Last Week in Denmark

Well, it is official. I am done with school. I leave in one week, Monday May 22. I have been busy with my final project for 3 weeks, and just had the presentation yesterday. It went very well. The project was a park pavillion, and was based on one of the 5 senses. I chose sound. It was an outdoor ampitheater that functioned as a resting place, a reflection area, as well as a small concert hall. The pictures say it all...

It's sad that I only have 6 days left in Copenhagen. However, I'm glad I'll be going home, too. I miss friends and family, I miss my girlfriend, I miss being in the US! Last week was the most beautiful weather of the entire semester. The temperatures were in the 70's, the wind was gone, and I could wear shorts and sandals. Life was good last week. My roommate from Kansas State came up from Italy where he was studying to visit for the week. (Thank you Alex! I had a great time, I hope you did too!) Although my project was due this past Sunday, I neglected it as much as possible to go outside and enjoy the last of my days in Denmark.

To celebrate my last full weekend here, I had a BBQ last saturday. All the American Students in my dorm came to it, as well as about 12 other Danish students as well. I spent all morning making BBQ ribs and chicken, coleslaw, cornbread, pasta salad, pork and beans, and baked potatoes. We had a feast! Afterward we played a game of football(european style=soccer), and continued to have fun into the night. It was one of the most memorable days here this semester, really alot of fun! As for coming home, I will miss the friends I've made here, but I know I'll keep in contact with most. I've even made plans to visit a few of them. Joe goes to Texas Tech, so which ever city Kansas State plays Texas Tech in this year in football, the other is coming to watch the home game. I've already begun to pack, starting with all the valuables and gifts and keepsakes. I haven't packed any clothes yet, probably won't until Saturday. This week its raining 24/7, and I can't do much outside. My metro pass expired today, so it's riding my bike only from now on. Unfortunetly it is raining, so I won't even be riding my bike. I hope to write one last entry before I leave! Until then, I hope you enjoyed my time in Denmark as much as I did! Bye for now...

I'm Back From Greece...

Well, it has been quite a while since I last posted anything. However, I have good reason. First of all, I have been on holiday for 3 weeks. I was lucky enough to visit Sweden and Finland with a tour that school put together. It was through the architecture department, so I was able to see over 30 historical and contemporary pieces of architecture around Scandinavia. After that week, I had a couple days of rest before leaving again. This time I was headed to Greece, though. I went with my friend Joe, and met up with a friend from high school. It was an amazing trip, with a lot of sun, sand, and scenery.


Scandinavian Architectural Tour
Our first place we visited was Jyvaskyla, Finland. However, it took us 2 days to get there. From Copenhagen, we had a 12 hour bus ride to Stockholm, Sweden. There, we boarded a ferry to take us to Finland. The ferry was amazing. Free dinner buffet, cabin suites, and it was an overnight ferry. It even came complete with an all night dance club. We partied all night, and by morning were ready to sleep on the bus. However, little did we know that at 8 am we were getting off of the bus to go look at our first piece of architecture. We spent the next 8 hours getting on and off the bus looking at churches and museums. Actually, we spent the next 6 days getting on and off the bus looking at churches and museums. But there were intermittent nights of fun. Especially Monday night. At the hostel we stayed at, there was a skiing hill that literally came to the back door step of the hostel. And of course, we went sledding at midnight. Trashbags and anything else we could find that was slick or plastic were used as sleds. Before we went sledding though, we were treated to a Finnish tradition. The Sauna. Walking through the dark Finnish woods, down a small winding trail amongst the 40 and 50 foot tall pine trees, we came finally upon a clearing. A large pond spread before us, with a small cottage on the shore. We grilled out on an open indoor grill, and piled into the saunas to warm up. The Finnish tradition of the sauna though is slightly different than what I had perceived. After you get all warm in the sauna and cannot take anymore, you strip down to nothing, and go running outside into the snow. In our case however, there was a hole cut in the ice of the frozen pond. So, in a long string of naked men, we all ran outside to jump into a frozen lake. Quite the experience I must say. From Jyvaskyla, we went to Turku, and Turku we went to Helsinki. We had bad weather in Helsinki, but still it was a beautiful city. On Thursday, we headed back to the ferry and back to Stockholm, Sweden where we ended our final days on the trip. Stockholm was probably my favorite of the Scandinavian cities I've been to! Beautiful city! Copenhagen is amazing, but Stockholm had a completely different feeling. Maybe it was the fact that there were hills and not flat-as-a-pancake cities. Or maybe it was that Stockholm is built on a collection of islands that are all linked with bridges? Or maybe it was the beautiful weather, sunshine and 50 degree air? What ever it was, it was amazing. From Stockholm, we ventured back by bus to Copenhagen. There I was able to take 2 days rest before I got on a plane to fly to Greece.

Greecian Spring Break
Monday, Joe and I left for Greece. We arrived in Athens, and figured out that it was a 45 min metro ride to the city. Then we realized that our hostel is no where near the Acropolis, like their add on the internet said.

It was a 30 min walk north, with our bags on our backs to the hostel. Athens can be said in three phrases: 1. Dirty city that smells of urine 2. Acropolis is great 3. Amazing gyros!!

Other than that, don't go to Athens. After 2 days we were ready to get out of the city. We met up with my friend from high school, Jill, on Wednesday. From there we caught a ferry to Crete. Overnight ferry, but no free buffet, no dance club, no comfy beds, not even comfy seats. Just 8 hours of the worst boat ride ever.

But, we got to Crete.

We got in at 4:45 am. No way of getting to our hostel without a taxi. 30 Euro for a taxi. 25 kilometer ride around hair pin curves, dead of night, still half asleep. We got there. At least we thought we were there. We paid the taxi, and turned around to see the beach. But not our hostel. He dropped us off in the middle of nowhere, with out any direction which way to go. So we started walking. Luckily, I remembered our hostel was 50 meters from the beach, so if their add on the internet was right(which I wasn't planning on), then we were at least close, if this was the right beach. Our panic soon disapated when we found our hotel first thing. It was actually closer than 50 meters to the beach! Finally, we were able to relax. Oh wait! The place isn't open! nobody is even there! There was one light on, and inside the back door was 2 chairs, so we fell asleep there. Not the best nights sleep ever. We woke up at 9 am, and found the owners opening the doors. Come to find out, the town we were staying in, Agia Pellagia, was just opening for the season. We were the first to stay at the hostel that season! There was one supermarket open, a couple restaurants, and nothing else. Hardly a soul in town, we were the only ones on the beach for 2 days. We felt like royalty. It was like we owned the place.

Well, we left Crete and headed for our final destination, Santorini. I was looking forward to this for so long. I have studied the geography of Santorini, and seen pictures, and have wanted to see it in person for a long time. We took a ferry to get there, from Crete to Athens, Athens to Santorini. 18 hours. Note to self: don't do that again. Santorini was beautiful. Really windy, but nice. We stayed on the south side of the island, Perissa Beach. It is a black volcanic beach. I can't describe how beautiful it was, so I'll let the pictures do that.

On the second day there, we decided to rent scooters to tour the island on. Well, that was a great idea! We went from tip of the island to the other. We saw a red sand beach, a yellow sand beach, a white sand beach, and a black sand beach all in a matter of hours. Amazing. However, on our way back I went around a corner, and my back tire caught gravel and the scooter fell on top of me. I was wearing a helmet, thankfully, but my shorts and sandals didn't stop much from getting torn up. I had a half inch by 3 inch gash ontop of my knee, and countless scrapes and gouges all over my elbows and legs. I thought I shattered my knee cap at first. It swelled up to twice the normal size within minutes. Not a pretty sight. Luckily, nothing was broken, and everything is just fine. All I have now is a couple scabs left, and some nice scars to remember it by.

Santorini is a truely beautiful place, and I can only imagine the summertime and what it would be like. It was still reasonably chilly for us, about 70 degrees and windy, and the water was still about 50 degrees. Quite cold. But it was an opportunity I would love to do again. It was so much fun. I would definetly recommend a trip to Greece, just stick to the islands and you'll be fine!

Cinema Project Finished!

Since I finally finished my large project for studio, I went ahead and posted the last and final pictures of it up on the blog site I created for it. The link is on the right side of the screen, at the top. You can see what I've actually been doing in Denmark for school!

St Patty's Day!! Being Irish in Denmark

Well, it was St. Patrick's Day on Friday, as you are all well aware I'm sure. The Danish tradition for St. Patty's is as follows: "Who is St. Patrick? and why do you have a day for him?" No one knows the tradition basically. Those that do have run into Americans like myself who teach and enlighten the Danes on the greatness that is the holiday of St. Patty's Day. Needless to say, it was a fun night. About 10 of us dressed in full green attire, dawned the shamrock on our cheeks, and kicked our heels to each Irish Pub that Copenhagen had to offer. I was disappointed with one thing though, NO GREEN BEER!



So, on a lighter note, one week from today I will be in Sweden for yet another field study. It will be my third time in Sweden, but to show the ease of transport, imagine driving from Chicago to St. Louis, or Manhattan, KS to Kansas City. That would be a round trip car ride to Sweden, it's really close. But, after Sweden we go to Norway and Finland which I have not been to yet. I get back Sunday, April 2, and then leave once again Monday, April 3 to go on Spring Break. Where to, you ask? Why, Greece of course! Athens, Crete, and Santorini. I will be gone until April 13, so if you notice that I'm not posting much it's because I'm laying on a Grecian beach watching the sunset and eating a gyro. Which reminds me, I can't wait for the food. I love Greek food. An authentic gyro is something I will treasure for the rest of my life. I will try to post a couple times before I leave, but until then....

The Past Two Weeks of Copenhagen

Since I've been busy with my studio project, I haven't had the time to update much on the site. However, I haven't had much time to do anything else either. But for those days when it was absolutely necessary to put down the pen and paper and relax, I was able to fit in a little bit of fun:

Joe and I visited the legendary Christiana awhile back. If you don't know about it, Christania is a small sector in Copenhagen where students, low-wage employees, and rebels against institutionalized government congregated in the 50's and 60's. It is a shanty town of hand built structures and a vernacular appeal that is extremely unique. Christania is also know the world over for being an independent "society" of people who don't want to be forced to live the way the government mandates. Those living in Christania did not pay taxes to the government, they protested with rallies, and led free lifestyles. This may sound extremely similar to the hippies in America around the 1960's. And it was. Christania was, up until about 5 years ago, just pushed aside in Denmark's eyes. Nobody touched it, nobody cared. But times changed. The selling of marijuana began to run wild, and up unitl 5 years ago it was known that it was the center of the weed world in Denmark. New laws against marijuana have caused the police to patrol the streets night and day to stop any illegal activity. Although it is very rich in its drug community, those living in Christania don't like hard drugs.
In fact, there have been cases where those who start selling hard drugs like cocaine, crack, heroine, etc... have been muscled out and sent somewhere else because that is not the style of Christania. It's a fun place to be during the day, too. If you're not into the hashish that's for sale, there are plenty of other things to do at the local cafe's and jazz clubs. It's actually a family affair during the day. Families walk through the area like a park. Kid's ride their bikes around, people taking walks, people just hanging around, that sort of thing. So, although the pictures paint what would be considered a run down, gang infested part of an American city, it is infact the character of the people that live there that really adds a sense of community and safety instead of an inner city ghetto.

On another note, last friday was a belated festalavn party at DIS. Some of the guys in architecture put together a cover band and played for the party. They played anything from the Beatles to Coolio. Ganster's Paradise has never sounded the same.

My last adventure of the past week was last night. First concert in Denmark, or Europe for that matter. It was a Damien Marley reggae concert. Damien is Bob Marley's youngest son. It was a great concert, almost front row. Five of us went, Wylie, Ian, Ryan, Ben, and Carmody. Good times, good times.

Waste some time with a game!

Hey, for those of you who get bored with my blog site, I've decided to liven things up a bit with the addition of a game on the sidebar to the right. If you don't want to listen to the music, just turn it off on the game. WARNING!! It is highly addictive. Play at your own risk as you may loose track of time and miss that all important thing you had to do just because you were playing a silly game! There, you have been warned... Enjoy!

Project is Finished!

My second project for the semester in studio in done as of today. I had presentation critiques and now I am done. I know its been awhile since my last post, and the project is why. It was a very good presentation, and my professors really enjoyed it. They did, however, say that I had too much detail to everything, and that I should have left it more conceptual in my presentation. But, it was a Kansas State level of work and at KState you don't leave your project in a conceptual state when it is ready to turn in. Everything has to be thought out, and you should try to get as many ideas as possible without cluttering the boards. So I took it as a compliment that I had "too much" detail. I'll be posting the rest of the pictures very soon, they will be available on my link to the project on the top, right hand side of the screen. I'll have complete computer renderings, along with model shots, and final boards. Until next time.....

My First Video Post

Right Click Here to Download Video!

A Trip to Sweden's Coast

Yesterday was quite eventful. We left at 7:30 am to go to Sweden. We saw architecture up and down the coastline and towns along the way. Our first stop was Helsingborg. Every other year, Sweden hosts a housing exhibition, a way to showcase new technologies, new designs, and new styles to the public and architectural community. Helsingborg was host to the 1999 exhibition and showcased a number of buildings along the harbor of the town. There were about 10 buildings in all, each done by a different designer or firm.

We then continued to wonder around little villages and towns, looking at new ways that architects have been influencing Swedish housing projects. However, around noon we came to one of Sweden's tallest "mountains", which is still only a hill by any other countries standards. We climbed to the top, and came down the steep side of the hill, down towards the sea. Along the coast, tucked away is a large art installation piece. All the driftwood that had collected in the area over hundreds of years was turned into a beautiful landscape of logs and sticks, lashed together with nails. The result were towers that shot up out of the rocks along the cliff side with paths that led from one another along the rocky shore. Everything was made by one man, and took him 4 years to finish it. It was really something to see, the pictures as you can imagine do not to it justice to how beautiful the site really was.

The trip after that was cold since snow had penetrated even the smallest of areas of every piece of clothing we had on. We were soaked, and tired, and we wanted to go home. However, our professor had a trick up his sleeve in Malmo, Sweden. When we thought we were going to yet another housing project, that none of us would like, the bus stops outside of this small clearing with a large parking lot. We look out the window and right there is Calatrava's "Turning Torso" skysraper building right in front of us. It was an amazing sight. At nearly 50 stories tall, the footprint of the building is rather small. You can walk around it in less than a minute, yet looking at the building, it seems it would fall over if a wind came. The structure is amazing, and it was really cool to see one of the most recent buildings in contemporary architecture to be finished. It was, again, an amazing feeling being there.