Our studio space

First day of class

Today I woke up to a cloudy rainy Copenhagen. This is not unordinary. It was my first day to ride my bike to Denmark's Design School to begin my studies of printed textile design. I was very excited to start but also new I would be wet my the time I got there. At least it wasn't freezing cold. I gave myself plenty of time to get lost, put the map in my bag, and studied it before I left. I got lost. I spoke with Danes along the way about where I was and where I was going, and I still got to class fifteen minutes early. I left my bike at school when the day was over and took the train into town with a couple of girls to get some food. The trains are clean and so nice you almost want to hang out there. I will be riding my bike mostly, but I want to figure out the trains/metro stuff too. All transportation is pretty easy, even if you get lost in the rain. It's a fun adventure. At school, we learned about the chemistry of reactive dyes and how to mix them and how to understand the recipe for color. Just like cooking. Only, you don't want to eat anything or even breath a molecule of certain dyes because it's dangerous. Watch out for turquoise!

Our first morning in Copenhagen (coffee in a French press, yummy!)

When my bike and I met

Here I am

I am finally settled into my home called a Kollegium which is like a combination dorm/apartment. I have my very own room and bathroom and it's pretty nice! My mom and I spent some time strolling down Stroget, a pedestrian only street with shops and restaurants the past two days. Mom left this morning and I took myself up to the DIS (Denmark International Studies) offices to register and get started with everything. Wow! I have met a lot of people from many places but some come from the same university such as Pratt and Rochester Institute. I am definitely a minority from Omaha. So far my impressions of Copenhagen are that it is like Europe in its charming ways and like the US. It is like a combo. Ah....but Rome, can't get it out of my head. In Copenhagen many speak English very well. It is almost too easy. They have the cobblestone streets and historic buildings but also more spread out city layout and bigger more modern buildings as well. They love to shop and have a good time. There is a relaxed atmosphere. They don't drive as crazy as in Rome and Paris, and people won't cross the street unless the sign says you can go, even if there is no traffic. I have my bike too, and I will be riding it a lot because I didn't want to by a transportation pass like many of the students have to. A lot of them were so curious about how I got my bike, they want one too! Unless you are here, you don't understand how popular bikes are. Moms with babies ride them, business men, women in skirts and heels ride them. I will be experiencing the culture better by having a bike I think.

Wonderful Copenhagen!

Walking away from the Eiffel tower

On Palatine Hill

Paris

We arrived in Paris at 11am on Wednesday and it was a lot less chaotic than FCO in Rome. After we got our luggage we were heading towards to exit to find a taxi and Farid spotted us and must have noticed that we needed a lift. He was not a cab driver but a private driver (who over charges) but he told us "catostrophe" if we tried to take a taxi. Reluctantly, we went with him. He was a character and read our French/English book while driving in tight traffic and carrying on a conversation with us. When he dropped us off he tried to pick me up, telling me to call him and gave us kisses on our cheecks! The first day in Paris we went to Versailles and got in fast thanks to buying our tickects at the RER and not at Versailles. We took the entire tour, and went to many places on the grounds. We also rented touring bikes-not mountain bikes-which I proceeded to follow the trails along the main trail on. I came to a log and went over it fine, except to the fact that I had our purses bungied to the rack. I noticed some time after that my purse had spilled and had to back track through the trail to find my passport, credit card, French book, and receipts scattered along the trail...oops! Everything was fine...thankfully not lost. Versailles was very impressive and ornate. I like the outside better though because the canal stretched far and the water was so pretty with the gardens around and fountains. Today was full of museums. If we had more time I would do one museum per day, otherwise it is an art overload. We went to the Picasso museum, d'Orsay, Pompidou, and Notre Dame. Notre Dame was huge inside and mass was going on at the time we were there. It was dark with candles lit. The lighting made the Gothic Cathedral look very dramatic.

Roma

The end of my Rome travels are here. I leave for Paris early in the morning. I feel very lucky for all I have seen. When my mom and I first arrived, we were confused Americans trying to figure out the puzzle of getting ourselves around. We had to take our luggage through crowded train stations, subways, and streets, and a mini elevator to finally end in Alice in Wonderland-no I'm not joking because I'm deleriously tired. That's our bed and breakfast, which if you ever go to Rome, I highly recommend it. Thankfully, the Italians are very freindly and cute. They were a big help when we were lost. But I don't want you to get the idea that our whole trip was this way. Only for about five minutes. Actually, we naviagted Rome very well and almost walked every center city via (street). Now that we are leaving I feel like I could start my own tour company across Rome-if I could speak Italian! In two and a half days we got the general idea and of course you could spend way more time studying everything. We went to all the major sites such as Colloseum, Palatine Hill, Forum, Pantheon, National Museum of Rome, Vatican City with St. Peters and the Vatican Museum and many more things that you see walking through the city! Wow! And the pizza is so good!!!

t-shirts

Weiss Gardens Art Festival

I participated in my first art festival in May. A classmate of mine, Adam Weiss, convinced me to do it and I was hesitant to commit with less than two months to make enough work to fill up the tent space. He said it would be good for me, and it ended up being a great learning experience. I posted a couple pictures of my tent. There are t-shirts that I made using a mix of techniques such as painting, printing, discharge, stencil, along with folding and taping to achieve the looks. I also have woodblock prints and digital lithography prints. The t-shirts went over well, I sold more than half.

Weiss Gardens and Studios Art Festival

Surface Design Association Conference

The past weekend was spent in Kansas city at the international SDA conference. It was on the campus of the Art Institute and located near the beautiful plaza. This was my first experience at a conference and I felt like I learned so much, mainly by meeting people and discussing how they achieved their goals. One lecture that I attended was particularly interesting because it dealt with what it takes to become a commercial surface designer, whether it be for fabric or paper products. I learned screen printing techniques as well as hearing about ways different cultures utilize textiles and what it means to them. The conference was a range of learning opportunities...and it will continue in Denmark.