Studying in Scandinavia - Eli Goodwin 2023

              Among the cathedrals and cobblestone paths that line the streets of this immemorial city lie museums, places where art both ancient and contemporary come to rest. Travelers from across the land and sea gather here to behold the age-old sights that adorn every nook and cranny of Hamburg, and for good reason.  Founded sometime in the 9 th century, Hamburg was originally a mission settlement to convert Germanic Saxons; however, it later became a dominant trading center in Europe due to its essential seaside ports. As its population grew over each millennia, so did the local art scene blossom into what it is today. Art repositories took root and expanded overtime, and sites like the Kunsthalle and Kunstverein became staples for the art community to accumulate and archive art from local artists as well as from other areas of Europe and Asia.               With...

I started yesterday morning by heading to the St. Marien-Dom Cathedral for Sunday Mass. Hearing the voices of the church singing together was wonderful, it added another level of beauty to the sacred space.  After Mass we regrouped to hit a local cafe for some much needed caffeine and then went our separate ways to explore a bit more of the city. I wanted to visit another cathedral before we left, so Nat, Meg, and I went to St. Peter's Church. Shortly afterwards, we went back to Kunst und Gewerbe to walk through some of the exhibits we missed the first time around, and saw some old friends there! Our flight from Hamburg to Gothenburg was one of the shortest I'd ever been on at a whopping 55 minutes, but the view was gorgeous the entire way! We hit a Swedish Mcdonald's on the way to our homebase in Mulljso where I got some spicy nugs with Kore...

More photos of the group and I during our free time! Later in the day we stumbled across a German street festival, so of course we had to check it out. We were able to catch the tail end of a concert by a German band called Liebe Leudde where they were performing covers of popular American songs like Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond and Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes. Not sure exactly what vibe they were going for but they had us absolutely gob-smacked. We were able to get really close to the front of the crowd, too! Resting up before we head to Sweden, Eli Goodwin

It feels like we've been here over a week already, but it's only been a few days! Our first stop was the Museum for Kunst und Gewerbe, the biggest of the three art museums we visited today. It not only offered exhibits featuring ancient art from Egypt, Prussia, Greece, Japan, and other European and Asian countries, but had a brimming collection of modern artwork. Some of the more contemporary displays included furniture, textiles, and ceramics from the art nouveau movement, as well as an installation for a feminist group called the Guerrilla Girls. The GG's are an anonymous group of female artists dedicated to opposing racism and sexism, particularly within the art community. Their work is rebellious and provocative as they bring to light thought-provoking statistics regarding the constant dismissal and degradation of women and people of color in the art world. After spending ...

Posted below are some photos of our group members during our downtime! Looming above Hamburg, Eli Goodwin