#sfortune

Che bello quando devi scrivere tre articoli entro il weekend, aggiornare la rubrica sulla ricerca e redigere un comunicato entro domani, il tutto mentre l’unico braccio che usi è gonfio e dolorante a causa del vaccino antinfluenzale e ti senti come se una mandria di bufale ti fosse passata sopra calpestandoti dalla testa ai piedi.

Riuscirò mai a scrivere tutto ciò col solo uso dell’indice destro?

3 amici, qualche settimana in una cameretta, un microfono e sughi della mamma congelati, hanno prodotto questa canzone.

Per me personalmente è un omaggio alla città di Lecce e a come ha cambiato la mia vita in questi anni.

Io suono un po’ di chitarra qua e là, il resto lo fanno Giuseppe e Federica!

Spero vi piaccia raga.

“Che Sfigato..”

Sono le 10:30 di una domenica mattina fuori dal comune, sono sveglia dalle 7 a causa dei vicini urlanti e ho già preso la mia dose di “sangue amaro” della giornata nel momento in cui accendendo la car, nonostante l’avessi lasciata per tutta la notte sotto carica, mi ha segnalato la batteria completamente giù. Ah che bella l’elettronica burlona della mia 4 ruote, ama prendersi gioco della mia ansia nei momenti peggiori, ma siccome oramai la conosco, l’è bastato uno scossone da parte mia per rinsavire.

Ciononostante però, ha deciso che gli spaventi per oggi non fossero sufficienti e dal nulla mi si è svitata la valvola della gomma posteriore destra costringendomi a vagare alle 9:30 del mattino alla ricerca di una qualche anima buona dotata di compressore funzionante, visto che il nostro ha tirato le cuoia giusto giusto questa mattina.

Dimenticavo di dire che questo pomeriggio ho la partita di Powerchair Football e sono già esausta e infreddolita.

Io: scusi, la pompa 3 sembra bloccata...

Tipa: a causa dei tanti furti di carburante che abbiamo subito, per rifornirsi deve lasciare 150 euro in contanti a titolo di deposito cauzionale, oppure lasciarmi la carta in custodia.

Io:

Urban setting or encounter - My favorite urban encounter happened on our free day in Dublin. After we went to Trinity College we were all given free time until the following day. My friends and I went to the Irish Whiskey Museum across the street because we had already put it on our to-do list. I was the only one of us that didn’t hate whiskey so I was really excited to go. Everyone else was going in the hopes of discovering a new appreciation for fine whiskey. In the end we were pretty much all scarred from being forced to down four glasses of whiskey but still it was a really interesting experience. Even though we were at a whiskey “museum” it wasn’t like an exhibit hall with pictures and history blurbs everywhere. We basically walked through a handful of staged sets with a tour guide who explained the history of whiskey to us. To start we learned that the original Irish name for whiskey is Uisce beatha meaning “water of life”. As funny as this sounds nowadays, whiskey really was the safest thing to drink back when it was made because water was easily contaminated. Then, as I meant ironed earlier, we did a whiskey tasting of four different whiskeys. We smelled them and shook them up and smelled them again. It was crazy how complex and diverse they all were. Unfortunately we were all told it’s very rude to leave anything in your glass in Ireland, so everyone had to finish even the whiskeys that we didn’t particularly enjoy. I liked 3/4 of them but the third one smelled like bananas and I thought it was repulsive. I gulped it down anyways and gagged a little. The tour as a whole was still a blast and incredibly interesting. I’m definitely going to recommend it to anyone that’s going to Dublin in the future.

Textual or graphic design - The coolest textual and graphic design thing I saw was the Book of Kells at Trinity Church in Dublin. The Book of Kells is a copy of the four gospels written in latin by (probably) 4 monks. Since Christianity was still very new to them at the time, the book still had a huge natural influence. As a culture they were much closer to nature. Our tour guide told us that Christianity at that time was like a “cloak” over their paganism. Still very influenced by nature and superstition both. I noticed this in the imagery found in the Book of Kells. For example there was a portrait of Jesus surrounded by peacocks which apparently were a symbol of immortality. As a graphic design major it was insane to see the detail that went into that book in person. We learned about it in our History of Design class and we had to recreate a version of our own. I made mine digitally and it still took me hours. I also am trying to learn hand-lettering. The lettering in the Book of Kells is so perfectly done that it all looks seamless. The quality of the design is a testament to the value of dedication to a craft.

Historical artifact - If it counts as an artifact, my favorite artifact by far was the tomb of St. Edward. It was such an awesome experience to learn about the person our university is named after. I’m not particularly religious and yet going into the shrine was one of my favorite moments of the trip. As we were listening to a prayer being read, I noticed the design of our school’s famous red doors on the tomb. I was so surprised. I had to contain my excitement until the appropriate time to get my friend’s attention and show them. For some reason I thought it would only interest the graphic design majors like myself but as soon as I pointed it out everyone on our trip started looking in awe. Besides just the tomb, it was fascinating to learn about the history of saint Edward the confessor. I had no idea who he actually was before this trip but I learned that he was the one who built freakin Westminster Abbey!! He made it for the pope to come visit him because he couldn’t leave England for a pilgrimage due to war. Saint Edward is the only king to be a Saint. Since returning to the United States I’ve told countless people about Saint Edward the confessor and everything we learned about him that day.

Natural outdoor setting or encounter - My absolute favorite outdoor experience was visiting the White Cliffs of Dover. I had heard of them before but I never knew what they looked like. When I saw on the itinerary that we were going to go there, I intentionally resisted the urge to do a google image search. I wanted it to be a surprise and it definitely was. The cliffs were breathtaking and we went at the perfect time of day. It was the photographer’s “golden hour” when we got there so in other words right before the sun went down. The walk towards the “top” of the cliffs was extremely muddy from it raining a day earlier. It was definitely a hassle but it made it a lot more interesting to get there. My favorite part was the option to walk on stairs or really slippery slopes, with a handrail in the middle. As a joke when we were feeling brave we’d slide down the slopes while holding on to the handrail for dear life. Once we got to the top of the cliffs it was breathtakingly beautiful. The setting sun made the cliffs look almost orange against the beautiful blue water. It also wasn’t too cold for once. I think that was one of the only times I actually warmed up on the entire trip. It was such a beautiful experience and I’m glad I saved it as a surprise.

Architectural structure - My favorite architectural structure was Hampton Court. The interior of the palace was stunning. The whole place was so elaborate and well-kept that is made it easy to picture life there 500 years ago. That palace (along with many other things we visited on the trip) is older than the first city in the United States. Despite it’s age the palace looked good as new. That was something that struck me often throughout the trip, it’s insane how much history was there compared to the United States. Of course the United States was settled by colonists much later than anywhere in the UK but the difference never seemed so dramatic until this trip. I’ve been abroad multiple times but I never learned that much about history of the countries I was visiting.  I remember our tour guide in Ireland telling us about the seven invasions of Ireland that were “pre-history”. It’s hard to even wrap my head around the world being that old.