Hej (Hi)! It's been a while! I'm off to Paris this weekend and really wanted to update my blog so here it is...
I figured out how to insert iPhoto slideshows of my pictures and it has saved a lot of time! Any background music was unintended. I'm still figuring this system out. But play the slideshows you want to see, ignore the ones you don't. Hopefully, they all work!
These are some pictures of a field study with my Art Matters class to an art studio on an island in København.
Images from the S-tog (train) I take into and out of the city. I take the B or the E line to/ from Lyngby. This is when I see the ocean each day. It's nice to be reminded it's near by. :)
One of my classes is Divine Gardens and Earthly Paradises. We had a field study to a local garden that is modeled after a classical landscape. But more importantly... there were elephants!!! And a pacifier trees for toddlers to tie their pacifiers to when they've gotten too old for them. I thought it was sweet but my classmates thought it was rather strange. I guess it was a nice 'ol mix of both. Our field study last week was to an incredible Islamic Art Museum. Sadly, I don't have any pictures from that.
The week of my birthday my host parents were off on a trip so I had my very nice host grandparents stay with me. On the night before my birthday and before I flew off to Dublin, my host sister Robyn made me a scrumptious birthday dinner. It was beyond sweet of her! Layer cake is the special birthday (føselsdag) cake in Denmark. The Danes usually decorate it with Danish flags so mine had American and Danish flags. :)
The actual day of my birthday was really nice. I woke up to a birthday breakfast with the fam, went to classes, flew to Dublin with my friend Erin, found our hostel, went to a Ben Folds concert, and then out to the oldest pub in Dublin! One of the pictures is of Erin dancing with a guy from a bachelor party. There was live irish music with a bar full of people singing along. Everyone emptied out immediately after the music and then I took a picture. I thought it was funny that the emblem for the Dublin bus looked like the emblem for the pastry shops in Copenhagen and that there was a restaurant by the name of sultan (because that means hungry in danish). And then, of course, I was excited by the business card for a celtic women's group, all the health food stores, and the full moon on my bday!
We lucked out with a gorgeous, sunny Saturday to explore Dublin. We went on a walking tour in the morning and then headed over to the Guiness Storehouse. I really liked all the James Joyce quotes on the windows... brought me back to the great days of AP Literature. :) We found a cheap cocktail bar called Captain America's and then met up with my high school friend Carolyn and her buddies for a sushi dinner. I finally got to blow out a candle which was important to me. Then it was off to the club to dance!
Carolyn and I said farewell (for a week) on Sunday after a yummy brunch. She likes olives now! This was a big discovery. On my trip to Greece I sent her multiple postcards pertaining to olives and olive trees reminding her that she shouldn't be jealous of where I was because there were lots of olives and she'd hate that.
Christiania is the little hippie kommune in the middle of Copenhagen. I loved it! There's a store that refashions old stoves (one pictured below) and one was in the first Deathly Hallows movie! The first picture is of the mural that gives the history of Christiania.
The following weekend Carolyn and her friend from BU/ Dublin, Sam, came to visit. We went out to a fancy place the first night (hence the pictures of fancy looking drinks) and spent the day Saturday seeing many of the sights of Copenhagen. I finally made it to the statue of Han Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid. She's a big deal... although, pretty small in person. I still want to see the crown jewels inside the castle pictured. We saw the ice bar, the royal library, some museums, and the peace watch. It was a great weekend!
I've been to a few Danish birthday parties since my own. I still need to learn the songs though! They're soo long. A young girl in the family had one. Berit and I were looking at an Islamic art book at her party and decided we both liked the picture in the slideshow. For Berit's birthday Robyn made another fantastic cake and I decided to take pictures of our dining room just because I thought you might want to see it!
I, also, took pictures of my wonderful room if you'd like to see it...
Scotland! I travelled with my Positive Psychology class to the lovely land of the Scots for a week. We went on hikes, saw Edinburgh Castle, Loch Lommond, the adorable Glasgow metro trains and more. I got to see my friend Amy from Bowdoin, although sadly we didn't take a picture together.
This past week two friends from Bowdoin came to visit two of my other Bowdoin friends studying in Denmark. It was fun to spend time with everyone.
Last Sunday, I went to a soccer match in the city. Two huge rivals were playing so it was a big deal! I actually thoroughly enjoyed the game. Soccer is a lot of fun to watch and the fans were so into it! There were over a hundred people singing/ chanting different tunes throughout the entire game. I definitely feel like I've been introduced to a whole other side of Danish culture!
