Heading Home Soon

It is crazy for me to think that I am going home next week.  This semester has sped by.  With a week left I can't help but think, what do I still need to do before I leave?  When will I be back here next?  What did I gain from my experience abroad?

Going into this semester, I honestly did not know what to expect.  I wasn't sure if I would feel integrated into Danish culture, enjoy living in Copenhagen, or learn anything from the "studying" part of my study abroad experience.  But this semester has more than met my expectations, especially academically.  Many of the courses I took focused on a subject within a European context, which tremendously enhanced my learning experience.  For example, my Business class focused on the financial industry within the EU, my Art History class focused on european art, and my Criminology class focused on crime in Scandinavia.  

Another highlight of living here has been the traveling.  By the time I leave Denmark I will have been to: Denmark (hahah), United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Czech Republic....so many more countries than I ever imagined being able to visit!  

Tomorrow I am taking my last final exam and then I am off to Prague for 2 days with some of my friends.  I hope to write another post before I leave Denmark for good, but for now...it has been amazing living in Copenhagen!

Oh, and here are some fun photos from recent trips around Copenhagen:

Tivoli at Christmas Time

FC Copenhagen vs. Arhus Soccer Game (Final Score 0-0)

My Visiting Family

Throughout the semester, I have been spending time with a Danish family.  I have gone to there house for dinner on a few occasions and we have had conversations about differences that exist between American and Danish culture.  Recently, we discussed the differences in the school systems.  In Denmark, children stay with the same class from the time they start school until the end of middle school. As an American, it is hard for me to relate to this concept, almost 10 years of schooling with the same group of kids?!?  Thinking about this idea more, it can really go either way: a class can be super tight and have amazing dynamics or a class can dislike each other and be stuck together for years.  I am curious about others opinions on this, do you think having the same class for most of your schooling is positive?

On a slightly different note, yesterday, I had to say goodbye to my visiting family.  We went ice skating together.  It was strange to say goodbye to them because I don't know when and if we will ever see each other again, but it has definitely been a valuable experience to have the opportunity to get to know a Danish Family!

Here are some pictures of us ice skating:

Eating Out In Copenhagen

Its been a while since I have blogged, and seeing as I am heading off to Amsterdam tomorrow, I thought now would be a good time for a quick post.  Due to my mom visiting me, my birthday, and a friend visiting me, I have recently been eating out quite a bit in Copenhagen.  As the true Hill that I am, I figured it was time for me to blog a bit about my favorite places to grab a bite in Copenhagen:

- Dalle Valle: My favorite restaurant in Copenhagen is Dalle Valle located on Fiolstraede.  I first ate at this restaurant with my mother and we were able to enjoy a glass of red wine and snack on some nachos.  The nachos at this place are incredible, and the portion is big.  It is the perfect snack to accompany a drink.  Then, on my birthday, I decided to eat at this restaurant again with some friends.  This time I had the Dalle Valle burger, it was incredible.  If Copenhagen can make one thing well, its a burger, and this restaurant is very generous about toppings on the burgers.  Plus, Dalle Valle has half price on all food Saturday-Tuesday nights, there is no way anyone can go wrong by eating here.

- Tandoori Masala: My friend visited last weekend and we decided to go out for Indian food.  We are both Indian food lovers and have been missing the cuisine a lot since being abroad.  After doing some research online, we decided to go to Tandoori Masala located on Sankt Peders Straede.  I have walked by this restaurant several times and never even noticed.  To find the restaurant, one needs to walk up a little staircase and open the door located in a graffiti covered hallway.  We decided to split two dishes: saag paneer and chicken tikki masala.  We also ordered some naan.  All the food was excellent and very reasonably priced for Copenhagen.  I would highly recommend this as a cheap and delicious Indian meal in Copenhagen.

- Paludan Bogcafe: Paludan Bogcafe is also located on Fiolstraede.  I am a frequent visitor to this cafe, which in my opinion makes one of the best cups of coffee in Copenhagen.  Every cup contains freshly ground coffee beans.  I sometimes eat at this cafe and I am never disappointed.  I have had a sandwiches and the tomato soup at Paludan, however, last night we went there for dinner and I had split the warm goat cheese salad and a burger with the friend.  The burger was good, not as good as Dalle Valle, but I would still give it a solid B+.  The goat cheese salad was awesome, but didn't come with any dressing on it and i would have loved a little balsamic on top of it.  Overall, reasonably priced, and very consistent, have never had a bad meal here.

-Tight: On my mom's last night in Copenhagen, she took me to Tight located on Hyskenstraede.  Tight is a highly rated and slightly more pricy restaurant.  The menu is fairly limited, but the food is great.  Each of us had two courses.  My mom had mussels followed by duck for the main course and I had mushroom and truffle soup followed by a burger for the main course.  The highlight of the meal was probably the burger that came on fresh bread with a multitude of toppings.  The atmosphere of the restaurant was also a big plus, it was very cozy.  I recommend this place, but be prepared to spend a little bit more money on your meal.

-RizRaz: And finally there is RizRaz located on Store Kannikestraede.  Riz Raz is an okay restaurant. I went with a friend to the all you can eat lunch time vegetarian buffet, which I think cost around 70 DKK.  The food was decent, but didn't blow me away.  Some of the Mediterranean dips and side dishes were very good, but the pastas and pizzas were only mediocre.  I am not going to eat at this place again too soon, but the lunch buffet is a decent deal if that is what you are in the mood for.

I think that sums up my restaurant recommendations in Copenhagen.  Other than the restaurants mentioned above, I have had my fare share of street hotdogs, falafels, shwarmas, and meals from the market at Israel Plads.  If I do dare venture out to eat again, I will be sure to post my findings.

Barcelona, Rome, and Paris

After spending time traveling to Barcelona, Rome, and Paris, I have finally returned to Copenhagen.  The trip was spectacular.  I saw everything the three cities had to offer through exploring the streets, eating the food, and visiting cultural centers.  Here are some pictures from my trip:

Sagrada Familia

Tapas

Colosseum

Trevi Fountain

Arc de Triomphe

Eiffel Tower

 

Travel Break!

At the crack of dawn on Saturday, I am off to Barcelona.  And thus begins my two week travel break.  I am spending the first week in Barcelona and Rome and the second week with my mom in Paris and Copenhagen.  I have never been to any of the cities I am visiting, except for Copenhagen obviously because I live here, so this will be an all around new adventure for me.  New food, new language, new culture....can't wait!  I will probably have limited to no Internet access while on my trip, so this will be the last blog post for a while.  Expect pictures and a long post upon my return!

I think its nap time...

Hello to all my readers out there, sorry if I have let you down this last week with my posts.  Truth be told, I haven't been doing much.  I was in New York last weekend for my cousin's wedding and I spent this week being jet lag and catching up on work.  I did have the pleasure of having a home cooked Danish meal last night in the countryside.  But besides that I have been studying, reading, writing, and sleeping.  Hopefully, I will be able to enjoy this weekend in Copenhagen because next weekend I begin my 2 week Europe travel extravaganza.  I will report again at the end of the weekend, but until then I am going to relax and nap and enjoy some down time. 

Occupy Wall Street

I wasn't assigned to write a blog post on this topic, nor does it have anything to do with living in Copenhagen, but Occupy Wall Street is a powerful new movement that I want to spread awareness about.  Occupy Wall Street was recently started, when a Vancouver company encouraged people to occupy Wall Street and protest the economic inequalities in the United States.  Since mid-September, the Occupy Wall Street movement, now referred to as Occupy, as spread to over seventy cities across the nation.  People are gathering to show that they disagree with the governments economic actions, giving tax breaks to the wealthy and bailing out the banking industry, to name a couple.

Occupy has sparked interest in me because it is the first time I can remember in my lifetime seeing the American people come together to peacefully show that we are done with inequality and are ready to see some change.  I have been thinking a lot about the way the Arab Spring has impacted recent social movements, and I believe that we are only beginning to see the ways that social media (e.g., Facebook and Twitter) can be used to organize change.  These tools are crucial in connecting people that care about similar political initiatives and actually want to do something about them.

I am living in Copenhagen, thousands of miles away from where the streets are being occupied.  I don't know where that leaves me in the realm of this movement, but for now I will continue to read articles, follow blogs, engage in discussions, and hope to see some positive change.

Back in Copenhagen

Just got back from London yesterday, it was an incredible and exhausting trip filled with academic visits, cultural excursions, and riding the Tube.  I probably spent on average 1.5 hours on the tube per day.  The Tube is the best and worst transportation system of all time. I don't know why anybody thought it would be a good idea to create an underground train half the width of the NYC Subway, but on the bright side it takes you just about anywhere you need to go.  Here is a day by day on my trip to London:

Day 1: Arrive in London in the evening, spend 3 hours at Border Control, and enjoy the national food of the country: Indian food (that's right its not fish and chips!)

Day 2: Danish Chamber of Commerce, explore and eat lunch at Harrod's (an amazing British department store!), guided tour and high tea at the British museum

 Harrod's

The British Museum

Day 3: Bike Tour of London (saw some highlights of the city: Buckingham Palace, Kensington Gardens, Big Ben), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the London Eye

 Buckingham Palace

The London Eye

Day 4: HSBC, Museum of the Docklands, Royal Observatory, The British Music Experience, Rihanna Concert

Me at the Prime Meridian

Rihanna Concert

Day 5: Wimbledon, Pre-Theater dinner, The Lion King

 Center Court

Wimbledon

Day 6: Westminster Abbey, National Portrait Gallery, and Back to Copenhagen

Westminster Abbey

The verdict: London is a great city.  It has a lot going for it, thriving business, beautiful churches and palaces, and surprisingly good food.  There is a lot to see and I hope to travel back to the city sometime soon.  For now, I am happy to be in Copenhagen, it is a much smaller and more manageable city.  And, its cozy.

Off to London...

I guess I have officially earned the title of worst blogger ever, being mia for over a week.  This past week I was pretty busy, had tons of assignments due, so I was sitting inside doing lots of work, boring.  Saturday, however, we had uncharacteristically beautiful weather for an October day in Copenhagen.  It was the perfect temperature outside, I was able to wear a summer dress!  I went with a few friends to Israel Plads, an indoor market (very similar to Chelsea Market for you New Yorkers reading my blog), where we walked through and took advantage of all the free samples.  Afterwards, we headed over to a park and sat on the hillside overlooking a lake.  We just enjoyed what will probably be our final warm and sunny day in Copenhagen.

Tomorrow I head to London with my European Business Strategy class.  I will be sure to post pictures and details of my trip when I get back!

FM Belfast Concert and Weekend in Odense

I apologize for having taken almost an entire week to publish a new post.  I doubt that anyone missed me that much, but I am trying to keep my posts as regular as possible.  This past weekend was one of the busiest I have had so far in Denmark.  First, lets back track a bit to last Thursday night.  On Thursday night, I went with my Creative Industries class to see the band FM Belfast.  Creative Industries is a business class all about the different business sectors that make up the experience economy, for example music, movies, and fashion.  Before seeing the concert, we met with a manager at VEGA nightclub in Copenhagen.  He spoke to us about the process of finding and booking musicians, the business model of VEGA, and how business has changed since the economic crisis.  As much as I found the talk interesting, the concert was definitely the highlight of the night.  FM Belfast was a surprisingly good band.  The lead singer knew how to get the crowd excited and involved in the music, which made for an incredibly enjoyable concert.

FM Belfast at VEGA

Also, check out this FM Belfast music video.  This is one of the songs they played at the concert!

Saturday morning I left bright and early for a trip to Odense.  The goal of the trip was to explore Hans Christian Andersen's Funen and enjoy a weekend in another part of Denmark.  Our first two stops were Vlademars Slot and Egeskov Slot and Gardens.  Both of these manor houses have beautifully decorated rooms and are surrounded by picturesque scenery and gardens.

Here I am at Egeskov Slot and Gardens:

We arrived in Odense in the evening and did a short walking tour to see HC Andersen's house and monuments that had been created of the famous author.

Look at me chillin' with Hans

On Sunday, the last day of the trip, we went to the HC Andersen Museum.  The museum features an extensive timeline of HC Andersen's life as well as a massive collection of his stories in most languages.  Our last stop was the Funen Village, an open air museum that depicts what life was like in 19th Century Denmark.

Funen Village

Denmark Parliamentary Election 2011

On another note in current events, tomorrow (Sept 15th), is the parliamentary election in Denmark.  Since I have only been here for three weeks, I am not very familiar with the political system.  This article from the Herald Tribune: Denmark's election at a glance, gives a very brief overview of the three main candidates and the key issues of this election.  I am curious to see what the result of the election will be tomorrow, I will keep you all posted!

Copenhagen, City of Cycling

For those of you who have been to Copenhagen, you are familiar with the fact that everyone bikes.  From the age of 5 to the age of really really old, people bike to school and work.  It is a city full of cyclists.  According to a recent New York Times article titled "In City of Cyclists, Pedestrians Feel the Squeeze," 55% of residents travel to work or school on bikes.  However, it seems that in the city of cycling, not everyone is happy with the biking culture.  This article offers an interesting perspective on a small population of Danish citizens who believe bikers feel that they "own the place" and have formed a group to advocate for stricter biker surveillance in Copenhagen.  If you are interested in reading more, here is the link to the article,NY Times Article: In Copenhagen, Pedestrians Feel The Squeeze.

Back from Silkeborg and Herning!

I am back from my long weekend in Silkeborg and Herning, which was filled with visits to businesses and cultural excursions.  On Thursday, our first stop was Saxo Bank.  At Saxo Bank, my class listened to a lecture about the company and observed the trading floor.  Later in the afternoon, we drove four hours to Museum Jorn (Silkeborg Art Museum), where we saw the work of Asger Jorn.  The collection consisted of paintings, sculptures, and ceramics.  In the evening, we attempted to go canoeing, but lasted about 20 minutes in the water because the Denmark rain caught up with us.

Friday it was off to Bang and Olufsen, a high end electronics company known for cutting edge design and high quality equipment.  The four hour visit included a lecture, a factory tour, a tour of the history cave, and a quick stop in the B and O shop.  We then headed to Monsted Kalkgruber, where we explored limestone caves and tasted wine and cheese.

Finally, on Saturday, we toured the Gavno Manor House and tasted beer at Fniks Slotsbryggeri.  The weekend was jam packed with trips and exhausting, but it was worth it to visit all of the interesting places.  Here are some pictures from my weekend:

Me canoeing!

The Limestone Cave

Gavno Manor House

Beer from the tasting

Bad Day, Good Danish

This morning I woke up at 6:15am, which for those of you who know me well, is real early.  I had to meet my criminology class at 7:15am for a field trip to a prison.  I get on the bus at 7:15 and am greeted by my half asleep classmates.  We sit on the bus listening to our iPod's and occasionally exchanging words for about 20 minutes until we realize our professor is missing.  We all take turns calling her for the next hour, but nobody seems to be able to get through to her.  So, at around 8:20am, we decide it is time to get off the bus and head back to bed.  At around 10:00am, myself and two friends wake up and read an email from our professor apologizing for oversleeping.  We are all outraged and decide we deserve a treat.  We walk to this little bakery about two blocks from my house and eat one of the tastiest "Danishes" (they are not actually called this in Denmark), I have ever had.

Later in the afternoon, I met my European Business Strategy class for a different trip.  This time, the professor actually showed up, and we went to Nordea Markets.  At Nordea, we were given an introduction to the company and a project we will be working on throughout the entire semester.  Tomorrow, I am off to a three day trip with my Business class to other parts of Denmark.  Be back in a few days!

Copenhagen Design Week

On Saturday I went with a few of my friends to some exhibits at Copenhagen Design Week.  The New Port was filled with people enjoying what was probably one of the last beautiful and sunny days I will experience this semester in Copenhagen.  The best exhibit we saw was of furniture made out of recycled materials.  My personal favorite was a chair made of little pieces of bread.  We also relaxed for a little while in the "Oasis," a large area of sand with comfy beds, couches, and chairs to chill on.  Afterwards, we went on a tour of a Turkish Naval boat that happened to be in the port on Saturday.  I forgot my camera, but luckily I was able to snag a picture that one of my friends took.

Thorvaldsen Museum

On Friday, I went with my 19th Century European Art History class to the Thorvaldsen Museum.  Bertel Thorvaldsen was a Danish neo-classicist sculptor and his collection of work displays a lot of heroic sculptures and portraits.  Below are some pictures I took in the museum:

Nyhavn and the Canal Tour

Typically on Wednesday, I will be going on trips/cultural excursions with my different classes.  However, today I didn't have any trips scheduled, so I took the day has an opportunity to explore Copenhagen a bit more.  Since I am still a tourist in this country (not only because I am new to Copenhagen, but I still don't have my visa!), I decided to go on a touristy adventure.  I went with a few friends on a canal tour.  The tour started at Nyhavn, "The New Port," lined with beautiful boats and colorful homes.  During the hour long boat ride, we saw several famous buildings and monuments in Copenhagen, a few of which are in my photos below:

The Little Mermaid

Church of Our Saviour

The Danish Stock Exchange (Caught the pic just as a Tuborg truck was driving by!)

The New Port

First Week

It was a fun, but busy first week in Copenhagen.  On my first few days here, I traveled all over the city and saw the Royal Danish Library, the Danish Parliament building, and the canal.  Then on Saturday I took my first trip outside of the city to Kronborg Castle in the town of Elsinore.  I toured the castle, which is best known as the place where Shakespeare's Hamlet lived as well as many generations of Danish royalty.  On Sunday, I attempted to go on a self-guided walking tour of Copenhagen with a friend.  We only successfully made it to the Copenhagen Botanical Garden before getting lost for a few hours on the outskirts of the city.  Below are some pictures from my weekend adventures:

Kronborg

Me at Kronborg

Copenhagen Botanical Garden

Skindergade 40

Welcome to my home!  I live in the heart of Copenhagen on a street called Skindergade. Skindergade is located just off of the major shopping street Stroget.  In my apartment building there are 27 American students and 3 Danish SRA's.  While living in this setting may not be as culturally immersed as living with all Danes, being in the center of the city and experiencing all of the action is a big bonus.

Street View of Skindergade 40

My Kitchen

My Bedroom

The Courtyard