Farvel Copenhagen!

Days 44-59 Kobenhaven, Danmark

So our last 2 weeks here have gone by slowly and very fast. We spent everyday in the studios doing work for our last project. I even had to pull 2 all nighters and spent 3 days straight in the studio without leaving. There were even girls who slept, showered and basically lived there all week. Who knew I would be spending nights in the studio in the summer...in Europe! But it was worth it despite some set backs and design issues. What is a project without some sort of stress?
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Touristy things we did:
-Ate at St. Petersburg Cafe
Delicious Danish meal of Biksemad!

-Orestad and it's crazy architecture

-Little Mermaid
Smaller than I thought
-Harbor Baths
-Christiania
Interesting culture
-Round Tower
Scary to climb but worth the view you get of Cph

-New Harbor
Pretty color buildings that you see when you google Copenhagen.
-Playhouse


-Opera house
-Many many things on our last walks out

Final Presentation and Project:
My presentation went better than I had expected. They liked my concept and I managed not to word vomit too much. :) I guess those days and nights in the studio were worth it.
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Wrap up on Copenhagen. I'm going to miss all the new people I've met here. Although I am homesick and I'm going to miss living in a different country and being with these new people who have become my little family here. I feel like I've known some of them for my whole life. I am so thankful to have been studying here with these people and going on this long trip with Brenna! I am also so thankful for my parents letting me travel and experience this new culture! I have learned and seen so much, I hope I will be able to make a difference in my projects as many of the architects and designers have here.

Shout-Outs: Rachel! Me and Brenna are going to miss you so much. I'm so happy we were assigned in project one together! Everybody who we met in Copenhagen, I hope we all keep in touch and maybe meet up one day. To Brigette and Hienrich who made our trips and time here so great. I'm going to miss everyone :(

End of the Day thought: Farvel Denmark, Here we come Ireland!

Where is North? Ummm..

Day 43-45 Western Denmark

So after only a week and half after our week long study tour to Sweden/Finland, we had a short 3 day study trip to the Western side of Denmark. So we packed our bags and got to spend the weekend with our bud family, our 2 proffs, 2 interns and our fabulous bus driver, Yes. It was so fun and went by way too quickly.

I really like our two professors that teach the interior architecture program. One is this cute Danish woman named Bergette ( pronounced Bergetta) or BB who speaks with a Danish accent and has so many interesting phrases like "put your urban eyes on" or "put your experience in your backpack and take it out" many things like that. And than there is Heinrich who is this old Austrian man who like to random pop out of no where during tour and ask you which way north is. And yes he keeps his compass around his neck at all times. He also loves to climb on random things.

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Where we stayed:
Night One- Aarhus Vandrerhjem Danhostel; An okay Hostel. We unfortunately we decided to rent our sheets and bedding after dinner and found out that the office was closed. So we had to sleep on layers of clothes. Oops. Luckily that hostel was clean and we didn't get caught because it would be a 250 kroner fee...
Night Two- Danhostel Ebeltoft designed by Friis & Moltke; This hostel was really awesome. Set on a huge hill over looking the water. This is a piece of architecture that was designed to blend in with nature and into the land. It was a very nice hostel, with comfy sheets you could rent, good dinner & breakfast, a beautiful view of the sunset and was just like a hotel where there is a bathroom in your room instead of a shared one with the floor.

Our view from the hostel

What we Saw:

-Orbaek Kirke
Traditional church of Denmark

-Faaborg Museum by Carl Petersen

-Middlefart Sparkasse by 3xn
Really cool bank. The interior had many different levels and angles that are designed and work very well together. They also have very uniquely designed  floor lights that are 5 feet underground with mirrors that help project light and color out. Recently built this bank is all about it's workers and customers being happy. We even got a goody bag of a huge chocolate bar, coffee and candy treats for visiting!

-Aarhus Krematorium Kapel by Henning Larsen

-Aarhus AA by Ole Ostergaard
Waterway and urban design of the Aarhus city area.

-Aros by Schmidt, Hammer & Lassen
This was a museum of Modern art in Aarhus. The interior was a big wow factor with it's spiral stairs that led you from the bottom floor to the roof. The roof of the building had a huge rainbow ring installation that people can walk through and see the city in different colors.

-Aarhus Raadhus by Arne Jacobsen and Erik Moller

-Aarhus Universitet by Kay Fisker, Poul Stegmann, CF Moller Land Architect: C Th Sorensen

Brenna sketching 

-Koldinghus Renovated by Inger and Johannes Exner
A Castle that mixes new materials and design with old materials and design in mind. It was a wonderful balance between the to and was a lot of fun to explore.

-Bornekulturhuset St. Nicolai by Dorte Mandrup Land Architect: Kristine Jensens Tegnestue
We went to a place dedicated to families and kids to play and have fun together. Every year there is a new theme and the whole building is redesigned. This year's theme was Little Nicoli, which was about a little boy and his world. It was a lot of fun to play in here and outdoors where it was a giant playground as well.

-Trapholt Museum of Art

-Arne Jacobson's Summer home
Tiny and very hot inside. But you got to sit in the famous chairs!


Our Surprise Stop:
At the end of our trip we had one long stretch on the bus home to Cph. But Brigette announces that they "forgot" a place on our itinerary. We than stopped at a farm and were asked to jump through barbed wire fences that had a lot of sheep running around. We than hiked up a hill and saw remnants of old viking settlements and the sheep that roam around them now. They than led us into a old viking longhouse and there were a bunch of shots that were all lined up for us from the professors. Yes, they than toasted to having a wonderful time travelling with us and we all "skolled" (cheers) and took our shots. Many of our faces were all scrunched because it tasted soooo bad. We had taken schnapps which is the Danish liquor of choice.
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It was sad that this was our last trip with our bus family and that it would be down to business time when we got back to school.

Shout outs: To Brenna's family who reads my blog! I hope you all enjoy them! Thank you for giving me a reason to continue this blog!

End of the Day thought: I love our professors.

Busy Busy

Day 33-42 Copenhagen, Denmark

Sooo after our trip, our final project is the center of our attention now with studio hours every other day and lectures in between that. It's been kind of stressful to have to prepare a whole project in such a short amount of time but I guess that is preparing us for real life....or a mental breakdown. :) Haha just kidding. It's been fun too. We get to explore this city a little more when we go on our walks between lectures and after the day is over.
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Thought about the Finnish Language  Their words are long and very hard to pronounce. You think your saying a word correctly but when you are corrected by an actual Finnish speaker they seem to have dropped about 70% of the letters and sounds. Me saying Nahdaan myohemmin (see you later) would be "Nah-dan My-o-hem-min" but if they say it it may be "NahMmin" or something completely not the what the word looks like. I don't think I'm learning this language anytime soon unfortunately.


Danish Fashion From what I've seen:
Females: Big sweaters, leggings, jeans, a lot of converses. Harem pants are huge here. And you can mismatch patterns, colors, styles and look like you just threw on clothes and it is totally fine here. Check out this cool site. http://thelocals.dk/ for some examples. (I didn't want to be a complete creeper and photographing people)
Males: They seem to be very casual...but its seems planned at the same time. Even if they are wearing a preppy sweater, ripped jeans, and converse that seemed to be thrown together last minute-ly...but I don't think it was..Also the trend for hair for guys is the faux hawk, I see a handful whenever I walk downtown.

Interesting thing:

When we first got here I thought that Denmark had a thing about Elephants because there were these big painted elephants everywhere. Kind of like Rochester had Horses on parade. They are everywhere and all painted differently. I found out that this parade of elephants is to raise awareness of the abused and injured elephants that are out there. And the money raised from painting mini elephants goes to help them all over the world. Very cool. Side Note: It seems like a lot of people like to climb these elephants as well.

Weird thing I witnessed:
During Class there was a music and what seemed to be a parade. So we all stood on the windows to check it out..what we saw were hundreds of Santas, Santa's wife, Santa Kids.... jamming down the street. If someone knows why please let me know. I was amused but very confused.

Tourist Things we saw this week: 

-Carlsberg Brewery
We heard this was a fun place to check out and is important because it is Denmark's choice beer. They are huge and have a lot of different labels of beer under them. So we went to check out the brewery. It was self-guided and was fun to check out. We saw their horses, old factory, the biggest beer bottle collection in the world, and received 2 free beers with our ticket to try. They were ok I guess since I am not a big beer drinker but it was fun to try and see my first brewery. Also Funny note: They have a huge sign in the middle of Copenhagen that says "Probably the best beer in town" I guess they weren't sure when they put this sign up...

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So far so good out here. I am trying really hard not to think about how homesick I am and how much work there is let to do. We have our hostel to design, models to build, presentation to prepare, exams to study for in really only 1.5-2 weeks. And we have a short 3 day study trip to go on. AHH and there is still so much architecture and touristy things to see and there is no time left!

Shout-outs: Mr and Mrs. Mitchell on becoming new grandparents! Everyone who has been reading my blogs, I hope that they are somewhat interesting to read  or even just to look at the pictures!

End of the Day thought: Oh no it's almost over! Bittersweet.

Cph Bound Again

Day 29-32 Helsinki, Finland & Turku, Finland

So the rest of the trip was a lot of fun and was kind of sad to leave our bus family but I learned so much and it will be so nice to sleep in for a day!
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Where we stayed: Sokos Helsinki & Viking Line back

What I saw:

-Alvar Aalto's Studio
Wish I could of worked here, for Aalto

-Alvar Aalto's House
He worked from home as well and had a lot of fun spaces he incorporated. He even added a mini hideaway room for when guest came and he didn't want to talk to them :P

-Kiasma Modern Art Museum by Steven Holl
Very great interior design with a lot of dramatic and different light. But Andrew's guest Architect speaker said that the exterior looked like a piece of metal wrapped around a cow's head. Hmm.

-Academic Bookstore by Aalto
The skylights bring in most of the light into this space.

-The Rock Church
This church is crazy. It's embedded and built mainly from rocks. I wish I had a better picture of this space. Look this place up it's worth it.

-Myyrmaki Church by Juha Leiviska, Pekka Kivisalo
Beautiful inside and outside. Very light and airy feeling. The lighting inside made the place seem very serene and peaceful.

-Hvittrask by Herman Giselius, Armus Lindgren
Home of Eero Saarinen and his family/close friend.

-Paimio Sanatorium by Aalto
This hospital was designed specially for patients who suffered turburcolosis back when there was no medicinal cure or shots. Fresh air was the cure here. It was interesting but now only 15% of this large hospital is still in use. We walked around the huge building that had no people in it. It was kind of creepy!

-Harry Potter the Final Movie
Yeah it's important and going on this list.
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The last night on the ferry back to Sweden was a lot of fun. Out bus had bonded so much that we all went to the disco up on the deck together. We danced and just had a lot of fun. We had to enjoy out last weekend of fun before we all start on our final project. ick.

Shout-Outs: To my family, missing you all more than ever. Brittany Dick, Hope you are enjoying your internship! Alecia, hope your having a great summer, miss having our long chats together.

End of the Day thought: Need Sleeep.

AA (Alvar Aalto!)

Day 28 Helsinki, Finland 

Woo I have been so excited to see Helsinki not only for the architecture and city life but Andrew may have been studying here as well! We saw a few sites along the way to the city and stopped to our new temporary location. So far our bus of 43 students, 2 professors, 1 financial director and intern has become sort of a mini family. A very diverse group = a lot of trouble and entertainment throughout the whole trip!
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Where we stayed: Sokos Helsinki Hotel -Very very nice! (Sokos is a chain that ranges from very high end to very affordable. Ours would be a 4 probably so we got lucky)

Funny Thing: My professor said for us to make sure we wore our clip clops. She meant flip flops. :)

What I saw:

One of the Models we made

-Saynatsalo
This was my site for my assignment one. So me and my group had to give a little presentation at the site before people went to explore and sketch. This place was a lot smaller than I thought it would be but the way Aalto played with light and the domestic feeling he was trying for within the interiors and the courtyard really came through, which you wouldn't expect in a public place and civic center.

-Muuratsalo; Alvar Aalto's Experimental summer house
Really cool! Aalto's summer home was a hike into the woods and was placed next to a lake. It was hidden in the woods and you just need to see it. He used this home to experiment with different materials and techniques which seem to work together so nicely. I'm not sure if he knew that it would look so neat all put together randomly like that. A lot of his experiments here he did use in many of his buildings. It was so cool to be able to pick out different techniques he used when I went to his other sites. Side note: I ate a lot of wild strawberries and blueberries here. They were yum.

-Jyvaskyla University Campus, Auditorium & Library
One of the first campus campuses to be built in Finland. The auditorium had scalloped acoustically ceiling and in the back doors could be retracted to double as one large auditorium or closed for 2 separate.
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All in all Aalto is the man. He is very detail oriented and really cares about how the human body relates to everything.

So after the sites probably 80% of the bus wanted to see Harry Potter because it had just come out the day before in Finland. (3 Days before the US!) so after we dropped all our luggage at the hotel, a lot of us dashed to the theater to get tickets to the last showing at 9.30. I was suppose to meet Andrew at the movies (woo!) but without a cellphone plan out here it was hard to communicate...so long story short we were waiting for each other at different theaters and we missed the showing, but who cares Andrew showed me around the city which was great as well :) :) Who knew I would see him twice overseas! We went to Mcdonalds (romantic, but the only things that were open were bars) and there are so many different types of sauces (Rey you would love it!) i.e. Curry dipping sauce, apple something

Shout-Outs: My little family Kyleen and Kelsey! Hope you both are having a great summer! Oink

End of the Day Thought: I like Helsinki so far.

Chapels, Churches Galore

Day 27: Turku, Finland

Going strong. Saw a lot this weekend in Sweden. It is a beautiful city. We than boarded the Viking Line for the night. It was like a mini one night cruise from Sweden to Finland. We had dinner, discoed, got little sleep and docked at 6am. It was a lot of fun. Side note: if you run on a ship and the deck is wet and you have had a few drinks you will break your arm. Radhi in our group found out the hard way but we were all happy that she is safe and hadn’t been swept out into sea.

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Where we stayed: Viking Lines (great!) & Jyvaskylan Laajavuori Oy Hostel (Was an ok hostel not my favorite)

New Finnish word of the day: Hyvaa Huomenta means Good Morning!

What I Saw:

Holy Cross

-Chapel of the Holy Cross

This chapel is very modern and the way the architect Pekka Pitkanen plays with light makes it a very dramatic place to be in. Although this place was very interesting to study it was hard to concentrate because I just had chills running up and down my back because a cremation was taking place and you can see the black smoke coming up from the chimney.. a few kids went down to the basement to watch...um not for me please. 

A lot lighter than my picture shows

-Chapel of the Resurrection

I thought this chapel was beautiful because it was so soft in its features and construction. The layout of the church was different from any church I’ve been in and really gives you the sense of nature and peacefulness.

-Petajaesi Church

A traditional church that is still in use today. It is beautifully contructed from all wood. Our professor Chuck would call this place kindling.

Kuokkalan Church

-Kuokkalan Church

Lassila Hirvilammi Architects did a great job of the design of this church. It is a newly contructed church which is all slate tile on the outside which was ok looking, but when you enter the wood detailing and construction was so interesting and different what what I’ve seen so far. 

An experience to try: Finnish Suana

You sit in the suana until you are sweating or really hot to open and cleanse the pores than run and jump into a really cold lake (or go get a cold shower) to wash the bad away. You are suppose to do this minimum of 3 times but jumping in the cold lake once was just as fun for me! I did feel really relaxed though after that. A lot of people felt more relaxed especially having to travel by bus all day and getting very little sleep.

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End of the day was fun an relaxing. We got to sauna and barbecue with our professors at the lake. So far so good. 

Shout-outs: CONGRATS to Greg and Natalia for their new bundle of joy! Welcome to the world Mila Mitchell! You are so lucky to be born in such a wonderful family. 

End of the Day thought: It’s not that much more fun to eat Swedish fish in Sweden.

Where the Vikings at?!

Day 23-26: Stockholm, Sweden
After a long day of traveling by bus we made it to Sweden! So far this city is my favorite city. We entered the country surrounded by homes and the beautiful countryside. I am also staying at my first hostel ever and it is not what I expected at all! I imagined the movie Hostel type situation but its not (yet anyways). Our hostel is very cute and tiny village like outside of Stockholm. There are 2 bunks in a room and a pretty nice shared girls bathroom down the hall. Things are kept clean here, there’s free wi-fi and a nice breakfast in the morning. We took the train into the old city and the new and it was just great. The city is not too small and not too big. There were shops open (In Copenhagen everything is closed at 6)!!
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Where we are staying: Zinkensdamm Hostel

Interesting things I’ve eaten so far:
-Mushy radish pudding- Not very good
-White mushy pudding- Not very good sourish
-Meatballs- Very good!!
-Pickles, lingenberries in my mash potatoes- Really good!
-Fresh Salmon was great!

What I Saw:

-Hamlet’s Castle

Symbols for the 4 Apostles

-St. Petri Church
Interesting church made from brick, concrete, and copper roofing. All materials were laid and even mistakes were meant to be shown to show man being honest. The bricks were laid unevenly with rough mortor and some materials were reused from other sites. Inside was beautiful and serene. The lights that were suspended from the ceiling was such a nice detail throughout the main area. It was very dark inside and although it was small and seemingly simple to some, the message of an honest man and the honestly in materials was done very well. Also the technique for the windows are done so that when you look out of them it looks there is no window at all.

-Gamla Stan
The old city of Stockholm. You can tell on the map it’s old from the winding roads to the newer roads laid in a grid pattern. It was so peaceful expecially because it was Sunday and relazing to explore and walk around. I may even have to say I enjoyed this area a lot more than some of the cities in Italy.. all are great in their own ways of course! Saw the Royal Palace but just missed the changing of the guards!

Doesn't do how awesome it is justice.

-Kulturhuset & Sergels Torg
The Times Square of Stockholm. The plan of this area is very intricate in the way they layered different aspects of the city. The top layers like the roads are dedicated to automobiles and traffic, the lower level is dedicated to pedestrians and shops and the lowest levels are for the public transit. It is such a clever way of layering the city and using the limited space that this city occupies.

-Moderna Museet & Arkitekturmuseet Exhibition

-Stortorgskallaren Restaurant
We had a 3 course meal with our DIS (Danish Institute for Study Abroad) group and professors. The salad, meatballs, mash potatos, creme brulee and ice cream was yummy. It’s also located at the highest point of the Old City.
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It was a great first day spent here! Although we did a lot of walking it didn’t really feel like it. There is so much to see and the weather is cool and perfect temperature to walk.

Shout-outs: Hope you have a safe and fun trip yourself papasito!

End of the Day thought: It is a small world after all.

Have Long Eyes

Day 14-22 Copenhagen

So it has officially been a week of full time classes and I have learned so much that I may be a little overwhelmed, in a good way. We had our gallery style critique Monday morning, it was a wake up call! These professors know what they are talking about and is very honest when it comes to presicion and detail. It went pretty well and I learned a lot about the Saynatsalo building and am so excited to see it next week!
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Final Project: Go to the onsite rundown waterpump facility in down town Cph, observe and redesign into a hostel. There is a lot of different things they are asking us to do, that I've never done before in the design process...this will be interesting because we only have 3 weeks to work on it...umm..

What I found out this week:
-My professor told us to have long eyes. I assume this means see all that I can see...
-Elderflower tea is delicious
-$4 Mcdonalds in Rochester is $11.50 here. Yes, same exact meal.
-Hot glue gun will be hotter even with the converter plugged in. ex. burned my hand
-Met another zeta which is fun, Hi Mary!
-7-11s here are actually great.
-Ant chairs are everywhere (Furniture blog coming up!)

What I Saw:

-Skraplanet Co-Housing
A community of 33 or less homes that have their own homes but a communal areas for group dinners, parties, events, clubs and anything they want to make of it.  The homes were beautiful and very simplistic in the interiors. Wooden ceilings, open feeling and unique division of space were amazing. All the homes were built to blend in with nature and were all placed in different positions in and on the hill. You can do your own thing or have dozens of families to share growing up with.

Inspired by floating clouds

-Bagsvaerd kirke by Jorn Utson
It was breathtaking inside. You cannot believe the large scale curves that gracefully flow over your head. It was so peaceful inside. Utzon plans every single detail that goes into his work down from the private rooms to the brass handlebar designs seen through out the church.

-Grundtvig's kikken by Jensen Klint
You can see the huge scale of this church before you can even see the little homes that surround it. Outside seemed intimidating but inside it produced a warm feeling from the light colored bricks. The designs inside were defined by the positioning of the bricks and the way there were laid from the floors to the ceiling.

Looking over the harbor

-Paustian Show Room by Jorn and Lin Utzon
Beautiful modern exterior and interior architecture. This was a also a place where they show cased some of the most iconic pieces of furniture

View from Louisiana Museum

Inside museum cafe

-Louisiana Museum (pronounced Loosheeanna) by Knud Jensen, Vilhelm Wohlert & Jorgen Bo
The exibition we saw was called Living. It depicted different ways people approached designs of different cultures and time periods living situations. The museum is made of 3 different buildings and is placed on a hill overlooking the ocean. People go not only to enjoy the art but to relax on the lawns and forests around the museum.

There was no pictures allowed... my phone did it

-Danish Jewish Museum
Tiny place hidden in the royal library. The only thing that signifies it’s existence are 4 concrete block that lead you to a concrete door. When we went inside I did not expect such a tiny space to have such a impact on all my senses. The interior was made of protruding walls and slanted floors to create the feeling of the obstacles the Jewish people felt before, during and after the halocaust.

Culture Shocks:
-High school kids drinking and smoking in public.
-People drinking in public
-People drinking in public at 7am
-People heavily making out, too much PDA!
-Supermarkets here are no Wegmans
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We leave for Sweden and Finland early Saturday morning! Great architecture here we come!

Shout-outs: Missing my family! Garbage plates.

End of the Day thought: Finally did my laundry. All my clothes are now pink.