Okay, so you know how you have ALL these great stories in your head but a week later you can’t remember any of them? Well ... that is how I am feeling right now. So if things seem a little bit dull or whatnot, I apologize.



Tuesday night I went out to a BAR for the first time here in Copenhagen!! My roommate, Rachel, did my make-up and we spent 30 minutes deciding what we were going to wear. It was quite fun! We went to a bar called the Happy Pig. It is, about, 5 minutes from school, and 2 minutes from Frus Plads (or the Church of Our Lady). This place is PACKED! But not with any Danes or foreign exchange students. Nope – it is all DIS students. Which is still okay, because I got to see a lot of my friends in a different setting.

So there was this guy that I was talking to, and he was telling me how he had a field study to go to the next morning. I asked him what time and he said 12:30. I then asked what class it was for (because I also had a field study on Wednesday, but I didn’t have to get there until 1pm). He said Popular Culture of the 20th Century in Europe and America. And I was like, “Hey! I’m in that class too!” And he says that I am not. And I was like, “Yeah, I am. I was the one who spoke in front of the whole class today [because I am class representative], asking everyone if there is anything they want me to pass along to Andre and Anne.” And he goes – “That was you?!?” How funny is that? It gets better. He then went up to my roommate and asks, “What did you do to your roommate?” How nice is that?!

People in Denmark party a bit differently than those in the US. They start partying at 11 the earliest and it can go until 6am. Partially, this is due to the trains not running from midnight until 5:30am, but that is a separate topic. So we go out at 12:30, come back at, around, 2:45 in the morning (we split a cab ride, which is a LOT cheaper because we would have had to walk through the Red Light District to get to our place), go to bed at 3:45 (some of you may have been bothered by me before then, but it was okay because it was 9pm your time). On Wednesday, we went grocery shopping, and then I went to my field study. It was at this really modern museum ... a bit too modern for me, truthfully, but it was for class so I had to go. Some of it was interesting. There was furniture from the 50s and 60s, so we talked about the inventors of the fads like the “Egg Chair,” “Swan Chair” and then really weird chairs like ones made out of cardboard or newspapers. It’s a nice neighbor hood, so if anyone who visits me wants to go to the museum, I’ll just explore a bit .:)

I do not remember what happened on Thursday ... so no update is possible. Sorry!

Friday ... I had class. Ha ... kinda all I remember. I do know that I watched, for the first time EVER, The Nanny Diaries that night. So that was really fun!! And .... OH! In my Turkey class, we had a guest speaker come in and talk to us about the Kurds. He is part Kurdish, and he talked to us about what exactly a Kurd is, what their education is like, what it is like to be a Kurd and live in Turkey, etc. It was really interesting. And he sang for us, and you could just see how much he loved to perform and wanted to share his love for it with us. It felt so special ... but it was really cool at the same time! He sung Kurdish songs for us, and a Kurdish/Turkish instrument. It was, as I think I have already said, like, twelve times, REALLY cool! Friday night, one of my friends, Alissa, asked if I could host a small birthday get together for our friend Cary. Six people were going to come, so nice and small, and she would bring all the food and drinks. The roomie said it was alright if I hosted it – so they got to be my FIRST houseguests!! :)

So, Saturday. For the first time in, about, two years – I slept until NOON!! I know, amazing. Normally, my body wakes me up at 10am, and does not let me go fall back asleep. So I think Rachel is my lucky penny ... or something like that. Then we went SHOPPING!! It was SO nice to get clothing ... it’s really bad, but I’m starting to feel like I am wearing the same 4 shirts every few days, so it’s nice to have some options. We went to Top Shop and a few other European shops. Then I went to my field study. Got lost trying to find it, but then found it. Walked around the museum, walked around either the professor, then went back to the apartment. I then, FINALLY, unpacked all of my bags (... okay ... all but one bag But that is ONLY because I am missing a necessary shelf in my closet). I also put up pictures of friends, family and magazine cutouts all over my wall. It looks a LOT more homey than it did 6 days ago, so I am happy!!

My friends came at, around, 10pm. We had a whole assortment of drinks and mixes, as well as three kinds of cheese, two types of break to put it on, sausage (or pepperoni), nutella and CAKE!! It was fun. We had a few drinks, talked, played “Never Have I Ever,” talked about how middle school it is to play “Spin the Bottle”. We then talked about how no one ever played “Spin the Bottle” or “Seven Minutes in Heaven.” And we ate a LOT of really good muchies. So all in all, it was a GREAT party!

Sunday ..... we woke up at noon again. Which was FAB!! My apartment, over the night, was used by some people who could not get home due to the buses and trains not working. So it was a really good thing that we have a couch as well as a pull out bed! After they left, I made omelets for the roomie and myself. Then we swiffered and cleaned the living room/kitchenette/dining room area. We also moved things around, so that it was more “us.” It looks SO much better right now! We are REALLY happy about it! We’re planning on doing the bedroom (dusting, not rearranging) this weekend. It needs to be dusted!



Some of you (cough cough) have been inquiring about my studies and what classes have been like. So, I shall let you all in on the ‘wonderful’ secrets of what goes on in DIS classrooms:

Monday, classes. Ha. So my History class was all about citadels, bastions and defensive wall lines. Very intriguing. My group and I asked Carsten (the professor) some questions about our project that is due Thursday. We got 9 buildings that are in the Renaissance, Baroque and Neoclassical type of architecture. We had to go around Medieval Copenhagen again and analyze the buildings we were assigned. We now have to finish up our PowerPoint presentation of it, as well as a paper with write-ups of our buildings. Tomorrow (Wednesday) is going to be .... fun :) In Danish class, we learned about how to say family members and ... a few other things. We have an oral next week, which I am really nervous about. My strength is definitely not with languages, and we have to hold a conversation for three minutes. So – nervousness. I am sort of starting to feel a bit comfortable with the language, but not enough for that time length. Part of our homework for that day was to write a bit about ourselves. And, if we lived with Danes, to describe them. And all I could think of was how I am finally free from them!! Also, I do not know the past tense for Danish, so I am unable to really talk about them during my oral exam. I’m worried that it is going to be harder to get a knack for the language, because I am not in a host family anymore, but I know that it is best this way.

Last night, my friend, Leandra, made dinner for me and Rachel. Leandra is a big cook at home, and she and I have this deal – she cooks I bake. But I don’t have an oven here, so I’m gonna bake her a birthday cake for Friday (for her birthday party). So she made chicken marsala and ... to say it was delicious is an understatement!! Rachel and I are still drooling over it!! I then did research on Renaissance Architecture, for our project.

Tuesday (today) – I had my Pop Culture class. I found the BEST poster, which is a satire of life here! Haa. We talked about Art and Advertisements and we saw a lot of cool posters and ads. Like ones with the Gorilla Girls, or feminist posters, or food advertisements. We were talking about what they are like today, and I made the point about how there really are not that many memorable ads in magazines today. Like, the memorable ones are television commercials (like the Pepsi commercials with the little girl, and then the Pepsi commercials with Britney Spears [before she went crazy], or the Budweiser commercials with the iguanas ... or some other sort of reptile). So, yeah, I contributed. It was fun. In my Ancient Art and Archaeology class, I found out that we are getting to go for beers with our professor after our field study (tomorrow) and it’s on HIM!! YEAH!! I’m not sure what we are going to see ... but it should be fun. For those of you that were in my Jagel’s 10th grade European history, we talked about Hellenistic sculptures, as well as classical and archaic. And ... there were many pictures that we saw during class and got tested on!! And, above that, I think I am going to get to SEE one of them during my stay here! Cool or what?! After class, I got a sandwich, and then worked even MORE on my group project. I must say that, so far, our PowerPoint presentation looks pretty damn good!!



So, my update for future:

- Wednesday – field study

- Friday – birthday party for Leandra

- Second Week in March (TWO WEEKS FROM THIS PAST SUNDAY): Budapest and Vienna

- Third Week in March – TURKEY

- Fourth Week in March – MOMMY AND BECKY!!! Then Amsterdam with Mommy!!!

- April 16-20 – Paris with my French Lover

- End of April – I am hoping to be able to go to London to see some of my favorite girls!!

- May – ONE final. Then the rest of the week to spend at Tivoli ... I mean ... explore Copenhagen some more and enjoy the culture ... cough.

- May 17 – HOME!!





WOW .... this semester is starting to move REALLY fast. I guess that’s what happens when you stop hating life due to horrible rooming .... :)


Hilary