A Sunday Walk by the Lake.

Claus' Mother, Mette, Me, Cousin Casper, Claus, Mikkel, Aunt Oni, Cousin Louisa, Cousin Joachim (& Laura the Dachshund)

Final(s) Week.

Monday: Critique Architecture Student Presentation, Russian Literature Exam
Tuesday: Final Project Presentation and Critique
Wednesday: Danish Architectural History Exam
Thursday: Danish Bank Holiday
Friday: Sustainable Design Exam



One of my models from our final studio design project.

1 Maj & Koldskål.

In Copenhagen, Labor Day is celebrated with concerts, beer and political speeches in Fælledparken. The whole scene has the atmosphere of a summer music festival. The crowd was impressive despite the patches of light rain and some friends and I sat on a blanket in the park for most of the afternoon.

With the warm weather, a new after-dinner treat has been appearing at our table. Koldskål is a sweet cold liquid made with buttermilk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and lemon and is eaten with crispy biscuits. Delish!

Birthdays & Carlsberg.

Thursday was Claus' birthday and in keeping with Danish tradition, he woke up to his family waving Danish flags. My gift to him: homemade chocolate almond cookies. The weather was beautiful and the extended family came to our house to celebrate with another delicious meal prepared by Helle.

Earlier that day I went with some friends to the famous Carlsberg Brewery. It has been on my list of things to do before leaving Copenhagen and the time is winding down! The museum was interesting and included the largest collection of beer from around the world.


Kelsey & I on the Carlsberg elephants that guard the entrance to the grounds.

Frilandsmuseet.

The 86-acre Open Air Museum, north of Copenhagen, has more than 50 farms, mills and houses from the period 1650-1950. They were transported to the site from regions in Denmark, the Faeroe Islands, southern Sweden and northern Germany. The half-timber construction with yellow in-fill is a miller's home from the Danish island of Fyn.

Ash.

Eyjafjallajökull (translation: island-mountain glacier) covers an Icelandic volcano that erupted on March 20 and then again on April 14. I'm sure you've all heard about the extreme disruption that it's volcanic ash is causing in northern Europe. The event actually marks the largest grounding of airplanes since the second World War. There are many students here at my school in Copenhagen that have had to cancel travel plans, many visiting parents that are stranded here and friends of my host family that are stuck in other countries until the air clears.

Fun Fact: Copenhagen has the #1 metro system in the world!

A Weekend on Sustainable Samsø.

Friday evening after studio, about 30 students and our tour leader Mikael Koch, Chief Adviser on Sustainability, took a regional train to Kalundborg and then a ferry to this island where they produce more than enough wind energy to sustain themselves. Early Saturday morning, we hopped on bicycles and headed to The Energy Academy where we got a lecture on the history and future of Samsø. We then rode to the harbor where I ran into a couple that were natives of none other than Madison, Wisconsin. (!!!) They told me that they moved to Copenhagen when their children were ages 10 and 13 and then retired on the island.

We spent the afternoon on Jørgen Tranberg’s farm where we had some pretty unique experiences. Before our day was over, we had all climbed to the top of the 60 meter tall wind turbine that Jørgen had built on his property, half of us had witnessed the live birth of a calf and the other half had seen what is believed to be the oldest windmill in the country. Yep. After all of this, we biked a hilly 7 miles back to the hostel for the evening.



Sunday, we hiked the hills on the northern part of the island and ate our lunches in Nordby, one the most preserved villages in Denmark. Before venturing back to Copenhagen, we visited the Samsø Bryghus, a small local organic brewery.