Shrimp on the Barbie

Today was so nice. We officially turned in our assignments on DVDs and then, I biked with Wendy to Bilka from school. It was so nice out today, because the wind wasn't blowing me off my bike as usual. We took a scenic route this time through some Danish suburbs. It was really quite nice. Oh crap, I just realized I'm talking like Marije and Wendy lol. They always say things like... "quite nice" and "as well"... it's a little more proper, but I love being around these girls. While in Denmark, I've found that I really like the Dutch people. So I am very excited for my trip to the Netherlands next month to meet even more of these lovely people.
First, Wendy and I checked out some outlet stores around Bilka that we'd never been to. It was cheaper, yes... but not by too much. Then, back to Bilka to buy groceries for the week and some things to barbecue! Wendy's boyfriend, Pim, brought a barbecue grill for us to use last weekend when he visited. So we bought the food, now time to start the grill. Only none of us had actually done it by ourselves. There had always been men around. So we put the coals in, and lit some paper and squirted oil on it... yes I know how ridiculous or funny this may sound. But anyways, it wasn't burning well enough. Then, Marije saw a guy barbecuing on the other side of the field. So, I went over there to see how it was done. He kindly showed me step by step what to do, and I realized we were missing the fire starter stuff. He let me have two and I walked back across the field triumphantly.

Then, Wendy pulled out the shrimp she bought, because we wanted to make the prongs that Dave bought to a cultural dinner one night. I'm pretty sure we bought shrimp instead though, because they were too tiny to set on the grill and we didn't have anything to lay them on.



So we improvised the only way we knew how...

It was just too funny of an experience. Then, I got Marije to teach me some soccer moves. The first one she showed me, I tried and ... well, if she were a boy I would've done some serious damage with that ball!

It really is crazy how much the sun affects my mood over here in Denmark. I'll never take the sunshine and warmth for granted again! I think it's supposed to start raining pretty regularly here. I'm just hoping it does that while I'm in Greece :)

Danish Rap

I realized a couple weeks ago, when Tim gave us a ride to the airport that I've missed pop culture and being in the know as far as music goes. So I've found a Danish radio station to keep me in the loop... well as far as the top 40 are concerned. Every now and then it throws in Danish songs like this one. I translated it in Google Translate and the title is ... The Sticks Completely... not sure if it translated too literally or what. I'll have to ask Thorsten.


Update: Robin says the song translation is ... It Runs Away Completely.

Couch Surfing in Aalborg

Ok, I have fallen in love with couch surfing. Aalborg was my 2nd try at it, and it was just as awesome as the first time. Now, I'm looking for a place in Amsterdam to stay also. The people have been so amazing and nice to us. Lene and Mikael in Aalborg were no exception. Lene picked us up by car from the station, let us drop off our bags at her potato farming boyfriend's flat and then drove us all the way out to our case study's home. We bought them a cake to show our appreciation. Check out their digs! I love the Danish style, but not gonna lie... it's not homey enough for me. I prefer the big comfy couches by the fire place. Still it was very nice.

Day 1 with the Mønnike-Hald family: This family is so sweet. Morten welcomed us into their home sat down with us and talked about what we were going to do over the next day with our filming. We spent Wednesday and Thursday evening with them. Wednesday, Morten drove us to Camilla's soccer game. She was so good! I think we were all very impressed by her team which looked a lot smaller and younger than their opponent. Camilla was not at all camera shy as she threw her deuces to us and said call me! I think her friends were all very excited to be filmed. The coach asked for some of our footage, even though I tried to explain our footage is mainly of Camilla and not of the team.

After the game they invited us to dinner with them. Bolette and Camilla seemed to have a lot of fun teaching us Danish words. I can now count to ten, pronounce some weird dessert, and I know the words for stomach and heart.

Day 2: Camilla and Bolette introduced us to their rabbit, Clicks. BIG Bunny! It was camera shy though. Then, they played a little soccer together and got into a dandelion war with us... we were all shooting them at each other with our thumbs. Camilla was ruthless! I can't tell you how many dandelions to the eye I received.

The interviews went very well. They were very open and shared many stories with us. I can't believe how attached we became to that family in just a short 2 days. I guess when you're asking such personal questions, how can't you get somewhat attached. Seeing their family together made me a teensy bit homesick, but really... I don't have time for those feelings right now! So we left them Thursday with a card and a game for the family. We hopped back on a train to Aarhus, and got a good night's rest before the editing process began.

Today was the first day. We did really well. We spent 5 hours in the lab logging and capturing all of our footage. We also decided on a hook for our story. Hopefully, tomorrow we'll be able to dive right into the storytelling process. Tonight we've been brainstorming on our title.

Nothing has seemed to fit yet though. Here's a few ideas we were playing with.

-A Family of their Own
-They are mine
-All their own
-Gifts on a Plane
We are wanting to tie the word plane into the title somehow because when Bolette was little... that's where she imagined babies came from. As, that is how her sister and her arrived. See their adoptions were in 98 and 2000. It was a little different than when Dad and Kim went to Russia to bring Aly home. They just met the adoption escort in Copenhagen and never went to India during the adoption process. The family does have one incredible story about traveling to India this past year. It made me really want to go to Russia whenever Aly is ready to go.

Selling my Bike

This is the picture I'm using in my bike ad. Hope it works. I thought the cat was a nice touch. This is the one that stalks Christina and I anytime we do our laundry. It always tries to get in our room too. I guess it must live close by.

Anyways, I figure it's time to start looking for a new bike owner. Since, after May 15th, I won't really be in Aarhus all that much.

Today's editing went well. I'm really excited about this project. We're calling it ----Special Deliveries-----

Moving right along

We are making a lot of headway with our documentary. I'm really proud of it. I think it is very good considering it is the first one any of us have made. Of course there are mistakes here and there, but I love it! Here are pictures of the girls. Bolette is the older one on the left, and Camilla is on the right.

All we have left to do now is interview our psychologist tomorrow, put his bites down, record our voices and lay them down, put in supers, and then just do some minor fine tuning with the sound. I really hope the work we put in to it translates on screen. I think you're going to like it too :) And I'm so excited because it's looking like we'll be finished by Friday, which means... LONDON HERE WE COME!!!

It will be so nice to see a familiar face in London. This past month has been very similar to my first month here. It's just that in January I was counting all of my firsts and now I'm counting all of my lasts.
-last big grocery trip
-last bike ride will be May 15th (I sold my bike)
....Oh and Katie will be my first goodbye :( She is leaving for her project in the Faroe Islands on whale hunting while I'm in Scotland.
Everything is coming to end... I feel like I can already see Tennessee.

Our baby is born!

Yep! That's right it took 1 week of planning, 4 days filming, and 8 days to edit. Finally, our final documentary aka our baby has arrived! Wendy, Christina and I put so much into our first documentary. I really hope people are enlightened by it and enjoy watching it. We had a really good time producing it together. It's crazy to think I've just completed my final project here in Denmark. I only have one written exam left to take and then I'll graduate!

With only 6 days left in Aarhus and the others being spent traveling, I have sold my bike! I actually rode it for the last time today. With it being Friday the 13th of course it wasn't the perfect ride. I actually crashed into Wendy. The handle bar stabbed me right in the chest, and now, I have a big purple welp. It kinda looks like a hicky lol. I also have a pretty skinned up knee and foot. But I'll be fine. I'm going to really miss Mr. Bo Wobbles. He was a good bike and a fun challenge to ride :)

Now for the other incident this Friday. I was responsible for all 7 of the computers in the TV room crashing during prime editing time for the other groups. Yep, clumsy Lauren knocked over a water glass that spilled directly over the power source for the room. I was mortified. My stomach immediately dropped. I thought I might vomit. Luckily, Hans our go-to tech guy came to the rescue. The computers were up and running with in the hour. Luckily, the computers auto-save every 5 minutes. We were in the middle of burning our project to DVD when it happened. Oh, and I must say the DVD version is much better quality than the web version. I think next week we are going to try and upload a higher res quality. We were just afraid the file would be too big since it is 12 minutes.

Anyways, I'll be in London until Wednesday, so I'll probably not post until I get back. Enjoy our story!

Life in Notting Hill

Well, I'm actually sitting in Amsterdam Central Station waiting on Robin! It's crazy I can already smell the strong scent of cannabis. I'm really excited to explore the city after what ended up being a 16 hr. bus ride! It was such an interesting experience you see.

The bus ride was going very well right on schedule. We made friends immediately with a Latvian boy and 2 girls from France on their way to Paris. Everything was in order until it was time for them to leave us and swap buses in Hamburg. What was supposed to be a 30 minute break took at least 2 hours!

It sounds like a crazy fib, but I'm not lying, this is the story we were told. Apparently, the Paris, Brussels driver was talking to our driver and said he was going to steal our bus keys. Our driver assumed he was kidding. Well, guess what... he wasn't! That crazy man drove to Paris with our keys! An hour went by and we were still sitting there as our driver and the night driver tried convincing German police ladies to track down that bus. Eventually, they realized the police women had no interest in helping us. So, then the plan was to track down a spare key. 2 hours later, the final decision was made that we would be changing buses.

I'm kind of glad we did. Our new bus was shiny and smelled like leather rather than urine. I'm convinced that urine smell comes from long drives with no rest stops and poor aim. Just my own personal theory.

Anyways, I'll tell you all about Amsterdam later. Let me fill you in on Notting Hill, London!!
Lynne really spoiled Christina, Wendy and I . She lives in a really nice area called Chepstow Villas, which we arrived at around 2am Monday morning. Only we didn't find her house until an hour later. Yep, that's right guess who didn't remember to write down her house number. All I had written was 2nd house to the left, little black iron gate, ring C. Ok do you know how many little black iron gates there are in Notting Hill! We probably woke up a few strangers by dingdong ditching any house with flat c as an option, but we eventually found it and were so relieved to hear her husband Tony's voice.

The next day we explored Notting Hill, Portabello Road, Hyde Park, and went to a show on West End, Les Miserables. The show was amazing! I was so impressed by the set up and elaborate props. You could tell we were a group of producers because the whole time we were so intrigued by how everything was put together.

Tuesday, we checked out East London, the Tower of London, London Eye, Big Ben, Westminister Abbey, Buckingham Palace, the Park, and a lot more things on that sound of town. It was a strange feeling at times when I stood in London, thinking I've been at this exact place before...7 years ago.

That night Lynne and Tony treated us to dinner at the Portabello Organic Kitchen. YUM! Oh and I forgot to mention how much fun we had with their new puppy Coco, a Havanese.

Another funny sight was our sleeping arrangements all 3 of us college girls piled into one huge white bed. It was so comfortable though. I really felt like I was on a cloud each time I plopped down on it after a full day walking.

There's so much more to tell about London, but most stories are better told in person, so if you're curious just ask me when I get home in less than 2 weeks!!

Off to find Robin :)