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ONCE UPON A TIME....
After spilling half a beer over my freshly washed clothes, because I apparently felt the need to brag about being able to open a beer bottle with another unopened beer bottle, I grabbed my camcorder. The first video starts with a close-up of Ohle, who is showing off his own camcorder he brought. The camera pans over to Alex, whom I managed to capture within the first 5 minutes of the ride, before she fell asleep for the rest of it. Su and Isa are both in their own cosy universe; I won’t bother them any longer. “I think I’ll make a vlog of everyone in the train!” I yell out. Ohle supports my idea, and I’m sent on my way.
In the hallway, we meet Lisa, who is on the phone with Odido for the 4th time today; her data doesn’t work. Godspeed to her. Over to my right at the neighbouring cabin, a tall man with black hair exclaims a big joyful laugh; it’s Andrei. I know the next cabin is going to be fun. Andrei and I enter; we are met with Manu, Leon, Zep, and Robert. The room is filled with diverse laughs, voices screaming through one another, and an impressive amount of beer for 4 people. I sit down as we start a game of truth or drink.
First question: “Manu, who’s the weirdest person you’ve had a sex dream about?”
He points over to the left, where we find none other than Leon, his best friend. Leon is visibly flattered but aims to appear embarrassed.
Next question is towards Leon: “What’s a moment where you loved that Manu is your best friend, and what’s a moment where you hated he was your best friend?”
Leon answers: “Probably last night.”
I asked him to be a little more specific.
“Oh, last night we had a really nice intimate talk, and I was like, Damn! That’s my best friend. And then, when I didn’t like him was probably when he had the sex dream about me.”
Andrei takes the camera out of my hand and points it at me. “So, Binkie, whose work here do you dislike the most?”
This is where we enter a time jump.
Jens enters the doorway, I ask again, “Jens, truth or drink?”
To which Jens replied, “Drink!”
Jens does not understand the game.
I move on to the next cabin when Nur takes my hand as she guides me towards Ema, Marta and Mario. Ema ensured that I’d have a taste of the pastry she was enjoying, feeding me by hand. Marta, seemingly relaxed but with one leg permanently shaking, explained how Aila is not on the trip because of her injured wrist. We had a moment of silence for Aila. At least, if it wasn’t for Mario and all his chitchat! Just kidding, of course, our sweet Mario brought nothing but peace and love, whatever cabin he was placed in. On my way out, I managed to get a quick snap of Paula, Paula number one that is, more on the other Paula later.
I moved on and saw Nadia and Kamilla. I knew exactly what I was getting myself into. Two of my dear friends. Both equipped with intellects to make up an entirely new class. As I sat across Nadia, they informed me on what new topic they’ve discovered to dissect and analyse to an extent that will leave it crawling nude and crying for its mommy.
“We are speaking on the appreciation Eastern Europeans have on nature, and even if there is an intervention like houses and hike trails, it is not interrupting but more respecting the nature as it is.”
Kamilla responds: “It’s a very good curation, Eastern Europe has a more notable connection to nature through both language as well as folklore, where a big part of it is co-existence with nature in the best way possible.” If there were a vinyl player, Bach would have filled up the space at this point. After this topic had rounded off, Nadia said I should’ve been here earlier to catch Zac’s reaction to a magic trick they performed. “He was looking for his phone when I pretended to find it behind his ear. He went like this: NADIA! THAT WAS MAGIQUE!” They said that last part in their best French accent.
That’s when Zac entered, together with Nur, Adriana, and Leon. We started sparring on what to name our collective.
Zac: “I still like Tango.”
Leon: “Yo, guys! PLP Collective, Peace Love and Prosperity Collective.”
Everybody said no.
Nur: “Mashallah Collective”
Zac: “The glue collective”
Adriana: “6/7 collective!”
Then the room fell silent… UNTIL! Andrei entered with a calm, yet urgent, “Guys, we have five minutes to smoke.” And all the nicotine-deprived art students shot up from their seats and ran through the hallway past all cabins, now, all empty. Outside, I was, of course, met with Vera, already with a fire in hand. A couple of people over, we see Maj, not smoking, simply getting some fresh air.
Upon hearing the conductor’s whistle, we enter the train once more. I visited Yasaman, Inês, Setanta, and our second Paula. They all exclaimed their happiness they felt after their cigarettes. “I feel refreshed, I feel alive, I feel like myself again.” They obviously have no idea of the long-term effects of smoking. Inês did her best at damage control after confessing to smoking on camera. “If my parents see this, I don’t smoke.” To which Yasaman vetoed, “Yeah, I’ve never smoked in my life.” “I smoke.” Said Paula, with a content smile. Followed up by Setanta, “Yeah, I’m definitely a smoker.” I turn around to see Kamilla once again. She let out a faint, exhausted, “My beer…” I asked whether she left it at the station during the smoke break. To which she replied with, “No, you drank it, motherfucker.”
Escape plan: Walk away.
The next cabin, dare I say my favourite cabin, was the one that belonged to an unexpected, yet not at all surprising duo; Felix and Sara. I was not only met with Cucumber, Carrot slices, Goat cheese, cookies, pecan nuts, cranberries, hummus, but also with love. They had figured out how to dim the lights down in their cabin, and slowed down not only my heart rate, but also my thinking.
I explained how I was a bit stressed about the project that was to come, and Felix reassured me by telling me that the journey is also part of the work, and there’s no need to multitask. It was like I was on the opposite of whatever cocaine does to a person. The party animal I gained in the last couple cabins still remained in me, and I told them that the second we get to Łódź, we’d go to a bar in order to get in the Polish spirit with Wodka. They looked at me like I had suggested we would climb Mount Everest in stiletto heels. However, Sara did explain her relationship to alcohol. “For the people that know me, you know I will never drink anything but shots of vodka.” I did know Sara, I did not know this.
I promised them I would spread the message about the 5 star treatment I had received from their end of the train, because everyone deserved to feel as special as that treatment made me feel.
The next cabin, I’d like to title: Cinema Etique. Matthew, Fenna, Haining, Twen and Elizabete were gathered around a singular MacBook, which was playing Three Women, by Robert Altman. “Everyone is ignoring her!” Elizabete exclaimed, referring to Shelley Duval’s character. I asked why, to which the answer was yet to be found. Over on our left, we have our pillow-princess, Haining. She let out a big yawn and explained how the trip is simply too long. Little does she know we’re halfway there.
We ended up discussing how to say thank you in Polish, only knowing the childlike sound of its tonality. Someone threw out ‘Check-Check’, someone threw out Jinkie. Twen thought it caught on, and expressed an enthusiastic “Jinkieee motherfuckers!” straight to the camera.
At this point I was close to almost having everyone on camera. The view outside was still a consistent and repetitive forested landscape, like our teacher Raimond pointed out to me. He was standing silently in the hallway together with my peer from the part-time class, Devyn. I had no clue how long they had placed themselves there, or how long they would remain in this peaceful limbo. But I was glad to join them for at least a couple minutes. The diverse music, laughs, and other noises finding their way out of all the different cabins, all faded into background noise, to what seemed the most peaceful moment of the ride since I visited grandma and grandpa (Felix and Sara). Raimond has always had something peaceful about him, making it hard to say goodbye and continue my adventure. But alas! The show must go on. I turn to the part-time class’s cabin. Mark, Yelena, Jens, and Devyn were in the midst of conversation when I entered the scene. Elif from my own class had placed herself within the mingle.
“You’re also in Bink’s class, right?” Jens asked
Elif looked over at the camera and said, “Yeah, but I really don’t like him; he’s so weird.”
Mark asked what I was recording for, to which I explained, “Simply for myself.” After which, he called me a creep. I had not anticipated this cabin would include the roast of Bink, but I knew their loving nature meant all remarks were in good fun.
Estafania stuck her head into the cabin; “Guys! The water is free!” Excitedly holding a bottle of Polish brand water.
Upon asking Jelena what she was excited about, with a big smile, she grabbed the camera from my hand and pointed the question swiftly back at me. I noticed how she used the opportunity to discard the attention she was getting, making sure I received the same.
The cabin next door was an extension of the one I just visited. The part timers had claimed one cabin for chatting, and one towards simply resting. In it, there was currently only Josip, reading a book by a Russian writer. I asked whether I was bothering him, to which he replied, “No, but I’m also not looking for fun.” I told him I can be chill when the atmosphere commands it, to which he laughed. I was glad I could share a small but sweet interaction in between all of the chaos of the cabins.
During our first night in Łódź, we meet Clara, our co-editor in chief. The least likely person to be late had to find her own way to Łódź after missing the train. With a tired smile, she took us through her day, which consisted of two planes, a train, and even a boat. She arrived earlier than any of us once she finally came to the hotel. Still, in spite of going to all ends of the world to get to our little getaway location, she showed up with a bigger smile than anyone. And once the camera pointed to her, she threw her hands into the air, and exclaimed an enthusiastic: “WE’RE IN FUCKING ŁÓDŹ!”. And with that, the tone for the week was set.
Later, we met with our lovely Marta and Weronica, both Polish natives, who joined us later on their own terms. As well as Janetta, who arrived by plane simply for the comfort and swiftness of the travel. While unfortunately, Sarah and Aila did not make it to the trip whatsoever due to illness. But they were there in good spirits, and their energy we took with us in our little suitcases.
With this, we round up the cabins on the road. The trip was long, and all I’m showing now is short fragments of what make up the diverse characters and qualities of all the wonderful people I share a year with. Looking back at all of the footage I shot during my trip from one end of the train to the other, all I could do was smile while reliving these moments. Everyone gives themselves to one another in a way that I’ve never experienced in my life. We’ve all started with a feeling that the word collective was yet to shape us, but I think we are all more intertwined than we realise. To really see one another throughout the bad, throughout the laughs, is something we will cherish for the rest of our artistic careers. I cannot express the love and privilege I feel being a part of all these people and being able to find out what it means to be part of a collective, the key collective.
Bink Ter Weijde