To Sensation or Not To Sensation..?

As I promised, and since I'm on a blog roll, and don't feel like doing my homework quite yet, I will elaborate on the past two weeks since long study tour. Upon returning from Germany I was greeted with a presentation, a test, a field study, and a cooking class before I could depart from Denmark yet again and head to Brussels, Belgium for the weekend for SENSATION, a techno rave that requires you to be dressed all in white (accessories and footwear could be colored). I stayed with my friend Jiore from my sorority back at Rochester and we frolicked and laughed the weekend away. Details:
I took a cab from Brussels International Airport to Jiore's apartment - it was supposed to cost 15 euro. It cost me 45 euro. I got to the apartment and didn't see any lights on, couldn't get through to Jiore's phone, the cab has left me, I didn't speak Flemish or French (the national languages of Belgium), and I was hungry. So I rang all the doorbells hoping for someone to respond, and she did! Great. I dropped off my bags and we headed to Flagey, an open square near their apartment, for some classic Belgian frites. Yum. We shared frites with two kinds of spicy mayonnaise sauces and caught up about the semester and Rochester gossip that had somehow trickled across the lake to us. In essence, it was great. We readied ourselves for the night and headed to Delirium, a bar where every single American you never wanted to see again was there, being American. We ran into some affectionate Italians who told us we would get goosebumps upon entering the Sensation arena with 50,000 people (we didn't get goosebumps) and continued on to a karaoke bar with them. Result of the night:

me and jiore and a Belgian

Saturday, more of Jiore's friends came and we toured around the Grand Place until it started raining so we took cover in a very touristy restaurant and went home to prepare for Sensation. Our original plan was to visit friends of friends at their university, halfway between Brussels and Hasselt, where the Sensation arena was, and then proceed from there. One misspelled vowel and we were at a different University, either at the Dutch campus or the French campus - we were at the one that they were not - and that is when the night began to spiral downwards. We had to take a train back into Brussels in order to first take the train to Hasselt. Three cabs to each of the main train stations in Brussels later, we realized the trains had stopped running and we would have to take a 45 minute, 150 euro cab to Hasselt - luckily there were 5 of us. We finally arrived at Sensation and got on line only to realize Jiore had brought her train ticket to Paris, instead of her sensation admittance ticket. The security guards thankfully let her in and by the time we had stored our stuff in a locker, it was 1 am.

did you get goosebumps?

We raved here and there and left at 5, but the first train out was at 6 so we got some frites and waited for the swarms of people to push us onto the train. We arrived back in Brussels at 7:30 am and ran into our other KD friend we had been trying to meet up with all weekend while waiting for the bus back to the apartment. We passed the farmer's market that was opening for business at 8 by the time we got back and crashed until 1 pm. I woke up, showered, said farewell to Belgium (without even trying a Belgian waffle) and left for the airport for my final return to Copenhagen.

When I returned I had to write a group paper and study for two tests during the week. It was a great welcoming gift. This past week I have been reading The Hunger Games avidly and now NEED to see the movie. I wasn't expecting to like a book that seems so barbaric but seriously it was fantastic. If you get tired of reading my blog, please go forth and read the hunger games. But enough of the book club.

This weekend I was finally able to relax after a whirlwind past few weeks. I walked around and explored the city, got my bearings in some more sections of Copenhagen, and started a list of things to do when visitors come to stay with me. One of my best friends from Rochester, Carly, comes Thursday morning to spend the weekend with me before we jet away on our two week long spring break! Carly, Nicki, and I are going to Budapest, Vienna, and Prague together then Nicki's splitting off to Switzerland while Carly and I meet up with two of our other best friends from school Dan and Elyssa (I call them Delyssa for short) and chilling in Prague until we throw our cautions to the wind and finally take on Rome. I can't wait.

delyssa, carly, and me sophomore year

I also can't believe that the 2 month mark has come and passed (I flew into Cope on January 20, and fly out on May 20, so March 20 is the exact middle). I also can't believe that I get to go on a two week vacation in the middle of school. And I also can't wait for my parents to come so I don't have to worry about doing conversion rates in my head for every item I think of purchasing!

EEK time's a-ticking

Many more stories to come, hopefully in a more timely fashion. But let's not get too ahead of ourselves..

Oh Me Oh My

Oh man, I suck. I haven't written in over a month and every time I make moves to write another post, something comes up and I wind up not doing it. Clearly. Take this concentrated time now to channel your frustration at me. Ok done? Ready for recap? I begin:
Short study tour went swimmingly, as you may have read. Tuesday upon returning from the weekend in western Denmark was Valentine's Day and I was scheduled to go to a beer tasting at the Nørrebro Bryghus (I had signed up for a three-part beer tasting course through DIS before coming to Cope).  Søren, our teacher/tour guide/head brewer of the brewery, taught us about hops, malt, pale ales, lagers, yadda yadda it was a whole lot of information. And then we sampled 4 beers from the brewery. I'm not the biggest beer girl so as the night wore on, it grew increasingly harder for me not to laugh at the descriptions of the beers I thought tasted bad but everybody else enjoyed. Ironically, one of my friends Malia used to brew beer in her basement so she was taking things really seriously while I was... not. We left the brewery in the snow, I realized I had left my favorite leopard-print gloves on the bus, and I deemed the whole night a failure. Until I met this furry animal and it cheered my whole night up:

fuzzy wuzzy

Skip to the next Wednesday and I went to Frederiksberg Castle (shown above) for an assignment for my fashion class. It was interesting. That is all. That night, my fashion class viewed a documentary on Anna Wintour and our teacher made us cosmopolitans and laid out this huge spread of homemade food - I wish more American teachers did that for their students.. totally broke down the student-teacher barrier that we're used to back at school. On to the next memorable moment..


The following Wednesday (since we don't take classes on Wednesdays at DIS) I had two extra-curricular events for my classes. In the morning I viewed the independent Danish film "Hello My Name is Lesbian" for my Human Rights and Gender Perspectives class. It was an interesting insight into different lesbian relationships in different areas of Denmark - it was really informative and we were able to engage in discussions with the filmmakers after the viewing. After a quick lunch and an afternoon spent at the Black Diamond library (my home away from home), I went to a concert at Vega, this trendy concert venue in Copenhagen, to see a couple Danish bands for my Danish Language and Culture class. It was awesome. The main band actually performed first and their style was kind of reggae pop with some French accordion thrown in - it sounds weird but it worked. The opening band was actually the closing band and they were more jazzy so I decided to call it quits and head home after a long day.


That is more or less it from the month of February - I obviously left out details about different tests and papers and other assignments I had but February was a fine month nothing too exciting clearly or I'd be writing about it. March has been very busy since the beginning. It was my dear friend Nicki's birthday Sunday March 4 however we were all going on long study tour random times during the weekend so we decided to have a birthday party for her Friday night. Here she is in all her 21st birthday glory:

nickita tequila

My contribution to the festivities was managing to sprain my right ankle when walking on cobblestones in flat shoes - honestly I baffle myself sometimes. (side story: freshman year first semester I sprained my left ankle twice in 2 weeks - first time I missed a couple stairs, second time I was dancing too hard and slipped on a wet fraternity floor. oh the memories) So saturday, my very funny roommate, Amanda, and I went to the Bispebjerg Hospital to make sure it wasn't broken and we experienced the joys of universal health care. After filling out a form, we only waited 15 minutes to see a doctor that spoke perfect English. She checked my foot, and diagnosing it as just a sprain, sent me on my way with 4 free ice packs and no other hospital charges. WHAT? Fast and free? I'll take it, thanks. 


Sunday my swollen foot and I spent the day being transported from Copenhagen through Germany to Poland, where my core course would be staying in Poznan for two nights. We were told we would be driving for 12 straight hours - initially I approached this day with dread, however due to the recent accident it became a blessing in disguise as I slept and kept my foot elevated on the seat next to me. We traveled by bus to the end of Denmark, where we took a 2 hour ferry to Germany and then drove straight through to Poland. 

we're on a boat

First thing we do: check into a four-star hotel in Poznan. Fine with that. Second thing: three course buffet dinner. Third thing: steam room and sauna in the spa downstairs. Fourth thing: shower and sleep. Rinse and repeat this lifestyle, please. 

view from my room on to the main drag, sweaty martian street

Monday and Tuesday were spent shadowing an OB/GYN, a Perinatologist, and a Pediatrician at the Poznan University Hospital. It was interesting to note the differences in the three different areas and the lack of hygiene at the Pediatrician's office - the woman we were observing didn't wash her hands once in between 3 different physical examinations. So I asked her if I could wash my hands in an attempt to bring to her attention that she hadn't - nope, didn't work. In addition to these academic visits, we had a mini amazing race activity that led us around Poznan to a bunch of different notable locations (none of which I can remember) and we eventually ended our day with a plate of steaming hot pierogies. The Polish Zloty is definitely a friend of mine - a plate of 10 pierogies plus a caraf of wine plus tip turned out to be less than 15 dollars. I also purchased a bottle of Garnier Fructis shampoo for 3 dollars! Done. 

authentic yum

Tuesday afternoon we drove to Berlin and upon checking into a not four-star hotel but a plain jane hostel, we went to dinner and were fed well yet again. An excursion to a beer garden that we stupidly thought would be open in the dead of winter led us to an absinthe bar:

a good view

A trip to the German Heart Institute the next morning (read free sandwiches, sodas, chocolate bars, and 40th anniversary commemorative books in both German and English) preceded a lively romp down the Berlin Wall. Some highlights:

After a yummy yet rushed dinner (our trip leaders got lost/led us around in circles), we went to the Berlin Symphony that night and enjoyed the language of music - good because nobody knew any German:

overwhelmed

So yeah, that's about it for Germany. I really liked it for the short time I was there, and definitely have an appreciation for their efficient transportation system (hey Alexanderplatz station). I will discuss about the past two weeks in a different post, this one has been too long for anyone's enjoyment so kudos if you read this all the way through - you have my undivided appreciation and admiration!