and an after-thought...

I forgot to mention that both my dad and Hamy visited me about three weeks ago and it was a blast! Ham had never been out of the country before so it was neat that his first international excursion was over here to Denmark to visit me. My friends really liked him and he liked them and I think we all had a great time. I actually got sick midway through his visit, so that sucked, but it was nice to have someone here to take care of me while I was fighting a virus :) And we got to hang out a lot in my room while I was sick. So I hope you had a good time, Hambone :)

oh and another after-thought...Spring weather is finally coming to Denmark! Yeah, I've actually been leaving my porch door open a lot 'cause it lets me hear the birds chirping at night, and on Wednesday I got out my sunglasses for the first time since I've been over here! And as of right now the sun is setting around 6:45/7 pm, which is far later than it was in January. Europe hasn't even had Daylight Savings Time yet, so after that, the sun will be out even later. I can't wait to come back to CPH in three weeks' time and see how much warmer it has gotten and how much lighter it will be. People say that by the time I leave in May, we'll have more hours of light than of darkness--the sun will be out until the middle of the night! wooo!

omgz lyke why haven't i updated?!

It has been far too long since I updated this thing. Not sure that anyone but Elise and Ed read this blog, but oh well, I figure it's good to record some thoughts anyway! Knowing me, I will read this blog in a couple years' time in order to reflect on my experiences in Denmark.
TRAVEL BREAK BEGINS TOMORROW, and as such, I want to write down my travel plans:
Mar 21: Leave for France. 17 hour bus ride (FML), but I can't wait to speak French!
Mar 22-23: Verdun (famous battlefield from WWI)
Mar 23-24: Reims (to see the cathedral where the French kings had their coronations and to sample champagne!)
Mar 24: Versailles, and then arrival in Paris!!! SO excited.
Mar 24-28: Paris. First few days are with DIS (my program), but the night of the 26, plus the 27 and the morning of the 28, will be on my own
Mar 28-31: LONDON. Holy shit. I've only wanted to go there since I read Harry Potter for the first time. I'm meeting up with Michelle and Emily and we're doing all sorts of cool stuff, including going to King's Cross (duh) and even to Tottenham Court Road (from "A Place to Hide" (chapter 9?) in Deathly Hallows)!
April 1-5: Edinfreakinburgh. Home of JK Rowling! Michelle and Emily and I are taking an overnight bus there (how sweet is that?) and staying in a hostel together there as well. I can't wait. Gotta go see JKR's handprints and the cafe where she wrote some of the books. Aside from that, it'll probs be lots of castles and shit, but I'm stoked.
April 5-8: Aix-en-Provence!!! Flying down there to visit Marquise at the Vandy-in-France program! So excited, especially because it will be WARM (I have not experienced temperatures higher than 45 degrees since I was in the States) and because I'll get to speak French again :) Plus I get to stay with Quise for free! Take that, Hostelworld! (On a side note, Hostelworld is actually a godsend.) Probably gonna see a couple of DIS friends there too!
April 8: Quise and I catch a bus to Nice! We'll arrive there around 6 pm and stay the night there in a hostel that was ranked the #1 hostel in France--shit son! I'm looking forward to it. I have been in Nice once before, for like six hours maybe, but it is a beautiful place and I am eager to return. Then Quise and I have to wake up at like 4 or 5 am so we can catch a flight to...
April 9-14: GREECE. (!!!) Quise and I are flying into Athens on the 9th and meeting up with JD, his girlfriend, and some of their friends--there will be seven of us Vandy kids chillin in Greece together! (Effing Greece, dude! WTF so excited!) We're going to the island of Naxos on the 10th and the hostel we're staying at basically looks like Meryl Streep's house in Mamma Mia. I cannot wait. And then my flight back to CPH leaves around 4:30 am on Tuesday the 14th and arrives in CPH at around 8:30, haha. Then I have class three hours later cause that's the day that classes officially resume. So I'll be tired, but elated.
(This is the part where you comment on my travel plans.)

Now to turn to CPH...
So much has been going on since February when I last posted. I really do feel like Copenhagen and Denmark have become home to me. A big part of that has been my friends. I absolutely adore everyone in my kollegium. Most of my social time is spent hanging out with Keops kids, which is strange because I initially felt like I didn't fit in well with them and I spent most of my time hanging out with other people I had met. But now nearly all of my time is spent with Keops people. There's a group of around 20 of us who are always hanging out, eating dinner together, and going out together; it's like a big family. But there's no drama, no caddiness, no bitchiness, just acceptance and friendship. So I love it. The cooking thing was pretty instrumental, I think, in bringing us together. We all broke into pairs and signed up for a night to cook (Lindsay and I made a casserole/fruit salad) and between the sharing of our GoogleDocs spreadsheet, which people wrote jokes on, and the gathering in the common room at 7 every night, I think we all got closer. The cooking thing has dropped off in the past week or so, mainly because of midterms, but I'm looking forward to resuming it when we get back. The kollegium bond reminds me of ASB in a strange way: you get really close with people in a short period of time because you're doing something outside your comfort zone together, but you're also aware the entire time that it's a fleeting part of your life. The nice thing is that this experience lasts four months as opposed to one week, yet it still makes me sad to realize that once I go home in May, I'll never be together with all of my friends again. I only hope that I'll retain some of the friendships I've made. It's weird to think about the fact that right now, here at my desk in my room in Copenhagen, all of my pictures are of my friends from ATL and Vandy, but when I move into my suite at school in August, my desk will have pictures of those friends PLUS pictures of my study abroad friends. Funny, ain't it?
So another comment: I've gone through weird phases where different things provide me comfort for a short amount of time. Let me explain. While I certainly feel happy here by this point, there are still times when I have to distract or occupy myself with various leisure activities that make me feel at home. You know, like routines I go through after school or when I come home from going out at night. So for a little while I was into the whole reading-a-book-at-the-cafe thing (Oscar Wao, Great Gatsby), then there was a period of a few days to a week where I always listened to 92.9 Dave FM on internet radio in my room (it's my favorite station at home and it was funny to me to hear the Atlanta traffic reports while I was watching the S-Train run through Copenhagen outside my window), and now I'm on a Family Guy kick. I never really watched Family Guy before--I'd seen probably two episodes in my life--but I stumbled upon familyguynow.com about a week ago and since then I've been watching one, two, or sometimes three episodes a day. It's become that thing I do when I want to relax, or what I do to wind down before bed, or what I do when I come home drunk (which I still somewhat am right now--or maybe I'm just sleepy at this point!).
Speaking of coming home drunk, you know what's silly? I think that when I remember my study abroad experience in the future, one of the weird things I will remember is the routine of going out at night, drinking somewhere, waiting for a while for the bus (cause their schedules are different at night and they don't run as frequently), getting on the bus and talking loudly/drunkenly with my friends while the Danes look at us like we're obnoxious Americans (sigh), going to 7-11 and buying junk food (usually a bottle of Cocio chocolate milk--my favorite--and oftentimes a Mars bar or some kind of pastry/hot dog), then walking home from the 7-11, coming up to my room, and getting on the computer and doing something stupid while I eat my food. And lately that something stupid has been watching Family Guy. But I find it so comforting! So I'm gonna go do that now.
Oh but first...JD and I were talking yesterday about how we go to cafes that all have weird names, and we could totally make a sentence (or facebook status) out of the cafe names. So, here goes: Yesterday I was feeling Kafunky so I went to get some Pussy's, but then I needed to go the Laundromat, and eventually I wound up in the Living Room. A-ha-ha. So funny. And yet it's true that Kafunky, Pussy Galore's Flying Circus, the Laundromat Cafe, and the Living Room are among my favorite places to hang out....

alright, for serious, I need to go watch some Family Guy and then go to bed. Gotta be well-rested before I jet off to France tomorrow! Eeeeek!

for you, ed

Edward Vincent McAssey IV has demanded a blog update from me. So here it is.

So much to write about! This past weekend I went on a short study tour with my European Culture & History class. We left at seven a.m. Thursday morning and got back around five p.m. on Saturday evening and it was...um...AWESOME. Let me just bullet point the itinerary:
Thursday:

• Drove to Western Denmark and visited an open prison in the morning. We met with the warden and with an inmate named Bjarne who gave us a tour of the place and explained the way that an open prison works. Basically all the prisoners there are free to roam the grounds, hang out in the church/cafe, go from room to room, get on their computers and facebook and skype (side note--Bjarne had a Logitech mouse, which I teased my dad about), cook dinner together every night (even using those huge bread knives--yeah), and do whatever they want as long as they ask for permission from the guards. They also get to go on visits every third week to other parts of the country so they can visit their loved ones! I thought it was a pretty revolutionary idea, although sort of neat. The warden was a nice lady; she asked us if an open prison would work in the States and most of us said no, although I think it might work for drug offenders. (Bjarne himself is in there for seven years cause he got busted for trying to smuggle thousands of pounds of cocaine or marijuana or something.) I have a lot of respect for the way the open prison works, but I wasn't too thrilled about the fact that four of the prisoners at this place were in there for manslaughter charges. I just don't think that's right. I'm glad the Danes don't believe in capital punishment because I don't either, but I also don't think that a man who killed another person should be allowed to go hang out in a cafe and leave for weekend visits. The warden said something though which shows she has a truly different perspective: she said she believes that everyone is playing the game of life, and that people who commit crimes shouldn't be removed from this game forever; she believes she is merely "taking them out of the game for a while" until they can re-enter the game. I don't know, what do you all think? Thoughts??
• That afternoon we drove to Jelling, where the first Danish kings lived. We learned about Gorm the Old, the first Danish king from the 9th century, which is pretty interesting cause Denmark has the oldest monarchy in the world. There is a poster I've seen all over the place here about how the current monarch, Queen Margarethe, is a descendant of Gorm the Old: Pretty neat, right? I might buy it at some point. We also learned about Gorm's son, Harald Bluetooth (the phones are named after him), who Christianized Denmark and insisted that his father be moved from his original burial mound into the church. Or something like that. Point is he wanted Denmark to accept Christianity, I think because he was under pressure from other, more powerful nations. Regardless, Jelling was WAY fun when we actually got to go outside and see the burial mounds and the church that Harald built. Jakob and Ditte, our professors/study tour leaders, led us up to the top of Gorm's burial mound, and Jakob pulled out a bottle of Gammel Dansk, traditional Danish liquer, and then passed around small plastic shot glasses to each person in my class. And then all 31 students, plus Jakob and Ditte, toasted to the memory of Gorm the Old and took shots altogether on the top of the famous burial mound in Jelling, Denmark. Jealous yet? (Here's a picture for you, Eddie; I know you'd google it anyway.)
• After Jelling, we got back on the bus and departed for Skanderborg, where we stayed for the night. It was this beautiful hostel/camping place in the middle of nowhere, but we all stayed in these adorable cabins that fit six people and...surprise...they had televisions! So my cabin of girls watched "Friends" before dinner, which was a nice treat. And then after dinner we got a tour of the underground bunkers from WWII. The Nazis stayed in there and used ENIGMA to send coded messages. We got to practice sending an ENIGMA message and we also got to see all of the artifacts and weapons and uniforms the Nazis and the Danes wore during the war. And thennn we all went into a room and Jakob provided crate upon crate upon crate of some Danish beer, which we all drank happily, and we also had the opportunity to go roast hot dogs at the bon fire, but I just stayed inside and my friend Trude and I talked to our professor, Ditte, about what it's like for her to raise children in Denmark and what she thinks about the immigration issue. Fun times. Slash I love run-on sentences. Pictures: 1) my cabin, 2) Skanderborg hostel/camp siteFriday:
• After breakfast, we drove to Ry Hojskole, which is one of the best known folkehojskoles in Denmark. The hojskole system is really interesting: its basic premise is that students should have some time between high school and university to figure out what it is they want to do with the rest of their lives. So young Danes will go stay at these hojskoles, which are mainly funded by the state, and will take classes and do outdoor activities and join the theater group or the chorus group or what have you, and they will essentially live as if they are in college except they won't receive grades. It's a kind of exploration period in their lives, a time in which they figure out not only what they want to study and what they want to do, but how they want to live and what will make them happy. I sat in on a journalism class and was able to talk to five Danish students, and we compared the American education system with the Danish one, noting how in the States you go straight to college from high school and if you don't, people think you must have some kind of problem. I told them that if I had taken a couple of years off before I'd gone to Vanderbilt, people would have wondered if I had a mental issue. They all thought that was hilarious and laughed a lot. But the radically different hojskole system certainly was good for making me think critically about American education: shouldn't we maybe take some time off before rushing to college and choosing our majors? I don't know. I feel lucky that I was able to choose my majors relatively easily. A lot of the American students on my program were very taken with the hojskole though. It certainly was beautiful and there was a general prevailing attitude that life is short and should be celebrated and felt out. We also got to sing some Danish songs, and at the end of the afternoon, the Danish students sang for us! Please see video.
  

• After that, we drove to Arhus and saw the modern art museum, Aros, which was pretty cool. I'm not really the museum type, but there were some neat exhibits. That giant crouching guy was pretty cool I guess....

• So then we did dinner and got on the bus and drove to our hostel in Kolding. That night was so much fun; Jakob and Ditte took a bunch of us into town, which involved going downhill from the mountain we were on, and showed us a small but fun bar where I hung out for about four hours. I had to go outside to use the bathroom and ended up having a funny conversation with a 27 year old Danish woman about the Danish word for plumbing, which I cannot remember but which definitely had the word "sucker" in it, and then I had her laughing when I started talking about Joe the Plumber. Good times. Got to hang out with all of the people on my trip though, which was good, and had an all-around great night!

• Saturday morning it was time for a scavenger hunt around Kolding in the pouring rain. Not so fun. Can't say I actually know what we saw, either, since I was too preoccupied with how wet my feet were and how numb my fingers were, haha. But we ended up at Koldinghus, the castle in Kolding, which was built to protect the city from Germany or Sweden or one of those menacing (Sweden? menacing?) countries. It burned down about a dozen times or something, yet it still stands today. We had lunch in the dungeon, which was strangely cozy. The food was delicious. But then what happened? ...Oh yeah, I got locked in the bathroom. Seriously. I'm not sure what happened, but I got stuck in there and someone had to go get a screw drive. Crisis averted :) Then we got back on the bus and drove home to Copenhagen.^Beautiful town of Kolding, as seen from the top of the castle.^Chillin' in the bathroom while I waited to be rescued. Truth be told I was kinda amused.

End of post! *Wipes forehead.* That was freaking long. Ed, you owe me a bottle of Gammel Dansk for this one.

Oh! P.S. I also went to Malmo, Sweden last Wednesday. It's only like 30 minutes away! Took a train there, simple as that. Spent the day shopping and--what else--eating. Bought Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in Swedish--it's got the neatest cover ever!
K seriously done.

Catholic Mass/Super Bowl

re: the title of this post: you didn't think those two can go together? :)

My friend Adam and I ventured out around 5:30 tonight in search of a Catholic mass. And luckily we found the church, and it's actually close to where I live! It's called Sakramentskirken, Church of the Sacraments, or maybe Sacraments Church? Who knows what we would call it in America. It's interesting though that "Kirken" means church because that means Soren Kierkegaard's name literally translates to graveyard (Church + Yard). Cool, eh?
Digression aside, the mass was really neat. Adam and I are pretty sure the priest was American, but most of the people who were there seemed to be Philipino or African. So that was cool, cause I was like, here I am in Denmark going to a mass with people from all over the world. During the Our Father every single person in the church joined hands and sang the prayer, and then during the Sign of Peace the priest and the altar girl walked up and down the pews and shook hands with everyone, so that was pretty neat. And most of the songs we sang were songs I knew, but it was really interesting to hear everyone sing them with accented English since I was surrounded mostly by Philipinos. But everyone was very enthusiastic about singing and so I really enjoyed myself :)

As for the Super Bowl tonight: all of us Keops kids (those of us who live in Keops Kollegium here in Norrebro, Denmark) are gathering in the common room to watch it together. We also put up signs in the elevators so that the Danes, the Australians, the Germans, etc., would know about our Super Bowl viewing party. The game doesn't start until midnight here, but should be fun, yeah? Especially if non-Americans show up (which I hope they do). I bought some Tuborg and Doritos (are you proud, Mom?) at the 7-11 to celebrate. Can't have the Super Bowl without chips (do I hear a snap, snap?).

Oh yeah, I'm totally psyched that it's February because I'm going to have special visitors this month! My dad is coming to Switzerland for work in mid-Feb so he's gonna try to come up to Copenhagen to see me. And then Hamy arrives on the last day of Feb! I'm planning lots of fun things for us to do, Ham. (How do you feel about clothes shopping? ha ha.)

Note to my wonderful friends: I really, really, really miss you all! Skype me if you haven't yet! Thank God for the internet, it's made staying in touch so much easier....And special note to Jennifer: HAPPY SIX MONTHS! Enjoy your time with Chris :)

Love to all!

"Bye!"

Another observation about Denmark: the doors work the opposite of the way they do in the States! You know how when you are going into a place you pull the door towards you? And upon leaving you push it out? Yeah, other way around here. When I want to go into a store or cafe, I push the doorknob in, and when I leave, I pull it towards me. Which is so confusing. Kinda like driving on the other side of the road, I guess. I've looked like an idiot so many times cause I will always pull when I'm supposed to push and vice versa. Haha oh well, guess I'll learn....

Anyway....
I went to Robert's Coffee after class today to finish reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which has been my fun book for like the past month, and the place was so crowded that I couldn't find anywhere to sit. Pretty much every single chair or couch was occupied or claimed by groups of people. So I was unsure of what to do cause I had just ordered a cup of coffee and obviously needed to sit down but I was walking around like a lost puppy. It's very uncomfortable to be in a social situation like that, you know, cause you're this American student--essentially a guest in another country--and you don't want to offend anyone or bother anyone and you don't want them to think of you as just another stupid American who says "Oh my God" all the time (slight digression: a Danish guy in the elevator told me that he thinks all Americans say this to no end). So finally I got up the nerve to ask a group of three Danes who were sitting by the window if I could sit down next to them cause there was some extra room on the couch. So they were like, Sure! And so I sat down with the three of them and we all read our books and whatnot and I tried to lose myself in Oscar and not feel awkward about the fact that I was a visiting American sitting amidst a group of Danish friends in a coffee shop. Truth be told I did feel intrusive the whole time, especially when they were speaking in Danish across me. But, here's what delighted me: I said no more than "Can I sit here?" to these people, but when they got up to leave, the Danish girl paused and said to me, "Bye!" and looked so genial and happy when she said it that I felt like we were friends in a strange way. I mean she literally paused and looked directly at me and waved and said goodbye. (You like me! You really like me!) So yes, that was my happy moment for the day: feeling included and welcome in a foreign country.

Oh, and I also finally bought a hair dryer. Now I won't have to get on the bus with wet hair in the morning. I think Danes find that strange. haha.

Wanna get hygge with me?

My favorite feature of the Danish lifestyle is a unique concept called "hygge," which is sort of pronounced like Hugh-Gee (Gee as in Gordon, not like "golly gee"). Because it's so cold here, and because it's always overcast and the sun is only up between 8:30 am and 4:30 pm, the Danes have this idea of retreating into a cozy atmosphere, lighting candles, sharing drinks and having conversation. That's hygge. Cause picture this: you're walking around outside, your ears are hurting from the cold, your toes are numb, and then you see a cafe or a coffee shop on the side of the street; and upon looking through the windows, you notice small groups or pairs sitting at tables with flickering candles on them, and these people are having coffee or beer and enjoying each other's company. Also: the lighting is usually dark. Sounds romantic, right? So of course you have this urge to go inside and sit down yourself so that you can take off your scarf, your gloves, and your coat and sit at a table surrounded by candles and chatter. Doesn't that sound cozy?! So yeah, that's hygge. The problem is that it's bad news for my wallet because every time I go in one of these places I always end up buying some kind of refreshment or food (more times than not I just get a chocolate croissant cause those things are amazingggg).
What amuses me most about hygge is the focus on candles. I kid you not: candles are everywhere. You want to go get your hair cut? There will be candles in the barber shop. Restaurants: check. Bars: check. Grocery stores: check. What's strangest (to me) is that the use of candles even extends outside of the shop! As in, when you're walking down the cobble stone streets (I know you're jealous right now), you will see a cafe with candles inside and a few candles outside. Like, right there on the street. Just sitting there by themselves in these huge candle holders. Enticing you to go in and spend more kroner on croissants (which I don't mind).
So yeah, anyway, because I'm trying to adopt When in Cope, do as the Copenhageners do as my mantra, I went out and bought some candles for my own room. Three small cinnamon-scented ones at this cheap place called Tiger. (Tiger reminds me of Walmart in the sense that it has a random assortment of inexpensive stuff--everything from food to kitchenware to books--but it's a lot, lot, lot smaller and is kind of just another typical Danish shop on the street corner.) Now everytime I come home in the afternoon or at night I get out my little silver lighter and light my three candles! It makes me feel so cozy.

Hej from Kobenhavn!

Hej! It has now been 11 days since I arrived in Denmark and I'm finally settling in. It was chaotic and confusing and emotionally straining at first, but now I've finally gotten used to daily life here and I'm starting to enjoy it. And I've noticed so much interesting stuff that I am finally caving and starting a blog. But I don't want it to be all "Yo dudes, here's what I did today," so instead I'm just going to write about whatever suits my fancy and not necessarily my daily life. Sound good?!
And now, for my first official post, I give you a litany of assorted things I have noticed so far about Copenhagen and Denmark:

• Dogs are everywhere. I was in a cafe the other day and this woman had her shih tzu in there (which made me miss Lily like crazy). I also saw a woman on the bus who had her dog in a basket next to her. She was petting it during the bus ride and I was surprised at how docile it was: it was just, like, chilling. And, of course, people walk their dogs everywhere. Yesterday I saw this reallyyy huge black dog with long, thin legs; it was so tall that its head was definitely level with the owner's torso.
• This is very cliche to write about (because everyone notices this) but biking is very, very popular. I think more people probably bike than drive. And this spans all demographics. I've seen old people and I've also seen children go cruising down the street. I mean, there's a bike lane and everything, and bikes have the right of way. They actually warn you to check for bikes when you're stepping off the bus so you don't get hit (it's kind of a fear of mine, haha). People will raise their left arm or their right arm to indicate when they're turning, and the first time I saw this I thought the biker was putting their hand out to give me a high five! Yeah, silly, I know, but it's hard to get used to the biking thing! Mainly cause in the States people just go "bike-riding" recreationally and not as an actual means of transportation.
• Because of the popularity of bikes, I have seen more bike shops here than I've ever seen in my life. Top three kinds of shops I notice when I ride the bus: Eating places, convenience/grocery stores, bike shops (not necessarily in that order). Oh, and there are a lot of hair places too. Not full-out salons, but tiny barber shops sprinkled every few blocks.
  
• Speaking of shops, there are tons of independent booksellers! I haven't seen any huge Waldenbooks, Borders, or B&N stores, but when I walk down the street I see tons of small book shops. Which just makes me so happy inside. I actually found the Danish versions of Harry Potter and definitely plan on buying at least book seven in Danish before I leave.
  
• All the toddlers I have seen are always dressed in those full-on one-piece snowsuits. They all look like they're going sledding. It's funny because everyone else just wears skinny jeans and some kind of fashionable coat and a scarf, but then their kids look like they're about to go tobbagganing.
• Apparently the Danes do not consume macaroni and cheese. Or at least, not the Kraft kind anyway. I have gone to the ends of the earth (read: to four grocery stores) looking for that beautiful blue box, but to no avail. I shall have to suffer without my Easymac and my Spongebob Fun Shapes dinners for the next four months.
• While I'm on the subject of food I'm eating (or not eating), my diet's been a little crazy. Most of my "meals" consist of pasta, pb&j, or frosted flakes if I'm eating at home. When I go out for lunch, I usually just eat chocolate croissants. Cause they're amazing. But I've also had a couple of pizzas and one deliciousss sandwich the other day. So my mom's all concerned because I'm not exactly eating a healthy or well-balanced diet. But here's my philosophy: it's only for sixteen weeks. I can eat random crap for sixteen weeks. And frankly, I loooove chocolate croissants and pastries and all of this "European food" and when will I ever have the chance to have a diet consisting of chocolate croissants again? So I'm just gonna go with it. Also, fear not, darling Mother: last night I had a big bowl of Thai food for dinner. It had vegetables and everything! So I'll eat the occasional normal meal, I guess.

Enough for now!

P.S. I just wanted to tell everyone that the template I chose for this blog is called "Harbor," which is very appropriate since Kobenhavn = Koben (merchant) + havn (harbor)! Yay for the Havn template!