The journey continues

In case you were wondering, there was more to my trip to Denmark that you haven't seen yet. As we've established so far, I had the opportunity to see a wonderful art museum and explore the Danish countryside around Kolding for a couple days.

However, more of Denmark remained to be explored, and so Charlotte, Charlotte's grandparents, and I set off to their home on the island of Laeso for a few days. On the way, we made a couple stops. The first was at a very old Danish church, so that I could get a sense of what these churches appear like on the inside. It was very interesting to see the ornate wood and stonework dating from many centuries prior.

Then, we drove a little while longer until we reached the home of Charlotte's uncle, aunt, and two cousins. They have a wonderful house, a friendly dog, and they provided a very tasty lunch to carry us the rest of the way along our journey.

After a while longer on the road, we reached the northern tip of Denmark, from which point we caught a ferry to take us over to the small island of Laeso, where their second home is located. Despite the small size of the island, the crossing traverses open water and takes about 1.5 hours to complete, so the ferry was very spacious and comfortable.

We passed many things, including some more of my favorite sights in Denmark! They're everywhere-there's apparently a reason that people call Denmark one of the leaders in the renewable power movement.

Anyway, after riding the ferry for a while, we reached Laeso! I'm getting a bit sleepy, but in the meantime, you can take a gander at the cozy place I was able to call home for a few wonderful, relaxing days.

I'll be back to update you on the fun adventures I got to have on the island soon! In the meantime, bundle up! We just had our first snowfall of the season today!

Denmark (part 1)

Under ideal conditions, I would post more pictures from my wonderful trip to Denmark this past August and provide some great explanations to accompany every photograph of what I'm showing you. However, things are getting busy, so I think I'd rather just be sure that at least some of my photos are making it up here. I was in Denmark with Charlotte for about 11 days in total, and so I will present my travel in a few parts. In my quick break today, I'll share some of the first sights I got to see after arriving in Denmark. I was encouraged to leave my jet lag at the airport and quickly whisked away by Charlotte's grandparents, who took us to the Louisiana Art Museum, which was really quite gorgeous.

The visit was made even cooler by the fact that they were featuring a major exhibition on the theme of green design, so there were lots of thought-provoking exhibits. Here, for example, is a sculpture that can decay at a controlled rate (showing a technology that could be used to build temporary buildings, such as sports arenas for the Olympics, rather than constructing structures that will quickly become unnecessary).

And here is a sculpture that generates electricity through solar panels and by converting the oscillations generated by people who walk on it!

After touring the museum, it was time to head back to Fiskenaes, which is the tranquil home of Charlotte's grandparents, and the location of her grandfather's studio (he's a goldsmith). As you can see, it was very pretty, and with a wonderful view of open land and a lake, it was a tranquil place to read and relax.

The next day, after some good sleep, we hit the ground running. Charlotte showed me around the Fiskenaes property, and introduced me to some of the friendly neighbors!

Then, in the afternoon, we went to the nearby town of Kolding. Note that the town's name has an "old" in it-this is because much of the town is very old in comparison to American standards!

The town was gorgeous, but perhaps even more so was the castle therein! It was beautiful on the outside...

...and even more so within!

Anyway, I need to get a little sleep here, so this is all you get for today! When time permits again, I'll put up some more pictures, but in the meantime, look out the window and see if your leaves are beginning to get as pretty as ours are starting to! We have a long way to go until peak foliage here in White Plains, but it's definitely on its way.

Greetings from White Plains!

Well, since it's been a long time since I last updated this, I suppose I should begin by wishing you a happy fall! I still have a healthy dose of photographs from my travels to Denmark to post, but since it's been a while since I've provided an update, I think I will first give you a glimpse into the storied life of a second-year law student, which I'm currently experiencing. What happens during this mysterious time of learning?

Well, basically, I sit here (my desk at my apartment) and read lots of pages of books. It doesn't make for great journalism, so just imagine me doing that every day, and we'll just leave it at that!

Fortunately, I do have time for the occasional outside endeavor. One of my favorites (sleeping) involves spending a few hours in this (my bed). As you can see, my apartment is a good deal more welcoming than my dorm room was last year. If you never saw my dorm room last year, please just believe me that this apartment is several orders of magnitude better.

I should also note that my roommate (Dan) and I are currently attempting to brew a Belgian, Trappist-style ale. If successful, this will represent the first skill that I have learned completely from research on the Internet (and about 90% from YouTube). It is amazing just how much you can learn from sources that were frowned upon (and didn't even exist) until recently!

This will be a topic that I will update as we progress, but we successfully completed the "brew" phase, and we are now into the first of three fermentation phases (first in one bucket, then in a glass carboy, and finally in the individual bottles). It is a nice break from the one-track thinking of law school, since this requires lots of different skills. We need to carefully time and measure the phases and components, and we have to keep everything very sterile (Dan and I can now iodine scrub with the best of the Red Cross staffers).

So far, everything is looking good.

I will also conclude by pointing out that another favorite pastime here in our apartment in White Plains is, thankfully, playing music. My roommates Dan (left) and Emily (duh) are both great musicians, so here is yet another reason this living situation is a great improvement from last year!

And with that, I'll stop for now. Hopefully you can see that all is cozy and well here in White Plains, and I'll aim to post some photographs from the wonderful trip I had to Denmark, as well (time permitting). Until then, enjoy the beautiful fall weather!