Preparing for the Journey

I posted a map with my travel plans on my kitchen wall today. My family will be able to look at the map and say, oh Kylie is here today…that way they won’t miss me too much, right? As I get ready to leave for Europe in two days, I realize how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful area. I love traveling and seeing new places while experiencing the diversity of culture, but sometimes I just need to step back and look at how beautiful the places all around me are. Idaho and Utah are absolutely astounding and are filled with beautiful rivers, valleys, mountains, and people. If not anything, my time in Europe will give me a greater appreciation for what I have here in the states and hopefully humble me to enjoy it a little more.

As I blog my journeys through the historical and intricate framework of Europe, I will be including my thoughts and impressions of the creativity that historical and modern Europe portray. I am taking part in a small research project under the mentorship of Taylor Halverson, a great BYU professor who has already taught me so much about the importance of learning how to learn. Meeting with him about my research proposal was one of the best decisions I have made at BYU. He put me in contact with people who have already begun to shape my future at BYU, not to mention the impact that he himself had on me. I will always be a life-long learner, that is important to me. Dr. Halverson taught me that the qualities of curiosity and creativity are irreplaceable in one’s portfolio of characteristics because they are the basis of understanding, creating, and changing. The world has gone through miraculous time because people step up and are not afraid to share their ideas with the world.

As a business student at BYU heading to Oxford and Cambridge to study innovation, there is no better way for me to begin my journey than to study how creativity through history has impacted so many people’s lives. My time in Europe will be a time for me to research a topic that is so important in our every changing world, the influence creativity has on innovation. In conjunction with the class BYU offers on the History of Creativity and Innovation (Tech 201) I will be traveling throughout Europe experiencing first hand, the creative ideas people have had throughout history. I want to understand why these landmarks and monuments draw people from all around the world to their presence, and what about them makes people ooo and aww over them. What impact did they make on society and how do they still impact us today? My blog will be a collection of my travel stories, personal creative leaps, and my thoughts on the effect historical places and monuments have on people.

I am excited to share my experiences with you and hope that you will develop a love for creativity, history, learning, and personal innovation as I discover and share with you some of the most creative innovations throughout history.