I can’t believe there’s only a little over a month left of school! The past couple weeks we’ve begun working on our advanced charcoal cast which will last a total of six weeks, taking us nearly to the end of the term. We will just have one test cast that will last a single week at the very end. We’ve also been in the model room each day after lunch where we’ve just completed our three week pose using charcoal. This month, we’ve been working on our skull homework outside of class and on Saturdays to render at least two skulls. Linnea and I have been doing kroki every Thursday which has been going smoothly and its great practice to work on figures. We’ve also been celebrating a few birthdays this month! Three students had their birthdays at the end of April so we spent time celebrating in different ways for them. We recently had a small school trip over to Malmo in the middle of the week to see an opera. Someone generously donated Opera tickets to the school. It was in Czech and there were English and Swedish subtitles playing on screens beneath the stage. Spring is finally becoming more apparent each day with more flowers blooming and trees are budding but many are still bare of leaves. This weekend was a celebration for the kickoff of spring called Valborg. The town gathered by the train station and distributed lit torches for people to hold as a band played music marching to a spot down the road where there would be a bonfire, songs, and hotdogs. A group of classmates did a separate celebration creating a small bonfire of their own in a quarry about 30 minutes walking distance from the school. I have been busy with all of that lately and learning as much as I can while also preparing for art opportunities once I’m back home.
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We started off our first day in Dublin with an Irish breakfast, it was Dylan’s favorite breakfast of the three cities. We then walked through George’s Street Arcade, an indoor market area with vintage items and cafes. Then we went by the Dublin Castle on our way to the Jameson Distillery for a tour and after that we went to the Guinness Storehouse. In the evening we got to listen to live Irish folk music at a bar a few doors down from the place we were staying. That is one thing I really enjoyed about the cities we visited in both Scotland and Ireland, the overarching amount of live music, something I love! The next day we went to visit the Dublin Zoo. To get there, we walked through Phoenix Park, seeing just a glimpse of the whole thing which covers an area of over two square miles. Later on, we went to visit the oldest pub in Ireland and then checked out the popular and packed Temple Bar. We had to wake up early the next day (Easter Sunday) to catch our bus ride at 6:45am for another day tour. This one took us to Northern Ireland to see the Giant’s Causeway, the Dark Hedges, and Belfast. We also had a few stops along the way to see Dunluce Castle and look at cliffs on the coast. The Giant’s Causeway was really fascinating, I included photos so you can see how big the rocks are compared to our feet. To me, it seemed like nature’s playground because there were so many people of all ages being able to climb around on this amazing formation. It was incredibly windy on that day so we were glad that we chose this instead of Cliffs of Moher, but we were happy to see similar cliffs just by being near the coast. When we went to the Dark Hedges, we learned that they’re trees imported from France and that there used to be over 150 but now there’s about 90 and they’re 300 years old. Right now the trees are bare of leaves, but during the summer the name dark hedges is explained because the dense amount of leaves creates a dark hallway beneath it. Apparently this is one of the most photographed places in Northern Ireland which explains why there were so many people at this location too. We spent two hours in Belfast to walk around and explore. Before arriving, our bus driver shared some history about the city as he grew up there and knew a lot about the conflict between the catholics and protestants. There was a lot of violence between the two and the last bombing was about 25 years ago, so not very long ago. We drove through a gate that closes every evening, at I think it was 7pm, to promote peace. The peace wall around it was covered in politically charged murals. While we were in Belfast, we got some a quick bite to eat then walked to White’s Tavern, where some people on the Titanic had their last drink on land before the voyage. We then walked to the Titanic Museum and saw the inside but didn’t go to the actual museum part and we saw the slipways where it left from and a couple of the H&W cranes that helped build the ship. The scale of the museum was life-size to the Titanic ship. We finally returned back to Dublin about 13 hours after we had originally left. We ended the evening with a visit to a quirky bar called Electric Circus. We packed up and made our way to the airport the next morning for our Ryanair flight that would be at 10am. Or at least we thought so. Unfortunately, our flight got delayed for 6 hours but since we got there early, we spent 8 hours at the airport. Once we finally boarded, we spent another hour sitting in the airplane because they had to wait for a time slot to open up for when we would land in Copenhagen off-schedule. It was a little bit disappointing to have spent mine and Dylan’s last day together that way but of course we were really grateful that everything else in the trip had gone well leading up to this point. It was mostly an issue when once we landed, the last train to take us back home had already passed. Our options were to stay in a hotel or take a taxi. The hotel option was cheaper so we did that, arriving there around midnight then took a train to my apartment at 6:45am the next morning so he could pack up his stuff then take another two hour train back to Copenhagen to catch his flight back to California. It was definitely a chaotic ending to his visit and he would spend about two days straight traveling in four different countries in that short time. And I went to school after he left that morning, exhausted. It was a great visit though, cooking meals together every morning and evening and he walked me to school everyday, and now we have unforgettable memories exploring these places. Upon arrival to Edinburgh, we walked through the old town and already loved the city with the beautiful aged castle-like architecture. We were staying at the Castle Rock Hostel which had a great view of the castle from our window because it was located right across the street! The rooms were themed rooms after movies and each bedspace was named after a character; our’s was Lord of the Rings themed. After we dropped off our stuff we walked around the city and during the evening we went to Ballie Ballerson. I had seen videos of it online, it was a bar with a ball pit area- so I had to go hahaha. It was a lot of fun because I loved them growing up. The bartenders were crazy, balancing the glasses on their arms and using a fire torch to toast marshmallows on top of one of the drinks. It was definitely an interesting experience. Some of the random things we noticed that were different from home is that instead of ‘trash’ they say ‘rubbish’ and on the trash cans, there is a sign that reads “dog waste accepted”, and lastly, there are a lot of stores that say “wee __” as in little (fill in the blank) store. During our first full day in Scotland, we took a walk around Dean Village where there were many 19th century buildings and a river that we walked along for quite a while to reach the botanical gardens. On the way, I was drinking a black forest cherry latte from a cute coffee on wheels vendor and I thought it was so delicious! It was similar to the spumoni ice cream, in coffee form haha. We also got to check out the cathedral and the National Museum of Edinburgh. Walking from place to place, we passed by Greyfriars Bobby which was a gravesite for a dog that would sit beside his owners gravestone everyday through the winters even, it's a sweet story. Before we left Edinburgh, we tried a pork sandwich with haggis. Haggis is a traditional Scottish food made from parts of a sheep with oats and spices. We then took the train to Glasgow and checked into the Revolver Hostel which was super modern and nice, but there was only one shared bathroom on the floor we were on. We began the next day with an afternoon tea for breakfast because it was the most convenient time. Dylan got a traditional Scottish breakfast which included black pudding. I loved having the afternoon tea because it came with a variety of sweet and savory and you will definitely be full afterwards, perhaps with leftovers too. We then went on a train for about half an hour or so to get to the Pollock Country Park where there was a museum, palace, highland cows (baby ones too), and a cute fairy village. We made our way back towards the heart of the city to lunch in front of Kelvingrove Art Museum and Glasgow University behind it where we walked around both afterwards. They were both very beautiful. In the art museum we got to see a painting by Dali and at the university, we got to see the cloisters (looked like a hall of columns and arches) that many Harry Potter fans admire. We woke up early the next day for a day tour! We took advantage of the meal deals they had at Texaco which was a sandwich, chips, and drink for $4 so we had something to munch on during the long day ahead of us. We first went to Loch Lomond. Looking out the window on the way, there were a bunch of little waterfalls/streams and the moss was a vibrant green blanketing the earth in a series of small lumps. It made me want to come back and spend some time painting it. It was a gloomy day and when we drove up here, it was a tranquil atmosphere because the mountains disappeared into the fog. It was most beautiful when there was a cloud so low that it was in front of the mountain so you could only see the bottom and peak of the mountain. We also got to see the Three Sisters in Glencoe which was our favorite spot. The landscape was so different from what I was used to because it had bits of red. We made our way up to Loch Ness where we went on a short cruise ride about three miles into the lake and back. There was a gauging tool that measured the depth and if there were any animals and the size of them and it was shown on a screen for us. The boat crew did a presentation on information about animal discoveries in the Loch and spoke on myths which were very intriguing. We learned of animals that live in the loch and how there are still a lot of unknowns about it. They also talked about how dark the water is, how it is extremely deep, and goes on for miles with an average of about one mile across. We also saw a mountain goat hanging out beside the lake. One of our last stops was a natural forest area because most of the forests are commercial. We did make a series of smaller stops throughout the trip like memorials for the military and mountaineers. And a cherry on top to end the day was the opportunity to feed highland cows and be up close to a baby cow just a couple months old. On our last day in Scotland, we split the time between Glasgow and Edinburgh where we would fly out to go to Dublin. In Glasgow we visited the cathedral and behind it was the necropolis, which was a graveyard with a nice view of both the city and cathedral. We then took a train to Edinburgh where we walked through Victoria Street one last time and ate some fish and chips and steak pie for lunch. Then we walked to New Town where we spent out last hour and a half in Scotland being wizards, brewing up cocktails. It was a fun experience because there is a recipe book that you choose from and they bring you a box of the ingredients that look like potion jars and there is a structure to place the glasses on that you use your wizard wand to control the lights. It’s a bit hard to explain but a video of it would make more sense! We then caught a bus down the street to take us to the airport for our next stop, Dublin. Our 10 day adventure began with a two hour train ride to the Copenhagen airport to take a flight to London! We learned that Ryanair is not the best airline because it is frequently delayed. This flight was just about an hour and half late but we’ll share about our other flight with them at the end of our trip haha. After we landed and took a bus to the central station, we checked into our hotel and spent the last bit of our evening exploring Piccadilly Circus and Chinatown which was right next to it. They were vibrant with tv screen lights and red lantern decor. Since it was a rainy day, it made for nice reflections on the ground. On our first (and last) full day in London, we crammed as much as we could into a single day which means we did A LOT of walking, our feet were dead at the end of the day, but at least we didn’t have to carry around our backpacks. We began the day walking around to look at Buckingham Palace then to Trafalgar square. Afterwards, we spent a chunk of time at the British museum where we saw Egyptian mummies and to my surprise, I saw some of the sculptures that we have casts of at SARA that some peers have done drawings of. Next we walked by Big Ben and the Westminster Cathedral admiring the detailed architecture. We walked across the bridge to make our way over to the Borough Market which was a bustling food place strung with lights. There was an array of wine bars, food stalls, and vendors selling cheese, honey, spices, and more. Unfortunately we got there with only about 15 minutes to spare since they closed at 5pm. It would be a great place to spend time there hanging out, trying some food, and getting edible souvenirs. We continued our walking endeavors to the London Bridge and onto the Tower Bridge which was nice with the light blue color design. Nearby it was the Tower of London which looked like a really cool castle and Dylan spotted some statue archers. While our walk was long, we got to see a lot of cool places (some artsy and some historical) along the way by surprise and there were some street performers adding music to our stroll. During the evening, we got some pizza at a college hangout place, Dylan really liked it! Then we walked down the street to a cool cocktail bar that we had heard about online. It was called Hokus Pokus where the manager greeted guests and made the drinks at their table. The cocktails there were very experimental and definitely a bit of a performance with some drinks having a large smokey bubble that pops and other drinks being infused with kobe beef. On our last morning in London, we went to the Camden Market. It was one of our favorite things we did in London! It was a super cool artsy hip place with a bunch of food stalls, vintage clothing, jewelry with Egyptian stones, and more. There were these circular window sitting areas, kinda like outdoor bubbles to sit in. There was also a really cool candy store called Hansel and Gretel that was decked out in decor almost like an art installation. Nearby the market was a little canal too with little dams and there were plenty of stores and another market nearby if you walked along the road. Many of the stores had eccentric signs even if it was a recognizable brand, it was extra artsy in this area. There were also people we saw with extreme rock style that I believe you could pay to take photos with. Anyways, it was a short visit because we had to catch our train to Edinburgh! This week was skull week so we worked on drawing skulls from various angles for different time increments (5 minutes to 30 minutes) in the mornings and finished our figure in the afternoon. Since it was a three week pose as opposed to our regular two week ones, I was able to add a little more information into the drawing like the block she was sitting on and a bit of background tone. We will have a skull test at the end of the term where we have to draw the skull from three different angles from memory. This week Dylan gotta see snow falling on the ocean shore, something we don’t get to see in California haha! It was really fun walking on the pier and down by the shore. We enjoyed Dylan’s last few days in Sweden before we left on our trip around the UK during my spring break. I finished my mask! It took about five weeks plus a day and a half. Then I just worked on doing a block-in exercise focusing on simplifying complex forms and shadows. In the afternoon, I continued making progress on the figure. On Thursday, Dylan joined me to attend his first kroki. It was definitely a new experience for him but I think it was nice for him to see how I spend my Thursday evenings. This weekend, we decided to be spontaneous and make a weekend trip to Gothenburg, the second largest city in Sweden. It took about five hours each way. The long train ride gave me time to work on my “Flora” Seed so I brought my watercolors and other art supplies to finish it up. We got to check out a food hall, Haga (street with cafes, thrift stores, and more), Cafe Magasinet, and a viewpoint. It felt like a smaller version of Stockholm and relatively similar to Malmo. The next morning was really amazing because we were surprised with snowfall! We made our way to a park where apparently there was a free public zoo. The park was full of trees, little lakes, and a small waterfall but it all felt more magical because of the snow. When we first started walking through, we came across a body of water for seals!! They were so cute and playful. Then we went up a walkway to the top of the small waterfall when we smelt animals and saw a fence so we walked closer to find out what it was, only to find moose! That was really cool since you don’t come across them very often haha. This led us to the rest of the zoo with pigs, horses, deers, reindeers, goats, etc. We were wondering how they were taken care of since it was public but we saw workers feeding the animals. Afterwards, we went to the Universeum which is a science museum but there was an aquarium and rainforest area which is what we were most interested in. The rainforest area was three levels high and there were treehouses and a wooden bridge at the top. While we enjoyed it, I must say I would recommend the one in Copenhagen of the two because they have a wider variety and the creatures have more freedom in the space there. I don’t know if I’ll have the opportunity to see Gothenburg a different time before I leave Sweden so I’m really glad we were able to go check it out! I worked on my mask cast all week and started our three week charcoal figure in the afternoon. The model’s name is Sol and she is such a kind lady! She usually has a theme or a pose that commemorates something that happened on that day a number of years ago whether it's related to a historical event or celebrity. This week I received a package from my sister and friends that I’ve been looking forward to! It was for my birthday and valentines day. They sent me cards and a bunch of snacks and candies from home. It was a really thoughtful surprise and so nice to hear from my friends! It is hard being so far from them. On Friday, we had a three hour portrait session to start dipping into portraits. We’ll have one more next Friday. Later in the day, Dylan and I left to go celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Copenhagen. We got to see a bit of the parade and there were a handful of Irish wolfhound dogs. There were a lot of Irish flags, green beer, and people dressed as a leprechaun. We also saw some people who were doing some sort of three-legged marathon which had its finish line at a bar haha. The next day, we went to the Copenhagen Zoo. It was a great time to go because there were a lot of baby animals. We saw baby lions, baby tapir, baby elephant, and Dylan was most excited about seeing the mouse deers haha. They had an eiffel tower looking structure there where you could go up the stairs to see a view of the city and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared going up the stairs. We got to check out the meatpacking district in Copenhagen before heading out back home on Saturday. It was snowing at the start of this week- definitely made me want to play Christmas music haha! This week we continued working on our mask drawings. I began the rendering stage, filling in all the paper grain and picking out little dots of charcoal with the tip of an eraser. We also completed our figure in the model room this week. Our next figure will be three weeks long instead of the two-week ones that we've been doing so it'll be fun to take it to more of a finish by adding more values. On Thursday, Dylan arrived to come visit me! I tried to surprise him at the airport but it didn't go as planned haha, instead I ended up meeting him in Malmo. Throughout the week we did a lot of preparation for the masquerade ball this Friday. We finished painting the backdrop, strung lights around the school, colored the lights with tissue paper, and a number of other things to add to the atmosphere. We made a piñata for fun to give the honors of wacking it to the Most Creative Mask/Costume. It was a potluck too so I baked a citronkaka or in English, lemon cake. A bit into the evening, Dylan and I put the Bar-gue we have at school to good use haha. It is never really used as a bar but the school has one so since Dylan is a bartender, we thought it would be fun to have a little menu and offer cocktails for about $3, it was some students' first times trying a margarita! We began the week by finishing our "big look" exercise and began a new figure in the model room. We did a small pencil pose of the figure on Monday to get the gesture down before beginning our full size charcoal drawing. For kroki this week I did a few watercolor studies, continuing to practice skin tone and have a fun break from our monochrome school work. This Friday we had a mask decorating night at school to get creative with DIY masquerade masks for the party the school is having next Friday. I joined the party committee last term to help with party planning and I was surprised this term to become the head of the party committee because all the other members from last term either graduated/finished their studies or were in their final term so they had to focus on their final projects. Luckily some students from my term and the new term 1 students decided to join! So the past couple weeks we've been brainstorming ideas for activities and decorations and the supplies we would need to make it happen. We made a trip to the dollar store to get some decorating supplies like feathers and sequins and we went down to the school basement for plywood and past party supplies we could re-use. On Saturday we spent a handful of hours at school to work on painting the backdrop scene of Venice. And on Sunday, I worked on some of our anatomy homework and later in the day, Linnea and I worked on embroidering hats for a couple students for our "custom caps" business we started at school after some people liked our kroki hats we made in January so we decided to make some "SARA" caps to sell to students with custom designs of their choosing. or a surprise we choose for them. It's a lot of fun! One of the first signs of spring in Sweden are the blooming of snowdrop flowers. They are really cute because they droop downwards like a bell and dance in the wind. Photo below :) This week we continued working on our mask casts and finished our figure in the model room. I was really happy with how the drawing turned out, I felt that it was easier to notice the structure of the human body on his figure which translated nicely into the drawing. This week we also did a "big look" exercise with our mask cast where we transferred our drawing of our cast on a separate paper then practiced putting in all the values rather quickly (two morning sessions) to get the overall sense of light before going into the rendering stage. It can be intimidating because some areas of the drawing could get lost when values are added but we just have to be careful or accept that some parts may need to be redrawn afterwards. During this stage, it is important to squint our eyes a lot so we can see which areas create larger shadow shapes and what parts of the cast are the brightest so that we will keep the paper clear of any charcoal so it's highlighted. During kroki this week we decided to do a creative pose again, this time making the model an artist, holding a painter's palette and paintbrush. This weekend was my birthday hehe. I celebrated the day by going to Copenhagen with a couple classmates during the day walking around the city, then we came back to my apartment for some wine and charcuterie board where some more students were able to join. It was a great day and lots of fun. They were so kind to celebrate with me and they surprised me with flowers and a princess cake (my favorite!). It made the day really special and I'm so thankful for them! A bunch of students got sick after our trip so many of them missed a day or a few days of school this week. I felt a little under the weather as well but felt worse towards the very end of the week. As I am writing this after some time has passed, we're all okay now! We began working on another figure in the model room. Our model was a former student last term who graduated now. We also began our mask cast drawings so we started with doing small thumbnails. On Thursday I lead Kroki and we chose to do a mermaid pose! It was funny because I had it in mind to do that day and the model did as well before we even spoke to one another, fun coincidence. We also had our seed due this Sunday which was "The Masquerade". I included an image below of how I decided to represent it using watercolors with an awesome water pen I got on the trip. For those who enjoy watercoloring, I highly recommend getting one of these because it makes getting precise details much easier! This week was Valentine's Day! To celebrate at school, Keren and I thought it would be cute to make a Complement Box where people were invited to anonymously write something encouraging or kind to another student which would then be distributed to them on Valentine's Day to hopefully brighten people's day. I think people enjoyed it :) Dylan and I celebrated by each of us going out to grab food from somewhere then having a virtual FaceTime date. It was dinnertime for me and breakfast for him before work! During our fourth week of the term our school trip came around! We knew of these travel plans since last term so we've been looking forward to it. We left on Wednesday afternoon to leave for Madrid! We were there for three full days and left very early on Sunday morning. After we arrived at the airport we then took the metro to get to the heart of the city where our hostel was close by. We stayed at The Hat, it was a nice hostel! I stayed in a private room with three other female classmates and it had its own bathroom. Our room had a small French balcony with a beautiful view of the city buildings. The hostel had free breakfast for us (toast, yogurt, fruits) and there was a rooftop bar. The first day there we spent at The Prado museum. It was a huge art museum with three levels exhibiting artists like Goya, Rubens, Bosch, and more! It was lots of walking and being on our feet. We were there for hours cause there was so much to see. We had an assignment to complete three sketches of artworks during the trip and since photos were not allowed in the museum, it was a great way to capture the essence or impressions we got from the artworks. We even took a break to eat lunch then re-entered to continue looking around. Students had free admission so that was great. For lunch we went to a place down the street that had a series of mainly scrambled eggs mixed with potatoes with different flavor combinations. It was pretty tasty! Later on the trip when we passed by we would see a line out the door so its a popular spot to say the least. We went through the city this evening and stopped by a couple stores. At this store Berksha, it was very futuristic because at checkout, you drop your items in a container that automatically knows what the item is without you having to scan it or anything. The second day we all went to the royal academy, it used to be an art school but is now an art museum. We did some walking around before our next museum stop. For lunch we went in a group of about 8 people at a bar place where you spend 4 euros per person for every one to get a beer and share amongst 7 plates of snacks/appetizers. It was a great deal and nice to try different Spanish foods. Later in the afternoon my school booked an entrance time to go to the Sorolla Museum that used to be his house but is now exhibiting his works. We had a lecture on him before the trip to learn about his life and look at a lot of his paintings, he did over a thousand in his lifetime. He did many of his paintings outdoors at the beach. We got to watch the sunset nearby an ancient Egyptian temple. This was probably my highlight of the trip because it was a little escape from the city, there was live music, and it was a nice experience. We could see a cathedral in the distance that looked castle-like, very nice architecture. Also kinda random and unexpected, but there were parrots around the city! Haha. We stopped by a couple stores in the city and it was bustling with people. It reminded me a lot of NY Times Square with huge stores and crowds of people. We walked into this store Primark and it seemed similar to H&M or a typical clothing store, but then as we walked towards the center of the store, we noticed that this single store was like a whole mall. It was multiple levels and had an opening in the center with huge screens and loud music. It felt like an art installation almost. The third day was a free day for each person to spend how they wanted. Some students decided to return to the Prado museum. I spent the first half of the day with Keren walking around the city visiting crystal shops, going to a really great food hall (yummy empanadas), and checking out random things along the way. Later on we met with some other classmates to explore a park that had beautiful buildings, a lake with gondolas, and street performers. There was one that particularly stood out, it was a man using the rims of wine glasses with some water on his fingers to create the humming noise vibration to make music. He played the Harry Potter song using this technique, so cool! Afterwards we stopped by the chocolate shops they have that give free samples hehe. Then we went to check out a church with frescoes all over the walls and ceiling, it was called Church of Saint Anthony (Iglesia de San Antonio de Los Alemanes). Nearby was the History Museum of Madrid (super elaborate entrance) where they had a temporary exhibit with work by Pradillo. It was crazy impressive how detailed his work was on a small scale and the detail in both his watercolor and oil paintings. We squeezed everything we could before the museums closed at 8pm. After that we walked through the city back to the hostel. We stopped by a store for a minute to see how technologically decorated it was. I got a really cool video of a giant rectangular screen they had that they turned into an optical illusion with some robotic lady popping out of it. We all stayed up this evening because we had taxis scheduled for 3am to head to the airport for our plane departing at 6am. My overall impression of Madrid was that it felt like a movie scene or storybook because it was really beautiful architecture everywhere with tall buildings, narrow streets, and I felt like an ant going through a maze of beauty! There was so much to see and not enough time. I felt that there were lots of hidden gems that you couldn't necessarily find easily on maps, but rather you could just walk around the city and stumble upon really cute shops and eateries. I really enjoyed Madrid! This week I spent some more time in the library and we finished up our figure drawing and our cast drawing! We are excited going into next week being done with these two projects because we have an exciting event planned for next week, stay tuned :) This week we worked on our cast drawings and we worked on our long pose in the model room which will be two weeks total. Both assignments are due at the end of next week! This week went well spending lots of time at school again having dinners there. This week was busy going to portraits, kroki, and a thumbnail workshop with dale. I hosted a tea party on Friday to share some of the American snacks that I brought back with me. It was lots of fun and we all ended up doing henna on ourselves and each other with some henna that Elsa made! This week it was great to see everyone again and hear about the different places everyone went during break. We have five new students now and it was great to meet them to! It's interesting to think about the contrast from the first day of our first term to now our first day of our second term. I feel a lot more comfortable and more like school is a second home and my classmates are like family in a way. We had a couple dinners at school this week cooking and eating together. Linnea and I had our first time leading the Kroki this Thursday and it went well! Thanks to Oscar the previous kroki leader who showed us the ropes! I took the weekend to recharge and do errands. This week we were working on a cast drawing using charcoal. We each chose between an eye, ear, nose, or mouth. I chose to do a mouth since I feel that I could use a lot of improvement with drawing them so this will be good practice for me! We also spent our afternoons in the model room so each day we started and finished a new drawing with a different model and pose each day. This was my last day in Iceland, I just had a small window of time before I had to walk over to the BSI terminal for the hour-long bus ride to the airport. I feel like I was able to do everything in the past six days that I had wanted to in terms of exploring both nature as well as experiencing the city and museums. I feel like one week in Iceland is a great amount of time. I woke up this morning ready to pack up my stuff and walk downtown one last time. To my surprise, my luggage was missing lol. I was staying on a top bunk so I left it beneath the bottom bunk. Luckily I didn’t have anything important inside so I wasn’t panicking. I went to the front desk and we went searching a few storage and staff areas then found it! I’m not sure why it was moved but then I just went on to pack up my stuff and get ready for the day. I went to the Hallgrimskirkja church again but took the elevator up this time to get a great view of the city! There is one part where you look out the bottom section of the clock and if you go up the stairs you can look out the open window and feel the air from outside. The bells are up there as well and scared the beans out of me cause I wasn’t expecting it and how loud they were hahaha but it was very cool to hear and see them going off up close. I felt as though this was the perfect final activity to end my trip because practically it didn’t take much time, but the view was really nice from above and it was a 360 degree view right around sunrise time too so the mountains were also the pink that I love so much. I grabbed a swiss mocha (hot chocolate and espresso) and some smoked trout on homemade rye bread to try one last Icelandic food before my flight. I looked comical walking to the terminal because the sidewalks were icy and bordered with snow so I was slipping a little bit and dragging my luggage along. It didn't help that I was holding my drink and when I slipped once it kinda splattered a little bit and I didn’t realize there was a drop right on my nose somehow until I was on the bus later LOL. I will miss Iceland, I truly loved it so much. Just a couple concluding comments: The Icelandic language is very difficult to pronounce haha the tour guides will comment on it sometimes when they’re pronouncing names of places haha, it’s impressive honestly. My hostel experience was worth it in order to save money. There were pros and cons, it was difficult to sleep because of frequent noise but it was also a nice way to meet new people from all over the world. If Iceland was a person I would say THANK YOU SO MUCH. Reykjavik was a fun city with murals and hip decorations in the restaurants and stores. Iceland opened my eyes to how magical mother nature can be. This was one of the best days of my life!! I enjoyed being able to see the beauty of Iceland’s sky and landscapes. I was in awe most of the day just repeating in my head “so beautiful” and “so gorgeous” so many times hahaha. Originally this tour was going to be on Monday but I was able to reschedule it because I saw that Monday's forecast was very windy and Wednesday was the only sunny day in the forecast. I am so glad I made the decision to and was able to reschedule it because if I had gone on Monday, some roads had gotten closed due to the snow blowing into the roads making them unsafe. I didn't mention it yet but through the duration of the trip, I had seen a few cars/busses that had gone off the road. Driving in Iceland during the winter can be dangerous! Anyways, it was a tour for about 11 hours visiting the Thingvellir National Park, Geysir, Gullfoss Waterfall, Kerid Crater, and Blue Lagoon. I just absolutely love the landscape in Iceland, there is just nature for miles and mountains both near and far. And the sky looked beautiful from the moment it rose to the time it set just 5 hours later. I took lots of photos but also made sure to soak up the moments, breathing in the cold air, listening to the roar of the waterfall, admiring the details in the mountain rocks, the list continues. I originally chose to go to Iceland because of its beautiful scenery and the possibility of Northern lights, I knew that I wouldn’t leave disappointed if I didn’t see the lights but I knew I would try and I would be completely satisfied just to see the waterfalls alone. This trip really blew me away. The photos don’t do it justice capturing the depths and just the scale of everything. Iceland is such a beautiful place to appreciate Earth and I would absolutely love the opportunity to visit it again during the summer where they have the midnight sun and the landscapes will be green, looking completely different than in winter. I really loved it during winter though because it looks like you're walking on the moon or a different planet at times from the mountains and snow covered land going for miles, especially when the sun is down and the stars are visible. We began the day with the Thingvellir National Park just as the sun was beginning to rise, making a really soft gradient between the colors in the sky which was nearly cloudless. There were some pockets of water that reflected the sky. There was a deep valley used as a pathway to walk through to get to the bottom of the park. Everything today was quite grand in size and the best way to see the scale is to zoom into my photos with people in them, and they look like tiny ants compared to the surrounding landscape. I personally have not watched Game of Thrones, but I feel like I should since scenes were taken at this park and other locations around Iceland. On the way to our next stop, our tour guide made a pit stop at an overlook where the sky was blue and pink with the moon shining bright, breathtaking. We then went to the Geysir where again, THE SKY. I am blown away from the sky. Not literally, that was only earlier in the week with the strong winds haha. The sky was beautiful and at this point the sun was actually out above the horizon. If you stood in the direction facing the sun when looking at the geysir, the steam cloud made from it would cover the sun for a split second, creating a golden halo around the cloud. From there, the cloud would be a nice warm color from the sunshine against the clear blue sky. If you couldn’t tell, my art brain was going wild with inspirations for color palettes and Icelandic landscapes that I wish to paint!! We stopped here for a lunch break too. Before the Geysir I already felt like I was on cloud 9 and that I got my money’s worth for the tour, I would be happy going home already BUT MY DAY GOT BETTER. I almost didn’t know if I could handle anymore because I was just gleaming with bliss. On our way to the waterfall that I was super excited for, my tour guide stopped at three Icelandic horses for us to say hi to. There was an adorable little booth that said “horse candy for sale”. There was one grumpy horse, one chill horse, and one horse that licked our hands like crazy! They were so cute. They’re originally from Mongolia but have bred with other horses to become the Icelandic horse that is smaller than the average horse but they are mighty and they must be fed grass that is one year old during a certain time of the year so their body knows to grow their winter coat! They were super fluffy. When it's windy they group together and face the opposite direction that the wind is coming from to stay warm. Next was the Gullfoss Waterfall, there was a gift shop here where I got a crocheted headband as a souvenir to keep my ears warm and I’d get a good use wearing it in Sweden as well. This two-tiered waterfall was magnificent, it was huge, we looked down into a canyon to look at it. It again was hard to capture the vastness in a single photograph or even video. Also the sun was beginning to shine on one side of the canyon putting the waterfall in shadow making it more difficult to photograph. It was so fascinating to see how the water builds up and freezes to create a light blue hue and icicles all around. There were different viewpoints and with just 40 minutes at the stop, I made sure I stayed there every minute I could! Next stop was the Kerid Crater, this was the same place that I went the first night I went on the northern lights hunt so it looked completely different during daylight. I couldn’t see just how deep it was before. This time I could and I saw tiny people down on the crater haha. I walked around the top edge of the crater and it was a little mountainous. It was interesting because it seemed as though the sun had set but then I walked up the small mountain and the sun appeared above the distant mountains again to enjoy another moment of sunshine. In the summer it looks like a blue body of water with red surrounding it, I was glad to see the red rocks while I was walking around. We drove a little over an hour to get to the Blue Lagoon. This was a spa warmed by geothermal power plants nearby. It was super futuristic inside and it worked by receiving a bracelet that you would scan to open and lock your lockers and the admission came with a free drink where you just scanned the bracelet again, very interesting! It was a relaxing time, including a silica face mask as well. It was kinda mysterious too, since we arrived during the evening time, it was really dark outside and the water let off a lot of steam since it was warm so you couldn’t see very far from all the steam. There were pockets of clear atmosphere from the wind blowing away the steam but other times you’d just see a silhouette in the fog haha. I enjoyed looking up to the night sky and seeing the stars. You were required to shower before entering the lagoon as well and while it is supposed to be quite healing for the skin, it also becomes dry afterwards. I would recommend going during the day time to enjoy the light blue color of the water. We spent about two hours here, although like everything on this day, it went by in a heartbeat. With all that said, without a doubt this was one of the best days of my life and I am so extremely grateful!!!!!! Today was my last free day to explore Reykjavik because for my last full day here I have a tour booked :) I went to the currency exchange and finished up buying some souvenirs for my family and Dylan. I also did lots of walking by going to the other side of town to visit the last of the three art museums. This was the biggest one of the three museums and it showcased multiple artists from around the world exhibiting work that comes together under the theme of environmental challenges and climate change. I also went to the Aurora museum, with certain Northern Light tour packages you will get free entrance to the museum the day of your tour. I do recommend going prior to your tour because you get to learn about what it means to different cultures around the world, how it works scientifically, how the eye sees them, what settings to put on your camera, and other interesting information! In my previous post I mentioned how it helped me understand and realize that the lights look much different than the photos. I walked to an outdoor sculpture afterwards where I had to pass through the harbor area with fishermen to get to it. I had seen it my first day just across the water from the Opera House, it seemed a lot closer than it really was haha but I figured as much going into it. The sculpture is a huge mound with grass on it and a little wooden outhouse-looking building at the top, definitely NOT an outhouse though, just similar in structure haha. It is titled Pufa and there is a spiral walkway where you're able to walk around up to the top of the mound. I’d imagine there is an extra nice view of the mountains from there, but I enjoyed the nice view from the rocks below because the walkway was far too icy to get up to the top without falling down. Since I ran out of eggs already, I decided to get some Icelandic food again. This time I got some meat soup, similar to beef stew with a light broth and some veggies. My tummy kinda hurt afterwards so I walked back to the hostel and rested before one last northern lights tour tonight! I saw a couple days prior that this evening was supposed to have higher chances from the Kp index on the forecast. I had another good tour guide who took us to this restaurant that was closed but had a giant lobster sculpture outside of it and it was a staircase away from the beach. He said that if we didn't see the lights, at least we could take funny pictures with the lobster lol. The lobster was posing in almost all of the photos I was able to get of the northern lights hahaha. It was more dispersed and fleeting this time as opposed to the more stagnant rainbow shape from the previous evening. It’s almost like a game of who can spot them because it was tricky to see and you could confirm your findings by seeing the color through the camera lens and pictures. What a wonderful opportunity! Today was another day without any solid plans so I decided to have a museum day. I went to the Perlan, or the Pearl, a dome topped building. This is a place to learn about Iceland- the volcano, glaciers, northern lights, water sources, and more. There were some digital shows to view and some more museum/exhibit type of information to view. I really enjoyed the observation deck where I spent most of the three hours that I was there. It has a nice 360 degree overlook of the city and beyond to the mountains. I couldn’t get enough cause the sun was rising so it just got more and more beautiful as the day went on. It was so windy outside and the ground was icy, so much so that if I found an extra slippery spot, I could stand there and let the wind blow me across the ice haha. I could also lean on the wind like Michael Jackson. Another fascinating part of the Perlan was the ice cave! They have a man made ice cave that you can walk through. They brought in ice and snow from outside to give people a simulated experience of what a real one would be like without any of the dangerous risks! Like the Chromo Sapiens, the ice cave was immersive and I really enjoyed that and how it transports you to a new environment. Afterwards, I went to the Reykjavik art museum. You can purchase one ticket and have access to all three of the locations. I went to two on this day and the third one I did the next afternoon. They were small so I could go through them fairly quickly, I walked about 25 minutes to the first one from the Perlan then took a bus to the next one which was a sculpture one. It was cool because the museum space used to be the house and studio of the artist that he designed himself. In the evening, I had another northern lights tour. We went north of Reykjavik but it was no luck, then he drove back through the city, continuing south to a peninsula where most of the other tour groups went, to try one last time. On our way, we saw some busses had already called it a night and were heading back to the city. During the drive, our tour guide shared lots of good information and his knowledge with us, things like how to photograph the lights by putting a 5-10second shutter speed and how 11pm-12am was the lucky hour. And we were lucky. I thought I saw something and I saw this lady next to me staring at the sky like she saw something too then I asked her and we were like okay we’re not crazy hahaha. It’s almost looks like a subtle grey cloud rainbow across the sky. The photograph captures the color better cause it can allow in more light than our natural eye is able to. I had mixed feelings because I had seen so many photographs of the vibrant colors in the sky and it simply was not what I had expected. Regardless it was spectacular to have this experience. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would get this opportunity. The next day I feel that I got peace with my experience because I learned more about our eyes compared to that of the camera. This quote that I saw in the Aurora Museum resonated with me “the camera is not necessarily enhancing reality, it’s more that our eyes can’t aren’t able to see the full spectrum of beauty put on by Nature’s most amazing show. The camera gives us that ability.” This trip has given me an overwhelming amount of appreciation for my parents to allow me to have the ability for this trip of my lifetime. I think me and the lady saw a shooting star too. I woke up a bit late today because I was still adjusting to the time change and I didn’t get back from the northern lights tour until like 1am. But to begin the day, I went to the flea market which was only open on weekends so it was a unique opportunity. They sold antiques, handmade items, and more here. From foods to clothing and collectibles. While I was here I got a souvenir for my mom and they only accepted cash so I went to the ATM and got my first look at the Icelandic Krona, quite interesting! I walked to the rainbow street where there was a really cute cafe, Cafe Babalu, they have eccentric decor/art and garlands of bills from all over the world that customers have contributed and signed. I had the most delicious chai latte ever. I think I forgot to mention that Iceland is EXPENSIVE. I saw a bag of skittles for $7. To be fair it was like a sandwich bag size not the average snack bag size but still!! Also the currency is very different, I had to multiply everything by 0.007 to convert it to USD. Anyways, to minimize the costs of the trip, I bought rice, eggs, and soy sauce to cook some meals at the hostel where there was a kitchen and refrigerator for use by guests. However, today was a free day and I decided that my goal for the day was to try Icelandic foods. To do so, I went to the food hall recommended by the gallery attendant I met on my first day. It was called Hlemmur Mattholl. Here, I got a lamb burger with lamb bacon, cucumbers, and more on it. I don’t know how to describe it. Its texture was slightly different than beef like maybe more dense and the flavor kinda had a hint of metal maybe. The differences I noticed could definitely change with how it’s prepared and the seasonings added, that was just my impression! Lastly, I stopped by Cafe Loki, supposedly a great place to get traditional Icelandic foods. I got their skyr cake. Skyr is a must-try when in Iceland type of food, it is similar to yogurt but much thicker and full of protein. The cake was similar to cheesecake and there was some fruit flavor on the bottom crust. It was so tasty! Today, I booked a South Coast tour. In the 10 hours we would visit Seljalandsfoss waterfall, Skógafoss waterfall, Sólheimajökull glacier and Reynisfjara black sand beach. We spend about half an hour at most stops. And fun fact, during the drive we saw an elf church, what appeared as a small mountain. I feel that I really resonate with waterfalls when it comes to what I love about nature and they did not disappoint. The waterfalls were stunning with some frozen icicles. Our first stop was Skógafoss and the sunshine began to cast upon the edge of the waterfall. Our next stop was the black sand beach; the majority of the beaches in Iceland have black sand. The wind was CRAZY here like so crazy that it was making me fall over. When I tried to take photos, my hands were freezing in the few seconds they were outside of my pockets. The waves were also insane, they were only considered moderate too. There was a warning for sneaker waves so our tour guide warned us to not get too close to the edge of the water nor turn your back to it. The beach we stopped at had really cool rock formations in tall columns. We stopped at a town named Vik for a lunch break. I made friends with the girl sitting beside me on the bus, she was from Poland and we were each other's photographers for the duration of the day haha we also met another girl from Brazil who just moved to Iceland. We then went to a glacier. We walked about 5-10 minutes to go see it, the walk in the past was shorter but the glacier has since receded. It was crazy to see how tiny the people who were glacier climbing looked, really help put into perspective the scale of the glacier! There was a broken off iceberg which I found to be the most beautiful part because it was a saturated blue with a couple striations from dirt. After that we had our last stop at the Seljalandsfoss waterfall which was also very beautiful, during the warmer seasons you can actually walk behind the waterfall but during the winter it is too icy and slippery to do so. I had about an hour or so to rest at the hostel and regather myself before my next tour, a hunt for the northern lights. My tour guide was from Hungary. We stopped at the Kerid Crater but had no luck this evening because the moon was too bright and the sky had some clouds. The moon was so bright, I had to take a photo of my shadow cause I thought it was cool haha. Nonetheless we got to see the crater at night, drink some hot cocoa, look at the stars, and I saw a mouse! At first I thought I saw snow or a leaf blowing in the wind, but it turned out to be a little mouse that when it ran its tail was normal but every time it stopped, it would wrap its tail around its body, so cute. My tour guide made me laugh cause the mouse got really close to him and he thought it might crawl up his leg haha. The search for the northern lights is not easy, when looking online it can be easy to fall under the impression that you may see them but they usually require a great deal of darkness so you need to be away from city lights and preferably during a low moon phase, they also require a clear sky absent of clouds (a few is okay), and they require solar wind activity, they have forecasts or measurements to estimate the likelihood. Also patience and good luck! I made sure to book a tour that had free rebooking in the event that we did not see them, so I rebooked for the next available tour! Before I began my day, I saw the beautiful sky outside the windows and had to take some time to enjoy the sunrise. At this time of year, the sun rises at 11am and sets at 4pm. The Californian in me felt that I needed to rush to get outside, but here, I learned that the sun moves slowly and the sunrise and sunset last a while- I might even say two hours long. The moon also was glowing. My hostel was situated just across the street from a body of water where across it, are huge beautiful mountains. The mountains turn pink when the sun shines on them just over the horizon and that moment is my absolute favorite, looks like a dream! Today I began my day by going to the art exhibition that I saw photos of during my flight over haha. It looked like a colorful installation with feathers all over the walls and ceiling. It was titled “Chromo Sapiens” done by the artist Shoplifter. When I arrived I found that it was actually made from a bunch of colorful synthetic hair. You were allowed to touch it and lay on the ground to soak up the experience. There were three sections, they began dark and gradually got lighter. The exhibit was just a quick bus ride away from where I was staying and a short walk. The bus system works by paying 550kr which is just under $4 and it’s good for 75 minutes to go on bus rides within the city. The exhibition felt like it transported you into a different world and I felt that it was relaxing and therapeutic in a way just being able to live in this alternative world for just a moment. It was just me, the colorful hair, and the music. The cafe and gift shop area was nicely designed, large windows looking out to the snowy environment and white furniture with color splatters. I looked at a book showing the various exhibits done by Shoplifter which included the Venice Biennale and other exhibits all over the world. I stayed afterwards for a coffee and spoke with the gallery attendant who was really kind giving me recommendations on where to go during my trip and she told me a little about the artist. She Icelandic but resides in New York. Shortly after, I sat down and was finishing up my coffee, the artist walked in! I wasn’t sure if it was her at first but then I double checked with the attendant when the lady had stepped away for a moment. Then she confirmed it was the artist! I was ecstatic to be able to tell her how much I appreciated the exhibit!! I probably looked like a silly tourist just walking around the city with a huge smile on my face after that hahaha. After that awesome experience, I decided to go back to the heart of the city and become familiar with it and freely explore what was there with no set schedule. I took a bus to the farther side of the city with the idea to just explore and walk my way back to the hostel eventually. It was really convenient because there were a few things I saw online for what to visit while in Reykjavik as well as a few recommendations from the gallery attendant, which I happened to come across while on my walk around the city. Some of the things included the Opera House (which lights up colors at night) and the famous hot dog stand where Bill Clinton went before. Fun fact, the gallery attendant's grandfather opened that hot dog stand. I also visited the rainbow street which leads up to the Hallgrimskirkja church. Inside the church, there was a very talented man playing the organs. It was such a sight to see watching him use all four limbs to create these bolstering layered notes. On the bus ride I saw a pond with a BUNCH of birds so I found on the map where it was so I could visit it too! There were various species of swans, pigeons, ducks, and maybe goose too, I'm not the best bird identifier. They were all concentrated in a smaller corner beside the sidewalks because the rest of the pond was frozen over and covered in snow. I’m not sure how big it would regularly be during a warmer season. There was a little girl there feeding them with pepparkakor (gingerbread cookies). When I planned my trip, I realized that January 6th was a celebrated day in Iceland (and some other European countries) because it marks 13 days after Christmas. In Iceland they celebrate with bonfires and fireworks. I found an event to attend that began at a primary school where there were two men dressed as Santa singing songs and interacting with the kiddos. From there, all the attendees, huge crowd, was escorted by a police car, causing traffic, through the streets down to a spot where the bonfire began. It was really nice to feel the warmth from it since it was so chilly outside. In Iceland, people are allowed to purchase their own fireworks and set them off for a certain number of days that ends after the 6th. So there were fireworks going off all over the place haha. The bonfire was beside the water so you could look across the bay and see a bunch of little firework shows going off in the distance. The official firework show was lovely and the other random ones were a plus. There were two points that they catapulted the fireworks from, one was often and the other one was less frequent, from this one you could hear the fireworks catapult so you knew it would be a big one. One of my favorite parts of the evening was when the larger fireworks would go off, I could hear the enchantment from the crowd in awe. I stayed until the very end when they tried to pour the remaining of the gas into the last bit of fire that was left and it made a blast of fire, it was a little scary and the next bus was arriving soon so it was my cue to head back! For the rest of the evening still at like 3am you could hear random fireworks going off around the city. It was an evening and day to remember! I began my journey by going to the Copenhagen airport, about 2 hours of train rides. My flight wasn’t until 8pm which meant that I would be arriving in Reykjavik quite late. I flew into the Keflavik airport which was about a 1 hour bus ride from the city of Reykjavik. I chose the less expensive option to get dropped off at the BSI terminal as opposed to my hostel which meant that I had a 20 minute walk through the icy sidewalks with my luggage at midnight haha. Although my fingers and ears were freezing, it was quite a nice walk seeing first impressions of the city. They also still had their Christmas decorations up which added to the nice feeling. I passed by a house that had a treehouse in their front yard, how cute and inspiring! I’d love to build one someday if I can. I made it to my hostel safe and sound then tried to quickly go to bed to avoid disturbing the other girls sleeping in the room. Adventures begin tomorrow!
Dylan and I drove down to San Diego to spend a few days there, we both really love the area! We did a late Christmas together then went to False Idol, our favorite tiki bar. The next day we went to the San Diego Zoo, parking was a zoo itself haha, there were lots of people there but we eventually found a spot and spent hours walking around the zoo spotting all the creature! Some of the highlights of the animals we saw were the red panda running around, a bunch of cool birds, the gorillas being fed, and more! We got to see the city from above on their gondola ride. We walked around Pacific Beach that evening and saw a man making giant bubbles that would travel for a minute or two before popping near the shore. The next day we went to La Jolla to check out the tide pools but the waves were really big so instead we looked at the bunch of sea lions that like to hangout there. We met up with my friend Callie and her boyfriend in Belmont Park to go on a couple roller coaster rides (where I screamed my head off) and go on a walk beside the beach. It was so great to see her! Dylan and I also got to try out a cool new bar called Mothership that is space themed, even the bathrooms are really fascinatingly decorated haha. The next day we went to Los Angeles to spend New Years with Madi at one of her friends houses. It was a very chill welcoming into the new year, we ate donuts and wrote down things we wanted to leave in 2022 and burned them in a mini bonfire. The next day I spent with Madi and her friend Miki having some coffee and chatting, Miki had some cool stories to share since she just returned home from a few months of solo traveling! Dylan, Madi, and I watched the sunrise the next morning at a viewpoint where you could see the Hollywood sign and we had breakfast afterwards. I had sushi for dinner since I hadn't had it since before I left haha, it was delicious at this restaurant where it follows the Japanese custom of removing your shoes and the tables were set low into the ground. My flight was just after that. My flight didn't land in Copenhagen/Malmo until the last train to my town had already passed. Luckily, my friend Linnea was kind enough to let me stay with her for the evening in Malmo! I brought back some snacks from America so she tried fruit roll ups and gushers for the first time, my childhood classics. The next day we decided to embroider our hats! I've always wanted to try embroidering but never really did it until then. We designed black baseball caps with the word Kroki and other designs on the backside for fun. The two of us plan to run the Kroki's this upcoming term so we thought it'd be fun to have these custom hats haha. (just as a reminder, Kroki is the Thursday evening drawing sessions open to the public). We grabbed some delicious pasta for lunch from the food hall nearby before continuing more on our hats. I decided to put mushrooms and butterflies on the back of mine and she chose to do her bargue sculpture and lavender. Soon after that I needed to head back to my apartment to unpack.. then repack for my solo trip to Iceland the next day. This week we finished our second sphere with a light background, we did our chocolate exchange (so fun to see people's joy), and we had our end of term reviews where the teachers go over the term with you. They were encouraging to continue keeping up the good work so far and they appreciated my involvement with the school. As students, it was also an opportunity to provide any feedback to the school. It was nice to take some time to reflect on the term and bring in our works to see how we've progressed. On Wednesday, my landlord invited me for some glogg and cookies then a dinner to follow before we each left for Christmas. It was a nice time where he shared lots of his knowledge with me about the town, his travels, his career as a translator, and more. We had delicious scallops and pork belly, I was stuffed afterwards! On Thursday we had a graduation for those in term 6 (completed their third year) and a potluck Christmas dinner together before everyone went home to their families. Linnea and Keren came over to bake together, I baked pepparkaka (gingerbread cake), Keren made cookies, and Linnea made garlic bread. It was a fun evening celebrating the new grads, definitely sad that we won't see them around as often but they'll still be visiting often next term luckily! There were 5 new grads and they presented their super seeds, paintings that they've been working on for months and have been keeping a secret. Early the next morning, I took the 4:22 am train to begin my journey to the Copenhagen airport. I had a layover in Amsterdam where I said hi to one of my classmates who also had a layover there. That airport was really nice! They had a fancy cafe and the stores had a wide selection of Stroopwafels, chocolates, cheese, Belgian waffles, beer, and more. I got my family a couple things as Christmas gifts to try out the foods! after going on a few flights this year, I must say that I highly recommend KLM because the experience is really nice and the food is great. I landed in LAX where Dylan picked me up and we got some fried chicken and went to Target, two things that I missed hahah. Then we drove to meet up with my sister and played some board games together. Early the next morning we had a flight to catch to go home for the holidays. We spent the Christmas holiday cooking and baking as a family and got to visit my grandma for a bit that evening. The next day we drove up to the beautiful snowy mountains of Reno for a day trip to visit my grandpa and family. The next day I was able to have a brunch with three of my close friends and go to the dentist before leaving to spend the remaining few days of my visit in southern California with Dylan and Madi. Time flew by and I was exhausted from the time change but I really appreciated being home and spending time with my family <3 |
AuthorHi, it's Ashlyn! I post about my journey in Sweden as I continue my art studies at the Swedish Academy of Realist Art (SARA). I'll be posting updates on what I'm doing at the academy and any adventures I do during my free time outside of my studies. This is my first time doing a blog, thanks for checking it out! |