Going to Amsterdam Tomorrow!

I didn't do much this week.

I have been watching the last season of Glee and new episodes of New Girl and The Mindy Project in my free time.

I got my first Immunology test back today.

You'll actually never guess what I got.

D-

Even the smartest kids in class got a B- and I don't like that class at all.

So I dropped it today.

Now I can focus on my other 4 classes (all of which I like) and have some more free time because I'm in Europe and I'm here to experience Europe.

And I definitely didn't deserve a D- even though it was a really hard test.

My teacher is pregnant so she has a replacement now and it's really hard when the replacement is teaching but we're still learning my old teacher's material. It's just a stupid class and a stupid situation and I'm super happy that I'm not going back to it.

This a cute study spot on a third floor deck right outside one of my classrooms.

On Wednesday, our Developmental Disorders class went to our teachers private psychologist practice right next to Osterport Station.

We had a guest speaker who worked at a juvenile detention center and he told us stories and about the system in Denmark and basically that putting a bunch of kids who have conduct disorders and autism and aggression in the same institution is a bad idea and it's hard to help them there.

After that, I did homework for hours in this study room at DIS.

On Monday, I saw an apartment for mom and grandma in Christianshavn and it was small but very nice and the neighborhood was beautiful.

I didn't go to volleyball at all this week. I was looking at the apartment on Monday and then I just felt tired on Wednesday so I took a nap instead. Maybe I'm lazy?

No. I'm just tired.

Tonight, I think Taylor and I are going thrift shopping because there are a few Red Cross boutiques around and I'm looking for an infinity scarf.

And then tomorrow at 11:45am my flight leaves for Amsterdam! 

I can't wait for my first pannekoeken.

Tivoli, Loppemarkeds, Christiania and Fishing

Friday

I went to Tivoli with Taylor and Josie for the last Friday concert of the year.

The bands were Veto and The Floor is Made of Lava and from the singing Danes it sounded like they were pretty popular bands.

I had ice cream with a flødeboller in it, and later I got a dark beer that Josie said tastes like ass after she tried it. She obviously doesn't know beer, lol.

Saturday

Taylor and I went to a flea market (loppemarked) with my buddy network.

But I got there 40 minutes early so I was just browsing around Nørrebro and I found this great market square with fudge and pastries and bread and chocolates and soaps and coffee and it was wonderful to look at and to smell.

I also saw what may have been where the botanical gardens are? I'm not sure. The building said Botanisk Laboratory.

This is what the Nørrebro neighborhood looks like.

We went to a tiny flea market and then to a big one on the sidewalk of a street. No one bought anything, but it was still fun. I think I need to hit up the Red Cross's thrift shop now, because there are at least three in the area and they look like Goodwill.

The buddy network coordinator, Jo (pronounced Yo), baked some bread/buns and brought cheese and fruit and a picnic blanket so we went to a big cemetery/park and had a cute little lunch.

That's Jo on the right and her good friend from Norway. They are super nice and funny and friendly.

We found Hans Christian Andersen's tombstone.

Then I took Taylor to the market square and we admired all the yummy things there and bought some fresh squeezed orange juice. These are Danish strawberries, small but tasty like the ones I had in Paris.

I asked Taylor to come with me to see an apartment that I was checking out for my mom and grandma for when they visit, and we were early so we stopped in an adorable cafe. It had antique lights and furniture and delicious chai tea.

Then we went to Christianshavn.

And then we visited Christiania. It was established by squatters so they haven't paid taxes in a very long time and I think now they have to. It's filled with street art and artists and cafes and smoke and marijuana. It's also on a river or lake or something and it's very overgrown and green and the houses are strange but cool. It's very interesting.

I was getting very tired so I went home for dinner. Bjarne and Linda had some friends over, so they cooked a three course meal. The starter was a bruschetta, then we had salad and potatoes and bacon-wrapped steak. The finale was a pandekage (Danish pancake, actually a crepe) flambé with vanilla bean ice cream and tons of fresh fruit. We had wine and I tried some old rum and some Polish mead. Simon left before dessert and Chloe and I stayed for hours. I got home around 8:30pm and I left the dinner table around 2am. It was pretty fun because they tried to speak to us in English and they were telling us stories and it was great and we were laughing the whole time.

Sunday

Today I went fishing with DIS people in Helsingør, a northeastern coast town where Kronborg castle is (where Hamlet is set).

This was our fishing boat.

It was very windy and it was drizzling on and off. I couldn't wear the gloves I brought because they would get wet and fishy so my hands were cold and my face was cold. I was proud of myself for going out there and fishing, though. How Danish am I?

This is the Hamlet castle.

Look, I'm a fisherman.

It took me forever to catch this fish.

By the time we left, I had caught 6 fish. I caught a mackerel and 5 herring. Some other girls who lived in a dorm didn't want to keep all their fish so they gave me some. It was really fun and I unhooked some of my fish and everything! But I did ask the guy next to me to unhook some of them... Haha. Some people caught a huge cod that was bigger than all my fish combined, and some people caught about 15 fish but I'm happy I only had to carry home about 10 because there are so many bones in the herring that I don't think my family really likes eating them.

This is my bag of fish that I took on the train and the bus home.

The back tire of my bike was flat this morning, so I went to check the bus times but I wasn't going to make it so I decided to bike to the train station anyway. It was super difficult and noisy and everyone who was out walking their dogs was staring at me like, "Why are you riding a bike with a flat tire?" Because I thought it would still be faster than walking but it was horrible, haha.

When I got back, I left my bike at the train station and took the bus home with my fish. Linda drove me back to the station and we picked up my bike and took it home and I think Bjarne fixed the wheel :) Then they grilled up my fish and made gnocchi and grilled veggies and we tried to pick all the bones out but it was pretty hard to eat. Tasty, though.

I did my part, though. I went out into the wild and the cold and I brought home dinner.

And now I am very tired.

A Beautiful Fall Day

If I'm the only one home/awake, Molly likes to cuddle in bed with me.

Yesterday I went to volleyball and the coach was sick so he didn't come.

Therefore, we just played a little, had some fun, then everyone left early and I was okay with that.

Today I woke up before my alarm went off, so I got to go back to sleep for a little bit!

It was cool out but it felt great biking, and the colors were really beautiful on my way to the train station.

When I got there, the sign at the train station said the train was coming in 6 minutes, and three minutes later, it said it was coming in 3 minutes. Then it stayed at 3 minutes for 15 minutes, then the sign said "Pas på" which google translate tells me means "Look out" and then a train went by without stopping. A little while later the sign said 3 minutes, and in 3 minutes the train came and stopped. Luckily I got an early start on the day and was at the train station early so I got to class on time anyway.

After class, I made copies of my residence letter and passport and went home. I had coffee with Bjarne who just woke up from his nap (because he works from 3am to 11am or so, and then naps until 3pm) and then Chloe, Bjarne, and I biked to Albertslund Center (by the train station) and were going to apply for our CPR numbers. 

The shopping area

Bjarne took us to the library because that's where he said the people that did CPR stuff were because the city is messed up and so we were there instead of the city hall. Anyway, the librarians didn't know what was going on so we called someone and she said we needed to make an appointment so we were on the phone for a while and now we can't apply until next Thursday even though DIS said we needed to do it within 5 days of receiving our letters.

The library

SO...

That was kind of a mess. I hope it all works out. They also want a proof of entry or something but we didn't get our passports stamped when we entered the country so we don't know what they want, and Bjarne doesn't know either.

Just outside the library

Down there is the city hall, close to the library

Then Chloe went to a study session in Copenhagen and Bjarne and I went shopping.

They buy special Chinese green tea from the Turkish market stall, and we also got some snacks. The Turkish place is cheaper for a lot of things because Bjarne says they probably don't pay the same tax/it might be black market stuff.

Then, I mentioned we were out of sandwich meat, so should we buy some? And Bjarne said, no, not at the Turkish mart. So we went to the butchers and got some yummy looking deli meats for my lunches! YAY!

We had beef burgers tonight, and I knew as I was walking down the stairs for dinner that it was going to be something delicious because it smelled amazing.

They had toppings all set out and we each had two burgers, and they toasted the buns and had lettuce, avocado, tomatoes, fried onions, red peppers, thousand-island burger sauce, ketchup, mustard, and WOW it was good and it tasted like home.

The Danes supposedly eat burgers with a knife and fork (the way they eat everything) and that's the way my host family eats pizza, but as I was preparing to cut up my burger to fit in, I notice they all had two hands on their burgers and we eating like Americans. So I ate like that too. I asked them why they don't eat burgers like Danes and they didn't seem to know that Danes ate burgers with knife and fork. But my Danish instructor said that's what we'd see if we went to a burger place.

My family is special :)

This weekend is the last weekend of Tivoli, so I'll probably try to go at least once. Haha. I haven't ridden any rides yet...

My House (or rather, my host family's house)

Here are some more pictures of the house I live in, because my mom would like to be able to picture where I'm living :)

The kitchen

The skinny fridge

The freezer

The half-bath on the main floor

The dining/living room (kitchen to the left and back)

The entry way (half-bath on the left, dining room behind me)

The stairs to the second floor (across from the half-bath)

The full-bath upstairs

View of the three bedrooms upstairs from the bathroom (stairs to the main floor to the right)

So that's my house!

Last night at volleyball, I experienced another episode of the Danish lack of political correctness. A couple times, the coach said something like, "You'd only need water right now if you're fat," and "don't run after the ball like a retard," only he used 'fat' and 'retard' more than once. It was pretty offensive, and I DID drink water when he implied we were all fat, lol. They were jokes, I'm pretty sure, but they just aren't tasteful in the American sense.

Volleyball is kind of intense, like in between club volleyball at Macalester and varsity volleyball. It was fun, though. My arm is sore.

The bad thing about volleyball on Monday is that it's from 8pm to 10pm, so I get home around 11:30pm and then I'm in bed arount 12:30am and I need to wake up by 6:30am. 

So that's what happened this morning, I had fewer than 6 hours of sleep and I barely made it through my morning classes. Then I stayed at DIS and did some homework and internet surfing for 4 hours til my 3:30pm class. By 3:00pm I decided I needed some coffee. So, I went to my new favorite coffee place, mostly because it has the most reasonable prices in the city.

It's called Please.

Students get 10% off, and the first coffee I got was 5kr so like $0.90 and that was a regular latte. Today I went big, and I got a large mocha, which totaled 27kr so about $4.84 which is pretty similar to American coffee shops. From 10-12, coffee is 15kr so $2.69 which is pretty reasonable. 

Anyway, it helped me stay awake during the second emergency medicine lecture. 

On the train ride home, it started raining but it stopped before my stop and there was a rainbow! 

But then it started downpouring as I was about halfway home.

I got my residence letter and residence permit/card at DIS, so now I need to register with the Albertslund Kommune to get my CPR number (like a social security number, so I can get medical care and stuff). 

Things I miss/ed in Minnesota:

1. the state fair
2. the renaissance festival
3. the apple orchard
4. pumpkin/apple treats
5. baking treats
6. the weather and the colors!

But I love being here while I am because January and February are apparently the worst months in Denmark. And I also love being in Europe! Some exciting travels coming up:

1. Amsterdam, Netherlands - 28 September through 2 October
2. Budapest, Hungary and Vienna, Austria - 20 through 25 October
3. Barcelona, Spain - 14 through 17 November

And possibly:

1. Prague, Czech Republic - the weekend after Budapest and Vienna
2. Malmo, Sweden - a day trip one weekend

And of course, tons more to do in Copenhagen and the greater Copenhagen area. There are still many things I'd like to do, such as see more castles, tour a canal by boat, visit Christiania and climb some towers.

We shall see.

Biking with Bjarne

Sunday

I woke up around 9, did some Danish, then slept til 11.

I went down to eat breakfast and planned to stay in today, but because neither Chloe nor I had any plans for today, Bjarne offered to take us on a bike ride.

We went south instead of north (where the horses are). It was kind of chilly, definitely sweatshirt weather, but it was really nice biking. And I did pretty good even though I'm still sick.

It looks a lot like fall now!

There were canals in the little downtown area. It's on the other side of the tunnel next to the train station, so I'd never seen it before. 

There were stores and apartments and it was really cute and the canals make it seem like Venice or something. Very cool.

Once you get out of that strip, there is a lot of rural area. 
This is the end of the path and the end of the canals so there's a swamp/lake.

Lots of sheep.

And horses.

Bjarne was going to buy us ice cream at this cafe near the edge of the rural area, but it was closed.

Then we biked through a field. It was very difficult. My bike does not do well off-road. It's pretty slow and heavy on-road, too.

Bjarne took us to a little farm that's run by the municipality, so it's free because it's paid for by taxes. It's for everyone, but I think kids really like to go there and teachers take them for school and field trips.

They have a greenhouse and a community garden for people who want to garden but don't have space, etc.

Goats. I like the one that's just standing on the hay. He's hogging all the food.

Chicken coop!

There were millions of bunnies on this farm. Some were in cages and some were free roaming in rabbit holes and kids can pick them up and play with them and they are super soft and adorable.

Free-roaming chicken with some chicks. They came out of nowhere.

Geese. Bjarne said they can eat these kind.

Whoever lives there owns two Irish wolfhounds. They were friendly :)

The farmhouse was very cute.

But the farm cat was cuter. It was my first time petting a cat here.

Horses, of courses.

And it was the first time I saw a pig, even though there are 5 times as many pigs as people in Denmark.

Then Bjarne took us to Albertslund Stadion which is like their sports center. There was a pool, gyms, courts, fields, and overall it was a LOT of land.

This was the cafe inside. It was recently renovated because they used to sell just fries and burgers and stuff and they needed to be healthier so they made the seating more attractive and started selling fruit and nuts and juice and stuff.

We we going to where Linda's horses are, but first we stopped at the viking village replica.

There was a pig there, too!

Molly really wanted to play with the pig. Or try to eat it. I don't know what she wanted but she was very hyper.

Linda had already gone home so we didn't went home. There are tons of cute houses on the way from the woods to where we live.

Tonight, we had pizza for dinner. Bjarne made the dough/crust and we put sauce and cheese and toppings on. I had pepperoni, onions, red peppers, and tomatoes. It was super fun!

I think we're going to have pizza every other Sunday, now :)

We were biking for almost 3 hours, so I was a bit tired at the end. I ate almost a whole pizza, but we all made a whole pizza and most people ate a whole one. Chloe had one piece with potatoes on it and one piece with red peppers on it, but the rest was just sauce and cheese and she ate the whole thing pretty quickly, haha.