Studying Ablog

Saying Goodbye

2007-12-17T11:19:00.000-08:00

This past week has been an absolute blur of hours of studying, goodbyes to friends and attempts to cram in some last minute sight-seeing.

On the contrary, last weekend was relaxing. I hung out at home on Friday, and then on Saturday, after successfully making gingerbread cookies, I had a bunch of friends from SLU over for dinner. My host family was at a birthday party, so we had the house to ourselves. I cooked frikadeller for the first time (YAY) and we made pasta and salad. For dessert we ate and decorated some Christmas cookies! It was so nice to have a little Christmas party, something I always do at SLU, in a Danish context. Not only did we eat Danish food, but we also enjoyed good company in a very hygge-fied environment.

On Sunday of last weekend, my host parents had their annual Christmas party in their carport! It was really nice to meet some more of the neighbors while we enjoyed various treats including æbleskiver (a cake-like donut that is eaten with jam and sugar) and 7 liters of homemade gløgg (warm, spiced wine). One of the neighbors is a visiting family to a DIS student, meaning they sponsor a student living in a Kollegium. Emily, their student from Vancouver, was really nice and it was great to have someone to chat with at the party and they invited me for a traditional Danish Christmas dinner afterwards. (I have now officially lost count of how many Christmas dinners I have had, and although they are amazing, I feel like if I eat another one or especially anymore potatoes, I’m going to turn into one!)

This past week, I attended my last classes at DIS on Monday and Tuesday. I had no finals until this week, a blessing and curse, so I spent last week trying to get some studying in, organizing to start packing, and visiting some last minute sites. Grandma's birthday, 79!, was on Tuesday, so I had ANOTHER amazing dinner at their house. Like me, Grandma loves sweets so I brought her a bunch of the Christmas cookies I had made. I was so surprised though, because at her dinner, she and grandpa gave me a gorgeous necklace! I was shocked and honored as well, it was so nice of them especially after all that they have done for me! Now I wish I had gotten them something a little nicer for Christmas...

On Thursday, some friends and I decided to visit the Carlsberg factory. While I am not the biggest fan of beer, Carlsberg has such a huge presence in Denmark that I would feel that I missed out if I didn't go. While we arrived a little late and had to rush through the exhibits in order to make it to the bar for our free drinks (2 free beers or sodas!) before it closed, it was still really interesting to walk through the old factory and learn a little bit about how Carlsberg has evolved and how beer is made.

On Friday, my host family made me a traditional Danish lunch, of open faced sandwiches with…various toppings. We had one with curried herring, smoked herring, salmon, and eel. Yes, eel. It was actually quite good although watching it be cleaned was disgusting. We topped the whole thing off with some snaps.
This past weekend was another attempt at cramming as much studying in as possible, while also doing things with my family. On Saturday, which turned out to be sunny (YAY, I was worried I wouldn’t see the sun before I left Denmark) I said goodbye to my rollerksiing group in the morning and met Inger and Bent for lunch at Sophienholm, a cute restaurant on the lake.
After visiting a local bakery, St. Peders, as I think I am the only DIS student to have never been there, I had my first two exams today. Not only am I exhausted but my hand physically hurts from all the writing! I can’t believe I only have two more days here. Tomorrow will be my last day in Copenhagen as my train-card expires. So I will take an exam, hopefully do some last minute shopping, attend closing ceremonies and say goodbye to my friend Christine before heading home and out of Copenhagen for good. :(

Wednesday will be a day full of packing as I attempt to fit everything back in my bags and under the weight limit. I think Inger and Bent will make my favorite burger-type beef thing for dinner on my last night, and then we have a full morning on Thursday. Inger is taking the day off and I think we’re going to run around the lake before heading to the grandparents and finally get to the airport around 11:15.

Right now, I’m stuck in the middle. I can’t believe its over and I don’t want it to be, but I’m ready to go. At the same time, I am fully exhausted. It feels like I am psychologically and physically dragging my heels as I try to absorb as much as I can of this place so I will remember everything about it. It’s time to say goodbye, and I know I’m ready, I’m just not totally sure I want to be.

The biggest thing is that it is another change. Leaving Denmark, just like coming here, is like starting all over again.

Christmas Time is Here

2007-12-06T11:04:00.000-08:00

Thank God for candles and Christmas lights. Without them, Denmark would be a little depressing this time of year as the daylight dwindles, the rain and wind pick up, and the temperature is increasingly erratic.
Last weekend my host parents came into Copenhagen and stumbled upon the lighting of the tree in Rådhuspladsen, very much like the tree in Rockefeller center on a much smaller scale. Like the town hall, much of the rest of Copenhagen is slowly being lit up. Fresh greens and lights with hearts and snowflakes line the streets and Christmas decorations seem to be for sale in every store. A few ice skating rinks have been set up and Christmas markets are everywhere. If only I had any money left to spend! The city is truly coming to life as the lights fill the streets, Christmas cookies and Christmas 'lunches' fill our stomachs, decorations fill the stores and houses, and happiness fills up the darkness around us.

While I was exhausted Monday from my overnight trip back to Copenhagen, it was amazing to get back home to find the house magically decorated. I walked around as if mystified by the cute decorations in every corner as the house was peppered with Christmas elves, candles and ornaments hanging from the ceiling, on display in the cabinets, sitting on my computer desk and dangling from the stairs!

Monday night, we had dinner at the grandparents which, although I was tired, was exactly what I needed to get relaxed and ready for the stressful weeks ahead. We had an amazing dinner as usual, followed by æblecage, or apple cake for dessert. The grandparent’s house was equally as beautifully decorated and they were in the process of setting up their Christmas tree! Grandma, whose birthday celebration is on Tuesday (YAY!), also gave me and Louise a Christmas decoration of three elves hanging from a rope, which is to be hung from the ceiling or from a stairwell. While I thought it was gorgeous right away, I was taken aback when I learned that she had knitted the figures herself!

In addition to my already giddy Christmas attitude, my host mom has made me a countdown calendar like the one my host sister gets every year from Grandma. Rather than having cheap chocolate punch-outs this calendar is complete with fully-wrapped gifts hanging and completely overloading the calendar! It is exciting to wake up every morning to see what my new gift is! So far I've gotten a count-down candle, some Lakrids (a Danish black-licorice flavored candy that is rather salty and quickly spit out by most Americans, including myself) a Christmas elf, and a candle holder! Who knows what tomorrow will bring!

Continuing with the Christmas spirit, I spent most of yesterday making Christmas cookies including some family favorites from home like biscotti, church windows, Mexican tea cakes and butter cookies! After spending 3 days looking for the right ingredients I think I'm going to attempt to make gingerbread cookies this weekend, and will hopefully get some friends to help me decorate!

I guess it is obvious at this point that not only do I love Christmas, but apparently Denmark does too! If I didn't have these silly exams to get through, I can only imagine the fun things I'd be doing around Copenhagen! Either way, I'm going to try to make the most of my last 2 weeks here (I can't believe it's almost over already!) while hopefully getting some much needed studying in for my exams.

Boy am I gonna miss Denmark, especially my host family! But at the same time, now that I've seen my family again, I'm also ready to get home. The pressure of exams and mixed feelings of leaving are going to make these next two weeks an emotional rollercoaster!

Out and Back Again

2007-12-04T13:17:00.001-08:00

As my host dad was driving me home Monday morning around 6:30am, it finally dawned on me that I had just finished my last European trip. I have three weeks left here, well two and a half now, and before I know it I’m going to be in a plane on the way to a place I love and leaving a place I love…

Anyway, what this entry is REALLY about is my ski trip to Sweden. I met a girl named Christine, at a rollerski race early in the semester and she has been extremely helpful in getting me involved with other ski training opportunities and also accommodating my cultural challenges. She and I went on this ski trip with her local ski club, Holte Skiklub, to Idre, Sweden. We left on Thursday night around seven and drove through the night arriving in Idre around eight the next morning.

Idre was a nice ski area, although the trail system was not huge. Before we had arrived apparently there were concerns with the amount of snow, but I never checked because I figured I was in it for the long haul: snow or no snow. Luckily, or so they say, it snowed the whole trip up there and the first two days we were there. It was relatively crowded because of the lack of trails, and huge number of people at Idre; not only were two busloads of Danish skiers invading the trails, but Idre was also hosting pretty big ski races both Saturday and Sunday. While I regret not doing the races, I think based on my rented equipment and borrowed wax, it might have been a frustrating experience. The temperatures were mild the whole weekend, hovering right around freezing, but the wind chill definitely played a part.

I spent the weekend with 7 Danes, in an 8 person cabin with two bathrooms and three bedrooms. Everyone was really nice and friendly, although they spoke Danish pretty much the entire trip, which left me VERY much out of the loop and a little isolated. My bunk mates were an interesting mix: adventure seekers planning to do the Vassa, a 90 kilometer ski race in March; two really intense brothers who appeared unable to clean up after themselves and listened to their IPODs every time they skied, despite the fact that they were receiving coaching; and two girls who seemed to enjoy skiing, but didn’t take it too seriously. The rest of the Danish group were mostly casual skiers, middle aged and older, who rocked some pretty amazing outfits and had personalities to match.

On Friday, we skied around on our own, just easy to get warmed up. It was lightly snowing and the trails had not been recently groomed because of all the snow from the night before, so we did what we could.

On Saturday we woke up to very windy conditions and still snowy weather. While the temperature was warm, the wind made it FREEZING. We went out for coaching in the morning and afternoon, which turned out to be a bust for me as my group was mostly beginners and in general I got no specific feedback or coaching. Regardless, it was good to do some balance drills and any time on snow is better than none. Being a little disappointed with the amount of actual skiing I was able to do, I stayed out after dark, therefore after three p.m, to ski on the groomed lit loop. Unfortunately, because of the heavy snow, they were mostly waiting for it to stop before grooming, so the trails were completely covered with drifted snow, leaving a 2.5k loop the only really ski-able area- although even then I broke trail every time I skied the loop.

Sunday morning everything changed. The snow and wind stopped and the weather cleared. Our coach got sick, so we joined another group before ducking out and skiing the newly groomed 15k loop instead. It was amazing. I went out early, while it was still dark, to get 45min in before we met up, but then spent almost four hours outside LOVING the snow! It was great skiing, beautiful conditions and lots of fun. I suddenly rediscovered why I love skiing! After a lunch break consisting of dark bread with mackerel in tomato, some crackers, and way too much chocolate, we headed back out for a quick hour ski before rushing back to the cabin to clean it and pack up our stuff. We left around 4pm and after doing some reading I, fully exhausted from my weekend of Danish immersion and long skiing hours, passed out on the long bus ride through cute Swedish towns as we headed south to rainy Copenhagen.

Vermont Does Denmark

2007-11-27T02:58:00.000-08:00

While this past week was a stressful one, as I tried to juggle my family, my host family and my school work, it was well worth it in the end.

On Monday and Tuesday my host mom graciously took two days off work to entertain my mom while I was in school. It was a huge relief, although I was expecting it, that my host mom and real mom got along so well! I did my best to get as much work as possible done in advance, while also trying to meet up with them when I could. On Monday, my mom and I attended a Danish Christmas Lunch, which is really a dinner starting around 7pm, for my Danish Class. We enjoyed classic dishes such as roast pork, brown (caramelized) potatoes, boiled potatoes, red cabbage, and frikadeller (meatballs.) After gorging ourselves on an amazing amount of food, we played charades and sang (with TERRIBLE pronunciation) Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer in Danish. Tuesday night was more relaxed as we prepared for our trip to the airport the next day.

Although picking up the rest of the family was unnecessarily stressful because their flight got in at noon and I had to be back at DIS at one, it was so great to see everyone. I loved having the rest of my family here, and it made all of the activities we did and the BUSY schedule I had planned a lot more fun. While they were tired, they went to the Round Tower and did some shopping on Stroget before meeting me in Tivoli in the evening of their first day. Tivoli is redecorated for Christmas, complete with an elf village, thousands of Christmas lights, vendors selling gifts, ornaments, and toys, scattered heaters to keep you warm, and yummy Christmas treats sold at every turn. It was a really magical place to be….I LOVE CHRISTMAS!
The rest of the week was a whirlwind. I was dodging in and out of classes to meet my family in between. We ate lunch at Nyhavn, walked around Christiania and spent more time on the shopping street. At night we drove back home to my host family where we were treated to homemade frikadeller, a Danish Christmas dinner with the grandparents on Thanksgiving day, and a mini Thanksgiving dinner the day after.

Saturday was our big day, and although I wasn’t feeling well, we made the best of it. We started off the day with a family run, including the host parents, around the lake. Luckily, the weather cooperated, as it was the only day of sunshine in the past week, although it was chilly and I don’t think everyone was as happy to be there as I was….see picture. :) Regardless, it nice way to get the day going. After a delicious breakfast, my family and I drove north along the coast to Helsingør where we visited a castle and ate a yummy lunch, including open faced sandwiches (very Danish!), at the café nearby. We drove back along the coast stopping at Louisiana, a modern art museum that I had always wanted to go to, to see a photography and painting exhibit. While we had originally planned to do all of this and make it back into Copenhagen for a soccer game at 5, at the museum we decided we were a little ambitious and chose to go home, watch a movie and have a nice dinner instead. To keep it Danish I made them watch ‘After the Wedding’ a beautifully shot, but slightly depressing movie that was filmed in and around Copenhagen.

On Sunday, their last day here, we went for a short run in the morning before packing up the car and heading to the Little Mermaid on the way to the airport. Although everyone in Denmark seems to think the mermaid is overrated, it was good for them to see one of Copenhagen’s main attractions before heading back home.
Now that everyone is gone, it’s a little sad, but I know I will be seeing them again very soon. Too soon almost. I’m excited to go home for Christmas, but not only do I have a MILLION things to do before I leave, I’m also very sad about having to leave my host family. They have been really amazing, and moving out of my home in Denmark is going to be hard.

In the meantime, I am being sufficiently distracted by trying to catch up on all the work I missed last week while also getting organized for the weeks to come. I am heading on a ski trip to Sweden with a local Ski Club this weekend, which will hopefully be a fun and interesting experience!

2007-11-25T04:16:00.000-08:00

It has been an absolutely crazy two weeks. I was busy last week trying to finish up as much work as possible before meeting my mom at the Copenhagen airport on Friday and heading to Norway. We flew into Oslo around 5:30 then took a two hour train north to Lillehammer. I have always been fascinated with the Olympics, and when we decided to go to Norway, I knew that going to see Lillehammer would be an awesome experience. As an added bonus, it sounded like I might be able to ski there.

Mom was a trooper through the long trip up to Lillehammer, including the hike up the hill to the hotel. We ordered some food from a delivery place, eating a late dinner in our hotel lobby before passing out. The next morning we FEASTED on an amazing breakfast spread and figured out our plans for the day. The Norwegian people in general were extremely friendly and very helpful. We managed to get on the right bus to Sjusjøen, a local ski area where the apparently make snow, so skiing was available. We caught a bus from central station, found our way to a rental place and got skis, poles and boots for the day. Although they were touring skis, my poles were a little short and one of the baskets was on backwards, we managed to get an awesome 2 hour ski in before taking a break for lunch. After some tea, yogurt and nuts I headed back out for an hour more (trying to get some good time in!) while my mom wandered around the area, watched skiing on TV and drank some more tea. It was almost completely dark around 4:15 and by then we were ready to call it a day.
All was going well, UNTIL we missed the bus back to Lillehammer. Shattered that we had to call and then PAY for a taxi ride all the way back, we made the best of it by having the cabbie drop us of at a nice restaurant where we had some amazing soup. We walked back up the hill to the Birkebeiner hotel and enjoyed some hot chocolate before heading to bed. The next morning we had great intentions to go for a long run, but upon waking up at eight and seeing that it was barely light out, not to mention that we were crippled from our day of skiing, we settled for a short jog up to the ski-jumping stadium where the Olympic torch was.
After taking the train back to the Oslo airport, we bought an express pass to the city and took the train in. We walked up and down the main street and made our way to the City Hall, the Nobel Peace Museum, the Palace, and a few cute shopping areas before stopping for dinner. While it was great to see Oslo, Sunday is not the best day to be anywhere in Scandinavia because almost everything is closed. We found a few souvenir shops that were open and browsed in them before taking the train back to the airport.

When picking up our boarding passes the kiosk told us that our flight had been delayed almost two hours, and would not land in Copenhagen until after 10pm…bummer. As my mom finished our perishable food items, I noticed that another SAS flight to Copenhagen was leaving in 15 minutes. We scarfed down the last apple and ran in and through security, and rushed to the gate. The man at the desk managed to quickly fit us on the plane, handing us new boarding passes as the door to the plane closed behind us. YAY!

My host mom, Inger, picked us up at the airport after learning of our surprise early arrival (our original plane didn’t end up landing until after 11:30pm) and drove us home for the beginning of my stressful yet fun week of juggling my school work, my family and my host family…all under one roof!

Facts and Facing the Real World

2007-11-11T03:01:00.000-08:00

As I’ve been leafing through my notes on China and working on my projects for the class I have come across some interesting facts I stumbled upon along the way…

-When taking a picture the Chinese, rather than saying “cheese” like we say in English, say a word that sounds similar but actually means ‘eggplant.’
-The four stars on the Chinese flag each have meaning. The large one represents communism, the four small stars symbolize the workers, merchants, scholars and farmers, upon which the country is built.
-Chinese drink their water warm. They mostly drink tea, with virtually everyone carrying a vat of it around with them, but even at restaurants when you order water, if it doesn’t come in a bottle, it is served warm because they believe it is better for your body.
-The Chinese are also certainly not afraid to use the car horns and just like in elf “the yellow one’s don’t stop!” Our first hour in Beijing and we were nearly killed by taxis and small motor bikes. Yikes!
-Rather than wearing diapers, the kids in china simply have a slit in their pants. When they have to go to the bathroom they simply squat over the sidewalk and go. The parents then pick it up. It was shocking to see a little boy going poop in Tian’anmen square…
-In places where we typically see one person doing a job, the Chinese have three. Labor is so cheap and employment needed meaning that in stores, supermarkets, hotels etc. there are many workers and about three times as many trainees.
-Numbers and names have meaning. Number 4 is unlucky because it sounds similar to the word for death. Eight is a very lucky number, and nine is also lucky and used for royalty because it sounds like the word for longevity or forever.
-According to one source there are 1,000 new cars on the roads of Beijing everyday. I have no idea where they could possibly fit more cars!
-Chinese don’t eat desserts. On a birthday, the birthday-boy/girl is served noodles because they represent longevity and long life in the future.
-It was also interesting to learn how products from other countries have changed their names to ones that sound very similar and also have a positive meaning. Coca-cola, which sounds something like “ko-ka-ku-la,” means ‘happy drink,’ BMW has adopted a meaning something like ‘good horse,’ and the local name for Volkswagen is related to popularity. Popular products have also changed the flavors they offer; I found ‘Cool Cucumber Lays’ to be accurately flavored and extremely delicious.
-The Chinese use all the public space available to them. Under overpasses, on the sidewalks near train stations, at parks, and in squares, the Chinese are always out using the space when they’re not working. It is truly incredible to drive around the city and see the older Chinese population waltzing, ballroom dancing, and line dancing in large groups. I hope this tradition will not die out.
-When counting age the Chinese still use the lunar calendar in that they start counting a child’s age when the mother is pregnant. So theoretically, Chinese are always nine-months older than we would think of them.

Anyway, now that I've slowly readjusted to local time I have been trying to get back into the real world. Being back in Copenhagen was great, but it also made me a little homesick. I was so happy to come home to Denmark, but after a few days, it felt weird not going home to the U.S.

Regardless, I have been staying busy! I have a TON of papers and projects due in the next few weeks and I am doing my best to get everything done before next weekend when my FAMILY WILL BE COMING! I can't wait to show them Denmark!

It is getting dark here so early now, which is fine if I'm just going home to drink tea and eat dinner, but trying to find the motivation to train when the sun rises around 7:30 and sets around 4:10. I have had a pretty good training week, getting back into a schedule here. I participated in another rollerski race on last Sunday, although the combination of a 17.5K skate race and some serious jetlag left me barely awake at my host mom's Birthday lunch! After this grueling race, the rest of the week I tried to get some solid hours in, but kept the intensity to a minimum. I got a good week in with some strength, long easy runs, and even a long classic rollerski! It was great to get on classic skis for a change, and also nice to find a group to ski with. I am so indebted to the amazing kind people here. I’m hoping to get some more intensity in this week and possibly get on snow at Lillehammer this weekend with my Mom!

I can’t believe I only have a few weeks left here. I went running with my host parents around Bagsværd Sø (lake) and it was a gorgeous morning. Sunny, clear, just below freezing. Frost-laced grass, soggy leaves, and crispy mud. We chatted while we jogged and I can’t believe how much I’m going to miss this place…

City #3: Shanghai

2007-11-04T11:00:00.000-08:00

While we were all really exited to be heading to our next city, landing in Shanghai was bittersweet. I was so excited to be in China and wanted to spend more time there. Yet at the same time, the packed schedule was starting to wear on me. Regardless, after meeting our new guide and boarding the bus for an hour and a half ride to the city center, I was quickly back on track and ready to make the most of my last few days in China.

After learning of some minor changes in plans, we rolled with the punches, eating lunch at our new hotel before heading off to the Jade Buddha temple. The temple itself was a beautiful and peaceful place to visit, especially because there were only a small number of tourists there at the time. Anna, our guide, gave us some really interesting information on the many Buddhas in the temple and we were able to see some gorgeous Jade Buddha carvings. We were also lucky to see the monks say what might have been an early evening prayer: gathering in the temple to chant and sing together.

The sun was setting as we made our way to the Bund, or waterfront,!) from which we had an amazing view of the city skyline (although the view from my hotel room turned out to be even better Careful of the pick-pockets here, we then crossed the street and walked down a shopping street, where I finished up my Christmas shopping in a market off the main street. Some of the guys on the trip ended up buying a bunch of DVD’s, that are either classics, have yet to come out on DVD and even some that have yet to come out in the theatres, for around $1.50 each!

That night we dined in the fancy, revolving restaurant at the top of the Shanghai Pearl TV-Tower. We took two elevators up to the restaurant, 267m up, and after dinner also visited the upper observation deck at 350m. The restaurant was AMAZING. It was an enormous buffet from which I tried snail, bullfrog and rabbit, while also enjoying sushi, a green tea soufflé, an enormous amount of fresh watermelon and many kinds of vegetables. It’s safe to stay that I may still be full from that dinner…

The last stop of the night was to the Hyatt. It is an amazing structure of 88 floors (double lucky!) and is known for its beautiful architectural design which is shaped to look like a pagoda. We visited the bar inside at the 54th floor and from there were able to look up and then ride up the additional 30 floors to the top of the hotel.

The next day, our last day in China, I started off with a quick workout in the morning. Our hotel finally had a gym in it that was open early enough for me to go for a run on the treadmill, there was no way I was going to go exploring outside in the polluted streets, and after dinner the night before I definitely needed a jog. Unfortunately the treadmill was really different from the others I have run on and felt almost spring-loaded! I ran for around 25 minutes, but had to hang on the entire time to keep from losing my balance and spiraling off the machine…

Our first activity of the day was a visit to a local textile factory. The highlight of the day was easily our guide-a very successful and ambitious business woman Jane, who works as a coordinator for many global clients and with many different factories. Jane was EXTREMELY informative and open to our questions, helping us to learn a lot about factory life, business in china, and her daily life. The factory we visited was more than an hour outside of the city and had recently downsized to 70 workers: mostly women, all of whom live in dormitories. While we were in the factory the workers were currently sewing board shorts for the Australian market!

After the tour we went to a large French supermarket chain that has been successful in China: Carrefour. We ate lunch in the food court, then spent the remainder of the time walking around the store checking out the amazing things they have available including live eels, fish, many different dried things (including human placenta…EW) and various interesting Chinese and foreign goods.

Our last stop of the daylight hours was the Yu-gardens, a large garden that has changed hands many times in the past and is home to beautiful plants, ponds and statues. We did our best to pay attention, but I think we had finally reached our breaking point. We then killed time in the market streets around the gardens doing some last minute shopping before heading off to the acrobatic show. The show was amazing and very much like the Cirque du Soleil, meaning we left feeling exhausted, amazed, disgusted, impressed and in pain just from watching the show! We spent our last night in China visiting a few bars, I naturally turned in much earlier than others, before heading to bed and off to the airport in the morning.

After a bus ride, a magnetic train ride (over 300km per hour!) and around 11 hours on a plane we finally landed back in Copenhagen, where I am now doing my best to catch up on emails, write these blog entries and fight the jetlag that currently seems to be winning…

City #2: Xi'an

2007-11-03T09:22:00.001-07:00

When I woke up on the train to Xi’an the view outside was amazing. It was the REAL china; not the cityscape, not the crowded neighborhoods-it was the fields, the people and their everyday lives. The houses were small and falling apart, the fields were rich with green growth, the hillsides carved into tiers to create more field space, the peaks rough and jagged, the people lugging vats of tea on the way to work, the land peppered with the occasional grave marked by bright metallic designs. It was beautiful.

After pulling into the train station and making our way to our hotel in the heart of the old Xi’an walls, it was clear the Xi’an was not only a much less populated (comparatively) city, but also that the air was cleaner and the city was also much more organized and easy to walk around. We started off the trip with a bike along the old city walls, about 14 kilometers, which surrounds the old part of the city. Watch towers and four gates peppered the red lantern-lined wall as we looked over it to see neighborhoods, a moat on the outside and small parks. The view was interesting; not only did we see thousands of apartment buildings with roofs lined with solar panels (who knew?) and the busy roads that made up Xi’an, but the Sunday we arrived was also a big day for weddings. It was 10/28, which was not only even, but also had the number 8 in it, a lucky number, therefore we saw and heard many wedding parades (cars,) short firework displays, brides, and sidewalks covered with red petals!

The afternoon of our first day was spent at the Wild Goose Pagoda outside of the old city walls, where we saw beautiful jade carvings, worshippers lighting incense, and also got a great view of the city from the top. When we returned to the city we had some free time on our own to explore before dinner. I explored the Muslim quarter, home to amazing street food, markets of local and fake goods, and stands of dried fruit and nuts. After wandering around the markets, I headed back to Defachang restaurant, which is famous for its dumplings. While I quickly lost count of DELICIOUS dumplings I ate, it is safe to say that I didn’t even want to see another dumpling after this terrific dinner. We returned to the Pagoda at night to watch a fabulous light show and see the pagoda lit up at night. While we had to run to make it on time for the show, we were not disappointed by the beautiful scenery.
The next day we hiked Mount Huashan where we again got lucky with the weather. The mountain was a few hours outside of the city, and getting to the base of it involved a very windy bus ride and then a gondola ride. We donned red sashes for the trip, reading safety on the mountain, and began to climb the thousands of stairs that made up the trail. The views were amazing and the mountain was extremely crowded, making the stairways difficult to climb quickly, although my calves were burning badly enough as it was. We spent around two hours hiking up the stairs and one scarily icy ladder ultimately making it to East peak, before making our way back down to the base and heading home.

Huashan Mountain has temples on it and is also known as a place to make wishes. To do so, you buy a locket and have your wish engraved on it. You then, like thousands of others, find a piece of fencing to lock your lock to, and then throw your key off the mountain. As we passed through Golden Lock Pass, and generally walked around the mountain, the railings were covered with locks, new and old, with thousands of wishes engraved upon them. Buying a lock, picking a beautiful spot and throwing my key off the mountain was one of the most powerful experiences I had in China.
After returning to the hotel we had the rest of the evening on our own and Jose and I decided to do a little more shopping in the Muslim quarter, while munching on some freshly dried fruit.

Our last day in Xi’an included a visit to Xi’an-Janssen Pharmaceuticals. We were able to attend a factory tour, interview company workers, and learn about the company, all of which was a great way to learn more about China and its connections to eh global business world. I particularly loved talking to Anne, a quality control worker at the factory, who was very willing to share information about her personal and work life, and also out-going enough to ask me questions as well.

In the afternoon we visited the Terracotta warriors. The exhibit is truly impressive in its scope and the sheer principle of thousands of unique soldiers constructed thousands of years ago makes it hard to believe. The whole scene is full of mystery as they try to explain how the soldiers were made, understand the scope of the project, attempt to preserve the soldiers, and continue to discover more of them. There is far too much interesting information to explain here, but I definitely suggest reading up a little on the soldiers.

That evening we had dinner at a Hot Pot restaurant. The center of the table has a heated bowl of boiling liquid (mostly water I think,) which has two sides- one spicy and one mild. The table is covered with bowls of raw food including noodles, veggies and meat, which you throw into the boiling water and then eat when they cook to the surface. We finished off the night with a small get together, toasting some Chinese white wine or Baiju (?) and getting ready to head on to Shanghai the next day.

Kina! City #1: Beijing

2007-11-03T05:59:00.000-07:00

Despite my obvious nerves, my trip to China turned out to be even more AMAZING than I had thought.

As we slowly descended into Beijing, all of us exhausted and travel worn from our long flights, uncomfortable positions and stiff legs, the captain gave what seemed to be positive reports of clear skies with light haze, which upon landing I realized is actually what we would call FULL cloud cover with an enormous amount of pollution. After a briefing about some things to keep in mind, i.e. don’t drink the water…EVER…and wary of the bathrooms- porcelain holes in the ground without toilet paper or soap, we began our first day in China.

We first had a brief presentation on the background of Beijing including some really interesting facts about the city arrangement. Beijing is built in a series of “ring roads” or circular roads that expand outwards from the center of the city or Tian’anmen Square. The main historical buildings and sites are also arranged in a linear axis that either stretch north-south or east-west. It was interesting to hear that the area upon which the Olympic venue is now being built had actually be set aside many years ago in expectation of hosting the games in the future. Frankly, after seeing the pollution, traffic and population issues in the city, it is a little surprising to me that Beijing was actually able to host, especially in comparison to the much cleaner cities of Shanghai and Xi’an.

We visited the 798 Gallery where were given a great presentation on Chinese art history and to finish off our first day we visited the Summer Palace,
which was used by the emperor and his family from April to October as a place to rest and relax. It is about 20 kilometers from the city center and is a huge complex of many buildings, terraces, gardens, temples and hallways that covers over 290 hectares. This was our first experience with the insane number of tourists who found a group of American students to be an additional attraction, often wanting to take pictures with or of us! We were also introduced to the unbelievably persistent sales people that flood the streets, and the absolutely ridiculous traffic in Chinese cities. The density of the population, especially in Beijing, makes travel absolutely insane. There are massive amounts of people on busses, riding bikes, walking, driving cars, taking taxes, and they are all very brave, seeming to risk there lives continuously as they try to get where they are going…it was really quite scary, not to mention that it added at least an hour to our travel time.

Our first night in Beijing we were treated to Peking Duck, where we literally at all parts of the duck. I tried the skin of duck feet (which I regretted) to start off my China experience.

Our second day we were all a little jet-lagged, but we kept up the pace. Breakfast in the student hotel was disappointing, as we dined on steamed rolls, dumplings and fried bread, none of which tasted particularly good, nor was it healthy or easy to eat with chopsticks. (After this hotel, the hotels we stayed at became progressively nicer and more touristy, so we were soon dining on elaborate spreads of mostly Chinese food such as rice, dumplings, and veggie dishes, as well as some western foods such as French toast, or something like it, and cereal.) We started off the day with a brief lecture on Chinese culture by a Peking University professor before having lunch at the Laoshe Teahouse where I tried Jellyfish (not bad flavor but very difficult texture) and learned to love black seaweed. It was at this meal that I learned a little more about how authentic Chinese dining takes place. In China, you start your meal with many very different veggie and meat dishes served on a lazy-susan with everyone using their chopsticks to pick things from the plates. It is not until the END of the meal that they bring out the rice, which is only eaten if the other dishes didn’t fill you up. They also end meals with soup because it is supposed to aid in digestion, although in many places soup is also served as a drink.

Tian’anmen square was really amazing to see. Home to the famous picture of Mao Zedong, his mausoleum, the main government buildings, historical watchtowers, large garden exhibits (built on the anniversary of the incident to prevent another protest.) After walking around the square we entered the Forbidden City, given its name because no commoners were allowed inside. The Forbidden City, with buildings similar to those in the Summer Palace, is home to seemingly hundreds of buildings and I think it is even larger than the Palace. Each building is graded on level of importance by the number of animals placed on the roof- 11 is the highest, meaning only the emperor can use the building. We ended the day with a hike to another temple with what would have been a view of the city had the haze been less, and then had dinner with some former Peking University DIS students, where I tried what I think was sea urchin!

Our third was one we were all looking forward to, the trip to the Great Wall. We lucked out with the weather, finally having “sunny” skies and warm weather. We headed to a remote part of the wall, about 3 hours outside of Beijing where we would see less tourists. Not only was the drive eye-opening as we were able to see many of the disparities and challenges in China by passing areas of serious Olympic construction, deluxe homes built for foreigners and rich Chinese, and crowded streets of poverty stricken people, but we also stopped along the way at a local village, where one woman invited us into her house allowing us to look around and treating us to persimmons from her tree. She was unbelievably kind and it was really interesting to see how Chinese people really live. Once we arrived at the Great Wall, we definitely got a workout hiking up to the wall and along the thousands of steep steps. The view was amazing and actually being on the wall was a surreal experience. It was here that it really hit me- I was in China. The only downside was the vendors who followed us the ENTIRE trip acting as our shadows. While we failed to lose them many times, I found them quite annoying especially because I felt obligated to buy something from them at the end, which I reluctantly did- they certainly need the money worse than I do.

The next day we visited CTR market research, a company which gave us some really interesting insight into the Chinese consumer market and also the work environment in China. After the visit we changed hotels to one on the other side of Beijing near the Hutongs, which are clusters of old, densely packed houses previously used for government officials and private family use. Visiting the Hutongs was another interesting experience. We took rickshaw rides down the narrow and crowded streets to a government subsidized Hutong house, in which the resident is paid to open their house to tourists like us. Like the many other Chinese we have met the woman was extremely kind and very happy- not to mention that the food was, as always, amazing- although we were starting to tire a little from the Chinese food. I love it, but it’s different when you are eating it at EVERY meal. We had some free time to explore the maze of the Hutongs before heading off to the Opera! The opera was truly incredible. The men and women paint on their own makeup outside so we were able to watch them get ready before finding our front row seats (!) to watch the show that consisted of impressive costumes, classic Chinese singing and amazing acrobatic stunts! We finally ended the night with a trip to a local developing night spot where we went to a few bars and wandered down the crowded streets. Like any other public space in China, we found Chinese ball-room dancing, line-dancing, and doing many other forms of activity. It is truly beautiful to see. Almost everywhere you go, morning or night, the older Chinese population is using public space for dance, tai chi, and games-no wonder the population is so healthy and happy.

We woke up on our last day in Beijing, a Saturday, to some rain which thankfully cleared as we headed to the Temple of Heaven bright and early in the morning. The park outside of the Temple of Heaven is a cultural hotspot- as amazingly fit middle-aged to elderly men and women use the outdoor gyms, dance in the squares, practice tai chi, play badminton and other games, put on concerts, and generally come out to have a good time. We were put to shame by some old men on the monkey-bars before having impromptu Tai Chi lessons. It was hard to tear ourselves away from the amazingly kind Chinese people to enter the Temple of Heaven itself. While the temple was another truly gorgeous area, its architecture was very similar to the other areas we had visited in Beijing, and like the Forbidden City, and I think some of the summer palace, ALL of the structures were made WITHOUT nails! We left the temple mid-afternoon to go to a local market where we learned how to barter. After being scammed on my first sale my friend Jose was kind enough to explore the market with me and help me learn how to barter. The amount of goods, especially fake goods including Prada, Gucci, Puma, Nike, Chanel, North Face and many more, was absolutely overwhelming. It was a great shopping day as I got a large majority of my Christmas shopping done and learned how to barter, although the experience left me with a natural high that quickly succumbed to exhaustion. After heading back to the hotel we packed up our stuff and headed to the train station where I took my first overnight train (very Harry Potter) to Xi’an, the second city of our whirlwind China Tour…

Prague

2007-10-21T03:53:00.001-07:00

On the drive from Berlin to Prague we again lucked out with the weather. The countryside of Prague was equally as beautiful as Berlin, although more beautiful to me because it had mountains. I have never been so happy to see rolling landscape and something similar to fall foliage (although I have been spoiled by fall in Vermont, foliage here seems more like slowly dying/browning leaves.) We passed by some gorgeous castles and rivers but were reminded of the developing Czech economy by smog filled views and many poor neighborhoods and towns.
We pulled intro Prague at sunset and were able to watch it duck below the buildings turning the sky red and purple and illuminating the millions of turrets that line the hilly city. Prague is easily the most gorgeous city I have been to yet, and also the one with the best exchange rate! Finally some purchasing power!

We stayed in a hotel right near the Power Tower, an old powder house, from which we could easily walk to Old Town, Wenceslas square, the Charles Bridge and the thousands of tourist shops that managed to take a lot of money from me.

We went on a walking tour of the city where we visited some of the above places. Old Town is a large square full of beautiful buildings that is also home to a famous clock tower that around three in the afternoon becomes a hotspot for tourists as groups, including us, that line up to hear the clock chime the hour and watch the little doors to open to reveal small figures that dance through the windows. The astrological clock itself is beautiful but very difficult to read, and like other historical buildings in Prague, it is also laden with stories of torture. When the clock was constructed the government thought it was so beautiful that they blinded the man who made it so he would be unable to make any other clocks. In anger, his friends then destroyed the clock which was unable to be repaired until many years later!

Wenceslas square, and the National Museum, is another famous area in Prague that, like the rest of the city, is littered with way to many McDonalds, souvenir shops, hot dog stands, and other stores (including Burton snowboards?!) It again has a violent streak with two students, around 19 and 21 years old, having lit themselves on fire in protest.

The dark history continues with the beautiful Charles Bridge, over which a priest was thrown when he would not revel what was told to him in confidence (whether or not the King’s son was actually his, or if his wife had known another man.)
The statues depicting this along the bridge are ironically considered good luck, so like the other tourists I touched the stone and made a secret wish. From this bridge not only do you have an amazing view of the city and the palace on the hill, but it is home to many street vendors selling beautiful artwork, to which I fell prey, purchasing a watercolor that will sometime be framed in my house.

The best view of Prague was from the palace itself where, once we reached the top of the large hill, we visited St. Vitus Cathedral, the Old Royal Palace, St. George’s Basilica-the second oldest church a Prague castle, and Golden lane-an alley of 16th century houses.
On a business note, while in Prague we visited O2 Telefonica, a huge telecomm company that I think sponsors Manchester United, and also went to Skanska, a major construction company. While these visits were great as well, I think Skanska provided us with the best information that, depending on what my group thinks, may be who we write our paper on. DIS also treated us to a folklore evening, which was a great way to see the culture. We enjoyed amazing food while being entertained by traditional song and dance in a great atmosphere.
We spent much of our time in Prague wandering around the beautiful sights and killing time in the many shops. I found Prague more difficult to run in because the streets where much narrower, there wasn’t a park near our hotel, and the city isn’t exactly grid-like which made what I thought were rational running routes into long, twisted and confused jogs. At the end of the trip, I was sad to leave Prague and even more sad to have to get on the bus for a LONG, over-night drive back to Copenhagen. But after visiting Prague I would by lying if I said I thought I would never go back. The city was not only beautiful but also romantic and fun. It would be a great place for a honeymoon, not to mention another trip anytime in the future.

Anyway, I am home now for about 24 more hours which I am using to try to catch up on emails, publish these blog posts, do laundry and pack for China. It is really starting to hit me that I’m actually going. At this point I’m excited but nervous; completely convinced that I am going to have UNBELIEVABLE culture shock as I cannot even imagine what eye-opening experiences this culture, which seems like the opposite of the US, will provide me with, not to mention that I will probably, if I’m lucky at least, have a stomach ache the whole time. It will be an amazing experience, but it’s going to be a lot.
Our jam-packed, government unregulated schedule is posted online in case you are interested in checking it out, (http://www.dis.dk/Students/optional.php click on the Tour program link under China,) but I will let you know how it goes when I get back…

Berlin

2007-10-20T13:04:00.000-07:00

The first few days of our long study tour with DIS took us to Berlin.

We met on Sunday morning and drove to the ferry which took us from Denmark to Germany.
From there we drove through the beautiful German countryside to Sachsenhausen, a Nazi and then Soviet concentration camp. Although not the warmest of all welcomes to Germany it was a truly sobering and powerful experience. I have read countless holocaust novels, but visiting a camp brings the whole experience to life. Over 30,000 people died in the camp at the hands of the Nazis between 1936-1945 and thousands more were killed in the death march. Interestingly, the camp was kept in use by the Soviets who imprisoned 60,000 East Germans, leading to the death of additional 12,000 people. We were given audio headsets which were a really great way to learn about the atrocities and lives of the prisoners at the camp including roll call, the toils of daily schedules, extermination and experimentation techniques and the various other aspects of life in the camp and the town which lay literally right next to the camp.

On a lighter note, we continued on the Berlin where we would spend the first half of our week long trip. While in Berlin we visited Bayer Pharmaceuticals and Gillette. These two companies presented us with great information and we were also able to go on a tour of the Gillette factory to see how the razor blades were manufactured, a process much more complex than you might think! At the end of our visit we were also given free razors and shaving gel! So exiting!

While in Berlin, DIS took us to the Jewish Museum, a really interesting museum that thankfully focused more on Jewish life throughout history and less on the holocaust itself. Another day we were also treated to lunch in the German Reichstag or parliament building, which is one of the most spectacular buildings in the city. We ate lunch at a very ritzy café and enjoyed the beautiful view from the top.

We also took a bus tour of the city, an amazing trek that turned out to be a tease as it was impossible for us to even make a dent in all the things we wanted to see while in the HUGE city that is Berlin. We stopped by many areas some of which I tried to get back to during our free time including the Berliner Dome the East Berlin Tower, the Jewish Memorial, Charlottenburg Palace, Museum Island and the Pergamon Museum (home of many unique exhibits including the Gates of Ishtar from 605 BC,) . and the site of Hitler's bunker, just to mention a few things. We also visited the HUGE department store, called KaDeWe, very similar to Harrods, with its 7 floors of clothes, food, accessories etcI finally got to try the German pretzel I had been dying to buy, but practically choked on it as I read the prices for American goods including a small container of JIF peanut butter (roughly 8 Euros, or $12) and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups for about $1.50 a piece! Needless to say, I was not that desperate.

After an amazing dinner at an East Berlin beer garden (bratwurst and potatoes…yum!), we stumbled upon the Berlin “Festival of Lights” where we, and thousands of others, watched fireworks, lasers and smoke illuminate the sky. It was a nice show and I can’t believe how lucky I am getting as I have seen fireworks in almost every city I have visited, but like the others the show could hardly compare to any Fourth celebration in the states.
We ended our trip to Berlin the next day with a stop at the Olympic Stadium, home of the 1938 Olympic Games and the World Cup this past year. The stadium was amazing and had undergone significant changes that literally erased Hitler’s presence including his name on the plaque and his speaking podium in the stadium. The one room that was really cool was the chapel, complete with gold walls and prayers carved out in many languages. The chapel was available for use before games, and even for weddings and some funerals!

In general, I loved the city of Berlin as it is a very modern city because it has been rebuilt so many times. It also had this great park called Tiergarten, which was an amazingly peaceful place to run each morning, that connected the once separate East and West Berlin which still differ in architecture and are divided by the cobblestone-marked wall and a short remaining stretch, that used to break them apart.
The two biggest things I noticed about Germany was that people drove fast, powerful cars that made crossing the street significantly more scary than in Denmark, where your biggest issue are the bikers and the colder German people. While they were curious and would make eye contact with you, they seemed rather annoyed and slightly unfriendly. Naturally, almost everyone is annoyed at tourists, but the Germans were a much harder people to ask for directions than are the Danes.

My biggest regret was not making in to Check Point Charlie. Although we crammed as much as we could in as it was, I would have loved to visit that museum.

With much left to see of Berlin, we loaded the busses and started our journey to Prague…

Shipping Out

2007-10-13T13:49:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy, sleep-deprived week, but now that it's over, I'm just finishing some last minute things before heading off to Berlin and Prague tomorrow! It should be a great trip and I am very excited to have mid-terms over with, hopefully they went well, and to have a few weeks to travel around. Although, traveling this much and this far is not exactly relaxing...

This past week has been busy! On Tuesday we visited the host Grandparents, which means I completely stuffed myself on lots and lots of amazing food. On Wednesday, amid my mid-term studies and after my 2+ hour OD run, which felt refreshing, I watched "After the Wedding" a really great, but VERY emotional Danish Film.

Thursday I had ski training again, after which we carved PUMPKINS!
It was soo much fun! My family had only carved them with one other student and had never tried roasted pumpkin seeds before and I was happy to be the first to introduce them! I don’t know why, but while I was walking through the city the other day I realized that I am going to miss Reese’s peanut butter cups on Halloween. Maybe it is because we have them a lot at school, or because they are one of the staple hand-outs when trick-or-treating… While I will be in China on Halloween and probably will have completely forgotten what day it is, the fall weather here has been making me think of home. The leaves are changing and it is getting VERY dark. I have to wait until around 7:30 for it to be light enough to run outside and it gets darker earlier and earlier every day! But the smell of rotting leaves and crisp fall air makes me happy and also a little homesick.

Anyway, Friday night was Kulturnatten here in Copenhagen, which is similar to ‘First Night’ in the US. You buy a button and then have a huge buffet of events to choose from. My friend Janna, from SLU, and I bought our buttons and met at school around 5pm, spending the next hour planning out our very busy night. We wanted, and succeeded in, getting as much as we could out of the free entrance to museums and shows. We visited the Round Tower, a site I have visited before but went to again because it was free, for sunset around 6:00 and then again at night to see the city lit up. While we missed out on a show we planned to attend, we instead visited the Danish Design Center and a natural food type display, before taking a bus to the other side of the city for a gospel concert at a local church.

The gospel concert was probably the highlight of the night. Although the church was not particularly easy to find, someone knew I was coming because once we found it there was a fire and s’more materials outside the church. I practically cried with joy as I helped a little girl assemble her s’more before making one of my own…delicious. It was also completely surreal, and exciting, to go to a gospel concert performed by a small choir of white, Danish men and women, singing classic American songs including ‘This Little Light of Mine,’ ‘Oh Happy Day,’ ‘Swing Low,’ and the particularly powerful for us Laurentians, ‘When the Saints go Marching In.’ It was a little odd, but amazingly comforting to hear such ‘American’ songs sung with such fervor!

After the concert we walked through the botanical gardens and wandered around to a few more unsuccessful stops before heading to the train station and calling it a night.

Today was a low key day of packing, cooking, and a little rollerski expedition (no matter how many times I try to meet up with other people, or just work out in general, every attempt is complex process.) I cooked a ‘Team Dinner’ for my host parents and a family friend of garlic bread, spaghetti and meatballs…I hope they actually liked it and didn’t just say so!

Well, anyway, now going to sign off and head to bed! Talk to you in a week!

Sverige

2007-10-08T10:03:00.000-07:00

As Friday afternoon was drawing to a close and I was cramming to finish a reading due on Monday, I had to remind myself that this was all worth it…I was going to Stockholm!

A few hours later I was wandering around Slussen metro station attempting to find our hostel, called the Red Boat. Although we actually slept in the white boat shown here, the red one in the background was the main boat of the hostel.
I admittedly should have done more research on where I was going BEFORE I got to Sweden, but I mistakenly assumed that most people would have heard of it. After about a half an hour of asking for directions, I had checked in and was settling into my room with three friends in our floating hostel!

We spent our two days in Stockholm by trying to see as much as we possibly could by walking around the city. We started by crossing the bridge into the old town, Gamla Stan, which was full of narrow streets, touristy shops and cute old buildings. It was so much fun to walk down these streets, which we did many times, especially once we found an ice cream shop that put a basket of broken cone pieces on the window sill. We walked by this store window twice and cleaned out the basket both times…

On Gamla Stan we also walked through the Royal Palace and the Parliament buildings before heading on to City Hall. While we passed on a tour to see the supposedly beautiful interior, it was great to visit this building of which we had an awesome view from our hostel. While still in the city we also visited Jakob’s Kyrka, a bright red church, before walking to city center and checking out the Kulturhuset, a modern art exhibition building that also serves as a youth house, concert center, etc. While in the center we snacked on some lunch we brought and watched as they shoveled trucked-in snow in the middle of the Central Station.

After lunch we moved on to Kaknästower, a TV and radio tower that is actually quite ugly, but provides an awesome view of the city.
Unfortunately the weather was cloudy, but visibility was still relatively good, and the long walk out to the tower enabled us to not only see more of Stockholm, but also witness a car accident, check out a natural photography display, and explore a large park on one of the islands. We finished our planned day by visiting the Vasamuseet and seeing the huge Swedish battleship that sunk on its maiden voyage in the Stockholm harbor. While the ship proved unsuccessful, the museum was awesome, displaying the unbelievably well preserved ship.

We decided to head back towards Central Station for dinner, knowing that we could grab food around there and also watch the snow and skateboard competition while we ate. The live entertainment continued later that night as spontaneous fireworks lit up the city for still unknown reasons. It was amazing to stand in the old part of Stockholm and see the buildings aglow.

After sleeping very well, we woke up the second day to a few hours of sunshine! I went for a short run in the morning and managed to snap a few pictures while it was beautiful out. The sky soon clouded over and we spent our second day exploring the island we were staying on, discovering a few nice lookouts and a yellow church! The rest of the afternoon was spent at a more leisurely pace and included some light shopping and ice-cream eating in the city. I was the first to leave, taking a 4pm flight home. While I was sad to leave such a beautiful city with much more to see, I was pretty tired from our rigorous schedule and was happy to be home with enough time to eat dinner and finish some homework.

All in all it was a full weekend and this week is going to be a challenge. We are going to the grandparents for dinner tomorrow night and I have exams at the end of this week. Not to mention that I am still trying to cram in a good training week for skiing before we take our three week travel break! I’m really exited for our trips to Berlin and Prague, and then my trip to China for 2 weeks, but right now they seem so far away…

NEVER a Dull Moment...

2007-10-02T12:41:00.001-07:00

Just in case you missed the last installment of the series of infamous Bednar bad luck experiences, I have a new one for you-

Despite the fact that I am still very tired from the rollerski race this past weekend, I decided to try to meet up with my ski coach and the Copenhagen ski club this evening for a rollerski. Unlike other training sessions, we met in the city which was a huge relief because I could carry all my ski stuff on the train rather than strapping it to my bike and biking the 25+ kilometers into and back out of the city. I actually found our meeting place on the first try, an extremely rare occurrence, but since I had come straight from school I had to ski with my backpack of school books, clothes, and ski gear until we reached the park about 30 minutes away from our meeting point. All was going reasonably well despite the fact that I was on skate skis with slow wheels and carrying a completely stuffed backpack.

The trails in the park were not paved and therefore basically useless for me. While apparently it is normal in Denmark to ski on unpaved trails by using rollerskis with larger, wider wheels, this is unusual in the US. And so, after attempting to roller around the forest on my skinny skate wheels and still toting my backpack, I took my coaches suggestion and decided to head back out to the road where I would do repeats until they came and got me. I found my way back out to the side entrance of the park, the one we had come in, and ditched my bag next to the gate. I then skied to a perpendicular road where I was going to do my repeats. I figured that every time I came up to the top of the hill I would be able to check on my bag as it was about 10 feet from the road I was on.

I started doing some double pole intervals up the hill, checking on my bag as I reached the top each time, when the group joined me on the road. After a quick name game and we started doing some hill repeats, but stopped our interval before I could see my bag. After about three or four intervals I was getting concerned about my bag and decided to go move it with the others at the bottom of the hill; it did have my train card, my cell phone, my wallet, etc. buried inside of it. As I separated from the group to go get my bag, a cop car pulled up beside me- “Are you an American?”

Oh crap. Usually that question doesn’t immediately mean it’s a bad thing, but it’s also not usually a good thing. The cops proceeded to explain to me that I had left my bag outside (although it was actually across the street from) an embassy. I’m not sure what embassy as no one else in the ski group even knew there was one there, but regardless it was obviously concerning to have a mysterious backpack, seemingly unattended for 15 minutes or so within its general area.

I managed to convince the police that I had no idea that it was an embassy, I wasn’t carrying explosives of any kind, and I would never leave my bag there again. Turns out the police had called my host family, who were now absolutely distraught with worry, but were kind enough to call them back to let them know they had found me and that I was okay. I’m proud to say I am the first student they have EVER hosted about whom the cops have called...perfect, just perfect.

After the incident was over I couldn’t believe my bad luck. What are the chances that the building across the street from the park was an EMBASSY? It’s gotta be pretty slim. Although, the woman I was skiing with did bring up a good point saying that I was very lucky it wasn’t the US, or some other intense embassy, or else I would probably be in jail. And she’s right, the situation could have been so much worse…

The rest of the night continued in a similar pattern with the discoveries that I had placed my backpack in poop of some kind while in the park and also that only one train was running meaning I wouldn’t get home until after eight. Needless to say, I made it home to my poor host parents with yet another miserable experience to share. I am CLEARLY much more trouble to them than I am actually worth.

I’m starting to get tired of my crazy stories…

Sweden, Moon Fest, and Muscle Pain

2007-10-01T12:45:00.000-07:00

It was a full week. My host parents were vacationing in Rome and just my host sister and I were home together for the week. We took turns making dinner and otherwise got through the week.

Wednesday a friend and I decided to spend the day in Malmö, Sweden.
It was something we wanted to do and had heard about from other students. It cost us around $25 for a round trip train ticket over the famous bridge and after planning out a quick walking route we spent the day browsing the city. We started by going to the Twisting Torso, a beautiful structure that houses conference rooms and apartments. The woman at the information desk was nice enough to let us watch the information screens despite the fact that we were too cheap to pay to watch a 20 min movie and the 10 minute slideshow turned out to be plenty.

We continued walking through a park and to the museum, which was in Malmöhus Castle. We split up there with my friend visiting the museum while I went to St. Petri (St. Peter’s Church) in the heart of Malmö. It was great to visit the church, not only was there an organ concert going on, but being in the church was a really relaxing way to spend a half an hour.

We spend the rest of the afternoon shopping, visiting famous squares, art museums and other sites, and managing to see a good portion of Malmö while still making it home in time for dinner!

This past week was also Moon Festival in China. A friend from SLU has a Chinese roommate who invited a bunch of Chinese students over to help her cook a celebration dinner. They also invited some Americans to try the food and enjoy the experience. I tried Chinese Moon Cake, a very beany and pasty cake that I didn’t like much, although I learned that apparently not all Chinese agree on what this cake is supposed to be like as other students didn’t like it either. It was great to get a little more practice with my chopstick skills and also to meet some new people.

I capped the weekend off with a last minute entrance into the Danish national rollerski race, which may or may not have been a good idea. My ski coach here told me about it last minute and I decided to give it a shot. While I left over an hour to find the race location it took me almost an hour and a half to find the race start. After informing the surprised starter that I was a woman, despite the spelling of my name, I then got in line to next to a Danish girl who thankfully spoke English.

The crowd was diverse, although mostly older men and a chunk of very fit younger guys, maybe 30-40 in all. For me, the race was 32 kilometers long. The longest race I think I have actually ever competed in, which was probably my first bad move. I started off strong, taking out the first lap and a half at race pace, but I was getting absolutely mowed over by everyone else in the race. I mean I knew I was out of shape but wow! I apparently was slower than 80 year old men that were barely poling! I did eventually finish the 5 loop course although I dropped my pace to threshold at most and just fought to finish the race, despite being lapped many times.

I managed not to finish in absolute last place, which was slightly heartening, and after the race made friends with two of the other women who made me feel better by mentioning that clearly my wheels were slow, as everyone else had changed their wheels to fast ones for the race. It was great to meet some new people and especially nice to have them translate the awards ceremony for me, basically pushing me up front when my name was called. I managed to win my age group…beating...me, myself and I to take the title. All in all it was a nice experience and a great way to force myself to go for a long, hard rollerski, although it almost killed me mentally and physically. It took a lot to finish the race as I felt hopelessly out of shape and slow. Physically, I’m less sore today than I thought I would be, but I barely made it until 10pm last night before I passed out.

This week I’m trying to get as much work done as I can before heading off to Stockholm this weekend. It should be a great trip although I have midterms the week I get back. But after midterms we head off on our three week travel break which will include trips to Berlin, Prague and CHINA!!

It’s hard to believe it’s already October…

Tour de Bornholm

2007-09-25T14:04:00.000-07:00

Bornholm, described as a Danish Martha’s Vineyard, is a six hour ferry from Copenhagen and is home to absolutely beautiful scenery. While I slept very little during the overnight ride, when we arrived in Bornholm on Saturday morning at 6 am, the sun was rising and the island was beautiful. Our group of 98 students essentially took over the hostel in the coastal town of Gudhjem. I bunked with a bunch of St. Lawrence students which was really fun as we bonded over our successful attempt of making the most out of our bike trip to Bornholm.

We decided, after eating an enormous breakfast, that we were going to do the “Killer Tour” on the first day while we were ‘fresh’ and then do the shorter cultural tour the second day.

Our first day, covering around 70 kilometers of Bornholm’s south-eastern coast, was long and jam packed. We generally had good weather, with only a small section of light drizzle in the middle of the day, and managed to avoid getting lost despite the fact that I was leading the group of very trusting students with a virtually useless map. The day was packed with a trip to the second largest town, Svaneke, which had some awesome glass-blowing studios and a fun farmers market.
We moved on to a neighboring town Nexoo and then moved further down the coast to Dueodde, the sandy beaches. We followed the coast the entire time passing by beautiful inlets, windmills, bright houses and cute towns.

We reached Dueodde around 1pm which was good because this was our furthest, or halfway point, but for some reason, that wasn’t heartening for most of the group to hear … Regardless we continued on to Aakirkeby, where we were saved by soft-ices and candy, and then worked our way through Almindingen, a forest where we searched for Rytterknaegten, the lookout tower. Although we had to ask directions from a scantily clad runner in the woods, and then walk our bikes up a steep hill to an anti-climatic tower, it was still a beautiful view from the top.

We finished off the day by plummeting down the hills and stopping at a beautiful round church as we wearily worked our way back to the hostel.

The second day was equally as ambitious, although much more conservative in distance, covering roughly 40 kilometers.
This was the cultural tour and included stops at the cliffs called Helligdomsklipperne (I don’t even know how to say that,) a narrow cave called the Sorte Ovn, and Denmark’s depressingly small highest waterfall. We then traveled to the northernmost tip of the island to visit Hammeren, a steep rocky area, turns out they were NOT kidding about the steep climb, and then
Hammershus, the largest medieval ruined fortress in northern Europe. We visited all these sights on the way out then spent the next hour looking for somewhere to find smoked herring because we were desperate to try it and our blood sugar was reaching critically low levels. After asking at a few restaurants, we gave up- settling for the best hamburgers and ice cream cones that we have ever eaten.

All in all we definitely made the most of our trip, topping it off with a swim in the freezing cold Baltic Sea before showering up, crashing on the floor of the ferry and running to class at 8:30 on Monday morning.

I think this trip was one of the best things I have done in Denmark. Now that I’m back, I think I really needed it; I needed a little break. There was something so refreshing about being a tourist and just traveling around with friends. It gets exhausting trying to assimilate in and adjust to a culture, even if it is one you like. Going to Bornholm was a great way to just enjoy my time there, see the sights, and leave to go back to the real world at the end of the weekend…including a paper and a presentation the next day.

THAT crazy girl...

2007-09-24T11:04:00.000-07:00

The end of last week was an absolute whirlwind. I was struggling to prepare for a short answer test on all of the institutions, member states, treaties and general issues and history of the European Union and it’s affect on business policy…wow...while also trying to cram as much homework in before I left for Bornholm, an island about 6 hours by ferry from Copenhagen, including a paper for the same class. While I managed to get the assignments done, the reading is going to a big project this week.

On Thursday, I practiced biking in and to ski training, again being that crazy American in a quiet Danish city. I strapped my poles to bars of my bike so that they stuck out the back and also, by the second leg of my journey, figured out that it was best to force my rollerskis into my backpack as opposed to trying to strap them on to the bike too. Should I stop short while riding though, not only does the person behind me run the risk of being impaled with my ski poles, but the whole operation may completely fall apart as I am trying to balance my bag with all my school books, my ski poles, rollerskis, backpack with ski clothing and my small piece of paper with directions written on it, all while balancing on my little, old, sky blue bike. The whole day was quite a workout involving a 15 kilometer bike into the city before my 8:30 class, a 10 kilometer bike to the ski training area and then a 10 kilometer bike home after an hour of Spenst drills, ski walking, and some intense hill running intervals. Thursdays are turning into quite the workout!

Needless to say, I am still alive and managed to avoid injuring others, and was happy to finally reach home at the end of the day. Although my family thinks I’m completely crazy, I actually had my first real Danish dinner, a.k.a. something completely foreign, waiting for me when I got home. We had two different kinds of open-faced sandwiches on rye bread. One version is with liverpostej (a liver paste spread) and beets, and the other is a meatball called frikadeller topped with red cabbage. Maybe it was because I was starving, or maybe I just love anything you put in front of me, but either way, the sandwiches were DELICIOUS.

On Friday, right before I got on the ferry for Bornholm, we went to dinner at the grandparents! It was so great to get to meet them and they were unbelievably cute. The grandfather spoke English very well and was very friendly, although the first thing he said to me was “Kristen? Your name is Kristen? That’s a boy’s name!”
My host grandmother didn’t speak English very well, but she smiled a lot. We ate an enormous amount of delicious food which left me well prepared for my overnight ride to Bornholm spent sleeping on the floor. My host parents also flew out to Rome for a week vacation on Saturday morning so my host sister and I are all alone this week.

An entry on Bornholm and some pictures to come soon…
In the meantime here is a picture of my the backyard of my house:

And a picture of the Lake that I run around...

The Epic Battle of the Ski Poles

2007-09-18T09:10:00.000-07:00

It’s my first day with my ski poles and they very nearly killed me. I’d like to say it’s because I went out for some heroic or potentially insane double pole workout, but instead it is because I simply tried to get them home from the post office. A task which turned into a two day marathon.

On the first day, having discussed with my family where the post office was, I rode to the next train station over, about 15 minutes by bike, and took the train from there because that is where the post office is. That way, when I took the train home at night I could go to the post office and bike home with the package. I explained, apparently not to clearly, that I was picking up my ski poles, so it would be a large package, but I for some unknown reason, was easily convinced that it would be no problem. I could certainly bike home with a box with my ski poles in it-my first false assumption.

Day one continues with my attempt to make it to the post office before it closed at five. I have class until 4:10, but figured, assuming class ended on time (the second false assumption, while Danes stress their punctuality this seems not to apply to end times…) I would be able to make a train that would get me to the post office before five. But, class went over and one of the trains didn’t come, so I ended up getting to the station at 5, only to walk around realizing that my host family and I had miss-communicated on where the post office was, because the butcher didn’t seem to think he had a package for me.

Regardless, while day one was a disappointing attempt I was more optimistic about day two. My classes end earlier and I now knew the real location of the post office. At the end of the day I made it to the post office without a hitch and with 20 minutes to spare. I grabbed a number, hoping I was looking for the same service as the person in front of me, waited to be called and walked up to the counter. Once there I handed over my information, she went and got the package...etc. all was going well.

All was going well, UNTIL, she mentioned that I had to pay 460 DKK to pick up the package. 460 kroner! That’s just under $100!!! Apparently the Danes have to pay 25% tax on packages they receive when sent to their addresses at home. I need to change my address listed so that people will send packages to DIS instead, where apparently there is no tax. I’m already bumming that my mom sent my ipod here a few days ago. There goes another 100 bucks.

Anyway…not only was I floored that I had to spend so much to pick up the package, but I also had to leave, go to a bank, take out money, come back and THEN pick up my now VERY expensive ski poles, AND I still had to figure out how I was going to bike home with a box as tall as I was.

Seriously annoyed, I bustled out of the post office, found my bike at the station and walked for a quarter of a mile before I got up the guts to try and mount the bike with the long box. I chose a jousting technique. Putting my book bag in the basket on the front of the bike, I balanced the box over the handle bars so that at least 75% of it extended out over the bike in front of me. I then used my free hand, the one not holding on to the handle bars, in an attempt to hold the box in one place as I inched home through the blustery Denmark conditions that, along with the traffic and other pedestrians, threatened to blow the box and myself over.

Needless to say, the neighbors think I’m crazy, I’m exhausted from trying to get home, and my wallet will soon be empty due to taxes, BUT now I have my ski poles. Although I am not nearly as happy about it as I intended. My family is going to help me see if I can somehow get refunded on the taxes, but in the mean time, this one goes down in the history books-another priceless experience.

Back from Jutland

2007-09-15T11:48:00.000-07:00

The company visits were really excellent.
Both Pressalit and Danish Crown were extremely kind and gave us not only great answers but a great impression of their companies. To be honest, they both outdid Maersk. They gave us snacks and excellent presentations, but most importantly they answered our questions honestly. At Pressalit, the very cool, designer toilet seat company, we got to go on a factory tour and they also flew the American flag for us!

All three businesses had some very different strategies and approaches, but they also had a lot in common. Writing this paper comparing the advantages and strategies of the three is going to be very difficult; but only because it has to be 1,200 words. I certainly have plenty to reflect on and keeping it short is going to be a challenge!

The rest of the tour really added to the experience. Western Denmark is very beautiful and a lot like Vermont. The rolling farmlands with small towns in-between made it feel slightly like home, although seriously lacking in mountains. The cities we stayed at were very quiet but still beautiful in their architecture and colorful European houses.

Our first night we stayed in Randers, where we sampled a Thor beer, which is piped into the bars through golden pipes that line the city! A very cool tourist attraction and a cheap way to distribute beer!

The next day we visited ARoS, a modern art museum in Aarhus with some awesome sculptures and paintings, and also visited the Old City, where we had a nice lunch and walked around the picturesque remainder of the city.

Our final day, after changing cities again, we visited Koldinghus castle, Jutland’s last royal castle that has been rebuilt many times and now is a unique combination of old brick ruins and gorgeous modern architecture. We also visited Traphold Art Museum, which housed a really cool furniture exhibit. It is important to note that the morning of our last day not only was the hostel we stayed at really nice, but they had pancakes for breakfast with some kind of maple syrup-type topping AND eggs with REAL ketchup. Not the Danish ketchup you get from the street vendors that is sweet and has a different texture...they had the real stuff…fabulous.
After lunch we returned to Copenhagen, a three hour ride over at least one very long bridge! All in all, it was clearly an action packed trip. It was a great experience and I was happy to get to see some of Denmark outside of Copenhagen.

I’m excited to have a free day tomorrow to try and catch up on all my school work and get ahead, if possible, for the week. Next weekend I head off to Bornholm, one of Denmark’s small islands, for a weekend bike trip!

Gearing Up...

2007-09-12T11:48:00.000-07:00

All of these field studies have been keeping me very busy! Last night we visited Tivoli, an ‘entertainment park’ in the heart of the city, slightly similar to Disney’s Epcot in Florida. Tivoli has a garden theme and they call themselves an ‘entertainment park’ rather than an amusement park because of the many different entertainment options that they have. Just last night, after meeting with a VP and riding The Demon (turns out roller-coasters are much more fun when you are looking at the Copenhagen skyline as the ride climbs and drops off) we were walking the park and there was so many different things going on:
a jazz concert and a classical concert under separate gazebos, a show finishing up at the concert hall, all of the rides, games and booths were running, a pantomime show was beginning, and the fine dining restaurants (non-existent in US parks) were just beginning to fill up. The park appeals to all audiences and clearly provides diverse venues and activities. It was an extremely refreshing park to visit especially in comparison to the often hectic, crowded, dirty, and ride-centric amusement parks at home.

Tivoli also opens up for two seasons outside of summer. It closes in between each season to completely redecorate; reopening in mid-October for Halloween and the end of November for Christmas. I hear that on both occasions the decorations are amazing, and I am especially excited for Christmas. At this point, I’m pretty sure I’m going to buy a season’s pass. Not only do I want to go back for the two special seasons, but I would be just as interested in visiting Tivoli for the live music and fun atmosphere it provides…

I also visited A.P. Moller-Maersk today with my Business and Economics class, the first of our three company visits of the next few days. I learned a lot more about the company, a HUGE conglomerate of a variety of smaller companies, than I had previously known. Although our assignment for these visits seems daunting right now, the opportunity to visit some of the largest companies in the world is amazing real-life experience that I would not get from my school at home.

Tomorrow we will be heading out on our tour to Jutland, western Denmark, where the fun will continue!

Tonight was my first night cooking dinner for my host parents! I made a Tex-Mex style meal: guacamole, fajitas, salsa, sautéed veggies…etc. A regular meal at our house and I’m sure every one of their students has made it for them, but we all make it a little differently. I think I was the first to introduce my host dad to at least the concept of ‘salsa.’ I’m also excited because I picked up a pint of Ben & Jerry’s for dessert ($10 here, OUCH!) so they can use the ice cream scoop I brought them! It will be interesting to see what they think. Typically there are a lot less flavors here and definitely nothing as fabulous as B&J’s, although their creemees (or soft ice) is amazingly creamy. It’s very rich and they have amazing toppings from hazelnuts to sprinkles to finely ground chocolate…absolutely addictive and definitely not healthy. YUM

Week 2 Highlights!

2007-09-12T01:04:00.000-07:00

It’s been another action-packed week!

The trip to Vega was really cool. We met with the CEO for about an hour before the concert and learned about the inner-workings of the concert hall and night club. We then stayed and watched Slow Train Soul, a band that combines soul, jazz, blues, electronic mixing, etc. into a really interesting sound. The concert was a lot of fun and probably one of the best fieldtrips I’ve ever been on...

We had great weather this weekend which was perfect for my trip up the Round Tower in Copenhagen, a ‘must see’ while in Denmark for me because !
I saw pictures of the inside of this tower in at least four different places before I came. While it takes 7.5 rotations to get to the 360 degree view at the top, the tower is not steps but rather a ramp! It’s very beautiful inside and much easier to climb than the thousands of steps it would have otherwise had

On Sunday I went on a group trip to Møns Cliffs about 2 hours outside of the city.
Although I was surprised at how long it took to get there, it was worth the trip. It was nice to see some of the Danish landscape and lifestyle outside of the city. We had a guided tour there and then spent the rest of our time walking around and looking at the gorgeous chalk cliffs and the thousands of fossils at their base.
There was also an orienteering competition going on there which was interesting to watch. They were using the trail system around the cliffs, including the mountain (the size of a large sledding hill for us Vermonters), and occasionally zigzagged in between our group. Their awesome 80’s style, brightly colored uniforms were also a highlight of the trip.
Anyway, I’m going on another field trip for the same Creative Industries class tonight. We are meeting with a VP of Tivoli, the amusement park here in Copenhagen which Disney used as the initial inspiration. Not only am I excited to meet with the VP but we also get to go to the park! While I plan on going more in the future, at least this first time will be free!!

As for the rest of the week, we are gearing up for our ‘Short Study Tours’ that are led by our core program, in my case International Business and Economics. We will be visiting three Danish companies this week and travelling to Western Denmark in the process. We are going to A.P. Møller Maersk (Denmark’s largest company, a shipping firm), Pressalit Group A/S (a toilet seat company which specializes in products for people with disabilities) and Danish Crown (Europe’s largest slaughterhouse). Although funny at first, I actually think the toilet seat company could be really interesting. They play such a major part in our everyday life not to mention the many factors we probably don’t think about when we consider our toilet seats! While in western DK we will also visit museums and other landmarks which will introduce us to the real Danish landscape.

Thanks for all your comments and support! Hopefully the blog entries are interesting to read! Feel free to send any questions you have! I’d be happy to answer them!

I’m going….to China?

2007-09-11T05:19:00.000-07:00

I had my first DIS field study last week which was essentially a 4 hour introduction to my class China: Cross Cultural Exploration. Although there was a lot of reading, I found it the experience extremely interesting.

This course is based largely on learning some background information on modern China supplimented with experiences and information we gather from interacting with students from mainland China. We have formed interview groups which meet weekly to talk about differences in our cultures, customs and stereotypes. In the little that we've talked about I have already learned a lot about the differences between our cultures and I can’t wait to get to know this group of (mostly girl) students.

We also watched a Chinese movie and went to a Chinese restaurant where I practiced my abysmal chopstick skills, learned a few words in Chinese, and discussed the differences between American, Danish and Chinese food and dining customs. It was a fascinating discussion and I can’t wait to have more like it!

While this session was really great I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that I’m actually going to go there. At this point October and China especially seem so far away…

Exhaustion sets in

2007-09-05T11:55:00.000-07:00

What a long week! While it is a great experience to be visiting a new place, it is absolutely exhausting. It’s very tiring to try to be a good student, a good traveller, a good family member, a good guest, a good athlete and a good Dane while also trying to be yourself. I guess this is my little moment of culture shock. I’m not homesick, not yet at least, I’m just tired. The biggest stress point for me, other than having to be completely independent, is my unfamiliarity with public transportation. I am constantly panicking about not being on the right bus, missing the train and having to wait 20 minutes for the next one, not having my pass ready, not knowing where I’m going, making a fool of myself…etc. Hopefully I’ll eventually get into a routine, but at this point the culture shock of city life is defeating me.

Regardless, this week did bring some new and funny experiences:

My family took me out for my first legal drink at a local brewery where my host sister works. We biked both ways and it was really fun, although they laughed hysterically at me because I could barely see over the bar. To this day they have not let me live it down.

We had our first week of classes and most of mine seem awesome. Tons of reading to do, but its all worth it when you look at the syllabus. Most of the classes have a few field-studies, which are basically related field trips to the area. My Creative Industries class, which sounds AWESOME, is going to a concert at one of Copenhagen’s biggest concert halls on this Friday and we will also visit the amusement park here! My other classes take trips to major companies, host cultural events, and visit major sites. All the trips sound great, although they certainly keep us busy!

I went on a bike and canal tour on Saturday, seeing the beautiful sights and learning the rules of city-biking. Trying to keep up with our maniac bike-tour leader definitely got me comfortable riding in the city. We also visited some really great sites that I was hoping to see while here, and they were even better by bike. One of my favorites was Christiania, a alternative hippie style commune or free town in the middle of the city that has been squatted on, and now basically owned, by this alternative group. The lifestyle and artwork here was impressive, not to mention how quiet and peaceful this place was when the city was just a few hundred yards away.

My host mom and I rode around our area on Sunday so I can start to get a little more familiar with my area. Today I biked into the city, about 15 kilometres and 50 minutes on the bike, a good ride! Biking to school and back will be my exercise for today.

This week I started an introduction week for my ski training by doing some exploring. As mentioned, I have found some great bike paths to use for rollerskiing and have also learned two different ways to run to and then around (7 kilometres) the lake. My host family lives about 100 yards from a forest which has an awesome trail system that I have been trying to get familiar with. I have already found a great spenst hill and a good ski-walking hill, although I think it is too short. I signed up for a ski-training group through a local athletic club that will meet once a week to go over some specific training and technique work with a coach! I’m hoping that I will learn some new drills, but also meet some Danes and maybe even someone to work out with one other day during the week. I’m desperate for a training partner and I really hope this will help. Next week will probably be a trial week for me, where I will actually try to complete a full week of training and then make changes as I go.

Thank God I'm a Country Girl

2007-09-05T05:20:00.000-07:00

While I am much more comfortable with the silence and my time spent on the train, I apparently have yet to find my train-legs. Like any other morning, I had been sitting on the train for about 25 minutes when we reached the stop before mine. Closing my book, appropriately one of the most American books possible, The Devil Wears Prada, which I have been clinging to as my last tie to American culture, I put it in my bag and got ready to get off. I watched another man walk to the far side of the car to the exit alley, where he stood and waited for us to reach the station. Deciding this was a good idea, I got up and attempted to follow him past the rows of benches holding the normal morning traffic of dis-interested Danes.

As I stood up to make my way to the door, the train began to rock and sway slightly, as it normally does I’m sure, but naturally, being the rural, train-inexperienced American, I found myself stumbling down the isle. I managed to literally squash one poor guy, relaxing and reading his morning newspaper, actually using his body to stop me from falling over completely. I muttered, and immediately regretted because now I was obviously a foreigner, a quiet “sooo sorry” before being thrown back onto my feet by a jolt in the other direction. Now upright, blushing slightly and giggling to myself, I tried to make forward progress by bolting towards the door, only to lose my balance again, this time catching myself, or rather throwing myself, at the closed door. Peeling myself from the plexi-glass was an improvement from squashing someone, and at least now I had something to hold on to.

The whole scene was right out of a movie, it quite possibly could have been in my book. Clearly everyone was watching me, but the cabin remained silent. Expressionless and motionless, except for the other people cautiously following me to the door as if I possessed some kind of disease.

I exited the car and entered the alleyway trying not to burst out laughing and ruin the pristine silence. FINALLY, one guy, one Dane (I think) in a whole train full of people mustered a stifled laugh so at least I could finally laugh at myself…ridiculous.

Survival Danish

2007-08-29T12:15:00.000-07:00

Hej!

Copenhagen is amazing! Although I am admittedly still in my ‘honeymoon stage’ where I have yet to hit culture shock, or at least this is the warnings I have been given. After landing in the airport, and sneaking a picture of the wind turbines from the sky, I finally met my host family! Not only does Copenhagen have a much more comfortable, youthful, and less-touristy feel than Reykjavik, but my family has been awesome.

Inger and Bent, my host parents, have been extremely supportive and they speak English very well. Although we have had many fun discussions about some specific English words, phrases, and practices (such as drinking age, youth independence, what a moose is, and the phrase ‘soccer mom’). Here in Denmark, the young people leave the home much more slowly then they do in the states. Their education is a longer process and they are often in school much later, finishing their specialization when most Americans would want to be settled and advancing in their career jobs.

Last night Inger and Bent took me out in their canoe on Bagsvæard Sø, pronouced bah-o-sverg soo, I think. (Everything in Danish looks NOTHING like you say it, which of course makes it very easy to learn…) My host sister Louise has also been very helpful in showing me the ropes of life in Denmark and in my family. She’s the same age, and very much like my sister Annie, which is also very comforting.

I’m starting to settle in to a routine here and have begun to perfect my train-riding skills. I ride a bike my family is letting me borrow, sky blue with a basket on the front (!), to the train station down the street where I hop on the train, ride if for about 25 minutes, and then walk the rest of the way, about 10-15 minutes, to DIS. This week so far has been DIS orientation which has been good but exhausting. We saw the sights on a bus tour one afternoon including the Little Mermaid, the Queens Palace..etc. Otherwise we have had some ‘survival Danish’ classes, tours of our area, and general orientation stuff. City life is great here, and the shopping is amazing, although very expensive. It’s refreshing to see so much color and style here, even if it seems strange to me.

The first day of classes it tomorrow and I don’t feel ready at all. This semester is going to be a huge time-management challenge. I’ve never had a problem with it before but juggling 5 courses (more than I usually take at SLU), family life (also not normally existent at college), the commuting schedule, ski training, traveling…etc. it is going to be much more difficult. A whole different beast than I’m used to. It makes me nervous. I think these nerves are the beginning of the end of my ‘honeymoon phase.’

But anyway, here are a few interesting things I stumbled upon so far. Not nearly an exhaustive list, but a few things I sent in an email home the other day:

1) They have ENORMOUS slugs here. HUGE! The size of my index finger. I almost fell off my bike when I saw them the other day.
2) They drive on the right side of the road...I was surprised by that slightly. Although
the same is true in Iceland.
3) The traffic lights flash yellow before they go green as well as before they go red. So, at one point both the red and yellow are lit up, and then it goes green. This is interesting…not sure how it’d work in the US but its cool.
4) Most Danes don’t walk until the WALK sign is given. They will stand and wait even if no car is coming.
5) Bikes are EVERYWHERE. In the city there are double-decker racks and I’ve almost been hit by many more bikers than cars.
6) No one talks during travel. Except the loud Americans…like me.
7) Danes are big on second helpings during meals, I have to insist that I am fine and don’t need anymore.
8) They don’t wear helmets (apparently if you wear one and leave it with your bike it runs the risk of complete destruction by another Dane!)
9) They like to wear slippers in the house (at least in my family it was clear that I needed slippers!)
10) The word for a ‘danish,’ as in the pastry, in Denmark is actually translated as Vienna bread because at one point (a long time ago) chefs from Vienna were brought in to teach the Danes how to cook pastries. But now in Vienna, like in the US and elsewhere their word translates back to Danish pastry! (a random, but interesting fact of which I have many.)
11)What absolutely made my sight seeing tour. This man. Picture was taken stealth style. For a minute I thought I was in Russia!

2007-08-26T12:06:00.000-07:00

Sunday, August 26, 2007
Keflavik Airport, 6:30am

Thankfully, I made it to Iceland in one piece and on time, and now that I am sitting in the Keflavik airport again (the international airport in Iceland that is conveniently located about 45 minutes from the city…) I have survived my time in Iceland with only one major injury, a huge whole in my wallet. Iceland, while it has a unique volcanic terrain, a relaxed pace and a deep history, it also has high prices. High prices on everything. For the most part the only real money I spent was my stay at the Reykjavik City Hostel, a 10-hour bus tour of the Icelandic countryside and sites, and transportation to and from the airport, all of which were very expensive but my inability to rent a car left me no choice.

My first day in Iceland, I spent in Reykjavik, the capital city. Being too cheap to take a bus to the city center, I walked the three kilometers from the hostel and spent the rest of my day on my feet, logging at least 15 miles. I walked up and down Laugavegur street which had most of the shopping, ducking in and out of stores along my way. I eventually reached the Information center where I had a snack (thank God I brought food with me) before planning out my zig-zagging route for the rest of the afternoon. My walking tour of Reykjavik turned out to be quite fun, although exhausting and a little lonely. Reykjavik, while it seemed relaxed and safe, also seemed very empty during the day.

I visited Hallgrims Church and took the elevator up its tower (had to pay for that too) where I was lucky to get an amazing view of Reykjavik under the glow of a rainbow (very common over the course of my time in Iceland where I was lucky to have passing showers and partial sun.)

I then walked to the Tjörnin Pond, and hiked up to the Pearl, an impressive building which provides the hot water for the city, and also houses a beautiful, yet expensive (surprise), restaurant. I finished off my tour by visiting the National Museum, another pricey exhibit (although by now, it didn’t matter how much it cost, I didn’t want to pay it) but one with great information on the history and culture of Iceland. If I wasn’t so tired at this point I would undoubtedly have gotten much more out of it. As I strolled back to Laugavegur street, where I spent the rest of my evening browsing for the lowest prices for dinner (I ended up with a soft tortilla with rice and ham for 750 kroner, or $12) and a few small souvenirs, I couldn’t help but wish I could buy some of the gorgeous wool and stone crafts instead.

The next day, I signed up for a day bus tour with a local company, happy to sit my exhausted and now jet-lagged body in a comfortable seat while being shown the greater Iceland terrain. While the day tour was expensive, all told probably costing me around $150, I had no other way to see Iceland outside of Rekyjavik, and these tours also had guides which gave some interesting facts about Iceland and pointed out sites along the way.

We visited the Blue Lagoon first,and while I was skeptical of if the experience would be worth the cost, I actually found the naturally heated pool amazing. It was definitely a tourist hot spot, no pun intended. I really enjoyed it and even tried the natural silica face mask! (See picture of me with white stuff on my face. Picture taken by a kind British bloke.) We then headed out into the countryside visiting various sites including the location of the first Parliament: a beautiful spot with old houses, visible fault lines, and a gorgeous lake. Following a ‘summer road’, aka scarily narrow passage weaving through the extremely rocky hillside, we roamed the tree-less volcanic terrain traveling to Gullfoss, a large waterfall from which we could see the Long Glacier.

We also visited the Geysir, which went off every 8 minutes, shooting very warm water around 20ft into the air. While we visited many other minor spots, I was just as exhausted after this twelve-hour tour on a bus as I was on my walking tour the day before. I crashed at the hostel again, only to wake up at 3:30 am and catch a cab to the bus station (another 20 bucks down the drain just because I was taking the early shuttle that does not offer pick up at the hotels) where after arriving at the airport I am now waiting to meet some of my fellow students at the airport on our way to Denmark!

Start at the beginning

2007-08-26T09:43:00.000-07:00

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Well! It’s official. As I sit here in the terminal at the BTV airport (trying to learn a few words in Icelandic, thanks IBM crew!) I have gone almost nowhere, BUT, I am on my way. In typical Bednar travel fashion, I have encountered a few hang ups. My original flight to JFK from Burlington was cancelled, which has now landed me on a later flight that will have me running through the airport at JFK in an attempt to connect with my flight to Iceland. Hopefully I will make the flight to Iceland and bags will be transferred etc. We’ll see.

Once in Iceland, I plan to spend two days in Reykjavik, one touring the city and it’s museums on my own, and the other on a bus tour. I am staying at the city hostel until the morning of the 26th when I will meet up with some other students on the way to Copenhagen. With any luck (of which I have little) I will make it to Copenhagen on Sunday, but be ready for the next installment of travel with the Bednars. As many of you know, it’s always interesting.

Anyway, since this is my first entry, I feel obligated to give a little background. I’m from Essex, Vermont and worked this past summer as an intern at IBM. I am a junior at St. Lawrence University and am traveling abroad this semester to Copenhagen, Denmark. I have decided to keep a blog of my time abroad to help me remember the trip, to keep my friends and family informed, and also to keep me writing! I plan to minor in writing and keeping on blog through this journey will hopefully help me to at least stay used to writing. I will be studying at the Danish Institute for Study Abroad, or DIS, in Copenhagen and will be living with a family about 10 miles outside of the city. I am studying in the business and economics program, taking five courses total: three with a business and industrial focus, Danish and a course on modern China (I will visit China for 2 weeks in October!). It should be an interesting semester and I’m exited for my classes. But, let’s take this trip one step at a time. Right now, I just need to get out of Burlington!