Stockholm and Goodbye to Copenhagen

So it is my last few days in Denmark and it is really sad!!!! First I need to tell you that today I was stuck on a train for over an hour not moving just sitting in the middle of the tracks, apparently something was wrong with a train in front of us. Not the greatest ending to my stay here, but interesting. Also today my host family had to put their dog to sleep, it is getting too old.

However, there have been some good times recently. I went to Stockholm for a few days and saw a lot. Stockholm was huge, much bigger than Copenhagen I got lost a few times. I was able to see a lot, including the first church established in Stockholm, City hall, the burial church of the kings and Queens, House of Nobles, The Nobel Prize Museum, 4 other churches noted for their interior decorations, Skansen: an open air museum with old mansions, Nordick museum which is in an old castle, Rosendall Castle which was an old hunting lodge for royalty, Prince Eugen’s house he built for his art collection, Vasa Museums which is built to resemble a ship and has some great architecture, the Stockholm city museum, and the Castle which included the royal apartments, the treasurer and the antiquities wing. The castle was beautiful; the interior was modeled off of Versailles so it was very extravagant with gilding, paintings on every ceiling, crystal chandeliers, and tapestries. I was highly impressed by the Castle, much fancier than the one here in Copenhagen. I had some slight trouble finding my hotel, they listed the wrong address on the website and had no phone number. Luckily most Swedes are super nice and everyone I met tried to help me. One guy, who was actually born and raised in Texas, used the internet on his phone to try and figure it out. They also had extra charges not included in the bill. However, its life and I have now learned to not trust websites!!!! Other than this little mishap everything went really smoothly and I had a great time. Other than I missed Copenhagen. I like that Copenhagen is a small city, it makes it fell friendlier. One cool thing about Stockholm is that the crown Princess Victoria is getting married in June to a man who is not of noble blood, in fact he comes from a small town in Sweden, so the theme is true love!!!! Everywhere you go there are signs of the royal wedding, they are selling copies of the china and chocolates being used, they even have special jewelry and postcards!!!!

Anyways back to Denmark. I thought I would make a list of things I shall miss in Denmark: 1.) Babies in snowsuits, they are adorable!!! Also the baby carriages here are huge, modeled off designs from the 1920s, but very plush!!! 2.) Wednesdays at St. Peter’s Bakery with the giant cinnamon rolls called snails. 3.) Bikes everywhere. Bikes here are the main source of transportation and the Danes will drive bikes in almost any kind of weather. I once saw one women wearing heels smoking a cigarette and talking on her phone while riding. 4.) Layers of black, spandex, wedge sandals, scarves as big as small dogs, Aladdin pants…fashion of the Danes 5.) Roundtower and the view 6.) My walk everyday from central station to the latin quarter where DIS is, it is like taking a step into the past 7.) Bakken and Tivoli, two great old time theme parks!!!!! 8.) Eat me, Anatolia Bar, Riz Raz, hot dog stands, and Paradis…great Danish food 9.) The language…I think I am finally getting to understand it, even if it sounds like they are speaking with a potato in their mouth 10.) Cute town of Ringsted with the only outlets in Denmark and my amazing host family!!! 11.) Walking on frozen lakes 12.) Danish candy and pastries!!! 13.) Nyhavn with the cute little café outdoor restaurants and the multi-color houses 14.) The Queen 15.) Getting lost in the maze that is DIS vestergade 7 and 10!!!

It has been a great time here with experiences I will always treasure!!!!

Legoland and Oslo

So a lot has happened since my last post.  First I went to legoland!!!! Which was really cool.  So usually in Denmark only little kids go to legoland, however being a tourist I decided to act like a little kid.  The park was relatively small so I was able to see the entire park and go on most of the rides, including the ones in which I barely fit into the cars. I think that the best thing about it, was that everything is made out of legos!!!!  It must take the worker days to build the sets.  The signs for rides and buildings are in legos, statues standing around are built out of lego, when you first enter the park there are mini lego size exhibits of different cities around the world!!!!  I went on a lego safari where all the animals were made out of legos and I went on a cruise around the world in which all the major sites including the statue of liberty were made out of legos!!!!  Even in the aquarium are lego buildings and subs and scuba divers.  I had a great time.  At first I didn’t really want to go.  I was supposed to go with two of my friends but they forgot to sign up.  Luckily though I ran into a girl from my school and we hung out for the day which was nice.  A great thing about the park is that it lets you bring in food so I saved so much money by not buying lunch!!! 

Tuesday I left on a cruise for Oslo, Norway with my host family.  It didn’t start off the greatest.  Augusta was in a terrible mood and just stomped around pouting the first evening, even when we went for a walk around the boat she stayed in the room.  The boat was huge and it was nice the first night because there were not that many people, on the way back there were 400 kids on board.  Needless to say it was crazy!!!!!  I was surprised that everything on the boat you had to pay for including the cinema and the swimming pool.  I was excited when my host family told me all the fun things we could do but then I found out we had to pay for them, that takes some of the fun away.  The first night we went swimming and then went shopping in the boat stores and then hung out in the lounge and listened to the live band.  I found it very hard to sleep on the boat; it rocked a lot, which I was not expecting for such a large boat. On the second night I went to go see Clash of the Titans in the theatre which was an amazing movie and while watching it, as the only person in the theatre I had a great time laughing out loud or not being embarrassed when I jumped.  Plus the movie had some great connection to my European storytelling class, which was nice to point out to myself. After I attended the kids’ horse races which was really neat.  The horses are wooden and move forward based on if there number appears on the dice rolled.  The kids can beat on horses and win money to spend on the ship.  Later I took the girls to the kids’ disco and they all competed in some fun dance games.  Overall it was a fun cruise.  

Oslo was very different from Copenhagen.  It had a lot more nature. Pulling into the harbor the harbor there are mountains just covered in evergreens.  The city itself is very modern and reminded me of Berlin in its style and architecture.  We actually got to see a lot, considering that Imelda almost cried the entire day.  We went shopping down their walking street and I got a really pretty blue spring dress. Then I got to see the parliament building and the castle.  We went to a sculpture park and walked around there for a while and before boarding the boat we got to walk up onto the roof of the opera house.  It was very fun and I was glad I got to see part of Norway. However, I was slightly annoyed by the things my host family chooses to spend their money on.  There have been conversations lately about money being tight, yet they spend over 500 dkk on candy!!!!  Then I suggest for a cheaper dinner than eating on the boat we go to burger king.  They liked it.  However, then they said how about we just buy things to make sandwiches on the boat.  Sounds okay, however it is not when you have four picky kids!!!! We ended up spending more money on groceries than we would buying 7 meals at Burger king!!!! Each of the kids wanted something different on sandwiches and then the food we wasted was outrageous.  

Today I had a great day with Zoe and Megan.  We went to the Christiansburg ruins and saw the old foundations for Bishop Abselon’s castle and the first Copenhagen castle.  Next we went walked around Christianshavn and went to the top of the spiral tower church. This was extremely nerve wracking it was 436 stairs up and at the top it was so narrow no one could really pass each other but it was crowded so people did start pushing which made me nervous!!!!  After that I went to the Glypotek, a very interesting art museum with the botanical gardens attached.  Though again I enjoyed the architecture of the building more than the actual art.  It was amazing with high glass ceilings and marble sculpted walls. Overall, a great sightseeing day in Copenhagen.

Museums, Churches, and Castles

Hey everyone,

So with the weather finally at least promising to get warm and with less work than I am used to around finals I have decided to use the excellent guide-book Aunt Sue Rex got for me and try to see as many places in there that it mentions that I am interested in.  This so far has led me to a lot of areas of the city and I have been able to see some really cool things.

I went to the Danish Jewish museum.  It was smaller than what I expected and didn’t have that many exhibits however the architecture of building is amazing with these sloping walls that intersect at weird angles.  While there I bought a hand-made glass dreidle which was very pretty.

I also went to the old royal theatre that used to be attached to Christiansborg.  This was a really interesting place and a lot smaller than what I thought it would be, I can see why they decided to build the opera house.  I was able to take a tour of the backstage area and the dressing rooms.  They still had items used by famous ballerinas and actors and the old costumes.  I was very impressed by the costumes, very ornate with lots of layers and jewels.  The Danish government has actually subsidised the royal ballet and theatre and opera so that they are able to put on lots of elaborate performances throughout the year.

I visited Holmens Kirk which is the church where the royal children are christened.  It was less ornate than I thought it would be.  I thought it would have lots of stained glass and paintings on the ceilings and walls.  However, it was actually really plain with wooden pews and benches.  The royal box was plain wood as well.  the pulpit and alter however did have some fantastic wooden carvings which I was very impressed by.  The church was originally built for the navy to use so there are tombs of great navy generals in a chapel off to the side of the main church

Thorvaldens museum was very beautiful.  I was unsure whether I was going to go to this museum at first.  It contains the collections of the famous Danish sculptor, Thorvaldens.  However, the museum was free on Wednesday so I decided to head and see it.  I was thoroughly impressed.  the building was modeled after building in Pompei so each room had a different marble mosaic floor design and the ceilings were painted different colors with marble figures in them.  The work of Thorvaldens was also very impressive. There was so much detail in his sculptures from folds in cloths to braids in hair and sandal ties.  Many of his sculptures also had clear emotion on their faces so it was very easy to see them as real people rather than a poor imitation. His tomb is actually in the courtyard of the building, which was a little creepy and also much plainer than I expected just a stone box with weeds growing on it, not even flowers.  I think they need to fix up his tomb just a little.

My European Story telling class on Wednesday took us to Frilandsmuseet.  This is outside the city and is basically a very large piece of land with 150 old houses ranging from the 1300s to the 1900s that have been taken from their original places and then reesembled brick by brick in this spot.  They organize the houses based on time period and geographic location and back it look like a real village from for example the island of fyr in the 1600s.  The houses also have artifacts from the time period.  I was very impressed.  Our guide did a great job explaining to us the folklore of the danes, such as their belief in little creatures that live in houses and protect the family.  we also learned where some of the modern traditions of Denmark like eating rye bread or making christmas beer comes from.

Finally I spent some time exploring the royal castles in Copenhagen.  I was able to get a tour of the royal reception rooms and throne room in Christiansborg.  That was very cool.  It was amazing to stand in a room where thousands of diplomats have been introduced to the king and queen.  Though Christiansborg burned down twice so this wasnt the original throne room but has been used for the past four generations of monarchs. Also an interesting fact is that the current queen and the kings for the past three generations have not used the throne because they are constitutional monarchs and thus do not have absolute power.  Also diplomats and visitors no longer have to back out of the room while facing the King and QUeen hey can just turn and walk out.  I was also able to see the balcony where the new king or queen is declared after the old one has died.  I also learned the legend of the Danish flag and how it fell from the heavans as a sign for a Danish king that he would win the battle he was fighting in the crusades. Finally we were taken through the reception rooms where royal visitors come before a ball.  They were beautifully decorated.  In one room covering an entire wall is a portrait of the royal family a few generations ago.  The royal Danish family is connected to every other major royal family in the world including Norway, Sweden, the former Russian czars (in fact a Danish princess was the empress of Russia) and the Queen of England is related to Queen Margrethe of Denmark!!!!!  The old Danish king used to be called the father in law of Europe, very amusing!!!!  we were able to go into the ballroom and see the 12 tapestries handsewn for the Queens 50th birthday and depicts the entire history of Denmark.  The ballroom was surprisingly small.  In fact it has grown so small for the number of guests invited to royal gatherings that they had to change decorum so that it is okay for guests to sit while waiting for the Queen to come, before they had to stand and there have been instances of the ladies fainting while waiting because the room was so hot!!!!! After the ballroom we saw the royal library and the royal luncheon room along with the press room where the press wait to cover events in Christiansborg.  It was interesting because I went the day before a treaty was signed with the Russian president so they were getting the rooms ready for this, it was very interesting to see everyone running about setting up camera stands, the russian flag, tables and chairs and flower arrangements.

This past Tuesday I went to Ameliasborg to see the new rooms for he crown Prince and his family that have just been renovated.  they were beautiful a great mix of the old and new.  they would have tradition moldings around the door and in the ceilings but then a very post modern mural on the walls.  The banquet rooms had the traditional mirrors scattered around but to make it more modern they had frosted designs on them.  It was very impressive.  I also went into the castle museum that had an exhibit for the Queens 70th birthday.  I was able to see some of the old studies of past kings and dresses the Queen wore on special occasions.  It was very interesting.  At the end I left the queen a little birthday message!!!!!

I have been having such a great time in the City it is hard to imagine I will be going home soon.  I almost cried the other day while I was thinking about it standing outside ameliasborg.  However, I still have a lot left to see.  I am still going to take a canal cruise, visit the Cemetary where all the famous Danes are buried, visit the Christiansborg palace ruins and the Christiansborg Palace church, visit Vrue Kirk, the royal arsenal and the royal stables Kobehavns bymuseet, and Rosenborg castle to see the royal jewels.  Plus heading to Norway and Stockholm!!!!

Biking in Bornholm

Hey everyone,

So great updates for my adventures in Denmark.  Well first last night I went to the new royal theatre to see a ballet.  the theatre was gorgeous!!! It is constructed out of black metal and glass, and the whole front is glass so you can look onto the canal.  I got the tickets through DIS, they have a ballet class that attends 4 ballet performances in the semester and they had extra tickets for this one.  I only paid $30 and my seat was the second row center from the stage!!!!  The ballet itself was incredibly strange, it was a combination of Othello and Mid summer nights dream.  the music was more modern music and the dancing was a combination of classical ballet and modern dance.  They also had a dancing bear (well someone dancing in a bear costume).  I couldn’t help but laugh whenever the bear did a pirouette!!!!

This weekend we got Thursday and friday off.  Apparently Friday is a national holiday called Praying day.  Now this is the strange aspect of Denmark.  for a country that claims to be highly secular I find it odd that you have a national holiday called Praying Day and that you have a national church funded by the tax payers.  Anyways no complaints if I get a day off of school.  Thursday night my host family had a desert party with Rikke’s mom and step dad and we ate traditional praying day rolls.  They are not as fun as they sound in fact they are just regular hamburger rolls…odd.  Anyways Thursday night I left for a trip to Bornholm, an island Denmark owns off the south-eastern coast of Sweden.  We took an overnight ferry to the island and if anyone tries this in the future I would highly recommend buying a cabin with a bed.  It is very uncomfortable to sleep in the ferry chairs, even if like me, you are spread out across three of them.  Also I forgot a blanket so I was freezing!!!!!

Once we got to Bornholm it was amazing.  Incredibly different from the rest of Denmark.  There are rocky beaches and hills!!!! Martin says they are mountain, but lets get this straight…there are NO mountains in Denmark just somewhat large hills.  Anyway the best way to see the island is to bike.  So the first day I joined up with three other girls to go biking to some of the historical sites on the island.  Let me tell you I learned very quickly that I was not in the best shape for biking, especially at the first hill when I had to push my bike up.  But it was not all my fault.  the bike was a back pedal brake bike and the gears did not work so all in all a very bad bike.  Plus I thought multiple times while we were riding in the forest I was going to die because it was not a mountain bike and kept on skidding on rocks and branches.  I was surprised we were not provided with helmets.  DIS is all about bike safety.  All around the campus buildings are signs warning you to wear a helmet and know we have no helmets and sucky bikes!!!  I am not kidding, a couple of times I was very afraid of wiping out on my bike!!!!

The first day started off well and sunny.  We went to the Oluf museum, which is in one of the oldest houses on the island and then travelled up north.  We stopped at Hellingsdrommen, a sacred rock formation with a medieval spring.  We also saw the highest waterfall in Bornholm (not very tall) and we went into the black oven cave.  This was probably the scariest part of the trip.  It was pitch black and I had no idea where I was walking, I kind of expected a skeleton to pop out of the cave walls at me.  We also ate these leaves by the water fall that tasted like garlic.  NExt we made our way to Tejrn the largest fishing port on the island and from there went to olsker which had the largest and oldest round church.  This is when the weather started to change, we ended up biking in hail and rain!!!!  We stopped at the church to go in but couldn’t because it was praying day and there was a service.  So we started to leave olsker and couldn’t even see in front of us past the rain and hail.  We stopped in a bus stop and waited the rain out.  We were all soaking and freezing.  Not fun.  After the rain stopped it suddenly got very sunny and bright.  Weird weather.  we ended drying out in about an hour and a half, the amount of time it took us to get to the northern most tip of the island to see Hammerhus the castle ruins on the island.  We stopped there for lunch and were almost run over by professional hardcore Danish mountain bikers…these peole are intense and scary.  Slightly embarrassed that they past us while we were pushing our bikes up a hill.  After hammerhus we were planning on going to see a medieval tower in the middle of the island but were exhausted and only had 2 hours to get back the hostel.  In total thought we biked 52 km that day!!! I was very impressed with myself. Of course later that night I was also incredibly stupid when I joined my friends in jumping into the Baltic ocean.  It was freezing cold water.  When I first hit it I was convinced I had just jumped through ice!!! I ended up running to a hot shower.

The second day I woke up in extreme pain, I was super sore.  Some students biked 70km the first day, I did not know how they did it!!!!!  I spent the morning walking around the town with some girls and we went to a glass blowing workshop owned by a former student of DIS who stayed in Denmark when he fell in love with a Danish girl..how romantic!!!! I was the first student to guess he was American.  But it was his accent, plus he spoke English really well!!!! I got a pair of earrings and a necklace there.  I kind of had to, I mean the Queen and the Crown prince and Princess buy their glass works from him so I felt I didn’t to bring part of that home with me!!! For lunch I went to a traditional smokery house on the water front and ordered smoked herring the main export of Bornholm, it was surprisingly good!!! I was able to order just the fillet another girl with me ended up with the whole fish including the head, eyes and tail!!!! After lunch we went to the chocolate factory on the island which of course was delicious and then ended our day by biking 20 km to the best beach in all of Denmark.  they actually use the sand on this beach for hourglasses.  That evening I had some of the best ice cream ever!!! Bornholm ice cream is organic and was very tasty, I got a vanilla soft serve in a waffle corn with strawberry candy pieces!!!! All in all a fantastic weekend and a great workout.  Luckily by monday I wasn’t that sore anymore

A beautiful weekend in Denmark and Malmo

Hey everyone,

So not much has occurred since my last post.  It was a beautiful weekend in Denmark and I spent Sunday outside working on job applications and an essay.  I then of course had to go into town to buy ice cream with Imelda and Martin!!!!

Saturday I had a very exciting day in Malmo, which is a city in Sweden, directly across from Copenhagen.  It was actually really interesting.  I went on a canal cruise which was very relaxing and learned a lot about the city.  I also got to see two medieval cogs, which are old transportation boats that used to cross between Malmo and Copenhagen.  Now however the harbor is empty because boats no longer cross between the two cities, instead they use trucks ever since they built the bridge that spans across the two countries.  It was actually pretty depressing, I think it would have been nice to see an active harbor, plus tons of people lost their jobs when the shipping industry stalled.

I also saw the tallest skyscraper in Sweden which is actually a tower that twists, I serious, it twists as it goes up. I was also able to go to St. Petri church which is one of the oldest gothic churches in Scandinavia.  It was really pretty, especially in this one section where they had preserved the medieval wall paintings.  this small little aclove definitely had a gothic feeling to the drawings, especially with the accent of the sublime.  I went to the oldest castle in Scandinavia which was also super exciting. Being a history geek is pretty cool when you actually get to visit the places you have studied about back in books at home.  I learned a lot about the wars between Sweden and Denmark while at the castle.  Let me tell you that the animosity between these two people lasted a long way back!!!  The dungeon was really creepy.  They had this whole exhibit that was really dark and gruesome plus you were led abut by cat noises.  apparently Mary Queen of Scots late husband was imprisoned at the castle after fleeing Scotland accused of the murder of Mary’s second husband.  He ended up going mad in the dungeon claiming to hear and see the ghost of a black cat….pretty creepy.  Also I will never buy Swedish porcelain.  During the plague that hit Malmo 2/3 of the city’s population was killed and buried on the hills outside the city.  There bones were later dug up, ground into bone meal and used in the production of Swedish porcelain….very gross!!!!!

Interesting thing in Malmo is that you only have to pay once and then can go visit all the museums in the city.  So I went to the castle, the history museum, the natural history museum and the governor’s house.  Well worth the $8.  I also had an amazing afternoon walking around Kings park in Malmo, Malmo is known as the City of Parks because of the wide variety of parks and the different trees and plants in each park.  It was so nice, the sun was shining, kids were running around, people were walking their dogs and they were also kayaking in the canals.  It was a picturesque setting.

Yesterday I spent the night at my friend’s house in Vangede.  It was really nice, her host family is amazing!!!! She has a host mom and dad and then a host brother who is 18.  they all speak really good English and are amazing cooks, we ended up having Quiche for dinner!!!!  I spent the evening reading People magazine, cuddling with their two tiny dogs and watching Bones and Glee, a much-needed night of American entertainment!!!!!  Plus it was also very exciting to get to sleep in until 8:15 because their commute to school is only 35 minutes!!!!!

Thursday night I leave for a long weekend in Bornholm, an island off the coast of Sweden, DIS is offering a biking trip there and I am super excited. Apparently they also have really good smoked herring!!!!  I will write about that trip next week.  Pictures will be coming but might not be here until after finals.  I only have two weeks of classes left so I have two research papers and a final exam to do before hand and academics come first.  Miss you all and see you soon!!!!

Classes and Copenhagen

So todays blog will be a combination of different things I have been doing in Copenhagen.  I thought that I would start with my classes since I haven’t really mentioned them before.  I am enrolled in 6 classes Church and State, European Storytelling, Holocaust and Genocide, War Crimes, Turkey at the Crossroads and Memory and Identity in France. So far all my classes are going pretty well.  I like the readings in them all and I am glad they are not nearly as much work as my classes back home.  I am slightly disappointed in European Storytelling because I thought we would be looking at myths, legends, fairy tales and harry potter reading excerpts and analyzing however all we read is theory.  It is getting slightly boring and very difficult to remember all the people who have written theories on the hero myth and their different claims!!! I really did not know there were that many academics interested in the hero myth.  My favorite classes are Holocaust and Genocide and War Crimes, the professors in these two classes are amazing they are very intelligent and try to make the subjects accessible to students and try to lead class discussions which help.  There are a few interesting aspects of my classes hear that is particular with the Danish education system.  The first is how few grades we actually have.  Most of my classes are based off of 1 or 2 graded works when I am used 4 or 6 graded works.  It is also strange that in the middle of class we get a five-minute break.  Apparently it is because in Danish schools the students stay in the same classroom and the teachers move so teachers give students breaks to leave the room.  The first time we got a break I don’t think any of us knew what to do we kinda just sat in our seats.  Now we are used to it and it is nie to have that time to stretch or for me eat lunch cause on Mondays and Thursdays I have class straight from 8:30 to 5:45!!!!! I am also finding it hard to call my professors by their first name.  It is slightly strange to me, I get weird looks if I even call them Professor Heidi or Professor Jacob.  Final weird thing is the group work.  I hate it.  The danes love group work but it doesn’t work in a study abroad experience because there are some kids here who just don’t care because their grades do not transfer back.  I can’t stand it!!!!!  I am lucky that I have only had 2 group projects and they are both done.  Though in class the teachers are constantly having us answer questions in groups.  It is very reminiscent of highschool.  At times I feel like they treat us like little kids who don’t understand the topic and can’t come up with intelligent thoughts on our own.  However, I do see how at least now everyone participates while before half the class is on their computers.

Now after my little rant about classes I am on to my Copenhagen explorations.  Since it has finally gotten warmer I am now starting to walk around and explore more of the city which I am really enjoying.  I am a little worried I wont get to see everything before I leave, however it was just too cold before to walk around.  Though this week on Wednesday it did snow and hail in Copenhagen.  Not a fun experience to have to walk to my field study at the ministry of defense in the snow in the middle of April!!!!!!  anyways this week I went to the National History museum which was amazing.  It is housed in one of the old palaces in Copenhagen used for the crown prince and was really very beautiful.  There was so much to see. I was sure that I would get through it in an hour maybe two however I was there for three and a half hours!!!! The exhibits start with the stone age and continue until the present day describing Danish history.  Then they also have a world cultures exhibit that takes up two floors!!! It was a great experience!!!! There used to be a law that if you found any historical artifact you had to give it to the museum but now because they have too many objects they have discontinued that law!!! I was also able to see the bog body!!! In the past Scandinavian cultures would sacrifice people to the bogs and the oldest best preserved bog body was found in northern Denmark and was on display at the museum, it was really cool you could see hair, teeth, fingernails and even some skin!!!!!

That same night I went to a Danish highschool to help DIS housing services give a presentation on American college life.  It was really funny, the Danes were amazed that it is not legal to drink until you are 21 in the states but that we could drive at 16.  Most students there are between 14-18 and all of them drink but out of 56 students only one drives.  They were also surprised by the security measures at American schools due to gangs and violence.  My group was very shocked about part time jobs.  They couldnt understand why I work two jobs at college until I told them I only make 7.25 an hour!!! They make 20 dollars an hour!!!!!  Though of course Denmark is twice as expensive as the US those these lucky kids don’t have to pay for college.  Another difference that shocked them.

I also went to study for the first time at the royal Danish library.  Doesnt that sound so impressive!!!! It is also known as the Black diamond, mainly because the outside is black metal and it shaped like a diamond resting on its one side.  It was very pretty and set right on the canal so while studying you could look out onto the water…which was very distracting.  Inside was very interesting with a mix of modern concrete and iron design and the old facade of the brick library that used to be there.  It was also extremely crowded and took me and Megan a good 20 minutes to find free desks.  Also a weird rule i that bags and coats are not allowed it so you end up having to just carry around your books which is a big hassle.  I guess they don’t want anyone stealing books but I don’t see how this is a precaution because you could just slip one in with the books you were already carrying.  The walk to the library is amazing!!!! I got to walk through the parliament buildings and past a little courtyard in christiansborg.  It was great, I would love to have to walk through parliament and  a castle to get to my school library.  Just a little reminder of how unique Denmark is.

On Wednesday I went to visit the defence ministry for my war crimes class.  It is so different from the US, first of all there are only 120 people working there and their whole army can’t even fill one of our bases.  Just a reminder of how small they are.  Their troops are stationed in 5 different countries but they are pulling out of everywhere in 2012 because they are in so much debt and instead will focus on development projects in the third world, an interesting division in a military apparatus.

So I think I am finally being connected to the city.  Now that it is nice out.  It is a lot different from the city in winter, more people are out, the fountains are on, there are little fairs each week in city square.  It is really a very pretty and great city.

Skive, Ribe, and Odense: Second Week of Travel Break in Jylland

So just to be clear that I can not see the giant cloud of volcanic ash. It is pretty wild though that there is a volcano erupting pretty darn close to me right now!!! Hopefully this will not disrupt travels home!!!!

Today I thought I would continue on with my spring break adventures.  After returning from Turkey I spent the Easter weekend at my host grandparents house in Skive which is in Western Denmark on the main Peninsula of Jylland.  It was actually very nice.  Although I was slightly disappointed that I was not able to travel somewhere really exciting it was nice just to relax, eat good food and not have to pay for anything!!! Many of my friends overspent their budget by a lot during spring break so I am glad I returned to Copenhagen with at least a little money left in my bank account, though it is quickly diminishing.  At Easter I was able to meet the rest of martins family which was nice, we had kids running everywhere!!!! Although almost everything was in Danish I still had an enjoyable Easter dinner and then that evening we watched James Bond Die Another Day, which is actually a pretty good movie.

The next day my host family left for ringsted and I stayed in Skive to do some touring.  I visited a medieval Castle which was slightly smaller than I expected but did have some great furniture that was preserved very well and some nice views of the river.  I wish I could have gone when the weather was a little better apparently thy have an amazing rose garden. We then went to this little Island with chalk cliffs that apparently has the cleanest water in the entire world because it is filtered through these chalk layers.  Following this we concluded the day with a walk on the beach.  It was very nice to get to see the nature of Jylland.  Denmark is a really beautiful country.

So Tuesday I was supposed to leave to go visit Ribe, the oldest town in Denmark.  unfortunately as soon as we returned home Monday night I got extremely ill with the stomach flu and had to stay an extra day in Skive.  I probably should have stayed until Thursday but by the time Wednesday came I was soooo bored I had to leave.  They barely get internet access and no cable so it was pretty dull being sick in skive and I had sent all my  books and computer home with my host family so I was left with little to entertain myself and was slightly afraid I was going to start going crazy.  My host grandmother Heiddi did her best to entertain me, she is very amusing.  At times she will lapse into Danish and I don’t have the heart to correct her because I am afraid she will get embarrassed she does not know more English.

Wednesday I was on my way to Ribe.  It was actually a very cute town once I got over the very traumatic experience of train travel in Denmark.  If there is one suggestion I could make it would be to please speak in English!!!!  Everything was in Danish so the message that the train was delayed was not understood by me so I almost missed by connecting train from Esjberg to Ribe!!!! Also, they should not name two towns Ribe, I almost got off at the wrong stop!!! However, finally when I arrived I think it was worth it.  I had a great time in the morning wondering around the town and seeing all the old houses and hidden parks.  I kind of wish I could have had a tour of the town because then I could have understood so much more of its history and architecture.  The church was very beautiful, it was very well-preserved from the medieval ages and still held its original murals and arch paintings in colorful band patterns.  I do have one question for myself.  Why in the world when I don’t do well with heights or twisting stone staircases do I insist on going up any tower??? I could not resist going up the church tower even though I was terrified the entire time.  About halfway up there was a door with a sign in Danish on it, and of course me being curious I went to see if it was open and it was so I went in.  It was really cool and was the second floor to the church and you could look out onto the church below.  I have no idea if I was supposed to be up there but they should have locked the door if they didn’t want people there, that was my reasoning.  As soon as I got to the top of the tower the view was fantastic and worth the terrifying climb.  You could see the entire town with twisting streets and the canal with rocking boats and the old houses that had started to lean into one another.  It was an amazing experience to see the town from that high.

After I continued my explorations and went into a convent, it was not as pretty as the cathedral but did have this amazing cloister.  I was the only one in it and it was fantastic.  Very peaceful and serene with a small courtyard with an oak tree and lilies planted around it with a small fountain in the corner.  I wish I could have spent longer but was afraid of getting locked in.
I then went to the Viking museum and had fun looking at the gift shop.  The museum was interesting but I had already been to two other viking museums o they all seem to blend together to me.  I also got a very curious phone call from my grandma.  Apparently the call I made to my mom concerned her so she asked grandma to call me.  I was of course fine, I had just called to let mom know I was feeling better and traveling home.  Though to be fair it had been a tough week with problems registering for classes and housing for next semester so I can’t really blame her for worrying.  now I know not to call her at 6:30 in the morning!!!!

Of course after reassuring grandma i was fine I did start to feel a little homesick so on the way to a cafe to spend my remaining time in Ribe I impulsively stopped at a yarn store and brought some cool multi-dyed yarn for my friend who knits.  It is really neat and will change color as she knits!!! The girl in the store was super helpful in trying to help me find yarn and the day ended in a great fashion.

I spent the next two days in Ringsted still recovering from my illness and spent the time working on internship applications which were long overdue.  I have heard back from Senator Schumer’s office and got a summer internship there and I am just waiting to hear back from the International Institute where I really want to intern this summer.

On saturday me and the family went to odense for the day.  The museum on Han Christian Andersen’s life was very interesting and I got to see the house where he was born which was really nice. I mainly walked around the museum alone since the kids found it extremely boring and instead played out in the gardens.  However, overall the day was slightly stressful.  Having to keep track of four wondering kids was not fun and Imelda was in a sour mood all day pouting and screaming. I learned something very important…never have that many kids!!!!!  I was hoping to get some shopping done but we walked so slowly that I barely got to any shops.  the kids also wanted to go into these weird shops that sold cheap trinkets and bought the most useless things, I was surprised rikke payed for it all.  Another weird thing about Denmark are that on weekends shops close at 3 in the afternoon!!! It’s crazy!!! Why close early when the weekends are times people like to go shopping, they are significantly hurting their potential to make money!!!!  So overall I can’t say the day was fun, but at least I made it to Odense.  Next time I now though not to bring all the kids with me, it does not make for the best way to see things.  I was also surprised during the day about how much money they waste.  I mentioned the really cheap and weird toys that they have not touched since they bought them.  But also on the way home we got ice cream and I was at first surprised that rikke let each kid get their own three scope ice cream.  these kids barely eat anything so I knew they wouldn’t finish and of course all of them except me and Nickolas threw out half of their ice cream!!! I was a little surprised by the waste but apparently Rikke thought nothing of it.  Kinda strange.

Despite a poor trip to Odense and being sick the rest of my second week I thought went really well, I got to explore more of Denmark which was really nice and had a relaxing time so I was ready to get back to class instead of many other students who went to too many places and are now 1.) very tired 2.) behind in their work already and 3.) did not see that much in each city because they spent most of the time traveling and not staying to explore the cities!!!!!

Tivoli and the Queen

So I was going to write a post about my Easter adventures in Western Denmark but I have had an amazing week so that will have to wait until my next post…sorry.  Anyways, today was the Queens 70th Birthday.  For those of you who are unaware about the Danish political system, Denmark has a consitutional democracy with an elected parliament and then a prime minister.  However, they have also kept their traditional monarchy and the royal family is now seen as mainly symbols of Denmark.  The Queen will sign bills into law but she is not allowed to discuss political matters with the public, she will also represent Denmark in other countries.  Almost every Dane loves the Queen, she is very very popular!!!!  Her birthday was actually Wednesday April 14, but everyone is celebrating it today.  The birthday celebrations though have been going on all week. On Tuesday she went to the royal theatre for a pre-birthday celebration and Thursday she went to on Opera put on in her honor and tonight is her Birthday dinner.  In fact, due to the volcanic ash over Iceland Copenhagen airport was closed to all fights except those carrying her birthday guests.  Today anyone who wanted to see her could go down to Amalienborg castle and stand outside and 12 and the Queen and the royal family would wave to everyone.

I was very excited to get to participate in this tradition.  I was supposed to have class but a few of us asked the professor to move class and she did!!!!  I am glad I left early to get to Copenhagen this morning because the train was packed!!!!! I ended up having to stand the entire hour-long train ride stuffed into a corner by the doors, it was very hot and uncomfortable.  I was surprised that DSB (the Danish railway transportation system) didn’t plan for this and add more tain cars to the trains going to Copenhagen in the morning.  The subway was also a mess I had to wait for the fourth subway train to come along before I could even push my way onto the train. The city was full of Danish flags.  Every building was flying the Danish flag, or two, the buses had Danish flags on them and then there were people everywhere carrying little paper Danish flags.  It was very easy to find the castle from the metro stop, all I had to do was follow the giant crowd of people swarming in that direction.  I was really lucky and ran into a bunch of DIS students and joined them.  When we first arrived we ended up stopping in a little alleyway before the grand square in front of the castle and all of us were convinced we wouldn’t be able to see the Queen wave.  Then this really nice Danish man behind us said that we were just stopped because barricades had been put up to allow for the changing of the guard, when that was finished they would fall down and everyone would rush into the square.  Luckily we were then prepared for this because everyone did literally rush forward.  It was very exciting waiting to see the queen, all these little kids with their classes were there waving flags and singing the Danish birthday song.  finally the doors to the balcony opened and everyone screamed and shouted as the Queen and her husband walked out followed by the rest of the royal family.  Although I was very far away I did get some good pictures.  It was great everyone singing and shouting and waving.  The air was full fo excitement and it was easy to see that the Danes really do love their Queen.  She ended up having to come out three times because whenever she went back in the crowd would just shout louder.

After the waving there was then a parade with the queen riding through the city in a carriage.  I was not sure what route she was taking so I planned to walk down stroget to avoid the crowds on the metro.  Well the queens parade route ended up being stroget.  I couldnt even manuever my way over the street so I decided to take the metro to Norrport and then run up a side street and make it to the top of Stroget hopefully in time to see the parade.  This plan ended up working extremely well and I was able to get close-up to the Queen.  It was overall a fantastic day and I love the Queen as well!!!!!! Also, with the sun shining and everyone so happy it was the first day in Copenhagen that I realized I loved the city, which was really nice.  I was a little worried there that I would leave and not truly love my experience, but now I realize how much I have come to love the city and the people here and I will miss it a lot!!!!

Also this week my host family has had multiple adventures.  Over the weekend we ended up getting two hamsters, Sicca and Speedy.  When I first heard the hamster plan Iw as less than thrilled. In fact, me and martin were dead set against the plan.  I just didn’t see the girls taking care of the hamsters and then I wasnt too keen about being woken up by the hamsters at night when they run on their little wheel thing.  However, we ended up with the hamsters anyway.  For the first two days everyone was really excited and then the girls realized how much noise they made at night and now are less thrilled with the hamsters.  I told them, but no one believed me.  Oh, well.  They are very cute though and now I am used to the noises, so we have increased from a family of 8 to a family of 10!!!!!

Finally this week Tivoli opened and me and my family went on Wednesday night.  It was very spontaneous.  Rikke called me at 4:00 and said to get ready to leave for Tivoli in 45 minutes.  It was stressful trying to get everything together and packed for the trip, plus Imelda was not happy and threw a tantrum over who knows what but we did end up catching the train and making it to Tivoli.  It reminds me a lot of Epcot, there are different themed sections based on areas of the world and in each section there are rides and food stands and carnival games.  We went on about 10 different rides and all of the were very fun, some of the rides were not open because they were still being tested.  We went on this one family rollercoaster and Imelda cried the entire time and then when we got off she was still screaming and crying but wanted to go on it again…she is hilarious!!!!!!  We stayed until about 9pm at night because it just got too cold to stay any longer, however we only got through about half the park so I need to go back and see the rest.  When we left the lights were starting to go on and it was so pretty to see walkways covered in arches filled with different colored light bulbs and all the rides and building illuminated in different colors and with different lighting designs.  At night they even have a light parade which I really want to see.

Well that is all for now, have to go and finish a paper and presentation.  I will hopefully within the next week post pictures of Tivoli and the Queen!!!!!  Miss you all

The Oldest Town (1300) in Denmark: Ribe (Photos)

Ribe Cathedral

Ribe Cathedral

Ribe Cathedral

Ribe Cathedral

view of Ribe from Cathedral tower

Easter in Skive Photos

Chocolate Egg Hunt in the woods

Heiddi’s House

All the grandkids at Easter

Medieval Castle

Medieval Castle

inside medieval castle