"schoooools out for summer!" ~ AC/DC

Sorry it has been so long, it has been a bit of a whirl wind since I have arrived back in the states.  But here are some more pictures of  the end of the year and visit from Val and Jenny:

Wednesday morning we had a coffee/goodbye get together at the factory and I got to say good bye to Rebecca who will be going back to New Zealand to open up her own hot shop! Here she is with Ake:

 They also gave out awards of sorts at the end of the year to students.  I got one for being open minded, hard working and achieving so much in such a short time!

 Shiny jacks (a tool) from Merano!

 And Kirsten will be a real glass blower next year working in Norway! I hope to visit her next year :)

 And here is Stig-Allan and Rosanne with me.  Stig-Allan had to stand on his tip toes to be taller and right when the picture was taken instead of saying "cheese" he yells "JESUS!!!" it was HILARIOUS!!!

 And me and the "cool dudes" Rebecca and Tove holding my jacks up like bunny ears.

 Afterwards I took Val and Jenny to the Orrefors crystal museum where they had a table set up with all the glasses and plates they use at the Nobel Prize dinners! So pretty!!

 After looking at all the super famous and hard cold working in the museum Val and Jenny got to try their hands at some flower cutting:

 Then we went to Gåtebo for the day with Eva and Anders! We got to ride around on the boat some,

 played Kubb where Eva kicked our asses! haha

 And in general enjoyed TONS of sunshine and good food! Thanks for a lovely visit to Eva and Anders!

 Then we took a train to Copenhagen, ok after Val and Jenny helped me pack and store everything! Such good friends I have, I would still be there packing if not for them I think!  In Copenhagen we stayed in this really nice and brand new hostel right in the middle of town.

 Jenny and I shared this two person room.

 We walked all over the city, dodging rain storms and enjoying a beautiful city.

 All over town were these elephants which had been painted and were for sale to help save the Asian Elephants or something.  They were very good for remembering if we had been somewhere before!

 Friday night we went to Tivoli a big amusement park in the middle of the city.

 And of course ate sausages and drank beer!

 Then we decided it would be a good idea to ride these swings!

 They were great even though we screamed the WHOLE time and afterwards were VERY dizzy.  But also that night Aqua was playing in the park! Yes, the Aqua that sings "Barbie Girl" had a concert in the park and it was AWESOME!!! I think they are Danish, or some sort of Scandinavian...

 This is us with Val's friend Eric enjoying the concert.  The whole park was PACKED there were so many people!!!

 The lead girl singer had some awesome outfits on! Even this huge feather boa mohawk at one point!!

 I think it was midnight when the concert ended and it was great! The whole park was lit up and beautiful and it was super nice weather! 

 We went back to the hostel, changed and went to a bar right down the road.  Thanks Eric for not noticing the bunny ears in this picture! Sheesh.. haha it was good times, we drank and danced and avoided talking to young people.  Haha, sounds about normal right?

 Saturday we had a big breakfast and continued wandering around town.

 ON BIKES!!!

 They have bikes you can rent and ride around the city! It was great!

 This is a very pretty and famous canal with lots of sail boats and multicolored houses.

 Me and David:

"I thought the real David had his junk knocked off" - me

"they always show him in pictures with a leaf covering him" - Jenny

"then you can use your imagination... imagine it just right" - me

"haha right...." - Val

"LAGOM!!!"- me

and then we nearly all crashed our bikes giggling!

Here is the The Little Mermaid from Hans Christian Anderson's story... he was Danish if you didn't know: 

 SWINGS!

 And finally, like real tourists we got our picture taken in front of this big museum with our bikes :)

 walked around some more...

 And had a Danish Smorgesbröd lunch, here we have egg with roast beef, Danish meatballs and then ham I thinkÖ

We went and got fancy drinks Saturday night then pizza and relaxed.  Our trip had exhausted us! It was so fun but went waaaay too fast! 

Now I am back in Virginia, riding Justin and working at the barn some and living with Sam.  I will not be blogging much since I won't be working with glass much.  Hopefully I will be able to do some stuff in Star and if I do I will post it!! Otherwise, HAVE A GREAT SUMMER!!!

<3 T

"its soooo pretty here!" ~ Val and Jenny

So, in the past few days I have had my last real days at school before the summer and my two best friends have arrived allllllll the way from America!  It is very exciting and means that summer has truly begun!  This is also evident in my clothes... one year at glass school has done this to my pair of jeans:

 When I arrived they had a tiny hole in one knee... I guess the combo of extreme heat, lots of nails sticking out and my general super hard wear and tear... they are done for good.

It was nice, towards they end they really provided some nice ventilation but still protected me from the heat!  Sadly, they are now in the trash can...

But, Val and Jenny have arrived! I have known them since high school and we now live very far apart and can only visit each a couple times a year... THIS IS ONE OF THEM!!!  I am lucky to have such great friends to come all this way :)

So far we have...

Swam in the lake here in Orrefors on Sunday, and had a nice coffee picnic, ate a huge kabob, visited Pukeborg glass.

Monday we played with glass at school, went to the hotel here for Thai food and then visited Kalmar: went shopping, walked around the castle, at ice cream and bought strawberries.

 Went on Örland where we hunted for the Skarsgård summer home and hot vampires, looked at windmills, Viking burials and this Karlevi Stone which has a poem to a Viking king on it from the 10th century.

 Ate MAX BURGERS (which they also thought were AMAZING) in Kalmar!

 Then on Tuesday it was glass and other Småland activities!  

Went to the factory in Åfors and sang Led Zepplin to these plates:

 Transjöhytta (my favorite private hot shop)

 Where Jenny and Val were enthralled in the masters working with the assistants.  We even got invited to a weekly get together there on Tuesdays to drink beer and hang out with glass blowers! We didn't go, it got to be too late, which we didn't realize because it was still broad daylight at 9 o'clock... but I will go next year!

 Went to the Kosta factory where we watched them making wine glasses as well as some Masters working with a designer on some new creation (one of the blowers looked like Christian Bale!).

 THEN THE MOOSE PARK!!!! We walked around this huge enclosed area and got to see moose up close and personal! I had been told to bring some apples to try to coax them to the fence and I was able to feed them from my hand!!! It was WOOOOOOOOONDERFUL!

 Here is a baby with Jenny and Val, he was super cute and ate apples and played with sticks!

 And had long adorable eyelashes!

 Then to the Kosta Art Hotel's Spa and Relax area!

 Where we swam with glass and lived the life of luxury!

 Then the signature drink at the Kosta Glass Bar... it is blue and has raspberries = delightful!

Then we returned home exhausted and very happy!  Today we have a fika at school to say goodbye and then to Gåtebo (the summer house) to visit Eva and Anders.  Great week so far!!!