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.

cobble wobble

cobble wobble bobble
stones step up
beside buildings
dressed in double-digit
numbers and lonely
harbor boats that
hobble in the wind.

the good life

So, welcome to Denmark! I have been here for nine short days, permanently messed up my inner clock, and can't stop thinking in "Minnesota" time. (yes, I think about you all every day)

Observations: public transportation rules. i walk a lot more. train rides are usually close to silent. my host family makes me feel at home. people hardly ever eat out. bikes are a real mode of transportation. english is spoken everywhere. handball is one sport i don't mind watching. everything is slower. "hygge" is the good life. "københavn" is one of the few danish words i can pronounce.

*pics to come soon

ten days out

In ten days I will board a plane.

In ten days I will be welcomed by a new family.

In ten days I will start missing you every day.


In ten days I will lift off.