I need a little bit of D&D

Farvel Copenhagen!

2011-08-17T13:47:00.000-07:00

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..

2011-08-17T13:09:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-31T11:34:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-31T10:46:00.000-07:00

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!)

2011-07-20T11:17:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-17T14:46:00.000-07:00

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?!

2011-07-10T13:51:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-07T15:54:00.000-07:00

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.

Brrr!

2011-06-30T14:45:00.000-07:00

Seaweed Thatched roof

Day 13: Copenhagen

Danish pastries are amazing. If I didn’t have to walk everywhere and have to take the stairs everyday I would come back to the US very very large. Today was another early morning. Only class day 2 and I feel like we are already in full speed. 10 weeks of our quarter system is already very condense, so trying to cram a whole semester in 7 weeks will be...fun... No but so far I have learned soooo much. In 2 days we have already 5 different lectures from 5 different working professionals, studio sessions, team model building and the 2 field study trips. It’s hectic but very worth it. After our 8.30-11.30 lecture we went to the Open Air Museum 20 mins north of CPH. We studied the history of domestic homes brought over and preserved from Denmark and areas of Sweden.
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What I found out this today:
-Materials you will see a lot in older Danish and Swedish homes: Straw or seaweed on their roofs, timber and a lot of brick. Later they used a lot of copper for their roofs and ornaments. Now a lot of people associate Scandinavian architecture to be made of wood, glass and metals.
-It can get warm to very cold in 10 minutes and rain within seconds. Luckily it only got really cold windy and drizzily.

What I Saw & Learned:
-Many different types of homes at the Open Air Museum
It’s free to the public, so go if you are here!
-MIT’s Chapel by Eero Saarinen Case study
At first glance I just thought of it as some sort of Silo, but having a closer look at the sturctural details and interiors, the chapel is inspiring. It is a very radically inward oriented space and like all places of worship the alter is the focal point. Emphasis of the alter by manipulating the light shaft and visually enhancing the light by adding the reflective elements around the light. Google it! or visit it in Boston!
-A family of yellow and black ducks, they were so cute!
-Sheep, horses, rams, pigs, chickens, roosters!
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It was a nice combination day with lectures and the trip. Afterwards though many of us met up with our groups at the studio to discuss our project concepts, execution etc. I also had a nice chat with Professor Heinrich Hermann who is currently a professor at RISD and a private architect. His resume is very impressive and he is a very nice old Austrian man. I asked him about Germany and one of his comments: “Oh they are nice...they are too strict and hardworking...They must think us Austrians dance all the time and that they are better than us because of it. But we do like to dance,”

End of the Day thought: Tomorrow. Tgif...oh wait I mean studio time... woo..

First Day of Classes

2011-06-29T12:12:00.000-07:00

Studio Space

Day 12: Copenhagen

So I’m not sure that I’m ready for classes to start again, but I’m nervous and excited. We had to get up at 6.30, be ready by 7.30 and made our way out to the train station for clss at 8.30. It only takes a 10 min walk to the station, 5 mins on the train and a 5 min walk to school. We stopped for expensive tea and coffee...$3-9 a cup I believe. Had classes until 5.30 and we were exhausted and a bit overwhelmed by the workload. We thought we were going to have an easy first weekend, but we have 50% of our project to be completed and presented by Monday! So goodbye weekend. But it’s exciting working with people in architecture, urban design and other interior people. I will learn so much, even if I crash and burn by next week!
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Project: Create a site analysis and model on a 1:50 scale (metrics) based on research within assigned group by Monday. My group was assigned Alvar Aalto’s Säynätsalo in Finland to research.

Workload for the night:
A ton of reading
Sketch model
Concept sketches
Research of given architecture program

What I found out today:
-Danish accents are pretty fun to listen to
-Don’t talk on the train in the morning- people will stare at you.
-Alvar Aalto and Jorn Utzon are very influential architects and have many great projects
I’ll upload pictures and information once I go visit those sites here in CPH and when I go to Finland and Sweden!
-Going to have to buy a lot of materials!!! UGH
-METRIC SYSTEM WHAT?
-Oh and still working on military time

New word of the day: Jeg elsker dig- I love you

What I Saw:
-A lot of cute vintage shops and stores (no time or moolah to shop for now though!) at 25-50% tax rates I don’t think I will ever have money anymore!

Misc: Coolest ducks here. They are black with shiny white beaks. Had our first dinner in the kitchen that Brenna cooked for us. Yum.

The Kitchen our floor shares is Cozy

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So long for now. Have to start my loads of homework. Hopefully we will be able to get a couple hours of sleep before waking up at 6.30 again. Thankfully my group meets at 9.45 on Friday so I can sleep in a little more.

Shout-outs: Marla and Mia for being great people are following me and Brenna’s blogs! Marla- Hope you had fun in LA and Vegas!
My mom for kind of learning how to Skype with me!

End of the Day thought: Ahh homework in the summer!?

Apartment Sweet Apartment

2011-06-28T12:47:00.000-07:00

Oresund

They gave me pink flower sheets

Sketchy Green Couch

Day 8-11 Copenhagen

Sorry it has been awhile since I blogged! Moving has been hectic and I didn’t have internet. We moved into our rooms yesterday in a town called Amager which is still within the Copenhagen city, just on the outskirt. I have my own room and so does Brenna. We share a bathroom which is kind of...interesting. Imagine your shower head attached to your sink and when you turn the sink on, the shower turns on too. Although the bathroom is gross our bedrooms are very cute.
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Where we are staying: Øresundskollegiet Building

What I found out this weekend:
-Danes do not have a word for please
-Things close very early
-Bicycling through the streets are not as relaxing as I thought it would be
-Kronos are kind of a confusing currency to work with
-They use pin numbers instead of signitures even for credit cards (I found this out the hard way)

New word of the day: Ga Weg! (Go away!)

What I Saw:
-Copenhagen harbor
Went on a boat ride and it was such a nice ride. The water, city skyline and architecture is amazing. I’ll list all the great architecture once I really get to see them up close
-What a hostel looks like
Danhostel in Denmark is actually a nice place to stay

Misc: Andrew’s study abroad group was actually here over the weekend so I got to have dinner with him for a couple nights. I can’t believe I got to see him in Europe!

Kristin arrived today and is our lovely neighbor!
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Copenhagen is such a lovely place. It’s not too big but not too small either. It has cute cobblestone streets, historical architecture, beautiful landmarks and so much more. I’m excited that I get to call this place my home for the next 6 weeks! Sorry if the next blogs are not as interesting because I will be staying in one place. But I will be sharing all the wonderful things I will experience and learn here about interior architecture and about the people & culture here!

Shout-outs: Happy Birthday to the best brother in the world!!! I can not believe that you are in high school and taller than me now! I love and miss you little brother! Have a wonderful day, you deserve it!

End of the Day thought: I’m going to try not to get homesick.

En Route

2011-06-26T03:53:00.000-07:00

View of Verona area from the Train

View of the Alps

Day 7: Milan (Train Station)

So today was just a day of traveling, nothing particularly exciting happened today but we got to see the countryside of Italy on our way up to Milan’s trainstation. Highlight of the morning was Brenna getting pooped on by a pigeon at the station.
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Where we are staying before we get our permanent rooms: Comfort Inn
Very nice, free internet, nice staff. But located next and across from a strip club...ew. But we are in the middle of everything.

What I found out today:
-People aren’t just being nice, they are trying to rip you off at the stations (true everywhere though, so be careful!)
-Shuffling makes waiting at the stations go a lot faster
-Military time in Europe
Found this when we first got to Europe but just telling yall
-Danish will be hard to learn
-Allowed to drink publicly resulting to a lot of drunken fools
Just think drunk college kids running all over Copenhagen, it was kind of overwhelming and unexpected
-Don't like expresso
Had my first Italian expresso shot thing, no amount of sugar and milked helped.
-It's cold in DK at night
-Danish money (Krones) are weird

New Danish word or phrase of the day: Hej: Hi Farvel: Goodbye

What I Saw:
-Beautiful countryside of Italy
-Milan Train station
-Milan airport
-Copenhagen airport
Beautiful airport and has fun chairs
-Crazy Nightlife of Copenhagen
First of probably many my many nights here
-Michael Jackson Fans in a circle, praying downtown at 11pm
I love MJ but this group is serious.
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It was a nice day of travel. We did lose our last train ticket but we had scanned copies of them all so that saved us. We trained fro Venice to Milan, trained Milan to airport than flew from Milan to Denmark. On the plane we were surrounded by blue eyed blond haired babies and kids so I knew we were going to the right place. We arrived in Copenhagen at 9.45pm and it was still light out.
When we arrived Andrew’s study abroad group is studying architecture in Copenhagen for a few nights so we found each other!! He took me and Brenna for our first Danish hotdog (yum, but awkward to eat). We walked around and saw crazy people everywhere. Than later me and Andrew went to see live music and walked around the rest of the night. It’s so crazy to be with him in Europe!

End of the Day thought: I’m in Copenhagen. What?!

Arrivederci Italia

2011-06-24T13:21:00.000-07:00

Day 6: Venice

For our last day in Venice, Italy we decided to go to the beach that many people rave about. After getting on the wrong bus (story of our trip) and finally getting to the right place we took a ferry to the island of Lido that is next to Venice.

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What I found out today:

-The hotels we stayed at have weird hairdryers. They look like vacumm cleaners.

-You will never get bored of the neverending rows of different color houses along the canels. They are all so unique!

-Scarpa Cosetta Pasticcerie has very many yummy pastries! We may have bought 11 different kinds to take back with us to the hotel

-I didn’t like the Venetian drink that is the traditional drink of Venice. We saw everyone drinking it so we had to try.

Ingredients: White wine, Spritzer, bitters, something else that is orange, something else, olive, orange slice

-Birds here are not scared to get on your plate and eat off it

What I Saw:

-Lido Beach

-Venice in a different point of view by ferry (Bella!)

-Town of Lido

Misc: Brenna didn’t find her tall dark handsome guy here. She’s going to look for her blond, blue eyed love in Copenhagen.

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Today was a great last day in Italy. It was a fun short trip and I hope I get to come back one day and visit these cities again. Next time I’d also want to see the leaning tower of Pisa, eat more local cuisines, more pizza, more pasta, more creampuffs um basically all food. Our last sunset in Venice was gorgeous.

Tomorrow will be a day of traveling train to Milan’s airport than flight to our new home for the next few months, Denmark. After our program in Denmark ends in August we get to be in Ireland for 4 days before we go back to the states!! Woo!

Shout-outs: To my little brother, you would love love love the lasagna here! All the people in Italy that helped us not get too lost and not getting angry when we didn’t understand what you said but pretended to. :)

The Whalens for being Brenna's fabulous parents!

End of the Day thought: I’ll be back Italia! Ciao for now.

Dov'è...?

2011-06-23T13:08:00.000-07:00

He was ok with it

Day 5: Venice

Our next and final destination of our Italian journey is to Venice! We learned the hard way that traveling light is very important especially in Florence. Stairs and cobblestone roads are not friends when having to hail a taxi down 5 blocks... Another fun obstacle is lugging huge 50lb suitcases on and off the trains, under and over the train stations and getting dirty looks from people who we end up hitting (I accidentally hit 2 old men with my backpack and they shot me the dirtiest looks!) It’s hard travelling light when you’re about to spend 2 months in Denmark! I will get nice tone arms by the end of this trip though.

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Where we are staying: Hotel Vienna

What I found out today:

-Don’t impulsively buy a slushie without asking what flavor it is first. Your thirst quenching apple slushie may be mint flavored instead. Instead of drinking something fruity and delicious it tasted like I drank my toothpaste.

-Venice is a never ending winding of paths. You will get lost if you do not have a map! (We got lost for 2 hours even with a map so...) But it is a beautiful town to get lost in.

What I Saw:

-Basilica di Saint Marco

Gorgeous gold mozaic work with hundreds of different colors arranged into figures, animals, sayings etc. The inside was glistening and although it was dark the figures seemed to glow. Although I am not Catholic, the past Basilicas are very moving and my appreciation for the history behind every single thing interior/exterior has grown.

-Piazza di Saint Marco

It was so fun. We got to chase the hundreds of pigeons and watch the birds land on people. This was a very lively and fun place full of birds and people.

-Streets of Venice

Just like out of the postcards, the paths and roads are pedestrian only. Built on the water and on narrow winding streets. The houses were different colors, shapes and sizes. Cutest place I have ever seen.

-Ponte di Rialto

Huge bridge with shops

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The Gondala ride has always been something I wanted to do. It was espensive though but worth the experience. Although our guy was kind of a character it was a great way to see the neighborhood. I did feel bad that 6 hours worth of work money was gone in my 20 minute experience..

Shout-outs: GeorgeAnne! I tried finding cute homes like on house hunters international! I wish you and the downstairs admissions crew were here. Miss you all so so much!

Miss my family so much! Getting a bit homesick already!

End of the Day thought: Where did all my money go??

Va Bene

2011-06-22T15:01:00.000-07:00

Duomo

It's nice at the Top

You're Allowed

Yum

Day 4: Florence

Woo! Today was probably one of the best days of the many perfect days. We climbed Mount Everest of Florence aka il Duomo! Had an AMAZING lunch, saw more beautiful architecture and art, followed by a perfect evening wine & dessert where Brenna’s future husband works at.
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What I found out today:
-Sidewalks can be used as a parking space
-The best sandwich comes from the bread shop right below our hotel. Oh and had the best creampuff ever. (But not as good as Gran’s of course, don’t worry Andrew!)

What I Saw:
-The Duomo in the The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore
The thousands (I’m not kidding) of steps of narrow spiraling stairs and fear of heights is very very worth it, one of the best views I have ever seen. Will I do it again...we’ll talk about that when I’m in better shape.
-The Basilica of Saint Lorenzo
We had to sit and take all the beauty in, oh and to rest our bodys
-The Basilica of Saint Croce
It was amazing as is all the things we’ve seen. Oh Brenna just informed me that Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli and many other great minds are buried there. wow.
-Mini Flea market
-Ponte Vecchio Bridge
Watched the sunset

Misc: Fresh Mozzerella is wonderful. The Bussola Ristorante is a wonderful place to have wine, mozzerella and dessert at. The couple next to us raved about their pizza too! Go there.
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It was a beautiful day. Hot but wonderful. We watched the sunset over the bridge. Walked the streets and wandered around in the evening after sightseeing. So we had a work out and treated ourselves today...perfecto. Va Bene!

Shout-outs: To my former roommate, Miss Kitten Pinto!! The street our hotel is called Bargi Pinti...not your last name but close. Also every time we see a bird Brenna always points to it and I think of you and the infamous Bow I never met. I miss you bella, hope you are having a great time in Spain!
Kitten’s End of the Day thought, in response to previous post: “if water is the same price as beer (sometimes more) why drink water?”

Jen Pepe! For being my first reader of my first blog ever! Hope you and the family are doing wonderfully!

End of the Day thought: Food baby is happy today.

Fresh a-Peppa?

2011-06-21T16:30:00.000-07:00

View of the Duomo from the Cafe

The replica David we thought was the real one, Oops.

Day 3: Florence

To start off our day, Brenna decided to slowly fall down the stairs on the way to breakfast this morning. That tells you how much walking we did yesterday. Luckily our hotel keys fell to the staircase right under us somehow and not the elevator shoot. She was ok, so I giggled all the way down to breakfast. We than continued our journey north through Italy. Next stop: Florence

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Where we are staying: Cardinal Hotel -Nice hotel and staff, but what was not fun were the 4 flights of stairs we lugged our 50 lb bags up. Oh we burned those bread and olive oil cals right up.

What I found out today:
-I knew this already but Americans defiantly take water for granted. When you go to a restaurant you have to pay for the water, so don’t expect nice cold water to greet you when you sit down after 3 hours of walking in 90 degree heat. Toliets have little water, no ice machine, people don’t water their lawns all day.

-No one’s in a rush, unless you’re a tourist

-You can buy shampoo and liquor all in one aisle

What I Saw:

-The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore

-The David statue which we just found out was the replica, so we will be hunting for the real thang tomorrow

-Many cute shops throughout in the Piazza del Duomo

Misc: Don’t forget to grab your passports from the hotel reception area, it results in doubling your taxi fee when going back for them.

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Today was great. Rode on my first long distance train. It was very pleasant. I shuffled a little while jamming on my pod. The countryside was gorgeous, saw a field of sunflowers, ancient homes stuck on the side of mountains and miles of hills and mountains. We decided to have a lax day, so we wandered the streets. What makes Florence different from Rome, is that it has very narrow streets 95% are pretty cobblestone or stonework. The buildings and the pretty narrow winding roads are what I always pictured Italy to be. There were a lot of tourists but not as crazy as Rome, it was even quiet and serene eating at a tiny cafe, which we have enjoyed doing everyday. Real pizza and lasagna is fantastica. You know it legit lasagna when there's a gold leaf you can eat on it.

Shout-outs: Happy 7 years to Andrew! I miss you and hope you are having a great time in Helinski! Brenna was nice enough to take my out to a romantic dinner in honor of us. :)

End of the Day thought: Train ride made me think of going to Hogwarts the whole time. (Yeah judge me)

Mamma Mia

2011-06-21T04:18:00.000-07:00

Oh, Hello.

Day 2: Rome
So day 2 was very productive. Brenna mastered the bus navigating and I mastered not passing out from the heat.

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What I found out today:
Nuns are so cool. There is something beautiful in every corner. A lot of the beautiful buildings and shops are hidden in corners or you can only access them through narrow streets that are lined with very cute homes, apartments and shops i.e. the Travi Fountain we found by walking through the cobblestone streets.

What I Saw:

-Vatican, Basilica St. Pietro

It was crazy how beautiful it is and how huge it is! It was just so amazing to see where the Pope does his thang. I would defiantly want to see that again someday.

-Sistine Chapel

Saw some of the most famous paintings known to the world i.e. The -Last Supper and the famous God reaching for David’s hand (finger touching painting as me and Brenna like to call it). It was so amazing to see these in real life after learning about them all through my life.

-Stumbled on to the Column of Traiana

-Colosseum

It is fantastic. How did they build these things back than? The achitects were just so fantastic.

-Saw the Travi Fountain

Made a wish

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It was so hot today. Luckily not humid or I would of passed out on the nice cobblestone streets and run over by a million vespas. We saw so much today! We also had great speghetti and REALLY goood creampuffs which we don’t know the name of...pasoroteleildi something.

End of the Day thought: Both my feet hurt.

Just Romeing Around..

2011-06-20T11:25:00.000-07:00

Day 1: Rome

Ya! Brenna and I made it. Our first night in Rome/Europe was a success! We made it through the airport, got to our hotel, roamed around, ate great food, met fun people,and are still in one piece! Almost cried when I saw the Colosseum on our drive in... oops P.Tice would be proud.

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Where we are staying: Hotel Monte Carlo

What I found out today:

Italian Men are flirty no matter what. “I will do anything for you” That was just our waiter during lunch. Our driver from the airport called me “bella” even though I looked like a hot mess from no sleep. Alright guy you’re nice, but let’s be honest I look like total crap. But after a long trip, thinking I was bella for a split second was nice. :P

Fontaine Travini is not Trave Fountain..or what we found was not it...

What I Saw:

-Piazza della Rebubblica

-Basilica Maria degli Angeli (Saw a choir of Nuns singing, It was B A utiful!)

-San Carto Quattro Fontaine

-Palazzo Barberini

-Piazza Barberini

Who we had nice dinner conversations with:

Cute old couple from New Castle, England

Christine who is a Diplomat and works for Unicef

Misc: Gelato.

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Although it was very warm out, it wasn’t humid and there was a nice cool breeze. Dinner was cozy because we were elbow to elbow to the next table which was nice because we got to talk to a few nice people and watch the young people next store get rowdy. Even saw a girl throw a guy against the wall for some passion...ew.

It was beautiful everywhere we walked & it was just so much to take it on our first day, it’s just so great.

Shout-outs: My parents are just so wonderful for letting me study and travel abroad! Happy Father’s day to my Papasita! Cowfu, thank you for the suitcases, they are a great invention and so easy to travel with.! Jesse, Hope you are having a great first weekend of summer! Andrew, I miss you and hope you’re having fun in Helinski, Finland!

End of the Day thought: The food is fantastic. Ciao!