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March 8th, 2006

03:00 pm - Update Pending--Goodbyes Waiting for Maria Cleomenis's magic car held almost all of Maria's stuff--plus the two of them and a dog Cue the waterworks Goodbye Fakta bag Now it's Hassaan's turn Laughing in the outside, crying on the inside One last group pic Last night at studenterhuset Alex is photo-happy and Kasia is photogenic Kasia's got mad skills on the dance floor We take a photo on the bus ride home... ...and a stranger offers to take a second one My first and last time to the Jazzhouse It's too dark for pictures, but we try anyway I may be laughing in this pic, but Kasia and Alex were the ones chuckling after I fell victim to a series of old-man advances My last night in Copengahen, we plan to go to Emma, a ritzy, exclusive-type club Here we go on the metro Sina looks cool in this shot Here we are on the S-train heading to Vega after being turned away at Emma Here are two of the guilty young 'uns! I brought a couple of monkeys to the airport with me, but they wouldn't let me take them on the plane

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December 4th, 2005

11:56 pm - Birthday I wasn't really worried about my first birthday away from home and it ended up being a great day. The day started with brunch at Cafe Klimt (can't get enough Klimt!), followed by skating, some Christmas-turned-food shopping, and an evening of cheese, bread and, of course, wine. Another great day with great people. First was Cafe Klimt. I love this place. Their Vegetarbrunch is super, but possibly not as super as their Superbrunch or even their Gigabrunch. Personally, I always stick with the Vegetarbrunch. If you came to visit me in Copenhagen, chances are good that I took you to Klimt. Alex and Giovanna at Cafe Klimt Me and Kasia at Klimt This time of year the city creates several skating rinks in places where there were no skating rinks before. One of these place is Kongens Nytorv, a plaza in a ritzier part of the city centre. That's where we are in these pictures. Cami had never ice skated before, but she picked it up like a pro. We had been waiting since summer to get to ice skate here and were not disappointed. I was only disappointed in Alex who, jealous of my superior skating skills, resorted to childish flinging of snowballs. Ammateur. Alex skating like a girl Alex and me Alex, Ceci, and Cami putting on ill-fitting, rented skates Me, Ceci, and Cami making fools of ourselves Only slightly less foolish this time Alex, Cami, and Ceci train (Action shots required me to skate backwards without looking where I was going. Luckily, no one was injured in the capturing of this picture) More skating Lounging/skating Can you find Ceci and Cami? Hotel d'Angleterre (I'm not sure why they're so into Christmas at this hotel, but it makes the skating rink look pretty at night) After some shopping (translate: buying food at expensive department store), we went back to Spaniensgade and ate all of our purchases. I drank enough wine to make a little tin foil birthday hat sound like a good idea. It was a good night. Kasia and Alex: Too cute! (No, honestly, this picture makes me go into diabetic shock) Alex enjoying tasty apple crumble Chang Wei and Yeni tasting cheeses Me and Maria Alex with background me Ceci, Cami, Mila, and Hassaan Cami and Alex Kasia and Hassaan getting funky Me in birthday hat with scepter, Ceci, Maria, Kasia, Sina, and Lise Me in birthday hat Tamanna and me Hassaan is Elvis Happy Ceci Teetotalers party too Me and Ceci Alex and Ceci with background Ro Juan and Ro Thanks guys!

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November 27th, 2005

02:07 pm - Tivoli and Turkeyless Thanksgiving I went back to Tivoli and this time, I did it for real. Giovanna, Hassaan, Alex, Kasia and I bought multipasses and went on all the rides, even the stupid ones like the one with cars shaped like viking ships that sail in a circle while simulated canons and thunder rumble through the speakers, or the one with the plastic "log" boats that sailed us through the magical underground world of the voles, or the haunted house that is inexplicably inhabited by a cross between the Norse god Odin and Gollum. Tivoli is the incarnation of pure, childish goodness, a bit of a Hans Christian Andersen story that has yet to be corrupted by Disney cheese (one of the ones where no one has their head chopped off, even). Blah, blah, blah...we had fun. Swings at Tivoli Alex, Kasia, and Waffles Enchanted vole water ride (Hassaan loved it) Alex, me, Hassaan, and Kasia on world's oldest roller coaster Pure joy Giovanna Hassaan, Kasia, Alex and me near the swings Tivoli palace (restaurant Nimb) Jazz hands resurface Despite what my father may think, it is in fact possible to have Thanksgiving without the turkey. It's very easy actually. It's doing Thanksgiving in Denmark that's challenging. Luckily, the American grocery store carries yams, canned pumpkin, and cranberry jelly this time of year, but I discovered that those little bread cubes for stuffing (incredibly simple to make, but you'd be surprised how many recipes give measurements for this stuff in terms of 14-oz. bags) and evaporated milk do not exist in Denmark ("Milk in a can? You want milk in a CAN?"). Despite these minor hurdles, the food came out tasting like it was meant to and many people who had never tried American food apart from McDonald's or KFC were able to try some genuine down-home cooking (not that American cuisine is going to change anyone's life, but we're really not putting our best foot forward with McDonald's). Alex mashed potatoes, Lise made glögg, and we all had many a helping of pumpkin pie with cream. Mmm...pie. It was an excellent Thanksgiving in the company of excellent people. My food is not very photogenic (in case you can't tell, that's stuffing, green beans, candied yams, rolls, mashed potatoes, and mushroom gravy) Hassaan, Shi Suo, and Teresa Kasia's candle insanity, part one: creation Kasia's candle insanity, part two: art Lise, Mila, Ceci, Hassaan, Shi Suo, and Teresa Cute Alex Cleaning up Um...me

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November 21st, 2005

12:40 pm - Aarhus...of Insanity! Whoa, I don't know if any of you have been to Aarhus but, man, that is one CRAZY city! Just look at all of the insane things we saw there. After a couple of days there, we went a bit mad ourselves... Pretty crazy cathedral, eh? And this shadow is totally nutz! Kasia still appears normal in this photo, but the signs are already showing in Alex...she's turned into Claire Forlani! Alex and Kasia in Den Gamle By warming up for... ...Jazz Hands insanity! Possible cause of temporary insanity: Glogg and aebleskiver Everyone knows that cats are insane And these ducks are totally off their rockers! Don't they know that it's time to fly south when you can STAND on the pond?! Kasia and Alex feigning sanity, but once again it's time for... Jazz Hands!... ...feats of impossible skill and bravery... ...and, of course, poking sleeping friends with beer bottles. Pure insanity. I also went to the ballet last Wednesday, an experience which was only slightly less insane than Aarhus: The interior was maddeningly glittery... ...and this was meant to be a nice picture of us dressed up for the ballet. We can't take us anywhere.

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November 14th, 2005

01:55 pm - Why Copenhagen is Better Than Paris The answer to that question is very complicated but, as Lauren and Ian discovered this weekend, can basically be summarized by the fact that I am in Copenhagen and not Paris. Ok, maybe Lauren and Ian wouldn't use those exact words to describe why Copenhagen is so fabulous, but this is my weblog and you are all at my mercy. Bha ha ha. Yes, sister Lauren and her boyfriend Ian flew in this weekend after their trip to Paris and we had a great time. Here are some of the highlights: Lauren and Ian in Christiania Lauren and me in Christiania Rosenborg Slotshave Lauren and Ian at Nyhavn 17 cafe Church at Kastellet Stroget decorated for Christmas Tivoli... ...is... ...magic Proud Ian in bib

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November 8th, 2005

08:40 pm - Things to Do in Denmark When You're Dead Not that I would know from experience. There are things to do here, though. I have even experienced a couple of them first hand. See (the pictures that follow were taken at a nature reserve at the Vestamager metro stop. Alex and I found one thing especially stunning about this place: the size of the cow pies. Big as sea turtles, some of them. No joke. So yeah, there were many interesting natural things at the nature reserve. Indeed): Bird-watching hut Alex watching birds View from hut View from hill + me Weird sculpture Cow Alex, Kasia and I visited Dragor, a small fishing village on the southern edge of Amager (the island on which I live), last week. It was a cute little vacation town with some quaint shops and a pretty harbor. Not a lot going on there in November, though. Kasia and Alex contemplating the sea Neat house with a thatched roof Me and Kasia by the main street

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October 29th, 2005

07:04 pm - New Rooms It has occurred to me that the photos of my dorm are woefully outdated. Two days ago, we finally received new couches and a coffee table to make a new living room to replace the one destroyed in the fire. The addition of couches has already made a huge difference in where we spend our time and how much time we spend together. Having a comfy place to gravitate to is very nice. :) After a test run last night, we have established that the room is also great for cocktail parties. The living room is next to the industrial kitchen that we will be calling our own for the remainder of our time here. Both rooms are part of the fourth floor penthouse suite that was finally officially closed off to all building residents, excluding fire victims, this week. I also took some photos of my room, the appearance of which has been greatly altered since my arrival. Living room (note the sunny weather!) Cocktail party! (with me making faces) Kasia, Cami, Lorenzo, and Ceci Giovanna, Eve, and Alex Me and Ceci Eve in our crazy kitchen Eve in kitchen again Various unidentified industrial cooking instruments My bed My room

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October 25th, 2005

03:58 pm - Business As Usual We now return to our regularly scheduled programming. Many, many things have happened since The Fire and I apologize for not recording them in a more timely manner. Fear not, however, for events such as Dad and Alice's visit, Lise's birthday, Ethan's visit, Kulturnatten, my trip to London with Mom, and my trip to Finland to visit Mikko have not been lost or skipped over. The evidence of these events is all safely stored in the deep recesses of my memory and, more importantly, in my camera. I will now attempt to document these events in proper chronological order. Dad and Alice's Visit (15.9.05 - 20.9.05) Dad and Alice were my first visitors here and it was fun to impress them with my new city-savvy style--er, something like that. We spent two days and one night traveling outside of Copenhagen and had great weather for our drive along the "Danish Riviera" and for our visits to the Louisiania museum, Kronborg castle (the Hamlet castle), Fredensborg palace, Frederiksborg castle, and the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde. Dad and Alice were also with us for our last meal in our former kitchen, making them the only members of my friends or family to see the old kitchen. One of my best nights here in Copenhagen was when Dad and Alice took everyone from Spaniensgade, third floor, Lyonsgade side out to dinner the night after the fire. (If you're reading this, Dad, thank you again for that). I feel very lucky to have had family here right after the fire. Alice and me outside the Louisiana Museum Dad and me outside the Louisiana Kronborg castle with decorative Alice Alice and me in Kronborg catacombs Frederiksborg castle Outside Basta Pasta Lise's 20th Birthday (28.9.05) As the first big dinner party after the fire, Lise's birthday marked the beginning of the return to normalcy. The new kitchen still lacked proper lighting, but with the addition of some candles the table actually came out looking quite nice. Coordination provided by Mila ensured that everyone had something to contribute and we had an abundance of good food and nice things to drink. A good time was had by all. Maria, Lise's mentor Maria, and Lise Giovanna, Tamanna, and Cecilia Tamanna, Maria, and Mila Eve and Camila Just about everyone Ethan's Visit (5.10.05 - 9.10.05) Heh. Note the date there--it says the 5th. If only I had been so perceptive. After a bit of a rocky start (that is, once I realized, after jabbering all day on the 3rd about how excited I was that Ethan would arrive the next day, that Ethan was actually coming on the FIFTH) Ethan and I had a lovely, but short, visit. It is harder to be away from him now that he's been here. I don't really feel like talking about it, actually, so on to pictures. Ethan protesting early morning picture-taking Ethan and me at the Round Tower Ethan in his Denmark jersey Ethan and me in a cafe that is NOT Pussy Galore's Flying Circus Hassaan, Philippe, me, Ethan, Lise, Cecilia, and Tamanna in said cafe Kulturnatten (14.10.05) This was cool. For such a big city, it has often puzzled me that everything in Copenhagen closes at 6 pm. Well, on kulturnatten all that closing before the sun has gone down business is forgotten. On this night, museums, shops, cultural landmarks, and all forms of public transportation open up their doors to anyone with a little kulturnatten badge (cost: 70 kr). Running around the city seeing special exhibits, touring the old debtors prison for students below my university, looking at the moon through a telescope on top of the Round Tower, and having cakes and coffee in a bank at midnight were all unique experiences. It felt like Halloween except that when you knocked on a door you got culture instead of candy. Sweet. Thorvaldsen's Museum Inside Thorvaldsen's with Hassaan Telescope in Round Tower with moon Student grafitti from 1685 in debtors prisons London (15.10.05 - 20.10.05) Mom and I were so busy seeing so much of London that the trip flew by and left me standing in the hotel room on the day we left waving my guidebook and shouting "But I'm not finished yet!" A slight exaggeration but honestly, I don't think two people could have done more in London in less than a week. We took all of the classic pictures in all of the classic locations which, of course, I will post for you to be jealous of. I especially enjoyed hearing tours at the Globe Theater and the National Gallery and seeing The Producers. This was the first time I had taken a really active role in planning a trip and it was, for some strange reason, absolutely thrilling for me. As with Ethan, seeing my mom made it that much harder to say goodbye again. Mom in front of Tower Bridge Mom and me on Westminster Bridge Mom in front of Big Ben and Parliament Mom in front of Buckingham Palace The Globe Me on a bridge in St. James Park Me in front of Westminster Abbey Tampere, Finland (21.10.05 - 23.10.05) I was able to sample a couple of unique aspects of Finnish culture on my whirlwind tour of Tampere. For one, I had my first experience with naked sauna. The sauna we went to was one of the oldest in Finland (I think) and felt very classic. The girls I went with (two of Mikko's friends) said that this was not your typical sauna--less wood, less lighting, less running water--but I didn't know the difference and thought it was very nice. And the naked aspect of it seemed surprisingly normal. The whole weekend was really nice and I had a great time hanging out with Mikko and his friends. Mikko Simo, Elina, Niina, and me after sauna Elina, Niina, Mikko, and me after sauna Downtown Tampere

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September 19th, 2005

12:11 pm - Fire There was a fire in the kitchen of Spaniensgade last night. No one was hurt, but our kitchen is a mess and has been boarded up. We think it started as the result of an electrical malfunction with one of the fridges, but the official cause has not yet been determined by the police; when we looked into the kitchen after the firemen let us back into the building last night, we could see that one of the fridges had been very badly burned and pushed into the center of the room by firemen. The cabinets are all black, things have fallen from the ceiling, and the countertops have peeled off in places. We couldn't see any farther than just inside the kitchen door last night and now they've boarded up the door, so we don't really know the extent of the damage to the rest of the kitchen and the common room. They will be setting up a temporary kitchen downstairs for us to use during the estimated month that the kitchen will be being fixed. Given that the building will be torn down at the beginning of next year, though, there is much speculation concerning whether or not the repairs will actually be made. This is how events played out to the best of my knowledge. Giovanna discovered the fire at about 3:00 am. She got up to use the bathroom and heard people doing their laundry and making noise. She went back to her room, but she heard the people making noise again and went out into the hall where she saw the smoke pouring out from under the kitchen door. She woke up Cecilia and the two of them pounded on everyone's door and shouted until we were all up. This was our "fire alert system" since there were no smoke detectors on our hall. Alex tried setting off the fire alarms, but most of the alarms didn't work. Mila finally found one that worked and the alarm stayed on. I woke up when I heard Cecilia shouting and I put on some shoes and grabbed my robe, forgetting about important things like my passport and my keys. I could see the smoke filling up the opposite end of the corridor. We all went downstairs and someone called the fire department. Some of us went around and woke all the people in the building up. We went outside and waited for the fire department. The firemen showed up pretty quickly and went inside, but they weren't very friendly. They gave an announcement in Danish and refused to repeat it in English, saying that the Danes among us could just translate. What Danes? We're all international students. The announcement ended up being about a bus, which they brought for us to sit in because it was cold. I think they let us back into the building after only an hour or so. It was, and still is, very smoky and possibly unsafe on our hall. I was very surprised that they let us sleep there last night, but I guess there was no other option unless they wanted to put us up in a hotel. We were very angry today. There should have been smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, and functioning fire alarms on our floor. Someone should have checked up on the fridges which have been leaking and malfunctioning for some time and which we have repeatedly asked to have checked. Some of the girls spoke to housing, the international office, and the inspector of the building today about what happened. The international office (maybe it was the housing office) said the building passed some sort of fire inspection but that because it was built in the 60s, it only has to meet the standards that were in place in the 60s or something. They said they would never put us in a building that they knew to be unsafe, but unless they've never been to Spaniensgade, they must have had their doubts as to the general integrity of the building. They've promised to make the place safer and so far have installed some smoke detectors. The inspector from the fire department who was here today said that we were lucky that the firedoor between the kitchen and the hallway was closed. This kept the fire from spreading down the hall. I say that we were lucky that Giovanna happened to be awake at 3 am. A small camera crew from a local TV station was here today and talked to Giovanna and me. They said they'd been to Spaniensgade many times before reporting on unsafe conditions. If this kind of thing has repeatedly been in the news, why did the international office think the building was just fine? Giovanna took some photos of the kitchen before it was boarded up. I'll end with these and write another update soon. I'm so thankful that everyone is alright.

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September 10th, 2005

02:41 pm - Complaints I would like to take a moment to address some of the numerous complaints I have been receiving lately, specifically those complaints which center on the length of time it has been taking me to post new entries. I would like to remind the complainers that it takes a lot of time to craft an entry of the caliber you have witnessed thus far. The process of arranging interesting things to do, taking photographs of those things, downloading those photographs onto the computer, uploading the photographs onto the web with a miserably slow Internet connection, posting the photos in a journal entry and composing text to complement the photos is not a simple or a speedy one. In fact, the entire process can take days. DAYS. And I am very busy. So no more complaining. And now I'm going to post some boring pictures of where I work and where I go to school. Remember, no complaining. I started my internship at the Danish Institute for Human Rights last week and I've really been enjoying it. I'll be doing coding and research for them for the remaining time that I'm in Denmark. The office is located Christianshavn right next to a pretty canal that I can see from my window. And I have a desk! See. Desk. :D I can see the canal from my window... ...and on the bike ride to work. So that's where I work. This is where I go to school. Like Spaniensgade, it also used to be a hospital. It's a couple of steps up from Spaniensgade, though. Camila and Lorenzo outside of University. University courtyard. Now on to things that may interest people other than my parents. :) Mid-weekend report: On Thursday night we tried to go to Nexus, the CBS student bar, but after waiting in line for an hour or so we gave up and went to the Australien Bar. This is a pretty big bar with lots of pool tables, some fussball, two bars, and a dance floor. The only thing "Australien" about it really is that all the staff dress like lifeguards. Even though there are Fosters' posters on the walls, the only beers on tap are, you guessed it, Carlsberg and Tuborg. Silly Danes and their crappy, crappy beer. Teresa got a little out of control. She's been in Denmark for a month and already she's drinking and smoking like a local. Bad Teresa. Friday night we had a little celebration for Jacques' birthday. I don't think we could have fit another person into the kitchen. We used every dish in the place and we had sooo much good food. Because almost everyone on the hall was there, I'm going to take some time and name them all. F: Maria, Giovanna, Lise, Sina, Christian B: Teresa, Juan, Camila, Alex, Cecilia, Tamanna, Me, Hassaan, Mila, Jacques, Eve, Degan Clockwise: Teresa, Camila, Alex, Tamanna, Hassaan, Mila, Jacques, Eve, Lise, Giovanna, Cecilia Clockwise: Maria, Cecilia, Juan, Teresa, Camila, Alex, Giovanna Clockwise: Lise, Tamanna, Hassaan, Mila, Jacques, Eve, Degan That's it for now. More when I feel like it. :p

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