R.I.P.

Assistens Kierkegaard, the city's grandest cemetary which I visited in Nørrebro.

(photo by Jens Astrup for Berlingske)

Bad News First: My beloved Canon EOS 300D seems to have perished. The shutter has failed and despite trying everything within my imagination and suggested on the web, it can't seem to be fixed. Apparently an exhausted shutter costs upwards of $800 to fix. Considering the model is also almost 7 years old, numerous repairmen advised that I give up and simply buy a new Canon body. As much as I love this camera, I see that they are right! I have been so pleased with it so far though.

The Good News? Um, nothing spectacular BUT I am living in an amazingly beautiful city, I have a comfortable apartment to come home to, I am eating good food and I have the best friends and family in the world - as far apart as everyone may be spread.

My ski trip to Zermatt with my dad and brother was a perfect vacation. Solid exercise, unbelievable food, two people I have missed very much, and so much fun!! The scenery was pretty unbelievable, as always.

The week I got back (with a pretty decent goggle tan) I completed the major independent GIS project for the semester. My partner Nicholas and I performed an impact analysis of a proposed windfarm in southwestern Denmark on local bird migration patterns. We used radar data that Nicholas had collected from a field trip with his master's conservation(?) class. It was definitely not the prettiest project I have ever done, but I was so proud to do something in GIS with semi-real life applicaiton! (the proposed area is in actuality is a strict conservation zone). Now that it is done I only have my GIS exam to study for on April 16 and Kierkegaard and Danish Culture Class once a week! Back home, I would have scoffed at such an imaginary schedule, but here it seems to be the norm. The University of Copenhagen is a very indepedent study-focused institution.

Otherwise I have been moving pretty slow, and taking my time to really appreciate the city in spring! Copenhagen is like a different place once spring turns. Last friday the temperature was incredibly high, somewhere around 17 degrees Celsius at midday. I biked through Nørrebro and was absolutely startled by the amount of people outside! Faces seemed to flood the streets and I wondered - Where on earth did all these people come from? With warm weather Danes come out of their shells, and the city is transformed. On my bike rides I am suddenly noticing amazing architecture details, the reflection of the (thawed!) water on the canals, and so much colour! I wish that I could show you.

These days I can enjoy my window open and in come the beautiful smells of spring - dirt, plants, rain. I hope you are all enjoying spring as it comes to you wherever you are!

Goodbye Winter

Perhaps it may seem a bit ironic to be posting a photo with snow as I am announcing the arrival of spring. But my Canon is broken!! Ugh. Anyway.

Earlier today I was watching a teenage boy throw bricks and do other destructive things in an abonded yard across from my apartment. One half contians abandoned buildings and the other was filled with miscellanous piles of (de)construction materials: windows, cinder blocks, shingles, rebar. The site lay dormant for most of the winter other than a new graffiti tag every few weeks or so. Over the past few weeks there has been a surprising amount of activity which I have taken note of day by day. I remember one night when the sky was a hazey purple and I was coming back from a party quite late/early in the morning. About 3 unbelievably giant tractors and diggers were working on the rubble with their mobile worklights flashing over and lighting up all the piles and occasionally hitting the purple sky. It seemed like a dream. I have also seen a man tearing heavy shingles in strips like wallpaper, a group of street people (yes, they do exist in Copenhagen) sitting by a fire, and "HASH!" written in big white letters on one of the roofs.

I don't really know why I'm talking about an empty yard which is across the world from most people reading this blog. But I suppose my sadness and fear of the yard changing to some development signifies some sort of attachment to the land. For me, this is probably one of the greatest signs of comfort toward the ability to call a place home. Many of my most vivid memories of places are a kind of tactile geometry of places - legs on the grass in a park, the sound of a river, birds in unseen places, faces on the street, buildlings on the horizon...

A city lives on the street. After a winter in which I have spent an alarming amount of time insidoors, I am excited to spend more time in Copenhagen's landscape. YAY SPRING!

Slow Take

I have been back in Copenhagen only 3 days and yet I will be leaving for Switzerland before the week is even over. While I am incredibly thankful for all the travel opprotunities I have had, my wanderlust is wearing a bit thin. I haven't even been able to catch up with all of my friends this week, and yet I have a huge task list of things I need to do tomorrow before I leave. My last day or two in Scotland I was already dreaming of returning to the quiet beauty of this city that suits me so well.

Is it possible to be homesick for a place you've only known two months?

Scotland III: Arthur's Seat

Scotland II: Cramond Island

Half an hour north of Edinburgh by bus is Cramond Island, reachable by foot on a path revealed only during low tide. Previous uses include sheep farming, vacation spot and WWII marine defense station. While the vacation house still stands, most of the remaining buildings are military fortifications including large gun and searchlight emplacements.

Small islands like the one in the distance were dressed as battleships to ward off enemy ships from afar.

The bivalve-encrusted path revealed during low-tide.

A view from one of the bunkers.

(photos from Brendan)

Scotland

I have just returned from a week in the lovely land of the Scots!

I flew to Manchester last Monday and took a 3.5 hour train ride through the northern English countryside with some glimpses of the lake region. I arrived just as the sun was setting, and it is difficult to say simply, but I think Edinburgh is probably the single prettiest city I have ever been to. Stepping up and out of the Waverley Train station, you face the sunken Princes Gardens directly across the road, a lush valley of a pocket park dividing the medieval Old Town and the grandly planned (like 1765 okay) New Town. Standing up at the far left end of the Princes Gardens is Edinburgh Castle, the peak of Old Town sitting on an extinct volcano. Looking onto the park from the right side is the metropolitan Princes Street of New Town, with an incredibly beautiful and tall gothic memorial to Sir Walter Scott - a tower-like thing so elaborate it looks like an entire cathedral has sunken into the ground with only its tallest peak left standing. Surrounding you are the classic black cabs, double decker buses, a handful of other historic structures I can't quite remember and in the distance are the snow topped Scottish Highlands.

So ended my first minute in the city.

We then walked up hills and hills (coming from Denmark, this was a treat) to Brendan's flat in Old Town where we were welcomed by warm roommates and a delicious mince meat pie dinner. High ceilings, cheery English art students and a best friend from home are certainly a better welcome than a stinky hostel.

We saw quite a bit over the next few days. I was quite lucky to get a week of sun - although mostly the semi-clouded Scottish kind - and we took full advantage of it. On Tuesday we climbed Arthur's seat for a lovely picnic at the top. We took the "Radical Road" route (seriously) up, which I highly recommended - except perhaps if you have small children. It gives you a breathtaking view of the city and a decent workout.

Photos will mostly be courtesy of Brendan because an entire roll of film snapped in the diana when I was rewinding it on the bus back to Edinburgh... but I still have photos to be developed from a half Copenhagen/half Scotland roll. Fingers crossed! My patience has been running thin lately with the toy camera, but with the dSLR still broken I have little choice.

On Wednesday I also headed up to Aberdeen to visited Becca for a few days. Among other things, I saw and heard seals by the sea, learned to say "hiya" and what "mingin" means, drove over the Forth Bridge and felt truly Scottish eating haggis after coming home from the bar.

More photos soon, but for now it is really nice to be back in Copenhagen.