Catch up Post

It's been a little while since I've blogged here, so here are some highlights of my life recently:

1. Finals are happening. The work load is nowhere near what it would be if I was at Smith, but- finals are finals. No fun. I did, however, just do really well on my Danish oral presentation which I never imaged I would a) be taking a Danish language class or b) be kind of good at it? Other than that, it's been mostly tests, I REALLY REALLY miss writing papers. I have my last exam today for my Virtual Worlds and Social Media class. No parents, I should not stop blogging and be studying for that BECAUSE my blogs are part of my class grade.
   
2. Had a productive? Interesting? Awesome? Embarrassing? Last night at Vela last weekend. Oh, my one little Danish lesbian bar, I will miss you. Involved me, unsuccessfully, trying to charm a 30 year old, recently divorced from her lesbian marriage, mother of two, who's current girlfriend was there... but she was really hot!
   
3. Had my third night of having to call my house to be picked up because I couldn't get home. This third time was after Vela and I fell asleep on the train- oops- and had to wait for Steen to come pick me up. I did, however, get to see the sunrise.
   
4. Got to see Sam's host dad perform at a really famous club called Rust! He is in a funky electronic band and they were really good and it was a really awesome experience to see a Dane that I knew play live.
5. Spent a wonderful afternoon outside at the beach for the DIS picnic. My family and I went and we brought Bobby and the weather was just perfect and Mathias didn't even throw me in the ocean.

And now you are all caught up! Wish me luck on my last final!

Danish Easter Lunch!

Yesterday my family and I did an Easter lunch. Basically, Easter is another excuse in Denmark to drink and eat a lot of good food. Love this country. We were sitting at the table for over three hours and had lots of different foods, so, I'm going to list the courses for you all at home who are wondering what a traditional-ish (My family does not do the exact traditional Danish Easter lunch, they do mostly what they like and what they know will be eaten, makes sense to me, but the foods are all still very traditional) lunch is like!

Start off- cold, fish dishes:
pickled herring
breads
curry salad
onions
hard boiled eggs
shrimps
mayo
lemons
Most people take a piece of bread and put a few pieces of herring on it, then put onions and curry salad on top of the fish. Another option is the shrimp on the bread with some mayo and lemon. The curry salad also goes very well with the eggs.

Next, warm dishes:
I forget exactly what they are called, but we started off with these little tart pastries that are basically mini chicken pot pies and are delicious.
Quiche
Frikadeller
Pork roast
warm liver pâté with bacon

As you can imagine, the meal is extremely filling. Top all the food off with tons of beer and snaps, and consider yourself happy, full, and drunk.

Is this real life?

I'm wearing SHORTS and a TANK TOP and we had breakfast OUTSIDE this morning?!

Hellooooooo Springtime in Copenhagen!!

Shopping and Table making

So, this morning my host mom wakes me up at the crack of 10:30 and asks if I want to go shopping with her and my host father. I roll out of bed and get ready and we head off. We end up going to this mall- City 2, which my family claims is the biggest mall in Denmark. I wouldn't be surprised. The place is pretty massive. So we shop around, they get some shoes, it is always creepily comforting to be in a mall. Thanks, America.

Next we go to Ikea because they need a new table to put their BBQ on. We have lunch there and walk around and they tease each other about who will buy more things that they do not really need. Steen won.

We head home and immediately Steen hands me the box with the table inside and tells me to make it. Well, I'm not doing anything else, so he and I get to it. No fighting. No missing screws. And I was awesome. It was so much fun. Hold of on the lesbian jokes everyone. I think it derives from my love for Legos as a child!

SPRING BREAK! (Budapest)

And now to tell about the longest leg of the journey. Where to even begin. I think I'll do a post of highlights.

• Spent a wonderful afternoon with Bobby and Kristina in our apartment playing Kings and Asshole drinking and having a blast
• First night going out, went to a HUGE club with a million differently themed rooms. Had a Hungarian producer buy us shots but then Bobby told him I was a lesbian. LOLZ.
  
• Saw Parliament, walked across the bridge to Buda and climbed up to the Palace.
• 
• Spent an afternoon at the baths- absolutely incredible. Massive, beautiful buildings with endless warm pools and saunas.
  
• Had goulash. Yum.
• Went to Margaret Island and to another club and danced after going to a Gypsy party???
  
• All in all, Budapest is GORGEOUS. I would love to go back. It's also extremely CHEAP. Which was nice nice nice.
  

SPRING BREAK! (Dresden)

On Tuesday we took a train to Dresden. It was a beautiful day and the train ride was very nice for a nap and to see just how beautiful Germany is.

Once we get to Dresden, we have some trouble finding our hostel. However, just like any good Americans, we had a McDonald's moment to save us. I'm only telling you all this because it was such a good advertisement for McDonald's: Two young Americans show up in a new European city and get lost. But, there in the distance, they see the Golden Arches. "Ah Ha!" One exclaims, "McDonald's usually has free wireless internet! We can find out where we are!" So, the two go in and are immediately more hungry than they realized. After grabbing a delicious snack and figuring out where they are, the two are ready to go! Thanks, McDonald's for always being there! Huge eye roll.

In Dresden, we saw some sights and walked around for a long time. My mind was once again blown by how beautiful the city is. Each of the cities I visit just surprise me. Dresden is especially amazing because of how new everything is, rebuilt etc, even though the city has so much history. It's a very interesting contrast to experience.

SPRING BREAK! (Berlin)

I returned last night from Spring Breaking in Berlin, Dresden, and Budapest! What a trip...

Let's start out with my first stop: Berlin. I traveled there with my friend Bobby because he was dying to go to Berghain- one, if not THE, most famous club in the world. Bobby would kill me if he knew I was listening to Britney Spears right now while writing about Berghain. Anyway, we hop on a plane on Saturday and fly off to Germany. I'll say right now, we did absolutely NOTHING traditionally touristy in Berlin, so, I'll probably have to go back someday. We saw lots of tourist looking famous buildings on the bus to our hostel, but that was about it. Oops.

The weather in Berlin was INCREDIBLE. Sunny, warm, amazing. We spent many afternoons just relaxing by the river in the sun. We also went to the same hookah bar every night. Don't worry, we got free shots one night for being so loyal. It was just so nice to be in a new city, enjoy perfect weather, and relax with beers, fruity drinks, and hookah.



Oh, but back to Berghain! We show up around 2 after checking out some other pretty chill bars. The line is HUGE. Basically, the club is located in an old warehouse so like, it doesn't seem like you are waiting to get into a huge famous club at all. It seems like you are a moron standing with a bunch of other morons in the middle of a field. So, we wait in line for about an hour, watching groups of people getting turned away at the door. Basically, Berghain keeps its cool by creating a consistently fresh feeling group of people they let in. There is no rhyme or logic to who they turn away, so Bobby and I were pretty nervous. Finally, we get to the front. The group of boys in front of us gets turned away but we keep our composure. Then, just like that, we are waved in. YUP. So we go in. We are ushered along through security and then enter the first room. Let me just say, no other club has anything on this place, not even at all. Sorry, Divas. Berghain is amazing. The sound was incredible. The setting...indescribable. Passageways everywhere to other hidden away rooms, amazing light shows in their main clubbing areas, a room where they serve ice cream, a massive swing, just incredible. I won't really try to describe it, you should all try to go for yourselves.

So yeah, as I said, the rest of Berlin was spent mostly just chilling out and walking around awesome areas and finding nice parks to relax in. There was, however, that one night of karaoke...
Our last night in Berlin, we went to this karaoke bar. The night we happened to go on was gay themed, and the entire place was filled with punk style gay men. We were in the main karaoke room and the guys singing were doing songs that Bobby and I had never heard before ever. So, obviously, to fit in, I get up there and do BABY GOT BACK. I'm pretty sure they loved it by the end, but at first it was clear they were just so confused as to what a lady was doing up on their stage rapping to a song about liking big butts. Life. Win.

Head start

You know those mornings where you wake up accidentally at like, 4:30 am and you can't get back to sleep so you wander around town or get a head start on your chores for the day, or something? Sometimes that's what it feels like here in Denmark. Knowing that I'm 6 hours ahead of the US and everyone in it. Even being so far away, sometimes it still feels like I'm so attached to my life at home and the people in it. So when I know I'm awake and everything there is dark and asleep, it's an odd feeling. It's a weird feeling. Like to be the only one awake and going with the day. Just some thoughts!

AMSTERDAM

I know I'm super behind on updating you all on my life, so here we go!

A few weekends ago I took off to Amsterdam with Sam and two guys from DIS. First of all, Amsterdam is BEAUTIFUL. Our hotel was in a great location, a close walk to touristy things and also Vondelpark where we spent lots of time walking around the green grass, near ponds, and over bridges. A very nice break from the gray, cold, stone surroundings of Copenhagen.

On Friday, we woke up early and headed out for a canal tour! The tour was beautiful and we saw many sites of the city. It's really interesting how the harbors weave through the entire city. In the evening, we went to Anne Frank's house. This was pretty intense. Seeing her actual diary, the bookcase, everything. Very non-vacation feeling, but still glad we went. After Anne Frank, we did another Amsterdam must and headed to the Red Light District. This was... yeah. I could only take so much. What a job that is.

Saturday we started the day off by visiting my favorite brewery/museum tour as of yet: THE HEINEKEN EXPERIENCE. We got to see the old factory equipment, go on a ride, get sprayed by beer, go through a taste testing, and of course we got some free beer. Brainwashed for sure. After getting a little drunk on the tour, we headed off to the Diamond Museum. Still not positive why we did this. Oh yeah, it was free and Sam likes shiny things. Then we went to the Van Gogh museum which was actually incredible. We spent the night club hopping. There may have been a poll involved at some point or another. Maybe.

And yeah! There's the PG version of my trip to Amsterdam!

Last tuesday: funny lesbian story and the ROSS boys!

So, last Tuesday was an all around great day. I spent over 2 hours just walking by myself around the city. The sun was out, it wasn't too cold, it was very very nice.

In the evening, I have a movie screening to go to for my Danish class. We see Idioterne (The Idiots), a Dogma film which... was pretty emotionally exhausting. So afterwords my friend Bobby and I decide that we definitely need a beer, or a few, so we head to Floss. We're just chillin, chatting, and I happen to nudge him at one point and say- look a lesbian. In the crowd was a short haired, flannel wearing, very obvious to me, lesbian. Bobby questioned me, through the Floss smoke haze it is very difficult to see sometimes. Ha.

Anyway, the night goes on! We meet up with Sam and her brothers, who are visiting, at Billy Booze Discount Bar- obviously obsessed with this place. It was really awesome to see them and we all just hung out and had a nice time. I'm attaching this picture, not only because we look like we could be siblings, but because we MATCH!


So then I'm on the train home. I'm looking down at my phone playing the little racing game when all of a sudden I hear... blahblahdanishdanishFLOSS? So I look up, since I was at Floss earlier in the night, and literally two seats in front of me facing me IS THE LESBIAN FROM FLOSS. I quickly say that I don't speak Danish and she says- "oh, sorry, were you at Floss earlier tonight? I thought I recognized you." WHAT UP. We didn't even speak at Floss. I just like to think I'm that memorable. So I laugh and say that I indeed was. She goes on to talk about how she was just there for a party and it isn't her usual place...and then she bluntly asks, "So, are you a lesbian or whatever?" I burst out laughing. We are in a train car with other people and I go into hysterics momentarily. Then, I compose myself and answer- why yes I am. We end up chatting for the twenty minutes of my train ride, exchanging numbers (no she is NOT my type), and she invites me over to her place to play with her dog. How hilarious is my life?

I can now cook an entire meal!

For those of you who know my cooking skills, you should all be very impressed. I have now been taught how to make an amazing tomato soup, frikadeller (Danish meatballs) and I can also make Danish pancakes! That's a three course meal right there!

London: Saturday

Last day in London. Took our last tube ride over to Camden Market and spent the morning wandering around all the little stands and shops. It was MASSIVE and there were so many different stands with clothing, jewelry, random stuff, foods, everything.

Then we had afternoon tea at the Chestfield Mayfair. A way-too-fancy hotel considering we were a bunch of 20 year old exhausted American kids. Delicious though.


Then we got on the plane and headed back to Copenhagen! Goodbye, warm, beautiful, amazing London!

Overall, the trip was one of the best weeks of my life. I saw so much, I learned so much, and I had an awesome time. Tak, DIS!

London: Friday

Friday was an AMAZING day. It began with a trip in a small group to a company called 3 Fish in a Tree that does really any sort of advertising work in any sort of medium for any sort of company. The company consists of a bunch of graphic designers and they take on all sorts of projects and their boss just has this amazing work ideology about conserving creative integrity and letting people have fun and explore their potential. Ah! Sign me up. Other than the fact that I am not a graphic designer...

Our next stop was to the Daily Telegraph- how cool is that? Where we heard from the guy that basically does brand integrity work and decides what advertisements go into their publications and which ones don't. I would literally love this job. He has to do with the legal sides, which ads are legally appropriate, but also he gets to analyze ads to decide which ones fit in to their brand identity. HOW MUCH WOULD I LOVE THAT. So much.

After that visit, I separated from the group and met up with a friend for an awesome day of sight seeing. Our first stop: Borough Market. Pretty sure this is basically the most famous gourmet food market in the world or something. Loved it. She made me try a melted cheese sandwich, aka a grilled cheese, but it was amazing. Then we headed to Monument tower and climbed all 311 stairs up to the top for a beautiful view of the city. After climbing back down, we headed over to Tower Bridge and went into the towers and saw the exhibitions.

In the evening, she took me out to dinner. I was informed that we would be going somewhere "nice"... but where we went just blew my mind. If you look at the London skyline was the other side of Waterloo bridge, you'll see the OXO tower. We had dinner in the restaurant at the top of that building.
That's the view from the restaurant's balcony.

After dinner, we walked through Covent Garden and headed to Candy Bar. The only (?) Lesbian bar in London. Yup. Three stories of pure awesome. Ha. It was a lot of fun. Definitely gives Vela in Copenhagen a run for its money! I should probably write up a review of these two lesbian bars on babesandberries. I'll get on that.

Anyway, Friday was awesome and a great last full day in London. I still can't believe how much I saw and how much ground I covered in London in just six days.

London: Thursday

Thursday was our cultural outing day! STONEHENGE AND BATH!

First we visited Stonehenge and had an extremely windy tour with a woman who used many popup books to explain the history and mystery and loves rocks. Of course.



Bath is BEAUTIFUL. Like London, my expectations were blown out of the water. The Roman Baths in themselves are something striking, but the rest of the city is simply stunning. We did a self guided tour of the baths and then ended it with drinking some of the mineral water! The water is supposed to be super good for you but it left a lot of my friends with stomach aches.

London: Wednesday

Wednesday was AWESOME. Got all dressed up nicely because we were going to have business "interviews" later in the day. Headed off to the Danish design museum, which was cool... but mostly just one big room with some funky chairs and gadgets. I played Rock Band 3 for a solid half an hour. I miss Jefferson Warbear now more than ever, and playing the drums with ... what were those, Caity? Pink scrubbing things.

After the museum, went off with my group that would all be going to the production company, Locomotion, later in the day for our interview. We ended up taking a walk through the nicest shopping district in London on our way to get one of the boy's haircut. The walk was long, but London was sunny and it was a very nice way to spend the afternoon. Then we headed to Soho where Locomotion is located and had our meeting which was pretty cool. I'm leaving out a really cool story in between here, so if you're curious about how we met an infamous local named Pam and got free tshirts, let me know and I will fill you in.

After Locomotion, we had a quick academic class all together at the London School of Economics. Then, I spent the night in pubs watching a big soccer, er, football game with a friend and two English girls. It was very culturally awesome. Ha. Then I found my way home on the tube!

London: Tuesday

Our first group activity was visiting Magnum Photo: a famous collective of photographers. Grabbed a quick lunch at Subway, and then headed to Bloomberg Europe. Bloomberg was a bit overwhelming, and I am positive that I do not want to work in their massive, color coordinated office building.

After our academic visits, we had some free time. Some of my friends and I walked along the Queen's Walk and saw Tower Bridge and eventually found our way to the London Eye! It was a beautiful, clear day so the ride was amazing and we could see all of the city.

Afterwords, we wandered around the theater area of the city and had dinner at a nice Italian place before we saw our show, Million Dollar Quartet, which was about the night that Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis were together in a recording studio.

After the show, it was my roommate and another friend on the trip's birthday at midnight so we found a club close to the hotel and danced in their birthday!

London!!! Monday

I'm going to do a post for each day I was in London, so, there will be a lot but I think this is the easiest way to organize and reflect on the trip!

Monday, woke up at the crack of dawn and hopped on the train to head to the airport. The flight was short and as soon as we stepped off the plane in England we were all AMAZED at how sunny and beautiful and warm it was! The bus ride into London was soooo beautiful. Green grass everywhere. A nice break from my charming but freezing, wet, and gray Copenhagen.

Our activity for the first day was a bike tour through the city. I must admit, I had no idea London is as beautiful as it is. We rode through endless green parks, already filled with flowers, over bridges and through the historic city. We saw some of the major sites like Big Ben, Parliament, and Kensington Palace. It was an amazing afternoon. I haven't rode a bike in years and there were some struggles starting and stopping in the middle of busy London streets, but we all survived. I loved it.

For dinner, we had a huge Indian meal, and then headed back to the hotel where I crashed pretty early.

Finally caught up with me...

Aaaand I'm sick. It was bound to happen eventually, I have been surprisingly good at avoiding sore throats while here. But, of course, just two days before I leave for London I would wake up feeling quite sick. Sore throat. Headache. The whole deal. I was a little nervous all day, being in another home and not feeling good, but my host mom has already taken my temperature and assured me that we would keep an eye on it and go to the doctor tomorrow if necessary.

My wonderful host mom has also just run out to get me more soup and tea. So, don't worry mom, I'm being taken care of nicely.

Sign of spring?

Just realized that it is not TOTALLY pitch black outside as I just woke up at the crack of 6:30.

Digital Story Telling Workshop: MADE A MOVIE!

For my Virtual Worlds and Social Media class, we had a workshop on creating digital stories. Our assignment was to make a short film about being a foreigner in Denmark. My partner, Tom, and I took to the streets to come up with some helpful/humorous ways to fight homesickness by finding pieces of America in Copenhagen....

Happy snack?

Didn't even realize this is what my breakfast/lunch looked like until I was about to start eating it...

host parents are back!

tak for gaven!

(thank you for the gift)

They had a wonderful time in India, although apparently the toilets everywhere are beyond disgusting and they are bitten all over with mosquito bites, but they loved it. And they soooo nicely brought me back this necklace! It is made from camel bone, and I believe that is a little elephant carved into it.

midterms happen here too

So, I guess it's midterm season over here in Copenhagen! I just finished my third and final test this morning. Whew. Actually, it's been kind of nice. I won't complain, but the academics at DIS are ... a little different than at Smith. While I do genuinely feel as though I am taking away a lot from the classes, they are structured very differently. I'm learning a lot more practical, real world, occupation-based information and getting some really cool opportunities through work shops, but I have to admit, I would love to write a culturally analytic paper right now. On anything. Any Sociology/American Studies students at Smith have a paper they don't want to write...? Just kidding, kind of.

Last Thursday I had my International Advertising midterm which was actually kind of fun because I'm an advertising nerd. Part of it was having to analyze the target consumer audience of a advertising campaign for a car in Denmark. I hate to say it, because I am terrified of selling my soul to the corporate world, but I do truly love advertising. All of my classes this year have made me realize it. Branding, marketing, advertising, it is all just so awesome.

Friday I had my Danish quiz, which we got back today, and I did well on! I know you are all so interested in my academic triumphs and not in fun stories about going to bars. Ha. Just reminding you that I do have to study while here as well as immerse myself into the Danish culture!

And, today I had my Current Trends in News Media midterm. So, now I'm done with tests for a while!

LONDON ONE WEEK FROM TODAY!!!

culture clash

Mathias: what's that smell?
Gillian: balsamic
Mathias: vinegar??
Gillian: yeah, you put it on salad!
Mathias: that's why you can't cook

Sorry for the hiatus! I'm back!

Highlights of the past week:

• Rosenborg Castle! Visited with my Danish class. I still want to live in a castle. Although, visiting this one wasn't quite as enjoyable because you weren't able to touch and sit on everything. But, there were crown jewels.
• Making Danish pancakes. Thursday night we had guests over because my host parents left last night for a week and so their friends who are our neighbors came over so I could meet them. My host dad started making pancakes (basically, Danish pancakes are like crepes but you roll them instead of folding them) and then after making the first one, stopped, and told me to make the rest. So I did. And they were good! We put ice cream, nutella, jam, and whipped cream inside of them. Delicious.
• Drinking wine in McDonalds. Classiest way to start a Friday evening.
• Dancing with a ridiculously tall Danish man. Hilarious. We danced for probably half an hour at the Happy Pig bar. Just twirling around and goofy style rocking out.
• Jailhouse bar: A famous jailhouse themed gay bar. Went in to check it out- actually was a pretty cool, non terrifyingly leather, place. I liked the lighting and atmosphere. Although, of course, being surrounded by gay men of all ages is amusing but not necessarily my number 1 choice of company. Had a nice chat with an older man about gay culture in Copenhagen and America though, so obviously I loved that.
  
• and last but not least, Bobby's hot pants

When in Denmark...blodpølse

Well, Denmark wins again. I just tried blood sausage. For those of you who know me, you should be well aware of what a giant leap this was for me because of my intense fear of blood. But! After two glasses of red wine and my desire to experience absolutely everything possible when it comes to studying abroad, I said what the hell, bring on the blood! Ew, okay I didn't say that exactly. Yes, I do realize that blood sausage is made from draining a pig of its blood and then baking it with raisins, fat, and flour. And yes, my host brother Mathias did kindly remind me continually throughout our after dinner blodpølse snack that it was, indeed, blood that I was eating. Anyway, what you do is buy the sausage and then slice it and throw it in a frying pan without butter or anything until it is black and smelling delicious. Then we poured syrup on it.

Curious as to what this Danish traditional treat could taste like? FRENCH TOAST. Literally. After my first few bites I could not figure it out but it finally hit me. Blood sausage has the exact same texture and taste of french toast, no wonder they put syrup on it! Don't ask me how or why, but it does. And it was good. I give it a thumbs up, although, I'm not sure how much of it I will be eating in the future.

Romeo and Juliet Didn't Die!

Last night, my Danish class attempted to see Romeo and Juliet at the Opera. We looked good, we got there on time... mayyy have had our classy Valentines day dinner at McDonalds but whatever, we're in Europe. We find our seats and sit down as the show begins. The opera is a modernized version of the play, and it began with the funerals of Romeo and Juliet side by side. Although, because we were seated to the extreme far right of the theater, we had no idea that Romeo was also hanging out on the right side of the stage until the end of the scene when he and Juliet rose from their coffins to dramatically exit so the story could begin.

And then...turn curtain fell and after a moment the orchestra stopped playing. Another moment went by, and the director of the opera came out and informed us that they were having technical difficulties.

Because the Copenhagen Opera House was, when built, the best technology money could buy, the stage involves an elevator which gives it levels to perform on. Apparently, the elevator broke during the opening night performance we were attending. Although they tried to restart the technology and fix it rapidly, no go.

So, after an hour and two free glasses of wine- thank you, opera house- we were told that the show would not be able to go on that evening. Ah well! Still an amazing experience and we will be going back to see the ENTIRE show (hopefully) next month!

And, perhaps this was meant to happen, so that on Valentines Day, Romeo and Juliet did not in fact die! The last thing we saw was them happily leaving their coffins. Metaphor for love? Who knows.

Weekend Recap

Thursday night: Communication and Mass Media social. Surprisingly fun! We went to this building with tons of floors and bars and stages. Very cool place. We grabbed some drinks on DIS at our bar and chatted and then went into the private, old, small cinema to watch a movie. Our attention spans didn't last too long with the movie, so we went out to keep chatting which was nice! Thankfully, the people in the group are really awesome and fun to be around. London should be amaaazing.

Friday night: Went home with Sam and had a WONDERFUL dinner with her family. OH! But first, she and I went with her young host sister to her riding lesson. Basically, Ulla, Sam's host mom, dressed us up in incredibly warm clothing (snowpants included) and we stood and watched her host sister ride a horse in a circle for an hour. While this may not sound like a blast, I have to admit it kind of was. I also have to admit that I am kind of terrified of horses. Would I EVER have imagined myself in Scandinavia with Sam watching a wonderful little Danish girl riding a horse? No. But that's what this semester is about!
Dinner was delicious pizza and wine and fabulous conversation. Both of her host parents do such awesome things with social media but in totally separate career areas. So obviously I was fascinated and intrigued.
Then, we headed out and spent most of night at a bar called The Happy Pig where they were having a Valentines Day themed party in the upstairs bar and dance area. It was soo much fun. The music was good, they had goofy Valentines Day themed drinks and free shots (mayyybe these tasted like Pepto but oh well) and everyone who was there was really awesome and having a good time.

Saturday night: Met my friend Ethan for drinks at a bar called Lord Nelson where they have expensive locally brewed delicious beer. We discussed film, culture, music, and video games over out pints and it was nice to sit down and have an intellectual conversation over good drinks. I felt very cultured?
Then I headed to Floss to meet some other friends from DIS and played pool, Dad- you were totally right, I should really have taken pool lessons. I am truly, truly awful. Here, I also had another intellectual conversation with a girl about theory (from old French dead guys to modern Black feminist authors) which I have missed so much since last semester.
So, overall successful and fun night.

Now it is Sunday afternoon and I am trying to get the motivation to do some homework and stop watching Modern Family. Sundays are just as lazy for me in Denmark as they are at Smith.

Celebrating Amy's 21!

Tuesday night I went out with Amy and Charlie to celebrate Amy's 21 birthday! It was a night of bar hopping, vikings, singing loudly, and taking blurry pictures.

We started at one of our favorite places: The Viking Bar, and got Amy a pitcher of long island ice tea which she managed to finish herself in about ten minutes. JUST KIDDING. We all drank it and it took a lot longer than ten minutes, no fears everyone.

After finishing getting Viking'd up, we headed across town (I say this as if the walk takes more than about 7 minutes) to an Irish pub. On our way, we passed some guy in a ...crusader outfit? And I told Amy that it would be necessary to get a picture with him for her birthday. Upon entering the bar, we were immersed into louuuuddd singing and chanting to a live band and men showing their excitement for the England/Denmark game. Here, I met two charming men: one, a Dane who kept dancing and putting his hat on me and singing with me to the great covers of I'm a Believer, Sex on Fire, and other winners. Then, a man from England decided he would also like to bask in my awesomeness for a while (ha?) and told me repeatedly how good looking and sexy I was. What a charmer. Not really. Eventually, the real winner, was the Crusader who Amy and I took this lovely picture with:
After escaping my new boyfriends, we headed over to the Australian bar near our school which was dead but seemed like a chill place. And we got to pee, so that was an overall win.

Our last stop was the Happy Pig bar which was filled with DIS and I didn't stay too long. Just long enough, in fact, to have my beer knocked out of my and and then I knew it was time to sleep.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMY!

Remember that time...

I was on a news show? And was a therapist from Wisconsin reporting on Football Attention Neurosis? No? Well, now you can watch the full news show my group created and see my interview...

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/15539912/DIS%20030211_003.wmv

Friday: castle, M2 Film, creepy cabins

Valdemars Slot

Friday began with with a trip to a Danish castle

Basically, I have decided that I need to live in a castle soo I'm going to have to work on seducing royalty from now on. The entire thing was beautiful and old and wonderful, but there was something very interesting about it. The current owner, a hot blonde baroness named Caroline who is married to a famous soccer player over ten years younger than her, has made her modern impression on the 17th century castle. You see, while walking through the castle, there are pictures displayed: family portraits, individual faces in beautiful frames... and a few pictures fit for MySpace. I felt too awkward to take any pictures of these, but the contrast was so odd. For example, Caroline recently threw a masquerade party and amongst the antiques on an old wooden shelf, were pictures of her and a few friends holding the camera and taking pictures of themselves in their tiny sequined dresses. Then, you go look at another wall in the same room, and there is a painting probably from the 18th century of a former king of Denmark. So weird!

After the castle, we went back to Odense to explore and grab lunch. I had my first taste of shawarma and found out that the word for "hummus" is Danish is "homos" so obviously I got a kick out of that.

We also took a little walk to the Hans Christian Anderson museum/his old house but didn't go in because we didn't have enough time.

Then the group headed to M2 Films, a major production studio in Denmark, where we were given a tour and were shown a few examples of the advertisements and short films they have created. This place was awesome. It was the coolest office I have ever seen. Then, to make the visit even cooler, we got to hang out at their Friday Bar. In Denmark, it is a tradition in businesses to go out together on Friday afternoons and have a few drinks and hang out. M2 Films actually has a bar inside of their office building. Whaaaat. It was awesome. There was a ping pong table and couches and a little bar and it was so cool. So, we had a few beers and mingled with famous producers and interns and yeah, very, very neat.

When we arrived a while later at our hostel for the night, it was basically out of a horror movie. Don't fret parents, it turned out to be fine and in the morning we realized we were right on the water and in the summer it would be so beautiful. However, we arrived during a rainy windstorm and had to walk down a dark dirt path to our cabins. Which actually were quite nice. And I fell asleep quite easily in my new bed:

Thursday: news production, TV2

Thursday morning I woke up bright and early to get on a bus and begin my short study tour with my Communication and Mass Media program!

Our first stop was the Brandts media museum where my group spent the afternoon creating a news show- which you will soon be able to see online. We each had a job and had to research stories to do and film our parts. Another girl and I were assigned the roles of the cultural interview and we chose to do a piece on Football Attention Neurosis (FAN) which is the diagnosed problems of Superbowl fans before and during the big game. I played the role of a therapist out of Wisconsin who was explaining FAN. It was pretty hilarious. And don't worry, its real, we found it on the NY Times.

Next we got back on the bus and headed to TV2, Denmark's major publicly owned television station. We had a tour and a question session with their manager, a pretty important guy here, who was handling phone calls from Egypt the entire time. That was pretty incredible. We got to see their news room, which was so MELLOW compared to how any of us ever imagined it.

After TV2 we checked into our hostel, which was surprisingly nice, and then headed out to dinner provided to us by DIS- thanks for the burgers and creme brulee- where the waitress tried to charge us 12 dkk for water. Tap water.

Then after eating our weight in free food, I headed back to my room to watch bad Danish television with one of my roommates for the night. We found this show... I think its called the Wedge? But I could be wrong. Basically, it was like foreign SNL and it was hilarious.

PR Field Study

Mmmm I just finished a delicious dinner and had a wonderful dessert of DANISH PANCAKES with my host family. Danish pancakes are... basically crepes but instead of folding them, they are rolled with jam and whipped cream inside. Or whatever else you'd like. Sooooo yummy.

Today I went on a field study with my core group to a PR office. When we got there, we were given a short introduction into PR and then were broken into groups designated by different companies and had to create a presentation for the person in charge of the campaign. My group was in charge of Penguin Candies and creating a Penguin Olympic Games event to get children excited and to create loyalties surrounding the product. It was a lot of fun. We had a lot of good ideas and it was actually really awesome to be in a "real life" setting and applying our academic knowledge to something real.

Tomorrow I leave for the short study tour around Denmark. I'll be back Saturday and will fill you all in on my adventures!

Academics in Copenhagen...

Currently in a blogging workshop for my Virtual Worlds and Social Media class. This is pretty awesome.

And, this weekend we are going on our first study tour and paintballing will be happening. So excited. There will also be tons of awesome academically focused visits to news stations and museums and other media related activities. But, yeah, paintballing!

bar hopping and free margaritas

I'm going to go back in time to Saturday night to tell you all a little bit of my amusing evening. I met up with Amy at our usual meeting spot- McDonalds and were joined by her friend. We headed to Floss to start off with some beers and then decided to walk around the city and look for another bar to head to. We ended up strolling through the sex district which is always a funny thing to do. Some of the shop windows are just unbelievable and nothing that would ever be shown in America. I believe the weirdest thing we saw involved an inflatable cow...? ANYWAY. We end our evening stroll through that area and come to the Buddha Bar-a cool little bar with slot machines and other games- where we stop in and grab some beers for the road, because we can do that here, and continue our walk around the city. We make another stop at Heidi's Bier Bar where we have a drink and are surrounded by other DIS students celebrating someone's birthday, but we don't stay long because Amy gets a call from a friend saying to meet him at the Viking Bar. This place might be one of my new favorites. Its very chill, open, good music. Oh, and I might be a little biased because when we got there, the people we were meeting were seated with this older guy buying everyone drinks? Yes, this was a little sketchy, but it was alright and he had a younger friend who kept putting his arm around the guys at the table. Hilarious. So, we had a free drink with him and then I headed home!

On the bright side...

Denmark losing the handball match to France means lots of wine with dinner and my host mother telling me a scandalous story about my host father from years ago involving tight pants, lots of women, and climbing through a window.

Dead royalty and viking ships

So, after our long night out on Saturday, I nicely woke Sam up (by shoving her) and we got up to get ready to go on our little field trip! After a very, very long (45 minute- it was bright out and movement wasn't all that welcome after the night before) bus ride to Roskilde, we arrived at the Cathedral. We had a really nice tour throughout most of the building, saw sooo many tombstones and neat little places in it, and took lots of touristy pictures:

Wouldn't you like to be buried beneath this?

Just looking at another room of dead royalty

Anyway, so the Cathedral was stunning and beautiful and had lots of cool stories and ceilings. 22 kings and 19 queens are buried there, I believe. It's basically like every where you walk you are surrounded by or stepping on royalty. Interesting.

Then we got back on the bus and made our way to the viking museum. There were lots and lots of ships. Dad, you would like this. It's like the Danish version of the maritime museum. Inside there were all of the actual ships (what was left of them) that had been found stacked in the water off the coast because they had been used as a blockade by the vikings. Outside there were the ships that had been made recently using the same tools and techniques as the vikings and the people had actually sailed the ships to Norway a few years ago. Pretty neat.

Friday night: Family dinner, Floss, Found, Friendships?

Friday after Danish class, Sam and I headed to my house for dinner with my host dad and brother who were so very (not) exited to cook a vegetarian meal! Actually, it turned out really good and they both liked it, so there Danish meat eaters. After dinner, Sam and I had some (cheap) wine and got ready and bothered Mathias for a little while. Then we hopped on the train and met up with a Smith friend at Floss, our fav bar. We hung out there for a really long time having some tuborgs and inhaling the copious amount of smoke in the air while chatting with some friends coming in and out.

Then we left the bar to meet up with someone on the other side of the city. So we go to the train station, and I get on a train, andddd turn around to see the others not getting on it because its the wrong one. OOPS! Actually, it really wasn't a big deal at all, it just took...a while for me to finally be found by Sam at the station we were all actually heading to. No worries. So, we meet up with the girl we were looking for and start walking to her place which is actually in the sex district? Fun fact, I also ended up there Saturday night. No, I have not gone to any strip clubs. Anyway, we find her and everyone just kind of decides to go to 7/11 and pick up some beers and go back to her place to hang out. Sam buys me a piece of pepperoni pizza because she is wonderful. And, as we are leaving the store, we see Vela across the street. Vela is the one lesbian bar in Copenhagen. So, Sam and I basically say- yeahhh, we're gonna go there instead.

Vela is really nice! It's pretty small, I liked the decoration, and the beers were relatively cheap. Sam and I stand around and observe for a pretty long time before I finally decide we need to be social so I kind of turn and start chatting with a group. Everyone was really nice! We get to chatting with a few specific people who were all really cool and showed interest in hanging out with us again. So yay for us! Cultural immersion!

Heading home was a little tricky. We went to the central station which is the biggest and could not find my train home for a really long time, but we did! And had a nice slumber party as we do.

And so concludes Friday night.

Thursday night in...

I know I'm a few days behind on updating on my life, so I will use my Sunday to distract myself from homework by writing to you all!

Thursday night was hilarious. After a full day of classes I was beaattt. So I finish my Danish homework and go upstairs to visit Mathias and make him check it for me. Then I say I'm bored and the night ends up going like this:

• He puts a santa hat on my head
• I receive an Iron Man (the movie) t shirt
  
• We play Wii downstairs. It turns out I have awful balance. My Wii age is 33. I now have a Wii character in this house. Cultural Immersion WIN.
• I had cookies and milk, therefore negating any "workout" I got from Wii fit. The Danes do not put their cookies in milk.
  
• I had a duct tape battle with Mathias where he ended up winning (although it took him a surprisingly long time considering I am a fourth of his size but weirdly strong?) and duct taping me to my chair.
  

And that was my Thursday night.

Freetown

Yesterday I went with a few friends to Freetown Christiania... how to describe this place... well, it began with a bunch of squatters in the early 70s and now is a self proclaimed autonomous neighborhood. Basically one second you are in the city and the next...


Its kind of like a village. There are little shops and stands everywhere. There are a lot of great bakeries and organic vegetarian restaurants. Basically, the place is known for its bikes and its weed- which people sell and smoke openly free of the control of the police.

I don't really know how to describe what it is like to walk down the streets of Christiania. Kind of like, an abandoned creepy fun park? An old abandoned western village taken over by 1970s hippies? I have no idea. It was a cool thing to see though. I know some of my friends who would thoroughly enjoy the place...

Jeg vil gerne have...

Yesterday (Mandag) was a very long day of classes, but it was okay, because they are still very interesting. I'm very excited for the workshops and study tours to begin. For example, for my Visual Worlds and Social Media class we will have a night where we make quick videos on our digital cameras to create a story and then learn how to edit them into movies. Lots of fun things to do coming up. OH ALSO. The Opera! My Danish Language class has hilariously decided that for one of our field studies we should go see Romeo and Juliet at the Opera... on Valentines Day.

Speaking of these fun "educational" outings, last night was my Danish Language and Culture class's cafe night where DIS takes our class out to eat with our teacher! We had just learned yesterday how to ask for something in a restaurant: Jeg vil gerne have - I will have.... and so we were expected to try it out last night. We went to a really nice little restaurant where we all sat together at a big table with our teacher. It's really nice because the class is only about 14 of us and everyone is really cool so it is very fun to hang out with them-- good thing since we see each other four days a week for class! The dinner was gooood. I had the biggest beer of my life! A massive Hoegaarden which was the first time I had tasted one and it was delicious.

We were very amused by the size and weight of the drink. Mmmm. So good.

For dinner, I ordered a burger. Ha. So culturally diverse of me. But it was delicious. As we were exploring the menu, we noticed a deal for shots at the bottom. 1o for 100 DKK, obviously we were intrigued and the spelling of the shot name made us guess that they were jello shots! Wrong. When we asked Mogens (?) our teacher, he laughed and explained that the shots were for when you have a sore throat... and that it is vodka with a pill... you can picture our faces becoming more and more confused.... and the pill dissolves and it is good for your throat. Oooookayyy. But, he insisted it was a Danish specialty and the class was totally up for some more cultural immersion! So, we got the shots, they looked terrifying and dark. Mogens bought us two favors so we could try them out. Blue and yellow. The blue tasted like STRONG peppermint, hard to take down, and the yellow was licorice. Now, I HATE licorice, but this shot was tasty. Most of us ended up choosing that one. Basically it tasted like really delicious Jägermeister.

Skål!

Met the Little Mermaid! (January 23, 2011)

I just got back from having a very Danish day with my very Danish host parents! The morning began with breakfast with my parents and their oldest son and his youngest daughter- an adorable little blonde girl. We had rolls for breakfast to kick off the Danish day. Then, we hopped in the the car and headed out! Our first stop was seeing a bunch of windmills and energy factories because our breakfast discussion revolve around Denmark's leaps and bounds over America when it comes to resources.

Our next stop was this ADORABLE little town, of course, I have no idea what the name is and could not pronounce it anyway, but it is very old with very small houses on the water. I've decided that I want to live there and sooo I need to acquire the 3 or 4 million dollars it will take to purchase one of the houses.



Many of the houses in the village had these pairs white china dogs in the windows looking out into the street. Lisbeth informed me that back in the day, prostitutes sold the dogs along with their other "goods" and when men left the home to go on trips they would return with the dogs as gifts for their wives. Odd. However, the wives began to use the dogs to inform others if the husband was home or not so that they could also have some fun of their own instead of being lonely. So, if the dogs were facing the street looking out- it meant that the husband was NOT home because they dogs would not want to see what was going on inside. And if the dogs were facing inside of the home, the husband was there. I really, really want a pair of these dogs.

After this, we headed into the city and had a lunch of hot dogs! This was my first time having a Danish hot dog and we all got the ristet hot dogs (roasted) with everything. DELICIOUS. Then we headed along a path and saw this statue:



The statue is of a witch who was told that however much land she could cover in one night, would be hers. So, she turned her sons into the bulls you see here.

We kept walking and the next thing I know we are coming upon the Little Mermaid! So I got to meet her which was nice!



On the way home, we stopped in a bakery and bought a ton of pastries to bring home. I literally just ate my weight in Danish pastries and I'm pretty sure I will never have to eat again, but damn were they good.

And so concludes a very wonderful Sunday! Now I am going to spend the evening studying Danish, reading, and awaiting my host brother, Mathias', return home from a weekend of skiing because I miss him dearly.

nul, en/et, to, tre, fire,fem....

Just a glimpse into my life in Denmark: sitting in my little room mumbling over and over again how to count to 20 in Danish.

Tia Loca, Ruby Sipper, and the Danish Mistress

The majority of my Saturday was spent in bed, trying to read, napping, and catching up on tv shows. It was nice and relaxing. Then last night, I met up with some friends in the city and we bar hopppped. Our first stop was this really chill bar where the handball game was on and so we had to watch that. We won, don't worry. This bar had lots of cool beer choices such as Sam's choice- the Danish Mistress, a sweet cider. I had a beer called Tia Loca which has now jumped to the top of my favorite beers chart. We kind of all just decided to get beers that sounded funny. Well, the girls did. The boys we were with came back with lots of dark ales. Grunt grunt.

Copenhagen still never ceases to amuse and amaze me. I love walking around at night. Most of the shops are still lit from inside and you can see whatever fun products they have. Floss is still one of the most interesting and fun bars ever. Caity, I think you'd love it. We hung out in the downstairs part last night watching beautiful blond (hipster) danish boys play pool and drink Tuborg. Good stuff.

I woke up early to get ready to have breakfast with Christian, the oldest son, and his wife who are coming over but someone has been in the bathroom for a looong time soo lucky for you all- I had time to blog!

oh hej, tiny goblet? (January 21, 2011)

Soo, last night was my first night out in the city! After our Danish class, Sam and I hopped on the train to her house. It was awesome to meet and hang out with her host family who is incredibly sweet and fun. They are younger than my host parents so it was an interesting change. Sam made delicious veggie sandwiches for dinner and after a few glasses of wine with her parents we set out to meet another Smithie for drinks!

We had a few (cheap) beers at Floss (the tattoo and graffiti bar) and chatted and were soon joined by two girls Sam had met in her program. Then we all headed off to the DIS party at the Diskotek In which is a pretty American club and was paaacked with DIS students, but there was free beer so it was okay. We didn't stay there for very long after running into some guys I knew and we took off to bar hop throughout the rest of the area. It was all very fun, apparently I ended up stealing a shot glass that looks like a tiny, tiny goblet from some place where we did tequila shots and now it is sitting nicely on my bookshelf.

Then Sam and I headed back to my house where Lisbeth and Steen were still awake -ha- and we had a snack of warm rolls and water before heading up to bed!

It was definitely a fun and successful first night out. The city is awesome at night, so many young beautiful people walking around and filling the bars. Today, however, I'm doing a lot of reading for class which isn't as fun... but is actually alright because it's all very interesting reading. Thankfully. I do also want a nap.

Warm reindeer liver? nomz? (January 20, 2011)

I just sat downstairs and had coffee with Steen and one of our neighbors and friend of the family, Mons. I love older bearded Danish men. Mons has done lots of neat things in his life: he grew up on a farm in the Danish countryside and Steen grew up in a harbor town so they told me all about fishing and the industry and how mink fur has become a rather big deal here because when the fishing is not good, the Danes need another way to make some money in the towns. When Mons was younger, he would take a break from his career in finance and go on hunting trips where they would set camp three hours away from the mountains and walk to hunt every day. Once a reindeer was killed and clean, what was the snack they had before the long walk back to camp? The warm livers. Ew. I'm an adventurous eater, but that just... no.

Hvad hedder du? (January 20, 2011)

...Jeg hedder Gillian!

Today was the first day of classes, and due to my charming schedule, I have all four of my classes every Monday and Thursday. So, from 8:30 until 4:10 I am doing some learning. However, I am extremely excited for all of my classes, so it's okay. So far. There was also SUN today! First time I've seen it since I've been here.

My first class of the day is Current Trends in Media, the core course for my program. It seems like it is going to be very cool, very "real life" oriented, so maybe I'll actually gain a sense of what I want to do with my life?? This is also the class that I will do my study tours with.

My second class is Virtual Worlds and Social Media. This class is awesome. So far it seems as though we are doing a cultural analysis of the impact of Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, and other social networks. Blogging is also a key part to the class, so, I suppose Babes and Berries will be getting some work done!

Then I had a lunch break. Got myself some folded pizza (maybe there's a more technical Danish term for this?) and walked through the city.

After lunch, I ran into Sam and we went to our intensive Danish Language and Culture class. This ones going to be hard. I accidentally called Sam a boy in our class, but she didn't kill me. So it's okay.

Even though I was exhausted by the time my last class came around, I was immediately excited again. International Advertising in a European Context scared me at first, because a lot of the other students taking it are marketing majors or have interned doing advertising stuff, but we did a mini quiz and THANKS SMITH I actually knew a lot more than I thought I did! The woman who is teaching is seems amazing and I am so excited about the class. I'm hoping this class combined with my core class will give me a goal for the future by the end of the semester.

So that was my day! Currently my hair is a little sticky because my host brother decided to put an adhesive CD case on top of my head.

Passport to Denmark! (January 19, 2011)

Okay, remember those Mary-Kate and Ashley movies where they would go to different countries and run around and see things with very little plot? THAT IS HOW I FELT TODAY. The day began with a very crowded train ride for me. A man said something to me in Danish though, so I am going to pretend that it is definitely because he figured I am Danish. Win. Today's final orientation activity was a scavenger hunt all around our area of the city to historically and culturally important places where there would be a speaker to tell us about each location! We got into groups of about six- here is where I began to feel like MK&A because it was me, two other girls, and two boys. The perfect dynamic for a preteen movie? I think sooo. It was so much fun walking around the city and exploring, fumbling with maps the entire time.

Our first stop: Gråbrødretorv! "The most charming square in the city"
Here, there are lots of beautiful cafes and a sculpture in the center of the square surrounded by a variety of different buildings. The area is historically and architecturally important because throughout history many of the buildings were bombed or burned to the ground and were rebuild at different times, so while some survived, others are clearly from a different
architectural style.
The sculpture in the center was built in place of The Pillar of Shame- I kid you not.
Our second stop: The Royal Palace
The Royal Palace of Copenhagen is different than one might imagine. It is not what I expected a "Palace" to look like. As we learned today, this is because the circle of buildings that form the palace were actually built to be homes for the very rich but were instead purchased for the royal family. Also, I love the guards.

Next, we hit up the Royal Theater which is right on the water and then took a Harbor Boat to the Black Diamond- the city library before our final destination: Parliament!


Cool, huh? I love this city. And yes, it really is that dark and gray all of the time.
On our way to the Royal Palace, we ended up walking along one of the most picturesque areas of the city that you would probably all recognize from postcards and it finally hit my group and I that we were ACTUALLY in Copenhagen. The strip of houses and boats right before the water is just incredible, even in the gray light. And there was at least one treat that probably would not have been shown in any MK&A movie...

Folded pizza and a singing birthday mug (January 18, 2011)

My morning began with a knock on my door and Mathias' voice telling me that it was 8 o'clock and wondering if I had to be up. Yes, in fact, I did. Apparently either I slept through my cell phone alarm or it did not work. Ooops. However, I SOMEHOW made it to my 9 am orientation on time! Today's orientation was organized by our living situation and was basically just informative about basic things and situations that may come about. It was rather boring, but our session tomorrow is supposed to be more fun- another scavenger hunt thing around the city, but we get to visit more places and have speakers at each one, or so I've heard.

After the orientation, I went to lunch with a few of the people I met in my group yesterday and a few other boys. We ended up at a cheap but very good pizza/sandwich place nearby DIS. I had seen people walking around the city with pizza folded in half and was extremely curious to try this. On the menu, they had some of the most bizarre pizza options. Some even involving shrimp! I, however, was not that brave and was too hungry to risk something that might not be good, so I stuck to a basic chicken, mozzarella, and tomato pizza. Brilliant concept, delicious, and perfect for an on-the-go lunch.

After lunch, I headed to a variety store called Tiger that we had to find yesterday in order to find a birthday present for my host brother who turned 23 today! I ended up buying him a hideous Happy Birthday mug and a personal massager because I noticed he had been rubbing his shoulder the other day. Anyway, when I gave him the gifts after dinner he laughed and said that he really liked them but it was not until he took the mug OUT of its case that we all realized together that it actually PLAYED the happy birthday tune! I had no idea! It was hilarious and we all laughed and thought it was the funniest gift ever. Whewww, I was nervous about the gift giving but I think I successfully completed this round.

Later in the afternoon, I had my first meeting with my academic program- Communication and Mass Media. All of the other students- about 25- and I gathered together and met the head of the department, the program assistant, and the teacher who is in charge of the main class. The cool thing about DIS is that all of the teachers are professionals in the field that they teach. Everything is much more career and real life based than Smith which will be good for me to apply what I have learned into a more "practical" education, at least for the semester. The program seems amazing. I'm very excited- although not so excited to actually start classes on Thursday. Oh well!

After this, Sam and I went for a long walk around the city (aka around in a circle) before heading to the train station.

Another fun part of my day and then I will shut up: when we had the birthday dinner, I eyed the way my family used their knife and fork and I managed to copy them so well that Steen announced that it was impressive that I knew how to use them! Ha! fooled him. Maybe. Lisbeth quickly remarked about how another student they hosted had been watching them and followed, so maybe she caught on. Maybe not. Either way, I am determined to become extremely skilled at eating with my fork in my left hand while holding my knife the entire time in my right.

So now, I'm sitting at my little desk in my little room up later than I have been since I got here! I suppose the sleeping in was good for me.

A Few Danish Traditions! (January 18, 2011)

My host mother is wonderful, she loves to talk and she loves to share Danish traditions and histories with me that I feel like I would be completely missing out on if I had chosen another living option. While I have had my anxieties about meeting people and making friends here- because some students all live together in large groups in apartment building and have it much easier to meet and hang out- after evenings like this one, I know I made the right decision. I'm going to share with you all some of the traditions and events that I have learned about over the dinner table or watching the news (in Danish) with Lisbeth and Steen.

• The Queen's Birthday! Lisbeth actually shares her birthday with the Queen and as she jokes, she is much more polite about it. What she means, is that while the Queen greats the city on her birthday by coming onto the balcony and waving at the crowd, she never invites anyone in! Lisbeth apparently, would not only wave to the crowds outside gathering for her birthday, but she would certainly invite them in.
• Another traditional Danish meal: PORK ROAST. Tonight for Mathias' birthday meal he prepared a traditional Danish pork roast. Dad- challenge! The Danish prepare their pork so that the skin is extremely crispy (AND DELICIOUS) while the rest is cooked and juicy. It is amazing. Apparently, Lisbeth's sister is the master at pork roast and she can cook it so the skin is sooo crispy and has tons of big bubbles, which I know must sound awful to many of you- especially the vegetarians, but hoooly shit is it good. Also with the meal, we had potatoes and gravy- which has become a common side dish in our dinners, and red cabbage. I loooved the red cabbage. I believe it was pickled? it's kind of sour, and was cooked with red wine. So good. All of it was amazing. And Lisbeth kept teasing Mathias that it wasn't all that well done, so I can only imagine a master Danish chef with these recipes.
• Anniversaries! This is a weird one. But awesome. So, Danish wedding anniversaries are a big, big deal in the community and with friends. Instead of the married couple simply going to out to dinner either alone or with their family, friends of the Danish couple whose wedding anniversary it is organize a special gathering the morning of. The morning begins with the married couple being woken up by music in the street. For Lisbeth and Steen's 25th anniversary, I believe, this was done by a BAGPIPE player that their son Christian organized! Can you imagine? Bagpipes early in the morning?? Other friends or relatives may organize another instrument player or singers, or different kinds of music to wake up the couple. Then, once the couple is wake bright and early, they great the massive amount of people who have come to celebrate the anniversary with a breakfast provided by the couple. Apparently 80 people may show up. EVERYONE goes. Also, their doorway is decorated so that the whole street knows- in case they missed the loud music and huge crowd early in the morning. I thought this was such a neat tradition.
  
• Speaking of anniversaries, Happy 90th Anniversary Today to the Sausage/Hot Dog Stands in Copenhagen! Everywhere you go on the streets they have the stands, like in NYC, but obviously with a Danish twist and today was the 90th anniversary for these stands as I learned while watching the news. I have yet to try one of these, but I surely will and will report back.

I'm sure I have learned more, but these are the ones that are fresh on my mind right now.

When in Denmark... (January 18, 2011

pose with an Abercrombie & Fitch model? WHY NOT


While strolling down Strøget with some people the other day, one of the girls got very excited by the attractiveness of the model posing inside of the store...sooo she rushed in and dragged me in and then, of course, I could not resist.

day 2 success (January 17, 2011)

I am beyond exhausted but I wanted to jot down a bit about my day before I forget. This morning I took the train into the city all by myself! Successfully! And then navigated the short distance through the beautiful streets of Copenhagen to where I needed to be. I was very proud of myself. My commute consists of an 8 minute walk to the train station in my little town and then a 24 minute train ride into the city and then... a 5-10 minute walk to the DIS buildings. Not bad, but definitely not my 5 minute walk from the quad onto the Smith campus. I also have an 8:30 class this morning- those who know me and my sleep/class schedule can only imagine how much this will challenge me.

But hey, that's what I'm here for right? To be challenged. So many times today I felt like I pushed my comfort zone and it's only the second day.

So, today we had the opening ceremony which was rather boring but motivational in the way that all opening ceremonies are. Then we were split into groups for a sort of scavenger hunt to get to know the DIS facilities around the area. This was...kind of helpful? My group was very, very nice. Some of us exchanged phone numbers so maybe I'll be seeing them around? Later in the afternoon, my group acquainted ourselves with a full year student who ended up taking us on a tour of his favorite (cheap) bars and cafes and other neat things around the city. This was wonderful, we were really lucky, but it involved a lot of walking because my group wanted to go to the library which was about a fifteen minute walk away from DIS. Worth it though, I got to see part of the harbor and more of the city. It really is beautiful! And old! some of it so old. Our "tour guide" showed us one of the medieval streets which was very cool. There are swans in the harbor and in the little boat areas. Very nice. Very white and majestic. I'm very tired.

Before heading back home, some of my group members and I went out for a beer in one of the little bars our "tour guide" had shown us. Basically, the outside of the bar is covered in stickers and graffiti, you would never know what it was from looking at it. Inside, old danish men, some covered in tattoos are drinking beer and smoking. I feel like I smoked a pack of cigarettes just being in there but I loved it and we had a really nice time relaxing after the long day. It was definitely a neat find, and very cheap. Had my first Tuborg which was delicious.

Then found my way back home! Even in the fog! Sat down and ate dinner- the family had eaten already but Lisbeth sat down and talked to me about Danish traditions and royalty. I can tell she loves sharing traditions and bits of their culture, it is all very fascinating and intriguing. So different from America.

Alas, I would love to write more but I am wiped out.

Oh, Hej! I'm here! (January 16, 2011)

I don't know any Danish yet or I would say something witty to begin this! I learned that "bad" means bath, however. That's about all I've got. And no, it was not because someone suggested I take a bad.

This morning I arrived in Copenhagen! I cannot believe that was only 14 hours ago. Seems like forever. Sam and I had a nice flight where neither of us could sleep at all, but luckily due to our cuteness, we were able to sit next to each other. We tried to watch the Bucket List but it was terrible and then we watched a documentary on mute about elephants. I'm pretty sure no one but Sam and I care about this part of the adventure.

Then we arrived! Sam and I met this boy named Hugh from Bates who is very nice and we waited for our baggage with him. Then we separated and Sam and I went off to find out host families. After being misdirected and walking through the airport searching for a staircase that did not exist, we finally got on the right track and made it into the Hilton Hotel where we would meet our host famz.

My host mom, Lisbeth Schou, picked me up. She is wonderful! She told me about how their family has kept in close contact with many of their other host students and even traveled to the states to see them years after! Yes, this puts a bit of pressure on me, but she is just so nice and eager to help, I truly feel like I am in good hands. Then we headed back to my house where Steen, my host father, was cooking breakfast! We had fresh rolls that were delicious and they told me stories about Denmark things and their lives and it was just so refreshing and nice to be completely immersed in something so new and different. After a while, Mathias- my host brother- stumbled down the stairs hungover from a night of drinking. Obviously I was intrigued. He is incredibly sassy and has a harsh but hilarious sense of humor and the entire family spends most of their time in a witty and hilarious banter of teasing one another. I love it.

After breakfast, I unpacked in my adorable little room. I have a desk that folds from the wall and a little bit that is also a couch and it is just adorable. I'll post pictures soon. So I unpacked and then nappppped for a while which was nice. Then showered, got dressed, realized I have no idea how to flush a Danish toilet (don't worry, I've figured it out by now), and headed downstairs where the family was just about ready to head out. Where you ask? Well, to their older son's house for dinner. The older son who has a wife and three young children. I wasn't too nervous, still in a daze from all the traveling and excitement, and luckily he and his wife are incredibly nice and also full of banter. The family is just so fun and love to give each other a hard time. The father likes me because I love coffee. Mathias gave me a heads up that Danish men in clubs are much more straight forward than American men. Good to know. Anyway, for dinner we had mexican- ha? which was good and the funniest part...(SHOUT OUT TO DJ PEARLZ) Taylor Swift played the entire time in the background. It made me homesick but also so amused that the family would choose to put her on.

The dinner was also interesting because half of it was spoken in Danish. Lisbeth always makes an effort to translate for me what was said if an entire conversation went by that I would find amusing or important, but sometimes I just listen as they talk. I'm going to have to get used to it, and honestly I kind of enjoy it.

So, tomorrow I have to find my way into the city by myself for the first time for orientation. We'll see how that goes! As for now, I need SLEEP.

DIS Classes! (January 13, 2011)

I just logged into the DIS forum and was reminded of the classes I will be taking when abroad: I forgot how awesome they sound!

I will be taking:

Current Trends in Media (core course for my Communication and Mass Media program)
International Advertising in a European Context
Virtual Worlds and Social Media
and of course- Danish Language I & II

Stay tuned for updates on how the classes turn out!