Spring Break - showing mom and dad Denmark

Spring Break - Budapest

Spring Break - Dublin

Spring Break - Dusseldorf

Spring Break - Cologne

Spring Break - Munich

Spring Break - Berlin

Spring Break - Prague

Weekend in Amsterdam

Celebrating my 21st birthday in Copenhagen

Last Wednesday, March 11th was my 21st birthday!!!!!

While it is a landmark birthday and a really big deal at home, it is very different celebrating in Copenhagen. Here I am already legal. I can already get a glass of wine with dinner or a beer at a bar. I am here with about 500 American students so they all understand and I had alot of fun anyway.

My original plan was to go out to dinner Tuesday night to celebrate, but unfortunatly I had a biology class that night. (Here at DIS it is apparently acceptable for a teacher to cancel class because they are sick or have a meeting and then reschedule it for another time. This get a bit annoying because these make up classes are often in the evenings and throw off your schedule). The night wasn't a total loss though. We watched the BBC special Blue Planet (From the Plamet Earth series).

After biology I went home and got ready to go out. My birthday picked a bad week and everyone had alot of work to do so most people stayed in, but Linda, Margaret and Kari went out with me. We went to a bar and had celebratory drinks at midnight when I officially turned 21 and then we went home.

My real birthday celebration was on Wednesday, my actual birthday. Glenn took me out for the whole day to celebrate. First we went to Ida Davidsen, the most famous smørrebrød restaurant in Copenhagen. The Queen even caters events from there! It was delicious! All of the smørrebrød are displayed in a glass case, you point to what you want (or say it if you can manage the Danish pronunciation) and they bring it to the table. I choose one with breaded fish (i think it was breaded in panko and lightly fried) and it was topped with a red caviar/mayonaise sauce, asparague and baby shrip. This was all piled on a piece of dense dark bread. Glenn chose one that was eel, scrabled eggs and mushrooms. They were both so good! They are interesting to eat too. You eat them with a knife and fork and the Danes, like most Europeans, almost never put their silverware down. They eat with the knife in the right hand, fork in the left. They don't do the silly American switching of the fork back and forth. I am actually starting to eat like a European too. It feels totally natural. It must mean that I am starting to fit in :) After those two smørrebrød we decided we wanted a little more so we split another. This time when we went to the counter we talked with Ida Davidsen herself! Yes she is a real person and she is there everyday, running the restaurant with her son. She reccomended the special of the day, the Roger Moore. It was actually suggested by Roger Moore (he made the James Bond movies) when he visited the restaurant. It is on a piece of french bread and is topped with hard boiled eggs, tuna, red caviar, dill, baby shrimp, and a delicious but unidentifiable sauce. At first it was a very strange combination and our mouths were very confused but after a few bites the flavors settled and it was amazing. I would definitely order that again!

                                                          The Roger Moore Smørrebrød

                                                                       Ida Davidsen

After lunch we walked around that section of the city. We were actually very close to Amelienborg Castle so we walked over to it and went into the Marble Church. It is built between 2 of the 4 buildings that make up the Royal Palace. It is relatively small and unassuming as far as European churches go and that gives it even more beauty. It has a single dome and has a completely circular interior, beautiful artwork inside and a gorgeous organ.

After exploring the church we went to Nyhavn, the harbor area of of Copenhagen that is featured in every picture of Copenhagen. We found a cafe and got 2 cups of tea and sat out in the sun because it was such a nice day. 

When we finished our tea we headed over to the Statens Museum for Kunst (the National Gallery). The main part of the museum is free everyday which I love! There was a gallery of modern art, art from the "Golden Age" of Copenhagen, a sculpture gallery and an exhibit about frames. Now this may sound really boring but that was a really interesting exhibit. 

For dinner, Glenn took me to a really old, historic Danish restaurant. It was opened in 1728! Yet another Danish restaurant older than America. Amazing! When it first opened it was actually a place for the carriage drivers to go for a few hours while they waited for their wealthy employers who were at fancy restaurants or the theatre. The food was amazing and the atmosphere was so hygge (the popular Danish phrase meaning cozy). There were candles and entertainment (a man played piano and sang both Danish and American songs.

What a good birthday!

Onegin

Last night I attended the second ballet for my History of European Ballet class. This time we went to see Onegin. It was choreographer by John Cranko, a South African dancer/choreographer who came to Europe in the 1950's. The music was composed by Tchaikovsky who also composed a completely different score for the opera version of Onegin. This ballet is based on the famous poem by Pushkin.

The performance was beautiful. It is the story of two sisters, Olga and Tatiana and two men Lenskij and Onegin. It opens at Tatiana's birthday when the girls and their friends are playing a game. The sit in front of a mirror and according to Russian tradition, if you a see a man in the mirror, he is the man you will fall in love with. Olga sees Lenskij, who later becomes her fiance. Tatiana sees Onegin, the wealthy but arrogant man. Tatiana writes Onegin a love letter but he rejects her and rips the letter up in front of her. Lenskji is offended by this rudeness and challenges Onegin to a duel. Onegin ends up killing Lenskji. 10 years later Onegin sees Tatiana again, now happily married to Price Gremin and realizes that she is the love of his life. He now writes her a love letter and tries to win back Tatiana's love. The ballet ends tragically with Tatiana rejecting Onegin, ripping up his letter, even though it hurts her so deeply to do so.

This ballet is characterized by wonderful pas de deuxs between the lovers. You can't take your eyes off of them. It was the perfect way to spend my Friday night.

Bænken - a Danish film

On Wednesday I had a field study for my Danish class. It wasn't a traditional field study where you go to a museum or a castle. We met in a classroom for a day of "experimental learning". We began by discussing the welfare state of Denmark, what we thought were the pros and cons and the major elements. Then we got into groups and went out into the city for about a half hour to take pictures representing the good and bad parts of the Welfare State. This was somewhat difficult because what we discussed were more abstract ideas but we managed. In my group we decided that a good thing about the welfare state is the equality it brings to the people. To represent this we took a picture of a street near DIS on which the roof lines of the buildings are all at basically the same height, representing the equality. We discussed that a bad result of the welfare state is that some people do not have the drive to reach their full potential because they can settle into an average, comfortable life very easily. To represent this we took a picture of two cars. They were standard, average, nothing flashy. There really aren't many nice cars here. (We realize that some of that has to do with the fact that everyone bikes here because of the environment and the fact that there is not parking but the photograph was meant to be more symbolic than anything else).

As a reward for doing this, Charlotte,  our teacher, arranged for us to get coffee or hot chocolate (paid for by DIS) as long as we ordered in Danish.

"Jeg vil gerne have en kop chokolade?"

(by the way "chokolade" is pronounced more like chocolelle in case you thought that finally there was an easy word to say in danish)

Charlotte also bought us giant cinnamon rolls from St. Peter's Bakery!

Content with our snacks we watched "Bænken" or "The Bench" a Danish film about the lower class of Danish people and the welfare system. It was an excellent movie and very moving but it was also very stressful to watch. The main character was an alcoholic. His estranged daughter was in an abusive relationship. The daughter moved in with a man who was writing his thesis on Kirkegard, a famous danish philosopher, who ends up going crazy. The list goes on. The message of the movie was that even though Denmark is a welfare state and many people are helped by it and the general population is more equal than in other countries, there are still people who fall through the cracks, there are still alcoholics, and there is still poverty. It was very interesting and it is a popular Danish film because every Dane I have mentioned it to so far has seen it and loved it.

The director also made a film about the middle class and the upper class of Danish society but I have not seen either of those yet.

Field Trip to a Nightclub

Last Saturday night I had a field study for my Creative Industries class. I know what you must be thinking, why would a teacher ever schedule a field trip for a saturday night and why would any student actually go? Well the answer to that is take them to Vega, the largest nightclub and concert hall in Scandinavia. 

We arrived at 7:30 pm and checked our coats and began our tour. Vega is huge! What was interesting is that it wasn't build at a concert venue. It was actually originally built for the labor unions to hold their meetings and make speeches, hence the excellent acoustics. We were given a tour by a student of the Copenhagen Business School who also works at Vega full time managing their hourly employees. Our teacher Rasmus also assisted him with the tour because he is a member of the Board of Directors. The largest concert venue in Vega is called Stor Vega or Big Vega. This hall has a standing room only floor and a balcony with both standing room and fixed seats. Depending on the event chairs and/or tables may be brought into this room. The smaller concert hall is appropriately called Lille Vega or Little Vega. This is a 1 floor, standing room only hall. Both of the concert halls are attached to bars or or lounges. We were told that most concerts at Vega have an intermission because that is the time that Vega makes the most profit, from bar sales. Vega also has a very small venue called Ideal Bar. It is a typical bar/lounge and they host music every night. For example wednesdays are acoustic night and thursday is singer/songwriter. They also host jazz night, Funk night, Rap/hiphop night, etc. The newest venture for Vega is the renovation of the basement as a venue for emerging artists. Vega is not profit focused, though they do make a profit. They are more focused on music and they will book a promising band to give them a shot and a chance to play even though they might loose money that night. Vega actually hosted Coldplay about 7 years ago when they were nobodies because someone noticed their potential. On Friday and Saturday nights Vega turns into a night club at 11pm.

After our tour we went back to Lille Vega for a concert. The opening act was a band called Small. They were so different and so good! They were exactly what I think of when I think European music. The closest genre I can give them is Techno/Rock. They used alot of synthesizers and they had a voice manipulator on the mic. It created a really cool sound. Tey also did a really great job with the lighting. Over all they were just really great performers and they were new and different, at least for me.

Here is a short video of them.

 

After Small there was an intermission and then the main act went on. They were a band called Diefenbach. They were good but I liked Small better. I think Diefenbach would have been more fun if we had heard their music before the show. I think it was like if you had gone to a Coldplay or a Snow Patrol concert before ever hearing their music. 

After the concert, the fields study was over and I met a bunch of my friends at the night club for a night of dancing. 

What a great field study!

A weekend in Sweden

The on the weekend of Feb. 20 - 22 Linda and I planned a trip to Sweden. Now I really lucked out with roommates because not only is Linda fantastic but she was born in Sweden and speaks fluent Swedish! Now really it wouldn't have been a problem without her because like in Denmark, most people in Sweden speak excellent English. Anyway, we had a great weekend and Linda is a really fun person to travel with.

We both have class on Friday's until 2:30 so we booked an evening flight. At the airport we unexpectedly ran into another group of DIS kids also going to Stockholm. That was fun because we all waited together in the terminal and once we landed there were more of us figuring out where to go, where to exchange money (Sweden is on the Swedish krone, which is different from the Danish krone), when to get our luggage, etc. and having more people made the whole process go faster. By the time we landed and got all of out money and luggage it was about 10pm and Linda and I were exhausted. We decided not to go out that night and to just go straight to her cousin's apartment where we were staying. He is 25 and in his last year of medical school and he lives in Stockholm so it was perfect. And even better, it was free :)! 

In the morning we got up, had some breakfast and headed out for the day. Linda's cousin let us borrow his car because we were going to Sodertalje to visit her grandparents. It is also Linda's home town so she gave me a tour and we drove past her old house. That was so much fun! Her grandparents we so happy to have us for the morning. They went out and bought us the most amazing pastries, Semla. They are typically eaten on Fat Tuesday which was the following week. They were so delicious! It kind of reminded me of a cream puff but there is almond paste in the whipped cream and they are so much better. 

Saturday afternoon we walked around Sodertalja a little more and did a little shopping because compared to Denmark, Sweden is CHEAP!

Then we drove back to Stockholm. The first area we visited was the old town section. The streets are so small and winding here that a car would not even fit! We found a reall great restaurant here for dinner called the Glenfiddich Warehouse. I had my best meal yet at this restaurant. I ate reindeer! It tasted even better than a perfectly cooked steak and it was served on top of a baked "pancake" of scalloped potatoes and surrounded by a lingonberry cream sauce. It was so good!

After dinner we went to a section of the city that Linda's cousin recommended for nightlife and found a pub. As we were sitting there chatting they began to set up a projector and a screen. They were broadcasting the Preliminary Round a European Music Festival. That was really interesting to watch. There were so many different styles of music in one competition. The really interesting thing is that most of the contestants sang in English rather than Swedish. That is because so few people speak swedish around the world. In order to win a European or International Music Festival it is best to perform in a more universal language.

Sunday was our touristy, sight seeing day. We began the day back in the old city and found a cafe for breakfast. We split a piece of quiche and a cinnamon roll. Then we found the Nobel Museum. The Nobel Prize is from Sweden and this museum traces the history of the price and gives detailed biographical information about all the past winners. I think the origin of the prize is so interesting. Nobel was the inventor of TNT, the explosive. When his brother died, the newspapers made a mistake and wrote the obituary about him. When he read it, the only thing it said was that he invented an explosive. He decided that that was not what he wanted to be remembered for, so he founded the Nobel Prize.

After the museum we walked over to the Royal Palace. It really amazes me that in Scandinavia you can walk right up to the Royal Palaces and there seems to be little security, or at least little visible security. In America, you are kept far away from the White House by fences and armed guards. 

Walking around the city on Sunday was difficult because it was snowing so hard! But we bundled up and kept going.

After the palace we walked to the Vasa Museum. This museum houses the best preserved viking ship. It was so cool. The ship is so big that it fills a large building and reached up several floors. The masts even stick out the roof! The funny thing about this ship is, it sank! It did not have even one successful voyage. They built it and it sank. It didn't even make it out of the harbor. It was underwater for 333 years and then it was decided that they would bring it up, restore it and make a museum. Now it is one of the most popular attractions in Sweden.

By then we were getting cold and tired from the snow and decided it was time for dinner. We found a nice cozy pub and had a delicious meal and then went back to Linda's cousin's apartment to pack up our things. Then we headed for the train station. We had decided to take an overnight train back to Copenhagen because it worked out to be cheaper. The cars inn the overnight train really remind me of the cars of the Hogwarts Express in the Harry Potter movies. We stayed in a 6 person car. Basically there are two 3 person bench seat facing each other. the seat is the lowest bunk. The back of the seat folds down to the the middle bunk and the top bunk is always unfolded above the seats. It is an interesting experience but I slept pretty well. We arrived in Malmo, Sweden at about 6:30 am and then took the commuter train to Copenhagen. We got home at about 7:30 Monday morning and went straight to bed for a few more hours.

Such a fun weekend!

Interesting Things about Copenhagen - Part 2

- Almost every store and museum has automatic sliding glass doors.

- If there is a white button on or next to a door you have to push it to unlock the door. Otherwise you will be standing there trying to get the door open for a long time.

Similarly, if there is a blue button in the sliding glass doors, that trigers them to open. You will find this on the S- train.

- Be careful on the metro. The doors have no safely mechanisms so if they close on you, they close and there is nothing you can do about it. The metro system is fully computerized and there are no drivers to help you.

- In some ways school is much more informal than in the states. You always address your teacher by their first name and can act very familiar with them. This is because teacher are often not professors by profession, and may not have a PhD. Typically they are experts in their field who have a full time job and then teach a course or two on the side.

- Danes are very serious about the handicapped section on the bus and always, without fail move when an older person or handicapped person gets on.

- When you go to the movies, you get an assigned seat. (I don't think you necessarily have to stick to your ticket if the theatre is fairly empty but if the movie is sold out you better be sitting in the correct seat. It was actually nice getting an assigned seat. It makes going to the movies seem a little more special.

The Laundromat Cafe

Last week the laundry in our building was broken and Linda and I really needed to wash some clothes so we searched for nearby laundromats. We found one, The Laundromat Cafe, just a few blocks from where we live. I actually saw this laundromat featured on the Copenhagen episode of Samantha Brown's Passport to Europe. She visited the Nørboro location. We live in Østerbro, and apparently they opened this second location just a few years ago.

When you walk it it looks like any other cafe. There are tables and comfy chairs and people chatting and sipping coffees. There is also a huge bookshelf filled with books, sorted into sections by the color of their bindings. If you continue walking to the back you will finally find 3 washing machines and 3 dryers. They cost about the same amount of money as they would in a typical laundromat but this was a much nicer experience. Linda and I found a nice table and had a tea and did some reading for class while we waited for our laundry to be done.

It was so different and a lot of fun. We will definitely be going back there.

Absolute Ice Bar - CPH

On Friday, Feb. 13th, yes Friday the 13th... ooo... Anyway, Linda, Barrett, and I went to the Absolute Ice Bar in Copenhagen. It is very popular so you have to make reservations. Ours were at 11 pm.

Instead of waiting until then we decided to go out for dinner first. We just walked around until we found something that looked interesting. We found a Turkish buffet. We decided to give it a try and it was delicious! I'm not entirely sure what anything was but I know I liked it and would definitely eat Turkish food again.

After dinner we went to find the Ice Bar, just to make sure we made it there on time. It turns out the it is just a block or two from Radhuspladsen, the main square, which was really close to us so we were there too early. Fortunately, there was an Australian bar down the block where we hung out for an hour, keeping warm before the ice bar.

At 11 we went to the Ice Bar, paid our entrance fee of 150 kr and got suited up in our fabulous parkas. These are very necessary because the Ice Bar is kept at a constant temperature of -5 degrees Celsius. Because of this you are only allowed to stay there for about 20 minutes.

Your entrance fee includes one drink from the bar, which are all made with Absolute vodka. These drinks are served on a bar made of ice, in glasses made of ice.

Even the walls are made of ice! (This is actually an ice room, within an actual building, just to clear up any confusion. Copenhagen is cold, but not that cold.) The Ice Bar is almost like being inside a big refrigerator, but way cooler and way more fun!

Whale bones from 1850

On Wednesday, Feb. 11th I went on my first field study with my Biology of Marine Mammals class. We visited the Zoological museum. This museum was really fun and interesting and is actually very popular here in Copenhagen. 

The best part of this field study was that my teacher's friend works there and took us into the back rooms to see the skeletons that are not on display. These are used for studies instead of the museum exhibits. It was incredible. There were skeletons of right whales from as long ago as 1850! We saw the skeletons of porpoises, dolphins, polar bears, seals, walruses, orcas, norwales, beaked whales and countless others. The skull of the beaked whale was at least 3x my size!

After exploring that room of skeletons we went to the basement. That was where they kept the huge skeletons that don't fit upstairs. It was there that we saw the skeletons of a blue whale and a sperm whale, 2 of the biggest animals alive. It was incredible. I can't really even describe how big they are and unfortunately my camera died as we entered the basement.

After we finished looking at all the behind the scenes specimens we had some time in the museum. We walked around on our own for about and hour and then met at a group to discuss the marine mammal exhibits we saw and the physical adaptations we could see in the skeletons and models on display.

A castle and the crown jewels

On Mondays and Thursdays my class schedule is set up so that i have almost a 5 hour break between my 2 classes. Usually I just go home, do some work, eat lunch and relax. But sometimes I really want to get out into the city. On Monday, Feb. 9th, my friend Eric, who has the same schedule as me those days, and I decided to got back to Rosenberg Castle and actually go inside. We had both been there before but we had only seen it from the outside.

The first thing we did was got into the Royal Treasury. It is smaller than the treasury in the Tower of London, which is what most people picture when they think of crown jewels but it is no less beautiful. There were elaborate suits of armor, intricately designed swords, beautiful porcelain, and most importantly, the crowns and jewelry. One thing that we noticed was that there were so many images of elephants throughout the items. The past monarchies most have been highly influenced by the East, as many monarchies were. There was a time when anything from Asia was highly fashionable.

The jewelry was fabulous and the crowns were gorgeous. What I think is the coolest part is that many of the pieces in the treasury are actually still used. The two crowns are taken out and used for special occasions. The Queen also frequents the treasury when she needs jewelry to match one of her gowns. I loved this when I heard. I mean, if you have it why shouldn't you use it. And this makes more sense than going out and buying new jewels or borrowing them from Harry Winston. 

After the treasury we went inside the castle and walked around. It is built in the Dutch Renaissance style and is beautiful from both the inside and outside. The castle is filled with paintings, tapestries, furniture, and many other interesting things. It was a nice way to spend my time between classes.

Short Study Tour in Western Denmark

One the reasons I decided to study abroad in Copenhagen with DIS was that they include program specific trips and company visits to locations both in Denmark and throughout Europe. There  is a short study tour in February and a long study tour during spring break.

The weekend of February 5th to 7th (a thursday through saturday) we went on our short study tour. I am in the International Business & Economics program.

For our short study tour we visited western Denmark.

My class actually began our business company visits on Wednesday, February 4th. Here at DIS no one has class on Wednesday to allow time for all kinds of field trips. For our first visit we went to Genzyme. It is an American pharmaceutical company that has a major office here in Copenhagen. What was interesting about this company was that their CEO is Dutch, so they have a very globally focused business plan. We were given a presentation on the inner workings of the business, some of their business strategies, their HR policies, and they even went into some of the science of their pharmaceuticals and the new treatments they are developing such as growing cartilage to use in major knee injuries. It was all very interesting. They also provided us with lunch. After lunch we were taken to one of their production facilities to see where they manufacture their products.

The next morning we all had to meet at Frue Plads, a square near the DIS building, at 7 am. This was still early in the season so it was still totally dark when we left our dorm. And to make things even less fun that morning, it was snowing. Oh well, it is all a part of the experience I guess. Anyway, we got on our bus around 7:30. The bus was great because we had a large Greyhound type bus and only about 30 people so we each had a row to ourselves. 

We drove straight to our next company visit, Industrial Symbiosis, in Kalunborg. This is actually a group of businesses including a water treatment plant, a power plant, a recycling plant, and a pharmaceutical company that are in cooperation with each other. Their goal is to use wastes products of one company as another company's raw materials. This was a really interesting concept but unfortunately their presentations were almost entirely science based and they mentioned very little about their business strategies. After the presentations, we were given tours of the insulin production plant an the waste water treatment plant.

After the company visit we continued on to visit a gymnasium. Now this isn't a gym like you are picturing. In Denmark, a gymnasium is kind of like high school. The Danish school system is actually very confusing to me and I haven't totally grasped it yet. School is only mandatory through 9th grade. 10th grade is optional. Then you can continue onto either a gymnasium or an efterschool (after school). There is a lot more choice and less clear structure to this system.

Anyway, we met with some of the students, did some ice breakers and they took us on a tour of the town of Kalunborg. When we got back to the school after our tours, some of the students in the theatre program performed 2 songs from Rent for us. They were staging Rent the following week and wanted to practice in front of an audience. That was really cool for me because number 1 I love theatre and have done it and number 2 they sang the songs in Danish so that was a fun and different experience.

Then we went to our hostel, got settled in and had dinner.

That night we all went to a pub that some of the students suggested to us and several of them actually joined us which was a lot of fun.

Friday morning after breakfast we got back on the bus and drove about an hour to the ferry which we took to Århus, the second largest city in Denmark. Århus is located on Jutland, the mainland part of Denmark. The freey was amazing. We had a buffet lunch and it was delicious. There was so many types of salads, bread, cheese, hot dishes, soup and dessert that we didn't know where to begin and we wanted to keep eating even after we were full. The ferry took about an hour so it was just the right amount of time to sit, relax and have a nice lunch. 

When we got off the ferry we drove another hour to our final company visit, Pressalit. Pressalit is a toilet seat manufacturer. Now I know this sounds weird and slightly ridiculous but this visit was actually the most fun. The presenters were clear, concise and to the point and really explained how their business works. They also gave us fabulous coffee table books of all of their designer toilet seats. Every year they have an art exhibit of toilet seats that are eye catching but mostly not functional. This is meant to get the brand name out there. A few years ago they actually designed a toilet seat for Madonna. One of her dressing room requests when she plays a show is that she has a brand new toilet seat, at every venue so when she played in Denmark, Pressalit designed a disco ball toilet seat. She actually liked it so much that she took it home with her!

After the presentations we were given a tour of the factory. It was so interesting. A lot of the production had been automated and they actually use robotic arms to sand and test the edges of the toilet seats. I have never seen so many toilet seats in one place in my entire life and probably never will.

Pressalit also manufactures specialized bathrooms for the elderly and handicapped.

We had Friday night free in Århus. I went to an italian restaurant with my friend Alessandra and 2 boys from our class. It was delicious! And the best part was that the handicapped bathroom was Pressalit brand! Who knew I would get so excited about bathrooms.

After dinner we found a fun bar. Then we went to a club down the street that was free admission for students all night. That was a lot of fun. 

Saturday morning after breakfast we visited the ARoS museum. This was actually what I was most looking forward to seeing on this trip. It is a contemporary art museum and is home to the famous sculpture "Boy". This sculpture is of a young boy, about 10 years old, but it is I believe 10x the scale. The amazing part is that it is entirely anatomically correct, down to veins in his feet and wrinkles on his elbow. It was amazing. 

There was also an installation of 300 blinking light bulbs. We learned that these light bulbs we connected to a set of metal handles. When you grip the handles it registers your pulse and the first light bulb blinks at that rate. When the next person does it their pulse is in light bulb 1 and your pulse moves to lightbulb 2. It was beautiful. The message was about how we think we are different but really we are all just pulsing heartbeats, the same on the inside.

After the museum we had a fantastic lunch at a restaurant called Globben Flakket. 

Then we did a DISorientation scavenger hunt throughout the city. We were all tired and not really excited about this but once we recieved the instructions we perked up and actually got really into it. The scavenger hunt required us to navigate the city, looking for landmarks, taking pictures of typically Danish things from a list we were given and asking Danes cultural questions. It was actually a lot of fun. When we were finished we all met at a cafe for some hot chocolate.

Then we got back on the bus for our 4 hour drive back to Copenhagen. Most of us slept during the first half of the bus rife. Then our teacher put on a Danish movie. It was called After the Wedding. It was so good but I don't know how it ends because we got back before it was over. I am now on a hunt for the movie so I can see the end.

One funny thing was that when we got back to copenhagen we all felt like we were home. That was a great feeling.

Hi everyone

I'm sorry I am so behind on my blog. My schedule has just been so full between my classes and trying to see as much of the city as I possibly can.

Anyway, In the next few days I plan on posting a lot to get you all caught up on my european life.

Get ready! It's going to be great!

Fredericksborg Castle

Last Sunday, I went on a DIS trip to Fredericksborg Castle in Hillerød, Denmark. This castle was built by Christian IV as a hunting castle. In 1859 much of the castle was burned in a fire. The people of Denmark were so upset by this fire that they raised money to restore it. The restorations were mainly funded by J. C. Jacobsen of the Carlsberg brewery. It was then decided that the Fredericksborg Castle would house the Museum of National History which follows Danish history from 1500 to the present.

The castle was beautiful. The ceilings were unbelievable. They were intricately carved. I do not think there was a plain surface in the entire castle. At the time when this castle was built people actually hated bare walls so any surface that wasn't elaborately carved were covered by tapestries.

Our guide also told us something interesting. At royal banquets and parties no guest was allowed to leave under any circumstance while the king was still seated, not even to use the bathroom. The only way you could leave the room is if you were so drunk that someone else had to carry you out. They guide also told us that the rules have to changes much and no one is allowed to leave the royal table until the Queen leaves.

The day we went to the castle was a beautiful day. It was freezing cold but the sun actually made an appearance in the sky for a few hours which was exactly what we all needed after about 2 weeks of dreary gray skies.

Shopping in Denmark

So, in regards to shopping, we could not have arrived in Denmark at a more perfect time. In Europe it is common for sales to take place only twice a year and when they do they are in every store for about a month. We were lucky enough to arrive at the beginning of the Danish sales. EVERYTHING is on sale and it is fabulous.

DIS and our classes are conveniently located 1 block away from the Strøget, the main pedestrian walking street and the main shopping street. We actually discovered a wonderful store called Ginatricot. More than half of the store was discounted to 25 kroner ($5)! It was the best! Also, i have solved the mystery of how European girls wear such skinny jeans... they are leggings that look like jeans! I bought a pair and they are the greatest piece of clothing that I have found in a while.

Also, keeping with the theme of shopping, there are 7-11's on almost every corner here in Copenhagen! They are so popular! They are much different than the ones at home though. They are much more legitimate, they sell real food (hot dogs and pizza but they are delicious) and they even sell alcohol. So different than home.

Another American store that has infiltrated Denmark is Blockbuster. Who knew? A danish friend of mine told me that Danes love Blockbuster. I mean who wouldn't?

The one thing I am still in the market for is a fur scarf. I have seen these over and over on stylish Danish girls all over the city. I have just recently learned that Denmark is one of the largest exporters of fur. Almost half of the women on the streets are wearing either a fun coat, scarf or hat. I have also seen a ton of fur stores. So, my problem will not be finding the scarf, it will be finding it for a good price, but I am a seasoned shopper so I think I will manage.

A week of fairy tales

The Little Mermaid

On Wednesday, Jan. 28th Megan, Caroline and I went on a DIS sponsored bus tour of Copenhagen. Some of the sites we visited were repeats from the orientation scavenger hunt like the Royal Palace and the Rosenborg Slot but our tour guide told us a lot about them so it was still interesting. We also visited the Black Diamond. That is the new wing of the Royal Library here in Copenhagen. As you can see it looks like... what else, a Black Diamond. It has beautiful architecture inside as well. Inside the lines of the building are all curved and seem to continue the movement of the water which can be seen through the window. (BTW I just discovered that you could add pictures to this blog so get ready!)

After this we went to one of the most famous sites in Copenhagen, The Little Mermaid statue. On our way there our tour guide told us the original story of the Little Mermaid which is much sadder than the Disney version. In Hans Christian Anderson's story, the Little Mermaid did fall in love with a human but he had a girlfriend. She had made a deal with the sea witch who told her that she had to return to the surface and kill the man. Of course she could not do it because she loved him. So, because she broke her agreement with the sea witch, she was transformed into the foam on the sea.

Some people are often disappointed with this statue because she is fairly small and you could actually miss her if you were not paying attention. I on the other hand thought she was beautiful and I was so happy to see this landmark of Copenhagen. 

Our tour guide also told us that China has asked to have this statue as a representation of Denmark a the next World's Fair (apparently to be held in China). This is still under a great deal of debate. Personally, I think that is crazy and I think they should never move her. but we will see what is decided.

In keeping with my theme of fairy tales, I will tell you about my trip to the ballet. This Friday was my first field study with my history of ballet class. We went to see Romeo and Juliet at the Royal Theatre at Kogens Nytorv (one of Copenhagen's many squares). This performance was held at the old Royal Theatre (a new one was recently built but both are used for performances of all kinds). The theatre was beautiful! And I loved the ballet. It was wonderful. It was choreographer by John Neumier, an American dancer/choreographer who spent a lot of his career in Copenhagen. He had a very unique style, using motion and particular steps to differentiate between the characters which was really interesting.

One very funny thing that I did notice though was at the end of the performance, during the curtain calls when the audience was clapping, everyone clapped at the same time, and I mean everyone. It was cool but a little weird. Maybe the Danes just have more rhythm than Americans? :)

Interesting things I have learned about Copenhagen, Denmark and the Danes

Well, I have been living here in Copenhagen for just over a week now and in my time here I have learned some very interesting things.

One thing I am beginning to learn is the language. Danish is incredibly difficult to learn. 

There are 3 additional vowels in their alphabet (æ, ø, and å). 

NOTHING is pronounced the way it is spelled, and i really mean NOTHING!

Goodbye = hej hej (hi hi)

What is your name? = Hvad hedder du? (vel hulla du?)

My name is... = Jeg hedder... (Yai hulla...)

Can I help you? = Kan jeg hjælpe? (Can jai halpe?)

and the interesting pronunciations go on and on.  

Almost everyone in Copenhagen rides a bike. Most roads have a bike lane between the sidewalk and the actual road. These bike lanes have their own traffic lights and everything. Bike riders always use hand signals saying if they are stopping or turning. If you are riding a bike at night without a light you will get a very big fine.

Currently, the sun doesn't fully rise until about 8:30 am and it begins to set around 4:00 pm (just over 8 hours of daylight).

However, when I leave in May there will over 16 hours of daylight each day.

In Denmark, everyone uses military time. This is difficult to get used to but it actually makes life a lot easier. There is very little confusion about when to meet someone and it is almost impossible to set your alarm wrong (for example setting it for 7 pm instead of 7 am).

Hamlet's Castle

On Saturday my friend Kari and I signed up to visit Kronborg castle, known all around the world as Hamlet's Castle. We first spent about 2 hours exploring the town Helsingør (Elsinor). It was such a cute little town with colorful buildings and winding streets. One of the shops we went into was the most amazing cheese shop I have ever seen. The had every kind of cheese imaginable and we tasted a few. After walking around for a while we stopped for lunch. This was the first truly danish meal I had had since arriving in Denmark. I ordered the warm meatballs and cold potato salad. It was served with 2 pieces of dense rye bread and i ate it sort of like an open faced sandwich. It was so delicious! I could eat that for lunch every day.

                                                                The Cheese Shop

                                                                  My amazing lunch!

 

After lunch we rejoined the group, reboarded the buses and drove 5 minutes to the castle. There we were split into small groups and taken on guided tours of the castle. The interesting thing about this castle was that the rooms were fairly small but the fire places were extremely big. This was because the weather was so cold. Our tour guide told us that when she was a young girl the baltic sea, which the castle overlooks, actually froze completely over and you could walk to Sweden on the ice. Unfortunately, it doesn't freeze anymore. Another interesting thing about this castle was that it was used at the royal residence at the time when Denmark also controlled Sweden and Norway. However, when Denmark lost those territories no king would live here because they didn't want to look at their lost lands.

Along with touring the typical rooms of the castle we also toured the doungeons/ military barracks which were located below the castle. They were really cool. The ceilings were very low and it was very dark. Our tour guide told us that being in the military was not a popular job and was filled mostly by people who could not afford a house or convicts using the military as a way to escape their sentence. This is also most likely the reason that Denmark lost most of their land battles, the military was not very motivated. 

Classes

Thursday was our first day of class. With DIS classes either run Monday/Thursday or Tuesday/Friday. Everyone has Wednesday off which is really nice. It breaks up the week and is a day for DIS to plan some of the field studies and additional trips. On Thursday I had my first class at 8:30 am. That meant that I had to leave around 7:45 am. It was very difficult to get moving because the sun doesn't fully rise here until about 8:30 or 9 am. It also starts getting dark around 4pm (or 16:00 as they use military time here).

Thursday I had my core course, European Business Strategy, and Creative Industries. They are going to be very interesting. In European Business Strategies we will be primarily focusing on the pharmaceutical and green industries and throughout the semester we will be visiting some major companies in Denmark that focus on those fields.

My other class, Creative Industries is going to be fantastic! It is about the business of industries such as music, fashion, art, advertising etc. The two field studies for this class are to Tivoli (the world's oldest amusement part and the inspiration for Disneyland) and to Vega (the largest concert hall/ night club in Scandinavia).

On Friday I had the Biology of Marine Mammals and the History of European Ballet which both also sound like great classes. I have my first ballet field study next friday, we are going to the Royal Theatre to see a performance of Romeo and Juliet. I will also have Danish on Tuesdays and Fridays but I was canceled the first day. It is not uncommon here in Denmark for classes to be canceled or rescheduled because teachers do not teach as their main profession. Instead they have full time jobs and are experts in a field and teach a course in that field. This is a really great resource because they really know first hand what they are teaching and have an interesting perspective to offer the class.

Orientation

Once we were all settled in we had 3 days of orientation. On Monday there was an opening ceremony of speeches, a classical wind quintet and reflections by former DIS students who are now DIS interns. This ceremony was held at the Glyptotek, a museum of Greek art that is supported by the Carlsberg brewery. 

After the ceremony we were divided into groups for various informational meetings. First i went to an information session on living in Europe. We learned about some of the traditions and customs here in Denmark which I will get into later. Then there was an info session on traveling Europe with DIS where they did an over view of all of the available study tours.

The commute on Monday was interesting. In the morning, the contact people in my dorm took us on the s-train to the Glyptotek which is in the center of Copenhagen. But, the did not tell us how to get home. At first we were all annoyed by this but it turned out to be the best thing they could have done. In groups we all used our maps and information to find the train station and get home. Now that we've done it by ourselves we have alot more confidence traveling around the city.

On Tuesday I began the day with a survival Danish class to attempt to learn some of this incredibly difficult language. We focused on the basics like My name is...  What's your name? and so on. I was really excited to find that I had this class with Caroline, one of the girls in my hallway who I've bonded with. We get along so well and had a lot of fun laughing at our sad attempts at Danish. After a few hours though I was actually starting to pick some of it up. I'm actually taking Danish as one of my classes here so I hope that by the end of the semester I will be able to hold a simple conversation.

After Danish class we had a lunch break. I has a hot dog because there are hot dog carts everywhere! They aren't like American hot dogs though. The bun is not sliced in half. Instead it had a hole that runs the length of the bun that they fill with mayonnaise and then put the hot dog into. You hold this hot dog vertically to eat it. It was really really good!

Then Caroline and I rejoined our group for the Discover Copenhagen scavenger hunt. Now this was really fun. It wasn't a race or a lame competition. We were given a list of places of interest around the city and had to plan a route to get to them all. Once were arrived at each location we met a DIS representative who told us about that particular place and we answered a few questions about it. This was a really great way to see some of the city and begin to learn how to navigate our new home. Some of the locations we visited were The Round Tower (a famous church), The Royal Theatre, the Palace of Frederick II, a large department store, Parliament and the current Royal Palace. The Royal Palace was so interesting to me because there seemed to be very little security aside from 2 armed guards on post outside the entrance. There was not even a fence around the palace. It actually consists of 4 buildings situated around a square and there is a public road that runs through the palace complex. That was just so surprising to me because I live so close to the White House and you can't get anywhere near that building there is so much security. The other really cool thing was that the Queen was home. The Danish flag with her royal crest was raised over her part of the palace. Hopefully While I am here this semester I will have a chance to see her. Apparently on her birthday, which is in April, she makes some sort of a public appearance.

After the scavenger hunt DIS hosted an immerse yourself fair advertising many different ways to get involved in activities within DIS and out in the city. Linda and I are planning on joining the CBS international choir. It is a choir for both Danish and international students that meets once a week. It sounds  like a lot of fun and will be a great way to meet Danes. It starts in 2 weeks and I am so excited. At 6:00 pm we all took our seats throughout the fair room to watch the inauguration. DIS set up a large screen for us so we could easily watch it live. It was amazing. Part of me wished I was in DC for this moment in history and I can't believe that I live there most of the year and wasn't there. But at the same time it was really exciting to be in Europe. The Danes love Obama so they have been constantly asking us what we think of him and congratulating us on our new president. It is a really nice change in attitude and I hope this positive attitude about Americans, our government, and our ability to initiate change remains.

Wednesday was our last day of orientation before classes start. We began the day with part two of survival Danish. We learned the alphabet, numbers, the days of the week and some more helpful phrases. After this we went to information sessions about our specific academic program. Here we were given some basic information about the business program and our study tours. I also me my professor for my core course and she seems really nice and really interesting. 

After all of the meetings we all went back to our rooms to relax. We had had several busy days and most of us already had reading assignments for the first day of class. Linda and I made some dinner, did our reading, and chatted about our classes the following day.

Arrival

Hey everyone! 

If you hadn't heard, I am spending this semester in Copenhagen, Denmark.

I have been here for 5 amazing days and finally had time to set up my blog. So, this post will be long because I want to fill you in on everything I've been doing for the past few days.

My trip began this past Saturday at Newark Airport. At first I was just sitting by myself at the gate for my flight reading a book. But then I began to notice several other students around me, some looking apprehensive or nervous and all looking excited. I figured they must be DIS students as well. After a few minutes we all began asking who was with DIS and formed a large group of about 20 or so. It was really nice to know that I was on a flight with so many people from my program. I have traveled alot in the past and am no stranger to traveling without my parents or friends. However, this trip is unique and it was nice to know I wasn't alone. It was also great to meet some people before I arrived. It is really comforting to see a familiar face in a group of 500 DIS students.

The flight was fine and took about 7 hours. I watched a movie, listened to my Ipod, read a book, and ate dinner and breakfast. I did not sleep very much though. Because we took off around 5:45 pm and landed at 1:00 am US time (7:00 am Danish time) I was not very tired for most of the flight and could not fall asleep no matter how hard I tried.

When we arrived in Copenhagen there were DIS representatives at several different points checking us in and giving us directions on what to do and where to go next. At about 8:30 am we boarded buses that took us to Copenhagen University where we were given some breakfast and all of our orientation materials. While I was there I signed up for a Piccell cell phone to use while I am in Europe. My incoming calls are free so if you feel a strong desire to call me I would love it! Just let me know and I will send you my number. It is actually really great that DIS had this booth because most people here got the cell phone and we are able to text each other and make plans with each other.

After some preliminary meetings about the program and our chosen housing we were brought to our new homes for the semester. I am living in DIS shared housing which is basically a dorm. My dorm is called Tåsingegade (but it is pronounced more like tolsinggald). There are about 70 DIS students living here on 2 floors. There are also Danes living in our building. I am living in a double room and my roommate's name is Linda. She is great. She is from Connecticut and she goes to school at Elon. We are really getting along well and seem to have alot in common. Our room is basic but really nice. We have a little kitchenette (2 burners, a sink, a microwave, and a minifridge) so we will be trying to cook as much as possible because it is cheaper. We also have our own bathroom which is great. The shower is a little odd because it is the bathroom. There is a shower curtain to contain some of the water but there is nothing to contain the water on the floor and the drain is on the exact opposite side of the room from the shower head so the entire floor gets wet and only one person can be in there at a time. The wet floor is a little inconvenient but it won't really be a problem. We also have a common room on our floor for us to congregate in which will be a great way to meet new people.

After we all unpacked and settled into out rooms we went to dinner as a group. However, instead of having something traditionally Danish for dinner, we had chinese food! As funny as it was to have that on my first night in Copenhagen it was delicious. With dinner I also had my first Carlsberg beer which is made in Denmark. I really liked it! but I'm not sure that it really went well with chinese food... Anyway, after dinner Linda and I went back to our room because we were so tried from traveling and ready for our first nights sleep in a new city.