Shopping....again?! bwahaha + International Dinner

yea i can't get enough of shopping - especially when it's shopping in downtown Copenhagen cause you can still go just to window shop and look at the buildings or hang around Nyhavn in the nice weather =)

but first things first - class! managerial finance with my eccentric teacher - i find that i'm scared when he talks to me cause i have absolutely no idea what to say lol

then met up with people and went to the Fotex in Frederiksberg Centret to buy stuff for the International Dinner - we decided to split making Vietnamese spring rolls even though only Gloria is Vietnamese

i'm not gonna gossip on here just in case anyone who's here in CPH with me just...happens to read this but yea i'll say we had a clash in personalities during this shopping trip

and then i met up with another friend so we could go meet Dora at Porcelainshavn and turn in the housing forms, but turns out that she was at the Fotex i just left so we went to go meet her at the Frederiksberg metro station


rode the metro to Kongens Nytorv station and went shopping! =)
first H&M then Topshop (which again, there's nothing to buy) and then to the souvenir shop (they have lots of cute stuff there like I <3> Christian Andersen's fairy tales (he's a Danish poet/author who wrote children's stories)

then to the 2nd HUGER and more awesome H&M (totally not going to the other H&M anymore since this one has so much more stuff) and the ZARA!

bought my sister a tanktop/tshirt 2-in-1 thing (basically a tshirt and tanktop comes together) and it said 59 dkk so that's a pretty good deal i though - but when the lady rang it up, the total turned out to be 49 dkk! awesome possum (that's around $8! - you can't even get that kind of deal in the ZARA in Houston)

then when we were walking back to the station we saw Danish bboys - some of them were pretty old and they had pretty interesting music - it wasn't strictly hip hop and like rap or anything - just like Danish dance-type music i guess and then that "i like to move it move it" song came one but that's expected since it came from Europe (...am i right? or am i thinking about another song? lol)they're pretty good i guess - i mean, they're not bad

so by the time i got back to Porcelainshavn, it was around 4:30 pm and i guessed Gloria didn't really need any help making the spring rolls anymore - whoops sorry Gloria! but she said it was ok

then hung out in my room and stuff until the international dinner started at 6 and then ate lots of different things - some Americans bought McDonalds lol (but that must have cost a lot o_o)

then hung around and then some of us went to my room in order to plan our trip to Lego Land, but it was waaaay too expensive for a train/plain/whatever ticket to get there so we abandoned that plan and decided to go to Tivoli tomorrow!

then met up with other people again and then we decided to go to King's Garden to sit and drink and stuff but on our way, we bumped into people who were going to hang out on the roof, so we went to 7/11 to buy drinks and then went back to go hang out on the roof (i didn't buy any drinks fyi - i'd rather spend my money on clothes than beer and vodka - one guy bought a bottle of smirnoff vodka - i think it was 40% and it was 80? dkk o_o)

so yea - hung out on the roof (i didn't have my camera, but i believe Claire took some pictures)

then went back to my room around 9:30 pm and voila here i am - really tired and getting ready to go sleep...while other people are out partying
some of the other people went to a club and i think one girl said they were going to a bar that has free beer at a certain time (except you pay a cover charge, so technically you're paying for the beer - but it's still cheaper)
yea, i'm not much of a drinker or a partyer so i chose to not to go and left the roof party with some other friends (they're from Singapore) who wanted to go back to their residence too

random note: my German friend, Mario said that when you drink and don't look people in the eye when you say cheers, it means 7 years of bad sex lol he says he wasn't kidding and that's what it really means in Germany

random note 2: a friend from Austria managed to convince two of my other friends that his plaid shirt represented his country's colors lol they actually believed him haha and it had like yellow, green, and stuff on it (just obvious colors that are NOT Austrian)

Christiania!....that place is so creepy

ok so i thought today was going to be a resting day but nope, that's not what was in store for me

woke up at 11:30 though - slept in

watched pretty little liars (it's actually pretty good show - i really like it lol)

went to class at 2:25 pm and then the professor bored me for the next 2.5 hours (omg he's so boring and it's even worse since you have to listen to him drone on and on for 2.5 hrs)

went to Frederiksberg Centret again with Gloria after class

then while i was walking back, i bumped into Dora, who was going with people from her floor to Christiania - i wasn't planning on going anywhere but what the heck right? there's a group of people going so i dropped off my stuff and then went

as you walk further away from the metro station, it gets more and more ghetto lol with posters on the wall and graffiti and stuff - yea this place is pretty shady



OK here's the interesting stuff

took this picture and then another tourist guy tells me that they don't let you take pictures, so you should put your camera away - i say thank you for telling me

but you know, he really didn't need to tell me since there were basically ten million huge signs saying NO PHOTOS and no camera signs were painted on the walls of buildings

so you wanna know why you can't take pictures?

well, they sell marijuana there and you can sit there and smoke it and stuff - one girl told me that it used to be legal to smoke there (and only there) but then like last year they made marijuana illegal and then the police started patrolling the area, but since people still did it, they just don't patrol there anymore
i don't know if it's right, but there's lots of weed stands there

so i guess that's why you can't take pictures

yea so while students bought marijuana and sat there and smoked it (notice -students- not me - some of them really knew what they were doing....some girl even knew if one bag smelled fresher than the other....hmm yea i wouldn't know) me and some other girls just kinda stood there and talked and soaked in the atmosphere and tried to imprint it into our minds since we really won't be going back (well i might go with other people who haven't been - not sure)

so i learned more about drugs today than i did in two years of college - i saw how you roll up the weed and wrap it up and how smelly it is (to me, it's like a flat stinky smell)

there's lots of interesting signs there...

if i remember correctly, there's a "sunshine cafe" but it really didn't look all that sunshine-y to me - one girl commented that if you're high, everything will look sunshine-y! haha (there's also a sign there that says "if you show your tits get a joint?pint? (i forget this part but it's not important) free!"

and then there's "say no to hard drugs!" cause you know, hard drugs are the only drugs you should say no to

and then there's this little shopping square place with shop stands and there's so rather interesting things - there was a homer simpson shirt with him holding all these cigarettes and we found marijuana socks! lol they're socks that say Christiania on it and they have marijuana leaves on it

and there's like a lot of stands that seem to have like Jamaican-like stuff - there was some cute dolls (they look like those voodoo dolls that were really popular in asia but kinda different)

the people who hang out there are basically like those hippies/homeless people on the drag and some young people who basically look like they're up to no good and then some tourists mixed in there haha i saw a couple kids too - seems like it's not that bad - but it's still safer to go with a group

except one girl said she saw a woman who's eye was bleeding o_o and then this other girl saw a dude with no teeth

yea - once in a lifetime! i probably? won't go again haha

but it's still definitely worth a visit cause it's an interesting place (and for those who do smoke weed, you can try some Danish weed) and a different part of copenhagen - but try to at least go with a group or else it'll be kinda scary haha

ok so then after that, i ate a danish hot dog!

the sauce inside seems to be like mayonnaise or something

but anyways they stick the sausage inside a bun - and there's also regular hot dogs (the buns are so small compared to those in the US haha)

then rode the metro back to Porcelainshavn (where i live...dunno if i mentioned that)

and then Dora and I went to Valby (pronounced "val-boo" apparently - not "val-bee"), where our other friends are staying and watched Valentine's Day

and since it's Claire's birthday, we drank some wine (i think it was some italian red wine)

and then came home around 11 pm -kinda late but it's ok!

time to sleep! nighty night - today was definitely an unexpectedly interesting day

random note: apparently Norwegian sounds basically the same as Danish

beach + shopping!

okie dokie - woke up at 8 am today to find out i got into the MPA program! yay!

then wasted time scrambling around trying to figure which courses i need to register for (cause you know, registration is terrible at UT)

...but then later found out that they needed to change my major first before i could register - my apologies to my sister lol

then went to class - managerial finance (apparently this is easier than corporate finance - but they both count for FIN357)

anyways - my professor is pretty eccentric...and kinda ADD - he repeats a lot like..."first you-you-you sell the product on credit............you sell the product on credit *walk towards board* you sell the product on credit and you have accounts receivable....you sell the product on credit and.....and and you have accounts receivables"

ok it's something along those lines - needless to say class went kinda slow but he's pretty funny - and he grew up in Dallas and went to ATM (that's right, i typed ATM cause that's how it looks like - booooo) but now he teaches at Florida...State University? i think - and he has a huge southern accent when he talks really fast haha

oh yea, did i mention we get two breaks in our classes? and i went out on the balcony during a break (that's right, a balcony - do we have balconies right outside our classrooms at UT? i don't think so)



then met up with people and ate lunch at the canteen - ate the famous CBS bagel sandwiches (idk why it's famous, but my friend said so) and it's pretty cheap considering that this is Denmark (31 dkk - around $5)

then i got my metro pass for the month + a couple days
then we went to the beach! my friend Gloria and i didn't want to walk in the sand so we just walked around and took pictures

then we left to go downtown to go shopping! =)

oh yea, H&M had a cool Lady Gaga display and they have shirts and bags with her on it

then we walked around and stuff - then went to King's Garden (i think that was supposed to be the last place for the treasure hunt, but we abandoned that to watch the soccer game so yea)

then went to Nyhavn again and ate a crepe

then we wanted ice cream so we went to get ice cream - but at the first stand there was obviously some miscommunication cause the old guy told us 25 kroner - we thought it was 35 kroner like the sign said but he said 25 kroner

so we gave him 25 kroner - he then pushes back my 20 kroner coin and we tell him it's a kroner - he examines my 20 kroner coin, puts it back, and picks it up and i have NO idea what the hell he was doing cause it was kroner so yea

then he tells us 25 kroner - and we told him "that's 25 kroner!" and he pushes the 20 kroner back at me and i'm totally confused cause there's 25 kroner there and then he tells us to give another 20 kroner? and i'm like..."35 kroner?" and he says "25 kroner!"

ok yea so these danish dudes obviously don't speak english - maybe they thought thirty was twenty? i have no idea cause the sign clearly says 35 dkk but he kept asking for 25 dkk

then Gloria tries to pay in US dollars but they don't have enough change - and their exchange rate was $1=5 dkk so it was $7 so that's freakin expensive

at this point i ask Gloria if we can just not buy it anymore cause it's been sitting there melting for the past 5 minutes while

and then he takes my 25 dkk and her dollar and blah blah i dunno - at this point i want to leave the ice cream

i don't know if Gloria asked if we could just not buy it, but the dude crumples up the ice cream and throws it away and we leave

Gloria told me that he just told us to leave, but i'm glad cause no way am i paying for melted ice cream (it was already pretty melty when he scooped it out too)

so we went to another ice cream place and the dude told us the soft ice cream there was the best and better than the US cause it was fresher

well it certainly tasted fresher - not like sugar and watery milk mixed together

then we went back to my dorm so i could give her the pictures we took today since Gloria forgot hers

and now i'm tired but need to read a crap load for marketing...i have no idea about finance though cause my professor didn't say anything

oh yea, i discovered that my feet got tanned and now have diamond shapes on them cause that's how my shoes look like - so now it looks like i have dark splotches on my feet =\ i mean if you look at it, it's criss-crossy so it kinda looks neat but yea...splotches

random note: after danish high school students graduate, they ride around town on a bus honking and blowing whistles and cheering and stuff - it's pretty annoying lol and i think some? or all? i dunno but some of them have these sailor-like hats that they wear and you can see a whole bunch of teenagers walking around with them on

first day of class!

i hope i don't end up writing a blog entry about every single day - that'd be kind of a waste of time right?

i'll stick to mini updates if nothing really happens

so first things first - went on a campus tour in the morning

Copenhagen Business School is soooo awesome! just take a look at these pictures - i love the architecture! why can't UT buildings be this cool? why can't McCombs be this cool?

this is just one building - Solbjerg Plads





and my most favorite place is their library!! it's so awesome!

is this not absolutely awesome?

and there's another building but i didn't take pictures of the inside - maybe i'll do it later

and then i went to my introduction to marketing class - where the professor is nice, but he didn't really lecture =\ just kinda talked and went off on a tangent
i learned a few things about ikea though - ikea is an acronym for the dude who founded it + his address
and my professor pronounces ee-kay-uh - no idea if that's right cause other Europeans in the room said eye-kee-ah

and then i went to Frederiksberg Centret shopping mall! it's right behind Solbjerg Plads


and i went shopping in H&M! they were having a sale =)
i also heard some interesting music in there - jb's eeny meenie mini mo lover song played too

and i bought these
socks were 20 dkk and shirt was 50 dkk = not bad right? =D

didn't buy that much cause i wanted to save money and there wasn't that much on sale stuff to buy...cause they're such big sizes - only the smallest sizes were left of that polka dot shirt

then went grocery shopping at fotext - then walked to the other fotex to get more stuff and then to fakta to get cereal cause i couldn't find any at all in fotex

and then came home, made my dinner of bruschetta + bread and salad

homesick? definitely not

so i was right - that rather nasty trip to Denmark (courtesy of Continental airlines) definitely bogged me down

now? i'm a rather happy camper

Day 1 (cause you know, yesterday doesn't count)
woke up and went grocery shopping with my friend Dora at fakta

which is one of the few things that are open on a sunday

and i bought a bottle of pure orange juice, some jam, bread, a bag of frozen bolognese pasta, and some toilet paper haha - all of which cost around 94 dkk (around $15)




and then i ate my brunch consisting of some of that bolognese pasta (which was quite good)

then Dora and i walked to Forum metro station and Dora stopped by a bakery to get a pastry



and then bumped into some people at Forum metro station that we met yesterday and then we took the metro to Kongens Nylorv metro station which is basically downtown and then started the treasure hunt

first stop of the treasure hunt: the Royal Theatre aka Det Kongelige Teater

(it's that building on the left)

couldn't really take any close up pictures of it since there was construction around it

2nd stop: New Harbor aka Nyhavn
it was built in the 1670s by Swedish soldiers and used to be a red light district with strip clubs and stuff but then they wanted to clean it up so now there's only one strip club left and there's also a bar named Hong Kong that's open 24 hours and only closes for 15 minutes in order to clean up the place

3rd stop: the Royal Palace aka Amalienborg Plads

this is where the crown prince and his wife live

and this is where the queen lives and the flag isn't up so she isn't home - apparently they royal family is at their summer house

this is a guest house

4th stop: Frederickskirken or Marmorkirken ("the Marble Church" - even though only the base is made out of marble)

inside

the dome

after this, half our group went to Ofelia Beach to watch the game on a big screen
and the rest of us walked around some more - supposedly to the next stop but it was far away so we ended up stopping by a grocery store where some people bought stuff

and then we went to go watch the game - which was worth ditching the treasure hunt haha

look at the huge screen and people!

and Germany scores! there were actually lots more people standing up - and some people threw up confetti too haha i believe there were more German fans than England fans

then we went to a pizza place and got pizza - shared a Vegetariana? pizza with my friend Gloria

and since we took it to go we ate it while sitting next to the harbor - nice right?

and then rode the metro back to Fasanvej Solbjerg and walked back to Porcelaenshavn

oh yea, did i mention that the weather was super nice? except it got hot at times since there were no clouds
but yea, a nice 70-ish degrees =D

uh i think this is gonna be one of the longer blog entries - i probably won't write that much for some other ones - i guess it'll depend on how much time i have

disastrous

ok i already feel a little home sick but i think it's cause of my disastrous trip here

let's start with friday when i woke up at like 8:30 am and couldn't go back to sleep

took another shower haha and watched portugal v. brazil game which was quite boring..fell asleep in the second half

checked out of the hotel at 12

ate lunch at the airport

read magazines at borders/looked around

then sat and read while waiting to board my flight

i think these 24 hours all alone with like nobody to talk to contributes to my already home-sickness - darn you continental!

board plane - read, watched the proposal again and slept for like an hour, watched how to train your dragon (it's a pretty cute movie) and csi: ny and 30 rock

random observations:
- i was one out of like...2-3 asians on that flight
- danish (maybe europeans in general?) teens/youth eat a lot (for dinner, the danish people around me ate everything - like EVERYTHING - the two girls next to me, the three people across from me, and the girl diagonally from me - yea, they all had empty trays!...i felt bad lol)
- not sure what nationality, but teenage boys wear lots of plaid (some dude was wearing plaid shorts with a plaid shirt)

then i arrive at the airport, wait a long time to get our passports and stuff looked at (there were only 4 people working! but then again it was a saturday morning)

went to baggage claim only to find my big suitcase MISSING

talk to service people so they can find it

go into the terminal where no one from the business school is waiting since they were only there on friday - there were also people with video cameras and they started interviewing some people...dunno who they were =\ some band? soccer players (i don't think so though)?

wander around - go to the 7/11 to buy a phone card, walk to hilton hotel just to check to see if CBS was there - they weren't so i took a taxi

got to the dorm, some people told me the office is closed but i went in and it turns out some girls were waiting for someone to come cause one of the girls got robbed o_o

met one of the ISUP people and her parents who were very nice

FINALLY GET TO MY DORM

unpack a little

sleeeep

went to info meeting at 3 pm - i almost fell asleep during some of the speeches

welcome buffet - met some people

went back to dorm room and unpacked and yea i didn't go to the welcome party but my friend Dora said it wasn't that great

ok so these few crappy-ish days will hopefully be erased from my memory

random note: is therapy a common thing in Denmark/Europe? cause the father of the ISUP person asked the girl who got robbed if she went to therapy and told her that she should go in order to get the stress out and stuff...hmm interesting