Saturday, May 11, 2013

That Thing We Don't Talk About

Well, the time has just about come. I have less than a week remaining here in Denmark. It's hard to believe how much I've done since I first arrived nearly 4 months ago. Essentially anything I did here was a first considering I had never been outside North America before coming here. I've learned to appreciate the things that we have in the US as well as come to realize that the US is clearly not the best in every aspect. I could go on and on recapping and reminiscing what I have done during my time abroad. But I think the fact that I have too much to say to be able to say anything speaks volumes. Of course, I know my Danish family reads this but I'm not exaggerating when I say that I have gained a new family and become a big brother for the first time at the age of 21. Thank goodness for modern technology and the ability to video chat from thousands of miles away; otherwise saying goodbye would feel a lot more permanent. Before I waste too much of my precious remaining time left here, I say vi ses in a week Denmark. Jeg kommer til at savne dig.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Bornholm

Tomorrow is the first day of May, which means the month in which I will be going home is arriving. I don't want to talk about that so I'll talk about my trip to the island of Bornholm this past weekend. I went with a trip organized by DIS. On Friday night, I got on an overnight ferry departing at midnight that would arrive in Bornholm by 6. Needless to say, I slept miserably on a half-reclining cabin chair. When we arrived to Bornholm, I pulled myself together and convinced myself that I wasn't tired despite barely getting any sleep the night before also because I insisted on staying up for the Eagles pick in the first round of the draft. The draft started at 2 in the morning and the Eagles picked at almost 3; totally worth it. 

Anyway, when we got to the island we checked into our hostel and ate breakfast before receiving bikes to ride for the weekend. I was hoping we would get our hands on some proper cycles but I my hopes were dashed with women's 7-speed cruisers. It would have to do. I signed up for the trip on my own so I didn't know too many people on it but I teamed up quickly with one of the guys who shared my interest in biking and seeing as much as possible in the two days we were there. 

At 8, running on about 4 hours of restless sleep, we embarked on the first leg of our journey. (This would be a good time to pull up a map of Bornholm in another tab so that you can follow along.) From our original location of Gudhjem, my biking comrade, Tim, and I headed south toward the town of Svaneke. It turns out we were a little ahead of ourselves, because all the hotspots we were supposed to check out in Svaneke were still closed so early in the morning. So we continued along the route to Nexø, which is the second largest town in Bornholm yet could be ridden through in its entirety on bicycle in about 30 seconds. When we had seen enough of Nexø, we headed back north towards Svaneke. There, we treated ourselves to the famous smoked herring of Bornholm, bones and all. Dessert was homemade ice cream from a local store. I tried to order my ice cream in Danish but it evolved into a hybrid sentence of Danish and English that confused the girl at the counter and was more trouble than it was worth. 

We then made our way back through Nexø and to Dueodde. Dueodde has some of the finest white sand in the world that is used for hourglasses. Personally, I didn't find it too much different from the sand in Avalon. The dunes were my favorite part. 

After Dueodde we headed towards the town of Aakirkeby, which has both the Danish words for town and church in it but it was a slight misnomer because there was no typical Bornholm round church in sight. From there we started riding back to home base in Gudhjem. By this point my legs and butt were beyond sore and my mind wasn't exactly sharp. We joined forces with another group headed back to the hostel and succeeded in taking the most indirect route back and taking much longer than we had hoped. On top of this, a steady mist had enveloped the island, diminishing our spirits. However, our spirits were lifted once again when we arrived back from a long day's ride and refueled with dinner. In all, Tim and I ended up riding between 90 and 95 kilometers, or roughly 60 miles. I had never ridden more than about 10 miles in one day before in my life. I promptly fell asleep by 9 o'clock. 

The next day I awoke refreshed yet still very sore. After breakfast I joined Tim again, along with a group of 4 others that had the same plan as us. We headed north this time and had more of a nature day. The weather was much nicer and the sun was shining all day. I even got some sunburn, or some combination of sunburn mixed with windburn. Our first stop was a set of cliffs along the eastern coast that was home to a really cool cave. We climbed down the cliffs and went as far as we could into the cave before it became too narrow and we hit a dead end. From the cliffs we went to Denmark's tallest waterfall. Denmark is a very flat country so I was not really surprised to see that the waterfall was barely pushing 30 feet tall. Regardless of its diminutive size, the woods surrounding the waterfall were covered with green undergrowth and was definitely a beautiful sight to see. 

After the waterfall we rode along the coast to the tip of Bornholm called Hammeren, or the Hammer. One of the things that amazed me most about the island was the diversity of the land. There were cliffs, farmland, woods, beaches and the Hammer was no exception. It was an extensive series of rocky hills that looked out into the Baltic Sea. Not far from the Hammer was Hammershus, the medieval ruins of a fortress resting on the top of a hill in north Bornholm. Hammershus was the last visit on my bike tour of Bornholm and it was worth the wait. We all agreed that the views from the ruins were reminiscent of what I've seen in pictures from the Scottish isles. The sun reflecting off the sea and no other land in sight was breathtaking. After we left  Hammershus we rode back to Gudhjem up and down the hills along the coast. There we boarded a bus and headed to the ferry that would take us back to Zealand. The two days I spent in Bornholm were short, yet jampacked with as much as my body could handle. In all I biked about 130 kilometers and reached the southern and northern most tips of the island. It left enough of an impression on me that I would love to return some day and take a breather by the sea. 

Monday, April 22, 2013

Spring has arrived

Spring has arrived. It's been relatively warm for long enough that I don't think announcing it finally will jinx it. When I walk out the door in the morning I can hear the birds chirping and I can't help but smile because winter is finally over. On most days, I don't even need a jacket(!); appreciate the little things, right? As the warm weather has eased in, I've been taking advantage of it little by little. The past ten days or so have been bookended by nice spring walks with the family.

For the past few weeks I've been playing a lot of soccer outside with Jonas. We play across the street at the old elementary school where they have a walled in court/field that is a perfect size for one on one action. I usually win. One of the days we jumped the gun a little on the spring part; in the middle of our game between Jonas, his friend Jesper ("ginger") and myself, there was a sudden downpour of snow. We were not to be discouraged though and we continued playing even as our hair gathered flakes and the ground turned white.

Last weekend I went to mormor and morfar's house for the first time in Hillerod. We enjoyed a great Saturday brunch, complete with roast beef and plenty of wine. After lunch we headed into the woods nearby and built a small fire along the trail and visited the ruins of an old cottage that the king used to use when he wanted to get away from it all. I could empathize with him; it was nice to walk around nature on one of the warmest days thus far. Also, I found a frog.

Last week I went to the Carlsberg factory with my friend Hannah from St. Mike's. The two free beers at the end was why I wanted to go and it was worth it. But we spent more time playing with a barn cat we named Carl than we did inside the buildings. He liked me better because I gave him some of my sandwich.

The day before I walked around the city for four hours taking pictures of the graffiti that's all over Copenhagen. A lot of it is pretty cool and it's something you sure never see on postcards or travel brochures; it's not exactly something the city takes pride in.

There have been some small moments the past few weeks that I think have defined the change in the season. First, we spent much of Saturday working around the garden and Jonas even managed to drag me into helping him clean out the hen house. At the end of the day the kids wanted to camp outside that night in a tent; we decided against it in the end but just the thought of it would have been unheard of just a week earlier. (Good thing we decided not to; we got frost that night.) Then on Claus' birthday the next day we went to a park nearby and basked in the sunshine and ate cake together. The whole family came along, including mormor and morfar.

It may sound strange, but I think it was Friday that I knew it was spring at last. I was riding my bike near the lake by Fredensborg Palace after a day in the city. It was extremely windy, yet I was not cold. As I sped downhill towards the lake, the song First Breath After Coma by Explosions in the Sky came on shuffle on my iPod. The cool breeze, the perfectly aligned trees along the path, the approaching lake and that song were in perfect harmony at that exact moment. If you don't know that song, check it out and maybe you'll understand. Happy spring!

Here's the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0o8JCxjjpM It was around 3:16

Sunday, April 14, 2013

A new perspective

I've been busy here with actual written schoolwork so I've done what Americans do best: I outsourced my next blog post to my sister, who visited recently for a week with my parents. Enjoy.


Derick asked me to provide a guest post about my experience in Denmark during spring break. I certainly am not the writer in the family, I usually leave that to Derick but I’ll do my best to make it interesting! After a long flight and meeting Derick in the airport it still didn’t seem like we were in Europe. It wasn’t until we got off the DC-like metro and began walking through the streets, wheeled suitcases trailing behind, that it hit me I was in a whole new world. After checking into the hotel, we wandered through the city in search of a dinner locale and we took it all in. We had an early bed time the first night both succumbing to jet-lag and in preparation of our Easter Monday dinner with Derick’s host family. Our first full day started our trip of castles, visiting the Frederiksborg Slot. After hopping on a train to Fredensborg and a short ride we arrived at Derick’s home away from home where we were met by bare-footed ten year olds running to greet Derick and us. We were welcomed into Derick’s “home” with hugs and introductions and soon after sat down for our traditional Danish feast of herring three ways, eggs in mustard sauce, pork roast with crispy skin, liver pate with bacon, and meatballs, red cabbage, and great homemade bread . I’m sure I’ve forgotten something but you get the gist. We sat eating, conversing, and joking as if we had known each other longer than an hour or so. After introducing the family to some of our American Easter candies like jelly beans and Reese’s eggs we enjoyed delicious almond cakes and headed to the Fredensborg Slot where the Queen spends the summer months due to its close proximity to a large, picturesque lake. Then at dusk we headed to the train station to get back to the city and our hotel for the night. The next two days consisted of a lot of sightseeing including the Rosenborg Slot, Amber Museum, Round Tower, Boat Tour of the Canal (where we caught a glimpse of The Little Mermaid, among other sights), and Kronborg Slot. Wednesday night was probably the most memorable experience of the entire trip. Each year the Queen moves to her summer homestead which, as I stated before, is in Fredensborg. Fredensborg is the town Derick has called home for the past 3 months. When the Queen moves, the entire town meets at the train station before night fall, supports the scouts by purchasing torches, and then proceed, flaming torches in hand, through the city to the slot. Then everyone assembles near the front door where the mayor welcomes the Queen, the Queen speaks, and the national anthem is sung. This description may provide you with thoughts like strange, barbaric, or dangerous, but it truly was a sight to see that no picture could capture perfectly, although Derick did pretty well. Once again we were able to spend time with Derick’s host family and we all had a good time in the process. Thursday and Friday once again resulted in sightseeing galore with trips to the Zoo, Carlsberg Brewery, and the newly opened National Aquarium all of which were reached by a combination train, bus, metro, or walking. Our final night was spent with Derick’s host family first at the local Chinese buffet and then at the bowling alley. We played a couple games of pool and just enjoyed the company of each other before having to travel back to the city to pack and prepare for our long trip home.
The trip was fabulous for lack of a better description but before I finish up there are just a few general observations that I noticed while wandering through the city from site to site.
1. Bikes are just everywhere. They are taken on the metro and trains and are parked wherever the rider stops. The riders, particularly the women, don’t change their outfits to fit their means of transportation. You would not believe how many women I saw riding their bikes in skirts, dresses, and high heels which leads to my next observation.
2. High heels, at this time of year high heeled boots, were the footwear of the choice by most women walking through the city.
3. Uggs and Ugg-like boots were not seen at all. Like I said earlier, high heeled boots were the choice over comfy furry ones.
4. Derick had told us that bright colors weren’t really common in everyday attire, however he didn’t let us know that we should have packed our fur coats. There were a large amount of women sporting fur coats in varying lengths and designs while walking on the street, riding their bikes, and utilizing public transportation.
5. Denmark has both paper and coin currency similar to the U.S. however unlike the U.S., I did not find any coins on the street, and I had ample opportunity with all the walking we did over the week.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

It's Been A While... I've been at tea

I've been up to a lot in the past few weeks and 'real' work has gotten in the way of my motivation to write entries. Here's some short stories.

A few weekends ago I went to Sweden and played laser tag. It was awesome. Never thought I'd be putting those things all in one sentence. 

PBR is readily available in alcohol stores in Sweden. I wonder if drinking it comes with the same connotations there.

Sweden could care less if you come into their country from Denmark. I was never once asked to show identification coming into Sweden, or leaving. 

The next day I went to London with my class. It was my first time in a country where English is the first language since mid-January. 

The London Underground isn't as difficult as it was made out to be. Maybe it's because I've gotten used to figuring out a transportation system in a foreign language.

I got to visit Cow PR company in East London. They've done campaigns like creating an ice cream specifically for dogs, a men's fragrance for Burger King and the world's first hat for horses. I would gladly take a job there.

Bloomberg is extremely proud of their fish tanks and the fact that there is no privacy in the whole building. They also have a great selection of food in their cafe that they treat their guests to. I also left with a little better idea of what the company actually does.

BBC doesn't let you take pictures inside their offices. That was a bummer.

Media law is much different in Britain than the US, as we found out from a Schillings law firm representative. 

The London Eye is pretty cool, I guess. 

The whole trip made me want to re-watch the Harry Potter movies. I saw the Millennium Bridge that the Dementors blew up, Platform 9 3/4, and the inspiration for Diagon Alley.

The London Dungeon made me want to go by pure volume of advertising; I didn't.

I realized I don't understand the majority of modern art. Then again, if someone tells me they understand the artistic value of a uniform pile of bricks on the floor or an empty plain picture frame I won't believe them. 

Big Ben is even bigger than I expected, even though I found out the tower isn't part of Big Ben, but Elizabeth Tower. 

British comedians are hilarious, even though sometimes I sat awkwardly silent because I didn't get the British culture reference (Birmingham took the butt end of a lot of jokes). Also, they need to work on their impersonation of Danes speaking English. 

Squirrels in London are the tamest you'll ever see. They'll come to you even if you don't have food. 

The Tower Bridge was cool, but it would have been cooler if the Olympic rings were still on it. The London Bridge, not to be confused with the Tower Bridge, was less exciting. 

Our tour leader, Anders, was a walking fun fact. I learned so much about the origins of Britishness just from following him around.

I stumbled upon the Women of World War II Memorial I had learned about in my WWII class last semester. 

Fish and chips is good, but it's not something that can blow you away. The high tea, on the other hand, I could get used to. 

London was awesome, but I'll take laid back Denmark any day.

And now I have this week to show my family around the place I've made home for nearly 3 months.





Monday, March 18, 2013

Lalandiaaa

This weekend I got a taste of a genuine Danish short family vacation to Lalandia. Lalandia is a family resort on the southern island of Denmark called Lolland. It has an indoor waterpark, movie theater, restaurants, and even goats. I was quite possibly the only American there all weekend and I couldn't have been happier. It was nice relaxing with my host family and getting a true immersion experience. I can guess that not many other DIS students have been treated to Lalandia like I was. My favorite part was getting to spend quality time with my family away from home. I've never been a big brother so it was fun having my younger 'siblings' wanting to show me all around the waterpark and play in the water with them. My favorite part of the Aquadome, as its called, was a waterslide that went outdoors. The water was extremely cold at first and outside there was even ice along the edges, but once you got used to it, the slide was a blast. It was a new experience for me because it was a legitimate slide, but essentially without any rules. So the result was people caroming down the slide five at a time, bumping into one another going backwards, sideways, feet first, headfirst and any which way. My host brother Jonas and I had some battles of who could make it down first and I have my fair share of bumps and bruises to prove it. The real test at the end of the slide was to swim through the frigid water to the outdoor hot tub; a rewarding experience for those who braved the cold. All in all I feel even more a part of the family to the point that I'm included in the some of the friendly sibling teasing now; in English and Danish.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

I'm Hungry... You mean like the country?

It would take hours to describe the extent of my week long excursion to the wonderful city of Budapest, Hungary. But I also realize that you have things to do that are more important than reading a novella about my trip and if you do not in fact have more important things to do then I apologize because I have more important things to do than writing said novella. So here is the abbreviated version of the abbreviated version. For additional viewing pleasure, refer to the over 300 photos I posted in an album on my Facebook. If you are not my Facebook friend, I hear Google has a pretty extensive catalog of images that are probably pretty similar to mine. 

Day 1: The Journey to the Center of the Universe... or at least it felt like it
Saturday morning kicked off bright and early when I caught the local train from Fredensborg with Geena at 7:51. We then took the S-Tog into Copenhagen and met Andrew at Copenhagen Central. From there we took a train to Malmo, Sweden, where we took a bus to Malmo Airport. We then flew to Budapest where we took a bus to the metro station, took one metro train and then switched to another before arriving at our final destination, the Black Sheep Hostel in Budapest. Grand total: 3 trains, 2 buses, 2 metros, 1 plane, 8-9 hours. That night we went on a hostel sponsored pub crawl to some Budapest ruin bars. Ruin bars are bars or clubs inside what appear to be rundown buildings. One of the coolest ones I found was Szimpla kert. Google it; Lonely Planet rated it the third best bar in the world.
Fun fact of the day: That night we went on the pub crawl with 8 Americans who are studying in Istanbul. One of them is in the same class as a high school classmate of mine that is also studying in Istanbul. Small world. 
Bonus Fun Fact: The first metro we took was in all honesty, terrifying. It was my first time in eastern Europe and the metro train looked like a relic of the Soviet Bloc and completely out of place in the 21st century. Although my week in Budapest was amazing, I certainly had my doubts sitting on that first metro, especially after a long day of traveling. 

Day 2: We'll Just Look It Up Later
Andrew, Geena and I spent Sunday tagging along with 6 of the other Americans, who were trying to see as much as possible as fast as possible because they were leaving very early the next day. This resulted in us essentially following the Hop On, Hop Off Bus route but without ever getting on a bus. All in all we walked nearly 15km throughout the day and saw Hungarian landmarks like Heroes' Square, Vajdahunyad Castle, Buda Castle, the Chain Bridge, and St. Stephen's Basilica, among others. While we were walking around, though, we pretty much just took pictures of things without knowing what they were and then looked them up afterward. I don't think the other Americans could have squeezed any more out of their one day in Budapest if they tried.
Fun Fact of the day: Kebab shops are everywhere in Budapest and they have both affordable and delicious gyros.
The three stoodges at Heroes Square

St. Stephen's Basilica

Matthias Church

Buda Castle

Vajdahunyad Castle (Hogwarts Budapest Campus)

Buda Castle from Chain Bridge

Chain Bridge


Day 3: That's an Interesting Smell
Another day of walking awaited us on Monday. Most of the people we had met had left for other places so the three of us headed out ourselves to the Great Market Hall. Along the way we passed one of the largest synagogues in the world and took a stroll down Vaci Utca, a walking mall similar to Stroget in Copenhagen or a larger version of Church Street in Vermont. Inside the Great Market Hall is incredible. On the ground floor there are so many produce, sausage and paprika stands it's impossible to figure out which one to choose. In the basement there is a mix of fish markets and pickle shops creating the most confusing attack of scents on the senses that I felt lightheaded. Upstairs there are several gift shops selling traditional Hungarian trinkets and food stands where we tried langos, a Hungarian dish like pizza but essentially with a funnel cake as the dough. After the market we hiked up Gellert Hill, the best perspective view of the city. In the evening we met new roommates at the hostel in the form of two Aussies and a South African which we became immediate mates with. 
Fun Fact of the day: Australians do in fact say 'mate' and 'far out' in regular speech. I also learned a new word to call change in your pocket: 'shrapnel.' 
Interesting arrangement

Food stands galore

Nesting dolls everywhere

Upstairs in Great Market Hall

View from Gellert Hill

Citadella


Day 4: Parkour Not Welcome Here
In the morning we took off another walking tour of Budapest, this time accompanied by our new Aussie friends. It was cool to show them some of the places we had been already and witness the amazement on their faces that we had just a few days back. Along the way to Margaret Island, a small island in the middle of the Danube, we stopped at parliament and took in its massive glory. Margaret Island was alright, but it seemed like more of a local jogging spot than a tourist attraction, at least at this time of the year. From there, with our stomachs growling, we went on a mission for lunch which we found at Food Fusion. $2.50 for ham and cheese on a baguette: mission accomplished. While we enjoyed our lunch at the edge of the Danube overlooking parliament from across the river, we witnessed two teenagers who were doing parkour get apprehended by the police. Either parkour is illegal or they were subjected to a random search of all their belongings, including shoes, bags, pockets and clothing. When the search was done the police just walked away and the two teenagers went about their business and smoked a cigarette as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. From there we went back up to the Castle District to see some of the sights we had rushed through on Sunday. The views from Fishermen's Bastion never get old. The afternoon was capped off with a taste of delicious Transylvanian funnel cake from a stand by Buda Castle. 
Fun Fact of the day: That night we made more friends at the hostel with a guy from New Zealand and a couple from Germany. Together we all went back to Szimpla kert where we experienced the strange phenomenon of a girl walking around the bar selling carrots. One of the Aussies bought one and it was dubbed the worst carrot he had ever tasted.
Parliament

View from Fishermen's Bastion

Day 5: Just Slothin Around
By day 5 we had seen most of the touristy parts of Budapest, albeit the entrance fees deterred us from going into most of them. So we planned a day at the Budapest Zoo and Botanical Gardens and it was above and beyond my expectations. From the outside, I'm going to be honest the zoo didn't look like much. But inside the gates you could get lost in all the animal houses, exhibits and creatures. The best part by far was the sloth exhibit. We entered the building and were shocked to learn that these awesome animals were just roaming free. Not only that, but the sloths would approach you when they saw you and pose for pictures. The icing on the cake was that one of the sloths had a baby resting in her lap that was the funniest/cutest looking animal I had seen up close. We spent hours at the zoo and were exhausted by the end, but we managed to go to Szimpla again, this time adding a Colombian to our crew but losing two Germans. 
Fun Fact of the day: I saw my first baby sloth and baby elephant, Geena got sprayed by a lion and prairie dogs are some cold-blooded sonsofbitches. Also a South African told me I had beautiful hazel eyes; and it was a girl.
Baby sloth

Baby elephant

Day 6: Soak and Recover
We knew for quite some time that our sixth and final day would be spent at the Szechenyi Baths, a famous thermal bath complex in Budapest. Our new Kiwi friend joined us and took pictures with his cool waterproof camera. Inside an architecturally amazing looking exterior is a massive courtyard complete with what are essentially huge hot tubs. Inside there are more baths of varying temperatures, saunas and ice baths. I found out quickly that I do not enjoy saunas and promptly exited, but the the 'cold' baths were basically the ocean temperature in June. It was great to relax our sore feet and bodies in the soothing hot water for a few hours. In the evening we were treated to a traditional Hungarian dinner at the hostel for free and spent one last night with all our new international friends before repeating the gauntlet of transportation in the morning. 
Fun Fact of the day: Unbeknownst to us, the Indonesian president was in town and he was presenting a wreath at Heroes Square while we were walking past to the baths. The police presence around the square was confusing and intriguing to say the least. On the way back we passed a gathering protesting the passing of a fourth amendment to Hungarian's constitution, which we were unaware of until later. 

So there you go, my trip to Budapest. Despite its appearance, this is in fact the abbreviated version. All in all I got to see all 9 landmarks that were pictured on a postcard I saw and made friends with a wonderful crew of mates from around the world. If you would like to hear the exclusive extended director's cut version with optional commentary from the producer then you'll just have to ask me about it some other time. If you've read this far do yourself a favor and make some langos; you'll enjoy it. 

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Civic Disobedience

Today was like any other Thursday: I went to class, learned some things and started heading home when I stumbled upon a large gathering of people marching around city hall. It turned out to be a massive student demonstration protesting the proposed changes parliament has introduced to the higher education system. The crowd had flares, banners, megaphones and flags. The police were leading the procession, ensuring that the demonstration kept a semblance of order. They even stopped traffic at a major intersection so the crowd could cross safely. The demonstration blew my mind. Here's why:

As an American, what they were demonstrating against doesn't compute with me. Higher education is state funded and is free for anyone who wants to pursue it. If you want to go to college, you don't have to pay for it directly; it's all covered by taxes that you're parents have been paying for you up to this point. On top of that, the government pays you to go to college. The current stipend for attending college is about $1000 each month. The demonstrators were protesting a reduction of this stipend to about $800 according to what my Danish politics teacher has said. Even my Danish language teacher has said that the stipend is predominantly used to buy designer clothes and coffee. I guess it's a big deal for my Danish counterparts but I just don't get what there is to be angry about. Perhaps these demonstrators would be better utilized if we put them on a plane and sent them to the US to protest the fact that we have to pay upwards of $45000 per year to attend college; and unless you have a work study or job, you don't get paid a dime to attend. Maybe they don't realize how good they have it.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

The Little Things

When I first arrived in Denmark, everything was so different that it was hard to pinpoint the small, minute differences between my homeland and Denmark. Now that I've spent some time here, I offer a random list of things I've noticed and thought were interesting:

-Blockbusters still exist here
-7Eleven is expensive: a small slushy costs over $3
-Baresso is the Starbucks of America/Dunkin Donuts of New England
-Netto (the most common grocery store) doesn't stock what I would consider standard dry stick deodorant
-Shawarma at a kebab shop is a better deal than McDonald's
-those biking hand signals we learned in elementary school are actually used
-New Jersey stereotypes exist overseas. Store clerk: Where are you visiting from? New Jersey. Oh like the Sopranos. Yes... just like that.
-teenagers wear snap back hats of teams they couldn't name one player on. BONUS: if the kid wearing the Utah Jazz hat on the street could find Utah on a map, I would give him a cookie. DOUBLE BONUS: the team I have seen represented the most is the NBA team formerly known as the Charlotte Hornets, who are now the New Orleans Hornets, who are soon to be the New Orleans Pelicans.
-you can get Ben and Jerry's here... and it's even more expensive (about $10.50 a pint)
-magazine covers with gratuitous nudity are permitted on the shelves right along with the rest of the magazines
-nobody cares about baseball
-the only sports magazine here is GOAL
-they have a different definition of a "not very strong" beer
-nobody picks up dog poop on the sidewalk
-licorice is the flavor of choice for candy and even liquor
-based on sound and without understanding 98% of the words, some of the music would make it on the radio in the US if we knew about it; and some of the songs are good and also in English
-movies come out way later here
-nobody makes small talk on the train; although nobody really makes small talk on trains in America either
-Pandora doesn't work
-all the buildings look cooler and the sidewalks are cobblestone
-the crows aren't all black: they have gray and are called hooded crows I believe
-the pigeons still only move if you get within inches of them
-scarves are a necessity
-did I mention that you can find Blockbusters in business here?

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Hel! Sing! Borg!....Copen! Ha! Gen!

I had my first taste of European football yesterday. I went to a training camp match between FC Kobenhavn and Helsingborg IF, a Swedish club. Since the match didn't mean anything it was only 40 kroner to get in and the attendance was only 1,087... I counted? It was great to see a game for such a good price. The fan section for Helsingborg was worth the price of admission itself. They were constantly chanting and swaying together throughout. For a small group they were surprisingly vocal. They had flags and banners and even a bunch of bright red flares that blanketed the pitch with pink smoke shortly after kickoff. There's no way they'd get into the stadium with those in America.

Unfortunately I didn't plan well enough for the cold weather inside the stadium. I had figured it would at least be a bit warmer in the stands; I was wrong. I ended up standing much of the game just to keep the blood flowing and by halftime I could have sworn my toes were going to be frostbitten. Luckily my FCK scarf kept my face from getting unbearably cold.

The first half was pretty uneventful and neither team could capitalize on their opportunities. In the second half, FCK got the scoring started with a well placed header off a cross. But the lead didn't last. After an FCK attacker blew a perfect opportunity to take a two goal lead, Helsingborg countered quickly and received a penalty kick for a trip in the box. Their kick taker scored the PK to tie it up. To my confusion, when he scored, all the FCK fans started clapping; it turns out he used to play for the team.

In the 86th minute, after a series of well placed passes, Helsingborg put another in the back of the net to stun the crowd and secure the upset. All was not lost, however, because as the game neared its end the video board announced that a restaurant attached to the stadium would be offering free soup to everyone after the game. As I spooned the tomato soup into my mouth and tried to urge its warmth down to my numb toes I was satisfied with my first football experience despite the loss and bitter cold.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Hump Day

Yesterday I had a busy Wednesday. First up was a guided tour of Parken, the stadium that FC Kobenhavn calls home. Going in, Geena and I completely failed to take into consideration that the tour would be all Danes. So when the tour guide asked a question that ended with 'danske', I was that awkward American who says, "I speak English..." Fortunately, every time the guide gave his spiel in Danish and we headed to the next location, he provided us with the abridged version in English. The stadium was really cool, yet surprisingly minimalist, given that I think it's the largest stadium in Denmark. The home locker room wasn't anything to write home about aside from the hot tub (there wasn't even a team logo anywhere), but it makes sense given the Danish mindset of simplicity. After visiting the stadium, I can't wait to return to see a real game.

Later on in the evening I attended Dans2Go at Det Kongelige Teater (Royal Theater) with my Danish Language class. As we were searching for our seats it was with much surprise that we discovered that our seats were in the second row. This meant I had to be a lot more discrete eating my mini O2 cookies during the show. The ballet/modern dance performance was broken into three parts and each one featured dancers moving their bodies in directions and positions I don't believe they are intended to be in. While I may not be a dance enthusiast and I wasn't a big fan of the second act which featured eight men and no musical accompaniment, I could appreciate the hard work and dedication that these people put on display for a packed audience.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Fastelavn

Today my family and I went to a DIS Fastelavn celebration. Fastelavn is a holiday similar to Halloween in Denmark where children dress up in costumes and eat candy. However, my favorite part of the holiday is the sweet iced buns that everyone eats. For Fastelavn, I went all out and wore a full skeleton suit that my host family had lying around. The whole family dressed up, and though Jonas was against wearing a costume at first, he came around in the end. 

At the party, we ate our share of desserts and then broke barrels with sticks. This tradition is similar to breaking pinatas at parties. But the meaning behind the barrel breaking is different here. In the past, they used to put a live black cat inside the barrel and break it. It was supposed to get rid of any bad luck that the cats represented. Now they fill the barrels with candy; PETA wouldn't be too happy if they kept the cat thing going. The person to break the barrel and release the candy is awarded queen, regardless of whether it's a boy or girl. After the candy is on the ground, you keep swinging at the barrel until the last piece is knocked down. The person who achieves this feat is the king. I was the king of my barrel, and Jonas was queen of another. We also bobbed for apples and some people ate buns dangling from strings. I only succeeded in soaking my head in the bucket, but Jonas snagged one without a problem. It was a fun time and great to experience an annual Danish holiday. 

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Observation of Tourists as a Tourist

Disclaimer: If you are my sister, I apologize for not updating for a decent amount of time. A college student writing about how classes went during the school week isn't exactly riveting stuff. On that note, I have a brief observation to share.

As I was walking along Strøget today I came to the realization that in Copenhagen I, an American, am less a tourist than many of the born and bred Danes that live far outside the city and are only visiting for the weekend. I see Danes spinning their maps around, trying to figure out how to get to Nyhavn from Frue Plads and asking other people for directions. Even though my Danish is still at a remedial level, I could tell a lost Dane where to find Christiansborg Slot, no problem (in English). I'm not trying to boast or anything. If a Dane were studying in NYC for the semester I'd consider him less of a tourist than me there if I visited for the weekend with my camera and map. I just felt proud at that moment in time, looking around at the confused or lost people, knowing exactly where I was and how to get where I needed to go.

Monday, February 11, 2013

Month in Review

Today marks the beginning of my fifth week here in Denmark. The time has flown by but it's not like I've just been hibernating with my Netflix account like I do in winter in Vermont. So what exactly have I done the past 4 weeks? (Including what I did the past few days.)

-Visited 3 different royal palaces: Fredensborg, Christiansborg and Frederiksborg
     -Visited the queen's quarters in Christiansborg Slot
     -Toured the elaborate interior of Frederiksborg Slot

-Visited 2 museums: ARoS and nationalmuseet
-Ate a plethora of new foods: leverpostej, curry herring, Danish rye bread, mackerel in tomato sauce, frikadeller, an assortment of pork lunchmeats, plus many more and even some calf's tongue
-Visited the western cities of Aarhus and Odense
-Mastered the art of building open-faced sandwiches and eating everything with a fork and knife
-Visited numerous architecturally astonishing churches
-Met Swedes in Helsingor
-Made friends from all over the US
-Essentially got adopted into a new family here in Denmark
-Played handball with Danish children
-Learned the ins and outs of the Copenhagen public transportation system
-Bought an FCK scarf
-Tried a bunch of tasty new beers, schnapps, and licorice (and banana?!) flavored liquors
-Tried Danish candy; made my family try American candy
-Started learning the complex language that is Danish
-Wandered around aimlessly
-Climbed rundtaarn
-Adapted to waking up earlier than 10AM for class
-Stopped a blind man from falling onto the train tracks
-Ate shawarma
-Made brownies
-Listened to Danish music
-Got my fix of soccer and handball on TV
-And of course I went to class Mom


I went back to Frederiksborg Slot to go inside it this time:
Frederiksborg Slot in white


Just inside the slot

My new little sisters

The church inside the slot


One of many intricate ceilings


My Danish family minus Jonas

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

A Trip to Western Denmark

The past three days have been jam packed with fun activities. My Strategic Communication class took a trip to the Western Denmark cities of Odense and Aarhus to get a taste of Danish life outside of Copenhagen. Our schedules were booked solid throughout the three days and it was a nice time to get to know the other people in my class, especially since we'll be spending even more time together in London in a little over a month. I'll try to make this simple.

Day 1:
We visited TV2, Denmark's most watched television station since 1990! It was much like the TV stations I have seen in the US but it seemed a lot less stressful. Monitors everywhere of course, but most of the employees there were getting paid to watch television all day; not a bad gig.
Also on Monday we had a short Hans Christian Andersen walking tour from a DIS professor that included visits to where the author lived growing up, the church where he was Christened, the insane asylum his grandfather was placed (now a nursing home, go figure), and other places he frequented during his time in Odense. After this tour we headed to Aarhus. At night we were left on our owns to walk around Aarhus and check out the relatively nonexistent nightlife of a Monday in February.

Day 2:
We visited the municipality of Aarhus and learned about how it was designated as the cultural capital of 2017 for Europe. It's hard to get any recognition in such a small country when everyone immediately thinks of Copenhagen as the only real city in Denmark, but the city is a really cool place from what I gathered in my time there. After the town hall tour, I got the chance to visit M2Films, the media firm in charge of making many of LEGO's commercials that are seen on TV throughout the world. The setup the guys at M2Films are working with is unreal, equipped with the latest Apple desktops and Adobe software. After this tour we headed to ARoS, an art museum in Aarhus that exhibits some very interesting pieces. The most well known aspect of ARoS is the rainbow panorama walk at the top of the building, but the next time you're in Aarhus I strongly recommend heading to the bottom floors to see the Boy and also the 9 Spaces. Give them a quick Google search to see the quirkiness of these art exhibitions. Tuesday saved the best for last, at least for this art non-aficionado. We headed to RaceHall for some good old-fashioned go-kart racing. All 35 of us or so raced on one huge track in a free for all for the ages. During the qualifying stage I managed to clock the best lap so I entered the main race with the pole position. Unfortunately, after losing some traction on the first lap and hitting some back of the pack traffic around lap 7, I could only hang on to a 3rd place finish in the 15 lap race. Not too shabby in a race of 35, though.

Day 3:
This day was mostly spent traveling and eating brunch and listening to a lecture at Aarhus University, but the highlight of today was a visit to the Jelling Stones, one of Denmark's most important monuments. It established the monarchy in Denmark, is the first mention of the name Denmark, and also established Christianity as the new religion of Denmark by the viking king Harald 'Bluetooth.' (The technology is named after him because he connected Denmark.) It's really just two mounds of grass and two big stones with runes on them but the story behind it is very cool. If you made it to the end, good for you! I probably would have stopped reading once I hit Day 2. Check out the pictures from our festivities on Facebook.

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Klasse Fest, Frederiksborg Slot and More

The past two days have been jam packed with various activities and such.

After class on Friday night I went to Klasse Fest with my host family. It was a potluck dinner and gym activities for my two little twin sisters here. All the food everyone brought was delicious, especially the frikadeller of course. After dinner we played different games as a whole group. As the only American there (technically there was a woman who was originally from the US but has lived in Denmark for 16 years so she doesn't count) it was a little overwhelming at first. But of course, games are games regardless of where you're from so it was really fun. We played a game of tag where when you got tagged you formed a growing chain of people as well as a game similar to ball tag where if you got hit with the ball you had to remove one limb until you were hopping around with one leg and your arms behind your back. During this game, I had a little 'confrontation.' When I got hit with the ball I put my left arm behind my back instead of my right and apparently this was unfair. Given my miniscule knowledge of Danish so far, I could only stand there helplessly with the wrong arm behind my back as I was berated by a 10 year old boy. The best part was that I got to test out my handball skills. Applying my goalie experience from water polo, I thought I'd give it a go in net and I experienced mixed results. I let in more goals to children than I'd like to admit but afterward my host brother assured me that I was actually pretty good.

This afternoon I toured Frederiksborg Slot in Hillerod with my host family minus the kids. The castles around here never cease to amaze me. There's nothing like them in the US so they're always unreal. This castle in particular was built mostly in the 17th century and Christian 4 used it as his home. Claus told me that the king would use a small island in the lake around the castle to have parties with women. When the queen became suspicious she rowed over to the island only to find no women because the king had seen her coming and rowed them away in the opposite direction. After the castle I got my first real taste of Danish pizza. I was not disappointed, although it was strange for me to eat my Hawaiian pizza with a knife and fork. Then we went to the mall in Hillerod to find chocolate chips at the Bilka. The mall was pretty standard sized despite Maiken being convinced that every mall in America had to be much larger. The Bilka was like a mix between a Target and a grocery store. After some heavy digging we found chocolate chips and unfortunately along the way Claus got the idea of making me try calf's tongue for dinner one night. It didn't look very appetizing but I trust that Maiken's a good enough cook to make it eatable. 

Bonus: My parents sent me candy from the US that you would never find here so I could let my family try it. Last night I had them try Nerds Rope. It was much sweeter than the candy they're used to but they still liked it; at least they said they did.

Frederiksborg Slot






I didn't know they outsourced from Jersey. (This is not where we ate)


My Danish Hawaiian pizza

Monday, January 28, 2013

Things I Learned Today

1. With a little effort I can successfully give someone directions on how to get somewhere in Copenhagen.
I met two students who were studying in Denmark and spending the day in Copenhagen because they study way out of the way from the city somewhere. They came up to me asking for directions, either because I'm clearly an American or they just took a shot in the dark and got lucky. Their maps were confusing and I struggled a bit but I think I sent them in the right direction. Hopefully they found their bus stop.

2. Buying a Polo shirt in Copenhagen is an investment.
During my free time today I wandered around a mall in the city and inside was a Polo Ralph Lauren store. A solid color polo shirt was 999dk or roughly 180USD. I guess this means that when I wear my green Polo shirt I got for 20 bucks at the outlet store I look like a high roller.

3. A Danish language professor will embarrass you in front of everyone.
Fortunately, that person was not me. Today in class we were learning about when in a sentence a word like not or also appears. Every time ikke (not) or også (also) is used, it comes third in the order of the sentence after the subject and verb. When a girl continued to mess up the order our professor asked her point blank if she could count to three; not as a joke. She won't be volunteering an answer again any time soon. I have been assured that this is not typical of Danes and not reflective of the population.

4. It's nice to get a taste from home at your home away from home.
I've been trying all kinds of foods since I arrived in Denmark that Americans don't traditionally eat. One thing that I haven't had in the two weeks since I got here, though, is peanut butter. That is, until I came home to this tonight:
 



Saturday, January 26, 2013

A Night in Helsingor

Last night was my first experience going out in Helsingor, Denmark, which is a short train ride from my host home. I went with another DIS student, Geena, that lives in my town here. (See Geena, I did mention you.) We learned a lot throughout the night about how the Danes approach night life and the trends. The main thing that we learned was that nothing happens early on in the night; something we need to adjust to considering how early we wake up in the morning.

The first bar we went into was a culture shock in itself. Geena and I, plus another DIS student we met up with, were by far the youngest people in the bar by about 30 years. Not wanting to abruptly turn around and leave because we were out of our element, we ordered a beer, Svaneke Mørk Guldands all around, and picked out a booth to sit in while we watched the first half of the IHF Handball semifinal between Denmark and Croatia. Despite the bewildered looks we were attracting from the locals, it was an enjoyable experience as we tried to figure out what we would be doing with the rest of our night.

A little after 9 we headed to what seemed to be our best bet at meeting people our own age: a bar called Retro. Because Helsingor is pretty far from Copenhagen there was little chance of meeting anyone else from America so we had a good chance to meet new Danes. Unfortunately, we didn't get the memo that nothing gets going in Danish bars until past 1am. By midnight, though, more people started to file into the bar and we finally got our first real taste of interacting with locals our age. We struck up conversation with a Dane wearing an American flag sweater, a sure fire way of getting an American to talk to you.

As the night progressed, I learned a few things about being an American away from home while talking to a group of guys from Sweden. If you start talking about American music, they will order a round of drinks and offer you one. If you talk about American sports, they will order a round of drinks and offer you one. If you attempt to speak the native language and your pronunciation is intelligible, they will order a round of drinks and offer you one. Geena had some other theories like that they thought I was Jason Segel or something, but who knows? Whatever it was, I discovered that ASAP Rocky and Kendrick Lamar are popular even in Denmark.

When we decided to call it quits past two (after all we had been up since 6am to get to class that morning) we found the night bus to take us home to Fredensborg. Riding the night bus was quite entertaining in itself, with Danish teenagers singing American songs they only knew the words to, but not the meanings of the words they were saying.

As I'm writing I have the difficult task of deciding which soccer game to watch, as there are six live games on television right now. There's an FA Cup match, two Bundesliga matches, a La Liga match, a Serie A match, and an African championship group stage match. And then there's the IHF Handball Bronze Medal game. This would be unheard of back home. I went with the Man U-Fulham game.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Urban Artwork

On Wednesday I headed into Copenhagen to be a tourist. I was successful in some aspects, as I explored the National Museum and wandered around some new streets around the city. But because of the cloudy weather, I failed to take any touristy pictures. The best ones I could muster were of some cool graffiti I found near the Copenhagen main train station. Check it out:













Tuesday, January 22, 2013

It's been that long already?!

It's now Tuesday and I've been here in Denmark for ten days tomorrow. I am already pretty adjusted to my daily life here and have settled into a nice routine. I've been working on my Danish, both in class and with my host family. What I've struggled with pronouncing most are consonants followed by 'r' sounds such as in Frederik, Christian, Frue, kronet, tre, etc. It's so tempting to pronounce a hard 'r' in all those words when it's really more of a throat clearing sound.

Life here is much different than my daily routine in Vermont. I wake up very early like most Danes and take the train into the city for class. On Tuesdays and Fridays this means leaving the house around 6:55 to catch the 7:10 train to Hillerød and then I hop on the E line of the S-Tog to Vesterport Station. My class at 8:30 is a short walk from that train station. This is much different than last semester where on Mondays and Wednesdays I could sleep as long as I wanted before my 3:15 class, my only class of the day. Unlike at school where I tend to waste time between and after classes, the commute has been a great tool to get work done so that I can relax and do fun things when I get home. It's taken some getting used to but having someone to ride the train with most days makes the ride go by fast if I don't have any work to do. 

Tomorrow is my first Wednesday off to do as I please. Classes don't meet on Wednesdays here so I plan to take advantage of this time tomorrow to be a true tourist. I'll post some pictures of my sight seeing soon.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Lazy Sunday

Today I had two firsts: my first wienerbrod with the family for breakfast (it's what you'd call a Danish). Also, this afternoon I took my first trip to Fredensborg Slot with Claus. Yes, there's a castle less than a mile walk from my house. The only people living there now are there to maintain it, but in April the royal family, including the queen of Denmark will come to live there for the spring and summer. We'll be there to welcome her with fakler, which poorly translates to torches. (With the translation differences, at first I thought we would be angrily gathering around the palace with torches, but instead it is a welcoming celebration with torches; something we don't have in the states.) Here's some pictures of the days festivities.
Not a bad way to start off the morning
This way to the slot
Main street of Fredensborg



Where the guard goes when it rains

Fredensborg Slot