Wow, where has this week gone?? I’ve pretty much not done anything of much substance, and yet time flew. Weird how that works! Let’s see… Exciting things that have happened this week. Hmmm.
Oh! I have come to (somewhat of) a conclusion as to further summer plans! I’m going to try to stay here in Belfast, and hopefully get some sort of temporary internship or placement at a design or advertising agency. I sent out portfolio/CV’s to several places I liked here in Belfast (along with a few others in various other UK places), and will probably send a few more out next week. So far I’ve just gotten one response (from a small agency, but they were super helpful!), but there will (hopefully) be more to come. We shall see! I made this little “penfolio” thing, just as something tangible to leave behind with contact information (and pretty visuals!). It was a pain to make, but I’m quite happy with how it turned out!
Last Sunday, after church a few of us went to the playground area in Botanic Park, which was sort of random, but rather fun. Being in Belfast, this was naturally followed by torrential rain resulting in us being completely and ridiculously soaked. Seriously, I don’t think it had rained that hard in like, months. Go figure! Anyway, we went to Starbucks afterward, and were completely dripping as we waited for our coffee, haha. Here is a bit of our pre-soaked-playground-related fun.
In other news, just two more days until my family comes! I will be venturing down to Dublin to meet them on Monday morning, which will be lovely! I’m not entirely sure of our agenda, but I do know it involves Ireland (obviously), Scotland, England, & possibly Wales, in a mix of big cities and rural towns. Hopefully the weather will not be rain filled as it has been these past two days!!
Last, but not least, some pictures from the PANI night were posted (click for bigger) -
Belfast pretty much gets a handful of awesome points for the weather this past week – beautifulll! It’s starting to look a bit dreary outside though, so perhaps I speak a bit too soon….
Anywho, this past weekend, I went to a Christian music festival up in Ballymena, called FUEL, which I quite thoroughly enjoyed! Matt & Sarah, from the church I’ve been going to here in Belfast, live in Ballymena, and Sarah was lovely enough to allow me to stay with here for the weekend. I’d say the highlights were Starfield, DC*B, and of course, Jeremy Camp. Though, all of the bands were fantastic, and I may be a bit biased… Anyway, it was a swell weekend of music and cool people and worship – here are a few photos:
Starfield & Jeremy Camp followed by DC*B!
Between bands, we made awesome paper-plate-people. Brilliant, I know.
We also played a giant game of Snakes & Ladders. When I get married, this is what I want as a wedding gift; I’m not even joking, make note of it!
I was strangely fascinated by the big-blue-reminiscent-of-Narnia-tents. Also: epic clouds!
In other news, I was part of a design/advertising workshop/competition here. It was co-sponsored by the University of Ulster and PANI (Publicity Association of Northern Ireland). Basically, groups were assigned to various advertising and design agencies within Belfast, and we had to come up with a marketing campaign and associated visuals for the brief they set. We were placed with Fire, IMC, and actually ended up winning, hurrah! Even though I missed a bit of the experience being home last month, it was still good fun and I feel like I learned a lot! Also, we got iPhones for winning, which was a nice bonus.
In other news, the family will be here in 10 days, hurrah! Still no news re: plans for the rest of summer. Hmmmmmm.
Ahoy! Much time has past since my last post, and much news has been made!
So, new goal for the summer! Update at least once a week. There should be lots of exciting things happening, so I’m definitely looking forward to them! Until then, I feel a bit of catching up is in order…
The biggest of which I reckon is my graduation! It was sort of last minute (my spontaneity is taking over, I know), but it was really lovely and I now officially have a Bachelor of Arts in Design Studies in Digital Visualization – hooray! We were blessed to have it all work out so that I was even able to go back home for a couple weeks for the commencement/convocation ceremonies and celebrations and such. The commencement was ridiculously crowded, with Obama being the key speaker, but I think it went really well (and even included a “surprise” appearance from Alice Cooper… ha!). Also, it was lovely to see family/friends/furry things, and I was able to be back for (the evening of, anyway) Caleb’s 21st.
Things are well at home overall, which is good. Caleb, on his birthday of all days, officially withdrew from his university course (Er… Game Design?), because now he’s unsure what he wants to do, and is planning some sort of major switch – seems to be a common theme in the family, eh? Haha
In other news, my family has officially booked their tickets for their summer visit here! They’ll be arriving on the 22nd of June, then we’ll do a bit of Ireland/UK travel. My brother and mom will leave on the 7th of July, at which point my dad and I will venture on to some other (undecided as of yet) European destination for another week or so. It should be a lot of fun, and I’m looking forward to showing them a bit of the culture I’ve come to know and live with!
Aside from that, my summer plans are officially… well, not made. Haha, my lease here is up at the end of this month, and I have no idea what I’m doing after that. I think the plan is to stay here – either Belfast or UK – until sometime in Septemeber or so. I was going to do a learn Spanish program in Spain, but that’s recently shifted to attempting to find an internship or temporary job in photo or design field. I hope to have something decided by sometime next week or so. Basically, I have no idea. I s’pose that’s half of the fun, but I probably should get cracking and start making some decisions here, ha.
Also, re: Germany trip – Awesome! This is the post I had started after I returned…
The great mother-daughter tour-de-Germany went rather swimmingly! We met in Munich, where we later ventured to Fussen, Wurzburg, and Berlin. Also, we somehow managed to do so using public transport to successfully reach each of the aformentioned destinations in a timely fashion (by timely of course, I am refering merely to the lack of back-tracking, not length of time. 12 hours on a train is by no means timely in my book.). Shocking, I know!
…And then I never finished it. Brilliant, right? You can, however, see a selection of photos under the “Europe” section of my photo gallery (or just click here). Oh, and the photo above is of the line that marks the spot where the Berlin Wall used to be. There’s so much history in all the German places we visited, it’s fascinating – perhaps one day I will get around to a proper, complete update. Perhaps!
Also! While I was home, I got a new camera. It’s partially a graduation gift from my parents, and partially a graduation gift to myself, and mostly to use for when I get back and attempt to start my own photo/design business type deal. It’s a Canon 5d Mark II – a lovely little (er, big, I guess) thing, which still remains nameless. Suggestions?
Also, my photo a day project is still going strong – today will be day 148 – hooray! Check it out at http://azchick.com/photoblog/
Anyway, it was a swell weekend of music and cool people and worship – here are a few photos:
