Let's go to Western Denmark, shall we?

The day is upon us for the departure for our last traveling study tour of our study abroad program.  This tour is much shorter and keeps us within Denmark.  And no...no booze cruise this time around.  Damn.  Tomorrow the wake up call is quite early, as both groups have to be at the busses by 7:30AM (yes, they've separated us again - time to say goodbye to Tim and Brandon for a few days...sad faces all around).

To be completely honest...I have no idea what the schedule of this tour is...they've been keeping that quite a secret.  All I know is the route that we are roughly following throughout Denmark.  Tim and Brandon follow a similar route, but make an additional stop, God knows where, so we'll see if they make the mistake of allowing all of us to bunk together in the hostels that we're staying at.

Oh I can't wait to spend more time on a bus.

We were all assigned a case study project when school started, and throughout these tours, we travel to each case study and the group that researched the project and built the model, has the pleasure of presenting to the group an overview of the project.  Now I have the pleasure of giving a quick rundown of the Aarhus Crematorium in Aarhus, Denmark (winning).  

The weather report looks just marvelous.  Rain on Thursday.  Maybe rain on Friday.  Rain on Saturday.

It will be interesting to see what the rest of Denmark has to offer and I am looking forward to getting out of the city a bit.  As the web address of this blog states, ThisCouldGoAnywhere, so check back for updates while we're on the road.  

36 Days in...

Wow.  Time has absolutely been flying by.  It feels like just yesterday we were packing up and saying our goodbyes in San Diego.  There hasn't been much to report as of lately since we have been bombarded with school assignments and are already in the beginning phases of the end of our study abroad here in Copenhagen.

Since returning from our study tour to Norway and Sweden...

Shaun got a euro-cut.
Brandon got a regular hair cut.
Steve has not cut his hair yet.

But overall we have spent most of our days working at home or at school.  Shaun and I are in the same studio, designing a bike pavilion for the busiest metro stop in Copenhagen, while Tim and Brandon are designing a kayaking pavilion on the harbor.  I personally have been using my schoolwork to keep me occupied and busy as my future travelling plans have been creeping into my mind and getting me quite excited.  I wouldn't consider myself homesick by any means, but thinking back about being outside of the States for over a month is crazy...and pretty awesome.  What I wouldn't do for a California Burrito, peanut butter, or a good American hamburger though.  Damn.

On a serious note, days after we left the city of Oslo in Norway, domestic terrorism hit the peaceful city that we just visited.  It was a bizarre feeling.  We have the unfortunate knowledge of what it feels like for an attack to happen on our country; and for us, it felt like for them, it was a loss of their innocence/isolation, and a harsh push into the world that we as Americans know.  They're saying it's the greatest loss of life and most traumatic event to happen to Norway since WWII.  We shared in a moment of silence on Monday, along with the rest of Scandinavian countries, and paid our respect to those who died on Friday.

Alrighty, on to more positive things.  We leave for our short, Western Denmark study tour on Thursday morning.  Copenhagen is on the very east coast of Denmark (we haven't really been outside the city of Copenhagen since we got here), and we will travel by bus (again) and spend 3 days and 2 nights seeing the rest of the country that we have been calling home for the last month.  It should be interesting, since you can drive across the entire country in about 3 hours.  And, we don't need to exchange money for foreign kroner!  Danish Kroner all the way this time.

The Euro...

...not the currency.

The Euro.  It's a fashion statement.  It's everywhere.  It's a haircut.  It's a topic of discussion on almost a daily basis here in Copenhagen.

Yesterday, fellow compadre, Shaun Lynch decided it was time to Euro himself out, and our friend Kelsey was more than happy to assist in the transformation that is, the Euro haircut.

For almost the entire time we have been in Copenhagen, being around the Danes, who sport this aforementioned haircut, I have received daily, almost constant, pressure from my SD buddies to get a haircut, in the Euro-way.  I have resisted their pressure so far.

It seems that they have a new technique.  If they get Euro-cuts, then naturally I will follow suit.  The Euro-cut is a simple cut...leave everything the way it is, just shave/buzz/cut close the side of your hair on the side of your head (see below examples).

And these guys "pull it off".

Shaun has already made his transformation and there's talk that The Great Brandini will be getting the Euro haircut as well.  I can't say I'm happy about it, but if the current trend continues, there's a fairly good chance I will have to cut my hair in the European way, and see what happens.  The plan is to give it a shot, and if it looks how I think it will (terrible), I will just cut my hair short like I usually would have it...

...as you can see, it has been relatively tame and quiet since returning from our trip...so this is all I really have for you today.  Who knows where this week may take us.

Sweden, Continued

We have been enjoying our time in Stockholm for sure.  I think we all can agree that we are feeling a better vibe in Sweden...it's more metropolitan, more history and an abundance of water.  Our 6th and final full day of the study tour is jam packed with sketching stops and opportunities for photo ops.

We awoke to a rainy day in Scandinavia but we pressed on anyways.  Our first stop was the Stockholm City Hall; also the building that holds the Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony.  It is a heavy brick building right along the water and a huge tourist destination.  We were unfortunately unable to enter into the building but from the outside it was still impressive.

Next we headed to the Stockholm Library, another pretty impressive structure that had a huge, circular space to house the books.  Like all other stops, we got a quick tour and explanation of the space and then were encouraged to take the remained of the stop to sketch.

Next it was lunch on our own...as usual, I ate my pre-made sandwich that I made with leftover breakfast foods and snuck out with.  Delish, but I don't think I can eat anymore ham, salami and cheese sandwiches...I feel it is all they serve here at our buffets, but it could be worse I guess.

After lunch, we were told to be on the bus at 1:30 sharp to depart for the remainder of our day trip.  At 1:25, I boarded the bus with a delightful Asian called Issac.  While sitting waiting to go, we saw a few of our comrades getting onto the bus with some wine and liquor.  Now, you may be asking yourself, "So what?"  Well, in Norway and Sweden, the government owns and distributes the liquor and monitors alcohol content levels in the beers (the max. containing 3.5% alcohol).  Liquor stores close at 6PM, and we're never back from our trips until, at earliest, 8PM.  Throughout the entire trip we have been left to purchase "the standard" Carlsberg (which we're all pretty much over at this point) at a whopping 3.5%.  So, we ask our classmates where they got such things...and they point a block away.  Without exchanging words, Issac and I sprinted off the bus, past classmates and chaperones in the complete opposite direction to the liquor store.  At 1:26 we arrived out of breath and sweating.  At 1:27 we couldn't decide between vodka or whiskey.  At 1:28, we decided to get both.  At 1:29, we saw 4 other classmates running in as we were paying.  At 1:30, with no bags, just booze in hand, we sprinted down the street and onto the bus.  At 1:31, we felt like winners.

Now, with everything squared away, we pressed on to check out a church and then it was onto a 3 hour tour of Woodland Cemetery.  By this point in our trip, we're all exhausted and take any opportunity to relax and nap...so why not on the front lawn of a cemetery?

It is a huge, well manicured plot of land outside of Stockholm that is home to several chapels, a crematorium, cemetery, and other things.  It was creepy.  Not exactly my idea of a fun place to spend an afternoon but, what can you do?

For our last dinner in Stockholm, dinner was on our school at a very nice restaurant where we ate, yup, Swedish Meatballs...booyah.  They were delicious.  It was great to eat all together and recap our trip a bit.  We were told by some of the girls working for the school that there was a free concert going on that we needed to check out.  Long story short, we ended up being a lot more tired than we expected, and the group that I was with, never made it but instead decided to find a square to hang out in and people watch.

Ladies and Gentlemen...Stockholm, Sweden

Wakey wakey came early for us again...naturally.  We woke up, had breakfast and were magically whisked away via our bus for the 2nd leg of the Oslo-Stockholm trip.  We all prepared for the last 5 hours of the bus ride, which surprisingly went by quickly as we have all gotten amazingly great at passing out and staying asleep on the bus for long periods of time.

But then, it was time.  The time to arrive in Stockholm...the "Venice of the North" as we have been told.  The other half of the kids from our school in Copenhagen are on a similar trip, but they went to Stockholm first, and they told us to expect an amazing city and amazing time, and they were right.  It's a mixture of Copenhagen and Venice....water and boats everywhere.  The people are way more outgoing and friendly here as compared to Oslo, and it just feels more "alive".  We all knew after 30 minutes in Stockholm, we definitely liked it more that Oslo.

We checked out the Royal Palace of Stockholm, had some rapid fire sketching exercises in all parts of the Medieval area of the city, checked out the architectural and modern art museum...and just for the heck of it, checked out some more buildings.  I don't know why this was so funny at the time, but as we were walking across a bridge from island to island we came across a family of ducks that were taking the road less travelled.  We saw them coming over the top of the hill of the bridge and were just sauntering (as best a bird can) straight down the path...all the way down the path.  C'mon guys, if you can fly, why walk?

Needless to say, we were exhausted.  Tomorrow is the last full day of our Scandinavian adventure, we will be heading back to Copenhagen on Saturday.  I'm sure we'll be up early and out and about all day, but hey, why not check back?  Who knows what we might see or do? 

Stockholm...out.

On the road...again

Well, after a few days in Oslo, it was time to pack up the bus and head for Sweden.  Sounded good to me.

Our home away from home

After a quick study tour stop at a church just outside of Oslo, the gang and I prepared for a 5 hour bus ride from Oslo to a "midway point" of our trip to Stockholm.  Along the way we saw amazing countryside as we passed into the country of Sweden, a large number of Volvos, countless ABBA CDs at the rest stop we stopped at for lunch, and more blonde haired people I have seen.  SWEEEEEDEN.

We did stop at an art museum right before we hit the bed and breakfast, and we were all quite surprised with the art that was on display.  All watercolors-very cool.  We all got a bit more carried away with the surrounding area that the museum was located; on the banks of an old dam and waterfall, with an old ass bridge crossing it.  Obviously we focused more of our attention there.  The sun was out, the water was nice, it was warm...it just felt...really nice.

That's right...the salmon colored T-shirt made the trip.

Later in the trip we were told that the place we were staying for the night; a bed and breakfast type place, was an old sheriff's home from the 17th century, and the rooms we were staying in used to be the jail cells of that town of Sunne, Sweden.  When we got to the bed and breakfast, we were somewhat speechless...it was absolutely, and remotely, beautiful.  It was something out of a Disney cartoon or something.  Rolling green hills, cows in the distant, a lake and sauna.  Very nice.

Now the Swedes have an interesting summer tradition, where they all sit in really really hot saunas for as long as possible, and then, almost without a word spoken, just get up and run outside and jump in a lake...so guess what we did?  We sweated our asses off to the point where we almost couldn't breathe, and sprinted outside and jumped in the cold lake.  Very refreshing, and we repeated this process over and over again.  No pictures were permitted in the sauna due to previous study abroad trips and "inappropriate" conduct in the saunas with cameras...so here, you'll have to use your imagination.

Norway...

We spent 3 days in and around Oslo, Norway.  When we signed up for this study abroad program, we were told that we should expect it to be intense, and I think we found out why.  The classes aren't that intense, the studio is intense but it's fun.  The schedule; that's the intense part.  We're up at 7AM, everyday, and on the move, sketching and taking pictures and being on study tours or guided tours.  It's great!  But it catches up with you.

Norway was no different.  Norway is a quiet, somewhat isolated city in Norway, with a great topography and amazing scenery.  The locals are mostly away on their vacation ( a 6 week tradition held throughout most of Europe, and an ideal I'd like to promote back in the states), so it has been fairly quiet around Norway.

We saw ancient Norway, the remains of a 12th century fortress and old castles.  We saw new Norway through the Opera House, and the insane Ski Jump high above the city of Oslo.

It is hard to rate or judge a city simply based on a couple days, midweek in July.  Oslo seems like an awesome city with great history and, from what we've learned, a fairly interesting future ahead.  Our packed schedule gave us little time outside of school to explore the city we called home for a few nights. Oslo, I'm afraid I don't know enough about you to give you an accurate rating, so please except my "B-".  No time to dwell though...we need to get our Swerve On in Sweden.