Whew.
Just got back from my last study tour here in Denmark. We went to Jutland, which is the Western side of Denmark, part of the peninsula whereas Copenhagen is on an island. It was pretty, and we got to go to some pretty awesome museums while we were out there, but it was kind of wet and rainy for most of the trip. We left Thursday morning, and the first stop was a church. Not too exciting, but then we went to the Trapholt museum of art and furniture, which was really sweet. All of the chairs there on display were designed by very famous designers and I wanted to buy one of each. There were a few exhibits that were a little on the odd side, but what do you expect at an art museum. The gift store actually had a lot of really nice things in it. Specifically a ring that I really wanted but it was 900 Kroner..which is about $163. A little out of my price range. =(

We then went to the coolest children's culture house museum thing ever. It had so many interactive things to do and a suspended ball pit and a theater and a sewing/crafts room..it was totally unfair that I didn't have a place that cool when I was little. Leif showed off his acrobatic skills by climbing a rope with no feet, and we all ended up in the craft room making pencil holders for the boys and bracelets for the girls. =)

After a short walk we ended up at Koldinghus, which used to be a castle and has since been converted into a museum. I must say, it was pretty cool. It was HUGE and had a ton of different exhibits, but the space that we payed most attention to was an addition/infill from where the castle had begun to crumble. The space was three stories tall and had all the original brick walls that were all crumbling and then these red steel catwalks and staircases. It was really really nice. I enjoyed it. And we got to go up to the top of the tower, which overlooked the entire town of Kolding. So pretty.

And...then we drove to Aarhus, the second largest city in Denmark, and checked into the hostel there that was about a 3 miles from downtown Aarhus. (this fact will come in handy in a few lines) Once we were all settled, the bus took us into downtown for dinner and we first of all got some free champagne from a promotion for Peugot's new line of cars. It was Asti apparently, and it was DELICIOUS. I really liked it. So..we went to dinner at a ribs place which was SUCH a good idea. The food was really good. Totally worth it. After that, we attempted to see Inception, but once we got to the theater, we realized the only showing left started in ten minutes and the line was really really long. So we gave up on that, and met a few other DIS students at a bar. Everyone there was taking shots of Absinthe. I was like "Heck no. I'm not getting anywhere near that stuff." haha, some people took 2 shots and I was SURE they were going to regret it the next morning, but it was apparently not very strong. Good for them. So..after chilling there for a while someone had the genius idea to WALK BACK TO THE HOSTEL. It took sooooooooo long, and it was misting out just enough to annoy you, and it was dark and we weren't even really sure we were going. I mean, we made it back fine, but it was just a long haul after a long day.

Next day, we started off going to a Crematorium. How cheery! But it was actually really really nice. It had these HUGE metal doors that were really cool, and the sanctuary was beautiful.
From there we toured the campus of Aarhus University, which was beautiful even in the rain, and then we ended up at ARoS. The Art Museum. We didn't really have time to go in, because we had a guided tour to get to, so we got lunch at a Chinese Buffet, and decided to return later in the day. The guided tour was a little boring. The city hall overall was a little boring, but its just because that's not my kind of thing. =/ Oh well. We did go all the way up the tower though. Here's what we saw:
Then we went to the museum again, and got to go to every single exhibit. It was a really nice museum. Definitely some Guggenheim action going on architecturally speaking, but all the exhibits were pretty interesting. One was a photography collection on Americans. It was mainly speaking about racism in America, but it was just interesting to see what the Danish photographer found interesting in American life. And there was a whooolllee exhibit on love. It was really more of an exhibit on sex, which made me really uncomfortable at times....specifically with some of the photography on display.....but overall it was nice. There was one room with two tvs playing Whitney Houston performing I Will Always Love You at different times. Pretty interesting to experience.

The rest of the day was not too particularly exciting. We all went to dinner together and got to see a car club on the way. They seemed to be putting on a private show just for us; they parked RIGHT in front of the building we were supposed to be studying. haha. Other than that, not too much.
And finally the last day. Pretty interesting day. We first went to a landscape and sculpture park which made us feel like we were either in Alice in Wonderland, or Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. There were these huge hedges that were planted in circles and octagons and you just walk through them all without really knowing where you're at. Johann had us doing the disco first, on film, then doing some crazy 30 second serial sketching. Both of which ended up being fun and entertaining. We then saw a "Thunder Sculpture" which is the highest point in the area, and I think, collects lightening and then makes sound or thunder from it?? It was this hugeee dome thing with pillars on the top. Which I tripped UP and now have a bruised shin from. We all enjoyed it, and thought we had found The Mothership.



From there, we visited the HeArt Museum built by Steven Holl. It was aesthetically nice, but kind of small. Not much exhibition space. There were all these curved ceilings that played with the sunlight beautifully. All in all, a great time.

After that we went 2 hours away to another museum: the Faaborg Museum. It was really kinda boring and I felt it was really far out of the way for something so average. So after that, we headed back to Copenhagen.....so we thought. We were heading back just like we thought, until we turned off into these back roads leading to nowhere. And then Emma the intern got on the speaker and told us that we were ahead of schedule and therefore visiting one more exciting Viking village. We all audibly complained and groaned and were very unhappy because we were tired and wanted to get home (to see Inception). So we end up getting there and have to climb under a barbed wire fence to get to the building which ended up being like a hobbit house because the doorways were way small. So we get inside and let our eyes adjust and notice that there are a bunch of shots lined up on one of the benches.......and Emma announces that this is not really a stop for us to sketch, that its a surprise and the shots are for all of us to celebrate the end of a great trip. It was Rye Schnapps, which I DO NOT suggest drinking ever. It was officially my first shot and one I wouldn't mind forgetting. So then we all took an awesome group shot and headed back to Copenhagen!