i have had a wild, adventuresome, amazing weekend.
i (as usual) only have a few minutes to update, so i can't put in much detail, but here was the basic plot...
i was planning on going to venice this weekend with my school program. this would have been safe, easy, and pleasant. however, i received an email from my friend Paul (famous DJ, writer, artist... but i hate to name names in here because they get searched for in Google and that's just kinda weird)... inviting me to hang out in Germany for Documenta andor Cybersonica in London. this would have been kinda crazy, sketchy, and potentially challenging. however, i opted for what was more exciting and perhaps more purposeful for me and on Thursday i hopped on a plane to Frankfurt. woo!
that was the beginning of the adventure...
i'd spent all of Thursday hanging out in Pisa (as in the Leaning Tower of Pisa)... didn't get the flight until nighttime. so i arrived in this little airport a long way away from Frankfurt, near an army base. it was around midnight and it was pouring with rain. i was supposed to meet Paul in Kassel that evening, a town hours away by train. at that point, even if the trains had been running, i wouldn't have made it to Kassel until 5am or so. it appeared to be kinda fucked. i was mildly distraught. i couldn't even get ahold of Paul. i also was flat broke.
then along came an angel. this sweet german boy came up and asked me if i needed a ride into Frankfurt... my instincts told me he was cool (and i was quite desperate anyway) so i rode with him. he was picking up his ex-girlfriend who flew in from London... and the three of us went off in his ultra-swanky mercedes towards the city. in the 2 hour car ride, i got to get acquainted with them... and it turned out that they were extremely nice and cool people, with whom i had much in common. we hung out more when they dropped me off and we exchanged email addresses... so now i have 2 people to chill with in Frankfurt in the future.
i hung out at the airport in the wee hours of the morning, waiting for the trains to begin running. it was all really surreal... and i wish i could describe more of the details. strange, high-tech futuristic place. i was so sleep deprived and disoriented... but yet i had this wild feeling of being a space traveller or something... just way out in the middle of the planet somewhere. and then i came accross this little bar that was open inside it. it looked like i was in a little german log cabin from the inside. there were people smiling and talking inside... and it was so strange to imagine the huge, sprawling, machine-like mass of a structure that it was inside... and to imagine what time it was (4am) and the circumstances. so it was eerie, but comforting. i made friends with the bartender. they played belinda carlisle 'heaven is a place on earth'. it was a cool moment.
these crazy circumstances create a sense of elation within me... that despite how lost i am or what wild situation i find myself in, i am taking it all in... living life... experiencing the world. and that, in and of itself, just makes me happy.
so i navigated my way onto a train that took me into Kassel. in this small German town, the biggest contemporary art exhibition in the world is held, every 5 years: Documenta. tens of thousands of people go. it is astounding...
i got there, still early in the morning, no way to get ahold of Paul, sleep deprived as hell (hadn't slept in 3 days) and wandered around. Documenta wasn't open to the public until the next day. i met some people though, and was invited to an opening party that night.
missed Paul, and he went over for an engagement in London that evening, anyway. so i booked a hotel room and slept for the afternoon. i went to the party and it was incredible... 5,000 people, 2,500 international press and 2,500 artists. held inside a huge old train station. gourmet banquets, unlimited drinks... music and dancing. all free (for me)... i felt so lucky to be there and be a part of it.
the next morning, i got to see the exhibition. it was stirring, invigorating... inspiring. it revitalized my faith and interest in modern art. my mind became impregnated with new possibilities and ideas. seriously...
so, then instead of making my way back to italy like a good, safe girl..... i instead took a train into Switzerland, because i knew that is where Paul was booked next. i got there... had no idea where the fuck i was or where the club was. it was a fairly big town. i went to what i thought was the place. turned out the venue had moved. i was freaked out that i wouldn't be able to find it or find Paul (because i had no way of reaching him... no european cell number) and would have to sleep in the train station or something crazy. but fortune smiled on me again, and i happened to run into some cool kids who were friendly and showed me exactly where to go.
the place was beautiful... this really cool club full of hip Swiss people. i had dinner with Paul and we caught up. it was so good to see him. he then went on to DJ for a couple hours... his set was so amazingly full of energy and newness and grooviness that the crowd almost literally wouldn't let him stop. after he was supposed to be done and the club was closing, the crowd kept encoring him to play more and more and he didn't finish until almost 5am. there was such an amazing vibe there though... it was a high for everyone.
paul, instead of staying in a hotel like he always has, stayed at the promoters apartment... which was a first for him in his whole career. so he and i were shown into this little room in this guys place... quaint and pleasant, but kinda strange to be staying there.
it turned out to be absolutely wonderful, though. after paul went to sleep, i couldn't sleep, so i hung out for a while... and the promoter guy (Patrick) got up early... and he and i ended up chatting and hanging out all morning into the afternoon (when Paul got up). it was so memorable. he was this relly sweet german man, who had an amazing life... so many stories to tell... so many experiences. he had been a producer for years... had a band, was in movies... was still in bands, etc. we lounged around and he played me all kinds of amazing underground German music i'd never heard before. when Paul woke up, he served us all this amazing Swiss food... cheese, bread, soup... chocolate. it was lovely... 'soul-food'. we then went for a walk and he showed us around the town... i took a nap for a few hours while Paul did some work. then i woke up and had some wine and hung out with them and Patrick's friend who had come over... he was such a character and it was amaying to learn about him, too, and his life.
this morning, Paul and i headed on the train into this tiny little town in Switzerland up in the Alps... he is teaching a class for this special experimental media arts school (again, i don't want to name names) along with a group of famous filmmakers and artists from America and around Europe. it is all happening here, for a few weeks, like a seminar... in the middle of this idyllic little Swiss village. i am so extremely excited to be here... meeting these people... soaking it all up. i hope to attend the school next year... but for now, just sitting in is amazing.
this country is absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. picture: babbling brooks of crystal clear water running around lush green meadows sprinkled with wildflowers... spreading over valleys... beneath wooded hills... which turn into cliffs and snow-capped mountains with white clouds and mist hugging them... and the sky, through the fluffy clouds, is the purest azure blue.
ok, away from this computer then and i am off to go frolick and hike around... and then meet everyone for dinner and have discussions about art and culture and philosophy and the planet. then paul and i are going to hang out for a while and work on some music software project thingie.
ah yes, this is the shit. i am having the time of my life... and yet still, there is so much more to come. i am still going to be in europe for at least another month. i can't wait to see what comes next... p.s. sorry i had to keep repetatively using the word 'amazing'... i need to use a bigger variety of synonyms in future entries, eh?