For this week, our theme is Coming to Terms with Place. I'll invite each student to post a comment about what place means to him or her, or some other response to part of the week's reading. If you can, include a photo.I'll begin:
When talking about place here, so far away from my home, I'm reminded of geography. I come from Maine, the northeast tip of the U.S. It's a rural environment, near small mountains and sea. But really place for me evokes my family - five brothers and a sister - plus two healthy parents. My childhood home is always the place of my dreams - so it must inhabit me.
Bella at home
ReplyDeleteI feel that my place is my home. In my case, this is Nova Gorica. It is where I live and where I feel at home. This is the place where I am comfortable and calm. I feel this is the place I want to grow old and start a family because it is safe. My place is also my future home that I am building and I want it to become my special place that keeps me safe from the rest of the world. I want to be a place of peace and a place where I can gather my thoughts.
ReplyDeleteBuilding one's own space gives one a real sense of materials and space. My husband and I renovated our old house, and I know every knot in the floor boards, and every crack in the window sills.
DeletePlace evokes an intimate connotation of an environment I can identify with, an origin of some sort. It probably influences and shapes my personality in ways I'm not even aware of. However, I consider myself a relatively happy resident of Ljubljana, one of the loveliest cities in the world.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.projects.aegee.org/suct/su2015/images/SUs/LJU1_1_Ljubljana.jpg
I agree, Ljubljana is lovely - and the space likely does define its denizens. I'm attracted to the river....and gravitate that way every day.
DeleteI often get the feeling of being out of place in crowds and large groups, so my place in the world, the place where I feel like I belong, is my home. There I know everything is in order and disturbances are closed out. But it is not only about the four walls and a door; it is about the people (my husband, my parents, and on some occasions even my mother-in-law) and even the pets that make a place a home and make me look forward to going to my place every day at the end of the day.
ReplyDeleteA poetic comment - and it makes me think that some people are most at home in crowds and large groups, while others are not.
DeleteDid you see the film, Birdman? We learn from one of the main characters, Michael, that the only place he's at home is on stage. Off stage, he's a train wreck. I thought that was fascinating.
My family has a small weekend house an hour or so away from my hometown Velenje . I love sitting on the balcony of our small house and just listen to the trees moving in the rhythm of the wind. I don't have to think about my life,my future or problems. I just exist in that moment of time and feel completely free. That spot is my favourite place in the world, simply because I can shut the world out, even if for only a couple of minutes.
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The qualities of nature, and stillness, often evoke a sense of peace, more than city life with its busy nature.
DeleteThere is a beach in the town I used to live in, it is one of those places that makes you feel calm. I have not been there since 2013 and I am starting to miss it. Whenever I refer to this place I call it ''my'' beach.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.flickr.com/photos/ercanselim/8671869812/
The most relaxing places in the world for me are beaches....sitting next to the ocean, hearing the waves. My mother did a lot of sailing when she was pregnant with me, so I have the ocean in my prenatal memory....
DeleteI perceive place as a sum of many factors: location, people and relationships, objects, feelings, etc So for me it is not neccesarily home, but any place where I feel comfortable and safe. Of course home is the most obvious because you consider it your own, while elsewhere you have to create that feeling by yourself. Generally, I don't like that, so I don't like to move a lot, because I get attached to a certain place a lot and when I move it feels like I've left a certain piece of me behind.
ReplyDeleteHome is where the heart is, or where we feel most centered - often with our family or loved ones.
DeleteWhile I don’t necessarily subscribe to the cynicism of Jean-Paul Sartre’s famous statement that “hell is other people”, I do like and agree with the idea of understanding “place” not in terms of physical location but rather interpersonal relationships. I think “place” is more about how you experience and emotionally relate to your environment than it is about the environment itself. Similarly, it’s not about *where* you belong, it’s about *who* you feel you belong with. This is why my favorite “place” in the world is being with my friends and family.
ReplyDeleteI agree - yet when you remove those variables, say a beach, or place in the mountains, or square/plaza in a city, which is more your sense of place?
DeleteI am fond of void-of-human-noise places. Add nature – plants, water, sand, no matter, a light-pants-and-T-shirt temperature (is it around 22 degrees Celsius, I wonder?), some wind/bird/cricket/roaring lion in the distance sound effect and, to be extra choosy, a dawn/dusk timing (which, should the place possess all the above mention qualities, is optional) and see me quietly staring at nothing and thinking: “Aah, this is nice.”
ReplyDeleteAah...this is coming soon. Can you have this aha moment in the city center?
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ReplyDeleteI am sorry, I have somehow managed to delete my comment, so here it is again:
DeleteI perceive place as a geographical location enriched by the memories and feelings unique to every individual. In this respect, the same geographical location presents a different place in the mind of every human and it is impossible for two places to be completely the same. My favourite place is Postojna as I remember it from my teenage years.
Do you think where we spend our formative years (unless they are tragic) becomes a place of fondness and generous memory?
DeleteThe experience of place is incredibly important to me. Often my surroundings will feel like a painting or a scene in a film. A story, I suppose. Sometimes it’s a rush of memory, thinking of my past selves who have walked the same city streets and sat (though at a different plastic table) in the same spot in front of my grandparents’ house. Sometimes I just marvel at the sheer enormity of the places that I visit, at their age. I walk on Roman ruins on my way to class, and though I’ve lived here all my life, my inner monologue is sometimes still just a series of exclamation marks when I remember how many different things this city is.
ReplyDeleteA few pictures of places I have loved:
https://wherevertheroadgoes.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/kongresni_trg.jpg
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01931/albert-memorial_1931365i.jpg
http://favim.com/orig/201105/14/bad-weather-central-park-city-clouds-manhattan-new-york-Favim.com-43683.jpg
https://smrarchaeology.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/dsc00255.jpg?w=760
The Italian writer Primo Levi, writes that all our places and memories become part our autobiography...so we are shaped by them consciously or unconsciously.
DeleteI've been living in Ljubljana for the last few years, and I have to say this has been my favourite place so far (I moved several times so far), at least in Slovenia. Probably because it has that special 'vibe' or 'energy' a town or village never will. I can't really explain why, but one of my favourite things to do is to take a midnight walk along one of the main streets - sometimes there's not a soul to be seen anywhere, which is strange and calming at the same time.
ReplyDeleteCould it be also the Ljubljana is a fairly young (in terms of its inhabitants) and liberal city? Tolerant? Not to mention, safe (just lock your bike).
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ReplyDeleteWhen I think of place what comes to mind are all the parts of the world I have visited and explored. For me, the beauty of place is that there are so many with such diverse cultures and people. I am happiest when I can travel to a new place and get a feel for it, yet return safely to my home.
ReplyDeleteMy first post disappeared into oblivion.
ReplyDeleteNo matter where I am, I'm never truly at ease. Even though I've lived in Ljubljana for the past four years, I often feel slightly claustrophobic when walking along its streets, which curiously didn't happen when I was staying in London, and I only really like being in the apartment I share with my girlfriend. Bled, my hometown, I'm fond of because my parents and the few friends I have are there, but I associate most of the locals with a parochial xenophobia. Wherever I am, I soon want to be somewhere else -- place as constant stability is always deferred.
Hmmm. Did you see the film, Birdman? Your response reminds me of a comment the character Michael makes,about only feeling at ease, when on stage. In other words, in his ordinary life, he's never quite at ease.
DeleteMaybe you've got that travel scratch to itch...
Thinking about place, my first association is my home. Studying in Ljubljana, I spend most of my time away from it, which is why I am always delighted when the weekend comes and I can go home, to a little village near Trebnje in Dolenjska. It is almost as if the whole atmosphere changes, the air is different, and I could almost swear that time runs more slowly there. It has to do with the different pace of life of course. What I like best is the nature around our house, peace, tranquility and much more personal space than compared to a tiny student room shared by another person.
ReplyDeleteTime may run more slowly there for you, with a less hectic schedule...and less to manage each day. And you have more personal space...an interesting concept we can discuss....
DeleteI could not help but notice that the concept of place evoked so many positive thoughts in the comments so far. I am not sure it does the same to me, if I am a bit corny: I cannot find my place when it comes to place. The concept is just so bounding, limiting, it always carries the meaning of something having to be somewhere as in finding one's place, placing something, is it my place to be/say/think/feel ... am I out of place? On top of that it is always so physical, so I really liked the comments that connected it to people, but even used as such, it still kind of carries this spatial limitation to me. What I do in fact like a lot is place when used non-phisically. Home is where the heart is, so is place there as well? To me, it is: it is in the untangible ties one always has to certain people even if they are miles away, it is in the feelings, ideas, emotions one shares with/to them or even other beings or even yourself. It is in the inner richness of that which is not seen, it is in blank space. So let us or me say no to place. I really like this picture:
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Interesting concept you bring up, about invisible ties to place or people....like those who are miles and miles away. Then we create connections in our minds - it's all a mental exercise. We can talk more about this in class ~
DeleteFor me, place means the places in which I've lived - Bled, London, Ljubljana. And while all of them have negatives aspects, they each have that something that makes them feel like home.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of you who have said that place invokes some feeling of cosiness. I will use two examples. You can hike the beautiful hills around Škofja Loka and listen to the birds chirping. This in itself is only a neutral action. But as soon as you associate this with positive emotions that have a kind of a soothing effect, this whole experience becomes place to you (rather than space). Additionally, if a stranger walks into my local community hall, he would see just a stage, chairs, props,... Consequently, he would maintain a neutral attitude about it. On the other hand, if I enter this same community hall, it is so much more to me since it involves memories of all the great events our youth group has done for our local community.
ReplyDeleteWell said, we endow meaning to places, depending on our experiences and memories.
DeleteWhen I stayed at my hometown, a small city in rural area in China, PLACE is big cities where I can seek my fortune. When I finally settled down in Shanghai, one of biggest cities in China, PLACE is my sweet hometown. When I study in Ljubljana, so far away from my motherland, PLACE is China. People say we should travel a lot when we are still young and there's no scenery in our familiar places. However, people are strange animals after all. For me, PLACE always means new places full of possibilities and familiar place called home, wherever I go.
ReplyDeletePlace may be what is familiar...so travel gives us comparisons.....
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