Are we in Buda or are we in Pest?

Hello Everyone!

Since our project is all about interviewing and exploring what different people's opinions and experiences with connection and vulnerability are, we've had to do a lot of connecting and sharing of ideas and our own personal experiences every day. It's been both incredibly exciting and tiring, and has led us to meet a lot of interesting people and explore a lot of interesting places.

We keep connecting with lots of people who openly and warmly invite us to come along on adventures, whether those be birthday parties, lunches, coffees, or ... day trips to Budapest?!

Yup, that's right! Remember those friends I mentioned having breakfast-for-dinner with the other day? Well, one of them was celebrating his birthday and invited us to come along to Budapest. It was a wonderful day full of road-trip games, Hungarian (debatably Slovak) food, and a whole lot of minarets. We also did a good chunk of walking and talking, so by the end of the day I fell into bed and slept for something around 10 hours. Kristen and I got to talk about a lot of the differences and similarities she's perceived since coming to Europe (in comparison with the States), as well as the differences between cities and countries within Europe. We also had the chance to hear what Lenka, Casey, and Adam have observed about Viennese and Austrian relationships since coming to live in Vienna.

Budapest was lots of fun and stunningly beautiful. Yet I've realized that I can be a very poor tourist. The beauty and history can be overstimulating, in a way. Constantly being bombarded with a different language (which I don't understand in the slightest) and new sights and sounds is both overwhelming, exciting, and tiring. That, combined with the dripping afternoon heat, led to a melting Patty who was really excited to return to Austria, where I can communicate with waiters and students and grocery store attendants and new friends. It's made me think about the ability to be a good traveller, and how one should be a good traveller. Is being a tourist really effective in learning about anything? Or do all the beautiful sites mush together in one similar sight? 

It's so wonderful to have Kristen along to talk about everything we're both processing and learning  from all the different conversations and experiences we're having. All of our discussions push us towards a greater understanding (and even more questions) about the nature of relationships. We're discovering a lot about the many things that are similar about the desire to connect with each other in different countries and between people from different backgrounds and are in a way "gathering" more and more people who have expressed an interest in being in the film! 

So much going on, but hope this quick update suffices for you following allowing with our journey,

Patty

Friends!

A quick update from Kristen!

Hi all! We can proudly say that your support has gone a long way and is really beginning to pay off! Patty and I have now been here together for two days, have ordered all the proper camera equipment, and are in pre-production stages. Our goals for the first week were to meet people, make connections, and find people who want to be interviewed for the project.

Well, we already have friends! Not just people who are interested in being interviewed, but we have made connections through church groups and other local connections who are truly interested in the project and its ideas and us, Patty and I. We have learned so much already about differences in how people connect and interact in the United States versus Europe, through conversations with all of these new faces.

Yesterday, a group invited us to join them on a day-trip to Budapest. It was beautiful to see all the new sights, but more than anything it was amazing and energizing to step back and realize how open people are to us, to our project, and how quickly we are already making real friends. Everything is coming together so so well.

So now it is Saturday, around noon, and we have a meeting with someone at three o clock. We have some sort of meeting with new people every day until Wednesday from here on out, so hopefully we will continue to make these great new connections and continue to learn from them. Soon, we will start the actual interview process. Thanks again for following along! It's great to feel the support from back home.

Kristen

Breakfast for Dinner: Cinnamon French Toast, Unrecognizable Bacon, and Old-Fashioned Pancakes

Hello Everyone (:

Given the short duration of our stay in Austria, each day is full of meetings for coffee or scouting out locations that might work for filming or signing up for random events that will help us meet new people around the city. I feel like I could write an entire blog post each day about all the new sights and sounds and thoughts, but it's probably better to refrain. So I'll give you a quick update.

Yesterday, I met with Paul, who works for a media company that rents camera equipment. Paul has made several documentaries and knows a lot about the business, so he helped raise a lot of important questions and also pointed out the possibilities for the project. Sitting with him in Cafe Ritter, drinking an Eis-Kaffee (which actually includes the delicious addition of vanilla ice cream, not ice cubes), the wheels in my mind began vividly turning at the idea of using high-quality film equipment and actually turning our small-scale project into a full-length feature film. But I'm only dreaming as I sit there, because the idea in itself is so grandios that it almost frightens me with the overwhelming details.

Talking to Kristen about it later most definitely helped. She pointed me towards the initial intention of the project, which is simply to explore the humanity of connection and vulnerability, and the universal drive of people to want to relate to one another and be with one another. I felt a lot better, much more ok with simply gathering all the interviews and pieces of film and experiences of life in these next three weeks, with the intention to put it all together in the end, and to see what story results. It helped me to be able to release the pressure of wanting to know exactly what this project will turn out to be, and give God the power to have the control. In a way, this entire project is an exercise of faith: that the right people to interview will show up, that the connections will be built, that more will happen with our clips of film than we can ever imagine.

And letting go proves to be the key to joy, I am finding. I'm currently reading a book by John Piper about fighting for joy, a concept that simultaneously entices my soul and scares me out of my mind. The idea of "fighting for joy" gives me both the power, and the responsibility to engage in the beauty that is a relationship with God. But forgive my spiritual ramblings, perhaps they have no place on this blog that deals with our project.

I bring up the idea of joy, however, because today I had an incredibly joy-filled evening. I had done a little (ok, not a little; rather, quite a bit) of research and found an indie-recordstore/bookstore/cafe that apparently catered to uni students, and invited Lenka (who I met on Sunday) to meet me at the Ubahn station so we could go to coffee. The next half an hour was almost a miraculous series of random events that lead to a wonderful and unforgettable rest of the day. Lenka was a bit later than expected, so I bought myself a small yoghurt and waited for her to arrive. As I sat there, I thought to myself how wonderful it was going to be to see Kristen soon and looked at my poorly-drawn map of how to get to "Phil".

When Lenka came up the escalator, it was so nice to see a friendly, warm face accompanied by the happy, "Hello!". Lenka, who is from Slovakia, is endearingly sweet and authentic, with the kindest heart that immediately welcomes each new person as a friend. She has said she would not mind being interviewed, and I am so excited that she agreed! We bumbled about a bit, getting lost and wandering through a few streets (even finding some real gems that I want to explore for filming), but decided to continue on to try and find Phil. This is when the strange thing occurred: a red-head biked past us at break-neak speed, and we recognized Craig, a young man we'd met on church that Sunday. Lenka and I waved wildly, hoping he'd stop, and he did. Turns out that he had just dropped off another friend of ours, Adam, at Phil, and he could easily show us where it was at.

And so it ended up that the four of us were at Phil (which, by the way, has a really charming, hipster feel) sitting together, ordering Eis Kaffees (this time with ice cubes), talking about a host of random topics, laughing and enjoying the warm summer afternoon. Adam and I couldn't figure out whether our chairs were from the first class section of a 1950s international air cruiser or and run-down 1970s movie theater, and Lenka told us about the the baked chicken her mother had made for her for breakfast that morning in a small town outside of Bratislava. Casey, another friend, came back from a few errands to see Adam, and found us all there. So then there were five of us. It was so nice, and I immediately felt comfortable and welcomed in to their community. Conversation was sweet and it almost felt like returning home, in a way.



We somehow got on the topic of biscuits and gravy, and other delicious breakfast-ey foods, and Adam voiced that he was starving, so we made our way back to my apartment. There, after a short grocery-store haul, we pulled together a magnificent meal of cinnamon french toast, American pancakes, mimosas, home-made apricot jam from Slovakia, and very burnt non-baconey bacon (German/Austrian bacon is different than American bacon). I would go as far as to say that this was the best breakfast-for dinner I've ever had [tip: the best pancakes are made with lactose-free milk and a hot pan]. Besides the mess and the laughter the resulted out of our attempts at cooking, the meal actually ended up being really tasty. We sat outside on the balcony, with the wine-bottle candles and small lanterns, and talked for several hours as the sun went down. It was wonderful and I was reminded of the whole point of the project: to research this joy that comes from being with other people. Cooking burnt, funny-looking bacon and delicious cinnamon french-toast while sitting underneath the Viennese stars is not even half as enjoyable without the people to share the experience with.

Just my thoughts from Vienna. Hope all is well with you, wherever you are, reading this,

Patty

Letting Friendships Happen

Hi everyone!

Greetings from Rome. My family is currently on vacation but I got a chance to take some time and work on prep for the project. Kristen and I are sending out e-mails to Austrian churches and alumni that might be interested in working with us. However, I'm also trying to be very careful, obviously, so that Kristen and I are completely safe. We don't want anything crazy or dangerous to happen while we're trying to make our film/take our photos. Well, I take that back. Crazy, as in adventuresome, is definitely ok by me (: 

I received an e-mail from a pastor who suggested that the best way to meet people in the community was to actually come to the services and go out to eat with them afterwards (something that commonly just happens spontaneously for the young adults). This makes a lot of sense to me. Meeting people via the internet can be a little bit sketchy. I think it's more important to simply meet people through encounters and I feel a lot more comfortable with this anyways. C.S. Lewis wrote that two friends are formed not by the desire to have friendship, but by looking together towards a third object of interest. In The Four Loves he wrote,  “Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: "What! You too? I thought I was the only one.” I'm praying and hoping right now for many of those moments, which can only happen if I let go of my need to be "doing something" about finding people to interview right now. At the very least, I know we'll find people people that are willing to share their stories for the film!

I moved a lot as a kid, and so was forced to learn how to make friends. Ever since I can remember, I've been the girl who could make friends with anybody. There's always something interesting about every person - why would you not want to talk to them, given the chance? Not everyone will be "that" person, who you share everything with and who understands you to the core. Yet there is something unique and wonderful about connecting with people through conversation that makes me feel alive and excited. That's one of the main reasons why I've been so intrigued by the topics of vulnerability and connection. However, I've done enough moving around to know that being in a different culture adds a certain layer of difficulty in connecting with other people. 

Meeting the right people for the film will require time, and so I've decided to go for a bit longer than originally thought. I'll be heading down at the end of next week before Kristen comes down the following week. My first couple of days there will be spent by exploring the area that we'll be staying in and trying to establish myself there quickly. We are on a short time budget, you could say, so I will be spending a lot of my time out of the apartment in cafes and around the city. I'm going to observe at first, and hopefully meet some people (waiters, bakers, students, etc) simply by being present. I'll also be attending church services and events. We'll start scheduling actual interviews in the last two weeks, when we'll do the majority of our filming. 

I've started journaling more often, as well. Written accounts have a lot of power, and I really hope to be able to look at all I recorded with fond reminders of the difficulties and joys of our adventures. Writing it all down will also help organize everything once I'm putting all the film clips together for the final project. 

I'm getting so excited, I can hardly wait!

Till later,

Patty

Reasons to Support

Well howdy-do. It's Kristen.

I'm guessing whoever is reading this (you!) does not know much about our project. After all, we're still in the preparatory phases. SO you're probably either someone who donated to our Kickstarter (thank you thank you thank you!!!) or someone who is thinking about it. In which case, I am giving you a reasons-at-a-glance list right here right now for you to refer to, or even print out and give to your friends!

Just kidding. But still, I'm sure you're curious.

1. We want to be your friend!!!!

2. You get stuff :) - check out the kickstarter supporter prizes! On the right hand-side of the page if you scroll down: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/440962610/the-vulnerability-project-film-and-photo-exploring. I personally recommend the $25 if you don't wanna empty your pockets ;) I get to take and send to you a personalized polaroid from Europe! That's pretty special.

3. The final project will be awesome :) and on display at Stanford University in the fall.

4. We're legit! In addition to exhibiting our work in the fall, Patty is also working more long-term with a team of researchers who call themselves The Stanford Closeness Project (closeness.stanford.edu). Their work in the U.S. is strikingly similar to the social ideas we will explore in Europe. We hope to work more closely (ha. ha.) with them in the future.

5. You like our video :) cheers to Patty the producer.

6. You like us? Maybe? <3

7. But actually, this is what's most important. You should support us because no matter what, we'd love to be connected not only with people in Europe but also with people closer to home like YOU! No matter what kind of support you give, you have access to our blog, mailing list, etc. We would love for you to support us, engage with our thoughts and updates on the blog, and we want to hear any suggestions/feedback/response of any kind you may have. That way, we can improve the project, and get to know you (if you want to be known). Friends are fun :). That's what we're all about, after all. Thanks for the love.

-K Stip

The Beginning

Hello (:

Welcome to the Vulnerability Project. This the blog that I (this is Patty speaking) have created to keep everyone who is supporting us in the loop about what is going on with our research and art project.

You see, I, my friends, am travelling to Vienna on July 15th with a good friend of mine, Kristen! We're currently raising funds through Kickstarter, but have hit some bumps along the road, and so are putting our fundraising video up on youtube. If you are interested in possibly funding us, and would like to make a pledge, please send us an e-mail at thevulnerabilityproject@gmail.com. We can use any and all support!



Basically, Kristen and I are fascinated by the fact that humans appear to have an innate desire to connect with one another. Using our different mediums of artistic interest (mine being film, and hers being photography), we want to interview people and explore how vulnerability and connection impact their lives and relationships. By the end of three (maybe four?) weeks, we will have enough footage to create a short film of interviews on vulnerability and photo collection on connection.

We chose Vienna because we wanted to see the far-reaching effects of vulnerability outside of the United States. Vienna is a city of music and art and culture, and since I speak German, it was a naturally place to want to explore and get to know. If we receive enough funding, Kristen and I will look for a second location that will be interesting to juxtapose with the environment of Vienna (our thoughts so far are a small town in Ireland, because we want to see the difference between a big city and a small town). Vienna is also home to the "Kaffee-Kultur", or Coffee-culture: a culture revolving around the concept of meeting people for hours and sipping a cup of coffee with a good book or more commonly, a good friend. Seeing as these coffee-hour friendships run deep, we want to explore how this particular culture approaches the ideas of 'vulnerability' and 'connection'.

So far, we're funding out own tickets to Germany (where my parents live) as well as providing the equipment we both need. Kristen got her camera from school and my camera is actually one that belongs to Kristen's dad. Using our summer earnings (I'm a research assistant with the Stanford Closeness Project and Kristen is a photography teacher), we're paying for various other pieces of equipment and whatever we cannot get covered by our fundraising.

It's so exciting to be exploring this topic and seeing how people around the world interact with one another, and how on some level, all human beings are the same in their desire for connection and need for vulnerability. Both of us will be blogging here and updating all summer! We are so excited for this adventure and so see where we end up!

Check it out and subscribe for updates!

Lots of love,

Patty