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.