Big News...Alright not really.

The big news? Snookie is knocked up, I didn't eat a pastry today, I'm going to fail Danish, I ate sushi on a belt, I saw Roskilde, and I go to Bosnia in a few short days! See, that was similar to big news...it has a slight resemblance to big news...no?no? Alright. 

Supposedly Snookie is really 3 months prego according to sources from the states. I can't figure out if I want to be that child or if that child is doomed. Either way, if they decide to make a spin off of Jersey Shore about Jionni and Snookie with their new bundle of joy, I'm excited for the drinking game. 

I was proud of my will power to resist consuming a pastry though. 7/11 and all of the other shops in Copenhagen seemed to be tempting me even more than usual today but I came out the winner. Or was I the loser? It was a battle that lasted until I was out of the city and on the train. Can you go to rehab for pastry consumption? 

I really am going to fail Danish. Or at least this test tomorrow. I can't spell anything in this crazy sounding language nor can I remember any of the numbers past 10. The test will also have a section on the culture and history. What I know about the culture? They think people who buy nice cars are assholes who flaunt their wealth and they eat a lot of potatoes (which I love). What I know about the history? They fought a lot of wars, lost a lot of wars, now they don't fight anymore about anything, and if I slap a 1-9 on the end of a Christian or a Frederick I have a pretty decent chance at getting the King right in any given time period. Like I said, I am going to fail. 

I ate sushi on a conveyor belt last night! And when I say I ate...I mean really mean I feasted for a very long time. It was called "running sushi" and it was all you can eat. There was a conveyor belt that went around the restaurant with different types of sushi in little plastic bowls and you just take whatever you want off of this belt of joy. The whole time I was eating I just kept plucking more bowls off the belt because I couldn't let it go by even though it would come back around. Before I knew it I had all of those brightly colored bowls stacked all around me and the waiter -who really resembled a security guard with his little earpiece-was judging me. 

Today I took the regional train with my Danish class to Roskilde. Home of the cathedral where the Kings and Queens of Denmark rest as well as the huge 10 day music festival in June every year that is very similar to "Woodstock." It was one of the first cities in Denmark, founded by the Vikings and very close to the water. I actually managed to take pictures because it was warmer today and I didn't wear gloves so I'll upload them with captions of the information I can remember. 

I go to Bosnia in 4 days! Do I know where I am staying? If I can check a bag? What we will be doing? What airline we are flying with? The answer to all of these questions is a reassuring NO. However, it is all part of the adventure. So while most of my fellow DIS students are traveling around London, Prague, and Berlin I shall be in Sarajevo trying to stay in large groups while we go out at night. But I'm ecstatic. It's a place I probably never would have gone if it weren't for my Justice and Human Rights group and I think it's going to be a week I'll never forget. 

Copenhagen is starting to become home and I'm loving it. I gave someone directions today. Scary right? 

I heard back from an internship today. I got the one in Frederick, MD. It's a cruel cruel world. Needless to say, the search continues. 

That is all. 

Wish you were here. 

I shall entertain you all whilst I procrastinate

I have a paper due at midnight. It's a legal analysis of Osama Bin Ladens murder killing. I'm starting to stress over it. So instead of work on it I shall blog! This my friends is how great minds think. Law School is gonna love me.

My host family has returned!! With that comes food and chatter! It was so quiet I could barely stand it. They had spent the previous week in Austria skiing and drove the 10 hour drive home on Saturday.
I spent the night in Helsingnør with Sarah. Let me tell you, we have perfected the art of doing absolutely nothing. There may not be two people in the world who do it as well as we do. And we make it look so good.
The two of us take our respectable places on the couch ( or "sofa" if your Sarah) with laptops propped up, TV on an English speaking channel with Danish subtitles.
"I'm hungry."
"Me too"
"Pizza?"
"Pizza"

However, the pizza ordering was a tad more complicated than we had anticipated. We ended up having to walk down to the pizza place and point to the pictures of the pizzas we wanted. After they gave us an irritated "ok" we stood awkwardly in a corner of this very small pizza place and talked quietly to each other and watched Danish music videos on the TV. We do finally receive our two pizzas ( one for each of us of course) and have no trouble devouring said pizzas. We then go back to doing absolutely nothing. It was beautiful. In bed by midnight.

We plan to meet Sam and Francesca in the city the next morning to venture out to Christiania. Alarms set for 9:00...Two alarms. With two snooze options. We end up getting up at 10:00 instead. Oops.

Gross weather. Rain boots and rain jackets it is.

Missed the bus. (Something that happens to Sarah frequently) So we decide to just walk to the station and see the little city of Helsingnør. It was adorable and actually pretty busy for a rainy Saturday. Apparently in the summertime its a hoppin' place.

So, after getting pastries and apple juice like 5 year olds, we take the train and meet up to take the Metro.

Christiania.

Apparently, it was a playground before the days of peace, love, and drugs in Denmark. Now it is a small haven for those who want to sell and appreciate a little herbal drug called marijuana or those who want to live in a society without taxes or  a sewer system. Hippies some may say. Free thinkers. Whatever they are, they are by definition, awesome. From the graffiti to the cheap mexicanish restaurant I was amused and amazed. There was something almost beautiful about the way this society within a society worked.
The police come every Thursday and a surprise day. As we were walking around we noticed big, scary men posted around in probably strategic places? From word of mouth we found out this is like their own little security system. They notify everyone when the police come, shops shut down, no one gets in any trouble. So Strange but So Fascinating. No pictures.

After our little self guided tour through the area we decided we were done being out in the cold rain. We went back to the city center and ate pizza, again! The pizza guy made a heart on my pizza out of some green spice. What can I say? My American charm and stuttering over Danish words must have really made an impression.

Later that night was an interesting Saturday of roaming around to random places, meeting random people, and making the journey home at yes, you guessed it 5:00am.

Bought tickets to Amsterdam Monday. March 16th-18th. I AM SO EXCITED. I'm sure that will be a blog all to itself.

Last night we went to the Sugar Bakery after meeting up with some people. (Something else in Danish) Things I Learned:

Heineken tastes like skunks smell. Not a fan.
Germans are very forward and are clearly not a fan of rejection.
When you ask the bartender for the cheapest shot...you get what you pay for
The line "You have the prettiest eyes I've ever seen, can we kiss?" is actually used but for that poor guy from Barcelona it was not a success. Solid effort?
The line "I'm on holiday here in Copenhagen, we should kiss." is also used. Who wrote the book they are getting these from?
 I know most of the words to a Portuguese song yet do not know what they translate too.
Mcdonald's is where I do some of my best chatting. And not some of my best tweeting.

Overall, successful night. I now can no longer put off finishing this pain in the ass very intellectual paper. So until next time.

Wish you were here.

A whirlwind of a week

I know. I know. You've all been checking my blog at least 10 times a day to see if I've chosen to grace you all with an update of my fabulous life here in Coldland. Well here you are ladies and gentlemen. A nice mix of academia and alcohol. The way everyone should live their lives.

Last Thursday-Leave for århus.
But first we listen to a very rushed but informative lecture on Bosnia and the anti-love triangle between the Bosnians, Serbs, and Croats. Let me tell you who has problems. Those guys.

Load on the bus. Adjust my small self into a little curled up ball and pass out for a respectable 3.5 hours. Sorry class. My fever comes before bonding.

Get lunch at a restaurant entirely too fancy for a medium size group of college students. We receive a number of strange stares...eat our very large sandwiches...and peace out.

Quickly check into our hostels. Hostels in Denmark are like palaces compared to other countries so I have heard ( since I haven't actually been to any other countries yet).

Listen to two lectures at the University there in the city. My fever refuses to allow me to actually focus on these lectures but I'm sure they were more than exciting. All I can really recall from those lectures was that the first speaker shared a strong resemblance to Einstein.

Go to dinner in the Universities dining hall. I pick at something we start calling "Salmon mousse" which literally could have been sold in the yogurt isle in stores and decided I would stick to the wine. Our attention was drawn towards our professor Ulrik after he downed a few glasses of wine. We then bonded over our "asian glow" and everyone at the table got the definition of chatty. It was nice. and only 7:00pm. Which here in Denmark means "just warming up".

Our other professor, Nicolai, went to law school here so he knew lots of the bars. After first trying a few beers at the university bar (and maybe the ordering of a keg by my fellow classmates) we ventured out to a very lively bar downtown...the exact location I am unclear about.

Explained to the bartender what an Irish Car Bomb was...and received a shot that really was nothing like an Irish Car Bomb. Language barriers at work again.

Watched Danes play something similar to Yahtzee.

Explained to Dane after Dane that I was American.

Refused a number of shots and offers of beer.

Finally we decided we should go. The large and loud group of Americans attempt to find our way back to the hostel that is conveniently in the middle of nowhere.

I convince a very sketch man who owns a very sketch pizza place that I am Puerto Rican with my very twangy Spanglish. Receive pizza and fries that tasted like the gods themselves had blessed.

We stand around trying to decided wether to take a taxi or not. This meant we stood around talking and eating until a taxi went by and then we ran after it trying to flag it down. Fail. Start walking. Gabrielle ( classmate) and I get a little worried we are never going to get home and decide we love taxis. Take a taxi home and worry about the rest of our group the whole way there. I get locked out of my room and have to sleep in another room. My luck is exhausting.

Friday:
Wake up the next morning twice as ill as the day before. (Not hungover, I assure you.) Back on the road which means back to sleep for Callie. Now, our very academic Justice and Human Rights professors tried extremely hard to find academic things for us to do for this short study tour. But as it turns out lots of military bases or special operations bases don't really feel comfortable with a group of college students hanging out with them for the day. Needless to say our short study tour was much more...cultural...than others. So we made our way to Ringkøbing in western Denmark where we would take a 2 hour walking tour of Hitlers Atlantic Wall on the beach, bowl, and travel to see Jelling Stones. The hostel we stayed at was, again, amazing. My mother would have even approved of sleeping on those beds. We had a short workshop where we split into groups and read a UN document concerning Srebencia which I found really helpful. Then we had ribs and french fries for dinner and bowled ( or attempted to bowl). I, still running a fever, take two Tylenol PMs and pass out at 10:00 or 22:00 as I'm trying to learn to use.

Saturday:
Wake up the next morning feeling like a brand new person. I happily pack my things and go to breakfast. Chatty and full we get bacccckkk on the bus. ( I became extremely attached to this bus)

2 hour walking tour. on a beach. My toes, face, and hands hated that tour. I'm sure it would have been nicer in the summer.

Back on bus. Back to sleep. Jelling. Tour of stones. Super fascinating. I found it really strange that most Danes are not very religious yet this specific image of "Jesus" that was carved on a jelling stone over 1000 years ago is now on every Danes passport.

Eat at a restaurant where I ate salmon that will go down in history as the best salmon I've ever eaten. Drank hot chocolate that was like a melted chocolate bar in a glass. Happy.

Back on the Bus. Stay awake the whole way home. Copenhagennnnn. Get back to Vaerløse pretty late but not late enough to not go out of course. Meet up with Sam and Sarah at a friends apartment in the city. Go to a really nice bar with the really interesting name of Francis Pony. Learned that Whitney Houston died and bonded with a man in the Danish military over her music. Pay your respects people.

This week my host family is away skiing in Austria. I've been mostly staying at Sam's house (her family is also gone) and rummaging for food that I do not know how to cook. Tuesday night we went out to the very American Kuløbar. It wasn't nearly as crowded as our last experience so taking advantage of the "free beer till 1am" thing was a little easier. Sarah spends 15 minutes of her life trying to convince me we can walk to Helsingnør which is an hour away...by train... home at 6:30 am with Sam. Story of our lives here.

Explored the city with Sam, Brooke, and Kate on Wednesday. Ate pizza and drank wine while we attempted to plan our spring breaks. I get stressed out.

I actually have a paper and a presentation next week. Like real school....not ok.

I now will venture out into the cold to find food with my fellow nommer Sarah because we didn't bring out lunches today. If only there was taco bell. I miss it so much it hurts.

Wish you were here.

That damn ticket stub

Week three is upon us. 3 I tell you. I can't believe I've already been here that long but it is starting to feel more and more like home. I raided the fridge for the first time the other day so, I'm getting there. =)

After Tuesday night I was happy to have a few days that were not so crazy. But believe me, my Saturday made my Tuesday look calm. I'll get there, calm yourselves. 

Thursday:

Ended up having coffee too late in the evening and was bouncing off the walls at dinner. My host family thought I was very amusing. We had tacos and I was in heaven. 

Friday:

Friday was by far one of my favorite nights since I've been in Copenhagen. 

Went to class. Roamed around 7/11 and got baby bites for next to nothing. THEY ARE AMAZING. But I can't look at them while I eat them or it sketches me out. 

Had a great class on Human Traffiking ( sounds depressing right? It is.) 

Sam and Sarah and I tried to plan what we thought was going to be a simple little trip to Berlin. Fail. 

Then Dublin? Not if I want to have a dime to spend while I'm here. School tends to cramp our style here. 

Our walk to the train station--Faces freezing off but we spot a bakery that has a deal for 3 pastry things for 45 kroner. HAVE TO HAVE THEM. Now, there is no reason in hell I need to be eating 3 of these "half flour half butter" magnificent, gifts from the gods above, miracles. Oh wait, except for that large reason of, I want to. 

Pass a liquor store and decide it will be saving money to buy alcohol before we go out and "warm up" as the Danes call it. Said liquor store is ran by some ...interesting members of society who smell like they have rubbed old tacos under their arms in place of deodorant. yum. We buy a lovely bottle of Malibu rum. And then I almost pass out when I see the price. Joy. 

Sam and I decide we have to have Mcdonalds too. I know, I know. Judge me. It's not that I WANT to be eating Mcdonalds in a foreign fabulous city. It's just my wallet that wants to. Actually that's somewhat false. I really do want it too. 

Up and decide to make the long journey to Helsingnør (close to Sweden) to stay the night with Sarah and her host family. So we purchase ( more purchasing...wah) "clip tickets" for a price I shall never repeat from 7/11. Having no idea how to use these clip tickets we ask a nice man in the train station and cross our fingers we have the correct amount of zones and clips. Eh. Very sure I did not. I even had dreams that night about getting fined by the scary pass checker lady on my way home. BUT. We manage to make it there free of fine. Freeze our toes nearly off waiting for a ride. Make it to the house and thaw. Ahhh. 

Pizza and wine. And wine. And wine. And wine. I got the asian glow. We all got chatty and had a nice discussion. Hygge. (pronounced "huegga") Time for bed. Air mattress! Pass out. Sleep until 10:00 am and feel amazing. 

Saturday :

Sam and I take the buss to the train station. 

Get on wrong train. 

Forget to clip tickets. 

Have to ask for help from a nice man on the train. (Soon all of Copenhagen will know us as the American girls always asking for help. ) 

Get on S train finally and head for home. 

Almost 2 hours later, I am Home. 

Relaxxxx. Eat. Get ready to go out. 

I have to wait for two trains to go by to be on the one Sam is on to the city. What do I do to kill time? I buy a Carlsberg in the 7/11 and drink it in the train station. Because people do that here. It's actually a great feeling...I'm going to miss that when I'm in the U.S. (Really, it's the simple things in life...) 

Meet up with Sam who has been having herself a good ol time at a family birthday party. It appears I am way behind on the feel good level. 

Meet up with Sarah and Brooke at Mcdonalds. Discover I'm way behind them as well. 

Enter the bar "Out of Juice" where we discover 10 shots for 100kr. Yummm. 

Rust in Norrebro. --Famous. Grungy. Underground. Expensive. 

We discover we want to leave early and check out some other places. 

"Oh ok just let me get my coat." 

I have lost my ticket stub for my coat AGAIN. 

This time it's just me and English language fighting the coat girls with no Danish helper. Coat girls win even after I have bribed them and flashed dollar bills at them. I have to wait until they close. This "closing time" my dear readers, is 5:00am. I had a nice 5 hours or so to go before I could retrieve my warm coat. 

So we venture out (I have no coat) to another bar called Mexibar. It is warm and buzzing with people. Order a nice daiquiri which was a nice change from my red bull and vodkas. Meet traveling Swedes who I can tell you all of their names ( Philip, Daniel, er..well I guess I can't) because they were very very adamant that we remember their names. 

Back to Rust to wait until 5:00am. Blah blah blah. 

Retrieve coat. Walk to train station in the snow. Wait on train for 45 minutes with lots of intoxicated people ( some of which inquired if we had any weed). Ride train home to Sam's house in Farum because I realize I left my house key...inside my house. ( I would lose my head if it wasn't attached) 

Three people to a futon bed. Snuggle time. 

Sunday

Homework. Lay around. Procrastinate. 

Let week 3 begin. I'm off to Aurhus (sp) Thursday for my Justice and Human Rights program. So you older folks will have something to read about other than my weekend escapades and you younger folks will have something to skim quickly and ignore. =)

Wish you here. 

Tuesday Boozeday

We all know that Thursday for college students is Thirsty Thursday. It's the night to go out and relieve stress from a long week before you relieve more stress from the long week on Friday and Saturday. Here, that day is Tuesday because no one has class on Wednesday. Except, for my study abroad program on Wednesdays we have things called "field studies" where we go to museums or watch movies for classes As I use my magic skills to look into the future, I can see these are going to be a pain in the ass. 

So. Tuesday. A few of us decide we will see what all the hype is about this place called Kuløbar. "Free Beer till 1am". We arrive and wait in line for what seemed like an eternity especially because it's been colder this week than ever here. We watched people drink beers they had bought at 7/11 in line which is something I feel my fellow Randolph students would appreciate. Finally we move through the line, cheek our coats, and make our way to the bar. 

The Bar

So you get a glass...or 2...or 4..whatever suits you and you take it to the bar where you can get free refills until 1. 

You know the blackout face people get?Yes...yes you do. Well I was standing in this huge crowd waiting to get my lovely free beer with about 200 blackout face people who did not really have control of their bodies which happened to be falling all over me. And no, not "falling all over me" in the charming way. I'm guessing it wasn't their 1st or even 5th trip to the bar. It took my small self 30 minutes to push my way to the front of the bar and demand my free booze while I kept myself entertained by watching the guy next to me repeatedly talk to the side of the head of some Danish babe. 

Booze received. We try to make our way to the dance floor. Guy sticks his beer on my head to signify that I am the perfect height for him to rest his beer. He laughs and says something in Danish. My response was "yea yea yea". 

More blackout faces and beer sloshing out of cups. The most interesting part of this was that 90% of the club was American study abroad students. Hence the sloppiness. Since it was entirely too complicated to dance with the barely functioning people around us we chose the option of watching people we had just met a week ago explore the mouths and bodies of other people who they also had only met a week ago. It was like Freshman year of college all over again. 

We get tired of standing and watching so we sit and watch and ok maybe point and make fun. 

Met the few Danes in the place and found out that Danes are extremely generous drunks. NOTE: I made a mental note of this when I paid 75kr for a red bull and vodka. 

They passed around shots of something that tasted like cough syrup and I soon began just giving my free shots to someone else. 

Lars, the smart responsible person who came with us decided it was time to head home. We decide we aren't ready to leave. However, a few hours later when we did decide to leave, I realize I have somehow managed to lose my ticket stubs they give out when you check your coat. I run around the emptying out bar picking up the stubs of other poor souls off the wet disgusting ground trying to see if I can find mine. No such luck. 

I turn around and realize one of my friends who shall not be named in this post...is MIA. So now, I am missing not only my coat and my purse, but my friend. Panic sets in. Danish boy who I met earlier is helping me speak to the coach check person in Danish. I quickly get an image of myself walking the verrryyy long walk back to my house with no coat. The image turned bad quickly I assure you. 

Coat lady makes me describe my belongings right down to the gum wrappers in my purse. Agrees to give it back to me. Coat and purse found. Friend still missing. Said friend also locked her phone by accident earlier that night so no text messages or phone calls were answered until...later the next day. She is OK! And has quite a story. 

Home-6:30 am. Up again at 10:00am. When in Denmark. 

Needless to say, going out on Tuesdays will not be my norm. 

Wish you were here.