Creating my acquaintance with Copenhagen

Yes I tried really hard to make that sound cool. Also I apologise that the photos don't have captions, but I'm having enough trouble putting them where I actually want them as is, and captions just confuses the HTML/CSS/whatever (that is strongly reminding me of our Myspace days). I do mention what all the photos are in the text, but if you want to know, ask me through a comment or email or whatever.

So I continued to walk along down the harbour/canal/ocean... I'm not entirely sure what the right word is. They have ships parked along it and even a few beach chairs that didn't look like they particularly got much use, I mean at least during winter. Much as this Ben and Jerry's... at least they have a fantastic motto for life though!

I made my way to Ameliehaven, a plaza type city garden. I wonder if it flowers in Spring time... can't wait to find out! The interesting part was that the signs helpfully informed patrons that 'these paths are not cleared of snow and ice', which is nice to know. Ameliehaven is presumably attached to Amelieborg another palace turned museum. This is also the nice dome shaped building that featured in the skyline of several of my photos, so it was good to have a name for it. Oh I should mention, most of these places I just walked past going 'oh, that's pretty, oh that looks nice' then looked up exactly what it was later, thanks to my friend Google [helpfully set to Google Denmark now]. And even just random streets look gorgeous, and arches are super cool and one month later I am still walking around in awe that I am actually here. [So is my mother probably, but perhaps not quite in awe :P]

My aim now was Nyhavn which is apparently quite the place to be in summer. And once I found it I recognised it from the postcards I've seen. It is pretty pretty. Nice old, colourful houses (like the rest of the city), a canal featuring some older looking vessels, restaurants, shops.

So quite lovely and all but by this stage the wind was picking up and I was cold, so I started my way home. Finally I stopped at the bridge my bus goes over on the way into town, because it is gorgeous. In the seemingless randomdom that is existence, I'm so glad we have the capacity to appreciate beauty. Because it reminds us that some things are just effortlessly awesome. And that is fantastic. [Also I really like the lamp posts. Next time I'll show you one with a dragon chilling on top.]

In other news, I'm really quite fond of whoever does the advertising for the Aquarium here. Other great captions I've seen are 'Cut the Crab', and there is one other one that escapes me right now. Anywho:

Like seriously, this place is gorgeous.

Hello! Today is the one month anniversary of my leaving Sydney. Wow. It both feels like it hasn't been that long at all but also that it has gone quite fast. Well, four more months in Denmark and five and half til I get home!

Today I present to you... photos! Of the city! According to Google it was 7 whole degrees celcius outside. I think I even felt some warmth from the sun! It was amazing. So, rather than stay home and do uni work, naturally I went out exploring.

Again a reminder, if you click on the photos they will be enlarged :)

First was to Kongens Have, the Rosenberg Palace and Gardens. The Palace is now a museum, as are many in and around Copenhagen. I'll get around to visiting eventually. Today was about outside!

I continued wandering on, in search of Den Lille Havfrue, plus I was curious what this shape was. I mean a giant star-shaped thing on a map... So I cross into what looked like the entrance to the mangroves at Bicentennial Park, and found myself in a cute little park with bird feeders and views of a palace or church or something. There is a lot of those somethings around town.

There was just something really quaint about the place. Walking along by the (suspiciously still) river, people walking dogs, the couple sitting on the hill... It was nice. Copenhagen is a pretty small city, really, with only 560 000 or so people living here, but even still, I didn't feel like I was in a city any more. But I was on the wrong side of the river to where I wanted to be, to check out the windmill (that you can kind of just see peeking out of the trees).

So I was really glad when I got to a bridge, and gate. So it turns out, according to the sign, that Kastellet is a fort. So the hills weren't hills, they were ramparts, and it wasn't a river but a moat! The sign said it was still owned by the military but it was open to the public.

         

I'm not exactly sure who fought who or what. But in any case, it is pretty cool. There is also a memorial and you can walk around the whole upper rampart.

Now I had been warned that Den Lille Havfrue was "the most underwhelming statue in existence". But I nonetheless wanted to check it out, it is a national monument, and to get my Hans Christian Andersen on. And yeah, it is pretty small. Very small. But still quite cute. 

Now this post is too long, I'll finish the rest of my day soon! 

Just quietly, it has been eight years since we were on Year 7 camp. Damn.

To be continued!

European Handball

A bouquet of Roses... lol 

(Some joke about you all on the cover.)

Hello!

Happy Valentine's Day! I present to you a bouquet of Roses, and a photo of the flowers on my desk [I stole the rose from our welcome dinner two weeks ago. I have trouble letting things go, okay?] and the photo book I brought with me, because Valentine's Day isn't just for romantic love.

Jeg elsker jer alle <3

Uni kids acting pro.

VIP Dinner :D

The Arena

Sure beats the RBB.
Not that that is hard :D

Last Wednesday, as part of my Sports Economics course, we went to a Handball game. Our lecturer has contacts with everyone (and among other things apparently used to be a hurdles world champion) and so we had VIP tickets. Basically this meant a buffet dinner and free drinks before the match. Nice dinner, too! Feeling pro with (what we assumed were) sponsors and family, with an MC making jokes in Danish... probably at our expense. Who knows?

The match was København v Viborg HK. Viborg was touted to us as "the best women's handball team ever"... I don't know if that is just because the lecturer supports them or if they actually are that good. We were all supporting København of course, but unfortunately they lost, 31-20.












Indoor sports are fun because the atmosphere is awesome. This one had loud pumping music and this motley crew/cheer squad (in sponsored sports wear) complete with giant drums. The crowd all had clapping folded fan things too, which was fun!

I'm still not entirely sure on all the rules. I think I picked up the gist of it and we figured out most of what was going on. There really is something quite universal about sport. I had no idea what the players were complaining about to the ref, nor could I hear them (and it would have been in Danish anyway) but the motions and expressions... oh I recognised that. One of the teams was down a player at one stage (we think because of accumulated team fouls), so the keeper would sub off while their team was in attack so that they still had the full offensive line up, and when they would fall back into defence the keeper would come back on. Clever.

This sport is really quite intense. 

So, definitely quite entertaining. In a few weeks we have a trip to a football match between the top two teams in the Danish league, which should be pretty awesome. In other news, I actually have uni work to do now. How gross. I'm planning on finding a bike this weekend (because as I've mentioned, everyone here has one and I can definitely see the benefits), and I've booked my flights to America which is exciting! [I'm going for the Quidditch World Cup because Usyd qualified!] I went to football training with the Uni women's team last night as well which was tiring but good-- I miss playing so might join the team :) I'm definitely out of practice though. My touches are awful and my aim is far worse than it used to be. And yes, I did actually bring my boots over with me! Shin-pads I'll have to find, though.

Farewell!

Danish Coins

Aloha!

As part of my shorter but more frequent update series, I present to you: Danish coins!

50 øre, 1 krone, 2 kroner, 5 kroner, 10 kroner, 20 kroner 

And if you thought our size system didn't make sense... I think I've got the hang of them now. I'm not entirely sure how they do heads or tails, since not all the coins have a head on them (that's Queen Margrethe II, by the way).

Now 1 krone is approximately 20 Australian cents. Adding an 'r' on the end makes it plural. I am yet to find anything worth 50 øre. Also it will round to the nearest 50 øre if you pay in cash, but not if you pay with card. Generally most people don't use cash. The exception is paying for the cloakroom at bars and clubs-- that's usually 20 kroner ($4ish). So marginally a rip off but it is absolutely necessary-- you can't go outside without a coat but then you definitely don't want to wear it while dancing!


Danish notes come in 50 (purple), 100 (orange), 200 (green), 500 (blue) kroner. They are paper, predominantly white/cream/that-old-parchment-colour, with highlights of the aforementioned unique colour. The current series has bridges on it. When you live in an archipelago chain, bridges are pretty important. But not terribly exciting. The older series had famous Danish people. But you can google them if you want to see! Oh! Did you know that the band Aqua (Barbie Girl, Doctor Jones) are Danish/Norwegian? Cool, right?

My room, all Natalied

In other news, I feel nicely moved into my room, all set up, with my doona cover from home and my stuff everywhere. I'm thinking of getting some little Danish flags to celebrate my multiculturalism. The pictures on the wall are Australian animals and those random postcards you find at museums. Mum's sent me photos from home too and they're on my other wall (but nothing like my home wall yet!)

Also I got mentioned by Jonesy and Amanda tonight/this morning (your time). I had been streaming the Sochi men's half pipe final while cooking dinner, and then WSFM online because I felt like it. So Amanda was like 'I'm just going to come out and say it... I feel like snowboarding isn't a real job', so I tweeted saying that the ages of the medallists were 25, 15 and 18 (which they were), and so they had plenty of time for a real job. And then they read it out, had a little discussion! Feeling very pro.

Oh, and technically 'vi ses' means 'we will see each other'. Which is sort of a lie. But I like signing off with that, so vi ses!

[Lol, 'shorter'.]

Uni? What is Uni? (Three Weeks In)

Hej!

My apologies for not updating, and my thanks to you for continuing to check this page! (I can see page view counts. They make me happy.) In my defence, I spent literally more than half the time since I last updated asleep trying to let my immune system fight off Danish intruders. So I really didn't have much to say, other than 'ahchoo'.

Thank you also to everyone who has sent a message asking how I'm doing :) It's really nice to know that you're thinking of me, and I haven't forgotten about you all back home, too!! (That said, it could just be Mum checking every day. In which case, hi Mum!) If you would like me to send you a postcard, message me your address and I'll think about it!

Also, if you haven't figured it out yet, if you click on the photos they will be enlarged, and you will also be able to scroll through all the photos I've included in that blog post.

Spot the difference? [Yes I know, slightly different angle. I couldn't remember where I took the first picture from the second time!]

So! I've been here for three weeks now. I think I am finally getting (ever so slightly) used to the cold. I've stopped wearing thermals and have even gone out without a jumper under my coat a few times! It rained last week which washed away most of the snow, but you still see little piles here and there.

So here is my building, when the fire happened. Cool/scary, hey.
From the fire window, go down two floors and five/six
windows left and that is my room :)

My classes started this week too: I'm taking Danish, Foreign Policy of the European Union, Sports Economics and Language of Negotiations. It's a shame-- I was really enjoying my holiday here. But I suppose I am here to study as well... I only have to pass the courses to get credit for my degree back home (but of course, this is me we're talking about so I wouldn't exactly be thrilled to have just passes). And since the entire grade depends on one exam/paper...

Danish is hard. My favourite word so far is selvfølgelig , which means 'of course' and is pronounced 'sef-ur-lee'. Yeah. Wish me luck. I took a Crash Course the first week I was here, and my new teacher has a different accent to my teacher then-- which makes it a little more difficult. I have only met one person here who didn't speak English (a waiter, but thankfully we had two Danish speakers in our group so it was okay!) and really you can get by with 'hej' and 'tak'.

I found this really funny. Saw the colours and
thought 'hey, is Google deliberately being provocative?'
Then I read the quote and was like 'yep'.
Take that, Russia!

Foreign Pol was okay-- difficult since I know nothing about the EU. So all the acronyms my lecturer was using kind of went over my head. Sports Ec was a lot of fun. Just generally talking about the role of sport in society and how it is a business but different from traditional business this week, and on Wednesday we're going on a field trip to a (European, obviously) handball match featuring the top ladies team in the premier league here: with VIP privileges. That should be really, really cool. LoN doesn't start for eight more weeks: the semester here isn't regulated like back at home, courses start at different times, some are taught intensively for seven weeks or run for 13 weeks across the whole semester (about 18 weeks). Trying to navigate around both in real life and online is just like being a first year again.


The other cool thing last week was a party hosted by a campus cafe/bar. So basically they take half the inside of a Uni building and turn it into a bar/club for the evening. For my Usyd friends, it'd be like if Taste sponsored a massive party inside the New Law annexe-- tables and beer and hanging out in the corridors and a dance party featuring a DJ downstairs or something. It was seriously the oddest thing, but fairly fun.

By night...

By day...
It still smelt like beer. The floors had been cleaned, though.

I love this bus.
(Well not this specific one.
The route.)

Oh and all the buses had Danish flags-- the flag here isn't just a patriotic/nationalistic thing. They hang them up at parties and stick little toothpicks into food and stuff. It is just party of celebration decorations, like streamers or balloons. So all the buses had flags up on Wednesday and no one knew why... according to Wikipedia, it was Princess Mary's birthday so I'm going to go with that was why. Shame she doesn't have Twitter-- I know a fantastic group of Australians in Copenhagen who would have been willing to throw her a party! :)

The courtyard in my building.

So! Enjoy your week, I will update again earlier than 9 days. Or let me know if you would prefer longer, less frequent updates or shorter but frequent ones. Some weeks obviously nothing exciting will happen. And then I shall regale you with tales of public transport and crazy Europeans or rants about Doctor Who or the universe or something.