It's fitting that I write my final blog post to conclude my adventures in Copenhagen as I sit in my bed (back home in the U.S.) at 7:15 AM. The jet lag struggle is so real.
I have not written in the last two weeks-- and while I feel like there is so much to say about them, there isn't much I can say at all. As happy as I am to be home with my family and also soon, I'll see my friends, I am overcome with so much sadness that the most amazing 7 weeks of my life has come to an end. I keep filling my head with cheesy quotes trying to console myself, like "don't cry because it's over, smile because it's happened", and while they actually fit the situation well, I also want to punch myself in the face for even knowing these quotes.
While Copenhagen was a fantastic setting for such a great summer, it was the friends I made that have completely changed me and my life forever. Even though I know they're never too far away, not seeing them everyday will be a tough transition but I know it's one I have to make. Everyone uploading their Facebook photos of our last few days together has been a nice reminder of all the memories that were made in our final days, which is a nice consolation to have.
My last night in Copenhagen couldn't have been a better way to end my time with my friends, if there was a good way to end it at all. My school hosted a reception for all of the design students, complete with an ice cream truck, a hot dog truck and obviously, plenty of alcohol (beer & wine). It was nice to have all my various friend groups gathered into one place to say our last goodbyes while also simultaneously drinking our feelings away. After the reception, I went on my last Copenhagen bar crawl (for now) with a few of my friends, but ended the night earlier than usual as many of us had early flights the next day. Luckily for me, my flight wasn't (supposed to be) until 3:30 so I had the day to lounge around and say my last goodbyes.
We were supposed to leave our housing by noon, so I had plenty of time at the airport. I had a friend on my flight, so we were able to maneuver ourselves through the incredibly unintuitive Copenhagen airport in a leisurely manner since we weren't in a hurry. By the time we got to the airport, I was exhausted and fell asleep as soon as we made it to the gate. I also fell asleep as soon as we got onto the plane, not even trying to stay awake for takeoff. However, I woke up an hour and a half later to realize that my plane actually hadn't moved at all. Apparently a lot of things were broken, and after an hour and a half of sitting on this broken plane, they let us off to run free through the Copenhagen airport for another hour and half while they tried to fix it but to no avail. I attempted to rebook my flight for just one last night, but all of the flights to Chicago were booked through the next week, so I spent my last hour in the airport accepting the fact that it was really all over.
Originally, I was supposed to have quite the posse picking me up from the airport, but as my flight got more and more delayed, my posse got smaller and smaller until it ended up just being my dad. It was probably better that way though, as it was very anti climatic and I was about out of emotions to expel at the point of my arrival anyways. He picked me up, took me to Taco Bell (obviously) and we reminisced over our summers on the car ride home. I got more and more exhausted as the car ride went on, to the point where I contemplated literally crawling into my bed when we got home. Tracy, Genna and Sam were all waiting up for me so I spent a few minutes with them until my body could barely handle being awake anymore, and was in bed before midnight (that will never happen again), and now here I am finished with an entire blog post before the clock even strikes 8.
So, here concludes my final blog post of my adventures in Copenhagen. I really did not expect to have as many people reading as I did (really only thought it'd be my mom and dad) so thank you so much to everyone who has followed my posts. I am excited for all of the "hellos" that await me as I return to Middlebury later this afternoon and the adventures ahead as the summer comes to an end.
Here's to an amazing summer with incredible people. Couldn't have asked for anything better.
XO, Bean
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Hi all!
Just wanted to post a quick blog to keep everyone updated on the happenings of my life as I approach the end of my wonderful experience in Copenhagen.
While I could just say that my life has been harbor, eat, sleep, repeat (with class in there a few times) since my last blog, there are some things I would like to say about my days.
I'll start with Monday-- On Monday, a friend and I biked through a nature reservation which was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. He had already been there once on his own and told me about it, so I told him to take me when he had time (he has furniture design--they actually have a lot of work to do) so we decided to do it Monday afternoon. The bike ride starts off towards the harbor, but then once you get to the harbor, you turn left and go all the way to a dead end when you hit a dirt road (at first I thought he was lost and I told him this looked like the kind of place they find dead bodies in CSI Miami) but once we finally hit the trail, I was in awe. We were totally out of the city, riding with glorious Danish country side (slightly resembles Indiana, except no corn) and vast ocean on the other side (usually we are on harbor side or can see Sweden when we are on the water). It was about a 40 minute ride to the little dock where we swam (and also against the wind--needless to say I was expecting to wake up with a butt like Beyoncé's the next day). We went the other way on the way back, where there was no ocean (or wind) but more country side and horses (just like home) and some really great architecture. It was fun, and I am hoping to take my friends tomorrow because its definitely a side of Copenhagen we don't get to see.
Tuesday, I woke up and went shopping with Morgan and Rachel. Morgan had found this adorable thrift shop that she wanted to get shorts from (it was a little pricey for me, considering it was used clothing from the 90s, but adorable nonetheless) and we walked down the walking street afterwards. I wasn't expecting to buy anything, but I found this beautiful maxi dress that was half off because of a little hole that is easily fixable. It's normally 50, but I got it for 22, and my roommate says I look like a Gwenyth Paltrow/ Kate Hudson hybrid in it. Speaking of my roommate, I have been spending increasingly more time with her these past few weeks. While I loved her right away due to her Mindy Kaling like attitude, large vocabulary and small stature, she has easily become one of my favorite people on this Earth in these last few weeks. She and I are literally constantly laughing and we both have the same deep, deep love for music post 90s, pre 2008. Our absolute soul mate moment was when "There's Gotta Be More to Life" by Stacie Orrico came on my computer and she freaked out about how she loves this song, which made me freak out because I also LOVE that song, and nobody else even knows it. So basically, she is the best roommate I could have asked for and I will miss her so much. I can't imagine not ever seeing her again (which I am aware is a sad truth about most of my friends here, despite what we say now) but I will absolutely make an effort to see my little LB again (her name is Lauren Blonde--everyone calls her LB and she gave me the wonderful nickname "Queen Bee" which my whole floor calls me-- I don't hate it). Anyways, after shopping, I went to the harbor for a few hours, worked on homework (I know, you guys probably didn't think I was really going to school here) then went to my friend Ian's kollegium down the street and hung out on the roof for an hour or so.
Today, I had class in the morning where I was actually semi functional for once, so I got a lot of work done in between my watching old Destiny's Child music videos on YouTube. After class today, my class (of 10 people...although only 7 of us went plus the teacher) biked to a very fancy furniture store on the outskirts of Copenhagen called Pautisian. I also found my dream couch (it was pink).
I was also biking so fast today that I am not sure if my legs were attached to my body. I was literally passing Copenhagen bikers super speedily, which basically means I was biking at Olympic speed because Copenhagen bikers are insane. I often compare the beginning of my biking experience here to the scene in Lion King where Simba is nearly getting stampeded to death by the herd of wildabeasts if that gives any indication of what its like here. Even Frederik, a Copenhagen native, always says biking during rush hour has always looked terrifying to him.
Anyways, after the furniture store, I biked to the harbor to meet my friends. If you're my friend on Facebook or follow me on Instagram, you probably already saw that I jumped off a 7 meter high bridge today, which was AWESOME! I chickened out a bit at first, but when a group of 10 year old boys rushed past me and just jumped off, I figured I have nothing to lose :) I ended up doing it twice, and will probably do it again at least once before I leave.
After the harbor, I met up with LB to go shopping where I got some new shoes and a new shirt (I am going a little crazy now that my time is almost done here) and we made some delicious BLT sandwiches. I also showered, which I don't know if I have mentioned previously, but our shower always floods our entire bathroom and usually into our bedroom since it's just a flat shower with the bathroom surface but in this past week or so, our shower hasn't been flooding so clearly God must have bestowed some great blessing upon us. Thank you, Lord! It's nice to shower without having to spend a half hour post shower squeegeeing my entire bedroom.
Anyways, that is all for now. Can't believe it's almost time to come home! I could certainly spend some extra time here, but I am looking forward to seeing all my friends and family and returning to the greatest place on Earth that is Purdue University.
Until next time, bloggers!
XO, Bean
Just wanted to post a quick blog to keep everyone updated on the happenings of my life as I approach the end of my wonderful experience in Copenhagen.
While I could just say that my life has been harbor, eat, sleep, repeat (with class in there a few times) since my last blog, there are some things I would like to say about my days.
I'll start with Monday-- On Monday, a friend and I biked through a nature reservation which was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. He had already been there once on his own and told me about it, so I told him to take me when he had time (he has furniture design--they actually have a lot of work to do) so we decided to do it Monday afternoon. The bike ride starts off towards the harbor, but then once you get to the harbor, you turn left and go all the way to a dead end when you hit a dirt road (at first I thought he was lost and I told him this looked like the kind of place they find dead bodies in CSI Miami) but once we finally hit the trail, I was in awe. We were totally out of the city, riding with glorious Danish country side (slightly resembles Indiana, except no corn) and vast ocean on the other side (usually we are on harbor side or can see Sweden when we are on the water). It was about a 40 minute ride to the little dock where we swam (and also against the wind--needless to say I was expecting to wake up with a butt like Beyoncé's the next day). We went the other way on the way back, where there was no ocean (or wind) but more country side and horses (just like home) and some really great architecture. It was fun, and I am hoping to take my friends tomorrow because its definitely a side of Copenhagen we don't get to see.
Tuesday, I woke up and went shopping with Morgan and Rachel. Morgan had found this adorable thrift shop that she wanted to get shorts from (it was a little pricey for me, considering it was used clothing from the 90s, but adorable nonetheless) and we walked down the walking street afterwards. I wasn't expecting to buy anything, but I found this beautiful maxi dress that was half off because of a little hole that is easily fixable. It's normally 50, but I got it for 22, and my roommate says I look like a Gwenyth Paltrow/ Kate Hudson hybrid in it. Speaking of my roommate, I have been spending increasingly more time with her these past few weeks. While I loved her right away due to her Mindy Kaling like attitude, large vocabulary and small stature, she has easily become one of my favorite people on this Earth in these last few weeks. She and I are literally constantly laughing and we both have the same deep, deep love for music post 90s, pre 2008. Our absolute soul mate moment was when "There's Gotta Be More to Life" by Stacie Orrico came on my computer and she freaked out about how she loves this song, which made me freak out because I also LOVE that song, and nobody else even knows it. So basically, she is the best roommate I could have asked for and I will miss her so much. I can't imagine not ever seeing her again (which I am aware is a sad truth about most of my friends here, despite what we say now) but I will absolutely make an effort to see my little LB again (her name is Lauren Blonde--everyone calls her LB and she gave me the wonderful nickname "Queen Bee" which my whole floor calls me-- I don't hate it). Anyways, after shopping, I went to the harbor for a few hours, worked on homework (I know, you guys probably didn't think I was really going to school here) then went to my friend Ian's kollegium down the street and hung out on the roof for an hour or so.
Today, I had class in the morning where I was actually semi functional for once, so I got a lot of work done in between my watching old Destiny's Child music videos on YouTube. After class today, my class (of 10 people...although only 7 of us went plus the teacher) biked to a very fancy furniture store on the outskirts of Copenhagen called Pautisian. I also found my dream couch (it was pink).
I was also biking so fast today that I am not sure if my legs were attached to my body. I was literally passing Copenhagen bikers super speedily, which basically means I was biking at Olympic speed because Copenhagen bikers are insane. I often compare the beginning of my biking experience here to the scene in Lion King where Simba is nearly getting stampeded to death by the herd of wildabeasts if that gives any indication of what its like here. Even Frederik, a Copenhagen native, always says biking during rush hour has always looked terrifying to him.
Anyways, after the furniture store, I biked to the harbor to meet my friends. If you're my friend on Facebook or follow me on Instagram, you probably already saw that I jumped off a 7 meter high bridge today, which was AWESOME! I chickened out a bit at first, but when a group of 10 year old boys rushed past me and just jumped off, I figured I have nothing to lose :) I ended up doing it twice, and will probably do it again at least once before I leave.
After the harbor, I met up with LB to go shopping where I got some new shoes and a new shirt (I am going a little crazy now that my time is almost done here) and we made some delicious BLT sandwiches. I also showered, which I don't know if I have mentioned previously, but our shower always floods our entire bathroom and usually into our bedroom since it's just a flat shower with the bathroom surface but in this past week or so, our shower hasn't been flooding so clearly God must have bestowed some great blessing upon us. Thank you, Lord! It's nice to shower without having to spend a half hour post shower squeegeeing my entire bedroom.
Anyways, that is all for now. Can't believe it's almost time to come home! I could certainly spend some extra time here, but I am looking forward to seeing all my friends and family and returning to the greatest place on Earth that is Purdue University.
Until next time, bloggers!
XO, Bean
Sunday, July 20, 2014
Hi readers! So before you start reading, you should know that this is going to be a very long post because these past few days have been absolutely wonderful and I have a lot to say about them.
I posted last Monday, but I will just skip straight to Wednesday because I don't think I did anything too significant Tuesday (all I did was go to class and ride my bike around I am pretty sure).
Wednesday started out like every other Wednesday, with me having class from 8-12. During class, we built boxes out of matte board and tape and for anyone who knows me, they know that hell for me is literally a place where I have to measure and cut things all day. After that incredibly stressful class (my box actually turned out quite lovely), my friend Tyler invited me to his house (his architecture class shares a studio with my graphic design class) to eat fajitas with him (he lives in the really nice housing close to the school) so I was like YOLO free food, so we ate his delicious fajitas and I convinced him to watch the pilot episode of Dawson's Creek with me. When his roommate got home, we decided we should hang out and drink later that night since we don't have class Thursday. I was hesitant to do so because my friend Karla and her friend Morgan would be arriving Thursday morning, but I am soo glad I did. We started out playing drinking games in their courtyard but then slowly decided to migrate to a karaoke bar down the street WHICH WAS SO FUN AND I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO DO IT!!!! Another thing most people who know me well know is that I love karaoke even though I am the worst singer ever (I usually can't hear myself singing over the music) and I have two karaoke machines in my apartment at school and like to create my own mix CDs to sing along with on my karaoke machines. Among my favorite artists to sing along to is JoJo, because she is sassy and wonderful and all of her songs are awesome. My friends here all told me not to get my hopes up to sing JoJo at this karaoke bar because they figured they wouldn't have JoJo at a Danish karaoke bar but they did!! The karaoke song list was quite extensive and really good, and I sang a few JoJo songs, All You Wanted by Michelle Branch, Colors of The Wind from Pocahontas, Party In The USA by Miley Cyrus (because 'Murica), You Belong With Me by Taylor Swift and some of the other people a the bar whom I didn't know had me join them in singing Royals by Lorde, My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion and Rolling In The Deep by Adele. So basically, it was the best time ever and I really hope we get to go back at least one more time. Even on a Wednesday night, the Danes still seem to go out way later than Americans. We got to the karaoke bar at 1 but it got super busy at like 3 which was a little strange for a Wednesday night. We ended up getting home realllly late that night, but I still managed to wake up the next morning to pick up Karla and her friend Morgan.
Frederik picked me up Thursday morning at my housing and we walked into the airport at the exact same time that Karla and Morgan walked out of baggage claim which was perfect. For anyone who doesn't remember, Frederik was Karla's exchange student in 2010-2011. Afterwards, we dropped their stuff off at my housing and went to the beach. It was Frederik's first time at Amager Strand. He was getting a little mad that I was showing him around his own city :) We spent the day at the beach and ate lunch there until about 4. After that, we decided to show Karla and Morgan around Christiania. Christiania is basically a hippie commune in the middle(ish) of Copenhagen that has declared independence from the EU and while they're most known for their weed, or as Danes call it, "hash", they have a lot of cool graffiti and a cute cafes and little jewelry tables and it's definitely a very unique place worth going to you if any of you venture into Copenhagen ever. After Christiania, Frederik drove us back to his house (definitely a slightly terrifying experience) for dinner which was delicious as expected. I am not even really sure what it was that I ate, but I do know that it was delicious and felt like Thanksgiving. I will definitely miss spending time with Frederik and his family when I leave Copenhagen. Frederik really wanted to go out that night, so we did even though I was supposed to have class the next day. I took him to a bar we usually pregame at because its cheap (he always makes fun of all the bars I tell him that I go to) then we met up with some of my friends and he took us all to his favorite bar. His bar street was actually much better than the area we usually go to bars in, so I guess all of his teasing makes sense now. It was a very fun night of bar hopping, that's for sure. It is funny to think that a year ago, I didn't even know Karla and then I was hanging out with her and her exchange student at a bar in Copenhagen. Afterwards, Frederik took Morgan and Karla back to his house in a taxi and I went back to my apartment with some of my friends.
I did not make it to class on Friday, but I never really planned to because how often do you get to go out with one of your best friends in a European city? Karla, Morgan and Frederik met me Friday morning so that we could go rent Karla and Morgan bikes for their brief stay in Copenhagen. However, Morgan was sick (we don't think it was a hangover--may have been a travel bug) and had to carry a bag of her vomit around the city. After we picked up the bikes, we took Morgan back to apartment so that she could rest and Karla, Frederik and I went to the harbor to lay out and nap for awhile (Frederik had never been there either--once again, he was a little disappointed that I know the city better than him so basically I am a Dane). After a few hours of soaking up the sunshine that has been quite abundant lately here in Copenhagen, we went back to see if Morgan was still up for Tivoli and she was! So we went to Tivoli, which is an amusement park right in the center of downtown Copenhagen. It is filled with a lot of beautiful gardens and lighting. The roller coasters are not like the ones you'd see in a place like Cedar Point or Kings Island, but was more of a hybrid of like the Elkhart County fair meets Disney World. Actually, Tivoli was one of the biggest inspirations for Walt Disney in creating Disney World (~*FuN FaCt*~). Even though Morgan was done puking for the day, I unfortunately was not. I have had motion sickness my whole life and usually have to sleep for entire car rides when I am not driving or in the front seat, so I usually try to avoid crazy rides at amusement parks. I definitely do better on hills and drops then upside downs and twisty things. Even though I know my limits, I decided to try and defy them by riding a ride that made me nauseous just looking at it. Basically, it spins you around the base of the ride while simultaneously spinning around around upside down in your individual cart. However, that was not the ride that I puked on. I just never quite recovered from it. I then went on their most "American" roller coaster as Frederik called it called the Demonnen (Demon) that was all fine and dandy until the upside down loop part even though it was quick. After that, I was still feeling a little off so I sat out the next ride. After that, we went on this ride that is similar to a giant swing that looked fun so I decided to try it. It was a roller coaster where you face eachother, 4 seats facing 4 seats. Frederik and I sat on one side (we had been roller coaster partners all day) while the 4 girls (Morgan, Rachel, Karla and Karla's friend Morgan) sat facing us. As soon as the ride had its first big drop, I knew it wasn't going to end well. I could feel it coming up for the entire ride as all the girls watched my face getting sicker. Poor Frederik was enjoying the ride until he noticed all the mortified faces of the girls staring back at us, waiting for me to blow, which is when he started trying to be motivational and telling me to hold it in because the ride was almost finished. Eventually, I couldn't hold it in my mouth any longer and ended up puking all over the ride and Frederik's leg. However, after skipping just one more ride, I toughed up and decided I had to try to power tower and the swings, which go up really high and give you spectacular views of the city so it was worth it. We also went on a little ride about Hans Christian Andersen, which was tame and also inside so it was warm. I also told Frederik about how when I notice people are taking pictures and I will inevitably be in the background, I always smile. At first he thought it was weird, but I caught him doing it later on for a picture :) After a day full of puking, we decided we should probably have a calm night so we just hung out on the roof of the kollegium for the night until it was bedtime. Frederik's girlfriend, Emma, joined us after Tivoli so that she could meet Karla before she left for Berlin, so it was nice to see her one last time in Copenhagen.
Saturday morning, we woke up and went to opposite side of the harbor that we usually go to. Karla jumped off and we laid out for awhile until it was time to return Karla and Morgan's bikes. We then went back to Christiania so that Karla could buy some jewelry for her sister. It was my friend, Nick's, 21st birthday that night so we went home and got ready to go out with him. Frederik met us there and we drank at their house until we decided to go to a few bars around the school. We then went out to where the "cool" bars are that Frederik had showed us previously, but he couldn't get into the bar of choice because you had to be 20 (he will be 20 in like 2 months) so he and I ended up sitting on some stairs and eating pizza for like an hour until we decided to go home. I also had blisters on my heels from borrowing my roommate's shoes so we got bandaids (actually they were bandaids for cold sores but I just needed something to cover it) at a nearby 7/11. Karla and Morgan had already gone home earlier in the night because their train left at 9:45 this morning, so we decided to skip the last bar of the night even though Frederik could have gotten in since we wanted to spend a little more time with them.
This morning, I woke up and had a roomie date with the best roomie I could have asked for during my time here in Copenhagen. We went to Christiania where I had the most amazing chicken sandwich ever (seriously, the food selection in Christiania is on point) and a brownie (not a pot brownie) and two glasses of Coca Cola and sat there for an hour or so until she went to the studio and I went to the harbor to meet Rachel and Morgan. I was there until 5, and now I am watching my roomie cook a traditional Cuban dinner for basically our entire floor. I also made Sangria for this event, because, you know, Sunday.
So there you have it, there was my blog about some of the best days in Copenhagen that I have had so far!! Can't wait to see what my last 12 days (commence depression induced nausea) have in store for me in this beautiful city with a fantastic group of people!!
Ta ta for now, bloggers!
Bri
I posted last Monday, but I will just skip straight to Wednesday because I don't think I did anything too significant Tuesday (all I did was go to class and ride my bike around I am pretty sure).
Wednesday started out like every other Wednesday, with me having class from 8-12. During class, we built boxes out of matte board and tape and for anyone who knows me, they know that hell for me is literally a place where I have to measure and cut things all day. After that incredibly stressful class (my box actually turned out quite lovely), my friend Tyler invited me to his house (his architecture class shares a studio with my graphic design class) to eat fajitas with him (he lives in the really nice housing close to the school) so I was like YOLO free food, so we ate his delicious fajitas and I convinced him to watch the pilot episode of Dawson's Creek with me. When his roommate got home, we decided we should hang out and drink later that night since we don't have class Thursday. I was hesitant to do so because my friend Karla and her friend Morgan would be arriving Thursday morning, but I am soo glad I did. We started out playing drinking games in their courtyard but then slowly decided to migrate to a karaoke bar down the street WHICH WAS SO FUN AND I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO DO IT!!!! Another thing most people who know me well know is that I love karaoke even though I am the worst singer ever (I usually can't hear myself singing over the music) and I have two karaoke machines in my apartment at school and like to create my own mix CDs to sing along with on my karaoke machines. Among my favorite artists to sing along to is JoJo, because she is sassy and wonderful and all of her songs are awesome. My friends here all told me not to get my hopes up to sing JoJo at this karaoke bar because they figured they wouldn't have JoJo at a Danish karaoke bar but they did!! The karaoke song list was quite extensive and really good, and I sang a few JoJo songs, All You Wanted by Michelle Branch, Colors of The Wind from Pocahontas, Party In The USA by Miley Cyrus (because 'Murica), You Belong With Me by Taylor Swift and some of the other people a the bar whom I didn't know had me join them in singing Royals by Lorde, My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion and Rolling In The Deep by Adele. So basically, it was the best time ever and I really hope we get to go back at least one more time. Even on a Wednesday night, the Danes still seem to go out way later than Americans. We got to the karaoke bar at 1 but it got super busy at like 3 which was a little strange for a Wednesday night. We ended up getting home realllly late that night, but I still managed to wake up the next morning to pick up Karla and her friend Morgan.
Frederik picked me up Thursday morning at my housing and we walked into the airport at the exact same time that Karla and Morgan walked out of baggage claim which was perfect. For anyone who doesn't remember, Frederik was Karla's exchange student in 2010-2011. Afterwards, we dropped their stuff off at my housing and went to the beach. It was Frederik's first time at Amager Strand. He was getting a little mad that I was showing him around his own city :) We spent the day at the beach and ate lunch there until about 4. After that, we decided to show Karla and Morgan around Christiania. Christiania is basically a hippie commune in the middle(ish) of Copenhagen that has declared independence from the EU and while they're most known for their weed, or as Danes call it, "hash", they have a lot of cool graffiti and a cute cafes and little jewelry tables and it's definitely a very unique place worth going to you if any of you venture into Copenhagen ever. After Christiania, Frederik drove us back to his house (definitely a slightly terrifying experience) for dinner which was delicious as expected. I am not even really sure what it was that I ate, but I do know that it was delicious and felt like Thanksgiving. I will definitely miss spending time with Frederik and his family when I leave Copenhagen. Frederik really wanted to go out that night, so we did even though I was supposed to have class the next day. I took him to a bar we usually pregame at because its cheap (he always makes fun of all the bars I tell him that I go to) then we met up with some of my friends and he took us all to his favorite bar. His bar street was actually much better than the area we usually go to bars in, so I guess all of his teasing makes sense now. It was a very fun night of bar hopping, that's for sure. It is funny to think that a year ago, I didn't even know Karla and then I was hanging out with her and her exchange student at a bar in Copenhagen. Afterwards, Frederik took Morgan and Karla back to his house in a taxi and I went back to my apartment with some of my friends.
I did not make it to class on Friday, but I never really planned to because how often do you get to go out with one of your best friends in a European city? Karla, Morgan and Frederik met me Friday morning so that we could go rent Karla and Morgan bikes for their brief stay in Copenhagen. However, Morgan was sick (we don't think it was a hangover--may have been a travel bug) and had to carry a bag of her vomit around the city. After we picked up the bikes, we took Morgan back to apartment so that she could rest and Karla, Frederik and I went to the harbor to lay out and nap for awhile (Frederik had never been there either--once again, he was a little disappointed that I know the city better than him so basically I am a Dane). After a few hours of soaking up the sunshine that has been quite abundant lately here in Copenhagen, we went back to see if Morgan was still up for Tivoli and she was! So we went to Tivoli, which is an amusement park right in the center of downtown Copenhagen. It is filled with a lot of beautiful gardens and lighting. The roller coasters are not like the ones you'd see in a place like Cedar Point or Kings Island, but was more of a hybrid of like the Elkhart County fair meets Disney World. Actually, Tivoli was one of the biggest inspirations for Walt Disney in creating Disney World (~*FuN FaCt*~). Even though Morgan was done puking for the day, I unfortunately was not. I have had motion sickness my whole life and usually have to sleep for entire car rides when I am not driving or in the front seat, so I usually try to avoid crazy rides at amusement parks. I definitely do better on hills and drops then upside downs and twisty things. Even though I know my limits, I decided to try and defy them by riding a ride that made me nauseous just looking at it. Basically, it spins you around the base of the ride while simultaneously spinning around around upside down in your individual cart. However, that was not the ride that I puked on. I just never quite recovered from it. I then went on their most "American" roller coaster as Frederik called it called the Demonnen (Demon) that was all fine and dandy until the upside down loop part even though it was quick. After that, I was still feeling a little off so I sat out the next ride. After that, we went on this ride that is similar to a giant swing that looked fun so I decided to try it. It was a roller coaster where you face eachother, 4 seats facing 4 seats. Frederik and I sat on one side (we had been roller coaster partners all day) while the 4 girls (Morgan, Rachel, Karla and Karla's friend Morgan) sat facing us. As soon as the ride had its first big drop, I knew it wasn't going to end well. I could feel it coming up for the entire ride as all the girls watched my face getting sicker. Poor Frederik was enjoying the ride until he noticed all the mortified faces of the girls staring back at us, waiting for me to blow, which is when he started trying to be motivational and telling me to hold it in because the ride was almost finished. Eventually, I couldn't hold it in my mouth any longer and ended up puking all over the ride and Frederik's leg. However, after skipping just one more ride, I toughed up and decided I had to try to power tower and the swings, which go up really high and give you spectacular views of the city so it was worth it. We also went on a little ride about Hans Christian Andersen, which was tame and also inside so it was warm. I also told Frederik about how when I notice people are taking pictures and I will inevitably be in the background, I always smile. At first he thought it was weird, but I caught him doing it later on for a picture :) After a day full of puking, we decided we should probably have a calm night so we just hung out on the roof of the kollegium for the night until it was bedtime. Frederik's girlfriend, Emma, joined us after Tivoli so that she could meet Karla before she left for Berlin, so it was nice to see her one last time in Copenhagen.
Saturday morning, we woke up and went to opposite side of the harbor that we usually go to. Karla jumped off and we laid out for awhile until it was time to return Karla and Morgan's bikes. We then went back to Christiania so that Karla could buy some jewelry for her sister. It was my friend, Nick's, 21st birthday that night so we went home and got ready to go out with him. Frederik met us there and we drank at their house until we decided to go to a few bars around the school. We then went out to where the "cool" bars are that Frederik had showed us previously, but he couldn't get into the bar of choice because you had to be 20 (he will be 20 in like 2 months) so he and I ended up sitting on some stairs and eating pizza for like an hour until we decided to go home. I also had blisters on my heels from borrowing my roommate's shoes so we got bandaids (actually they were bandaids for cold sores but I just needed something to cover it) at a nearby 7/11. Karla and Morgan had already gone home earlier in the night because their train left at 9:45 this morning, so we decided to skip the last bar of the night even though Frederik could have gotten in since we wanted to spend a little more time with them.
This morning, I woke up and had a roomie date with the best roomie I could have asked for during my time here in Copenhagen. We went to Christiania where I had the most amazing chicken sandwich ever (seriously, the food selection in Christiania is on point) and a brownie (not a pot brownie) and two glasses of Coca Cola and sat there for an hour or so until she went to the studio and I went to the harbor to meet Rachel and Morgan. I was there until 5, and now I am watching my roomie cook a traditional Cuban dinner for basically our entire floor. I also made Sangria for this event, because, you know, Sunday.
So there you have it, there was my blog about some of the best days in Copenhagen that I have had so far!! Can't wait to see what my last 12 days (commence depression induced nausea) have in store for me in this beautiful city with a fantastic group of people!!
Ta ta for now, bloggers!
Bri
Monday, July 14, 2014
Hola!
This will be a short blog post, because I haven't done too much but I do have a lot to look forward to!
I last posted Wednesday night, so I will start with Thursday. Thursday, I think I spent the day at the harbor or beach (I don't remember exactly). In the evening, I went with my friend Rachel to watch her friend Eric and his friends play soccer. We planned on going to the beach afterwards, so I had on a skirt and tank top and Rachel had on a dress. However, we ended up playing soccer when we got there (I can honestly say I have never played soccer in a skirt before), and I am so glad we did. I am pretty sure I am actually better now than I was in high school. Needless to say, I was pretty sore for the next few days but it was nice to get some fun exercise in while I am here! After soccer, we went to the beach and swam and had a bonfire. On Friday, I had class until noon where I then went to the harbor bath afterwards for a few hours. After the harbor, I then went to the beach with my friends to hang out before going out for the night. At the beach, we played some Danish game that reminded me of Jenga where we basically through wooden batons at wooden blocks to knock them over, so that was fun, I guess. After it started to get really windy at the beach, we went to drink at my friends' kollegium on their rooftop where we got to watch a beautiful sunset over the city. We then just went bar hopping, but nothing too interesting happened.
Friday night, my good friends (Morgan and Rachel) and I had separated into different groups because they wanted to go home while I stayed out with our other friends. Apparently, they met some random Danish people on the way home who told them about this concert under a bridge that was going on Saturday so we decided to check it out. Morgan, Rachel and I rode our bikes there which took about a half hour and decided it was definitely a place we would like to check out later. We came home, Morgan went to lunch with her friends from home and Rachel and I took naps. We then reconvened later in the evening in a bigger group to go back to this concert which was awesome!! It was literally under a bridge, like an overpass and they played techno bass music (it's not normally music I listen to so I am not familiar with the terms) but it was really fun. We went to the grocery store nearby about halfway through so they could all get beer (I bought myself a box of wine) where I met some Danish guys in front of me in the grocery store line who ended up dancing near us at the concert. We all ended up going to the bars together later, except the bar we planned to meet at was only 21 & over and my other friends had beat me there and already paid the cover fee to get in (they didn't know you had to be 21, since they're all 21 and had no problem getting in), so I ended up going to Burger King by myself where I ate four cheeseburgers waiting to meet up with my other friends, where we then went to another bar that I had also been to my very first weekend here.
Sunday, I didn't wake up until 4 (much, much needed sleep) and then I wrote a paper (who knew you had to study when you study abroad??? I didn't sign up for this!) then I went to the harbor with the big screen to meet my roommate for the World Cup Final (YAYY GERMANY!) and got to eat free s'mores :) Despite waking up very late yesterday, I still managed to go to bed earlier than I usually do (my lack of sleep certainly caught up with me).
Today, I woke up EARLY for class (now that I finally caught up on sleep) and made it with TIME TO SPARE (never happens) so I bought myself some muffins before class but then my teacher ended up buying my whole class pastries. I had my first authentic Danish Danish and it was delicious. Our teacher likes to buy us treats a lot since we have a small class of only ten kids, and we have certainly become like a family. I will miss everyone so very much when I leave!! I am in awe everyday at how lucky I am that I got such a great group of design students to spend my summer with here in Denmark. I love being able to study with kids from all different kinds of schools, backgrounds and personalities. Being from Purdue, a lot of people grew up the same in Indiana and have business or engineering majors and I don't get exposure to other creatives nearly as much as I would if I went to an art school. While aspects of it certainly make me thankful for Purdue so much (it has definitely prepared me for the professional world so well), I love being able to get to know people with such unique and strong personalities, since pretty much every designer has a very distinct personality. Anyway, after class I came back home (it is rainy here today), made chicken nuggets and French fries for lunch, cleaned my room, took a nap and watched Baby Mama and That Awkward Moment (great movie!) with Morgan and Rachel. It was my first "lazy day" since I have been here, and while it feels kind of weird, it's probably good to have a day to relax. Tomorrow, we want to ride our bikes and explore!
This week, I have a lot to look forward to! I have class everyday from 8-12 except Thursday which is perfect because I get to go pick up Karla (my roommate at Purdue/one of my best friends) and her friend from high school, Morgan, from the airport!!! Frederik (boy whose family I stayed with my first night here) was Karla's exchange student when he came to visit the States while we were in high school, and he is going to pick me up so that we can go to the airport together. We are then going to spend the day at the beach and eat at Frederik's house for dinner (free, delicious food=very exciting). Friday, I have class in the morning and then plan on taking Karla and Morgan to the harbor bath and on a tour of the city and to the bars. Saturday, I finally get to go to Tivoli Gardens (an amusement park right in the center of the city with beautiful gardens and rides) with Karla and Morgan before they leave Sunday morning for Amsterdam.
So, there is my most recent update of life in Copenhagen!! Can't wait to see what my last few weeks (so sad) have in store for me!
XO, Bri
This will be a short blog post, because I haven't done too much but I do have a lot to look forward to!
I last posted Wednesday night, so I will start with Thursday. Thursday, I think I spent the day at the harbor or beach (I don't remember exactly). In the evening, I went with my friend Rachel to watch her friend Eric and his friends play soccer. We planned on going to the beach afterwards, so I had on a skirt and tank top and Rachel had on a dress. However, we ended up playing soccer when we got there (I can honestly say I have never played soccer in a skirt before), and I am so glad we did. I am pretty sure I am actually better now than I was in high school. Needless to say, I was pretty sore for the next few days but it was nice to get some fun exercise in while I am here! After soccer, we went to the beach and swam and had a bonfire. On Friday, I had class until noon where I then went to the harbor bath afterwards for a few hours. After the harbor, I then went to the beach with my friends to hang out before going out for the night. At the beach, we played some Danish game that reminded me of Jenga where we basically through wooden batons at wooden blocks to knock them over, so that was fun, I guess. After it started to get really windy at the beach, we went to drink at my friends' kollegium on their rooftop where we got to watch a beautiful sunset over the city. We then just went bar hopping, but nothing too interesting happened.
Friday night, my good friends (Morgan and Rachel) and I had separated into different groups because they wanted to go home while I stayed out with our other friends. Apparently, they met some random Danish people on the way home who told them about this concert under a bridge that was going on Saturday so we decided to check it out. Morgan, Rachel and I rode our bikes there which took about a half hour and decided it was definitely a place we would like to check out later. We came home, Morgan went to lunch with her friends from home and Rachel and I took naps. We then reconvened later in the evening in a bigger group to go back to this concert which was awesome!! It was literally under a bridge, like an overpass and they played techno bass music (it's not normally music I listen to so I am not familiar with the terms) but it was really fun. We went to the grocery store nearby about halfway through so they could all get beer (I bought myself a box of wine) where I met some Danish guys in front of me in the grocery store line who ended up dancing near us at the concert. We all ended up going to the bars together later, except the bar we planned to meet at was only 21 & over and my other friends had beat me there and already paid the cover fee to get in (they didn't know you had to be 21, since they're all 21 and had no problem getting in), so I ended up going to Burger King by myself where I ate four cheeseburgers waiting to meet up with my other friends, where we then went to another bar that I had also been to my very first weekend here.
Sunday, I didn't wake up until 4 (much, much needed sleep) and then I wrote a paper (who knew you had to study when you study abroad??? I didn't sign up for this!) then I went to the harbor with the big screen to meet my roommate for the World Cup Final (YAYY GERMANY!) and got to eat free s'mores :) Despite waking up very late yesterday, I still managed to go to bed earlier than I usually do (my lack of sleep certainly caught up with me).
Today, I woke up EARLY for class (now that I finally caught up on sleep) and made it with TIME TO SPARE (never happens) so I bought myself some muffins before class but then my teacher ended up buying my whole class pastries. I had my first authentic Danish Danish and it was delicious. Our teacher likes to buy us treats a lot since we have a small class of only ten kids, and we have certainly become like a family. I will miss everyone so very much when I leave!! I am in awe everyday at how lucky I am that I got such a great group of design students to spend my summer with here in Denmark. I love being able to study with kids from all different kinds of schools, backgrounds and personalities. Being from Purdue, a lot of people grew up the same in Indiana and have business or engineering majors and I don't get exposure to other creatives nearly as much as I would if I went to an art school. While aspects of it certainly make me thankful for Purdue so much (it has definitely prepared me for the professional world so well), I love being able to get to know people with such unique and strong personalities, since pretty much every designer has a very distinct personality. Anyway, after class I came back home (it is rainy here today), made chicken nuggets and French fries for lunch, cleaned my room, took a nap and watched Baby Mama and That Awkward Moment (great movie!) with Morgan and Rachel. It was my first "lazy day" since I have been here, and while it feels kind of weird, it's probably good to have a day to relax. Tomorrow, we want to ride our bikes and explore!
This week, I have a lot to look forward to! I have class everyday from 8-12 except Thursday which is perfect because I get to go pick up Karla (my roommate at Purdue/one of my best friends) and her friend from high school, Morgan, from the airport!!! Frederik (boy whose family I stayed with my first night here) was Karla's exchange student when he came to visit the States while we were in high school, and he is going to pick me up so that we can go to the airport together. We are then going to spend the day at the beach and eat at Frederik's house for dinner (free, delicious food=very exciting). Friday, I have class in the morning and then plan on taking Karla and Morgan to the harbor bath and on a tour of the city and to the bars. Saturday, I finally get to go to Tivoli Gardens (an amusement park right in the center of the city with beautiful gardens and rides) with Karla and Morgan before they leave Sunday morning for Amsterdam.
So, there is my most recent update of life in Copenhagen!! Can't wait to see what my last few weeks (so sad) have in store for me!
XO, Bri
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
So, these last few days have definitely been worth the wait. I have been waiting since the day I arrived in Copenhagen for the final weeks after we finished the study tour. I knew we would only have class Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8:30-12:30, leaving a lot of free time. And boy, do I love free time.
Last I wrote, I believe I was getting ready to go out on my first Saturday night back in Copenhagen, so I will start where I left off.
After I posted my last blog, I left to go out to dinner for the other Bri's birthday at Hard Rock Café (so clichely American, I know) but it was actually really delicious. My friend Rachel and I split a pulled pork sandwich (it is MUCH more expensive than any Hard Rock Café I have ever been to, so all the girls split meals there). The manager was also super awesome and gave Bri a free birthday shake while she was being serenaded by the waitress, and he gave our whole table (12 people) delicious FREE shots that tasted like candy.
After dinner, we headed back to some of the housing that's near the school and played some weird drinking game where you just count but all the numbers mean something and you have to remember and if you get to say number 21, then you make a new rule. When I was the lucky number 21, my rule was that you have to sing a Britney Spears lyric every time you say a certain number. The group definitely had some fun with that one. Eventually, we all headed our separate ways but most of us made our way to the meat packing district, which is apparently the hipster bar scene. We went to a small dive bar called Jolene's which is apparently really popular, but it was just cramped, sweaty, hot and they played music very comparable to tacky elevator music so we all left. We just wandered the streets looking for somewhere else to go until we stumbled upon a place called Billy Booze. It advertised cheap alcohol on the outside, so naturally it was extremely enticing to a bunch of broke college kids. The drinks were indeed cheap, and we ended up staying there until approximately 5 in the morning when the sun had already completely risen. It's basically like living in Alaska here, because the sun never really goes down but apparently it is darker than Justin Bieber's soul here in the winter.
After sleeping for a few hours, we woke up to spend an absolutely beautiful day at the beach. A large group of DIS kids all met there and I spent most of my day there until I decided to go back to one of the kollegiums (a kollegium is Danish university housing that serves all the universities in Copenhagen-- they're located all throughout the city) where some DIS people live and had a cookout. My two friends and I bought sausage and wrapped it in bacon with cheese and made sliced potatoes and some of the other kids made chicken and salmon (~* sO FaNcY *~). The kollegium housing was beautiful, with the same Ikea furniture that we have in the DIS housing, except their rooms are way bigger and they have a court yard and an awesome rooftop patio where the grill was with a beautiful view of the city. I wish my housing had an outdoor area so bad. After a few hours hanging out, I made my way home and fell asleep.
Monday, I woke up and came to class where we finished our presentations for today (Wednesday). After class, I finally got a new bike (so EXCITING) after my first one was stolen. I found out another girl in my hall had her bike stolen outside our building the same night I did. Apparently people drive around in vans and throw bikes with the types of locks we had in and use the frames, plus we don't live in the best part of Copenhagen. Although, I am pretty sure the bad parts of Copenhagen are nowhere near bad parts of American cities and we don't live in a totally crappy area, but definitely not the best either. I also convinced my friend Morgan to get a bike too and we had the joy of riding our bikes home from the shop in the rain, but I was just glad to have my bike back. I also got two locks, so ain't nobody gon' be stealin' my bike no more. Monday night, since we didn't have class Tuesday, my friends and I decided to go out. We went to our other friends' housing, which is even nicer than the kollegium. Their floor is supposed to have 8 kids, but they only have 3 so they have a ton of space to themselves. It has not only Ikea furniture but also awesome Ikea light fixtures, their own living room and a huge kitchen that could totally be featured on like a Danish chef show or something, as well as big bathrooms and a nice courtyard. Oh, and its like 5 mins from school. So, basically I am really jealous. But we played some card games in their courtyard for a long time which was very fun then decided to meet some other friends from our study tour at a Scottish Pub, where I decided I actually like whiskey and I was able to take straight shots of it with no chaser, so basically I am a super cool human being. I know. After that pub closed (yes, we closed down the pub but it was a Monday night), we went back to the study tour friends' private apartment (they chose to rent independently of DIS) until 5 am where I ate an entire package of hummus. I also fell off my bike (not drunk biking, just very uncoordinated) and scraped my toe and bruised my ribs but it was pretty funny.
The next day (Tuesday), Rachel, Morgan and I all woke up early and spent the day at the beach. The weather here in Copenhagen has been abnormally hot this week (a whopping 80 degrees on Tuesday) so it has been wonderful outdoors weather. We spent the whole day at the beach, where I somehow got a sunburn on my back but not my front even though I laid on my back more than I did on my stomach, so apparently I need to let my back see the sun more often so that it doesn't betray me like this. I did learn how to play Euchre though, so I can finally say I am a true Hoosier. After the beach, we went down to the canal to watch the Germany vs Brazil game on the big screen. We got there an hour early and still couldn't get a seat because it was ridiculously packed. We ended up standing in the back of the crowd, where I couldn't see the screen at all (#shortpeopleproblems) so my friends were giving me some play by plays although they didn't have to say anything when the entire crowd start cheering literally at 30 second intervals when Germany decided to go and just score 5 goals right in a row because YOLO. After the 5th goal, we decided to peace out since none of us could really see and we knew Brazil was not going to have some kind of Cinderella story. When we got home, I finished up my presentation slides for today (Wednesday). We had to present our design concept and research on the harbor farm I talked about in a previous post in front of our class as well as the main architect for the structure, which was slightly nerve racking.
Today (Wednesday), I woke up for class and decided I would wear jeans and a cotton tee shirt because my weather app said it was a high of 70 for the day. I don't normally wear jeans unless its a little warm out, because wearing jeans when its too cold out is like my hell on Earth. Well, my weather app apparently has NO IDEA how to predict Copenhagen weather (I just need to start hugging trees like Pocahontas man told me) and I was sweating more than I would have if I had just ran a back to back marathon in the outback as I rode my bike to class, so that was fun. We did our presentations, which I think I did pretty well on (patting myself on the back). I usually don't get too nervous publicly speaking, but having the architect there made me shake really bad because not only is he slightly intimidating, he is also pretty attractive sooo ya know, at least I didn't start sweating profusely during my presentation or something. Although, that could just be because I probably lost every drip of sweat that I had on my bike ride to class. Class ran late today, so I didn't get home until 2, but as soon as I got home, Rachel, Morgan, and our friend Michelle (Morgan's roommate at University of Oregon) and I went to the canal where the big screen is but also where the harbor bath is. I don't know if I mentioned them in a previous post, but basically since the Copenhagen harbor is so clean, they love to do recreational activities in it now, including swimming. It sort of looks like a pool made out of wood but it has the ocean water in it and it has like 3 different pools as well as this big stair stepper ledge thing that you can jump off of (I don't know, just google it). My friend Morgan and I jumped off the highest ledge (5 meters/ 15 feet) not only once, but twice. It's pretty scary because you're in the air just a second too long, giving you a split second to regret your decision until you hit the water but its quite exhilarating. I like that being in a new country brings out my adventurous spirit even more!! Maybe I just won't come home ;)
After spending a few hours at the canal, we went back to our friends house who live in the really fancy place (their names are Nick and Tyler) and had a family dinner. It was absolutely the best meal I have eaten here besides the delicious meals from the study tour. Nick made parmesan chicken and pasta, and the rest of us made salad and French fries (they were my contribution--sort of random but delicious nonetheless). It was so cute, and so much fun. We set the table all cute out at a table in the courtyard and were passing the dishes around like a little family. After dinner, we ran to the grocery store and got an absurd amount of desserts, including Toblerone pie, candy, ice cream sandwiches and gelato. We came back home and ate this while we cleaned up and waited for the game to start. We watched the game (well I fell asleep for a little bit) and watched YouTube videos until the game ended. Sadly, for most of the game I was thinking Netherlands (that's who I was rooting for) was the blue team so I was basically cheering for the wrong team the whole time. After the game ended (so sad), Rachel, Morgan and I rode our bikes home and now here I am.
I am excited to start officially working on all the designs in these coming days, but am also very much enjoying my free time in Copenhagen. It looks like I'll get my summer tan after all if this weather keeps up! I am already dreading leaving this wonderful city and the great friends that I have made here, but am also looking forward to finally reuniting with Taco Bell. Oh, and my friends and family, I guess :)
Well, goodnight and thanks for reading this pretentiously long blog post.
--Bean
Last I wrote, I believe I was getting ready to go out on my first Saturday night back in Copenhagen, so I will start where I left off.
After I posted my last blog, I left to go out to dinner for the other Bri's birthday at Hard Rock Café (so clichely American, I know) but it was actually really delicious. My friend Rachel and I split a pulled pork sandwich (it is MUCH more expensive than any Hard Rock Café I have ever been to, so all the girls split meals there). The manager was also super awesome and gave Bri a free birthday shake while she was being serenaded by the waitress, and he gave our whole table (12 people) delicious FREE shots that tasted like candy.
After dinner, we headed back to some of the housing that's near the school and played some weird drinking game where you just count but all the numbers mean something and you have to remember and if you get to say number 21, then you make a new rule. When I was the lucky number 21, my rule was that you have to sing a Britney Spears lyric every time you say a certain number. The group definitely had some fun with that one. Eventually, we all headed our separate ways but most of us made our way to the meat packing district, which is apparently the hipster bar scene. We went to a small dive bar called Jolene's which is apparently really popular, but it was just cramped, sweaty, hot and they played music very comparable to tacky elevator music so we all left. We just wandered the streets looking for somewhere else to go until we stumbled upon a place called Billy Booze. It advertised cheap alcohol on the outside, so naturally it was extremely enticing to a bunch of broke college kids. The drinks were indeed cheap, and we ended up staying there until approximately 5 in the morning when the sun had already completely risen. It's basically like living in Alaska here, because the sun never really goes down but apparently it is darker than Justin Bieber's soul here in the winter.
After sleeping for a few hours, we woke up to spend an absolutely beautiful day at the beach. A large group of DIS kids all met there and I spent most of my day there until I decided to go back to one of the kollegiums (a kollegium is Danish university housing that serves all the universities in Copenhagen-- they're located all throughout the city) where some DIS people live and had a cookout. My two friends and I bought sausage and wrapped it in bacon with cheese and made sliced potatoes and some of the other kids made chicken and salmon (~* sO FaNcY *~). The kollegium housing was beautiful, with the same Ikea furniture that we have in the DIS housing, except their rooms are way bigger and they have a court yard and an awesome rooftop patio where the grill was with a beautiful view of the city. I wish my housing had an outdoor area so bad. After a few hours hanging out, I made my way home and fell asleep.
Monday, I woke up and came to class where we finished our presentations for today (Wednesday). After class, I finally got a new bike (so EXCITING) after my first one was stolen. I found out another girl in my hall had her bike stolen outside our building the same night I did. Apparently people drive around in vans and throw bikes with the types of locks we had in and use the frames, plus we don't live in the best part of Copenhagen. Although, I am pretty sure the bad parts of Copenhagen are nowhere near bad parts of American cities and we don't live in a totally crappy area, but definitely not the best either. I also convinced my friend Morgan to get a bike too and we had the joy of riding our bikes home from the shop in the rain, but I was just glad to have my bike back. I also got two locks, so ain't nobody gon' be stealin' my bike no more. Monday night, since we didn't have class Tuesday, my friends and I decided to go out. We went to our other friends' housing, which is even nicer than the kollegium. Their floor is supposed to have 8 kids, but they only have 3 so they have a ton of space to themselves. It has not only Ikea furniture but also awesome Ikea light fixtures, their own living room and a huge kitchen that could totally be featured on like a Danish chef show or something, as well as big bathrooms and a nice courtyard. Oh, and its like 5 mins from school. So, basically I am really jealous. But we played some card games in their courtyard for a long time which was very fun then decided to meet some other friends from our study tour at a Scottish Pub, where I decided I actually like whiskey and I was able to take straight shots of it with no chaser, so basically I am a super cool human being. I know. After that pub closed (yes, we closed down the pub but it was a Monday night), we went back to the study tour friends' private apartment (they chose to rent independently of DIS) until 5 am where I ate an entire package of hummus. I also fell off my bike (not drunk biking, just very uncoordinated) and scraped my toe and bruised my ribs but it was pretty funny.
The next day (Tuesday), Rachel, Morgan and I all woke up early and spent the day at the beach. The weather here in Copenhagen has been abnormally hot this week (a whopping 80 degrees on Tuesday) so it has been wonderful outdoors weather. We spent the whole day at the beach, where I somehow got a sunburn on my back but not my front even though I laid on my back more than I did on my stomach, so apparently I need to let my back see the sun more often so that it doesn't betray me like this. I did learn how to play Euchre though, so I can finally say I am a true Hoosier. After the beach, we went down to the canal to watch the Germany vs Brazil game on the big screen. We got there an hour early and still couldn't get a seat because it was ridiculously packed. We ended up standing in the back of the crowd, where I couldn't see the screen at all (#shortpeopleproblems) so my friends were giving me some play by plays although they didn't have to say anything when the entire crowd start cheering literally at 30 second intervals when Germany decided to go and just score 5 goals right in a row because YOLO. After the 5th goal, we decided to peace out since none of us could really see and we knew Brazil was not going to have some kind of Cinderella story. When we got home, I finished up my presentation slides for today (Wednesday). We had to present our design concept and research on the harbor farm I talked about in a previous post in front of our class as well as the main architect for the structure, which was slightly nerve racking.
Today (Wednesday), I woke up for class and decided I would wear jeans and a cotton tee shirt because my weather app said it was a high of 70 for the day. I don't normally wear jeans unless its a little warm out, because wearing jeans when its too cold out is like my hell on Earth. Well, my weather app apparently has NO IDEA how to predict Copenhagen weather (I just need to start hugging trees like Pocahontas man told me) and I was sweating more than I would have if I had just ran a back to back marathon in the outback as I rode my bike to class, so that was fun. We did our presentations, which I think I did pretty well on (patting myself on the back). I usually don't get too nervous publicly speaking, but having the architect there made me shake really bad because not only is he slightly intimidating, he is also pretty attractive sooo ya know, at least I didn't start sweating profusely during my presentation or something. Although, that could just be because I probably lost every drip of sweat that I had on my bike ride to class. Class ran late today, so I didn't get home until 2, but as soon as I got home, Rachel, Morgan, and our friend Michelle (Morgan's roommate at University of Oregon) and I went to the canal where the big screen is but also where the harbor bath is. I don't know if I mentioned them in a previous post, but basically since the Copenhagen harbor is so clean, they love to do recreational activities in it now, including swimming. It sort of looks like a pool made out of wood but it has the ocean water in it and it has like 3 different pools as well as this big stair stepper ledge thing that you can jump off of (I don't know, just google it). My friend Morgan and I jumped off the highest ledge (5 meters/ 15 feet) not only once, but twice. It's pretty scary because you're in the air just a second too long, giving you a split second to regret your decision until you hit the water but its quite exhilarating. I like that being in a new country brings out my adventurous spirit even more!! Maybe I just won't come home ;)
After spending a few hours at the canal, we went back to our friends house who live in the really fancy place (their names are Nick and Tyler) and had a family dinner. It was absolutely the best meal I have eaten here besides the delicious meals from the study tour. Nick made parmesan chicken and pasta, and the rest of us made salad and French fries (they were my contribution--sort of random but delicious nonetheless). It was so cute, and so much fun. We set the table all cute out at a table in the courtyard and were passing the dishes around like a little family. After dinner, we ran to the grocery store and got an absurd amount of desserts, including Toblerone pie, candy, ice cream sandwiches and gelato. We came back home and ate this while we cleaned up and waited for the game to start. We watched the game (well I fell asleep for a little bit) and watched YouTube videos until the game ended. Sadly, for most of the game I was thinking Netherlands (that's who I was rooting for) was the blue team so I was basically cheering for the wrong team the whole time. After the game ended (so sad), Rachel, Morgan and I rode our bikes home and now here I am.
I am excited to start officially working on all the designs in these coming days, but am also very much enjoying my free time in Copenhagen. It looks like I'll get my summer tan after all if this weather keeps up! I am already dreading leaving this wonderful city and the great friends that I have made here, but am also looking forward to finally reuniting with Taco Bell. Oh, and my friends and family, I guess :)
Well, goodnight and thanks for reading this pretentiously long blog post.
--Bean
Saturday, July 5, 2014
Hola! Boy, am I glad to be back in Copenhagen after this past week. This week was probably the longest week of my life. For most of it, I was like wow I have nothing to write in my blog about this, as it was all becoming a giant blur of museums, chapels and cemetaries but I do have a few select parts of this week in Sweden and Finland to share.
My study tour consisted of 22 students and 2 faculty members. Of the 22 students, the 10 graphic design students all stuck together and we were paired with an architecture class. Luckily, mostly all of my friends were on my tour so it was a pretty good group!
We started the week off on Saturday in Stockholm, Sweden which was an absolutely beautiful city, but other than that lacks any concrete memories. It was located on a much more interesting terrain than Copenhagen, with a lot of rocky cliffs and beautiful facades. We stayed in a hostel (so European of us) but it was not as I imagined at all. I imagined a bunch of beds pushed together in a little cement rom with a bunch of smelly teenagers, but we got our own rooms (with roommates from our tours) with little bunk beds that were not cement. The only thing different than a hotel was there was a community bathroom and no TV or any amenities at all really and we had to lock our closets and make our own beds. So I guess that's actually pretty different from a hotel.. yeah. Like I said, our time in Stockholm was basically just filled with museums and what not and lots of sketching and photo taking. We did find a little plastic turtle covered in glitter on the sidewalk, whom we named Gustav, who later became a model in some of our photos at an architecture museum.
We departed from Stockholm on Monday evening via a large ferry ship called the Viking Line. The ferry was an over night ride from Stockholm to Turku, Finland. While the ferry itself lacked in fabulousness, it did have a wonderful buffet with unlimited wine and beer (very cheap wine and beer) for a few hours, so that was nice.
The next few days were museum, chapel, cemetery and repeat for the most part. However, one museum that is worth mentioning is the Kiasma in Helsiniki, which I actually had the pleasure of researching before the trip for an on site presentation. It ended up being by far my favorite *museum* that we went to. It was a modern art museum, and usually modern art is pretty weird but this museum had some great exhibits. There was a ribbon sculpture that you could walk through (I posted pics on Facebook), which was fun and there was a video exhibit that I really loved. It was a text only video with one picture, talking about photographer Kevin Carter. Kevin Carter took a famous photo of a starving African baby girl hunched over with a vulture lurking behind her (its a pretty chilling photo). He sold the photo to Times and it became a famous photo with a lot of backlash and controversy surrounding it. Obviously, people wanted to know why he took photos instead of helping the girl. Kevin Carter ended up killing himself shortly after all of this, and nobody knows what ever became of that young girl. The photo is actually owned by a photo company that is owned by Bill Gates, which is also a chilling fact. I liked it so much (not sure if "liked" is actually the correct term for how I felt about it), I watched it twice.
On the same day as the Kiasma, we also went to this beautiful home called Hvittrask that was on a little lake and it was designed by 3 architects to share. That was my other favorite *educational* place besides the Kiasma that we visited on this tour. It made me excited to begin my double major in interior design next year.. that's for sure!
On that same day (this good day was Wednesday by the way), we also went to a Finnish sauna. Saunas are very popular in Finland. Almost everyone has a sauna in their home actually. Finland is also the land of the lakes (it actually reminds me a lot of Minnesota) with over 166,000 lakes so this sauna was also on a little private lake. We ate dinner at the sauna, which was delicious. I willingly ate mushrooms for the first time in mushroom soup and they were DELICIOUS. We also had reindeer meet on top of mashed potatoes with fresh berries. After dinner, the girls in the group got the first go at the sauna.
It's funny because as I grow up I can pick out more and more weird traits and likes/dislikes that I definitely got from my parents, and my time in Finland definitely showed me that I am my dad's daughter. I cannot stand being hot, so while most people were sitting in the sauna having a grand old time, I was trying to be a big girl and hang with everyone else while in my mind thinking "this is literally what its like to be burned alive". I took breaks much more frequently than anyone else, that's for sure. My favorite part was running straight from the sauna and jumping right into the ice cold lake.
After dinner, we went up and sat in this little cabin while the boys had their turn in the sauna. The owner of this little sauna place sat and talked to us for awhile and he officially became the COOLEST person I have EVER met. He is basically a modern day male version of Pocahontas. He told us he has had a deep connection with the forest ever since he was 8 (that was probably over 50 years ago), when his mom read him "Snow White". He said picture on the book of Snow White sitting around a fire with a bunch of animals made him want to find a place in the world where animals and humans could live in harmony, so he ran away into the woods. Ever since, he has been pursuing this harmony. When he saw that I had my pair of rain boots with me, he asked why, and I told him my weather app said it was supposed to rain that day even though it never did and he said that technology does not know and the best way to know the weather is to hug the trees. And he was dead serious. And his son who is probably only a few years older than me made all us girls cinnamon rolls which were also the best things I have ever had.
Thursday, we left from Helsinki to go to some weird little city in Finland called Jvylaska. It had like no people in it and all the signage was horribly designed, but other than that there isn't much to say about it.
For the 4th of July, we went to a few more places then boarded the cruise in Turku to go back to Stockholm. This cruise (technically a ferry) was much much more fancy, with an even more glorious buffet (I had 6 plates--my group was quite impressed) and an even wider drink selection of free drinks. It was fun--but I did miss America.
Today (Saturday), we arrived in Stockholm and basically spent the day on the bus coming back to Copenhagen from Stockholm. I did try raw salmon though, so this was definitely an adventurous food week for me!
I sure am glad to be back in Copenhagen though! On that note, its time to celebrate the weekend so skol (cheers in Danish)! See ya later, blogosphere :)
XO, Bri
My study tour consisted of 22 students and 2 faculty members. Of the 22 students, the 10 graphic design students all stuck together and we were paired with an architecture class. Luckily, mostly all of my friends were on my tour so it was a pretty good group!
We started the week off on Saturday in Stockholm, Sweden which was an absolutely beautiful city, but other than that lacks any concrete memories. It was located on a much more interesting terrain than Copenhagen, with a lot of rocky cliffs and beautiful facades. We stayed in a hostel (so European of us) but it was not as I imagined at all. I imagined a bunch of beds pushed together in a little cement rom with a bunch of smelly teenagers, but we got our own rooms (with roommates from our tours) with little bunk beds that were not cement. The only thing different than a hotel was there was a community bathroom and no TV or any amenities at all really and we had to lock our closets and make our own beds. So I guess that's actually pretty different from a hotel.. yeah. Like I said, our time in Stockholm was basically just filled with museums and what not and lots of sketching and photo taking. We did find a little plastic turtle covered in glitter on the sidewalk, whom we named Gustav, who later became a model in some of our photos at an architecture museum.
We departed from Stockholm on Monday evening via a large ferry ship called the Viking Line. The ferry was an over night ride from Stockholm to Turku, Finland. While the ferry itself lacked in fabulousness, it did have a wonderful buffet with unlimited wine and beer (very cheap wine and beer) for a few hours, so that was nice.
The next few days were museum, chapel, cemetery and repeat for the most part. However, one museum that is worth mentioning is the Kiasma in Helsiniki, which I actually had the pleasure of researching before the trip for an on site presentation. It ended up being by far my favorite *museum* that we went to. It was a modern art museum, and usually modern art is pretty weird but this museum had some great exhibits. There was a ribbon sculpture that you could walk through (I posted pics on Facebook), which was fun and there was a video exhibit that I really loved. It was a text only video with one picture, talking about photographer Kevin Carter. Kevin Carter took a famous photo of a starving African baby girl hunched over with a vulture lurking behind her (its a pretty chilling photo). He sold the photo to Times and it became a famous photo with a lot of backlash and controversy surrounding it. Obviously, people wanted to know why he took photos instead of helping the girl. Kevin Carter ended up killing himself shortly after all of this, and nobody knows what ever became of that young girl. The photo is actually owned by a photo company that is owned by Bill Gates, which is also a chilling fact. I liked it so much (not sure if "liked" is actually the correct term for how I felt about it), I watched it twice.
On the same day as the Kiasma, we also went to this beautiful home called Hvittrask that was on a little lake and it was designed by 3 architects to share. That was my other favorite *educational* place besides the Kiasma that we visited on this tour. It made me excited to begin my double major in interior design next year.. that's for sure!
On that same day (this good day was Wednesday by the way), we also went to a Finnish sauna. Saunas are very popular in Finland. Almost everyone has a sauna in their home actually. Finland is also the land of the lakes (it actually reminds me a lot of Minnesota) with over 166,000 lakes so this sauna was also on a little private lake. We ate dinner at the sauna, which was delicious. I willingly ate mushrooms for the first time in mushroom soup and they were DELICIOUS. We also had reindeer meet on top of mashed potatoes with fresh berries. After dinner, the girls in the group got the first go at the sauna.
It's funny because as I grow up I can pick out more and more weird traits and likes/dislikes that I definitely got from my parents, and my time in Finland definitely showed me that I am my dad's daughter. I cannot stand being hot, so while most people were sitting in the sauna having a grand old time, I was trying to be a big girl and hang with everyone else while in my mind thinking "this is literally what its like to be burned alive". I took breaks much more frequently than anyone else, that's for sure. My favorite part was running straight from the sauna and jumping right into the ice cold lake.
After dinner, we went up and sat in this little cabin while the boys had their turn in the sauna. The owner of this little sauna place sat and talked to us for awhile and he officially became the COOLEST person I have EVER met. He is basically a modern day male version of Pocahontas. He told us he has had a deep connection with the forest ever since he was 8 (that was probably over 50 years ago), when his mom read him "Snow White". He said picture on the book of Snow White sitting around a fire with a bunch of animals made him want to find a place in the world where animals and humans could live in harmony, so he ran away into the woods. Ever since, he has been pursuing this harmony. When he saw that I had my pair of rain boots with me, he asked why, and I told him my weather app said it was supposed to rain that day even though it never did and he said that technology does not know and the best way to know the weather is to hug the trees. And he was dead serious. And his son who is probably only a few years older than me made all us girls cinnamon rolls which were also the best things I have ever had.
Thursday, we left from Helsinki to go to some weird little city in Finland called Jvylaska. It had like no people in it and all the signage was horribly designed, but other than that there isn't much to say about it.
For the 4th of July, we went to a few more places then boarded the cruise in Turku to go back to Stockholm. This cruise (technically a ferry) was much much more fancy, with an even more glorious buffet (I had 6 plates--my group was quite impressed) and an even wider drink selection of free drinks. It was fun--but I did miss America.
Today (Saturday), we arrived in Stockholm and basically spent the day on the bus coming back to Copenhagen from Stockholm. I did try raw salmon though, so this was definitely an adventurous food week for me!
I sure am glad to be back in Copenhagen though! On that note, its time to celebrate the weekend so skol (cheers in Danish)! See ya later, blogosphere :)
XO, Bri
Friday, June 27, 2014
Hi readers!
This will be my last post until I return from Sweden and Finland next Sunday! I will talk about my last 3 days here and what my big assignment is while I am studying here (I know everyone is dying from the anticipation).
Well--I wrote on Tuesday night I believe, so shortly after I posted that blog, I went to the club for the first time with my friends. It is called the Kulor Bar, which I have now learned later on from my Danish friends and from a bulletin board (in an advice section, a student wrote "You can do better than Kulor Bar") in the DIS main office that Kulor Bar is seen as pretty trashy but on Tuesday nights they offer free unlimited beer from 10-1 with a 60 kroner cover fee (that equals about 10 American dollars) so naturally all of us college kids were amazed at this awesome deal (I don't even like beer so I just went for the experience). It was pretty much the equivalent of partying at a fraternity, except everyone there was wearing sailor caps. Instead of wearing the ugly square hats on our heads like we do in America, Danes wear sailor caps for their graduation week, so the bar was just a large sea of white sailor caps. However, at fraternities, because I live in Indiana, we play country music along with mixture of popular rap music, top 40 or old classics (like Hot in Here by Nelly... yes that is considered an old classic now) but at Kulor Bar, its pretty consistently a mix of hits from like 2010 which was sort of entertaining. But it was dark, sticky and sweaty which is pretty comparable to a majority of large fraternity parties. However, there were no roofies which a lot of my friends here from other schools seem to strongly associate with fraternities. I am glad I go to a school with good Greek life where I am not scared of getting drugged. Anyways.. I digress.
Wednesday, we were assigned our big project for the summer! We are doing design work for a new restaurant being built here in Copenhagen. It has yet to have a name, but the concept of the restaurant is pretty neat and a very new idea. To start from the beginning of where the idea of this restaurant came from, I guess I should explain the water situation in Copenhagen. So, Copenhagen is a canal city (the Danish translation is Kobenhavn--which means "merchants haven") and therefore obviously there are a lot of canals and big boats and shipping and what not. The water was pretty polluted from all of this and not very safe to swim in, up until a few years ago (somewhere between 5-10 years) when the city of Copenhagen decided they were going to clean up all their water and become a green city. I am pretty sure they were named the world's Greenest City of 2014 or something along those lines, actually. So, now the water is all cleaned up and they now have these things called baths here in the harbor which are basically enclosed areas in the harbor sort of like swimming pools but with ocean water in them and things to jump off of and stuff. I have not been to one yet but I am hoping to make my way to one soon after the study tour if Copenhagen weather ever stops hating me. So, long story short--the water here is pretty clean although you still can't swim within like 24 hours of a large rain because the rain stirs up the pollution that still sits on the bottom of the canal. SO--here is the restaurant idea. I don't remember the nitty gritty details but basically these two guys were eating oysters or something fresh out of the harbor as some sort of publicity stunt on Copenhagen's clean water (something along those lines) and this inspired an architecture firm called Effekt to turn this concept of eating fresh out of the harbor into a restaurant.
Effekt is a urban planning, environmentally aware architecture firm in Copenhagen but they do work all over the world. They have done some pretty cool projects which they showed us all in their presentation leading up to their concept for the restaurant. Basically, they want this restaurant that sits on the water (they call it a pontoon) that has a big dock with removable square lids all over the dock in which they can lift up and retrieve the oysters that they want to farm below the dock. They have these stackable bins that are about 60x60cm that they will farm the oysters in which take about 2-3 years to grow and I think each bin contains about 100 oysters. They'll obviously have a lot of oysters from this and they have already made deals with restaurant around the city of Copenhagen to share their oysters with them (including Noma- the world's number one restaurant for about 10 years running--its about 200 bucks a plate). They want to be able to take the oysters from these bins and minimize their time from the water to your dinner plate... which is a pretty new concept. On this dock, they also want to have a small pool for educational viewing to watch how the oysters are farmed as well as space for a small farmers market where others can bring their local produce. They also mentioned something about catching fish and what not under this dock too but I am not quite sure. The concept for this restaurant has been heard of in coastal cities around the world, with many of them asking if they could be the lucky city to pilot the idea. I know two of the cities were New York City and Sydney. More information about the logistics of it can be found here (http://www.effekt.dk/#/oyster/). Anyways, our big project for the summer is to come up with a logo, name, poster, menu design, advertisement, brochure AND web design (no coding...thank the Lord). I am not sure if they will actually be using our stuff since they're still a few years out from the finished product (that'd be pretty cool if they did though). I am very excited as I thrive on having a lot to do and we will begin as soon as we get back from Sweden.
After we were assigned the project, we visited that Effekt studio where they gave us a presentation and it was definitely very interesting. Being from a small town, I have never put much thought into urban planning and all the cool things you can do with it. The city of Copenhagen prioritizes making their city a city for the people and not a city for cars, which is definitely not a concept you see a lot in America. A lot of urban planning firms get a lot of government funding to create really cool public spaces that allow people to interact and live, as well as projects that are helpful to the environment. While I don't necessarily think Copenhagen is the mot beautiful city, it is definitely one of the smartest and most creative from anything I have ever seen.
After the presentation at Effekt, we went to go visit the site where they plan on putting the restaurant where it of course started randomly pouring rain on us while the sun was still shining bright (never again will I ever complain about Indiana weather being sporadic...it has nothing on the weather here). The rest of the day while I was in class was beautiful, so I decided to go to the beach after class. However, as soon as I got to the beach, the sun hid away in the clouds and the temperature dropped about 5 degrees and got very windy. It's pretty much been like that everyday. Sunny and beautiful while I am in class, then chilly and gray as soon as I am done for the day.
Last night (Thursday), I went to Frederik's graduation party. I took my friends Rachel and Morgan and we rode the train out to his house. It was very fun and the party was beautiful. It was much fancier than American graduation parties, however. While we are used to pulled pork, snack foods and cakes, they had multiple courses of very delicious food such as steak, shrimp, potatoes, and vegetables. It was very nice to eat a nice meal that wasn't peanut butter and jelly, since that's basically all I eat here.
Frederik's friends were quite impressed with Morgan and Rachel's beer pong skills (they think that's all we do in American colleges), but my "celeb shots" were less than stellar. I did learn though, that the first things that often come to mind for Dane kids meeting American kids are kegs, selfies and Justin Bieber. When my friend Morgan said she didn't like soccer, one of Frederik's friends said "Oh so you are not a sports girl...you are more like a Miley Cyrus", which I found very entertaining. We were also asked a few times throughout the night how often we do kegs (never), if we took a lot of selfies (nope) and if we were beliebers (We are 20-22, not 12). Seeing the perception of Americans from the outside is definitely interesting, and quite funny. Actually, since they do Nutella instead of peanut butter here (oh yeah, apparently a lot of Danes find the concept of PB&J absolutely repulsive), the most common jar of peanut butter is plastered with little cartoon pictures including the Golden Gate bridge, a football player, a pink convertible (LOL), the Chrysler building and the Capitol building. That's America for ya, folks.
On that note, it is time for me to begin packing for Sweden & Finland which I will write about when I get back. Until then, I hope you all have a great week celebrating Independence Day in the land of the pink convertibles, selfies and kegs.
XOXO,
Not Gossip Girl (Bean)
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