Notes:
Student packs: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Student packs getting off train: xxxxx
Student groups seem to be prevalent, seem to be coming back from school.
Students are in normal casual clothes most have backpacks.
Seem to travel in packs.
Most are generally pretty loud.
No Tourists(30 mins in)
Business People: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
There are probably a lot more, but this is all I noted.
Business attire for a lot of the professionals that get off and on the trains.
Seem to know where they are going
Dont seem to talk to anyone
Not collective loneliness, but kinda seem lonely but happy at the same time,happy to come home I guess.
There dont seem to be any tourists at all, have stopped looking at the business people and students to find the tourists, 20 minutes and nothing.
Assignment Answers:
I decided to do my assignment at the Karlsruhe HBF, which is the main station in Karlsruhe, Germany. I went in with a few assumptions based on what I had seen in my previous ethnography and was quite surprised to see that it was completely different, the main reason for this is because there were actually no noticeable tourists that I saw at the station for the hour and a half that I was taking notes. I think the most counter intuitive and noteworthy thing about the station was the fact that everything was so efficient compared to the bus station that I sat at in Interlaken Ost, every single person that I saw seemed to have their agenda down at the station, and as Wood described the station seemed to just be a tunnel, a terminal space, people just went there to get to their destination.
The station was even divided up in a way that was more convenient for people who didn't want to have to go through the hustle and bustle of the commercial part, there are two different ways to get to the trains, you can do so from a commercial entrance(which not very many people did) or you could take the more popular back entrance which is equipped with escalators and stairs. In the hour and a half I did not see one person that looked lost and didn't know where to go, even I on my trip back to Basel had a relatively easy time finding out exactly which gate my train was at, after doing so I felt an extreme sense of pride over the fact that I didn't get lost(which often times is the case), and I have the efficiency and good signage of the train station to thank for that.
One thing that I did realize about the people who were traveling was the fact that everybody seemed to know exactly where they were going, not one person seemed like they were out of place, I guess that I personally was the one who seemed out of place with my laptop taking notes about the passers by. A few connections that I made were the fact that the students seemed to stick to groups, while the business men/women seemed to all be lone rangers. That was predominantly the crowd that was at the train station from 3:30pm to 5:00 pm on Monday.
I personally do not believe that I saw any collective loneliness, the way that it is described in the paper alludes to the fact that the person who is feeling the collective loneliness is a traveler, most of these people while they were travelers, in the most basic sense, seemed to know exactly where they were going and exactly what they were to expect. The students seemed to be coming back from school and the business people seemed to be heading home from work, everyone seemed kind of happy because of this and didn't show any signs of collective loneliness.
I found it to be really peculiar that I did not notice any tourists, because they are the ones who tend to display the characteristics of collective loneliness, especially when they think that they are lost. Again this takes me back to the efficiency of the station, maybe there were tourists and they just were able to find their ways much easier because of the simplicity of the signage.
I would definitely say that this station was a terminal space, people just wanted to get in and out and there was little thought paid towards anything otherwise, and I would strongly stray towards saying that this train station was omnitopic with most train stations we normally see in Europe, other than the fact that at a closer inspection you would realize that the signage, which I have to admit I was very impressed by, was much better than most stations I have visited.
Quotes:
* "I felt dizzy stepping out of my craft."
I personally believe that this describes the feeling anyone feels arriving at a new place, because of the irregularities as well as the supposed regularities, I personally felt a weird sensation as I first arrived in Zurich as well as first arriving in Interlaken, a little lost, a little confused, and just a little dizzy.
* "No sooner had he arrived from his Mauritain trip than he began once again of going somewhere else."
I know that during my travels I always try and take time to bask in the supposed greatness that a place or culture has to provide, and as soon as I have done that I start to think of new places and new cultures that I would also like to experience, in this sense I believe that this quote really appeals to me.
* "I felt lonely, but for once this was a gentle, even pleasant kind of loneliness."
I personally enjoy being alone, secluded on occasion, and I believe that the separation that I felt from the group as a whole was at least as it is described here a pleasant loneliness.
* "One might find a MSP pin in Minneapolis, some Silicon Valley t-shirts in San Jose, or an "I love TIA" bumper sticker in Tampa."
This wasn't really as much a quote as it is an observation, I personally love to see all of the local clothes people wear to showcase where they are from or the pride they feel for their hometown or state, I do it myself and think that it is a good cultural symbol.
* "Woman who loves Brazil has only seen four square miles of it."
I thought this was a particularly interesting quote, and have thought about it several times, especially in my travels, what exactly is the "experiencing" of another country, when can I say that I truly have been to a certain country and not just visited and seen a few sights? These are questions I've asked myself when traveling trying to take up as much of certain cultures as I can, while also trying to learn some of the not so touristy things about these exotic places.