Mark In Denmark

mwaller_abroad @ 2004-08-05T12:45:00

2004-08-05T10:56:32Z

Yep, it's my last day here. Denmark has been an amazing, awesome, exhilirating, and highly worthwhile experience. I'm going home with 8 credits (assuming I passed my classes...hahaha), a lot of friends from different countries (i.e. a couple places to stay in Paris, Austria, Australia, etc), some sweet (and cheap) stylin' Scandinavian clothes, and a pretty good understanding of other parts of the world.

Yesterday, I went to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (about 40 minutes north of Copenhagen) with a bunch of people, and it was absolutely awesome. The weather was perfect yesterday (as it is today, which makes me wonder why I'm indoors typing on a computer...), and as Louisiana is a museum and a park, we could look at exhibits, take in the nice weather, and go back in. A lot of the art there is Post-Modern (or PoMo, as friends at home call it), quite a bit of Avant Garde, and some art by Pollock and Picasso, among others. I bought a print of a painting that I really liked by Wolfgang Tillman, a photographer/artist; this one combines photography with painting, and it should look awesome in my room at Marcy Park this fall. Before going to Louisiana, we went to another museum in Copenhagen with some paintings by some guys named Van Gogh, Monet, and Degas. (Yes, I was the one lame enough to pull out the old "I don't have the Monet to buy Degas to make the Van Gogh" joke.) Last night was a party at one of the other residences with a few of the people who haven't left yet. I talked to Gaelle, a girl from France there, who's dad is a French film director, and her apartment (where she lives with her parents) has a view of the Eiffel Tower in the kitchen. I told her that the view from my apartment is of McDonalds.

I think this is it for posting from Denmark; I'll be putting selected photos up when I get home and maybe some closing thoughts of some sort.

mwaller_abroad @ 2004-08-02T13:23:00

2004-08-02T11:29:54Z

I took my last exam today for Investment Analysis. The test itself wasn't too hard at all (and considering our teacher gave us all the questions on the exam before, it was even easier). One thing that's weird (and pretty annoying, frankly) about tests here is that you can't leave when you're done unless you finish over a half hour early. I finished with about 20 minutes to spare, and when I stood up to leave, I was quickly sat back in my seat. The test proctors were also super hardcore; one guy came into the test at 8:00 am and the proctor was quick to say loudly, "Well, sir, you are very late! Sit down in the front!" He then proceeded to keep saying, "I need ABSOLUTE SILENCE in this room RIGHT NOW!" Just a little different way of doing things here, I suppose. Overall, I'd say that classes were pretty good, but the faculty is a lot better at Carlson and the classes are better as well. Working in a group for Intercultural Communication was a good experience, as I definitely figured out that working with people from different cultures can be frustrating. I'm just happy that all my classes are done, and I'll gladly add 8 credits to my transcripts.

It's the last week here, and a lot of other people from my building are studying until they have their tests later in the week. Since I have the whole week off, I'm going to do stuff every day this week. Tomorrow I'm going to the castle that Hamlet was based on (if LegoLand ends up being too pricey), and Wednesday I'm visiting a bunch of museums that I haven't hit up yet in the city. At this point, I am really looking forward to coming back home.

a random funny story...

2004-08-01T11:32:33Z

Last night, Emily from the USA was hanging out with Mario, Hannes and Irene from Austria. She started talking about the movie "Jaws", and how the white shark in the movie was very terrifying. Then Mario, misunderstanding her, thought she said "Joe" and then asked "Is Joe the name of the shark?" Then, for the rest of the night, we were saying "Watch out for the killer shark, Joe! Nooooooo, it's JOE!"

Ahh, differences in language can create comedy gold.

oslo pics (a lot!)

2004-07-30T12:09:11Z

It was a beautiful day in Copenhagen, here at Nyhavn, when we left.

Our boat waiting for us

The lobby of the boat as we entered

The royal palace from the deck of the boat

Me standing by the sunset as we were in the open water

The next morning, we reached land (see Norge flag proudly waving!)

Mike, Birgit, Heidi, Andy, Chen, me, and Derek (all from the U except for Birgit from Austria)
in front of the Norwegian Parliament building in Oslo

In front of the Royal Palace in Oslo, with Danica, Kelly, Con, Jodi, me, Ana, Mike, Aussie Mike, Jen, Andy, Meredith, Derek

Me, with Oslo down the hill behind me (save it and rotate the pic to see it the right way)

A guard, this time with a gun(!), at the palace

Heidi, "posing" with the guard

The Oslo fortress, designed to protect the city from fire...King Christian built it in the 1600s

The oldest lighthouse in Oslo

The business harbor in Oslo...the water never freezes over in the winter because there is so much activity there throughout the year

Oslo City Hall, where the Nobel Peace prize is given every year on December 10...Alfred Nobel decided he would let Oslo give the award every year in the spirit of the peace prize, as Norway and Sweden previously had a bit of a storied past (obviously!)

The statue symbolizes King Christian pointing his finger at where Oslo would be rebuilt (and subsequently renamed Christiana for a while)

Gotta love the traditional Lutheran churches in Norway...very plain design

The sculpture garden in Oslo

One of the Viking ships in the Viking ship museum. No, Randy Moss is not in there. (Ba-dum ching.)

The Kon-Tiki boat taken by Thor Heyerdahl in the 1950s

The Fram museum

It got pretty windy on the boat ride back

We were quite easily amused on the boat after taking motion sickness tablets...

I really thought Aussies were tougher than this...Mike and Emma wrapped up in a blanket on our rocky, windy ride home

A sliver of the moon in the open sea on our ride back

Oslo

2004-07-26T10:15:37Z

What a great weekend. Whew. Oh yeah, it was great. Where to start?

First of all, we originally were going to get on the cruise ship to get to Oslo on Thursday. When we got there, we discovered that the coordinator of the trip booked our group on the wrong day. Yeah, not many people were too happy. The cruise was supposed to be booked on Thursday but was actually booked on Friday. Luckily, the weather was pretty lousy on Thursday, so it wasn't too bad that we didn't go then. Friday afternoon was absolutely beautiful (about 75 and sunny).

The actual cruise ship we were on was 6 or 7 stories of rooms, movie theaters, clubs, shops, restaurants, and even Chuck E. Cheese style ball pits, as well as the deck on top with a band and a few different bars. The weather was fantastic, so for most of the afternoon, all 60 of the CBS students on the trip, as well as the hundreds of others ranging from age 1 to 100 hung around the deck, watching the water and taking in the sun. At 8:30, we had our Scandinavian Buffet. I don't think I have ever eaten as much in my life as I did there. Included in the buffet was a whole lot of seafood, including some Scandinavian style herring and some shrimp that looked like they were killed a couple minutes before making it on my plate. At dinner, Hugo, the Swedish guy from CBS was already completely plastered; one of the weirdest things I have ever heard was him trying to lead his table in a rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" in a Swedish accent.

That evening, I hung out with a bunch of other U of M students who I hadn't really had a chance to hang out with much yet. U of M kids are the coolest. Finally, I got to sleep around 4:30 am and was rudely awakened by our partying next door neighbors and the Danish-speaking all boat announcements. Breakfast was at 7:00; I quickly downed 3 cups of coffee to ensure that I wouldn't be tired for walking around Oslo. At 9:30, we finally got off the boat. We U of M students (Andy, Mike, Derek, Chen, and Heidi), as well as Birgit from Austria, got off the boat and checked out some souvenier shops, as well as the Norwegian parliament and the Royal Palace. At 11:00 am, we took a boat tour of the fjords around Oslo. Finally, we met at City Hall at 12:30 for our bus tour of the rest of the city. On the bus tour, we stopped at the Sculpture Garden, as well as the Viking ship museum, the Kon-Tiki museum (go Thor Heyerdahl!), and the Fram museum. Somehow, in a mere 6 hours of being in Oslo, I felt like I had seen the whole city. Oh, and the countryside and scenery around Oslo and through Norway is absolutely spectacular. My homeland is doing well.

After the tour, we got back on the boat at 3:30 and promptly took naps. Had another Scandinavian Buffet at 8:30, which was accompanied by a lot of boat rocking this time (and, to go along with it, seasick tablets). It was a much quieter and more low-key evening. Overall, I must say that Norway is way better than Denmark in all ways.

There's a possibility that after my one final next Monday, I will go to Scotland with the other U of M people until Friday, when I come home. I can't believe how quickly things are winding down here, but it's all been awesome. I should have photos from the weekend, as well as other assorted random photos, by this Wednesday, so keep up to date. Now it's time to edit a 12 page paper and straighten out the English. Weeeeeeee.....

pictures, week three!!! (or so)

2004-07-20T17:56:56Z

Kelly and Mike (from USA, not Kelly's Aussie brother) on the boat tour

Lane, Jen and I at Klub Vega

An attempt at being artistic taking a photo at Vega

Mike being Spider-Man at Spider-Man 2

The sun is finally out at the "masculine" CBS building, and a mysterious hand gives it a thumbs-up

Con (from Spain) and I looking dumb before going to Capital Club

Kon Arthur, not Con Arthur.

Chris, Meredith, Jen, Jodi and Mike at Tivoli

A crowded Tivoli street by the enterance

The beach in Bellevue

Jen and I in Valby before Vega part 2

The City Hall from Tivoli at night

A few more tomorrow...

mwaller_abroad @ 2004-07-19T13:21:00

2004-07-19T11:37:08Z

Apparently, this journal has a bigger audience than I had anticipated. When I was talking to my parents on the phone yesterday, my mom mentioned that I hadn't updated it in a while. Now that I know that my audience is huge, I will work on keeping this updated more! Booyah.

Anyway, it's been a pretty fun week. Tuesday night, Lane, Meredith, Jen, Mike and I went to see Spider-Man 2 again, because a)Mike is obsessed with it and hadn't seen it yet, b)it's that good of a movie that I could justify seeing it again, and c)we didn't feel like hanging out with all the other Americans with the rest of the group who were loud, obnoxious, and rowdy (i.e. drunk) on the Canal Tour we went on a few hours before. Over the week, I also managed to persuade my group for Intercultural Communication to focus on Best Buy instead of Red Bull for our company to study. Thursday, Ana and Con had one of their friends from Madrid over, and they got a bunch of us from Valby to go to the Capital Club that night. We ended up seeing tons of people from CBS there, so that was fun. I got home at about 3:30.

Friday, I did quite a bit of homework during the day, and then at night was Tivoli night. Tivoli is absolutely beautiful, it's a huge park in the middle of Copenhagen with Valley Fair-like rides, as well as tons of gardens, a river, and overall great people watching opportunities. Though we didn't go on any rides, we had fun just walking around and taking pictures (and to Jess, new pictures should be up by Wednesday). We left during a concert from a Swedish pop star to eat at one of the many all-you-can-eat pizza buffets around City Square, then came back later when it was dark and took some pictures. Made it a relatively early night and got back home at 12:30.

Saturday, Chris, Meredith and I went to the Bellevue beach about 20 minutes north of Copenhagen. This weekend was finally the first completely sunny weekend of the time we've been here, so we hung around for a couple hours. The funniest part was when we were just listening to the water and the wind, and suddenly, a woman walked by and said "Ohhhh, my neahhhrrrrr!" in a really weird voice, and Chris and I just started laughing like crazy. Then, Saturday night was CBS Vega night, so a bunch of people from the program were there. I stayed until about 2:45.

Yesterday, Chris, Meredith, Jen, Mike and I went to Nyhavn (pronounced "New Haven") and took in the sights there for a couple hours and got some ice cream. Overall a fun weekend.

This week, if I can't convince anybody else to go, I'm going to go to the National Museum by the City Square on Wednesday by myself. It's a bit frustrating, as the people from Valby who I usually hang out with are not that interested in seeing things like that. I do really miss my friends from college and back home, as I don't really think I would hang out with people here if they were back home. I have met a lot of interesting people from other countries, though. Saturday night was interesting, as I talked a bit of politics with Ingo from Germany, Gideon from Israel, and Lane from the US. It was interesting to hear Gideon's perspective on the war in Iraq, as he said that it was a war that "needed to happen." He also said that Bush has been "very kind" to Israel, and he approves of how he's done. Though it's only one opinion, I give a little more weight to his opinion on the war in Iraq than I do someone from the US who blindly protests against it.

mwaller_abroad @ 2004-07-12T14:32:00

2004-07-12T12:41:01Z

If there's one thing that is certain in Denmark, it is this: Denmark rocks the MULLET. That's right, with the whole 80s fashion craze here, the mullet is making a strong comeback. Along with blazers and collars up around your neck, the mullet is the sure sign that in a couple of years, the USA will also be rockin' the mullet.

This weekend, because many of the people in our building went to Berlin, the remaining of us went to Klub Vega on Friday night and another place called En on Saturday night. Vega is really cool; its a definite hipster club with a 60s/70s vibe going on but with house music and underground hip hop upstairs. En, meanwhile, is totally decked out in the 80s. Lane, a Madison guy who lives in Valby, and I were laughing at how good all the Danish ladies looked dancing in the 80s club as opposed to the guys, who have no sense of rhythm at all. Not that we think we are any better, but it's just funny. It'll definitely be a let down coming back to the states and going to college bars with NO live DJs and a much lower proportion of blond haired blue eyed European women. *sigh*

Now when I have computer access, I read up a lot more on ESPN.com, CNN.com, foxnews.com, and the Star Tribune to see what's going on in the USA. I could probably tell you more about what's going on with the Twins, Vikes, and Wolves, than if I could at home. With no TV and limited internet, I think I naturally have a bigger hunger for news.

photos from week two

2004-07-08T19:58:22Z

At the train station before going to Malmo and Lund on Saturday morning

The main Valby crew at a fountiain in Malmo, Sweden
left to right: Me, Chris (Australia), Jen (Australia), Meredith (US), Kelly (Australia), Michael (Australia), Mike (US)

A friendly duck in Malmo

Jen and Meredith in front of flowers and the windmill in Malmo

The modern art exhibit in the museum in Malmo

Eating at the museum in Malmo

A deserted street in Lund

A truly Scandinavian cathedral in Lund...there was a wedding going on there so we couldn't stay for very long

Inside the church

A bunch of flags by the train station in Malmo

The "feminine" wing at CBS...

...with the "masculine" wing on the oppsite end (I hardly think light blue is masculine, but its Europe, whatever)

I put three photos together (albeit with MS Paint) to give you a little idea of what Nyhavn looks like

wilco!

2004-07-08T19:48:47Z

Here comes the bus...

A Wilco-like photo of Klub Vega from the outside

The side of the club, in the room that they played in

The pre-show set-up

Jeff Tweedy

Tweedy in action

The batteries were dying while the band was playing, so there were not many non-blurry shots...

mwaller_abroad @ 2004-07-08T12:24:00

2004-07-08T10:42:51Z

The above picture is a random photo of a rare homeless guy in Denmark. Although they are few and far between, our group of students has had a few run-ins with this. Obviously at the U of M, it appears that there are more people in poverty, but here, it's very rare.

Before the buddy dinner last Thursday, a few of us were on the train to the apartment, and a man asked us for some change. We didn't give any, and when we got to the apartment, we asked some of the Danish buddies how there could even be homeless people when the tax rates are 40-70% and everybody is part of the "vast middle class," as described by a Danish student in my Intercultural Communication class. They said that to be homeless in Denmark, you basically have to say "F*** you" to everybody around you, to the government, which offers you an opportunity to get rehab, offers you a place to live, offers you a job, etc. In general, you have to want to be homeless to be homeless in Denmark.

As nice as it is to think about, a "vast middle class" would never work in the USA. It works in Denmark because it's a small country of 5.35 million, and the culture generally lends itself to people being content with where they are. I love the public transportation system here, but I also wonder if I would sacrifice opportunities to do better in my life choices, career, and family, to have a bus that comes every 3 minutes. (The new Metro system also shuts down abruptly here once every week or so, showing that even a "perfect" transportation system has its flaws.) This isn't to say that I don't think public transportation in the US is necessary or even helpful, but something as vast as what I see here would paralyze the economy.

This is also only a general observation based on going to stores and train stations in the two weeks I've been here, but because there is very little incentive to do well in your job (the minimum wage here is around 20 US dollars, and even with 40% tax, you're still getting a lot more than what you will see in supermarket jobs in the US), employees here are generally not in a big rush to help customers. (And I repeat, again, I've only been here for two weeks, and I haven't been to any stores outside of Copenhagen within Denmark, so this is by no means what I truly believe, just general observations.) For example, when Betty and I went to Spider-Man 2, we waited for about 3 minutes for the guy in front of us to buy one movie ticket. You might say that it's an isolated case, but waiting in lines of 4 or 5 people takes a lot longer than it does in the US. My observation is that it happens because businesses DON'T CARE if they are better with customer service than their competitors. There is no competition, thusly, consumers get what they need, whether they are happy with it or not.

Probably the most baffling example of all of this is one that Betty from my residence told me about. Last week, she went to the train station to book a train ticket to Stockholm for the weekend. It cost her 1600 Kr, so she paid it, took the ticket, and went home. She then looked online and saw that a plane ticket cost 1400 Kr. So, she went back to the ticket office and asked for a refund so she could get a plane ticket instead. The clerk simply stated that there was a 200 Kr fee for switching. When she said that the clerk didn't mention a cancellation fee, the clerk said, "You didn't ask." The back of the ticket did state it, but it was written in Danish. When Betty pointed this out, the clerk said, "Well, maybe you should learn Danish then." Getting angrier, her friend who was with her asked to see the supervisor, in which the clerk was extremly angry about. Finally, she did get the plane ticket without the fee, and the clerk left them with "Next time, you better ask!"

Again, you could say that this is an isolated incident, but I just think that even in the most extreme cases of employees at businesses being unreasonable with customers in the US, you would still see some sort of attempt to please the customer in the end. When there is no incentive to pleasing a customer, there's no reason for an employee to give somebody who doesn't know Danish the basic information about the ticket you are purchasing.

In short, I love being in Denmark, but I love living in the USA.

mwaller_abroad @ 2004-07-07T13:49:00

2004-07-07T12:01:34Z

I woke up this morning to the sound of my alarm. My clock read 9:45, so I briefly woke up, then suddenly fell back to sleep. After having a weird dream involving the Vikings and the Packers playing each other during March Madness (I have really vivid dreams every night since being here, must be my brain working overtime to process everything I take in each day here, but anyway), I woke up again and saw that my clock said 10:50. I panicked, as I figured I fell back to sleep and was already late for class. I quick threw some clothes on, got all my books ready, and put on my watch, which read...6:30 am. Yes, my alarm clock was way off, and I was up for no reason at all. So, I went back to bed and got to class at the right time. I only believed it was almost 11:00 am because it gets bright really early here. Craziness.

Last night, I saw Wilco in concert at Klub Vega. I couldn't convince anybody else to fork over 220 Kr (roughly 35 US) to go, so I went by myself, which was actually really fun. I brought my digital camera along and got a lot of pictures of buildings and random people that I will hopefully post here later today. Anyway, the concert was outstanding. I managed to get in the very front row, so I was mere feet away from Jeff Tweedy and gang. They were all in very good spirits, as Tweedy asked where he could fill out the papers to move full time to Copenhagen. Then he mentioned that he'd like to just play in Copenhagen and have people come to them, like in Branson, Missouri. They'd call it the "Wilco Show and Review". Being the music fanboy nerd that I am, I got their setlist after the show and managed to snag the souvenier posters advertising the show around the club. Unfortunately, they didn't stick around to sign them, but I felt vindicated for spending more than I normally do on a show by making it a great show and getting some free souveniers.

Tonight I'm probably going to Spider-Man 2 with Betty and Alison from Valbygardsvej. The first week here was pretty crazy in that everybody went out almost every night, and things were a lot more relaxed. Now that classes are in full swing, you see many more people getting into routines, going for runs, going to bed early, etc. I went for a run on Monday and will go for another one this afternoon. Its easy to forget sometimes that I'm in Copenhagen, in a completely different environment.

I got some groceries yesterday at Fotex, which is like a Super Wal-Mart or Super Target in the States with convenience goods and a full grocery store, but much better. There's a really good bakery on the lower level and great produce on the second level. I got the basics, and also picked up some NUTELLA. I've heard a lot about Nutella from Christine, who went to Australia for a year. I sat down for lunch yesterday and spread some Nutella on bread and ate it...then I spread it on some more bread...then I spread it on some leftover hot dog buns...then I spread some on my apple...needless to say, I'm addicted now.

mwaller_abroad @ 2004-07-05T14:00:00

2004-07-05T12:06:46Z

This was a fun weekend. Thursday night was the Buddy Dinner, where a bunch of us went to Malou's apartment (her apartment is pictured) and had a traditional Danish meal. All the food was fantastic. We all went out to the Dakota Club afterwards and stayed out until 4ish. A few of us (Ana and Con from Spain, Travis from the US, Gideon from Israel, and Birgit from Austria) went to Burger King afterwards. Travis and I thought it was hilarious that there were bouncers guarding the doors and the stairway to the second level. Club Burger King does not appear to be taking off in the US, but its pretty big in Denmark.

Friday night, we had the International Dinner, where students from 25 different countries brought traditional dishes from their own countries. Again, this was great food, and we all stuffed ourselves silly. Unfortunately, I never got a chance to try the Whale Meat from Iceland, but I did have some really good sweet cake roles from Finland. We were all very tired from the night before, so we called it an early night and got back to Valby at 11:00 or so.

Saturday, a big group of Valby students (about 25 or so) went to Malmo and Lund in Sweden. We left at 9 am, so we had pretty much the whole day to check out both cities. There was a pretty cool museum we went to in Malmo, as well as some nice shopping. I got a shirt that was normally 60 bucks for 50% off, so I was pleased with that. Also picked up a couple of CDs that are imports in the USA (the new Last Days of April CD, which was recorded in Lund, as well as the Japanese import EP Com Lag by Radiohead). We got back at 7:30, then went out to Klub Vega at Midnight. Really cool place, as it has two levels, one more of a dance floor, whereas the other level is more laid back, playing music like A Tribe Called Quest and Jurassic 5. I'm seeing Wilco there tomorrow night, which will be awesome.

Classes are also going well. Investment Analysis is pretty much review at this point of things I've already covered, and Intercultural Communication is just a lot of fun and very engaging. I get 8 credits at Carlson for both classes together, so it's pretty worthwhile.

Gotta go grab some lunch. Mmmmmmmmmmm, foooooooooood.

first week in Denmark

2004-07-02T13:45:58Z

My room, a little messy as soon as I got in.

At the soccer game at City Square on Sunday (Denmark lost)
In the picture are all people from Valbygardsvej, the building I live in...
Front row: Me, Guy from Israel who's name I can't remember right now...
Middle row: Ingo (Germany), Kelly (Australia), Lane (USA), Jen (Australia)
Back row: Meredith (USA), Travis (USA), Chris (Australia), Rob (Australia), Mike (USA), Michael (Australia), Danica (Australia)

At the old city area, with Michael, Kelly, Jen and Mike from Valby. This was on our walking tour of the city.

At the little mermaid statue on the walking tour, all Valby people.
Front row: Kelly, Anna (Australia), Jen
Back Row: Birgit (Austria), Chris, me, Michael, Mike

Me with Sophia, my Danish buddy who picked me up at the airport, at our buddy dinner last night.

Kelly and I at the buddy dinner.

At the buddy dinner with, from left to right, Sonja, Anya, and Melene

mwaller_abroad @ 2004-07-01T11:07:00

2004-07-01T09:17:15Z

Things are going well here still. Last night, a bunch of us went to The Globe, an Irish Pub, to watch the Portugal-Holland soccer match (sorry, FOOTBALL match). I never thought I'd see the day when I got into soccer, but it's so easy to get into when absolutely everybody in Europe watches it. Portugal ended up winning, so they'll be going to the finals. Later on, we went to the LA Bar and hung out with a bunch of people from the International Program. The funniest part was when Anna, a girl from Spain, asked me when we were "going out" at 11:30. I told her that we were already out, and then she explained that in Spain, 11:30 is when they meet for coffee before actually going out until 7:00 am. We ended up staying out until 3:00 am, so it was a pretty early morning for Kelly and I when we went to our Intercultural Communications class at 8:00.

As I mentioned before, I'm not going to go on the Berlin trip next weekend, but a few of us are thinking of taking a train to Sweden and staying in a youth hostel. I'm also signed up for the cruise to Oslo, which is a few weekends from this one. I hear that trip is amazing, so I'm really looking forward to it.

Tonight, we are having our "buddy dinner", where our buddies who picked us up at the airport are making us traditional Danish food. Looks like it will be 5 or 6 Danes and the rest other International students, so it will be really fun (and tasty...I'm a little tired of hot ham and cheese sandwiches at this point).

We're all going to Spider-Man 2 next Wednesday as well. It's heavily marketed here, as the steps to the Metro are painted in Spidey colors. Jen and I are also going to see Wilco at Klub Vega next Tuesday, which will be awesome because a)it's Wilco, and b)Klub Vega is apparently one of the coolest clubs in Denmark and in all of Europe.

Oh yeah, and I actually DO manage to do homework and study here, so it's not all fun and games. Pretty much every day, I've ended up taking 1 to 2 hour naps in the afternoon, followed by studying. Even on nights when I get 9-10 hours of sleep, I am still incredibly tired in the afternoons. I think it's just because they keep us so busy doing activities non-stop every day. Of course, I slept 14 hours the night after I landed, so I don't think it can be because of jet lag anymore.

mwaller_abroad @ 2004-06-29T11:26:00

2004-06-29T09:25:18Z

Oh yeah and one more note, I went to get groceries and a bus pass for the month yesterday, and I saw a haircutting place across the street, and, in true Paal Harstad fashion, went and got my hair cut on a whim. Chris Polley may be upset with me, but so far the feedback from everybody here has been positive. Kelly from Australia said "Oooh, funky new haircut, Mahhhk!" Michael from Australia said it looks "heaps better". For the record, it's short now.

mwaller_abroad @ 2004-06-29T11:12:00

2004-06-29T09:20:57Z

Second day of classes started today. Yesterday, I had my Investment Analysis class. For some reason, it's taught by a guy from Florida. Not exactly an "international" experience there, but it seems like a fairly useful class so far. Also yesterday, we went on a walking tour of all the cool parts of Copenhagen. Yes, that includes the Little Mermaid statue. Our tour guide told us the real Hans Christian Andersen story of The Little Mermaid, and apparently, the REAL version includes Ariel becoming a human, only to find out that the prince married another woman, then returned to the sea and was told she could become a human again if she killed him, only to decide not to do that but to turn into the foam on top of waves instead. I think that Disney would have had a hard time writing musical numbers about "Under the Sea We Turn Into Foam After We Are Forced To Kill The Prince," so I can see why they took some creative liberties there.

Today, I had Intercultural Communication. It is an awesome class, as there are people from many different cultures in our section. Our teacher was born in Hungary and has lived and taught in England for many years, so she herself is very interesting. My personal comment about the class: "Intercultural communication? More like intergender communication! Booyah!"

Michael from Australia and I were talking yesterday about how great it was to come off our airplanes, as one of the first things we both saw were our Danish "buddies", both his and my buddies being beautiful Danish women, holding signs saying our names, looking for us.

I don't think I'm gonna do the Berlin trip, as there are a limited amount of seats, and since it's a pretty short trip, I would assume there wouldn't be much time to do things that I haven't already done. Oslo is a definite go, though, as it seems like just about everybody is going. I also need to return to my homeland, even if it's for one day. I hear they have a pretty good buffet on the boat, which can't hurt...

Last night, after our walking tour, about 11 of us went out to eat at this pizza buffet place around the "old city" in Copenhagen. I think they were pretty irritated with us, because we got there at about 9:50 and they were about to close. Wasn't great food, but it was pretty cheap, and we were all pretty hungry from walking around so much. The weirdest thing about being here is the sun doesn't completely set until about 11:30 at night, so all of us are very mixed up as to what time it really is. It's usually a lot later than we expect it. The nice thing is that it's a lot easier to get up in the morning for 8:00 am class, because you feel like you've slept longer since it's so bright out already.

Hopefully I can use a friend's computer at my dorm to upload some pictures, so check it out a little bit later this week and see if I got those pictures up.

first entry here

2004-06-27T13:07:37Z

Hey everybody, yes, I am in Denmark right now.

Copenhagen is one awesome city. So far, I've met tons of people from the building I live in and pretty much hung out with them every night I've been here. Unfortunately, tomorrow is a "school day", so I'll have to adjust to being back in the flow in that. It's been fantastic so far, though.

I've met people from international locations such as Australia (it ain't shrimp on the barbie, it's PRAUN on the barbie), Austria, Israel, Bulgaria, Spain, and UW-Madison. (Ba-dum ching!) Last night, we had a BBQ and party at our school that lasted late into the night, and pretty much all of the students in the program were there. It was a blast. Tonight, Denmark plays Czcecheslovakia (sp?) in the quarter-finals of the Euro2004 tournament (soccer). Last night, the Sweden-Netherlands game was on at the party. Unfortunately, Sweden lost, but I was happy on Thursday night when England lost to Portugal. It's amazing how easily Americans can get into soccer here, because absolutely everybody knows about all of the players on every team. Tonight, the game is being broadcast at the City Center on a big screen. 10,000 people are expected to watch the game there, and I intend on being one of them.

Also, to ease any parental worries, I am eating well, as there is a grocery store around the corner that is very cheap called Netto. I also am going to get a month long bus-train-metro pass that I can use to get anywhere in town, especially to school, for 290 Kroner (about $50).

I'll write more later when I have more time to do it at the computer labs. Hope everything's going well for y'all, see ya in a few weeks.