1000 beautiful moments of Europe

It has happened. More than 1000 beautiful moments have been collected in 15 countries in Europe over the past few months.
It was amazing.
The vast amount of smiles that appeared when you ask people about their beautiful moments. From an old lady in Serbia – who at first couldn’t participate because she didn’t have good moments and then came up to me smiling whether she could have a card since she knew what to draw – to cheerful business men the pub in London. The topics of the drawings were unlimited ranging from dancing in your pajamas to getting a tattoo and being in love with your wife in a boat while the children are at sleep. I also found a lot of cultural differences: In Scandinavia people tend to draw more sexually related moments. In the Netherlands however, people like to draw receiving compliments. And you find a lot of friendship related moments in Berlin and boyfriends in Belgrade.

The surprise of the drawers was a real gift to me. A 6 year old boy in the train to Copenhagen with whom I interacted in English showed amazed eyes when I gave him the colors he asked for in Danish. Gretchen from Milwaukee participated in the night train from Sweden to Norway and she liked it. After a while she came up to me and just had to disturb me and said: “I just have to tell you this. But I was just at the other end of the carriage and everybody is drawing there. And they are so into it and so serious about it. You wouldn’t think they would do it, but they do.” And Eva in Slovenia explained she found it strange that somebody walked up to here to ask for a drawing, but that people cared for her moments. That touched her.

Sometimes it wasn’t easy. Because in each city I have to figure out the best ways to approach people, which are culturally bound. So I had to play with this and just try it out. And it works. When you know how to approach people in a specific culture people start to share the most wonderful things.
One of the best parts was that every time I thought things were going wrong, matters turned in a couple of hours. Whether I ended up in the wrong camping site at the middle of the night in Norway which turned out in a warm heartfelt welcome, Was doubting myself in Ljubljana and then somebody just gives me 10 euro for tomorrow’s lunch because she thinks I’m doing important things, or I wasn’t allowed to collect in a bar anymore after I asked two girls , things turn always in a good way. And waiters start drawing and the two girls where a prelude to a whole group of new friends sharing their moments.

Thanks a lot wonderful people.

The story isn’t over yet. By far it isn’t. I want to go to the next continent, Asia. To brighten up people, just like I did in Europe and because I’m curious about their stories and their happiness. Is it different or are we all the same, just enjoying happiness?

Could you help me with that? Making it possible for me to go to Asia? That would be awesome!
You can contribute with the crowdfunding, offer me a place to stay or help me out organizing. Or maybe your friends can. So share this story. Together we can make people happy.