It's been about a week since I last posted. The week has been pretty busy, and I am almost fully adjusted to living here. I've been busy building models for my core class and literally had an aha moment after having a one on one session with my professor. I'm really coming to see architecture in a different light. It's actually really exciting!
Going back, to last Friday, I left the studio right around 5 to head back to Roskilde to meet up with the rest of my dorm mates for dinner. We were having dinner at Jensen's Bofhus (beef house) paid for by DIS. I had a great steak dinner with a Carlsberg light and delicious dessert which consisted of a warm chewy waffle placed on top of drizzled nutella, ice cream on top and strawberry sauce on the side. Yummmmmm. After dinner we all left for Mary's, supposedly the best club in Roskilde and my first club ever. I'd like to think that when it comes to drinking I hold my own pretty well. But dancing. Um no. Me no do the dance thing. At first when we got to the entrance, we were carded and went in. While we were waiting for the others to get through, Simi told us about the safety rules of going to a club. Keep an eye on your things, if you leave your drink and come back, don't drink it because someone may have drugged it...etc... That really put me on edge right away, not that I wasn't completely expecting that. Anddd, on a side note, this bar had a really weird bathroom setup where the men's bathroom had no door and literally looked like a hallway. Sarah and I walked into it without knowing, luckily no one says in there. Apparently it happened to a few other people that night too, so we weren't the only ones. Needless to say, I was that one awkward person who left early. That place was just a little too much for me.
I find that my room always becomes a huge mess and that half of my weekend is dedicated to cleaning it. On Saturday I went grocery shopping which doesn't seem as daunting anymore. I know what I'm buying for the most part and got everything I needed for the week. This time, I am really determined to pack my lunch as buying lunch in the city is really expensive. But I have found some really good eats for decent prices.
Now comes the exciting part! At least for me anyway. On Sunday, I had a date to eat dinner with my visiting family. We had been trying to get together for two weeks now and finally the day has come. I took the 15.59 (oh yeah, did I mention Denmark runs on military time?) train to Lejre where they would pick me up. I got off the train and was making really awkward eye contact with people who would potentially be the ones picking me up.mi had no clue who I was looking for, but alas I found her. My visiting sister Emily. She drove me to the house in a blue stick shift car. It was a two door that looked like a van but really wasn't. You don't see those at all in America. My family lives in a quaint little neighborhood that is surrounded by 6 houses that share a common courtyard on top of their personal property. Apparently 20 years ago they all got together to tear down the lot that was full of pine trees and built their houses there. Everyone knows each other, it's really cute!
I got to the home and they welcomed me with open arms, my visiting mom had baked cinnamon roles especially for me, and they were delicious! We sat down for tea and snacks and just got to know each other. This particular day happened to be the one where they are hosting the dinner club that they go to every Sunday with two other families. They each take turns cooking and that day happened to be theirs. That is also why I got to meet my visiting sisters who normally live in Copenhagen. Which is ironic because they said they moved from Roskilde to the city because it's too far to commute. I do it everyday. Thanks DIS. My visiting family had a world map hanging on their wall. They have a tradition where if you've stayed in a place overnight, then you could a pin on the map to indicate that you've been there. It was amazing, they have been all around the world, Asian, Europe, US, Costa Rica, South America, Africa, etc. I was a bit envious of all the traveling they've done. It just inspires me to do some more traveling myself.
My first Danish dinner party! I was nervous because I heard of all these Danish etiquette rules for dinner parties and that they last for hours. It wasn't soo bad. We had beef tataki with a spicy pesto mayonnaise sauce topped with avacados, onions, lemon, and home made baked Parmesan chips. Oh yeah, and lots of wine and homemade bread. My host mom was telling a story about how she bought the meat and how she normally would look at the price before she bought it, but this particular time for some reason she didn't and apparently it was very expensive, and if I didn't like it I should pretend I like it. It was a fun joke that went on for the night. During that first course we raised our glasses to skod, and so I followed suit. Then halfway through the first course they decided to do it again for reasons still unknown to me. I, the only person who didn't raise my glass was asked to. As soon as I realized this, I picked up my glass, but in the process dropped my fork. Oops! That was embarrassing. But eventful nonetheless.
Next was a curried fish from Greenland that they brought back after going there. It was sided with pasta and rhubarb salad with berries, and another salad of which I don't know what was in it, but it was good. We ended the meal with more homemade snacks.
When we left, my visiting dad drove me all the way back to my dorm, and they gave me some leftover bread, snacks, and frikedelli (Danish meatballs) to bring back with me. She purposely made more so that the three of us, her two daughters and I, could bring food back.
On the way back, Ivan (visiting dad) and I talked about driving in Denmark, and apparently when they travelled to the US they rented a Lincoln, something they would do only once. If you were to buy a Lincoln here in Denmark it would cost the equivalent of $400,000 USD. That's insane, that is the price of a house.
Gas price is also ridiculous. It's roughly 12-13 DKK for one liter. That's about equivalent of $10 per gallon. No wonder why everyone here bikes.
I am starting to plan out my weekends and really take advantage of the city. Malmo, Sweden is definitely on my list. My goal is to really explore while I have the time here. I am going to be that friend with all the cool pictures! Or so I hope at least.
Now I come to the somewhat geeky part of this post. It's only the third week, but we are already on our short study tour and it just so happens that I am in the me group as the rest of my studio. Supposedly it doesn't really work out that way, but it did for us! :)
For the first time in the history of my buying sketch books, I am actually drawing in it. I hope to have one of those really cool looking sketch books by the end of my time here, but I doubt it will be that great, but definitely it will be nice to look back on.
We visited a bunch of spots throughout the day, and at this point I'm a bit lazy to talk about it, but I'll post the pictures.
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