Once a List-maker, Always a List-Maker

So, this will probably be my LAST BLOG POST before my return to Seattle. Crazy, scary, exciting? Yes, yes, yes. The past few days I have been re-reading my earlier blogs, and it’s so funny to think back to my first couple of days here, when I was so unsure of how my semester would unfold. Since then, I have experienced so many wonderful things (and tasted so many delicious foods), I cannot hope to sum it all up in one final reflective statement. List-maker that I am, however, I will attempt to do so in a few different statements. Probably fighting a losing battle, but it’s the best I got.

This Semester I Learned:

• To actually enjoy tea.
• How to speak Danish (not really) and understand it (just listen for key words)
• How much I really do LOVE eating.
• The procrastination fairy exists all over the world.
• How to eat with a knife and fork and not look like a 3 year old (now I eat more like a 9 year old).
• To love candles (never mind the fire hazard).
• How to make proper smørrebrød
• How to use Danish kroner (though I may have forgotten how American money works…)
• What I’ll probably do for my career/life (kind of important)
• How much I love Europe (and how to travel around it by myself)
• The importance of hygge

Jeg vil savner (I will miss): 

• My favoritest host family (and my bestest host dog!) <3
• Wienerbrød
• Home-cooked Danish food
• Danish 7/11s
• My commute (and seeing Frederiksborg Castle every day!)
• Candles/hygge
• Tea, cookies, and candy every night
• Danish fashion and shopping (so many sweaters!)
• DIS friends–Why won’t you all just move to Minnesota?
• Being a short  plane ride away from anywhere in Europe
• Hearing Danish everywhere I go
• Being a short walk away from hundreds of years of history and culture

I’m looking forward to:

• Eating Mexican/Thai/Indian/Japanese/Chinese/Vietnamese/all non-European food
• “Cheap” not being defined as under 100 kr.
• SLEEPING ALL DAY EVERY DAY
• Seeing my sister and my doggy!
• Driving my car!
• SO MUCH BUBBLE TEA
• Being able to understand people around me
• Seeing Carleton people again! (and returning to Carleton academics…)
• Giving everybody all their European gifts
• Regressing to my baggy sweatpants self (but also bringing a little Danish fashion back home)

Obviously all those lists could go on forever, but that’s a brief summary for you. If you couldn’t tell, I’m pretty conflicted about all this–on the one hand, there’s so much to look forward to about going home, but there’s also so much that will be missing in my life once I leave Denmark. Luckily, I still have one more day to see a couple last friends, eat my last morsels of Danish food, and have one last hyggeligt dinner with my host family (or rather, Charlotte and Cille). Above all, it’s my host family that has really made this experience as great as it was, and I can’t thank them enough for everything they’ve done for me. This has truly been an amazing semester, and I am SO glad I chose to come to DIS.

 

Stage One: Denial (and maybe a bit of Bargaining)

I really cannot believe I only have 3 days left in Denmark. The strangest part is not that I’m going to be leaving, but that I don’t know when I’ll return. It’s crazy to be saying goodbye to everyone I’ve spent the past 4 months with, not knowing when or if I’ll see them again. Of course, I’m hoping to do some cross-country visiting, as well as returning to Europe soon, but none of that is at all certain. Luckily we have Facebook nowadays, so I’m certain I won’t completely lose touch with people, but I’m certainly going to miss everybody, especially my amazing host family!

Speaking of, last Saturday we all went to Tivoli together (and met up with Kenneth, friend of the family and owner of Oswald–pronounced OSS-vel–cutest dog ever). We took the train so we wouldn’t have to pay for parking, which made for a pretty funny switching of roles. Usually it’s my host family showing me around and telling me how to do things, but since they rarely take the train or go into Copenhagen at all, it was me and Nanna showing everybody how to do it. It was nice to know that I’ve learned at least one useful thing these past four months.

We started out by going to Nyhavn, which is the canal area you will always see if you look up photos of Copenhagen. Despite its fame, it’s actually pretty small, and even my host family was surprised when we reached the end of the Christmas market there after only about 10 stalls. We then headed over along Strøget towards Tivoli. It was pretty weird being in the area I walk around all the time with my DIS friends, but with my host family. We stopped in some of the shops along the way to look at the Christmas sales, but unfortunately all the cafes we checked had no free tables. So instead we went to a cafe when we first got into Tivoli to have gløgg (mulled wine with raisins and almonds) and æbleskiver (the Danish pancake balls)–very typical Danish Christmastime fare. It was pretty cold outside, so we all enjoyed the chance to warm up a bit and chat for a while.

Tivoli itself was a whole different place (compared to the last time I went). It was covered in lights and decorations (Russian Christmas theme this year) and filled with Christmas market stalls. We wandered around to see all the pretty decorations and stopped to shop at a few of the stalls, including one making fresh flødeboller! We bought 2 boxes–white chocolate and coffee flavors. Yum yum. After we made it around most of the park once, everybody was cold, especially Cille, so we decided to head home for an ordered pizza dinner.

according to my host mom, the swans are because of the "ugly duckling" story

The pizza was actually an interesting experience in and of itself. We stopped on the way home to pick it up, and we each got to pick out our own. There were some really interesting topping choices, including shawarma, lettuce, and dressing. I ended up getting one with gorgonzola (one of their main cheese options), onions, ham, and bacon. It was not a typical pizza by American standards, but it was actually pretty tasty.

On Sunday, I had a relaxing morning of sleeping, watching TV, and cleaning my room up a bit before Shuyao arrived for a sleepover! Originally both Mariya and Shuyao were going to come, but Mariya had a 12 page paper due Tuesday for her class at København University, so she had to stay home and work. My host dad left that afternoon for a business trip (and won’t be back before I leave, so  had to say goodbye–so sad!), so it was a girls-only evening. Charlotte’s good friend Christina came over for dinner, for which we had a traditional Danish meal. I don’t know what the Danish name for it was, but it was basically like brisket with mashed potatoes, gravy and green beans. Yum yum yum. For dessert, we had gløgg and æbleskiver and had an interesting conversation about politics. Then Shuyao and I watched Love Actually, a Christmas classic, with cookies and milk before falling asleep for a lovely 9 hours. It was really fun to have another friend over to visit with my host family, and the whole evening was quite hyggeligt.

The next morning Shuyao and I walked around the outside of Frederiksborg and the Baroque Gardens before she caught the bus to the train station. When we parted ways, I headed down Hillerød’s own Strøget to do a bit of shopping. Though I was supposed to be Christmas shopping, I ended up buying some things for myself. Oops? Still, I was able to cross a few things off my list, and I had a great time doing it. It was also just fun to hang out in my own town and being able to walk home at the end of the day instead of worrying about bus and train schedules. It made me wish I’d spent a little more time in Hillerød this semester just exploring rather than always heading into Copenhagen at every chance.

Yesterday (Tuesday), I met Elise in Copenhagen around 1pm to do some more shopping. It was a pretty gross day out, with plenty of wind and rain to go around, so we tried to stay inside as much as possible. We walked all the way down Strøget, popping in shops along the way, and Elise found a circle scarf while I finished off the last of my Christmas list. Midway through our excursion, we stopped at Agnes Cupcakes for a delicious $6 treat that was so worth the extra money.

That night, I went to Lacey’s house again for one last farewell dinner. We had spaghetti with cookies I brought for dessert, and I was able to give Frida (her little host sister) a photo of me for her Vennerbog that I filled out last time. It was very hyggeligt, and we watched the Danish Christmas calendar show together. Apparently every December one of the networks puts on a miniseries that runs every night in December. It continues about a half an hour every night until Christmas. There are at least a couple different shows–one for small children, this year about elves in Greenland, and one for older children about kids living in a castle with ghosts. It seems most  Danish families keep up with the shows, so I’ve seen both from time to time, but have not really followed the plot very closely (plus it’s a bit difficult for me to know what’s going on, seeing as it’s in Danish).

It’s been so weird saying goodbye to people–so far I have had to say a (probably) final goodbye to Elise, Lacey, Lauren, Matt, my host dad of course, and possibly Shuyao if I do not see her again tomorrow.  I really cannot believe I am leaving Saturday–a couple nights ago Charlotte asked me about my flight times so we could plan when we’d leave for the airport, and I got freaked out for a second as I was forced out of my denial, before slowly shoving that thought back into the back of my head. Even though I’ve started packing now (and it looks like my bags will be underweight yay!), there’s some huge part of me that really just thinks this is all made up, and I’ll go back to classes any day now.

It’s Best When Everybody’s Here

The Danish school system apparently has a big problem with absenteeism, and there’s a very interesting campaign that’s trying to help with this problem. One main piece of it is this music video created by the Ministry of Education to try to encourage kids to go to school. It’s actually pretty funny, especially if you look up the lyrics, which are in Danish here but you can use Google Translate to get an idea. Basically these are all teachers singing about how they miss you and they want you to come to school. Apparently the song is at least catching on, and you can see youth singing it, though it’s not clear if it makes them come to school or not.

And here’s the video:

Never Want to Say Goodbye

So I’m (almost) officially done with work now. Just one test left on Friday, and I’m home free! That means more time to eat–I mean blog. I’ll start by catching up on my weekend, which was busy but lots of fun and very Danish.

Saturday was my host farfar, Eric’s (Søren’s dad) 70th birthday party. In the afternoon, my host mormor (Charlotte’s mom) came over from Jylland (Jutland) with her husband for lunch. We all went to the party around 5pm to be early because it started at 6pm. The first part of the party began as all Danish get-togethers do: lots of handshakes and introductions. In Denmark, you’re supposed to say hello and goodbye to each person individually, even if there are 50 people in attendance at a gathering, like there were on Saturday. Charlotte informs me that this is why it’s important to be early (so you can stand around while others come and say hello to you, rather than having to make a tour around the room). After probably about half an hour, we were lead to our seats by our table leaders. I was sitting with Charlotte, which was nice because she tried to give me some idea of what was going on with all the toasts and songs and such. And there were a lot of toasts and songs and such. At Danish birthday parties, it’s customary to write songs for the person of honor and have everybody sing them. So throughout the meal we were constantly being stopped and handed a set of lyrics or listening to a toast or something. And this was not a short dinner. We had a few different courses–appetizers, main course in the form of a buffet, fruits and cheese, cake (a special Serbian cake made as a present by one of Eric’s friends), coffee, more drinks, and finally a “go home” meal of sandwiches around 2am. Apparently this was a “short” party because most of the guests were elderly and could not stay out for dancing. It was really fun though, and I enjoyed getting to experience such a Danish tradition.

On Sunday, I attended another quintessential Danish event–a fodbold (i.e. football, i.e. soccer) game! This was an event done by DIS for all students in Danish classes, as well as those lucky enough to buy the extra subsidized tickets DIS provided before they sold out. The game was FCK (FC København) vs. AGF (Århus GF?). Obviously most people were rooting for FCK but AGF is Charlotte’s favorite team, so I had to stay loyal, obviously. I was a bit worried about finding my way to the stadium at first, but on the way I ran into several other DIS students waiting for the bus. Of course, when the bus finally showed up, it let about 2 people (out of maybe 15) on and then drove off. So we decided to walk. Luckily it was not that far, and it turned out to not be a super popular game, so there were plenty of seats left. I found Shuyao and Michelle amidst the crowd and settled in for what I thought would be a long game. But it actually went really quickly. Obviously all soccer games are basically the same length, but I think I’m just used to watching baseball games with tons of standing around and extra innings. Of course, I had to get a hot dog and a Carlsberg to complete the experience, and Shuyao also bought some popcorn that I had a significant portion of. All in all, it was a fun time, though slightly disappointing since neither team scored at all. The fans were super intense though. At the beginning both sides had flares and then there was an FCK cheering section that was bellowing organized cheers and bouncing in time a bunch. So that was fun to see.

Monday we had our last Danish class! It turned out to be really fun because our teacher Ditte Marie brought in her daughter, Amanda, and some Christmas treats for us. First we enjoyed some Christmas cookies and æbleskiver–basically like little pancake balls. Traditionally they have apple slices in them (hence the “æble”) but now you can just get them frozen and they don’t come with the apple. Apparently you can also get them at Trader Joe’s in the U.S., so I’ll be on the lookout when I get home. Then we had a Christmas decorating competition (kind of a mix between Danish and American cultures because Danes would never compete like that–everybody has to be equal). Our team was the smallest, and we also did not get any help from Amanda, so our table ended up looking a bit sad. Still, it was lots of fun, and I managed to make a Christmas star all by myself (you can see it on top of our “tree”). Needless to say, we did not win…

Which brings me to TODAY. A lovely day, if I do say so myself. I began leisurely, since I finished Positive Psychology last week. We got treats in both my European Clinical Psychology and my Adolescence in Northern Europe classes–no complaints there. The highlight of the day by far was my dinner at Den Tatoverede Enke as a reward for being a blogger this semester! It was super fancy, with three different courses and a beer especially paired with each one–definitely something I would not have paid for myself, but such a wonderful and hyggeligt experience! I took pictures of all the food and beer (unsurprising if you’ve been following this blog at all). It was fun because I didn’t know most of the people in attendance that well, and I got to chat with a variety of people including other bloggers, videographers for DIS, and one of the Architecture and Design interns. Additionally, they announced the Blogger of the Year, which was Perri VanderClock. She has a great blog you can read here (or it’s also on the DIS Blogger page). As a prize for all the bloggers, we also got super pretty customized Moleskine notebooks with our names imprinted onto the cover, so that was pretty cool (I am a big fan of Moleskine and was actually about to buy a new one for myself! Good thing I waited…).

two kinds of bread with herb butter and a Danish beer with a bit of spice

this was the second beer (same as bottle above). had an orange flavor to be well-paired with the duck.

duck confit with red cabbage, parsnip puree, a potato, and i think some apple sauce or something. it was exquisite.

panna cotta with almond. basically a play on risalamande, with all the ingredients separated and in a different form. sooo tasty.

this was the beer paired with our dessert... it was made from cherries and tasted sweet and not very beer-like. meant to be the "cherry sauce" for the risalamande theme.

So anyway I have to wrap this up because I am waking up early tomorrow, not to go to class, but to go exploring around Copenhagen! My high school friend Audrey who now goes to University of Edinburgh is visiting on her way home for break. She’ll be my first (and only) visitor in Copenhagen, so I’m really excited. We’re gonna go to Nyhavn, Sankt Peders Bageri, and a museum or two. On Thursday she’s coming up to Hillerød to see Frederiksborg and to meet my host family! Basically, this week is awesome, and I never want to leave Copenhagen!

Just about a week ago when I was in the midst of work, I thought I was prepared to leave, but now that I have time to spend I am starting to realize (for the bajillionth time) that I’m going to miss all of this sooo much! It’s absolutely INSANE that I only have a week and a half left here, and I’m already freaking out a bit. There’s so much to see and eat and shop for! At least I have finally gotten myself a big fatty circle scarf, which is an absolute staple in Danish fashion (it actually took me like 3 days to decide which one I wanted, which Lacey has not stopped making fun of me for, and I am in love with it because it is so cozy!). While I’m excited to show that and other Danish traditions to people at home and at school, I cannot believe I’m not returning here in the immediate future! I guess I’ll just have to soak it up as much as I can, but I don’t think anything will prepare me to leave this country and the people I have grown to love so much over the past 4 months. It’s funny to look back at my first few days here, when I couldn’t believe I’d be staying here for 4 full months. Now I can’t believe I’m not living here forever!

Gone With the Wind

Yeah I’ve been sitting on that title for about a week now… My apologies for the delay of this post. Lots of work with very little motivation does not equal blog post, apparently. But here I am, back in business, ready to tell you about my trip to Amsterdam! And some other stuff too.

Amsterdam:

stroopwafel... two layers of wafel cookie with mapley syrupy stuff inside. so addicting.

Allie and I were both pretty tired post-Thanksgiving and we also were in different stages of colds so we decided from the get-go that we wanted a pretty relaxed weekend… i.e. we definitely went home at like 9pm every night. Still, it was a really fun weekend, and I loved our approach to it. We got to stay with my dad’s old friend Carole, who has been living in Amsterdam for the past 4 years. She was kind enough to let us crash in her loft a few floors up from her apartment, which was located right on a canal on the edge of the city center. Perfect. Not only did we get a cozy living space all to ourselves with convenient access to the city, but she also fed us breakfast and Dutch goodies, like stroopwafels (pictured above on the right). Yummy!

so pleased about my life choices

After settling in on our first day, we just spent the evening wandering around the surprisingly small city center. We found out later that we’d been wandering in the Red Light District (I think all the coffee shops and passing the Sex Museum should probably have given us a hint). First we stopped and got some of the famous Dutch frites; I had mayo and onions on mine–DELICIOUS. Then we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant (to get the authentic Dutch experience, obviously). We had a lovely time chatting over dinner, and talked for over two hours after the waiter cleared our plates until we found out that we really had to ask for the check in order to get it! Obviously we got dessert as well, and I sprung for a fancy schmancy apple strudel.

We began Saturday morning with breakfast and tea with Carole. We got to chat with her about her experiences living in Europe, and I updated her on my dad’s happenings. Then Allie and I headed out for a day of exploring, which included the Van Gogh museum and the Anne Frank House. Luckily Carole warned us to buy our tickets online ahead of time, so we didn’t have to wait in any lines! We also were able to walk around the whole time (rather than taking public transit) because everything in Amsterdam is surprisingly close. Of course, we also found the flower market and some cheese shops along the way. I may or may not have bought a cheese wheel and some balsamic mustard… (after trying all twenty of the samples in the store, obviously).

on the way into town, we walked right past the zoo, which is apparently "the 2nd most popular destination in town." I wonder what is the first?

one of my many, many canal pictures...

I was in heaven...

I enjoyed the Van Gogh Museum a lot. It was a good size (fairly small) and very well organized, so you could follow his life while seeing the progression of his artwork.

can't go to Amsterdam without this picture, even if there are strangers awkwardly in your photo...

our lunch was one of my favorite meals. it began with these...

I couldn't resist the raspberry juice... soooo yummy

I had a whole wheat bagel with sun-dried tomato cream cheese and olive tapenade with sun-dried tomatoes. Definitely a trip highlight.

Amsterdam had even more bikes than Copenhagen--a feat I didn't think was possible.

we stopped for some delicious hot chocolate before our evening reservation at the Anne Frank Huis... so hard to resist getting a second.

The Anne Frank Huis was a really well-done museum, and a really powerful experience. We paid a few extra Euro for an introduction in English, so we would know a bit more about what we were seeing. It was just crazy to know what people had gone through exactly where we were standing many years before.

For dinner that night we had Italian (we really immersed ourselves in the Dutch culture…). Then we went home early, grabbing some Turkish rice pudding along the way (missing Istanbul already!). Snuggled up in our loft, we each read our respective books (Harry Potter in French for me and Breaking Dawn for Allie, which she found in the loft). It was really a great end to a lovely weekend. Sunday morning, we slept in and ate a late breakfast, still reading. The weather was pretty windy and rainy, so it was just as well that we decided to stay in. We headed to the airport around noon, where me and Allie had different flights because of a sudden price-change midway through our booking. Just as I was about to get settled at my gate, C9, I found out that it had changed, and had to go all the way to D58. Then the plane was a bit delayed because the crew had gone to C9. I thought I was done with travel issues, but Copenhagen had other things in mind for me.

When we were about to land, there was a windstorm going on (unbeknownst to me) and the plane was experiencing a lot of turbulence. In fact, when we went down for landing the first time, the plane was tipping back and forth, and the pilot decided to pull back up and try again. Not exactly confidence-inspiring. However, when we went around and tried again the plane landed successfully and everybody applauded. Again, I thought finally I could have a smooth trip the rest of the way home. Again, I was mistaken.

I made the train successfully and settled in, excited to see my host family again. The train was shaking a bit, but I didn’t particularly notice until the train stopped and the driver gave a couple of longer-than-usual announcements. I heard the girl sitting across from me (who was talking on the phone) say in Danish, “The train’s only going to Birkerød,” and sure enough, the list of stops changed and Birkerød (two stops and about 15 min. before my own) became the end of the line. I thought I heard something about a bus that would take us the rest of the way (the announcements are all in Danish, so I only understand key words). So I was feeling okay about piling off the train, and prepared to wait for the bus. There was no bus immediately though, and many of the other people were catching taxis so I started to get a bit worried. After a few minutes of waiting, checking rejseplanen.dk in the station’s computer to see if there was a bus that could take me closer to Hillerød, and watching to see what other people were doing, I eventually called Søren to ask for a ride. Of course, once he was about 10 min. away, the bus finally came, but by that time it was easier to just wait for him.

On the way home, he told me that the wind storm (which I’d noticed by then after being blown around by the wind) had apparently caused a tree to fall on the track, which is what caused my train to stop. Apparently the train that encountered the tree falling (which could not have been more than one or two trains before mine because our train driver only discovered it halfway through the ride–good thing my plane was delayed!) had to stay put for several hours because they were worried about the danger of electrical shock. Of course, Søren also told me that you were supposed to avoid driving as much as possible, and I saw why as the car got pushed a foot or so over every few minutes as we were driving home–not exactly a relaxing ride. When I finally got home, I checked the weather and apparently the wind was gusting up to 60mph, and in some parts of Denmark it was hurricane-level wind. So in other words pretty serious storm.

Luckily by the next day my train was all fixed up and everything was normal again (definitely not something that would happen in the U.S.). Overall, our trip was really fun (even if it had a bit of a hectic ending), and I was really proud of myself for packing only my backpack! I know it’s not a terribly impressive feat for a weekend trip, but I feel like all this independent traveling has made me a more efficient traveler and packer, and I just feel like I’ve gotten better at the whole process.

Other happenings this week:

Det Frie Gymnasium! For my Adolescence in Northern Europe class, we had to complete a learning lab, in which we visited a site to see Danish adolescents in person and use the experience to answer our research questions. My group visited Det Frie Gymnasium, or “The Free Gymnasium”, a Danish high school (or the equivalent) in Copenhagen. The school is known for being super democratic, so the students are involved in all official decisions, from what the cafeteria serves to what to do with the new building the school has acquired. We talked to a girl named Anna, who is family friends with my teacher. She gave us a tour of the school (which is covered in graffiti because the students voted that they should be able to paint wherever they wanted, except on chairs of course). The students are on an equal level with teachers, and are able to question what they’re learning and have some say in the way they are taught (though of course they have to complete a certain curriculum, and in subjects like math there aren’t very many ways to teach the material). It was really cool to see such a different school environment and talk to some Danish teens in person. It definitely tied together a lot of things we’d been discussing in class, and was a really unique opportunity.

SO MUCH HOMEWORK. Three presentations and two papers, to be exact. Hence the reason I haven’t been blogging all week. But I’m close to being done (two papers and two tests left), and soon I will just be enjoying my last two weeks in Denmark . Wow it is weird to type that. While I’m getting even more excited to go back to the U.S., I’m also really enjoying Christmas season in Denmark at the moment… Charlotte hung a little bag (sort of like a stocking) on each of our doors, and she has been giving us little gifts (I mean the Nisse–the Danish gift-giving elves that supposedly live in your house). I got an advent calendar and some little Danish cookies. The advent calendar has definitely been helping my motivation… It’s a lot easier to get out of bed when you know you get a surprise chocolate candy!

Tomorrow is my first Danish birthday party, and it will be a 50 person affair. More specifically, it’s my host farfar’s (grandpa) 70th birthday. Danes go all out for birthdays, so I’m sure this will be pretty epic, and definitely will last late into the night. Then on Sunday I’m going to an FCK (the Copenhagen “football” team) game with all the Danish classes. Should be a really fun weekend, but I’ve also got to write an essay and study for a final sometime in there. We’ll see how that goes…

Happy holidays from Hillerød!

Getting in the [Eating] Spirit

Okay, so, yes I did intend to do a little better blogging-wise this week. And yet here I am on Saturday, once again, writing a post about the whole week. My work ethic has not exactly been in tip-top shape since returning from travel break, so there are many things that probably should have gotten done which, well, didn’t. Better late then never though right?

Overall, I’d have to say it’s been a pretty good week, with a few healthy moments of I WILL NEVER MAKE IT THROUGH THIS sprinkled in. Gotta love college. Here are the things I have failed to update about until now.

La Glace: My, was that a good decision. Conditori La Glace is Copenhagen’s oldest bakery, located only a few blocks away from DIS. It is especially famous for its lagkage (Danish layer cake) but all of their pastries are exquisite, with prices to match. One slice of cake costs 52 kr., or about $10. Not exactly in my budget for a regular stop, but definitely worth going at least once if you come to Copenhagen. Last Saturday Allie and I decided to check it out as a special motivational treat. It took us way too long to figure out how to order and sit down (we tried to sit down like 3 different times and kept getting sent back to the counter), but we finally figured it out–when in Denmark, always remember to take a number and then you can make it through anything. So we finally ordered (I got their sportskage (pictured on the right), their specialty lagkage, and Allie got a mocha eclair) and sat down in a cozy little corner to enjoy our expensive goodies. I can’t speak for Allie’s (though she seemed pretty pleased) but mine was just WOW. Danish lagkage is usually a few layers of cake and cream, but this one was just all cream. The middle cream had crushed nougat, and was slightly thicker than the outer regular whipped cream. It had a chewy macaroon bottom and little carmelized choux pastries on the outside for decoration (like a French St.Honoré pastry if you’ve ever had one). AMAZING is all I can say. Just thinking about it makes me want to go back…

Projects/Semesters: This was the I WILL NEVER MAKE IT THROUGH THIS part of my week. I have 3 group projects that were assigned this week which will be due during the same 3 days (in addition to two 8-10 page papers). So some stress is definitely headed my way, especially because the weekend preceding this craziness I will be in Amsterdam, an experience I do not intend to taint with schoolwork. Of course, complain though I might, I failed to get ahead on any of this work even though I had very little homework this week. So you must take my complaints with a grain of salt. Adding to the difficulty of this time period is that Carleton is doing finals now, and will thus be done starting next week. At Carleton we have 10-week trimesters, so our winter break is Thanksgiving through New Year’s. I’m giving up the majority of that break to be at DIS, which is on a semester system. Even though I had semesters in high school, I have grown really used to the short but intense Carleton term, and I thus have mixed feelings about the length of this term. On the one hand, I am so happy to be able to stay in Denmark for four full months, getting to know my host family, DIS friends, and Copenhagen itself all the better. However, that’s also a really long time to be (mostly) consecutively going to class and doing homework. Coming back from two weeks of traveling around Europe and seeing all my Carleton friends’ Facebook statuses about being almost done has not helped either. At the same time, I cannot believe I only have 4 weeks left here (my host family and I just had a conversation about the day I leave!) to do all my shopping, eating, touristing, and enjoyment of Denmark! I guess what it comes down to is I love being here, but not doing schoolwork. Of course, I suppose that’s why they call it study abroad.

Chinese Thanksgiving: On Thursday night, Mariya, Shuyao and I (along with Shuyao’s good friend and amazing cook Scarlet) had a travel group reunion! We (mostly Shuyao and Scarlet) made a Chinese food feast in the common kitchen of Shuyao’s kollegium (the Danish version of a dorm, though it is not connected to any particular school). It was my first time in a kollegium, so I was very intrigued to see another DIS housing option. They all differ, obviously, but this one seemed really nice. Shuyao has her own mini-kitchen in her room (which she shares with her friend Yen) and there is also a DIS-specific common area downstairs, which is where we did our cooking and feasting. It was really fun to reunite with my travel buddies (and Scarlet of course) and to participate in one of our favorite activities–EATING. We had shrimp with bok choy, Mongolian pork, pumpkin noodles, tomato with scrambled egg (Shuyao and Scarlet were horrified when Mariya and I told them Americans would usually put cheese in our scrambled eggs), and a dish with sprouts. LOTS of food. We also exchanged presents from our second travel weeks, and I got an adorable little London double-decker bus magnet from Shuyao.

It was a unanimous vote that i should get the big bowl. I wonder what that says about me?

Networker’s Lounge: On Friday night DIS was hosting an event called the Networker’s Lounge for everybody in buddy networks to get together and meet people from other groups. I had been originally planning to stay in the city after class because I didn’t have time to go home before it started, and I was going to use the current 7/11 croissant deal (2 croissants for 10 kr., or about $2) for my dinner. When I told Lacey about my plan, she scoffed and suggested that I just come over to her house for dinner instead. So after our two afternoon classes together Lacey and I caught the train to head to Skovbrynet where she lives with her host family. She takes the A train (whereas I take the E) so it was kind of exciting to see the different stops and try to pronounce them. There were definitely some Danes laughing at us as we tried to copy the pronunciation of the announcer. At Lacey’s house, I got to meet her host dad Rene, adorable 8-year old host sister Frida, and pet bunny rabbits. It’s always fun to see other housing situations, partially because it makes me realize how much my own house has really become my home over these past 3 months. Over dinner we discussed music and Coen brothers movies (Lacey’s host dad has good taste) and before we departed I dutifully filled out my own entry Frida’s Vennerbog (“Friend Book”) with much translation help from Rene. I think I may be required to give Lacey a picture of me for Frida to paste in there as well… she’s very thorough.

The Networker’s Lounge itself was fun. DIS gave out tickets for free crepes from a little cart around the corner (I got one with nutella, though I was scolded by everybody else for not getting bananas too)–yummy! I also found Shuyao and Scarlet for a bit, and made plans with them to meet up at the DIS Christmas lunch on Sunday. Overall a lovely evening.

Bingo Banko: I believe I have brought this up before, but I’ll explain it again–a wonderful show that I wish we had in the U.S. Bingo Banko is basically a gameshow for the whole country, because anybody can play. All you do is print out bingo cards (Danes call them “plates”) and tune in at 8pm on Saturday. Throughout the show they do crazy games (everything from beaver racing to tattoo Pictionary) and numbers come up every once in a while for you to mark on your bingo cards. There are 3 chances to win: one row, two rows, and a whole card (3 rows). The prizes are huge (sometimes you get a chance to risk your prize and play for a better one, but you may end up with just a rubber glove filled with soup). I’ve played twice, once with Søren, and again last Saturday with Charlotte, but so far we have not won. Tonight is the last game of the season, so we’re going to go all out and have cards all over the floor. New refrigerator, here I come.

DIS Julefrokost (Christmas lunch): Tomorrow is the DIS Christmas lunch. There were originally about 500 spots and they’re all sold out, so it’s going to be a HUGE event. DIS is providing some food, and everybody is asked to bring a dish and a wrapped gift worth about 10 kr. I’m excited, though a little curious about how such a huge lunch is going to work. Most people are going with their host families (including me) so it’ll be a real range of ages and cultures. I’m also hoping to find Shuyao and Scarlet somewhere in the masses, so we’ll see how that goes. In any case, I think it’ll be really fun with hopefully a lot of good food.

And now time for me to return to all that work I’ve been putting off all week.

I also updated my Danishness page this week so check out my new reflections on Danish culture!

Vi ses (hopefully sooner than next week)!

Sahlep Satisfaction: Study Tour to Istanbul/Travel Week 2

When I first went to the Copenhagen airport to begin my next travel adventure, I was still honestly still a bit sad to have left Prague. But Istanbul soon proved to have its own advantages (for starters, we got a complimentary full meal on the plane both ways–Turkish Airlines is a new favorite). (For those of you not caught up on my life, this was an optional study tour, for which I took a 1 credit class–Turkey at the Crossroads.) On the way to our hotel the first evening, Koray (our guide) was explaining the layout of the city to us. Our hotel was in the New City, which is actually from the 14th century. Throughout the trip we were surrounded by so much history it was amazing. And we’d find out so casually, like “Oh by the way that monument you’re standing next to is over two thousand years old.” It was just crazy. Rather than give you a blow by blow retelling of the whole week (and leave you sitting here for an hour reading all about my life) I’ll just talk more in detail about the highlights of the trip.

Transportation: Rather than go around by bus, we used public transportation, which allowed us to see more of the city and the people. We used both cards and “spoons,” which come from the fact that the transportation passes used to be actual little spoons. Here’s a picture of my dear little spoon:

Topkapi Palace: An old palace from the days of the sultans. All of the walls were covered in intricate tile designs, particularly in the Harem where the Sultan and the women servants lived. Of course, it was all missing all the lavish tapestries and decorations and it was still unbelievable. It’s hard to imagine how amazing it would have looked in the past. We stopped in the treasury and saw a HUGE diamond that was actually originally found in a trash bin and sold for about 3 lira before anybody realized it was a diamond. We also saw some old weapons including some swords that were so huge it was impossible to imagine somebody actually using them. Mosques: There were mosques everywhere. Luckily there weren’t any right next to our hotel so we weren’t woken up at 5am every day, but it was really cool to hear the call to prayer every once in a while while we were exploring. Plus they were beautiful to see in the landscape.

our view from one of our lunch places. nbd.

Turkish Rugs: As an extra treat we got to go to a rug gallery where we basically got a sales pitch on Turkish rugs. It was actually pretty amazing, as they explained just how much labor it takes to make each rug: the women can only weave for 4 hours a day because the work is so detailed! The salesmen just kept pulling out rugs, handling them as if they were as light as feathers. We were all really tempted to buy them, but even the little baby ones cost as much as 350 lira. Not exactly in my price range… Turkish Bath: One of my personal favorite parts of the trip was our visit to the Hamam, or Turkish baths. DIS paid for our basic entry, and I decided to spring for a soap scrub and an oil massage because how often do you visit a Turkish bath anyway? It was definitely worth it. As for clothing when we were there, we each got a pair of disposable underwear and a towel for the bath portion. At first it was a bit awkward but we all got used to it pretty quickly after being surrounded by half-naked women (the men had a separate section for the whole process). The only weird thing for me was that I had not brought my contacts to Turkey, and I couldn’t wear my glasses into the bath because they would just steam up anyway. So I was sort of blind the whole time and couldn’t see people’s faces very well (sorry if I gave you any weird looks!).

Anyway, first we all laid down on a hot stone while we waited for soap scrubs. You got tokens to indicate what services you had paid for, and every once in a while a large Turkish woman would come over and point to one of us, indicating that she would do our scrub. I think they were pretty used to guiding tourists around who don’t speak Turkish (according to Maja, our professor, it’s mostly tourists at the hamams ever since houses got running water), because the woman who did my scrub just tapped me and pointed when she wanted me to do something. After our scrub, we were told to go sit in a separate room with a large warm tub to soak in. It was really pleasant for a bit, but after a while all the steam and humidity and heat were starting to feel like a bit much, so those of us who got massages headed over to the next stage in the process. We went into yet another room where we got new big hot fluffy towels and sat to wait for our massages. This took a while and I was one of the last ones picked, partially because I couldn’t see the womens’ motions (since i still had no glasses) when they came into fetch us so I was slower to react than the others around me. I briefly wondered if the massage was worth all the hassle, but once I finally got there I was so glad to have gotten it.

My masseuse was really nice and a bit cheeky. She made fun of me for my ticklishness because I twitched every time she got anywhere near my feet and she kept insisting that I relax more. When I was done she poked me on the nose and sent me on my way. The whole experience was definitely something I will remember for a while. I never get massages or anything for myself at home, though after that experience I’m tempted to do a little more self-pampering. Everybody came out of the baths in such a good mood and our class was buzzing about it for the rest of the week.

Armenian Village: On one of the days we got to sign up for one of three different small group visits, to give us a chance to see a part of Istanbul without the whole group of 26 tromping around. I chose to go with Maja to see the Armenian Village (not actually Armenian, or a village, but just a neighborhood in Istanbul) and to talk to her sister and her sister’s mother-in-law, a clinical psychologist who had lived in the area for several decades, about their experiences living in Istanbul. There were seven of us in the group, and it was really nice to talk in more intimate setting and finally hear about someone’s personal experiences in Turkey, rather than a lecture on politics or current events (though those were really interesting as well). We also got delicious cakes and sahlep (my new favorite drink–elaboration forthcoming), and Maya read Matt’s future in his Turkish coffee grounds.

there were so many jellyfish! no swimming for me.

Lectures: Speaking of lectures, we had two formal ones on the trip: politics and current events with Martin Selsøe, a Danish-Turkish journalist reporting on Turkey, and Orientalism and gender in Turkey with Nora Onar, a originally American professor who has been living in Turkey for over ten years.

Martin Selsøe’s talk happened just before lunch, so I think some of us were a bit distracted by the bread on the table, but it was really interesting. He talked a lot about Turkey’s relationship with the EU and its current status with regards to membership application. According to him, Turkey appears to have decided to cease their strides towards membership after comments made by other countries that they would never be able to become full members. He also explained how EU membership is not necessarily the best path for Turkey to take. He also discussed the issues that Turkish journalists face when attempting to report accurately about Turkey, and about the current issues with Turkey’s political leadership system (especially the involvement of the military chiefs). It was really helpful to hear a little more about what decisions and complications Turkey is currently facing so we could understand the climate we were in.

Nora Onar’s talk was one of my favorite academic visits of the trip. She discussed the theory of Orientalism as it pertains to Turkey and really challenged us to think harder about our assumptions about veiled women. She talked about how Muslim women are starting to veil themselves in different ways, with loud and fashionable scarves, perhaps using the veil as more of a religious symbol than adherence to the religious doctrine itself. She also explained the tension between veils as oppressive (i.e. forcing women to cover themselves and protect their family’s honor rather than living independent lives) and liberating (allowing women the freedom to have their own jobs and go out in public without being surrounded by men). It was a really helpful academic take on what we’d been seeing all around us, and I only wish it had happened earlier in the week (rather than on the last day) so we could have had more time to observe the situation in Istanbul in light of the theory we were presented with.

Turkish Dance: Although we did not get to see the Whirling Dervishes, we did get to attend a dance performance, displaying traditional dances from different regions of Turkey, including belly dancing! The dancers were amazing–one of the men walked on the tips of his toes without toe shoes, and there was a woman who isolated parts of her body in ways that I didn’t know were possible. There was even a dance with black light effects. My only complaint about night was a German lady sitting behind Allie and I, who first asked us to switch places so she could take pictures (because I was supposedly too tall even though we’re about the same height sitting down). Then at the intermission she asked us to switch again because she kept sticking her camera over Allie’s shoulder and catching her hair in it (and she didn’t even apologize!). My experience of the spectacular performance was impossible to ruin, however, and the free Turkish delight in the lobby definitely made up for the rudeness of our fellow audience member.

Blue Mosque: One of the must-sees in Istanbul is the Blue Mosque, which was built in the 17th century. The name comes from the blue color that used to cover the whole interior of the mosque–now you can just see patches of the color it used to be. It is still used for worship today, but hundreds of thousands of visitors also come between prayer times. Normally the girls would have had to veil in order to enter the mosque, but because it is such a popular tourist destination, veiling is no longer compulsory. We did have to take off our shoes and carry them around in little baggies though.

it was a bit difficult to take pictures because there were a bunch of cables coming from the ceiling to hold various lights and speakers. also we could only stand in a blocked off area in about half the mosque.

Hagia Sophia: After seeing the Blue Mosque, we just walked across the street to visit the Hagia Sophia. It’s crazy to be typing that. The Hagia Sophia standing now is actually the 3rd one that has been built in the same spot. Of course, this third one (built by Justininan) is still from the 6th century! INSANE. The first one was built by Constantine in the 4th century out of wood and was burned down. It was rebuilt by Theodosius II but destroyed again in the early 6th century in a riot. Some of the ruins from the second Hagia Sophia are still sitting outside the current one though. Though it was originally built as a church, it was used as a mosque for several centuries after the fall of Constantinople. Today it is a just a museum to avoid religious conflict. It is also HUGE. The Blue Mosque could actually fit inside it!

This is actually a mosaic made from hundreds of tiny tile pieces. The silver part that Mary is standing on is very rare because silver mosaic tiles are difficult to make; usually the silver oxidizes and turns black before they can be put together.

Turkish Film: Another one of our academic visits was with Ümit Ünal, a Turkish filmmaker. We watched a literally no-budget movie that he directed, Ara,  and then had a question and answer session. I actually really liked the film. It was the kind of movie that is aimed to make you think, rather than endearing you to the characters or the situation. There were many different vignettes in mixed up chronological order, and sometimes you would see part of a scene and not see the whole sequence until much later, giving you two very different impressions of the same event. A funny fact came out in the Q&A session when Matt asked why he has chosen to film in black and white. Ümit Ünal first said “Well actually it was a mistake” and we all laughed, assuming that it was a mistake in the filming process. It turns out the projector had just started playing it in black and white and he hadn’t wanted to interrupt the screening to fix it!

Lamda Istanbul: Our other visit that day was to Lamda, a Turkish LGBT organization that works with all kinds of issues, and collaborates with leftist, anarchist, and Kurdish movements. There was a bit more of a language barrier for this presentation, because although the presenters could speak English they clearly weren’t very comfortable with it. In the end, they ended up speaking Turkish and having Maja and Şarl, another one of our tour leaders, translating. This was interesting in itself, and a more effective way to hear what the presenters were saying about the situation for LGBT folks in Turkey.

The North Shield: On the way to almost anywhere we passed a pub called the North Shield, about which Allie made a couple comments in the beginning of the week, saying it looked classy and she wanted to go. We ended up making fun of her a lot for this (I’m not sure why) and pretty soon the North Shield was a big overblown inside joke. So of course we had to go check it out. It turned out to be a very odd place–an overpriced Scottish themed pub with a music selection ranging from Jessica Simpson to “Singing in the Rain.” There were chairs with rooster print and rarely more than a couple customers (besides our little group of four). Later we found out that it was not only a chain, but a Turkish chain (but still Scottish themed?). It was really a strange place, but one that will always hold a special place in our hearts.

a second North Shield--the realization that it was a chain

Shopping: Shopping is an important part of any vacation, especially one to Turkey, where you can haggle! I love haggling and it’s always tempting for me to buy things just to haggle even if I don’t actually need them. Needless to say, I did a fair amount of shopping throughout the week, both at independent stores and at the Grand Bazaar (which we went to as a class) and the Egyptian Spice Market (instant Sahlep ftw). I got a lot of presents–many for myself, but also crossed off some final Christmas to-do items. One of the most interesting things about shopping as a woman in Istanbul was the catcalls from the men running the shops. In the Grand Bazaar, I went on my own to maximize efficiency, and got a lot of interesting comments. Everywhere we went was pretty crowded, so it was pretty safe, and most of them were just trying to entice us towards their store. One of my favorites was “Let me change your life today. I’ll give you a deal: only 20 lira for this scarf and me!” In the Egyptian Spice Market Allie and I also got followed out of a store by a man who at first seemed to be offering to sell himself, but then seemed to be offering us money in exchange for something. Needless to say we did not accept.

The Asian Side: While the majority of Istanbul is in “Europe”, there is a part of the city, primarily residential, that is technically in Asia. So on our last evening, we took a private yacht cruise (WHAT?!) around the Bosphorus and over to the “Asian side.” In reality the two sides are pretty much the same–if anything, the Asian side seems more like Europe than the European side. Still, it’s pretty cool to say that I went to Asia for dinner. While we were there, we also went to the top of a huge hill (Istanbul has many, including a large 70 degree slope–half slope, half stairs–we had to climb every day to go anywhere from our hotel) where we could see all of Istanbul. The city is HUGE. According to Koray, it stretches (at minimum) 50 km. on either side of the Bosphorus. Plus the whole thing is basically city because they are really no suburbs, so most of that is apartment buildings rather than houses.

this doesn't really do justice to how huge the city is, but you can get an idea. also, it's important to note that this was only one side of the hill--on the other side, the city stretched out for a while as well.

Atatürk’s Death Day: Thursday was the anniversary of the death of Atatürk, the man who basically secularized Turkey and is still identified as a major leader figure in the country. At 9:05am on that day every year, all Turks stop what they are doing for a full minute and just stand still, remembering him. We were told about the moment and sat to watch it happen. It was so cool to see people just suddenly stop in the street, and cars refuse to go at the green light. There were some people who obviously didn’t know what was happening, and were weaving their way through the stopped crowd or honking their horns at the cars stopped in the street. I would have taken a picture, but obviously everything is stopped on film.

FOOD. You thought I’d neglected my favorite topic didn’t you? I was just saving the best for last! There is a lot to write about, so I’m just going to show you the typical foods we enjoyed on our many meals.

All of our meals began with a sort of tapas appetizer, called mezes. Basically bread with all this stuff (usually communal--in this picture we each got our own). It was next to impossible not to fill up on bread and toppings before we got our real food.

We usually got at least one börek--usually filled with just cheese, but one of them had sausage in it too. Some were small (like this one) and some were quite large--almost a meal in itself.

Not sure what this was, but it was filled with meat and it was delicious.

These were eaten like shrimp... just grab the tail and bite the rest off. Just like popcorn?

I never ordered fish, but it was always served whole, complete with lots of bones. I witnessed some pretty creative maneuvering from people trying to de-bone their fish.

Turkish meatballs. One of the common menu options. Usually came with a grilled tomato, a jalapeno, and either rice or french fries.

What we theorized was lentil or some kind of bean soup. It was really finely ground so the soup was really smooth. Quite delicious!

Döner--the Turkish version of shawarma. Basically, the meat is cooked on a rotating spit and bits are shaved off as they are cooked. Very tasty!

Cay (pronounced "chai") tea--typical in Turkey.

Apple tea in a typical tea cup. We got served tea or coffee on almost all of our visits. Apparently real Turks don't actual drink apple tea though--it's only for tourists.

Sahlep--my new favorite drink. It's made from orchid root, which makes it a bit thicker, but it tastes like sweet milk. You put cinnamon or nutmeg on top and it is SO GOOD. I bought some instant Sahlep to bring back--we'll see if it tastes as good as the real thing.

Turkish coffee: I never ordered it because I don't like coffee, but apparently it's like coffee only thicker and stronger (and often with a lot of sugar added). It's served in a little espresso cup, and when you're finished you turn it upside down for a few minutes before allowing someone else to interpret the grounds. Maja found everything from a couple sitting on a car to a seal and a "lionness" in this one.

Baklava: very tasty! The only difference I noticed in Turkish baklava is that it's often made with pistachios instead of walnuts.

Turkish delight--definitely not for everyone. It's kind of like a gelatinous cube with different flavors, and sometimes nuts inside. Personally I think it's tasty (depending on the flavor) but some people were not so taken with it.

a piece of cake--called "pasta" in Turkish, which confused us a lot at first. this one was caramel flavor and was mostly cream on the inside. yummy!

I don't remember the Turkish name for this, but it was one of my favorite desserts. Basically really gooey pudding-like substance. This one was burnt on top (on purpose) but you can also get one with cinnamon (my favorite) or a traditional one with chicken (sounds weird but is apparently tasty).

This one is milkier and thinner than the other pudding (basically sweet rice pudding), but also has cooked top. Yum-tastic.

So that concludes my trip to Turkey! I have to say, as much as I enjoyed my two week travel break, it was definitely exhausting and I am glad to be back in Copenhagen with my host family. The more unfortunate part of returning is going back to classes and homework! I only have five weeks left here (crazy!) so there are many final projects, papers, and tests awaiting me. Plus I am going to be so busy fitting in all my last bucket list items, hanging out with my DIS friends as much as possible, and enjoying the holiday season in Denmark! A big event on the horizon is cooking Thanksgiving dinner for 16 people with my host mom. I’ve never even really helped cook Thanksgiving dinner before because my dad always handles it all, so it’ll be interesting. I think me and Charlotte are starting to realize what a big task it’s going to be, and freaking out a bit, but in the end I’m sure it’ll be really fun. Then I am going to Amsterdam for a weekend with Allie, possibly having a friend visit Copenhagen, and then it’ll be finals! This is going by so fast! Though I will be happy to go home again for break and then to be back at Carleton, I will also be so sad to leave my amazing host family, and Copenhagen, behind.

That said, I still have not finished unpacking (oops?) and I have a lot of homework to get done today, so my sappy reminiscing will have to be cut short for now. I will try to keep updating regularly in all the craziness of the next few weeks, but it’s definitely going to test my (somewhat lacking) time management skills.

[Also, check back soon for an update on my "Danishness" page. I have been slacking on that front recently, but I hope to add a few more items in the coming week so stay tuned!]

Hej hej for now!

Agnes Cupcake, Risalamande, Belgisk Vaffel. Heaven…

Another great (and delicious food-filled) weekend!

Friday afternoon in my European Clinical Psychology class, we had a field study during class time since some people have a conflict with our scheduled Wednesday time. We visited a really cool social psychology clinic called SKC, where anybody with mental health problems can drop in and chat with staff or participate in activities. It’s focused on giving people a chance to interact with others who have experienced similar things, and is very egalitarian, as most of their staff has no formal psychology background.  It had a very different feel from most programs I’ve seen in the U.S., and it was really interesting to hear about their perspective. That night I went home for a yummy pasta bake dinner before the DIS Midterm Party at Studenterhuset (a bar/cafe near DIS for all students in Copenhagen).

The party was meant to be a costume party, but most people didn’t dress up, probably because we’d all had a really busy school week without much time for costume shopping/creation. The highlight of the party was definitely the FREE Agnes Cupcakes (the best cupcake place in Denmark). I got a pumpkin one, and later on a milk chocolate (and I also tried my friends’ caramel and red velvet ones). Sooooo good. Most of the party itself was a dance party with a live karaoke band. I ended up running into almost all my friends there at differnet parts of the night (without planning it) which was fun, and I ended up doing “Eye of the Tiger” with Elise and her friend Alicia. We originally wanted to do “Survivor” but another group got to it first. Overall the night was even better than I expected–much like every other DIS event I’ve attended.

Saturday I slept in and relaxed most of the day, getting laundry done and watching Project Runway (can’t wait for Finale part 2!). Then in the evening, Koe (I found out this is just a nickname–his real name is Nikolai) and Karen, their daughter Nikolina, and an American friend of their daughter, Ashley, came over for Christmas dinner! Originally Koe and Karen had thought Ashley was going to CBS (and they’d told us so) but it turned out she was another DIS student, which was pretty funny.

Charlotte always gets really excited about Christmas, and normally isn’t allowed to start decorating until November (after Søren’s birthday on the 1st). Since we were having Christmas dinner (because it was Danish food I hadn’t yet tasted), she was allowed to put up just a few decorations (i.e. a Santa, an elf, a little Christmas village with fake snow and working lights, and a Christmas table cloth–apparently it’s just the beginning). I also love Christmastime, so it was really fun to have such a cozy holiday atmosphere (though it was weird to come back to reality at the end of the night and realize it was only mid-October). We had most of the Danish traditional Christmas food, including Flæskesteg (pork roast with a layer of fat on top that’s cooked at a high temp so it gets crispy–it tastes like really crispy bacon), potatoes with gravy, “brown potatoes” (with a carmelized sugar sauce), purple cabbage, and risalamande (sort of like creamy rice pudding with almonds). The risalamande was really good (made by Karen, who is famous for her desserts!) because it was light and fluffy with whipped cream and vanilla instead of just milk, plus we had cherry sauce and chocolate bits to put on top. Definitely had some more for breakfast this morning… Apparently the tradition at Christmas time (we didn’t do it because it wasn’t actually Christmas) is to have only one whole almond in the risalamande, and whoever gets it in their portion wins a prize.

After dinner, Charlotte surprised us with a Christmas game. It was sort of like a White Elephant thing, as there were a bunch of little presents on the table that you could win (usually it’s organized beforehand and everyone brings something so nobody knows what all of them are but Charlotte got them all this time because she wanted it to be a surprise). Instead of simply taking turns picking them (like a White Elephant) we went around rolling dice, and if you rolled a six you got to take a present. Once all of them were taken, someone sets a timer for a random time (this time Søren did it) and you do another round, where if you roll a six you get to steal somebody’s present. It was pretty competitive, and the adults were all fighting over a foldable ruler whereas the kids/young adults (all girls) all wanted a romantic comedy on DVD. In the end, I actually ended up with two great prizes (and a cute little toy fire truck), but I cannot disclose them here because I’m going to give them as Christmas presents. The whole evening was super duper holiday hyggeligt, complete with overfull tummies, and I had a lot of fun. Once all the guests left, Mickey Blue Eyes was on TV, a movie that I enjoyed when I was younger but haven’t seen in years, which was a nice quiet way to round off the night.

This morning I had to get up a bit earlier (10:15am instead of 11am haha) to be ready to leave the house for my classy jazz canal tour! It was organized by the DIS Student Activities Committee, and it was way more popular than the number of spots, so I felt very lucky to have gotten a spot. It was a bit hard to motivate myself to leave the house, especially because when I was leaving (into the cold) I could hear Cille starting to watch the Sound of Music on TV and I was definitely jealous because I love that movie, but I knew the canal tour would be great once I got there. I had to leave the house pretty early because on Sundays my bus runs only every 40 minutes, so I arrived in Nyhavn about two hours early for the tour. Luckily as I was coming out of the Metro station, I noticed an entrance to a mall, so I spent my first hour shopping around (but not buying anything–success!).

my yum-tastic vaffel

Then I still had a long time, so I wandered around Nyhavn for a bit, taking in the gorgeous (though still very chilly) day, and the street music. Then I came upon a “vaffel” and ice cream place, which was very intriguing. Having a belgian waffle with soft ice (Danish soft serve) has been on my Denmark to-do list for a while, and I thought this would be a good opportunity to cross it off. I debated for a while, first standing outside the shop and then going in and observing the waffles on display for a few minutes, before finally deciding to go for it. I even ordered in Danish for the first time (and the guy responded in Danish!), which was very exciting. I couldn’t understand anything the guy said to me besides the price, so I just smiled and nodded, but it worked out. The vaffel turned out to be a great choice–it had an unexpected slightly crispy cinnamon sugary coating, and was much doughier/more bread-like than American waffles… hands-down the best waffle I’ve ever had.

After enjoying my waffle sitting on the side of the canals, I walked over to an area near the canal tours dock and sat on a bench, since I still had a good 45 minutes to wait before the tour. At first, everything was perfect–there was a guy singing American songs (well) nearby and I just sat enjoying the afterglow of my vaffel and remembering the fact that I’m in Europe! Of course, after about twenty minutes it started to get cold, the guy stopped singing, and I was about ready for the canal tour–I really was super early.

Soon enough, the DIS people arrived and I headed down to the dock to check myself in and grab some cheese, crackers, chocolate, and chocolate covered cakes courtesy of DIS (gotta love ‘em). The tour itself was wonderful–the “jazz” part was actually a live little band playing on board and they were really good. Sailing around the water listening to the jazz was so peaceful, and towards the middle of the tour I was actually getting sleepy because it was so relaxing. Lucky for you I also took lots of pictures.

(Take note pictures from boat were through a window so may not be the best quality.)

This week is gonna be pretty darn busy, but mostly with fun things, including a dinner with visiting Carleton staff, and a field study to Malmö, Sweden! In the midst of it all I’ll try to stick in one more update before I’m off on two weeks of travel to Paris, Prague, and then Istanbul!

ALMOST FORGOT. On the train home today there was a super cheerful ticket checker guy (I’m sure there’s a better/real name for them but that is what they do). Normally they are very stern and intimidating, but this guy said “Godt aften!” (good evening) to everybody and when somebody showed him their correct ticket he was like “Awesome!” It was a nice change of pace to have somebody so friendly, and it definitely brightened my day (which was already pretty swell).

I Have Not Forgotten You!

Sorry about the lack of updates this week… surprisingly little has happened since I got back from Milan, and then now that things are happening, I haven’t had much time to post a blog about it! A larger post will be coming this weekend once I get some free time (I’m going to a baptism with my family on Saturday!) but here’s some tidbits to get you through your Friday.

• Lack of homework- for some reason this has been a really laid-back week (probably because I turned everything in before long study tour) so I have had very little work, to the point of feeling like I’m forgetting things! That said, next week I have a midterm and a paper due (neither of which I have started on), so I probably should have been using my free time a bit more productively…

• Giant snegl – at Sankt Peder’s Bageri (my favorite bakery–delicious, great student discounts, and close to DIS!) on Wednesdays they have large snegls (technically that is Danish for snail in case you Google it and get confused, but it’s also a swirly pastry, kind of like a cinnamon roll) for very cheap (10 kr.). I heard about this MARVELOUSNESS from Allie, and decided to check it out this Wednesday. I got one with glaze, and it was just heavenly. I’m not sure what I’m going to do when I return to Carleton and I can’t get any more motivational pastries!

• Field Study – I had a field study for my Positive Psychology class on Wednesday. We were supposed to walk around Copenhagen and observe Danes and see why they are so happy. At first we were nervous about interviewing random people on the street, but we got some pretty good answers from some nice people, including a window washer who first thought we were asking why he was washing the windows (he said “well… to keep them clean…” and we had to rephrase ). It actually turned out to be pretty fun (though it was super cold and windy out!) and I also got a delicious raspberry muffin from Paludan Cafe while we did some people watching there. Yummy!

• CAKE- On Wednesday night at dinner my host mom mentioned baking a cake the next day… but the whole family was like “why not tonight?” She was debating whether to do it, and then she looked at me and said “Well, I know I don’t need to ask your opinion” (because she knew I always want cake–she knows me so well!). So she baked a yummy yummy cinnamon sugar cake… I didn’t catch the name of it, but it’s a buttery cake (similar taste to a pound or coffee cake but more bread-like) with a cinnamon sugary crust topping. SO GOOD.  I really had to restrain myself from eating like half of it that night.

• Movie Theater- Last night Nanna, Cille, and I went to the movies! We saw Footlo0se (the new one… for some reason it was released a day earlier in Denmark–it comes out in the U.S. today I believe), which was a typical American bland/predictable movie, but the experience was really fun. First off, I ended up bringing my bag even though I didn’t really need any of its contents since I wasn’t paying. But it turned out to be a good decision because we went to the candy store around the corner (instead of the theater snack counter because it’s so expensive) and bought candy and soda to sneak into the theater, and used my bag to hide it all. Some things are the same everywhere! The movie theater itself was SO nice, with (assigned!) seats that were essentially squishy red armchairs for everybody. My host family keeps being surprised when I say things are nicer here, because I guess people in Denmark assume everything is nicer in the U.S., just because it’s bigger. Definitely not true.

• Kultur Natten- Tonight is “Culture Night” in Copenhagen, which means that all kinds of stores, businesses (basically everything) is open late with special free events and activities for those who buy a Kultur Kit. DIS is having an American Halloween event, so there will be pumpkin carving and a haunted house that a couple of my friends are volunteering in. It ought to be really fun (though I haven’t been able to read the huge program because everything is in Danish) and I’m excited to participate in such a big local event.

And finally, for your listening pleasure, here’s a music video by Medina, a really popular Danish singer:

P.S. Today was the first frost in Copenhagen! Days are getting shorter (and colder), and winter is quickly (much more than I expected) coming upon us. For some reason I failed to pack much clothing between early fall and mid-winter weather, so I’ve been using some interesting layering strategies to cope with the icy wind without breaking out my winter coat in mid-October (though everybody else in Copenhagen has). I’ve been shopping for a light jacket this week, but haven’t found the right one yet… so if anybody in/near Copenhagen has any suggestions, I’m all ears!

Nothing But Sunshine (and Gelato): Long Study Tour

So I’m back from my long study tour, and it was AMAZING. This post is gonna be a biggy, so buckle your seatbelt and prepare to be here a while.

Saturday/Sunday (still in Copenhagen):

Saturday night I played Bingo Banko with my host family. It’s basically a nation-wide crazy televised bingo game, where anyone who wants to play can print out a bunch of cards (as many as you can keep track of) and compete for prizes. During the tv show, they play crazy games (including tattoo pictionary and beaver racing) and do silly things (asking people on the street random questions) to come up with the bingo numbers. There are tons of great prizes, from socks to refrigerators. You compete for first one row, then two rows, then a whole board, and if you get the right numbers then you have to be the first one to call in. The whole thing is super silly, and really fun. I played with Søren and Cille, and we each had 9 cards. Sadly it was not enough, and we did not win anything, but I still had a great time. The show is on every Saturday, so I’m sure we’ll try again soon!

I spent most of Sunday packing and double-checking my passport, camera, money, and other essentials. That evening Søren was nice enough to drive me to the train station, where I headed over to Allerød to spend the night at Allie’s house. It was fun to meet someone else’s host family and we played some pretty competitive Wii games with her host brother. Plus we had some leftover brownies and tea for dessert.

Monday (Day One):

Monday morning began bright and early with a pre-dawn walk to the train station. It was nice to be going with a friend, though, so if anything went wrong we’d be in the same boat. We got a random offer for a ride from a Danish guy in a big sketchy black van, but we decided to stick with the train. Luckily, all went smoothly and everybody got to the airport in time for our flight. After an hour-long bus ride and a quick stop to check in at the hotel, we were sent off on our own for Urban Awareness: Milan Edition. Team Awesome (me, Allie, Ansley, Colin, and Dylan) decided to go the low-key approach, and started out at the Parco Sempione. The park was absolutely gorgeous, especially in the beautiful weather, and we sat for a while on the grass just soaking in the Italian atmosphere. Then we continued on through the other DIS recommended spots to visit, and grabbed some cheap pizza for lunch. A great first afternoon in Italy.

best hotel ever. FREE soda and cookies in every room, refilled each day.

view from our spot in the park--Arco Della Pace

supposedly you get good luck from spinning 3 times on the "delicate parts" of the bull in the center of the Galleria

For dinner, we ate as a group at a place called Art Factory. First we got huge plates cheesy pasta with bread and little breadsticks, and everybody ate until they were full. Then it turned out we had a second course–mozzarella, tomato, and prosciutto. So yummy, but way too much to finish.

That night we had some free time, so Jenna, Allie, Ansley, and I went to a little restaurant-bar Ansley had spotted on her run earlier. Ansley and I had the most delicious margaritas, and it was lovely to just sit outside and chat for a while. We went home on the early side because we were all exhausted from the long day.

Tuesday (Day Two):

We began the day with a wonderful hotel breakfast buffet (I perfected my selection throughout the week–fresh machine-squeezed OJ, yogurt, cake, fruit, salami, proscuitto, and cheese, saving cookies for a mid-day snack) followed by our first academic visit. We heard from a researcher on subjective well-being, and it was really interesting, though it was hard to get in an academic mood with such gorgeous weather outside. Then we went to the Galleria D’Arte Moderna, which was beautiful. I mean, the art was great too but the building and gardens were gorgeous.

For our group lunch we went to a local sandwich chain (way nicer than Subway) and had paninis. I had a Fattore, which had salami, cheese, and something called aurora sauce. YUM.

At lunch, my friend Shuyao joined our trip because she’d had visa troubles that wouldn’t allow her to go to her own Scotland study tour. It was a shame for her to miss her tour, but it was fun to have her along.

That day we also got to see DaVinci’s Last Supper! Waiting to see it was pretty intense because there were a couple of airlock doors to go through, and there were guards around making sure nobody did anything wrong. As soon as we got into the room, some poor lady took a picture and one of the guards was like NOPICTURENOPICTURE and ran over to her and made her delete it. The way he was running I half-expected him to tackle her or something, but obviously that didn’t happen. The painting itself was really cool to see, even though it’s pretty faded and has had to be restored so many times. It was just crazy to be seeing something that old and that famous/influential.

Our next stop was a wine tasting at That’s Wine. Unfortunately we got lost trying to find it (a common theme of the trip) and the group was getting a bit cranky because most of us hadn’t eaten since lunchtime. Everyone was overjoyed when we finally found it, and our group completely packed the tiny little wine bar. The tasting itself was super fun, and I actually really liked all the wines we tasted. Plus we got some delicious bread, cheese, prosciutto, and salami to accompany it. After three glasses of wine, we all were desperately in need of dinner, so we tromped around as a group until we found a restaurant called Flash Pizzeria. The food turned out to be really good, and I had gnocchi and split some bruschetta with a few other people. Afterwards we got our first Italian gelato at a place near the Duomo, and it was definitely as good as the hype.

group picture in front of the Duomo

Wednesday (Day Three):

Wednesday morning we had an academic visit with Prof. Paolo Inghilleri and a couple of student researchers at University of Milan. It was a long visit, but really cool because we got to hear about real research that’s being done right now around positive psychology. We also got a tour of the University, which is in a very old hospital building. It was really beautiful, and it was hard to imagine being a student and having classes there every day.

We had lunch as a group at Original Pizza. At first only one type of pizza (pepperoni) showed up and we were pretty disappointed because it meant only one slice per person. But after a few minutes, another pizza came, and then another, and it seemed like they just kept coming and coming. I think we had four or five pizzas in all, and my favorite had gorgonzola cheese and corn. We also got dessert, either ice cream balls or Italian ice–even more delicious when it’s paid for by DIS!

After lunch we got to go individually to the Duomo, but since everybody went at about the same time it was sort of like a group activity. This was what I’d been most excited for, because I’d heard the views from the top of the Duomo were spectacular, and I was not disappointed. At one point we thought we’d seen it all, but luckily the elevator man closed the lift and told us to go down the other side. In the process of looking for the “other side” we discovered the stairs up to the very top of the roof. Moral of the story: the Duomo is HUGE, and there’s always something more to see!

We also went inside the Duomo, which was HUGE. I could’ve spent an hour just looking at all the details and exploring the place, but we wanted to get the most out of our free afternoon, so we only took a brief tour around. It was dark inside, and you weren’t supposed to take pictures anyway, so I have no pictures for you all, but I assure you it was really amazing. For dinner we had a quick bite from a food cart near the Duomo and did some shopping at a designer department store. The clothes were so wonderful but so expensive and we left quickly to avoid further temptation. That evening we had a visit at the La Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University (apparently they are located all over the world) and go to speak with a woman about the importance of meditation and peacefulness in daily life. The whole atmosphere was very calming, and it was really interesting to hear a different point of view on well-being.

After the visit we searched for an open pasticeria because Ansley really wanted an Italian Napoleon, but almost everything was closed. We ended up at a little place near our hotel, where I had a huge cannoli. Yummmm.

Thursday (Day Four):

Thursday morning’s academic visit was one of my favorites, because we were talking with Antonella Della Fave, one of the first positive psychology researchers ever, and the most important one in Italy. She and her fellow researchers talked about their work and gave us a lot of great information on how the positive psychology principles we’ve been learning about in class can be applied in practical research. Even the presentation was three hours, it went by really quickly, and I think we were all sad to be leaving at the end of it.

We had a fancy group lunch with risotto then pork with wildberry sauce and potatoes. The restaurant was dark so my pictures didn’t turn out very well, but the food was scrumptious. After lunch we got espresso courtesy of DIS. In the afternoon we visited with Dr. Morandi at Ayurvedic Point, and learned about Ayurveda as well as traditional medicine in general. It was probably my favorite visit because he talked to us about the philosophy of traditional medicine and how he approaches his Ayurvedic practice as a Western medicine-trained physician. He emphasized how Eastern and Western traditions should work together, rather than competing, and his perspective was really fascinating. I definitely want to learn more about Ayurveda and how it can be applied to a psychological context.

That night we got the evening to ourselves, so Ansley, Allie, and I took some relaxation time before going out to dinner. I took a marvelous bath (with jets!) in our hotel room, and it was great to get some time to just chill after having such a busy week. For dinner we met up with Jenna and her Italian friend she’d met a few years ago while being a camp counselor. We found a nice place with outdoor seating by the canals, and splurged a bit on fancy food and some wine to accompany it. For dessert we went back to the hotel and found a gelato place nearby, and I found my new favorite flavor–crema.

Friday (Day Five):

Our last full day in Milan began with another academic visit with Antonella’s researchers. This time it was focused more on disability and positive psychology, which was really cool because it was very different from the other research we’d heard about the rest of the tour. As a surprise at the end of the visit, we each got Kinder Bueno bars from our tour leaders. Then for Liia’s birthday they took us out to free gelato, the best gelato I had that week. It was a place called Gelatissimo, and unsurprisingly the owner was very happy to have forty customers at once.

I got Crema Catalana and Pistachio--delicious!

We had the afternoon free, so Shuyao, Jenna and I walked through the Parco Sempione (neither of them had gotten to see it the first day) to the Pinoteca di Brera, an art museum that was highly recommended by, well, everyone. I know next to nothing about art history, and the captions were all in Italian, but the paintings were mostly from the early 1800′s or the 1500′s. There was a ton of religious art and many depictions of the Virgin Mary with Jesus. I love art museums, but I’d never seen such old art before so it felt like an entirely new experience. My favorite painting depicted a young woman, relaxing in a chair while shirtless. I know nothing of the context of the painting, but she just seemed really relaxed and content, and it was a nice contrast to all the stark religious imagery.

For our last night, we had a group dinner followed by a jazz show at Blue Note Milan. Everybody got dressed up for the show, and it was fun seeing everybody all fancy (though a lady at the restaurant apparently thought we were in high school). It was dark in the restaurant so my pictures are not spectacular, but we had three wonderful courses–pasta, sausage with veggies, and flan! We also each got a glass of wine or soda to accompany the meal.

tried using the flash for the second course--not a great result (but the food was delicious!)

Shuyao didn't want her flan, so I ended up having 1 and 3/4 flans (what is the plural of flan?!)

I didn’t think the day could get any better, but it definitely did. The jazz show was simply amazing. Allie, Ansley, Jenna, and I got bar seats right on the balcony so we got a good view of the performance. The singer was Luca Jerman, accompanied by several musicians and a couple of backup singers. His very first song was “Ain’t No Sunshine” by Bill Withers, which I had just downloaded the week before, and it pretty much set the tone for the night. Everything about the performance was amazing and his voice was really incredible. Luca Jerman was also accompanied for one song by another singer, who turned out to be a really famous Italian singer who won a singing competition show followed by an Italian music award.  Apparently he was taught by Luca Jerman, which was why he showed up for the performance. Everyone in our class was buzzing about it afterwards, and it was a truly perfect way to end the trip. Plus, on the way home, Shuyao and I found Spongebob randomly painted on a wall.

Saturday (Day Six):

Saturday morning I had a perfect last breakfast, including a creme puff covered in chocolate mouse–obviously a great way to start the day. We loaded all our stuff onto the bus and departed for an afternoon at Lake Como. The lake was so beautiful, and the town was adorable. It was nice to see someplace other than Milan, which is beautiful but has a lot of cars and busy streets (stark contrast from Copenhagen).

After getting our lunch money and directions from our guide, Shuyao and I headed over to the Funiculare, a gondola-tram-thing that takes you up to the top of one of the hills surrounding the lake. When trying to find it, we first went up this tiny alleyway, thinking we were headed the right way, and we were surprised that nobody else was around. Then when we reached the top of the hill we came out onto a regular busy street, and were really confused. We asked a woman where to find the Funiculare, and she told us we had to go all the way down the hill, and it’d be right there. OOPS. Turns out what we’d thought was a cafe was actually the ticket office.

walking through the little town

We were starting to get hungry, so we decided to try to find some lunch up on top of the hill. We wandered through the streets for a bit, starting to wish we’d paid more attention to the map of the town near the Funiculare station. Finally we decided to ask for directions from a guy at a small grocery store. He pointed us to a little trattoria tucked away in a side street. The restaurant was adorable, and there were only about three options for each course. Shuyao and I decided on two different pasta dishes because we didn’t want to spend too much. What a great choice. After a long wait, the waiter brought out our pasta, and it was the best food we had all week. The ingredients were really simple, but it was all super fresh, including the pasta, and we felt like we were experiencing the real Italy.

We decided to head back down again for dessert, and we found a gelato place by the docks that looked really good. The woman there spoke only Italian, so it was a little difficult making our orders, but the gelato was delicious, as always.

We walked back into town and explored a street market there for a while, and I bought a scarf. Then we went to see the Como Duomo (haha I couldn’t resist), which was obviously much smaller than the one in Milan, but still very beautiful.

On the inside the ceilings were very detailed and and covered with gold embellishments, but I didn’t take any pictures because you’re not supposed to (though many people do anyway).

On the way to the airport, we did a positive psychology intervention where everyone filled out positive comments about everyone else in the class, including themselves. Later on everybody received a packet with all their positive comments. All the comments were so thoughtful, and it was really nice  to end the trip with a positive feeling.

We arrived in the airport way too early because of the lack of traffic, so we had about an hour to waste before we could check our bags. Ansley, Allie, and I sat at some tables and shared all our Italian purchases and ate our last few snacks leftover from the hotel breakfast. Once we finally got to check our bags, we checked out a gift store where Allie bought a souvenir and then went to find something to eat. There was only one choice for food in our terminal, but it turned out to be really good. I had a sandwich with prosciutto, cheese, and arugala, and a pastry for dessert.

My sfogliatella (lobster tail). It was (to my surprise) really delicious--my own farewell to Italy.

Unfortunately, when we got back to Copenhagen at 10pm, it turned out that some of the trains were not running. Luckily Allie and I were together so we searched for a solution. First we went from Nørreport to Central Station to figure out what was going on. All the info booths were closed, and when we tried to figure out the bus we needed, we couldn’t find the stop to meet it. In a stroke of genius, Allie ended up buying a hot dog while we figured out what to do. We asked the man at the hot dog stand if he happened to know anything about the buses/trains, and he told us that if we took the one train that was running to Hellerup, we could catch our train from there. We went for it because we had no other ideas, and fortunately he was correct. We each ended up getting home at like 12:30am, but we got there!

Told you it would be a long post. Now it’s time for me to prepare for a return to a normal schedule, homework and all. This trip was better than I ever thought it would be, but I’m so glad to be back in Copenhagen. It is so nice to be in my own room with my own bed, and I’m actually really excited to return to my normal commute tomorrow morning. It’s funny how Copenhagen has become my new home and frame of reference as I travel around–even American money is starting to look foreign!

Arrivederci and vi ses!