Student Writer: Ryan Wakat

Name: Ryan Wakat
Home University: University of Colorado – Boulder
Summer Courses at DIS: Design and Society in Denmark, Furniture Design in Scandinavia

Over the June 1^st/2^nd weekend, I did a weekend trip through DIS to go to Sweden for a canoeing/hiking/rappelling/orienteering trip. The whole trip was nothing but relaxing and adventurous, and it was a great break from the hustle and bustle of Copenhagen. The most memorable portion of the trip, for me, was visiting the Driftwood structures known as Nimis and our hostel.   The structures at Nimis, have quite the history, and they took my breath away, as a design student. We had a 30 minute hike through the Swedish country side that headed into the woods. After walking down hill for a bit, we came to this gate, and it was just as crazy as the structures themselves. I mean, this whole thing, is held together with a ton of nails and the most random pieces of drift wood I’ve ever seen. The path or labyrinth down from the woods to the beach was pretty narrow and I was wondering how it stays together. Being an architecture and design major, I am always curious as to how structures are built and how they stay together. The coolest thing about the structures, is that they don’t have a direct way to the top, so you need to play around inside of them to figure out how to get to the top. Some have a spiral staircase/ ladder, but you have to find it. Once you’re at the top, you can see all up and down the coast, and one of the towers has a solar powered stereo system. When I was standing on the top of the structures, they started to sway a bit, so that was interesting.

After we got back from Nimis, our group enjoyed laying in the grass of the hostel and basking in the warm afternoon sun. Earlier that day, we had one of the best stews I’ve ever had, for lunch. For dinner, we had some grilled chicken, hotdogs, pasta and potato salad, ice cream, and to top it off, s’-mores!

Our hostel was absolutely amazing. It felt more like a bed and breakfast than a hostel in the Swedish countryside. It was run by the sweetest women, and they served the most amazing food. The rooms and facilities were second to none, and it was exactly what one could need during a stressful summer semester.  I really enjoyed how it was almost like a home. When we walked in, we were asked to take our shoes off, and if we wanted to use a pair of slipper, we could. They even had a bonfire pit, that all 40 of us sat around until the sun set, around 10:30pm, talking and playing games.

So far it was they best weekend I’ve had while studying at DIS.

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