Monday, April 13, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Hey everybody!
I got back from five days in beautiful Dublin last night. It was a blast. The first day I got in after a stern lecture from the scary Irish lady who refused to believe I would be leaving after five days. Checked into the hostel, then hopped on a bus tour my cabbie had recommended. It took me around the city in a loop lasting about 2 hours. I snapped some pictures, randomly ran into some other people from DIS, walked around a bit. Then it was dinner time, so I slouched my way around O'Connell street until around 8 when I found a suitable pub. Had some fish and chips and then headed back for a shower and bed.
The next day I headed out early, hopped back on the bus (apparently my ticket didn't actually get activated the first time around, so I got the whole day for free) then went out to see the Book of Kells and tour the Trinity College campus, grab a sandwich for lunch, then out to Kilmainham Gaol for a tour and some pictures. The Gaol was the home of most of the revolutionary leaders in Irish history since 1780 or so. Not exactly an uplifting place, but fascinating. I ended the day at the Guinness factory, where they have a glass circle at the top, the view from which is breathtaking.
The next day I walked around St. Stephen's Green, saw the government buildings, Temple Bar, and took pictures of the Oscar Wilde statue. Nothing much exciting to report, mostly just tons of cool pictures.
Saturday I headed out on a bus to the southern Irish coast and the hills around Dublin. It was amazing. Excellent fish and chips. Went to Powerscourt Gardens, where I took a ton of beautiful pictures. Went out that night for Chinese food for a break from fries, only to find out that the restaurant served chips and rice with their entrees. Then I went out with some Croatian economics students I met at the hostel, which was a lot of fun. There was great music, in the bars and on the street corners. A blast.
Spent most of Sunday wandering around. Dublin is mostly dead on Sundays before 6 pm, so I went to a few places to pick up knicknacks and a tweed hat for myself. Went to bed early after having an excellent kebab a place called Abrakebabra, which I thought was cute.
Headed out the next morning for an exhausting day of travel, including dealing with Zurich airport, which is ludicrously confusing. Swiss Air, however, are an excellent airline.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Long Study Tour
Hey Everybody!
Last week was my European Business Strategy Long Study Tour, a week-long trip to London and Brussels. It was a blast!
We left early on Sunday morning, taking a taxi to the train, whence I transferred to the subway to get to the Lufthavn. We checked in with a modicum of fuss, then walked through a HUGE duty-free store selling what appeared to be nothing but alcohol. Some enterprising employees were even giving out samples of Irish whiskey. This was at 9 in the morning. I guess they figured that it was five o'clock somewhere. I passed. The Danish expression for "No, thanks" is excellent: "Nej, tak" pronounced "Nie, tock."
We arrived at 11 in London, took a bus from Stanshead, then went to the Globe Theater. I'd been there before, but it was still great to see it again. Then we went nextdoor to the Tate Modern. I was rather confused by everything. Especially the large metal spider. We had dinner at a nice little place, then went back home. I stepped out to a pub with my friend, where we met some Danes. Apparently about 40,000 of them migrate at this time of the year. I was drafted to referee their footrace. Then another group of Danes spilled a beer on my shoe, and I decided it was bed time.
The next day we visited the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, where a fast-talking PR guy gave a presentation, then a hairied economist gave us a brusque run-down on the financial crisis. Fascinating for me, boring as plaster for everyone else. Then we were off to Brick Lane, where DIS got ripped off at an Indian restaurant and I got Chicken Tikka Masala on my shirt. Then a walking tour of the East End, which was fun, but ended a bit early when a massive rainstorm broke. That night we went to see the musical Wicked, which was amazing. Afterward I went to the London bridge, which is beautiful at night.
Tuesday we had a biking tour of London's main tourist sights, on a beautiful, clear, crisp day. A lot of fun. The tour guide gave us a rather enthusiatic explanation of being drawn and quartered. Then we went to Solar Century, a company that designs integrated solar panels for housing construction. An interesting but necessarily brief visit. Afterward we had dinner at Ye Old Chesire Cheese, a pub where Dickens used to visit. The fish and chips were good but small.
The next morning we went to visit Wimbledon, but a fire/possible terrorist threat closed down the underground station at which we transfered, complicating things and making us late. When we arrived, we were given an enthusiastic tour by a tall Enlishman, and departed by train after a visit to the museum. That afternoon we took the Eurostar bullet train to Belgium, which was actually pretty boring. I had a friend wake me up for the Chunnel and a bit of the French countryside, but was overall unmoved (pun intended). In Brussels we went to the hotel, a Chinese themed sprawl, and walked to our restaurant for the evening, a place called the Drug Opera, where we had waffles for desert. Afterward we wandered around, but, it being Wednesday, not much was happening.
The next day we visited the European Wind Energy Association, where the CEO gave us a speech about lobbying in the EU, an interesting topic. After a brief lunch grabbed at Quick, we went to the headquarters of Belgacom, the Belgian telecommunications company. Quick is a Belgian fast food restaurant which does its best to confuse and infuriate you. This is compounded by the lack of standing in line in Belgium, a shocking experience after Denmark, where everyone lines up for everything.
Friday, the last day, we had a walking tour of Brussels, which was interesting, and made more exciting when a man accosted us for touching his dog. Our guide drove him off. Fun times. Afterward, an academic wrap up and an infuriating wait for a friend of mine to attempt communication at a sandwhich shop while I went back to Quick, then it was time for dinner at a place called Chez Leon, an establishment with a deceptively classly name. Their mussels weren't bad, but far from perfect. Then it was time to hop on the bus and take a fourteen hour ride home, concluding the journey in Kobenhavn at 7:45 Saturday morning. The bus did take a ferry between Germany and Denmark, which was really pretty as the sun was rising at the time.
That's about it for now, currently uploading pictures at a very slow rate. Wednesday I leave for Dublin, then the next week it's Berlin for me.
Last week was my European Business Strategy Long Study Tour, a week-long trip to London and Brussels. It was a blast!
We left early on Sunday morning, taking a taxi to the train, whence I transferred to the subway to get to the Lufthavn. We checked in with a modicum of fuss, then walked through a HUGE duty-free store selling what appeared to be nothing but alcohol. Some enterprising employees were even giving out samples of Irish whiskey. This was at 9 in the morning. I guess they figured that it was five o'clock somewhere. I passed. The Danish expression for "No, thanks" is excellent: "Nej, tak" pronounced "Nie, tock."
We arrived at 11 in London, took a bus from Stanshead, then went to the Globe Theater. I'd been there before, but it was still great to see it again. Then we went nextdoor to the Tate Modern. I was rather confused by everything. Especially the large metal spider. We had dinner at a nice little place, then went back home. I stepped out to a pub with my friend, where we met some Danes. Apparently about 40,000 of them migrate at this time of the year. I was drafted to referee their footrace. Then another group of Danes spilled a beer on my shoe, and I decided it was bed time.
The next day we visited the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, where a fast-talking PR guy gave a presentation, then a hairied economist gave us a brusque run-down on the financial crisis. Fascinating for me, boring as plaster for everyone else. Then we were off to Brick Lane, where DIS got ripped off at an Indian restaurant and I got Chicken Tikka Masala on my shirt. Then a walking tour of the East End, which was fun, but ended a bit early when a massive rainstorm broke. That night we went to see the musical Wicked, which was amazing. Afterward I went to the London bridge, which is beautiful at night.
Tuesday we had a biking tour of London's main tourist sights, on a beautiful, clear, crisp day. A lot of fun. The tour guide gave us a rather enthusiatic explanation of being drawn and quartered. Then we went to Solar Century, a company that designs integrated solar panels for housing construction. An interesting but necessarily brief visit. Afterward we had dinner at Ye Old Chesire Cheese, a pub where Dickens used to visit. The fish and chips were good but small.
The next morning we went to visit Wimbledon, but a fire/possible terrorist threat closed down the underground station at which we transfered, complicating things and making us late. When we arrived, we were given an enthusiastic tour by a tall Enlishman, and departed by train after a visit to the museum. That afternoon we took the Eurostar bullet train to Belgium, which was actually pretty boring. I had a friend wake me up for the Chunnel and a bit of the French countryside, but was overall unmoved (pun intended). In Brussels we went to the hotel, a Chinese themed sprawl, and walked to our restaurant for the evening, a place called the Drug Opera, where we had waffles for desert. Afterward we wandered around, but, it being Wednesday, not much was happening.
The next day we visited the European Wind Energy Association, where the CEO gave us a speech about lobbying in the EU, an interesting topic. After a brief lunch grabbed at Quick, we went to the headquarters of Belgacom, the Belgian telecommunications company. Quick is a Belgian fast food restaurant which does its best to confuse and infuriate you. This is compounded by the lack of standing in line in Belgium, a shocking experience after Denmark, where everyone lines up for everything.
Friday, the last day, we had a walking tour of Brussels, which was interesting, and made more exciting when a man accosted us for touching his dog. Our guide drove him off. Fun times. Afterward, an academic wrap up and an infuriating wait for a friend of mine to attempt communication at a sandwhich shop while I went back to Quick, then it was time for dinner at a place called Chez Leon, an establishment with a deceptively classly name. Their mussels weren't bad, but far from perfect. Then it was time to hop on the bus and take a fourteen hour ride home, concluding the journey in Kobenhavn at 7:45 Saturday morning. The bus did take a ferry between Germany and Denmark, which was really pretty as the sun was rising at the time.
That's about it for now, currently uploading pictures at a very slow rate. Wednesday I leave for Dublin, then the next week it's Berlin for me.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Last week I had two exciting experiences: first, the Czech ambassador came and spoke to my class about the Czech presidency of the EU, and secondly I went with my class to the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Czechs are going to focus their presidency on deal with financial crises, and issues regarding the Lisbon treaty. The Danish Foreign ministry was interesting, in that their spokesman indicated that Denmark looks first to the US for guidance, rather than the EU, a fact I did not know. He was full of useful information.
This week I had three midterms. Two were in Danish, one a brief written exam on the cultural readings we've had for each class, and one oral which was both brief and simple, consisting of a dialog to translate aloud and three questions apiece for a partner and me. Easy. Last was a 35-question, multiple choice test on the theory sections of my Globalization class. Also easy.
Not much going on here in the big K, apart from that. We're warming up for our week-long excursion to London and Brussels. We have a briefing about that tomorrow.
Well, that's all for now. Hopefully a few pictures will be appearing soon.
This week I had three midterms. Two were in Danish, one a brief written exam on the cultural readings we've had for each class, and one oral which was both brief and simple, consisting of a dialog to translate aloud and three questions apiece for a partner and me. Easy. Last was a 35-question, multiple choice test on the theory sections of my Globalization class. Also easy.
Not much going on here in the big K, apart from that. We're warming up for our week-long excursion to London and Brussels. We have a briefing about that tomorrow.
Well, that's all for now. Hopefully a few pictures will be appearing soon.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Festelavn
Hey everybody!
Last night the Danes celebrated Festelavn, which is a combination of Mardi Gras, Carnival, and Halloween. People wore costumes, bobbed for apples, and carried out a most unusual Danish tradition:
They took a barrel with a picture of a cat on it, and beat it with a stick until candy came out. It was like the strangest pinata ever. Apparently, back in the day, they used to do it with a cat in the barrel and beat the barrel until the cat came out. Those wacky Danes!
Things are going fairly well here. Monday I have a mid term in Danish, and then the Czech ambassador is going to talk to my EU Politics class. It should be really interesting. On Wednesday, I get to go to the Danish ministry of Foreign affairs for a tour. I'm excited.
Also, on my daily run I get to run through a castle. Gotta love Europe!
Last night the Danes celebrated Festelavn, which is a combination of Mardi Gras, Carnival, and Halloween. People wore costumes, bobbed for apples, and carried out a most unusual Danish tradition:
They took a barrel with a picture of a cat on it, and beat it with a stick until candy came out. It was like the strangest pinata ever. Apparently, back in the day, they used to do it with a cat in the barrel and beat the barrel until the cat came out. Those wacky Danes!
Things are going fairly well here. Monday I have a mid term in Danish, and then the Czech ambassador is going to talk to my EU Politics class. It should be really interesting. On Wednesday, I get to go to the Danish ministry of Foreign affairs for a tour. I'm excited.
Also, on my daily run I get to run through a castle. Gotta love Europe!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Just got back from western Denmark. My business and economics program went out for three days in the hinterlands. I got to see the headquarters of Bang and Olufsen, makers of fine audio-visual equipment, and Vestas, makers of windmills. Both were interesting, if not entirely what I was expecting.
I also ate a traditional Danish lunch, consisting of three toppings for sandwiches, bread, and a trifle. The toppings were pickled herring, which is not bad, roast beef, which was excellent apart from the excess of horseradish, and the dreaded liverpaste, which is a meat loaf similar to pate. Most Americans think it is disgusting. I rather liked it.
I also toured a bunker built by the occupying Germans in WWII, which was very cool. They have a real ENIGMA machine there. It was pretty cool to finally see one. Picture forthcoming.
I'll post a more detailed account of other events later on.
I also ate a traditional Danish lunch, consisting of three toppings for sandwiches, bread, and a trifle. The toppings were pickled herring, which is not bad, roast beef, which was excellent apart from the excess of horseradish, and the dreaded liverpaste, which is a meat loaf similar to pate. Most Americans think it is disgusting. I rather liked it.
I also toured a bunker built by the occupying Germans in WWII, which was very cool. They have a real ENIGMA machine there. It was pretty cool to finally see one. Picture forthcoming.
I'll post a more detailed account of other events later on.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
So here's a fun fact: it's highly irritating to find deodorant, laundry detergent, and cheap sweatshirts in this country. At least I have all of tomorrow morning to shop.
Things go on here. School is progressing and I continue to meet new people, both at DIS (my program) and the hojskole. My Danish class is really interesting and I really like the teacher. She went off on Sweden today. Who knew the Danes had such hatred for their Scandinavian counterparts?
Things go on here. School is progressing and I continue to meet new people, both at DIS (my program) and the hojskole. My Danish class is really interesting and I really like the teacher. She went off on Sweden today. Who knew the Danes had such hatred for their Scandinavian counterparts?
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
First Post
Hey everybody!
I see you've located my blog for my study abroad semester. Here I'll be trying to post regular (and frequent random) updates on my life. First, a few facts:
I'm living in a place called a Hojskole (although the first "O" should have a line through it), which is a school for Danes wherein they study creative subjects at their whim without grades. While this does contribute to a relaxed atmosphere, the Danes are somewhat at a loss in response to our loads of homework.
Denmark is 7 hours ahead of you. As I write this, it is 9 am there, and 4 here.
Denmark uses the Kroner, or crown, which is bought at a rate of 6 kroner to one dollar thanks to the recent election. Everything is expensive here because of a value added tax which drives retail prices up.
Thanks for reading.
I see you've located my blog for my study abroad semester. Here I'll be trying to post regular (and frequent random) updates on my life. First, a few facts:
I'm living in a place called a Hojskole (although the first "O" should have a line through it), which is a school for Danes wherein they study creative subjects at their whim without grades. While this does contribute to a relaxed atmosphere, the Danes are somewhat at a loss in response to our loads of homework.
Denmark is 7 hours ahead of you. As I write this, it is 9 am there, and 4 here.
Denmark uses the Kroner, or crown, which is bought at a rate of 6 kroner to one dollar thanks to the recent election. Everything is expensive here because of a value added tax which drives retail prices up.
Thanks for reading.
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