dansk 5

I went to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art on Friday afternoon. I cannot resist sharing some of my favorite pieces. The collection was lovely, but the museum itself was stunning as well. It's an old summer home about 25 miles north of Copenhagen. It sits right above the water and you can look out and see Sweden. It's such a gorgeous place and I could have stayed all day if the trains ran late enough. Here are some of my favorites.

Jan Schoonhoven, R-69 3, 1969

Günther Uecker, Circle-Circles, 1967

Casino Stripes, Poul Gernes

Robert Rauschenberg, Tideline, 1963

Arnold Newman, Robert Rauschenberg, Captiva Island, Florida, 1977

Richard Avedon, Alfred Lester, dryland farmer, Charboneau, North Dakota, August 17, 1982

Alberto Giacometti, Venice Women, 1956

Per Kirkeby, The Sun Temple, 1969

Per Kirkeby, Untitled, 1965

Asger Jorn, Nocturn III, 1959

look at this space. too gorgeous.

Asger Jorn, Formio and Cigalette, 1961

Asger Jorn, Vision nocturne, 1959

Asger Jorn, Studies and Surprises, 1972

Alexander Calder, Little Janey-Waney, 1964/76

Richard Serra, The Gate in the Gorge

seriously.

Pablo Picasso, Bathers, 1921

Sonia Delaunay, Study for Fabric Design, 1924

pieces from "The Ten Largest" by Hilma af Klint

Hilma af Klint, The Swan, 1915

Hilma af Klint, pieces from "The Swan Series"

Hilma af Klint, No. 7, 1920

Hilma af Klint, The Mohammedan Standpoint. No. 3C, 1920

Joseph Beuys, Demonstration for Jan Vermeer, 1961

accidental selfie in the reflection of Beuys' Black Heart as Young Bull's Head, 1964

Joseph Beuys

dansk 4

It's crazy to think I've been here for nearly two weeks. In many ways it feels a lot longer than that and in other ways the time is flying by. I'm in class four days a week for four hours each day, but that time goes by quickly because we cover so much. The people in my class are so friendly and cool, and my teachers are great as well. I feel like the least talented/interesting person in the whole bunch--I'm so in awe of the things they're all doing or have done.

On Monday I thought it would be nice to celebrate memorial day on my own, so I wandered over to Assistens Kirkegård (a big cemetery in the Nørrebro neighborhood). There is a good metro system in the city, but it was a nice day and I really like walking, so I took the half hour journey from my school to the cemetery on foot. It was cool to explore a new part of town, and I might have convinced myself I deserved some is. The cemetery houses the remains of lots of famous Danes, but I was short on time, so I spent most of it with Søren Kirkegaard and Hans Christian Andersen. It's a really gorgeous cemetery, so I am planning on going back soon.

On Monday evening I went to the beach in Roskilde with Beth and the girls. The teenagers here do this thing on Facebook where they nominate each other to jump into the water and then you have to film it and post it within 48 hours or you have to buy the person dinner. Anyway, Mille got nominated, so we all went to the beach. I didn't get in the water because I came straight from the train station, but Mille nominated me, so at some point I'll do it.

Yesterday I visited den lille havfrue (the little mermaid) statue. There were about one billion tourists there besides me, but it was fun to see her. I didn't have anywhere to be, so I just sat and watched people take their picture with her for awhile, which was interesting and humorous and sometimes kind of sad. It took me awhile to find her, and I stumbled upon another mermaid statue that was NOT little and looked like something creepy that a rich old casino owner would buy for his backyard or something.

Anyways, the little mermaid is near some really beautiful parks, so I did a lot of aimless wandering. I found a cool church and ate lunch at a picnic table out front. I resisted is, but I am battling an honest addiction to licorice right now. The kind with cream in the middle. It's a problem.

Maria and I did baptisms in the Copenhagen temple on Saturday

Andersen's remains were moved here from another cemetery short after his death

Another shot from Assistens

Nørrebro

Me, Beth and Maria at the beach. 

See the level of glam I'm living with here? Meanwhile, I look like a hybrid of Gene Wilder/Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka.

This is the view from my window at 5 AM

 Pretty little houses in the city

 Den lille havfrue

Churchillparken <3

dansk 3

I can count to one hundred now (if you give me 20 minutes) and tell time, so the Danish is coming, slowly. I've finished my first week of classes and so far I've really loved it. There are students from all over the place, from Brazil to Afghanistan to Lithuania. Most everyone in my class is there because they married a Dane or else their spouse got a job here, so the government is paying for their language lessons. When I explain that I am here for the summer just to study Danish, they think I'm crazy.

I take the train into the city each day from the village where I live. The family I live with is letting me use a bike while I'm here to get to the station, and my favorite part of the day is riding home. The train rocks me right to sleep (every day, without fail), so it's nice to have some time on the bike to get refreshed and clear my head. Plus we've had some really gorgeous weather this week which makes it very pleasant to be outside.

Copenhagen is a really cool city and super accessible. I love walking, so this week after lessons I've been cruising around exploring different areas. I've found some nice parks to eat lunch in, and I also discovered my favorite place so far: the library. It has a nice quiet garden on one side where you can sit in the shadow of Kierkegaard and his hair, and on the other side is a canal and they have some comfy chairs you can sit and read in while you take in the sun. Inside is nice too, but it's been such great weather that I never want to be inside. Today I also walked past Tivoli (the world's oldest theme park, I think...I might have made that up) and saw my dude Hans Christian Andersen.

I live with a very sweet family and they are very good to me. We have girl talk and they make me count in Danish for them and we get along great.

 H.C. Andersen

 This is library garden where I like to eat lunch

 Here's the brick side of the library

(Side note: when it's hot everyone just takes off their clothes and sunbathes. Check the dude on the right)

Kierkegaard in all his glory. Actually if I was a statue I'd want to be in his spot.

dansk 2

I went into Copenhagen for the first time today to start my Danish class. I was nervous about finding my way to school so I arrived about 100 years early, but that gave me time to wander around the neighborhood for a bit. The city has a lot of character and the area I was in had some nice little parks/gardens, which is my favorite thing. I'm excited to explore more. I love what I've seen so far.

I'm happy to start learning Danish. It's very isolating to be unable to understand people and I feel so needy asking people to speak English. But now I can count to twenty (kind of), recite the alphabet (again...kind of), and tell people my name and where I'm from and ask them the same (in theory). ALSO, the three-year-old I live with taught me the two most important words: is (ice cream) and slik (candy). My favorite Danish word so far is spansk (it means Spanish, but I just think of Spanx). Pronunciation is a trip, but present tense verb conjugation is amazing (the word doesn't change!).

In other news, musli has made a big comeback in my life.

 me looking like a hobbit in front of what looks like a hobbit house

(I think it's a 5000 year old house or something, but I'm not sure...it was my first day, everything is a blur)

pretty fields by my house

 Nyhavn near my school

dansk 1

I arrived in Denmark this morning and I can't even do the math to figure out how many hours I've been awake. I figure since I'm back on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean it might be appropriate to start this thing up again.  A brief summary of my first impressions: the country is more beautiful than I even anticipated, I'm living my dream of having wood floors in my bedroom, and finally and most importantly, the family hosting me has blown me away with their kindness and generosity in the ten hours that we've known each other. Plus, we already listened to "Drunk in Love" together so, you know, soul mates.