And here is my Flickr page to see more photos!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30595453@N02/

Nyhavn, beautiful seaside area of the city

Sorry it has been so long since I have updated, I was gone all weekend, school has been picking up, and my internet has been in and out all week.  I had a wonderful weekend in Norway, we were expecting the cruise boat to be pretty crappy because of the amount of money we paid, but it was a legit cruise boat with restaurants, shops, clubs, pool and hot tub, etc.!  A lot of other kids from DIS went so it was awesome to make some new friends. 

Oslo is a lot cooler than I expected.  It was weird because we got off of the boat in an industrial area and the weather was terrible and no one was around, and we were a little discouraged and kind of just wanted to get back on the boat.  All of the sudden we turned a corner and there was a huge, beautiful walking street that was literally packed with people.  There was some sort of fair going on and booths everywhere, mostly environmental organizations (yay).  The sun came out and it was seriously the most beautiful day.  We got back on the boat and went in the hot tub on deck and watched the stunning coastline pass by and the sun set.  Anyway, it was the coolest thing ever.  I want to be back there!

 

I can't go anywhere this weekend because I have a Nordic Mythology fieldtrip on Saturday.  It is to a Viking Museum which sounds pretty awesome but I am a little bummed because I had to back out of my Sweden boat and canoe tour.  Bummer!  But I have a lot of homework to do this weekend so it's probably for the best.  The weather has suddenly turned beautiful again after a pretty gray week last week, so I am trying to soak it up before it is gone for the rest of the year!

Roomies for the weekend: Jill, John, Will and I

The view leaving Norway

GORGEOUS sunset along the Norwegian coast

Paige, Caroline and I in Western Denmark about to go into a manor filled with old things and dead animals...

Me being a real live camera woman! We did a mock broadcast on our study tour that was really cool, it will be online so I will post the link when I find it
The horse I fell in love with at Funen village, a recreated 19th century farming village

I have had a wonderful long weekend!  On Thursday we woke up bright and early, and my communication and mass media program headed to Western Denmark for a 3 day study tour.  I will not lie, my expectations were a little low since this was, after all, going to be an academic trip.  But we had a lot of fun as well, and I actually LEARNED things!  We did a mock newscast, as you can see from my camerawoman picture above, which was really neat.  Then we went to the TV2 station, the biggest TV station in Denmark, and took a brief tour and then a cameraman who had gone with the Danish troops to the front lines in Afghanistan talked to us for a while. It was really crazy to see his footage, and when it aired it was a huge deal because the Danes really had no idea what was going on there (and I had no idea that Danish troops were even in the Middle East.. come on, they are supposed to be peaceful!)

The next day we went to Funen village, as I wrote under my picture with the horse.  It was awesome to see how Danes used to live and learn a bit of history, and we had a 'rustic lunch' that really wasn't all it was cracked up to be.  It was really cold that day, the coldest day so far, and I was unprepared in my leggings and cardigan so I spend a lot of time inside watching a 15 minute film at least 4 times waiting for the bus to come.  But it was a fun day nonetheless!  Next we went to a Friday bar at a high school... yes, everyone drinks after they get out of school on Friday at 3 o'clock... a very weird thing to think about, especially since the bar is in the school!  It was fun because the Danes were very excited to meet us and were super friendly. 

 We left Saturday, and then on Sunday my friends and I went to the European Beer Tasting Festival.  I absolutely hate beer, but it was fun just to be there, it was a pretty big deal and actually a pretty classy event.  They had beers from all over Europe and apparently they were amazing (again, I would not know).  So that was a bit of European culture for us and a very fun time.  I was exhausted from the weekend--those of you who know me well know how I get after three days in a row without naps--so I went to bed really early last night and slept through my alarm!  Not a good thing... but we did not do anything in that class apparently.

I am working on planning a cruise to Norway this weekend with some friends, I am VERY excited and I have heard that people who did my program had more fun on this cruise than anything else during their entire time in Europe!  You sleep on the boat so we won't have to pay for a hotel, which is awesome.  Oh, and great news!  The conversion rate is getting better at better, it was 4.7 Danish Kroner to US dollar when we got here,  and now it is 5.2!  Yay for the Danish economy going into recession... is that selfish of me?  

Terrible news. Old man Jim Fox, the self-proclaimed "most sought after act in Europe," is going back to Wales.  I am going to miss his dirty white beard, personal serenades, and hilarious rendition of "don't you wish your girlfriend." (Here he is singing to Alicia).  Goodbye Mr. Fox, we will never forget you.

I am going to some random place is Western Denmark from Thursday to Saturday. It will be the first time leaving Copenhagen so that should be nice to see something different, but it is a study tour so I don't know how much work we will be doing.  Who knows.  I am trying to plan other trips as well, but flights are a lot more expensive than I had expected! So I will probably stay in Northern Europe and skip out on Italy and Paris and such (though Pat and I will be going to Spain! Horray!).  John, Will and I are looking into this ferry to Oslo, Norway for a weekend... it sounds really fun and I guess a lot of students do it.  And of course I will do the whole Amsterdam thing, and Oktoberfest in Germany.  I guess they are having a mini-Oktoberfest here in Copenhagen this Sunday!  I just found out about it but it sounds like it should be a blast!  Especially since there is never anything to do here on Sundays.

I am off to Parliament for the second time in a week, not as fun or interesting as it might sound, but oh well.  At least I get to see horse-drawn carriages going around in circles out front of the building. I have no idea what that is about.

This weekend has been really fun, although now it is Sunday and they take their day of rest very seriously here in Denmark--there is really nothing to do.  But it is nice to relax, I downloaded a season of Friends and have not been able to stop watching it.  

Yesterday we went to Christiana, this little hippie commune type community on an island just outside of the city.  It is a really odd but awesome place--the government sort of ignores it and regards it as a 'social experiment,' which I think would be an appropriate title.  There are really crazy murals all over the place, but they do not let you take pictures (I snuck one in though!).  Not to mention they have awesome jewelry and hippied-out clothing, AND the best ice cream I have tasted in my life.  Anyway, it is just fun to walk around there and check out all of the 'eccentric' characters wandering around and playing various obscure musical instruments. 

The weather is still nice at times, but there have been outbursts of random rain.  Although, it is still warm when it rains, which is nice.  The temperature variation is less than 10 degrees every day (usually high in 60s and low in the 50s). But the rain can be annoying. Friday night we had to run home in it for about 10 minutes after we got off of the bus, but this was nothing when I found out that my friends had missed their bus stop and had to walk 3 miles to get back to the kollegium... thanks only to John's Iphone GPS (see mom and dad, wouldn't you feel SO much more comfortable if I had an iphone?!).

This is the old man singing "sweet Caroline" to my friend Caroline.  He happens to be at every pub we go to, sings the same songs and always says: "Oh you are AMERICANS! Well, you have an election coming up... DONT SCREW IT UP THIS TIME!"  

My lovely room--doesn't look like much but I love it!  Notice the beach picture for when I miss sunny California.

One of many murals in Christiana, but the only one I managed to sneak a picture of

I never dreamed the weather could be so wonderful here!  We have had at least three days of sunshine, and today I actually wore shorts and a t-shirt! IN DENMARK! So exciting, and I am trying to enjoy it because I know it will not last for long.  I am not sure when it is going to start getting cold, but when it does, it will be brutal.  So, it is very nice to have pleasant weather at least for a little while.

This week went by very quickly; my classes are going well and are not as difficult as I would have thought, at least in terms of daily assignments (who knows what tests and papers will be like though).  The teachers here give manageable reading assignments which I can usually do on my 30 minute train ride to class.  And having Wednesdays off is a great way to split up the week, although I did have to wake up super early this Wednesday to go to Parliament with my political rhetoric class.  I am not sure what I am going to do this weekend--maybe keep wandering the city, there are still so many parts of it that I have not seen because I am so afraid of getting lost!  I guess getting lost in a city is the best way to figure out how to get around though.  

My room is finally decorated and feeling very hygge, I bought a few posters (one of the beach for when I miss California) and have made it very neat and clean and cozy.  I know I know, it is hard to believe that I have a clean room for once, but it is a place here where I want to be comfortable and feel at home so I will be doing my best to keep it nice all semester!

Random note:  While I have said before that the Danes may not be particularly friendly, I have in fact found my own proof to support that they are the happiest people in the world (or at least start out that way): I have yet to hear a Danish baby cry.  Seriously, it is so strange!  They are everywhere in the city, sprawled out in their huge luxury strollers smiling and giggling.  Precious.  They are even happy when their moms leave them outside in their strollers while they run into a store.  Yes, hard to believe, but I have seen it on several occasions.  Anyway, I don't know what kind of freak culture this is where babies don't cry but it is very nice considering there are always tons of babies on my commute everyday.  Yes, silence to do my small amount of reading every morning.  Very pleasant indeed!

I am really starting to love it here.  Like, really really love it.  There are things that I am not a fan of, naturally, such as the lack of food options available when I am hungry any time after 10:00pm (excuse me, I mean 22:00).  But anyway, it is so beautiful here and I am starting to somewhat be able to navigate my way around the city.  Well sort of.  Seriously, it is impossible.  If you walk down a street for 10 minutes it will change names at least 3 times.  And mind you that it is also impossible to pronounce any of the street names, so Danish people laugh when you ask if they could please help you find "Larslejstraede"--The Danes basically don't pronounce the majority of the letters in words, so this would sound something like "larestred."

Something that I don't appreciate is how stylish everyone is, and how no matter how hard I try I can't look half as cool as the Danes.  They have this I-just-rolled-out-of-bed-and-threw-on-clothes-but-still-look-like-a-supermodel thing goin on.  The women are tall and skinny and gorgeous and can pull off anything they wear.  NOT FAIR! I look stupid when I try to wear trendy euro stuff.  I need to make Danish girl friends to be my stylists I guess.