Fat Girl Reconsiders Priorities

Today officially marks the completion of my fourth week of classes in Copenhagen! I have three more weeks here before I head off to Barcelona & then home shortly thereafter. In some ways it feels like I just got to Denmark last week, but in other ways it feels like I've lived in Scandinavia for centuries.

This Copenhagen trip started off with a bang with the airlines losing our luggage in transit the very first day. I subsequently had to live off of the clothes I was wearing on the airplane for the next four days (namely, sweatpants, a red tank top, & ghetto looking Nikes). After some extreme hygienic compromises were made, I was thankfully reunited with my precious luggage. There was no shortage of struggles during the first week, however. Just a day later, I found myself completely stranded in the fire stairs of my school's building. I'll spare you the gruesome details of me running up and down the stairs for 45 minutes in sweaty & tearful panic, but as you may have concluded, I managed to escape through the "Employees Only" exit of a clothing store. I tried to play it cool & even shopped around before gracefully exiting like someone who hadn't been seriously considering jumping off of the roof just a few minutes ago.

Living off of Airport Clothes & Feeling Disgusting

Nevertheless, Copenhagen has treated me kindly. There is close to no language barrier as almost everyone here speaks fluent English. There is however, a FINANCIAL barrier. Even the most basic things will cost you your left kidney...and that's if you have the Colin Firth of kidneys. I ate a mediocre $35 dollar pizza and drank a $9 smoothie before I decided enough is enough! If you know me at all, you would know that food is absolutely the most stable relationship in my life. If you were to ever ask me whether I would rather spend my money on clothes that will last forever or spend it on food that will only make my thighs expand, there would be no hesitation in my answer. BUT, but...here in Copenhagen, my priorities started to change. All of a sudden, I saw every meal as an opportunity to save! save! save! Spend $40 on average meat and potatoes or spend $40 on a beautifully designed dress? DRESS, I SAY, DRESS! As a result, I have been cooking all my meals at home and saving every penny to buy what I like to call "souvenirs."

Things have not been ALL fun&games though. Contrary to popular belief, studying abroad for design students is actually quite rigorous. I'm currently studying Scandinavian design and furniture making at the Danish Institute of Study Abroad (DIS). The professors have been amazing and I feel very fortunate to be a part of such a quality program. I just completed my working drawings for my chair design &we will start construction in the woodshop on Monday. Unfortunately for me, the woodshop is just outside the city - easily accessible by bike. For any normal human being with a childhood, this would not be an issue. But for Miranda Lee who spent her toddler years on a hill in a Los Angeles suburb & thus never quite learned how to ride a bicycle with finesse, this is quite the sensitive topic. I might have to just face my fear and ride my bike...but I'm so afraid I'm going to literally crash & hypothetically burn & not be able to build my chair. oooooh. what to do, what to do???
Stay Tuned, my friends. Hopefully, I will update soon. Hope all of your Summers are going well!