This week has been a typical week of school work. The usual academic tests, papers, and last and most certainly least, group projects -- the epitome of academic hell. However, I get by with a little help from my friends... well, by that I mean listening to songs by Christina Perri and Adele on repeat...and watching Veronica Mars.... again. (I just wanted to quote the Beatles)
Now, one might ask... how does listening to music and watching tv help with your academic work? In reality it doesn't... but it makes me happy enough to tolerate writing papers, working on group projects, and studying for tests. It's the balance in life that is essential folks.
Besides the academic going-ons I have begun to plan where I will be dragging my parents once they arrive in Copenhagen... IN 9 DAYS :) I'm looking forward to seeing them, and also eating real food. On the agenda is the Carlsberg Brewery, the infamous Pusher Street in Christiania (known for the nonchalant drug dealers illegally selling right out in the open), as well as a plethora of Castles and mandatory historical landmarks.
Lastly, I've discovered how truly amazing google is this week. Googledocs is essential for when you are forced to do group projects.. and google even has their own international phone that allows me to call any number in the US through my computer for FREE. YAY. It's fair to say that since discovering that I've used calling my parents as a new and creative form of procrastination. Ellen DeGeneres would be proud.
Hopefully I'll have more entertaining stories for you in the near future.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Yaks...they aren't Imaginary
There is nothing better than feeling like a little kid again. And that is exactly what I felt like for part of this week. Besides having to deal with a lot of grown up things, like booking traveling plans, checking bank accounts, picking senior year classes, figuring out housing for my summer internship...., on Tuesday and Wednesday I felt like I was a little kid exploring the world again.
On Tuesday I took a bike ride through the farm area around my Kollegium. I saw goats, sheep, yaks (they really exist!?), and horses. We had carrots with us, so we went up to the goats and horses and fed them. It was just like being at a petting zoo, except it was practically in my backyard... so even better!
On Wednesday, I had two field trips. It reminded me of my Elementary School days... except with a little more substance behind them. The first one was to Berlingske Media, which is the largest media house in Denmark. The office building was really cool. It was such an open environment, and seemed really laid back but still efficient. After that I sat outside on one of the statues outside of Parliament and ate lunch enjoying the lovely weather. My second field trip was to Parliament, where we had the youngest MP give us a tour of the place and talk to us about the role of the European Action Committee.
However, besides feeling like a little kid for a few days, by far the best part of this week has been the weather. We have been close to 60 degrees here for the last 3 days. Denmark is a completely different place when it's nice and sunny out. People start to sit out on the park benches or statues, all the cafes and restaurants have outdoor seating. Now I have a three day weekend. Unfortunately it is going to be filled mostly with reading, writing, and studying, but most importantly SLEEP!
On Tuesday I took a bike ride through the farm area around my Kollegium. I saw goats, sheep, yaks (they really exist!?), and horses. We had carrots with us, so we went up to the goats and horses and fed them. It was just like being at a petting zoo, except it was practically in my backyard... so even better!
On Wednesday, I had two field trips. It reminded me of my Elementary School days... except with a little more substance behind them. The first one was to Berlingske Media, which is the largest media house in Denmark. The office building was really cool. It was such an open environment, and seemed really laid back but still efficient. After that I sat outside on one of the statues outside of Parliament and ate lunch enjoying the lovely weather. My second field trip was to Parliament, where we had the youngest MP give us a tour of the place and talk to us about the role of the European Action Committee.
However, besides feeling like a little kid for a few days, by far the best part of this week has been the weather. We have been close to 60 degrees here for the last 3 days. Denmark is a completely different place when it's nice and sunny out. People start to sit out on the park benches or statues, all the cafes and restaurants have outdoor seating. Now I have a three day weekend. Unfortunately it is going to be filled mostly with reading, writing, and studying, but most importantly SLEEP!
Monday, March 21, 2011
The Only Time You Will See American College Students Excited about Soccer.... I mean Fodbold
Yesterday I embarked on an epic adventure. About half of DIS as well as myself decided that it is seemingly impossible to get a real feel for Danish culture without going to a soccer game. So off we went to see F.C. Kobenhavn vs. Brondby. It was quite exciting because it is the fiercest rivalry in the Danish Soccer league. After giving up the first goal to Brondby, FCK came back in full force after halftime to win the game 3-1, with an amazing last second goal! To add a little more excitement, the Brondby fans were protesting at the game and many of them boycotted due to new rules requiring them to get fingerprinted when entering the game.
--- inserting my own tangent here: why is it that when I need to get fingerprinted for a Summer internship with the USAO that it is nearly impossible to get my fingerprints taken, but when there are disputes at soccer games, all of a sudden 1,500 people who don't even want their fingerprints taken have the opportunity. Not only is this occurring at the game, but also at A Bar the other night. Security, had electronic fingerprint scanners to ensure that they didn't let anyone in who had been kicked out in the last 3 months. INSANITY I TELL YOU!
---now back to scheduled programming: So, the game. Apparently the last time Brondby came to Parken Stadium in CPH, they lit off flares inside the stadium and some of the stadium seats caught fire. Hence the reason they were increasing security. Anyways, FCK won! YAYYYY
Also, if you note the title of this post you will see one of the many peculiarities of the Danish language. Soccer = futbol in most of Europe, but in Danish it is Fodbold... this is because the letter 'd' sounds nothing lie our version. Example: Vestergade is the street DIS is on, but it is pronounced Vestergall.. others
Y's sounds like U's - Valby = Valboo
E's are often A's : Roskilde = Roskilla
and some you just don't know why : Stroget = Strull
Hope you all enjoyed your Danish lesson!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Procrastination.... It is in fact universal, I'm living Proof
For those of you who don't know, I'm a huge Ellen DeGeneres fan. In her "Here and Now" stand up routine she talks about procrastination... it becomes one huge joke throughout the whole set, but by far the best line was her closing line -
"Procrastination isn’t the problem, it’s the solution. So procrastinate now, don’t put it off."
Ellen Degeneres: Here and Now
the clip gets good around 2 minutes, and the procrastination part starts at 4 minutes...
watch it, you'll enjoy it... i promise
Seeing as Ellen is always right in my opinion, I've decided to take her advice, and that is why I am now blogging instead of starting my paper that is due tomorrow.
First of all, I need to make a shout out to those who helped me with my security clearance woes -- without your secret communication channel I would have never been successful in getting my fingerprints taken this week. It was quite the experience. Security at the Embassy is very peculiar, and they made me drink from my water bottle in order to prove that I wasn't smuggling poison into the embassy. When I was finally in, the lady at the booth looked at me like I was crazy for trying to get my finger prints taken. I explained to some mean man that I needed them for an internship at the USAO. He asked me if they told me specifically to go to the US Embassy. I replied that they weren't very helpful in giving me instructions... And he just scoffed and said "typical, no surprise there". I then informed him I was under them impression that there was a finger print kit there, and he got very suspicious and asked me how I knew that... Finally I had to ask for a secret source I was given because they mean man was of no use. I should have told him that it shouldn't be "typical" for the embassy staff to be so rude and useless. However, I was eventually saved and successfully got my fingerprints taken and ink all over me.
Today I went on a field study to the Cold War Museum in Denmark. Now my first thought was, "really, the Danes were so involved in the Cold War that they even have a museum about it?" But upon further reflection it made sense seeing as they are part of NATO. The museum wasn't really a museum, it was in fact a 2 room building... with a lot of missiles and guns nearby. The really cool part was the underground fortress. IT WAS HUGE. There were in fact 2 fortresses with series of tunnels stretching over 2 km connecting them. Also, it was right on the water, so when we opened one of the doors to the bunker we were actually hanging out on the side of a cliff! We played around with the guns pushing buttons that said fire and destroy... typical activities for kids who are about 10 years old.. not 20, but needless to say we were entertained.
I suppose I should get back to my paper, and by get back to my paper I really mean start writing my paper. Procrastination can't last forever... or can it? Ellen, do you have any answers to this?
"Procrastination isn’t the problem, it’s the solution. So procrastinate now, don’t put it off."
Ellen Degeneres: Here and Now
the clip gets good around 2 minutes, and the procrastination part starts at 4 minutes...
watch it, you'll enjoy it... i promise
Seeing as Ellen is always right in my opinion, I've decided to take her advice, and that is why I am now blogging instead of starting my paper that is due tomorrow.
First of all, I need to make a shout out to those who helped me with my security clearance woes -- without your secret communication channel I would have never been successful in getting my fingerprints taken this week. It was quite the experience. Security at the Embassy is very peculiar, and they made me drink from my water bottle in order to prove that I wasn't smuggling poison into the embassy. When I was finally in, the lady at the booth looked at me like I was crazy for trying to get my finger prints taken. I explained to some mean man that I needed them for an internship at the USAO. He asked me if they told me specifically to go to the US Embassy. I replied that they weren't very helpful in giving me instructions... And he just scoffed and said "typical, no surprise there". I then informed him I was under them impression that there was a finger print kit there, and he got very suspicious and asked me how I knew that... Finally I had to ask for a secret source I was given because they mean man was of no use. I should have told him that it shouldn't be "typical" for the embassy staff to be so rude and useless. However, I was eventually saved and successfully got my fingerprints taken and ink all over me.
Today I went on a field study to the Cold War Museum in Denmark. Now my first thought was, "really, the Danes were so involved in the Cold War that they even have a museum about it?" But upon further reflection it made sense seeing as they are part of NATO. The museum wasn't really a museum, it was in fact a 2 room building... with a lot of missiles and guns nearby. The really cool part was the underground fortress. IT WAS HUGE. There were in fact 2 fortresses with series of tunnels stretching over 2 km connecting them. Also, it was right on the water, so when we opened one of the doors to the bunker we were actually hanging out on the side of a cliff! We played around with the guns pushing buttons that said fire and destroy... typical activities for kids who are about 10 years old.. not 20, but needless to say we were entertained.
I suppose I should get back to my paper, and by get back to my paper I really mean start writing my paper. Procrastination can't last forever... or can it? Ellen, do you have any answers to this?
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Beer, Waffles, and Chocolate - At DIS they call this Class!
I'm sure you all have been eagerly awaiting my newest blog post due to my short hiatus.
It's hard to describe the week I've just had. A week of non-stop moving, exploring, eating, drinking, and well... I suppose I could add learning.
On Sunday my class and I departed for Brussels. By that I mean, everyone who made the flight. Three students missed the flight and had to get there on their own. The plane was practically empty and I had an entire row to myself to lay down and sleep. We landed and went to lunch in the square called Grand Place. One of the most beautiful places I have ever seen! (Pictures below) Then I embarked on a 3 hour walking tour of the Art Nouveau in Brussels... though I'm still not quite sure what it is. After that we had time on our own, and basically the entire class ended up at Delirium (a bar) for the night. The bar was three floors and had over 200 different choices for beer. We returned there again each and every night for the... lovely atmosphere.... the intellectual conversations... but mostly just for the delicious beer. I highly suggest Barbar Beer... which is a unique Belgian beer, and one of my new favorites!
The next two days were packed with activities that enabled us to explore many aspects of the EU and other related organizations. We went to NATO headquarters in Brussels, the Danish Representation to the EU, we visited the EU Commission, the EU Parliament (picture below) and interviewed both a permanent representative for the Netherlands as well as a lobbyist for the City of Malmo. The interviews were especially interesting because we gained personal insight into the functioning of the EU. I also have to mention some great quotes from the guy we spoke to at NATO
- It's like on facebook, the best way to describe EU/NATO relations is simply... it's complicated
-Brazil: They are a peaceful unaligned country that just sells guns to everybody.
-We made a tiny little mistake and bombed the Chinese Embassy... oops. But we now have googlemaps to clear that stuff up. Unfortunately, googlemaps also can tell you where we hide our nuclear weapons....
Above is the EU Parliament plenary meeting room... and to the left are the flags outside the EU Commission. In between our visits we had time to walk around on our own, and I got to see the Royal Palace in Brussels, the Arc of Independence, and a lot of other amazing sights. (Pictures are on my facebook page)
While the learning was a key part of the trip, understanding the culture was equally important! That's why we went to Planete Chocolate and learned how to make our own pralines. We dined at restaurants that served mussels in Brussels, and Belgian waffles. And we also made sure to have a beer tasting at a La Trappe, a Trappist beer Monastery....as well as our own tasting at Delirium.
Here you can see Kathy and I making Pralines... the sign outside the Monastery, and our first of the six beers we tasted.
We left Brussels and headed to The Hague where we went to the Danish Embassy and also the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia where we saw the Karadzic hearing. After our short stay in The Hague we departed for an afternoon in Amsterdam. We had a fantastic lunch, (our professor bought everyone a round of beer because he just became a grandfather) followed by a canal tour through Amsterdam and a quick trip to the Red Light District.
Overall I had an amazing time! I only wish the trip was longer!
It's hard to describe the week I've just had. A week of non-stop moving, exploring, eating, drinking, and well... I suppose I could add learning.
On Sunday my class and I departed for Brussels. By that I mean, everyone who made the flight. Three students missed the flight and had to get there on their own. The plane was practically empty and I had an entire row to myself to lay down and sleep. We landed and went to lunch in the square called Grand Place. One of the most beautiful places I have ever seen! (Pictures below) Then I embarked on a 3 hour walking tour of the Art Nouveau in Brussels... though I'm still not quite sure what it is. After that we had time on our own, and basically the entire class ended up at Delirium (a bar) for the night. The bar was three floors and had over 200 different choices for beer. We returned there again each and every night for the... lovely atmosphere.... the intellectual conversations... but mostly just for the delicious beer. I highly suggest Barbar Beer... which is a unique Belgian beer, and one of my new favorites!
- It's like on facebook, the best way to describe EU/NATO relations is simply... it's complicated
-Brazil: They are a peaceful unaligned country that just sells guns to everybody.
-We made a tiny little mistake and bombed the Chinese Embassy... oops. But we now have googlemaps to clear that stuff up. Unfortunately, googlemaps also can tell you where we hide our nuclear weapons....
While the learning was a key part of the trip, understanding the culture was equally important! That's why we went to Planete Chocolate and learned how to make our own pralines. We dined at restaurants that served mussels in Brussels, and Belgian waffles. And we also made sure to have a beer tasting at a La Trappe, a Trappist beer Monastery....as well as our own tasting at Delirium.
We left Brussels and headed to The Hague where we went to the Danish Embassy and also the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia where we saw the Karadzic hearing. After our short stay in The Hague we departed for an afternoon in Amsterdam. We had a fantastic lunch, (our professor bought everyone a round of beer because he just became a grandfather) followed by a canal tour through Amsterdam and a quick trip to the Red Light District.
Overall I had an amazing time! I only wish the trip was longer!
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Travel Time!
Not only am I going to embark on my long study tour tomorrow, but I am almost completely done booking stuff for my spring break adventure through Europe! In the next month and a half I will be meandering through Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, London, and Scotland!
Tomorrow at the crack of dawn I'm heading to Brussels. Some highlights of my time there will include Chocolate, Trappist Beer, and Mussels. Enjoying the food is essential in understanding the culture... well my professor certainly thinks so. Don't you fret though, there will be plenty of educational things occurring as well. We are visiting the US Mission to NATO, the EU Commission, the European Parliament, interviewing Nation's representatives, the Hague, and The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. It will definitely be a busy week!
But now for the exciting part... I've decided on my Spring break plans! I will be going from Copenhagen to Berlin, to Prague, to London, to Bath, and finally to Glasgow, Scotland. I will be enjoying the first week with my parents (yay!) and the second week with my friends in Bath and Glasgow. I've booked everything except my flight back to Copenhagen... so worst case scenario, I just don't come back to school!
It's definitely going to be a busy/fun/amazing next 2 months
Tomorrow at the crack of dawn I'm heading to Brussels. Some highlights of my time there will include Chocolate, Trappist Beer, and Mussels. Enjoying the food is essential in understanding the culture... well my professor certainly thinks so. Don't you fret though, there will be plenty of educational things occurring as well. We are visiting the US Mission to NATO, the EU Commission, the European Parliament, interviewing Nation's representatives, the Hague, and The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. It will definitely be a busy week!
But now for the exciting part... I've decided on my Spring break plans! I will be going from Copenhagen to Berlin, to Prague, to London, to Bath, and finally to Glasgow, Scotland. I will be enjoying the first week with my parents (yay!) and the second week with my friends in Bath and Glasgow. I've booked everything except my flight back to Copenhagen... so worst case scenario, I just don't come back to school!
It's definitely going to be a busy/fun/amazing next 2 months
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Various forms of Entertainment
Most of you know that there is nothing I like more than doing nothing. That's right... sitting on my butt all day watching tv, sounds like paradise to me. So it should come as no surprise that I've been feeling quite deprived here in Denmark because I can't access Hulu, Netflix, Pandora and other forms of online American entertainment. But, fear no more. I have figured out a solution! Freshman year I had to download something called VPN so I could access my Library's database even when I wasn't on campus. It re-routes something and deceives your computer into thinking you're still back at F&M. Luckily it works her in Denmark as well! So now on top of having my Slingbox, I can also watch shows online! YAY
Since I now have endless ways to amuse myself I thought it would only be fair if I provided you with some lovely entertainment as well. In my Virtual Worlds class this week we had to create a Digital Story. So my group hit the streets of Copenhagen (as well as the halls of DIS) to put together a guide for surviving in Denmark. (However the title got messed up and shows up as Lalalala title.... Surviving in Denmark?) Oops. Anyways here's a link to our video, it you watch it all the way to the end (don't worry it's only 2 minutes) I promise you'll get a kick out of my facial expression.
A Guide to Surviving In Denmark - Digital Story
Tomorrow I get my Itinerary for my trip to Belgium and The Netherlands! I'm sooo excited! I'll be sure to update you guys on what I will be doing.
Since I now have endless ways to amuse myself I thought it would only be fair if I provided you with some lovely entertainment as well. In my Virtual Worlds class this week we had to create a Digital Story. So my group hit the streets of Copenhagen (as well as the halls of DIS) to put together a guide for surviving in Denmark. (However the title got messed up and shows up as Lalalala title.... Surviving in Denmark?) Oops. Anyways here's a link to our video, it you watch it all the way to the end (don't worry it's only 2 minutes) I promise you'll get a kick out of my facial expression.
A Guide to Surviving In Denmark - Digital Story
Tomorrow I get my Itinerary for my trip to Belgium and The Netherlands! I'm sooo excited! I'll be sure to update you guys on what I will be doing.
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