On top of my blogging relationship with wordpress, I have also been keeping daily records with my personal, handwritten journal. It makes for an awesome way to store my memories until I can fully flesh them out on here, and it gives me the opportunity to check in on myself at the end of the day (self-care is so important, even when you’re having the time of your life abroad!). I had a lot of goals when I left the United States in August, but I’ve dedicated the most time to one goal in particular: to appreciate something special everyday and make the most of the challenges I face. I believe that there is a lesson to be learned with every adventure, and I intended to find it in even the most unlikely situations. This daily effort to be mindful and appreciative can be exhausting, but I manage it by writing in my journal every night.
But as I said in the beginning of my blogging journey, I’m a photographer first, writer second! So to make my daily journal goal more fun, I ventured to also take one polaroid a day. This is the perfect compromise, I thought optimistically. Unfortunately, this one-polaroid-a-day strategy lasted…. Four days. Since August 21 I have been averaging at least two polaroids a day, but until my film stash runs out, I’m going to keep at it! In the meantime I thought I could do a little wrap-up of the week on wordpress based on the polaroids from the past seven days— hence the Fuji Film Friday title. So without further ado, I present September 20-27, as recorded by my trusty raspberry-colored fuji film polaroid camera:
This past weekend I was lucky enough to have two of my good friends from college (thanks William & Mary for introducing me to such cool people!) come visit me. Ludy (left) spent the spring semester in Chile and is now spending her fall semester in Madrid, while Henry (right) is studying urban planning at Oxford. I had a blast showing them all the cool spots, the most famous being the colorful streets of Nyhaven (pronounced “Noo-haun”) pictured above!
No trip to Copenhagen is complete without a tour from the water: after taking Ludy and Henry to the touristy spots during the day, I went off the beaten path and rented a boat for an hour to take around the harbor. Colby, one of my American flatmates, and Cynthia, my wonderful roommate, met us around 6 and before we knew it we were in the middle of the river. Cynthia is pictured above in all of her boat-driving glory. I mean, we only hit the wall of the canal twice, I’d say that’s a pretty great record!
On Saturday I took Henry and Ludy to my favorite spot in Copenhagen: the Garden of the Royal Library. Especially in the afternoon sunlight the garden seems to transform into a magical fairy garden, complete with little birdhouses and rows of colorful flowers.
On Saturday night we all legitimately blew our life savings on the best sushi I have ever tasted in my life. Sticks and sushi, a restaurant strategically positioned right above Tivoli (the amusement park in Copenhagen), serves the best views and sashimi in town! I blame the enchanting atmosphere of Tivoli for leading me to believe I could live so lavishly, but if I’m being honest… I regret nothing. My bank account might be screaming, but just look at all that sushi! It is my dream come true!
Ludy and I explored Copenhagen on Sunday and came across a wooden giants (pictured above). This city is filled with whimsical expressions of art and activism; I love that I’ve been here for over six weeks and I’m still finding little pockets of beauty!
I gave my polaroid a rest from Monday to Thursday, but broke it back out when I attended a lecture by Shoshana Zuboff at the Louisiana Museum of Art. Shoshana spoke passionately about the consequences of data collection and the future of digital culture, and I applied her ideas to my paper for my core course, New Media and Changing Communities.
Thats all for this week, thanks for following along! See you next week for another Fuji Film Friday.
240 Days in Denmark 