Kristina in Copenhagen!

Thanksgiving sans America

2009-12-02T09:15:00.000-08:00

No need to fear, Thanksgiving happened almost two weeks ago now, and even though I'm not in the US, I got to celebrate! Months in advance, I had been hyping up this holiday to my host family, telling them how epic it is and how much I wanted them to experience it, too. Not all things turned out according to plan, but it was definitely a success.

I had heard before coming to Denmark that a difficult period for many American students studying abroad is the Thanksgiving holiday. I wasn't expecting that to be true for me necessarily, but it very much was. I experienced my biggest wave yet of feeling homesick on Thanksgiving, and realized that this was the first time I would be spending the day without my family or close friends. I don't want to undermine at all the wonderful people I've met here, but there is a difference between celebrating such family-oriented holidays with people you've known your whole life and with those you met three months ago. For such a culturally American day, too, it is strange to suddenly realize that you are not with Americans who love and appreciate the day as much as you do. So while these things may seem really obvious, and while I may have known them intellectually, it was different to realize them on an emotional level and in the moment. I did have to remind myself though what I was thankful for, and how amazing it was to be with people who cared about me, many of whom were celebrating their first Thanksgiving. On a more logistical note...

Something I quickly realized when planning the big day was that a) I don't really know how to cook, much less cook an entire Thanksgiving feast, b) we rely a lot on canned products to prepare Thanksgiving in the US, and c) most of those canned products are not sold in the US.

Yeah.

Good thing my host mom is a fantastic cook, and was very willing to help me out. She probably took care of a good 87% of the meal, while I made the pumpkin pie my project. Canned pumpkin in Copenhagen was swept off the shelves a solid two weeks before Thanksgiving, and not expecting that at all, I was pretty screwed. After a lot of online research and visiting of several grocery stores, I found the hokkaido squash, a winter squash that is a perfectly suitable substitute for pumpkin, and especially good for pie. Who knew? I wish I could say that I planned for it to be that perfect, but really, I went searching for whatever remotely resembled a pumpkin (I would best describe it as looking like a large, bright orange onion), figured out what the heck it was afterwards, and got really lucky. YAY. Anyhow, it was a real experience to make this pie from scratch, and I found that it tasted really delicious. It was many people's first time to try pumpkin pie, and while not all of them loved it, I was really happy about it.

Steaming squash!

pumpkin pie!!!!!!!!!!!

There were 11 guests, and only 1 American - me. A lot of my fellow classmates opted to travel during the four-day weekend (thank you, program, for giving us yet another break) and thus, I was one of the few who chose to stay in Denmark. My cousin from Sweden and her best friend came to visit me, and they partook in the celebrations as well. The remaining 8 guests were all Danes, either members of my host family, or friends.

SWEDES!!!!
My host sisters - singing the Danish national anthem, just a part of the normal festivities

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE! :)

"i told you to be patient, i told you to be fine"

2009-11-29T06:28:00.000-08:00

[^^^^new favorite song ^^^^^]

So, I officially suck at updating my blog.

With the Thanksgiving holiday here, I was researching how to make pumpkin pie from scratch (eeeek), using the google keyword "canned pumpkin copenhagen," and up popped up a blog from a fellow program student relaying to his audience, ever so eloquently, how he had prepared a pumpkin pie from scratch for his Danish friends. Not only was the entry really long and lovely, but it captured one of those everyday cultural moments that are so wonderful to have, and that I fail to document to the world wide web. Never met this guy, but witnessing the drastic contrast from my style of blogging really inspired me to update mine. I mean, if we are in the same program, and he has time to update his once, even twice a week, I have no excuse. Also, if my cousin from Sweden who is in high school can keep a (nearly) daily blog, I should keep up with my bimonthly one ...YEAH

So during the past week, I have been listening to Christmas music almost non-stop. Country artists are so amazing at x-mas songs (Read: Taylor Swift, George Strait & Martina McBride) and I just downloaded a new album off of iTunes, a compilation by the Hotel Cafe , which is HELT FANTASTISK. There is something about the cool weather and the sun setting at 3:30 pm that makes you want to sit inside by the fire and drink hot chocolate. We've also been having many more rainy days than usual, and I think the Danes like to compensate with candles, decorations, and lights.

So basically, what I'm trying to say is that Christmas season has arrived! Not only does Copenhagen have a fantastic fall season, but they also really love Christmastime. My cousin and her friend are in town from Stockholm, and while walking around the main streets of Copenhagen with them on Thursday, you could certainly see the transformation into Christmas season taking place. In front of Rådhuspladsen (the city hall), there is now an enormous Christmas tree, and of course, Tivoli is all glammed up for the holiday season. Around Nyhavn and by the water, there are also many lights... I love it. Today was also the first day of Advent, which is more celebrated in this part of the world, and much more within the home than at church. Much to my surprise, my host family gave me a wrapped present with some candy and a lotto scratch-off advent calendar! More on the advent stuff as it progresses.

Now for the promised travel break update. Take yourself back to around the time of Halloween...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Certainly, the month of October here in Denmark included more than just the first week in Scotland with my psychology class, visiting Malmo to see Alexander, and jetting off for a two week adventure right before Halloween… but those are probably the most interesting to read about. Much of the rest of it was a blur, and simply involved enjoying the city that I now live in – I went to Halloween-themed Tivoli, experienced a few days of the coldest weather yet (30s and 40s), ate and drank with friends and family, and of course was sucked into the final rush of midterms and papers right before break, and the subsequent rush the week after.

But it is November now!

In two weeks, I traveled to four cities, spoke four different languages (or attempted to), and spent time with seven different friends both from Rice and from my program. Abundant amounts of delicious food were had (you know I will come back to this), and I may or may not have gained two kilos… but it was so worth it. A lot of planning went into the process, and I learned a whole lot about discount airlines, local cuisine, and how I like to travel. These are all good things.

Først, rejste jeg til...
1) LONDON

It was really refreshing to come to London, because it was surprisingly American, and a bit warmer than in Copenhagen when I had left. I realized when I was in London how homogeneous Denmark really is, and what diversity I've been missing out on by being away from the U.S. It's really interesting to see the varying spectrums of diversity though, and there are certainly pros and cons to either side.

Super diverse, yeah
Am I back in the U.S.?
We can take the tube

Favorite experience in London:
This is hard to pinpoint, because I had a lot of cool experiences in London, but I think I'll go ahead and make it a three-way tie. Intellectually, I most enjoyed the Tate Modern, culturally, seeing the musical "Billy Elliot," and for shopping and Christmas decorations, walking around Harrod's!

Favorite food in London:
A big part of going to London was visiting some friends from Rice who live in Bethnal Green, a neighborhood outside the city center that is very religiously and ethnically diverse. We Copenhagen-ers were so excited about the low prices and living in an apartment that we did a lot of cooking and saving money on food! Thus, I'd have to say some of the best food we had was what we prepared for ourselves - pasta with creamy tomato sauce and rolls was delish, as was Stephanie's family pancake recipe as a part of brinner one night. Peter and I also went out to try some modern British food before going to see the musical, one fish and one beef dish, which was also wonderful and atmospherically pleasing.

Fall in London!!

The girls at Trafalgar Square

A phone booth picture... of course

Så, tog jeg til...
2) GRANADA

Granada was a delightful second destination that felt relaxing and less overwhelming than the other two. Not only were there fewer sites to see, but also the city was very manageable and I was focused on spending time with my friend and future roomie, Meera, who is studying there for the semester. It was interesting, too, to see how other study abroad programs compare to mine.

Everything, so cheap
History, clubs 'n tapas
Let's take a nap first

Favorite experience in Granada:
Also difficult to pinpoint, but I would have to say that my best moments were those that revolved around the two highest points in the city of Granada. On our first full day there, we climbed the streets to reach one of the highest points, in a neighborhood called Sacromonte, where many gypsies (yes, real live gypsies!) live in caves. We arrived at around sunset, which made the fantastic view even more beautiful. From Sacromonte, you could see the Alhambra, an enormous fortress/palace built by the Muslims in the 1500's, which is what Granada is most famous for. On another day (you guessed it!) we were at the Alhambra for several hours. It was so great exploring the gardens, and walking through the palace, seeing the influence of the Muslim culture on this part of Spain. Lastly, we went to a night club called El Camborio, situated in Sacromonte, with a fantastic view of the Alhambra! The bottom part of the club was a cave, and the part above ground had enormous windows where you could see out. On the night we went, there was no cover fee because it was ladies' night, there was free champagne until 2am, one free cocktail with entry, and free CD's featuring their DJ mixing popular songs. Quite literally, we paid nothing to go out that night! The only thing was that we Americans were feeling tired at around 2am, and according to Spain standards, that is still very early, so there weren't a ton of people there. ¡Still, no problemo!

Favorite food in Granada:
We had tapas pretty much every night, which was delicious and amazing, because when you buy a drink, you get free tapas! There was an insane amount of ham and cheese sandwiches sold (even at tapas), which I found rather surprising, but nearly every place I went to, I was tempted to get one because they were so good. The hot chocolate in Spain (and in France) is literally melted chocolate, which I had to indulge in, of course. Something ridiculous that we tried while in Spain was churros and chocolate! Imagine - endless amounts of deep fried dough to dip in a cup of really thick chocolate. It was really delicious... until your stomach started to hurt.

At the top of Sacromonte!

Meera and I at El Camborio

My artsy photo at the Alhambra!

Megan, Ellen, and I at the Alhambra!

Sidste, var jeg i...
3) PARIS

Like the rest of the world, I came to Paris for the first time and fell in love. Everywhere you turn, there is either something beautiful to see, or something delicious and fresh baked to eat. (Although I have to say, Danish bakeries are still the shit, and arguably better.) It's such a walking city, and even though you've seen many of the places in magazines or learned about them in 7th grade French, it's completely different to experience them yourself. We indulged in coffee, wine, museums, history, croissants, baguette, cathedrals, walking, and public transportation. The only downside to Paris though, in my opinion, is that in some places it is too commercialized, and there are so many obnoxious people walking around trying to sell you things or cheat you of your money somehow. That, along with a couple of run-ins with creepy guys made me appreciate the distance that Danes tend to keep from strangers.

Rich, delicious food
Romance, art and trying french
There is much to do

Favorite experience in Paris:
My friend Ellen and I took the train from Barcelona to Paris on Sunday morning, which was really beautiful and relaxing, and we arrived in the city by early evening. We were SO excited and high energy at that point, and wanted to get started right away. Our first stop was to grab a dinner crepe, which was huge and oozing with cheese, and then to the Eiffel Tower. We stayed in a sort of off-campus international dorm in the Latin Quarter across from the Luxembourg gardens, and walked from there to the iron maiden! On our way, we passed a ton of historic sites, and at one point, we were following what we thought was the Eiffel Tower, but really it was an Eiffel Tower-esque replica on top of some train station. Lol. When we finally arrived at it's foot, there was lots of techno music playing, and it was glittering like crazy, almost to the point where you couldn't stand to look at it.

From the second level, the view was beautiful, and everything was big enough to where you could recognize what it was. Tourists galore, people were taking tons of pictures, and within minutes of stepping off the elevator, Ellen (a ginger) was asked to take a picture of a Japanese guy. We then asked if he could take a picture of the two of us, and then, instead of parting our separate ways, he asked me to take a picture of him and Ellen! We found this to be an odd request, and afterwards, hysterically funny. It got even better, because this scenario played out an additional TWO TIMES, and Ellen, the exotic redhead, is now on the cameras of three rando vacationers. Haha! We then had to ask ourselves, should we be taking pictures with people who take pictures of us too?

Also - my favorite sites were the Musée D'Orsay and the Sacre Coeur!

Favorite food in Paris:
This is a hard one to say, but we went to a café outside of Sacre Coeur in Montmartre, called L'eté en Pente Douce. Ellen had the most delicious quiche lorraine, I took a classic steak with grilled potatoes and carrots, and for the first time in days, we got some veggies in our system. Of course, we each had a glass of wine to accompany the super-French food. The atmosphere was quaint and warm, and the prices were pretty reasonable... WIN.

A close second would have to be the falafel at L'as de Falafel in the Marais, which is apparently the best in town.

The view of the city from our place of residence!

Christmas is in the department stores!

Hot chocolate aka chocolate, yumm

The delicious crepes we had on the first night!

...

¡Voila! That was my travel break in a nutshell. Coming up are updates about Thanksgiving and my reflections on winding down! Three weeks from today, most people from my program are leaving, and then I will head to Stockholm for Christmas.

Loves,
kristina

In love with a fairytale :)

2009-11-15T04:21:00.000-08:00

On October 26, 2009, a Monday night, Stephanie and I traveled to Malmo (just a half hour train ride from Copenhagen) to see Alexander Rybak perform! Somehow, we landed tickets on the second row, and I wouldn't have had it any other way. The performance was incredible, and Alexander is actually really talented with his violin, despite claims that he is just a europopstar. It is the europopstar part of him that I love, though! He was a charming performer, and really worked the head shakes and backbends that are so prevalent in his performance of his hit single, "Fairytale."

Winner of this year's Eurovision song contest, Alexander's parents are from Russia and has lived in Norway his whole life. Therefore, his fan pool is concentrated in Scandinavia and eastern Europe, but there are American girls who love him too :)

You can see some of the snapshots I got of him on facebook, but here are some videos I took if you're interested (or if you want to witness his mannerisms)! Note: I had a lot of trouble uploading them, so I apologize for the poor quality...

You MUST watch this one the whole way through... the look he shoots at the end is to die for

fairytale!!!

Loves,
kristina

That one time I went to Scotland...

2009-11-15T03:38:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, it was over a month ago... and I apologize for not posting about the land of the Scots earlier. October was a CRAZAY month and for the past two weeks, I have been traveling once again! Thus the delay. Here are some highlights from my trip...

From October 4th to October 10th, 52 psychology students from Copenhagen traveled to Edinburgh and Glasgow! It was nothing short of amazing, and we were incredibly lucky with weather and such. (Read: no rain!!) The academic portion of our trip involved attending four different lectures from professors in the field of psychology, critics of positive psychology, and one from the mental health director of Scotland. It was intended to challenge what we had learned thus far, and to also show us how Scotland is advancing in the implementation of preventative mental health actions, both in the government and in the communities.

I've gotta be honest though, most of our trip was not academically oriented, but cultural and intended for fun. Edinburgh was such a beautiful historical city, and had a breathtaking view from the castle. There were so many cute little shops with kilts, clan histories, bagpipes, plaid, countryside postcards, and cashmere, which I had to indulge in. It was everything you think of when you think of Scotland, the rolling green countryside included. (One of our days was actually reserved for a hike!) People claim to speak English, but apart from the university professors, people were pretty difficult to understand. Glasgow was definitely less picturesque and a bit dirtier than Edinburgh, with more chain stores that we have in the US. The University of Glasgow was amazingly beautiful though, and the only place where cute Scottish boys seemed to exist.

Everywhere we went in Scotland seemed to scream "FALL!" :)

You speak English? No...
Lots of pubs and changing leaves
Here, my heritage

A bullet point list of memorable moments:

Trying haggis and blood pudding! (Haggis was delicious, blood pudding not so much.)
Realizing that the UK seems to lie somewhere in between Scandinavia and the US - commercially, geographically, and stylistically, with exceptions, of course.
Our last night in Scotland - we had a traditional dinner with Scottish bagpipe music, ate traditional cuisine, and I tried some Guinness (ew). It was a ton of fun.
Drinking wine in our hotel rooms, which were really pretty nice for a school sponsored trip, actually.
Cashmere scarf finds in Edinburgh!!
Taking a ghost tour of Edinburgh - our tour guide, Faith was a RIOT, and led us through the streets, told us stories, and took us down to the underground tunnels. She was in full character the whole time, and really freaked us out.
The search for a club called "Octopussy" in Glasgow (FAIL)... but we had a lot of fun looking.
Karaoke at some rando Scottish pub with very drunk old men, and Danish teenagers. We fit in great.
Trying chips with pig's blood AKA fries with ketchup! Apparently Scots distinguish between chips and fries by the cut (I think); fries are a bit thinner and what we know as McDonald's version.
Realizing how much I prefer Danish breakfast over Scottish breakfast... fresh bread, yogurt, pastries, cheese, jam and muesli vs. eggs, sausage, croissants, American bread, cold cereal, oatmeal.
Going to Starbucks (which doesn't exist in CPH except at the airport) and drinking hot cocoa, realizing afterward that it was a mere 570 calories. This was after an epic Indian meal where we ate a ton. Some of the best food I've ever had, though!

Rachel and I at the top of Loch Katrine!

Look, it's FAITH!
The epic hot cocoa!

Our first fish and chips experience!

The green bag club at the airport!

FALL!

Friends at dinner one night :)

Super Scottish guy!

That was Scotland in a nutshell! Coming soon are updates about Alexander Rybak and my epic two week travel break... :)

loves, kristina

My life recently... including Hamburg

2009-10-02T08:26:00.000-07:00

I. Reflections

Approaching 7 WEEKS in Denmark (out of 19 total). It is absolutely crazy to think that over a third of my time in Europa has flown by like this, and academically, because of all the breaks we have coming up, I am over halfway through. Journaling and blogging (less of the latter, obvi) help me to put things into perspective though, documenting and cherishing the fleeting moments and their accompanying thoughts. I am reminded when looking through previous entries and stopping to soak in the present what a fantastic time I am having. Embarking on a journey like this is something I have always wanted to do and remarkably, so much has fallen into a place – friends, family, classes, this city. Sometimes I can’t even believe I’m here!!!!! Pinch me?

I live here...
and get to eat these whenever I want, no big deal.

Something that has been hard for me here and is hard for every college student really, is balancing work with play – except in study abroad, there is at least one, arguably more, additional components to add to the mix. What it boils down to is exploring – wandering the city to find those hip, local places or just a bargain of any kind, getting to know your own suburbia town, traveling around Europe, and stuffing as many “cultural” experiences as humanely possible, from spending time with your host family and any other willing Dane, to trying the bizarre assortment of food, to listening to the local music, preferably live. So far, I haven’t run into any real problems from misbalancing, but it is certainly an adjustment to make coming from Rice. The amount of class is about the same, the amount of studying is significantly less, and the social interactions, including beer drinking and family time, is more. Doesn’t sound so bad, eh? But the thing is, it is trickier to motivate yourself to do work when there isn’t as much, and when you have less structure in your day surrounding work. Some days, it is simply an afterthought – when I’m done with everything else, I’ll read that article for tomorrow. Ah, I suppose it’s a nice change for a semester, but come January, I will have to readjust.

II. Random thoughts

Exciting new developments/updates since my last entry:

I went to a Mexican restaurant called “Gringo’s,” lol, where the food was remarkably decent. Just because I’m not in Texas doesn’t mean I have to miss out on the Mexican food!
Danish ketchup is chunky, and by chunky, I really mean just a little more textured than Heinz. Added ingredients, I’ve discovered, include apples, vinegar, and mustard. Yumm (?)
I have booked my travel plans (at least the flights) for my two-week break – London, Granada, and Paris baby! Feel free to send any and all suggestions my way. Ellen and I are taking an all-day train from Barcelona to Paris, which we are sooo excited about. Also, I’m seeing Andrew Bird in Paris. So perfect. It’s ok to be jealous.
Default going-out outfit: short skirt or dress with tights, stylin’ boots, (it’s ok if they’re all the same, dark color), colorful scarf and accompanying jacket! This is all you need.

III. NEUENGAMME

Now I will take you back to the weekend of September 19-20, when I went to Germany! As part of my Holocaust and Genocide class, we took a field trip to the city closest to CPH – Hamburg. Our bus went on a ferry and everything. I really enjoyed the trip because, like my Psych trip, it fostered personal connections, but it was a bit too much traveling for one weekend.

On Saturday evening, it took over 5 hours to get to Hamburg, and by the time we arrived to the hostel, most everyone was exhausted and wanted to sleep. We got up early Sunday morning, spent about 3 hours exploring the streets of Hamburg, including the St. Nikolai Church and City Hall, and then spent the rest of our time visiting Holocaust-related sites. We first went to an old school right outside the city center, which is considered one of the 70+ “sub-camps” of the northwestern concentration camp, Neuengamme, because Holocaust victims were killed there. It was unbelievable to think that such an ordinary building was the place of murder for 22 children, but even more unbelievable that it happened only 15 days before the end of the war, and that the school re-opened for enrollment immediately following the war. Today, the building has a plaque recognizing the victims, a small memorial museum in the back, as well as businesses, and, ironically, a kindergarten.

Shot of the school

Then we proceeded to the actual site of Neuengamme, located about half an hour outside of Hamburg. The museum has only been open since 2003, and after the war, the former concentration camp was used as a state prison for men.

I was expecting a very emotional and somber experience, but my visit wasn’t at all like that. It was really hard to imagine the thousands of people killed there, perhaps because it was such a beautiful place, and because many of the original buildings no longer stood standing. The best way I could describe it would be strangely peaceful and a little eerie. It was an extended memorial of sorts, and elements such as the barbed wire fences and the original barracks were no longer there. It is difficult to describe, but feel free to ask me more about it.

Remnants of Neuengamme
Brick factory at Neuengamme
Main building and where the barracks used to be

Last note: I am going to SCOTLAND with my psychology class on Sunday!!!!!!!! I will be there until Friday and will certainly update you all.

Loves, Kristina

vesterdanmark

2009-09-21T13:33:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I know that the date says it is the 21st, but let us rewind back to the 12th of September, when I wrote most of this entry, after a 3-day excursion to western Denmark.

Before I start, let me explain to you real quick the concept of the core course and the study tours. At my program, the only academic requirement (apart from number of hours) is that you enroll in a core course, determining your academic program – my core course is Psychology of Happiness and therefore, I am in the psychology program. Each program goes on a short study tour of 3 days and a longer study tour of 7 days, exploring sites that relate to our class, using Europe as our playground. From September 10-12, everyone had a short study tour to attend! If these three days could be broken down to a theme of one or a few words, “exploring happiness” would do, but in practice, it was more like “embrace your inner child.” I LOVED it.

Don’t think that I spent my whole trip exploring and bonding with fellow classmates, because we did attend a couple of lectures to supplement the fun. It was fine, of course, and arguably essential in tying everything together. So what was little kid activity number one? Painting with acrylic, something I haven’t done in years. We were asked to paint what happiness means to us, and then our whole class put their paintings together to create a mural (see previous entry on happiness for photo documentation). Accounts of the rest of the weekend’s childlike experiences are sprinkled throughout my entry.

Danish countryside
Reflecting on happiness
Be simple, be free

I would now like to outline the 3 main sites we visited, and share with you my thoughts:

1) “Kaos Pilots” – focusing on character strengths to run a business school

Our first day at KaosPilots, an innovative business school, was incredibly neat. It made me think a lot about my future and whether or not I can see myself living here. A certain part of me will always live in this area of the world, and it is so delightful when those deep childhood moments rush to me; sometimes the homey feelings are evoked by nature, picnics and summertime, or something totally out of the blue. (This trip falls into the rando category.) All I know is that I certainly want to have some connections and/or excuses to come up to Sweden/Scandinavia for the rest of my life. (Husband maybe? ;) At the very least I will have my extended family!)

What I appreciated about the school were all the things that, at least on the surface, go against what American schools and culture push – rushing through, making money, climbing to the top, and putting work first. The school really focused on their students as individual persons who need to explore themselves, go with the flow, take risks, be creative, and make significant change (significant not only to others, but also to themselves). In the US, KaosPilots would be seen as very liberal, hippy, and even hokey. Not that there aren’t skeptics who live here as well.

I liked their holistic take on leadership, too – not only are there many types of leaders, but a person is a leader on many different levels – first and foremost, for themselves, at their work, and on higher levels – for their country or for the rest of the world. The idea is that you start small and simply, recognizing what it is inside you that makes you tick, makes you glow, makes you angry, and makes you alive. That energy lives inside everyone and can be channeled to create social changes in a community, a government, or anywhere in the world. The students, for either six months or a year, are required to spend time in another country working on projects in another cultural context. Other things the school stress from the beginning are experiential learning and hands-on, real-world projects. Not saying that this school would be for me or right now, but I certainly agree with a lot of the philosophies. I could see some people I know and love really flourishing there, and it will be interesting if the school arrives again in my future. (It’s taught in English, btw.)

If you are interested in reading more about the school: www.kaospilots.dk

Here are a couple of pictures that I feel really captured my visit there:

The colorful faces of all students, past and present

“I love error” written on the graffitied building of the school

2) Danfoss Universe – where learning is fun!

The visit to Danfoss Universe, an “experience” park, was also fantastic. I rode a Segway for the first time! It reminded me very much of a larger, mostly outdoor Science Spectrum…Lubbock, anyone? There was a building that allowed people to explore their different intelligences or strengths, based on Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences – the psychological tie. Some categories include musical, visuo-spatial, intrapersonal, logical, etc. Loved it.

I found it interesting to learn that the park had been founded by the owner of a science and technology company in hopes of evoking math and science interest in young Danes. Without the opportunity to take apart a clock, for example, and put it back together, children growing up today can figure out how things work and get excited about science at said venue. At least this is the idea; it’s only been open since 2005.

There were also trampolines, centers teaching physics principles, bikes that are powered by a water motor to life you off of the ground, a real life glacier you could walk through, a life-sized geyser, Bob-the-Builder trucks and machines, and more. The target audience was probably ten years old, but naturally there was something for everyone.

http://uk.danfossuniverse.com/

Danfoss from the outside!

Cool science contraptions

Playing "mind games" in the room of intelligences

3) HCA-town (yo)

Thirdly, and least psychologically related, my class visited the town of Odense, where Hans Christian Anderson was born. We visited an art museum first, which had some lovely photography, mass media, and painting displays. Of course we had to visit the house where HCA was born, the accompanying museum about his life, and the Fyrtøjet, whose target audience was probably 7 years old.

At Fyrtøjet, my class saw a puppet show of the fairytale “Clumsy Hans”, a Cinderella-esque story about a princess who wants to find her husband. She invites all the young men in the land to meet her, and only Hans, with his less than classy appearance and lighthearted spirit, can win the princess’s heart through his creativity and wit. The most epic part though, was when we had the opportunity to dress up as HCA characters and to act out or create stories in life-sized houses. No boys chose to participate (way to cool for that), but they wouldn’t have been welcome anyway. Haha, just keeding.

A joyful HCA character

Elegant costumes from the museum

Joanna and I at Fyrtøjet

All decked out in our costumes - so awkward but so fun

In addition to visiting these main attractions, we had free time out in the towns, meals, and on one night, a campfire to enjoy. Both of the hostels we stayed in were incredibly clean and friendly, which was an added bonus. Summary – I had a good time!

Loves,
Kristina

The Happy Danes

2009-09-14T09:33:00.001-07:00

So in two of my classes today (coincidentally), Psychology of Happiness and Danish Language and Culture, we watched a clip of a 60 Minutes episode on why Denmark has been rated over and over again the happiest country in the world. From a psychological and anthropological perspective, it is interesting to think about all of the cultural norms we were raised with that seem so natural to us, and how they contrast with those of citizens in other countries, and with the Danes. It also raises interesting points about diversity, competition, the American dream, and what our priorities are. Of course, individuals can actively make the choice to reprioritize what is important in their lives, even if that list happens to be different from the one their culture teaches them, and I think this research presents to the world many things that can be learned from the Danes. Studying the topic of positive psychology also raises more general questions such as, what is happiness, really? and what is success?

Something the video also highlights that I really appreciate and can relate to is the idea of setting low expectations. Expectations too often lead to anxiety and disappointment, and while it has been a habit of mine to expect things to go a certain way or for people to behave like I want them to, I find that it is best to just let go of them. (Thank you, Soltura!) While I am living in another country, too, I want to be able to learn as much about its citizens as possible so that I can gain a better appreciation of who they are and figure out more of what goes on inside their heads.

I really recommend watching the clip, which you can find here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shepBx2ogJo

Everyone is certainly entitled to their own definition, but after reflecting on the topic, I have come up with my own.

hap·pi·ness: a state free from major anxiety and worries; fully feeling and appreciating life's events, which can be initially good or bad; allowing yourself to express your emotions and be who you are - laughing, crying, loving, sharing, moving.

Everyone's definition is certainly shaped by their life experiences and it will be interesting to see how mine changes over the course of the semester and throughout my life. It has been really cool to go to a class where we self-reflect and learn at the same time. I rather like it.

And to end my first short blog entry, I leave you with a visual interpretation and mosaic of what happiness means to fifty-two Americans studying abroad. Our paintings were so much fun to make! I will write more about the trip that I took to Western Denmark last weekend soon.

Loves,
Kristina

Først uge i København!

2009-09-02T01:13:00.000-07:00

So I can’t believe it but it’s Wednesday, which means I have been in this crazy place for about a week and a half! It has certainly flown by, but at the same time, it feels like I have been here forever. YOW.

If you just want to know how I am doing generally, the answer is FINT, or fine/well in Danish. (Let’s multiply this answer times ten actually.) I am having a blast getting to know the city, its people, my host family, other chicas in the program, etc! The weather has been insanely perfect as well. Don’t you guys worry about me.

The Danes are so cool

Love Scandinavia love

Marry me someone?

I’m really loving the list thing, because it helps me to organize my thoughts, and hopefully it makes these entries easier to read for you. Sooo, here are some of my current reflections slash updates, organized by topic:

1) General bits of wisdom/insights I have come across during the first week

Two very famous Danes are Hans Christian Andersen and the band Aqua (who I have now seen in concert, feel free to ask me about this :) )
Danish and Swedish are written pretty similarly but pronounced VERY differently, giving me an advantage in reading, and greatly hindering my speaking.
Danes are beautiful. Just see my family for proof.
Copenhagen is freakin’ expensive! I bought a slice of chocolate cake yesterday for roughly $8, and I am thrilled to come across a glass of beer or a cup of coffee for $5.
My program, DIS, has at the very least, 3 girls for every boy. Whoaa
In the words of Jens Lekman, "It's like someone spilled a beer, all over the atmosphere." Beer is very popular, is drunk regularly and in public, and is preferred over cocktails due to the exorbitant taxes on hard liquor.

2) My birthday! (Mig fødselsdag!)

August 24^th, the glorious day of my birth, always falls around the beginning of school for me. Freshman year at Rice, it was the Friday of O-Week (thank you Excaliber for the wonderful memories), a very exciting time for me. There is something magical about the beginning of school in general, when everything is new – school supplies, goals, professors – and your outlook on the future is likely to be optimistic and fresh. At least this is my experience. Concerning my birthday, though, I was not expecting anything spectacular for 2009, as it happened to fall one day after arrival day for my program, in a country where I do not know 99% of the people. The age of 20 isn’t particularly epic, either. Besides, I had celebrated with my family in Sweden a little early.

But I was wrong. My low expectations were greatly exceeded, starting at 6:30 am when the five members of my new family woke me up singing in Danish. They had presents for me and everything! See below.

Decorations for my room, clothing, and other practical things!

It was really a surprise. I guess my host sisters, who friended me on Facebook in advance, had seen that my birthday was on the 24^th. Apparently in the host family orientation, they were told to celebrate their exchange student’s birthday properly and in accordance with the Danish culture, if it so happened to be in the fall semester. Which mine obviously did.

After a full day of orientation activities and exploring central Copenhagen (which included getting lost and seeking directions from beautiful Danish men), my family organized part dos of my birthday celebration, which involved a trip to Tivoli, one of Copenhagen’s most prized attractions. It is an amusement park, concert venue, outdoor park, historical site and restaurant hub all in one. I rode a few rides with my sisters, one of which focused on Hans Christian Andersen, a native of Denmark. We had fantastic Japanese food and Coldstone ice cream afterwards! Who knew!

A building at Tivoli with Danish flags flying.

A lake in the middle of Tivoli with restaurants and historical looking houses on the outside.

The outside of Tivoli at night!

In summary, I had a wonderful birthday :)

3) My new family… :D

My sisters and I at Tivoli! What beautiful posture I have.

Here is my family and I being goofy at Tivoli... haha! It is a picture of a picture, btw, so sorry if it is not so clear!

There are three girls – Rikke (which is pronounced more like “Reggae”), Pernille, and Nanna, who are 19, 15, and 10, respectively. Mom and Dad are Jens and Marianne. Rikke has graduated high school and is working at a hotel, while Pernille and Nanna are still in school and do gymnastics three times a week after school. To sum up my family, I would say that they are all very active, talkative, beautiful, and easygoing. Pernille is especially eager to practice her English, because next year she will be spending a year as an exchange student in the US.

My family lives in a house in the town of Solrød Strand, which is about 40 km (23 miles) south of Copenhagen, and involves a commute of about 1 hour, door to door. Students in my program with other living arrangements, though, have a similar commute, ranging from half an hour (that’s about the shortest I’ve heard) to 1 ½ hours. I first bike 5-7 minutes to the train station, take the train into the city for about 30 minutes, and walk to school for about 10 minutes. It’s not so bad, and I find the train system to be very reliable and peaceful to ride. You wouldn’t believe how SILENT the train is in the morning until you rode it yourself.

Here is the strand part of the town I live in!

4) My first school field trip for Danish… to see fudbol!

FC Copenhagen vs. Brondby - apparently the biggest club rivals in Copenhagen!

Megan and I eating fabulous French hot dogs

YUM!

5) Wonderful Copenhagen (this adjective precedes the city name on many brochures, maps, and signs… although I’m not exactly sure why yet)

Dear Copenhagen,

Please eat my money

Fill me with Danish goodness

Already in love

Check out the number of bikes that have passed this sign - 12,824 by around 6 in the evening!

Enough said. There are a ridiculous amount of people who bike here.

Nyhavn! One of the most famous streets in Copenhagen.

We bought purses at 70% off... what now

Beer!! Completely acceptable to drink at 2 in the afternoon.

6) My classes/the studying component of study abroad

Here are the classes I am taking and my thoughts on the first couple of classes:

Psychology of Happiness – love the teacher, love the reading. I’m excited to be taking a class on positive psychology, and to be critical about this newly developing field. I’m also pumped to be heading to Scotland with my class the first week of October!

Danish Language and Culture I – yay! Already learning a lot. We have some other cool field trips coming up in and around Copenhagen.

Holocaust and Genocide – the reading has been interesting thus far, and we will be heading to Hamburg, Germany in a couple of weeks. My teacher has a really thick Scandinavian accent, smokes a lot, and isn’t afraid to express his cynicism. Love it.

Developmental Neuropsychology – I can already tell that I will learn a lot in this class, and hopefully it will help me narrow down my desired area of specialty in psychology, which could very well be neuropsych. There is a total of 1 boy in this class, haha.

My first day of school in front of the DIS building!

Ok... I'm out. I apologize if this was super general - more stories next time, I promise. <3>

Sverige/Family/Pre-Copenhagen

2009-08-22T08:24:00.000-07:00

On August 10, 2009, I embarked on my journey to Europa, where I will spend the next five months of my life. AHHHH, so exciting!

For almost two weeks now, I have spent my time in Stockholm, Sweden, where my two uncles, three cousins, and my grandmother from my mom’s side all live. I have spent maybe half of my life’s summers here in the city and in the Swedish countryside. Now, after 4 consecutive summers in the states, it feels really good to be back. My cousins have grown up a lot (they are now 17, 14, and 12!), and my grandmother has progressed a bit with her dementia, but otherwise, it feels much the same.

My beautiful cousins in beautiful Sweden!

As some of you may know, I have an affinity for sticky notes and lists in general, so in my reflection of the past two weeks, I have created a list of highlights. Feel free to skip around (there are 6 total, roughly in chronological order), or just look through the pictures. I will do my best to make the titles witty and descriptive to lure you in. Haha, I am not trying to sell you anything, but I just want to make my blog appeal to a wider audience – to those who want to know every detail, but also to those who know I’m gone and just want to skim.

I also have a new obsession with haikus, which I find are excellent ways to express yourself when you aren’t feeling the complete sentence thing, or when you want to summarize an experience in just a few words… erm, 17 syllables (5+7+5). You can look for these, too :)

My family, changed
“Swenglish” spoken all day long
I am happy here

1) Måns Zelmerlöw pa Grönalund AKA the day I found another Scandinavian pop star to love

Måns Zelmerlöw, Swedish pop sensation, performed on August 14th at Grönalund, Sweden’s most famous theme park. When two of my cousins asked if I wanted to check it out, I had pretty low expectations and answered “yes” more for the theme park aspect. From what I know about European pop music and about the taste in music that teenage girls like my cousins have, I was expecting a lot of CHEESE. The ktru dj in me closes my ears at any hint of cheese, but the Swedish side of me likes some pop, hence my weakness for the occasional pop sensation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfYPfIlqLiQ

Anyhow, as you may be able to guess, the concert was very good. I was really impressed with his grasp of the English language, which was made clear by his thoughtful lyrics. Unlike many artists who have learned English as a second language, Zelmerlow managed to sing about things other than bleeding hearts, oceans, and rainbows. He didn’t sing any songs in Swedish, which was a little bit surprising, considering the audience. Even ABBA, who performed all over the world, had Swedish versions to their songs. Anyway.

If you’re wondering if there is more than one Scandinavian pop star I adore in the 14-year-old way, the answer is yes. Alexander Rybak, from Norway, won this year’s Eurovision Song Contest with a record-breaking number of votes, and for good reason. My mom and I followed the contest in May, and not only was his song pretty decent, “Fairytale”, but he is really charming and cute, and he can also play the violin very well. If you want to fall in love with him too, and see what I’m talking about, here is a link to his winning single - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiH4BFTELME

Of course, Grönalund itself was fantastic. It blows me away every time I go there how clean they maintain the grounds. I think of Six Flags and the State Fair as pretty dirty, with trash everywhere, but Grönalund is never that way. Johanna and I went on the “Freefall”, which is 80 m high, the highest in Europe. It was SCARY and completely heart dropping, but very fun. The other rollercoaster’s were a blast, too, and even Edward tried a few.

2) Middag med Malin, Lisa, och sina kompisar AKA the journey to Kungsträdgården to see the concert we never saw

This night is probably best summarized through pictures, but I will give an overview of the night’s events and some background information anyway. First, Malin and her friend Frida made a nice dinner of chicken breasts and potato wedges, which the three of us sat down and ate together, wearing pretty dresses. Lisa, my other cousin, and a couple of more friends proceeded to join us in karaoke and other festivities.

OK, so maybe this sounds really normal and maybe you had to be there, but I can at least share some cute pictures with you to show that it was indeed a good time.

Kungsträdgården (literally – King’s Garden) is a square in downtown Stockholm where many concerts take place, and, according to my oldest cousin, where all of the “fjortis” hang out. “Fjortis,” if I understand correctly, is a Swedish word that refers to teenagers who think they’re really cool and dress provocatively with a lot of makeup. The night we went there was the last night of Kulterensfestivalen (The Culture Festival), where a big concert with famous Swedish artists took place. However, we were rather… preoccupied at home and by the time we reached our destination by bus and subway, the concert was over. Haha!

Summary: it was really fun to hang out with Malin, Lisa, and their friends, and to see what it is they like to do in their free time.

3) Dagen med Ulla pa Waldemarsudde AKA eating waffles and seeing royal art with my mom’s best friend

One day, my mom’s best friend from high school came into town, and we spent the afternoon together. The city of Stockholm is an archipelago, and Waldemarsudde is located on the same island as Gronalund, called Djurgården. Waldemarsudde is where the Swedish Prince Eugene lived, who was trained as a painter in Paris.

We started out eating a light lunch outside on a literally perfect summer day. And AHHH, I love waffles! In Sweden they are often served with jam or ice cream, and at this café, I had a waffle with cloudberry jam and whipped cream (not the kind from the can, but the kind that starts out as whipping cream).

Then we visited the museum, which I had never been to before. There were many showings of Prince Eugene’s artwork – some photography, but mostly paintings. The current Swedish prince, Carl Philip (who is 30 years old) had his own exhibit showcasing his photography. I appreciated the size of the museum, and it was a good mix of Prince Eugene’s art and how he lived.

4) The day I bought tickets to see Alexander Rybak in Malmo, Sweden!

Enough said. Saturday, October 24th will probably be one of the most exciting days of my life. Look for an update around then.

Let’s take the tunnel
Celebrate one cute, cute man
Please sing for me now

Note: the tunnel that I am referring to is the one that connects Copenhagen, Denmark to Malmo, Sweden that I will very literally take on that day.

5) Lunch, glass, och badar med Malin och Emelie AKA an afternoon with the girls

First we ate Thai food
Talked to a sketchy street man
Ice cream and swimming

Emelie and her little sister where we went "swimming"

...More pictures coming soon I hope!

6) Välkomstgasque pa Kungliga Tekniska Hogskolan med David och Victoria AKA my first experience at a college party with Swedish students

This might be my favorite story! Rice peeps, this may be of interest! Ok, so to give you a little background, Victoria is a year older than me, and her father is a family friend of ours, who grew up with my mother. I met Victoria and her boyfriend David for the first time the other night when our family had dinner with theirs. They have both grown up in Sweden, and they attend the Royal Technical School here in Stockholm, studying some sort of physics or engineering.

Anyhow, they invited me to a party for the new students, during what is the equivalent of O-Week at Rice, (except theirs is two weeks, crazy!) Apparently, I came at a really good time, because this is one of their best parties. David told me that they have a really unique culture there, and that the students have a lot of school pride. Of course, I was thinking, “Uhh, I know what that’s like!” It turned out to be pretty different, though. I didn’t completely understand everything that was said, because there were skits, poem readings, and jokes, all in Swedish, and I’m not fluent or in on a lot of the slang. I did a lot of observing though, and it was a really good time. Even if I couldn’t laugh at the joke, everyone else was laughing, and that made it funny :)

The party started at 7 and automatically, I noticed that there were rules and traditions that I had no clue about. Good thing it was a party for the freshmen, because I wasn’t the only one who had no clue what was going on. For example, at any time, someone could start a cheer whenever “you think something is about to happen.” It went a little bit like this – ohhhhhhhhhhhhh (build) hhhhhhhhhh, TEM-PO! There was seriously a lot of energy. We sat at these long tables in an over-crowded room (people were literally crawling on chairs to get to their seats), and the food and drinks were passed down. The whole event can best be summed up as a hybrid between College Night at Rice and what we think of as Oktoberfest.

Every five minutes (at least) there was a “Skal!” AKA Cheers! With the ticket to the party, if you were over 18, you got two bottles of Carlsberg beer or pear cider (hm, which did I choose?) and two shots of Swedish liquor – something that was called “punsch” and was fairly sweet, and something else that I can’t remember the name of now. They both seriously burned your throat, but in a good way.

In what ways was it similar to the American experience? Well, there was some chugging (I know now the Swedish word), and the whole teasing the freshmen and inducting them into the culture, whether it is one of the colleges at Rice, or a sorority at some school, was the same. Nerd pride!

Differences? Well there are no dorms (which is commonplace in Europe) so parties do not happen there, but in other places on campus, like at the student center. At this particular university, each school (Physics, Civil Engineering, etc.) has 4 bars inside of it. And I thought having two on Rice campus was unusual! Haha. The drinking age is lower, but law enforcement for underage drinking is much more strict.

Also, every student who goes to Tekniska Hogskolan receives a songbook, which reminded me a bit of a church hymnbook. The whole night, there was singing from that book, directed by the upperclassmen toastmasters. The songs were about how much lab sucked, drinking, and physics. Haha! Just imagine a whole room full of students singing “99 bottles of beer on the wall” and holding up their drinks to toast the whole time. Seriously, it reminded me so much of Rice (slash Germany), and gave me a little taste of student life in another country.

OK, if you have made it all the way through… congratulations. Don’t count on my entries being this long in the future – I probably won’t have as much time, but I will be sure to keep you updated. On Sunday, I arrive in Copenhagen and a whole new chapter of my journey starts. I will meet my host family, start classes, and everything! AHHHHH! I am enjoying myself but of course I miss you guys!

Love, Kristina