Welcome to the City of Copenhagen

Today, Daniel and I officially signed up for the Denmark healthcare system It was pretty simple because our forms were already filled out for us. Thanks DIS - best thing we gotten since the free luggage tags you sent us. With this we have insurance, can open a bank account, or get a job. Basically it is a Danish Social Security Card. On the way we stopped and picked up a package from my Momma. Thanks Mom, you're the best. Afterwards we grabbed a sandwich with pork tenderloin, bacon, beets (maybe), lettuce, pickles, and mayo. It was pretty good, filling... lots of different flavors. Then we walked down Strøget, pronounced Str-oy-dle (or something of that nature), where everything from pancake shops to Hermes and Louis Vuitton lines the pedestrian street. We were looking for Bodum - never found it. We have to wake up at 5:45 am to make our bus to Western Denmark, so I better hit the sack.

I Hope It's Melted Snow

Today we received our first real studio assignment. It's an infill project - go figure. It should be quite fun though, its about 15 yards wide, so lots of interesting stuff can take place. We are to design a furniture store/showcase. Other news... it is a blizzard outside. This marks the first time my toes have gotten cold since we have been here. It is snowing down, left, right, even up. It is snowing up. This makes it incredibly difficult walking to and from the train station. I constantly wonder if the moisture on the tip of my nose is melting snow or snot. Looking at everyone else there's a 50% chance that it's melted snow...

My studio professor, Mark, who is very nice and bright, mentioned he hasn't seen a winter like this in some time. Maybe 15 years. I guess I should consider myself lucky. We have a lecture tomorrow morning on danish furniture design I think, and then Thursday morning we are heading off to Jutland! I hope it doesn't get canceled from snow accumulation. There is something happening in the common room tonight in about 15 minutes. Daniel is at the gym, so I may peek around and see what's going on. It's cold, really cold.

"Walking With My Feet Ten Feet off of Kalkbrænderuhavnsgade"

We put on our gore-tex shoes

and boarded the train...

No, but in all seriousness, we went exploring late afternoon Monday. We decided on a few architectural hot spots we wanted to see and started walking. The route we took was basically the same route we take everyday on the train, but you can see a lot more when not traveling 70 mph. It was a nice day, not too cold, just overcast. It makes for some dramatic pictures. We found some nice surprises on the way. We even saw a biker face-plant while trying to cross the street. I won't go into a lot of detail except that the ferry station is quite a nice piece of architecture. We will go back. It's interesting to see how the Danes build so close to the water seeing as how they are only 13 feet above sea level. Anyway, we are off to studio to get our second assignment and go out into the field!

Luck of the Irish

Well, Friday marked the end of our first studio project, which consisted of a precedent analysis. It was nonetheless interesting to meet fellow DIS students. I have a mentee who was also a member of my group. He is an art history major named Pete, and with every question he asks, I think he is convinced to not do architecture. Must be my optimism shining.

That night the snow kept pouring and made walking anywhere an absolute blast. Therefore we decided not to trek to downtown Copenhagen. Rather we went to a bar a few blocks from our apartment. Not only did we enjoy our Jacobsen Brown Ale, but we also met an Irishman. This guy was quite the character. He was amazed at how beautiful the women are here. As he said, "In Ireland maybe 2 out of 10 look decent. Here it is 8 out of 10." He then proceded to talk to any girl that passed by. He was also very passionate about soccer and showed his anger towards France and those cheating SOBs. (France elliminated Ireland from qualifying in the Cup because they scored off of a handball). He then bought us both a drink and we talked a little more, with him taking breaks to talk to women. Because we do not have the tolerance of the Irish, we left before our Irsh friend but not before he gave us his business card and hugs. In all, it was a fun and interesting night.