Updates

Yikes, I've been so busy! And keeping up a blog is really hard for me because I've done SO many things... they all just jumble together and I forget.

So to make the reading easier on you guys, I'll make another list of things i've done or that have happened the last few days.

Here we go:

1. I got a bike! I rented from a company that gives my program a discount. I was really nervous to ride at first but once I actually did it, I was quite surprised at how confident I was on the streets (even the busy ones)! In all actuality, I can walk basically anywhere in the city from my location, but having a bike is fun and quicker

2. The WHOLE DIS program when on a boat tour of Copenhagen, we saw all the famous buildings and what not. There are some really cool design concepts, that focus on building on what is already in the city rather than expanding outside of the city.
Take this building for example, it's an old mill? Well they just tacked apartments on to the outside of the building...










3. For 4th of July we had a picnic in Kings Garden, which is an AMAZING park. It actually looks like the garden of a King but is (obviously) open to the public. I'll have to go back and take more pictures of the flowers there! I've also been running here (almost) every morning, I couldn't think of a better place for a morning run
Here is a picture of most my group of friends on our Picnic












4. Currently there is a Jazz festival all over Copenhagen, I haven't really heard anything extraordinary but one of the venues is right outside our apartment, so it's really cool to hear throughout the day.

5. Yesterday, after getting bikes a group of us rode over to Christiania... click here if you don't know what this is. Everyone was talking about how you needed to be careful of your possesions, no pictures are allowed inside, don't do anything to stand out... etc. I was pretty nervous going in. But turns out... it's just like Eugene Oregon. I wasn't impressed at all, other than the fact that drugs are llegal there... it's nothing I haven't seen. I think the concept of the history is interesting but the physical place is just like an Oregon Country Fair experience, if that.

6. There weather has been in the 70's here and all the locals have been raving about how lucky we are to have this nice weather. It is beautiful (even though I prefer hotter) and we have been going to this really cool swimming spot called the Harbour Pools. The city constructed a pool in the middle of the harbour and made a platform to jump off of. So fun!











7. As for school, We've been doing a lot of brainstorming and sketching. We're getting prepared to start printing, but haven't actually done any. This weekend/nextweek we'll go on our Study tour to Stockholm and Helskini, visiting TONS of textile design factories. Once we return, we'll start printing digitally and screen printing... i'm Very excited for that.

That's all for now... I've got to run to class. I promise to update again before I leave on my trip!
Farvel

I think i'm turning Danishese, I think i'm turning Danishese, I really think so.

Ugh,
So it's 7:30am here... I've been up since 5am. I don't know if it's because i'm jetlagged or if it's because I live in a city where large trucks like to park outside my window at ungodly hours and bang things around. Not to mention the garbage trucks come early too...
Or maybe it's the fact that the sun rises at 4am and my room is basically like one huge window, NONETHELESS, i'm not complaining... just perplexed as to why i'm consistently waking up at this hour... even after staying out until 3am...




PLAY
I really couldn't have asked for a better group of people to live with, literally my whole apartment (all 3 floors of 8 double occupancy rooms) is filled with good peoples. (5 of them are architecture boys from Oregon!) Also 2 of my better girlfriends just moved into my apartment, switching from a Kollegium(college dorm-like thing) about 20 minutes away. They said it was dirty, scary and a ghost-town. SO glad I didn't choose to live in a Kollegium! Where I live could compared to like SOHO of nyc or the Pioneer Square of Portland, SO amazing.

A perk of living with all Architecture/Design kids is that we have the same views on life. We realize that having class at 8:30am every morning is very brutal, therefore we don't feel the need to go out until the wee hours of the morning everynight. BUT last night my whole building went out (for the first time since we've been here) to a REALLY fun dance club, Danish people still really confuse me though... such weird beings.

WORK
My textiles class is really awesome. The main instructor is Malenea Christiansen, a big textile designer in Denmark.. she has designed for stores like H&M and also has her own business.
The first day we learned how to format patterns. Although most patterns look like they're just thrown onto a surface, there really is a scientific method to how elements are placed.
Our professor advised that we started very simple to get the layout down, then we could move onto more advanced designs.
Here are some pictures of what I worked on

busy

SO BUSY & jetlagged.
Will post intimate details soon.

Settled in

So much to say:

I'll shorten it into 10 events of the day

1) I didn't sleep a wink on the plane (I've been up for over 24 hours)
2) Upon first glance, Copenhagen truly is an amazing city and it was SUCH a nice day today
3) My apartment is AMAZING, straight out of an Ikea catalog. I'm in a large room with 2 beds (I ended up having a roommates but it's okay i don't mind) and 2 HUGE windows that face the street
....... i'll put up pics later
4) I've met some really great girls who I explored the city with today, including getting stuck in a glass elevator (all of them from the southern east coast... georgia, north carolina etc)
5) Everything here REALLY is more expensive.
6) My whole apartment complex (3 floors, 8 rooms of all DIS kids) took a trip to the food store to buy food.... we all came back with nothing but cereal, eggs and beer.
7) Danish is REALLY hard to read and understand... making their transit system impossible
8) Already, I've been to the Stroget and to Nyhaven
9) I watched the Portugal/Spain soccer game on a HUGE screen on the harbor
10) Time change is weird, I don't know what i'm doing, when I'm doing it and how much it costs.


I start class tomorrow so won't have much free time but best time to skype me is like 6-7 my time... so like to 2pm your time.

Here!

I've successfully arrived in Copenhagen! It's 936am here and its already very warm.
Don't have time to type more, but will post again once i'm in my room!\xoxo

CONTACT INFORMATION

For those of you who I haven't explained my adventure to, I'll be studying Textile design in Copenhagen, Denmark!
I'm going with the program DIS (danish institute for study abroad) and will be gone June 28th-August 17th.
What is a textile?
Technically, a textile is any fibrous material.
In my case, I will be designing printed textiles... the stuff you see on walls, couches, bedspreads and clothes.
for more info click here

I got really lucky and was assigned a double room, to myself, in downtown Copenhagen only a few blocks away from my school building!
Here is my location, and if you're enough of a stalker, you can even zoom in to street view and see the actual street i'm living on!

View Larger Map

PERSONAL CONTACT INFO
Address: Skindergade 14

Room Number:112

Street name: Skindergade 14

Zip code: 1159

City: København K

Cellphone: +45 30973180

Email: annalee@uoregon.edu
Skypename: peaceloveak


PROGRAM CONTACT INFO

american # 612.627.0140
danish # +45 3311 0144

danish address:
DIS Copenhagen Office
Vestergade 7
DK-1456 Copenhagen K
Denmark

www.dis.dk