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) =)