Holy Scandinavia!!!

Last Week in CPH

2009-08-15T00:04:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, Laura was still here but I had to work on my final presentation a little bit and then had plans to go to Virum, a suburb farther away from the inner city than Hvidovre. My friend Nathalie, who lives in Copenhagen, lives there with her family and she had invited me over for dinner. The dinner was lovely and was made cholesterol free for me (YAY!!!) and Nathalie showed me around her neighborhood. There are some beautiful trails and lakes near her house and is the perfect distance from the inner city with the amazing view of the country. We talked about her trip to Israel and her future plans for making Aliya (moving to Israel) as well as finding more mutual friends in common (not hard with Scandinavian Jews). Finally it was time for me to leave and meet up with Laura. I called her and she didn't answer her phone. I called her again...no answer. I began to get super worried when I arrived at central station 45 minutes later and still had no response to my calls. The biggest problem (not that losing Laura was a small problem) was that Laura had my key. I began to panic so I biked back to Hvidovre hoping that something happened to her phone, she realized and then came back to Hvidovre and was waiting for me. As I biked I received a call and stopped my bike to check my phone. I love getting calls from Sid but I was so angry and worried and was just so upset that it wasn't Laura, that I ignored the call and continued biking. As I parked my bike, a guy came in my direction with the key to open the Kollegium. I was thrilled and hopped right into the building. Then I realized he was going in my hall, so I took that opportunity as well. As I walked down my hall I prayed that Laura was in there and the door was open and guess what? IT WAS! Laura's first words were "Did you get Sid's call?" and thats when I realized she was speaking to him online and he has called to let me know Laura was in my room. If only I wasn't so dramatic I would have been calm, but instead it made a great story. Laura apparently fell in love with the book I lent her to read that day ("The Red Tent" by Anita Diamond...sooo good!) that she spent the day reading a chapter, walking to find a new spot, read another chapter, walking and finding a new spot...until she realized her phone had died.

The next morning Laura packed her things and we headed to DIS for me to deal with my finishing touches to my project and for her to finish reading the book. When all that was done, we went out to eat an Indian meal and then I brought Laura to central station. We found her train to Utrecht and then I left. As I was walking back to DIS to meet up with Natalie and Sarah, Laura called me in a panic and said that as she was getting on the train she fell and scraped both of her legs and was bleeding everywhere. She was in such a state of shock (and so was I) that she didn't know what to do. I told her to find someone who worked on the train and ask for a first aid kit and then she told me she was ok and hung up. And thats how Laura left Copenhagen. A few hours later she sent me an SMS saying she was fine, the conductor helped her clean her wounds and he checks up on her every hour. And that was her 15 hour train ride to the Netherlands.

Tuesday was our final presentations and they were pretty easy. Honestly, we just needed to make sure we had all our prints together in a book form, then have a process book and our final print. Some people went above and beyond to make their books really beautiful...I chose the simple route since I had Laura to entertain. Still, out presentations lasted till 2pm and then we were free! ACTUALLY FREE!

Sarah, Natalie and I decided it was time to celebrate with a beer, so we went down to the old harbor and sat at a cafe and sipped on our Carlsbergs as we enjoyed not having to deal with ANYTHING!

Wednesday was our opening exhibition, so we had to get to the Royal Architecture School at 9am. I biked to St.Peter's bakery to meet up with Natalie and Katie but Katie over slept, so Natalie and I biked through Christiania over to the school. We biked into Brittany on our way and spent the morning setting up our portion of the exhibition. After that, I biked back to Hvidovre, napped, showered and got all dolled up for the exhibition opening. I met Katie and Ari at the bus stop and we picked up Natalie (in her Marimekko dress!) on the way. We finally arrived at the exhibition and it was BEAUTIFUL! To be honest, I think our colorful prints made everything even more amazing because we added a PUNCH of color!

Everyone's furniture pieces looked amazing, I wasn't so impressed with the architecture and of course textiles were fantastic. They had beer and wine, so obviously I indulged myself and met a guy named Taylor who goes to school at University of Michigan Art & Design... who knew? To be honest I have been meaning to meet him all summer but have only been able to do so that night. He is a senior and seems cool. Nice to have met him and maybe I will see him on campus. Anyways, everyone seemed really impressed with our textiles and we tried out all the cool chairs around the room. It was really fun! Natalie was able to be an amazing chair model in her Marimekko outfit. After the show they served us dinner and most of the textiles ladies sat as a family for dinner. It was adorable, delicious and hilarious! Emma won an award for being everyone's best friend and for the moose/reindeer dance she created and we spent the rest of the night drinking and laughing as a group with our professors. Later that night we headed to Temple Bar but Natalie, Sarah and I decided to leave early because we had a HUGE day planned of tourist things.

The next day I woke up and got to Natalie's apartment at 10am. The plan was to see Fredriksborg, a neighborhood that has a feel of the Upper East Side of NYC but in Copenhagen, on our bikes. So the first stop was to the Royal Copenhagen factory. Royal Copenhagen is a porcelain manufacturer that has been producing beautiful and expensive dinnerware for years. They have also been working with Georg Jensen as well. The only issue is that they don't give tours of the factory anymore, so we went to the outlet store (still crazy expensive) and looked at all the designs and patterns.

After that we left for the Fredriksborg park where we walked our bikes around and saw a small castle and a famous soccer player (no idea who he is or his name) jogging. After that we walked down Fredriksborg Alle where we stopped for a lunch sandwich. Next, we biked to the Carlsberg Brewery for a tour. I know I have already been there but last time I rushed through the exhibit so Laura and I could get to last call. This time I took my sweet time and read the entire exhibit and learned how beer is made and the history or Carl Jensen as well. After 2 beers each, we biked back to DIS, returned our keys and headed to the crafts fair. It was really beautiful and equally as expensive. Then we biked to Porn Sak and ate a delicious Thai meal before I biked back to Hvidovre. In all I biked around 20 miles Thursday!

Friday was a sad day. I biked to the Royal Architecture School to pick up my work and then realized it was only 10am. I was returning my bike that day so I decided to make the best of it and biked all the way back to Hvidovre. Thats 14 miles in 2 hours! Anyways, after I dropped my stuff off and took a 30 minute nap, I biked back to the inner city to return my bike. I passed through all my favorite spots in the city and then finally made it up to the Danish Design School and returned my bike across the street. As I handed the man my bike key a rush of depression hit me. I was really leaving but in pieces. Little my little my Copenhagen life was coming to an end and it all started with returning my beautiful, kinda crappy, oily and trusty yellow bicycle. I had grown attached to the biking lifestyle and had to give it up 3 days before I actually left. I left the store and headed to the train. I was so sad but I had things to do, one of which was to go to the Danish Jewish Museum.The interior/architecture of the museum was designed by Daniel Libeskind and is really cool but the museum itself focuses a lot on Jewish artifacts and what they mean, which I think is great for non-Jews but kinda sucks for those of us who think of that as obvious. The little part about Jewish life in Denmark and especially the situation during WWII was fascinating and I really enjoyed learning about that. After the museum, I was on a mission to find a music store so I can buy CDs of Danish/Scandinavian folk music for presents. It was a lot harder than I thought. Finally I found 2 CDs and headed back to Hvidovre by bus to start packing. Later that night Natalie called and the three of us went out for pizza and then to Mice, our favorite bar. It was a great night and then we left to continue packing and getting ready for the next/last day of tourist adventures.

Yesterday the three of us met up and went to Amalienborg Slot museum where we saw a bunch of the Queen's Jewelry and the Royal dishware and other stuff. After that we went to the Statens Museum where we looked at a bajillion paintings and even got to dance in a children's exhibit. It was super fun. After that I walked with Natalie to Nørreport station and I saw an orthodox Jewish man and said "Gut Shabbos" to him and we got into a little chat about what I am doing here. It was nice to interact with another member of the tribe while I was here. I went with Sarah and Natalie to return their bikes and then we headed up to Hillrød (which is in Northeast Zealand) to go to Fredriksborg Slot. We were able to see all the rooms in the Castle and a modern art exhibit upstairs and then the gardens which were a little too perfect for my liking. When we finally made our way back down to Copenhagen we each went back to our places to continue packing and then met up again for drinks at Mice. Katie and Ari had gone to London for the weekend and Katie met up with us at mice. Sarah and Katie had flights in the morning and we drank to them! It was so nice and sad at the same time but we all had a great time.

A week of Laura

2009-08-09T02:03:00.000-07:00

The day my mother left (monday) was the same day Laura arrived. Laura, for those of you who don't know, is a friend/soon to be housemate from school. She has spent the summer traveling through Europe and I am her last stop before she goes to the Netherlands to spend the semester in Denhag. Anyways, earlier that day I was glued to the computer to finish up any last minute problems with my files for my digital print. We are required to print a few sample color ways and one large scale print in one color way. At 5pm on the dot I got a call from Laura and quickly headed to central station to meet her. It was so weird seeing someone from school in Copenhagen with me. She seemed exhausted! So we went back to my kollegium, made some pasta and sauce, opened up the bottle of red wine she had gotten me for my birthday, drank a glass and fell asleep. The next morning we woke up together and she came to class with me. I finished working on my digital files and then the two of us headed up to the Danish Design school to print out my project! It was so exciting, seeing my masterpiece come to life. First it was printed, then it had to dry, then steamed, washed, boiled, spun and lastly ironed!!! It took around 4 hours but we had many a fruit breaks to keep us sane. It was finally done!!! Since we were already in the northern part of Copenhagen, we went to see the little mermaid because when in Copenhagen, it is a sin not to. The tourists there are so funny. Anyways, we headed back to the Kolligium, made a delicious pasta and vegetable dish, ate it, watched some weird British version of CSI and fell asleep.

The next morning I decided not to go to class because I was finished and it was just going to be printing madness for the other half of the class, so Laura and I went on an expedition to Louisiana. "What? Louisiana?!" you might be thinking. Yes, there is an amazing modern museum called the Louisiana in Hummelbaek, which is a 35 minute train ride north of Copenhagen. It houses some of the most amazing sculptures in their garden and they have a whole exhibit on future green architecture. It was pretty fantastic. After the museum, Laura and I headed back to Copenhagen and I showed her around Christiania. She loved all the houses and it's history so we decided to get lost there and found a group of hippies, jamming by a river. So we sat and listened to them play for an hour or so, then we headed back to the city center and headed back to Hvidovre ate a massive dinner and fell asleep.

Thursday morning, I woke up and Laura slept in. I biked to class and Helle Vibke was there explaining our portfolio process to us and I scanned my work in ALL DAY! Brittany's friend was going to be a model in a free fashion show that night so Laura and I tried to work into our schedule. After class, I met up with Laura and we headed back to Hvidovre to shower, change and get ready to go to the Carlsberg brewery.

We finally got there and took our self guided tour which includes the largest unopened bottle collection, creepy wooden statues that show the process of making beer and at the end we got 2 free beers (one Carlsberg or Tuborg and one specialty beer). The place closed at 7:30pm and the guy at the front desk told us last call was at 7:30pm...we got there at 7pm and thats when Last Call was called. So we had 30 minutes to finish 2 delicious beers and we basically had empty stomachs. What a great idea! After the brewery we drunkenly walked over to this fashion show but quickly realized we needed food in our system. Across the street from the show there was the street of four Thai places including Porn-Sak...thats right, we ate at a place called Porn-Sak, which is conveniently quite close to the red light district. It was surprisingly very cheap and delicious! After dinner we headed to the fashion show but obviously missed the show. We met up with the majority of the "Textile Ten" (that what we call ourselves), enjoyed a bit of the after party and then decided to go to a bar. We went to the Wall Street Pub closed to Norreport station (which is not close AT ALL!) I got a beer and ended up leaving around 11:30pm. It was really great to hang out with the rest of the group in a bar setting. Emma was saying the funniest things, less because of the alcohol and more because of her comfort level with us. It was great!

Friday, Laura slept in again and I headed to DIS and we were all groggy but that was ok because we went to another fashion show. This one was from the design school in Kolding and the 6 graduates from the fashion program had their graduation show. It was very good. Some of the clothing was HILARIOUS and some were plain odd but it was way better than the photos we saw of the fashion show the night before by Design Crackers (no link cause they are so strange and have no site).

After the show I spent the day making the books for my portfolio and then Natalie, Sarah and I met up with Laura at Riz Raz and ate a delicious vegetarian buffet dinner before going to Tivoli. There is a deal at Tivoli which it to get a cheaper ticket you need to buy it before 8pm and it gets more expensive after 8pm. Friday night was insane because AQUA was playing at Tivoli. Thats right, you read correctly, AQUA from the 90's, the Barbie Girl song group, was playing at Tivoli and that was amazing! The lines were CRAZY! A woman ended up handing out tickets for those of us who were on line before 8pm but couldn't pay to let the ticket man sell us the cheaper price. Tivoli is beautiful... It is actually a magical place. Rumor has it Walt Disney came here to get inspiration for Disney World/Land and in my opinion, he didn't do a great job. The most amazing part of Tivoli is the lighting. They have beautiful lights in amazing designs. I took a bunch of pictures that are on my facebook if you want to look at them. We headed in and split up into 2, Natalie and I went on the less terrifying rides and Laura went with Sarah and did the crazy rides. It was perfect! But we did one ride together.

The Flying Star, a "swings" type of ride that goes so high that you can see all of Copenhagen, and whats better is that it was just turning dark so everything was lit up. It was beautiful! Natalie and I rode a few roller coasters, a kiddy pirate ship ride, the carousel, a scary ride called the "Monsoon" AND got to catch the last bit of the AQUA show! The place was packed to capacity and it felt it. As soon as the concert ended, Natalie and I got a sorbet in a cone and walked to meet Sarah and Laura, headed for the bus and we all passed out in our own homes.

Since Laura has been sleeping in I decided I deserves some sleep time as well. I slept in Saturday morning in true Shabbos fashion, then did my laundry, cleaned my room (around Laura) and then went jogging for the first time in a week. I started jogging in the beginning of the summer and have been really good about jogging almost twice a week. Here its harder when I have people staying with me, but I didn't care, I jogged for 30 minutes and came back sweating my life out, showering and then Laura and I made some food and watched awful TV (it was our lazy day). Last night was a whole other story. It was Emma's birthday and she wanted her party to be on an old German boat that was transformed into a bar/club. Laura, Katie, Chris and I left Hvidovre, met up with Natalie and Sarah and headed to a park with some beers and cider from a kiosk and pregammed in the park. It was beautiful outside. We finally headed to the boat and the rest of the night was filled with laughing and a bit of drinking. The band downstairs wasn't bad either...Junior Boys, from Canada...who knew? Anyways, I am now awake on a Sunday morning and need to head to DIS and finish up some last minute stuff!

My print!

2009-08-07T07:57:00.000-07:00

So I know I haven't written in around a week, but I am making an emergency post from the DIS building! I have finished my print and with the help of adobe photoshop, I can put it into context!!!

Wouldn't you want this in your living room?

Wall paper in the bathroom seems very nice don't you think?

A nice curtain perhaps?

Oh Mother!

2009-08-02T14:38:00.000-07:00

This week has been a really tough one. I feel like my mom decided to visit at the busiest part of the program. Everyday we had to stay after class at print more and more samples and every day I felt guilty not meeting up with her as soon as class ended. Thursday the 30th, we spent the entire morning working on our digital print designs. Malena and Gundhil didn't mention how far behind we were until the very last minute when we were all freaking out because Friday they were not going to be in class because we were working with Helle Vibke on our portfolios. Suddenly everyone got into "stress work" mode and of course, they scheduled a field trip for the afternoon. We went by metro to Tietgens Kollegiet, a Kollegium (like the one I am living in) where students studying for their masters degrees may live in and the design is beautiful. It was built in 2005 but people have been living there for 2 1/2 years now. It was donated by Nordea Bank and I already forgot the name of the architect but it was designed so that nobody would feel like they were on "the better or the crappy side of the building" and the concept of community is what the kollegium's message is all about. The building is round so that everyone is equal, private rooms face the outside of the circle and communal areas face inside. There are 2 reasons why we came. The textile designers designed the pattern on the wood paneling that goes around and fades as you go up the floors. They also designed the curtains, which are very bright and striped. It is illegal to take down the curtains, let alone put new ones up, because it shows a unity for people who look inside.

Some students really hate this because they feel stifled by not expressing themselves through their decor but I think they should get over it...ITS A DORM NOT YOUR HOUSE OR APARTMENT FOR LIFE!!!...gosh...besides they have a woodshop, movie room with a projector, architecture studio, sewing studio and study rooms among other facilities, with almost no extra charge available to them. After the field trip, we headed back, I worked and my mom met with us for dinner. "Us" refers to both Katies, Emma, Tiffany, Natalie, Sarah and I. We all were working so hard on our projects that I even had to cut the plans I made with my mom and just met up with her for dinner. No worries, because we all had a great time at this pricey Italian place. We laughed and joked about all sorts of things, from how our teachers react to us, to Katie's Croatian uncle who says baggy dog instead of doggy bag. In the end I headed back to Hvidovre and went to bed.

My mom wanted to go to the Great Synagogue for Friday night services, so I dressed up that morning. It was weird wearing a skirt and the wind did not help. I totally had at least 2 Marilyn Monroe moments. Helle Vibke was there and we each had a turn to present our work for the class in preparation for our final presentation. She explained that we all need a portfolio by the end of this program and that we are putting on an exhibition, so we needed to think about how we want to present it. After class I stayed and worked until 5:20pm when my mom and I headed over to the Great Synagogue. Funny thing about Europe, they go by military time, so services that start at 7:30pm were misread my someone as 17:30pm otherwise known as 5:30pm. We already made dinner plans for 7pm so we headed back to the studio and I worked until we went out to dinner with Hari and Rujia (my mothers travel buddies and friend from Poland).

Yesterday (Saturday), I woke up early and jogged for 30 minutes, showered and went to the DIS computer lab to work on my digital prints. All I have to say is that I hate photoshop! Finally, I left and met up with my mom at her hotel. We went on a boat/canal tour of the city, since she hadn't done it, and then took a walk to Christianhavn and Christiania. It was so nice walking in these parts of Copenhagen with my mom because it wasn't like I knew a whole lot about them either. I had gone with my class but I bare knew where I was going, so it was an adventure for the both of us. We met a very nice man from Nepal in Christiania and I bought a beautiful sweater from him (if I remember to wear it soon, you will see it in a photo later on). After that we headed back to the hotel and walked to get some dinner. We went on an adventure to find a restaurant that I couldn't eat much at anyways so we went across the street only to find 4 Thai restaurants (one of them was named Porn-Sak ...funny cause it was close to the red light district!) and ate a fabulous meal! Then I headed home on my bike and crashed!

This morning I edited my paper (which is due tomorrow) and biked to my mom's hotel, met up with her and we headed up to the Danish Design School. I had to finish up some prints and then we would go do something touristy for her last day here. Funny thing though, she wanted to learn how to silk screen so we made something together. After we made 2 prints, she wanted to make a Challah cover, so we designed something, mixed the colors and made a beautiful challah cover that I will bring back to the states after it is steamed and washed. It was great to see her so excited about art and more specifically screen printing! She got so inspired and had all these ideas and with a little help from me they came true! After our 4 hour screen printing session, we headed to the Italian sandwich shop and got delicious chicken sandwiches. I introduced Rocco, the owner, to my mother and she realized how authentic he really is. After the sandwich we headed back into the center of the city via train and went to a coffee shop called "The living room" and drank a pot of tea and headed back to her hotel, hung out for a bit then she walked me to my bike and I rode home. It was so nice to have her here this week, even if it was really hectic. I'm glad she was able to see what I do, appreciate the work, see the beautiful city and spend time with me. It was great. Unfortunately, all the pictures we took were on her camera and she is leaving tomorrow morning at 4am (lucky her...NOT) so maybe I will post them in a later blog post. Tomorrow my friend and soon to be housemate, Laura, is coming into town and I am so excited to have her stay with me for a few days!

ITS MY BIRTHDAY!!!

2009-07-29T14:39:00.000-07:00

Monday was the longest day ever. I biked to Central Station in the morning, took the train up to the design school, got a Danish flag on the way (to bring to the airport) and worked like crazy all day. I came out with some great prints and really pushed my limit of how long I can go without a break. I realized that I hadn't jogged in almost a week so when the clock struck 6pm, I headed on the train and took the bus back to Hvidovre, shoved my clothes in the laundry and went for a 30 min jog. I came back EXHAUSTED but waited to put my laundry in the dryer when THE WASHER BROKE and wouldn't let me take my clothes out! Great timing washer! I was rushing to shower and run to the airport to pick up my mother who was flying in from Amsterdam at 11pm. Finally with the help of a random Dane who was folding his laundry, we figured out the problem, I shoved my clothing in the dryer, raced upstairs and showered as quickly as possible, then bolted to get my clothes, and ran to the bus. I got a train ticket to the airport and the train car (or "vagn" as they say in Danish) was full of Sweds going to Malmo from Tivoli (the amazing amusement park I am going to tomorrow!). They were scream/singing drunkenly and I suddenly freaked out and thought I was on the wrong train. I was assured I was only 2 stops away from the airport and got off on the mission to find my mother. Let me take this time to explain something hilarious about Danish culture. They greet people at the airport with Danish flags. Its the weirdest thing! Nowhere else have I seen people greet people at the airport with the flag of their country unless its an American soldier coming back from war. Anyways, I thought that was so funny so I got one to welcome my mom. I stood at the arrivals terminal for 10 minutes watching a group of teenage girls coming back from a language program to England, cry like babies while their parents waved flags in front of them as if it were a game. Finally my mom came out and was really thrilled to see me. We got in a cab, I dropped her off at her hotel and I went on to Natalie's apartment to sleep over. It was there that I turned 21, right when I was about to fall asleep.

Tuesday, my birthday, Natalie and I walked to the vegan bakery near her apartment to buy cake that I could eat and share with my class. The guy there was super weird and really wanted me to know everything about these vegan, gluten free, sugar free...everything but taste free cakes they were selling. Finally I just got 2 of each piece of cake they sold and we headed up to the design school. The day couldn't have felt less like my birthday. I got up there, presented my cake, got a bunch of "Happy Birthdays" and I worked all day, through lunch and had no breaks, just so I could leave at 6pm on the dot to go get dinner with my mom. My prints turned out cool and finally it was time to go.

I got down to Vesterport station and headed to her hotel. She gave me my presents (a Yiddish CD and A CLOG BOTTLE OPENER WITH A COW PRINT ON IT!!!...HOW AMAZING!?!?!?) We talked for a bit then headed to Ankara, a Turkish place near DIS. We had a fabulous meal, and wine, served by flirty waiters and then we walked around DIS so I can a) feel like I actually live here and b) to show my mom. We ran into a few tents where part of the Out Games programs were happening and watched a large, drunken woman, wearing a neon pink, green and yellow corset dress sing opera in Spanish about Tequila. It was soooo amusing! Apparently, Natalie and her parents were there too but had no patience for it. Finally, the day came to an end and I headed back to Hvidovre and went to sleep.

Today felt more like my birthday. The group met at Norreport Station and headed to Malena's studio where we were served tea and coffee and were shown how to work with digital textile print (the next assignment). We left and headed to lunch which included a raspberry cake from the vegan bakery and a lox sandwich from the amazing sandwich shop I have been missing. Came back to class and worked till 4pm. The Out Games have a Tel Aviv tent 15 minutes walk away from DIS and guess who was playing at 5:30pm? IVRI LIDER!!! He is an Israeli singer whi is gay and he is fantastic!

I went my myself and listened to him sing and at one point I actually forgot I was in Denmark. I felt as if I was in the park in Tel Aviv listening to my ipod and then I opened my eyes and realized I was in Copenhagen. It was a weird feeling, but I loved it. The concert was great, even when he sang "I Kissed a Girl and I Liked It" (which was hilarious!). I walked back to my mother's hotel and met up with her, Natalie and Sarah. We went to Chilimili's for dinner because we needed something quick and with vegetables. My mom impressed my friends and we all had a great laugh while eating a great dinner. Ever since I have known I was coming to Copenhagen this summer, I knew that I wanted to go to the IceBar for my birthday. The IceBar is a bar made entirely out of ice (furniture, shot glasses...everything!) and I only turn 21 once, so it was going to be a special bar...like one made out of ice! Sarah, Natalie, Katie and I got there and I told them it was my birthday (ok so I bent the truth but it still worked).

They gave the 4 of us free champagne and the drink that comes with the entrance fee. In addition to that we had to wear these cape/ponchos with gloves because it is so cold. It was the funniest night ever!

The techno music was so funny and we all looked absolutely insane in our IceBar gear, and for the first 20 minutes, we were the only ones in the bar, so we acted insane, jumping around in the ice cold room drinking champagne. Other people came and we calmed down a bit but had another drink to drink. We got it, drank, laughed a bit more and then left because our 45 minutes were up. I am so happy I decided that was going to be my birthday bar. I biked back to Hvidovre and showered. It has been an amazing birthday and I thank all the people who made is so special!

Christmas, Bikes and MALMO!!!

2009-07-26T10:06:00.001-07:00

Three days ago we stopped playing with synthetic fabric and began working with cellulous fibers (fabric made from plants like cotton or linen). We learned to measure out our colors, which is something Michigan knows nothing about, and we have been working with shapes, stencils and overlaying. It’s been an interesting experience comparing the new things I am learning here and what I learned back in Ann Arbor.

It is more or less the same process but here they steam everything, instead of heat setting what we create in Michigan. Still, it is the same process. I have been more or less stuck in the studio working long after we are let out of class because there is so much to do. When I get back to the kollegium, I end up heading to the bar/café and hang out with my two Danish friends Johanna, Emil and Neals. Emil works for a software company that makes a cheap 3D modeling program, Johanna is in the business school in Copenhagen but her true love is textile (love it!) and Neals is a dairy engineer worker. They are so interesting and are really nice and love to talk to us (Katie and I). It’s nice to finally meet Danes and get to know them over around 2-3 Carlsberg beers a night. Thursday night when I got to the bar, Emil told me that the following night is Christmas. Now I know I am Jewish but I know enough about Christmas to know it is in December. Here the word for Christmas phonetically is Yul and the word for July is Yuli, so they call July 24^th (6 months till Christmas eve) Yul Yuli and throw a huge Christmas party! I got so excited and made plans to make sure I was back the next night for the festivities.

Friday, I got to class and Katie and I decided that we are finally going to get bicycles. We have three weeks left here so we might as well get them now instead of “talk about it”. The problem was that all week long it has been raining after class so it didn’t really make us want to get bikes. During lunch I sat at the picnic tables in the back of the Danish Design School with a bunch of girls and Katie announced that she just got a bike from the cycle shop across the street and is picking it up after class.

So I thought to myself, “All I want for Christmas is a bicycle!” So I walked over and asked the man in the shop if I could rent a bicycle for 3 weeks and I would love it if it could have a basket. He said it would be ready by that afternoon. I was so excited and continued my work in the studio waiting to go with Katie to pick up our bikes at 4pm. Finally 4 rolled around and Katie and I ran to the bike shop. The man showed me my bike and I fell in love…IT IS YELLOW!!! I always pictured myself riding around Copenhagen on a yellow bicycle and now it came true. The sized me up to my bike, attached the back basket and then sent me on my way in the pouring rain. We locked our bikes in the back of school and realized we were locked out. After 20 minutes of banging on the door the librarian heard our cries and let us in. We printed the rest of the day and Sarah and I grew STARVING! We headed to a Vietnamese restaurant, which was super fancy (we were so not dressed correctly) and literally had a candle lit diner.

The food was amazing! After dinner I got on the train with my bike and decided to take it to Central Station. I don’t know how to bike from the Design School so I decided it would be smart to bike from a location I was familiar with, especially since I didn’t have a helmet. Once I started biking , it was smooth sailing. I took Ingerslevsgade to Vigerslev Alle and then cut to the Hvidovre hospital. It was around a 20-25 minute train ride and I felt so accomplished (with an sore butt). I sat in my room singing some Kabbalat Shabbat prayers before napping and heading down to the Christmas party! (I know, I have been soooo Jewish since I have been here) I get downstairs and everyone is wearing Santa hats and drinking the special addition Turborg Christmas beer. So naturally I drank some too. Lets just say it was a long night and I ended up getting to bed at 3:30am.

I woke up the next morning at 11am and knew that I needed to write my paper. It isn’t due until August 3^rd but I know that since my mom is visiting this week, I wasn’t going to have time to write it. So I wrote it and sent it to my dad to edit (the hardest part is over). Of course I went right back to sleep after I finished and woke up at 4 pm, showered and biked over to Central Station and took the train up to the Design School. I was working in the studio from 6pm till 11pm. It was insane. I can’t believe I didn’t even realize what time it was.

Katie, Sarah and I left the studio and headed to the center of town to grab some food but instead we found the World Out Games party in City Hall Square. What are the World Out Games? A simple explanation is that it is the gay Olympics and each country sends a team of all types of sports. The sports are everything ranging from running, rugby to swimming and also include bridge, line dancing, and chess to name a few. The party was a huge light show with techno music that ended 5 minutes after we got there. While heading to find food we saw the Canadian, Mexican and Australian teams and then found a Middle Eastern place to eat. We ordered and say at a table next to 3 women from the Nova Scotia softball team, talked to them for a few minutes and then scarfed down our food. Katie and I headed to the bus and got home at around 1am.

Today I met Natalie, her parents and Sarah at the Central Station and we headed off to Malmo! I was so happy to be going back to Sweden. I can’t even describe what it is about that country that makes me so happy but it is amazing! We walked around the old town for a bit, went into a few design shops, felt really smart that we could identify textile patterns by their designers and then found an Italian restaurant to eat lunch. Natalie’s parents are really nice and sweet. I finally got a few Swedish souvenirs and a really spiffy sweatshirt from H&M (IN SWEDEN!) After walking around the rest of Malmo, we headed back to Copenhagen and I grabbed my bike from Central Station and biked back to Hvidovre. Tomorrow my mom flies into Copenhagen and then it is MY BIRTHDAY! I am so excited for this week!

Who knew I would love spandex so much?

2009-07-21T12:36:00.000-07:00

Sunday I woke up and had to get to Natalie's apartment by 1pm (her foot was fine, just badly bruised). Sarah and I met there and the three of us decided it would be a great idea to go to the Danish Design School, the school where we will be working in for the next few weeks. We had never been there so we took the train up to the Norhavn train station and found a) the bakery (very important to most participants of the DIS program) and b) the school. Now that we felt comfortable getting there, we decided to walk back. Since we have been meeting at the DIS building, that area is all we know, so why not explore the rest of the city and really take in the other neighborhoods, not just the tourist and central bubbles. So off we went on our merry way to try to find our way back to DIS. Of course, it started to rain, but within 25 minutes, we ended up in a familiar part of town, the King's Gardens, and knew our way back to DIS as if it were home. We actually ended up in the Secret Square and stopped for lunch at the place Nathalie Mahler suggested (it has no name that we remember). I ate a chicken, pineapple and chutney sandwich and it was delicious. Sorry about not taking a picture of it... next time I will. After lunch, we headed to DIS to work on our concepts. The three of us spent four hours there, working on our design concepts. Mine is about the Myyrnaki church right outside Helsinki and how every part of the church is inspired by the birch tree forest that surrounds it. So my concept is birch trees in textiles. I ended up making a repeat pattern of my whimsical, Dr.Seuss-like trees, to see if the horizontal and vertical lines would work together and not work the eye, but then looking at it from far away it looked a bit more like earth worms than trees. At that point, I rolled it up and called it a day, then headed to Chillimili's for dinner. After stuffing myself with delicious vegetarian food I headed back to Hvidovre and went to bed.

Yesterday, Katie and I met at 7:30am and headed to Natalie's apartment, then to the train station that took us to the Danish Design School. We were supposed to meet at 9am, but we ended up getting there at 8:15am. Since we had 45 minutes to kill, we headed to the bakery, they bought buttery pastries while I bought a walnut roll with jam (delicious!) and decided to walk around and investigate the neighborhood. Everything was closed but there seemed to be stores everywhere.

Finally 9am rolled around and we each got an ID card with a cartoon drawing of a man as our photo (funny because the ten of us are all girls). Got up to the textile studios (of course its the top floor) and got an introduction of our facility. The machinery is so much more high tech and impressive than anything we have at the University of Michigan. It make my jaw drop. Some of the things were old but at least they existed in the space! The first thing we learned was about "man-made fabrics" otherwise known as "synthetic materials"... polyester, spandex, nylon, rayon..etc.

Since it is not natural and more or less plastic, we have the ability to form it into a shape.

So lets say we have a piece of synthetic fabric and we take a pebble, place it in the middle of the fabric and then tie a piece of thread around it so that the fabric is covering the pebble, steam the fabric for an hour and cut the thread off, the fabric will hold the shape of it having a pebble. Why? Because the steam is heating the fabric so that the plastic fibers are flexible enough to form a new shape. ITS MIND BLOWING!!!The next thing we learned was to paint copy paper with polyester inks and then put it in a heat press with a piece of synthetic fabric and it creates a heat transfer...easy as that! That night, Katie and I came home, bought food and made a delicious chicken tikka masala, with rice, broccoli and peppers! It was delightful!

This morning was the hardest part of the synthetic materials assignments. The third task was to combine the two things we already learned; creating an image from the heat transfer as well as using the 3-D form usage we learned that works with our concept. I felt a bit out of my league so I just decided to play around and hoped that something would come to me...AND IT DID! After trying a million samples, I figured out that I could pleat the fabric, heat transfer an image of a birch tree forest and then when it is closed, there is a forest, but when it opens up, you see the individual trees! IT WAS AMAZING! I FIGURED IT OUT!

So now I am working on the color and will hopefully have an amazing piece to show later on this week! After Lunch we headed north to Jaegersborg Dyrehave, a forest/woodsy place where deer roam (and poop everywhere!) and horse carriages give tours while other bike, jog, hike and walk on the beautiful trails. There are so many deer there! We even saw an albino one! I am 100% going to take my mom there for a walk and picnic when she comes to visit me. Anyways, at the other side of the park, there is an old area where specialized crafts people live and work in their studios and we were there to meet up with Lisbet Friis , a textile designer with really cool, high quality and simple designs.

We got to her studio and Gilhund was there to welcome us in. As we piled up in her studio she Lisbet began to explain her work to us. Her first ever exhibition, she decided to work with military medals and ribbons. The color, the meaning behind the stripes and what not. She showed us how certain colors for certain countries means the soldier fought in a specific region, was in prison and other interesting facts. So she made an amazing textile work revolving that. Then she was commissioned by the Queen of Denmark, to create a pattern to re-upholster her furniture in two rooms on her yacht (not bad ey?). After that she began making striped patterns and printing it on really nice quality Belgium linen and is making pillow covers out of them. In addition, she created patterns for an exhibition that was a few hundred meters of patterned fabrics folded up as if it was a linen closet. She was so nice and answered all our questions over tea, coffee and CAKE that she made herself! After our field trip, we walked through the woods/forest back to the train station, I went to the grocery store on the way back to Hvidovre and then went jogging for 45 minutes.

Herring and Hospitals

2009-07-19T01:05:00.001-07:00

Thursday, we got a day off to wash our clothing and come up with concepts for our piece. Most of us did not work on our textile work because we were being super lazy. Katie and I agreed to meet noon to get our bikes, so when I woke up at 8am I was ready to be productive. I put my clothes in the wash, went for a 30 min run and came back to put the clothes in the dryer, went online for 20 minutes, took my laundry up to my room, showered and then folded and put my clothes away...and I was done by 11am. So I read the rest of my book and waited for Katie. She came at 1pm to tell me she felt awful and that she doesn't even know where the bike place is so we didn't get bikes... sad sad. But we did make dinner plans. I skyped and caught up with Sid and my parents the rest of the day. Katie, Ari and I left at 6:20pm to meet up with Sarah and waited till 8pm to meet up with Cody to eat dinner (You could probably imagine how hungry I felt). Anyways, we ate dinner and took a post dinner walk which really meant that we ended up at Cody, Natalie and Allegra's apartment. After a bit of hanging out Katie, Ari and I left and headed back to Hvidovre to sleep.

We had class Friday, 9am sharp, and Gilhund was there to see what concepts we came up with. Lets just say she was not impressed with our ideas because we barely had any. It was more like a thought vs. sketched out ideas. So we were assigned our first homework assignment, to do it all over the weekend. That cramped my style a bit because Sarah, Natalie and I were planing to go to Malmo, Sweden for the weekend, but we were going to do it anyways. We actually had a field trip to the studio of Helle Vibeke Jensen, in Refshaleøen (if you know Copenhagen geography, its the rural part past Christiania). Helle is an illustrator with collage and has a really interesting style. She showed us her work and her process which was very interesting. She then gave us each a gift, a free picture book she just finished called "Snakedog" and its really cool looking. After her presentation, we went to a cable park where people can wake board and water ski using a cable system.

Apparently, she and her husband own the park and it has a very fake California feel to it and Danes love to come and try out the water sports scene. The textile girls watched as some people did amazing jobs and others failed miserably, while our lunch was being prepared. What was lunch? Smoked Herring! I have had a negative view on herring because Jews eat it pickled WHICH IS NASTY AND GROSS! But this was smoked so I was willing to try it. A huge tray of whole fish came out and Helle taught us how to get the meat of the fish off. First we cut the head and tail off. Then we tap the skin on the side facing up, to loosen it so it would be easier to peel off, then a few cuts and pulls to get the meat off the bones and we place the meat on smorrebroed (otherwise known as super dense grainy bread... delicious!) throw a few sliced radishes, cut chives, we were supposed to put egg yolk on top too but thanks to cholesterol I did not, and course sea salt and VOILA our meal was ready. I felt like a surgeon while working on the herring. It took me at least 10 minutes to get the whole thing in order but I finally did it and guess what? It tasted great! I was so surprised at how everything mixed together so well. After the meal we headed back to the old part of Copenhagen through a famous part called Christiania. Christiania was originally an abandoned military base and in the 70's a bunch of hippies came in and started growing a neighborhood. Somehow they worked it out that nobody had to pay rent or pay to buy the homes there because they just made their houses from random things they found. Its like a little recycled and reused haven. The other thing about Christiania is that for a while drugs were legal so there was a huge market for them until the police came in and would cause riots and raids. So now it is more or less calmer because of a new generation and now they pay for water, gas and electricity but they still don't pay rent and drugs are kinda legal but not as openly as they were in the past. They also don't like when people take pictures there because of originality and the drug scene, so no tourists take photos. Its a beautiful neighborhood surrounded by creativity, nature and everyone seems happy. We finally got close to DIS and Natalie and I were planning to check train times for Malmo when suddenly Natalie's food got stuck under plywood used to hide constructions on the sidewalk. Her foot bruised and blew up within seconds and all she could say was "Oh my god, I have a hematoma on my foot, thats so gross, Oh my god!" Gilhund got ice from a cafe and Amanda got a rickshaw while Natalie was on the phone with DIS getting the name of a hospital. The rickshaw took us to a taxi and the taxi took Natalie, Sarah and me to the hospital. We spent 3 hours there trying to pass time and then they took Natalie in. 45 minutes later I get a text saying that she hasn't been seen yet and then when she finally saw a doctor, they poked at her foot and pronounced it "not broken" gave her some generic painkillers and an ace bandage "sock" and said if it doesn't go away within a few days to come back. 4 hours for nothing. Natalie had a movie ticket for Harry Potter that night and couldn't make the show so the three of us got pizza (mine was cheese-less of course), hard cider and watched as much as we could of "A Very Potter Musical" on YouTube (its a satire of Harry Potter that the musical theater kids at Michigan did in the spring and it is fantastic!) Sarah and Natalie seemed to enjoy themselves and we left Natalie when the buses were about to stop running.

Yesterday I woke up with a headache and the sound of rain on my window and went right back to sleep. Woke up again, took an advil, popped my daily pills and took a shower, talked on skype with my parents, Sid and Yonit (which was an amazing treat!) and did absolutely nothing all day because I felt so crappy. I finally felt better and found an invitation to Natalie's apartment for a mini party. So I decided to go and it was really fun! I left early though because I started to feel gross again and needed more sleep. Being sick sucks.

Photos from Finland

2009-07-16T15:32:00.001-07:00

The flags on the ship.

Marimekko...my obsession store.

The fabulous dessert Natalie, Sarah and I ate in Helsinki.

The Temppeliaukio Rock Church.

Hot air balloons over Helsinki!

Myyrmaki Kyrka...beautiful right?

Marimekko current spring designs.

Next spring's marimekko design!

Natalie, Sarah and I sitting on an amazing marimekko designed couch and cushions!

FINLAND

2009-07-16T14:39:00.000-07:00

I consider the beginning of my Finland experience to start on the overnight ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki. We boarded the "Viking Line" cruise boat and I was placed in a room with Natalie, Brittany and Amanda. We got to our room and it was so tiny, with 4 fold out beds and a tiny bathroom. We all headed up to the top deck to wave goodbye to Sweden and were on our way to the east. Natalie, Sarah and I headed straight for the sauna before dinner. We were told that Finland is famous for their saunas and we weren't going to waste any time. It was a bit confusing figuring out the sauna vs. steam room situation, not to mention the large amount of speedos we saw, but it was a great sauna...those Fins know how to sweat! Dinner was a "Viking buffet" consisting of 4 courses. The first was fish, followed by meat, then cheese and last dessert, but salad is allowed at all times. Lets just say nobody left hungry. It was fantastic, and I sat at a table that had conversations about embarrassing childhood stories. I laughed so hard! The night continued at a dance bar of sorts that had a live band playing really obscure and random English music. A bunch of us just went to the middle of the dance floor and hopped around. It was loads of fun. Then we made our way to the bar/pub next door where a woman was singing and had audience participation for harmonies. That was amazing. One more thing about the atmosphere of the boat, they don't call it a booze cruise for nothing. People drink like fish on this boat, its crazy! Finally, Natalie and I decided it was time to turn in since we both felt kinda sick. I fell asleep that night by the boat rocking me back and forth and not in a good way.

The next morning I felt miserable. My head felt like it was 3 times it's size, and my nose was winning the marathon. We finally arrived in Helsinki and checked into the Scandic Grand Marina Hotel where I was living with Natalie in our quarantine room for the sick and miserable. We instantly were on our way to the Helsinki Design Museum where they had an exhibition on modern textiles and rugs. I kept thinking about how much Nancy would have loved this exhibit. Maybe it will come to NYC? We then headed to Finlandia Hall which is more or less like the Lincoln Center of Helsinki and was designed by Alvar Aalto. Finland loves Alvar Aalto but I think he is overrated. All his buildings were pretty cold and dreary (not including the rainy Helsinki weather) and the only thing I liked about him was his random practical furniture he made that all of Finland uses. Once we left, we headed to the Sokos Hotel Torni where they have a rooftop bar and all I ordered was a hot tea because I was so sick. I bought Strepsils, otherwise known as the cough drop that saved me in Israel on Year Course and the FDA didn't pass it, and carried one of the boxes of tissues that Natalie and I bought out at the Duty Free on the ferry. Finally, we were allowed to head back to the hotel and Natalie and I sickly decided we were going to be lazy and go to the sauna and then eat at the hotel for dinner. And so we did and called it an early night.

The next day we headed to the Ateneum Art Museum that had an exhibition called Kalevala. Basically, since Finland was under Swedish rule for 700 years then 100 years under Russia, it felt the need to create it's own identity once it became independent. This exhibition was geared towards Finish folklore and traditions to create a Finish identity. We saw many amazing statues and paintings. I was quite impressed.

The rest of the day was mainly an "Americas Next Top Model" day in Helsinki. Natalie, Sarah and I headed to the open market, bought strawberries, blueberries and crepes and had our amazing lunch. The berries in Finland are amazing because their spring lasts for so long that the berries keep on growing and ripen in no time. Then we headed to Ivana Helsinki, marimekko, iittala, Artek and other amazing design stores. My favorite was of course marimekko. I am in love with her designs! After that we went to the Kiasma Museum of Art, otherwise known as the MOMA of Finland. I have never hated a museum so much in my entire life. The exhibit was called "Horror" and it felt like I was in a haunted fun house! It was so terrifying that I had to leave in the middle and focus on my sketches from previous museums. Finally we left and headed for the Temppeliaukio Rock Church. This church is made out of rocks glass and wire and we were able to sit there for 30 minutes while an orchestra was practicing. That night was our last night in Helsinki so we went as a group to this fancy restaurant and ate fancy shmansy food. The entertainment of the night was a little girl with her sister and parents but this girl was a platinum blond that had hair like a troll doll from the early 90's. None of us could control ourselves and were laughing the entire night!

The next morning we checked out of the hotel at 8am and headed on the bus to Vantaa, Finland where the most amazing church exists.

The church is called Myyrmaki Kyrka and it is in a birch tree forest. The architects built a very modern building that compliments the vertical birch trees and inside it has lots of glass so the light shines in and lamps that look like orbs hang down and create and amazing spiritual environment. It was beautiful. Then we headed to Luoma, a 20 minute bus ride from Vantaa to a house and lake called Hvittrask. There lived Eliel Saarinen the famous architect and we got a tour of his home which was really amazing.

Then came the most amazing part of the trip, the marimekko factory. Because of copyright issues I am not allowed to post any of the images from the factory but I can show prints that are for this season. We got a whole tour and I was in heaven. I would learn Finnish and move to Helsinki if I could work there. Helsinki was nice except that I got sick, but I probably wouldn't come back as fast as I would to Stockholm. We headed to the airport and landed in Copenhagen at 7pm. I fell straight asleep.

Pictures from Sweden

2009-07-16T04:11:00.001-07:00

Tio-Gruppen bags. I am really considering purchasing one. They are so funky!

This is a Josef Frank (SvensktTenn) print on a couch and pillows...isn't it amazing!?!?!?

Another Josef Frank print(SvensktTenn). I am so obsessed. They are so beautiful

I was clearly made to model for the Swedish phone booths.

Gamel Stan, the old city of Stockholm on a cloudy day.

The best thing I have ever seen in a print. This one is part of a design from Jobs Handtryck.

One of my favorite designs from Jobs Handtryck.

The entrance to the hand printing studio. Isn't it cute? I feel like that is the only word that can describe this door.

A really fun mural we saw while running around Stockholm trying to find fun designs to sketch.

My future rug. I might be in love ... it even has a great texture when you walk on it.

The Zinkensdamm station had an obsession with radish patterns.

SWEDEN

2009-07-16T01:43:00.000-07:00

Remember the Swedish chef from Sesame Street? If you have no idea what I am talking about, look it up on youtube, if you do know what I am talking about, SWEDISH ACTUALLY SOUNDS LIKE THAT!

Thursday July 9^th, I woke up at 5:30am to catch a 7am train. We all made it on time and were oh so groggy. We got on the first train that goes from Copenhagen to Malmo, Sweden and even if it was only a 45 minute train ride, we all managed to fall asleep.In Malmo we switched to the train to Stockholm. It took us 5 hours to get there and of course we slept for the majority of the ride. Once we got off the train, we walked through the most beautiful metro station and took the subway to the Zinkensdamm Hostel.

I was in a room with Katie R. and Natalie so we got up to our room and dropped our stuff, came back to the lobby of the hostel and we all went to our first activity. One would think a study trip would be somewhat academic based…this study trip started off amazingly. Our first stop was at a store that sold products by the designers Tio-Gruppen. They were a group of 10 designers who got together to make a more modern/graphic look to textiles. It was fascinating to hear about them and see their bold patterns all over the shop. We were given a break for lunch and then headed to the center of Stockholm to go to SvensktTenn, where the designs of Josef Frank are sold. Josef Frank was a half-Jewish textile designer furniture designer and architect from Vienna in the 1920s and was found by a Swedish woman who owned an artistic pewter shop and interior design company.

Josef moved to Sweden and worked for her until he had to move to the US because of WWII. But the most important thing about Josef Frank are that his designs are magnificent! They are so colorful and bold, beautiful and delicate and I am obsessed with them. After taking pictures of everything in the store, we walked to Gamla Stan, the old city of Stockholm. Natalie wanted to see the palace and get a peak at the royals but all we saw were the guards and their funny shaped helmets. That night our group ate dinner at a delicious vegetarian restaurant and walked back to our hostel.

The next day we got up very early because we had to take a 3 hour bus ride to Leksand (northern Sweden). We all managed to catch up on the sleep we all needed and woke up to find ourselves in rainy weather and at Jobs Handtryck, a place where they produce the textile designs of the Jobs family by hand printing at their own facility.

It was amazing to see how large designs are silk screened in bulk for merchandise and not at the University of Michigan, School of Art & Design. After that we headed back onto the bus and got lost for another hour and a half until we reached Sundborn. Most people ate a hearty traditional Swedish meal filled with cheese and red meat while I ate lots of salad. After that we walked around the restaurant and ended up at Carl Larsson’s house. Carl Larsson was a famous Danish painter who had an amazingly quirky and modern look to interior design. His house had hand painted murals on the walls and ceilings, portrait of his family in different walls over the house and his wife had an amazing eye for modern needle point, weaving and embroidery. Our guide was hilarious and made so many funny English jokes while giving the tour. Finally we spent 3 more hours driving back to Stockholm and of course we slept. Because we had basically slept for most of the day, we were all pretty wired up and ready to do something that night. Katie C, Katie R, Natalie, Sarah and I headed to find what we had been craving all day, Indian food, and we had found it! It was a small restaurant with beautiful mosaics and delicious food. I wish Kavita were there to witness how spicy the chicken vindaloo was and that I survived eating it…and it was amazing! After dinner we went searching for a bar and ended up in an American bar where the red socks were playing on the TVs. If only another bar was open that night…oh well. We drank and had a great time then came back to the hostel and went to bed.

The next day is something Sarah, Natalie and I called “America’s Next Top Model” day. If you know the show this will be easy to understand, if not I will explain. First of all I would just like to mention I only watch the show when there is a marathon on and I am home for a long period of time…aka when I come back from school and that is the only thing on. Secondly, there is one episode in every season when the last few models remaining go on something called a go-see (meaning they have a list of designers who they need to see and in a way audition to get a booking for a fashion show).

On the show, they are told to come back at a certain time, and if they are late they lose the challenge. Our assignment on Saturday was to go to as many of the design stores on the sheet of paper we were given and sketch as much as we can that we find interesting and beautiful in the stores then come back by 1pm for lunch. Sarah, Natalie and I rushed out the door and started on our merry way. On the show, they are in a different country so they need to deal with mode of transportation and language as a crutch. For us, we didn’t know how to pronounce the names of streets so it was very difficult to get around. Two guys came up to us and asked if we were Swedish and when we answered no, they were thrilled because they were Swedish and needed Americans to help them with a bachelor party scavenger hunt so we helped them out (called their friend and told them a clue) and they helped us in return by giving directions. We made it to David Designs, Asplund, Design Torget, Nordic Gallery and then headed back to the Kulturhuset for lunch. We didn’t make it to all the galleries and showrooms but we made it to most. Lunch was eaten and then we headed to Lilijevalchs Museum where there was an exhibit on Ikea through out the decades (IT WAS SO INTERESTING) and the Nordiska Museum where we sketched old Swedish textiles. That night Sarah, Natalie and I went out for really nice Swedish Pizza (and they made mine without cheese!!!) and we bonded so much, it was very nice.

Sunday was our last day in Sweden and it made me realize how much I loved the city. I can see myself coming back over and over again, maybe even study here for a masters. The design is beautiful, the city is welcoming and it really just made me happy that we had come to Stockholm. That morning we woke up and checked out of the hostel and headed for the Modern Museum of Stockholm. It was nice but I think we spent too much time there. After that we went to the National Museum of Stockholm where they had THE COOLEST FURNITURE EVER!!!

I spent all my time there sketching one lamp and two sets of drawers. We finished at the museum and rushed over to get our luggage and headed to the port to get onto our overnight ferry, the “Viking Line”, that was taking us to Helsinki. Brittany, Amanda, Natalie and I were in a room together and it was the smallest room ever! We all met on the top deck to wave goodbye to Sweden. I was a bit sad because I really did love Sweden (and I think they have the best color combination of the Scandinavian flags) and I can’t wait to possibly go back. Natalie, Sarah and I are planning to go to Malmo this weekend.

Off to Sweden and Finland!

2009-07-08T20:59:00.000-07:00

Hello fellow readers, I am off to Sweden and Finland. This may mean that I do not post for a week. I am not bringing my laptop but was told I have internet access in the hostel and hotel so we will see if that is true. If I do, great and I will write mini posts about the days and add a picture post in the end but if not I will write one blog entry for Sweden and one for Finland and include pictures! Now I must leave for the central bus station or else I will miss my train!!!

P is for Pattern

2009-07-08T14:02:00.000-07:00

This morning was cinnamon roll special at the bakery, the place where I buy nothing for myself but watch everyone indulge in flakey, buttery goodness. I did buy one, but it wasn't for me. This one is Josh's birthday present. I promised him a Danish danish for his birthday but Denmark doesn't do danish like America does. Katie, who went to pastry school told me that cinnamon rolls are part of the danish family and that is good enough for me. I placed it in a plastic food bag and headed up to class. You may be wondering why I am mentioning Josh's present in my blog. I know very well that he doesn't have any time with him being a head counselor at camp and training for the Chicago marathon. So if he even reads this I will be surprised. And if he does, this is a heads up for a piece of mail! We have been working on our prints that started with flowers. My shapes have become way more abstract so I see it more like a bird or something. We tried different styles using only black and white and I like it enough not to tear it apart and start over. The next pattern was an exercise on using color overlay to your advantage in making a pattern with many dimensions. Lunch came around and my mission was to find the post office. After looking for 10 minutes on the street I finally found it behind a large construction site, walked in, set up my package with the letter and headed to the woman at the desk. She even gave me a free envelope.

The second portion of class was to keep working on our patterns and then we discussed our study trip that starts tomorrow morning. We are leaving for Stockholm on a 7:20am train, spending 3 nights in Stockholm, taking an overnight ferry to Helsinki, spending 3 nights there and then flying back home to Copenhagen. Our itinerary is amazing! We are going to so many show rooms, factories and studios that I don't think I can control myself! Katie and I came back to Hvidovre and packed then I came back down to the inner city to meet up with Nathalie Mahler. We went to a delicious Thai place and had a wonderful conversation. There is something about talking to a person who kind of knows who you are but really doesn't know you that well. I love finding out new things about people I have heard or just met and want to strengthen the bond. Anyways, after dinner we walked to the harbor and the Royal Theater. It was the first time I had been in the area on land and it looked beautiful with all the lights on in the dark.

Oh My Lox

2009-07-07T10:36:00.000-07:00

Woke up this morning and headed to DIS with Katie and made it to class on time. Once we got there a woman called Anne Louise Bang was there to give us a lecture on her work. She is a weaver and one of the three who are involved in a group called Textile Illusions. They create these textile weavings that interact with video either about the weaving structure or patterns found in weavings. It was really nice to see how modern textile work becomes an art form outside what they are known for. Right after Anne gave her lecture, a woman called Courtney came in to talk to us about journals. I always thought it was a way to just sketch and boy was I wrong. It was as if keeping a sketchbook/journal was a religion! This woman had all sorts of rules and challenges for us to use different types of paper and mediums, to have an entire bag devoted to a sketchbook...it was a bit over the top. The main problem with her lecture was that it was geared towards architects because it was all about sketching space, whereas we were there to get shapes and color. The two main things that were really helpful was that we should tape or glue a piece of sandpaper into the back of our sketchbooks so that we can sharpen our pencils faster, and the second this was that we could mark our sketches not only by date but also the time so that we can understand the lighting of the piece. Last night I looked in my area of the kitchen and realized I have enough food for two more lunches, so I decided that today I would by a lox sandwich (which I have been craving) and that I would pack lunch tomorrow and for Thursday while I am on my train to Sweden (this way I wouldn't buy food and have it spoil while I am gone). So off I went with a group of girls from class to my favorite Sandwich shop called "Vandkunsten Sandwich"(the D is silent in Danish unless its at the beginning of a word). It is a little sandwich shop that is a bit of a) a hole in the wall and b) underground. They ran out of the small sandwiches so I had to get the largest one and was so excited about it. After we all got our orders, we went to the stairs in the square near DIS and I opened up my sandwich and took a bit of the delicious lox that I had been wanting for days! Apparently I wasn't the only one who wanted my sandwichA bee kept landing on my lox and I screamed and tried to get rid of it by running away, but it kept following me. I was so frustrated because it wasn't following the rest of the group, just me. I kept thinking that if I was eating this gigantic sandwich, this bee is a blessing in disguise because I ran the entire 20 minutes we sat there for lunch. If anything I burned a few calories. We came back to class and talked a little about our study trip to Sweden and Finland. I won't bore you with details of what we are doing until tomorrow's post, but it sounds amazing! Next we worked on a few more patterns and called it a day. One of the things on our packing list is a raincoat and I own nothing for rain. Why I didn't even think about it is beyond me. So I went on a mission to find a raincoat. Of course being textile designers we found ourselves in marimekko (Mari Mekko is one of the top textile designers and is based out of Finland). They were having an outlet sale and I found a great orange and pink design raincoat! I was so happy and was on a little shopping buzz so we went to a cute little shop and I found a dress with lots of pockets that is a nock off of a marimekko design called "the Finish wedding dress". Apparently, traditional Finish wedding dresses up in the countryside, had many pockets all around the dress and those who would come for the wedding would put a little gift in the pockets for the bride. So this is a modern twist on an old traditional piece and I love it. The other thing I found was an embroidered headband which I also fell in love with. Natalie's comment was "I knew you were going to get that!" because of the embroidered stitch work. Anyways, after the random shopping excursion, Katie and I headed back to Hvidore and I am in the process of doing my laundry, writing this blog entry, finishing packing tonight so that I can enjoy my dinner plans with Nathalie tomorrow instead and eventually I will meet Katie in the cafe downstairs for a beer (or cider).

Picnic in the park!

2009-07-06T12:45:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up, made my sandwich in the kitchen and heard a knock on my door (next door) so I rushed out to see what was going on. Two old men wearing worn out clothing were standing at my door looked over at me and said in broken English "broken bathroom light?" I got so excited! I was finally going to be able to come home to LIGHTS IN MY BATHROOM! So I let them in, told them that the light in the main room needs to be fixed as well and I packed my bags as fast as possible so they can get right to work. Katie and I got to class at 9am and had Joy again. She gave us a lecture on color theory and how it is applied to pattern. I am planning to take a color class this fall so this was an eye opening look into what is in my not to distant future. Anyways, we spent the rest of the morning scanning our patterns into the computer and creating a color scheme for it. Lunch came around and I had a few things to do. The first was to go to the DIS housing office to ask them if they can reimburse me for my bus ticket that was stolen since they claimed everything that isn't cash is insured. Apparently I needed to make a copy of it or kept the receipt...so I went on my merry way to the metro office to get yet another bus pass. Once I got there I felt like an idiot cause I didn't have a photo of me and had to head back to DIS and see if the booklet with all the participants pictures was in my drawer. It was not but a random girl in the computer lab let me cut my picture out of her book so I was thrilled (I told her she wouldn't miss it). So I ran back to the metro office and this time (unlike the last time) I was able to pronounce the city I live in and tell her I want a 3 zone pass till August 17th... but they don't take credit cards. The lady said she would make my metro pass while I go run to find an ATM. I went and came back, got my pass and then I headed back to DIS for the afternoon lesson. The computers had not saved our work from this morning so we had to start all over again. After class Brittany, Natalie, Katie, Katie (the other one) and I headed to the Royal Gardens for a small picnic but on our way we saw the coolest piece of furniture ever. We were joined by Amanda, Abby and Taylor and ate strawberries, dried apricots and drank wine while listening to the Jazz festival. It was a little rainy but it was nice just the same. After the picnic, Katie and I came back to Hvidorve and I FOUND OUT THAT I HAVE LIGHTS THAT WORK!!! I decided to celebrate by going for a jog and then SHOWERING WHERE I CAN SEE EVERYTHING IN THE BATHROOM!

Lox, Jazz and Mice!

2009-07-05T14:08:00.001-07:00

The first day of class began on Thursday. Katie and I got into the inner city of Copenhagen at 9am but since we thought class started at 9:30am we decided to get some breakfast before. So technically we were not late…but in fact we were. Surprisingly, we were not the only ones late. The other Katie came in 2 hours late and Sarah came in a little after that. So we seemed on time compared to them. The morning lecture was with Joy, our chemical engineer professor who “isn’t a designer”.

She spoke about the different elements of patterns, how the eye sees patterns and how the brain reacts to different shapes, symmetryand design elements. It was really interesting but I would have loved it if it wasn’t so humid and if maybe a window were opened. After Joy’s lecture, Natalie, Emma, Brittany, Katie, Sarah and I went to an amazing little sandwich shop on the corner of my favorite street in Copenhagen (thus far). I have never been a huge fan of lox because I see it being eaten in a Jewish setting with cream cheese and bagels. Alas, it was the only option that I, little miss dietary restrictions child, could eat…and THANK GOD because it was an amazing sandwich. Lox, avocado, greens (something in the lettuce family) and a tomato on a delicious roll was what I ate for lunch. The six of us sat on the side of Magstræde (my favorite street) eating our sandwiches before heading back to class. Our second half of the day was with Gundhil, who teaches us drawing. She brought flowers that apparently were being thrown out, and we were to draw them. I ended up drawing them for about an hour until I decided to tear them up a bit and my sketches became more abstract. The second assignment was to trace one sketch we liked in different ways. So basically I traced and drew flowers for 2 hours! I was so glad when class was over and Katie and I walked around Copenhagen getting bus passes and going to the art supply store to get some last minute things. On the way back to Hvildorve, Katie and I stopped off at Netto (the simple grocery store) to get some food so that we can make lunches instead of going out every day. I came home and made a hummus, greens and red pesto sandwich on dense European bread (so delicious) for lunch the next day. I also went jogging for the first time since I left the US (I ran around 1.3 miles). After I showered I made my way over to the café in our kollegium that sells 10 Krone beer ($2). Most of the people from the DIS program were there and we sat around drinking cheap Carlsberg and talking about what we had already done and what we are looking forward to.

The next day, Katie and I made it to class on time…9am sharp. Gundhil was there and our assignment was to keep tracing the shape we chose. First it was the outline, then it was the shape as a solid, then as if the shape had a shadow. I was honestly going a bit insane. Not only were we drawing the same thing over and over, but we were in a dark room so we wouldn’t overheat, with the windows open and the fans on so all our papers were flying all over the place! I think poor Brittany had it the worst. She sat right underneath the fan and her papers were flying everywhere. Finally lunch arrived and a few of us walked around together to the bakery where Natalie got her chocolate croissant because Katie is so in love with pastries (she went to culinary school and has a love for pastries…I live vicariously through her mouth!). We love the St. Peter Bakery because it is on St. Peter street, right across from St.Peter’s church (what a coincidence?) Anyways, on the way there a found a beautiful shop that sells Mexican things, including hand embroidered dresses. I fell in love and after the bakery, went directly to the story and bought a dress! It is amazing and it will be shown via pictures soon.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who loves the dress because Brittany saw it when I came back from lunch and said that she saw it a few days ago and was debating whether or not to get it for herself. In the end the whole class joked about how we should all get matching dresses since it would be appropriate for our program. After lunch, class began and guess what we did? MORE TRACING!!! I felt like I was going blind! My back hurt from being hunched over, my eyes were not focusing and my brain was hitting an ADD wall. We made compositions using the shapes we chose and then Gundhil stopped class early to give us maps and pamphlets of things going on in Copenhagen and we all got a chance to hear her give us useful information on where to go, what to eat, what areas are better, where the beaches are…etc. We also got to ask her questions about what we are specifically interested in. We all agree that we love Gundhil and want her to go out clubbing with us just because she gave us that information too! Nathalie Mahler (not to be confused with Natalie from the DIS program), my roommate Yonit’s best friend from Nativ (another version of Year Course) is from and lives in Copenhagen. She was in my neck of the woods so we met up. We walked around, showed me a little square with a great vibe and where to get contact solution (who knew you would need to go to the eye glasses store to get contact solution?) We caught up on life and made plans for dinner next week. At 6pm we were invited to the DIS welcome BBQ where we got one free Danish hot dog or veggie burger (which was amazing!) and a free alcoholic beverage. Of course everyone showed up and we ate and drank, met some new people and in the end Katie and I were invited out with so many people but we were just so exhausted and ended up coming back to Hvidorve and going to our café willed with 10 Krone beer.

Saturday, a day known amongst Jews for resting, but instead the students of the textile design students had class yet again at 9am. The streets were empty and nothing was open. It was a little weird but up to class we went. Joy was there and she taught us a lesson on repeating patterns (which was the most eye opening thing I have ever learned!) I was in awe! So for three hours we worked on our pattern repeats. Lunch came and Katie and I walked around hoping into craft stores and thrift shops (they are all over Copenhagen!). We walked to the little square that Nathalie showed us (we call it the secret square cause it feels hidden) sat there and ate our lunch as we watched the little kids play on the giant statue of a cigarette.

We walked back to class and spent three more hours working on our repeats. During the afternoon lesson, Brittany and I began learning new words in Danish. Joy helped us with our pronunciation and I was learning useful phrases and words such as thank you, your welcome, bread, water, I would like and excuse me. Joy even said that at one point I said your welcome (my favorite Danish word thus far) and that she thought a native speaker was in the room for a moment. I WAS ON CLOUD NINE WHEN SHE SAID THAT! What a feeling! Natalie, Katie and I made plans for dinner and so we went back home to change and then return to the inner city. At the bus stop I realized that my bus pass was stolen. I looked everywhere in my bag. The bus driver was so nice and let me on the bus for the ride but all my happiness from the day was drained out of me because of this stupid bus pass. I ended up buying a 10 ride ticket from the kiosk across the street from the kollegium because this could not be the only thing that would ruin my day. I changed and got back on the bus with Katie to meet up with Natalie and go out to dinner.

We went to a Turkish restaurant and I ordered grilled chicken breast served with potatoes, purple cabbage salad and green beans. Sounds healthy right? WRONG! It was all covered in a butter sauce. I was so hungry and we had waited so long that I couldn’t send it back, so I splurged on the cholesterol for one meal and OH MY GOD was it fantastic! I felt guilty with every bite I took. Of course we had to have baklavah for dessert. Afterwards, we met up with Ari and a few people from the furniture design program and went to a really amazingly swanky cocktail bar called “Mice”. I ordered a Mojito (which was wonderful) and we all sat around a long table and raised our drinks and toasted the fourth of July.

Today (Sunday), the textiles people had to go to the Thorvaldsens Museum. Thorvaldsenes was a Danish sculptor who lived and worked in Rome and when he came back to Denmark, he was welcomed back by all the elite and famous (including Hans Christian Andersen). The museum is O.K. but what is amazing about the museum, are the ceilings and floors. All the floors are mosaics and the ceilings have amazing patterns which is why we were required to go there to sketch. Katie and I planned to meet at 9:30am in the main hallway of the kollegium but when I woke up, my phone showed me exactly 9:30am! I leaped out of bed and franticly got dressed and ran out the door. We made it to the museum at 10:30am and left around 1pm. Katie, Natalie, Sarah and I went to eat lunch and a place Nathalie Mahler recommended in the secret square. We were all starving and I hadn’t

even eaten breakfast. I had the most amazing meal of grilled chicken with pineapple and chutney with a bit of mustard sauce. We were all eating as if we hadn’t seen food in days! Afterwards, we walked along a street with lots of open shops. I say open shops because almost everything is closed on Sunday. Katie and I decided that Sundays would be our museum days since that’s practically the only thing that is open. So on this open shop street we went into a few places and then I found a store that made me so happy! A bathing suit and lingerie store for women who have big girls! I began to jump up and down like a giddy schoolgirl as I found a bikini that would actually fit be on top! I purchased it with the biggest smile on my face. Now I am ready for the beach! After my encounter with happiness, Natalie, Sarah and I sat in Frud Platz and listened to the Copenhagen Jazz Festival and then I went home. Since then I have been cleaning my room, talking to Sid and my parents on skype and writing this blog entry.

2009-07-02T10:09:00.000-07:00

This is the picture of the family the first day in the Frud Platz that was eating dinner. Thought you might get a kick out of it.

Even in Copenhagen people miss Michael Jackson.

In case you were curious, the little mermaid is not a natural red head.

There are lots of canals in Copenhagen, and everyone loves to drink a nice cold beer on their boats.

How many bicycles does this city need?!?!?!... Everyone uses bikes...its like the new black.

I MADE IT TO DENMARK!

2009-07-01T14:51:00.001-07:00

I MADE IT TO DENMARK! The flight was a little weird because I am so used to flying the 9 or 11 hour flight to Israel where in between dinner and breakfast you have at least 5 hours to sleep. The flight from JFK to Amsterdam was around 6 hours so we had around 2 hours to “sleep” before being woken up or breakfast and off the plane. I spent 3 hours sleeplessly walking around the Amsterdam airport. During that time I found wooden clogs (and I was sooooo tempted to get them but they weren’t sanded inside) and MY PASSPORT WAS STAMPED!!!! The flight from Amsterdam to Copenhagen took an hour and once I got there I felt really nervous. Most of you know I went to Israel for 9 months on Year Course before University of Michigan, so clearly I am used to being gone for long periods of time. However, on Year Course I was going to a country I have been to before, I knew the language and I had friends on the program from Young Judaea. This is a whole new experience for me. I have never been on a program where I know nobody, Danish is way too hard to catch on and I have no connection to the country and region. So back to the airport…I got out of baggage claim and a wave of exhaustion came over me. We had another 2 hours until the bus would arrive to take us to our orientation and I was not making a good impression to the other program participants who were waiting as well. Finally the bus came and we went into the heart of Copenhagen where the DIS building is located to get our book, some money for a metro pass, and an envelope with tons of information for us. After that we waited for our bus to take us to our Kollegium. While waiting, 2 things happened to me. The first was that a family literally had set a dining room table outside in the Frud Platz (the weird courtyard where we were waiting) and it was all set with a home cooked meal! The next thing is that I met Sarah, a girl that I found out is from Teaneck, NJ. Of course we played Jewish Geography and found out she knows my life long Yiddish friend Meena, my really distant cousin Elana and an old camp friend Ruthie (If any of you are reading this, she says Hi). In addition to Sarah, I also became friend with Adam, a guy who is studying at Yale but is from South Africa (and I love hearing his accent!). Finally we got on our buses to the kollegiums and alas we were split up and I knew nobody once more. Once I got on my bus I met Katie (we were already facebook friends so we kinda recognized each other which was nice) and Ari. They are both great girls and it seems that we are going to get really close because we a) live together and b) Katie and I are both in the textiles program. You might be asking “What the hell is this kollegium business?” A kollegium is very similar to a dorm in the sense that it is a building that houses students with a private room and bathroom and every hall has a shared kitchen. However it is different because they don’t house students from just one university instead students from all universities sign up to live in them and most of them live in the same room for 4-5 years at a time. The kollegium that I am living in is in Hvidorve (pronounced: vildor…yeah apparently Danish likes to drop lots of letters and add others that don’t exist which is why I have given up learning Danish) an it is a 25 minute bus ride to the DIS building in central Copenhagen. So I compare Hivdorve to the Queens of NYC. We got to drop our stuff off in our rooms and then went to the grocery store across the street where I nearly had a panic attack. If you know me at all you know I have cholesterol issues and not only can I not read Danish, but they don’t even mention cholesterol in the nutrition facts! So I went around the store trying to figure out what I should do. I ended up sticking with the safe route of rice cakes, granola, marmelade, and I bought 0.5% yogurt. Hopefully I won’t die. We had an hour to “chill out” other wise known as showering before getting dinner (at this point dinner was at 8pm…I hadn’t eaten anything since 10am). So I walk into the shower and the light is broken, but I could care less because I had been up since 7am the day before and I was sweating in sweatpants all day in the humidity of Denmark and all I could think about was a shower. So I did what any person would do; I showered in the dark. After that we had dinner with the person who is supposed to help us with any problems at the kollegium. Her name is Mai. Of course they ordered pizza and I sat there scrapping the cheese off eating more or less slices of bread for dinner. I didn’t care really. In the end I finally crashed around 9:30pm (or should I say 21:30) and it was still light outside.

I woke up this morning at 6:30am (thank you jet lag) and couldn’t go back to sleep. It was too hot and humid already so I decided to actually unpack my bags. My room has very nice closet space but I can’t really imagine living here for a year with it all…it seems to small for a year. Anyways, I organized my room, and then continued reading the book I had read on the plane. We were meant to eat our own meals for breakfast and meet downstairs at 8:30am to learn the bus route to the DIS building. It is a fairly easy ride and takes around 25 minutes. We walked from the stop to Frud Platz and waited for a bus to take us to “the opening of the semester”. Copenhagen is really watery and by that I mean there are lots of canals and islands that make up the city. This place was on one of the islands. Once we got our official welcome, we split up into our specific programs. Textiles has only 10 people, while furniture has 60 and architecture has over 100. I am so glad I have a small group. It is going to be easy to get to know everyone and I think we will really bond as a group. 4 of the girls are from Pratt, 1 Corkrill (spelling?) in DC, 1 UCONN, 1 UMASS, 1 Smith, 1 North Carolina State, and myself from UMICH. After the meeting we had an interesting lecture on the morphical history of Copenhagen, which basically means how Copenhagen has changed architecturally over time. Still being jet lagged I had a little subway nap (when you fall asleep and once you realize you are asleep you jerk your head up awake for 2.5 seconds and repeat). This was followed by a boat tour of certain parts of the city to point out the architecture in real life vs. a slide show. Once the boat ride was over, we were free. Ari, Katie and I decided to get our metro passes, get an Ethernet cable for Katie (I got one for free from my neighbor cause I am special) and a few more art supplies that we forgot to purchase before we got here. After walking in the heat we decided to go back to Hvidorve and rest for a bit before going out for drinks and dinner. I am writing this at midnight here in Denmark and it is the first time I have seen darkness in over 3 days.

I will post pictures soon, I am just so tired and do not have a light that works in this room, hence I cannot see what I am doing. Tomorrow I will...I promise.

I leave tomorrow!

2009-06-28T08:13:00.000-07:00

Hello fellow readers,

My trip to Scandinavia begins tomorrow (well actually my flight is tomorrow, the Scandinavia part doesn't happen till the 30th). I am already packed and am dealing with some last minute shopping before I leave.

Some of you might be thinking "Why is Shif going to Scandinavia?" I am actually spending 6 weeks in a textile design program through DIS (Danish Institute for Study) I will be living in the outskirts of Copenhagen in Hvidovre (I don't know how to pronounce that AT ALL!) and traveling to Sweden and Finland during my time there. I don't know anyone on this program and don't really have any connection to the region, but I am soooooooo excited. If you received my e-mails from when I was in Israel, you know I will update often and I will try to add as many pictures to my posts.

Hope you all have a great summer!

-Shif