8 Days?

Hey everyone! Sorry my posts haven't been as frequent. I have been really busy with writing finals. Thankfully it is almost over! This week has been really stressful. I counted and over the past couple of weeks I have had to write over 8 papers. Ah! I am just so glad the bulk of it is over. On Monday, I have one final on Monday for my Virtual Worlds and Social Media class, and then I am done!

This is insane. I leave Copenhagen in 8 days. I know I keep saying this, but I cannot believe how fast my time abroad has been. I have had a wonderful experience, but I also am ready to be home and to see my own family and to go back to what I am used to and what I know.

Next week after my final on the 12th, I have about five or six days to do some last minute touristy things in Copenhagen. I still have not gone up the Round Tower, or seen the crown jewels in Rosenborg castle. I also need to go back to Nyhavn and check out the Christmas markets for longer. I also have some Christmas presents I still need to get for my friends.

Last Saturday was Jane's birthday (Dec 3rd). She turned 10. I also went to Tivoli with my buddy network. The buddy network is where they take 10 Danes and 20 DIS Students and we plan different events to do around Copenhagen. We got to walk around, drink some Gløgg, see all the pretty lights and decorations (Russian themed this year), and I even got to ride a roller coaster called the Demon. This was all on DIS. So awesome! Check out some of the awesome decorations-

After walking around in the cold, we went to eat at Grøften, a traditional Danish restaurant where many famous Danish celebrities eat. I eat a meal called the "Shooting Star" (I forget what it  is called in Danish, sorry) which has fried fish, shrimp, bread, caviar, and thousand Island dressing all on top. I am not the biggest fan of TI dressing (ha, TI dressing), but it was still really yummy!

Yummy!

The next day, my host sister, Jane was in a Santa Lucia ceremony. Technically, this ceremony is supposed to happen on the 13th of December, but for some reason, Jane's scout troop did it last weekend. The girls dressed up in white, usually wear a wreath on their head (they just had a star head piece instead) and walk down the aisle singing "Santa Lucia... Santa Lucia" and carry candles. One girl, usually the tallest gets to wear candles on her head. Unfortunately, the girl they chose to have wear the candles had wax running down her face toward the end. I think she is ok now. Technically this is a Swedish tradition, but I suppose the Danes have taken on this tradition, too.

Jane is the on the right, furthest from me.

Sorry it's kind of blurry. So many blonde little girls!

On Wednesday, in between all the craziness of my paper writing, I went on a field study with my Livability class to Malmo, Sweden. It may seem crazy to many of you readers, but think of it like this, Malmo is only a 30-40 minute ride from Copenhagen. It's kind of just like going to another state, believe it or not. Souther Sweden looked very similar to how Denmark looks. Supposedly if you go up towards Stockholm that's a little more different.

Jakriborg, a cute little residential community built to look like it was from the 1800s. There is are currently 1,000 on a waiting list to get into this community!

The turning torso tower. When you looked at it, it looked like it was moving and was going to fall down on you.

It was really cloudy, but that is the Øresund bridge which takes you between Denmark and Sweden

 I have to return my monitor back to DIS sometime this week, so my access to a computer will be limited (see last post about my water spilling on computer drama). I will try to update one more time before I leave, but can't promise anything. If not, thank you all so much for reading my blog and sticking with me through this incredible journey! I can't believe I am leaving so soon. I will miss Denmark very much and I feel that I have grown and changed greatly in the four months that I have been here. Vi ses, Danmark! 

30 Days has September...

Wow! I cannot believe it is already the 30th of September! I have been in Denmark now for about 6 weeks now. I am almost half way through my time in Denmark which is really sad to think about... Anyway....

Last Sunday I went to Legoland. It is a 3 and a half hour drive from Copenhagen and is located in Jutland (Western Denmark) in Bullund. They describe Legoland as the Disneyland of Denmark. While it is definitely not as great as Disneyworld, I still had a pretty good time. It is probably a park more geared toward little children, but I can now check off that I have been to Legoland off my list of things I need to do while in Denmark. Here are some pictures of my time there. I have more on my facebook if you want to check it out.

Mount Rushmore- made of Legos!

The Lego version of the White House

Look a replica of Nyhavn! If you don't know what Nyhavn is look it up on Google. It is much prettier in real life

This week has been a really busy week for me. I had a 10-page- paper due for my Positive Psych class and a test in Danish class, all due today. The turning off the internet at 9:30PM at night didn't really help much, but somehow I got the paper done.

Wednesdays we do not have any classes so they are reserved for little field trips. I had two on Wednesday. The first one was for my Danish class. We went to a cathedral in Roskilde where many of the old kings of Denmark are buried. For the 2nd field study, we went on a Sex tour of Copenhagen for my Psych of Human Sexuality class. There is a part of Copenhagen called Vesterbro which has a lot of sex shops and used to have a movie theater that showed porn, which has since been shut down. Denmark legalized porn in 1969 b/c the prime minister at the time believed that it would lessen the popularity if he made it mainstream. It did not, however. Also, gay marriage was legalized in 1989. It's weird to think that Denmark has had legal gay marriage since before I was born while America does not.

This is going to be where the queen is buried when she dies. She designed it herself. The glass to make it will be imported from America. I had no idea America was a big importer of glass!

For my Livability in the Modern City class, we go on lots of site visits. Yesterday, we went to Ørestad and saw this really cool apartment building called the Figure 8 building. It was build just last year in 2010 and has around 200 apartment buildings. Check out this website which will tell you more about it: http://www.building.co.uk/buildings/the-man-made-mountain-copenhagens-8-house/5007509.article

It must be weird to live in an apartment that tourists like visit and take pictures of. I would be really cool to live there, but I'm sure it is really expensive. Here are some pictures that I took, thought the ones on the link up there are much better than mine.

On Monday I'm going to Milan with my Positive Psych class. I am so excited! We get to see the Last Supper! AHhhh! It is going to be 85 degrees in Milan! Though it has been unseasonably warm in Copenhagen lately- 75 degrees. My next post I will tell you all about my Milan adventures. Vi ses!

~Jenna

Hello! It is time for another blog post. By now I am starting to have a routine on what I do during the week.

This past Thursday (September 15) , I went with my Livability in the Modern City class to the Lousiana Museum. It was really cool. Right now, until Oct 2nd, they have an exhibit about "Living". There were some interesting collections of art that had to do with how people from other cultures live and how where they live is structured.  It was unlike any museum I'd ever been to. You could actually walk outside of the building and there were some pieces of art and could even see the water/ Sweden! Very cool. Here are some pictures you can check out. The second one was a shadow screen where the board would light up according to shadows. The last picture is the view from outside the museum.

That night I got back and went to an election party at my host family's friend's house. They sat around and watched the progress of the election. My host family was hoping the conservative parties would win, because the liberal parties would raise taxes even more, which in Denmark is already at 50%. There are 7 political parties in Denmark and I cannot even begin to explain how they all work because I do not fully understand it myself, but all I know is that the liberal parties won. Now keep in mind, the "conservative" parties in Denmark= liberal parties in the US and the "liberal" parties in Denmark= even MORE left- wing than Democrats. I don't really think that there are our Republicans have counter-parts in other countries, but perhaps someone could prove me wrong.

This weekend I didn't have anything planned or do anything, which was very nice. I went to Tivoli Garden on Saturday with my host mom, Anne Marie, my host sisters, Eva and Jane and their friend Sinne. I had a lot of fun, even though I was really tired. For those who don't know, Tivoli Gardens is an amusement park that is located in Copenhagen. It is apparently the 2nd oldest amusement park, the 1st being Dyrehavsbakken, which is also located in Denmark. We also had ice cream, which was nice. I love ice cream! Wish the weather was better, but oh well.

This week I have a lot of assignments due, so hopefully I will be able to get them all done. Still no luck with moving the internet so I can be on later than 9PM my time. My host mom has to order a special cord online, so hopefully they can move it in a couple of weeks.

Until next time...

~Jenna

"Shoes... Let's get some shoes"

Hola! Yeah, I just wrote in Spanish, you jealous? haha I kind of miss Spanish because Danish is just so much harder than Spanish was for me, but that's okay.

On Monday, I got to sleep in because I did not have my Virtual Worlds and Social Media Class. Because we had to attend a workshop last Tuesday evening for three hours, we didn't have class. It was nice to be able to sleep in and also spend some time getting ready/ looking nice. The Danes are SO fashionable and I feel like the clothes I brought with me here cannot even compare to how the Danes dress. Even my fellow DIS classmates seem to be well dressed. I don't know if they are up-ing their style since we are in Copenhagen, or if they dress like that all the time, even in the U.S. No offense to everyone at Eastern, but most people dress very casually. Whenever I dress "up", a.k.a. dress like a normal Dane, people will ask me why I am dressed up. Just some food for thought. I do remember my friend Sarah who studied abroad in Spain told me that Europeans always dress nicely and she is definitely right. Maybe DIS only let in students who dress nicely... haha just kidding.

I had some time between my Psych of Human Sexuality class and my Livability in the Modern City class so I went shopping. I was on the prowl for some cute boots and I found them. I spent more than I ever would in the US, but this Copenhagen, the 5th most expensive city, so I guess something's got to give. I also went to a store called Tiger, which is sort of like Five Below, and they sell cute little things that are inexpensive, just like Five Below, however, I am pretty sure there were items in there more than 25 kroner ($5). I got a new pair of headphones, as the ones I brought over, only one of the ear buds worked. They aren't the greatest quality, but hey at least both ear buds work.

After that, I went to a site visit for my Livability in the Modern City class to Amager Strand. It was this man-made beach. I probably would have enjoyed it more if it A. wasn't so cold and windy and B. didn't take so long to walk through. They apparently have made it that no cars can park around it by putting the curbs up really high so that cars cannot open their doors around the place. By making it only accessible by biking/metro, it helps make people be more environmentally conscious. I'm sure it is a really fun place to go in the summer, but since it is officially fall, it's a bit too cold for me. I think it's funny that most of the beaches here are man-made.

Yesterday, I had class until 12. Unfortunately, the boots I bought seem to be a bit too small and give me blisters. However, I felt really cool when I saw another Danish girl wearing the same boots in black. Today I went to a shoe place in Gentofte to see if he can make the shoes bigger and he can. It will only cost about $12, which is pretty good. Later that day I met some girls to figure out what we were going to do for travel break, which is from October 29-November 13th. From October 29-November 4th, I will be in Portugal taking surfing lessons. I am so excited! It is a DIS trip. However, I do not have any plans for for the 5-13th so my friends and I were trying to figure out what to do. We are hopefully going to Prague, Vienna, and Paris, though some of these are subject to change. All I know is that we are definitely going to Paris, which I am happy about. I then ate dinner with my friends in town at a cute little cafe.

Sorry no pictures this time! I hear that the weather in Philadelphia is becoming more fall-like. The weather here has been fall-like for a while. Thanks for reading!

~Jenna