In-between Time

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Friday, July 6 2007
School began at 9am sharp. The first 2 lectures were by Bjørl consisting of 1) being exposed to works by the 3 teachers and other Scandinavian designers and then 2) about drawing and coloring. The second lecture was very basic. He was being very poetic and sappy. Even so, I enjoyed it very much until an odd moment, where he showed us a self-portrait of himself naked. It was very cartoony so it wasn't too awkward, but...naked?
Break for lunch and then back to listen to Nils-Ole for FOUR HOURS. He informed us very thoroughly of Scandinavian design. He went through Danish, Swedish, and Finnish design. Nothing from Norway because they don't have great design. I filled up the rest of my little brown book with notes and doodles of the chairs he talked about. It was sort of hard to understand him, his English isn't as good as Bjørl's and he was nervous I believe so he wasn't quite finishing sentences.
We were out by 4:30. DIS was throwing a welcoming party for everyone in the program that evening at 6. Rather than going back to my dorm and possibly falling asleep, I roamed the streets downtown. Copenhagen is such a great bustling city. The buildings are very colorful because of the bleak weather/grey skies. We (David and I) walked by Nyhavn (New Harbor). We were looking for cool/cheap places and eateries to let everyone else know about but it seemed like a touristy area so we didn't make much progress on that. As we started to head back to school for the welcoming party, there was a drunk or crazy old man yelling outbursts on the street and he punched the air right in front of a girl. She barely flinched and just kept on walking/texting.
Back at DDK (Denmark Design School), it was socializing time. I met a ton of people. My friend Ryan asked if Griffins actually exist and I hope I never forget that.

The entire weekend was rainy and cold. Maybe I was in denial and ignored the fact that it was going to be a cold rest of summer but seriously, this is like a second winter. I woke up very early Saturday and Sunday. It's Tuesday as I write and I think I'm just barely adjusting to the time.
The weekend consisted of meeting a ton of new faces and walking endlessly through Copenhagen. It is so difficult for me to grasp the pattern of the streets here. Besides the city streets being as ungridlike as possible, my eye hasn't gotten used to the differences in a lot of the churches, parks and architecture. Maybe another week and I'll have a better feel of the city.
Saturday a man came up to me and started speaking french. He asked if I were Parisian cause I guess I looked Parisian to him. He then just HAD to know, "Tell me, what is the combination to your face?" I wasn't quite sure how to answer that but I did my polite best.
Every Saturday at midnight they let off fireworks at Tivoli! I was with a group of DIS kids as we stood at some adjacent square and enjoyed the show from there. Endlessly amazing, you can't beat bright colors in a foreign night sky.

Sunday July 7 2007
I went back to the Kundindustreemuseet to draw a chair. That was our only assignment for the weekend, draw a chair that you like or dislike and write some stuff about it. On the way to the museum I walked by Rosenborg Slot, "the most royal place in the city!" Very grassy place with a big, tall castle in the middle.

Monday July 8 2007
We split up into our 3 materials and learned from our respective gurus about the tools we'll be using to execute our chair designs. I couldn't believe how nice the machines were. Makes me excited to start working! Later in the afternoon, we went to a couple of showcases at Rud Rasmussen and Paustian and then watched a 16 mm film of Alvar Aalto. The narrator in the film kept on interrupting Alvar Aalto and once said "Alvar Aalto doesn't like to speak about his designs" as Alvar's lips were moving, it was cracking me up.

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