Jeff i Danmark

Looking Back...

2008-02-10T12:11:00.000-08:00

For a final thought on my study abroad experience I thought I would do a quick top 10 things I miss/don't miss from Copenhagen. I am ripping this off from a friend of a friend, but I think it is a good way to end things.

Ten things I will miss about Copenhagen (in no particular order)

1. Being so close to other countries/cultures that are not far at all to travel to.
2. Cheap airlines to get to these countries.
3. Biking everywhere.
4. Having university classes 2 days a week.
5. Speaking Danish with almost all my friends.
6. Meeting other international students from all over and talking about language/culture/anything
7. My friends
8. Danish Bakeries, ice cream, falafel.
9. Nice public transportation
10. Being independant

And the things I won't miss...

1. Bike problems, mostly flat tires
2. Much of studieskole--the Danish course outside of University
3. The cold.
4. Expensive restaurant prices
5. Expensive everything prices...
6. No public tennis courts!
7. No campus at the university
8. The confusing University system...

And for all those interested, I just got my grades back. Did really well on my oral phonetics exam, and pretty poorly on my translation exam--basically as expected.

Time flies...

2007-12-08T04:03:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,

Well I haven't really lived up to my goal of regular updates, but here comes another quick one with some stuff that has been going on the past two weeks.

Christmas time is definitely here. Lights are up everywhere, there is an outdoor ice rink in one of the town's main squares, a christmas market by the harbor, and on the weekend people are shopping like crazy!

As far as the season in general it seems similar to that in the states, just with more parties. There are different types of christmas parties/gatherings but the traditional one "julefrokost" is the most common. I unfortunately have not been to one yet, and am not sure if I will get the chance to see a traditional one. My badminton group was planning one but now it has been moved to later because not many could come. There is also one for employees at the student house next weekend--looking forward to that one.

From what I have heard the event is essentially just drinking, drinking, some eating of traditional foods, and then lots more drinking (in the words of Denise: "the closer it gets to Christmas, the more the Danes drink). Due to finals and not being too huge a fan of Schnaps anyway it may be a good thing I don't have a huge amount of these to attend like many Danes do.

Last weekend I met with Ole and Grete, my great aunt and uncle who live in Copenhagen for dinner. It was great as they got to come see my apartment which they hadn't seen yet, then we went out to sushi, which was very good and the first time I had had it in Copenhagen. We then stopped at a cafe for some coffee and amusing ourselves by watching drunk coworkers taking part in--you guessed it- a julefrokost. We then went back to their apartment and I got to see the work which they, and handymen had done on their walls and floors. And the most exciting part for me was almost the whole evening was in Danish!

Needless to say I was very happy about that :) While I was with them I also mentioned I was planning to travel one last time. Ole showed me a nice website for booking cheap trips with flight and hotel, and they both recommended Berlin which they had a 2007 guidebook on. So, right after finals I will be heading for Berlin for 3 days.

Two nights ago I went to a Finnish independence day party thrown by my Finnish friend in my Danish courses and a group of her Finnish friends studying in Copenhagen. I got to see some Finnish dancing, hear lots of Finnish music (including the national anthem), and try some Finnish pastries (dough with a kind of rice porridge filling with butter on top).

Yesterday I finally made it to a party at a Kollegium, or dormitory. This one was very closeby my apartment and at one of the very new dorms, built just two years ago. I have to say it is definitely very odd coming from the strict rules in the states and often having to enforce them as an RA, to going to a party where they actually had a bar of sorts inside the dorm itself serving beer from taps! Definitely a change...

Other than that just studying--finals coming up on Tue. and Thur. Good luck to all at the U in the same situation...

Hope everyone is doing well,

Jeff

Thanksgiving in Denmark

2007-11-25T11:58:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I definitely missed the usual food, places, and most of all the people. I think this thanksgiving more than others I am more thankful for my family, although I did have a really fun thanksgiving over here though which helped me take my mind off not being home for the holiday.

It is interesting how what is probably the 2^nd biggest holiday and such a big deal in the states is completely absent over here. Granted it is an “American” holiday, but it has not made the inroads that Halloween/Valentines Day have (probably because it is a bit harder to commercialize and is actually really tied to the history of the US). Anyway, the day passed normally: classes as usual and I heard no whisper of Thanksgiving at all.

I had invited over a group of friends, mostly from my Danish courses at the University to come over around 9:30 for dinner. It was late because I had class until 7, and most gatherings here start late anyway. I told them to bring something to eat/drink and that they could prepare it here if they wanted. I, myself, still wasn’t sure what I was going to make.

I was thinking pumpkin pie and something like mashed potatoes, but after talking with Denise earlier in the day she convinced me to make a turkey: “they have no comparison anyway” was her reply to my argument that I had never made turkey and didn’t want to introduce them with a sub-par one. And she was right—might as well keep with the tradition. So the plan was turkey and pumpkin pie…

Thankfully my first class of the day was cancelled due to two politicians that were going to debate having to cancel (good because I had heard enough politics recently anyway). Therefore I had plenty of time to shop. I went to the supermarket closest to my house and they had a frozen turkey: job 1 complete. Unfortunately they had no pumpkin puree. They did have pumpkin chunks in some kind of sauce, but it looked quite questionable.

After coming back to my apartment and searching on the internet for all permutations of “pumpkin puree in Denmark” in Danish and English I was a bit annoyed. There were recipes in Danish that included pumpkin puree, but not where to buy it. One sight claimed “if you don’t live in Copenhagen…” and went on to say that you could use the chunks of pumpkin that I saw in the store earlier. It was quite annoying knowing it was available somewhere in the city, if not in the normal supermarkets, but having no idea where it actually was.

At the advice of a friend I tried a different market but in the end had to settle for the chunks, and unable to find a pre-made pie crust and a disposable pie pan to cook it in, I knew it would be quite the experiment (Denise later told me I should have been able to find these but I did ask at the store…)

Although I wasn’t fully satisfied with my food the night itself was awesome. People started showing up with all kinds of food! Our kitchen is not big but it was accommodating about 6 people making food all at once and 6 more coming in and out watching them!

After everyone was done I pulled the turkey out and we started eating. The dinner ended up consisting of: My turkey (well… it wasn’t that great and I forgot gravy, but it wasn’t horribly dry and wasn’t too bad for just having salt, pepper, and lemon. I got a few complements), curry bread (made by Orsi, a Hungarian girl in my class), cornbread (I was really excited about this and it was very good—made by Janna (German) and Marjaana (Finnish)), Couscous (made by Lisa, German girl in my class), Bruschetta (Made by the Italians Giuseppe and Ruggero), then came the deliciously fattening Lithuanian food made by Ugne, Anna, and Ieva which consisted of fried bread that you dipped in a mayonnaise/garlic/cheese or garlic cheese/egg sauce, or fried bread with red pepper and sauce on top. Needless to say it was all very good and I thought it was awesome that people put a lot of effort into it whether cooking or just bringing pre-made food/drinks to share as others did.

Just after dinner I started on the pumpkin pie. It turned out the liquid the pumpkin chunks were sitting in was already sweetened with a vanilla taste and some artificial sweetener. After initially trying not to add sugar because it already had enough, Denise suggested we add more to try to take away the weird taste (definitely did not taste like pumpkin). In the end I was getting quite annoyed with it—no crust, no real pumpkin filling, no pie pan to make it look like a pie—that when Denise started suggesting things to make it better I just went along with it. In the end it tasted good, but was no where near pumpkin pie.

As for traditions I attempted to explain the story of thanksgiving but found myself lacking in some of the key details…After I was asked the 2^nd or 3^rd time I found myself describing it as, “When the pilgrims/immigrants from Europe came to the USA and had a joint meal with the Indians; back when we were friends before we killed all of them”—that was about all I could muster in Danish. I also explained the going around the table and saying what you are thankful for tradition, and people wanted to do it but we never got around to it. And finally I could not find the wishbone in the turkey (maybe I accidentally cut it?)…

Yes, so a good thanksgiving. Everyone left quite late and I got the chance to talk with mom and dad in the evening Seattle-time which I think was a first.

Not too much has gone on in the past few days. Lived off leftovers for the first time since I have been over here. I have also been studying more as exams approach—I will have one “oral exam with preparation” which means I get the questions/topics then about 20 minutes to prepare before having the exam if I understand it correctly. I will then have a topic to write on for the Danish Culture Course (in English), and will have my translation exam which is just 1 page and 6 hours if I need it of translating English to Danish.

Besides that I am looking into getting one final trip in. It is going to be somewhere fairly close (London, Stockholm, Berlin, Amsterdam) but I haven’t figured it out yet.

Hope to hear from you!

Jeff

More Morocco

2007-11-12T10:01:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

The time is sure flying by over here... I registered for winter quarter classes back home and went to a Christmas Cabaret show--signs that my time here is running out.

It is now officially freakishly cold here. Last night I just glanced out my window and noticed the snow coming down. There were still patches left around throughout the day today as it really didn't get above freezing. Not the best weather when you're riding a bike, but I will make do, as it appears to not stop anyone else.

The main problem when riding your bike in extremely cold conditions is this: 90% of the time you will either be sweating or far too cold. Even when taking into careful calculations beforehand of how far you need to go, how cold it is, how fast/hard you will be biking, etc. and choose your clothes and bike speed accordingly, one has to be quite lucky to not suffer from one of the above problems...

Now for a bit more of Morocco:

After my first night in Fes I spent the next morning exploring the Medina for my first time. Because it was still a holiday, it was not that packed, so while missing out on some things I'm sure, it was definitely still a lot for me to take in. Thankfully with my guide book it was navigable and after an hour or so of just exploring a small area of it I felt moderately confident in that tiny area (once again it is HUGE--I heard 500 mosques just inside the Medina).

In the afternoon I headed to the train station (by way of taxi most of the way, slowly getting used to the no-seatbelt thing) to travel to Rabat, the capital city of Morocco located on the coast. This was my first train ride through Morocco and an interesting one.

The train itself was quite full, thankfully when I got on there was still space in one of the compartments where I could sit down and have my own spot. The trains in Morocco were the exact same and in similar condition to those I road with Donnie and Dad on our trip in Europe, so no problems there.

Riding through the Moroccan countryside I could really tell for the first time that I was in a fairly poor, African country. Lots of things to notice: Very little water at all, garbage all along the sides of the train and just a general countryside in including fields which looked like they were previously used for crops just filled with empty plastic bags and more garbage.

There were often goats, and sometimes cows being lead by a shepherd--half surviving on whatever "grass" there was to eat and I think the rest must have been the trash... We also passed by many shanty-towns where the houses looked like they were made out of cardboard or plywood, around 6 feet high or so, and used stones so their roofs would not blow off in the wind...

But beyond these aspects there were also just normal towns we passed through, beautiful fields of crops, cactuses, waving kids, and rolling desert hills.

As we went on (I think around a 3 to 4 hour ride), the train started getting fuller and fuller. Soon there were people standing in the aisles for the long trip and it started getting very very hot.

After I calculated that we were getting close or so I asked at a bigger station if this was "Rabat". The people in the cabin shook their heads. After 15 more minutes or so we stopped at a big station. No one said anything, so I asked again and they said "yes"! I was a bit surprised that they didn't say anything to me earlier knowing that I wanted Rabat, and by the time I got out into the hall people were already boarding the train. The aisles were extremely cramped because of all the people already on and I could not move as soon as I got outside my compartment.

Now I'm generally not one to push--but there was absolutely no other way to get through. To be honest I have never pushed harder in my life to get off of that train. It made it nearly impossible with my huge backpack on to get by the people, and the flow was going in the opposite direction since I started so late. Once I got close to the door it was a complete standstill. With people coming on there was really nothing I could do except wait... but, when I heard the whistle from outside signifying the train would be taking off very soon I basically just pushed as hard as I could through.

Surprisingly, no one seemed to think it was odd that I was using all my force to get by them. They didn't really move out of my way, but they didn't appear upset or yell at me when I was forcing myself by. Thankfully this "trapped on the train" situation did not come up again. I was literally exhausted from going about 20 ft when I got off the train, and I definitely got very up close and personal with many Moroccans...

Once again I stayed in the Medina, arriving at night to smoky air filled with meat being cooked up. I grabbed a pita filled with some kind of it as well as roasted chickpeas and some other kind of delicious bean. Rabat was quite nice in that it was much more low-key. Vendors did not yell out to me as I passed by. When I went into the narrow touristy shop stalls they did not stand in the doorway blocking me in, etc.

The Medina was also more oriented towards families with shoes, clothes, watches, radios, detergent, rags, bootlegged DVDs, really anything imaginable being sold in the stalls or spread out on the ground for sale while everyone was out and about shopping and eating.

I saw a vendor selling some kind of fruit I had never tried before which I now realize was a prickly-pear or something of that variety which I had to try. Tasted kind of like strawberries to me, quite good...

Back at my hostel I found my bathroom to be a hole in the ground without a shower available.

Oh cheap travel, how I love thee :)

Hope everyone is doing well

Jeff

Politics!

2007-11-05T11:56:00.000-08:00

Hey-O,

The last week hasn’t really been too eventful, been kind of bored actually… but there have been some interesting things going on. Most notably a general election was called around a week and a half ago.

The election really has been a big deal, similar in some ways to an election in the states but also drastically different. First of all, the states minister (highest position in Denmark) actually chooses when to hold an election. He must hold an election at least once every 4 years, but I get the impression that it is generally called some time in the final year, or maybe 3^rd year when the sitting states minister thinks he has the best chance to win.

So because the election can happen so suddenly the campaign really kicks into gear. Immediately after the election was called leaders from all the parties were on TV taking part in interviews constantly. If they had other engagements these were quickly dropped for the election. The night after the election was called I went to my badminton game and everyone was talking about it already. The next day signs began showing up all over the city, everywhere. (I went into the city one afternoon and when I returned there was a huge sign along the fence where my bike was previously parked).

So why all the fervor from the politicians as well as the public? Because once the election is called, the vote is only 3 weeks away!!! That’s right, there are only 3 weeks of campaigning, 3 weeks of ads and debates. After getting over the initial shock I realized how much I really liked the idea. For one, it creates an excitement in the population that until now (election 9 days away), has not died out (I think it is hard to stay excited for 2 years or however long a campaign is nowadays in the US…).

And although the 3 weeks are obviously intense, I do not feel like it does the damage to the candidates’ current jobs like it does in the states. They are not touring the country (admittedly a very small one) for months on end, unable to fulfill their roll as a senator, house member, etc. while they are campaigning.

Another thing I very much like about the Danish political system is the plethora of parties! Like in the states, there are two main parties, but there are other viable options as well. For example, the 2 main parties in Denmark each have around 27% of the voters, but that obviously only makes up little over half. There are other parties with 13%, another with 10%, one with 8, 5, 4, 2, 1. I think this is quite an unbelievable diversity, at least in comparison with the states. Although I hear from the Danes that more and more they are all gravitating towards the center, there are other options here than just two parties, options with different points of view that are established.

And what’s more, once the states minister is chosen (obviously there is no “consensus” with these numbers, so the smaller parties will choose to support one state minister candidate from one of the larger parties), he is obligated to include members from different parties in his cabinet based on their percentage numbers. This means that in the inner-circle of the government it is not all one party as it has become in the states, but even the smaller parties, beyond having seats in parliament, also have some say in the executive branch (at least in theory), which takes away the “my vote won’t really count if I vote for a small party” idea in the states.

Beyond the election, another special celebration occurred in Denmark last Friday: “J-day”. J-day signifies the day which all of the breweries in Copenhagen release their Christmas beer brew for the season. This “special” brew did not taste that special to me. I went out with a group of badminton players and they admitted that it really wasn’t anything that great, just a sign of the season and an excuse to go out and have fun.

Yesterday was quite sunny and after having a lazy weekend I decided to get out. Denise suggested I go to “Dyrehaven” which translates to “animal park” or “animal garden”. I think the closest thing we have to it in the states would be something like Northwest Trek, but it is still quite different. I was able to bike there in about an hour and a half down the coast.

Dyrehaven is an absolutely huge area of nature. Beyond one restaurant near the entrance, paths for biking and walking, and trash cans, nothing else is man-made. The area is filled with tons of trees (which looked quite nice as the leaves were coming down), fields, streams, and ponds. The park has a few entrances and is otherwise fenced all the way around.

What is nice about it is they do not have any small cages housing animals, and the animals need to be native to the environment they are in. They only have bigger animals like deer/bucks/elk that would be living in this type of environment anyway. They are free to roam throughout the huge park. In fact I was wondering where all the animals were the first 30 minutes I was there until I saw a large pack of deer in some grass to the distance.

They have a sign at the beginning discouraging one from approaching the animals and beyond that its just personal responsibility. I could also tell that people weren’t feeding them as they definitely did not want to come near me looking for a handout. I thought the park was really nice. It was free, very clean, and the incorporation of wild animals made it more exciting and “countryside” feeling despite being nearby the city.

The only problem is it is really getting too cold for me to spend the whole day outside. Even wearing 2 pairs of socks and a pair of gloves my hands and feet were freezing in the park no matter what I did...

That’s it for now. Looking forward to a Cabaret show in Tivoli and a Ghost Tour through Copenhagen which I signed up for through the international office. Also an International Documentary Film Festival is coming to Copenhagen so I am looking forward to checking out some of those movies.

Uploaded some new pictures as well of Morocco:

Casablanca

Marrakesh

Jeff

Happy Halloween?

2007-10-30T13:36:00.000-07:00

One holiday I won't really be missing too much here in Denmark... once the trick-or-treating was over it lost a lot of its appeal to me. I think it is slowly growing in Denmark but is definitely not that big. There main amusement park, Tivoli, did a "Halloween Week" during fall vacation but that was a good month too early. There are also a few parties but nothing too big, and it would be hard to attempt trick-or-treating here with mostly apartment buildings--"could you buzz me up, I want some candy?"

Otherwise things are going well. It was nice to come back from 10 full days of vacation and not really have any catching up to do as I planned it well over our break. I immediately bought gloves and a hat as soon as I got back as the chill has really settled in.

This past weekend I went to Århus, which is the 2^nd biggest city in Denmark which is located on Jutland, the mainland of Denmark, to visit my aunt and uncle. It was quite a relaxing weekend which was nice after my long trip. It’s just a three hour train ride away and I was able to bring my bike, although not get much use out of it as it rained a lot.

On another note: the bug bites have subsided and I don’t think I brought any back with me to Denmark so I am feeling much better in that regard.

On to Morocco:

On the plane flight down to Fes, my first town in Morocco which was the former capital and is now famous for its huge Medina, I met a nice Moroccan/German guy who gave me advice: Be careful! Everyone will try to make money off of you. He told me that even though he could speak French it wasn’t until his Moroccan Arabic improved (the two main languages spoken there) that he felt he wasn’t getting ripped off many times.

Customs wasn’t all too bad for 3 of the 4 lines. Unfortunately I was in the one with the woman that literally spent about 5 minutes per person. So my position in the middle of this line actually made me DEAD LAST of getting my passport checked as the other lines moved much faster and everyone behind me in my line slowly moved to other ones… By the time I got outside it was dark, probably aided by the fact that although on the same time zone as Spain for example, their time is actually two hours different (got dark around 6).

I grabbed a cab and when I reached for the seatbelt the guy said “No, No, No…” I understood why as after I attempted it anyway it was broken…a bit unnerving at the beginning and something I was to get used to later. After getting in the cab I looked for the meter, which my guide book told me to make sure they turned on, and the guy on the plane really emphasized, telling me that “forgetting” to reset it and just charging whatever was one way to make a buck. Unfortunately this cab was really beaten up and did not have one, I don’t really think it was an official cab. So much for that…

While driving through the streets of the Ville Niveau heading towards the Medina where I wanted to stay it appeared to be a huge party. There were people everywhere out in the streets. Eating, sitting at cafes, playing games, shopping, and just enjoying the night. I am still not sure whether this was special because it was Eid ul-Fitr (the first few days after the end of Ramadan) or just how it usually is. While stopped at a light my driver started yelling at this guy at the window and he came over and handed him something-similar to sunflower seeds, and my driver gave a handful to me as well.

After being dropped off I was immediately approached by a kid asking me if I needed a place to stay. No thanks I said. Where are you from? Have you been here before? Sure you don’t need a place? In hindsight this kid was not much of a hassle at all. Ironically I found the spot from my book—the same place the kid was working for… They spoke English and I was satisfied with my tiny room and bathroom down the hall.

I then headed out to explore the Medina experiencing a sensory overload. As a general description the Medina is a walled part of the city. In Fes there are absolutely no cars inside the Medina (at least the parts I explored) as the streets are much to small and packed. Lining the streets are stalls selling everything imaginable to locals and also tons of tourist places. There are also tons of people just sitting on the street selling a bunch of random things (socks/watches/gum), or one thing like cigarettes (by the cigarette), on a little stool, cloth, or out of a suitcase.

I wasn’t too adventurous this night, the moment I tried to deviate from a main street I was immediately lost, it got darker, and I found two dead ends in a row…I walked around watching people get ready and heading over to the carnival a few hundred yards outside the Medina (hairdresser surprised me for some reason—dressing younger girls hair).

Armed with never used diarrhea pills from the Dominican Republic trip I stepped into a very local stall in which one man was cooking soup in a huge pot. I communicated with my hands and got my bowl of white bean soup with spices and a big round piece of bread. It turns out this is a very common meal in Morocco as they have little hole-in-the-wall places serving it everywhere and they are often full. I definitely enjoyed it although the cats coming in and out and flies/earwigs on the wall were a bit gross, although this place was dirtier than most.

I felt my stomach rumbling but after popping a pill nothing ever came of it. The main problem is that the water is not drinkable for me but non-restaurant places just rinse spoons and glasses in the local water. I must have got used to it after a while though because I only ate in a restaurant once.

I then went to go check out the bright lights of the party. They had some old carnival rides (merry go round) and games (water gun, shooting), mixed with vendors and a ton of people set up in an open area just outside the Medina. They contrasted very much with the old sandy walls of the Medina in the background. I sat around and people watched. Everyone seemed to be having a good time—greeting each other by 4 kisses alternating from cheek to cheek.

I bought water from a small stand feeling foolish that with my studies I forgot to hand over the money with my right hand (left hand is often seen as unclean) and was told to just set it on the counter. I then retired for the night when I think it was just beginning for many—I was a bit tired from the all-night bus ride from Copenhagen to Frankfurt the night before.

Below are a few pictures. I took over 600 on my trip! I will just be putting up the ones I like the most or want to comment on. I felt most of the time pictures didn’t really do justice to the whole picture/feeling of the situation, but they are fun nonetheless.

Frankfurt:

Fall Trip-Frankfurt

Fes:

Fall Trip-Fes

And Rabat:

Rabat

Hope everyone is doing well! As usual would love to hear from you.

Jeff

I'm Back!

2007-10-23T07:45:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

Just thought I would give a quick update letting everyone know that I made it back from Morocco. I left with just myself, a backpack, two guidebooks, and little plans. I wound up travelling very quickly, seeing a lot, getting worn out, and having a great time. A quick summary follows:

Took a 13 hour night bus from Copenhagen to Frankfurt on last friday. Spent the morning in Frankfurt, using my friends advice from class. I checked out a local food market, the old district, a flea market, got a pretzel before heading to off to the airport to fly to Fes.

Arrived in Fes to a party! People filling the streets in the new town, a big carnival outside the old town. The next day I explored the huge, famous Medina (old city), although many things were closed as it was the 2nd day of Eid Al-Fitr (the days after the end of Ramadan). Apparently I didn't time my trip too well, corresponding it right at the end of the holy month...

The next day I travelled to Rabat, the capital of Morocco. On the way I got my first experience of seeing the Moroccan countryside, which was a mix of beautiful rolling hills, sheperds herding their sheep, farms, shanty towns, garbage, and sheep eating the garbage... Once again I explored the bustling Medina full of people. Here I continued eating the delicious street food, enjoyed the city's more laid back atmosphere towards tourists, checked out the Kasbah with nice views of the water, and saw Le Tour Hassan, a large tower that was meant to be the largest in the world at the time accompanying a huge mosque--both of which were never completed--and the beautiful mausoleum of Mohammad V with amazing decoration

The next day I headed to Casablance where I was not too impressed with the city and kid who attempted to pick-pocket me, but was very much with the modern Hassan II Mosque--the 3rd biggest in the world featuring retractable roof, laser beam towards Mecca, and heated floors.

Then on to Marrakesh where I got to experience Djemaa el-Fna, an amazing square of snake charmers, dancers, and story tellers. I also got to try a hammam (Arab bathhouse) which may have been my favorite experience of the trip. Tried some new foods here as well (lamb's head stew, and snails/snail soup) and warded off tons of hasslers.

After Marrakesh I took the night train to Tangier and made my way to Cadiz, Spain to visit my friend Kristin who is studying abroad their. I enjoyed the "smaller" (100,000) town atmosphere, beach, and mostly the company before leaving the next day for Seville.

Seville was absolutely beautiful and my favorite city I have been to so far in Europe. It's buildings are amazing, its trees are amazing. It is filled with a mixture of both including small streets, large squares and parks, and an amazing cathedral housing the biggest altarpiece I have ever seen (over 1000 biblical figures on it...) and Christopher Columbus's grave. It also included the Alcazar, residence to many kings including beautiful gardens and castles.

Unfortunately Seville was packed and I could only stay one night. I headed to Granada for two nights. I ran into Kristin and a group from UW that was also doing a trip to Granada and we went out for a few tapas (in Granada when you order the drink the tapa comes for free!). The next day I visited the graves of Fernando and Isabelle to finish my Columbus Connection. The next day I fought of some stomach flu and horrible bug bites to reach the Alhambra in time to get a ticket. It was absolutely spectacular including emaculate gardens incorporating water and amazing work on the palaces.

I made it back to Copenhagen after spending a painful night of little sleep and constant itchiness in the airport. After discovering my literally hundreds of bites, and at Denise's suggestion, I went to the doctor today, to make sure it wasn't something more serious (with all these little red bumps who knows), but mainly to pick up some cream which will hopefully do the trick. Itching is probably the worst thing I can do right now although it feels like heaven...

Well that is a quick summary. Pictures to come soon. Hope to tell you some more interesting specific stories and the like later. Hope to hear from you and I hope everything is going well wherever you are!

Jeff

Update and Monaco

2007-10-05T08:18:00.000-07:00

Things are still going well. The past week I played some badminton; tried out the Copenhagen Chess Club (I beat a master of rating 2000 or so!!), went to a classmate’s birthday party where I sang happy birthday in Hungarian (just because it’s a short song does not mean it is easy to sing…) and have been keep up with work.

I started my classes at studieskole which is a language school separate from the university. The class was too easy, but I missed the first day and after the 2^nd time they said it would probably be too late to switch to a higher level. So now I am stuck in the easier one until November when I can move up. I am hoping the teacher will just let me turn in homework and let me take the exam at the end so I do not have to sit in class for 6 hours a week when I know most of what she is talking about already.

I realized that through the library system here you can rent DVDs just like in the US. So the last two weeks I have seen almost all of Lars Von Trier’s films. He is considered the most famous Danish Director and you may have heard of him from Dogville with Nicole Kidman (good, but long movie). He does his work in trilogies. If you are interested in seeing any of them I recommend completely avoiding the first trilogy and trying Dogville and Breaking the Waves (both in English), or a miniseries in Danish called “Riget” (The Kingdom in English) which I think is available in the US with subtitles. His films are definitely all different and unpredictable.

As I mentioned last time I was going to the Opera. It was a really great evening. The opera was “La Boheme” sung in Italian with Danish subtitles—which I could thankfully follow. I went with my landlord Denise and my two Italian friends Giuseppe and Goffredo. The only one who had problems was Goffredo who did not know any Danish because they all agreed at many points it is impossible to understand the way it is sung. I didn’t really know how I would like it never having been to an Opera before but it was quite entertaining and it was nice to see the inside of the building.

I have also been talking to Denise a little bit more about her life and experience in Denmark. She is from Albania as I have mentioned but she lived in Italy before coming to Denmark. She has been living here for 10 years now and is now writing her masters in psychology.

Because she was living in Denmark before the large unrest in the region near, and in Albania she had learned Danish before many refugees from the region began arriving in Denmark. Because of this she worked as a translator for the Red Cross in Denmark and she was in very high demand. She has also worked as a translator when the government-royalty of Albania came to visit the Danish government/royalty allowing her to meet so high-ups on each side. I wish I knew two kind of obscure languages because if she ever needs money she can go back to that—they pay very well! In the end she decided to pursue her education instead. She says that she does not like translating that much because she always wants to but in with her own opinion.

Other than that update there is not much going on so here is a little more of my trip with Dad and Donnie:

Monaco

Leaving in the morning from Nice we left to Monaco and thankfully it is considered a part of France so our Euro rail passes worked transporting to and from, although apparently they don’t believe in lockers as we had to take our backpacks with us all day before our train later that night. Monaco is technically its own country and after checking Wikipedia the world’s 2^nd smallest country and most densely populated country.

The architecture of Monaco is very similar to Nice except much more hilly. The town/country is really cut into the hillside which gives it a very nice, unique look.

We went up to one highpoint in the town where the castle was along with an older church. It was a nice area with amazing views looking down towards the water and back up towards the Cliffside.

After this we checked out the famous Monte Carlo Casino (after getting off at the wrong bus stop because I fell for an imitation)! It was quite expensive to enter for what one actually gets to see, but it was OK. All of the tables for playing were high stakes but we found some cheap slot machines that kept us—particularly Donnie—entertained for a half hour or so.

We were then tired from walking around all day so we took the bus down to the beach and relaxed for a long while. Unlike in Nice this beach had smaller rocks so it was manageable.

Next we found a place for diner before our train ride. We found a nice place to eat and surprised the woman outside by telling her we wanted to eat (I think it was around 6pm or so). The meal proved quite entertaining.

In the beginning we were fighting off birds that literally wanted to jump onto our table. Next, a couple showed up that sat under the table with a tree above it. This was not a good idea as a few birds sat above them waiting to dive bomb and putting there food in danger by pooping on it… So they moved to another table. Then came the wasps… They were attracted to the woman—who apparently was very allergic to them—and she would freak out whenever they came close, jumping out of her seat. They switched tables again but she could not avoid it, and they ate quickly and left.

While we were sitting there relaxing as our meal was ending a German couple received their bill. They proceeded to argue with the owner/waitress of the restaurant. They said the food was good but they did not think it was worth 60 euros. I had no idea if there was merit to their argument but the owner went absolutely berserk. I think they had a language barrier issue but when the owner kept saying “I don’t understand” they would say “yes you do”. She slammed the plates she had taken away back onto their table asking saying “It’s all gone! Did you not like it?!? During the episode she also turned to our table, smiled, and winked like she was having fun with it all, despite clearly being pissed off. Nice entertainment during the meal…

After this little argument we got to witness another one in the train station between a man who seemed a bit loopy, or maybe drunk, and the train station staff. I watched the beginning unfold where he was trying to drink alcohol in the station and then went to brush my teeth after the argument went on for about 5 minutes. He was thrown out by the time I got back…

Now on the night train off to Florence…

Here are a few pictures of Monaco—although I think I must have lost a few as I have none of the castle or casino...

Euro Trip - Monaco

Hope all is going well at home,

Jeff

Fall in Copenhagen...

2007-09-29T02:12:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

Things are going well in Copenhagen as the cold and wind are setting in. I have had a cold which is still persisting now which is quite annoying. Although this didn't stop me from visiting Helsingor last weekend, on a warm sunny day. Really got to take advantage of those over here.

Helsingør is only about an hour ride north on the train from Copenhagen. It is a fairly small town on the water where you can actually look across the sea to see Sweden. But what Helsingor is most famous for is the castle of Kronborg where Shakespeare set his play of Hamlet. The castle sits on a strategic position, with an excellent view of the Swedish Coast, and close proximity to the sea which they used to charge all ships that came through a tax. This ended in 1857, when under pressure they decided to make it free after one lump sum of around 33,000,000,000 crowns, although I have no idea how much that really was at the time.

The castle was quite nice from the outside but the inside was fairly barren. I think most of it had been taken away and placed in other castles. The most interesting part of the castle were the catacombs, that even though I visited during the middle of the day were nearly pitch black. You were led through the passages by torches on the wall which just illuminated an arrow pointing to which direction you should go. Quite spooky. Also down in the catacombs was a statue of Holger Danske, a mythical character that is said will rescue the Danish people in times of need.

Beyond side trips, my courses are going well. In my advanced written Danish course I always get my assignment (a short translation) back with so much red pen marking all my errors on it it is a bit depressing, but I will keep trying... I just started my courses at studieskole, which is a just a general language course, and unlike my courses at the University, this course has many Americans in it. This one should be very easy compared to my one at the University as the teacher purposefully speaks slowly, and in contrast to my other courses, I am one of the best in the class.

I had a good time the other night with classmates from the University. We met at Giuseppe's apartment and all brought some food. I got to have some authentic Italian pasta, Lithuanian cookies, Finnish cookies, and Lithuanian alcohol among other things. There was also one Dane there that taught us a Danish drinking game that was quite fun. Here's an interesting fact that I learned that night: In Denmark you can order alcohol (for example, a bottle of vodka) 24 hours a day and have it delivered to your house!!! Was definitely a surprise to me...

I also just began playing badminton. It is kind of hard to get involved with sports here because, nothing is free and nothing is public. For example, there are absolutely no, that is not 1, public tennis court in all of Copenhagen. I decided to try badminton because it was a much cheaper option, and is fairly popular in Denmark. While at the sports store buying my badminton racquet I noticed why tennis may not be so popular here. Although everything is more expensive here (the cheapest badminton racquet they had was $50), tennis balls were $3 a piece!!! Crazy stuff.

I didn't know what to expect when showing up for the first day as to how many would be there or skill level. It turned out it is a very small group--there were only 4 of us there for 3 hours, and they are all VERY good. I am not a badminton player but lots of it carries over from tennis, but I only won one game in 3 hours of playing short games. Thankfully I can still carry on some decent points but these guys have clearly been playing for a long time. The best guy there was easily 50 and doing in-between-the-legs shots and running my ragged around the court... It's really fun and good for me to get some excercise in.

Well, thats about it. My tandem-language partner gave me 4 free tickets to the Opera tonight, so I will be checking that out before working the late shift at studenterhuset.

Hope all is well. Here are some pics:

Jeff

Fall in Copenhagen and Helsingør

Prague Part 2

2007-09-22T12:52:00.000-07:00

We woke up early to catch the bus into the city to see the big tourist sights of the castle and cathedral before the huge crowds of people arrived. Unfortunately the night before we could not communicate “bus schedule” to the woman working the front desk. While waiting for the bus the next morning we realized it was Saturday and probably a different schedule so we ended up getting there much later than we planned.

Thankfully there were minor, or no lines for getting into all of the castle exhibits. Apparently Prague Castle is the biggest in the world because all of the buildings connect to one another. It was OK, but after seeing a few buildings and the castle church I was not too impressed—particularly after seeing the Doge’s Palace in Venice.

After the castle we waited in a long line to get into St. Vitus’s Cathedral which was well worth the wait. The outside of the Cathedral is quite daunting, built in Gothic Style being started in the 1300s but only just finished in the 20^th Century. The outside also features tons of little spires on the exterior of the church which is why I am assuming one of Prague’s nicknames is “city of 100 spires”.

The inside of the church did not disappoint either with amazing stained-windows illuminating the otherwise cold and dark interior. There was also an elaborate silver memorial to John of Nepomuk who I mentioned before as well as the grave of Good King Wenceslas, a famous Czech King who is known in English through the famous Christmas Carol.

We climbed up a narrow passageway to the top of the cathedral for some good views. Unfortunately the crypt area was closed, but Maddie snapped a picture of the sign which we though was quite funny “crypt closed due to technical difficulties”

We had a good lunch of non-Czech food but we each ordered a side. Note: Czech dumplings (which I ordered) are apparently bread…while the potato pancakes are delicious, basically like latkes.

We then headed back to the bus stop as we were determined to explore the small town we were staying in, but ended up waiting over an hour and half, although there was some entertainment. While waiting at the bus stop I saw the most police ever in my life pull up—around 15 cars with vans, dogs, full riot gear, etc. Around 15 minutes later a bunch of what seemed to be protestors walked out of the metro. We didn’t really know what was going on, but one of them came up to me yelling in my face and handing me a little sticker. After I got back to Copenhagen I asked my friend what it was and she said it was from a rival soccer team that was in town…

By the time we got back to the town it was unfortunately closed down except for 2 bars/restaurants and a soccer game that was going on. After walking around for ½ hour we realized that there really wasn’t anything special to be discovered about the town and there was not much more than we had already seen.

We had dinner at a bar right next to the hotel with only locals. We couldn’t read much of the menu but I recognized Mushroom soup and a Greek salad which I opted for. Maddie figured that French fries would be safe, so she ordered Pommes Frites and the woman responded with “with steak”. Maddie said sure. I ended up with two bowls of instant mushroom soup (the woman thought we both wanted one and Maddie doesn’t really like mushroom) which was essentially mushroom broth, while Maddie sat next to me eating one of the most delicious steaks ever… Fortunately she was merciful and let me have a little, before the Greek salad came which was good. After a long dinner of 2 soups, a salad, a nice steak and fries plate, and 8 beers between us the bill came… $15!!!!

We woke up and there were so few people staying in the hotel they abandoned the usual buffet. When the woman working the front desk saw us coming she walked by us into the kitchen and just brought out some tea, bread, and cheese for us. One of the good English speakers was working the previous night so with a printed bus schedule our waits were reduced drastically.

Our plan was to go to the Jewish Quarter, but we had time to wait because RS suggested going after 1pm and the tour groups left. We headed to the Church of St. James just off of Old Town Square. By glancing through the windows we could see the church was absolutely amazing, extravagantly decorated with huge paintings and everything gilded in gold. They were also having a service, but some people that were clearly tourists were just standing in the back.

We went in and stood in the back, noticing the signs of no talking, no walking around, etc. one would expect while a service is going on. We stood a few minutes gawking before more and more tourists started coming in behind us. Except these tourists couldn’t care less there was a service going on! They walked around the edges of the church. They took pictures with flash, which was extremely obvious and against the sign, and you could here there cameras snapping in the otherwise silent church. It was pretty sickening so we just left…

Next we went back to Old Town Square and saw the famous Astronomical Clock do its show when it strikes the hour. There were hundreds of people crammed in waiting for it—and later we saw a couple getting married under it! At the top of every hour death (a skeleton) pulls a cord and 12 saints appear in two windows of the clock—not too impressive after seeing it, particularly for how many people were waiting for it.

We then headed to the Jewish Quarter, Pinka's Synagogue first. This Synagogue had thousands of names written on the white walls inside—all Jews from the Prague area that were killed during the Holocaust. Upstairs was an exhibit of artwork that was done by children inside the Ghetto of Terezin which was a gateway to Concentration Camps of the east. The children ranged from 8 – 13 with drawings on many topics—mostly seemingly not related to the terrible things surrounding them. The labels next to them listed when they drew the picture, and when they died—I only saw one out of dozens of drawings which was labeled “survived”.

After the moving, and reflective first church we saw a few Synagogues converted to museums that were basically about Jewish culture and Jews in Prague particularly. We then saw the Jewish Cemetery which was the most packed cemetery I have ever seen. The headstones are literally touching one another as the Jews were contained to their ghetto and their beliefs make it impossible for them to move bodies once buried.

Finally we ended at the Spanish Synagogue which looked amazing on the inside with intricate patterns of shapes and bright colors (unfortunately no pictures allowed).

We felt like we had done Prague justice and with nothing major left to see we decided to try Absinthe, which is legal in Prague. I was quite skeptical of buying it as it was featured as the big tourist thing in almost half of the shops but we went for it anyway. Final result—it tastes like licorice, is very sweet, very strong, and did not lead to any hallucinations…

I finished uploading the pictures and added some captions:

Prague

Wish everyone well,

Jeff

Prague

2007-09-20T00:21:00.000-07:00

Greetings Everyone—just got back from a weekend in Prague. Here’s part 1:

Maddie and I found a nice deal on Orbitz which included airfare and 4 nights in a hotel. The only catch after doing some research was that the hotel was about 20 kilometers outside of the town. After finally finding out that there was a bus that connected the small town to Prague we booked it and weren’t sure what to expect.

We arrived kind of late and had to get a cab. After about 30 minutes of driving and some minor cursing from our cab driver who didn’t know where the place was, we arrived (driving by it, Maddie having to point it out to the driver).

We stayed in Tuchlovice, which is also the name of the hotel. The town was even smaller than we thought. One grocery store, one meat store, a bakery, and three restaurant/bars make up essentially all the commercial activity in the town.

Our hotel was overall good. Beds were benches with a thin mattress on top that were nailed to the floor, the free breakfast was good, and the staff was nice. Language was often an issue (one time we were unable to ask for a bus schedule), but they had a few employees with mediocre English so it really depended on who was working at the time (only one employee was usually working). It was really not busy at all with the most people staying there around 20 and maybe 5 on our final night. They were nice in lending us enough money to take the bus into town when we found out there was no ATM at all in the town to get any money to take the bus…

The bus was another adventure altogether…We were of course unable to read the time tables—although that it seemed many people from Prague also had that problem. Buses didn’t really like to come when they were supposed to, leaving us with waits sometimes of over an hour, once we finally got our hands on a readable schedule so we knew when they should be coming. But after getting on it was a comfortable 50 minute ride into the city or back to our hotel.

We arrived in Prague the first morning to Wenceslas Square opening up to the big national museum, not having any guidebook, or even map yet. We decided to check out the national museum for more info and to find a bit of help. Overall the museum was not that great—nothing really unique to Prague and little to no English explanations BUT…Maddie overheard two older women speaking English in an American accent and it turned out they were leaving that night and left us their Rick Steves Guidebook! Needless to say this was heaven for me…

Now with maps and a guide we walked down the square passing by the hotdog stands featuring dogs around a foot long to the old town square. This area was absolutely packed with people and it was interesting to see more tourists here than in Italy which I was definitely not expecting. The old town square was a nice open area with the city hall, churches, and buildings featuring elaborate art nouveau on all sides.

For lunch we tried our first Czech cuisine (RSR). I had Goulash made with beer and a dark beer which was quite good. The Czech beer is the best I have ever tasted and also the cheapest (around $1.50 for a large beer in a restaurant).

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around. We crossed the famous Charles Bridge with nice views of the city, statues lining the bridge, as well as countless tourists and oddly, caricature artists. On the bridge we got our first glance at a statue of Saint John of Nepomuk who is everywhere around the city with 5 stars over his head. As the story goes the queen told the Saint many secrets and when the Saint refused to tell them to the King who wanted to know them he tossed the Saint off the bridge. When he was thrown in the water 5 stars appeared above where he was thrown in.

We walked up to the castle district, but decided to leave it for another day as it would have been hard to get our money’s worth for our ticket. But next to a monastery in the castle district was the oldest beer garden in Europe, started by the monastery in the 1600’s (unfortunately the monastery was closed but we peeked in to an amazing elaborately decorated church of gold). Of course we had to go, having more delicious beer and a cheese which was made from beer which I enjoyed but Maddie found a bit questionable.

After this we walked down Petrin Hill, eating some pears and apples from the hillside while walking down to Little Quarter (The 4 districts of Prague are Old Town, New Town, Castle, and Little). The highlight here was Lennon’s wall which arose after the singer’s death in 1980. After his death people put graffiti up on this wall as a memorial and in support of respect, peace, and free thinking as a contrast to the other Lenin. Every night it was erased by the communist government until the 90’s when communism left and the wall was accepted and the graffiti now stays.

We then walked by the “dancing house” a warped building designed by the same architect as the EMP before finding a big pub to have a beer and watched a group of crazy locals nearby that were jumping over chairs and doing handstands while completely drunk. Maddie and I were entertained while everyone else seemed to look on with disgust…

Hope everyone is doing well, hope to hear from you.

Jeff

Classes and Travel

2007-09-13T03:05:00.000-07:00

It’s been a busy last two weeks, as evidence by my lack of blog entries (I do enjoy doing them). I am also still quite busy as I will explain so I will hold off on anything more about the trip with Donnie and Dad until I have more time to type up the journals.

Classes started at the beginning of last week and I think I have finally chosen what I will be taking. I was planning to take 5 in total, but now am only taking 4, and the standard for many people is to only take 2!

Basically I have decided to concentrate on Danish while I am here. I went to my classes on sociology in the Middle East last Thursday, and it just wasn’t that great—way too much theory that I didn’t think was applied enough. I’m more interested in the learning about the culture and history of countries than learning a bunch of theories that can be applied to them in the end. I may end up going a few more weeks though because it is my only class with Danes in it, so it is a good chance to meet people and it may get better.

All my other 4 classes have to do with Danish! A bit crazy I know…

I am taking a Danish Culture Course in which all I have to do is attend a lecture which is essentially a history until modern times and then explanation about Danish art, film, etc. This is only once a week for two hours and there will be no assignments (I am taking it for the lesser amount of credits, therefore I get less work). This course is in English.

Then I am taking a course in Danish Phonetics, which is basically working on pronunciation; how different words/letters are formed in the mouth and basically the phenomena of spoken Danish. This class is only in Danish and I am the only American of about 15 people.

I am also taking a course in “Advanced Written Danish” which is so far is grammar, spelling, and a bit of (painstaking) translation. Should be interesting as, once again, I am the only American, there are about 25 people in the course, and again it is only in Danish.

Finally I will be taking just a general Danish course like I would be taking if I took a language class, but is outside the University. It is through the same school that my Aunt Maureen takes her obligatory Danish Classes. They have various tests that move you up levels and one should be able to pass if one is to work here, or study at the University in Danish for example. This will of course be taught in Danish, and should be interesting to see the dynamic as I’m sure there will be more older people, who have married Danes or are here to work.

Another interesting aspect of my classes is that I am the only one who is learning just their 2^nd language. For the majority of the people in the class this is their 3^rd or 4^th language, and others have more. Ah… the jealousy

So basically I will be on Danish overload—although I definitely don’t feel like it yet. I have been quite busy because my friend Maddie from UW came to visit on the way back from her early study tour to Russia. Stephanie, her friend from the program who also goes to the U came to Copenhagen too and my landlord was nice enough to let them both stay here.

So the past few days the apartment has been packed and I have been doing some schoolwork but mostly just hanging out with them, showing them the city, going out at night, and speaking lots of English…

Maddie and I had planned on traveling while she came to visit, and we have made plans to spend a 4 day weekend in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. We are leaving tonight at 7pm after my Danish Culture Course and staying until Monday morning. I am extremely excited to travel as always and looking forward to some cheaper food and a new culture. I asked my Czech friend from Prague that I met at the pre-semester language course what places are good to see, so I feel like I have a little insider view that should help.

I feel like the opportunity to be over is great so I am trying to use it as much as I can to travel a ton to places where it would take much more time and cost much more when doing from the United States. We have a break in early-mid October for the department and I really wanted to travel alone. So I will be exploring Morocco and Southern Spain on my week off. I feel like it’s a bit ambitious for my first time traveling alone buy I am very excited and am sure it will turn out great.

On a side note--Grandpa Bill you would be proud to know I visited the US embassy today in Copenhagen (Maddie lost her passport in Sweden to pickpocketers), it is definitely a good thing to know where it is. Unfortunately the service resembled that of many other US governmental institutions...

All travel aside I am having a good time—lets just hope I spend enough time in the country to speak some Danish : )

I would like to wish Grandma Helen a Happy Birthday. And a pre-emptive Happy Birthday to Brina. I wish I could be there for both.

Off to class; hope to hear back from you.

Jeff

A little Copenhagen and Nice

2007-09-07T00:34:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

Just got back from a whirlwind trip of Europe with Donnie and Kirk. As we said many time throughout the trip—it’s amazing what you can see in a limited amount of time. I feel like we did every city we visited justice by seeing the main sights and trying to get away from touristy areas for the some authentic food and a picture of what the city was really like.

I kept a journal on my trip as I have done on previous trips, it being ingrained in my head from my family, starting with my great-grandmother Helen (“Whenever you have the chance to travel you should take it, and make sure to keep a journal of what you do”).

So my next few blogs will essentially be my journal entries from along the trip with some pictures. On a side note my classes begin this week, and I’m trying to work all the logistics of what classes I will be taking etc. (There are more classes I want to take than time I have available so I need to choose, and figure out how to navigate this unorganized university).

Just a quick summary of the trip: Copenhagen-flight-Nice-train-Monaco-train-Florence-train-Venice-train-Interlaken/Gimmelwald-train-Milan-flight-Copenhagen.

Copenhagen

The first two days of our trip Donnie and Dad came to visit in Copenhagen and stay at my place. We checked out all the major sights and got a delicious, authentic Danish meal courtesy of Ole, and Anne Grethe.

We also stopped by Christiania which I had not been to yet. Definitely an interesting look at the other side of Copenhagen—it’s the hippie “free city” in Copenhagen, but relies on tourism as a major industry. We arrived around 7:30 pm to find Danish police already walking around the area, more common now that the state has been more critical of the town.

I snapped a few pictures of some awesome graffiti before noticing that there were “no camera” signs posted (a recurring theme throughout the trip…). Dad was also able to point out a marijuana plant that they just had growing out in the open (surprisingly, another recurring theme throughout the trip).

Nice

Ah, how I love traveling between EU countries. Got off the plane in the morning and just walked through the airport into Nice without any customs. With Rick Steves (famous travel guide author my grandmother strongly suggested, and now I am in full agreement, for good reason) as our guide, we were off.

We walked through the morning market seeing the usual fruits and vegetables, as well as more interesting things, such as more kinds of olives that I knew existed. We also stopped (as recommended by Rick) to get some homemade socca, which is basically like a pancake/crepe made out of chickpeas. The taste wasn’t as amazing as I was expecting judging by the line, but they were good, and it was great to see them being delivered by scooter, then cooked on a big metal barrel with fire in it right in front of you.

We spent more time walking through the Old Town of Nice, just past the market. We passed by the house where the socca was being made and scootered down to the market. We enjoyed the narrow streets and atmosphere before heading up “castle hill” (although there is no castle on it…) for an amazing view of the town from the top.

We were quite hot after this so we decided to go down to the perfectly cooling beach. It was quite nice except that the beach consisted of rocks the size of your fist—nearly impossible to lie down on without a thick towel.

After the beach it was off to the Chagall museum—our first of many. The museum only featured works of Chagall, who was a French, modern painter. It was definitely interesting seeing all the stuff he painted (he must have had weird dreams). Tons of the color blue and merged figures of people, animals, instruments, and houses. I wouldn’t go back, but not bad.

After an afternoon nap we headed down the boardwalk to Nice’s most fancy hotel—Hotel Negrasco. The hotel has its own free museum inside which was just a quick loop, but interesting. We left to go find diner somewhere else, as it ran around 90 euros a person at the hotel…

Had a nice 3-course dinner getting there way too early, around 6:30. The place was full by the time we finished around 9pm. I had to keep asking the waiter how exactly I was supposed to eat my food (is this bread and cheese for me just to eat or does it go in my soup, or is it for later???). Felt like the uncultured American, but it was fun and good.

After we explored the city a bit more and wound back around to where the market was being held earlier that day. The transformation of the area is absolutely amazing as the street which was filled with tables of vendors and fruits/vegetables/litter on the ground was now filled with cafés.

The place was absolutely packed with people on a Sunday night, and some were not even served by 11:30 when I made my last walk through to join Donnie and Dad back in the hostel to sleep.

We left Nice quite early the next morning, but we did have crepes for breakfast just outside our hostel. Being the adventuresome eater that I am (and assuming you can’t go wrong with a crepe), I ordered something I didn’t recognize. It turned out to be an orange liqueur (nothing like the taste of alcohol at 9 am!) crepe, and I jealously stared at Donnie as he ate his new favorite flavor of Nutella. About half-way through, after getting over the light alcohol taste, it actually was pretty good.

Next, on the train off to Monaco…

Here’s some pics of Nice: I did a few captions but didn’t edit any out so they might not all be too interesting:

Euro Trip - Nice

Quick Update

2007-09-03T13:11:00.000-07:00

I meant to post this quick update before I left on the trip around the 22^nd of August but got sidetracked beforehand. I figure I will post it now then do an update about the trip in a few days.

I had a good weekend, going to a free outdoor opera (hey, why not?) with some friends from class. Copenhagen is great during the summer because they have all kinds of these outdoor cultural events. Most people bring a picnic and make a whole evening of it…

I also had a fun pancake breakfast on Sunday with a large group of people from the Danish language class courtesy of one of my Canadian friends.

Anya, whose bike I borrowed over the weekend, and whose lock I broke has had her bike stolen! She was using one of my spare locks (the less thick one) before she got her own, left it at the University over the weekend and it’s gone…

We had our final test in my Danish class this morning and it went well, just two days left which clearly won’t be too intense. In other Danish news I had my first meeting with my “Tandem Partner” yesterday which is an individual you can find through an online forum through the university in which each of you wants to learn the other’s mother tongue. When we met yesterday it was only Danish and next time it will be only English (although I already know her English is much better than my Danish).

I uploaded a picture last time with a huge ice-cream cone so I thought I would tell the short story that goes along with it. Ice cream in general is very popular in Denmark and it is not uncommon to see carts, and just many places in general selling two types of ice-cream. There is just a normal waffle-cone (preferably home made) with ice-cream scoops on top—just like in the US with a few additions of whip-cream, jam, a cotton-candy-ish strawberry topping and a flødebolle (light chocolate coating for a marshmallow center) for those looking for the whole ice cream experience.

There is also a soft ice-cream which is very similar to Soft Serve except it is a bit creamier and generally served plain, maybe being dipped in a chocolate powder.

I had countless normal ice-creams last summer while in Denmark, but never had a soft ice-cream. I finally decided to have one after my friend told me how good they were, although she suggested not getting it too big because all the cream can give you a stomach ache afterwards.

Not heeding her advice the next afternoon I went down to the harbor and found an ice-cream place. I asked for a large soft-ice cream dipped in the chocolate powder. The man proceeded to make the biggest ice-cream in the history of mankind and hand it over to me. I was so astounded I attempted to take picture of it in one hand while holding it in the other. Unfortunately the perspective does not give its true size but you get the idea in comparison to my hand.

The problems began almost immediately, for the ice-cream was quite heavy and supported only by the tiny waffle cone. While trying to take a picture of the cone and holding it with only one hand I broke a hole in the side. So now as the ice cream melted it ran down the side of my hand (as if just controlling the edges of this bad boy wasn’t hard enough).

From this point it was all downhill because there was no way I could eat the entire ice-cream fast enough before it melted. To top it off I was in a pretty packed area down by the waterfront, standing around feeling very foolish as my hand slowly became soaked with ice cream. I tried to eat it as fast as possible but with this amount it was to no avail and I inhaled it while trying to casually hide behind a building but still catching everyone giving me odd looks.

10 minutes of straight eating later the cone was gone, I was able to wash up and know that if I am really, really, hungry for ice cream again that its time for a medium, or to bring a bowl.

More Adventures in Copenhagen

2007-08-18T05:25:00.000-07:00

Time for another entry!

After a slow weekend the last week was very fun. Plenty of events, yet time to hang out, make food on my own, practice some Danish, and yes, get my bike back.

I was hoping to have a busy last weekend,with plans to meet up with new and old friends, but was disappointed when the majority of them fell through. But it’s my blog and I’m not going to write about the disappointing times :)

I did get a visit from my friend Katie, a fellow volunteer with me at the UW in a peer health education group. She was stopping in Copenhagen for 1 day on her long journey to China. So I got to give my first tour of the city as a resident which felt good and was fun.

The new week started off well. On Monday I got to meet up with my Danish teacher (Jan) and classmate (Yuki) from the UW for beers and dinner. Jan actually teaches Danish in Denmark over the summer and then returns to the University during the school year. Yuki is a recent graduate but absolutely loves Denmark and is renting an apartment over here. It was great for all three of us to finally meet over here in the place we had been talking about in class the whole year.

On to more bike news… Thankfully I believe the bad luck with my bike is over, although I have passed it on to friends in my class. I was borrowing Anya’s (German girl from my class) bike over the weekend who was out of town. I warned her beforehand that I had bad luck with bikes, and she had heard my presentation on bikes, but she thought it was safer with me than parked at the train station. Her bike was completely fine, but the next day her lock broke. No reason really…just stopped working... but I did warn her.

Another bad luck bike story: I was at the beach with Giuseppe and while walking back to our bikes he dropped his key to his bike lock into the sand. We assumed it would be easy to find, but 15 minutes later with the help of 4 other searchers he was carrying his bike back to his apartment. He didn’t want to leave it at the beach because it would be a pretty easy place for it to be taken, and more importantly it was his landlord’s bike! Needless to say it garnered us a few weird looks, particularly when we tried to carry it using my bike (don’t ever try this)…

Thankfully I have passed the bad luck on because I got my bike back from the shop and it rides just fine. The repairman fixed the spokes and there is no shaking. He mentioned that the back wheel is bent, and will eventually need a whole new part. It seems fine to me though and I will just ride it out until something happens. Let’s hope it lasts 4 months and my bad luck with bikes ends with Anya’s broken lock…

On Thursday I had my first night working at “Studenterhuset”—try translating that one yourself—which was great. Studenterhuset operates mainly through student volunteers and offers some of the cheapest drinks in the city, with further discounts for staff and students.

My first night was great because it was not too busy so I got to get the hang of things having never worked in a bar before. I won’t be doing anything too fancy though. If customers want any kind of mixed drink they have to buy it separately (a shot of rum, and a coke for example), and then they pour it! …makes it easy for amateur bartenders like me, and we normally get beer orders anyway.

It was also a good chance to meet lots new people. I was working a shift with international students from Italy, France, and Switzerland, but there are many Danes that help run, and frequent the bar allowing me to practice a bit.

Even though it is a volunteer position they still “pay” you quite well. All non-alcoholic drinks are free on your shift. For every shift you work you get 5 drink tickets which you can use another night to come in and have a beer, or come have a coffee during the day, or give them to a friend. Also, if you have the clean-up shift, its free drinks and pizza while cleaning up!

The only problem was I thought I was working 7-11, but Thursdays they close early and only have 1 shift from 7 to around 2. Needless to say I was tired the next day, and after class and meeting up with some friends at an electronic music festival (not a big fan…) I retired early for the night. My next shift is on Wednesday for international night where it will be much busier, and I will be staying later to clean-up, but I am excited to work again.

I am also really excited for my upcoming trip with my brother Donnie and dad Kirk for quick stops in South France, North Italy, and the Swiss Alps. My landlord just left yesterday on a trip back home to Albania so I have the apartment all to myself until the 6^th of September.

We will be traveling from the 24^th of August until the 3^rd of September so there will be no blog updates during that time. But I have been getting some questions about what the food is like in Denmark and what I and The Danes usually eat over here, so I may do an update on food in Denmark (a favorite topic of mine) before I take off.

As always, look forward to hearing from you. Have some pics below and new one's in the "extra pictures" album on picasa.

Jeff

Bikes, Class, and my first full week

2007-08-10T05:42:00.001-07:00

My first full week in Copenhagen was quite exciting. I got to meet a lot of people, talk lots of Danish, and of course, have more bike trouble.

Class began on Monday with everyone who had taken some Danish before taking a placement test to determine one's level. I was placed in level 4 (of 7), but my Danish instructor at UW was teaching level 4 and using the same book that I had used the past year, so I was bumped up to level 5. It's definitely not too difficult so I'm glad it worked out like that.

Overall there are around 200 international students studying for the summer, but the majority (1500 or so) will arrive in September. My class has about 9 people in it from all over the place. Three girls from Germany, one from Iceland and one from Japan. Two middle aged guys--one from France, the other from Bolivia, a young Italian guy, and me. I thought it was crazy that someone from Japan did (and could) study Danish, but I guess she probably wondered the same thing about me...

Most people are taking the course because they are studying Nordic studies of some kind: history, design, etc. Others want to work in Denmark after they are done with school or have a significant other that is Danish. Overall the class is fun and not painfully boring for working on Danish for 3+ hours a day. I also got to see students from the UW that will only be studying during the summer. I only know about 3 of them but I will be hanging out with them a bit this weekend.

Like many Danish buildings, my University is a combination of old and new, but my "campus" (there are 4 throughout the city, but not really like a US campus) is new. I was quite surprised on the first day while in a large lecture hall they wrote something on the whiteboard, and it appeared projected on a large screen above it for everyone to see.

I also spoke with an advisor-only in Danish-about courses. I will probably be taking a Danish Language course (like I take now), a Danish Culture course (no homework!) and a class on theory of social relations in the Middle East. Should be a full schedule, although most of the work is independent and I will actually not be in class that much.

On Tuesday I got to checkout the Danish beach on the island where I live. It is HUGE, and quite nice, with white sand imported from the west coast. It was around 75 degrees and there were hundreds of people there, along with an uncountable amount of bikes.

Bikes are a very important means of transportation over here. Although public transportation through busses, trains, or the metro is very good, it is still a bit expensive. The metro is basically like the monorail in Seattle except it goes useful places! During rush-hour it runs every 4 minutes (!) and gets you to your destination very quickly, but unless you buy special tickets its about $4 a ride. Bikes are the best way to get around because everyone knows the rules regarding them (you learn it as a part of school), the city is pretty small, and you have your own lane.

When I last left off I just had a bit of an annoying bike experience, and I have another bike story as well. After hearing my story, my friend Giuseppe from class told me his friend left him keys to a bike, and if I could find it it was mine. The only catch: it was around a ton of other bikes, and the only description was that one was black, one was a mountain bike, and they were locked up together. Fortunately when I found the area where they should be there were not too many bikes there, but unfortunately, those two bikes were gone.

My landlord then found an announcement at the University about bikes for sale. I called the seller (from my new cell phone!) and headed over. He had 4 bikes left from old international students that left and didn't have time to sell them. I looked them over, and rode the bike I bought before buying it to make sure it was good, and at the time I didn't notice any problems. Then on the way back the back tire started shaking...

I took it to a shop and thankfully the repairs are not too expensive for a few broken/weak spokes (well, at the shop I finally found it wasn't too bad-$100 at the first, $80 at another, and $30 at the one furthest away, so I'm glad I shopped around). I thought I was going to be without a bike for the weekend, but my friend Anya from class is going home to Germany and is letting me have her bike for the weekend so she doesn't have to park it at the train station where she thinks it will be stolen.

Bottom line: When I get my bike back I will use two locks on it and hope that I never have to go into a bike shop again, although I am getting quite good at telling them my bike has problems. I also had a presentation to give in Danish class today on anything I wanted. My title was: "How not to buy a bike in Copenhagen".

I also have signed up to volunteer as a bartender at "The Student House" which is a bar that many university students go to, and hosts and international night on Wednesday nights. Should be a good way to meet people and have fun. I start next week.

Last night my landlord had two friends over for dinner, an interesting pair. They were sisters, one who is the hippie type from whom I learned lots about drugs, the Freetown of Christiania, and the recent destruction of Ungdomshuset, which was a squatter residence for European counter-culture youth in Copenhagen.

The other sister was almost finished with her training to be a priest in the Danish State Church, working in prisons. I asked her how often the Danes go to church. She said most of the churches in the countryside are barely used at all, and maybe 15 regulars in churches in the city! Definitely not a religious society... I was struck by surprise when the hippie was describing some guy she did not want to become involved with because he could not speak any English or Danish and the future priest quickly said: "Well, you don't have to talk..."

Overall a good week, looking forward to the weekend. Hope to hear from you.

My first few days before class...

2007-08-05T09:44:00.000-07:00

I decided to start a blog to keep everyone posted on what I'm up to over in Denmark. I would like for people to post comments or keep in touch with what you are up to wherever you are :)

Overall the past few days I have been settling in, exploring Copenhagen, and trying to get on schedule in the different time zone.

The first day was very long, but not too bad as my two planes were on time and they fed me on both flights! It took about 15 hours total of travel time. Overall I was up from 5am on the 31st of July until 7pm on the 1st of August, with about 4 hours sleep and 9 hours taken away from the time difference. I was doing fine until the afternoon of the 2nd day when I started nodding of during dinner...

Klaus and Maureen, my uncle and aunt who live about 3 hours away from Copenhagen, picked me up from the airport in the morning. They had stayed with Klaus's parents, Ole and Anne Grethe, the night before as they have an apartment in downtown Copenhagen. They took me to Ole and Anne Grethes, fed me, and took care of some practical stuff before taking me to my apartment. My apartment is on Amager, which is a small island to the south of Copenhagen which the airport is also on. It is outside the city itself, but the city is only a 15 minute walk away, and shorter once I get a bike. There is also a metro (monorail train) nearby that I can use to get around the city and the rest of Denmark, as well as busses which I have not tried yet.

The apartment itself is very nice. I was very skeptical based on the outside of the building, but as Maureen said, many buildings don’t look so great from the outside but inside they are quite nice. This is definitely true of my apartment. It has a nice living room, bathroom, kitchen and two bedrooms. My roommate/landlord is writing her PHD at the university in psychology and has lived in the place for three years, but I am her first roommate here. She is from Albania but has lived in Denmark for 10 years now. She is very nice, not minding my inability to pay rent yet! She also speaks English very well.

I have been on many long walks around the city, which is actually very small when compared with something like downtown Seattle. I went on a bit of a tour with Ole who knows the city and its history very well which was quite helpful. We walked through all of the cities districts østerbro, nørrebro, and vesterbro, in about a five hour long walk. We also ate, for the second time, at Ole and Anne Grethes favorite Chinese restaurant--just one example of how expensive it can be in Denmark. The bill for the four of us (me Ole, Anne Grethe, and her assistant) was about $125 for lunch. The soup which they insisted I should order as an appetizer was around $8...

Today I went on about a 7 hour walk through Copenhagen taking pictures, enjoying the excellent weather of about 75 degrees and sun, and having a delicious Danish hotdog and ice cream for lunch. There were also a couple events around town such as a concert outside the art museum and a carnival-like event at the harbor on my island Amager.

I have been able to use my Danish a little bit so far, but not too much. I have had no problems using only Danish while going to the store, baker, or buying food. Asking for directions has also gone pretty well. Beyond that I spoke with my mentor and a little with my landlord and it went pretty well both times. My intensive course starts tomorrow so we will see how that goes.

Perhaps my most eventful day was yesterday when I went to attempt to go buy a bicycle... Like everything, bikes are pretty expensive here, so I wanted to get a used cheap one. After looking around the internet I decided that ones there were still not cheap enough (best I could find was $300), so I decided to try my luck at the police auction which I had heard from a few people might be a good option.

I was quite proud of myself for finding my way there across town, and didn't really know what to expect. There were probably 200 total people there for maybe 100 bikes or so. We were all crammed into a very small room where the sign clearly said maximum occupancy: 150, but that definitely wasn't followed. There were a lot of bikes in 5 different rows stacked two high. We were given a half hour to inspect them, but there were so many people and the bikes were packed so tight I had no idea whether they were actually good or not, so I just waited to check them out later.

I got the hang of the auction and tried bidding a few times as bikes that looked decent were being sold for around $100. It seemed the mountain bikes were going cheaper so I decided to go for one of those, one that preferably had tires full of air so I could ride it back. After about 1/2 hour or so I got one which I thought was decent. There were about 3 rows of bikes left, so I could have waited but I thought this was a decent deal for this bike (around $75).

While taking the bike out of the room I realized that it had a lock on the back spokes, so I could not walk it, but had to carry it. As soon as I got it out of the building there was a grungy looking man with a hack saw saying "4 dollars to take it off" referring to the lock. I looked at it, had no idea how to get it off without a key, and let him at it.

After I started walking it I realized that both tires were completely flat: great. I did not want to walk it back but had no choice, and the metro allows, and has plenty of room for you to take a bike on it. As I was walking it down the street the tires stopped rolling... I looked down and a rubber strap, the lining of the inside of the back wheel has completely come out of the wheel and has wrapped around the gears, getting stuck in them as I walked the bike along. 15 minutes later, sweating in the sun I am walking my bike again with the gears free and the lining completely gone wishing I had bought another bike.

After getting back to Amager and walking my bike to a shop (while jealously looking at every bicycle parked on the street and everyone that bikes by) I ask a repairman how bad it is. The first shop says it is too bad and it would be better to buy a new bike. The 2nd shop owner agrees, saying it could be repaired for around $120. I resign to the fact I made a horrible purchase and realize it would be better to buy a new one. The bike needed new tires, a new chain, and to have its breaks fixed... It is now parked out front for a little experiment I have of how long it will be there before someone takes it... Soon I will buy a used one from a shop to guarantee that it is actually a decent bike.

That’s it for now! I'm really excited for classes to start tomorrow. It has been nice getting to know the city but I haven't met any people yet so I am looking forward to that this coming week. Below is a slideshow of some pics.

Jeff