! now… not that i was happy for spain winning… but when they scored… the craziness really settled down and i myself calmed down too… so thank you spain… thank you for helping me not die in a stampede… but anyways… totally the highlight of this holland experience so far! WOW!!
As for the semifinal match that holland did win… there was celebrating in the street outside of the bar for a few hours… and i went home before it started to die down… it has been one crazy week…
also… working on a new chair…
went to a really beautiful beach that i could have slept at forever…
and have started to realize just how little time i have left!! AHHHHH!!!!
I’m not sure how much I’m actually going to get to travel due to money… but I will be visiting simon from MCAD in Hamburg to say for sure! I really want to see marco in italy as well and am currently looking for a host there so if that works out it works out (I saved some money from each paycheck though just in case i need some hostel money for seeing marco! hahaha!)
hope all is well in the states!
thanks again spain… i owe you one
oh yeah… i also learned how to make a sign that lights on fire… so now i can make fire sculptures… sweeeeeeeet hahaha
WOW only one month to go with this internship! It’s going really fast!
This week has been super crazy! We have been restoring some old projects including this white table, a big black tree (hanging tree), and a huge metal bar for Brand beer. It has been a lot of work but it’s going ok
This friday Holland beat Brazil and Rotterdam went crazy!! Everyone was in the street getting really “happy” and Giacomo and i rode through it all blowing vuvuzelas the whole way!
And then on saturday the tour de france time trial started and the grand departure goes right out of rotterdam today!! I made it to the time trials but there is a music festival today that I think i will be going to.
I hope everyone is having safe travels this 4th of july weekend!
miss you all!
This week has been one of the most exhausting weeks ever! and I’m not so sure the weekend will allow me to recover! I’m so tired!
We started the week at our new space down the street where we had to demolish the second floor and parts of the first floor with sledge hammers and crow bars… to say the least… we took a few more breaks than usual… everyone was sweating their butts off! i even had a two by far twist on me and a nail that was sticking out slammed right into my chest… OUCH!!! but it’s ok don’t worry!
each night i pretty much went to bed straight after the world cup matches… speaking of… USA is number one in their group! and they play Ghana tonight! i’m super pumped! the game was pretty ridiculous and full of drama… but it was amazing! and i kept imagining Brit’s Pub and being back home to watch with everyone! (even though most of you are all away also!)
I also started work on a chair!! WOOOO!!! making things again! (i would be in the studio more… but it’s required that 2 or more people are in teh studio to work… safety issues etc…)
This week was also the 50th anniversary of the Euromast tower… so tickets were only 1 euro to go to the top! it was so beautiful! and it really made rotterdam look like a beautiful place to live… which… well… hmm… nevermind… i think i’ve been jaded by ireland… rotterdam has a lot of events… but it’s pretty industrial and people keep to themselves… i need happy people and a balance of nature and city life… suggestions?? (minneapolis pops into my head hahaha! any warmer places?)
anyways… it’s been a crazy week… and it ended on a Friday at the beach… and probably the ugliest beach i’ve ever been to… industrial waste on the horizon, low tide = two miles of one inch deep water before you get to the deep water… but still… it was the end of the week… so it was just fine hahahaha! a nice break away from rotterdam
I am extremely ready to be starting MCAD stuff… and it’s going to be a really fast entrance back into the states… i get back to minneapolis on August 22… UGGGG!!! the day before school starts!!! hahahaha!
It’s been a while!
WOOO!!
things have been going great though! Two weeks ago we started a week long camping/performance in Bochum Germany for this exhibition off the side of the highway for unused spaces. It was really fun and a good bonding time for the studio
Then! the world cup started!!! I watched the opening matches in Germany and it was great! Just today i saw the second holland match in a bar here in Rotterdam and there were SOOOOOOO many people! and lots of orange!!
hope you enjoy the pics!!
lots to talk about! … but i’m going to keep it simple and let all the pics tell you about it!
went to Lennik to see the Studio Job show at Gasbeek Castle… amazing… really nice castle… really nice forest… really nice nature!!
then hung out in Brussels with Mathilde and we drank amazing Belgian Beer! really nice
then a good 4 hours of sleep… and a miraculous taxi ride to north station to hop along to paris! by bus!
arrived in paris at 10 am…went to the hostel… dropped off the bags…
went to eiffel tower… wow
went to louvre garden square outside places… wow
saw i.m. pei’s pyramid… wow
went to notre dame… wow
went to this beautiful park to picnic… wow…
went back to hostel to sleep
woke up next day for the louvre… 8 hours of wow!
went to arc de triomph… wow…
went home on the 11pm bus back to rotterdam!
what i learned from this trip? well… next time i travel… i really want to travel with someone else… the alone time is starting to get to me and i’m starting to look for more things to do to keep busy… i really miss minneapolis and all of my friends… but this adventure has much more in it for me! one day at a time!! this next week i am going to germany with the studio to build a farm and do a performance with the studio as a whole! I’m really excited for this week because i think it will be full of busy hours and time outside! we will be camping the whole week!! EXCITING!!!
i will send updates next week! i get back on sunday! i will try and ind a place to watch the USA game if possible in Dusseldorf … but i might miss the first USA match :”””””(
so the opening was a while ago… but i’ve been super exhausted… the vacation to brussels and paris this weekend really hit the spot… and my wallet! hahaha!
here’s some pics of the opening and transport etc
hope all is well in the states!
the opening is in two days…
that means this week ahs been exhausting… and while we had a three day weekend… mine and every other intern’s turned into a one day weekend… bahhhh oh well… it’s been fun at least… especially with such few people we can usually be a little looser with work and make more fun happen! LIKE OUTSIDE PICNIC FOR LUNCH!!! WOOO!!!
this past sunday i went to the beach in Den Haag… i really need to start looking up places and things to do… everyone else seems to be so knowledgable about what to do but i don’t know where to start! especially since public transport is kind of expensive… but i have to remember that holland is actually quite small… so getting out of rotterdam would be easy…
i’ve racked up some over hours though so after the opening this week i think i’ll be having a travel weekend… still need to go to belgium to see this show in gasbeek castle… really want to go!!!
this week has consisted of more work on this giant cannon, covering the horse and corpses in rice paper, and creating a support structure to transport it to the gallery… BUSY!!
hope all is well in the states!
WORLD CUP STARTS SOON!!!
also… btw… i was able to watch the champions league game in a bar with my italian coworker giacomo… it was amazing!!
also also… i made a small lantern for a candle out of some recycled schtuff laying around the studio! WOOO!!
also… sprinkle sandwiches… totally dutch… totally amazing…
