Back from London and Back to the Grind

So it's obviously been a while since my last post...not sure how many people have noticed, but I figured a blog should be updated every now and then to be legit, so here goes.

Just came back from London this past week, which was pretty ridiculous, awesome, wondrous and fun.  I met up with a couple relatives, went to a PR Law firm (Schillings), BAFTA (basically the British version of the Oscars), took a tour of the Olympic areas, from the stadium to the village, which was massive and full of plenty of examples of our wonderfully globalized and capitalistic society (Forever 21 and Starbucks galore!)

Our first day on the scene, we were greeted by heavy rain, somewhat uncharacteristically freezing weather and a bike ride through it all to tour London how it was meant to be seen: wet, grey and cold.  After that we had some time to decompress and prepare ourselves for the week to come, which was a doozy.  From the get go we were sent out into the confusing world of the London Tube system, which was filled with names that look nothing like how they're pronounced; for example, Southwark is pronounced Suh-thark.  Lecesteir= lester, Gloucester=Glah-stir...I could go on but it would only make your brain implode.  As we navigated our way through this underground cavern of tubular vehicles and tracks, I actually began to realize how helpful it was to be in a country where all the signs are in English, and maps are posted pretty much everywhere, and arrows always point you in the right direction.  They also tell you not to fall between the train and the platform, or "mind the gap." I'm sure you've heard this before, or something like it, but I just thought how much they like to remind you as you get on and off the train.  Another tip: don't test your luck with closing doors. You will  lose.

I had the pleasure of dining with my 2nd Cousin (mom's cousin) Bernadette Cawley, and she treated me to a wonderful lunch at Fortnum and Masons, a very interesting, four-story shop which held upscale things from beverages to tea and confectioneries to fancy pajamas.  I had a wonderfully unhealthy meal of toast with chicken, bacon and cheese melted on top, and finished it off with a tall cool glass of gin and tonic with gin and tonic sorbet as a float.  It was glorious. LOOK THERE IT IS \/

I also met up with my 2nd Cousin once removed..? Not sure what he is to me, but he's my mom's cousin's son. I just call him my cousin. Or just Tom. Makes things much easier.  With him twice actually; went to a comedy club called The Phoenix after dinner one night, had a beer..or two. or three. Anyways, that part doesn't matter as much as the ridiculous hilarity of the show, which was a wonderful mix of music and comedy, possibly my two favorite mediums of performing arts.  So that was obviously very fun. The second time we met, I had the pleasure of being the first American relative to meet his girlfriend Callie.  She was very pleasant and very pregnant (7 or 8 months I believe) and I had a wonderful Turkish meal of liver (chicken or lamb, I can't remember which) and squid.  Super delicious.  Afterwards I was given a VIP tour of Tom's offices at Bloomberg and was able to name drop a bit when I was with my professor.  As it turned out, we had just been monkeying around! HAHAHAhahaha. ha. so funny.

Speaking of meals and such, I was spoiled pretty thoroughly by DIS, which provided some very fancy and tasty meals.  I can't quite remember everything, but I definitely always left every meal satisfied, or wanting more of what I had just eaten.  Either way it was all good.  As was the Guinness! I've been told by many that it's better over there, but I didn't quite believe it until the delicious and dark fluid hit my lips on British shores for the first time.  It was like seeing God. Or achieving nirvana. Or something like that.  Needless to say I was pleased, and consumed the beverage at every possible juncture.  Definitely drank at least one of those for my Grandpa who passed away this past week unfortunately.  I know it's sad and that death is always hard to deal with because we can't talk to those people anymore in the physical sense, but I'd like to think he's in some very good company with Father Phil and my Uncle Paul Krause.  I know they'll dutifully watch over all of us for a long time to come.  Also, I know I can always have a private conversation with them on my own with them anytime I need some advice, am having a crappy day, or just wanna thank somebody and feel grateful in general for just being alive on a really really sunny day (just like we had today! I was almost sweating it was so hot. Or warm. Warmish. Not cold. Yeah it was sunny at least)

Anyways, now that dreamy week of no classes and foreign exploration in a new land is over, and it's back to work. Okay so it's not that bad, but I'd still like to travel more.  Probably why I just applied to my school's program in Norway next Fall...sigh. Guess I won't be going back to the US (for school anytime soon).  Oh well.  Life is rough sometimes.

Adventure Trips, Routines and Future Plans

So I just got back from my first short study tour to Aarhus, and it was pretty amazing.  Never really thought school-affiliated activities could be so fun, but I guess Europe takes it to a whole new level.  We started the tour off by taking an early, long bus ride to the small town of Odense, where we followed in the steps of H.C. Anderson and did a bunch of touristy stuff until we were released to our own devices and eat lunch.

Odense itself wasn't particularly interesting to be honest, just another typical tiny Danish town.  There was, however, an interesting media outlet based there, which kindly donated their time and facilities to DIS for us to have a fun day learning how to produce our own news cast! Personally, I was the Director of the show, so I was the one responsible, along with my friend Bryant, to basically just talk to the news anchors, and the camera operators, making sure the show is shot correctly and putting the correct text on the screens, etc. Basically I just (attempted to) push buttons behind a one way mirror, which eventually came down to the representative director from the company grabbing my hands and making it inescapably clear as to which buttons I was to press at the exact right time.  Eventually I caught on to the mechanization of the operation and was able to press my buttons in peace as the Representative Director was pleased with my performance (for the most part) as director...whether my peers and I did a good job or not, I'll leave that judgement to you...give me a guitar, a mic and a stage, and I'm good to go, but put me in front of a camera(still or film) and I never quite know what to do...which is why most of my profile pictures look like this:

Regardless, I didn't have to confuse anyone by being on camera this time around.  Anyways, I'll let you be the judge, as the wonders of the internet can bring this personal video production (or direction, however you want to see it) to your very eyes!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04lb_IaV_AE&list=UUD4h237DhhBR2QVQVFZS7Zg&index=2&feature=plcp

Hopefully it's become apparent that I am truly having a blast here, despite my late night shenanigans and early morning hangovers brought into my classes...professors don't seem to mind that very much as long as you get the work done. If anything they seem more interested in where you went and what you did, rather than judging your actions, and instead being genuinely interested in how you are now and where you've been.  It's all about story, and that's really what I'm all about, whether its in blog posts or songwriting, storytelling is all that's in my blood and it's refreshing to have instructors who are genuinely interested in my own stories, sordid or not.

More stories like this will soon come, but for now, I must rest and gather myself together so that I can keep telling these stories effectively and interestingly.  Hope you enjoy how I tell them, and what I say. That's pretty much my only goal.

Unfortunate Fortunes Made by Forging Forward

So it's been an eventful past few days, as many of you might well know...I was put in a hospital for a random medical mishap (nothing serious, and I'm fine now) but that was most certainly an experience of sorts.  They definitely were the biggest group of helpful, attractive and good food-serving individuals in the health-care field I have ever met, and both my homosexual friend and myself were satisfied with both sides of the field being represented, in every sense of the word.

Some back story, I had a couple rando seizures in front of my new friends this week, who calmly took care of me and took the necessary precautions in sending me to the hospital in an ambulance, where I promptly figured out that I probably do have a residence Visa, as my version of a social security number was used profusely as I was constantly prodded and poked by various needles and sensors of life in me.  Thankfully they all proved what I felt inside; that I was fine, and that there really was nothing to worry about in the end.  Father Phil definitely helped me out on that front as I, once again, found myself laying in a hospital bed.  This time, however, I was surrounded by free healthcare, GOOD food (seems impossible, I know) and as always, good friends. Somehow they seem to follow me wherever I go.

That little hiccup aside, I was back on my feet the next couple of days, exploring castles and trudging through the snow and below freezing temperatures of the frozen north.  It seemed a little draining, but my search for the perfect picture and my scraped tongue kept me awake and alert in dimly lit cafes and led me all the way back to the bus, which carried me home in a sleep filled with electric dreams of Coldplay and the Doves.  Good roadtrip music, especially in the snow-flurried expanses of northern Europe.

Tomorrow I look forward to my first actual scheduled appointment at the Hospital, which my good friend Nick is joining me in, if all things go well.  He has been quite the rockstar throughout this rough time in which he has known little of my past and current situation, both medically and in general.

All that aside, I must say I haven't had a bad meal my entire time here, as evidenced by the last picture shown above.  If only to supplement my enjoyment while I am here I am thinking of investing in a small, cheap travel guitar that I can easily get around with while here...that and maybe a bike at some point, but probably only once it gets consistently above freezing and what not.

Other side fact, that was quite interesting, I went to a club this weekend after my castling about, and was approached by who I will assume was a very forward Danish woman, who decided to start grabbing onto my scarf and dancing up against me quite vigorously. It was fantastic, although I was carrying a very large and bulky winter coat in one hand and was not able to fully participate in the exchange of dance moves.  Suffice it to say, my ego was boosted, but only to the point where she decided to walk off after about 30 seconds due to my uber lame dance moves.  Either way, I thought it was cool, and a a definite ego boost, to be sure.  Anyways, I should be off soon to get up early, but I hope the world has not ended any further at home, as life is too fun and interesting here to end anytime soon.  Stay frosty my friends.

Meeting Domestic Danes on a Kanye Kick

So I finally met my Danish visiting family this week, and they're all officially awesome.  I had an interesting trip that involved about an hour's worth of walking around in the freezing cold since my Danish brother wasn't used to taking the bus home, but eventually we made our way to meeting his father in the expansively flat and freezing streets of suburban Denmark.  When we arrived at their house we watched the medal ceremony of the recent European Handball championship; a sport that I really had no knowledge of before my adventures in this land, but now realize to be a pretty big damn deal after seeing the result of the Danish victory in the tournament, which consisted of a dramatic comeback to the gold medal and a Serbian or Croatian (I forget which) player getting pegged in the eye by a stray dart/bottle/object (stories differ) directly in his eye, and was forced to wear a large puffy bandage over the injury for the remainder of the last game.

After watching a bit of this onscreen celebration I sat down with my Danish brother, mother and father (Thomas, Helle and Henrik-respectively) for a delicious dinner of roasted pork sandwiches.  Composed of a sesame bun, Miracle Whip, pickles, pickled red cabbage and a sliced up pork with a tasty fried rind crust, I was able to down an entire sandwich and a second slice of pork.  Graciously enough, I was offered a couple beers and the dangerously delicious meal was accompanied with some typically Danish, deep conversation about family, life, death and everything in between (almost like my blog! cool..).  Furthermore, the main course was followed by a stuffing desert of pancakes, ice cream and Nutella.  Aside from the deeply interesting conversation about some intimate family details, I was also taught some new Danish words that can't even really be conveyed by my feeble American keyboard, but included the equivalent of what we ate (sandwiches), smashed strawberries and creme (sounded equally dangerous/delicious, but unfortunately I had no part in consuming this time around) and what I came to understand as the equivalent of buttermilk, which I was asking about for my own future cooking purposes.

After my visit with my new family, who welcomed me to further visits, tasty meals and adventures along with them, I seemed to randomly discover a new affinity for some Kanye, which has been playing nonstop through my headphones on Spotify for a few days (thank God for Spotify; I would be lost without it...that or forced into piracy).  This has since turned to a Warren G. obsession, so I think it's more of a new addiction to rap/hip hop/G-Funk than anything...regardless, I'm mystified by my own music tastes sometimes. Like I said, thank God for Spotify.

I have an interesting assignment for my photojournalism class where i have to talk to someone i've never met and isn't associated with DIS and do 7 different photoshoots (40 photos each) and then  create a 3-picture story about them...I've got a few ideas, but am still anxious about approaching a complete stranger to do something so involved. The instructor for the class recommended to approach the assignment like a relationship; right now we're just going into the dating phase and aren't quite "married to the subject" yet.

For my international reporting class yesterday we went to the town hall square because the Danish national handball team won the European championship and there were a bunch of people celebrating in the street.  So, here's some photographic reprieve from my babblings; till next time, friends:

 Some Feverish Flag Waving

The Champs with their Giant Gold Medal

Naps, Beer and Late Night Hot Dogs

The past few days have been hectic, tiring, cold and exhausting...but I've had a blast every second of my time.

Yesterday I rushed across a frozen canal to register myself at the local Rigshospitalet in order to set up a home base for appointments with a doctor that can manage my care while I am here in Denmark.  I ended up being an hour late, as it was a half hour walk, and I was forced to navigate my way through a hospital, which obviously had signage completely in Danish.  It was an adventure, to say the least.  The Danes at the hospital, although seemingly annoyed with my oafish American behavior, were extremely helpful, and directed me exactly where I needed to go whenever I asked.  One nurse even let me use her computer to let me pull up the email that referenced the appointment in question.

Even after arriving an hour late, the doctor I met with-Dr. Nielsen-was extremely friendly, talkative and even interested in my personal reasons for coming to Denmark (like what I was studying, what I had seen so far, etc.)  Overall, the people here seem to make very stressful situations easily  manageable and many of my original fears were quieted through their easy going, carefree nature. Above are a couple photos I took of  the area around the hospital and the canals that border it; like everything in Copenhagen, it all seems so aesthetically pleasing and practical at the same time...

Today I had my first couple of classes: Current Trends in Media and International Reporting.  Both professors seem extremely knowledgeable and experienced for their relatively young age, and seem like they will present me with a well crafted, interesting and mentally stimulating class.  I look forward to striving towards a better understanding of Danes and their version of media and journalism in each class.

After classes a social for my core Media Trends class was held in the meat packing district of Copenhagen, which had been described to me as both "trendy" and "sketchy".  I could only really observe the latter description, as the cold stroll through the industrial district made it quite apparent that if I were in any other country in such a setting, a sharp object would likely soon be injected into one of my kidneys, as my wallet was politely asked to be removed from my person and given to the owner of this said sharp pointy object.  No such thing happened however, and I had a wonderful time socializing with some very interesting people within my program.  It was a unique experience being served alcohol at a school function, and it definitely made the experience more lively and enjoyable.  Afterwards, I was coated in a nice booze-induced force field of warmth on my walk back to my house, at which I promptly hit the sack and took a long nap.

I was awoken a few hours later by an obnoxious buzz-ringing of my Zoolander-esque phone, as one of my floor-mates attempted to awaken me for a casual night out on the town.  We proceeded to a cafe and each imbibed a well-priced brew, and settled in for some pleasantly bright conversation and a few laughs.  As the cafe closed, we left and found our way to a new establishment, and furthered our ventures into alcoholic bliss.  As a proudly professed Irishman, I of course ordered a Guinness at this particular place, and continued to enjoy the company of friends as we talked and laughed into the evening.  Afterwards we ventured back into the cold and found a lone hot dog stand and quickly ordered some delicious tubes of meat, wrapped in a fluffy pillow of bread, covered in differing sauces, vegetables and condiments.  Gastronomically satisfied, we returned to the apartment, and settled in for the evening.

So here I am, writing on a plush couch, belly full, happy and content like the Danes so famously are first in the world, and I begin to understand how they achieve such a blissful state in such a cold and dark country.

Day Numero Dos

 talked to some immigration services people today and they gave me a number, address and email that I could use to get in contact with their office and just get my permit here as I will likely be in their system. Hoping to know if it either shows up at my home in Bellevue or if I should just go over there...I guess someone back home will have to keep me posted if it comes in the mail, *wink wink*

Other than a long arduous day of me being thrown into a sea of monotonous information, and an underestimation with how cold it was and being severely jetlagged, it was a very nice and sunny day. We got to walk around the city center a bit between breaks and my SRA (social resident assistant?) showed us to this very nice little hipster cafe that has super dim lighting and good drinks (tea, coffee, beer, cocktails). Seemed like a good place to study if I needed an alternative.

Also, my SRA Anna looks a lot like Princess Di with her haircut...it's kind of eerie.  She is super super nice though, and is 22 years old, an artist at a co-op as she paints and has started making jewelry (she just discovered that shrinky dinks stuff) and seems like a very nice and interesting person to be around. Not to mention she also plays ukulele!

Here is a view down the stairwell of my new digs...It's pretty ridiculously swanky and everything is from Ikea.  It has a giant kitchen, dining room and common/lounge area, which has a 16,000 kk couch and a 12,000 kk hanging light. We're on the 2nd floor (3 stories up) and there are 4 rooms  on our floor; three doubles and a triple.  There's another 2 stories above us and one below us, and we're right next to the Green House (we're in the Culinary House) and they have the same set up, minus the ridiculously modern and fancy kitchen.

Today was...long, tiring and interesting, but luckily I get to sleep in tomorrow (I had to be up by 7:30 today...bleh) and get to do some city exploration on my own, possibly taking more pictures outside. Till then, godnat! and tak for reading 

A Sunny Holiday

Sunny indeed! My parents and I were anxiously awaiting our Hawaiian adventure just before Christmas when my Uncle, who lives in San Diego, CA invited us down for the week to have sort of an impromptu family get-together.  Needless to say, the financial situation has been somewhat tight lately, with us planning to go to Hawaii later, as well as my trip to Copenhagen right after that.

Thankfully, but Uncle (who is pretty much the wealthiest and most generous man I know, both in physical and emotional terms) offered to pay for my entire family's tickets for the trip, and so, on Christmas Day, the four of us (mom, dad, my older bro, and myself) quickly packed up enough clothing for a few days and flew south.

Now when we arrived, there was the usual interaction between cousins and siblings; awkward at first, mostly due to the amount of time we hadn't seen each other; then slowly turning into comfortable bickering or teasing, generally coming from the older cousins and directed at the younger ones.  I think the coolest part about that trip was that I was able to drink some decent amounts of alcohol in the presence of my extended family, as I was nearly 21 at the time.  And so we ate, we drank, played video games and reminisced about the good and the bad days we had shared, both far in the past and more recently. All in all, it was a good reunion. Probably one of the best I can remember going to.  And I have another one to look forward to next Summer with my ENTIRE extended family, which should be fun and...interesting at least.

As for immediately after that trip, my parents, brother and I all migrated back north for a few days to prepare for yet another vacation to Hawaii.  Maui to be specific, as we have a friend who owns a condo there and has graciously offered their residence to us when they are back on the mainland, or even if they are in town on Maui, seeing as they have a second, even more lavish condo at their disposal.  Suffice it to say, this vacation was pretty ridiculous.  We went to a nude beach where hippies tried to sell my family drugs of all sorts (this was when both my female cousins were with my brother, parents and myself) so obviously it wasn't really an option.  Not that I would ever partake in such devilry...

Anyways, the rest of the trip in Maui was spectacular. We had great weather the whole time, I turned 21 the 3rd day we were there, so I had some obvious fun with that, and we did a LOT of shopping with the girls, as well as many activities, crammed into each day as deftly as possible.  One such activity was riding 15lb bikes down a 26 mile mountain and then getting some delicious tropical fruit ice cream/sorbet.  There were a few verbal scuffles throughout the trip, which annoyed me at first, but I figure that "this is family, and I should probably just tolerate for both our sakes."

That and I leave for a whole other country for 4 months in about 3 days (now) and I won't have to tolerate them at all! In fact, I'll probably miss them, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Anyways, at this point I'm just putting off packing, talking to my fellow travelers cross the void of the web, and awaiting the day of my flight, when I can finally leave on a new adventure.