Detour

My Scandinavian utopia is great and I'm really enjoying my classes, probably more so than I have any other semester. It feels good to be back to classes with which I can actively participate and feel as if I am really learning (something which didn't happen as frequently in Chile).

But here is the thing ... today I took an unfortunately necessary sidestep out of my Danish wonderland and stepped into the depths of immigration. Even with something as universally miserable as an immigration office Denmark has proved to make it a relatively easier experience. I arrived an hour before the office closed and assumed that I wouldn't be seen with a 90+ expected wait time but I decided to wait anyways. It turns out that once they close the office everyone who had entered before waits and the office staff waits on every person. A novel idea huh? I don't believe they do that in the DMV typically ... correct me if I'm wrong.

All was not perfect though. I had been frustrated earlier that morning having spent 12 dollars to get four passport size photos just to push the button and have two unexpected flashes ... two of the pictures were of me looking ridiculously bewildered and nearly sideways. Good news, I probably only needed the two photos anyways. I found the office and after about 2 hours my number was called and turned in my application.

You may be wondering ... isn't a residency permit something you should have before you are a resident? Right. Ok, so I was out of the country before they could even send my acceptance letter ... which meant I couldn't apply for the permit ... in Chile the embassies told me that only Danish and Chilean citizens could apply there and so I was without time before arriving in Denmark. I had spoken with the program and they knew at least three months in advance that I was unable to get the permit until arriving in Denmark. No problem, it is just going to be a bit of a hassle ... right, well it turns out you aren't supposed to start studying without the residency permit either and when I nonchalantly answered that I had already started my program the immigration gal was a bit taken aback.

Hmm... problem? I don't think so ... of course this is me not wanting to get worked up about something I have no control over but really, what good would it do me to worry about it? I've applied and have done everything I was told ... I'm sure I won't be deported : )

So for now I wait.
No big deal : )


Ok, next time I'm sure I'll be writing about the snow we might have this weekend or the Chinese New Year party I get to go to next week or at least something with pictures!!

Playing the American card

Right, well last night I had a really great evening spent at my International Marketing professors house with 15 of my classmates and his family. It was very "hygge", a danish expression which sounds nothing like it looks and means cozy, warm and inviting. We had pizza and friggadela (definitely not how it is spelled) and enjoyed getting to know each other better over the course of the evening. This of course was great and in part it reflects the danish teaching style as well. We have been told by all of our professors to use their first names only as well. It seems like a very flat system in which the professor in no way assumes the power role that at times we are accustomed to in the US.

That is really interesting of course but the real reason I am writing is to say that I've had my first run in with the law. Ok, before you get nervous and wonder if I have been deported or something to that regard ... not to worry ... What happened was that a group of three other girls and I decided to walk to the station together after class and head to the professor's house which was a fair distance from the city center. Two of the other girls and I had 5 zone passes so we figured that we would be perfectly fine to get on the train and make our way a few stops out from the city center as it would clearly stay within the allotted 5 zones. Turns out ... that really wasn't the case. Keep in mind that I have only taken the train from my house to the city center and back over the course of the last week as I haven't needed to really take it anywhere else. My general assumption (and that of the other two girls with me) was that the zones were distinguished like that of a dartboard (I'm sure there is a better way to explain this ...) and for each distance you crossed into the zones 1,2,3 etc. Not really the case.

Well on the last stop before we were to get off we had the transit authorities come onboard and ask to see our passes. They then proceeded to get off the train with us at our stop and write us our fines. Each of us tried to convince them that as American students having only been in the city one week we were still confused with the system and believed that we were in the right when we got onboard. We were seriously sure that we were right, having joked as we saw someone get ticketed the stop before that we didn't want to get the fine. If we had wanted to get offboard before they checked our passes we could have easily done that as well ... ok, too late for ifs ... Needless to say playing the "American" card really didn't stop these transit police from writing our tickets. We are allowed to appeal the ticket which I will do tomorrow but for now I'm not really worried or upset about it ... worse things could happen.

Of course now I will be extremely careful as to triple check anytime I leave my specific zones as to whether or not I have the right pass. I suppose these are the sort of things that happen in a new city in your first week. Live and learn.

Wishing you happy transit wherever you may be.

"To be or not to be"

A visit to Kronborg castle is sure to bring up at least one reference to Shakespeare's Hamlet as it is the castle that he based the story upon.

Saturday I took a DIS subsidized trip about an hour from the city to the small city of Elsinore and visited the Kronberg castle. It was honestly a bit difficult to get myself into the city that morning as I was reluctant to brave the intense wind and a fair bit of rain but it was definitely worth it! I even ran into a girl that I had met the night before on the train platform who happened to be doing the same tour. So now I have a friend in my little neighborhood as well!

The town of Elsinore is very similar to the other towns I've seen so far in Denmark. It has the distinctly brightly colored buildings, which remind me a bit of Georgetown, and a center pedestrian walk flanked with cafes, kebob houses (yes, there are lots!) and shops. Wanting to get out of the cold a new friend and I headed into a coffee house and ordered coffee and a danish (vienebrød), I even asked for it in Danish! How polite the girl working there was to pretend to understand what I said : ) We finished our lunches and meandered around a bit, trying to get off the main street and explore some of the side streets. I noticed a little antique shop and we headed in. It was more or less a kind of heaven : ) I say this as an admittedly huge fan of PBS's Antiques Roadshow and an even bigger fan of a good deal.

Inside we found a really great collection of antique furniture, china, art etc. at amazingly low prices (even for US standards). Then I found that there was a sign leading us upstairs which seemed to indicate that everything upstairs was 5 kroner (Really my danish isn't that good but any good shopper knows big red letters usually indicate a sale price), now this is serious business because 5 kroner is appx. one US dollar. I found a really great porcelain kettle that I decided to get for Antonio and Agneta (it turned out to be their 28th wedding anniversary!) and was so happy that I could have made the trip there just to go to that store!

But, oh right ... the castle! Well firstly, it had a moat! How great!! A real moat!! You can see it in these pictures as I found it to be the real clencher in terms of judging the legitimacy of any structure claiming to be one of the most important castles in Europe. Our group split up and we were led for about an hour and a half around this truly impressive fortress. It was also quite a lesson in Danish history. I learned that the Swedes and the Danish have been involved in 26 wars over the course of history ... most unfortunate for the Danish as this has led to the loss of 1/3 of their landmass. Also, that King Christian (all Danish Kings are Christian or Frederick and maybe we can assume that this King was Christian the first ... ) used the sound seperating what is now Sweden and Denmark (pictured below) as a way to tax ships crossing in acquiring his personal wealth.

Something I found to be very interesting was that our guide told us that throughout history when the Swedes attacked Kronborg they looted it and took away artwork, tapestries etc. and now those artifacts are featured in Swedish museums! One particularly impressive painting we were shown was not taken due to the fact that it depicted the Swedish King handing a crown to the Danish Queen! Well, they have their pride I suppose : ) This of course coming from me who is 1/4 Swedish : )

Sweden!! The sound you see here separates the two countries by a mere 4km. I even received a text message on my Danish cell phone welcoming me to Sweden and reminding me that international rates apply. Keep in mind international rates mean using your cell phone may result in the need to auction off arms, legs, vital organs etc. to pay the bill. yikes!





More to read here about Kronberg Castle!



I also wanted to put up a few pictures from the tour we had during orientation. We of course hit all the big stops ... Parliament, the Royal residence, the little mermaid etc. Our tour guide was a young Danish guy and really gave a great narrative of the city and its history. I especially liked seeing the guards outside of the Royal residence and was even more thrilled when I saw their daily march (to music) through the city center.






So a bit more of an idea as to the historical and Royal presence felt throughout the city. For me it is an impossible to task to walk to class without reflecting on the history and age of the surrounding buildings. I think it's really wonderful and have definitely had complaints of other places (Arizona for one ...) for being the complete opposite. Anyways, lots to enjoy and I am about to spend the evening with my host parents, their daughter Maria and her boyfriend Thomas, their son Martin and his wife Anna, Antonio's brother Maurizio and his wife Dotta. Should be a party!

: ) More on the way

"Be careful ....

when saying kylling and killing. One means chicken, the other kitten."

Note to self:
Try not to order kitten sandwiches!! In part two of my danish survival lessons we learned that the two words are nearly identical and it could be a pretty big misunderstanding : )

No, of course they don't have kitten sandwiches in Denmark!
Well I'll spare you anymore kitten anecdotes ... except to say that I haven't seen any cats since I've been in Denmark.

One of the many squares on my way to class

Having for some reason convinced myself that my sense of direction is perfectly fine and having gotten myself around plenty of big cities without much help I figured it wouldn't be much different in Copenhagen. And with this many of what things I've previously thought are being proved wrong by the fantastic world of Scandinavia. The thing that really gets me lost is the fact that many streets throughout the city center are pedestrian only, very old and narrow, full of the cutesy European cafes and shops you would imagine and in no way built in straight lines or on any sort of a grid.

So, the second morning of Danish lessons I left the house with an hour to get to class and decided since I had extra time I would go to a new train stop which I was told was closer to our classes. This stop is definitely closer ... if you don't walk in a few circles first ... I ended up spending the 15 extra minutes before class walking around flustered and eventually making it to class 5 minutes late. Needless to say I figured out how to not repeat this the next morning.

I enjoyed our Danish classes very much. The first day we even had Danish pastries! Danishes!! Here they are called vienerbrød, meaning bread from vienna. I guess this explains why a girl I met said she tried ordering a Danish and the attendant gave her a blank stare. But now we know how to order pastries, introducing ourselves, saying hello & how are you, etc. I like that we have a few of the polite phrases but I still find myself having a hard time having to ask for English. I guess trying at all is seen as a positive, whereas I met plenty of people traveling S. America who didn't have a single word of spanish. I have also been having a great time practicing with Antonio and Agneta and maybe along with a few cd lessons I can pick up a bit more during the semester.

Ok, so how about public transportation you ask? Well I was surprised to find that on the train there is a bit of an "honesty" policy in effect. When entering or exiting the train you never swipe or scan any sort of ticket. The ticket I use is in a little sleeve that I carry with me at all times so that if the train "guards" get on and ask to see it I have it on me. If not the fines are about $100.

A huge percentage of the Danes either use public transportation or cycle on a daily basis. Part of this is because of the cost associated with having a car. Just to get a drivers license is more than $1000USD and the taxes that they pay in buying equate to as high as a 200% mark up. I think that I would bicycle through rain, sleet and snow also!

Antonio has already told me that they have an extra bike that I can use any time I want. I'm not sure if I will take it into the city much but around our little town will be nice. The other thing to think about is the bicycle laws ... as I like to think of them as ... with so many people on bicycles there are even turning lanes for the bikes! No longer is it look each way before crossing, it's make sure a bike isn't going to take you out if you step onto the street!!

I have really enjoyed my first two days of classes. I have had my core business class, Doing business in the EU, my International Marketing course and my Global business strategy course. The professors each have an impressive professional history and use this experience in guiding the courses. They also subscribe to the idea that it is better to create the learning process with the students rather than strict lecturing. My international marketing professor has already invited my class of twenty students to share a danish meal with his family on monday. Perhaps someone clued him in to the fact that a university student will never pass up a free meal : )

This friday we have a social event put on by DIS at a club in CPH (Copenhagen city). It really is so completely different than my last semester. Now instead of having a program with 30 students I have 450 other students and my specified program (IBE) has 78!! This means that there are so many more opportunities to meet people but it also means that a lot of students I am coming to find have friends that they have come abroad with or they have, at times, 15 students from the same school here. This is something that I sort of expected being that it is an english speaking program in a European city it doesn't necessarily scream "different" or "difficult" and I guess coming with friends or schoolmates makes the transition easier. I think the question I had been asked the most regarded whether or not I was going with friends. To that I always replied no, but I would like to make friends of course. So far I've made a few friends and am really hoping to get acquainted with some danish students. I'm trying to tell myself that it is still only the first week, and who knows maybe at this DIS social I'll meet a whole new slew of people.

Saturday I'm taking a day trip out to see castles! I'd rather like to see a moat : ) I am also going to try and get half priced tickets to a ballet that is currently on at the Royal Opera house. I have been missing dance so much and I'm trying to find out now if it would be possible to take classes once or twice a week. If not here in Copenhagen definitely when I get back and have a bit of stability again (wishful thinking ?).

I have plenty more to relay and should really come up with more "notes to self" but for now I'll wait until the next post and hopefully when I can put up a bit more pictures.

Until then, farvel!! (farewell)

Royal Opera House

Velkommen til København

... and so a new semester abroad begins!



A note to any first time readers ... my blog title is indicative of my writing style ... I tend to ramble. That being said, there will nearly always be photos to keep the interest of those less keen to sift through an excessively long entry.


This semester I am writing from Copenhagen, Denmark as a student with the Danish Institute for Study abroad. I am living just outside of the city with host parents, Antonio and Agneta Lo Truco, and will be attending classes four days a week. I am also hoping to travel a fair amount over the next four or five months as it is my first time in Europe! As of now I have study trips with my classes scheduled in Berlin, Prague, and two weeks in China (Xian, Shanghai and Beijing). There are plenty of other places I'd love to visit but I suppose we'll wait and see.





Right, so I'm in Copenhagen now! It is so perfectly Scandinavian! I flew in friday from Paris and was greeted by my host parents. One quick thing about the airport ... I walked directly off of my plane (5 minutes early) and to the baggage claim area and both of my bags were already going around the carousel. I walked right out (as I had flown in from an EU country) and was loading my luggage into their car within 3 minutes. This is probably a world record.


My point: Danish efficiency. I'm not in S. America anymore, that's for sure.

The fact that my host parents had come to get me was extremely kind. There had been a mix-up with my flight information (as I had just found a flight) and they both took time off of work to meet me (two days earlier than I was supposed to come in!). When I thanked them profusely for coming and allowing me to arrive early they simply said, "We would want a family to do the same for our daughter". Wow. Did I mention how great they are? They are great!





Antonio and Agneta


I spent the afternoon unpacking and reading a bit. After all of this living out of a suitcase I've been doing for something like 2 months ... It is so great to put my things away and know it won't be until June that I have to worry about re-packing. In the evening we sat near the fire and spoke about family and travel over a glass of wine while we waited for pizza! I think I would like to make a coffee table book about pizza around the world : ) It's just so different everywhere!





The next day turned out to be very nice and in the afternoon we went to a neighboring town of Roskilde to visit a Viking boat yard (!!!), walk through the cute pedestrian shopping street and to a famous church. I had no idea what this church was except that it was old and beautiful. It turned out to be so old and beautiful that it has been the burial sight of all Danish Kings and Queens since the Reformation (As early as: Harald Blaatand, a.940-86).







Talk about history ... this church has been around since the early Middle Ages. Whoaa! In 1995 the cathedral was admitted to UNESCO's World Heritage List, and I thought we were just going to see a nice old church : )


On our way home we stopped at their daughter Maria's home to pick up her dog, Robin, to watch for the evening. I enjoyed another great meal, this time pasta and meatballs, and great conversation with Antonio and Agneta. Being that Antonio is Italian, originally from Sicily it was interesting to learn that first Italians eat the pasta, then they eat the bread and meatballs.

Antonio and Agneta first met in Italy while Agneta was on holiday, they were 18 years old. Agneta is originally from Sweden so the two of them lived in Sweden for a time before moving to Copenhagen together. Neither of them spoke Danish. Now they each speak Danish, Italian, Swedish, English and Antonio also speaks German. At dinner we found that perfect is nearly the same in about 7 languages : )

-- Strange coincidences between my host family in Chile and my host family in Denmark --

1. My host dad in Chile was also Antonio
2. Patty, my Chilean host mother, dreams of going to Italy to rediscover her heritage
3. At the end of both of the streets I have lived on is a Shell gas station

... perhaps not twilight zone material but still ...

: )


This afternoon I will head into the city for the first time and get some information from my program on this weeks orientation as well as getting my transportation card. All of the students are required to go and pick up the information but I'm not expecting it to be very social as most are coming directly from the airport with luggage and will want to find their host families and living arrangement. Another really great thing about coming to Europe early is I have already gotten over the jetlag and won't have to be miserable during the first day of orientation.


So for now I'll say "hej hej" - (hi, hi) - goodbye! Wishing you the best.




Danish design furniture

The backyard - from inside; the frontyard - from inside

Je'taime Paris

Ok, here goes ... my first European entry!

My time in Paris definitely exceeded my expectations. It wasn't even seeing the sights or exploring the museums but it was the amazing time that I had with Valentine and her family.

The Louvre; Venus de Milo

On my flight I had willed myself to sleep and try (as most trans atlantic flight takers do) to ward off jetlag ... well, easier said than done. Coming from LA made it that much harder because I was 9 hours behind and that nine hours doesn't just slip away as easily as I was hoping.

Joan of Arc; Notre-Dame

Basically I didn't sleep the whole flight. No big deal I'll tough it out, there is only so much time a person gets in Paris right? Ok, so I got into Paris at 10am and Valentine and her Mom were waiting for me to take me back to their house. Using my really great French (consisting of Bonjour and the word for car - mispronounced) was fun and they were very sweet to help me along. Everything was so wonderfully European and even driving to their Parisian suburb was fun. Getting to their house and up to my room I decided that there were some things I needed to get done as well as plan for my next few days as a tourist!

The best part of the day was sitting down to dinner with Valentine and her parents. It was so French! We had a bit of greens with oil and vinegar along with this sort of build your own ham, proscuitto, potato and cheese entree. I can't possibly explain it correctly but we took big pieces of cheese and put them into these little almost pots which melted it down and then you put it over your potatoes and meat. We also had french cider to go along with the meal and afterwords a tray of cheese came out : ) I was learning more and more words as well ... cheese for example : )

Arc de Triomphe; View from the Top

This week was revision for Valentine before her big exams so I was more or less sent with a game plan into the city for the day until we met up again in the evenings. I had a very nice time and being that Paris is such a great walking city it was great at times to just walk aimlessly into a cute district.

Paris Opera House; Pére-Lachaise Cemetery

I saw nearly all that a person could hope to see in three (wet and cold) days in Paris.

(I ended up booking my flight to Copenhagen for Friday as it was the least expensive and most accomodating to my host parents -- which meant I had two days less in Paris but I would be moved in earlier)

The list of places I saw is neither here nor there because it would just be a list ... the highlights are I suppose a bit more interesting. I really enjoyed the two museums that I spent the most time in Musee d'Orsay which includes the impressionist works rejected from the Louvre such as Van Gogh, Monet, Degas and Manet. Seeing those paintings was really very neat and it allowed me to sneak inside for a few hours out of the rain : ) I also had a nice time walking around the Louvre but it is just so absolutely gigantic (30,000 pieces of art) that I decided on the big highlights (the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo), the Roman and Greek collections, French and Italian collections, and the Napoleon apartment suites.

Degas - Musée d'Orsay; Me! in front of the Louvre

I really had no problems on the metro and most of the people I spoke with were very helpful, especially considering my vast knowledge of the french language : ) I only really ran in to one or two of the "rude" french stereotype.

My favorite parts of the city were Montmarte and St. Germain des Prés. The sort of cute neighborhoods which embody the Parisian spirit. Cute cafes, small streets, bookshops, art galleries and beautiful architecture.

On tuesday I had dinner again with Valentines family. The two of us met at the Opera house to try and see about getting tickets to the ballet (unfortunately we didn't get them) and then headed home together. We had a few types of paté and then foie gras which I hadn't had before and didn't mind having but I could have done without the explanation (stuffed duck liver - eeh).

Wednesday night I met Valentine at her University and she took me along to a little party that her boss wanted to have for her co-workers. This was probably the most fun I had. We sat around with eight other students and her (60 something year old) boss and for the most part the conversations were in French with a bit of translation by Val unless they were questions directed to me. I loved hearing the french and occasionally I caught a few words here and there. I even pulled out a few phrases I had been working on and her boss spoke two sentences to me in English and then seemingly forgot that I didn't speak french but continued on anyways ... I even asked him if he when he went to the US if he went for work (travailler) or vacations. How proud I was : ) and Valentine kept telling me that I must have learned french previously ... of course the spanish helps as at times I just guessed the word and put a french accent to a spanish word. Surprisingly enough it worked quite often : ) I would love to one day really learn french. Maybe not this semester ... I think the Danish is going to be enough!

I spoke with the other french students about the US and politics and one of her co-workers is half Peruvian so that was neat and we just had a really nice time. We drank kir which is the Parisian equivalent of a cosmopolitan apparently : ) very girly - white wine and syrup. Yum!

Panthéon

Ok I'm going to not ramble on much more as I already want to post about Denmark!! So hopefully you enjoy the photos and all is well wherever you may be.

Au revoir!

Study Abroad - Deux

Well I've taken a bit of a sabbatical while spending time with family and friends over the break.

I was able to spend about two weeks with family in Arizona and a week in Oregon visiting friends. Tomorrow I will be heading to Los Angeles where I will be flying to Paris from.

I could not be more excited to be heading to Europe!!


I am all packed and have even managed to stay within my previously established luggage limits ... the overpacking really had to come to an end.


I've decided to give my blog a bit of an update, which reflects the winter weather I'm heading into ... eeeh!

This morning I recieved my host family information which is great. The only problem is that all I really recieved were the two names of my host parents. They are going to pick me up once I arrive in Copenhagen which is great and I'm hoping that they respond to a quick hello e-mail.

I know this semester is going to fly by as quick as my time in Chile did and I'm hoping to post photos and updates as frequently if not more often than I did in Chile. Considering I'll have (presumably) less time at the beach : ) I think maybe I'll be able to keep up.


Also if you have any desire to send me a quick hello please feel free to do so at this address:

Irene Lehne
c/o DIS, Denmark's International Study Program
Vestergade 7
DK- 1456 Copenhagen K
Denmark

wishing you the best for 2008 --