LLC Weekend

I live in a fabulous community of American students that are all interested in accessing Copenhagen's visual and performing arts scene. Last weekend, we were together all weekend exploring firsthand the funky corners of the city and making some of our own art, all planned by our incomparable  Living and Learning Community Coordinator-Sophie! 

My temporary bike friend

On Saturday, we began planning our LLC semester project. Making creative choices as a 24 person entity is always a challenge but we managed to choose an idea everyone is excited about. We are keeping it under wraps for now, but I'll be sure to share details once more become available. 

After our marathon planning meeting, we headed to Absalon in the Vesterbro neighborhood. Absalon is an old church reclaimed into a fun and fabulous community center! We went for one of the nightly community dinners. For just 50 dkk (about $7), you can be served an absolutely delicious meal and have the chance to get to know other Danes (or Americans) for the evening. The food was fantastic, and I was told they make a mean drink at the bar. But the real fun came when we realized we were there for George Michael tribute night! Between the whole group, we knew about three songs so the break between dinner and trivia we studied up. Which, is a pretty brilliant plan if the questions hadn't been asked in Danish! Our friend from dinner got the hosts to also ask in English after a bit, thank goodness for her! Once we lost trivia, we stayed for a bit of George Michael dancing. We were by far the youngest in the crowd. 

Absalon

Bright and early the next morning, we got together and made original stickers and fused bead figures for our later decoration of the city. Then, we hopped on bikes and began poking around in the wonderful multicultural neighborhood of Norrebro. I had been a few times before, but never like this. Sophie, in all of her infinite street cred, took us to an art lending library, a phenomenal falafel place, some funky and innovative public parks (one with goats), and an area of the city set aside for street and graffiti artists. This was probably the most exciting part of the trip for me, when our whole LLC collaborated and spray painted a large wall together. While we are by no means pros, the experience itself was truly something special. After we finished, our guide showed us some of his pieces and some of the best ones in the park. It is amazing that Copenhagen is a city that would allow for such a funky space to exist. Another fun fact: of the artified buildings, there is a youth community center and a dance club-great use of space! Once we finished, we hopped on our bikes and returned to the center of the city, sore and tired and happy artists. 

The mural-mid process