Feeding an army...

"If you want to make god laugh, tell him your plans."

-Unknown

For the past three weeks my friends and I have decided to have a communal dinner on Saturday nights and it switches who plans and hosts the dinner.  This week Niklas and I took our turn.  We wanted to go for an American/German theme so of course we wanted to grill hamburgers and sausages. Unfortunately it decided to rain and be really cold all day Saturday so there went our idea to have a nice "barbecue" as everyone refers to it here.  And what started out as a nice group of six coming ended up as 11 by the time we ate! And as I am from the Midwest I was freaking out about if we had enough food.  We told everyone to come at 5:00 and Niklas and I were ready, as shown by Niklas' awkward Vana White pose.

 At these dinners everyone brings something or has a job, so Chris and Alex were given the job of grilling the meat (I don't know if you can see it but there is a bottle of red wine sitting on the grill and Alex has a glass in his hand.  Drinking red wine while grilling hamburgers is almost sacrilegious and they were ridiculed greatly)

and this is what 45 minutes of waiting looks like while the guys try to get the grill to work.

and this is what failure looks like.  Chris and Alex finally gave up and came in to cook the hamburgers on the stove.

But in the end everything turned out really well and it was a lot of fun.  So for the dinner we had from left: Daniel (one of my roommates), Seonaid, Marcos, Alex, Hannah, Niklas, Krys, Triin, and Morten (another roommate)

and Chris who was still cooking the hamburgers and wasn't sitting yet.

Even though our plans didn't really work out I have to say I am proud of what we actually did.  We ended up with German potato salad (that I made), a pasta salad, hot dogs, some weird red Danish sausage, hamburgers, and chocolate cake for dessert.

Earlier this week we decided to play soccer(or football as everyone else calls it).  One would think that it would have been a really good game especially since we had an Italian, a Brazilian, and 2 Germans playing, but apparently not.  It was a fun game if not a skillful one. 

This past summer I mowed lawn for the Town of Taycheedah and I thought I did a lot of pointless things, but this kind of takes the cake.  Is it really necessary to mow this? I think not.

 And finally my Danish class has come to an end.  As much as I really really dislike the language I will miss my classmates and teacher.  Friday morning before our test we had breakfast together and its amazing how much of a family we have become in the last 3 weeks.  At the breakfast there was yelling, reaching over each other, food being thrown, and just the general chaos of a normal family.

Random Danish Facts:

-The highest point in Denmark is 171 m.  The highest point in Wisconsin, Timms Hill, is 5 times higher than that.

- I don't know if I have mentioned it yet but Lego was invented in Denmark.  

  

Convenient Acquaintances...

"Tis the privilege of friendship to talk nonsense, and to have her nonsense respected."

-Charles Lamb

One of my biggest fears when coming to Copenhagen was not being able to make friends.  I was terrified at the thought of being alone for an entire year. Well, that fear was definitely not needed.  Over the past couple of weeks I have made some really good friends, unfortunately most of them are leaving in 6 months, but for those 6 months I think we will have a lot of fun. 

Every Wednesday night the Studenterhuset has an international night for all the international students.  So here we have from left to right; Niklas from Germany, Triin from Estonia, Seonaid from New Zealand, Marcos from Brazil, Krys from Germany, Diana from the U.S., one guy who I only met once and can't remember his name, Keven from Australia, Kate from the U.S., Francesco from Italy, Sophie from the U.S., and another girl I don't know. 

 After the Studenterhuset we tried to take the metro home unfortunately the metro was closed for repairs so we had to take the train, which took forever! At least I now remember the word for delay in Danish.

 The scary thing about trains in Denmark is that if you fall asleep and don't wake up at your stop you end up in Sweden.

On Friday we went on a canal boat tour. 

 One note never trust an Australian when they say it is only a short walk from uni to the boat.  Because you will end up walking for 40 minutes.  But on the other side the Australians that I have met here are pretty much the nicest people I have ever met.  This is Alex from Tasmania, and Mitch from Brisbane, and these guys were nice enough to indulge me and say, "crikey mate" in their beautiful Australian accents.  These two actually made us dinner last night and did a very nice job, even though pizza was mentioned at one point.  In fact their other roommate's exact words were, "It's acceptable"

On the canal boat tour we learned that this ship became famous when a torpedo was accidentally  released into the land, no one was hurt but over 100 buildings were destroyed.

 And this is the royal yacht.  Which again is just hanging out in open water, my American mind went automatically to, "oh my god anyone could just swim up to it and put something on it that is a complete security risk!" but they don't seem to worried about such things here.

And prepare to be extremely dissapointed... here is the little mermaid.  I knew she was small, and I knew people told me that I shouldn't really think much of it but when people think of Denmark this is pretty much what you think of and there really isn't any fanfare around her.  She isn't even marked on the city map that you get at the tourist office.  She is just kind of there.  

 This photo is for you dad, see you can come here and feel like you are at home, there is yellow construction equipment   Just don't look too closely because they really aren't Caterpillar.

 This is the spire of Church of our Saviour.

And here was our Hans Christen Andersen moment, don't you feel like writing a fairy tale about an ugly duckling?

 This is the spire on top of the old stock exchange.  When the building was orignally commisioned the spire was supposed to have four crocodiles intertwined.  Unfortunately the artist had never seen a crocodile so the ended up looking like dragons.  My question is why does a building in Denmark need a spire of dragons or crocodiles? Those are not exactly Danish animals.

 These three are probably my best friends here and that is probably because Seonaid and Krys know how to  cook and invite me and Niklas over for dinner a couple times a week.

 This building is home to Noma, which has been voted the top restaurant in the world multiple times.

Well this week has been absolutely beautiful.  Most days it has been sunny and in the upper 70's which is crazy warm for here.  This has also been the week that Seonaid decided that we should be running partners and I have now gone running twice with her.  All I can say about running is that the whole thing about having a running high is complete lies.  After running all you feel is hot, sweaty, and tired.  Also next week is the final week of my Danish class which means I also have the written exam and oral exam. So today we are going to the beach to "study."   

Random Danish facts:

-Danish does not have a word for please

- Denmark actually uses traffic lights, there are very few roundabouts

- Danish university students actually get paid a monthly stipend to go to school and they can get this stipend until they are 25

- Danish people actually consume the most alcohol per person than any other country in the world

Foooooood...

"Sacred cows make the best hamburgers."

- Mark Twain

As I am sure you are all aware I have had issues with food since getting here, and after my mom had to tell me very seriously that my diet of mashed potatoes and scrambled eggs was not healthy, I decided to be brave and try to cook.  So yesterday I put on my big girl pants and went to the grocery store.  Not only did I buy meat I also had to ask the people in the grocery store questions.  For those of you who don't think this is a big deal, think again because truthfully I am terrified of talking to strangers.  Anyways I decided my first real cooking experience in Copenhagen should be the most obvious choice of anyone deciding to cook in a foreign country.  I decided to make cheesecake, yup cheesecake.  Let me tell you it was the best cheesecake I have ever tasted, because I had to put more effort into making this cheesecake than I have ever put into making anything.  Not only did I need to translate all of the ingredients into Danish to find them in the grocery store, I also had to change all the measurements into metric and temperatures to Celsius.  In the end though it was so worth it.       

And my roommate Daniel and his girlfriend Laura were nice enough to model the half-eaten cheesecake.  Laura is currently staying at our apartment until she finds one for herself and I would like her to stay forever for completely selfish reasons.  First she mopped our floors and did the dishes and then tonight Daniel and her cooked us a dinner of lasagna and apple pie.  It was amazing.

Even though they don't look like it was amazing they actually thought it was(they said I took too long to take the photo so they couldn't smile anymore, boys!)

Also this past weekend we finally got good weather!  So on Saturday we hit the beach.  

 

This is Marcos, Seonaid, Krys, and Niklaus.

I did not go all the way in but Niklaus and Krys had a lot of fun in the water.

At the beach they were selling these peas which are huge! I could not believe that they were normal peas, unfortunately at this size you don't eat the shell only the actual pea.

Then on Sunday we walked into town to see what was going on, and there just happened to be an Ironman triathlon.  We were at the finish line when the first guy crossed the finish line.     

 After swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles, and running 26.2 miles this guy was still nice enough to walk around the crowd and thank his fans.  

 After that we bought some pastries and went to sit by the water at Nyhavn, which is the place with all the pretty colored houses that you see in all the pictures of Copenhagen.

After Nyhavn we decided to go and explore Christiania, unfortunately we ran into issues when it came to getting around the triathlon.  We ran into issues because the city is made up of lots of canals which requires the crossing of bridges.  Well the bridge we wanted to cross had the triathlon crossing it so we didn't really know where to go.  I again put on my big girl pants and asked one of the security people if he could give us an alternate route to get around.  He didn't give us an alternate route he just moved the barricades and had us walk alongside the runners inside the barricades!   

So after watching incredibly fit and dedicated people we decided to go in the complete opposite direction and go to the free town of Christiania.  This is a walled town within the city of Copenhagen where buying marijuana is legal.  I mean like people having stands set up in the street with marijuana on display.  There are no photos allowed within Christiania but here is a photo of the entrance gate.

And finally today I met my mentors! The four lovely ladies are Danish students who have volunteered to help international students find their way in Denmark.  So first we went to a cafe where I was able to get a hamburger(with bacon :)  and then we went and got ice cream.  It was a really good day.

If you couldn't tell this last week had a lot to do with food, which is probably why I am in a much better mood than my last post.  Not only did I get to eat meat, but I also got over my fear of going to the grocery store.  So from now on no more mashed potatoes for 3 meals a day 7 days a week.  

Random Danish Facts:

There is a holiday in Denmark called Fastelavn.  When this holiday was started the people used to put a black cat in a barrel and then hang the barrel from a tree.  Then children would hit the barrel with a bat until they broke the barrel and the cat was dead.  Then that child would get a crown.  Horrible, right?  Today it is less horrible because they only put a picture of a cat on the barrel and then fill the barrel with candy.  

The honeymoon is over...

"When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable.  It is designed to make its own people comfortable."

-Clifton Fadiman

* I promise this whole thing is not about me being annoyed, but if you want to skip that part move to the pretty pictures at the bottom.  

You know that period when something is new and everything about that new thing seems amazing and fun? Like nothing could possibly go wrong?  I had that period here in Copenhagen.  The first week everything seemed amazing.  I was exploring a city, I was meeting new people, doing cool things.  Well that period is now over and I have moved onto the period of annoyance.  I once read that the stages that students study abroad go through are 1. honeymoon 2. negotiation (i.e. annoyance) 3. Adjustment and 4. mastery.  Unfortunately this same article said you are supposed to be in the honeymoon phase for 3 months, mine lasted about a week.  Now it seems like the differences between here and home are like great chasms instead of little cracks.  One of the big things that seems to have helped make the switch from honeymoon to annoyance is the price of things.  This is not only limiting me doing things it is also limiting my eating options. And by eating options I do not mean limiting the restaurants I can go to, because I have only eaten out once since I got here, but by limiting the things I can even afford in the grocery store.  So far my diet has consisted of potatoes, eggs, and noodles.  So this annoyance could also be caused by my starvation.  Another great concern is that stores close at 5:00 PM, at the latest.  I never really thought about how convenient the U.S. is until I came here.  So if you just need to run to the grocery store because you are out of milk, well to bad because you are going to have to wait until 10:00 tomorrow morning because that is when the stores open again.   These feelings of annoyance at the cultural differences are also probably exaggerated by my annoyance at practical things that I take for granted at home.  For example, up until this afternoon I did not have a phone.  So I was supposed to meet someone at a train station at a certain time, unfortunately that person ended up having to do something else but had no way to contact me so I was left waiting for 20 minutes before continuing on my own and this has happened multiple times.  Also I haven't been able to get a bike yet.  I have looked at this craiglist-esque site but of all the e-mails I have sent out no one has e-mailed me back.  So currently I ride the metro at least four times a day and each time I ride the metro it costs $2.40.  Add all this to the fact that I am trying to learn a foreign language for 3 hours everyday, that I haven't been sleeping well, and it basically has been cold and rainy since i got here and you get me just being really really annoyed.  Hopefully the logistical/practical things will be sorted out soon which will release some of my anxiety/annoyance.  Also according to the article in about 6 months I should be on to the adjustment/acceptance phase.

However that being said I am still glad I came.  I am meeting amazing people that I hope to become good friends with.  I am "learning" a new language, and yes those quotation marks are completely intentional, and I am in a beautiful city.  Today all the international students went to the Kongens Have or the King's garden and just sat around talking, enjoying the two minutes of sunshine we had.  Now Kongens Have is probably one of my favorite places that I have visited so far.  This beautiful park  has fairytale themed playgrounds for little kids, perfectly manicured formal gardens, and  grassy fields full of sunbathers and teenagers playing soccer.  This park is also the grounds of Rosenborg Slot, which is home to the Danish crown jewels.  Also Rosenborg slot is a castle surrounded by a moat! How cool is that?     

So these are some of the awesome people that I have met.  The guy is Marcos, from Brazil, then Seonaide is in the middle and she is from New Zealand, and Krys is from Germany.  

 The group again this time Hannah from the Netherlands is in the middle and Niklaus from Germany is next to Krys and two random people that I don't know.

 And this is about half of my Danish class plus more random people.  Add to the people mentioned above Berit from Germany, Keven from Australia, and Francisco from Italy.

This picture is interesting not really because what it is of but because of the reactions of some of the other international students of seeing this.  I don't know if you can tell but the picture is of a group of soldiers practicing their drills.  When I see this I don't really think anything of it.  This is perfectly normal for me.  However for a couple of the other students that I was with this made them extremely uncomfortable.  Seonaide who is from New Zealand just wanted to get away as quick as possible.  She said that in New Zealand the police don't even carry guns! Now to me as an American that just seems absolutely foolish.  This has actually been a big topic of conversation.  Even my Danish roommate wanted me to explain to him why the U.S. needs so many guns.  Its one of those topics that you never really think about until someone needs an explanation.  

More cool facts you didn't know about Denmark:

-Lego was invented here (and there is the world's largest Legoland which I am totally going to go visit)

-the Faroe Islands used to belong to Norway until the King of Norway lost them in a drunken poker game to the King of Denmark.  

And I thought Russian was hard...

 "If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head.  If you talk to him in his language that goes to his heart."

Nelson Mandela

My original plan when starting university was to study Russian.  After two semesters of struggling through what I thought was the most difficult language on the planet I gave up.  Little did I know that I would one day wish that I was still learning Russian instead of this crazy language known as Danish.  I had my first Danish class today and let me tell you, it is the craziest thing I have ever seen.  The gist of what I have learned so far is that basically if you have a 6 letter word you just pick like three consonants out of that word and just mumble/not even say the other letters in the word.  Take for example this word, selvfølgelig, this word is pronounced se fo li.  Now if you count that out you have a 12 letter word and you only pronounce 6 letters.  How does that make any sense? Not only is the language incredibly difficult to understand, it also does not help that the course is a 3 week intensive study.  I did not quite believe when they said intensive that they actually meant intensive.  Today was the first day of class tomorrow I am supposed to know, by heart: number 1-20, the alphabet, how to introduce yourself, and how to say your nationality.  One of my classmates asked the teacher if it was ok to start crying right in class or if they should wait until the get home.  On the positive side I am think am feeling way more comfortable in the city and in my apartment.  My roommates are super nice and I don't feel like I need to tiptoe around anymore.  I also think I have a grasp on the metro/train system.  Another positive is that I found Netto, which is the Danish equivalent of Aldi's, so I have now added spaghetti to my diet of mashed potatoes and bread.  Mom you should be so proud of my cooking skills.  Yesterday Kate and I went to the National Museum.  All I can say about it is that it is a museum, basically like any other museum.  However after the museum we saw Christianborg Slot, which is where the parliament currently meets.

 The guards  stand in these awesome little stands when the weather is bad.  I think they totally look like little toy soldiers.

After walking through Christianborg, Kate and I decided to wander.  Now tell me in what other place can you wander and just come across a castle?  This is Rosenborg Slot which houses the crown jewels.  The castle is surrounded by Kongens have or the King's garden, which is just a huge beautiful park.  

I was trying to be artistic in this next photo.  As you can see I am not really an artist.

I just love the colored buildings with the red tile roofs.  

Interesting Denmark Fact:

In her spare time Queen Margrethe II translated the Lord of the Rings trilogy into Danish and drew the illustrations.  How cool is that?