The second day in Berlin we went to an underground bunker where German women and children would go to during the bombings. Unfortunately for them, the tourguide explained to us that the Nazi's who built it didn't reinforce the ceiling so if a bomb had hit it it would have went straight through. A pretty useless bunker if you ask me. It was really strange being in the bunker that was built for 30 people but typically held up to 90 people for 15 hours +. You can imagine how nasty that would get if you couldn't leave a room the size of a living room for 15 hours with 90 other people. It was also a unique experience seeing World War II history from the eyes of the people of Berlin. You never really get their perspective on what happened as they were the bad guys. But the bombings of Berlin decimated their city and ruined alot of innocent lives as well.
After we went to this really expensive restaurant (75 Euros per plate) on DIS's dime. This was not your typical restaurant. All the waitors and waitresses were legally blind. To make it even more interesting, they take you into a completely pitch black room where you eat your dinner. To keep everything as intended the guests are asked to turn off all phones and ipods, as well as watches that have a glowing function.
At first everything was disorienting because the waitress congo-lines you through this zig zagged hallway. She sits you down and explains how the meal will work. If you need to go to the bathroom you need to call her over and she will guide you there. Basically it is like you are at a regular restaurant but you have to make sure you remember where all your utensils are exactly.
After the first five minutes in complete darkness, everyone pretty much expected their eyes to adjust and atleast be able to see somethings. But no, the room was completely devoid of light. It was so strange because your mind would try to fill in the blanks and you would actually think you were seeing things. When someone at your table would talk you would think you could see their sillouette but if you waved your arm infront of them nothign would change so you knew that you weren't actually seeing them. Most of us even had visual hallucinations. Random colors, shapes, and floating things would appear. If you looked up sometimes you would even think you could see stars. It was MIND BOTTLING.
When the food came it was so hard to eat with a knife and fork that pretty much everyone admitted to eating it all with their hands. We had some sort of asian inspired salad to start. Then we had soup and bread, and then some sort of turkey meal. The funny thing was, everyone in the class had the same thing ordered for them. None of us knew what it was before hand. When the turkey came out half of the table thought we were eating Steak. It was so weird that even your mind can change the flavor of something. Half way through mostly everyone realized it was actually turkey. Some other funny things that happened were when the waitress asked who needed refills and everyone at the table raised their hands. I commented that I raised my hand and everyone else said they did the same thing. Guess its just a habit.
After dinner we decided to call it a night since we were all whooped from the night before.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Long Study Tour: Berlin day 1
It has been awhile since I've written anything but I have been pretty busy. On October 2nd, my International Business class departed from Copenhagen by bus to go to Berlin. We had to leave very early in the morning to catch our bus so I only had time to have a cookie before we got on the bus. This hit the spot and after what seemed like a long time we arrived at the ferry. Our bus drove on to the boat and we had to get off. We all got lunch and decided to start imbibing. We made some mixies dixies and started our day off right. Finally we arrived in Germany and had to continue to drive until we reached Berlin.
In Berlin, the first thing we had on the agenda was to go on the "Fat Tire Bike Tour'" which was a cool way to see the city. Our tour guide drove us around to different landmarks all over Berlin. We saw the Berlin wall, Checkpoint charlie, the hotel that Michael Jackson dangled his baby out the window, the Reichstag, etc. One thing I learned about Berlin is that it smells like shit. They have sewage lines that run above the ground and there sewers are open to the air. It is absolutley rank. After the bike ride, we went back to the hotel and grabed a six pack each and started pregaming. Then we went to dinner at some italian place. It was really good and the beer there was very cheap compared to Copenhagen.
After dinner, we decided it would be a good time to find some bars or clubs to hang out at. Since it was a Sunday night the city was a little dead. We ended up going to a convenience store and getting a 1/5 of vodka and a two liter coke for the six of us. We took turns taking pulls and approximately five minutes later there was no vodka left. Perfect start to the night.
The group then started to walk to find a bar. There was suppose to be some huge rave outside in some park but as we walked we started doubting this information more and more. Finally we walked past a bar that was open and right before we walked in we realized it was a gay bar. Not really our scene haha. We kept walking and some turkish dude starts yelling at us saying we looked at his girlfriend. He proceeds to throw a lighter at us. Ofcourse, I decide to chuck it back at him and he then he hit me in the face with it. After we left that street we were like what the hell no one looked at that girl. Then one kid Brett from Georgetown, says "well actually I was kinda staring at her". Great.
So after that we decided to go back to the same convenience store and get another 1/5 and some more beers. Keep in mind this is only 25 minutes after the first one. We do the same thing as before and the 1/5 is gone really fast. My recollection of the night ends there. But piecing together the rest of the night was not to hard.
On our way back into the hotel Kevin from Loyola, was attempting to light a cig and tripped and hit his chin on scaffolding on the side of the building. You could see the bone in his chin. Our other friend Carter luckily knew enough German to get him to the hospital where he remained with him all night.
This is the 3rd hospital trip of the two study tours. Ironically enough, all of the kids who have been to the hospital go to school in the Baltimore area. 2 from Loyola, 1 from Goucher. Weirddd.
The next morning was the art tour. I didnt go to it. They wouldn't let me. Oh well, I lucked out because I didn't have to walk around at 8 am for 5 hours.
To be continued.
In Berlin, the first thing we had on the agenda was to go on the "Fat Tire Bike Tour'" which was a cool way to see the city. Our tour guide drove us around to different landmarks all over Berlin. We saw the Berlin wall, Checkpoint charlie, the hotel that Michael Jackson dangled his baby out the window, the Reichstag, etc. One thing I learned about Berlin is that it smells like shit. They have sewage lines that run above the ground and there sewers are open to the air. It is absolutley rank. After the bike ride, we went back to the hotel and grabed a six pack each and started pregaming. Then we went to dinner at some italian place. It was really good and the beer there was very cheap compared to Copenhagen.
After dinner, we decided it would be a good time to find some bars or clubs to hang out at. Since it was a Sunday night the city was a little dead. We ended up going to a convenience store and getting a 1/5 of vodka and a two liter coke for the six of us. We took turns taking pulls and approximately five minutes later there was no vodka left. Perfect start to the night.
The group then started to walk to find a bar. There was suppose to be some huge rave outside in some park but as we walked we started doubting this information more and more. Finally we walked past a bar that was open and right before we walked in we realized it was a gay bar. Not really our scene haha. We kept walking and some turkish dude starts yelling at us saying we looked at his girlfriend. He proceeds to throw a lighter at us. Ofcourse, I decide to chuck it back at him and he then he hit me in the face with it. After we left that street we were like what the hell no one looked at that girl. Then one kid Brett from Georgetown, says "well actually I was kinda staring at her". Great.
So after that we decided to go back to the same convenience store and get another 1/5 and some more beers. Keep in mind this is only 25 minutes after the first one. We do the same thing as before and the 1/5 is gone really fast. My recollection of the night ends there. But piecing together the rest of the night was not to hard.
On our way back into the hotel Kevin from Loyola, was attempting to light a cig and tripped and hit his chin on scaffolding on the side of the building. You could see the bone in his chin. Our other friend Carter luckily knew enough German to get him to the hospital where he remained with him all night.
This is the 3rd hospital trip of the two study tours. Ironically enough, all of the kids who have been to the hospital go to school in the Baltimore area. 2 from Loyola, 1 from Goucher. Weirddd.
The next morning was the art tour. I didnt go to it. They wouldn't let me. Oh well, I lucked out because I didn't have to walk around at 8 am for 5 hours.
To be continued.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Theft in the "safest" country in the world
I figured I should probably post about this but it didn't fit in with the last blog.
After we got back from our study tour a few weeks ago. We learned that one of the kids in our program in my building's room got broken into. They stole a $600 camera $400 in cash and his ipod.
Another girl in the building who is at Copenhagen University also informed us that her window had been broken and her room had been burglarized as well.
Since then there have been a couple more break ins and thefts in our building, all on the first floor where the windows and doors are easily accessible.
This morning we found out that our common room had been broken into and our brand new flat screen TV had been stolen. One of the kids from the Netherlands said that around 1:30 am he was watching a movie on his computer when he heard a noise at his door. He opened it up and three guys wearing hoodies were trying to open his door. They ran when he opened it. We had a meeting today to try to figure out what to do because both DIS (my program) and their program at Cope U said that there is nothing they can do about it. We walked around the building and found a door with a broken lock that leads right into the basement which gives outsiders access to the entire building. We tied a rope to the door handle inside and secured it temporarily.
I have installed a program on my computer that if it is stolen I can report it and if they log on to the internet it will automatically send me an email with a picture from the web cam and the location of where the computer is. Hopefully it won't come to this but as the boys scouts say "Be Prepared".
On Saturday I leave for a week to go to Berlin and Prague with my International Business class, so I think I will be locking up my valuables at a locker in DIS.
Oh, and my room is on the first floor in prime theft location, so its not a matter of if my room will be broken into its just when.
Also all the break-ins happen on friday and saturday nights between 12 am and 3 am. They definitely know we all go out then.
I think we may be setting up some sort of camp-out in the coming weeks but if you know my history with camp-outs (especially the time at the community pool) I am not completely thrilled by the idea.
After we got back from our study tour a few weeks ago. We learned that one of the kids in our program in my building's room got broken into. They stole a $600 camera $400 in cash and his ipod.
Another girl in the building who is at Copenhagen University also informed us that her window had been broken and her room had been burglarized as well.
Since then there have been a couple more break ins and thefts in our building, all on the first floor where the windows and doors are easily accessible.
This morning we found out that our common room had been broken into and our brand new flat screen TV had been stolen. One of the kids from the Netherlands said that around 1:30 am he was watching a movie on his computer when he heard a noise at his door. He opened it up and three guys wearing hoodies were trying to open his door. They ran when he opened it. We had a meeting today to try to figure out what to do because both DIS (my program) and their program at Cope U said that there is nothing they can do about it. We walked around the building and found a door with a broken lock that leads right into the basement which gives outsiders access to the entire building. We tied a rope to the door handle inside and secured it temporarily.
I have installed a program on my computer that if it is stolen I can report it and if they log on to the internet it will automatically send me an email with a picture from the web cam and the location of where the computer is. Hopefully it won't come to this but as the boys scouts say "Be Prepared".
On Saturday I leave for a week to go to Berlin and Prague with my International Business class, so I think I will be locking up my valuables at a locker in DIS.
Oh, and my room is on the first floor in prime theft location, so its not a matter of if my room will be broken into its just when.
Also all the break-ins happen on friday and saturday nights between 12 am and 3 am. They definitely know we all go out then.
I think we may be setting up some sort of camp-out in the coming weeks but if you know my history with camp-outs (especially the time at the community pool) I am not completely thrilled by the idea.
Sunday September 25 updates
I haven't gotten to blog in a while so I figured I would update what has been going on.
Brandon and Andrew from loyola, Zack from Arkansas, and I have all been playing for the Herlev Rebels, the American football team. We have been going to practice two to three times a week and it has been a blast. On Saturday september 17 we left Copenhagen to go on a 6 hour road trip to Aalborg, Denmark. Aalborg is the fourth biggest city in Denmark and is three hours north of Aarhuse (the place we traveled to the week before). Aalborg is called "the paris of the north". We once again stayed in cabins in the countryside.
The game was at 3 pm that Sunday. It rained a lot during the game but it was awesome to get out on the field and hit some people. We won but the game was not pretty.
The following week was not a good one as I lost my cell phone and my login token for my internship. Effectively putting me out of a job for a week. I also did really bad on my impossible history test and ended up dropping the class. This is actually a good thing because the class was so dumb. It was called "Copenhagen History and Contemporary Urban Issues". The class was actually more of an architecture styles class.
The weekend came and on Saturday we had our second playoff football game at home. For some reason the coach didn't put the Americans in until we were down 42 - 0. When we finally went in and they only scored one more time. I had an awesome hit on the sideline and I actually blacked out for a second. Whoops. Didn't miss a beat though.
We went out with some of the football players and they showed us a great time in the city at bars we wouldn't have normally thought to go to. It was nice getting away from the overly touristy bars that we have been frequenting. One of the bars you had to be 21 to get in so Brandon, Andrew, and I all used one of my fake ids to get in. We went in one after another, so I'm still confused on why the bouncer let in three kids with three different ids with the same name on them.
Brandon and Andrew from loyola, Zack from Arkansas, and I have all been playing for the Herlev Rebels, the American football team. We have been going to practice two to three times a week and it has been a blast. On Saturday september 17 we left Copenhagen to go on a 6 hour road trip to Aalborg, Denmark. Aalborg is the fourth biggest city in Denmark and is three hours north of Aarhuse (the place we traveled to the week before). Aalborg is called "the paris of the north". We once again stayed in cabins in the countryside.
The game was at 3 pm that Sunday. It rained a lot during the game but it was awesome to get out on the field and hit some people. We won but the game was not pretty.
The following week was not a good one as I lost my cell phone and my login token for my internship. Effectively putting me out of a job for a week. I also did really bad on my impossible history test and ended up dropping the class. This is actually a good thing because the class was so dumb. It was called "Copenhagen History and Contemporary Urban Issues". The class was actually more of an architecture styles class.
The weekend came and on Saturday we had our second playoff football game at home. For some reason the coach didn't put the Americans in until we were down 42 - 0. When we finally went in and they only scored one more time. I had an awesome hit on the sideline and I actually blacked out for a second. Whoops. Didn't miss a beat though.
We went out with some of the football players and they showed us a great time in the city at bars we wouldn't have normally thought to go to. It was nice getting away from the overly touristy bars that we have been frequenting. One of the bars you had to be 21 to get in so Brandon, Andrew, and I all used one of my fake ids to get in. We went in one after another, so I'm still confused on why the bouncer let in three kids with three different ids with the same name on them.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Study Tour - Carlsberg Brewery & Western Denmark part 1
On Wednesday 9/9/11, my International Business class had to go to Carlsberg Brewery as for a meeting with some of the people who work there for part of our semester long project on the Beer industry. We were supposed to meet at school at 1:15 and take the train as a group so no body got lost.
Can you guess what happened?
So I look for my bus pass in the morning and can't find it anywhere. Start frantically tearing the room apart and I finally found it at 1 pm. I make an executive decision that there is no way I can make it to DIS by 1:15 I decide I'll go right to the train station and hope I can cut them off there. Miss them by about five minutes. I hop on the next train and head back towards good ol' Carlsberg.
When I arrived, I called one of the other kids in the class and he hands his phone off to the guy who is running the meeting that day and will be leading us on our tour of western Denmark the following few days. Unbeknownst to me, we were not going to the same place that I had previously gone when I went to Carlsberg. I asked for directions to get there and was provide with these super step by step instructions.
"Come out of the train station, and turn left. Walk to the intersection and make another left. Keep walking until the road starts to incline. Make your first right and when the road starts to decline make your next left. Continue over the bridge and call me when you see a brick wall."
Walk until the road starts to incline.
Roger that.
Obviously, I got really lost. Then as is typical in Denmark it started to rain. I'm talkin like Hurricane Irene kind of rain.
So to put it in perspective, I am walking around in a city I don't know at all, its pouring and I am wearing business casual attire. My wet dress shoes are blistering the back of my feet to the point I start bleeding.
Suddenly I run into another kid from Loyola who is in my class. We're both drenched and we're almost an hour late at this point. Some how we find the place.
We call the guy back who gave the directions and he lets us in the building. He gives us an earful about how this is unacceptable. Blah blah blah.
Sit down in this boring meeting. Everyone laughs at us. We're wet, late, and miserable.
I'll continue the story later...
Can you guess what happened?
So I look for my bus pass in the morning and can't find it anywhere. Start frantically tearing the room apart and I finally found it at 1 pm. I make an executive decision that there is no way I can make it to DIS by 1:15 I decide I'll go right to the train station and hope I can cut them off there. Miss them by about five minutes. I hop on the next train and head back towards good ol' Carlsberg.
When I arrived, I called one of the other kids in the class and he hands his phone off to the guy who is running the meeting that day and will be leading us on our tour of western Denmark the following few days. Unbeknownst to me, we were not going to the same place that I had previously gone when I went to Carlsberg. I asked for directions to get there and was provide with these super step by step instructions.
"Come out of the train station, and turn left. Walk to the intersection and make another left. Keep walking until the road starts to incline. Make your first right and when the road starts to decline make your next left. Continue over the bridge and call me when you see a brick wall."
Walk until the road starts to incline.
Roger that.
Obviously, I got really lost. Then as is typical in Denmark it started to rain. I'm talkin like Hurricane Irene kind of rain.
So to put it in perspective, I am walking around in a city I don't know at all, its pouring and I am wearing business casual attire. My wet dress shoes are blistering the back of my feet to the point I start bleeding.
Suddenly I run into another kid from Loyola who is in my class. We're both drenched and we're almost an hour late at this point. Some how we find the place.
We call the guy back who gave the directions and he lets us in the building. He gives us an earful about how this is unacceptable. Blah blah blah.
Sit down in this boring meeting. Everyone laughs at us. We're wet, late, and miserable.
I'll continue the story later...
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Study Tour part 2 Western Denmark
Thursday 9/9/11 We departed Israel Plads (a small square near the Norreport bus and metro stop) at 8 am. We were heading on our weekend trip to western Denmark to the main landmass called Jutland.
Our first stop was two hours away in Fakse, DK, at Royal Unibrew, the number 2 brewery in Denmark (number one being Carlsberg). Here we had a meeting with one of the employees who assigned my group a project for the semester. Then we had a tour of the facility and learned more about the brewing process and saw where the beer gets bottled and how the deposit system for the bottles works.
In Denmark, they have machines that you place your empty cans and bottles in. These bottles are shipped back to the distribution centers to be cleaned and refilled.
After Royal Unibrew we drove further north to a smaller brewery called Fuglsang. It is a small regional brewery that actually produces their own malt and sells some of their malt to the larger Danish Breweries and other Breweries in Europe. This brewery was probably the best academic part of the trip. The guy who showed us around was a direct decendent of the man who started the brewery. The family does not technically own the brewery anymore because the inheritance tax in Denmark is so high. They have to set the ownership up in a sort of trust. Now the family members work there but they don't have the power of ownership, just the Fuglsang name.
After seeing the brewery and all the different processes they use to make the beer we had dinner with the Fuglsang family. They prepared a classic Danish meal. It consisted of lots of bread, butter, and an assortment of deli meats.
They also brought out lots of boxes of their beer and encouraged us to try all the different kinds they had. After about an hour my table of 6 had killed over 40 bottles of beer and Mr. Fuglsang was sitting with us discussing the American drinking age of 21 and how he thought it was ridiculous.
After dinner we drove another few hours north to a small rural city and stayed in cabins at a hostel. We drank some more free beer that Fuglsang gave us and went out to a small bar in the city.
The next morning we woke up and continued on our journey to Arrhuse to visit the headquarters of Dansk Supermarked. The Dansk Supermarked is the company that owns a bunch of different stores all over Denmark and Northern Europe. Netto is one that is like a convenience store, Fotex is kind of like a supermarket with some clothing and stuff, and Bilca is like a small version of Wall-mart.
We learned about their distribution system and their information systems that are used to make sure deliveries are on time every single day.
Then we went to lunch at some restaurant in Arrhuse and got pretty fancy cheeseburgers and fries. After lunch, we went to the Aros art museum which was actually really cool. There was a room that was filled with fog and the fog was colored by neon lights on the ceiling. It was a sort of sensory overload when you went in because you couldn't see more than a foot in front of your face.
We left Arrhuse at around 6:30 pm and drove south to Odense. Odense is the third biggest city in Denmark and it is on an island called Funen. We stayed in another hostel, this time it was more like a regular hotel. You just had to bring your own linens and stuff to sleep on.
We went out in Odense that night and I had the great idea to go to a karaoke bar. We finally found one at this club called ARCADE. Arcade is a five floor club which each floor having a different sort of theme. One of the floors was dedicated to karaoke. The bouncers told us at the door that we had to pay a cover charge of 180 danish Kroner. That is roughly 40 US dollars. The cover was because they were having a concert at 1 am. We asked them who was playing and he told us that it was the number one singer in all of Denmark. We convinced them to let us in without paying because we had never heard of the singer and we assured them we would be leaving before the concert began.
We did some karaoke classics and agreed that we made a really great decision.
The guys and girls all got separated and we found out the next day one of the girls (from Loyola) and another girl (from Goucher) had gotten locked in some back room while looking for the bathroom. This room had a set of stairs which the loyola girl accidently fell down and got a black eye. After all the commotion one of the bouncers found them and started yelling at them and picked up the girl from Goucher and threw her against the wall. Both girls spent the night in the ER. So that was pretty eventful.
We went to the Hans Christian Anderson museum for a little the next day. It was really boring. We departed Odense and started on the journey back to Copenhagen. About half way back we went down some really rural road and pulled over to play paint ball.
Paint ball was awesome. Everyone was really tired from the night before and no one really wanted to play but once it began everyone agreed it was a lot of fun.
We finally got back to Copenhagen around 7 pm and it was a really early night.
Today is the 10th anniversary of 9/11. RIP to all those who died that day.
Monday, September 5, 2011
more updates
I left you all on last wednesday. The internet is still down in the dorm which sucks but we're making due.
Thursday, I said I wasn't going to go out... but then I remembered I'm abroad and Kulorbar was awesome last week so I decided to go back. I made it in time for the no charge beer from 11 - 1 so that was a bonus. All the Americans were raging in the middle of the dance floor with the sounds of house music blasting. It was a great night for clubbing.
Friday I skipped my classes because my alarm didn't go off. Luckily one of my professors actually canceled class and the other one doesn't take attendance. Later that night, a lot of our Americans from the kollegium had to get up early to go on Adventure trips (biking in Sweden, Kayaking, etc). So the few who didn't have to decided to rage. We ended up meeting a bunch of cool kids from Germany, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and Mexico, who also lived in our Kollegium. We taught them lots of drinking games. They especially liked beer pong, civil war, beer ball, and this new game I was taught called "stupid bitch". Its kind of like thumper except instead of having like a hand sign you have a name that consists of any word then fuck. For example we had "nasal fuck", "cluster fuck", you get the picture so you do a beat and say "nasal fuck nasal fuck can i get a cluster fuck" if someone messes up by either saying the wrong name or messing up the beat everyone stops and yells "Stupid Bitch!". Pretty Loud, Pretty American.
After the drinking games we left to go down town and went Australian Bar. We danced, raged, and had a jolly ol' time. We decided to leave to go to another place but ended up getting lost and just went back home.
Saturday, my roommate Jeremy, another kid Matt, and I decided to go to the Carlsberg brewery for the 200 year anniversary. After some paranoid bus rides thinking we were lost, five minutes of traveling feeling like 2 hours, and checking what time it was we made it to Norreport Station. The same place we go everyday. We got on some train and followed these people. Ended up walking like a mile and finally got to the "party". We thought there would be free beer. Nope. 5$ cups. Typical Denmark. We did get a free cupcake though, so I guess that was ok.
Saturday night was another international mixer in the common room. We played Kings, beer pong, and civil war, all while simultaneously doing a power hour. Loads of fun. After a quick boot and rally, I was ready to journey to Australian bar.
Once we arrived at "A bar", I tried to do the classic "chat and cut" made famous by the one and only Larry David. Promptly was told by the bouncer that I needed to go to the back of the line. That was the first issue of the night. Then after about 15-20 min. I get back to the same bouncer and he tells me I can't come in with my hat on. Even though I wore a hat the night before. So he made me get out of line again. Second issue. I tucked my hat into my pants and was ready for the third attempt. I make it past the ahole bouncer. Up to the lady who scans your finger print (no clue why they do that) I show her my DIS card because then you don't have to pay the cover, she tells me to head on inside. Excellent. No sooner do I walk down the steps and greet some fellow Houndz when this short squat bouncer leaps down the steps and grabs me yelling at me in Danish. He starts to force me up the stairs. I'm real pissed at this point. The other girl who collects your money starts yelling at me "you can't cheat da covah charge". I'm like listen lady this blonde girl (I point at the other one) she told me I could go in. Here's my card. Blonde chick looks at me like a deer in headlights. I'm like tell her what you told me. Doesn't say a word. The bouncer starts pushing me out, and I turn around and tell him - You lay one more hand on me and I'll fuck you up. He lets go but this other big mother fucker with a bald head waddles over and gets in my face. I yell hey I'll fuck you up to man! (Full disclosure: as I said that to the bald man I was quickly retreating)
Wentto LA bar, and Kompass bar after that and spent like no money cause there were specials.
Joke's on you A bar. I'll see you next week. Minus the yanks hat.
Sunday did nothing. Literally nothing. I actually took a nap. Not cause I was tired but because without TV or internet I was so bored.
Monday went to class and football practice. Football was a lot of fun but I'm sore as shit. Between having a cold and being in absolute pathetic athletic shape I'm beat.
Happy Labor day folks.
Thursday, I said I wasn't going to go out... but then I remembered I'm abroad and Kulorbar was awesome last week so I decided to go back. I made it in time for the no charge beer from 11 - 1 so that was a bonus. All the Americans were raging in the middle of the dance floor with the sounds of house music blasting. It was a great night for clubbing.
Friday I skipped my classes because my alarm didn't go off. Luckily one of my professors actually canceled class and the other one doesn't take attendance. Later that night, a lot of our Americans from the kollegium had to get up early to go on Adventure trips (biking in Sweden, Kayaking, etc). So the few who didn't have to decided to rage. We ended up meeting a bunch of cool kids from Germany, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and Mexico, who also lived in our Kollegium. We taught them lots of drinking games. They especially liked beer pong, civil war, beer ball, and this new game I was taught called "stupid bitch". Its kind of like thumper except instead of having like a hand sign you have a name that consists of any word then fuck. For example we had "nasal fuck", "cluster fuck", you get the picture so you do a beat and say "nasal fuck nasal fuck can i get a cluster fuck" if someone messes up by either saying the wrong name or messing up the beat everyone stops and yells "Stupid Bitch!". Pretty Loud, Pretty American.
After the drinking games we left to go down town and went Australian Bar. We danced, raged, and had a jolly ol' time. We decided to leave to go to another place but ended up getting lost and just went back home.
Saturday, my roommate Jeremy, another kid Matt, and I decided to go to the Carlsberg brewery for the 200 year anniversary. After some paranoid bus rides thinking we were lost, five minutes of traveling feeling like 2 hours, and checking what time it was we made it to Norreport Station. The same place we go everyday. We got on some train and followed these people. Ended up walking like a mile and finally got to the "party". We thought there would be free beer. Nope. 5$ cups. Typical Denmark. We did get a free cupcake though, so I guess that was ok.
Saturday night was another international mixer in the common room. We played Kings, beer pong, and civil war, all while simultaneously doing a power hour. Loads of fun. After a quick boot and rally, I was ready to journey to Australian bar.
Once we arrived at "A bar", I tried to do the classic "chat and cut" made famous by the one and only Larry David. Promptly was told by the bouncer that I needed to go to the back of the line. That was the first issue of the night. Then after about 15-20 min. I get back to the same bouncer and he tells me I can't come in with my hat on. Even though I wore a hat the night before. So he made me get out of line again. Second issue. I tucked my hat into my pants and was ready for the third attempt. I make it past the ahole bouncer. Up to the lady who scans your finger print (no clue why they do that) I show her my DIS card because then you don't have to pay the cover, she tells me to head on inside. Excellent. No sooner do I walk down the steps and greet some fellow Houndz when this short squat bouncer leaps down the steps and grabs me yelling at me in Danish. He starts to force me up the stairs. I'm real pissed at this point. The other girl who collects your money starts yelling at me "you can't cheat da covah charge". I'm like listen lady this blonde girl (I point at the other one) she told me I could go in. Here's my card. Blonde chick looks at me like a deer in headlights. I'm like tell her what you told me. Doesn't say a word. The bouncer starts pushing me out, and I turn around and tell him - You lay one more hand on me and I'll fuck you up. He lets go but this other big mother fucker with a bald head waddles over and gets in my face. I yell hey I'll fuck you up to man! (Full disclosure: as I said that to the bald man I was quickly retreating)
Wentto LA bar, and Kompass bar after that and spent like no money cause there were specials.
Joke's on you A bar. I'll see you next week. Minus the yanks hat.
Sunday did nothing. Literally nothing. I actually took a nap. Not cause I was tired but because without TV or internet I was so bored.
Monday went to class and football practice. Football was a lot of fun but I'm sore as shit. Between having a cold and being in absolute pathetic athletic shape I'm beat.
Happy Labor day folks.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
First week and a 1/2
I have now been in Copenhagen for about a week and a half. Lots has happened so far, so I'll try to remember everything.
As I already mentioned in the last blog, these are the sheets/pillow case that the good people at DIS provided for me.
Real nice.
The first night in Copenhagen 5 or 6 of the people from my dorm decided to get some beers and go to a bar in the downtown part of the city. We went to a place called LA Bar. LA Bar is a cleaner version of reefers kinda. Less people sucking face, but same amount of overall rowdiness. Beer in the city is like $10 for one. It sucks, but we manage by finding out the specials AKA 10 shots of tequila for 100 kroner about 2 dollars per shot. Dane's don't use limes with their tequila, they use lemons. Not a huge fan of the practice, but it gets the job done. We stayed till about 3 am and we all went back on the bus. Everyone was beat from traveling and the first night was a success.
The next morning we had to be up at 8 am for orientation bullshit. I don't really remember what we did that day but I remember I got a great cheeseburger and a pint of Carlsberg, for like $10 at the 3PM happy hour in the town square.
For those of you who don't know Carlsberg is a Danish beer that is brewed in Denmark. Here is what they think of it
haha so Carlsberg: Probably the best beer in town.
I don't get that at all. Like "probably the best" hmm so maybe you'll love it but ehh maybe you'll just think its so - so.
Tuesday night we played lots of drinking games in the kollegium and then took the bus down town to try our luck at "A Bar" the A stands for Australian. This place was cool because they served pitchers and had very craigs-esque beerpong tables. It was a great place and I met a group of Danes who brought me to another bar and ended up getting me lost in Copenhagen by myself with no idea where the bus was, no phone, and no real clue on how to pronounce the place i was trying to get to. Eventually I found a cab driver and showed him my little note card with my address on it.
Wednesday I had to get up again at 8 am but decided to sleep in till 9 30 before going to my Visa registration at 10 am. After that a bunch of us walked around the pedestrian street and watched a British street performer put a flaming ball down his sweats and contort his body through a tennis racket while balancing a crystal ball on his head. It was pretty cool so I gave him 10 US dollars. Later we went back and got our first good night of sleep because we had class on Thursday.
Thursday I went to class - it was sylabus week. nothing important there. After class the Resident assistants took us on a "fun tour" aka a tour of restaurants and bars to go to. We went to Christiania.
For those who don't know, Christiania is a place in Copenhagen where people openly sell Marijuana. You can't take pictures while inside but here are some of the pictures of right outside.
It was pretty wild seeing all these hippies selling weed out of a cart.
Thursday night we went to Kulor Bar. It is a huge dance club with a 20 kroner cover and free drinks until 12. I got there at 11:45 paid my cover and couldnt get a beer. I was pissed but it ended up being really fun. Americans and Danes just raging jersey shore style. Fist pumping and club music.
Friday and Saturday were normal days. Friday I had class and then we had a Business Program social. It was at this German bar called Hiedi's and they gave us two free beers for free. I met some bro's from Franklin and Marshall earlier in the day and we ended up doing a couple of rounds of Jaeger Bombs. Just aggressively going after it. Then we went out pretty much straight from there.
Saturday I slept in real late went food shopping and we went out again.
Sunday was pretty quiet and no one really did anything. Some people took a ferry over to Sweden but I wasn't trying to get up early.
Monday was real boring.
Aside from my 2.5 hour religion class, Tuesday was amazing. I joined an American Football team.
yes the kid is back on the field. Me, Brandon Burns, and our new friend from Arkansas decided to show up to an over 19 American football team practice. Within 10 minutes we were fully padded and on the field scrimmaging. They had me playing at the Mike linebacker, and pretty much told me I can play in the next game, next Saturday. I can't even describe how amped I am to play football again. They were pretty pumped to get 3 kids who each had about 10 years of experience. I can't wait to bust some skulls.
I will upload some pics of the game next Saturday.
Tuesday we went back to LA Bar a lot of people got really drunk. Then we all got McDonald's and went home. Wednesday we didn't have classes. Everyone went over to this amusement park called Tivoli but I had to do some internship work and make some money.
The internet has been down for me in my dorm since like Friday so its really annoying to only get it when im at the DIS classroom buildings. I'll let you know how today goes.
As I already mentioned in the last blog, these are the sheets/pillow case that the good people at DIS provided for me.
The first night in Copenhagen 5 or 6 of the people from my dorm decided to get some beers and go to a bar in the downtown part of the city. We went to a place called LA Bar. LA Bar is a cleaner version of reefers kinda. Less people sucking face, but same amount of overall rowdiness. Beer in the city is like $10 for one. It sucks, but we manage by finding out the specials AKA 10 shots of tequila for 100 kroner about 2 dollars per shot. Dane's don't use limes with their tequila, they use lemons. Not a huge fan of the practice, but it gets the job done. We stayed till about 3 am and we all went back on the bus. Everyone was beat from traveling and the first night was a success.
The next morning we had to be up at 8 am for orientation bullshit. I don't really remember what we did that day but I remember I got a great cheeseburger and a pint of Carlsberg, for like $10 at the 3PM happy hour in the town square.
For those of you who don't know Carlsberg is a Danish beer that is brewed in Denmark. Here is what they think of it
haha so Carlsberg: Probably the best beer in town.
I don't get that at all. Like "probably the best" hmm so maybe you'll love it but ehh maybe you'll just think its so - so.
Tuesday night we played lots of drinking games in the kollegium and then took the bus down town to try our luck at "A Bar" the A stands for Australian. This place was cool because they served pitchers and had very craigs-esque beerpong tables. It was a great place and I met a group of Danes who brought me to another bar and ended up getting me lost in Copenhagen by myself with no idea where the bus was, no phone, and no real clue on how to pronounce the place i was trying to get to. Eventually I found a cab driver and showed him my little note card with my address on it.
Wednesday I had to get up again at 8 am but decided to sleep in till 9 30 before going to my Visa registration at 10 am. After that a bunch of us walked around the pedestrian street and watched a British street performer put a flaming ball down his sweats and contort his body through a tennis racket while balancing a crystal ball on his head. It was pretty cool so I gave him 10 US dollars. Later we went back and got our first good night of sleep because we had class on Thursday.
Thursday I went to class - it was sylabus week. nothing important there. After class the Resident assistants took us on a "fun tour" aka a tour of restaurants and bars to go to. We went to Christiania.
For those who don't know, Christiania is a place in Copenhagen where people openly sell Marijuana. You can't take pictures while inside but here are some of the pictures of right outside.
It was pretty wild seeing all these hippies selling weed out of a cart.
Thursday night we went to Kulor Bar. It is a huge dance club with a 20 kroner cover and free drinks until 12. I got there at 11:45 paid my cover and couldnt get a beer. I was pissed but it ended up being really fun. Americans and Danes just raging jersey shore style. Fist pumping and club music.
Friday and Saturday were normal days. Friday I had class and then we had a Business Program social. It was at this German bar called Hiedi's and they gave us two free beers for free. I met some bro's from Franklin and Marshall earlier in the day and we ended up doing a couple of rounds of Jaeger Bombs. Just aggressively going after it. Then we went out pretty much straight from there.
Saturday I slept in real late went food shopping and we went out again.
Sunday was pretty quiet and no one really did anything. Some people took a ferry over to Sweden but I wasn't trying to get up early.
Monday was real boring.
Aside from my 2.5 hour religion class, Tuesday was amazing. I joined an American Football team.
yes the kid is back on the field. Me, Brandon Burns, and our new friend from Arkansas decided to show up to an over 19 American football team practice. Within 10 minutes we were fully padded and on the field scrimmaging. They had me playing at the Mike linebacker, and pretty much told me I can play in the next game, next Saturday. I can't even describe how amped I am to play football again. They were pretty pumped to get 3 kids who each had about 10 years of experience. I can't wait to bust some skulls.
I will upload some pics of the game next Saturday.
Tuesday we went back to LA Bar a lot of people got really drunk. Then we all got McDonald's and went home. Wednesday we didn't have classes. Everyone went over to this amusement park called Tivoli but I had to do some internship work and make some money.
The internet has been down for me in my dorm since like Friday so its really annoying to only get it when im at the DIS classroom buildings. I'll let you know how today goes.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
the journey
I arrived at the beautiful Newark Liberty International Airport to being my trek to Copenhagen. I booked my tickets back in May and the plan was a 10:10 pm flight to London's Heathrow International a four hour layover and then a flight to Copenhagen. Of course, nothing ever turns out as planned. I go to check my bags and I show the lady my ticket confirmation (with seat assignments) and she informs me that Continental has no record of my ticket going there but has record that I'm supposed to fly back to NJ on Dec. 18. Wonderful. So my Dad flips out and calls Continental. Turns out they fucked up. 20 minutes later I'm assigned a seat on a plane flying to Madrid, Spain and a one hour layover there. Sounds good to me.
The flight over was pretty normal, had the annoying kid behind me kicking me the entire time, and a lady next to me that is the definition of "Chatty Kathy". As we're getting ready to descend, the male flight attendent calls me a Gringo. Real sick dude, nice job you have there.
We land and I have to make it across the enormous Spanish airport to a different terminal. I had to literally sprint about a mile to catch some bus to the other side of the airport (20 minute drive) and find the correct gate for my flight. All this without a soul in the place who spoke English. Luckily for me, the three bullshit courses I took in Spanish at Loyola got me through enough to just make it to the gate in time for the flight.
This second airplane was the smallest piece of shit in the entire continent of Europe. It also had a very unique odor, I would describe it as an Indian anal gangbang. So that was definitely a plus.
I got picked up by one of my Dad's colleagues who lives out here and he drove me to the Kollegium in Bro-ville. I am just settling in now.
Our program provides the sheets for the beds and a pillow case.
Mine are super gay. I'll upload a pic tomorrow.
I'm out.
The flight over was pretty normal, had the annoying kid behind me kicking me the entire time, and a lady next to me that is the definition of "Chatty Kathy". As we're getting ready to descend, the male flight attendent calls me a Gringo. Real sick dude, nice job you have there.
We land and I have to make it across the enormous Spanish airport to a different terminal. I had to literally sprint about a mile to catch some bus to the other side of the airport (20 minute drive) and find the correct gate for my flight. All this without a soul in the place who spoke English. Luckily for me, the three bullshit courses I took in Spanish at Loyola got me through enough to just make it to the gate in time for the flight.
This second airplane was the smallest piece of shit in the entire continent of Europe. It also had a very unique odor, I would describe it as an Indian anal gangbang. So that was definitely a plus.
I got picked up by one of my Dad's colleagues who lives out here and he drove me to the Kollegium in Bro-ville. I am just settling in now.
Our program provides the sheets for the beds and a pillow case.
Mine are super gay. I'll upload a pic tomorrow.
I'm out.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Last full day in Murrica
I'm going to Copenhagen tomorrow, hopefully I'll make it back home around Christmas time.
This blog is not for my parents eyes- I don't know if they've figured out they're essentially sending me on a four month vacation to another country where kids start drinking before they have hair on their body.
I leave tomorrow at 10 PM and so far I've packed only two things. A tub of Stokers to pack glorious lips (atleast for a month before I have to switch to their snus shit) and a large pack of ping pong balls. Which should come in handy because I'm not sure if beer pong is an international phenomenon yet.
I'm living in something called a Kollegium which as far as I know is just an international dorm. It is located in Brønshøj and obviously I don't know how to pronounce those weird o's with the line through them, so I will just be calling it Bro-ville until i figure that out. And as a true bro Spetsas said "when in Bronshoj do as the Bromosapiens do".
I have my last party tonight gonna get weird.
Updates coming
This blog is not for my parents eyes- I don't know if they've figured out they're essentially sending me on a four month vacation to another country where kids start drinking before they have hair on their body.
I leave tomorrow at 10 PM and so far I've packed only two things. A tub of Stokers to pack glorious lips (atleast for a month before I have to switch to their snus shit) and a large pack of ping pong balls. Which should come in handy because I'm not sure if beer pong is an international phenomenon yet.
I'm living in something called a Kollegium which as far as I know is just an international dorm. It is located in Brønshøj and obviously I don't know how to pronounce those weird o's with the line through them, so I will just be calling it Bro-ville until i figure that out. And as a true bro Spetsas said "when in Bronshoj do as the Bromosapiens do".
I have my last party tonight gonna get weird.
Updates coming
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