The Main Hall.
Grass Amphitheater.
Aww :)
Center of Campus.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Monday, December 26, 2011
Adventures in Amsterdam.
So my wonderful sister came to visit me for 2 weeks over Christmas :) Our first order of business was traveling-- and I could think of no better place to take her then Amsterdam. Here are some photos from our adventures!
REUNITED.. and it feel sooo good.
Burning time at our 4.5 hour layover in London. AKA, drinking Heineken at the airport.
^^The most popular form of transportation.
Doing what comes natural in Holland :)
The Royal Palace & Dam Square.
Had to take a picture of this.. the bridge lifts up for large boats!
Incredible latte made from an Italian, who's favorite phrase was "Ay! Mama Mia!"
Original Heineken Brewery, which we toured.
Miss Neenah Marie.
Look how big the faucet is!
Heineken is made of purified water, malted barley ^^, hops, and yeast.
Awesome Heineken bar, where we answered trivia questions in exchange for beer-- and the Scottish bartender picked on a group of very stoned kids :) Poor boys.
Now this "Brew you ride" was a treat.. We all went into this room and stood on some stairs, in front of a large screen. We weren't told what we were doing. All of the sudden the floor began moving and we were told we would experience what it is like the be the beer that is brewed. On the screen it visually went through each stage.. and to make it more real [I guess] they had fans (to simulate wind, while going through the factory) and threw water on us when we were being mixed haha. We spent the whole time laughing and giving the "is this really happening" look to the other ride-goers.
Bottles on the wall.
Lastly, Neenah and I also went to Anne Frank's original attic hide out during WWII, where she and her family were discovered by the Nazi's. While it was a horrifying period in our history, it was incredible to see such a preserved place. There was a secret bookcase that pushed back, and led to the small attic. In Anne's room, there was even preserved pictures she put on the wall-- that gave her hope. All of the windows were covered with black curtains, for no one could see they were living there. Anne's original diary was at the house. It was unreal to see her handwriting and journal entries.
I had such an incredible time with my sister. I loved showing her my life here and giving her a better insight to my experience in Europe.
Sending you love!
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Christmas Market.
Here are some pictures from the Christmas market in downtown Aarhus :)
There are these small Christmas houses around the city--full of food, gift, and
gløgg (warm, spiced wine.)
Ohh Denmark!
Christmas Trees.
Great street music.
Juleshop--Christmas shop.
Santa's house :)
Monday, December 12, 2011
Danish Exams.
Dearest friends & family,
I apologize for my absence from blogging lately, the past few weeks have been a whirlwind of studying and being ill. I made it through all but my last exam, when I came down with a very painful sinus infection. The school was more than accommodating and is letting me take my last exam, an oral exam, at a later date. Thursday I went to the doctor and got on 7 days of penicillin.. then spent the weekend in bed recovering. I am finally feeling better, i'm so relieved!
I must tell you all about my final exam for my EU after the Lisbon Treaty course-- it was quite an experience. To begin, the exam was 6 hours. Repeat, 6 hours. The professor wrote us students an email the day before an gave us a random address where the exam would take place, a mile from campus (at a questionable part of town, I might add.) The exam was a six hour written exam-- we had the choice of writing the essays by hand or using a computer.. but only if we brought our own printer. Hearing this peculiar printer business, I called one of my Danish friends to make sure I wasn't making things up.. she acted as if it wasn't a big deal and was baffled why I thought it was so weird ha.
I obviously don't have a car here, so the morning of the exam I loaded my huge printer into the basket on the back of my bike, along with my backpack full of course materials and my laptop. Picture this: my printer was overtaking my bike-basket, so much so that I could barely sit on my seat. It snowed that morning so I was bundled up, directions in hand, praying that I didn't take a fall. Finally I arrived at the exam location-- which had these large steel gates at the entrance which resembled a jail. I went inside where I was asked to present my student ID and social security card. Then, a teacher walked me to a desk and told me to sit down. The exam room looked like a modern warehouse-- there was about 100 large desks... hanging above each one was an electric cord with three outlets. The exam began promptly at 9 AM, we had two essays and six hours to write them. Both questions were on EU foreign policy (I officially know more about the EU than I could have ever dreamt of knowing.)
During the exam, there was about 10 teachers walking around in all black. At one point, I had to use the restroom and a teacher escorted me to it. At the entrance of the bathroom, there was a security guard monitoring the bathrooms.. he looked at me and said "you may go now." Apparently, there's extreme security everywhere at exams.. they didn't want any students sharing ANY information or speaking. It was so odd.
So I wrapped up my exam with 30 minutes to spar. One of the many rules, was no one can share their printer. Before I was leaving the exam this French girl asked to use my printer-- she had just finished typing her exam. Once one of the teachers saw us talking, she immediately came over.. and explained that it was forbidden to share printers (..what the big deal is, I don't know.) The teacher then slammed down a package of paper and said you have 30 minutes to write your exam by hand. I felt so terrible for her, but she shouldn't have overlooked the rules.. especially in Denmarkkkk! They take rules extremely seriously.
Anyways, the exam went well. Did the best I could! I left feeling like I had just spent time in the twilight zone. I didn't think anything was odd about the experience (because I was in the zone) until I left and began processing it. I told my brother about it and he said I should go check out the building the next day, it'd probably be a meat market or something ha. It was such a crazy experience!
This week I am going to a Christmas going away party for exchange student Tuesday evening, exploring the Aarhus Christmas market (I will post pictures,) spending time with my roommate before she goes home Saturday, and preparing for my sisters arrival on Sunday!
Sending my love :)
I apologize for my absence from blogging lately, the past few weeks have been a whirlwind of studying and being ill. I made it through all but my last exam, when I came down with a very painful sinus infection. The school was more than accommodating and is letting me take my last exam, an oral exam, at a later date. Thursday I went to the doctor and got on 7 days of penicillin.. then spent the weekend in bed recovering. I am finally feeling better, i'm so relieved!
I must tell you all about my final exam for my EU after the Lisbon Treaty course-- it was quite an experience. To begin, the exam was 6 hours. Repeat, 6 hours. The professor wrote us students an email the day before an gave us a random address where the exam would take place, a mile from campus (at a questionable part of town, I might add.) The exam was a six hour written exam-- we had the choice of writing the essays by hand or using a computer.. but only if we brought our own printer. Hearing this peculiar printer business, I called one of my Danish friends to make sure I wasn't making things up.. she acted as if it wasn't a big deal and was baffled why I thought it was so weird ha.
I obviously don't have a car here, so the morning of the exam I loaded my huge printer into the basket on the back of my bike, along with my backpack full of course materials and my laptop. Picture this: my printer was overtaking my bike-basket, so much so that I could barely sit on my seat. It snowed that morning so I was bundled up, directions in hand, praying that I didn't take a fall. Finally I arrived at the exam location-- which had these large steel gates at the entrance which resembled a jail. I went inside where I was asked to present my student ID and social security card. Then, a teacher walked me to a desk and told me to sit down. The exam room looked like a modern warehouse-- there was about 100 large desks... hanging above each one was an electric cord with three outlets. The exam began promptly at 9 AM, we had two essays and six hours to write them. Both questions were on EU foreign policy (I officially know more about the EU than I could have ever dreamt of knowing.)
During the exam, there was about 10 teachers walking around in all black. At one point, I had to use the restroom and a teacher escorted me to it. At the entrance of the bathroom, there was a security guard monitoring the bathrooms.. he looked at me and said "you may go now." Apparently, there's extreme security everywhere at exams.. they didn't want any students sharing ANY information or speaking. It was so odd.
So I wrapped up my exam with 30 minutes to spar. One of the many rules, was no one can share their printer. Before I was leaving the exam this French girl asked to use my printer-- she had just finished typing her exam. Once one of the teachers saw us talking, she immediately came over.. and explained that it was forbidden to share printers (..what the big deal is, I don't know.) The teacher then slammed down a package of paper and said you have 30 minutes to write your exam by hand. I felt so terrible for her, but she shouldn't have overlooked the rules.. especially in Denmarkkkk! They take rules extremely seriously.
Anyways, the exam went well. Did the best I could! I left feeling like I had just spent time in the twilight zone. I didn't think anything was odd about the experience (because I was in the zone) until I left and began processing it. I told my brother about it and he said I should go check out the building the next day, it'd probably be a meat market or something ha. It was such a crazy experience!
This week I am going to a Christmas going away party for exchange student Tuesday evening, exploring the Aarhus Christmas market (I will post pictures,) spending time with my roommate before she goes home Saturday, and preparing for my sisters arrival on Sunday!
Sending my love :)
Sunday, November 27, 2011
American Thanksgiving, With Europeans.
So I decided to cook Thanksgiving dinner for some friends, they were so excited to take part in the American tradition. The girls have always seen it on television, so they were tickled pink that they could experience it. There were two girls from Slovakia, two from Poland, and one from India :)
This was my first time cooking Thanksgiving by myself, and it was a huge success! We had roasted chicken with cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes with honey, cornbread, my mama's cornbread dressing, rolls, and steamed broccoli. I was shocked that the girls had never had sweet potatoes, cornbread, or cranberry sauce! Here are some pictures:
This was my first time cooking Thanksgiving by myself, and it was a huge success! We had roasted chicken with cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes with honey, cornbread, my mama's cornbread dressing, rolls, and steamed broccoli. I was shocked that the girls had never had sweet potatoes, cornbread, or cranberry sauce! Here are some pictures:
Having a heart attack while having to prepare the chicken.
Lenka making cranberry sauce :)
Yuuuumy.
Proud moment. Dinner complete.
Team effort.
Good friends, good food, great times.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Busy, Busy, Busy.
Friends & Family,
I will be MIA until December 6, when I complete my last exam. I will do a post regarding me birthday though, which is November 29 :)
My life will consist (for the next few weeks )of school, studying, and reading until my eyes go cross-eyed... well, hopefully not.
In other news, my sister Neenah will be visiting me December 17-29! She and I are taking a trip to Amsterdam from the 19-23 of December. We will then take a train to Northern Denmark where we will spend Christmas Eve and Christmas day with my Danish friend Sanne's family. I am very excited to experience a traditional Danish Christmas!
I will have off school from December 6-February 1. TALK ABOUT A WINTER BREAK. So, my goal is to stay busy with my language courses and travel as much as my budget will allow. My Polish friend Karolina has invited me to spend some time in Poland with her and her family in January. So January 5-12 I will be in Krakow, Poland. We are going to go to southern Poland to snowboard one day. She will also be taking me up north to see a concentration camp. Some call it 'dark tourism' but I look at it as a humbling and moving experience we will venture on.
Lastly, my wonderful brother Russell will come visit me in Denmark in the middle of January for a while. Our goal is to make it down to Italy :)
My planned adventures are the only thing getting me through these next few weeks of finals! Ugh.
Sending my love.
I will be MIA until December 6, when I complete my last exam. I will do a post regarding me birthday though, which is November 29 :)
My life will consist (for the next few weeks )of school, studying, and reading until my eyes go cross-eyed... well, hopefully not.
In other news, my sister Neenah will be visiting me December 17-29! She and I are taking a trip to Amsterdam from the 19-23 of December. We will then take a train to Northern Denmark where we will spend Christmas Eve and Christmas day with my Danish friend Sanne's family. I am very excited to experience a traditional Danish Christmas!
I will have off school from December 6-February 1. TALK ABOUT A WINTER BREAK. So, my goal is to stay busy with my language courses and travel as much as my budget will allow. My Polish friend Karolina has invited me to spend some time in Poland with her and her family in January. So January 5-12 I will be in Krakow, Poland. We are going to go to southern Poland to snowboard one day. She will also be taking me up north to see a concentration camp. Some call it 'dark tourism' but I look at it as a humbling and moving experience we will venture on.
Lastly, my wonderful brother Russell will come visit me in Denmark in the middle of January for a while. Our goal is to make it down to Italy :)
My planned adventures are the only thing getting me through these next few weeks of finals! Ugh.
Sending my love.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Bryndzové Halušky
Each week a group of us girls get together to do a themed dinner. Friday night's dinner was made by two girls from Slovakia, Kristina and Lenka. They made a dish called "Bryndzové Halušky." Halušky is boiled lumps of potato dough-- it's made by shredding potatoes and mixing it with eggs & flour. Bryndza, which is a soft goat cheese, is then softened and mixed with milk. Sprinkled on top is either bits of cooked bacon or ham, we used ham.
The hostess of the dinner, Karolina, made a native Polish beverage. During the winter months, Pole's make "Grzaniec" which is hot beer or hot wine. Believe me, I was skeptical at first-- but it was delicious. To make it warm pilsner beer, honey and ginger in a pot. Then, transfer the hot liquid into a glass with pieces of orange's & top it off with a sprinkle of cinnamon.
Here are a few photos :)
Lenka, Kristina, and Karolina cooking.
Bryndzové Halušky! They scooped me my portion before adding the meat, I don't eat red meat :)
Karolina making the Grzaniec.
Final Product!
So, I had a little bit of a difficult week. My medications I take were obtained at customs, so my body was thrown for a little bit of a loop without them. Went to the doctor here though.. their healthcare system is so efficient (and free to me!) The Dane's call their program "Welfare For Everyone," gosh I love this socialist country.
Sending my love to everyone!
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