Sun After Rain

So last night I was biking, on my way to meet some co workers and enjoy a beer in the city. As I was just pulling out of my street, I thought I felt a bit of rain, but I thought 'no...that can't be right' because I had been out riding my bike all evening and in the beautiful sun with clear skies. But surely enough, with the typical Danish weather, it turned out that there was a massive rainstorm on its way and I was about to be right in the middle of it ! I tried to out bike it but that didn't work :P I wrapped my scarf around my head and when I decided enough was enough, I stopped to take shelter under a large awning of the department store, Magasin. I waited it out for 10 minutes then went to find my friends who were also finding shelter, not too far away. Our cute plans of drinking beers in Nyhavn, the most pictureseqe harbor in Copenhagen, had been foiled and we ended up buying beers at 7-11 and drinking on a stoop under an awning. Hehe it still proved to be a lovely evening, with us ending up at a place called The Scotish Pub with another co worker and some Danes she had met. It turned out that I knew one of them, Martin, from when I lived at Frankrigsgade. We had some beer and a lovely conversation, mostly about Americans and their reactions to Danish culture. All in all it was a fun night...despite the rain.

the sky after the sudden rainstorm.

Its always that when the worst storms pass, the most beautiful skies appear.

Martin and I were discussing the difference in Danish and American humor.
He thinks this cartoon is stupid and I think its hilarious.
What do you think ?

Weekend fun :)

Even though my first week at work was filled with introductory meetings, a trip to Sweden, training and not too much actual work, I was happy to relax and enjoy my weekend. Friday afternoon was very stressful for me. At lunchtime my keys had gone missing. I ended up sending out a company wide mass email asking if anyone had picked them up. About 1 hour later, my co intern, Olivia, realized she had accidentally picked them up thinking they were hers !! I was so happy they weren't lost and so relieved to have them returned. That afternoon Olivia and I were also required to do a song/dance performance for the rest of the IT department, as a punishment for forgetting to lock our computers ! We performed Bicycle by Queen and everybody loved it :P

That day after work we had a welcome barbecue at the director of DIS's home in a suburb called Hellerup. I biked there with a big group of interns and it was great. After mingling and enjoying some much needed beers, wine and food, I had to leave because I was also invited to Sandra's mom's 50th birthday party that night as well !

It was much more convenient to bike to their home, in another suburb called Herlev, rather than take the train all the way back into the city and then back out on another line. When I got there I met some of Sandra's extended family and friends. It was a really nice evening and her mom made a delicious meal with delicious homemade sauce ! But the best part was dessert ! There was homemade cake and ice cream, meringues from the bakery, and fresh fruit. It was all so lovely :)

mmmm homemade ice cream ! I want some more right now !

yummmmy !

Saturday I spent running errands and relaxing because I knew that Sunday was going to be a big day !

Sunday was Stella Polaris - a free, all day, chilled out music festival at Østre Anlæg, a park 2 minutes from my apartment. Sandra and I got there around 17:00, and were most excited to see Moby, who was coming on at 18:00. He played an acoustic set on guitar, with a female accompanying vocalist, and a violinist. I was very happy with what he included in the set. My favorites were his originals 'We Are All Made of Stars' and 'Porcelain', and I also really enjoyed some covers he played like Johnny Cash's 'Ring of Fire' and Lou Reed's 'Walk on the Wilde Side'. This set was really good, but I was most looking forward to his DJ set that night at Rust :D

sooo many people at Stella Polaris - there were about the same amount behind us too !
Moby referred to it as Woodstock Copenhagen

Moby was already playing when we got there and per usual, he was killing it. Sandra and I had a great time dancing all night. We went to the front by the stage and had the best view. Maybe I was a little over the top but I kept screaming at him 'Moby I love you ! You're a genius ! You rock' :P hehe but I did see him smile a few times. And I think that was probably better than my original idea to make a sign that said 'Marry me Moby'.

thinks he's a god - maybe he is

my knees are in pain after banging them against the stage all night - oops

August 4

<3 <3 <3
me and my Mom hiking in Norway - July 2011. I miss her more than words could ever express.
She was the sweetest, kindest, most genuine and free spirited woman I have ever met.


my mom really liked this song

Today was not an easy day for me, so I wanted to surround myself with people I love. I had the morning off from work so I had a brunch with Sandra. We had scrambled eggs with fresh chives, a fruit plate with mangos, watermelon, grapes, and banana, apple juice, and coffee. It was lovely.

Tonight I met up with Jake and we went to Halifax, a burger restaurant a few blocks from my house. Instead of the traditional beef patty, we both got a chickpea patty. I had just a simple burger with vegetables and homemade pickels, and Jake had the same but with bacon and BBQ sauce ;) Then we took a walk around the lake and stopped and got a beer before going home.

I love my friends and my new city.

Overnight Trip to Sweden !

So on my second day of work, DIS brought us - the whole group that I will be interning with this upcoming semester : 23 females, 2 males - took an adventure trip to Sweden. The trip was to encourage team bonding, and to train us on how to be fabulous study tour leaders. I will lead a group of students on a canoeing and hiking trip to Sweden in the first weekend of September. This tour was great practice and I'm so excited about it.

We took a bus and ferry to reach our destination in Kullaberg, Sweden. Our first adventure was orienteering- where you are given a map, compass, and several other tools, and then are expected to head out in search of 5 clues/missions. When you find each one, you must then complete the challenge described, for example : build the tallest rock tower you possibly can in 10 minutes, solve 3 tangram puzzles, or guess the distance of certain objects. All in all it was a really fun exercise and a good team building experience. Then we had a lunch of sandwiches from Lagkagehuset, one of my favorite bakeries in Denmark.

view from one of the checkpoints of the exercise - we had to guess how far the lighthouse was.
I think it was like 400 m ? I can't remember !

After stuffing myself with a 12 inch hummus and vegetable sandwich, we were then informed that we would be making our way to a café for coffee and cakes ! Woohoo !! It was called Flickorna Lundgren, and was favorited by late king Gustav Adolf VI. His favorite thing to order was the 'Vaniljhjärtan' - Custard filled vanilla hearts ! Let me tell you - they were perfect and delicious. The outside was light and crisp and had a specific taste that reminded me traditional sugar Christmas cookies. The custard filling was thick and sweet, yet still not too heavy. I savored my treat while sipping coffee, and having a lovely conversation with some of my new coworkers.

such a lovely setting for a sweet summer café, built into the hills and woods of Sweden

fantastic pastries - DIS ordered 2 for each of us !! They really are so kind !

Upon leaving the beautiful garden party café, we headed towards our final destination, a homey hostel, which I forget the name of. It was owned by a very sweet couple and such a great atmosphere of community and simple pleasures. Our group had a great barbecue, followed by the Viking stick game (lol i don't know the real name of it but its a lawn game where you through 12 in wooden sticks at the other team's blocks trying to knock them over - very fun) and we finished the night with a bonfire and s'mores ! One of my fellow interns made the hilarious joke of making an open face s'more and called it a 'smørre s'more' !!!!hahahahaha!!!! (its so funny because smørrebrod is the name of the traditional Danish open faced sandwiches)

The original plan was that myself and a few others were going to be adventurous and sleep in a tent for the night. When we heard the tent would now be a tipi, we were even more excited. When I found out the tipi did not have a liner on the ground and was just open to the grass, I lost all interest. We all ended up sleeping inside :P but it was still super fun and cozy.

our would-be tipi

All in all it was a great bonding experience - I felt like I was at girl scout camp, and also very informative about what we will be encountering when we are study tour leaders. good fun :D

First Day of Work !

Today I started work ! It wasn't really so much work as introduction sessions. I was actually quite relieved because a lot of the stuff they talked about I had already done on my own in the time since my arrival - get CPR number, get a bike, get a phone, register for Danish classes etc... I felt really good about it, knowing I was ahead of the game and was capable of doing it all on my own. Also, I know I would probably have a panic attack if I had to do all of that stuff on top of work and on top of getting settled had I not arrived early. I don't know why you wouldn't !

After the intro sessions, we broke off into our individual departments and me and my lovely new co intern Olivia, headed to the IT office. Our boss Mads is really nice and cool and we were there with our two other coworkers, Andreas and Chalen, who are also both very sweet. Today Chalen showed us how to reimage a computer - aka wipe everything off (programs, settings, and users) and then put new stuff back on. Then when we were done with that our department enjoyed some beers together !! It was so cozy and I love it already !

this bouquet was waiting for me on my new desk !
I am seriously so happy to be working for DIS, they genuinely care for their staff :)
its so so nice !

Trailerpark !!

if I had to live in a trailer - I would def paint it like this !

this is the ArtRebels logo - they are the company that puts on Trailerpark and supports local and up and coming artists around Copenhagen

This weekend was the long anticipated Trailerpark festival. It is an arts and music festival at Copenhagen Skate Park. I went last year with my two good friends, Sandra and Stine, and we had the best time ! It was really impossible to out do the fun we had last time, but this year was also very good. The festival expanded since last year, moving from 3 days to 4, and the festival grounds doubled in size. These factors gave a different vibe, which we all agreed was less intimate and concentrated, making for a completely different experience. It was still awesome nonetheless.

Thursday we wanted to head over early and check out all of the art in the space, before it filled up. I was really impressed with all of the hard work that had clearly been put in, creating and setting up all the installations, hanging art pieces, and set building on the stages.

awesome serandwrap instillation that you could sit, lay, and play on !

cute free standing art piece

this was the rebel stage ! so cool with all the hands ! and note how it is at the top of a skate ramp :D

Friday, we came later and had been prepartying at my apartment. Sandra and I made some salad with shrimp in it, and had white Russians for dessert ;) On our way biking to the festival Sandra was giving me lessons about shifting gears when approaching red lights, and also gave me a lesson on how to fix the chain when it falls off the gears - which proved to be a very handy lesson because it happened about 4 more times that weekend.

pretty accurately sums up my weekend !

Sandra and I getting ready in my bathroom

rebel stage on Friday night !

Saturday I was so hung over. Once I finally pulled myself together to leave the house, around 8 pm, I went over to the dorm where Sandra and Stine live. Sandra prepared an amazing dinner : burritos with ground beef, cheese, guacamole, and vegetables. It was amazing. After eating, I surely thought my hangover would be cured, but it wasn't. In fact it was about the opposite, and a food coma was induced on us all, so we ended up skipping Trailerpark and just laying in bed and having a girl talk all night :P Honestly, I preferred that over forcing myself to go to the festival when I really wasn't up for it.

Since we were feeling fresh on Sunday, Sandra and I went back for the final day of the festival and I'm really glad we did. Thursday didn't have great weather, Friday was mostly a blur ;P, but Sunday was lovely. The sun was shining and it was about 75 degrees. When we first arrived, we weren't really feeling the artists at any of the 3 stages, but as the day progressed we heard some amazing artists on the outdoor stage. My three favorites were : Det Sejler i Effekter, Mikkel Metal, and Motor City Drum Ensemble. Each were electronic artists, but all completely unique and different from the last. Motor City Drum Ensemble was probably my favorite with a very funky, housey vibe. Great for dancing for the last set of the festival.

det sejler i effekter - a very unique group. the guy on the right was using an ipad to put effects on his bass

All in all it was a great time. I'm sad that its come and gone, but I have some great music coming towards me in my future - this weekend another festival called Stella Polaris - but its on Sunday and more of a chill festival. Then that night is the afterparty at Rust with MOBY !!! YAYAYAY ! Then the next weekend is another festival called RAW, which is supposed to be the premier clubbing event in Scandinavia. I will be seeing Benga, Brodinski, and Roger Sanchez, along with many other more local Danish acts. I'm really looking forward to it :D

My Room

When I first arrived to my apartment I was so happy and excited to be here that no matter what I saw, it would have been great. Luckily everything about it was great ! - except for the furniture in my room. There was a twin bed, a table and two chairs, a narrow book shelf, and a children's armoire with space for hanging things, but adult hangers didnt even fit inside of it ! When Blake was visiting me, we had to sleep head to toe in my miniture bed, and it actually wasn't that bad. However, if this was a regular arrangement, it would get very old, very fast. I plan that Sandra will be crashing at my place quite often because of its prime location in the city, so I need to get a larger bed, and also a dresser to put all of my clothes in because the child's armoire just wasnt cutting it. So here are the phases my room has been through already :

original setup - view from walking through the door

original setup - view from far side of room

my stuff stayed like this for a week because I had no where to put it ! it was fine, but getting tiring living out of space bags

the day I arranged to have my new stuff delivered, I was still unable to find a home for my old furniture, so I just stacked it in the corner -
I moved all the stuff over there on my own and was very proud :P

after my new stuff was moved in, with ALL of the furniture in my room :P

close to final set up - the armorie still needs to go, but my neighbor Thomas, who got all the furniture for me in the first place, doesn't have a space to store it. Ill make another post once everything is finalized :D

For me it was so necessary to get my own furniture, so that I could really feel at home in my new room. And I do !! :D