Long Study Tour pt 1 - Germany

Note: This blog post contains just a few selections of the many pictures I took on the Study Tour - for a larger gallery of photos, click on this link!!!! 

To start our trip, we crossed the Baltic on a ferry and landed in Germany!

We spent the first day in Hamburg touring the new harbor development called Hafen City.

They've completely redone a spot that used to be a shipping hub that was basically abandoned by the industry. Now it has fancy-shmancy apartments, shops, hang out spots, and the in-the-works Elbphilharmonie opera house (it's behind construction construction schedule because of a budget crisis... whoops). Hamburg seems to thrive around the water (there are more bridges there than in Venice!!!!).

Woah, so many updates you guys

Hey hey hey, guess what? I'm now officially a student blogger for DIS!!! WOOOO, legit. So maybe this will encourage me to post more often. Also they want me to talk a lot about living at a folk high school (folkehøjskole). No problemo - a huge portion of my live revolves around being at Krogerup so there's plenty to talk about. Future entries on this topic to come as soon as I get off my butt and write them.

Random happenings from the past few weeks:

• I made my first Danish clothing purchase. OMG TOPSHOP you are my new friend. So expensive... :( But so good! Why? Becasue they have a TALL SECTION. Fellow gangly women rejoice! Your ankles shall now be covered in fashionable pants!

• The past week has been filled with the most beautiful sunny days. I'm starting to understand why the Danes worship the sun so much, especially in the way they design their buildings. Seriously, the sun is rare and incredible when it actually shows up. The light here really is different from back home. SO PERRRTY.

• Woah, has it already been a week since the election? Yep yep. Denmark has a female prime minister now and shift in political power to the left wing. Most peeps I've met are pretty pumped for the change. It's awesome how invested everyone seems to be in the politics here. And Krogerup hosted an awesome election party :D Wish I had pics *sigh* blogger fail.

• Also I've been on a handful of field studies and superfun adventures with my DIS buddy network. Those I DO have pics for, and shall post once I have access to my laptop (I'm currently typing from one of the DIS computer labs haha).

OKAY MIDTERMS NEXT WEEK. OFF TO BE PRODUCTIVE.

Peace

-Mack

HOLY ARCHITECTURE, BATMAN!

Prepare thyselves - a lot of pictures are to follow.

So I'm back from Western Denmark. It was pretty cooool. Lots of farms, little old towns with cute Danish vernacular houses, and the lovely Århus! OMG a real city, no way. It was cozy and chill with, as everyone assured me, a great nightlife (though everyone in my tour group was too exhausted to take advantage of it *sigh*).

But I'm so happy to be back in CPH/Humlebæk. This place must be becoming my home, since I was actually a bit homesick during the 3 days I was away.

So on with it! Stuff I saw:

a recreation of a Viking house (Trelleborg)

Yo

I'll be going on my short study tour to Western Denmark starting Thursday! Wooo.... except I have a project due right when I come back and I have no idea when I'm gonna work on it. EEP. NO NO I REFUSE TO STRESS. I WILL ENJOY MYSELF. And try to draw a lot.

In the meantime, since I don't have much else to report, here's a picture of the desk in my room!

BEAUTIFUL, NO? Note the Snøhetta poster. Got to see an exhibit of their projects at the Royal Danish Academy of Architecture. Copenhagen Design Week, yeah! Got a free poster. Super sweet. And the creepy picture of the little girl is from an exhibit of the Helsinki School of Photography at the Copenhagen black diamond (Royal Library).

Anyway, everything is so blue and coordinated. I love it.

PEACE.

Roskilde Adventures

Went to Roskilde Cathedral yesterday!

The extensive history of the building is majorly apparent by its mishmash of architectural styles from many eras. 

SCARY DOOR WHAAA??

It's somewhat garish at times, but really the church has an aura that is surprisingly quaint despite how packed it is with sights and ornaments.

tons o' frescos

Maybe it's the remembrance that causes a hush over the place -- the constant surrounding message that life is short, even for kings and queens

mmm death

A very interesting sight to see, and I even learned a bit of Danish history. Who woulda thunk it? But no more play time this week. Gotta get to work on studio stuff...

Hmm, I keep switching back and forth to wanting to use this blog to talk about srs business and just wanting to post stilly comics or something. Oh well. Excuse my schizophrenicyness. 

Ciao,

- Mackenzie

Obligatory Introductory Post part 1

Why hello there readers (if there are any of you out there).  I feel I should introduce myself for anyone who is confused about source and/or point of this blog...

My name is Mackenzie. I'm from Dallas, TX and am about to start my Junior year attending Rice University in Houston, TX. I'm currently double majoring in Art History and Theatre. Here I am:

Visual Approximation of the Author

Here's the deal though: I'm not in Houston. I'm actually sitting this moment at a coffee shop on a street called Skindergade in Copenhagen, Denmark. This is where I'm going to school for the fall semester since I've decided to study abroad.

This European adventure is quite a change for me, considering I'm coming from this:

Fields, cows, hot... yes, that's a golf cart.

I've been here for a week and a half and my life has been flipped-turned upside-down Fresh Prince of Bel Air style. I appologize for waiting so long to actually update, but you should take my word for it that the absence has been the result of me having an AMAZING time. A recap of events so far:

• Flew about 11 hours from DFW to Copenhagen. Happened to be sitting behind another DIS pre-architecture student (the lovely miss Audrey Blood from Austen,TX)! WHAT A COWINKEEDINK! Also sat with an Englishman and a Scotsman on the way to Heathrow and had a jolly good time. 
• Moved in to the Krogerup Højskole, a lovely place next to an idyllic farm. For more on the folkehøjskole concept, go here... Did you read it? Pretty cool right?!?! Here's the farm:

So prettyyyy

omgggg

The flow of my life here is completely different from the way it is back in the states. It's a good different though. I feel much more challenged to wake up and live my life everyday. It's incredibly refreshing. Anyway, this shall be continued in a part 2 because I have to go on a field trip to Roskilde Cathedral with my Danish Language and Culture class.

LOTS MORE TO COME, I PROMISE!!!

Kisses,

-Mackenzie

I really need to finish packing

This is becoming a desperate situation...