Last Week in CPH

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

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!

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!

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!!!

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!!!

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?

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

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

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

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.