(Note: I’m starting a 5-week artist residency at Guldagergaard International Ceramics Research Center in Denmark today, but have spent the last 10 days in Madrid and Paris and hope to have time to blog about those cities soon.)
I made it to Guldagergaard safe and sound. I’m sitting in my room now. It’s quite a bit bigger than my hidey-hole in Kecskemet, but just as cozy! I didn’t have any trouble with the metros or super rude people today, just one lady who yelled at me in the Paris airport for going out the wrong door (I’d accidentally gone to the wrong airline counter – “Madame. MADAME. The exit is to the RIGHT.” Okay, okay. Jeez…).
But when I needed to get on a train in Copenhagen’s airport, I asked a family for directions and they ended up letting me tag along with them since their final stop was the place I needed to change trains. When we got to that stop, they pointed me toward the right platform to pick up my next train. They were super nice. I totally misinterpreted the written instructions I was given and wouldn’t have gotten here without their help. I think I might have ended up in Sweden. For real. Anyways, they were Danish and they were on their way back from the Galapagos Islands. They’d been travelling for over 24 hours, but I never would have guessed it because they were so friendly and didn’t look tired at all!
When I got on the 2nd train I didn’t know if I had a ticket that let me sit down or not. In Paris you had to pay extra for those and on the way to Kecskemet you could sit down but only in certain cars, and I sat in the wrong section and had to pay a fine, so I wanted to avoid that. So I stood in the place between the cars for about 15 minutes before I realized that the seats to the right were pretty fancy compared to the seats to the left. I decided to try the ones to the left. It must have been okay because the conductor didn’t say anything to me when she punched my ticket. I was glad I sat down because it was about an hour long ride and there were some drunk people in the space between the cars. I got off the train in Sla-somethingIcan’tremember to transfer to a bus, because the town where the studio is is too little for a train station.
The bus was nicely situated right next to the train platform. I rode it to the bus station in Skaelskor, which was abandoned-looking and all boarded up with plywood for some reason. During the ride, I had seen everyone else showing the driver their tickets when they got on, but he wasn’t on the bus when I boarded so I hadn’t shown him mine. I took it up to the front and showed him it when we stopped at the station. He was an old man so I wasn’t thinking he would speak English, but he did, and he just smiled and said, “Yes, yes, that’s a very nice ticket.” Ha! So then I decided he seemed like a pretty good guy, and I asked him for directions to the studio.
I showed him the address and asked if he knew where it was. He said, “Yes,” and then just sat there, giggling. He was getting quite the kick out of himself! It was pretty funny. So then I laughed and said, “Would you be able to tell me how to get there, please?” And he laughed some more and said yes, and then he told me. So that was fun. I talked to an American couple on the train from the metro station to the Paris airport and they said they started their trip in Denmark and loved it. They also told me I would be really happy here because everyone is so nice. They said that about 5 or 6 different times, giving me the feeling they must have had some bad experiences in Paris too!
I’m going to take a shower now and go to bed. I got here 10 minutes before supper started, and was invited to join in, which was nice. I guess everyone takes turns cooking supper for each other and then we all eat together. That’ll be nice. Supper got kinda lonely sometimes in Hungary. Everyone here seems really fun, good sense of humor all around. I have no idea what to cook for 12-14 people though! Any suggestions??
Amy Uthus Ceramics 