Denmark home of Danish butter cookies and legos...

Ok so I think I've found my new love...it's name is Denmark. I think it is the most amazing place I've ever been, so clam and peaceful and surreal. For those that don't know, I came to Denmark to visit my friend Lisa who is from Denmark but was an exchange student at my high school in Coeur d'Alene. Her family is absolutely amazing and has taken fabulous care of me. :) Her mother is an unbelievable cook and fixes the most amazing breakfast and dinner. Here is our meal schedule at an average day at their house:

9:00 Am- Breakfast- multiple options of Danishes (that's where they get their names from), rolls with at least 5 different types of cheese to choose from, Tom's choc. (so good), peanut butter (so we would feel more at home), then soft boiled eggs (so good), scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes....and the list keeps going...

Lunch: eat out at a Danish restaurant (I ate smoked salmon for the first time...not by choice...it was in Danish so I didn't know what I was ordering...and I ended up with raw looking fish...but it wasn't that bad)

Dinner.....omg...yumm...anything ranging from Homemade gourmet pizza to veil to pig skin (sounds gross but once again proved itself) to homemade sweet cabbage.

Dessert...Danish Butter Cookies of course!

So now that we've all gained 10lbs from reading that... I've done so much I think I'll just go day by day...

Day one: We flew into Billund in the early evening and Lisa picked us up from the airport with a really cute sign...:) We then went home and had dinner with her family. Then She took us on a tour of the cookie factory! Yes as in my favorite cookie...Danish Butter cookies...Lisa use to work there so we were able to peak in a see how it works...

First you have to put on the gear...Hair hat, coat, and shoes...

Then the mix the dough choose the cookie shapes and press them out...Then they get sent into a giant and very long oven....

Then they come out and inspected and put sorted into cups...also all the accidents come out...notice the pile of cookies on the floor due to a jam in the machine...

Choc. Cookies....

Packaging

Ready to ship!

Jin and I getting away with some goods...we're not sure how we are going to fit them in our carry ons that can't weigh over 10lk...and they actually way them before you go through security now!

Day two we went to a prison! They built a new prison about 5 years ago so the old one was turned into a museum. So we went and toured it. It was originally built in the mid 1800s. It was huge! and all I can say is if anyone is thinking of going into a life of crime...go to Denmark to do it...

Reasons for becoming a Danish Criminal:

1.You can bring your own TV and decorations for your cell.

2.Your cell is an actual room with a real door.

3. You can paint your walls.

4. All the walls around the prison are painted in bright colors and patterns everywhere.

5. There's a store so you can go shopping with the money you make working.

6. When you have visitors there are actual rooms with couches you sit in...no glass screen.

7. Beautiful chapel inside.

8. Huge grounds to walk on and play soccer on.

Who's moving in?

After the prison we went and I had my first Danish hot dog...and all I can say is I now eat hot dogs...(so Theta's if you don't want anymore in your mailboxes we better have the cook switch brands and import from Denmark)...They are these really long red hot dogs in normal size buns then they have three different sauces and fried crunchy onions, fresh onions, and pickles. I now eat onions (only on these though...sorry potato salad makers...I will still pick them out).

Then on the way home we picked up some pumpkins and went home and carved away. Of course one of my zones came over me and I was left in the freezing cold by myself unaware that I couldn't feel my fingers. Everyone else was done and mocking me from the window. :) But they were beautiful and glowed so nicely...except the wind kept blowing them out and I said we should move them to the front porch and they kept avoiding my suggestion and finally Lisa told me that it was b/c it was embarrassing. I was extremely offended that my beautiful pumpkin was embarrassing! It turns out the danish aren't big on carving pumpkins and in the past when Connie, Lisa's mom, carved one the neighbors never let her live it down. But then they ended up out there in the end b/c it was the only place the wind didn't blow.

ps I'm back in London now and it's snowing!!!!!yay!!!

Day Three:

We went to the old town, a traditional danish town that has been preserved. It was so beautiful, it was in its of season so no one was there, so we had it to ourselves. I got hissed at by a goose and we sat in a carriage. We ate traditional danish pactries and disgusting licorice. They had some hats and shoes that were fun to look at also. It was very interesting and we took some really cute pictures. :)

We also went shopping before the old town. I thought I'd lost Lisa's earrings she bought...and in the process of looking for them Lisa set her coat down. We found that Jin was holding the earrings...but then we lost Lisa's coat. So we back tracked through the mall and all possessions were found luckily. :)

Day Four:

We went to Hans Christian Andersen's birth place. He came into the world in intense poverty; the seven room house held 5 families. He once had his fortune read when he was really young, she said he would be famous and come into great wealth...and well it came true. He was kind of an out cast in life though b/c he was really tall and tall wasn't in that season. He also had a really big nose and so he was called ugly...maybe his inspiration for the Ugly Duckling... He also really feared becoming insane like his grandfather b/c they had similar traits. His grandfather during his insanity hid away tons of money he earned over his life time and then died and told no one. When it was found it was all worthless b/c all the bills were dated before the great bankruptcy, so the family was put into poverty.

Then Lisa and her boyfriend's mom planned him a surprise party for his 25th birthday so we took him to it and met all his family and friends. I have to say I've never been in the kid who didn't speak the language...and well here I was. I found out afterwards that the reason they sang happy birthday in English was in Jin and I's honor...so sweet but the only words we understood all night :). I used my only two Danish words a lot that night...tak which is thank you and kuling which is chicken....luckily they all speak English, but only when talking directly at you...so they were probably talking about me and I had no idea...lol but it was a lot of fun. And we carved more pumpkins :)...then we went home and did facials :)

Day Five:

We went to LEGOLAND!!!! It was so fun! Even though it rained almost the entire day, it was a lot of fun. It was the last day the park was opened and since it was raining there were very few people so we walked onto every ride. It was great! I took tons of picture. Everything was built out of legos...imagine that, "so what's you job?" "Oh I build with legos all day, like yesterday I built a 10ft high Statue of Liberty." So awesome...I really picked the wrong major.

Day six:

It was our last day in Denmark :( and so we just had the morning and early afternoon. We went to this deer park where you can walk around and find deer and then feed them! So we brought raw spaghetti and went searching for the deer in this wonderland that should have been in Narnia. It was sooooooooooo surreal....it didn't look like it could be real it was so perfect. It was on the coast and surrounded by HUGE Aspen the size of big Idaho pine trees, and then these wild deer would come and eat out of your hand. Then as we hiked back to the car it started to rain and our feet where covered in mud. It rains a lot there...

We jumped on the plane and were off to London...I'm home now and am heading to Paris early in the morning! It was and amazing trip and really hope to go back soon. Also since I will be moving there you can all come too....:) Lisa and her family were sooooooooo amazing and really made me feel at home. So it helped my get over my homesickness. :) Ok well I'm off to pack for Paris. xx

LoVe YoU aLl!

-KAT

I'm sorry I'm a busy Homework Mess...

ok I'm really sorry I haven't written...I keep meaning to and then I get distracted...big surprise I know. :) Ok so I'll start off with my help the homeless progress...I GOT USED BY TWO HOMELESS PEOPLE! These are the people that give homeless people a bad name. I had a lady comes up to me and asks if I had anything to give her. I had just bought muffins to give out so I said yes, would you like a muffin? and she looked at me like I was scum and said sure I guess. Then as I reached into my bag to grab one she says to me, "do you have anything else instead, like money?" And I said no sorry, so she grabbed the muffin out of my hand a walked off to ask the person behind me. Then I didn't realize she had a friend with her behind her. So her friend comes up and puts out her hand and looks at me with a "give me one" look. It was the strangest experience...I kind of went numb and was speechless and was like a robot as I handed away muffins...there were no grateful smiles or thank yous...it was almost an inconvenience to them that I had wasted their time giving them a muffin. So I went and prayed and then the sermon at church the next day was on how we can't serve until we let God serve us first...ex we can't go out and do his works with an empty heart...so God and I talked it out and then I was back on track with my muffin giving on the way home. :)

Ok so now for a more entertaining story...So my friend Jita was over at my apt hanging out and we realized it was past when the tubes close so she would have to ride the bus, but the bus is in a scary location so I didn't want her to walk by herself so I went home with her. We stopped by KFC b/c we realized we hadn't eaten and went in and got some popcorn chicken. By this time it's almost 2am. We are about to leave when this guy comes up and grabs a chair and sits down next to us, then his friend does the same, but he is like leaning up against me and putting his head on my shoulder. Can I just say I have no idea who these boys are or where they came from and neither does Jita...they just popped up. Jita was talking to one of them about art while I kept having to peel this guys arm from around my shoulder and keep placing it in his lap. Jita wasn't paying attention to to what was happening to me across the table and kept missing my looks of LETS LEAVE! I finally caught her eye and we said we had to go. I once again peel his arm off me and say I have to go and he asks why? and I say b/c I don't know you. and he says why? and I say BECAUSE I JUST MET YOU! so then he confesses his love to us and Jita draws him a little heart in the air and we walk out. It was so strange. PS they were so drunk...their eyes were bright red. I don't know if it was a cultural thing (the put your arm around some random girl you meet in KFC)...my guy was from Estonia (Jita's was from Sweden) but really creepy. Mom don't freak out...remember I took self defense and plus the chicken man has a little crush on Jita and would have come out and fried them if he thought we were in danger... It was really funny after we laughed the entire way home, and came up with a code word for we need to leave...she had no idea my side of the table was happening. Oh and I almost forgot the worst part! I don't know if all of you have seen the Left Behind movies (yes the ones with the horrid acting), but the guy who plays Nicoli Carpathia aka the Anti-Christ...this Estonian guy look just like him! And in the book isn't he from some country like Estonia??!! I was freaking out...I was like omg the anti-Christ is touching me!!! It was quite a night.

Anyways...I've recovered. And now been drown with homework and learning french in a week...we'll see how that works out. I am excited though. I learned how to render with markers! So neat and I learned some new water color techniques. So that has been fun to play around with. You all might be getting artwork for Christmas....

Well today Jita and I bribed the security guards to not be mad at us (we came out late after the school was closed) with food. We gave them an apple and banana with a note that said thanks your the best! Love, the girls that break the rules. We were getting a very rude mean lecture about coming down 10 mins late, and then we plopped our gift down and they giggled and said they guessed it was ok, and to have a nice night...they were still laughing as we walked out. See kindness/acknowledgement can go a long way. They had been really nice and let us stay in the lab even though we didn't have three people...and then we were late...so we weren't on their best side, but our note fixed everything! :)

So I leave for Denmark on Wednesday!!! I'm so excited! and then I get back Monday and then leave for Paris on Wednesday. So it should be fun, I'm excited. I'm going to see my friend Lisa who was an exchange student at my high school and then over to see Marine who was an exchange student that lived with us. I guess it's go see foreign exchange students week. :) I've missed them a lot so it should be fun. OK well I have got to get to bed. I'll post pics soon. Love you!

<3 KL

Orange maybe my favorite color....but that doesn't not mean I like everything that abuses it's name....

So I just got back from class...they served us beer and we watched Clockwork Orange...the strangest experience of my life. All I have to say it no matter how much alcohol they could have fed us...it never would be enough to make that movie any less disturbing. I think I'll have nightmares...I don't recommend it. Did you know that when it came out the producer actually pulled it from theaters in 1973 because the youth violence level in Britain became so high as a result?! So crazy.

It just wasn't a great day...it started late...as usual...so I had to get ready in 10 mins to catch the tube in time, then I stayed after draping class to work on my assignment and got in one of my "zones" and didn't head home till I realized it was 4:45. So after 7 and 1/2 hours of draping...I run home and up to my room, only to realize....I forgot my keys and all my roommates had left for the movie. So here I am with two huge bags of fabric and supplies about to be late for the movie that is down town in 30 mins. Luckily our doors have about a 2 ft. entry way so I could kind of hide my stuff against the wall and go to class and pray no one would steal my scissors... Then only to go and have to sit through this disgusting movie...oh and then come home to an apt. that looked like a hurricane hit...one of my roommates had a project due today...it was so messy...it even bothered me! The queen of mess! So that was about all that happened today...oh except I forgot...I did something I've never done before. I bought my first Coca Cola... The girl that hasn't drank pop in 4 years! I swear it must have coke in it here still. All I had was a sip of my friend's the other day to wash something down and I couldn't get it out of my mind! So I bought a can today. Of course afterwards I felt sick, but seriously where did this come from?! I hate pop, especially Coke! Well it won't be happening again :) lol

Here are some pictures of some of the shoes I had to drape for my footwear design class. We were given a last (shoe form) and had to drape 20 different "looks" that incorporated our theme. My theme is stones.

And here are some of the things I draped to day. (As you can see we didn't have access to an iron today...and the reason the cowl neck doesn't have armholes...I was being resourceful and reusing my fabric...reduce, reuse, recycle!) Bias cut dress skirt with Bow bodice, Side view of cowl neck, and front view of cowl neck.

I'd like to thank all of you who read this...b/c it would be extremely lame to write this for no one. :) Hope you all enjoy it! Night All. LOVE, KL

Fruit vs. Muffins....

Sorry I actually would have posted earlier....but my computer hates me and likes to freeze at least every half hour. :) Oh technology.

Sunday I fed my first homeless person! After I wrote last time I put a banana in my purse when I left in the morning for class and was determined to give it to someone by the end of the day...it didn't work so well...I left too early so none were out, then was in too nice of a part of town all day, and then by the time I got home it was too late and they had all disbursed...plus my beautiful banana had turned rather brown from being bumped around all day...and who wants an ugly banana? So the next day I switched to apples...and the same thing happened!!! No one...So then on the way to church on Sunday I saw about 15 and declared that we were not allowed to go home until we had fed someone. So on the way home we stopped by the grocery store and purchased some choc. muffins (I felt God was telling me that healthy wasn't the way...sorry Estrella...I'll try the apples again tomorrow) and as we walked we kept looking and there was no one...here I was walking down the street w/ this beautiful choc. muffin and no one to give it to. So I prayed and then she appeared, a sweet middle aged Muslim woman dressed head to foot in a black veil. I got all these butterflies and turned to my friend Dianna and was like, "What do I say?? Have a muffin?" her response was to try,"Are you hungry?"...needless to say I settled on a smile. She had her hand out as she sat and I walked up and did a little do you want this dance and she smiled and slightly nodded, so I tentatively put it in her hand, smiled, and scurried off. After I realized she didn't chuck it back at me (another reason I'm not sure apples would be a good choice...they would hurt) I realized how great that was. One down...millions to go... After we walked away, Dianna decided she was going to start doing it too. Then when I came home and announced that I had actually done it to my roommates (they thought I'd chicken out and I that I was just joking) Lora, a girl from next door, got really excited and wants to help me cook dinner for them. :) So who knows...maybe we'll turn into a feeding the homeless fashion group and call ourselves Fashion Feeders (well maybe something a little cooler...).

OMG before all this, this crazy guy came up to me on the street when I was on my way to church! He was rambling and I couldn't understand him and I tried to ignore him b/c he was making me super uncomfortable (standing in my bubble)...and then he said something about serial killers (after he helped me not be hit my a crazy taxi, something about the taxi almost killing me must have triggered something in his mind) and I was like who's a serial killer?!!! (I thought he told me he was one) and he goes I love serial killers, Ted Bundy is my favorite! So I said the prayer...GOD, I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE! and thank goodness I had convinced my friends to go with me to church and they were able to rescue me from being murdered!!! so crazy...CREEPY!!!! It must be something about the intersection...it must make people go crazy...it's the same one where the lady that talks to pigeons all day is. Oh London...

Well I have to head to bed...I'm exhausted...I was up till 4:30 am tacking my corset for 8 and 1/2 hours...now I understand why girls in factories during the 1800s use to loose their sight by age 15...SLAVE LABOR...oh the pains of fashion...my eyes are still blood shot. Ok well I'm off to draping in the morning and then to some cultural movie in the evening.

oh and will everyone please pray that all the complications I'm having with my VISA for my internship next semester will go away and unstress my mother and I? Thanks.

ok lots of love!

-KAT!