t-minus one weekish

I'm not very good with the countdown stuff, but I am less than a week away from my travel break. This week of classes went well; I always seem to keep myself busy with a lot of work. Right now I am working on a paper for my Terrorism/Counter Terrorism class on homegrown terrorism. The paper is due on Thursday, but I would like to have it done early in the week. I have taken all my notes and such so I'm just working on stringing my ideas together--I'm sure you are all riveted by this step-by-step explanation of how I write term papers.

On a more interesting note I had my first experience with danish health care this week. I am happy to report that it went off without any major hitches. When you get your health card in Denmark you are assigned a doctor, and that's who you call if you have any problems so that the state covers you. I looked up my doctor's number online, and I called on Monday to try to get a flu shot--regular not the swine flue shot. I had no luck. The was put on hold and given instructions in danish. On Tuesday I tried again. After not understanding what they were saying, I held out my phone and asked a nice danish man on the train what they were saying. They were just giving the same hold message as in the States--somethings don't change. So after being disconnected, the third time was a charm. I got an appointment for friday.

On Friday I woke up and ran to the doctor's office. Google maps said that it would be less than 3 km from my kollegium so I figure it would be a nice warm up. The thing about danish streets is that they say the name after you turn on to them. Thus, deciding where you should go is tricky. I made it to the main street, but was unable to find the office; I was looking on the wrong side of the street. It was a brilliant move. The doctor's office was very nice. When you come in you give your name and then you swipe your cpr card, your health card, so you don't have to deal with forms/paperwork. I got the shot with no problems. It typically costs people 150 kr., $30, for the shot, but because I have asthmas it was free. Thank you danish health care.

Today my friend Danielle came to Copenhagen. I met her at norreport at an hour that I do not recognize. Let's just say it was still dark, and I was not funcitoning well. After getting bread, we dropped her stuff off at the kollegium, had a nice breakfast, then headed back into the city.

I took her down Nyhavn street to the Royal Theatre by the water, to the Queen's castle, and then to the Little Mermaid. That was the first time I had visited it. I held out for over two months, but it is the 'most famous place in Copenhagen' ,according to the tour guides who blast their commentary from their boats. It was really pretty over there. We did not have the best weather today though. It rained this morning, but then let up and we settled for overcast. We did find a beautiful park over by the statue, which I plan to run to this week. I took her to the Royal Cafe for tea to warm up, then to the nice vintage stores. I am still looking for stuff for my halloween costume. Tonight we made pizza and watched some shows online.

I am looking forward to gaining an hour tomorrow! I hope it will give me an extra boast to get through the week.

The Cold is Here to Stay

Midterm are finally over, thank goodness. I had another week of tests, papers, and,inevitably,stress. Thursday evening I had a chance to relax. I had been looking forward to getting a cone of gelato (the hazelnut is incredible there) at the stand on my way home. As I approached the stand people were coming and going out of the back door. It was closing up shop for the year. I was too late! It's probably for the best, seeing as it is around 40 degrees here now.

It seems like during our trip to Brussels the weather has completely changed. I pulled out my puffy winter coat on Monday morning. I expected to be svetiing by the time I got to the station. Instead, my fingers were numb. The wind here gusts constantly. I love listening it when I'm in my room, but the full force of it when I'm outside always shocks me. It's resistance training when I'm running.

This week I made a bunch of 'fall foods' items, like pancakes with applesauce, chicken soup, potpie, cinnamon buns. All great. My friend Elisabeth also taught me how to knit on Saturday. I'm making a scarf. It's going well. I'm a bit of a perfection when it comes to stuff like that so it's taking me a while.

I've decided that I would show you a 'day in a life'. Here is the first batch of around my kollegium. I'll take some at my school tomorrow. Here is the route I take from my room to downtown Copenhagen to get to school everyday.

This is the entrance/exit to my kollegium complex. Notice the tree on the right; it's the infamous apple tree.

I take a left out of the exit and then I reach the cross walk (left picture). After I wait there I cross the street an enter the new cross walk section (right picture). They are building a park there. I walk straight ahead to the metro station (back, left side of the picture)

Iclimb a set of stairs and see this at the top. So pretty in the morning.

This is the view from the side of the track that I take to get into the city. The building on the left are the kollegiums, mine is just like those, but hidden behind the one to the back. (left picture). In the right picture you can see the inside of the metro. Pretty typical of public transport--but I bet back home the announcements don't come on in danish!

The last picture is of Norreport, the metro station at the center of town. Now just a 5-7 minute walk to school (which I will document sometime this week)

Last week on...aka a recap

I apologize for my lack of communication in the last week. Since getting back to Copenhagen I have been slammed with work (shocker). I will try to give a concise wrap up of my travels.

So this is what you missed. Monday through Thursday we were in Brussels attending meetings and lectures on the EU. We went to the Commission, Parliaments, Council, Permanent Rep. to Denmark, and the US mission to the EU. We did small group visits, four students per group, to different lobbying firms. Our group went to the Danish Agricultural Council. One of the highlights of Brussels for me was our trip to NATO. We started incredibly early on Thursday. My roommates can attest to the fact that I was not happy to get up at that time. There was a lot of grunting and banging into objects around the room. We got there a little before 9, waited in the bus, then went through secutiy. It was quite dramatic. The first spokesperson was from NATO. The man was from CA, very interesting and sharp. It was a good presentation. The next speaker was a rep. of the US. I didn’t enjoy him as much. Reminded me of Rush Limbaugh.

After NATO we went to the EU Parliament. It was the first day all week that rain didn’t pelt us. Brussels is very pretty when it isn’t raining. We got our last Belgium waffle before our meeting. Our first one was in the train station were we hide from a particularly lovely rains torm that left our dress clothes sopping wet. The waffles were so good. Not like American ones. They edged have caramelized sugar or something. The insides are gooey. I get mine with nutella. Amazing. Seriously delicious.

After Brussels we headed to the Hauge. We arrived in the evening to our ‘hotel’ which was actually a hostel. Our teacher was so mad at DIS. The other group had stayed in a nice hotel, when they had come at the beginning of the week. Our prof said it was the worse place he had ever stayed and that DIS was going to hear it. We believed him.

Then we got to sit in on the trial. It wThe hostel wasn’t great. It was Spartan, kind of creepy. We had a great dinner that DIS paid for, so that helped a little bit. The next morning we went to the International criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. We met with a lawyer from Texas who explained what she does, how she got there, the situation. (ICTY- left)

It was fascinating. On trial was the Former commander of the Croatian army, the assit. Minster of defense, and the commander of the special police in Croatia. These men were being indicated for persecution, deportation, inhuman acts, brutal treatment, border. The room we sat in had glass in between us and the court room. We could see them and they could see us. On Friday there was a witness on stand

who use to be friendly with the men on trial. He originally, a few years ago, testified against the men. On Tuesday he recounted he testimony, and so when we were there the prosecutor was proving that. It was intense, but the prosecutor was very impressive. She spoke in English as did everyone else in court minus the witness whose words were translated for everyone.

After the ICTY we went to Amsterdam. As a class we had lunch and went on a canal tour. Amsterdam is gorgeous. It looks like a medieval city, with beautiful buildings, cobblestone, canals, and actually had more bikes than in Copenhagen. After the tour a small group of us went to the Anne Frank house. It was moving, I’m really glad that I had the chance to see it. I didn’t realize how big the house was, and the setup. It brought a sense of reality tothe journals that I didn’t expect.

After we walked around the city. We ran into the red light district. That was so disturbing. I didn’t know what it was, and learning about it there on the fly was upsetting. I was very disgusted and sadden by the area. But then we keep walking, had a sandwich and the got on the bus to head back. We drove all night. I slept around 8 hours, but would wake up every hour. Not ideal We got back to Copenhagen a little before 9. I stopped at the grocery store on the way home and then camped out in my kollegium to catch up on sleep.

In NYC there are the bulls, in Amsterdam there are elephants--a rare picture of me(you can be in them if you are taking a million of pictures. this time i was better. only 150 in a week. as opposed to 200 in 4 days. that's progress?)

The four hour tour-bad spelling--odd keyboards/ipod

For our first full day in Brussels we began at 830 with a visit to the Council of the European Ministers. The permanent rep of Denmark gave us a lecture on foreign policy. The variance of national interests with the international goals was a major theme of his talk. Different member states behave differently and thus there is an interesting dynamic within the council. It would be like if each state was soverigb and could chose to act with the group, but only when it was convenient for them. He discussed this issue, among others in the Q and A session. Next we went to planet chocolate. I was skeptical at first, but it was so neat. We learned about the history and had a demo. The highlight of the trip was the tasting. Now I do not eat candy, don't eat chocolate unless it is in baked goods, never have craved chocolate. With that being said, it was amazing. So good, creamy, smooth, delightful.

After that I went for a run with Elisabeth and then we went on a bike tour.

The bike tour. That was an experience. Let's start out by saying I do know how to bike ride. I learned to ride when I was younger and go biking on occasion in the summer. These bike were not normal. Mine was too big. It was adjusted to the lowest level but my feet did not touch the ground. They were cumbersome. So needless to say it was difficult. The tour guide was interesting but the weather has been dreary and rainy our whole trip so my focus didn't last the entire time.

We did go all around the city. My favorite part was the milk protesters. Right now the EU farmers are upset because of the low price of milk. This week one of the eu institutions are discussing this. So to voice their opinion the farmers drive their trackers into the city and clogged up traffic. It was well organized- there were hundreds of farm trackers in the streets with signs, honking. It was such an incredible sight to see John deer farm trackers driving through cobblestone street under historic arches.

We also stopped at the place where they have the best French fries in Belgium and according to the New York Times they are the best in the world. I tried then- even though I don't really like fries ie the idea if frying qusi vegetable. But I thought my friend Jackie would be disappointed if I didn't. They were very good. We also had a Belgium beer, and then hot back on the bikes.

The tour was very long, four hours. A guy from our class ran into a car! He didn't get hurt, however, he did break a piece off the smart cats back light. The driver was not happy. I fell on to another member of the group, ran into a parked car and a pole. It was a memorable way to see Brussels. I recommend it bit you should get a bike that is your size.

Today we had two different meetings. We had some free time and a group of us walked around the city. We got caught in the rain, got a little of course, but then found a train station. We got waffles. So good. They had crystallized sugar at the bottom. I had nutella on mine.

Just got back from another run. Elisabeth and I found a cool park with a room tower with a nice view on top.

Brussels: uneventful arrival

After a long day of travel we arrived here in Brussels safely. Walked around town qnd now off to bed.

mrs. president, oprah, and black cars

Copenhagen has been in the headlines this week because of the Olympic meetings taking place in Denmark's capital city. I have been somewhat isolated from the commotion because of classes. This week was extremely busy/stressful. I had a midterm, a case study intro, and a midterm project.

Wednesday was a particularly busy day. I had a field study for my terrorism course. We watched a movie for two hours; Battle for Algiers. Then I went to the library to attempt to figure out my economics take-home assignment. The project was about a fictitious country and different price models/tax systems. It would have been more interesting, if I didn't have so much trouble figuring out the computer program. It was so complicated and frustrating. It reminded me of physics, but better because my end goal was actually logical/the concepts were comprehendible once I figured out the program. After about an hour in the library I had to leave DIS, and head to high school. I signed up to volunteer to speak with Danish high schoolers about politics in America. The high school we went to was very different a high school in the United States. It was a very ornate school, fake marble, columns, high ceilings. It was not a large school. The student in my group told me that that their school was a well-financed program. The danish princes attended the school, and thus they receive donations from the Royal family--very similar to what happens at Brunswick High School, minus the royalty and private donations...

The students were very nice. They are going to visit Washington DC in the spring. They were surprised about our drinking habits, the high cost of college, and the young age at which teenagers can get their licenses. Overall I thought the students were typical of their age. They acted like juniors in high school, but in a funny way. One thing that is different is that they have a lot more independence. One girl I talked to had her own apartment. One kid commented that the school provides alcohol for movie night.

When I got back from the high school, I grabbed a sandwich at attacked my mid-term. I ended working for about 4 hours on it. I compared my formula with other students, and that helped to make the program run correctly. When I got home, I had cereal, and then went back to work, studying late into the night for my politics exam.

I was thrilled for classes to be done at the end of the day. Instead of going home to crash, I volunteered for Chicago 2016. I went down to the harbor where Chicago committee was hosting a party for all its supporters. As a volunteer I got a bright orange long-sleeved t-shirt, which came handy because we were outside for two hours. A bunch of DIS students were the volunteers, so some people directed the guests/supporters to the party. I was in the group that helped to hold banner.

We were at the Royal Theatre. Directly across the harbor is the Opera House. It's probably two-three football fields across the shore. At the Opera House the IOC, the committee that votes on Friday on which city will be the host, was having a big dinner. That is where Oprah and Mrs. Obama were having dinner (you could tell because of the circling boats, snipers and guards around the perimeter). Our job was to hold up the sign, and be part of a mass of orange/blue shirts cheering for Chicago when the boat bringing the IOC members to dinner came through the harbor.

It was exciting being part of the crowd. There were a bunch of athletes. I saw Brandi Chastine (soccer player who took her jersey off when they won), and a few people saw Michael Johnson. Tomorrow I have no classes. I'm going to sleep extremely late. The only thing on my agenda is going into town to see the voting on a large screen in the plaza.

Oh, and when I was walking over to the harbor, I saw Mrs. Michelle Obama's motorcade. The girl living the floor above me saw Oprah coming out of her hotel. And that is all my exciting news. I'm sure you are all on the edge of your seats.