Getting to explore four different cities in another country for two weeks is definitely a life changing experience. The streets of Prague are extraordinary. I could not stop looking and taking photos of all the architecture. I felt like I was in a different world and I wanted to explore all day. The Berlin wall was amazing to see. All of the different artwork was so fascinating to look at. Paris is filled with so many different museums and sites to see. I got to explore the Catacombs, the Eiffel Tower, and Notre Dame. In London I enjoyed walking the streets and exploring the area. In all the cities we learned about the currency, tried new food, and got to explore areas we have never seen before.
We got to meet many different people working with new media in the short two weeks we were in Europe. My personal favorite part of the trip was learning about Cute Circuit. The company designs wearable technology. Ryan and Francesca launched their first design called the Hug Shirt in 2002. The shirt allows you to send a hug to anyone else in the world by recording the feeling. Recently they designed a mini skirt for Katy Perry for the iTunes Festival. The skirt changed patterns as she sang her new hit Roar and the light patterns went along with the song. This skirt is easily wearable and the battery is well hidden. They have worked on a lot over the years and are becoming even for advanced and working to make things easy to be worn.
The major highlights of the trip for me personally were learning about Cute Circuit in London, getting to see the architecture in the different cities, dinner with Michael Joyce, Exploring the Catacombs in Paris, and getting to see the different artwork on the Berlin Wall. I really enjoyed the dinner with Michael Joyce because he said a few things that have really stuck with me. He said a genius is someone who sticks with a stupid idea for a long time. He also said opportunism is making changes when they need to be made. Those two things are really simple, but important to remember. He said many other interesting things and it was also fascinating to learn about his past and how he got to where he is today. Ideas are not always going to be popular right away and sometimes you do need to stick with it and work with it. Also, when talking to Cute Circuit, they mentioned that they were ahead of society when creating their wearable technology. It did not become an immediate hit, because people weren’t quite ready for it yet. That was another interesting part of the trip, how things that people told us in the different cities connected.
Exploring the Catacombs was such an important part of the trip for me because I felt like during that time and our free day in Paris, I really got to enjoy the city and bond with some of the girls on the trip. It isn’t easy going on a trip with twenty other students you barely know, so it was great to get to connect and get to know one another better. The trip was a once in a life chance and we only have each other to share the experience with.
Another major part of the experience was seeing that all the cities connected in one idea with new media. All of the different places are working to connect artists and scientists. To get them to work together and that was an interesting connection to discover throughout the trip. New media is about art and technology so it is valuable to have them work together and not be separate anymore. For example, Pavel showed us a visual screen sensitive to touch that is for artistic viewing and uses technology to work. Rotraut Pape is teaching about how to create films at an art school. At IRCAM they put the offices of the musicians and the engineers right across from each other to encourage collaboration with each other. Francesca and Ryan are combining the art of fashion and technology with their Cute Circuit designs. In all the cities we got exposed to many different connections between art and technology.
Overall, I learned so much in a short two weeks. It was amazing to explore the different cultures, see the sites, and taste al the different foods. But, most of all, it was amazing getting to meet so many people passionate about what they are doing and getting to explore New Media in different settings. The trip opened my eyes to new ways of doing things and a hope for finding a career in new media in the future. I hope to go back someday and explore the culture even more to bring more of it back to Maine.