Arts Lab 6.0: Katrīna Elizabete Kiršfelde - Month 4

This month seemed pretty long to me, but the report will be shorter than others. I don't want to write about the holidays here and we only had a few days of project before the holidays and about a week after them.

The last project days of December half of the team were battling sickness and the rest of us were boosting our immunities to stay safe and not be bound to sickness on the Christmas holidays.

An exhibition took place in Negru café in Iaşi and it was filled with good vibes, however the space was very limited for all of us. The first half of the project ended with a Secret Santa night and it was so fun to see everyone’s reactions to their gift givers. 

The holidays started and me and Kristers started our 24 hour trip back to Latvia. It all started with a bus to Bucharest, waiting, a flight to Frankfurt, waiting again, finally a flight to Riga and a car ride to our home town. 

The holidays filled me with much needed peace, being home unlocked new feelings in me that weren't there before I left Latvia. I came to realize a lot more about myself.

Due to the price of tickets back to Romania after New Years, we had to celebrate it in Bucharest instead of Latvia. It was nice, we didn't do much those days, just taking walks and resting. 

It was all ruined by our train back to Târgu Frumos, which was late by 4 hours and overshadowed the nice holidays. 

Then the next thing to do was to start making the artwork for the Rroma museum. That took me a lot of time and energy but I felt good when it was finished, almost sad even. I enjoyed making it and knowing that I can't keep it is sad, but at least it will make others happy.

Looking to the future I see lots of work, less art than I wish we did, and a nice ending to the project. My life will be very different when I go back home.

Report written by Katrīna Elizabete Kiršfelde, she's from Latvia and she's one of the 14 volunteers participating in Arts Lab 6.0, a project co-funded by the European Union through the European Solidarity Corps program.