Going Mad in Europe and What I Learned

“The essence of play is that one does not ‘do’ the activity in the ordinary sense; rather, one ‘plays’ it.” In the article Ideas Are Born in Fields of Play by Charalampos Mainemelis and Sarah Harvey, play allows for the uncertainty of new ideas to inspire and infiltrate differing field systems. Playing with new ideas is like playing with something that one would not normally do. Then, taking that behavior beyond what would be expected while altering the reason of playing creating something new. This is what design forces us to do when we are thrown into new and exciting (sometimes stupid) situations much like this trip abroad did for many of us. Meals ranging from paté, duck and the salmon threw each student into a situation that one has never been in before. The element of play allowed for the openness to new ideas. It is much like becoming the bricoleur becoming resourceful and creative with situations to get what one wants out of it. Design takes the element of play to create intelligent responses out of objects, building, and art that originally were not meant to do so to accommodate to the user’s adaptation.  

Public transient systems are exciting because everyone seems to be going someplace. It is a people watcher’s dream come true because one gets to see how others make use of the system. The subway system answers the need to have a rapid transit system. In the age of fast food services, the metro aids in getting people from point A to B without taking time for travel in large metropolitan cities. Metro systems have the ability to have high capacity and frequency in travel. The metros in Paris, Milan, Rome and Bilbao have different user friendly and hectic aspects for each system. Paris seemed to have the most thorough metro system covering all the major tourist stops and arrandisments in the surrounding metropolitan area of Paris. The system also includes the main rail line to and from the airport cutting out major car traffic into and out of the city. This encourages use of the public transient system.  However, the metro/rail line system is not the easiest to understand when a new ticket is needed: i.e.-the ticket fine that was presented to the group while traveling to Charles de Gull airport. Looking at a business perspective, the income that is made by requiring an additional ticket to travel to the airport is genius. This cuts down on the gypsies traveling to the airport and those that try and jump the ticket booths to make the RER train. The Metro system in Paris has adapted to the invitation and draw of fruit/ vegetable stands and the occasional souvenir shops located throughout tunnels and metro platforms. These stands have caused the metro system to adapt to accommodate for new needs and desires. Such stands are not as evident in the other systems in Milan, Rome and Bilbao.  

            In comparison to the Paris metro, the Rome Metro seems only to be centralized at the Termini train station, the main train station in Rome. Like the RER, Rome has a train line that travels to the Fumincino airport named the Leonardo Express. This is not directly connected to the metro system and one has to travel to Termini to get on the train. However, because the metro currently only travels in two directions, the efficiency of travel in Rome is poor. On the other hand, comparing Rome to Paris, Rome is a more walker friendly city. Currently, with the coming opening date of line C more sections of Rome will become accessible. Another user friendly aspect about Rome’s public transient system is that the metro passes cover the local train system in the entire region (we were in the Lazio region), the metros and the buses. This is true throughout the entire country of Italy. This cuts out buying an undesirable amount of tickets to get to and from a desired destination. Paris did not have such a ticket, or at least such a ticket was not fitting for our travels. The closest cities that made available such a ticket were Milan and Bilbao. However, I do not know whether these tickets work the same as the tickets do in Rome.

Rome’s metro system as similar to Paris covers only the important stops that tourists seem to wish to visit the most. The metro systems are very accommodating to visitors. Due to the inefficient system that Rome has, Paris’ metro system is accommodating to both visitors and residents. The needs of both resident and visitor aspects need to be made in Rome.  

            Bilbao had the simplest metro system going one direction and a small amount in the other direction. With the age of this system, the cleanliness is amazing in comparison to Rome, Paris and Milan. However, Bilbao’s metro system is not efficient because it only goes in one direction. When in Europe everything seems to be up hill both ways. This system really does not cut down on travel as much. It did seem to create good access to Plentzia (the beach). Taking this trip by car or bus would probably have cost a large sum. However, with Bilbao being an industrial city until recently, the metro system’s creation does not seem to be geared for visitor friendly uses. Traveling from the top of the city down to the beach just allows for easier access for locals. There was not a direct stop in front of the Guggenheim museum or the beach which causes visitors to walk to their desired destination. There was a stop in the shopping center of the city. The subliminal messages that the designers were sending when this stop was created are endless.

            One cannot leave out flying as a form of transportation and the love hate relationship with Easy Jet and most importantly Ryan Air. It is a love hate relationship for two reasons. Easy Jet and especially Ryan Air are among the cheapest flights that one can find while in Europe. A twist to this is that one has to book their flights as early as possible to get prices that can be in some situations as cheap as five euros. The later that one waits to book a flight, the higher the coast goes. When there is a good thing, there is always a bad thing. Ryan Air adds on a ten euro tax if you are not an EU legal resident. Having more experience with Ryan Air, as a group we got lucky not having to run to the plane or deal with pushy passengers. The mess of checking in for the Easy Jet flight in Charles de Gull was nothing compared to having one’s gate changed five times five minutes before departure. Running across the Barcelona airport and worrying whether you will get back to Rome or not is probably the worst that Ryan Air can present you. These airlines are not user friendly only pocket book friendly. They are there only to get one from point A to point B. 

            The basis of systems; no matter transportation, living systems or art have the same basic foundation filled in with creativity and usability. The difference between these systems is what aspect they are challenging. Challenging the constraints of a city system is exactly what the Guggenheim Museum and the pyramid located in the piazza of the Louve Museum are doing. In the article written by Betty Vandenbosch and Kevin Gallagher; The Role of Constraint “constraints set boundaries and boundaries have the potential to inspire. Engineers accept the physical limits of nature. Adherence to constraints requires designers to be more creative rather than less, often enabling brilliance or beauty to emerge.” This is exactly what the Guggenheim and the pyramids are accomplishing. They seem to clash in every way with their surroundings until one takes another look to see the beauty that has been achieved. Frank Gehry designed around and through the constraints of Bilbao, Spain. However, there seems to be resistance to the structure because of the draw of tourism. Brother Rafael so candidly exclaimed this when he stated that he and many of the people of Bilbao did not take liking to the tourism. The building itself may be beautiful but the interference of traditional Spanish life style is not desired. The Guggenheim, at first does not seem to fit the industrial foundation of the city. Frank Gehry took into consideration the industrial nature of the city choosing Titanium as the material to cover the exterior of the building. Even with this, Gehry states that he hates his buildings until he sees how the user accommodates to the building and the building changes to accommodate the user. This design accommodation is the same in the Paris subway system with the stalls popping up.

            The adaptation and accommodation of the Louve was seen in the room of the museum that talked about the history of the Louve. The Louve first started out as a fortress in the early 12^th-13^th   centuries, to a grand palace for King Louis the 14^th , to the foundation of the current art museum. The building morphed to the ever changing purposes that were desired from it. Due to the increasing number of visitors to the museum, the old entrance needed to be changed to accommodate the influx of visitors. The juxtaposition of both old and new art seems to disturb the palace architecture but creates a balance with creativity and the challenge against the establishment of history. The glass compliments the beauty of the palace allowing for it to continue to be focused upon while accommodating to the increase in visitors each day to the museum. Addressing both the Guggenheim and the Louve, both are not trying to be aggressive or subservient but rather complimentary to the surrounding environment. The constraints, such as those that are addressed by both Vandenbosch and Gallagher, allowed for such beauty to emerge.  

            A question was raised within the group whether the Guggenheim or the Louve was a more favored place to visit. Personally, I am not much of a fan of modern art so the Louve’s art intrigued me more. As for architecture, the Guggenheim intrigued me. It intrigued me because it seems to have a mind of its own challenging one’s senses through each gallery. At one point in the museum on the upper floors, vertigo seemed to set in while I was examining the curvature of the upper levels. The building seemed to take upon a mind of its own causing me to have a reaction.

This same type of reason occurred while in the Triennale di Milano exhibit in Milan, Italy. The gallery was showing an exhibit of lamps. When we first entered the room, the lights were off. At one point the lights were turned on allowing for the exhibit to become something totally new. This even was seen with the Eiffel Tower during the day compared to during the night. The site seems to create two very different reactions. This same technique can be found when viewing the Coliseum in the day compared to night as does the Trevi Fountain in the day compared to the night. These inanimate objects carry a personification. They accommodate to the viewer. I was asked a silly question the pervious time I was in Rome over the issue of me crying over the beauty that both the Coliseum and the Trevi Fountain created at night. To each his own reaction but for me I saw how these land marks have the means of creating such emotion.  

Art stimulates one’s interpretive thinking of the impression made by the artist. Many exhibits we saw challenged the viewer’s eyes and imagination. One exhibit that comes to mind is the Shooting into a Corner at the Guggenheim museum. I asked myself the question “why?” Honestly, the artist took a canon and shot wax bullets into a corner. Getting past the initial reaction I had, the exhibit makes a statement which challenges with viewer’s impression of the peace. For me personally, impressionism in art can even be found in landscape. Steve, Mike and I were telling the other girls to make sure and look at the beauty of the Castel Gandolfo region when we were on the train going to campus the first day. We kept apologizing because of the rain and not being able to see anything. We have gotten the chance to witness the beauty and possibilities that the land can offer. The landscape challenges one’s impression of the country. The land has changed over time to accommodate for the residents. What did the Castel Gandolfo region look like without train platforms and airports? The Apian Way crosses the front entrance to campus opening a portal traveling back into time to the site of having thousands of crucifixes lining the road into Rome. The thought of witnessing this is awing. The area will continue to adapt and inspire those traveling to the center of the hilltop towns.

Traveling abroad has brought me so many opportunities and has brought me a lot of ache. Every time I leave to come home to America I feel homesick for Italy. My life has been affected by the inspiring lifestyle of my ancestors. I am only a second generation Italian American. My grandparents were born in Italy. It is hard to put into words how a country has inspired me so much. It is similar to the situation of how one can not put into words how they feel about God. When I was little all I wanted was a suitcase with stickers on it from every country I had/ will visit. I wanted to treasure it more than the souvenirs I had bought. Now that I have gone abroad, I treasure my stamps in my passport more than the things that I bought in the country. Traveling has inspired me to make it a part of my life to come. I want to become a doctor of physical therapy and work abroad for a soccer team. I want to be challenged by the international lifestyle so that it forces me to think outside the cardboard box and maybe make it into a castle or a rocket. After completing some of my clinicals in differing clinics, I want something more for my field. I feel that creativity and play are missing from a therapist’s regiment for treating patients. In my situations that I have worked in, the overseeing therapist was impersonal and unwilling to look for alternative ways for treatment.  It has become a fast food style of treatment. Many times therapists are forced to work with three and four patients in a single time slot. It is not fair for those patients and also not fair for the therapist. Efficiency and design are lacking in the American system of therapy. I do however fear the setup of international social medicine. After touring the hospital in Rome, socialistic medicine can be touchy. This could be because I do not know much about the structure but I do desire a nice challenge.

I also desire to work with universities that have doctoral programs for physical therapy abroad. My reasoning to this is that I want future students to be challenged in an environment that they are not used to. This is the same concept that is talked about in the article Ideas are Born in Fields of Play. When someone is thrown into an environment not having experience with it, they have to be willing to play and create desired outcomes to adapt to their surroundings. Travel requires one’s self to accommodate to the differing systems. I would like to emphasis this with hopeful students working abroad. In IESEG, the business school in Paris, they require traveling abroad. They see that understanding international systems is important to education and rounding out one’s understanding of the area of study.

According to movie Sketches of Frank Gehry “artists make the world uncomfortable.” They want to know how to change the world through facilitating structures and designs. Herbert Simon states it wonderfully in his book The Sciences of the Artificial, “a physical symbol system has the necessary and sufficient means for intelligent action.” When a system is designed to create the optimal outcome interpretive impressions are made upon the view.  These outcomes can be seen in the adaptations of the transient systems, the designs of the Guggenheim and the Louve, art exhibits and landscapes. They are as simple as peering into a halved sphere where a small metal cutout of Italy is hanging upside down. Systems are meant to inspire through constraints creating beauty and accommodations to the user. It is through design that successful businesses are created. Design not only applies to business but spans out into the universal system of interactions no matter it be through health care, education or social services. Design is the symbol necessary to create the right action.