minni london

home is.

2009-12-28T15:38:00.000-08:00

I'm back to the snow and cold of the Midwest united states. I already miss London terribly. I know I will back to that city someday. Now its time to enjoy the holidays and see friends and family. I'm hanging around this quiet city until I find an apartment in Minneapolis and start classes on the 21st of January.

final goodbyes.

2009-12-21T07:06:00.000-08:00

Its come to en end, my time in London is wrapping up. I went out to the Red Lion for a few drinks with some friends and said some final goodbyes. More like a good bye for now, I know I will be back and see them again. I loved London and really enjoyed my time here. I see myself moving into a bigger city in the future or holding a position in a company where I get to travel. I hope my work for Article 13 gives me a good recommendation for the future when I may be looking for a position in London. I know I will have them on future resumes and have connections based in London.

So tomorrow I leave, get on my plane at 7pm and fly to Toronto have a night in the airport and fly to Minneapolis. Scheduled to arrive back in Minneapolis at 10:30am. I hope the weather is good and I get no delays. There have been delays all over the UK due to snow and bad weather, its more to the north so I should be fine. OK, be home soon.
Cheers.

trip to Bath Spa.

2009-12-18T08:43:00.001-08:00

I stole this picture form Jillian of the three of us on our two day excursion out of London. I have some great memories and good laughs from this trip.

final campaign.

2009-12-16T11:19:00.000-08:00

we have finished up our Apple ic Campaign and turned it all in, I think it came out pretty nice. I liked what we have done for it and our seminar teachers liked our concept for it a lot. He was really into our ideas of a mysterious superheros based campaign. here are a few shots of the finals.

trips in the UK.

2009-12-16T10:55:00.001-08:00

pulteney bridge
Mike and Jillian
Roman Baths

Cresent

Its been a wild adventure, from back packing Europe to living a semester in London. I have done so much while here. I just got back from a two night bus trip to Bath spa. Bath is know for its Roman baths located in the town center. Its small town with a university about three hours away from London. We stayed in the backpackers hostel right near the town center, it took us about ten minutes to walk across the town and see the major sights, but it was nice and relaxing to get out of London and see the countryside of the UK. Bath has some of the finest architectural in Europe such as the royal crescent, the circus and pulteney bridge. Of course we checked out the thermal spas and toured the museum with the history on it. It was very relaxed and casual, a change from london life. Our trip back consisted of breaking down once, waiting a hour for a new bus, snow falling on the motor way the whole way home and getting back to freezing temperatures. Sounds a lot like Wisconsin, where I will be back to in six days.

buyer behavior campaign.

2009-12-07T05:12:00.000-08:00

This is what our final campaign came out as for my buyer behavior course, we are proposing the idea of raising pencisl in grade schools as a competition to raise money. There were just a few posters i mocked up for it. We have to present the campaign on friday. Firday is also my last day at LCC.

apple iC

2009-12-06T09:20:00.001-08:00

making progress on our Apple iC campaign and laying out some ideas for some print Ad's. The creative brief is at about 20 pages and Abbey is making an animation. Its coming along nicely and is due Friday! My time in London is almost done.

london to paris.

2009-12-01T13:36:00.000-08:00

Went to the screening of London to Paris tonight behind the Trumen Brewery building on Brick lane. The location for the screening could not have been any better, it was the old loading dock for the warehouse and had plenty of space for some bikers to throw down some tricks. They also had some free food and red bull, what a deal. There was a good 200 people who turned up for the screening of the film that featured a few locals from London. The biking community here is amazing, so many kids involved and everyone helping out to get events like this together.  The documentary was pretty good, it has some alright production. it was more just inspiration and made me want to get on my bike so bad.

Is took these two images off London fixed gears blog (londonfixedgear)to show how cool the set up was at the screening. They had three bikes hooked up to generators to produce the electricity needed to power the laptop and projector for the film. Such a good idea. The image below is from behind the venue and shows how many people turned up for it even though it was about 5 degrees Celsius.

last thing.

2009-12-01T10:17:00.000-08:00

Here is something I never thought I would see in my indesign for! Its my final project for Resource Management, a wonderful document filled with account management, margins of safety, random ratios and investment planning. Never doing math again. I'm glad this project is done and over with.

woodgrain.

2009-12-01T10:09:00.000-08:00

If i could trow some wood grain on just about everything I would be content.

quick ideas

2009-12-01T10:08:00.000-08:00

I mocked this poster up for my buyer behavior class for a presentation later this week. Needs some work, but its something done in a few hours to get some ideas flowing.

the places you will go

2009-11-23T16:33:00.001-08:00

One month from today I will be back in my home state of Wisconsin. It just goes to show how time fly's by. I was thinking how warm is was three months ago in Rome, which feels like just the other week. I have had so many amazing experiences and got the opportunity to see a whole other world. Then living in the UK for three months and finally returning to the cold winters of Minneapolis and Wisconsin. With classes coming to a close in a few short weeks and my work experience with Article 13, I have been keeping busy. I hope to get out a bit more in the coming weeks and see some more sights, check out some gallery spaces and maybe get down to Brighton to visit Friends. My time is running out and I need to enjoy what I have left.

branding.

2009-11-22T09:06:00.000-08:00

Its been some time since I tried laying out a logo for something. I have been spending the afternoon doing research for my design proposal for Article 13. After hours of in design and aligning text I switched gears to make these. First rounds and only ideas.

new job.

2009-11-22T06:49:00.000-08:00

I recently landed a work experience position for a sustainable design consultant Article 13 is a strategic adviser on risk associated with business responsibility, typically in the areas of governance and sustainable development. They provide an independent perspective - 'third eye' - that challenges the robustness and fitness of your company's ability to deliver against future uncertainties.

I am working on a proposal for the design of their identity. I will take my ideas to help them create a new clean brand and feel for the company. I am starting out with their printed material and presentation tools. If all goes to plan I will get to start work for them later this week. if I'm lucky I will be able to work for them once I get back to the sates. A work in progress's, but some documents that I'm revamping.

wednesday.

2009-11-22T06:42:00.000-08:00

I meet up with form friends from class and went out around Carnaby Street. The street was bright and filled with colorful decorations. We stopped by an amazing bakery to have a look at some cupcakes. They were going for about four pounds a piece, they looked amazing but I never bought one. We finally arrived at Ronnie Scotts, a world famous London jazz club, we were meant to see a improve jam session, but decided to head out. All and all it was a good night out.

meet our super heros.

2009-11-18T06:53:00.001-08:00

Meet our line up of super hero's for my managing creativity project. This is the first steps in bringing these characters to life for our Apple IC Marketing and Advertising campaign. They all have a background story and play different roles in the super hero team. They have lots connection with their powers over the years and the new Apple IC will help them reunite with their powers. The illustrations were done by Abbey Bently.

web page.

2009-11-18T05:50:00.000-08:00

I have been making progress on my new site. I changed the direction I was going last week and started over entirely. I feel much better about this, but it still needs some adjustments. This is just the start.

Tuileries Park, Paris France

2009-11-17T14:15:00.000-08:00

Tried to make a panorama of the park and fountain a few weeks ago on my trip to Paris with my Mom and Dad. It turned out alright. If printed it would be 32 inches wide, 8 inches high. (click on it and it will get a bit bigger)

barcelona.

2009-11-15T14:23:00.000-08:00

I have to many good things to say about Barcelona, I could go on for days about it. In the four day weekend trip to the Spanish country I saw the tourist sights, went to the beach, dipped my feet in the Mediterranean sea, ate tapas drank leche de pantera, had a tortilla de patatas sandwich and got to see the city's nightlife with a friend who I meet in Goteborg, Sweden this past August. Roma meet up with Aria and I on Friday evening and said he was taking us on an adventure. He kept it all a secret and just said be ready to see Barcelona. We meet Roma at 6:30 a few stops on the metro out from plaça catalunya at a small restaurant for some traditional patatas bravas and a beer. That was only the start of our night in Barcelona. From there we went to another handful of places serving more small courses of food and home made drinks from wine to champagne. Everything we had was so full of flavor and a great unique taste to it.(much better then food in london) I would have never known of these places without  Roma to guide us around feeding us amazing food, pointing out buildings and monuments while giving us the history of the city. Best tour ever. After all the food, drinks and a bit of dancing we had to get back to our hostel to get some rest for our last full day in the city on Saturday. The baest way to see any city is with someone who lives there.

We got up and decided to go down to the beach and rent bikes. Bikes were the best idea ever, we got to see so many more sights then walking everywhere. Unlike London we were once again on the right side of the road, so dealing with traffic was not a issue. Barcelona also has a nice system for citizens to use bike free of charge and drop them off at different points around the city. After seeing more sights and taking loads of photos we meet up with Roma again for yet another amazing night of delicious food and drinks. We got another nice tour of the Gothic district and stopped in a few places along the way to shop and eat. We then meet up with a few or Roma's friends who we were going to go out dancing with that night. While at their apartment we played Sign Star for a while before heading to a underground club just off of las ramblas. An amazing night filled with lots of new friends and great memories.

We had to be out of our hostel by 11 and to the airport fr our Ryan Air flight back to London at 2. We made it through with no issues, just took so long from the airport back into London. It was hard coming back to London, with the weather being cold, and rainy. I now have five more weeks of class and a extra ten days after universitys done till I come home to piles of snow.

A few of the 436 pictures I took, it was hard to narrow it down. Thank you Roma for an amzing time Friday and Saturday evenning making it one of the best weekends of my life. I will never forget it.

new beginning.

2009-11-11T08:14:00.000-08:00

I changed the entire layout for my web site today and have completely restarted. I think this route has a better potential of something I will like. I need to figure out how to code the work page and show my work in a clean yet functional fun way. The only problem is I have none o f the original files for my past work. I will use extracted pages from the digital portfolio I have now. Back to work...

took a walk.

2009-11-10T15:15:00.000-08:00

I took a walk the other evening to the Tate Modern and south bank side. It was only about 7pm, but it was very dark and cold. When I say cold I mean right around 5 degrees Celsius, the kind of night where you can see your breath in the air and a scarf is great. It was good to be reminded of where I was, I had been so caught up with class work that I hadn't scene much on London in a while. I revisited the London Eye and Tower Bridge. November has come up fast and is going bad even faster. I will be back in the states in 42 days.

no shave

2009-11-09T11:44:00.000-08:00

Its November and that can mean only one thing, NO SHAVE NOVEMBER, right? Hence Novembeard. During the month of November a man can participate in Novembeard, all a man has to do is not shave for the month of November. Why? why not. Well in the UK do it a little different and just grow the mustache and call it Movember. I found a nice article in the magazine about growing the November facial hair.

model

2009-11-05T08:34:00.000-08:00

I helped my flatmate with a photo shoot for one of her assignments and I found this stuck under my door this morning with a note on the back. It turned out pretty cool. Its a sequence of photos that describe someone. I like it.

info graphics

2009-11-05T04:26:00.000-08:00

A few ideas for a visual comparison charts between Apples new touch tablet and its competition. Info graphics all day long.

then I find this

2009-11-04T09:49:00.001-08:00

Much cooler then my header.

novemeber has arrived in london

2009-11-04T07:21:00.000-08:00

October came and went. My time in London has been flying by. From keeping up with course work to getting out and enjoying the city it makes sense the days are flying by. I finally found some of Banksy's work over near Bethnal Green the other day. The piece is a few years old now and has been tagged over, but it was still cool to see. Then just today I got done with uni around one and took a walk up to Angel. It was a cool autumn day in London. I stumbled around a antique street market and found a nice cafe that I plan on returning to.

happy halloween

2009-11-01T13:56:00.000-08:00

My flat and a few others dressed up a bit and went out in London for Halloween. A odd group, but fun. I don't think the English are as into Halloween as people are back in the states. I saw very few children out and about knocking door to door getting candy. There were themed parties and pub nights everywhere, but not as many people dressed up as I thought. I cant even by candy corn over here.

saw these kids

2009-11-01T10:03:00.001-08:00

Amazing, one year later I get to meet up with Millie, Alice and Niccolo!
It was really great getting to catch up with these three over some spicy food and a cold pint. It almost felt like we were all back in Minneapolis again.

LCC

2009-11-01T09:51:00.000-08:00

London College of Communication.
My university is massive. A hub for around 9000 students. The university is very diverse with a huge range of students from all over the world. Its great to have the opportunity to collaborate with people on a global level and get there ideas and feedback on work. The students in my course are very vocal and class discussion go on for a while. There is a more participation from students in most of my classes here. The tower block is where i spend the majority of my time. I don't get into the print shop area of studios at all. My web design course is the only time I get in the design studios. The college used to be split into three separate buildings till about five years ago, when the college changed its name from the London College of Printing.

doing work.

2009-10-29T08:24:00.001-07:00

web site development, this is my current desktop with all my windows opened. What a mess. I have been picking at my portfolio site all day and getting somewhere with it. I feel bad I haven't left my flat yet today as the sun is slowing going down outside my window.

poster

2009-10-27T16:46:00.000-07:00

I made this poster about advertisement tonight as well. It will correspond with the presentation and me a possible take away item. I'm thinking of a folding book that unfolds into a poster on the backside.

Do work.

2009-10-27T14:05:00.000-07:00

Today i accomplished work. I'm finally getting onto using Neo Office, which is an open source program and much better then Microsoft office. I'm working on a presentation that compares and contrast advertisements in the States to London. There are small bits I notice day to day and want to look into it more. This is the start.

Dim sum.

2009-10-27T09:58:00.000-07:00

I had my first ever proper Dim Sum Chinese meal on Sunday for my friend Qings birthday. Dim Sum is the name for a Chinese cuisine which involves a wide range of light dishes served alongside Chinese tea. Yum Cha(literally "drinking tea") is the term used to describe the entire dining experience. We went to Imperial China in China town. It was amazing, I would of had no idea what to order if I went on my own so it was a good thing we went for her birthday. Even the little bunny looking squash things tasted awesome.
I'm in the same building as Qing on the right and Katharine on the left.  Happy Birthday Qing.

green day.

2009-10-25T11:48:00.000-07:00

A fifteen year old dream of mine finally came true on October 22nd. It took me six years and living in London to get to a Green Day Concert. I have grown up listening to the band who has now been around for at least twenty years. The concert was the O2 in London. the O2 is just a massive indoor venue in London which holds around 22,000 people and is host to many international acts, shows and concerts. The age rang of people at the show was huge, from young groups of boys with their mom and dads, to older men who have listened to Green Day for years now. I took a few pictures and captured a video, needless to say it was amazing! The stage performance put on by those guys was great and much more then I expected to see.

paris in a day.

2009-10-20T06:44:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday my parents and I took a day trip to Paris France. The only downfall was sleeping on the hotel floor the night before to wake up at 4am to get a cab to the train station and catch the Eurostare to Paris. The perk of it was that I got to go to PARIS FRANCE!! The train was a two and half hour trip under the English channel and through the countryside of France. Once in Paris we didn't stop moving, we jumped a bus around town for a quick sightseeing trip on our way to the Eiffel tower which was followed by a river cruise, then off to the Louvre and our last stop at the Opera. We did it all in one day, amazing. It was really fun to be able to take a trip out of London with my parents and see a whole new world in Paris. I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did.

For my parents it was London in a week and Paris in a day. I hope they survived the week that was filled with endless walking, sight seeing and dealing with a bit of jet lag. The week had zoomed by with classes during the day, followed by sight seeing in London and getting home to get some work done. It was all worth it, getting to see my parents half a world away from home. I might have been more tired then they were. My time in London is going fast and I best enjoy what i have left. I'm planning a few weekend trips away from the city to see some more of the country and hopefully make my way to Dublin for a weekend. Its all so close and rather cheap to get to.

A little of this and a little of that. A week summed up in photos.

mom and dad, by Big Ben
Fish and Chips
Paris, France
Louvre, Paris
Effel Tower, Paris

found this.

2009-10-16T14:07:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine brought me to Masion Bertaux in Soho today and showed me a art installation by Jonsi and Alex of Riceboy Sleeps. There were some amazing pieces hidden around the corners of the entire second floor of the cafe.

It just so happens the owner of the cafe is also a art dealer and sells the pieces. She had a limited run of signed prints for sale, so I picked on up.

Parents week.

2009-10-16T07:20:00.000-07:00

October came so fast. My parents had been planning the big trip across the pond to the mighty UK for a few months now and now they are here. After an hour in the tube I arrived at Heathrow airport only to walk out from the tube and see My mom and dad waiting for me. I had planned to be their before them and had a sign made welcoming them to London.

Their first big day in London I dragged them to the first place that pops into peoples mind, Buckingham Palace. After our visit to the queens quarters we ventured around the parks and towards the Hour of Parliament and Big Ben. Four hours later we had walked enough for a day and ended our day at a Pub near Kensington eating a pub favorite of fish and chips.

This entire week has been filled with seeing the sights and running around town with my parents. Its been amazing! Its good to be a tourist in the city where you are living. Its good i have some sense where I'm going day to day and know how to get around on the tube. My dad seems to know more about some bits of London then I did. He did his research.

After some time in my courses I'm getting into some of the lectures and projects we are working on. My web production class might not be exactly what I expected. I walked into a PC based lab and he told us to open dreamweaver. In the course I will have time to get a new updated website for my personal work.

Besides for for my parents in town and a week of classes, everything in still great in London. Even better, get to have a day excursion to Paris! I'm going to need a vacation after this week. After all the walking, hours on tube and nights of class work i will be burnt out.

I also entered my resume into a competition as well as some pictures for a chance to win some cash. Here's a few of the pictures. Maybe i can make a income off of winning some stuff in London.

its rains here.

2009-10-08T07:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday London was overcast all day and rained for the majority of that day. I better get used to it rather quick, from here on out till I leave it will be getting colder and raining more. I still ventured off to Oxford street to snap a shot of a war memorial in Liberty (a fancy shop on regent street) for a professor back at MCAD. I also got some paperwork taken care of at the central hub for University of the Arts London. The rain forced me to take the bus back to my flat which took over forty five minutes, but it was nice.

I got home soaking wet and my flatmate Matilda wanted to head right back to where I had just been for a 20% off sale at Topshop. Topshop the equivalent of Urban outfitters, it had a upstairs for guys what is called Topman. I will admit I have bought a few shirts and a new bag from Topman, but thanks to being a student I got 15% off, so its alright to spend a few pounds. By the time we got to the tube station it was the beginning of the peak hour and a massive Que to get to the platform for the train. We decided to skip it and headed to Angle. Angle is a smaller area of shops and markets. The bu there was only about fifteen Minutes, got there walked around the shops and ended our trip at a coffee shop sitting in old leather plane seats while sipping cappuccino. Last night was the first time I could see my breath in the air, shows its getting colder here. All in all the raining London day wasn't that bad I had a good time with Matilda.

hard at work.

2009-10-06T06:58:00.001-07:00

I'm finally getting into class projects and work. I have found the class

structure at LCC to much different then that of MCAD's. Its a change that
I think I will benefit from in the end. Each day is started out in lecture
for one hour then followed by a seminar where we break away from other
marketing and advertisement students to have a discussion about the
lecture. Each class gives out one main assignment at the beginning of the
year then spend the semester working at it while picking up new
information along the way.

One of my projects is a group based marketing campaign for apples new
touchscreen tablet that has not been announced or even names yet. (Have a
look here) For the project we are to design an entire strategy for the
campaign of the product. This will include the AD design, style guide,
process book and a few other bits. It should generate a good portfolio
piece.

Everything here feels a little more laid back and almost casual. Its not
up to par with the MCAD high stressed deadlines and late night studio
work. I say that now, things could very easily change. For example on my
first day our seminar was not held because the professor failed to how up,
or there was miscommunication about who was teaching it. There is a lack
of organization here. I have a semester to go, so we will see how things
change over the next few weeks.

Here is the list of my courses in no particular order.

Resource Management
Managing Creativity
Buyer behavior
PPD 2 - which is a lecture hall
CCC 2 - Communication, culture and context - another lecture hall
Web Media Production

They all seem like good course and I will get new ideas for each of them
based on learning in another country. I'm considered a BAMA 2 student. The
whole reason I'm here, gaining a global perspective on advertising and
marketing. I also hope to do some networking while in London. I want to
get into some Design firms and see what type of work they are doing. Maybe
land a job here? Who knows, I would love to get some work experience here.
It would look amazing on a resume for back in the states.

I took the picture in the lower level of the Elephant and Castle shopping center
right across the road from LCC.

sketch

2009-10-01T11:13:00.000-07:00

I also got a tour during my orientation of the area around the central University of The Arts building on Davis street. A graduate student who had opened her own shop in the area gave us a tour of places we would never have gone to. She took us through the Dover Street Market, Carnaby and Oxford Street. She took us to this place called Sketch, a small trendy cafe during the day and hip/retro club by night. The interior design of this place was amazing. it many cool little separate rooms available for private parties and this amazing main dance floor. I took a quick video of it.

LCC's Printshop

2009-10-01T11:03:00.000-07:00

Today I got a chance to get a little taste of LCC's print shop and the work they do there. All the schools printing is done in house and they do outside work as well. The workshop I attended was apart of the freshers week festival and was on print production and finishing. It was a lot of information I had already picked up from working in the service bureau at MCAD, but on a much larger scale. All the tools I learned about are for large production pieces of work, like making the University's catalogs. The workshop went through book binding methoids and the finishing process for prints. I took a few pictures of the workspace, its nice.

I also got a tour of the school and received my timetable (schedule) of classes. The school in much larger then MCAD. Its something I will enjoy and be able to interact with many more studnets then I ever would have at MCAD. It will be a good semester.

Its official.

2009-09-30T04:41:00.000-07:00

Im an officially a student at the University of the arts london. Yesterday was a day filled with lectures about the schools and the program Im in. We got more paper work and our studnet ID's. I need my idea to acess any of the University of The Arts (UAL) buildings. The photo I had sent my advisro was from ealry spring when I still had a beard, so my new ID's photo looks much like a lunmberjacks mug shot. look ------->

where I'm at in the first weeks.

2009-09-28T12:41:00.000-07:00

The first weeks

Im getting into the big city life. London has given me an opportunity to be exposed to something much bigger and culturally different then what I had in Minneapolis. Living in Hackney is drastically bigger and more diverse version of uptown in Minneapolis. Its  the  area of the city where all the artists hang out, where the nightlife is and an over all great place to be. Every since my arrival to london I have kept busy by walking to see the sights in london and taking part in many of the festivals that are going on. The festivals the city plays host to attract many people from in and outside the city, bringing in big name acts and artists. The 2009 London design festival just wrapped up and now a film festival has just begun. There are also many expos and shows held at the arenas around town. I plan on checking out the cycle show next weekend which is taking place in Earl Court. There is always something to see and do, just need to know about it.

The people I have meet so far have come from all areas of the world and different backgrounds. Starting with my flat mates two from the UK, one from china, one from brazil, one from korea and Finland. Its crazy the diversity here. I have had the great opportunity to meet many new people, discuss random bits about art and design, go see gallery spaces, and just explore london with new people. All this is just the beginning of my London experience. I have classes to get into and projects to work on.

The weeks before classes has given me the time to get familiar with the city and how to be apart if it. I can now successfully take the tube from one side of london and transfer lines to get to oxford street and shop. Side note and perk to being a student in the UK and Europe, you can apply for a NUS card which most shops, restaurants and clothing stores offer a discount. This makes being a student in London even better.

The life for most Londoners seems rather casual, most people have the time to talk or meet with friends for a quick drink after work and on sundays spend the day with friends in the local green spaces having a picnic and listening to live music. When it comes to the work week, its all business, people are walking the streets always on a mission to get somewhere. You have to watch out when your caught up in walking because cars will not stop for you at cross walks, most of the time this being taxis which almost run you down. Dangerous world.

This week is freshers week. Its a week thats set up and ran by the Student Union. The week was created to get new students an opportunity to get into the routine of college life and get questions answered. The week has events and lectures ranging from screen printing, tours of the city, graphic design lectures and different meet and greets. I have singed up for a few things and attended a lecture today about protecting your online image. It was mostly information I had previously picked up in my marketing and pr class back at MCAD. We talked about the importance of on online presences and some students got help setting up a blog. I obviously have a blog so I gave some advice to the others. The second lecture I went to gave me a whole mess of information about the Student Union and how it came about. The rest of the weeks happenings should be good as well.

london design festival

2009-09-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

The 2009 London design festival started this weekend. Its a two week long event where many galleries and design firms open there doors for the public. It was nice to be able to walk around the Hoxton area and go in to some small shops to see their work. I was able to get through about 8 places in the neighboring area before they started to close this afternoon. Just snagged a few pictures on the walk after attempting to take a picture in a gallery and being asked not to. Wont make that mistake again. I plan on getting around to some of the better know names like Pentagram and The RedWood Group, maybe get a job.....                     

     "The London Design Festival is an annual event established to celebrate and promote London as the creative capital of the world."    -timeout london
   

street artist
A shops love for CYMK

walking london.

2009-09-17T08:03:00.000-07:00

Took a walk down to Tower Bridge today. It turned out to be yet another cloudy day in London. Its not bad, it could be raining. There is yet another festival going this weekend at the Tower of London along with the 2009 London Design Festival. The Tower festival will be featuring The British Philharmonic Orchestra. It looked like an amazing outdoor stage, I do plan on making it Saturday evening.

I also stumbled upon a sweet bike shop. 14 bike co. They had a nice shop set up along brick lane with a show room filled with some great looking fixed and single speed bikes. The shop offers any and ever part on their bikes in any color you want. Custom bikes with custom parts.

14 Bike Co is located at 13 Elys Yard, The Truman Brewery, E1 6QL

the Flickr page is: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shopfourteen/

the twitter page is http://twitter.com/14bikeco

our vimeo page is http://vimeo.com/user1965890

They have a sweet bike tube vending machine right outside their shop for those late night blow outs. Minneapolis needs one of these.

A welcome to the new BS Viz Students!

2009-09-17T02:48:00.000-07:00

A welcome to the new BS Viz Students! I was at the Natural History Museum yesterday filming this hello on my way out of the building due to an emergency evacuation. I have no idea what for, but I got out and went across the street to the Victoria and Albert Museum. In London most of the museum and gallery spaces are free to get into. I have defiantly been taking advantage of that and going to ever thing I can.

I recommend to all students to get abroad for a semester, i have already had amazing experiences on my travels through Western Europe and now just starting my time in London. Its given me the opportunity to branch out of the midwest, see the world and get a global perspective on things.

If anyone has any questions regarding study abroad and what steps I took towards it feel free to contact me. I will be back in the spring if anyone wants to chat about London! The BS Program gives to the chance to go just about anywhere in the world you want, so why not. There are seven of us away for the semester studying from London, to Tokyo and even Australia.

London steet art//

2009-09-12T10:57:00.000-07:00

Some cool street art from walking along Portobello market and The River Thames this week. Its interesting how a few places are letting the public vote on pieces of street art if it should stay or go. The city council plans to allow the public to vote on whether to keep certain works of "street art" daubed on walls across a city could lead to a rise in unwanted graffiti it has been warned. I feel a large portion of it is filling gaps on blank spaces in the citys alley ways and underpasses, they wont be able to stop it, so why not allow for something visually appealing to occupie a normally unpleasent area of town.

london week one//

2009-09-12T10:43:00.000-07:00

The queen was not in, Buckingham Palce

The first week is already coming to close, crazy how time flys by. I have done and scene so much in London by walking the city from place to place. The funny thing is I have only been in zone one and two of London. London is composed of 8 zones circling out of the city. So needless to say, I have more to see and do in the coming months. Its been good meeting other international students and going around with them, they are just as lost as I am, but we are getting the Hoxton area down pretty well.

A great thing I have found is that most museums and gallery spaces are free. I have only made it through the Tate Museum of Modern Art and Museum of London. Both were amazing places with good exhibitions. The London museum gave the history of london and was featuring a section on the london fire of 1666, which burned down most of the city. The Tate modern had names such as Jeff Koons, andy warhol, Picasso and Per Kirkeby. The space was very well done and had some great interactive pieces for kids and adults to play with.

In seeing the sights and walking the streets I have come to realize how massive London really is, so finally today I broke down and bought a oyster card which allows me to ride the tube from place to place.

salvador dali,
house of Parliament
Big Ben

London.

2009-09-08T11:50:00.000-07:00

A month after arriving in the U.K I'm finally in London. I took a train from Portsmouth to London Waterloo station. From there I had to jump two more trains and finally end up on the London Underground to Old Street Station. Then what was supposed to be a five minute walk to my flat turned into a hour tour of the surrounding area. I was set on the direction, which was right, then once there the roads forked off in three directions, which I ended up talking the wrong one. The walk wouldn't have been so bad minus all my bags. A nice elderly English woman asked If I was alright and was worried I was carrying to much.  After an hour I found it, checked in and went up the fifth floor to flat 18 and into room E.

The flat is nice, the building is only a year old so everything is fairly new. I will soon have six other flat mates living with me.The flat has a nice common space that's attached to the kitchen area. The common area has a flat screen with cable, but we do have to pay for a TV license. You have to have a license to watch any television anywhere in the UK. Its funny to see many American shows have an exact English version of it here like man vs wild, the office and deal or no deal to name a few.

I was the first one into our flat so I decided to go out and find some food and come back. Thankfully there is an area of small shops and take away restaurants right behind our building. The area of Hexton also has weekly street markets which I plan on checking out this weekend.

My new room for the next three months.
The common area and kitchen with a TV and couches. We also have two freezers and fridges and two stove/ovens. It should be a good semester.
This little helpful sign on most street crossings has saved me a few times already. I'm lost in this city that drives from the other direction. I'm getting the hang of it, but I swear there isn't a single straight road in this city.
Some street art in the area where I live.

My first full day in London consisted of me finding a shop to get some food to last me a few days while I settle into the area and searching for some household goods: pot,pan, pillows,etc. After a good three hours I walked into Argos (website). So you walk into this place and look at a catalog and then fill out a card with the products number you want, you pay and wait about five minutes and you pick it up. First thing I got was pillows, two for three pounds.

I also got a chance to stop by LCC (London college of Communication) I'm not a enrolled student yet so I was only allowed through a small section of the university. I tried to pick up my paperwork and student ID, but it was a no go, it would be ready in two weeks.

Till that time I plan on exploring the city and seeing the sights. The London design festival is coming up in a week, the festival takes part city wide allowing people to go into many studies and exhibition areas to see whats happening in the design community. The festival lasts two weeks, I hope to get a look into a few studios in the area. More to see and more to come.

I have an address

2009-09-06T13:06:00.000-07:00

nicholas dahl c18, 168 pitfield street, london N1 6jp

more to come.

Living on the coast// portsmouth

2009-09-02T06:56:00.000-07:00

After one night in london I jumped a train once more for another two hours to the coastal town of Portsmouth England. Portsmouth is on the southern tip of england is home to Portsmouth university and the spinnaker tower. The town also has some history dealing with its major port and also having a D-Day 1944 memorial museum. There are little monuments and memorials scattered along the boardwalk on the coast of the english channel. Im staying with a friend for the next week until I can move into my flat in london on the 6th. Being in Portsmouth gives me some time to catch up with e-mails and getting ready for London. Its also allowed for some good R&R with watching films and going out at night to a local pub with friends.
It feels like autumn in the midwest here, the sun is warm but the air is cool from the coastal winds. Its mainly cloudy through the day with on and off showers. The cooler temperatures are comforting, but I know it will be like this with the addition of more rain once Im in London.The only difference is the wind here is very intense along the cost and for tomorrow there is a rain advisory with possibility of an inch of rain. So I best enjoy the sun while I can and when it happens. I almost regret complaining about the 90 degree plus temperatures of italy a week ago.
I also have finally made it to a shop to get some food for the week, I found myself going to an AZDA. Its basically the UK version of the american wal-mart. I cant complain, its cheap and close to where Im staying. I bought mac and cheese in a can for fun, I thought it was funny and says its suitable for vegetarians on the back. It costed me .12 pounds.

a taste of europe

2009-08-31T07:08:00.000-07:00

Zurich, Switzerland
Rome, vatican city
Rome
Moulin Rouge, Paris
louvre paris
Paris
Beirut, way out west festival
Copenhagen

Berlin at 7am

When all said in done its been a trip, what can I say, the people the places and the experiences. From a stolen credit card number to a hospital visit in Amsterdam, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I mean I didn't plane for these things to happen, but its apart of the bigger picture and traveling. If i have learned on thing so its that no matter how bad something may seem at the time, in the end everything works. Traveling brings challenges upon yourself, but in the end its worth it. This may be the longest post I ever make, so I apologize, but Im trying to summarize twenty three days of travel in on bit.

My trip along with Millie, Suzanne and Larua turned to be one of the best times I have had in a long time, it was so great to be with people who were easy going and accepting to changes in the trips plans. The four of us had been planning this trip over endless messages online for the past five months and it all went by in a matter of weeks. The planning was something that made everything work out so well for us all and each of us having something to bring to the table. In the end we made our way trough nine countries eight countries together and I added two more including the three hour stop in Zurich Switzerland and finally the U.K. Each place had something new to offer from ancient ruins to new sustainable design, Europe has a great history with so much diversity within such a close proximity. It was good to get around western Europe and get a sense of everything Europe has to offer.

The train was a great choice of transportation just for the beautiful scenery through the country sides and little surprises, like ending up on a night train that resembled a scene from harry potter that soon ending up on a ferry across the Baltic sea in the middle of the night. Our longest train trek ended up being towards the end of the trip from Rome to Paris France with a totally travel time of 23 hours. It did give Millie and I the opportunity to stop in Zurich Switzerland for a few hours. It was a unexpected surprise that was well worth it. The small mountainside city was off the beaten track of most tourists and it greeted us with the Swiss alps as the backdrop of a crystal clear lake in front of us. We ended up wondering the city for two hours until our next train left.

My favorite city would have to be Copenhagen, a city I would much want to go back to and explore much more. I would also want to spend more time exploring Sweden and the Scandinavian countryside. The much cooler coast countries of Norway and Sweden have a unique genuine feel to them, something that draws me in and makes me want more. The only reason we made it into Sweden was to catch the Way Out West Festival, which was amazing, over 80,000 fans jammed into a park with three outdoor stages. We ended up only staying for one day of the festival giving us the opportunity to see Bon Iver, Beirut, Grizzle Bear, Band of Horses, Flornace and the machine, Wilco, Anthony and the Johnsons and the Arctic Monkeys. It was amazing that all these bands were at one festival, I think European festivals are much better then ones in America. We also got to go back stage with Mike Noyce and have a look around, it was good seeing someone I knew from home in another country. We also meet the lead singer of Beirut and got a picture with him.

The night before there were bands playing in the cities local clubs and pubs a few that i wanted to see but were at capacity and wouldn't allow anyone else in were Rise against, The Bronx, St Vincent and Loney Dear. We did end up meeting three other fellas in our hostel and spending Thursday night going out to clubs with them and finally getting into one to see Crookers and Italian DJ. The club was actually a museum which we went back to see the exhibits the very next day. Everything we did in Goteborg made it my second favorite stop on our trip, it just had so many different things to see and do for us, I wanted a few more days in town, but we had to catch another train to our next destination.

The advice I would give to someone else who wants to explore Europe is to plan plan plan, and maybe make a decision on an area where you would like to spend some time. It was difficult in ways to get comfortable in a area and then leave it in a day. It forced us to spend each minute of the day walking and doing everything possible, but was also very tiring. We did accomplish so much much in each area ion the short amount of time we allowed ourselves. Each day we were up and walking from sun up till sun down.

I'm off to my next adventure of a semester at London college of Communication, something I have been working towards and planning for a while now. It all came up so quick and I plan on working hard as well as enjoying my time away from Minneapolis. The experience come both with my schooling as well as the culture here. London is a very diverse city with over seven million people. I will see how it goes in one week, when I finally move into my flat. Until then i will be spending a week on the southern tip of England in Portsmouth, relaxing on the coast.

Made it.

2009-08-06T13:27:00.000-07:00

I made it after sixteen hours travel time. The flights were both on time. I did get to Toronto and get sent through a gaggle of immigration officers and walked around the entire airport at east once. no joke! Toronto looks nice and I would like to visit the downtown district sometime. But my stay in Toronto consisted of me breaking a ten dollar bill and getting seven back in Canadian currency. So now I have some American cash, some Canadian and today picked up some Euros.

The flight to London was filled with little surprises and treats i had never experienced before. We got feed not once but twice, in both cases mine was delivered to me by Scott (the bald middle aged flight attendant) because they were vegetarian options. The food was enough to suffice till I reached heathrow airport in London. The other great feature on the flight was my own personal tv screen. It was a touch screen that featured games,world news and recent blockbusters. I went with Advertureland, something I would not recommend to anyone else with the option between fast and the furious and must love dogs. I wish I chose better. Maybe on the flight home. I did get to enjoy open bar with a nice glass of white wine while I attempted to get through the better half of adventureland, before I took a nap for three hours.

landed in London to only to be greeted my Millie and her father. Our first stop was a local pub, followed by some sight seeing and visiting king Henry the thirds home. Stopped at a few more shops and went to pack for our trip tomorrow.

Trip Order//
Denmark
August 12th------> Sweden (way out west festival, arrive night before)
August 15th-----> Germany
August 18th -------.> Czech republic
August 21st --------> Italy
August 26th .... leave Italy
August 27th ... Arrive in France

Then back to brighton and move into my flat on September seventh. Off to Europe!

found.

2009-08-02T20:17:00.001-07:00

MAPS//
I found this book put out by the "Geographers' A-Z Map Company", in 1990 at a rummage sale in Minneapolis. Thought it would be interesting and possible help me navigate around the city. Its a little dated, but I'm sure most of the old city is the same. The maps are cool, so at least its got that going for it. I mean this book was purchased for 2.25 euros (dont have a euro sign on my laptop, yet) and someone must have used it for something worth while. It will be with me.

travels in europe

2009-07-28T07:13:00.000-07:00

Im finally leaving, my flight leave the Minneapolis airport on august fifth at 5:30pm. I fly to Toronto for a four hour layover then off to London. I get into hethrow airport at 11:25 on thursday. I will spend a night in Banstead, Surrey, then firday morning I leave for a month of travel throughout westren Europe. I will be traveling with three other girls throughout the month and meeting some of their friends in a few of our stops. This is one of those things I have only dreamed of as a kid and now Im finally doing, packing one bag and jumping on some trains throughout the countryside and stoping in a some great cities. I look forward to filling everyone in on our adventures throughout Europe, but that wont be until I find a computer again in September when I return to London.

This is only the start.