Jury is coming

The word jury just makes it seem like the most daunting assessment deadline ever. I somehow managed to stick to my proposed project and have been continuing with the language exploration, mainly through portraiture, but have been trying to expand into more installation-type pieces, and even tried some glass cutting to make my huge mirror into smaller sizes, which kind of went well.

I have compiled a portfolio of my work for this project here

I also have a couple of exams to take, which is different to Coventry! One is for my Contemporary Art class and the other for my Art History. Feeling slightly anxious about them as most of the papers we have been given to revise on are in French. 

National hummus shortage

Seriously. Nowhere has had hummus in stock for weeks. We kind of had a spontaneous Inn film night on sunday, watching The Mummy and realising how awful the graphics/cgi were. Monday was back to same old 9-6 lectures, but afterwards we went down into the town to explore the ‘Foire de Ste Catherine’ (a fair celebrating St catherine). we had looked round some of the stalls on our lunch break, which consisted of speciality foods/sweets, clothes and other items. We had a taste of all the free samples we could, especially nougat, which i then went on to buy in denner (175g for 2.95.-!!) later on we met with a few friends from class and had some vin chaud (mulled wine, new favourite drink). There was a huge tent by the train station which seemed to be full of the entire population of Sierre and more, we left quite early because we were tired and hungry, and found out the next day that there had been a knife attack in that same tent! I think the victim survived… switzerland is sounding less sweet and innocent by the month

I now have a swiss bank account! Going to have to take out swiss franc using my british card as usual, and then pay the money into my new account, so to avoid the ridiculous £22 fee that incurs when sending money internationally through online banking (thanks natwest). Received my parcel from home which consisted of thermal underclothes and chocolate rice cakes, which didn’t last long.

Spent a lot of time in the studio this week throwing out some new ideas and trying to paint without using it all up. Kind of takes the fun and freedom out of it if you’re feeling limited by your materials. We went to have a look in another classmate’s studio, who has an entire room to himself, filled with random items and trinkets that he finds. He said he buys nothing but hot glue, for everything he finds he believes already is art itself and does not need major editing apart from maybe the combining of it with other items. very ‘one man’s trash is another man’s treasure’. With my work (finally decided) i am trying to explore the concept of the language barrier and communications being lost in translation, through a whole range of mediums, planning to attempt at some photography and sound, which isn’t normally my forte

It’s getting really cold now. Missing the brief warmth we had when we arrived

references/info/helpful stuff

FOOD

we haven’t actually eaten out in sierre as it’s so expensive. like ‘sat down, wined and dined’ eaten out. we have been to the McDonalds, which is 7.20.- for a happy meal, and  anywhere between 11.- and 15.- for a normal medium meal depending what you get. a burger by itself can range between 5.- to 10.- too

Holy Cow is a good one. burger chips and a non-alcoholic drink for 14.90 (if you’re a student, when i bought i didn’t need to show my student card?? but its better to have on you just incase)

SHOPPING

Denner -  for poor people (us) . the Aldi/Lidl of Switzerland (there is also Aldi/Lidl in switzerland but this is much more common to come across) its where we get all of our groceries. bread, milk, all the necessities can generally be found for 1-2.-. some vegetables and fruit can be a little more. the cheapest eggs i find are 3.30- for a 15 pack i think. always have deals on, cheap cakes biscuits etc. alcohol too, i always buy a certain wine from there for 4.95.-. cheap shitty sandwiches are 2.95-

Migros - going up in the scale. think Morrisons/Asda/Tesco. only really go here if we can’t find it in Denner. they also have more wide variety of products like beauty products, electronics, depending on which store you go to. stationary too, and for example pins (for putting posters up) seem to be 1.90.- everywhere. sandwiches getting a little pricier here circling 5.-

Co-op - for rich people. more between british co-op and waitrose. we’ve been told this is where the freshest fruit and veg can be found, and in more variety. but at higher cost. i’m not a supermarket expert but i know a horrifyingly high price when i see one. rarely set foot in here, only if desperate. sandwiches can be up to 7.- or more. occasionally you could find a deal on that’s better than the other shops but that requires some good looking around.

Manor - i call it the swiss Debenhams (maybe a hint of M&S). make -up counters, variety of clothing ranges, their homeware selections is amazing (but pricey) and there is Manor food. they do a really tasty mozzarella, tomato and pesto bap thing for 4.30.-

SECOND HAND STORES

Sierre - Job Transit. this place is actually in Chippis which is just a 5-10 minute walk over the bridge from the Inn in Sierre. Mainly books, clothes, furniture, ornaments. never seen bikes/scooters

Sion - HIOB, Emmaüs

TRAINS / TRAVELLING

Half fare card. get this. you need it. 185.- but if you want to travel a lot, its worth the sacrifice

Free travel after 7pm card . i am just about to purchase. 129.- , buy it as soon as you arrive here, like i should’ve done. if you’re going for a lot of days out, just don’t go home til after 7. or make friends elsewhere/couch surf and go out after 7 then return after 7 the next day, all free. (i think this is only available if you hold a half fare card too)

Supersaver tickets this service is also handy, we didn’t discover it til quite far in. only downside is that you have to get the specific train that you’ve booked.

Film workshop

Despite only being here for just over a month, when I heard the workshop leader’s voice (he was english!!) I felt a bit nostalgic for home. I love the diversity of this place, all variety of accents, but when you suddenly hear someone speaking in an english accent in this little town it can be quite nice.

The aim of the week was to create our own short film in groups, and me and Chelsea were paired with two other girls, Julie and Heloise. We were instructed to choose a text in light of which we would structure our filming and acting around, and somehow we ended up with Samuel Beckett’s play ‘Waiting for Godot’. Some parts of the dialogue were quite humorous and involved only one or two words from each speaker so we thought it would be fun to try reading it out in both french and english.

We were given the recording equipment and sent off to try it. I chose an acting role in the film and surprisingly found it quite fun, although i hate to watch myself back afterwards. Once we had all of our footage we set about editing it on Adobe Premiere, which gave me some handy new tech knowledge

The workshop leader himself, Redmond Entwistle, gave us a presentation of some of his own films at one point during the week, excerpts of which can be found here .

Lausanne: second attempt

Not much luck. It rained all day. However we did find a cool comic book shop where i managed to find something in english, and then we stumbled upon a protest against the Dublin referrals, which i later read up about here 

‘STOP WARS NOT PEOPLE’

zZzZzzZzzzZ (arrival)

Never thought i’d be living in an Inn occupied solely by artists. It’s called Auberge des Collines, and situated above a Bella Italia restaurant! There are 14-15 rooms in the inn i think… my room handily has a sink and mirror, and a greedy three windows, though i suspect may get slightly irritating because of all the constant light entering through.

^This is the entrance around the back of the building. The house key magically open both the main door and the room door

We were welcomed with an amazing tea last night, made by one of our inn-mates of whom i can’t remember her name… but I know she was from South Africa.. there are also Venezuelans and Egyptians, and saying we’re “British” just sounds rather dull in comparison. There are mountains right outside my window, and a lake (which apparently we can swim in!) we’re going to the shops soon with one of the girls on our floor for groceries, she will shortly be finding out how awful our version of the student diet is