Mathilde Aguilar Granchamp
LLCE - Final Task

My name is Etienne Norris. I wish to explore this world and others, and to sketch and report my findings in this notebook. I am 28 years old and I decided to take a simple break from modern life.
There isn't that much to say about me, really. I like cats, morning coffee, rainy days and music.



This notebook used to be my grandma's; I think. She loved to travel, even if she hadn't been given the opportunity to do so very often. She left me a collection of empty notebooks. I wanted to live for her what she couldn't have experienced.

I went to the sea. I like the sea. It was during my travel to Japan, in the region of Toba. I met Ama divers, they are mainly women who dive far underwater, in order to retrieve pearls like they are known for, but also mainly seafood. They barely have any equipment and used to wear white attires to swim to represent purity and ward off sharks. It is a traditional profession, that may be 2000 years old or older. They almost disappeared at the end of the XIXth century, but Mikimoto Kōkichi, a japanese businessman, popularized them again and made the Mikimoto Pearl Island, a place about Ama and free-diving, full of museums, becoming a tourist attraction.

I decided to go beyond the museums and tourist guides, to speak to actual Ama, all around the age of seventies. I was able to see them in action, bringing back crabs and shells to the shore. They offered me to join them but decided against it. The sea is beautiful, but being under it seems too overwhelming to me. The divers were very kind to me and gifted me a fresh crab. No pearls, they are too expensive and rare.
The moutains always calm me down, it is therapeutic. I love feeling so small next to them, getting lost in the forest, feeling all the eyes of the strange animals on me. I love mountains that are huge, but no huge enough so that they are still covered in trees.
They are so mysterious to me, it's like they hold some kind of deep secret. They feel so welcoming, yet so scary. It's this duality that I find comforting.

There's nowhere I feel more at home than deep in the moutains with lush vegetation. Hiking, breathing the fresh air of the moutains comfort me, strips me from my everyday worries. I think that the day I finally settle somewhere, it will be in a cabine deep in the mountains, surrounded by nature.

I love reading while surrounded by nature. This is a list of books I enjoyed reading in the mountains.
- Reveries of the Solitary Walker by Rousseau
- The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne
- Any books on mushrooms, local myths, insects and wildlife
- Reynard the Fox by various authors
I have found an old manuscript dating from the Middle Ages. The pages were falling off, and I took the liberty to stick those two maps in my notebook.
By the name of the towns and landmarks, I'm assuming it's from France, but it contains quite unnatural elements. Mythical lizard-like dragons, "faeries" that throw rocks on unwanted visitors, mischievous folklore creatures. Ghosts, dryads haunting a cramped valley, benevolent witches hiding in the forest to brew medicine. I like to believe that those stories are true, that there is a whole world our disenchanted eyes cannot see.


Soon enough, Mrs. Mitty was back. She looked at him as she said, "I'll get home alone. Could you snatch me a snack? A panini with lettuce and gluten free." Mr. Mitty sighed. The job was harsh, but it was worth it. He ventured through the dangerous vegetation, feeling the predators's eyes on him. He cut his way with his machete, feeling the grass rub against his skin. But Mitty was a hero. He found his way to what he came here for: Centella asiatica, also known as Indian Pennywort or Gotu Kola by locals. A mythical plant rumoured to have made a Sinhalese king live till the ripe age of two hundred years. But Mitty wasn't here for a greed of longevity. He snatched the plant, determined to save his dying wife with the only cure, even though nobody was by his side.


I found this piece of paper stuck into two pages of one of my grandma's notebooks. It has accompanied me ever since, never leaving my pockets, my wallet or my bag. It has inspired me to become better and to take back control of my life. Whenever I'm being too stressed for whatever reasons, whenever I'm feeling too overwhelmed, I always read this paper, and there's always one thing written on it that can help me calm down and think properly. I'm leaving the paper here, Reader, so it can help you too.

Credits ୭˚.


- Original notebook code by doqmeat and modified by Mathilde Aguilar Granchamp.
- Sword on Introduction page by plastiboo.
- Face on Introduction page by neohrosoupp.
- Cat and Rabbit picking mushrooms on The Wild page by Wachifield.
- Hover animation code on the feather by scripted.
- Writing effect on title by HTML Tutorial.
- Website hosted on Neocities.
- Other code and art credits couldn't be found and traced back.
- Most of the code and the collages have been made by Mathilde Aguilar Granchamp.


⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚ ⋅