Urban Camping: Vulnerable and Resilient

Urban Camping

In a foreign country at the end of my marriage, I traveled nomadically for 11 months staying in 24 places throughout Holland, Portugal, Canada, USA, Brazil and Argentina before buying a home.

It made such an impression on me that I intentionally set out on a second nomadic trip to further explore the concepts of mobility, simplicity, and perspective. While doing my graduate degree, I camped in 30 places in 55 weeks. Now I host urban nomads through the Couchsurfing Project.

15 August 2005

Vulnerable and Resilient

After Gail's and Thaddeus's house, I occupied Caroline's house across town while she was in Mexico for 2 weeks.

Then, I spent a very full 4 weeks in my atelier.

During that month I took a 2-day trip to Tilburg to run a video camera in an art performance piece; I spent 3 days with my friend Kate at a farmhouse in Drente; and I took a 48-hour trip to a Toronto business school convention as cross-training in the marketing communications office for which I worked.

I read 2 news stories while in Toronto.

The Toronto Star's article broke my heart: "Tent City Folds: Squatters Forced Out of Ramschackle Homes."

CNN's article reminded me that humans are resourceful and resilient: "Man Rescued After 4 Months at Sea."

Technorati tag: urban camping

About Me

Name: Jennifer Metz

Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands

Thinking outside the box
by getting out of my box.

I want mobility:
Get-up-and-go in the global village. Navigation to other vantage points. What does the world look like from there? Is there room to move? Or am I tied down to my stuff?

I want simplicity:
Real needs and wants are fewer than they sometimes seem. 'Accumulation' is as inevitable as death and taxes. Can I prune back the attention-stealing stuff to give space to the useful and meaningful things?

I want perspective:
Understanding of how multi-faceted life is. Consideration of options. Is the world getting smaller? Or is MY WORLD getting smaller? How many viewpoints have I seen so far? Is there a 'road less traveled' or a million billion different roads? Can I 'get out of the woods' and look for multiple angles?

Urban Camping

15 August 2005

Vulnerable and Resilient

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About Me