Wonderful Copenhagen!

Copenhagen was the perfect destination for our first little excursion. We left Wednesday morning by train, no plans at all for what we wanted to do or see, we just knew we wanted to go see something! The train ride was very neat. I think we may have went through a channel at one point underwater. It was about a three hour trip, and we got to see the Baltic sea!

When we arrived, our first mission was to check in at our hostel. Most of you who know me well, know that I do not handle smells very well. Smoke, bubblegum, berries, and B.O. can make me gag. Well, that is the one thing that I've got to get over if we keep staying in hostels. We stayed in 2 different ones this time because we wanted a room with all girls and neither hostel had both nights available for two. The first one was filled with 4 girls from Spain, who'd practically moved in....and apparently not showered. The second one goes along with a funny story. We loved this hostel minus the fact that it didn't offer a complimentary breakfast like the other. It was colorful and hip and very clean. However, when we checked in and went to our room, we were overcome with the smell of fart! Christina says really loudly, "It smells like a fart in here," just as a girl raises her head on one of the beds. Needless to say we thought the room was empty whoops! By the time we returned that night the fart smell had passed and so had nocturnal fart girl. Seriously, who sleeps at 2pm in a Copenhagen hostel! Anways our first experience with hostels has been basically you get what you pay for. It's a bed for the night and a shower/toilet. That's all you need for quick trips anyways. $56 for two nights!

The street food was very good! Danes put this special yellow sauce on everything (bread, hotdogs, smorebrodd, meat...). It's wonderful! They also put whole pickles on my hotdog, which now that I think about sounds not so weird compared to relish ha!

We spent the first day exploring, and then, we met up with Hugo and Rosalie. Hugo is from Montreal, Canada. He's studying abroad for the whole year. Last semester he studied stereotypes in the media. So, he was there visiting his peers from last semester that now have internships in Copenhagen. They were able to show us around Friday night to several bars in the city. Here's where my smell issue comes up again. I can't stand how smoky all the bars are here. You come out smelling like an ash tray, and it seeps in your hair, clothes, everything! We went into one place that made my throat burn. Still, the Danes are fun, and they taught us a cool drinking game called The Little Maya. It didn't make since til I played it a few times, but I think we'll have it mastered it soon.

Saturday, we were able to buy this pass that got us in to 6 different museums for only $12 total. It was a one time deal only offered in January. How convenient for us! We ended up visiting 4 including the Thorvaldsens Musuem dedicated to a danish man's art and sculptures, the Theatre Museum where we saw a rehearsal show, the Castle Ruins underneath Christiansborg Palace, and then finally, Christiansborg Palace. We also checked out the National Museum where we discovered Romboller in the cafe. I guess you can tell we are definitely doing the whole eat, pray, love thing. It was sooooo good, and very filling. I wrapped mine up to go and ate on that thing a few times before finishing it. I think it's a rum ball of some sort that is very popular here. Granted, that's not all we saw at the museum. We got to see a real viking braid. They'd chopped a vikings hair and tied it just like you see it in the movies. That was pretty neat to see upclose.

We finished Saturday with a trip far away from downtown to see the Little Mermaid! She's actually been in Asia for a while getting her head glued back on. It's still so weird to see the beach and it be frozen, or covered with snow. I keep asking myself why I didn't go to Austrailia or Chile or someplace warm. Then, I remember I'm going to be able to travel Europe for 4 months! Plus, the TV course is supposed to be ballin'. The interns we met had taken it before and said it improved their skills tremendously. How could it not going from 9-4pm everyday with no lectures. It's all hands on with projects around the city and other countries. I'm so excited for school!! Ok back to Copenhagen...

Sunday, we woke up very early to see the harbor before we left. You know the place where if you Google Image Copenhagen the canal pictures pop up. Well, now I've got my own! The water was frozen solid though. A chair was sticking half out of it!

Copenhagen treated us well, and I can't wait to go back again when it's warmer. Strolling along their main pedestrian street Stroget (I can't character map that special o with the line through into blogger so excuse the misspelled Danish words) would've been much more relaxing in some warmth. Instead we kinda powerwalked among it. We'll definitely be returning in March for a longer stroll. We have this theory that the cold makes people more productive. We got so much done in 2 days because of our pace. When it's freezing outside you see what you need to see and keep moving! Maybe it works both ways... does the hot sun not just make you thirsty, tired, and lazy. We also figured maybe this is why danes eat such a hearty lunch. Their dinner is smaller and lunch becomes the biggest meal of the day.

One three hour train ride later, and I'm glad to be back in my new Danish home! 3 days was the perfect amount of time for us to get our feet wet and ready to start traveling the rest of Europe. Our next trip will tentatively be a combo of the Netherlands and Germany.

The list begins

I'm a listmaker, so of course I've started making lists since I arrived in Aarhus. I've been keeping track now of what I miss from home, and then what I love about being here. Both are pretty short now, but here's what I got so far.

I love... Kvickly! As seen in the picture, it's a massive grocery chain here with the cheapest food we've found yet! Ok NOW to the list.

1. The bread and the golden pretzel sign that represents bakeries. Seriously, the bread here has to be the best I've ever tasted.

2. The people are very friendly and so helpful. All you have to do is ask. Most are very reserved, but as soon as you flash a smile and say Hej!, well it's like being in the south again :)

3. Stroopwafels, romboller, gross liquorice, street food, and basically the principle of being introduced to new foods. I appreciate all of them even if I don't like it, which has only happened twice. Once with the liquorice, and once with the first bottle of juice we bought. We had to pour 3/4 water in it to make it taste remotely like juice....very syrupy! Later we found a bottle that said mild.

4. The cobblestone roads. I love them; however, after a long walk it starts to feel like your feet are receiving a deep tissue massage. Once in a while a step can really hurt!

5. All the buildings have so much character.

6. Downtown. I've never really lived in a city before. Being downtown is exciting and always so full of life. I'm not sure if that's how most downtowns are or just this one in particular, but I really do love it at this point in my life.

7. The opportunity. I am so thankful for this experience. I'm learning new things and adapting so quickly each day. I'm feel myself becoming more independent everyday. Being an international student has allowed me a unique opportunity to explore cultures from Denmark, as well as many other countries around the world. For example, I love listening to the sounds of the Singapore girls in the unit above me. They play music all day and sing too really relaxing beats too.

Sure there are going to be luxuries of America that I miss also. So far, the lists seem to be pretty well balanced though.

I miss... not having to wear shower shoes!

1. My car! I love driving my car around town. Not being able to drive and taking the bus or biking everywhere could make for a pretty long, cold February.

2. Diet Sun drop/ Diet Dr. Pepper. I wasn't too surprised by no Diet Sun drop, but I was hoping they'd have the Diet Dr. Pepper. No such luck. It doesn't really matter though. Their cokes taste different anyways. Much sweeter. Diet coke is sweeter than Coke zero here.

3. Warm weather. Granted, it's actually about the same here as it has been at home.... around 32 degrees. But it's starting to warm up at home, and not here. Apparently, February is the coldest month.

4. I miss my friends and family. Keeping a blog, along with Skyping has helped so much though.

5. Not converting money, degrees, wattage, or voltage all the time.

And that's all for the list now. Tomorrow I have to show you my new bike! Took it home today, and I love it :)

Inspired on the 1st day

Today was the first day of school, and Christina and I were nothing short of ecstatic. It felt like the first day of Kindergarten. We met our friends at the bus stop at 9:05 and took a snapshot. Well I let the photojournalists do it. I'll post their pics as soon as they've posted them on Facebook. They are all so talented. The majority of our group living together are in the TV course or the photo one. It's a really good mix. People come from Canada, Germany, Egypt, Minnesota, California, Holland, Latvia, Slovakia Republic, Nepal, London, Sweden, Portugal, Australia and Missouri. That's only to name the ones I live next to. I believe there are over 25 countries represented here at the Danish School of Media and Journalism.

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But our small group has decided to do something very special to set ourselves apart. We will be producing our own side project during the semester aimed for prospective international students at DSMJ. There will be a short film as well as a website featuring anything a student could possibly want to know about what to expect from the program, the city, and the entire experience abroad. We've decided to meet every Wednesday to add onto our project. It's very exciting to dive into journalism and producing again. Having such a long break was making me crave school again... or at least some kind of project so as not to forget any of the skills I've learned over the past 3 years.

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Working with such talented people from all around the world will be such an amazing learning experience, and I cannot wait to get this project started.

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Today was a very short day, but definitely inspiring. The teachers introduced the programs, teaching methods and took us on a tour of the campus. This school is probably the size of Tullahoma High School...maybe smaller. For once, I'm not too worried about getting lost. When the teacher spoke, he reminded me so much of previous teachers like Dr. Sawyer and Bernardo who inspired me from the very beginning to become a journalist. While I'm studying here I want to reach my greatest potential. I want to learn different views and methods. I want to become well-rounded and frankly, I want to set myself miles apart from the other students in my graduating class looking for jobs out of college. I feel like I'm in the best place I can be to learn how to achieve that type of success. Being here has made me consider possibly working as an international journalist someday.

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It's so interesting that with every student I meet, we may come from opposite sides of the world and have entirely different opinions and beliefs, but we are the same. We chose to come to DSMJ, out from our comfort zones, to learn how to be better journalists. My semester has just begun, but today, I feel sure that I've made one of the best decisions of my life coming here. I could not be happier.

Wow these Danes sure do work hard/ PLAY HARD!

Today was so much fun. I worked on my first TV assignment with Kim from Toronto and Thorsten from Denmark. We worked really well together and had a lot of fun shooting with such new and light equipment. Our assignment was to shoot a 30 second segment in the TV technician room. Talk about a boring room. However we managed to spice it up a bit :) Check it out! www.vimeo.com/19560943

So afterward, we finished around one thirty. Ate lunch around noon. Friday bar, which is a bar in the basement of the school began at two pm. Oh goodness! People drank for 12 hours, no supper in between. We even threw a trip downtown in there somewhere. It was crazy how the Danes could throw a party. I mean that place was bumping at 3pm in the afternoon!!

It was so much fun though! I made a lot of new friends, and I can't wait to finish partying the rest of the weekend with them... and then get back to work and meet our teacher!!

Friday Bar!

My new international friends at Friday Bar.

From left to right: Rui(Portugal), Marieke(Belgium), Zach(Kenya),

Robert(Sweden), Nate(Minnesota), and Kristin(pronounced Christine, from Slovak Republic).

You can't see it very well, but there are portraits drawn all over the walls of prominent people that graduated from DSMJ.

Today is one of the few sunny days we've had in a while. I'm very excited to fix our bike settings and go for a ride.

TV Class is going well

I'm loving class. We have a lot of short breaks during the day. Christina and I have almost watched half of last night's The Bachelor.

Sunday, we made a trip to Ikea...I've never been before! It's set up like a maze, so that you have to view the whole entire store before you exit. They also have a restaurant in the very beginning to lure you in with their exceptionally cheap prices. Best thing is... we now have tupperware!! No more ziplock lunches :)

Tonight Christina and I ate with our bus friends, Maria and Bea from Madrid. I attempted to make Mom's poppyseed chicken; however, I was unable to find poppyseed, cream of chicken, or Ritz in the Danish grocery stores. So, I improvised. It tasted ok. I burnt the rice a tad, and I think the cream of mushroom I used was actually a soup that contained some type of Caesar dressing flavor. I did ok with the buttered cracker topping and the actual chicken though. I guess you're never going to get it perfect the first try. But they all seemed to like it. I guess since I was the only one who knew what it was supposed to taste like, I was the only disappointed one.

We have received our 1st TV assignment due the 16th. I'll be sure to post our final copy here. It must be a profile of someone. We have 2 ideas right now, and we will decide tomorrow once we get all the information on both sources. One is to do it on a local Zumba instructor. Another is to do it on a chef participating in a cake decorating competition. Either one will have great visuals. So, I'm excited to get my hands dirty. I want to get better at shooting, so I need lots of practice. I've been watching Man vs. Food episodes to get ideas for camera angles and shots. I think I'm developing a real knack for the producing side of things. I the planning and research of assignments. Constructing the idea, angle, fascination, making calls, networking, and basically producing the story. That's probably my favorite part, which makes me feel good that I'm starting to see those key skills in myself. Don't get me wrong, I want to learn how to be a better videographer, and be more advanced in Final Cut Pro. However, I don't see myself becoming a photographer or editor in the future. It's good to be well-rounded and have that skill set anyways. You never know when you'll need them.


A side note to Tommy, or whoever taught me the wrong pronounciation of this word... Everyone keeps making fun of me anytime I say the word "naked." Apparently, I'm saying "nekid." Sounds the same to me, but oh well. They're just going to have to deal with a little southern drawl.

Danes sure do LOVE Fridays

So I wanted to post a short video from our Pub Crawl. I documented the entire night, but the movie was too large to post, and the clip ending up taking an eternity to load also. I'll try to upload the Youtube link once it has loaded.

We went to 5 bars including Peter Gift, Pub 'ens, Hunter's, Drop Inn, and finished the night at Heidi's... a bar/club. It was a lot of fun, but you could tell they took us to the cheapest bars they could find. Our mentors Mette and Niklas led the crawl.
I think this Friday, Kristin from Slovak Republic wins the award for Most Entertaining.

Saturday was so beautiful and sunny outside, yet so very cold. Christina and I used the day for exercising. She went on a run, and I popped in an Insanity workout.

Later, we made a massive grocery shopping list and headed out around 6pm. We forgot everything closes early on the weekends here. Something to add to the "Things I Miss" list... stores that are open 24 hrs. So we get off the bus, realize we're too late, then hear a loud crash. We look over our heads and someone has chucked a grocery cart off of the bridge above us. Then, we hear four police cars rush by. It's not very well lit, and it doesn't take us long for us to realize we're not in the best part of town. On weekends, the bus only comes twice every hour. We decide to walk to the next bus stop. Along the way a chain of cars pull up honking a tune together, we pass several shady looking loners, and finally arrive at the first sign of a lit up restaurant. Pizza didn't sound bad, so we ordered the typical Danish pizza (Shwarma pizza) complete with Shwarma meat, salad dressing, and lettuce. Then, we notice the windows out of the restaurant have been broken. Three more ambulance and fire trucks drove by also.

So we passed the time eating and headed to the next bus stop. Man, was it far away! Definitely, the longest we've had to walk in between a bus stop. The bus arrived 10 minutes later and we finally made it home safe :)

Today, was a very productive day. Kim, Thorsten, and I worked used our access card to get in to school, just to have a head start on editing. For the next two days, we don't really have school. It's just time to work on our project. So we've agreed to sleep in an extra hour this week :). But we accomplished quite a bit today in just a few hours. We've now written our voice over and arranged the sound bites and produced a really good profile of Chef Kristensen. I think he'd be pleased. Tomorrow all we really have to do is just match the video to our sound, then spend Tuesday fine tuning everything to hopefully achieve one of the rare "A"s our teacher hands out. She believes nothing is perfect or worthy of an A. What a load of hog wash! Why make the letter A if you're not going to believe in them. I guess it really doesn't matter. My grades only transfer as pass fails, but I still like to be the best. That's what I'll be aiming for this semester.

It's hard to believe that I'll have been here a whole month this weekend. Speaking of this weekend!! I am so excited to travel to Berlin with Marieke & Kim. Hugo from Canada is making us a list of things to see and do. I've also been reading Samantha Brown's travel guides. Time is really flying here.