My Apologies

Hey everyone, sorry its been so long since my last post.  I was on vacation for fall break all of last week.  Me and my friend Emily went to Poland, Finland and Sweden.  Yes, all in a week.  While country hopping is not the most thorough form of transportation, you can definitely see a lot of old shit in a short amount of time (pardon my French). 

My journey started in Sweden, then we took a plane to Gdansk.  This means that I was in three countries in one day, which I can now say as an accomplishment.  Gdansk is a very old small town on the northern coast of Poland as part of the Danzig region. 

We stayed in an abandoned train station

And yes Alissa, I had some butter.  Poland is amazingly beautiful, and cheap, which is a huge relief from absurd scandinavian prices.  The town however is tiny, and we walked completely around it in the first day.  We saw a lot of old churches and the largest church that is completely made out of brick is there as well, but you had to pay to go in, which is lame, its a church.  I also had pizza for the first time since being in europe, which was amazing!!  You really forget the little things, when you’re cut off from them.  And yes, the danes do have pizza, but for the price you pay, it better be made out of gold.

After Poland, we flew to Turku.  Turku, mind you is in the middle of NOWHERE.  So we get to the airport and its raining, and in order to get to the main terminal, we have to walk all the way around this fence on this gravel path in the woods and go to the front door.  Poland is on the Zlotych, while Finland is on the Euro, so we didn’t have any euros on us to pay for the bus.  We went inside to see if there was a money exchange place or an ATM, and evidentlly there is no such thing in Turku.  It was ridiculous, so we had to take a taxi to the main train station.  From there we went to Helsinki. 

This was an exhibition in the Kiasma

Ive heard a lot of bad things about Helsinki, but from my personal opinion, I really liked it.  Also, the days that we were there, it was design week.  So we got into all the museums for free because we were under 25.  Also, the hostel we stayed in was awesome.  In the 1950s, the summer olypmics were held in Helsinki.  They built a brand new stadium for the occasion.  When the olympics were over, they needed to do something with the stadium and instead of using it as a stadium which would be the obvious choice, they decided to turn it into a hostel.  So we stayed in an olympic stadium. 

We then took a ferry from Helsinki to Stockholm.  This was not your typical small ferry, it was a gigantic cruise ship full of casinos, booze and tax free shopping.  There were a couple of bands playing band covers from the 50s and 60s, which was really silly.  The view however was spectacular, but the wind was unbelievable.  My eyes were watering uncontrollably.  Also the boat ride was 16 hours long, so we arrived in Stockholm in the morning. 

Small islands off the coast of Helsinki

Going back there again just made me fall in love with Stockholm all over again, it is just such an amazing and gorgeous city.  The morning we arrived there, we dropped our stuff off at the hostel and we to go walk around.  We saw the Max Ernst exhibit at the Moderna Museet.  We were then walking along the street where the Grand Hotel is and we turned a corner and saw our friends Roslyn and Cookie from our building which was totally bizarre because we had no idea they were even going to be in Stockholm.  We went to the city library, behold the wonder:

GLORIOUS

 Afterward, we went to this anti-fascist cafe for a benefit concert. We met some people there who were activists.  And they were telling us about this friend of theirs who two weeks ago, went to this rally in Russia and one day when he stepped out of his building, these nazis killed him with a machete.  Really brutal stuff.  So the concert was for his funeral costs.  After the concert they took us to a bar where there was another concert going on and they played a bunch of covers including squirrel nut zippers and other bands of that calibur. 

This is the lead singer, he was wearing a black shirt with white stripes, black pants with two white stripes close together and a red ascot. I dont even know how to begin to start making fun of that.

Unfotunately we had to leave the next day.  After traveling to four different airports on this trip, I came to the realization that Copenhagen airport is the easiest one to get to and from.  All the other ones were hard and ardous journeys.  Well once more apologies for taking so long to write this, its been a long week.

Worst transportation weekend, EVER

The internet in my room keeps going out, so it’s been hard for me to post.  And there has been lots going on as well.  Last weekend on Friday night, me and a couple of people went to this housewarming party in Vanløse.  The house is a collective, meaning that there are 11 people living in a gigantic house together and they all take turns cooking for each other on a different night.  It sounds like fun, but thats a lot of people to live with.  It was a really fun party, and when I went into the bathroom, I noticed something odd about their bathtub:

Yes, that is Kaitlin standing in a bathtub full of buttons

The buttons say ATOMKRAFT? NAJ TACK.  Which means, nuclear power?  No thanks!  Except thats Swedish, not Danish.  So there, now all of you know how to say something in Swedish.

After a couple of hours, we decided that we wanted to go home, so we left at around 2.30.  We took a metro to the Norrepørt station and once we got there, we realized our connector train to København H wasn’t coming until 3.55, so we had to sit there hang out for almost an hour.  In my hour of boredom, I decided that I wanted to be a pirate peasant:

If you didn't believe the Russian heritage before, BELIEVE IT NOW

Once we got to København H, we went to platforms 7 and 8, which are the only trains that go to Trekroner and saw that the next train wasn’t coming until 4.45.  So I laid down on Mili and fell asleep.  I was suddenly awoken by everyone yelling that we were on the wrong platform and we were about to miss our train.  So after running down the platform in high heels, almost slipping in someone’s vomit, and running below the very very smelly train tunnel, we ran onto the correct platform only to find out that we had indeed missed our train and the next one wasn’t coming until 5.34.  We then went outside to the buses to see if we could find the one that went to Roskilde, and we were terribly shot down.  I went back into the train station to look at the schedule to find that there was an S-Tog we could take (not quite a train, and not quite a metro, just an inbetween).  We got off at Valby station and then finally took a train to Roskilde, where we had to take a cab to Trekroner from there.  It was the most complicated amount of transportation that I had ever used to try to get home.  And yes, we finally got home at what time you ask?  Six AM.  I didn’t even know there was a six AM.  Here is what a train station looks like at 6 AM:

Deliriousness Ensues

The next night, I had promised my friend Sanne that I would go to this concert with her the next night.  Beforehand, we went to Copenhagen to go to this karaoke bar.  We met these Norweigians who grabbed me as I walked past the stage and threw the mic in my face and demanded that I sing this song in Norweigian.  Now, if any of you have ever heard or seen Norweigian, you will know, that it is not a real language.  I just ended up laughing the entire time.  Sanne and I then sung Revolution by the Beatles and Bohemian Rhapsody.  Also, if you didn’t know, I can’t sing, so yeah, that was really fun for the whole bar.

Then we went to the concert in Valby.  It turns out the concert was at a biker bar and the band playing was a 70s rock cover band.  All they played were the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin and other various nostalgic musicians for all of you who were alive during that era.  The band was really rockin, but their lead singer had a curly mullet and their bassist was the oldest badass I have ever seen.

Also, this is their groupie:  RAOWR

After the concert, we got on a train to go to Trekroner which is 3 stops away (about 20 minutes).  And somehow in that time, both Sanne and I fell asleep and I finally woke up in Slagslen which is four stop after we were supposed to get off (at least half an hour away).  We get off and see that another train isn’t coming until 3.15 (it was 1.50) and the train isn’t even going towards Roskilde.  I ask the train conductor if there were anymore trains coming by that could take us to Roskilde and he was like, “uhh hold on one sec,” goes and talks to the driver, comes back and tells us to get back on the train.  The train then turns around and drops us off in Roskilde (mind you this is at least an hour detour).  Luckily I dont think there was anyone else on the train, otherwise that would’ve really sucked, but I was almost hugging the conductor and thanking him.  So never underestimate people, they might come through for you.

Flea Market Weekend

Hey all, this week has been pretty uneventful considering I have been layed up in bed for most of it after coming down with a bad case of a danish cold (does not sound delicious).  At one point in the week though, Steph and I discovered that she had an apple orchard next to her house so we picked a bunch of apples and I made apple dumplings for dessert that night, that was delicious…at least thats what everyone told me, I couldn’t really taste it because I was so stuffed up.

Steph picking apples in the orchard

Steph, Oly and I went to Copenhagen this weekend to go to some flea markets and I saw the most beautiful dress, but for 300DKR, I was not having any of that.  This is a flea market, not Donatella Verssace’s secondhand shop.  Afterwards, we went to this very chic cafe, where I had one of the most delicious sandwiches I had ever had before.  It was a panini with chorizo, jalepenos, red onions, red peppers, and cheese.  The jalepenos cleared up my sinuses some so I was able to breathe a little easier after that.

Chicness Galore

That night my building had a future party.  This is what it sounds like, a party with a future theme.  There was lots of tinfoil and glowsticks to be had.  I just wore crazy eyeshadow, I guess in the future I might at some point wear makeup.  This girl went with a pillow under her dress because she said at some point in the future she assumes she will be pregnant, very clever.

Today, I cleaned.  I cleaned a lot.  I straightened up my room, did the dishes and did laudry.  In fact Im still doing laundry.  The washing machines here are incredibly small so you can’t fit a lot in at one time, also, they don’t really do the spin cycle, this means that when you take them out of the washing machine, they’re soaking wet.  Also, the machines are in Danish with weird symbols so I can’t really figure out which one means spin cycle otherwise I would just do that one over again.  You folks in the US have no idea how good you have it, with your huge working spin cycle saavy washing machines.  Im on my third load right now and I still have at least another one to do, it’s going to be a long night.

Well have a good one all of you, with your technologic appliances.

Here's a picture of the architecture of the København H central station

Fun Festival Weekend

Hey, sorry it’s been a while since I’ve written a blog post, but my friend Ingrid who is from Greensboro, but is currently studying abroad in Aarhus (Jutland) came to visit me this weekend.

Sanne showing off the calibur of people from årsfest

On friday, my school had an annual festival called årsfest.  There were three tents set up with music and bars set up in each one.  Each tent had a theme, the first was valentine’s day, the second was christmas, and the third was sailors.  This seemed bizarre, because you had two holidays with a little sailor thrown in.  I don’t know how they chose the themes, but relation between them was obviously not a necessity.

Ingrid is starting a new fashion trend, I think its far better than the sock and pants combined

The next day we went to Copenhagen since Ingrid hadn’t ever been there before.  After walking around the Strøget, we went to Freetown Christiania for a bit.  This is a section of Copenhagen that has its own rules and regulations separate from the rest of Denmark.  It was a barricade in World War II that in the 60s a bunch of hippies took over and made into their own community.  There are only 850 residents and in order to become one you have to be active in the community for a great deal of time and you have to build your own house.  So it’s a sort of Danish commune.  It’s a really beautiful community though and most of the houses are built around the lake.

That night it was my friend Mili’s 21st birthday so we had a big dinner with all of the people in our building, then we went bar hopping in Roskilde where I bought Mili her first legal drink, but not really because the drinking age is 16 here.  Then we missed our train so we had to walk home, which is fine if it were during the day, but once the sun goes down in Denmark, you better not be caught outside because the temperature drops about 15 degrees.  I’ve never experienced anything like it before, the difference between the day and night are outrageous.  Evidently in the winter it is perpetual darkness, I don’t know how people live that way.

Another terrible fashion statement

Im going to keep this one short and sweet.  Once before I wrote of a fad about these idiots who think it looks cool when you tuck your pants into your tube socks (it still doesn’t by the way).  Well there is another fad that is on the rise that is equally as bad if not worse.  They are pants.  Harem pants.  That means they are pants that are tight around the ankles and baggy everywhere else, this means that the crotch is at your knees.  This is a fashion statement that is being brought onto the scene by this guy:

There is a reason this went out of style 20 years ago

Fellow women, this message goes out to you, in an effort to beg you not to follow this trend, because even though you think you’re being cute by repeating the past and whatnot, it does not look ok for your crotch to drag to your knees.

Ice Bar start, Stockholm finish

This is going to be a ridiculously long blog post because there’s so much that has happened in the past 4 days.  As you know, on September 11th, I celebrated my birthday early with my Denmark friends by going to the world famous Absolut Icebar.

Not joking, this was one of the boats in the race

Earlier in the day though, my school had a school wide boat race between all the houses.  There were many boys in their skives (niceeeeeeeee).  Later when we went to the IceBar my friends paid for my entrance fee (thanks guys) and I had the time of my life.  We got to wear these gigantic blue overcoats/capes and they gave us furry boots (kinda like grandma’s puppies).  Everything was made out of ice except the floor, because that would just be absurd.

Our ensembles

Afterward we went to hotel 27 next door where there were a whole bunch of beds in the courtyard so we hung out there for a while and then went to this viking bar where I met a banana, the pink panther and a womble.  They were all cockney, which totally amused the hell out of me.  Then we got a hot dog at the stand the guy who owned it yelled at me because I accidentally put my shoes on the counter and then he refused to speak english to me, which slightly upset me in my slightly inebriated state.

The bartender wearing his Russian ensemble

The next day I started on my journey to Stockholm, Sweden.  This has got to be one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been to.  And that was definitely the best birthday I’ve ever had.  On the first day we visited the modernmuseet and the architekmuseet.  We also walked around to four different islands, took a boat tour, walked around the old town, and at the same time realized that Uncle Ron couldnt find use his sense of direction to find his way out of a paper bag.

Quote from Andy: This is the most decadent society I have ever seen. Where are all the bums? Lower class housing? run-down dirty house boats? At least Greensboro has old men drinking 40s at 9am. Where are the 40s, Sweden? huh? where are the 40s!?!

That night we went to a tapas bar called Mamas and Tapas (menu can be found here: http://www.tapas.nu), which was one of the best bars I’ve ever been too.  Although it was small and cozy, and we had to sit at the bar because otherwise it would have been an hour and a half long wait until we could sit at a table, it was one of the best meals I have ever had.  Evidently Sweden has the highest suicide rate in the world, which makes complete sense considering its never sunny, but our bartender/waiter was a perfect example of that.  He definitely had the whole “I’m a bartender which is totally cool, but I’m going to act like my life is a drab, because that’s the totally cool thing bartender things to do.”  We ate jalepeños picantes, pincho de verduras, mamacitas, chili, and some others that I cant remember because the night got kinda hazy towards the end.  I made uncle ron take a shot of Jager along with the couple of beers that we had.  Also, they had the best sangria Ive ever had (besides the batch I made).  We then proceeded to find our way back to the hotel and immediately proceed to pass the hell out.

My new best friend, he knows the king and queen, no big deal though

The next day we saw the Vasa.  In the 1630s the king contracted this dutchman to make him the best ship ever, the day it was to sail off everyone had the day off from work so they could all watch it sail off into the distance, it got sailing for 20 mintues, and then it sank.  Yes, after 20 minutes, what was supposed to be the ship of the century, it god damn sank.  Then about 50 years ago they raised it from the harbor and reconstructed it and now its in a museum in Stockholm.

Us quote-unquote ripping Sweden a new one

Soon it became time to go home, and we said our goodbyes and I got on the train.  It was a lovely ride home, minus the homophobic, sexist, anti-american Turkish/Swedish guy who sat next to me, but other than that it was a beautiful ride.

I want to thank everyone for their cards, which contributed to this making this the best birthday ever.  I love you guys, thanks again.

Also: this was one of my favorite pictures I took while I was there: Also: this is the coolest most orange family ever

LOOK AT THE BEAUTY

THEY’RE COMING RIGHT FOR US

Tonight: Chillin, Tomorrow: Chillin In Ice

As you all know, or should know, Saturday is my birthday.

These people who work in an igloo get used to it

Steph and Sanne are therefore going out with me tomorrow night to celebrate the big 2-1.  Were starting off with the Absolut Ice Bar in Copenhagen, and yes, that is exactly what it sounds like…a bar made of ice.  We also might be attending the NASA bar, and yes, that also is exactly what it sounds like…a space bar.  I think the thing Im most excited about is the fact that I get to wear a cape while Im inside the ice bar (to keep warm).

Also, I bought myself a birthday present today, its an incredibly sweet pair of boots that were made for walking.

Good news is to be shared.  I did a flier for this event at a bar in Greensboro and the local newspaper is running the flier full page next week.  EXCITING.  So in honor of the occasion, Ive decided to start my own graphic design company.  And Alissa, if you’re reading this, you owe me a big one because Im naming it somewhat after you.  Its going to be SDDS for Sounds Delicious, Design and Screenprinting.  So let your friends know that I can help out with graphic design work.

I was writing down my class schedule for the semester today (because it changes every week) and I counted the number of days that Im in class from now until November 19th (the last day of class for me) and in the 70 days I have from now til then, Im only in class for a total 34 days.  This school is amazing.  I have so much free time, I dont know what to do with myself.  I foresee a lot of traveling in the future.

Sorry I havent been writing a lot lately, not a whole lot has been going on, but tomorrow I should have a lot to write about.  Goodnight guys.

Uncle Ron, we are going to rip Stockholm a new one

Dear Uncle Ron, Stockholm is not going to know what hit it.  I bought my train ticket today and Im so excited.

Today on the blog, were going to have a guest photographer, because I am an idiot and when we went into Copenhagen yesterday I forgot my camera.  Her name is Stephanie Lyall, and shes an aussie.  Yes, that backwards place where instead of hitting deer, they can hit kangaroos.  Yes, I said it, kangaroos.

We started off on a lovely train on our way to Copenhagen.  I pretended to be a floating head.

Me without a body

This weekend is called Contemporary Copenhagen and about 50 galleries are having new installations and openings so we went to go see a couple, but we only ended up seeing one of them.  It was this gallery called Henningsen Contemporary at Green Square.  It was this exhibit called Photographic Tendencies and it was just a whole bunch of photographs.  Thats not really the interesting part, the interesting part is that the gallery ended up being right next to the beach so we walked down to the harbor and looked at the water.  When you looked across the way you could see Sweden.  So I saw Sweden yesterday.

Also, when you looked across to Sweden you could see this big building or as Dad would say, edifice.  Evidently a couple of decades ago, when Denmark was trying to outlaw nuclear power, Sweden decided that they were going to build a nuclear power plant.  That power plant ended up being the building that you could see across the way from the harbor in Copenhagen.  I thought this was a really jerk move of the Swedish people, because now everytime you look at the view from the Copenhagen harbor it’s just a big slap in the face to the Danish people.  This being the case, Im going to punch Sweden when I get there.

A fun fact about the Danish people is that most of them have holiday houses.  These houses are about the size of my “apartment.”  Its really adorable though, because there are neighborhoods full of them next to the harbor.  So there are hundreds of these little tiny houses on the beach and it just looks like a miniature version of a town since they’re all so small.

Tiny Town

After the trip to the harbor we went more towards the city center and got some pizza danishes (yes, they were delicious) and sat by the canal and watched all the people in the canal tour boats go by.  After that we went to this LoppenMart (flea market) and I got this really sweet leather jacket for only 100 Kr.  Which I cannot express to you exactly how badass I look in it, I’ll give you a hint, it’s a lot.

Then we went down to Christiania.  There was a guy playing the steel drums out front which made me think that I was somehow about to witness a girls gone wild commercial.  Christiania for those of you who don’t know about it is this place where old hippy stoners took over this old military base and now they just sit around at this cafe’ and drink beer and smoke copious amounts of weed.  Theres a lot of cool art and graffiti, but theres also a lot of hippies so it’s a pretty even balance of good and bad.  You’re not allowed to take pictures there so, unfortunately I can’t show you what it looks like, I guess you will just have to come here and see for yourself.

There is one more thing about Denmark that I have yet to address.  As some of you may know, I love fonts, I know, I know its absurdly nerdy, but not more nerdy than some fellow family members (I will not name names), and Danish design is ALL about some helvetica.  I have a love-hate relationship with this font, its beautiful when used sparingly.  When used with certain graphics it truly can be a quite beautiful ad, but the Danish use it for EVERYTHING.  Its everywhere, on buildings, on ads, on signs, on addresses, on postcards, on letters, on newspapers.  By now you probably catch my drift, and I think Im about to overdose on it.

Pictured: Cliché

My bathroom is terrible

The Culprit

I just tried to take a shower and to my dismay found out that the holes in the shower head were so calcified that instead of coming from the bottom of the shower head, it came out the sides.  So now I have a completely soaked bathroom and a completely dry me.  This does not bode well.

The Innocent Victim

I went to IKEA yesterday and actually didn’t spend a whole lot of money, but I got a bunch of plates and bowls and cups that were only a dollar each and some cutting knives for only 4.50.  I love that place.

I cooked dinner for Sanne and Sam last night and we met 12 people from Seattle, one of which is from Cary, NC and his sister graduated from UNCA with a degree in sociology.  That was pretty exciting.

Today during class, I came the the the realization that no one here ever has class.  I had three days off this week, two off next week, one off the week after and it just goes on and on.  Its going to be a nice semester, a good change from the last.  I also found out that this campus has a darkroom which was ridiculously exciting to me.

Well Im off to a tenants meeting.  Ill talk to you later.

New Apartment Pictures

Hey everyone, I just moved into my new apartment today and I just took a 360 degree view of it with pictures.  Its more of a dorm than a studio apartment, but at least the communal kitchen is right next to my room.  Its ok though, it strongly reminds me of being a freshman again in the dorms.  I met this couple from Seattle today, it was nice to meet fellow United Statians.  Anyways, below are all the pics, enjoy:

The outside of the building at night while its rainingthe view from the front doorMy kitchen or as the Danish say "mit lort køkken"

And here is where Ill address a weird thing about every Danish house I’ve been in.  In the bathrooms there is a sink and a toilet, all normal, and then where the shower is supposed to be, theres a spout coming off the wall and then just a drain in the floor.  No separate thing to step into, no tub, no nothing.  So youre just standing in the bathroom taking a shower and theres water going everywhere and then when youre done, you have to squegee the rest of the water that didn’t make it into the drain into the drain.  It’s very weird and especially annoying when youre in a rush because you have to sit there squegeeing the bathroom floor.  Also, I think the person who had the apartment before me didn’t ever do said task, because the bathroom straight reeks of mold which I can only assume is from water sitting on the floor for hours.  Its really disgusting, I can barely be in there.

Also, going back to a previous post when I was talking about how every woman here has a dog.  I meant to say every woman has a terrier of some sort.  Ive seen about 15 Sandys so far, its adorable.  I saw this woman today (to the right) and I had my camera already out as she happened to be walking by with her two pet puffs.  This country is adorable, minus all the babies.

Also today, Steph and I were walking to Sam’s house so he could fix the bike chain on her bike (which is absurdly rusty, but she said I could paint it so it doesn’t look so rusty anymore) and we passed by this skateboarding shop with this awesome bench out front:

Oh my god the whole bench is made out of broken skateboards, how freaking clever!!!

So, Ill leave you on that note because it’s almost one AM here and I’m probably going to head down to the H&M/IKEA because I don’t have access to either of those stores in the US, and if I do, then they’re not in close access so I’m taking advantage while I’m here.

Another thing I’m requesting from everyone: send me pictures of people.  At home I have pictures covering all my walls and as you can see all my walls here are completely bare.  I forgot to bring pictures with me and I would love to have some to put up.  I put my address in the post before this one and I would greatly appreciate it if I could have some pictures.  Thanks everyone.