A lot of pictures

The calcium pills I take are these huge plastic pills, of which I'm supposed to take 6 daily. I consider myself lucky if I take 4. But I remembered to take it this morning, and it got lodged in my throat. I wasn't choking, but it was hella uncomfortable and I seriously contemplated throwing myself against the back of my chair. But I decided against it and asked my host mom what to do since she's a nurse. She gave me Pepsi so the gas would help it up or down, and I was as good as new. It's amazing what carbonation can do.

This past weekend was my short study tour. Each of the programs have specific trips that they go on throughout the area, and I went to Jylland (Jutland, the part of Denmark connected to Germany). We stopped by a naval base, Odense (Hans Christian Andersen's hometown), Sønderberg (border of Germany and Denmark), and Ribe (Denmark's oldest town, the first founded by the Vikings).

There are torpedoes behind those doors.

Just like in the movies. The lone flipswitch.

We took this picture when our guide turned around. That Danish control room is MINE.

1. Out of Space exhibit in Odense. The museum was of modern art and it was built in 1987, so it sucked. But I liked this.
2. Streets of Odense.
3. Just enjoying my cinnamon bun as I get into the SmartCar.




1. Pee pot with the faces of two brothers who were considered traitors. So the people peed on their faces. 2. Sønderberg Slot (Castle) 3. Danish kid biking. They're everywhere and everyone in my group freaked out at the opportunity to catch one in action. It was crazy. 4. Grand Hall of Sønderberg Slot






1. The Queen who lived here built her own chapel, which Martin Luther wrote about as being the way a chapel should be. That's his opinion, I guess. But it was enchanting. John14:6-7 2. The chapel's ceiling and organ. 3. One of the first editions of the Bible in the commoner's language (German). 4. Getting schooled at Sønderberg Slot.






1. Gammeldansk. It's a tradition to go out to the dikes that prevent the country from flooding and taking shots of this nasty drink. I felt like an old fisherman after a little shot. 2. A little pier in Ribe. 3. All the houses in Ribe looked like this. 4. The river crossing where the Vikings killed a bishop.







1. Hotel Dagmar. The oldest hotel in Denmark. 2. From the top of the town tower. 3. The altar of the oldest church in Denmark. 4. Beautiful. Yea it's the same old church in Denmark. It's where Christianity started in the country.




This part's just for you Nay. Look, I have friends. haha . 1. The guy with the finger was wasted beyond waste. This is the only picture I have where his eyes are open 2. My head's covering a boob on the poster. Scandalous Europeans. 3. My trip buddy from Nepal. He kept trying to talk like Borat. weird. 4. The guy in the middle's name is Egil. Rhymes with bagel. I thought that was interesting. Oh and he's balding at the age of 21/22.

Video Gamer

So it snowed a lot two days ago and there was like 3 inches of snow. There's a little slope to the side of the bike path that I take to the train station every day, and chunks of ice and snow are scattered on the path now. Coming back from the station, I felt like a Mario character or something. I dodged all the little chunks of snow, curving left, then right, then right again, and then another left. Then I came upon this HUGE one that was cut like a raw diamond or something. I went around it to the right, but I cut it really close. The front wheel didn't hit the chunk, but I forgot about my foot and pedal and I almost flew off the bike. I screamed a little bit, and there was another biker on the street, and he looked at me weird. But whatever- I didn't fall and that's all that matters. But I was laughing because I really felt like a video game character or something.

I bought Skippy Crunchy Peanut Butter today at the Americana Store. It was 50 kr. A little less than 10 dollars. I know wth. Oh well. Time to make another pb and j sandwich

Oh yea it's Copenhagen Fashion Week. There's even more tall beautiful people in the streets now.

-

Ugh. I just had my host dad's version of Korean food. It was barbeque-flavored chicken in stirfry with noodles and Chop Suey sauce. A meal completely of sodium.. I feel so nasty. And they got sushi from the supermarket, you know the type that's ready to eat in the platters. It's nothing like the real thing-- at least at home... and since Danes eat with fork and knife in hand at all times, I cut my not-really-tuna sushi and ate the small thing in 3 smaller pieces. I'm not writing this to complain-- just want to note all the differences. It's so weird how the States and Denmark - anywhere - can have common grounds/themes, but the way they carry out things are yet so different. But now I REALLY want Korean food :(

I went to Prison

Denmark has an open-prison policy; there are 69 prisons in the whole country and most of them are open ones. This basically means that there are little to no bars-- it looks more like a rehab center than a prison. The inmates don't have to wear any uniforms or anything. They get their own rooms with tvs and beds (it looks just like college dorms), and they have to cook their own food with access to these huge knives that just hang on the walls. Most of them are in for drug abuse or trafficking, but there are also some murderers in there who got out of closed prisons for good behavior. I went with my class to an open prison called Jyderup Open Prison this Wednesday. We were given the tour by two guards and two inmates, and walked in on a routine drug dog-test. The inmates- after having served at least 1/6 of their term can get permission to leave the grounds and go home to their families for the weekend. The goal of the open prison is not so much to punish, but to rehabilitate. For this country, it seems to work. I like it.

I've been having wine with my meals recently. It was madd weird at first- I've never had wine with my food before. White wine with fish soup and red wine with pizza. It's pretty good.

I take Danish every day of classes (MTTHF) and it's my favorite one. There are around 11 girls in it. No guys. Just like Bryn Mawr. ha.

Look how ridiculously red I am. The other Korean girl came over so we can take an asian flush picture together. It's so embarassing that I can laugh at it. Laugh with me.

So I kind of joined this church -- the people are amazingly nice and are from all over: France, Germany, Holland, Romania, Slovakia, Lithuania, Czech Republic. So far I haven't met any Danes in the group. But the oldies took us for yet another tour around the city today and I finally took some pictures. We crashed two weddings, and the bride of the first one surprised me. She definitely looked like she was getting married since she was wearing a white dress, but her hair looked like she was going on for a modeling shoot or something. It was a huge wave on the top of her head and her hair just flowed down. She looked good though. We made our way around the city and ended up in Cafe Zeleste, where they have pure Belgian chocolate varm chokolade.

There are babies everywhere. Danes love their kids-- and they love to incorporate their kids with nature. This place and culture is just so small and trusting that they leave their babies to nap outside coffee shops and bakeries and banks. You see strollers outside store doors with a baby Dane inside- and you have no clue where the mother is. My host parents left their kids at a fountain in Las Vegas before and went to try some of the slots. They were used to leaving and trusting that strangers won't bother their kids, so they were madd surprised when a cop came dragging their son and daughter. haha. It's kind of sad- what does that say about America? hmm. It seems like babies are also fashion statements here-- there are all these fancy strollers, and puffy snowsuits are popular for the little kids to wear in this crazy weather.

Me and Jessica my room/house mate at the top of the Round Tower, where you can see all of lille Kobenhavn. Yea-- the wind was a little strong.








The Queen's Garden.



Cafe Zeleste's 100% Belgian varm chokolade.














Thinking about Danish philosophy. Kierkegaard was a lot better looking than I imagined.

Being Tested

<--the S train that I usually take everyday

I feel like my patience is being tested a lot lately. The whole flight ordeal was enough to make you want to scream, but I was surprisingly okay. I waited more patiently than I would have expected for my stuff to come in 5 days after I arrived. My host dad is a nice dude, but he's very Danish in the fact that he's proud of his country; everything here is pretty much perfect to him. What he says is really nice - but the way he says it can kind of get to you, especially if it's discussed at every single meal. And during a tour around the city today, I took off my glove and my camera fell on the ground. Yes- the new Canon SD800 that cost a buttload. The lens got dented inwards and it wouldn't work for a while. I thought I was going to cry in front of my whole group - the freakin camera that I got specifically for this trip was ruined because I wanted to adjust my shirt. Sorry mom. I kept pulling at it and its okay now - the outer rim of the lens is messed up but the machine itself is fine. I guess it's a lesson against materialism.


<--the Frue Church where their crowned prince got married a few years ago to an Australian girl

Handball is a huge thing here- the championships are going on right now. It's hilarious - the first time I saw it on tv I laughed out loud. It looked just like a scene out of Dodgeball, but everyone else watching the game had such serious looks on their faces. The sport is supposedly second only to football in Europe. And the Danish men are beautiful to watch- they look like dolls. Cool - they just won the game against Russia. You know who else looks like dolls? Danish gymnasts. Today was an important qualifying round for Caroline's gymnastics-- teams from all over the city were there. I was one of 4 Asians in the room - and we were all Korean. Supposedly in the suburbs of Copenhagen, all the Asians you see are adopted from South Korea. I was told that Denmark has some agreement with the country for adoption. My host dad was all excited that I could meet Caroline's coach, who's a Korean adoptee. He's like so happy that I'm a Korean-- he's waiting for me to make them a meal. It was funny - everytime I crossed the gymnasium, I could see all these blond heads turning to watch the foreigner pass by.

Aite. Radio's on TV.
<-- The Copenhagen Opera House

Carlsberg

A courtyard I found 2 days ago. There's a little Hong Kong stationary store on the right -->

I've been in Copenhagen for 5 days now and things finally started to get better. Not that it was bad before or anything, but life here has become a little more enjoyable. I had a pretty good day - and most importantly - the luggage that was left behind in Philly arrived!!! My mom sent it through airmail, which I'm sure cost a buttload, but I'm so grateful. I now have more than 2 pairs of dirty jeans and I don't have to wear my sleeping t-shirts under Gracie's yellow CU hoodie or my stained black zipup. Ooh and I have my own toothpaste and shampoo and vitamins and shoes and gloves and even the pink slippers YoonJu unnie bought for me. I am in all seriousness HEPPY about the two blessed brown boxes that I found in my room tonight.

Do you remember the controversial Mohammed cartoon that a Danish newspaper printed? The paper's called the Jyllands-Posten and they did an article about the Americans studying through DIS in Copenhagen. I made the article's picture, front and center-- at least that's what everyone said. I didn't get to see it because my host family doesn't subscribe to that paper, but people told me that they saw me in it. I've been in Denmark for 5 days and I'm already famous. heh.

I felt my day was going to be good today when I woke up after a whole night's sleep. The jetlag's gone! At least I hope so. Jessica and I rode our bikes that our family provided to the train station. It was awesome-- I haven't really ridden a bike since elementary school. But the seat was too high for me and after I pedaled once I fell over. Stop laughing. We switched bikes and the one I have is still a little tall for me- I have to be careful when I stop - but otherwise I like it. The harsh wind sucks but I felt freeeee and so organic (?) riding the bike to the train station to go to class. It felt so European. Classes were alrite - Danish, Criminology in Scandinavia, and Modern Scandinavian Literature. Tomorrow's Danish and Environmental History of Europe. I know - sounds like a ton of fun.

Afterwards a bunch of us went to the Carlsberg brewery. My program hooked us up and everyone got to go-- today was my turn. We walked into this huge auditorium and they showed us pretty much a propaganda video. The company's shares are 51% owned by the Carlsberg Foundation, so everytime we drink a Carlsberg beer, we're actually supporting the arts and sciences. mm Hm. There's a huge display of the company's beers - it's breathtaking. Seriously. I literally gasped when I saw it. And we made our way to the cafeteria where we had free beer tasting. You know how asian I am and how red I get, so I was embarassed. Oh well- it made things more interesting I guess.

Last night my little host sister Caroline was showing us her gymnastics and dance moves. We got to talking about her earrings - fake diamonds - and she shared with us a little Danish.

Caroline: "Oh, you like my earrings? In Danish we call it... bling bling."

I felt bad but we couldn't stop laughing at her. And tonight I mentioned MTV and Birgitte, the host mom, said she only saw Pimp My Ride.

Birgitte: "I want to pimp my ride!"

:)

Caroline liked my shoes and put them on right out of the box. She's 10. And yea- those are my gloves and scarf too -->

Flights, Cars, and Trains

Hi guys :) I decided to try out this blogging jawns to keep track of what goes on over here and to let people occasionally know what's going on. Yea-- I originally didn't get the purpose for blogging (except for Xanga because it's just Xanga- come on now), but I'm gonna try to stick this one out. I'll probably do a random Xanga just because. So here goes.

I left my house around 1.30pm on Saturday for the airport- and after picking up my dad we got to PHL around 2.40. The itinerary said my flight was through United so I went to Terminal D-- but it turned out that my flight was from USAirways (owned by United) and so my mom and I went to Terminal C to check in my luggage. I got to the counter by 2.50pm, but they wouldn't let me check anything in because it was too late according to TSA regulations. I needed to check stuff in 45 minutes prior to departure- but I missed the cut-off by 5 minutes. AHHH. But my mom, being the clever woman she is (ha- NaDa, make sure she sees that. She'll be happy), decided that she'll send my huge bag through the mail and I should just take my carry-on. So I took off for Boston with my bookbag and a carry-on. I was supposed to get on a connecting flight to Heathrow in London, but my plane got into Boston too late. I also had to check in my carry-on because British Airways only allows 1 carry-on. So I checked in the stupid bag and waited 2 hours on stand-by for the next flight to Heathrow. I met a bunch of kids in my program while I waited for the plane- but they were on a different flight. So I peaced out and got onto my London-bound flight. It worked out alright though because the seat to my left was empty. I couldn't get any sleep on the plane though- so I watched 'Black Dahlia.' I thought it was pretty lame; perhaps I was too grumpy to enjoy it. At Heathrow- I walked around for 20 minutes looking for an international calling card and a payphone that worked to let DIS know why I was going to arrive in Copenhagen 8 hours after I was supposed to. Once in Copenhagen, I couldn't find my bag. Turns out that they never put my luggage on the last plane. I met two girls in my program in baggage claim and they waited for me- but after finding out that the airline had left my crap in London I just left with them and shared a cab into the city.

That was the short version of the traveling story.

The city is really flat -- only a handful of skyscrapers, and they're not very impressive at all. But it still has the city-feel-- it's bizarre. The architectural style is old and cute--but the apartment buildings are modern and all the interiors (like furniture and windows) are Scandinavian and modern. Think IKEA everywhere; this seems like the place that birthed IKEA- except it isn't.

I'm staying with a host family in a suburb of the city, and there's one other girl staying in the house with me. My housemate's name is Jessica and she goes to Scripps (another women's college) in California. She's like the typical wholesome all-American girl. My host dad was a pastor for 15 years, but now he works for an organization that connects immigrants to churches, and my host mom is a general nurse. They have 3 kids - two are at boarding school (~15 and 17 years old) and Caroline is the youngest at 10 years old and lives at home. She's a gymnast and really eager to spend time with me and Jessica. The two of them are doing Sudoku right now as I ignore them to work on this blog. The house doesn't look like much from the outside - but once you're inside it's really nice. It's humble in its decoration- but stylish nonetheless. Danes are supposedly a really humble people in general.

My luggage came in late last night, so Hans (the dad) drove me there and we picked it up. Finally I got a change of clothes - just one, but that's a lot more than having nothing at all. And the parents liked the bread and butter gift (tell this to mom girls) and were kinda impressed by the Korean writing on the cups. I guess it seems more authentically Asian or something. But they like it a lot - make sure you tell her. Or else. And that's a picture of my room - Jessica and I pretty much have the upperfloor for our rooms- but the family hangs out there too because it's where the tv is.

I got a phone - just dial this whole thing when/if you want to hear my voice. ;P

011 45 30974333

My address:

Eunice Ahn c/o Hans Lund
Froehaven 1
DK- 2630 Taastrup
Denmark

Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid -->