alex takes denmark

Hej, followers.

So I have not blogged since the insanely eventful day that was last Sunday, but I assure you ... the next few entries will be action-packed ones, as I have some exceptionally Danish adventures coming up in the days ahead.

Nothing particularly out of the ordinary happened this week, unless you consider me losing one of my folders with all of my syllabi init as an event (Note: this mishap should definitely NOT be given event status, seeing as losing things is sort of part of my daily routine. An event would have been if I had managed to keep track of it until now. In fact, such organization on my part would classify as a miracle). Monday was day 2 of my classes at DIS and I am still very much enjoying them. I learned some very interesting facts about the Internet in my Virtual Worlds and Social Media Class that I am going to assume you find equally interesting. For those of you not particularly interested in Internet stats, feel free to jump over this portion of my entry (I have conveniently typed the fun facts in red for your viewing purposes).

1. Facebook tops Google for weekly traffic in the U.S.
2. 1/5 couples meet online; 3/5 gay couples meet online.
3. 1/5 divorces are blamed on Facebook (Personal note: As a pretty diehard Mark Zuckerberg fan, I have to ask myself how many of these divorces have something to do with the wives falling head over heals for Zuck as I have. Food for thought.)
4. If Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest
5. 80% of companies use social media for recruitment; of these, 95% use LinkedIn
6. About 1% of social media uses generate about 90% of the content

Anywho, on Tuesday, my friend Matt and I went on a bike ride around the meatpacking district (Kødbyen) where we had had our Communications & Mass Media social event. It was a beautiful day for a ride and Violet seamlessly took me to parts of Copenhagen I may never have reached on foot.

We went to a place called LA Bar on Tuesday night where I was charmed by three lovely 35+ Armenian men working in Copenhagen. So that was that.

On Wednesday, I did not have any field studies (Note: DIS students do not have classes on Wednesdays because we go on "field trips" so to speak with our various professors), so I had lunch with a friend and coffee with a DIS intern who has type 1 - diabetics love to bond in foreign countries. As it turns out, I had actually already met her during orientation, not knowing she was the same girl I had been e-mailing. It was sort of an "Ah-ha!" moment when I saw her and I definitely enjoyed hearing her insights into Copenhagen as a former DIS student. Also on Wednesday, I tried my hand (and legs, and arms, and every other part of my incredibly sore body) at Danish kickboxing, which as it turns out, is really nothing at all like American kickboxing. The teacher was, of course, in incredible shape and spent most of the time shouting things in Danish, which I am going to assume translated to something along the lines of "I am getting immense pleasure out of the terrible pain I am causing you because I am an athletic babe and you are not."

Thursday I had classes and a study tour during one of said classes. My Women, Art, and Identity course went to an exhibit at the GL Strand museum called "Snakes Knows Its Yoga" by Nathalia Djurberg. Djurberg is a Swedish-born artist, now living in Germany, who works with claymation in a very unique way. Rather than attempting to mask the fact that her figures are made from clay, she intentionally leaves them imperfect, rough, and almost grotesque looking, completely distorting our notions on beauty and the human body. The exhibit was a combination of claymation videos with some of her actual clay figures. The films were almost fairy tale-like, but were incredibly dark. Thematically, Djurberg was commenting on oppression, mysticism, enlightenment, and earth by using paint to highlight the distorted exterior of her internally-troubled figures. Her boyfriend Hans Borg collaborated with Djurberg on the music and sound effects for the videos, which really enhanced the emotionally-charged, semi-creepy effect of the exhibit. Instead of going further and further into artistic analysis of this exhibit, I will leave you with an image and its accompanying link so you can continue to investigate Dujerberg's work if you so choose.

http://www.glstrand.dk/English/udstillinger_aktuel.htm

Another piece of media I gathered in class yesterday was the following video. I can sense that I am getting a bit wordy again and would hate to lose you, so I will simply provide you with the video and let y'all make of it what you will (We watched this in my Creative Industries class, as it highlights the idea of selling an experience rather than a product ... sign me up. If you love lard as much as I do, you are sure to love this vid).

In the same class, the graphic designer, Mette Geisler, of the brand Punk Royal (http://www.punkroyal.com/) came and talked to us about the rise and fall of her brand as an introduction to our t-shirt design assignment for the course. She was absolutely hysterical and incredibly interesting. Her first-hand knowledge about the fashion industry as both a business and a creative entity was great and she is going to play a role in grading our t-shirt assignment, which for someone with artistic gifts such as mine is not at all intimidating (Note: I am being facetious, as I would be flattering myself to say that I possess the artistic prowess of a chimpanzee).

My Thursday concluded with a visit to Kulør Bar, which was an event that I cannot accurately describe with the words that are currently in my vocabulary. Think Moulin Rouge meets Coyote Ugly meets Grateful Dead concert. It was quite enjoyable though and, as per usual, we danced our little hearts out. Also as per usual, I attracted the attention of a younger man, which is weird because I thought I looked at least 17 last night. Anywho, said suitor was a young Danish lad who claimed to be 19, although I think he misunderstood my question and simply meant that he will, in fact, be 19 at some point in the next 12 years. Unfortunately, he had a social studies test this morning and had to leave the bar a bit early, so keep him in your thoughts today as he tackles the tumultuous and confusing world that is middle school.