California!!

I went to California during spring break. I was so excited to see what it was like there and it for sure is very, very different from New Mexico! People seem to care more about the environment, especially in San Francisco where there is a law saying the stores can only give away paperbags (that, however, did not seem to be the reality of all the stores I went to, but it is a start) and I was very impressed by that. All the people I talked to was so friendly! I did not see a lot of overweight people, and that is very different from Albuquerque. San Francisco is a really beautiful place and I love the victorian style of the houses. The houses are all in different colours - red, blue, green etc. and it just seems to fit the city so well!

In the middle of the week I went to Santa Monica with Marcelo and Juliana. We took the bus from San Francisco and it took aound 9 hours to get there... Actually, it was not that bad and it was cheap too; around 30 dollars. LA was sooo confusing! It is huge, around the same size as sjælland in Denmark (!!) and everything is spread out... We stayed at a hostel in Santa Monica (around 1 hours bus drive from downtown LA) and it was really great, more like a hotel actually and just a few minutes walk from the beach! -Perfect. There was a piano in the common room of the hostel, and two Argentinan guys we met taught me to play half a song... ;-)

Like all the other tourists going to LA, we naturally wanted to see what all the fuss about Hollywood is about:-), so we decided to take the bus there. It took about 1 hour to get there and it was fun to see The Walk of Fame, the Hollywood sign etc, but otherwise it wasn't really that amazing.

I sidste uge havde jeg spring break og sammen med to brasilianske venner herfra, Juliana og Marcelo, rejste jeg til Californien. Jeg var så spændt på at se Californien og det er helt sikkert meget, meget anderledes end New Mexico! Det virker som om, at folk er mere miljøbevidste; især i San Francisco hvor der er en lov som siger at butikkerne ikke må sælge/give plastikposer, men kun papirs (det blev godt nok ikke overholdt alle steder, men det er da i hvert fald en start), og jeg var positivt overrasket over det! Alle de folk jeg snakkede med var virkelig flinke og åbne! Faktisk så jeg ikke særligt mange overvægtige i Californien, og det er noget af en forskel fra Albuquerque...! San Francisco er bare så smuk en by og jeg elsker den victorianske byggestil; husene er alle malet i forskellige farver, rød, blå, grøn osv, og det passer bare så godt ind der...

I midten af ugen rejste vi videre til Los Angeles. Vi tog bussen (Greyhound) dertil og det tog ca. 9 timer. Det var slet ikke så slemt som vi havde frygtet og det var også rigtig billigt; ca 30 dollars. LA var virkelig forvirrende!! Det er en kæmpe by, på størrelse med Sjælland, og alting er fordelt hele dette kæmpe areal... Vi boede på et rigtig godt hostel i Santa Monica som er ca. en times buskørsel fra centrum af LA. Det mindede egentlig mere om et hotel og der var endda et klaver der! Vi mødte to rigtig flinke fyrer fra Argentina, og de lærte mig at spille en halv sang på klaver.. ;-)

Ligesom alle andre turister der rejser til LA, ville vi selvfølgelig se Hollywood for at finde ud af om der er noget om al den snak... ;-) Vi tog bussen dertil, det tog ca. en time. Det var skægt at se Walk of Fame, Hollywood skiltet osv, men udover det var det altså ikke SÅ fantastisk. :-)

Another sunny day, I met you out in the garden...

Jeg drak the sammen med Radim og Jana ved andedammen på campus. Der er rigtig dejligt der og der kommer mange folk for at slappe af og fodre ænder eller læse. Jeg fortalte Jana om et kamera jeg overvejer at købe brugt på Ebay - et Canon Powershot S3 IS.

Today I was drinking tea and relaxing at the duckpond on campus together with Radim and Jana. It is a really nice place and lots of people come there to relax, feed the ducks or read a book. I was telling Jana about a camera I am considering buying - a Canon Powershot S3 IS.

En solrig lørdag - Sunny Saturday!

Her til formiddag hjalp jeg Jana (en pige fra Prag), med et af hendes projekter. Hun læser Art Studio og er igang med et projekt som involverer fotografier af dele af menneskekroppe, og en baggrund bestående af et billed af himlen ('bodyscapes') . Hun tog billeder af forskellige dele af min krop, bla. min albue, min ryg, min mave og mine ben, og det mens jeg holdt hendes baggrund bagved det motiv hun tog billeder af. Det var faktisk ikke så let som jeg havde troet. Vi kiggede alle billederne igennem bagefter og der var rigtig mange - omkring 200. Mange af billederne var rigtig gode, og det er ret svært at se, at det rent faktisk er en menneskekrop som er i forgrunden! Det er ret fascinerende og jeg tror det bliver et ret interessant projekt...

Today I was helping Jana, a girl from Prague who is studying Art Studio, with one of her photography projects for uni. She was taking pictures of specific parts of my body (like my stomach, my feet, my legs and my elbow) while I was holding a picture of a sky behind; the idea is to create a picture with a sky in the background and well, yes, a part of the human body in the foreground, but what makes it funny and fascinating is the fact that it is really, really difficult, almost impossible actually, to see that it is a part of a body. She calls them 'bodyscapes' and when looking at the pictures, you sometimes believe that what you are seeing is something completely different, like a mountain or a sand dune!

I am sure the project will turn out really well!

Det første herfra - First time blogger!

Hej alle jer der kigger med!

Først den danske version! Jeg har det virkelig godt her i Albuquerque. Der er nu gået noget tid siden jeg ankom, og jeg er desværre først kommet igang med bloggen nu, men jo bedre sent end aldrig... ;-) Der sker så meget hele tiden - Det kan være svært at finde tid til det hele og prioritere. Idag har jeg ingen forelæsninger, det er nemlig fredag og fredag samt mandag har jeg fri!! Det er så dejligt - Så har jeg mulighed for at rejse osv... I de ca. 1,5 mdr. jeg har været her, har jeg opholdt mig mest i Albuquerque. Bor jo lige midt i ørkenen, så det er desværre ikke helt så let at komme omkring, med mindre man, som langt de fleste amerikanere, er så heldig at være i besiddelse af en mega-truck!! ;-) Men jeg har nu alligevel været lidt omkring - bla. i Santa Fe ( på billedet til højre ses tyske Susi fra Internationalt Kontor - Hun er i fuld gang med at give kommandoer! ;-) ) sammen med de internationale studerende og Kristen, som var at besøge mig i en uge i starten af Februar. Vi tog også på nogle ture, vi valgte at leje en bil og køre lidt rundt, så det var super. Vi bar bla. oppe på Sandia Mountains hvor der var den smukkeste udsigt og en MASSE sne! Det var rigtig smukt og noget af en kontrast, for nede i byen er der ret varmt - Det er sidst i Februar og de fleste går rundt uden jakke og mange med shorts og t-shirts - det er virkelig skønt! Jeg tænker på jer alle hjemme i dk - jeg ved, hvor meget I fryser... ;-) Det er godt, at foråret er på vej!

Der ligger et lille "independent theatre" meget tæt på uni - Jeg har været der to gange sammen med et par venner. I onsdags så vi den svenske "Let the right one in" -Jeg synes den er virkelig god og kan helt sikkert anbefale at se den!

Jeg bor jo på campus - lige midt i og det er super praktisk - Jeg kan tage min cykel rundt på campus og være de fleste steder på bare 5 min. Campus er stort ( i hvert fald i forhold til Aalborg... ;-) ), men det er nu ikke stort set i amerikanske forhold... Vi har dog hele TO Starbucks på campus, som det første universitet i USA, så det er noget specielt og jeg nyder gavn af at en af mine brasilianske venner arbejder der... :-D

I lørdags var jeg i teatret her på campus - New Mexico symphony orchestra spillede sammen med Byron Stripling og det var virkelig godt, rigtig smukt og havde aldrig troet at en symfoni kunne være så underholdende, så det var en rigtig god oplevelse!

And then, on to the english version. ;-) I am having a really great time here in Albuquerque! I arrived about 1,5 months ago and I know, that it has taken me some time to start this blog, but now I am sure that I will quickly get used to posting things here - After all, I love writing. :-)
So, a lot of things are going on here- It is a bit difficult to find the time and energy for everything, so I have to prioritise at times... Today is Friday and I don't have class - I don't have class on Mondays and Fridays, which is really good, as it gives me the opportunity to travel etc! Ever since I arived to Albuquerque 1,5 months ago, I have been spending most of my time in the city (read: campus...) and I have not been travelling that much. However, I went on an arranged tript to Santa Te with the other International students (while Kristen was here visiting me) and I liked it a lot. On the picture above you see Susi, a german woman from Office of International Programs & Studies - she is busy telling us to behave properly while in Santa Fe ;-) )

Kristen and I also chose to rent a car and we went to different places like the Sandia Mountains, from which there is an AMAZING (see, I am already turning into an American, I use the word "amazing" and then even in capital letters...) view and lots of snow! Quite a contrast to the temperatures in the city - it is quite warm and lots of people actually wear only shorts and t-shirts during the day! Need I tell you... I love it :-)

I have been watching two movies at an independent theatre which is situated really close to uni - 15 minutes walk from here. On Wednesday I was watching the Swedish movie "Let the right one in" together with some friends. I liked it a lot and I think you should go see it if you get the chance!

As most of you know, I live on campus - right in the middle, which is really great - it takes me no more than 5 minutes to go to any place on campus (by bike). Campus is big - much bigger than Aalborg, haha, but compared to many other American universities, it is not that big... We have TWO Starbucks here, and this is actually something special for this uni - No other university in the US has a Starbucks! One of my Brazilian friends are working in one of them and I am grateful for that... ;-)

On Saturday I was at the theathre here on campus. The New Mexico Symphony Orchestra were playing together with Byron Stripling. It was really, really good and I really did not think that a symphony could be that entertaining!!