Last Day - Last Post!

my last day in CPH started when i met Claire at my dorm (Porcelaenshavn) and we headed off to Norreport to look at the store where she got her "I ♥ KBH" (Kobenhavn) sweatshirt - i decided not to get one from there though
we walked to Stroget and i bought a "I ♥ CPH" sweatshirt (more expensive, but it's kinda nicer and fits better as well)
then we basically walked around downtown - to Nyhavn first then to Magasin where we ate chocolate samples again haha

ahh i'm gonna miss these pretty buildings

we were supposed to meet Mario cause he wanted to go to Glyptotek museum with us so we went to the metro station to wait for him

but then it turned out that he rode his bike there and didn't take the metro so he wandered up and down Stroget while we were standing there at the metro station - fail haha

soooo then we went to La Glace =) Claire got this cake (edit: link broken now :( ) and i got hot chocolate!

it was amazing ♥ chocolatey, not too sweet, and it came with whipped cream plus one free refill! (although it did cost 63? 69? kr - around $11 but i think it was worth it!)

Mario said that the hot chocolate his grandmother made for him was exactly like that too - ah so jealous - i just drank instant hot cocoa when i was little

next we walked to Norreport station to meet Dora and then we headed to Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek museum! (on the way to Norreport we actually saw a whole gaggle of Justin Bieber fangirls - at least i think they were cause one girl was wearing a JB shirt, but i don't think he was in CPH so i have no idea who they were following)

and i'm glad i went since i think that's my favorite museum that i went too (...which was not a lot haha) it actually costs 60 kr to get in but it's free if you're under 18 so once again i passed for 17 and didn't have to pay hahahaspent a couple hours there - i really like the garden inside =)

then back to Porcelaen, packed up some more, and then had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe with Dora and Amy
after dinner, we walked through the park behind our dorm - i hadn't been there before, so we went

and since there's also a zoo next to it, there's a place in the park where you can see the elephants!
then we headed back to Porcelaen, stayed for a while, and went to the nightclub - Park Cafe nightclub? - where the goodbye party was

and so ended my last day in CPH =(

i got back at Porcelaen around 3:30 am and then packed and cleaned up and headed to the airport at 6:30 am @-@ and i had to lug my luggage to the metro station, then changed to the S-tog to get to Kobenhavn central station, then lugged it to another track where the train the airport was

needless to say i was suupppeeerrr tired @-@



anyways, now that i'm back in Houston, i think i'll just list a couple random thoughts/impressions

my favorite place that i visited was definitely Frederiksborg Slot - it's soooo gorgeous there esp the garden outside

most disappointing? i guess would be the Berlin trip - don't get me wrong, i love Berlin, but the overall scheduling was just horrible
i mean, a 9 hour bus ride? crazy - and we had to pay for out dinner on Saturday night, so i really have no idea where all my money went - i think it would have been more fun and more worth it if we went by ourselves in a group

it's weird how just last week my friends and i were all together in Copenhagen, and yet now, we're all spread out around the world, and it's really sad how i won't be able to see some of them ever again (at least i don't think i'll have the chance to)

ok onto happier stuff
i will definitely miss shopping at H&M and Zara! - yes, there are other stores (Vero Moda is a pretty popular cheap stores, but sadly, i cannot fit the clothes) but i mostly shopped at those two stores
all those crazy sales! next time i go to Europe, i will definitely try to go during July during all the sales haha

i found out that i'm not particularly fond of smorrebrod - pickled herring is just not that appetizing to me and i don't really like the bread either haha
but i wouldn't mind eating it again (just not with herring)

the pastries however, are amazing! Lagkagehuset ♥

oh yea, the weather is amazing too in July - i don't think it ever reached above 80 degrees - it's soo hot in Houston x_x

i am certainly not going to miss the lack of Asian food, expensive groceries and rocky/cobblestoney sidewalks though

and now i can't think of anything else...thinking about CPH too much will make me miss it too much so i guess this is the end of my blog....well till next year when i'm studying abroad in South Korea or Australia! =)

Bon Bon Land!

ok so posting about what i did after i've already left Copenhagen is really depressing =(

but i shall start with my trip to Bon Bon Land!

i met up with Amy around 10 in the morning and we went to go buy our tickets at the central station

we asked the info desk person which train we needed to take and what track it was on but when we got on a train we got confused cause he didn't tell us that we needed to take a train to Koge and then change onto another one to get to Holme-Olstrup - so we got off the train and went to ask a lady for help
and then she told us that we were actually on the right one lol and that she saw us get off - fail

so we took another one (which took longer to get there) but that's ok since we weren't in a hurry or anything
then when we arrived at Holmes-Olstrup we followed other people who looked like they were going to Bon Bon Land - actually i think everyone who was on that train was going to Bon Bon Land since it's basically in the middle of nowhere haha
anyways, i'm not gonna elaborate on my time at Bon Bon Land since you can see pictures online

but here are some highlights:

my last hot dog =(
my last soft ice =( (my last HUGE soft ice - the swirl was like...5 inches tall or something! and it was thick and creamy - with cocoa powder! - so it made me pretty full haha)
this ride with the ridiculous slope - awesomme! amy and i went on twice

this ride was pretty fun but sooo dizzying cause the roller coaster car (that fits 4 people in it) spins around while it goes through the tracks - it was pretty funny to listen to the Danish guy sitting next to amy though - he kept saying "whoa" every 5 seconds lol

we ended up going home at around 5 (it's a pretty small park) and got back at around 7

so i cooked myself dinner and then saw that my friend was going to the movies from 8-9 and i figured, why not go? it's my second to last night in cph

so i went and we watched Inception! =) it was an awesome movie - really cool

and the theater is HUGE (it was the cinemaxx near at Fisketorvet) - like maybe 1/3 bigger than the biggest ones at AMC (and probably four times bigger than the smaller ones)

all in all a pretty enjoyable day =)

freeeeee!

i officially finished my exams today! yay so that means i can enjoy the rest of my few days here doing whatever and not worrying =)

but quick note about the exams - they're really strict - during the first 30 min and last 30 min you can't turn in your papers/print out your papers or leave

and for the paper exams you write on carbon paper so you produce 4 copies of your exams o_o and they envelopes for turning in the exams and you use your CPR number (just an identification number) so your prof doesn't know your identity

the exams are also 4 hours long - and when they say 4 hours, they mean 4 hours - i used up all 4 hours for both of my exams @_@ i thought i would be able to finish early, but nope, these exams are suuper long

anyways, i went to Fotex after my managerial finance exam, ate lunch, then set off to go visit some chocolate boutiques

first i took the bus to Frederiksberg Chocolade on Frederiksberg Allé - they call this street the Champs Elysee of Copenhagen, but i honestly don't know why cause i've never been to the Champs Elysee haha

it's a really nice street though - lots of boutiques, cafes and trees

and here's Frederiksberg Chocolade!

i bought this nice box of chocolates - i figure this place is pretty legit since the ladies working there don't really speak English haha

i got to eat some samples too =) they were pretty good - nice and smooth and sweet but not tooo sweet - yumm~ the perfect therapy after insanely long exams
then walked to Summerbird Chokolaterieand i got to try a white chocolate flødeboller ("Theirs is perhaps the ultimate incarnation of this Danish confectionary favourite, being made with crisp, dark 'grand cru' chocolate domes, the traditional sweet, white filling as light as air, and a marzipan base") with passion fruit? filling - it was really good but would have been better if it was cold
i ended up buying mini chocolate ones
and also these almonds - one's covered in raspberry and the other covered in liquorice powder - i tried both and they're pretty good =)

after that, i rode the bus to Forum station and took the metro to Norreport to go to Sct. Peder's Bageri - it's really close to Sct. Peders Kirke, hence the name

too bad it was closed when i got there =(

i actually wandered around Norreport for a while cause i couldn't find the Norregade street and ended up making a huge circle back to the metro station, so i looked at the map and it turns out that my instincts were right at first cause i headed in the right direction but i decided to turn onto some other street (if i continued about 20 more meters i would have been on that street haha)

like the graffiti? haha

they don't really have name tags/plates up for their pastries so i ended up getting this huge thing haha

close up!

not as good as Lakagehuset, but still good - i'm really tempted to go back to Lakagehuset to eat another kartoffelkage

then i went Kongens Nytorv/downtown just to window shop and i also tried on some clothes at H&M just for the heck of it - i really like this one shirt so i'm gonna go back and get it!...if i have enough money left lol

random note: flowers are really cheap here - there's a lot of floral shops and at the one in front of Magasin department store you can buy 3 bouquets for 100 kr (around $16) - cheap right? it's so nice that you can buy a nice bouquet of flowers anytime you want cause they're so cheap - and a lot of people do buy flowers here

so after window shopping i went back to my dorm, ate, and then headed to Valby to get pictures/return a calculator/say bye to Gloria (since she's leaving Friday morning)

i did have some difficulties getting there though lol since i haven't been there in a really long time - i got off one bus stop too early and walked over there
and then nick told me the wrong combination to get into the first floor (it's 7351? but he told me 7531 -_-) so i stood outside the door for like 10 min trying to open it and gave up and knocked
luckily Fey came back at that time and pressed the right combination - Jericah also heard my knocking and opened the door though
but yea, frustration! haha

i really can't believe my time in Copenhagen is coming to an end - trying to soak it all in

tomorrow i'm going to Bon Bon Land though =) it should be interesting haha

the AMAZINGNESS that is Lagkagehuset!

ok i should be studying, but how could i possibly NOT make a blog post dedicated to the lovely pastries of Lagkagehuset after eating them?

first, i ate the pastry with chocolate on top

and it's not just all flaky pastry - there's a thin layer of custard at the bottom

all in all, pretty yummy =)

BUT what's even MORE amazing is this dusty brown thing

what is it you may ask? why, it's a Kartoffelkage! - quite possibly the most AMAZING thing on earth!...well maybe not, but to me, it's pretty close!

a description: "a flaky choux covered with a layer of crème pâtissière, which in turn is draped with a very thin rectangle of marzipan that is dusted with bitter cocoa powder"

my description: a pastry with custard inside topped with a lighter custard cream and a rectangle of marzipan and dusted with cocoa powder

i was smiling like an idiot every time i took a bite
quite like this in fact -> C:

"To be, or not to be

-that is the question"

lame beginning to a blog post, i know but that's the only quote i know from Hamlet! haha

and those of you who have read it, should know that it takes place in Denmark - specifically Kronborg Castle located in Helsingør

it is believed that an actor who performed at Kronborg met Shakespeare and told him about the castle, or Shakespeare visited the castle himself (the king was married to an English princess? so it is likely that he could have visited)
we went there on Friday (woke up at 7:50 am to meet the ISUP social program group at 9 am) by bus, and it was like the weather gods knew we were visiting, so they decided to make it cold and rainy

i don't think i'm going to say much about the castle/fortress except for a few things since i don't really remember lol and all i do remember is up on facebook

my general impression of the castle is that it's a pretty cool place except it does not even come close to the beauty of Frederiksborg Castle, although that would make sense since Frederiksborg Slot was built as a home for Christian IV rather than a defending fortress

Christian IV actually rebuilt Kronborg Slot after the fire so you can see his sign everywhere and the Baroque style architecture that he used (he actually asked his father if he could rebuild Kronborg but was rejected since he spend so much money on Frederiksborg, so he raised taxes and raised enough money to rebuild Kronborg)

i did, however, find Kronborg in this article - now i don't think i trust yahoo! travel that much anymore - cause Frederiksborg Castle is so much better

anyways, i'm glad i brought my thicker jacket - everyone was super cold (it was only around the mid-60s with wind and rain) but i wasn't =)

after touring the castle, i bought a cup with Shakespearean insults on it haha...except i found out later that you can buy it online from www.philosphersguild.com (which is where those Freudian slippers that mai showed me are sold too) but whatever - i checked it i bought it for around the same price - and plus, it's funny!

"I do desire we may be better strangers!" - i think i like that one the most

you can also go to Marienlyst Castle where you can see Ophelia's Well and Hamlet's grave (i don't know how that works since he's a fictional character) but we didn't go since it's pretty far away (don't forget it was rainy/cold/windy too)

we then walked to the town square/center and walked around to look for a nice cafe where we could sit and eat - i didn't buy lunch since i made a chicken sandwich for myself, but i did get a glass of yummy hot chocolate!

not too sweet and not too chocolaty =)

after lunch, we just kinda walked around and looked at stores - we passed by this amazing bakery with yummy pastries in the window

and it smells absolutely AMAZING inside ♥ ahh so nice =)i didn't buy anything though haha but other people did - Dora bought this lovely strawberry pastry

then we went to Helsingør Bycenter - a small shopping mall with an H&M inside and of course, i didn't buy anything since there isn't much on sale anymore - i don't think i'll be buying any more clothes since all the sales are ending (unless i really want something for regular price)

we split up since some of us wanted to go see the Helsingør Cathedral (me, Dora, Mario, Nick, and Dimitri?-don't know him that well)

we ended up at Sct. Mariae Kirke (Church of St. Maria) first although we didn't go inside...cause we didn't know if we could..and we didn't know how to get in haha

so we walked around this little courtyard inside - Nick said it reminded him of Harry Potter haha i guess it kinda does resemble the little courtyard in the movies

then we sat outside here on the benches for a little while before going to the cathedral

and here's Helsingør Domkirke!

after that, we walked around town some more and then headed back to the bus which took us back to Copenhagen where i spent the rest of the day and the next preparing for my exams = bleh :X

but today, i did go somewhere! i didn't go anywhere far since i still need to study, but around noon i went to Christianshavn to go back to that bakery we went to after the canal tour because when i backtracked through one of the sites i had bookmarked, one of them recommended that place - Lagkagehuset Bageri! i'm planning on going to the other one on Wednesday!

and i did indeed get the Kartoffelkage! but i'm not gonna eat it today

since i got this pastry too

looking forward to eating that (within the next hour) with a nice glass of tea ♥

after the bakery, i went grocery shopping and then came back to study some more

...and now i will resume studying X(

but i have prepared a break for pastry eating so it's ok! haha =D

oh yea, i changed the layout of the blog since i figure i should try to make it more Denmark-ish (more colorful) =)

Odense!

ok, i really should be preparing for my exam, but i realize that i really should write my blog entry on our trip to Odense

but before i begin, i'm wondering if my writing style bothers people ._. cause i read some of my friends' blogs and they all write in complete sentences with proper punctuation, capitalization and such so i'm wondering if the way i write is bothering people...but if it is, i'm still not going to change =P (at least i know the difference between there, they're, their and too, to, two!)

Tuesday - so i had class, but i left 30 min early to meet up with Dora and Amy (we were just reviewing in class - don't worry)

i did buy a mini sandwich and croissant from fotex before i went though - the croissant was sooooo good :)

we actually forgot to get off at Norreport and had to ride back one station lol looks like those 3 long days in Berlin made us forget the metro

anyways, our tickets were so expensive! X| i think it came out to be 396 dkk per person! but then again, Odense is pretty far away - you have to cross the sea to get there...that's probably why it was so expensive haha

it takes about 1 hour 15 minutes to get there by train

but i think it was worth a visit even though Odense is a really tiny town

our first stop (after wandering around cause we were a little lost): the H.C. Andersen Museum

the admission price is actually 60 dkk but "children" 0-17 yrs old get in free and i got away with being 17 yrs old =P yay for saving money! haha

all the pictures are up on facebook, so you can take a look there - but i honestly didn't know that H.C. Andersen wrote sooo many of the fairytales that i read when i was little! he wrote The Emperor's New Clothes, The Ugly Duckling, Thumbellina, The Princess and the Pea, and a lot of other stories

and i also found out that the book i read, Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier is based on one of his fairytales as well

we spent around an hour in the museum which included a history of his entire life with a couple artifacts, a library of his work translated into different languages (apparently they say he's the author with the work translated into the most languages - i think it was over 150?), a replica of his childhood home, and some of his paper cutouts (i thought they were really cool)

Dora and i also sat down and listened to a recording of The Emperor's New Clothes - it was pretty nice and childhood memories came back =)

then we headed outside to watch the show - it was basically a run down of some of his fairytales accompanied by song and dance and some words, but all the performers spoke in Danish

the narrator though spoke in Danish, English and German haha so after a slur of Danish, you'd hear, "The Princess and the Pea!" and then some German

my favorite is definitely the mini performance of The Emperor's New Clothes cause the guy who played the emperor was hilarious


so after this performance, we went to Sct. Albani Kirke and walked/sat around the garden behind it

and then we went to look at Hans Christian Andersen's childhood home, but since it was closed already we just looked at the outside

random note: while walking along the street, we heard someone blasting techno music from inside their apartment - A LOT of people listen to techno music here (i always hear it coming out of cars when i leave my window open)...it's kinda weird lol

next: shopping! =)

but like i said, it's a small town so there really wasn't anything to buy, but there was some interesting window shopping

i did get a strawberry and vanilla swirl of soft ice coated in chocolate =D

it was good except my experience was kinda ruined by the massive amount of flying ants (you know, those big ones with white wings?)/flies flying around the shopping street

so after that, we went to another church - Sct. Hans Kirke

it's near the King's Garden? and we were thinking about hanging out there but it turned out to be small and there weren't that many flowers either haha - we were like...this is it?

but even if it was nice, we really wanted to get away from all the flying ants

i really like visiting the churches here cause they're so beautiful - you don't really see churches with beautiful carvings and such in the US

Dora saw that there was a museum for Denmark's most famous composer? and we walked to the museum which is also near the Odense Concert Hall
the museum had already closed so once again, we just looked inside lol

then we took the train back to CPH and ate at some restaurant in Norreport that all the ISUP students seem to know about cause it's cheap Sat-Tues haha

if you buy a drink, everything else is 50% off so i bought a frozen limonade that had lime, lemon, ice, elderflower, and MINT in it =) it kinda tasted like something you'd be able to drink at a Vietnamese restaurant or something but it was still pretty tasty despite it's weird green color

my meal was a big plate of really really really really really good lasagna =) it was nice and hot and the cheese wasn't that heavy and the inside was like some cannellonis that i ate in a good Italian restaurant in Austin

so yup, i finished the whole thing cause it was that good =)

then we headed back to Porcelaenshavn with really full stomachs!

random note: another thing that i noticed (i don't know if i've mentioned it before since i always forget what random tidbits i've written and which ones i have written haha) is that people in grocery stores place the "next customer" divider thing after they place their things on the conveyor belt (so i'd place the divider between my things and the customer after me)

i have no idea if this is just their way of dividing things or being nice to the person after them - i just thought i was interesting since we always place the divider between our own things and the person before us in line

while i'm here, i'll just write about what i did yesterday (Thursday) - i went to Kongens Nytorv after class to look at the sales one last time (didn't buy anything cause there isn't really anything left worth buying)

but i did buy a ridiculously yummy tasting belgian waffle with soft ice on top =) haha more ice cream!

looks yummy right? :D it was

then back home to work on marketing...which i should be doing now - i read information about our exams and we have to be in the examination room 30 min before the exam or we can't take it! 30 min??? i have no idea why we even need to be there that early considering the exam lasts 4 hours but oh well, i'll have to be there at early next week!