3 Days, 3 Ways-Amber Blanchard

Way 1 (bus) Riding the bus was way different than walking. I couldn’t really observe my surroundings of area that I was traveling. When riding in a bus all the people that were on the bus distracted me. Also when reflecting on my first walk I couldn’t hear really any of my surroundings. In my first notes I wrote down how I noticed my path be loud, then quiet, and then loud again. When riding the bus I could really hear was the loud bus noises, from it stopping and going. Also I mention smells in my initial walk, when on the bus I couldn’t really smell any of those great things rather all I could smell was the city bus. I think taking this route was much less enjoyable because I was so contained to one space. Whereas I feel when I was walking my senses had much more available to them.

Way 2 (driving) Driving myself was similar to taking the bus but also different in ways. When I drove by myself I started off with the music off in my car and the windows down. When I did this all I could hear was the clicking noise from my car that was just clearly telling me that something was wrong with my car. After I couldn’t listen to that repetitive noise anymore I turned on my car radio. By doing this it really muffled out other noises in the environment, similar to the bus, however this time I was making the decision to drown out the atmospheres sounds. Along my drive I drove through Sils coffee and donuts. I mention that on my walk I could smell as I passed the building by foot, when driving past it I couldn’t really smell it but I saw it, and the convenience of driving through to get a coffee, lazy I know, but it was delicious coffee nonetheless. When driving in the car I felt I was able to create my own little world, of smells and noises and sights. In the bus the environment was controlled, contained and created by me and other people. Walking, I was in the environment that was created by everyone, and everything surrounding me, I was more so absorbing my surroundings.

Way 3 (riding as a passenger in a car) Riding in someone else’s car with someone else driving brings a whole new environment. I purposely didn’t tell them that I was doing this as an assignment because I wanted my driver to act as natural as possible. Also my driver was upset and confused why I wanted to take this certain path that was “a way round about way to getting downtown”. Because of this I believe that my driver was driving fast just trying to get from one place to the next. They also had their music blaring as loud as possible. So I’d say I probably got the least of the experience this way. I barely paid attention to my surroundings and more attention to the road and the other cars that were surrounding this crazy driver and me. Even though this might have been the environment that I had the least sensual experience during it was still an experience. The smells of the leftover fast food bags in the back seat, or the spilled coffee from the day before and the sounds of the blaring music, extreme road rage, and my “oh my gosh are you going to stop” all added to the experience.