In less than 24 hours I'll be home.
I pulled an all-nighter on Tuesday, but on Wednesday afternoon I went with the host family to Tivoli for a couple of hours, went on a few rides, etc. Promptly crashed by 9:30 and slept for like 12 hours. Then I had my last final on Thursday, which went okay I guess. Afterward I shopped for a little bit.
I met up with Anna and Caitlin on Friday early afternoon and we walked about the botanical gardens a bit, then split up, and as I had some time to kill before the closing ceremony thing, I decided to pay to go into Rosenborg Castle, which I had neglected to do. It houses the crown jewels, and a bunch of other cool stuff, and the throne room -- the Long Hall -- was pretty impressive.
Then I went over to the place for the closing ceremony, where we heard unecessary speeches, several of them (inlcuding those given by two DIS students) were painful to listen to due to their clichéd-ness. But that ended, and I headed home to (maybe) start packing. I did a little bit. But then we had dinner -- my host family gave me a charm-bracelet type thing as a going away gift -- and then I left to go to the DIS farewell party thing. Met up with Anna and Caitlin and eventually Kathryn, and we stayed there for awhile, and it was pretty fun, but then we decided to leave to go to Vega. Anna ended up just going home, so we said our goodbyes as we went to different bus stops. Then Kathryn, Caitlin, and I got to Vega and waited in line for a pretty long time (ended up not getting in before 1, so we had to pay, but we wanted to go, so), and then stayed there and danced to the the techno-DJ tunes for a while, and eventually figured out the roundabout routes we needed to take home. We also made our goodbyes at Rådhuspladsen as we went our separate ways for night buses!
I finally made it home around 4, and there was already sunlight on the horizon.
Today it's rainy and gross and I've just been packing away. I'm getting to the point where most of the stuff I have left to pack is the annoying toiletries/small item stage. Grr.
See you soon.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
A few days left
I leave in like four days. It's crazy.
Things we've done recently: went out again to the Dubliner and Nørrebro Bryghus (from which I may have... appropriated a glass with their name on it), went to Tivoli this afternoon with the host family, been writing papers and taking exams (last one tomorrow), went to Bakken, another amusement park, for a few hours last weekend.
Things I still need to do: consider packing/do laundry, buy gifts (for people at home, and for my host family), hang out with my friends, take pictures of some of my favorite places (Sankt Peder's Bageri, for example), savor the rest of my time in the city.
Things we've done recently: went out again to the Dubliner and Nørrebro Bryghus (from which I may have... appropriated a glass with their name on it), went to Tivoli this afternoon with the host family, been writing papers and taking exams (last one tomorrow), went to Bakken, another amusement park, for a few hours last weekend.
Things I still need to do: consider packing/do laundry, buy gifts (for people at home, and for my host family), hang out with my friends, take pictures of some of my favorite places (Sankt Peder's Bageri, for example), savor the rest of my time in the city.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
The rest of Heather's visit (and beyond)
On Saturday, we got off to a sort of late start, and headed out to the Carlsberg Brewery, arriving there around noon, I think. As we're walking to go toward the visitor entrance, this group of mostly middle-aged (I think) Danish guys call over to us, and ask us if we're going in. Well we are, so they tell us to come in with them because they are one short of 15 people, thus getting a reduced group rate (40kr instead of 60), so we're like "Okay..." 
Anyway, then we go in and as Heather and I are getting money out of our wallets the guy who is paying just waves us off and tells us not to worry about it. So, sweet! We basically ended up getting two free drinks out of this (they give you vouchers). Anyway, the brewery is interesting. You see mostly historical stuff, including a really detailed timeline that starts with the first recorded brewing of beer and then moves on to get more into Danish brewing history and then the Carlsberg history. Most of the rooms 
and such are historical representation about how the process would go in like, the early 20th century. Also: massive beer collection! When you are finished the tour you can go to the bar to redeem your vouchers -- Heather ended up trying the Carlsberg Elephant Beer and I got one of the specialty Jacobsen beers called Saaz Blonde, and then we both got sodas as it was only like 2 in the afternoon! Then we wandered out to find the elephant gate and take some pictures. Afterwards we headed back into the center of the city. We stopped at a gift shop on Strøget and Heather picked up a few things, and then I think we got bagel sandwiches again and then... possibly sat in a park for a bit? Not sure. Eventually we made our way home to have some dinner, and then went out to meet Anna and Caitlin at Palermo. We each had a drink there, and then decided to try this cocktail bar and cafe we had passed by a few times by Nørreport. They had a ridiculous drink menu. I ended up getting a Japanese Slipper. There were these two girls (sisters) sitting next to us, one of whom had worked for DIS at some point, and they invited us to go a club with them after we had our drinks, so we went with them to this place called L.A. Bar and danced for some hours -- when we got there they were playing songs like "Surfin' USA" and "Blue Suede Shoes" and it was highly amusing that the Danes there knew all the words to every song, when we didn't, and by the time we were leaving they had gotten into playing like, late '90s or so pop/rap. It was amusing! We took the night bus home and went to bed around 4... at this point we had given up on our hopes for Legoland as we didn't think we could get up early enough, and it was going to be like 1200kr a piece or more for the whole shebang. But oh well.
We got a reeeeeally late start the next day, but traveled over to Christianshavn and walked through Christiania a bit. Christiania -- for those who don't know -- is a sort semi-autonomous commune within Copenhagen. It was formed when some people squatted in
the abandoned military barracks in the 1970s, and for some reason the Danish government just let them take it over. It's weirdly separate from Denmark -- as you leave, there's a sign saying, "You are now entering the EU." It's kind of an artist's paradise -- there's graffitti murals and cool art everywhere, but they don't let you take any pictures. So we wandered around there for about a half an hour, but we both felt really out of place, so we just headed back in the direction of Christiansborg and sat by one of the canals soaking up the sun for awhile.
We got dinner at a place in Gråbrodretorv, and then met up with Katy and got some hot drinks from a 7-11 and chilled with her in one of the squares in the city for a while. Then we headed home, watched a movie, held a short video chat session with Amy, and went to bed.
I went in to my 8:30 class on Monday, and Heather met me in town afterward. We mostly sat around outside, as she had her backpacker's backpack with her and there was no where to store it. We met up with Katy again to grab a quick lunch, and I deserted Heather in the DIS library for an hour and half or so to go to the beginning of my afternoon class, then jetted from that, we got ice cream, went in a few stores, and then took the Metro to the airport and said our goodbyes!
So that was two weekends ago now. Last week, we had a field study to the Politiken offices. Not that enlightening. On Friday, I didn't have any classes, and arranged to meet up with Anna and Caitlin at Fælledparken, near the stadium, because we had heard that was something that Danes do on May 1. We were expecting it to just be a bunch of people chilling, having some drinks and snacks. How wrong we were! It was like a festival -- there were rides and stages and food stands and massive amounts of people. It took us about an absurd amount of time to locate each other, because when Caitlin told me they were near an inflatable giraffe, I thought I knew where they were. Turns out there were at least three inflatable giraffes in the park that day. But eventually I met up with them, and we met up with a (male) Alex from our program, and Kathryn, and hung out there till it started getting too chilly, and I had a bagel sandwich I had bought and a crepe and some popcorn and a couple of ciders. 'Twas fun! Caitlin and Anna biked back to their kollegium and Alex and I walked and took the bus to get there, and then we decided to watch the Lindsay Lohan version of "Freaky Friday" which I relentlessly made fun of, but it was still a good time!
Then on Saturday we took a short day trip to Malmö. We had heard the shopping was cheaper, because the e
xchange rate is better ($1 = apprx. 8kr Swedish and 5.5kr Danish), but prices are about the same (so something could be 98kr in Sweden and Denmark, so it's a little cheaper to buy it in Sweden). Also, we just wanted to say we had been to Sweden! We all ended up getting something -- I got a top and some brown sandals from H&M, but when we left the last store we went to around 5:30, everything else was closed already! So we walked around a bit and then got dinner at... a Pizza Hut, but it was the fanciest Pizza Hut any of us had ever seen. Do they serve you your pizzas in the deep dish they cook them in, in America? And Anna got an absolutely massive salad, which she took slightly more than half of back with her. We stopped in a convenience/gift shop on the way out of town, and I was disappointed that they didn't have Swedish fish in their candy section. Our train got back into CPH around 8, but I didn't get home till nine because when I got off the Metro around 8:05 and saw that there was a 10-minute wait for my bus, I decided to walk a little bit... and then I decided I should just walk to the ice cream place... and then I had to walk while eating my ice cream... and by the time I finished I was almost home. And, I think only three buses passes me that whole time, the last one not even until I was almost at what is my home bus stop, so I didn't feel to absurd that I had walked.
I think we are going to go out for a bit tonight... possibly to a karaoke bar? Purely to observe and mock, though!
Anyway, then we go in and as Heather and I are getting money out of our wallets the guy who is paying just waves us off and tells us not to worry about it. So, sweet! We basically ended up getting two free drinks out of this (they give you vouchers). Anyway, the brewery is interesting. You see mostly historical stuff, including a really detailed timeline that starts with the first recorded brewing of beer and then moves on to get more into Danish brewing history and then the Carlsberg history. Most of the rooms 
and such are historical representation about how the process would go in like, the early 20th century. Also: massive beer collection! When you are finished the tour you can go to the bar to redeem your vouchers -- Heather ended up trying the Carlsberg Elephant Beer and I got one of the specialty Jacobsen beers called Saaz Blonde, and then we both got sodas as it was only like 2 in the afternoon! Then we wandered out to find the elephant gate and take some pictures. Afterwards we headed back into the center of the city. We stopped at a gift shop on Strøget and Heather picked up a few things, and then I think we got bagel sandwiches again and then... possibly sat in a park for a bit? Not sure. Eventually we made our way home to have some dinner, and then went out to meet Anna and Caitlin at Palermo. We each had a drink there, and then decided to try this cocktail bar and cafe we had passed by a few times by Nørreport. They had a ridiculous drink menu. I ended up getting a Japanese Slipper. There were these two girls (sisters) sitting next to us, one of whom had worked for DIS at some point, and they invited us to go a club with them after we had our drinks, so we went with them to this place called L.A. Bar and danced for some hours -- when we got there they were playing songs like "Surfin' USA" and "Blue Suede Shoes" and it was highly amusing that the Danes there knew all the words to every song, when we didn't, and by the time we were leaving they had gotten into playing like, late '90s or so pop/rap. It was amusing! We took the night bus home and went to bed around 4... at this point we had given up on our hopes for Legoland as we didn't think we could get up early enough, and it was going to be like 1200kr a piece or more for the whole shebang. But oh well.We got a reeeeeally late start the next day, but traveled over to Christianshavn and walked through Christiania a bit. Christiania -- for those who don't know -- is a sort semi-autonomous commune within Copenhagen. It was formed when some people squatted in
the abandoned military barracks in the 1970s, and for some reason the Danish government just let them take it over. It's weirdly separate from Denmark -- as you leave, there's a sign saying, "You are now entering the EU." It's kind of an artist's paradise -- there's graffitti murals and cool art everywhere, but they don't let you take any pictures. So we wandered around there for about a half an hour, but we both felt really out of place, so we just headed back in the direction of Christiansborg and sat by one of the canals soaking up the sun for awhile.We got dinner at a place in Gråbrodretorv, and then met up with Katy and got some hot drinks from a 7-11 and chilled with her in one of the squares in the city for a while. Then we headed home, watched a movie, held a short video chat session with Amy, and went to bed.
I went in to my 8:30 class on Monday, and Heather met me in town afterward. We mostly sat around outside, as she had her backpacker's backpack with her and there was no where to store it. We met up with Katy again to grab a quick lunch, and I deserted Heather in the DIS library for an hour and half or so to go to the beginning of my afternoon class, then jetted from that, we got ice cream, went in a few stores, and then took the Metro to the airport and said our goodbyes!
So that was two weekends ago now. Last week, we had a field study to the Politiken offices. Not that enlightening. On Friday, I didn't have any classes, and arranged to meet up with Anna and Caitlin at Fælledparken, near the stadium, because we had heard that was something that Danes do on May 1. We were expecting it to just be a bunch of people chilling, having some drinks and snacks. How wrong we were! It was like a festival -- there were rides and stages and food stands and massive amounts of people. It took us about an absurd amount of time to locate each other, because when Caitlin told me they were near an inflatable giraffe, I thought I knew where they were. Turns out there were at least three inflatable giraffes in the park that day. But eventually I met up with them, and we met up with a (male) Alex from our program, and Kathryn, and hung out there till it started getting too chilly, and I had a bagel sandwich I had bought and a crepe and some popcorn and a couple of ciders. 'Twas fun! Caitlin and Anna biked back to their kollegium and Alex and I walked and took the bus to get there, and then we decided to watch the Lindsay Lohan version of "Freaky Friday" which I relentlessly made fun of, but it was still a good time!
Then on Saturday we took a short day trip to Malmö. We had heard the shopping was cheaper, because the e
xchange rate is better ($1 = apprx. 8kr Swedish and 5.5kr Danish), but prices are about the same (so something could be 98kr in Sweden and Denmark, so it's a little cheaper to buy it in Sweden). Also, we just wanted to say we had been to Sweden! We all ended up getting something -- I got a top and some brown sandals from H&M, but when we left the last store we went to around 5:30, everything else was closed already! So we walked around a bit and then got dinner at... a Pizza Hut, but it was the fanciest Pizza Hut any of us had ever seen. Do they serve you your pizzas in the deep dish they cook them in, in America? And Anna got an absolutely massive salad, which she took slightly more than half of back with her. We stopped in a convenience/gift shop on the way out of town, and I was disappointed that they didn't have Swedish fish in their candy section. Our train got back into CPH around 8, but I didn't get home till nine because when I got off the Metro around 8:05 and saw that there was a 10-minute wait for my bus, I decided to walk a little bit... and then I decided I should just walk to the ice cream place... and then I had to walk while eating my ice cream... and by the time I finished I was almost home. And, I think only three buses passes me that whole time, the last one not even until I was almost at what is my home bus stop, so I didn't feel to absurd that I had walked.I think we are going to go out for a bit tonight... possibly to a karaoke bar? Purely to observe and mock, though!
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Heather came to visit!
SO. What been going on since travel break finally ended? Well Easter weekend was basically recovery weekend. Classes started up the Tuesday after Easter. I accompanied Anna and Caitlin when they went to rent bikes (in lieu of getting transportation passes). I almost beat them back to DIS (on foot) on their first bike ride in Copenhagen. That Wednesday, I went with my Danish politics class to Parliament (where we had a short lecture/discussion from the woman who is the chair of the foreign affairs committee). We were meant to have a tour of Christiansborg but apparently our group was too large and they wouldn't split us up. Then we had a break for about an hour and a h
alf, and then went to the Copenhagen Police Department. We had a short tour of their building, then a talk about how they handle demonstrators/protests, and then a quick demonstration/tour from the riot squad (they got into their riot gear in well under five minutes, and then they showed us some of the weapons). On Thursday I went with Anna over to Amalienborg to watch the royal family wave from the balcony because it was the queen's birthday. I think that weekend was relatively uneventful. Had to pull an all-nighter on Monday the 20th in order to write a paper for Danish politics (got an A, though).
Then on Thursday, Heather arrived! I met her at the airport around three, we got her a klippekort, and then we took the Metro into the city center. Heather got a pastry from Skt. Peder's and we went and relaxed in a park for awhile, as the weather was beautiful. (In fact, the weather has been absolutely amazing ever since I returned from Krakow.) We headed back home and Heather met the host family, and then we had dinner, conversation, etc. I was amused that my host mother has trouble saying "Heather" -- it's something about the soft "th" sound -- but Caroline could say it perfectly. Heather and I ended up hanging out and watching The Office and some other stuff online, then turned in for the night.
I skipped classes on Friday to make the most of it. We planned on doing a bunch of stuff and
going to Carlsberg today. We ended up taking the train out to Østerport, walking through some of the grounds of the Kastellet, and over to the Little Mermaid. No adornments this time! Then, we walked on and found the Gefion Fountain, which I had not seen turned on yet and was pretty cool. Heather got a hot dog with everything on it from a pølsevogn -- I've not even had a hot dog from one of the carts yet, but oh well. We then walked along the water all the way down to Amalienborg, where there was also a cool fountain switched on, and briefly into the church that's right across the way. Its dome is pretty impressive but photos were frowned upon -- I took a couple of illicit ones of the altar. We then made our way down to Nyhavn, and ended up getting some smørrebrø
d at a little restaurant. Afterwards we made our way to the Round Tower; it is what it sounds like, and there are (almost) no stairs inside, it's just a winding incline up to an observation platform, so you can see a nice view of the skyline, and even Sweden! We got the first of several bagel sandwiches, ate them, and made our way over to Tivoli. We decided to suck it up and pay for the price of the multi-ride wristband on top of the entry fee, instead of paying singly for each ride we wanted to do. So, in order to get the best bang for our buck (or the most bang for our 285kr), we basically went on all the major rides. None of them are particulary big, so Heather somehow managed to drag me on to the rollercoasters and this ridiculous ride that I think we both ended up hating that spun around and then twisted you up and down and was completely crazy. But we did the freefall ride and bumper cars and the giant swings. The couple of really tall rides give you great views of the city as well. We stayed for quite some time, as there was to be a concert; we listened to about half of it before we decided we were cold enough, and headed for home!
alf, and then went to the Copenhagen Police Department. We had a short tour of their building, then a talk about how they handle demonstrators/protests, and then a quick demonstration/tour from the riot squad (they got into their riot gear in well under five minutes, and then they showed us some of the weapons). On Thursday I went with Anna over to Amalienborg to watch the royal family wave from the balcony because it was the queen's birthday. I think that weekend was relatively uneventful. Had to pull an all-nighter on Monday the 20th in order to write a paper for Danish politics (got an A, though).Then on Thursday, Heather arrived! I met her at the airport around three, we got her a klippekort, and then we took the Metro into the city center. Heather got a pastry from Skt. Peder's and we went and relaxed in a park for awhile, as the weather was beautiful. (In fact, the weather has been absolutely amazing ever since I returned from Krakow.) We headed back home and Heather met the host family, and then we had dinner, conversation, etc. I was amused that my host mother has trouble saying "Heather" -- it's something about the soft "th" sound -- but Caroline could say it perfectly. Heather and I ended up hanging out and watching The Office and some other stuff online, then turned in for the night.
I skipped classes on Friday to make the most of it. We planned on doing a bunch of stuff and
going to Carlsberg today. We ended up taking the train out to Østerport, walking through some of the grounds of the Kastellet, and over to the Little Mermaid. No adornments this time! Then, we walked on and found the Gefion Fountain, which I had not seen turned on yet and was pretty cool. Heather got a hot dog with everything on it from a pølsevogn -- I've not even had a hot dog from one of the carts yet, but oh well. We then walked along the water all the way down to Amalienborg, where there was also a cool fountain switched on, and briefly into the church that's right across the way. Its dome is pretty impressive but photos were frowned upon -- I took a couple of illicit ones of the altar. We then made our way down to Nyhavn, and ended up getting some smørrebrø
d at a little restaurant. Afterwards we made our way to the Round Tower; it is what it sounds like, and there are (almost) no stairs inside, it's just a winding incline up to an observation platform, so you can see a nice view of the skyline, and even Sweden! We got the first of several bagel sandwiches, ate them, and made our way over to Tivoli. We decided to suck it up and pay for the price of the multi-ride wristband on top of the entry fee, instead of paying singly for each ride we wanted to do. So, in order to get the best bang for our buck (or the most bang for our 285kr), we basically went on all the major rides. None of them are particulary big, so Heather somehow managed to drag me on to the rollercoasters and this ridiculous ride that I think we both ended up hating that spun around and then twisted you up and down and was completely crazy. But we did the freefall ride and bumper cars and the giant swings. The couple of really tall rides give you great views of the city as well. We stayed for quite some time, as there was to be a concert; we listened to about half of it before we decided we were cold enough, and headed for home!
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