I didn't really know why... I had never been an artistic person. I found myself sitting in my room, staying up all night, drawing outlines. I didn't tell him at first, I think I was embarrassed. The outlines weren't that good... When he found out, he just thought it was funny that I, a girl who had never been in touch with graffiti before, had become interested. Neither one of us thought that I would actually be standing one night beside a train, making one of my outlines a reality.

ali - dortmund	all flg - oslo	ami - copenhagen	aods - cph
arom shit (sweden) - a'dam	bel23 - rome	bois blast - italy	bravo - cph

 
I just wanted to be a part of it
For a couple of weeks, I continued day and night with my drawing. I thought I had asked him everything about graffiti, but the first night we went out, I was terrified. First of all, I hadn't realized all the planning and waiting behind it. Choosing the colours, shaking the cans, picking out the right caps, even remembering to put the belt in the jeans just to make sure they stayed up if we had to run. 
I wasn't ready to paint yet, I just wanted to be apart of it. The walk down to our target was quiet and peaceful, even though my heart was pounding like crazy. I had no idea what was going to happen.
 

bse - germany	bug - dortmund	cartoon - copenhagen	cat - dortmund
cent - rome	chip - dortmund	chip - dortmund	daoh - barcelona

When we reached the train
He told me that approximatly one out of five times you actually get the chance to paint. When we reached the train, I asked him that since I was a very scared rookie, maybe we could take the time to sit and watch to see if it really was as safe as it seemed. He agreed. He had checked the place a few times before but there was no need to hurry. He wanted me to tell him when I felt I was ready. After maybe 15 minutes there was no point in waiting any longer.

daoh tsk - barcelona	den - copenhagen	done vmd 7o's - rome	electro - paris
ewe - copenhagen	geez (oslo) - barcelona	golpe - barcelona	golpe - barcelona

 
A quick kiss
We both walked along the train side and also checked the drivers seat. He 
asked me several times if I really wanted to do this, he didn't want to push me. If I didn't do it now, I probably never would. And I was just going to watch. I said yes. We crawled under the train to where I was to be sitting, watching, for the next half hour. We agreed on signals to use in case something would happen. He left me there, giving me a quick kiss before he walked back to the end of the train. It was so quiet... all I could hear was the sound of the spray cans.

Time passed quickly. Suddenly he came over to me and said that I 
could start walking while he took pictures of the work. We teamed up outside on a nearby road and when we knew we were safe and that no one had seen us, we just smiled at each other.

I think I fell asleep with a grin on my face. I made a promise to myself that I would do my first piece before the year was over, preferably on a train...

tribe - copenhagen	wildux - germany	vsauc - copenhagen	??? - italy
gucci - italy	ika - copenhagen	i love the - italy	jag - new jersey
jke - amsterdam	nevis (oslo) - utrecht	nevis (oslo) - sthlm	pegh - barcelona

 
The next targets
From that day, most of our time together was spent planning the next targets. But we had many setbacks the following weeks. We traveled a bit but it seemed like there was always something stopping me from taking that last step. There were either no trains or no yards; at one yard, the fences were too high.

We had some fun times as well. One night we missed the train home which meant that we wandered around aimlessly for 3 hours, waiting for the first train home in the morning. For any experienced writer, this is probably more a rule than an exception. It's like he said, most of the time you don't get the chance to do trains. At that point in time, it seemed like we were wasting our time, money and energy, gaining nothing from it. Now, I've realized that it's all part of the game, and that something is always gained, you just don't know until later.

??? - italy	your piece here	send it in today	zard - copenhagen
pegh - barcelona	ponch - spain	robit (sweden) - london	rule - dortmund
rule - dortmund	slot bel23 - rome	spul - copenhagen	spul jobs - copenhagen
suer (sweden) - cph	suer den (sweden) - cph	thek - copenhagen	tht all - oslo

 
Me beside a huge train
Then finally, the day came. I had been planning this day in my head for weeks. It all went perfectly. He went first, while I was sitting at my usual place under the train. When he was done, he asked me if I was positive I wanted to do this. I nodded and then he was gone. I was left alone beside this huge train, which seemed to be purring very peacefully. I knew he would pay extra close attention to anything strange, and that calmed me a bit.My hand was shaking when I drew the first lines. But after a while I found myself relaxed.


That world - that lifestyle
I don't know if I consider graffiti a hobby, I just know that it is a part of my life now. I don't think I realized the role graffiti played in his life until I got to see his hidden box full of pictures, black books, articles and magazines. It's like he is living two lives. Before, I thought of graffiti as just criminal. But it is so much more than just the actual writing. It's a life style. I now feel it's a privilege to be part of that world.