Autumn 2015
During my stay in Denmark, I have come across some interesting renditions of American food and culture. Sometimes the English translation is close, and sometimes it isn't... Snap, Crackle, & Pop, is now Mims, Mams, Mums from Tiger, a cute and trendy version of the Dollar Store. Amerikansk Dressing Original.... "Good with Burger, Sausage, and Pasta." (from Sweden) BBQ Grill OIl...BBQ Sauce? Looks more like sweet crackers... Celebrating Halloween like Americans is relatively new. Now to the American Isle at the grocery store... Pancake mix, No-Bake cheesecake mix, maple syrup, Hershey's syrup, Jell-O Heinz Chili Beans, Baked Beans, Microwave Popcorn, Beef Jerky, Macaroni and Cheese and the Mexican Food isle No comment.. does Taco Sauce = Salsa? Maybe you put it on your Taco Tubs? A Mexican food truck that served Toastadas, Sandwiches and Smoothies. The toastada wasn't bad. A Zócalo restaurant right next to a Texas Longhorn Steakhouse in Malmö, Sweden. Fruity, gluten-free, Rocky Mountain Marshmallows, a "True American Tradition" American Style BBQ Hamburger bun And American Style BBQ "large" hotdog bread Texas Pecan Ice Cream is no Blue Bell Is the cheese nacho flavored? Bacon Snacks Chocolate Easter bunnies found their way into the Christmas section in November. Black Friday was huge in Copenhagen. Balloons were even tapped up around the fitness center. Danes just don't eat turkey, so I made all the side dishes for my German friends to try. When museum tickets are in English... Hmm Greetings from Stockholm! Last Friday, Toni, Isa, and I packed our bags for a long weekend to the bustling capital of Sweden. It was very cold and wet but it gave us the opportunity to sip hot chocolate (which was incredibly, incredibly sugary!). During the first day, Toni and I had to find emergency super thick wool socks. :) We flew with Ryanair--a budget airline that offers great deals. Our round trip ticket from Copenhagen was less than 25 euros! The small catch, we found out a few days before leaving, was that the airline flew into a much smaller airport in the 'region' of Stockholm. The bus ride to Stockholm from the Skatska airport was just an hour and a half, so not bad. Since we traveled farther north, the days were even shorter. Sunset was at 3:27pm!!! So we planned our days accordingly with outdoor exploration in the morning, and museums after dark. The darkness made me feel like its always about time to go to bed! On Saturday morning we invested in 72 hour transit passes, which allowed us to use metro and bus routes. The three of us went on a walking tour around the central station area of Stockholm. We saw were the Nobel prize is awarded (except Peace, which we saw in Oslo (our tour guide thought we were so smart!)), and the bank were "Stockholm Syndrome" began. The Old Town of Stockholm is an island that was essentially man-made out of trash. Sweden, as does all of Scandinavia, takes great pride in being green. According to our tour guide, trash is imported from Norway to be recycled... Drottningholm Palace is the residence palace of the Swedish Royal Family built in the sixteenth century. Inside was a huge marble entry way and rooms in the Baroque and Rococo style. The Library, or where the children would meet their tutors for studies looks like Belle's Library from Beauty and the Beast. Like the rest of Europe, Stockholm is setting up their Christmas markets. In the picture-perfect square Stortorget in Gamla Stan (Old Town), red wooden stalls for the markets are being prepared for opening, so it was hard to get a decent picture. The Gamla Stan area is very touristy, but still a fun place to walk around, visit shops, and have lunch. It was actually hard to find 'Swedish Meatballs,' so I settled for an elaborate veal and potato dish for our 'Swedish meal.' On our last full day in the city, we went on a canal tour for great views of the city and its huge parks and wildlife reserves. After, we visited the Vasa Museum, which was my favorite part of the entire trip. In the sixteen hundreds, Vasa was built for the Swedish King as a symbol of sea power because of its rich decorations and design. It was to be the first ship with double decker cannon decks. The project was not given enough sufficient time to experiment with this new design, and the ship ended up with a skewed center of gravity. The ship sailed all of twenty minutes of it's maiden voyage. Vasa sank in the bay in front of the whole city who had come out to watch. It was forgotten for 333 years, when in the 1960's, when Vasa was rediscovered and salvaged from the ocean floor. Most of the ship was well preserved, along with belongings of sailers, and a few skeletons. Vasa is currently being restored as archeologists are replacing old metal pins with stainless steal. It was a really great museum, and very interesting. Stockholm was really great, just really cold! All the buildings were either orange, yellow or red, not just the ones I took pictures of! I was glad to come home to Copenhagen, and a light snow is in the forecast for Sunday!
The last weekend in October I took a trip to Aarhus, the second largest city in Denmark. Toni was on a Danish Trip that happened to stop through Aarhus, and Isa and I traveled by bus. The 4 and a half bus ride left from the Copenhagen airport and dropped us off in downtown Aarhus. The city immediately felt much smaller than Copenhagen and many, many less people were out riding bikes. Most of the streets only had very narrow bike lanes, if any at all. I reserved an Air BnB and had it starred on my map app so the neighborhood was easy to find... or so we thought... We were in the vicinity of where we were staying and knew we were looking for apartment 10. So when Isa spied it, we naturally went right in. The hosts from AirBnB were actually out of town this weekend (in Copenhagen) and had left shortly before our arrival, so they said the door would be left unlocked for us. We knew the floor number of the apartment so we headed right up to what should have been an empty apartment...except there were voices inside...we knocked and were greeted by a very surprised man speaking loud Danish on the phone. We were just as surprised. After an awkward exchange of who were were and what we were looking for, Isa and I headed back outside...turns out there is another "Number 10" on the same street... The apartment was very cute, and we knew it was the correct location because of the note left for us. :) After relaxing, Isa and I walked to the city center (not very far) to get a feel of Aarhus. Since the time changed, it now gets dark shortly after 4:30pm, so it always feels a lot later than it really is. We had a nice dinner where we found out that restaurants in Denmark can be reasonably priced, when not in Copenhagen! Our AirBnB host left us with bike keys for the weekend, which is how we found out that our hosts must be very tall Danes. We did not have any tools to lower the bike seats, so Isa and I just dealt with it, and looked extremely funny riding way too tall for us bikes around town, pedaling with the tips of our toes. We already stood out because not very many people were riding bikes in the first place! We met up with Toni on her Danish city tour to explore Aarhus together, where we went up to the bell tower of the city's church for a great view. Parts of the town look just like Copenhagen. The best thing of the morning is that in the Latin Quarter of Aarhus, I found a burrito shop. It was so good. The art museum in Aarhus, ARoS, is known for its modern architecture, and especially its My Rainbow Panorama view on the roof. We spent probably 25 minutes walking around and seeing the city in different color filters. There was also a nice exhibit on Monet and other Impressionist artists. On Sunday morning Isa and I visited the Botanical Gardens, then the Women's museum, which is housed in the old town hall of Aarhus. Below is the ticket. I don't think a museum in the US would print a ticket like these... My weekend in Aarhus was a great Danish town to visit to escape the bustling city of Copenhagen for a few days. :)
Fall in Copenhagen is very beautiful! The leaves on the trees actually change colors and there are picture-perfect piles of leaves on the ground. The pictures below (click to enlarge) are from Frederiksberg Slot Park, Kronburg Castle where the Crown Jewels are kept, Kulturnitten, and pumpkin carving. Kulturnitten is a very organized city-wide festival one evening a year where museums, theatres, and various government buildings in Copenhagen open up their doors to the public free of charge... to anyone who has purchased a special Kulturnitten pin. (only availible at 7-11 corner stores, of course!) It was the perfect opportunity to see many of the city's beautiful views and buildings in one night, and for one price. Toni and I visited the technical University and a theatre not far from Signalhuset where we live. The metro was free this evening, so we were able to cover a lot of ground-- and the churches that we visited were hosting choir concerts so it was nice to sit and listen for a while. We climbed up two different towers in the city for a grand view of Copenhagen. The botanical gardens were very crowded with visitors to see the greenhouses lit up in various colors. The festivities lasted from 5pm to 5am, but I was worn out by midnight! Carving pumpkins with Isa and Toni was exciting since they hadn't done it ever, or in many years. It was a fun night to show them "an American tradition." My friends kept on commenting on how Christmas-y carving jack o'lanterns felt to them. But of course, I had to correct them that "this" was for Halloween, THEN its Thanksgiving season, and THEN it is Christmas. The Christmas season started in Denmark the day the time changed! The mall across the street from me put out their Christmas trees on October 30th! Christmas decorations are everywhere already! The celebration of the Danish Christmas Beer release is November 6! And I thought the United States started celebrating early.... This last week flew by! Or rather, it sailed by! My friends and I embarked on a "Mini Cruise" to Oslo, Norway for a stunning deal of only 25 kroner-- just shy of $4. By the time we learned of the special offer, there were only a handful of dates left. So just a few days later, we packed lots of fruits and sandwiches to have during our 3 day trip to Oslo. We left Tuesday afternoon with DFDS Seaways at 4:30. Toni and I met Isa and their friend Mel of Australia at an S-Train station not far from where the ship was docked. The ship was a larger than I expected--the name "Mini Cruise" mislead me-- it was a full size cruise ship complete with restaurants, shops, and a casino. We had two small cabins with a connecting door. We slept on fold down bunk beds that were surprisingly comfy.
The boat was not very crowded, which perhaps explains the cheap tickets mid week. We explored the inside and outside of the ship, made friends with the piano player, and window shopped at the crowded and still over-priced "Duty Free Sea Shop." The food on board was very expensive, as we foresaw, so it was a good thing we bought our own breakfast foods. There were TV monitors around the ship with a map showing our location. Isa and I noticed on our own when we sailed right past Kronborg Castle in Helsingør where we visited together a few weeks earlier. In the evening there was a pretty good cover band performing in one of the lounges. Of course they were all english pop songs. The ship arrived in Oslo the next morning shortly after 9am, and would leave again for Copenhagen the same day at 4:30 in the afternoon. The four of us had a lot of ground to cover in a short time, but we really did see a lot of Oslo. We were back Thursday morning at 9am--in time to make it to Danish Culture Class. We visited the obligatory parts of any European city-- pedestrian streets, Town Hall, and the Royal Palace--but used our time wisely to find areas unique to Oslo. My favorite was a short hike (okay, not really a hike, but even the slightest elevation climb is something you cannot get in Denmark...) to Arkershus, an old castle fortress. The one lone guard patrolling the top moved very abruptly and seemed to follow the four of us around the grounds. From the top of the cliff, the hillside of Oslo with many buildings and homes met the bay with wooden ships in the harbor. The trees were showing signs of autumn colors. My other favorite was the ultra modern Opera House. The sleek and slanted building is situated nearly on the water and the design allows visitors to stroll up to the top of the building for a view of the other side of Oslo. From the top we could see our ship again, and had the perfect amount of time to check in again and board before we embarked back to Copenhagen! We walked over 28,000 steps that day! Happy Fall from Denmark. Over the past few weeks, I've tried to take advantage of warm(ish) sunny days by actively participating in city life. feel like I've finally found my groove in CPH. I have found a group of friends and we have done most everything together since! I met Toni of Germany in my kollogium (apartment) meet and greet a few weeks ago. Only five people other than the Resident Assistant attended the event, so I was able to actually get to know the other residents over the hour.
On the first day of my Danish Culture Course, I happened to sit next to Isa, also of Germany. She and I toured the Louisiana museum together, sort of by chance, and found that our ways of thinking are very similar. On Wednesdays the Student House in the center of Copenhagen serves a hot meal to students at a discounted price. I had read about the event on the Studenterhuset website, which made the gathering sound like a meet and greet, and that it was OK to come by yourself. I thought it sounded like a great way to reach out to other bachelor level students since 2 of my classes are made up of older, master level students. It was a rainy evening and quite chilly, but I decided to go to the "Meet and Eat" anyway. The set up was not as and inviting as I had initially imagined. The house was crowded, but everyone seemed immersed in conversations at small tables and when I asked someone about the "Meet and Eat," they didn't know what I was talking about. I hung out in the house awkwardly for what seemed like forever, until I could buy a meal ticket. I made a few attempts to join into conversations, but they died off and then was uncomfortable. In my head, I went back and forth as to weather I should stay or go home-- I was tired and the food was late and it was going to be a long, wet bike ride home. I had almost made up my mind when I saw Isa walk in and throw her stuff in a corner with other girls. And it turned out that Toni was in that group! Isa and Toni had met at their orientations. I was also introduced to Burcu of Turkey. We had our hot meal and I marveled at my luck that out of the thousands of students in Copenhagen, two people I knew, knew each other as well! Good thing I didn't leave the Student House too quickly. The four of us made plans to meet Saturdays for brunch and we began to plan other excursions ourselves. We have since stumbled upon a city event called Hej KBH, or Hey Copenhagen, a pop-up festival in a new public area each week. There are usually food trucks (below is a a tostada from a Mexican food truck that also sold milkshakes...) and live music, usually jazz. We have also stumbled upon a Nordic Music Festival...very interesting sounds and instruments... It has been exciting exploring the city with my new friends. We all are interested in the culture of the Danes and aren't afraid to try new things. I've also learned a lot of German history and culture, too. ;) I signed up for a gym membership across the street in the mall. I tried, and really like, a new class called Bokwa. (It is apparently from LA, but I've never heard of it before). Bokwa is dance fitness, but totally different from Zumba. Bokwa is based of the idea of making numbers and letters with your feet. Once you practice the patterns of the letters a few times, you learn a sequence where you put all of the patterns together. At the end, the dance is probably 2 minutes in length to continuous pop music. It feels like a dance crew, since the instructor demonstrates the move, and the class joins in. Besides me, theres usually only one other young person in the class of maybe eighteen or twenty. After my first class many people came up to me and were impressed how fast I caught on for my first time at Bokwa. My favorite was, "shit, you're brilliant!" Blake had some time off from his program in Oxford and took advantage of the super cheep (~$16) flights to Copenhagen. I was able to show him what I've learned about the city, and he had the chance to be a part of the bike culture. This last weekend we (Toni, Isa, Blake and I) went to Malmö, Sweden, twenty minutes away by train for the day. Malmö is much quieter than the streets of downtown Copenhagen, and the young people wear brighter colors. Along the pedestrian streets are stores and many artist galleries. We visited the Malmö Castle, which is now a museum with multiple exhibitions. We payed just over $3 and didn't even see the half of the museum because it was so large. For some reason, there are multiple Mexican burrito restaurants, one of which was right next to a Texas Longhorn restaurant. We opted for more "traditional" eateries. Other fun things in the last two weeks: -The Sound of Music performed in Danish at a small theater. Excellent seats! -City Tour with my Culture Course ending with the changing of the Royal Guards -Jumping on the trampolines embedded in the sidewalk along a canal -exploring a cemetery that is beautiful, and much more like a park -visit to the Little Mermaid -made delicious hamburgers with roommates -Friday Bars on Campus -Babysat for a Texas Ex (paid in Kroner and Dollars ;) )
I had the chance to visit Tivoli, the theme park in downtown Copenhagen at one of the last Summer Season nights. They had a light show over the water, and some Danish pop band performing. The park closes for a few weeks, and then re-opens for Halloween, and then again for Christmas. With my Danish Culture Class, we had a weekend excursion to Louisiana, a Modern Art Museum just north of Copenhagen. Its main focus is to be open to all ages, and to give the sense of "a walk in the park" when going through the exhibits. There was artwork inside and out, with a view of Sweden on the windy, but clear day! I also biked down to Amagar [pronounced Ama] beach and watched wind surfing! The sculpture museum downtown is free on Tuesdays! I had a lovely brunch with my new friends at a cafe, then we explored the city. My friend, Isa of Germany, and I took a train up to Helsingør, (Elsinore in English), to visit Kronborg Castle. This castle is known as "Hamlet's Castle."
Technically, I live in Ørestad, pronounced "Oolhwa stel" (no "L's" in the word, but it sounds like there are 2!) , about 2 miles outside of Copenhagen. The metro runs out here, but most people, including me, bike the long and straight 3 mile bike path back into the city. Along the route is a park with what I think are extensive trails, but I haven't had the time to check it out yet. It can be very windy on the ride to the main bridge. It takes about 25 minutes to the city center. Once in the city, everything is quite close. I have a metro card, a "Rejsekort" in case of bad weather. There is a station a 5 minute walk from my residence hall, Signalhouset, and I can be in the city in 10 minutes. The area of Ørestad is very urban. Many modern apartment and office buildings line the sky. The main draw to the area is Fields, Denmark's largest shopping mall, which happens to be literally right across the street from my kollegium, or apartment-style dorm. If I tell people that I live at "Fields," they know what I mean. Right inside Fields is a Bilka, which to me looks like a Walmart. They have anything I could ever need- groceries, clothes, electronics--all literally across the street. I'm not sure if the quality of Bilka is like a Walmart or not yet... The food is quite expensive in the grocery store, but I'm lucky that I don't have to travel to the store. The mall itself also has every upscale clothing store thought of, and a fitnessdk, where I have a membership so I can go to Zumba classes, and go "sporting." Also, right outside my place is an Irma, essentially a Whole Foods organic grocery store. Its fun to look in, but really all that is affordable is the organic peanut butter. :) At the kollegium Signalhouset, the residents are mostly international students, but there are a few Danes. All the furniture was provided. Most of it is IKEA. I have 3 flatmates. Thea from Denmark, Pricillia from Indonisa (but goes to school in Japan), and Josje (not pronounced like Josie at all, but more like Yo-suRe) from the Netherlands. They are all very friendly and its been fun getting to know them and of their cultures. One of the first nights we each made a dish from our country, My flatmates consider brownies from a box mix or fast food to be American. I just made the salad... My room has a balcony that overlooks...the inside of the complex. During the day, its not too aesthetically pleasing, but at night the lights from the parking garage mimic a starry night, and is a view I can enjoy. My other flatmates have a view of the Field's sign. There is a park behind the complex complete with a playground, soccer fields, and for the next month, a Circus tent with camels milling around. I only have class on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, each of which start at either 12 or 1pm, so I have the mornings to myself. I've been trying to leave Ørestad around 9 or 10 because at that time, there are other people out biking into the city. Its more fun when others are on the path. It is also fun to be part of the pack riding home around 4 or 5pm. Its amazing how the cars yield to pedestrians. There are 3 traffic circles, all in a row, on my ride home , and traffic can back up while the bikes are free to go. Last Sunday when I was riding home the long 3 mile straight was closed off to cars--not to bikes--because of a In-Line Skating race. If I had been about thirty minutes earlier, I may have seen some action... On Fridays and Saturdays, different Faculties [Majors] hold parties on campus. I went to check out Political Science's, as they were first on the rotation for the semester. By day a hispter coffee lounge on campus, by night a bar complete with a disco ball and loud music. A few of the classrooms upstairs were open for a more relaxed environment where people could actually talk--mostly other exchange students. I enjoyed that more than the downstairs part mostly because everyone was smoking cigarettes. This weekend I had the opportunity to meet an American family from the Helotes area through one of my mom's coworker's friend. Nicole and her two daughters met me at the National Art Museum, which of course, is free, and of course, they arrived by bike. It is very common to see parents riding Christiana bikes with two or more kids. Kids and cargo, not just toddlers! After the museum we rode to the Little Mermaid statue and by the iconic street of Nyhavn. To supplement this personalized tour, on Tuesday morning, I took a free walking tour that visited the Royal Palace and Town Hall, among others. For lunch on the tour I had a street hotdog --apparently very Danish. It was covered in fried crispy toppings, mustard, ketchup, and pickles. I'm not usually a hotdog person, but this was worth the 28 kroner. Since there are multiple campuses and I arrived after "welcome week," I never had a traditional campus tour. That being said, I find new things each day. Kind of hidden on each campus are Kanteens, or small dining halls that have food that looks good for a student budget. Anywhere else in the city it would be very difficult to get a full hot meal for under $4. My classes have been great because I've actually had time to read and understand the reading, unlike at UT where I seem to have a million other things to take care of each day. I usually try to have just 3 things on my to-do list each day. Especially with having to bike everywhere, 3 tasks can easily be a full day. Bye! |
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