Study Trip - Day 2

Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012

After a great breakfast we depart Aalborg for Gug Kirke, which is a church designed strictly as a Lutheran church without catholic influence.  It is a fine example of beton brute or raw brutal concrete. (Little known fact about me, my great-grandfather was a Lutheran minister). All the concrete would seem really cold, but the lighting made it wonderful and peaceful.

Exterior of Gug Kirke

With the lights off.

With lights on.

Pulpit.

The metal pipes coming from the wall are the heating ducts. The angel is from the U.N.

We do journal line-ups every few days. Everyone throws their journal down and we check out each others' art work. This is one of my favorite things to do. It is very inspiring to see what people are up to, and how they see our shared experience.

This is the Utzon Center (he deisgned the Sydney Opera House). I have to say, this building was so ugly from the outside, but inside was a whole different story. The Center is used by architecture students as it has a wonderful library; by model builders as it has a fantastic workshop; and it also houses a collection of Utzon's design boards. You will see mine in a later blog post.

View from the Utzon Center.

Yep. That's a sail boat in the building. Utzon's dad was a ship builder, so the building has many of the same lines you would see on a ship.

As our group was leaving the auditorium, families were showing up with violin cases. I was downstairs when I heard the music. I went up to check it out and got to watch some of their recital. Talk about adorable. Tiny kids with tiny violins! Might as well have been a pile of puppies.

The photo above is a from Aarhus Råhus (City Hall) in Aarhus.I somehow only managed to get a few photos of this place. Oh yeah, I remember why: because I had climb another 15 stories worth of stairs to reach the top of the bell tower. ¤%&/!
The building was designed by Arne Jabosen, Erik Møllen, with orginal furntiure designed by Hans Jørgen Wegner. Most people in my group thought it seemed like a jail. I couldn't get enough of the place. I loved it. Minus the stairs, I loved it.

The lighting in this country rocks. Hands down, these people know how to do lighting. Oh yeah, that's right. Because it is SO dark here.

Hallway.

Self-portrait. Yep. I'm cold. Luckily, I had just climbed 15 stories so my heart was pumping.

FOR REAL! The ARoS Museum. The rainbow panorama was designed by Olafur Eliasson.

Notice my giant new scarf. I can't see my feet when I wear it.

That statue was asking for it.
The blog has stopped me from adding more photos, so I guess we are done with day two.

Feb 17-22

Well I have certainly been a busy bee. My Urban Design class started the individual portion of our assignments. This meant I needed to learn Photoshop, Illustrator, and Indesign, in about 72 hours. So I did. Not much sleep was involved in the whole thing. I have included some pictures of the model and the presentation board. We then presented them to a group of students and professionals in the urban planning field. This was a stressful experience, although I got some good feedback on things I needed to work on, as well as things I did well.

Look what I made!

Not my prettiest model to date, but it got the point across.

Poor Sarah. She had been up for close to 36 hours working on her project. I, on the other hand...not that dedicated.

There is a bakery across the street. Some students went over when they were throwing out the old Danishes and bread. I have to admit that I really wish I could eat it too.

Susie is my bus mate, sits across from me in the studio, and is my hostel mate. I heart her.

So, that is what I have been up to for the last week. I have had the opportunity to make a few observations and realizations during this sleep-deprived week. One, this city is not clean. Especially not on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning. People drink a lot. Therefore, the streets have a good deal of vomit, urine, and cigarette butts lying around. I know this is gross but it must be talked about because it is, unfortunately, a lot of what I experience. I don't think it is this way all over Copenhagen. I think it is mainly in the old downtown section. That just also happens to be where school is. Oh yeah, then there is the dog poo. Really, there is so much of it that I am primed to do a photo montage. Nobody will want to see it, but I will make it none the less.

This leads me to my realization: cleanliness has nothing to do with happiness. These people are great. They are friendly as can be. They are well educated and speak multiple languages. And yet  . . . see previous paragraph.

On the positive side, I have lost 8 pounds, still adore my roommate Greta, am really happy with my professors, love getting to explore new parts of the city, and I meet wonderful people every day.

Sure do miss Tom, Betty, and Portland.

Study Trip - Day one

How quickly one can fall behind! I am going to start with the 10th of Feburary. DIS takes us on a couple of these study tours. About 40 of us load into a nice bus and hit the road. This one was around Denmark. The next one will be a week long instead of just the three days. We are busy from 8:30am - 8:30pm, but it is all very fun. It is also nice because I don't have to drive!

Starting with Feb10. I arrive at Frue Plads (one of the many large churches near school) at 7:30 am. We depart CPH and head for the Trapholt Museum located in Kolding Denmark.

On our way.

Cool building on the way.

Interior of the Trapholt. The lamp fixtures are everywhere in Denmark. I like them very much.

View from the Trapholt diner.

Sure do like things in abundance.

Speaking of abundance! This one is for you Karen.

New favorite painter (besides Tom) is Michael Kvium.

Last one of the Trapholt (I could go on about this place). Very cool.

We left the Trapholt and headed for Lystrup to check out a sustainable housing development. Cool but pretty out-of-date at this point. So off to Aalborg we went. Here we stopped at Nordkraft. This was an old coal-fired electricity plant. They renovated the place and it is now a Kulture Center; an amazing collaboration between businesses really. They have done a good job of creating a sustainable business. Maybe not so much on the green building side, more in the creation a network of businesses that compliment each other, but at the same time, if one closed down, the place wouldn't be empty.

 





Gymnasium in Nordkraft. The climbing wall is four stories. I would just like to mention this was the beginning of a stair-climbing nightmare. This building is 13 stories. That is Danish stories, which means that where our first floor is one, theirs is zero. We had the honor of climbing to the top. Yep. All the way to the top. This would be the first of several buildings that this would happen in. I muttered just about every foul word I knew.

HA! I love this country.

Roof top of Nordkraft. Just as cold as you would imagine it being. Nice view though. The orange beams hold up this incredibly large box of offices on the interior.

This is for you Amanda Branson! Remember when we went to see David Letterman 16 years ago? The band that night was Take That. We had never heard of them. The were AWFUL! We didn't even clap when they were done. Turns out they are a Danish boy-band. I'll be damned. The company that ran the club at Nordkraft had their picture on the wall because they played there. The guy showing us around said "so you guys must know who this is." We all stood in silence. Crickets. Then he said, "its Take That! They are Danish!" I laughed out loud and then had to have my picture taken with the photo of them. If people at school questioned my age before . . . it was clear then.

There is a surprising amount of sculpture in Denmark, of this exact thing.

We do like our creamy dressings.

My first hostel! It was super nice, even if it was a four km walk to the bar. Each way.

FEB 2 and 4

FEB 2

Let me start off by saying how very cold it is. 19 degrees with a 14 mph wind. Of course that wind is coming straight out of the Arctic Circle. Smart wool is not enough. A wool sweater? Not enough. It is two shirts, a yak sweater (because sheep have nothing on the yak), a jacket, two pairs of pants, and thick socks kind of cold. My tender Portland bones have a hard time keeping my marrow warm. I actually kept pace with the Danes walking down the street. I was ready to break into a steady jog just to keep warm.  When I got home, my family offered me a spot by the fire and a glass of red wine. Have I mentioned how much I love these people?

I am settling into a routine on week two. I have class three days a week. The other two days will need to be spent in downtown (the medieval section) doing homework. My history class is going to be rather intensive. We have to visit 15 historical sites to take pictures of and write about. That is assignment one. He said we "will know more about Copenhagen than the average Dane". That is what I am paying for. 

My studio class is interesting. We are walking through the steps of redesigning Axeltorv. It is a square just outside of Tivoli. We have done our site research and are now brainstorming ideas for the space. My teacher is very talented and gives excellent feedback (an ability that is surprisingly hard to find).

 Circus building on Axeltorv.

Southern view of Tivoli.

 A trip to the supermarket. The fish section is pretty great.

HA!
Red fish, blue fish.
Jar fish, tube fish.

FEB 4

I finally found the Goodwill equivalent! I didn't buy anything but it was refreshing to look at clothes I could afford. This is in contrast to Copenhagen Fashion Week which has brought many unique fashions to the streets. And oh, the eye makeup! I tried many times to get pictures, but until someone gets me a spy cam, there will be none. I will soon be learning Photoshop and InDesign in my studio class. This will make it much easier to blur the faces of those I can catch with my spy cam (that someone should get me for my birthday or significant gift giving holiday). 

Greta and I are both a bit under the weather this morning. Little Asta started a new day care and so we are bombarded with new germs. We both tried to get some extra sleep last night, going to bed at 10pm. We have been staying up till 12 or so working on homework. Her architecture program is far more intense than my urban planning. It is similar to what I remember going through at PCC. Lots of late nights working on models and plans. I think it will be the history course that really gets me. I kind of wish I had signed up for Danish language classes instead. Evidently they teach lots of practical phrases like: 'Do you speak english?','My Danish is limited', 'Where is the restroom?', and 'May I have a cafe latte?'

I think in the coming weeks Greta and I may venture out for a glass of wine and snack. We both come home right after school, as home is such a pleasant place. It is warm and inviting. Last night at dinner we were all having a good laugh, at my expense of course, about the name Tarzan (the cat). I asked Jesper soon after arriving what the cat's name was. When he replied 'Tarzan', I repeated it back slowly as if the word was Danish for I- don't-know-what. He repeated again only using a strong A sound to which I replied, "Oh, Tarzan. As in the guy who hangs out with Jane". He laughed and said yes. So now every time I ask him to repeat something he responds with an American accent and an Americanized A sound.  

Today is Asta's birthday party so the house will be filled with rowdy Danes, who will mostly be speaking Danish. As they should. Greta and I will in turn be attempting to understand as much as possible. A quick nap, some cold medicine and we are good to go.  

I really like the owls on either side of the door. I found this while wondering into a courtyard. I believe it is part of the University of Cophenhagen.

Ripley's Believe it or not! It is somewhere around 20 dollars to go in. For that kind of money, the poster will have to suffice.

I went shopping with Nina, Sophia and a friend of theirs. She too has big feet. She said she knew a great place to buy shoes for people with big feet like ours. We walked up and I fell over in laughter. Really. Gaint Shoes. Like I need to be reminded. Clearly marketing is different in Denmark.

Tarzan snuck into bed while I was getting ready. I pulled back the covers because I heard his purring. Kitty!

Beer and Bikes. I wish this had come a out a wee bit better. Just up the street is a stack of 30 or so bikes. Lots of beer. Lots of bikes.

I almost forgot; per Karen's request - This is the view of the outside of the Round Tower.