Kirk in København

I Want to Ride My Bicycle, I Want to Ride My BIKE!

2007-05-06T14:44:00.000-05:00

I've got a bike, you can ride it if you like It's got a basket, a bell that rings and things to make it look good I'd give it to you if I could, but I borrowed it
-Pink Floyd

I realized that I haven't really made any post about my bike yet. Well, I'm glad I waited because this is a good story - grab a drink and start reading.

Whenever I get on the thing, those words by Pink Floyd invariably get into my head. Well, either that or the Queen song for which the title of this post is named. Really- I sometimes hum the words out loud. Anyway, I ride my bike to the train station every morning. It takes a grand total of eight minutes to get there, but it's about a 20 minute walk so I'm not complaining. Check out the hotness:

You can't really tell from the picture but its got wide fenders, lights, a bell, and the front wheel wobbles when you ride it. It's pretty cool to say the least. However, last week I emerged from the house after eating my morning biscuit to discover that it was missing. At first, I thought that my host brother way playing a trick on me, but I couldn't find it anywhere on the grounds. I grudgingly walked to the train station - good thing I got up early this morning or I would have been late for class.

Needless to say, it was stolen. I had to spend the next week walking to and from the train station. Keep in mind, that is 40 minutes of time that I don't have gone, everyday. I also had to replace it, because my hostfam gives that bike out to all of their students.

I spent a few days walking the neighborhood searching for it, to no avail. I went to the police station (Drew, police stations here are just like they are in the States btw) and tried to file a police report so I could put in an insurance request. Turns out, I needed a serial number to fill one out, but my bike was so old it didn't have one. Sweet. Now I had to pay for the damn thing.

Going home from the police station, I decided to walk a different way home and make one last sweep. I was walking by my town's athletic complex at dusk, checking out all of the bike racks. Then I saw it. YES! SUCCESS! But defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory very quickly. Turns out, it was locked to another bike, which was locked to the rack. Fuck.

Fortunately, those dastardly villains who stole my bike left my lock on my seat, and I had the key. So I locked the frame, wheel, and rack together and left to go home. Surprisingly, home was only about 300 meters away (yes, I've started using meters now - it grows on you). I told my host mom about it, and she called the police to tell them what was up. A bike is stolen in Copenhagen every five minutes, so this is by no means an uncommon occurrence. Similar to the Canton police back home, they didn't really want anything to do with it. But they did tell my host mom to go ahead and cut the lock from that person's bike. Wow.

So my host mom and I went down there, and sure enough, the two bikes were still there. We managed to dig up a pair of hedge clippers to cut the lock with. The funniest thing that I've seen in Denmark is my host mother wielding these massive clippers and trying to cut the lock in full view of everyone. After some back and forth between us, we managed to clip that person's lock and get my bike out. Then my host mom goes "you know how to let air out of tires right?" Well, yah.

So we then proceeded to give the guy two flat tires and disassemble his front break pads for good measure. That should teach him. I went back the next day and their bike wasn't on the rack, so I guess he found his surprise that previous night. Hehe.

Kirk's Eurotrip '07 Wrapup Extravaganza

2007-04-19T18:00:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone - sorry for not writing this post a little sooner. It's been good to be back after 23 days on the road (I returned on April 10th) My little trip really was quite an adventure, so I guess I'll start by listing some of the factoids below:

The "Official" Stuff:
-Number of Countries Visited: 6
-Cities seen: 9
-Airports set foot in: 9
-estimated number of miles walked on foot: over 50 (I looked through my journal on the plane ride back and found that I did a city walking tour for 18 straight days. Yikes.)
-New stamps in passport: 6
-Planes taken: 4
-Trains taken: 9
-Buses: 1
-Ferries: 1
-Hostels slept in: 10
-Photos taken: 1572 (an astounding 2.5 Gigs. Damn)

The Fun Stuff:
-Shots of Absinthe consumed: 3
-Cathedrals visited: 10
-Currencies in pocket by trip's end: 3
-Books read: 3
-Blisters: 2
-Popes seen: 1
-Money spent: Let's just say I could have paid for a low-moderately priced used car. In other words, my whole checking account. Literally. I actually overdrew by a few bucks.
-Items lost: 1. Only my cloth sunglass case. Pretty lucky compared to others.
-Objects touched that supposedly give you good luck: 3

I could probably go on for another 10 minutes, but I won't bore you with that. This map below should put things in perspective about where I went. Berlin was first, remember. Countries that I visited on that trip are in orange and countries that I visited previously are in gray:

I guess now I'll walk through some of the cultural highlights that I hit. I think I did more cool things in those three weeks than I did my entire life:

I saw at least one piece of art by all four artists who had Ninja Turtles named after them.
I stood on both sides of the Berlin Wall and the Prime Meridian (in Greenwich outside of London).
I climbed to the top of two cathedrals.
I ate lunch on the top of a Parliament building (the Reichstag).
I kissed the Blarney Stone and saw the Rosetta Stone.
I visited a place where my great-grandmother was a servant.
I was an extra in a movie.
I got lost in Venice.
I saw a concentration camp.
I rode in a double-decker London bus.
I laid eyes on The Pope.

Again, I probably could go on and on. I don't think that I could pin down a single city that I liked the best though. Both Prague and Florence spring to mind first though. I remember thinking that I didn't want to leave Prague as I went to the airport - it really was an amazing and "enchanting" city. Florence was the birthplace of the Renaissance, and there was a ton to do there. The weather was perfect and we managed to hit all of the cultural highlights in two days. That and the gelato was damn good. That's all for now. It's 12:20 here now and I have to go to bed, but I'll post pictures tomorrow on Facebook (and a select few on this blog).

Italia!

2007-04-18T17:17:00.000-05:00

Sorry for not writing this sooner, but I've been pretty busy with classes since I returned home. My own "Eurotrip" ended on April 10th, so this is just an update on the last leg of my journey in Italy.I spent the last week there, so I figure I should devote at least a few paragraphs to it! I got there on the night of the 31st - after getting settled into my hostel, I went down to the Colosseum right down the road. The exit to the metro faces it and I remember how big it seemed as I walked outside. I mean, I had seen it plenty of times on the History Channel growing up, but having a piece of history standing there in front of you all lit up really is amazing.

The next day, I was on my own for the first part while I waited for some DIS people to show. I hit a lot of the famous sites like the Spanish Steps, the Trevi fountain, and the Pantheon. The next day I basically toured the Vatican Museums with a bunch of random college kids I met in line (and 3 DIS people, 2 of which I was traveling with). Pretty surprising how well you can get to know people standing in line for 3 hours. The highlight of the museum was the Sistine Chapel, with Michaelangelo's famous frescoes. After coming out of the museum and grabbing lunch, we went over to St. Peter's Square. My first thought was "Why are there so many metal detectors out?" Turns out, the Pope was going to speak in an hour. Lucky us! Everything was in Italian, but it was still quite an experience. The rest of Rome was nice too. I managed to see the Roman Forum and tour the inside of the Colloseum before departing for Pisa.

In Pisa, I met my traveling buddy for the rest of the trip - Colleen. We were only in Pisa for half a day, but it was enough time to see the Leaning Tower - pretty much the only attraction in that town. Colleen had been an exchange student there in high school, so she had made plans to meet her host family there. Pretty funny, because her host parents knew like 3 words of English between them and they kept talking to me. After a quick lunch, we were on our way by train to Florence.

Florence was absolutely amazing. Definitely one of my favorite cities I've ever been in - we had perfect weather too. The highlight of my trip there was seeing the Duomo up close. Duomos, if you didn't know, are basically Italian cathedrals - this one was the Duomo though. The dome on this thing is massive. It was built in the 1500s and had the largest Dome constructed since antiquity. It actually wasn't surpassed until 1960 with the construction of the Superdome. Other highlights in Florence included seeing Michaelangelo's David and the Uffuzi gallery, which has the best collection of Renaissance art in the world. Definitely try and get to Florence at some point in your life.

After a two and a half day stint in Florence, it was on to Venice to close out the trip. The train ride there was a Eurostar train, so it was high speed. Very cool going through the mountains. Venice was stunning as well. I guess I didn't realize until I got there that there were no roads in the city. It's all canals or six foot wide streets. Colleen and I got lost a few times - it was that confusing with all of the narrow, sharp turning streets. Gondola rides were unfortunately 90 Euro (about 115 dollars) for 45 MINUTES! We took the ferrybus down the Grand Canal though for only 6 Euro - keeping it classy, naturally. There wasn't a whole lot to do in Venice - we walked around a lot, saw San Marcos square, etc. Oh, and the gelato prices here were the cheapest in Italy. Keep that in mind if you come here :)

The flight back was nice - 3 weeks was a long time to be on the road. It was very exhausting by the end and it was great to see my host family again. Read the post above this one for a summary of the entire trip!

London and Ireland (and my camera)

2007-03-31T13:54:00.000-05:00

I just got to Rome, but I thought I would update everyone on my travels to London and Ireland. The flight over from Prague to London went well - I flew British Airways, and the service was excellent. I even got extra legroom because they sat me in the emergency exit seat at the middle of the plane - good to know I'll be the first out if we crash, bitches!

London was spectacular. Steve Walano was my guide and we probably walked 5 miles over the course of 2 days. We saw literally everything - Parliament, Big Ben, London Eye, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, rode a double-decker bus, saw the Prime Meridian, etc. You name it, we (or I, when he was in class) did it. I'll say one thing about the tubes though - it doesn't have anything on the Copenhagen transport system. Always late and so damn confusing.

Ireland was also amazing. I met Elisa in Cork last Tuesday and we toured that city for the next two days. Cork area is where one side of my family was from, so it was nice to see the old stomping grounds. I actually visited the estate of where my great-grandmother was a servant. Or something. Pretty cool to say the least. We also went to the Blarney Castle about 10km away, home of the famous Blarney Stone. There was no crowd and we had a perfect day too. Suffice to say, I don't think I was blessed with eloquence or good luck, as the legend goes (read on). We managed to go to a small harbor village called Kinsale before departing for Dublin by bus.

The ride to Dublin was just what I expected Ireland to be - lush green landscape with a smattering of rock walls, sheep, and castles. Really. And it was drizzling too, so there were places along the five hour route that you would expect to see in a postcard. Very cool.

Dublin was pretty cool, but it has gotten pretty touristy. Yes, I did visit the Guinness factory, but it wasn't all that great (Carlsberg was better). We did manage to see a lot of the sites, including the old post office, St. Patrick's Cathedral, etc. We were only there for a full day, though., but we made it count.

Now about my camera. Somehow the display of my $350 baby broke on the way to Rome. I had it in my pocket and it must banged up against something. I knew something would go wrong when I decided to take RyanAir. A small part still works in the corner and I've already tested it to see that the lens still works (it does) so I'm just going to deal. Camera prices are ridiculous over here - about $120 more than in the states. Oh well, I'll deal with it when I get back. I'm now off to go see the Colosseum at night and, as Steve put it, "get my stomach laid" on the incredible food here. Ciao!

Berlin and Prague

2007-03-24T07:42:00.000-05:00

So I'm sitting in the Prague airport in an internet cafe, so I'll try to make this relatively quick. I don't have any pics because I'm not traveling with my computer, but I thought I'd write a quick update. Hope everyone's spring break is going well as mine is!

Anyway, I've been in Berlin and Prague for the past few week - Berlin was amazing. It's really cool how the city has bounced back like 15 years after the fall of the wall. It's very modern compared to Copenhagen, so it was a nice change. Nearly all of the buildings are newer than 1950 or so because the city was thoroughly bombed in WWII. I saw all of the famous sites including the remaining section of the wall, the Brandenburg Gate, the Riechstag (Parliament - we ate lunch in the restaurant on top, and Checkpoint Charlie, the major gateway to West Berlin from East. Nightlife is pretty happening there too, so it was a great few days.

Now I know I haven't been to a lot of European cities, but Prague in my opinion is the coolest, most gorgeous city in Europe. That may change after this trip, but I'm starting to like it better than Copenhagen. Everyone definitely needs to see it at some point. It was untouched in WWII (well, except for one mistake bombing run - whoops) so it has buildings dating back to the start of last millennium. We did a lot of walking over the past three days - I would bet it was more than 15 miles in total. My feet still hurt. Nightlife was equally good - I'll say two words about that now: Absinthe and Euroclubs.

Here is a few pictures I found on the internet of Prague- I'll post more when I get back to Cope:

Sleeping in Airports

2007-03-13T17:25:00.000-05:00

Not much to report this week after the riots. They tore the house down and the problem just seemed to melt away. This week seems to be hell for everyone I've talked to at DIS. Every professor is loading on the midterms in an attempt to get it out of the way before we go on travel break - I have had three tests so far and still have two papers due. Friday can't come soon enough.

I'll be on the road for three straight weeks - pretty much everything is booked. If you've been following my posts, I'll be going to Berlin and Prague during the first week, then on to London for two days (SLUzers in London - email me!). I'll be doing a short five day stint in Ireland for five days, then on to Rome, Pisa (for a day), Florence, and Venice. This is like Eurotrip x10 people.

So that brings me to two important points that I just thought of today. Being the male Homo sapien that I am, I packed light when coming to Europe and brought enough clothes for seven days, maybe nine if I stretched it. So how the hell am I going to do laundry on the road? I'm not going to waste a day in some Dublin laundromat, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet. I'd hate to be the guy sitting next to me on the ride home from Venice though. Haha - don't worry, I won't let it get that far :)

Secondly, some of my flights (all four of them) are a little tight, so if I miss it, I guess that I'll be sleeping in the airport. I found this pretty sick site that has tips on where to go in most of the world's airports to get a good night's sleep. If you're traveling and are the frugal type, check it out. Again, that probably won't happen, but you never know!

I'll try and post some pictures from the road.

Copenhagen Riots and Travel Plans

2007-03-05T04:39:00.000-06:00

Hey all - sorry for not writing any updates for the past week or so. Things are pretty routine now. I really can't believe I've been here for five weeks.

So if you hadn't heard, there's been a series of riots in Copenhagen the last few days. The way the press makes it out to be though, you'd think that the entire city was up in flames. My parents emailed me right away after they saw it on the national news. Apparently it's a big deal everywhere else, but to be honest, it's not made much of an impact here. It's centered in Norrebrø, at the northern most part of the city.

Basically there is the so called "Youth House" that squatters took over in the 1980s. They were finally thrown out last Wednesday (gotta love the efficiency of the Danish social democracy), and massive protests started. It seems like half of the people came from outside of Denmark though - my host dad says that there are literally "professional protesters" that travel around looking for a fight whenever something like this pops up. So the last few nights saw 600 people arrested, cars set on fire, the works. No one has died though, so that's good. This morning they finally tore down the house, so that should be the end of it.

We only have two more weeks of class before a three week "study break." On March 17th, I'll be going to Berlin, Germany for a few days, then off to the Czech Republic to see Prague. That is all with DIS (the study abroad school) so it's going to be packed with cultural stuff, but I don't mind at all. I'm looking forward to seeing what's left of the Berlin Wall and the famous bridges in Prague.

From there, Elisa Prescott and I will be traveling through Ireland for about five or six days. We're flying into Cork, which is where my family is from on my Dad's side, so it will be good to see the old stomping grounds. Apparently my great grandmother was a servant at some estate outside of town - I might have to go over there and check it out. Hopefully they don't have guard dogs.

At this point, I don't have anything planned for the third week, though that is rapidly coalescing into a trip to Italy. I'd like to see Rome and Venice, with maybe a stop in Florence. Everything is connected by train, so it shouldn't be that much of a problem. I'll keep you posted.

Getting Stranded On Trains and Other Misadventures

2007-02-24T05:49:00.000-06:00

So if you haven't heard, Denmark got a sizable dumping of snow. Sizable by Denmark standards at least (it's a measly six inches for everyone else in the world). And the funny thing is that those six inches completely shut down the country. All the trains have been incredibly sporadic over the past few days and the buses aren't much better.

On Thursday, I had to walk to the station (instead of riding my bike) because of the snow. I first just want to say that Austin, Texas probably has more snowplows than Copenhagen area. If this was New Hampshire or New York, we would have that snow plowed, shoveled, and roads salted before 7:00 am. Instead I was treated to a 20 minute romp through the unplowed road to the train station. When I got there, I had to stand around in the snow for 45 minutes to wait for the next train. They usually come every 10 minutes or so by the way.

The best part was when a bunch of us were going to Julia's house for a little dinner and the train we were on shut down (lights and everything) for about ten minutes at a station. These are electric trains remember, so for all we knew we were stuck there. It's been kind of like that for the past few days. Not too fun.

In other news, my host family (all three of them) have the flu. I'm trying to stay away from home as much as possible because I REALLY can't afford to get the flu right now. The other night I basically barricaded myself in my room to avoid getting it. Between that and the snow, I think I have a mild case of cabin fever :)

I'm starting to plan a few trips, and it's starting to look like Elisa and I will be going to Ireland in about a month! Five or six days - we're going to start in Cork and work our way up to Dublin, though it's possible that we might do it in reverse. I'm pretty pumped because Cork is where the fam comes from, so it will be nice to see the area. Other trips include a cruise through one of Norway's fjords and a ski trip to Switzerland some weekend. Can't wait!

Danish Birthdays

2007-02-19T11:26:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, my host-mom celebrated her birthday. If you don't know what a Danish birthday is, you're in for a treat if you ever get to go to one. This was actually my second Danish birthday, as I was invited to her nieces birthday during my first weekend.

Danish birthday parties are long affairs. At the little girl's birthday, I was probably there for about 6 hours, and for three of which I was actually sitting at the table. The Danes have this interesting tradition of using the Danish flag as a celebratory object - whenever there is a holiday, even if it has nothing to do with Denmark, you'll see Danish flags everywhere. Birthdays are no exception, and I probably saw something in the neighborhood of 1000 Danish flags in that one room - on the napkins, tablecloths, lining the walls - everything.

As I said, the meals themselves are very long. At my host mothers party, which was actually a brunch, I was only sitting there for about two hours. It was kind of intimidating because the whole extended family was speaking Danish and I only knew like 50 words. They made me feel welcome though and spoke in English from time to time, so it was OK. Everyone who knows me back home knows that I don't like to stay seated eating for very long, so that was probably the hardest part.

For brunch yesterday, we had eggs, sausages (though if you ask me, they were hot dogs), pancakes, breakfast rolls, and a ton of other stuff. I was able to successfully whip up 25 pancakes using this American pancake mix. The whole fam got the biggest kick out of the fact that they were eating American style pancakes made by an American using real maple syrup. Kinda funny actually. We had a tost at the beginning of the meal using this liquor called Gammeldanske - basically Danish schnapps. It has this extremely bitter aftertaste, but it was OK I suppose.

Though we didn't have cake at the party yesterday, it being brunch and everything, I'm told homemade cakes are part every birthday party. At my host-mom's nieces' birthday, we had two cakes: one was chocolate raspberry and the other was chocolate kiwi. Sooooo good. Everything else is usually homemade as well, from the cupcakes to the hot chocolate. That's all for now - never pass up the chance to go to a Danish birthday party!

"Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers..."

2007-02-14T09:26:00.000-06:00

The other day I accidentally forgot my wallet at home. Now, that doesn't happen to me that often, but I changed pants and forgot to take it out of the old ones.

Anyway, inside my wallet is my train pass. It costs something in the neighborhood of $350 for two months, and you always need to have it on you because there are people on trains that will check for them. They don't check very regularly, but I've probably been checked seven times total since I've been here. If anyone is caught riding for free, the fine is about $100. I didn't realize I left my wallet at home until I got to Copenhagen, so I was pretty lucky I wasn't frisked for it on the way there.

I finished up my classes and started to head home, knowing that I would probably have to buy a ticket. I thought the ticket would be something like $3.00 - turns out it was more like $10.00. For one train ride. Ouch.

You can get your ticket through these conveniently placed machines - you press where you want to go, insert your money, and it does the rest. Turns out, I didn't really know that at the time because all the instructions were in Danish. Fortunately, this nice Danish woman saw me struggling and asked if I needed help. Now because I didn't have my wallet, all I had was a few coins totaling 52 kroner - the machine said that the ticket would be 58 kr. Now what was I going to do.

And then the woman reaffirmed my faith in the human race - she gave me the six kroner I needed (that's more than a dollar, kids) to buy the ticket. Her train was coming, but she waited for the machine to dispense the ticket too. "Have a nice time in Denmark!" she said as she turned and ran to catch her train, leaving me standing there like an idiot near speechless.

Granted, this whole exchange took place in 15 seconds and we did say a few words, but it really was a good example of how their culture is over here. I remember reading before I left that Danes are kinder and more aware of others - I don't think you'd get that kindness from strangers back in the states these days.

And no, my ticket wasn't checked on the train ride home. Better safe than sorry though. Props if you know the movie that the title of this post is from.

Malmo

2007-02-12T21:29:00.000-06:00

Over the weekend, a few of us went across the bridge to see Malmo, Sweden. We got there around 3:30 and walked around for a little. We saw the town square, this old gothic church, and a castle. By 5:00, we went to this great little Italian place - great food all around. We went to a pub called "The Bishop Arms" afterwards for a few hours. It had a great atmosphere and a great selection of brews. I think the highlight was meeting this guy on the way out:

Went out for dessert afterward, then we were back in Copenhagen by 11:00. Fun night!

This One Time, In Denmark....

2007-02-12T12:54:00.000-06:00

What Goes Around Comes Around

Let me first give you the backstory on this one. Friday afternoon I was sitting in the computer lab at DIS and was eavesdropping on this kid who was telling his previous night's escapades. Turns out, he accidentally boarded a regional train (no doubt drunk off his ass) and proceeded to fall asleep on the train. He woke up in Jutland - the part of Denmark that's part of continental Europe, a good 3 hours away from Copenhagen. Everyone in the computer lab was laughing at this story.

That night, I decided to go out with Dan and Chris to see Dan's host-sister's boyfriend's band. Kind of a stretch, I know, but it was a good time. They were playing in this cozy basement club - it was cool because I actually met Danes my age. I left around 11:50 so I could catch the last train out of Copenhagen Central Station. I didn't feel like dealing with the night bus, which takes a good hour and a half to get to my house.

I walked in the brisk night air to the station, about 15 minutes away, and sat on a bench to wait for the train. It was a little late, and it was freezing out - like 5 degrees Fahrenheit. All I had on was my shell (it was warm during the day!). The train finally came and I took a seat. I don't even remember leaving the station - I just fell asleep. You know, the "I woke up at 6:00 in the morning to finish a paper and I'm exhausted" kind of sleep.

When I woke up, the train was leaving Karlslunde station - my stop. And this was the last train of the evening remember. You tend to wake from your slumber pretty fast when faced with that kind of predicament. I got off at the next stop and had no clue where I was. I walked down from the platform to see if I could get my bearings - no one was around. Fuck. Then I remembered the buses - maybe I could catch the next bus. Turns out, the schedule said the next bus going in my direction was at 5:30. It's 1:30. Double fuck.

At this point, I'm thinking worst case scenario (this is Kirk, the eternal optimist remember). It's still five degrees out and I just have on my shell and a polo. I start walking to the main road thinking that maybe I could hitch a ride - apparently no one drives at night because not a car came for like 10 minutes. I figure I better start walking, because at least that will help keep me warm. In a brilliant show of double digit subtraction that would make my first grade teacher proud, I determined that I was 5km from home using distances on road signs. Not that bad - I can walk 12 minute miles so hopefully it wouldn't be that bad. Right?

Well, I started walking for 10 minutes and it was still cold. Damn cold. Then off in the distance came a lone taxi. YES! I waved him down, gave him the directions (using a combination of fragmented Danish and English, because he couldn't speak English very well). Needless to say, I made it home and paid the cab driver the best $15.00 I've ever spent. Never fall asleep on the train - that's a tip kids, write that down.

Denmark: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, Part I

2007-02-06T09:08:00.000-06:00

I know I haven't been posting as much as I would have liked - still no internet at "home." After a week and a half, I've compiled a short list of what I like and don't like about Denmark. I'll do the bad first to get it over with:

The Bad
-Prices. A beer at the bar costs on average about 35 kroner, or roughly $6.00. The good part is that they are pints, so its a little more bearable. It doesn't just go for beer though - everything is more expensive.

-Commuting. The novelty of the trains and my bike has quickly worn off. It's about an hour from my house to the heart of the city, so if I go home for dinner Friday night I end up going right back out again. They are nice for getting work done on in the morning though. I just wish I lived a little closer!

-Distractions. Yes, I know this is technically school, but it's really hard to do your homework and papers when you're in a foreign capital with so much other stuff you can be doing. I don't know what I'm going to do when it gets nice again.

The Good
-English. Everyone speaks at least passable English, so you never really feel like an idiot when you want something at a store. Which brings me to my next point.

-The Convenience Stores. OMG. If they had 7/11's like this back at home you would go there every morning. Fresh croissants, a real coffee machine that actually brews the coffee like an espresso, and these cool little hotdogs that are about 12 inches long, come encased in a toasted bun, and have their own special sauce. And though it might be hard to believe, 7/11's (and other Danish convenience stores) are more prevalent here than in the U.S. I believe.

-Food. Everything is fresh, mostly organic (not in the hippie way though), and good. I've never eaten better or more healthy in my life. Sorry mom. :(

The Ugly
That's a joke. There are no ugly Danes. Seriously.

Part II coming soon.

A Slice of Heaven

2007-02-05T09:06:00.000-06:00

Now that I think about it, it’s been a long while since I have done nothing. I mean ABSOLUTELY nothing. Not reading, not chilling out in my room reading facebook walls, and not sleeping. Nothing. After getting some work done yesterday afternoon, I was at a loss of what to do. My host family was gone and no one seemed to be doing anything, so I decided to bike into Karlslunde, the town I technically live in. It’s been three weeks since I got here and I still haven’t really seen the place so I thought that would be a good idea.

I never made it. I started biking down the road to town when I looked down a side road and saw the ocean. I knew I lived close to it, but not THAT close. You can’t really see it anywhere – not even riding in the train above everything. I decided to check it out.

I biked up to where the sand started, got off and walked to the shore. It was amazing. The sun was setting and because there wasn’t a cloud in the sky I witnessed one of the most amazing sunsets. No one was really around either, save for a few runners. I skipped rocks for a while, then just sat on this conveniently placed bench and watched the sun set change colors from orange to red to purple to blue. If it wasn’t for the jet contrails and a factory off in the distance, I would swear I was in heaven. A few gulls (not the scar faced, trash eating sea gulls we sea back home – real gulls) decided to join me too. Simply amazing. Did I ever mention that I love Denmark?

Commuting

2007-01-31T05:54:00.000-06:00

If there's one thing in Denmark that I haven't gotten used to yet, itø's the fact that everyone commutes. Some people travel by train for an hour to get to the city, where most of the jobs are. The picture to the right is what all the trains look like.

My commute is about 50 minutes from my doorstep to the school's gate if I catch the right train. I start with a ten minute bike ride on my super-sweet bike (the front tire wobbles- kinda sketchy). There's a platform in just about every town, so the train just goes from town to town until it gets to the city center, then keeps going in another direction back out to another suburb area. The train cars are so clean it's ridiculous. No trash, graffiti - nothing. Can't say the same about the L or T trains in America. That and it's damn fast. Probably like 70 or 80 in the flat country. Not too shabby. The trains (I can board one of 3) come to my stop every ten minutes or so.

The funny thing is that no one really talks on the train. No one. I think it's taboo or something. Danes are pretty shy, but you would think they would strike up a conversation with the person sitting next to them at least once in a while. I basically just stare out the window, doze off, or do some work during the ride.

I get off at Nørreport station right in the city center. From there it's about a five minute walk to the school (DIS), but it's a nice walk so that's good.

Hope everyone in Canton, NY is enjoying the -22 degree weather. It's 40 degrees here (though it's raining now)!

Ireland

2007-01-31T04:12:00.000-06:00

Wow, I just realized that I can go round trip from here to Ireland for $79 in March. Might have to look into that...

Visit to Kronborg

2007-01-27T15:17:00.000-06:00

After a fun night last night at the Aussie bar, I got up this morning and headed off to Frue Plas (near DIS) to meet a bus that would take me to Kronborg castle. The castle is famous for being “Hamlet's Castle” from Shakespear's famous play. There were about 40 of us in total and we had to sign up before hand. The trip up was about an hour and we traveled through the rich part of Denmark. A few of the houses even had their own moat. No joke.

After the short trip, we ended up in Elsinore, a fairly small town across the way from Sweden. We had about two hours to explore the town before meeting and taking a group tour. Charlotta, Jess, Elisa, and I explored the town with a kid we met tamed Ton. The town was very tourist-y. There were a lot of shops and restaurants, and we chose to eat in one rather modest place. I had the fish, which was pretty decent.

At 1:30, we met for the tour inside the castle. Walking up to it was the most amazing thing. We crossed two moats and went through a wall. It was incredibly awe-inspiring walk up to it's main gate – it really made you feel small. It was built in the mid-1500s and I could picture people walking up to it then using the same cobblestone streets. Very cool.

It was very cold outside, but we were forced to stand outside while the tour guides got organized. We finally went inside after 20 minutes or so. To tell you the truth though, I thought the interior was very plain. It was very minimalist – everything was made of wood, though on some of the ceilings there were a few impressive paintings. We wandered through the castle, stopping at the King's bedroom, the Queen's bedroom (with a nice little passageway inbetween -hehe), the grand dancehall, guestrooms, and more. The last stop was the basement level, which was incredibly dark and I thought it was a dungeon at first. They did have a few cells, but it was mainly a storage area.

You can easily see Sweden on the other side of the waterway the castle was situated. During the castle's military heyday, Denmark and Sweden were bitter enemies and the castle guarded the pass (as well as charged a duty on ships that wanted to sail through).

I slept going home, so I don't really remember much, but that night a few of us went out to a few bars near the town square. Denmark continues to win in handball, so we'll see how far they get in the finals. More later.

Getting Used to It.

2007-01-26T14:50:00.000-06:00

Jet lag has finally worn off.Not much to report - this was the first day of class for Danish, 20th Century European History, and Biology of Marine Mammals. None of them looked too difficult. I also took sometime to explore Nyhavn, which is the neighborhood featured on A LOT of Copenhagen pictures (the colored buildings with the canal).

Tonight, I went to the Happy Pig bar for a DIS party. It was a ton of fun, as I met a ton of new people. Afterwards, it was off to the Aussi Bar, but I came home a little early because I had to be up early the next day.

Classes

2007-01-25T14:44:00.000-06:00

Unfortunately, our vacation in Denmark ended today and we had to start classes. My first and only class of the day was in another city in the afternoon, so I spent the morning in DIS and also did some exploring of the city. Then I boarded a regional train (FAST) and went to my Bioinformatics class in Roskilde. The Prof, known only to us as Ole, is a great guy. He knows his stuff and is pretty interesting.

At 4:00, I headed back home to watch my host-bro, David, swim during practice. I also got my CPR number, which is something similar to a social security number. It's needed for everything from getting treated at the hospital to checking out books at a library.

Dinner was chicken and rice. We watched Denmark win at handball afterwards.

The Ultimate Power Hour

2007-01-24T14:34:00.000-06:00

The second day of orientation was just business stuff - how to get around, academic policies, etc. Blah. I did have a quick Danish Language class though - just basic phrases to get us around.

Today was the third and last day of orientation though - and it was a good one. A few of us SLU kids (Sarah, Chelsea, Mackenzie, Julia, Dan, Stacie, etc.) went and got coffee around lunch time, then I was off to the second Danish survival lesson.

The best part of the day was the trip to the Carlsburg Brewary (a.k.a. The Ultimate Power Hour). For those who don't know, Carlsburg is a pretty well known Danish beer, but it's not really found back in the States. We got a tour of the museum, saw the old beer making processes, etc. The best part was at the end when we were led up to a long room filled with tables and were told we had one hour to sample what we could. They had all different types of Carlsburg - dark, lager, gold, etc. I think I managed to down 6 in that period. It was nuts though. After that, a few of us went out for more drinks at a place in town that caters to students (or something). Here's some pics:

Nate, Slats, and Margo, one of the horses that pulls the beer carts

The 206 contingent

Some of the guys enjoying the fine beverages.

Copenhagen Calling

2007-01-22T14:17:00.000-06:00

This was my first "real day" in Denmark. I slept for a good twelve hours, getting up at 8:00. The first snow of the year fell overnight - 2 inches! Everyone was pretty much gone by the time I got up, so it was a little weird. Charlotte (mom) made me a lunch, so that was nice. I packed my bag with that and my orientation materials and left for the Glyptotec, a sort of statue museum where the opening ceremonies were. First, there was a 10 minute bike ride to the train station through the snow on my sweet 1950s-era bike I was loaned (pictures coming soon), then a 35 minute train ride into the city (these trains go like 90mph, so it was pretty cool). I got off in the heart of Copenhagen at Norreport station.

I was going to walk to DIS, my school, to go with a group over there, but couldn't really find the building - I ended up walking because it wasn't too hard to get to. The opening ceremony consisted of some speeches and some Danish classical music - pretty cool. The building we were in was amazing though - looked like it was straight out of ancient Greece.

I had lunch at DIS with a few SLU people, then went on a tour of the city by bus. We got off at a few places, notably the Queen's residence, Parliament, and the famous Little Mermaid statue. Pretty cool.

That night, I met a bunch of SLU kids in town at 9:00 and we ended up at a pub called 'The Dubliner." It was a good evening, but we left a little early because the trains stop at 12:30 and no one knew the bus situation yet. A good day all around.

The town square near the school. Note the snow.

First Day

2007-01-21T05:33:00.000-06:00

When we got to the airport, we exchanged some money and checked in with DIS, the program that the abroad trip is going through. There's about 400 other students (mainly Americans) with all sorts of housing options. I'm staying with a host family, but I'll get into that later.

Several busses took us out of the airport and into the outskirts of the city. It's kind of hard to tell where you are in the city proper itself, because there are few buildings that are taller than five floors or so. We ended up at the University of Copenhagen south campus area to do a quick orientation. I got my cell phone, money for my train pass, more info, schedules, etc. But the best part was that I finally got to meet my host family! Everyone gathered in a big room and one my one the host families came in to pick us up. As my good luck would have it, I was picked up fourth to last. I felt like the runt of the litter in a pet store. They finally came though - here's a picture of them:

Kent is a manager at a computer company and Charlotte is an temporary accountant for various businesses. Apparently that is common over here for those types of jobs. David is 13 and he's a big time swimmer. They took me home with them to their small, ranch style house. It has one floor, but two bathrooms. I share a bathroom with David. Here´s a quick picture of my room. We ate dinner, watched some handball (a very big sport over here), and I zonked out at 7:30 their time. Remember, at this point I've been up for 32 hours or so.

The Journey Begins

2007-01-20T20:00:00.000-06:00

So on Saturday morning at 7:00, I got up and finished packing all my stuff into four small little bags. It really is amazing that your whole life for four months can fit into them. Basically I brought my new laptop (bought on ebay for like 200), a carry-on, and two larger pieces of luggage. The whole fam (minus Chris, who was back to UNH at this point) drove down to Manchester to put me on a flight that was leaving for Newark. The plan was for the flight to leave at 1:30, but it turns out that high winds kept most of the planes grounded.

After several confrontations at the counter, we decided to cancel the flight there, book it down to Boston to get on a flight that was leaving in an hour and twenty minutes. And it's a hour to Boston. I don't think I've ever seen my dad hit 80mph, but we made it with twenty minutes to spare. I had to quickly check my bags, dash to the terminal (conveniently only 20 steps away) and go through security.

That was a process. I was "selected" to have a more comprehensive screening, so I got the whole pat down and EVERYTHING was searched. This is with 5 minutes remaining remember. Fortunately, I made it to the plane and they basically shut the door behind me. The flight to Newark was nice. We had to take one lap around the holding pattern and there was some turbulence, but there was a great view of New York City going in. Once I was in Newark, I met up with some other SLU kids and we hung around in the terminal for three hours or so.

Not much happened on the flight out of Newark. I was in a window seat, so I was pretty much stuck there. I basically just read, talked, watched "The Lake House" (biggest chick flick ever, I might add) and looked out the window. I saw some oil rigs in the North Sea, which was cool. After an 8 hour flight, it was time to land in Copenhagen (7:30 their time) and start a new day!

"Velkommen" to my Blog!

2007-01-18T17:11:00.000-06:00

I've set this blog up just to put my thoughts down on paper (so to speak) about my experiences in Denmark and Europe. You can make comments if you wish. Here it goes!