Periodekort: It's harder to pronounce than it looks.

29 June 2012

Starting out in Copenhagen, I was already familiar with the klippekort (a 10-trip pass), since I had used it last time I was visiting the city. I had done my research before arriving, and knew that I had to purchase the 2-zoner. Actually, the 2-zoner is the minimum amount of zones you need to purchase anyway for any travel on the DSB system (the public transportation system... by bus, metro, s-train...). I was lucky enough to be located on zone 2, so it stretched my kroner by traveling. If you don't have a klippekort, you can purchase a one-way ticket on the bus for 24 Kr., which is about $4 USD. A lot? Yes. So if you plan on staying in Copenhagen for two days or more, I recommend getting it. It costs 145 Kr., about $25 USD. At least it's convenient enough that you can buy transportation tickets at every 7-11 in Copenhagen.


But I was buying a 2-zoner klippekort every 5 days without a bike... that starts to add up.

The day before leaving for my Sweden-Finland study tour, I went out to the DSB office at the central station with a passport-type photo plus my passport to purchase a month pass (periodekort). It was going to save me a lot of money rather than spending 145 Kr. every 10 trips. I had already bought 4 klippekorts and knew that I had to save more kroner than buying a klippekort every 5 days or so. The best part about the periodekort is that you can choose the dates that it is valid for, with the minimum of 30 days of course. When it was my turn at the ticket window, it became really difficult to ask for what I wanted because (1) the women behind the glass barely spoke English and (2) the word periodekort isn't easy to pronounce as it looks.

Period-card
Period-kort
Periode-cart
Peh-riah-deh-koh-t
Peir-oh-deh-kehrt

I resorted to describing how it looks like and what it does, and finally, after some embarrassment and frustration, the lady behind the glass figured it out. "Month Pass!". Yes... thank you. 346 Kr. later (about $60 USD), I got my periodekort. It would come out to a little over 11 Kr. a ride/trip (~$1.90 USD), rather than the 14.50 Kr. (~$2.40 USD) I was paying with my 2-zoner klippekort. Oh the savings!

Obviously not my personal periodekort...

So I finally walked out of the central station with my periodkort pass in a nifty blue vinyl case valid from the time that I returned from my study tour until my departure date from Copenhagen. Perfect. Even with a bicycle on hand upon my return from my studytour, this pass would come very much in handy. No limits on public transportation within 2-zones! I no longer had to stress about my timestamp or how many klips I had left. Wonderful.

Note: for DIS students, if you are living with DIS housing, dorms or apartments, DIS provides you your periodekort for the duration of your studies in Copenhagen. If you opt out of DIS housing like I did, make sure you get one! You can easily go to http://www.dsb.dk/ and order yours online, or go to the central station and attempt to order one as well.

The Cityscape Coverup

29 June 2012

Packing for the study tour wasn't all too hard. I don't have too many things to begin with, so I just took items that I tend to wear the most. I packed it all into my travel backpack since I did not want to bring a suitcase. I am a great light packer. I have always been. It's not worth being modest about.

I couldn't sleep because of my childish excitement for the trip, so I decided to take some action on the daypack that I was going to bring. It was a daypack provided by DIS on the first day of school with a rather large embroidered "DIS" on the front pocket. I really did not want to stand out as an American study abroad student, so I decided to do something about it. Earlier, I had tried to look for an embroidered patch of the Italian and/or Spanish flag to tack over it (because of the Eurocup '12 games going on) but my search yeilded nothing of the sort. Just Danish flags.

I used to make postcards with these kinds of cityscapes
and had them on my my etsy, but long since took them
down. contact me if you have questions.

So instead, I took the oversized fabric tag of some pants that I had bought earlier last week and I drew a cityscape on it to cover up the "DIS" logo on the daypack.

update: I got a lot of compliments on the DIY coverup.

Meeting Lasma

29 June 2012

The girl that I had rented out the room from in the apartment had messaged me a few days ago letting me know that she was going to be in town to settle some things with the company that she was going her internship for. She is actually from Latvia, and decided to intern in Copenhagen. She wanted to know if I was going to be in town on Friday the 29th so that she could get into the apartment. So far, it had only been me in the apartment since the Italian and the Frenchie left shortly after I arrived in Copenhagen. I had the apartment all to myself for almost a week and a half. It was nice, I will admit that.

It was perfect timing, because on Saturday, I was to leave on a study tour with the school for Sweden and Finland early in the morning. Immediately after the Thursday lecture, I made it home. I felt a bit bad because Lasma had arrived early and was awaiting my return to the apartment. I was just hoping that she wouldn't get too wet. I learned later that she waited at a local cafe.

It was great meeting her- especially since it was her former room that I was renting for the summer. She is to stay in Copenhagen for a week, arranging the arrival of my two new flatmates (a young mid-twenty couple from Italy), who were friends with Lasma. Since they were basically immigrating from Italy to Denmark, the Italians needed a place to stay in the meantime while they looked for another place. The lease on the apartment is over on July 31th, so they have about a month. So did I, because school doesn't end until the 1st of August. I had some time to figure out where to go between the move-out date and my date of departure from city (August 8th).

Unfortunately I didn't really spend too much in her company because I had to run some errands before departing for the study tour (like getting snacks and preparing my lunch for the following day), and she was to go to a pub with her co-workers.

She at least let me know of some great news: she was going to leave me one of her two bikes! The other was to go to the Italians (the good bike). I got the bike with a faulty chain, but it was better than nothing. I was actually planning to rent a bike for a three week period for 300 Kr. or so, but this deal turned out a lot better. Free? Yes, but of course!

Royal Danish Academy Grad Show

27 June 2012

waiting for the waterbus

After spending the morning surveying the mess of The Palads Cinemas, we as a program with architecture and design took a small field trip to the Royal Danish Academy of the Fine Art's Graduate Show. We went studio by studio. BB, our instructor, decided to take us via waterbus. I was reluctant to use my klipperkort (my 10-trip transportation pass), but BB was only providing some passes for those that did not have one one them already.

So across the river we rode after waiting too long for a waterbus that would actually take a class of 14.

We made a short pit-stop at the academy library before heading off to the show. BB worked on the renovation of the library, which used to be part of the naval barracks of Copenhagen.

oh the colors!

The graduation show consisted of architecture, information design, fashion, and industrial design. The work produced was mind-blowing, and the models were all too impressive. We all had to remind ourselves that tuition is free for these students, so it's perhaps easier for them to blow money on prints and model-making.

the architecture portion of the show

I wanted to make my way back to the centre of the city because I did not want to use an additional "clip" on my transportation pass, since it is valid for 1.5 hours of travel from the timestamp. I felt like I was there for a while anyway, so I left with a classmate of mine to head off to the centre.

on the ferry

We basically rode on the ferry for an additional (and unnessesary) half hour because it went the opposite way we were supposed to head off of. There were other classmates on the ferry, too, 'enjoying' a mini cruise of the river before stepping off the correct stop.

Intro to the Studio Project: Palads

27 June 2012

Since our case studies were over, everybody in the architecture & design program were moved around to new professors and new classrooms. I was no longer in the poorly lit archaic timber constructed building with narrow winding stairs or low diagonal beams. My new studio was in the newly renovated building on the 5th floor a block southwest on the same street. It was exciting to see a shower in the studio spaces. I guess students really dedicate themselves. Or maybe the administration is trying to hint at something.

looking towards the north

The plus: the views were fantastic.

Interior Architecture was split into two studios- one in the old building with Johan, while the other studio was in the renovated building with BB. One studio morning, we were introduced to our project site and existing building: The Palads Cinema on Axeltorv. We were given existing plans, elevations, and sections of the cinema and were made to figure out what had been renovated since the original building was erected in 1917.

It wasn't easy. At all.

The renovations that had been made had made a giant mess of the space planning and program of the cinemas. Somehow 17 cinema rooms had been jam-packed into a old-fashioned cinema palace (hence the word palads) where it originally accommodated 2 cinema rooms that fit hundreds of people- if I am not mistaken it was probably an occupancy of 300. But now the smallest rooms had a screen that was no larger than a large-screen television. Talk about a movie-going experience. And all for 100 Kr. (~$18 USD). Really?

Renovations weren't just made to the rooms. The first story facade had been pushed out by about 3 meters or so and the terrace above is merely abandoned with no set purpose. It was also hard to figure out how to get there.

In conclusion: it's a mess. And the colors look like a rainbow vomit.

Palad's terrace. 

but wait! a beautiful lobby space!...

ruined by flashy movie stuff....

My Danish Breakfast

I am not quite a breakfast person. I still eat it, but I get more excited for lunch or dinner. For breakfast, I can have anything from oatmeal, yogurt, or cereal. Nothing exciting right?

But I discovered something grand while in Copenhagen. I got a little innovative. Simple, but I still consider it a bit innovative for me.

Because I fell in love with ryazhenka while in Moscow, I was determined to find it while in Copenhagen. But alas, to my dismay, it seems like it is strictly Russian, and pretty much there isn't an equivalent of it in Denmark. After researching for items that are similar to it, I came across a couple of products: A38, tykmaelk, and ymer. All of these are cultured milk products, similar to yogurts. Definitely not ryazhenka, though. It's closer to the consistency and taste of kefir, but not as sour.

All of these products are similar in price as well, between 8-12 kroner.... I think. It's been a while. Dairy is pretty cheap in Denmark. Thank goodness they love their cows (and they are proud of dairy industry). Really.

I bought tykmaelk for the most part, and only once ymer and A38. All of them are very similar, but I just always decided to stick with tykmaelk. At first I just tried drinking it with a side of rye bread with jam, but during a grocery visit, I found oatmeal and decided that it would be a great idea to mix both of them. A dash of sugar helped, too. This oatmeal was quite different, through, from any other rolled or quick oats that I have had. It's a light, thin, oat, that comes basically in crumbs. I still haven't found the equivalent of it in the states. If anyone can help me find it, please!

It's a wonderful combination. I think that I had that for breakfast almost everyday during my stay in Copenhagen without getting bored of it. I think for one of the few times of my life, I actually looked forward to such a (simple) breakfast.

Here is a blog post that has more info on A38, tykmaelk, and ymer. This is my research when I was looking for ryazhenka.

Coat Hunting

I didn't realize how cold it would be in Copenhagen during summer, or rainy for that matter. I thought that simply layering the few sweaters that I brought with me (all two of them) would suffice enough with a scarf and gloves. My cotton sweaters proved useless with the rain, soaking through sometimes touching my skin.

Shoes were another entirely different story. Tom's nor thin suede ankle boots do anything useful in the rain, obviously. None of them are waterproofed, and the rain just consumed the shoe material.
I didn't experience horrible weather in Russia nor in Riga- but I got a wonderful preview of the Scandinavian weather in Oslo during my 3 days there. I didn't think that Copenhagen would be more or less the same as Oslo. I didn't plan on bringing a coat from home. I only had a small luggage and my backpack coming into the eastern hemisphere. Bringing a coat simply would take up a lot of room. And I don't own any shoes for the rain. Sure it rains in southern California, but I don't think I have ever become desperate enough to actually get rain boots.

One day I gave up on being 'efficient' with what I brought with me, and I gave into looking for a coat- a lightweight coat for the rain, at least. I had already bought a couple of shirts and an extra pair of pants, so I thought I could do with one more item. I had to simply remind myself that because I got a new suitcase while in Riga, I did have extra room in the suitcase for purchased goodies from my time abroad.

It took me 3 days to search for a coat within my price range. The Danish currency is not friendly to an American wallet, or many wallets actually. But I managed to find a sale going on. It wasn't a coat meant for the rain, being a cotton shell with a polyester lining, but it would later fare very well in wet weather- and it kept me warm.

So $70 USD later and a hint of regret, this coat proved useful during the Danish summer rains and chilling gusty days. It slightly compensated for my wet feet, but it was a welcoming layer to cover me up when I needed it.

Midsummer Nights in CPH

These photos were taking between 11pm and midnight!

23 June 2012

2 days after the trip to Fridlandsmuseet, it was the celebration of Midsummer. It falls on the summer solstice  the longest day of the year. It got never got completely dark because Copenhagen lies just north enough to get some light from the sun, even at the dead of night. It is nothing compared to the light that I saw in St. Petersberg, since that lies even further up north, on about the same latitude as Helsinki.

my bedroom window with the pull down curtain.

But nonetheless, it was an experience, where ever I was in Russia or Scandinavia during the long summer nights. I never had trouble sleeping, as some people thought I would have. Then again I did have black out curtains in my bedroom, so that helped, especially during sunrise since it was around 4am!

Even Skyping with my family or the boyfriend was deceiving to them because I would be calling them around 9 or 10pm and there was enough sunlight to still illuminate my bedroom.
During Midsummer, on the 21st of June, the people of the city celebrate with bonfires. It originates back to the Pagan times of Scandinavia. Google that or something, I don't want to write on that.

So on the 23st, I was in studio and I knew of some of the students and my former teammates from the Holy Chapel case studies were going to go and and partake of some of the festivities along the beach or Nyhavn. I think I missed the memo, because I perhaps stayed in studio for too long and missed everyone. Too bad I didn't have anyone's number yet except for the teammates, but they were long gone at Amager strand Beach. So instead I went walking around 11pm through Nyhavn, following the scent of smoke coming from the harbor.

Indeed there were bonfires in the middle of the water on Nyhavn, so it was a sight to see. People drinking and eating on the harbor walls, and boat owners having a party of their own on deck. The dusk colored sky illuminated the city with a soft golden-blue hue, while the sun slowly began to tuck itself away from the earth.