Off off and away

The last week has been a little hecktic. But before that last weekend was a fun one, on Friday I went out to a club with some friends and had a fun time dancing then saturday I went with my host parents to a famous castle in Helsingnor where Shakespeare's Hamlet is supposed to be set.






Then this week arrived with lots of school work and even more so outside of school work in preparation for the journey I am going to embark on tomorrow. DIS gives its students a generous two week travel break so that they can jet, rail, hitchhike, whatever around europe. My plans for were half way there at the beginning of this week and are finally all coming together now. Tomorrow night I will be getting on a ridiculously long bus ride ( 10 to 15 hours I think) to go to a town in Czech Republic where I will be staying in a castle by night and hiking, climbing, ect. by day. This trip is all set up by DIS and has 50 other students on it including my friends Becca and Margaret among other students I know so it should be a recipe for fun. That trip ends on Thursday in Prague and while some students will be hopping back on the bus back to CPH this is when Becca and I are going off on our own adventure. We will spend the night in prague then take a plane the next day to Milan. From Milan we will jump on the train..EUrail passes in hand..to Venice where we will be staying for three nights. Then the train again will take us to Florence for another three nights. We are hoping to take a stop to Pisa on the day we travel to our last location of Cinque Terra an amazing place on the western coast that is made of five different towns on the cliffs where you can hike in between. Lots to plan and think about but both we are trying to have an open mind and go with a flow. I am sure I will have A LOT to say when I get back and many pictures to provide. So hold tight for two weeks and wish me luck! oh and Happy Halloween!!! (its not really celebrated here like the US so I am not missing too much being on the bus.)

Meat, potatoes, sause.

This morning when I woke up it was still dark outside and reaaaaaly hard to convince myself it was time to get out of bed. Then as I took my brisk three minute walk to the train station I saw a man scraping frost off his wind shield, and to top it off I could see my breathe. This is just a little message to everyone in the US who has been griping about the onset of fall and cooler temperatures. We are in the thick of it here and it ain't gettin any warmer thats for sure.

The topic was wanted to address in the post is food. If anyone was wondering what Danish quinine is like consult the title of this post and there it is summed up. No seriously, I eat dinner with my host family most every night around 6 and it almost always is boiled potatoes meat, possibly wrapped in a different kind of meat and always a sauce for it all like a brown vinegary sauce or bernaise (sp?). Tonight we had mashed Potatoes with a read sauce that had bacon, pork AND cut up hotdogs in it oh and some mushrooms in there too. The Danish schools are currently having a fall vacation because of the potato holiday. This comes from back in the day when kids needed to be at home to harvest the potatoes so got off school.

this gives you a good idea of how important potatoes are to these people. Anyhow as much as I could use some more veggies in my life I am not complaining its delicious and home made what more could I ask for. Also danish desert is quite a treat. My host mother is always making cakes even when there is nothing special happening. Tonight we has pancakes, which are more equivalent to crepes, after dinner yumm. And my favorite sweet treat is Flødeboller (another very difficult to say danish word) its essentially a chocolate covered marshmallow but the marshmallow is really fluffy and soft, soo good! So now you see a little what its like to eat in denmark... carbs... meat.. sweets.. and your occasional veggie. This all being said you will be happy to know last week I joined a local gym called palm fitness that is really snazzy and nice. To get in I have to use a key fob and then my fingerprint in a little scanner thing its pretty high tech. Hopefully the nice ascetics of this place will make me want to go there and the "danish dozen" pounds I could be gaining.

Another food related topic is my weekend activities. One my my friend's parents were in town and they took me out to a very sophisticated restaurant in copenhagen that some of their "foodie" friends had recommended. It was a wild experience. What you ate was already planed you had little choice in the matter and they kept bringing different very unique and creative dishes starting with an artichoke chip sprinkled with truffle and then a quail egg with dill. good thing everyone at dinner was not taking it too seriously and we all had a laugh when they brought is what looked like a slug on a glass rock that was apple juice in jelly form with seaweed topping that they suggested you flip into your mouth so we all had to slurp the little glob off the rock as curiously as we could manage. Over my taste buds were delighted at sensations I could not have previously imagined. Also last weekend I went to a viking ship museum which was cool and also attended copenhagen culture night where all the museums and city attractions are open until 12am and the streets are crowded with people. This weekend I don't have any big plans so far but things are in the works and I do have a lot of work for school so working to balance it all! What an exciting life me and my stomach are leading!

TURKEY!

The week before last I spent in Istanbul Turkey on a class trip. All DIS students were on week long trips outside of denmark for the week with their core class. My core class is Migration and Identity and we have been learning a lot about immigration and integration in Denmark. A lot of immigrants in Denmark are from turkey so we traveled there to study the situation of minorities in Turkey. The trip was a mix of work and play but overall was a blast! We flew out of CPH on saturday night and arrived in Istanbul pretty late after about a three and a half hour flight with a one hour time change. After checking into the hotel I got my first glimpse of the city as a group of us went on a search for water. Flying dehydrates you and you can not drink the tap water in turkey so we were all parched. we walked the main pedestrian street where vendors are selling lots of roasted chestnuts and also mussels in the shell. Our mission was a success and we went back to the hotel for some rest.

The first day we spent doing all touristy and non-academic stuff. The first stop was the Hagia Sophia a massive and beautiful building that served as a cathedral from 360 until 1453 then a mosque from 1453 until 1934 and is now a museum. It is very interesting because now there are symbols and items from both religions mixed in this one building which is pretty unique.





The next activity was to go to the old palace which was not as glam as european palaces i have seen because no visitors came inside so the rooms were not dressed to impress. what was impressive though was the view across the straits to the asian side of the city. it was very beautiful.




After the palace we had free time and our guide recommended we all visit the Humum or turkish bath... this was my favorite experience of the trip. The bath is a large warm room with a huge octagonal stone in the middle that is heated. You enter the back and first find/jostle for a spot to lay on the stone. You relax and work up a little sweat while turkish women chat on in the the very echoey room around you. then when you are ready or you have cold water splashed on your feet like me you turn yourself over to one of the stout Turkish mamas to be washed. they scrub you with a special cloth instructing to lay down turn over sit up and lack back down in turkish and with some prodding. they even wash you hair, although nothing like the salon they dump bucket after bucket of water over you hear so you are gasping between sheets of sudds falling down your face. there is also a step where they cover you in bubbles which was pretty enjoyable. After this you can take a dip in the Jacuzzi and be finished at your leisure. I go the full package so i then waited for an oil massage. I have only had one other massage but this was a very different one then traditional. your in a line of six massage tables the Turkish ladies are blabbering on the whole time and they thoroughly shellac you with oil. they say turkish massage is much rougher then Swedish but i think this is more true for the men. needless to say I was pretty much in a trace by the end.
That night we had dinner and a guest speaker but what was really interesting was there was an earthquake! it was a small one but we were on the top floor of the building so it was a solid shake. everyone and everything was fine and we continued our dinner without a hitch. the food and view were great and the mosques look beautiful at night



The second day we had some meeting in the morning that were fairly interesting. I drank some really really delicious mint, lemon and honey tea during some free time and we had lunch on another rooftop with a very very beautiful view of the asian side. After the lunch we took the ferry over to asia! There we walked thought a bustling market and then out onto a pear where we enjoyed the sun and a view of the sea.


It was a windy ferry





That night we got a little taste of the Istanbul night life at a rooftop bar but it was almost entirely empty because it was a monday night. still the view was great and the night not too cold.

On tuesday we went to a really nice Greek school in the morning and a minority neighborhood that was full of life and the place where the patriarch of the greek orthodox church resides. At the church the some girls who were embracing the warm weather in shorts has to cover their legs with scarves to be respectable enough to enter. After we took a stop at the spice market to shop a bit. I got my Host mother some tea (unfortuanetly it did not taste as good as it had smelled and we did not like it) That night we had an activity of meeting up with Turkish students at a Hooka place. That was generally a strange school sponsored activity that i could never see happening in the US. the students were nice but some were more keen to americans then others. While we were there we went to a waffle stand and got AMAZING waffles that had nutella, banana, strawberry, kiwi, chocolate ice cream, nuts and chocolate on top





The next day we had a lecture in the afternoon and went to a center for refugees from iraq where we herd some truly heartbreaking stories of fleeing home. That night we ate a great family style turkish meal which involves a lot of meat. Some friends and I went to a cafe to have delicious chocolate cake for desert before heading back to the hotel

The last day was raining quite a bit and I spent most of the day in the labyrinth that is the grand bazar. the trick of the bazar is haggling with the seller. we worked on it though the day and it was a fun thing to experience. That night we had our last dinner on the top floor of a building and it was delicious and great. after dinner the place turned into a nightclub so they turned on the music and we all danced and had a ball. We had to be ready at 530 in the morning to leave so needless to say most people got very little sleep and the scene in the morning was quite comical. Overall it was a really great trip with fun people and lots to see and experience in the Huge, beautiful, and wonderful city of Istanbul!

fall has fallen

There are leaves on the ground here and some foliage changing colors and most of all we are loosing light fast! Although this gives me the urge to snuggle up and take naps all day I have been pretty busy lately and have a lot of fun stuff coming up soon. Also I would like to note that time is flying! i have been here over a month and I can not believe it I am worried I will blink and it will all already be over because I am having such a great time.
One of the highlights of my week was playing squash. With Brian's (the father in my host family) help I set up a squash match with a 20year old danish girl who played on the junior national team so I was pretty intimidated but she turned out to be really nice and although she was winning the games we played we were not too unevenly matched and had a nice time. I am hoping to play again with her sometime soon. Other then that in between going to classes I am normally wandering the streets, especially a popular walking street near school called Stroget (the et is silent when you say it... danish is impossible). I have checked out some cool thrift stores, found my favorite cafe and the best bakery. One fun fact is that the univeral sign for a bakery in denmark is a pretzel with a crown on top. here is an example...
Another fun bakery face is yes Denmark does have Very Delicious danishes but here they call them wienerbrød which means bread from vienna because thats where they are said to come from.
This weekend has been great, on friday I spent a bunch of time working on plans for the travel break we have in the beginning of november which was equal parts thrilling and stressful. At night my host family and I went to the Danish aquarium and science center because it was a special night and they stayed open late and were free. We had a ball looking at the pretty, gross, creepy and funny fish and then tried all of the cool interactive exhibits at the experimentium. We then came home and ate some ice cream topped with what I can oly describe as chocolate covered marshmallows, a delicious danish specialty. here are a few pictures from the night. Me in a bubble.Mikkel in a Bubble
Wind tunnel
sea turtle!



On saturday I got adventurous took a trip with my friend Becca out to Hillerød to see the castle there. I had to take the train and an hour bus to get there but I was very proud when I made it there and back with no navigation problems. The castle was so amazing, it was Huge and beautiful! Not to mention really old. the oldest parts of the castle were built in 1560 and most of the structure dates from 1602 to 1620. The town was also really nice with lots of shops. We took out own tour of the castle and were in awe of everything. You walk into a beautiful room with portraits all over the walls and ornate furniture and decorations and think its beautiful only to look up and see that the ceiling is like a piece of artwork with golden designs and full paintings. At one point we walked onto a balcony overlooking the courtyard to see a whole wedding coming out of the church, the happy couple posed for photos as we watched, it was like a fairytale. After seeing all of the inside of the castle we went outside to the gardens and the grey clouds that had been looming all day went away to make it totally picturesque and sunny. We walked around the garden then took a path around the lake that goes right up to the castle walls. To top off a great day I got a three scoop ice-cream cone that was Huge and Delicious! That night I went to a fun party at friends apartment that was about half americans and half danes. Today we celebrated Mikkel's birthday, which is tomorrow, by going out for brunch. Here are some pictures from the castle, I hope they do it justice.


There were real antlers in the walls

The fairytale wedding

This picture of the king was on the ceiling.

looks like a nice place to sleep

view of the garden from inside.


Looking towards the gardens

Becca and I using some perfectly pruned bushes for our self timer

The Castle... so pretty

icecream!


As much stuff as I have been doing now things are just getting started. Next saturday I am leaving to go to turkey for a week with my core class. I am so excited although I don't really know what to expect. Then in the beginning of november I will be spending a week in Chez Republic and then a week in Italy. I am excited for this travel but also continuing to enjoy this wonderful city!

Hygge!

The weather is really getting nippier here and with that change I am beginning to more fully understand the danish word/lifestyle of Hygge. There is no word like this in the english language, although people translate it as cozy that does not fully capture the concept. Wikipedia supplied me with this excellent discription...

"One of the fundamental aspects of Danish culture is "hygge", which, although translated as "coziness" is more akin to "tranquility". Hygge is a complete absence of anything annoying, irritating, or emotionally overwhelming, and the presence of and pleasure from comforting, gentle, and soothing things. Hygge is often associated with family and close friends. Christmas time when loved ones sit close together with candles lit on a cold rainy night is "hygge", as is grilling a pølse (Danish sausage) on a long summer evening. These examples, although they do not precisely define "hygge", can give an English speaker an idea of a deeply valued traditional concept of Danish culture"

When discussing this with my host family they also noted it can be different people and although it is often characterized by this relaxing snuggley scene if your a person who gets the best feeling you can by exercising or playing a sport you love (aka many of my family members) you can feel hygge then too. I felt Hygge today when I was at Kafe Kunsten (which means something like cafe of art), a local coffee I frequent. I came in from the rain and the shop owner showed me he just put a back massageing cover on one of the chairs so I sat and had my sore back (from squash saturday) messaged. Then I ordered my chi latte, which comes with delicious gingersnaps if your not taking the drink to go. I sat a a booth with a candle on the table and my friend put on a jazz record on the player it was very Hygge!

Alternitively I have taught my host family a related english term that they really like.... Food Coma and now they are always saying at the end of dinner we are all in a food coma!

This is the cat Finke she is feeling Hygge on my bed, or maybe its a food coma I can't tell...