back to work

host-home

DK
spiked hair.yellow paint.sidewalk cracks.bike baskets.candlesticks.five-minute breaks.sore shoulders.wet feet.bus pass.iPod.orange towel.open windows.fresh fruit.hot chocolate.doodles.meat and potatoes.commercial-free.no-please-and-thank-you.chess.evening tea.pastries.homesick.digital photo.postcards. S-tog.potato chips. walking.pigeons.fairy tales.white wine.

MN
highland adventures.half price books.teasource.movie marathons.late-night pizza.driving.grilled cheese.smoothies.kisses.lamps.late nights.snow.won-tons.target.rc7.imaginary friend.lakes.card club.stress.iced tea.microwave popcorn.kitchen-floor pong.pop machine.computer lab.Latin. posters.straws.hugs.gumby.pride and prejudice.futon.charlie brown.root beer.naps.

for a gray day

Totally unrelated, all-consuming, unanswerable thoughts for a gray day in the harbor:

Just finished Hunger by Knut Hamsun. Wow.

Suffering from strange, expected waves of homesickness and a newfound feeling of independence. I am a walking contradiction of emotion.

Vulnerable and powerful...in control and completely alien. Gut-wrenchingly satisfying.

Consider the dialogue between our social construction of what it means to be "feminine" or "masculine." Then consider how silent this conversation is.

Textual universe. Published. Stream-of-experience-impossible-to-capture. What is your definition of truth?

first impressions

The self-governing free town of Chrisitiania

Carlsberg Brewery

My host family: Mikkel (11), Michael, Amalie (14), and Trine

Fredriksborg Castle

One of the DIS buildings

The Little Mermaid

happy anniversary

Happy one month anniversary to my arrival in Denmark!

This past weekend were the short study tours and I visited the towns of Aalborg, Skagen, and Aarhus. I really feel like I got to see so much more of Denmark's landscape, art and food!

Skagen was probably the highlight of the trip - it lies on the northern most shore of the country and the sand dunes were really beautiful. I love the way sand moves, morphs, covers up, slides, reveals, and caves at the tiniest hint of wind or weight. The art museum in Skagen was really inspiring - it was so full of memories and tragedies and stories of sailors and fishermen and the people in the area. It felt like a ghost town, though, because during the off-season it's a pretty quiet and cold place. I'm glad we saw it that way, though.

It was also nice to feel like Copenhagen was "home" after being away for a few days. This place is beginning to feel like more than just a city...

Sunset in Skagen

Saturday morning was gray and frosty.

This shore attracts over 1 million tourists a year.

Standing on a dune : )

The tip of the peninsula is where two oceans converge. Ever seen a surf like that?

sense to it

Enjoying a cup of iron silk puerh and studying for a Nordic mythology quiz. I love lazy, long, lasting mornings.

I really like the pace of the European lifestyle - it is slow enough that you actually feel like you are participating in daily life. Of course I have stumbled into routines, but the motions feel voluntary, not robotic.

And now, for a poem that evokes little more than an image - not much real sense to it.

"Radar"
For fear of gravity
In want of warmth
I create an arrowhead
Of instinct against
The unforgiving negative
Space of the "V"
Drawn in the sky.