Now that we are about half way through our trip, my sketchbook is nearly halfway used. When I started sketching, I was terrified. I’m not an art/design major, nor do I have any background in art, so I was nervous that not only would I not enjoy it but that I’d be terrible at it.
However, I have grown to love my sketchbook; I make notes in there, sketch my daily life, and attempt to keep up with the assignment. Now when I don’t sketch or journal, I don’t feel right. Using my journal as my creative outlet has become very therapeutic, and I couldn’t imagine not having it.
My focus for my journal is the flushing mechanisms in Europe (Italy, primarily, but also Scotland), and I wanted to compare them to the ones we have back home in the States in the attempt to figure out why they are so distinctly different.
Thus far, Europeans tend to favor the single button flusher or the two-buttoned one, because they want to conserve water and reduce waste as much as possible. The two-buttoned restrooms are especially conservation centered: the large button used for waste and the smaller one for water conservation.
In America, however, the handle flush is widely used except in a few upscale locations such as big corporations or more environmentally conscious areas (i.e. Austin, TX).
The concept of focusing on this was to easily compare the two ways of living; my American lifestyle never took into account the level of water consumption, because I never had to, yet here in Italy we are forced to pay for water or pay for the restroom or use toilets that are a bit foreign. It really makes you pay attention to the rest of your life.
For instance, trash is separated here in Italy between glass, plastic, paper, compost, and general trash, while in the States people may occasionally recycle or reuse, but there’s no enforcement nor incentive. I think once I’m back home, I’ll be able to implement all of the useful, environmentally helpful things I’ve picked up here – maybe even convince others to try it as well. It would be interesting to say the least if we could implement more conservative methods both in our consumption and waste back home.