First week in København

The first week in Copenhagen was exhausting enough. 

On Monday, we had an activity called the "Amazing Race" where we were assigned groups with other students in the 6 week program for Architecture and Design. We were given a map and a sheet letting us know what landmarks to visit in the center of town, where we were to meet up with a professor from DIS and they were to 'educate' us on the significance of that location. 

Leading the pack with my mad map skills...

I will modestly admit that I have great bearings in any given city. So I was the map holder. I had also been in Copenhagen some years back, so that helped out the group, too. 

After the activity, we went to our respective studios to meet our classmates and professor for the first assignment of the program: a case study. I love case studies, and if that were a profession, I would do that. We had already been assigned groups within our studio class, and I met my fellow teammates: Rhodes College pre-arch student (male), U. of Hawaii architecture student at Manoa (male), and a Carnegie Mellon architecture student (female). Our assignment: The Holy Cross Chapel in Turku Finland. Don't let that label of "chapel" fool you, it is actually a funeral chapel and crematorium. Just my cup of tea! (really)

trying to get the model started. did you notice how
warm i am dressed?

        I wasn't too surprised to learn that we had one week to do this case study which involved building a site model (1:200) and a section model (1:50). I find it funny how students who are unfamiliar with the metric system react to it for the first time. I had been lucky to deal with that during my year in Italy, and even at work when we had projects in China. The metric system really is simple, but its so simple that it can complicate things with newcomers. 

The first week basically consisted of just working on the case study day after day. Including Saturday and Sunday. But that is normal.

I also had the pleasure of meeting my fellow RISD classmates. All of them had already met either at the airport or at the DIS-provided housing. Two students had actually done their undergrad course together. Out of the 9 RISD students in Copenhagen, one is from Jordan, another from Lebanon, another from Thailand, another from Venezuela, 3 from India, and the remaining 3 from the United States. I will admit that I am questioning the application process at RISD. Just a thought. But at least its diverse, right?