Hvad Drømmer Du Om?

So, I officially had my first dream in Danish. It wasn't very elaborate, but it's important to me because it is the first time that I have had a conversation in a dream in a foreign language (and actually remembered it in the morning). It has been 3 months now that I have been working on this language, and I think things are going really well. I have no problem ordering food or going through the check-out anymore, I am much more confident asking people to repeat themselves and to strike up conversations where I otherwise would have been too shy or maybe not fluent enough before. Danish is turning out to be a great adventure and not the horrible impossible task that so many try to make it out to be.

Copenhagen is a wonderful big city with so much to do, but this weekend I got a chance to explore some of the parts of Denmark that tourists don't normally go to. We started off in Ålborg, a city in the far northern part of Jylland (in the west), touring the university there and several museums en route. The goal of this trip was to work on freehand sketching with simple utensils i.e. pencil, pens, paper - the basics. That first night we were there, our drawing teacher took us out to a street that is apparently very well known all throughout Denmark, Jomfru Ane Gade, where there are about 20 or so bars and diskoteks. We spent the night in a quaint little hostel outside the city a mile or so - it was really wonderful waking up super early in the morning and having the mist and fog coming in off the ocean. It was a really meditative sort of place.

The next leg of our trip brought us to the second largest city in Denmark, Aarhus. Here we toured the university, the city hall building that was designed by Jørn Utzon, and several other points of architectural interest. Aarhus was really a neat little city, sort of like a miniature replica of Copenhagen.

Before I left, several Danish friends had mentioned that Danes that live in the west of Denmark speak with a different accent, and after going for myself, I can say that it is true to some extent. I think it is comparable to the difference between English from California and English from the south. They simply have some slight spoken differences and maybe a few different slang words.

Now I must get back to the studio. Too much designing to do. Too much homework. Maybe it is just enough.

Oooh.. I almost forgot to let y'all know that I bought a new pair of jeans. So relieved. I think I may buy another pair tomorrow. And then I am going to the fleamarket on Saturday morning. Hopefully I can find some sweaters, shirts, and shoes to mix up my outfits.

With love,
AFT

Getting Over The Laziness

Wow, I think it has been a little under a month since my last entry. Unfortunate, as I thought I would update considerably more often. The important thing is that now, this minute, I am writing something worthwhile about Copenhagen. Stay tuned.

So the day is September 3rd, 2009. I have officially been living in Denmark for about 2 1/2 months. The weather is changing from sunny, breezy, and slightly warm to gradually darker, damper, and today it even haled!

With this change of season comes a change in daily routine. DIS started last Friday and boy has time been flying! We were thrown into 4 person architectural teams, with the task of visiting, analyzing, and visually representing a high-density housing development about an hour outside of Copenhagen. My team (consisting of 2 Meg(h)ans and a Brandon Hall [no relation to Brandon N. Hall]) went to a small coastal town to the north called Helsingør. We toured a community designed by Jørn Utzon in the late 50s called Kingohusene. After hours in studio, we are finished nice and early before our 1pm deadline tomorrow afternoon. Our designs are actually going to be in an exhibition as part of Copenhagens Design Week!

Besides Architectural Studio, I am taking a class called Digital Design Journal. I think this should be a really interesting course. Our first assignment is to create a powerpoint presentation, utilizing images, film clips, and sounds, in order to create a specific scent in the nostrils of its viewers. My group toyed with the idea of B.O. We have the weekend to work on it, so not quite sure what will come of it!?

Last night was a great "getting to know eachother" kind of party between the American and Danish networkers at DIS. I met loads of Danes and spoke a lot of Danish. Great times.

I discovered the best bakery I have ever been to: Sankt. Peders Bageri... I had the most amazing chocolate croissant ever. I think I will go back tomorrow. By the way, Ondsdags Sneglen = Wednesday's Snail/Pastry.

Next Thursday, I am going to be traveling around Denmark, doing a small survey of the Architecture with our studios.

Lots of exciting things going on here.

Miss you all loads.

Love, of course,

A.T.