work has been my occupation of choice the last couple of days, i have tried to start as many projects as possible, perhaps its just a psychosymatic thing but having started projects lifts such a weight off your shoulders. I visited a cinema which plays classic cinema which was so cool. We watched Party girl, a 1920s film, described as colour film noir which was fantastic it was all so elgant and classy. The mise en scene was brilliant everything had such a nostalgic glamour to it, i really enjoyed the two dance performances in it too. I particularly liked how it contrasts with the 70 s style pornography I ve been using in my projects which is the opposite of class, but i love the kitchness of many of the images. I read a short story from a book called The Faber book of best new Irish short stories, which was called different city, different state which i thoroughly enjoyed and hope may be something i can feed into my essay.

I went to the Natural History museum yesterday and then to the Botanic Gardens in Rato. I was very excited at the prospect of this trip as i love the british counterpart however, i was sadly let down. There was just a lack of everything; we had to pay which the guide book didnt warn us of and then the exhibitions were just dull. The first was comically bad it was just a room of dirt with general litter scattered with a faux dinosaur fossil. The was a T rex skull which was impressive, in fact there were about three skulls but that was it, besides some awful pixellated displays. There was a collection of precious stones, but i really was not interested in them. The funny thing was thebest display; the full dinosaur models were behind a white wall which i couldnt see over which was embarassing but through the crack i could see they were covered in bin liners, why? The botanic garden i did enjoy, it was nice to see a bit of greenery which Lisbon sadly lacks, i d like to go there again to spend longer but i doubt ill visit the museum again.

The Party in the evening was much funner, i joined a bit late because of work, though people kept turning up in my room to sign Emilys card, i completely ignored them and just kept working. There was a real abundance of cakes due to the request from Emily however i dont think anyone wa expecting quite so many. I ate so many it made me feel sick and i dont think they mixed well with the drink. The funniest ocurance happened; i went outside for some fresh air and started talking to this boy who was here on holiday. Anyway after talking for 5-10 minutes he said im Bored or at least thats what i thought he said so i was like oh there plenty of people inside and was apologectic and then he said it again and agin i was suggesting he went inside but the third time he said no my name is Bjord, it was hilarious, or at least i thought it was. I got really bad stomach cramp from mixing cake and alcohol and so retreated to my room and continued with my toilet roll, script. I never realised how long they were, i wrote for about an hour probably longer and im not even half way. I got plenty of photos to work from to combine with the toilet roll souvenir, im really want to know what my tutors will think of it.

Yesterday i went to a flea market up the road from the house and I absolutely loved it. I loved how it was so Portuguese and yet so familiar to me in England. It was really bustling with life and gave me an insight into the Portuguese culture. The weather was as lively as the market chopping and changing hot one minute, raining the next. I took plenty of photos to use for my work and just as a keep sake. There was a real variety of stalls from clothes and furniture to literal tat just like a car boot sale in England. It made me smile to think how people think they could sell the most stupid and perculier things, completely useless unanimate objects. My favourite items i saw were a teapot/ cup, i couldnt tell in the shape of a breast, it was delightfully tacky and the other was a small plastic model of a crab claw; obviously i am missing out. I bought some flour which means that i can make a cake which put a smile on my face.

I am really enjoying getting back to basics within my work, just simply drawing seems such a novelty in such a contemporary design world but yet i feel it is intrinsic to my practice. I feel my drawing has drasticaly improved and im starting to develop a style. My work is much lighter and cleaner, i always had the tendency to overwork drawings, or use excessive amounts of layers which i have turned on its head by simply using pencil. Perhaps it is psychosymatic just changing from a graphite pencil to a red oil pencil might have been all i needed to change my mentality. I feel that my style is much more reflective of the Portuguese lifestyyle; more easy going, carefree, not bogged down and heavy. I will enjoy contuining to further the style and think that in the long run it will become invaluable experience. Although i was resilient to go at first i am glad i did go to the meal with Fiona and co. I was concerned it would have be awkward especially as it was someones leaving do but it wasnt uncomfortable at all. We went to some small restaurant, it was nice to go somewhere more traditionally Portuguese with a menu in the native language. I ordered the bifinho (turkey) but yet the old man who seemed completely oblivious to what was going on forgot my order and so it came about an hour late. I really felt embaressed at the thought of eating alone, the start of a neurosis or something but it wasnt too bad after all and the food was nice. We then went on to two bars the first was nothing special but the second was fantastic the rooms filled with collections of all sorts; toy trains, odd cartoons, statues literally anything all laid out in an art deco coffee house stlye. I was so tired i think i was actually asleep at one point andi didnt fancy anything to drink but i enjoyed just absorbing the atmosphere. Afterwards we walked Fiona home, this was not so pleasant, it seemed a bit of a slumb, and made us feel better about the notorious Martim Muniz where we live. It was cool to have met Fiona again and to strengthen ties, it was cool to think that there were three generations of NSAD illustrators.

Camping

The camping trip was a whirlwind of emotions pun intended. Travelling was not too bad, it felt very much like a school trip; we all met at the coach station with our tents at the ready and collected our sleeping bags from Nuno. I decided to do the tourist thing and adorn a straw hat and sun glasses which i enjoyed very much. The coach trip seemed prolonged but bearable spent it chatting to Olivia about where she was brought up and spoke about familiar haunts and later to Alex who i shared a tent with and gave each other the name of tenty. Once we arrived at Sinnes we had to make our way to Port copo? Which was 20km away and was raining. We decided to hitchhike which was such a new experience to me, im not sure whether i liked it but it was certainly an experience and a case of shoe on the other foot i suppose. After a damp wait eventually a nice man picked us up and drove us to our destination. Once there (we were the first) it didnt take us long to get the wine in to raise our dampened spirits again pun intended. We waited for the others to arrive most of whom arrived shortly afterwards after hitchhiking some bus. At the cafe i befriended a pregnant feline which made my jumper smell the whole time, not such a good idea. When everyone had arrived we walked to the coast to find our point of choice which was split between dunes or beach, we chose dunes as the beach has the potential to have sea and tides, not so obvious to some it appears. By the time we had set up it was sundown and time to start the festivities, el vinho did flow. It was a really fun time centred around the fire we made, getting back to nature, it was a better night than day. I even had the experience of tasting raw chicken and finding the funny side. We also ate the chocolate salmi i bought earlier however as it was not presliced we literally clawed at it. The best part was reminscinng about old school songs with Emily, i couldnt believe she sang the classics Soldiers of the Jungle, the lonely Jaguar and Yanomamo. I started the next day bright and early with the sun shining through the tent. It was stunning to wake up to such a view of the Atlantic. Some others were feeling a bit worse for wear and me being so impatient didnt want to wait around for people so decided to go exploring. I walked along the coast which was nice cleaning my teeth and found the most beautiful sea pool/ lagoon, it really was heavenly. It was such a fun day I made an art attack of an elephant out of bark which i found theurepeutic, then helped to make a river between the sea pool and the ocean which i named the Thames and built little millenium domes and st pauls cathedral and tate modern. I also played jump the river with Nuno which is a must for any beach trip. Went and bought some lunch we went for the cheapest option hamburger and chips for 4 euros so not even that cheap but it was lame it was literally a piece of meat, not a bun with salad or whatever else surround by fries all served by the most miserbale waiter. We think it was because we didnt full into the trap of eating the starter which you then have to pay for if you touch, it really is a test of sorts. The night was not so good, it kept raining and then stoping then restarting , so i kept rushing in and out of my tent simultaneously. The rest of English perhaps got it right and just stayed in their tent. Eventually i gave up and went to bed for the worst nights sleep of my life. I woke up when my roommates got in the tent, it really is just a two man tent let alone two fairly big lads and myself. but anyway i was being pushed up against the edge so half my sleeping bag, half my jumper (which now smelt of cat and smoke) and half of my boxers were soaked through. on my otherside were some knees digging into me. I got short bits of sleep but i really could not wait for morning although the rain dripping on the tent all night made me think i would never leave. Fortunately by the time 7 o clock came the rain had stopped, i could not have left the tent faster. I even stepped onto the wet sand and put my shoes on which was so uncomfortable but i didnt care. We packed away and made our way to town where we literally sat and waited for the cafe o open so we could get some breakfast. The breakfast was so good tea and chocolate croissant, it really did pick my spirits up. The coach journey home wasnt much fun, we looked liked such tramps on the metro and we must have stank but i guess thats all part of the fun of camping.

Today was a day of preparing for our camping trip. I am so excited of camping on the beach, i feel like a kid; i really want to swim to this island Nuno told me about. We went to this huge hypermarket called continente where we bought a tent, our home for the coming days. The rest of tthe day i spent doing a self portrait, it took me ages but i am pleased with it as it is exactly the sought of thing i would avoid, i would nt normally draw self portraits let alone from looking in a mirror so it was a real challenge. I enjoyed spending a longer period of time on one piece of work and have a real objective, to make it look like myself. When i had 'finished' i realised its so difficult to look at a self portrait from the third person. I really didnt know if it looked like me, i think i may have got the essence of myself, my friend said it did and said you can really tell i am concentrating and looking at a reflection.

Ill start with my latest thoughts. Whilst having a shower i contemplated ideas about difference as suggested and my inicial reaction was a negative response, how we deal/ react/ accept or the exact opposite with difference. I considered racism a sheer hatred and intolerance for an ethnicity; just the other day i witnessed 'racism' a Czech boy openly said that he disliked Russians due to the historic events of when Russia took control of the Czech, i am not exactly clear of what happened historically but he added that if a Russian went into a pub in Czech then his father would not hesitate to leave. This example demonstrated to me how racism is not necessarily crystal clear. He did not show malace or use offensive language as you often associate with racism, it was more a nationally built in dislike for Russia. In comparison i thought about xenophobia, and where itself and racism cross, literally xenophobia is a fear of foreigners (different) but does it not connote the same thing? In the same way homophobia really translates as a dislike, even if in a more understated way. As the text strangers suggests there is always a fear of unknown entities, and it is easier to completely write them off as wrong then to tolerate them.

Thursday was a really fun day, went to uni for lessons which was ok but the evening was one of my favourite times, we had a massive dinner party. Me, Emily and Jo decided that we were going to make a Thai Green curry for dinner however we did not know that quite so many people were going to come, in the end there was nearly 20 heads to feed. I then remembered having a green tea cake once with a friend in London i wanted to try to make one for the party. We did the shopping earlier in this cheap Asian supermarket, (i think i may buy a lot of my food there in the future). I made the cake first to get it out of the way, i made it massive but then again it was for 20 people, i really enjoyed making it and was more excited about the cake than the curry. However making the curry ended up being really fun i made myself head chef, i am such a control freak in the kitchen but everyone was doing something. I really liked the pressure and had a right laugh whilst cooking. We made it a buffet like dinner, self service. Everyone seemed to like the curry but most people said they found it really spicy, i didnt find it too hot neither did the other English people so i guess it is another example of differences in nationality. The cake got the thumbs up, i really liked, not being arrogant, i thought it was delicious.

After enjoying the cake so much i decided i wanted to bake another there and then, i only had an hour before clas so i was manically making and then baking this cake, in the end i had to ask emily to take it out the oven when it was done. After class we returned home and hadd some, i made this one stronger which i think improved the taste. I really had the baking bug and so decided to make scones for dinner, i followed an online recipe but made just one big as there was no pastry cutter, shock and dismay. It was a success as i had no scales so just guessed amounts and the oven is gas so you cant chose the heat so much. Later on we headed towards Alfama to a bar/ restaurant called Chipitos which had the best view, the walk there was my favourite part i think, i felt so happy like i was on a holiday. At the bar we had a couple of beers and listened to some Fado, i actually really enjoyed it, it had such emotion, what i didnt like was that you had to be silent whilst they performed, they took it very seriously. It was only after the performance that a friend of mine told me that she heard that the singer was really famous Portuguese singer, its so surreal how fame can be constrained.

Today i went for quite a long walk, it was originally just to go grab a coffee but ended up walking around Lisbon. We took a trip to one of the many viewpoints of Lisbon which was very Panoramic, but the prices of drinks reflected the touristic nature of it 2 orange juices and a coffee for ten euros. The weather was beautiful and we walked alongside the Cais du Sodre following the railway and then to the bohemian view point that Emily loves, i did enjoy it there more this time maybe i felt less intemidated. For dinner tonight Eva and Jose made Ragu and Pasta, i dont know what makes it a Ragu technically but it was really tasty. It was a very sociable event everyone was chatting and eating and then we watched some dance program, like strictly come dancing Portuguese style which was fun as we were all criticising it and then i went to have my shower which is where i started.

The last few days have been non eventful really hence the lack of entries. Monday i revisted Laranjeira to purchase some cheap lino on mass. I found the shop and saw instantly that it was not open again so i was so annoyed so i went to the bank nearby and asked if the shop had been closed down but he told me that it was closed for lunch which explained it, so i had a couple of hours to kill in Laranjeira, its hard to think that a flooring shop could survive when it is closed so much. There is next to nothing in Laranjeira. The Benfica stadium is there but i didnt think i would be allowed in so i spent the time just wandering around in the drizzling rain, it really did make me think of being in an English city. The highlight of the time was that i saw the workers entrance to the Zoo and i spotted two camels, i really was clutching at straws. I bought an apple from a little fruit shop which was very nice again improving my mood. I returned to the lino shop and it was open, yay, it was such an old gentlemens club, i really liked it. I took the roll of lino i wanted and the guy kinda shewed me off and said something but i did not understand so i waited and then i interpreted that he was saying just take it, though i slowly walked to the door watching his reaction in case i was lost in translation. I then decided that if i was to buy a phone i might as well do it then and make the most of it, it was 90 euros so i was a bit annoyed at how expensive it was but it was the cheapest for what i wanted, it turns out to be quite a nice little phone despite my inicial resentment.

Yesterday i spent just doing some work in my room during the day. The afternoon was more eventful, we went to this bar, club, hard to describe place called crew Hassan, a converted house much like Casa Marvao, it was such a cool place with these small chairs on the floor and just randomly placed furniture it was so quirky. We had some tea thee which was really good tea very clean tasting as i described it, perfect temperature and everything. Then on our retuyrn i had dinner and watched Withnail and I whilst doing some more lino cutting. I enjoyed parts of the film but to be honest i didnt really concentrate on it, should watch it again i think.

The best thing about today was making toad in the hole, i really enjoyed cooking again, it was like being back in Norwich. Unfortunately we had to rush it and leave the mashed potatoes as we realised we were going to be late for our language class. I actually really enjoyed the language class, the smaller group is much better and less intemadating.

Two nights out two early mornings. Tursday night exceeded all expectations; it was huge there must have been 50 people over all of whom were really social and nice, there was the best ambiance no ego. Trying to get around became problematic as 50 people in a limited space, there people crammed in the corridors lounge and even on the stairs. I tried Ginja for the 1st and last time te stuff was so sickly sweet and so i moved on to more familiar drinks. I was really fascinated by listening to the general chit chat and pick out what i could hear, literally writing as i listened, it was a really fun experiment. I must mention tat i had no paper at the time and so a toilet roll i salvaged came in useful. I hope to derive inspiration from the miscellaneous words perhaps for critical studies or maybe my souvenir project, im sure the tutors would enjoy a novelty toilet roll. Some locals made a complaint and the police came to try and get the party broken up but nothing seemed to happen, i was a bit oblivious to it all really all i remember is Alex saying it was his id card on the line which still dont know what is but at the time i found it hilarious, its not so funny in retrospect. Just as the party started to die down Jo was asking everyone if they wanted to go to Jamaica (the club not the country) and at first i was not up for it but something persuaded me so me Jo and Odoneka and Yenni got a taxi there, Yenni stayed in the taxi and got take home whilst the rest of us went to get our groove on reggae style. It was free for girls but 6 euros for guys however i had no money on me so the girls had to pay and the boy got in free ironically. I had a good time the music wasnt so strictly reggae as before but it had some classic songs, Eurythemics and Cake spring to mind. The club closed at 6;00 and the other guys wanted to get some food so we headed to MacDonalds which was closed until 10;00 am which was outstounding compared to London and in Canada, Odonika is Canadian where there are 24 hour MacDonalds. Anyway we found an open Pastelaria where they got food, i was a bit jaded and didnt fancy anything. Eventually got home and went to bed at 7;00.

I then got up at 11;00 to do a bit of work and help tidy up. Me and 'Miguel' the Czech boy carried the empty bottles to the recycling bank. I wish i had videod it it really made me think of Mystery Train by Jim Jarmusch where the Japanese couple carry the suitcase, strangely poetic yet popular image. This idea is something i have been thinking about in accordance to my own studio work, i have been muc more of a thinker whilst being out here, partly because i have been doing so much stuff i havent had much time just to sit down and do things which i regularly did in England. Tere is tis drawing in our bathroom of a jacket, and though fairly naive i love it, it reminds me of Jim Dines work. It has inspired me to draw my grey cardigan that i seemed to have worn nearly every day since being here. It is this combination between personal image and popular image that makes me adore Jim Dines work. Sorry i went on a bit of a tangent then; anyway after bottle carrying duty the rest of the day was a bit tame had a lesson at 3;00 still doing the same lino cut, i just want it to be done so i can move on but each time i print it he will suggest a way of improving it. I went to Laranjeira which means Orange tree on my own to buy a big cheap roll of lino. I did not know where the shop was so i wandered and found a large super market and so decided to do my shopping first, this took me ages, i tried to calculate the money going out and went for the cheapest items however, i think cause i was doing this which defeated the object and ended up spending 20 euros. By the time i had found Interpares it was closed so i was gutted but i know where it is when i do want to go. In the evening we went to Odenikas leaving party, all though we will see her again before she leaves. We brought crisps and biscuits and coke, noone i really didnt fancy drinking after the night before, it was a real kiddies parties, full of e numbers. I was a fun night, nice and chilled out, a lot of the time was taken up with people writing words with perculiar spelling or sounds and getting someone who spoke a different language to try and say them for fun. I guess in some ways it fits in with the strangers text in that its a way of putting up barriers, at least psychologically, yet being disguised as fun, perhaps anyway?

Mamma Mia, its actually an Italian saying, I have obviously heard it before but i thought that it was just a stereotype but apparently not. My Italian friend Eva and I talked about it today and she said that se actually used it along with 'Maddonna' which I guess is the equivalent to oh my God or Jesus. Had my language class today which was useful, id say fun but... The best part was when the teacher asked if anyone spoke good English and everyone turned to face me, and i was like I can speak fluent English. Had a really good chat to a Israeli girl called Tulle and her Dutch friend whose name i need to find out soon. The Dutch friend was explaining to me how she loved toilet humour which a bit of a surreal experience. We also talked of how Holland and England are similar in their efficiency, just thinking about how quickly items are put through the checkout at a supermarket, its te same in Holland but here just like everything else its so layed back and slow. Even when theres a massive que forming the till workers still take their time.

I thought that as i did not have much to say about the day itself i would do show some research i've been looking at. For te engraving class the name Thomas Beswick kept coming up, wose work i have seen before and really enjoy. I love how detailed his work is, a real draftman, i'd love to get as good as him.

Today i went into uni and did some Gravura for a couple of hours, however, it was the teacher who doesnt speak Portuguese so i was left to my own devises. There was a callograghy workshop happening at the same time which i enjoyed watching and got some ideas flowing. This afternoon was less eventful, i really didnt do anything particularly, some work lunch and dinner. This evening Sister act 2 had finished downloading on Jo computer after about a week of downloading and so i was all ready for a feel good film. However, it ended up being a Spanish dubbed version, in was so gutted but we still watched the songs anyway which was enjoyable as well as reciting the lines, which i know too well.

Wasnt really that exciting a day today. We ad to go to the city university to hand in our applications for the language course, then went to a presentation which i found a bit cringy to be honest they made us say our name and where we came from, it was all a bit embarasssing really. We were then meant to go for a treasure hunt around lisbon but we, me and Jo didnt really fancy it, a lot of the Erasmus schemes are a bit forced, i know that is te point but they just arent really my sort of thing. Instead we went food shopping for a group meal for this evening to say goodbye to a German couple who are leaving the house soon. We then went back to the city uni for our first language lesson which was good to get started. It was a bit surreal, it really was like being back at school again at a desk facing the teacer, making notes etc. All in all it went well and i hope ill progress over the coming weeks. The lesson ended at eightish and we headed for home, and started cooking straight away, some oter housemates had done some chopping and prepared stuff for the stir fry. The food was good we had rice, noodles vegetables, chicken in black bean sauce, it was laid out like a buffet which i enjoyed. Again there is some perculiarity that for a house of predominantly erasmus student, that us european students that we cooked an Asian dish.

Today was a proper Sunday. After calling up mum, to wish her a happy mothers day and tell her about the oxfam present i bought her, which are such good gifts i think, i did not do very much interesting stuff, a bit of work was about it. But for dinner we made bangers and mash as we had planned and it really lived up to our high expectations. We had the full works sausages, obviously and mashed potatoes, cabbage and an abundance of home made onion gravy. We then went to see the film Juno which i was very impressed by, i thought it was going to be a bit trashy but it wasnt. It was done in an indie style much like Napoleon Dynamite, perhaps a little more forced but still enjoyable. I loved the props and mise en scene it was very kitch and really to my taste. It had a really humbling feeling to it and was funny as well as involving. I wonder how many people left the cinema wanting to get pregnant?

I know i said i would keep this blog up to date and make and entry for evertday but it has become more and more difficult especially with uni starting. So Ill give an update now; Uni has started well im looking forward to learning there and improving my skills; i have taken a drawing class as i mentioned before focusing on portraiture and body which i would like to get good at, i have also taken an engraving class which is so cool we start of with lino cuts, yeah i know i do them a lot but i enjoyb them and have never really had any lessons but wil go on to learn wood cutting and etching repectively. Thursday was a poignant day I guess after a day of lino cutting which was great i decided to shave my hair off. With much help from Jo and and Emily it finally was done after literally hours of cutting and shaving with a bic razor, perhaps not the best instrument. It hurt at times but i had to grin and bear it as i didnt want Jo or Emily to stop half way through. Anyway it is done, and i happy with it, i have being thinking about for such a long time that its nice to finally have done it, and it is the perfect time, it still gives me time to grow it back before returning to England in case i change my mind. In a way its quite a nice analogy of sheding my English skin and embracing Portugal, it is so much more practical and i need not worry about how my hair looks anymore. We will see how long i keep it up. Also on Thursdat there was an international dinner party at our house which was fun, i didnt stay up that late as i had uni the next day but i enjoyed the time I spent. Saw some familiar faces, the Scandanavian boys I have met several time previously as well as some new faces including Londoner called Lizzy and Sarah a girl from Holland all in all it was fun but i felt guilty as there was a baby staying over as well so i hope that it got to sleep before the party kicked off.

Today has been one of my favourite days so far we went back to Cascais which although was fun I realy didnt have the urge to return but we thought we would rent some bikes and ride along the coast. As it happens we were too late to rent bikes but decided we would walk instead but first we would pop into Jumbo a massive hypermarket to pick up some picnic bits and pieces. We then set off on our trek, going the opposite direction from the time before and I instantly liked it more, it was so panoramic. I really loved it, I think it even beat the Algarve, certainly the weather did it was such a nice day. We made various stops, the first me and Jo sat on this cliff which literally overhung the ocean it was so good having our legs dangle over the edge, it was both exhilerating, humbling in the sense I felt so insignificant and yet calming and thereupeutic. We stoped at this park to have our picnic to get out of the sun for a while, it was the best, i love picnics anyway but this was such a good experience, the park was empty besides to boys playing on bikes and we just sat in this little clearing and had lunch. Afterwards we kept heading for this beach which took literally hours although we did stop and start to take in the views. Literally as i was ready to turn around we found the beach, Guincha, it was nice enough but perhaps the walk was an anticlimax, i prefered the journey. I saw some surfing which was kind of cool but was good just to say we made it there, we found out that it was an 8 km walk so it was quite impressive. We decided to get the bus back as we were tired and did not know how long it would take us to get back, i enjoyed the ride back too taking in the scenery as it was a road that literally followed the coast. We then popped into Jumbo once again to pick up some bits and pieces, we found some English sausages which are impossible to find in Lisbon so we will have bangers and mash some time soon, i could not decide what i needed and i had 4 euros so in the end i just picked up some strawberry juice.