Pictures seem to take a long time to load onto this blog so I got a Flicker account so everyone can look at my pictures. These are not all of the pictures I have taken, but I can only put so many online and most of my pictures are of buildings so these are the more interesting ones.
here's the url: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lesliemc/
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
My Birthday, Roskilde and Work!
Saturday was my birthday, so after sleeping in, Fadia and Thomas made me breakfast and we sat at the table for a couple of hours talking. This seems to be a very common thing to do. Fadia also made me a cake which was really good but very different from American cakes. As far as I could tell, it was made from scratch and was a pretty dense cake with lots of nuts in it. It was also not as sweet as American cakes and it didn't have frosting. They also got me a little book about architecture in Copenhagen which was really nice. That afternoon I had to do to school to work on a studio project that was due in a week. After working on the project I went to a friend's Kollegium, which is kind of like a dorm for Danish students. However, unlike American dorms, kollegiums are not associated with any university and are not located at a university. A couple of my friends from Haverford had made me a surprise cake and bought me a beer in celebration of my 21st b-day. Then we went out to get pizza and stopped at a kiosk (a corner store) and bought several different beers and had a little taste test.
Sunday I went on a tour of Roskilde Cathedral and the Vikings' Ship Museum in Roskilde. The tour was organized and heavily subsized by DIS so it only cost 50 kroner (around $9) for the transportation to and from Roskilde and guided tours of both the museum and the cathedral! Roskilde Cathedral was begun in 1167 as the seat of Denmark's archbishopery, holds the burial sites of all the Danish royalty. Roskilde was very different than the other cathedrals I've seen, mostly in France. the entire building is made of bricks, and most of the interior wall surfaces are white painted brick. Although one chamber did have a lot of wall paintings, the surfaces in the nave are pretty plain. However, the white paint also makes the inside seem brighter and more inviting than the more heavily painted or stone interiors of the French cathedrals. We got a guided tour of the Cathedral which was nice because the guide was able to give us some of Denmark's early history and was also able to point out interesting facts about the church.
After seeing the church we went to the nearby Vikings Ship Museum which was built to hold the excavated remains of 5 viking ships found in the Roskilde Fjord. The ships were originally sunk in the 900s to block the entrance to Roskilde and they were discovered and carefully removed from the ocean in the 1950s. However, since they had been underwater for so long, most of the wood had disintegrated and so some of the reconstructed ships were more complete than others. We also got a guided tour for this museum and learned a fair amount about the Vikings and their different kinds of ships for trading and for war. The ships designed for trading had wider hulls to allow them to carry a greater load but were much slower than the narrower and longer war ships. The guide said that in these ships and with favorable winds, the Vikings could have reached England in only 3 days and Greenland in as little as 3 weeks!
Sunday I went on a tour of Roskilde Cathedral and the Vikings' Ship Museum in Roskilde. The tour was organized and heavily subsized by DIS so it only cost 50 kroner (around $9) for the transportation to and from Roskilde and guided tours of both the museum and the cathedral! Roskilde Cathedral was begun in 1167 as the seat of Denmark's archbishopery, holds the burial sites of all the Danish royalty. Roskilde was very different than the other cathedrals I've seen, mostly in France. the entire building is made of bricks, and most of the interior wall surfaces are white painted brick. Although one chamber did have a lot of wall paintings, the surfaces in the nave are pretty plain. However, the white paint also makes the inside seem brighter and more inviting than the more heavily painted or stone interiors of the French cathedrals. We got a guided tour of the Cathedral which was nice because the guide was able to give us some of Denmark's early history and was also able to point out interesting facts about the church.
After seeing the church we went to the nearby Vikings Ship Museum which was built to hold the excavated remains of 5 viking ships found in the Roskilde Fjord. The ships were originally sunk in the 900s to block the entrance to Roskilde and they were discovered and carefully removed from the ocean in the 1950s. However, since they had been underwater for so long, most of the wood had disintegrated and so some of the reconstructed ships were more complete than others. We also got a guided tour for this museum and learned a fair amount about the Vikings and their different kinds of ships for trading and for war. The ships designed for trading had wider hulls to allow them to carry a greater load but were much slower than the narrower and longer war ships. The guide said that in these ships and with favorable winds, the Vikings could have reached England in only 3 days and Greenland in as little as 3 weeks!
Friday, January 23, 2009
Exploring the City/The First Day of Class
Wednesday was the last day of orientation and I didn't have class on Thursday, so I spent the day exploring Copenhagen. I woke up relatively early and walked a bit around my apartment to kind of figure out where things were. A couple of blocks away there is a bunch of stores, although nothing I haven't seen in the center of Copenhagen. I am also only a 10 minute walk or so away from the Copenhagen soccer stadium which I glimpsed the outside of. Sometime this semester my Danish Language and Culture class is going to a game, which will be a lot of fun.
Later that morning I met two friends who also didn't have class. We went down to the Kommune, which I think is a place where Danes can go for health insurance and other social welfare stuff, but I'm not really sure all that it does. At the Kommune we got our CPR cards, which are basically like social security cards and are what give us health insurance while we are here. I think that it is pretty cool that you can get health insurance in a country you don't even live in as long as you have a visa.
After getting our CPR cards, we walked over to the Black Diamond which we had briefly seen a couple of days prior. The Black Diamond is an extension of the Royal Library, which is kind of like Denmark's Library of Congress in that it contains copies of all of the books published in Denmark. It is also used as a study space for students from universities in Copenhagen. The building is a very modern, sleek addition to the much older, gothic portion of the Royal Library. I'll post some pictures of this building when I figure out how to.
After exploring the Black Diamond, we walked over a Bridge to Christianhaven, a part of Copenhagen that King Christian IV built and named after himself sometime in the 1600s. We walked around a bit and then walked over to the Free Town of Christiania. Christiania is a small part of Copenhagen that has existed as a squatter settlement since the 1970s and offers the opportunity to live in an alternative lifestyle. I think the original settles lived in abandoned army barracks and people have since built thier own buildings out of various material. Everything is painted in psychedelic colors and it looks like you took a time machine back to the 70s. Although Christiania began as a commune for people who wanted an alternative lifestyle, it is also the center of the drug trade in Scandinavia and thus is subject to many police raids. Unfortunatly I don't have any pictures of it because there are many signs asking people not to take pictures. Christiania was really nice and it is kind of amazing that something like it has been able to exist for so long in any city.
After Christiania we walked to the end/beginning of the Strøget, a walking pedestrian street with lots of shops along it and went into some shops just to scope out the prices. things were definitly more expensive than in America but were not too outrageous. We also went into an H&M store and it was very different from those you see in America. The store was broken into smaller departments and had a kind of maze feeling whereas those in America tend to be in a large, expansive and unbroken space.
Friday was my first day of class and I had class straight from 8:30 to 5 with 15 minutes between each class. Fortunately i live only a 5 minute bus ride from school so I didn't have to get up too early but it is quite a change of pace from walking around all day to sitting inside for 8 hours. So far my classes seem interesting and I think I will get a pretty good sense of multiple aspects of Denmark between Danish Language and Culture, Danish Design and Danish Politics and Society.
One thing that really amazes me here is the fact that such a small country of 5 million people can have such a unique culture. Also, it seems strange that the many Danish brands and stores can be adequately supported by such a small population, especially when I think that Denmark has as many people as the Bay Area!
Later that morning I met two friends who also didn't have class. We went down to the Kommune, which I think is a place where Danes can go for health insurance and other social welfare stuff, but I'm not really sure all that it does. At the Kommune we got our CPR cards, which are basically like social security cards and are what give us health insurance while we are here. I think that it is pretty cool that you can get health insurance in a country you don't even live in as long as you have a visa.
After getting our CPR cards, we walked over to the Black Diamond which we had briefly seen a couple of days prior. The Black Diamond is an extension of the Royal Library, which is kind of like Denmark's Library of Congress in that it contains copies of all of the books published in Denmark. It is also used as a study space for students from universities in Copenhagen. The building is a very modern, sleek addition to the much older, gothic portion of the Royal Library. I'll post some pictures of this building when I figure out how to.
After exploring the Black Diamond, we walked over a Bridge to Christianhaven, a part of Copenhagen that King Christian IV built and named after himself sometime in the 1600s. We walked around a bit and then walked over to the Free Town of Christiania. Christiania is a small part of Copenhagen that has existed as a squatter settlement since the 1970s and offers the opportunity to live in an alternative lifestyle. I think the original settles lived in abandoned army barracks and people have since built thier own buildings out of various material. Everything is painted in psychedelic colors and it looks like you took a time machine back to the 70s. Although Christiania began as a commune for people who wanted an alternative lifestyle, it is also the center of the drug trade in Scandinavia and thus is subject to many police raids. Unfortunatly I don't have any pictures of it because there are many signs asking people not to take pictures. Christiania was really nice and it is kind of amazing that something like it has been able to exist for so long in any city.
After Christiania we walked to the end/beginning of the Strøget, a walking pedestrian street with lots of shops along it and went into some shops just to scope out the prices. things were definitly more expensive than in America but were not too outrageous. We also went into an H&M store and it was very different from those you see in America. The store was broken into smaller departments and had a kind of maze feeling whereas those in America tend to be in a large, expansive and unbroken space.
Friday was my first day of class and I had class straight from 8:30 to 5 with 15 minutes between each class. Fortunately i live only a 5 minute bus ride from school so I didn't have to get up too early but it is quite a change of pace from walking around all day to sitting inside for 8 hours. So far my classes seem interesting and I think I will get a pretty good sense of multiple aspects of Denmark between Danish Language and Culture, Danish Design and Danish Politics and Society.
One thing that really amazes me here is the fact that such a small country of 5 million people can have such a unique culture. Also, it seems strange that the many Danish brands and stores can be adequately supported by such a small population, especially when I think that Denmark has as many people as the Bay Area!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
The rest of Orientation
Orientation on Tuesday was much busier than Monday. We began the day by taking a Survival Danish class where we are supposed to learn basic Danish. We went to a supermarket to learn the names of fruit and vegetables and meat and then went back to the classroom to learn how to introduce ourselves. The thing that is most apparent from this brief lesson was the Danish is really really hard to say. The pronunciations are much less phoentic than even English and there are alot of silent letters or letters that have changing sounds. Also, when Danes speak, they tend to push every sound in each word and each individual word together so it is hard to distinguish individual sounds.
After our Survival Danish class, which wasn't all that helpful, we broke into small groups to go on a scavenger hunt where we were supposed to go to 6 different locations through the center of Copenhagen and answer questions about each one. The scavenger hunt was good introduction to the city but I'll have to go back to each of the sites and spend more time looking at the buildings.
Today was the last day of orientation which is a relief. I'm looking forward to getting settled into a routine and starting classes. After orientation today I went to Tiger, which is kind of like an upscale dollar store that seems to just have lots of random stuff. however, this store was very clean and neat and everything in it was a great example of Danish Design.
Today I also went on my first grocery store expedition. Until now I've mostly been buying my meals since I haven't had time to go to the grocery store when they were open (they are only open from 10-8). I went to Netto, the cheapest grocery store in Copenhagen and there is one about a 5 minute walk from where I live. The store was very different from those in America and was very small, even by Copenhagen standards and very crowded since it was full of people who had just gotten off work. It was really hard to find things because it was organized differently than at home and because it was so crowded. I managed to get a few groceries but will try to go to a little nicer and larger grocery store, Irma to get some things I couldn't find at Netto such as peanut butter and tofu. I think I'll be able to find peanut butter but am less sure about tofu.
Today i also figured out the bus system and am glad I did because my apartment is only a five minute bus ride and five minute walk from DIS which will be a lot better than the 30 minute walk I've been doing earlier.
One thing that I've notices about Copenhagen is that even though bikers and drivers can be a bit aggressive (which you would expect in any city), no one honks their horn or shouts in traffic or anything like that. the entire time I've been here and have been walking around, I don' t think I've ever hear a single car horn!
After our Survival Danish class, which wasn't all that helpful, we broke into small groups to go on a scavenger hunt where we were supposed to go to 6 different locations through the center of Copenhagen and answer questions about each one. The scavenger hunt was good introduction to the city but I'll have to go back to each of the sites and spend more time looking at the buildings.
Today was the last day of orientation which is a relief. I'm looking forward to getting settled into a routine and starting classes. After orientation today I went to Tiger, which is kind of like an upscale dollar store that seems to just have lots of random stuff. however, this store was very clean and neat and everything in it was a great example of Danish Design.
Today I also went on my first grocery store expedition. Until now I've mostly been buying my meals since I haven't had time to go to the grocery store when they were open (they are only open from 10-8). I went to Netto, the cheapest grocery store in Copenhagen and there is one about a 5 minute walk from where I live. The store was very different from those in America and was very small, even by Copenhagen standards and very crowded since it was full of people who had just gotten off work. It was really hard to find things because it was organized differently than at home and because it was so crowded. I managed to get a few groceries but will try to go to a little nicer and larger grocery store, Irma to get some things I couldn't find at Netto such as peanut butter and tofu. I think I'll be able to find peanut butter but am less sure about tofu.
Today i also figured out the bus system and am glad I did because my apartment is only a five minute bus ride and five minute walk from DIS which will be a lot better than the 30 minute walk I've been doing earlier.
One thing that I've notices about Copenhagen is that even though bikers and drivers can be a bit aggressive (which you would expect in any city), no one honks their horn or shouts in traffic or anything like that. the entire time I've been here and have been walking around, I don' t think I've ever hear a single car horn!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Traveling to Copenhagen/My first day
I began my traveling to Copenhagen on Saturday with a flight from SFO to Seattle and then a flight from Seattle to Copenhagen. My first flight to Seattle was really interesting because it flew over the mountains in Northern California, Oregon and Washington. On the trip I got a good ariel view of the East Bay and then the mountains. I saw Mt. Shasta, various volcano mountains, Crater Lake and Mt. St. Helens. It was a very pretty trip, especially because everything was covered with snow. The flight to Copenhagen was relatively good and uneventful. There were probably around 20 other DIS students on the plane. It seems like most students from the west coast flew from Seattle. The flight time for this leg was only around 10 hours since we flew the polar route up by greenland. Unfortunaly, it was a night flight so I couldn't see any of the northern canada or greenland which would have been cool.
Once I arrived in Copenhagen I went through customs (all they did was stamp my passport) and then took a DIS bus to the housing orientation. I was then met my two Danish roommates, a young married couple, Fadia and Thomas and they took me back to their apartment where I'm staying. The apartment is located several blocks from the most central part of the Copenhagen and a block from a series of 4 lakes that are located in the middle of the city. However, since the lakes are all contained in thin aligning rectangles, they look more like a river than a series of lakes. Around these lakes are nice gravel/sand paths which are great for running and walking on. The apartment itself is pretty small, just two small rooms, a bathroom, kitchen and living room. I have my own room and it is pretty small, but it works. The apartment's furnishings are very Danish, are modern and sleek and are very well designed.
In the 30 hours that I've been in Copenhagen I've seen lots of interesting designs, from neat modern buildings to appliance fixtures and desks in a college. You can tell Denmark is a center for modern design when the floor at customs in the airport is made out of a beautiful red/brown wood and when the bathrooms are the most stylish you've ever seen.
Sunday night I just had dinner with Fadia and Thomas and then we talked for a while about various things.
Today (Monday) orientation for DIS (Danish Institute for Study Abroad) began. For those of you who don't know, DIS is a program that only does study abroad and while it is affiliated with the University of Copenhagen, it has its own buildings and professors. DIS is subsidized by the Danish government and it is pretty large, there are 600 students at DIS this semester. While studying at DIS, you enroll in a specific program, of which there are around a dozen. I'm in the Architecture and Design program, and am taking a pre-Architecture studio class which is designed for students who are interested in architecture but attend a liberal arts studio. Besides the studio class, I'm taking Danish language, Danish Design and Danish Politics and Society.
Orientation today consisted of the opening ceremony held at the Carlsberg Glyptothek, which I think is an art musuem. The ceremony was kind of boring and mostly consisted of the head of DIS talking about how great an opportunity studying abroad is which is true but a little tiresome to hear over and over. After that we had a 45 minute break for lunch. I met up with a girl I know from Haverford and several other girls. We ended up walking to a nearby area where all the streets are pedestrian only and where there is a lot of shopping and some restaurants. We ended up going to one of the many schwarma ( I think I spelled that right) places. They had falafel sandwiches and scharwama (beef) and Kylling (chicken) sandwiches. These are made from cuts of meat taken from a rotating hunk of the meat, put in a pita with lettuce tomato and tzatki sauce. It was pretty good and fairly cheap, the chicken sandwich only cost 32 kk which is about 7 dollars.
After lunch we had a talk about living with danish people and living in Denmark and the cultural differences. Most were expected and fairly obvious. Some that I found interesting: Danish doesn't really have a work for sorry or excuse me, so when a Dane wants to get around someone who is in his/her way, they don't say "excuse me," but kind of just push on by. Also, it is normal for Danish parents to let their teenage children have their boy/girlfriends stay over night in the same room.
After orientation, Fadia and Thomas met me outside and then we walked back to the apartment and they showed me some grocery stores and other places I would need.
So far I haven't seen much of Copenhagen but what I've seen so far I like. The contrast between the old buildings and some of the newer, modern buildings and design is really interesting and the buildings are also a lot different from those that I saw last summer in Paris. One last interesting thing: 7-11s are all over the place. In the main shopping area there is one on almost every block.
Once I arrived in Copenhagen I went through customs (all they did was stamp my passport) and then took a DIS bus to the housing orientation. I was then met my two Danish roommates, a young married couple, Fadia and Thomas and they took me back to their apartment where I'm staying. The apartment is located several blocks from the most central part of the Copenhagen and a block from a series of 4 lakes that are located in the middle of the city. However, since the lakes are all contained in thin aligning rectangles, they look more like a river than a series of lakes. Around these lakes are nice gravel/sand paths which are great for running and walking on. The apartment itself is pretty small, just two small rooms, a bathroom, kitchen and living room. I have my own room and it is pretty small, but it works. The apartment's furnishings are very Danish, are modern and sleek and are very well designed.
In the 30 hours that I've been in Copenhagen I've seen lots of interesting designs, from neat modern buildings to appliance fixtures and desks in a college. You can tell Denmark is a center for modern design when the floor at customs in the airport is made out of a beautiful red/brown wood and when the bathrooms are the most stylish you've ever seen.
Sunday night I just had dinner with Fadia and Thomas and then we talked for a while about various things.
Today (Monday) orientation for DIS (Danish Institute for Study Abroad) began. For those of you who don't know, DIS is a program that only does study abroad and while it is affiliated with the University of Copenhagen, it has its own buildings and professors. DIS is subsidized by the Danish government and it is pretty large, there are 600 students at DIS this semester. While studying at DIS, you enroll in a specific program, of which there are around a dozen. I'm in the Architecture and Design program, and am taking a pre-Architecture studio class which is designed for students who are interested in architecture but attend a liberal arts studio. Besides the studio class, I'm taking Danish language, Danish Design and Danish Politics and Society.
Orientation today consisted of the opening ceremony held at the Carlsberg Glyptothek, which I think is an art musuem. The ceremony was kind of boring and mostly consisted of the head of DIS talking about how great an opportunity studying abroad is which is true but a little tiresome to hear over and over. After that we had a 45 minute break for lunch. I met up with a girl I know from Haverford and several other girls. We ended up walking to a nearby area where all the streets are pedestrian only and where there is a lot of shopping and some restaurants. We ended up going to one of the many schwarma ( I think I spelled that right) places. They had falafel sandwiches and scharwama (beef) and Kylling (chicken) sandwiches. These are made from cuts of meat taken from a rotating hunk of the meat, put in a pita with lettuce tomato and tzatki sauce. It was pretty good and fairly cheap, the chicken sandwich only cost 32 kk which is about 7 dollars.
After lunch we had a talk about living with danish people and living in Denmark and the cultural differences. Most were expected and fairly obvious. Some that I found interesting: Danish doesn't really have a work for sorry or excuse me, so when a Dane wants to get around someone who is in his/her way, they don't say "excuse me," but kind of just push on by. Also, it is normal for Danish parents to let their teenage children have their boy/girlfriends stay over night in the same room.
After orientation, Fadia and Thomas met me outside and then we walked back to the apartment and they showed me some grocery stores and other places I would need.
So far I haven't seen much of Copenhagen but what I've seen so far I like. The contrast between the old buildings and some of the newer, modern buildings and design is really interesting and the buildings are also a lot different from those that I saw last summer in Paris. One last interesting thing: 7-11s are all over the place. In the main shopping area there is one on almost every block.
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