I can't believe it's been over a month since I posted!

So let's see...what happened in the past month...

During the first week of October, we went on our long study tour to Brussels, the Hague, and Amsterdam. Despite the 14 hour bus ride, it was a fun little journey. We got to watch this really popular Danish movie called "Terkel i Knibe" and let me tell you...what a random movie! Basically, there is a scene in the movie where this overweight girl jumps out of a window because she is constantly being made fun of and everyone cheers when she dies. Hmm...and this is a children's movie?

In Brussels, we stayed at Maison du Dragon hotel, which is a Chinese hotel...they served lo mein noodles for breakfast...legitimately...I tried it one morning, and that was a mistake--way too heavy and greasy for breakfast. Fortunately, they also had a "European Continental" breakfast as well, consisting of meats and cheeses. It really makes me miss US breakfast...I can't wait for Christmas brunch and brunch with the grandparents! I feel like we live like Kings at home considering our breakfast and bathroom differences.

China or Belgium?!

While we were in Brussels, it poured every single day and night, definitely putting a damper on our fun there. I wish I could have explored the area more, but between the rain and lack of phone (as all Blackberries lost service while in Brussels), it was a bit more difficult. One thing I did get to notice was that we were across the street from 3 strip clubs and that Brussels has some great beer bars. We went to one bar, called Delirium, that offered 2004 beers! I tried a strawberry beer and it was actually tasty--I never thought I would like a beer!

Other than that, it seems to me that Brussels is more of a commuter city, not too much going on except for EU stuff...which was awesome! We were able to visit the Commission, Parliament, Council of MInisters, and the Danish permanent representative in COREPER. All of the buildings were really pretty, especially the Parliament. We even got to witness a farmer's protest on the milk crisis in the EU...tractors and farmers galore!

In the Hague, we visited the Former Republic of Yugoslavia Criminal Tribunal. We were able to watch a trial take place against former government heads from Yugoslavia who had allegedely ordered the death and destruction of many. It was pretty interesting...we watched this one witness who kept changing his story and it seemed obvious that he was being paid or threatened to change since he originally was against the defendants, but then he was for...

After the Hague, we traveled to Amsterdam and stayed for about 5 hours of free time. Amsterdam was so gorgeous! I was not expecting much except a red light district area, but instead I was blown away. All of the canals and foilage were beautiful. And the houses there too....so cute. It reminded me of the Nyhavn area of Copenhagen. While in Amsterdam, I was able to visit the Anne Frank museum, which was amazing. They had her actual diary that she wrote in and it was just so moving. I highly reccommend it. After that, my friends and I found something called "The Dutch Bakery" where we got Dutch pancakes which were like crepes the size of three heads. I had mine with apples, cinnamon ice cream, and chocolate sauce. We were also able to do a canal tour before heading off in search of the red light district (since we were there at night). After a long time of searching we finally found "coffee shops" and "ladies of the night" who literally stand in this glass room waiting for men to buy them. It was so sad to see...The area was much to smoky for me so my friend and I left after about 30 minutes of exploring the area and went to look for dinner.

A View from our Canal Tour

Finally, it was time for us to all leave and start our 12 hour journey back to Copenhagen. I made sure to get to the bus early to get my own seat so I could try to sleep...not a success :( But at least once I got home I was able to take a nice long nap. Except of course, I lost my key and had to unpack my whole suitcase to find out it was actually where I thought it was originally.

Since being back, the work load has been a bit unruly. It has been our midterm week(s) since then and I had way too many tests and papers all at once. Fortunately, I was able to combine my 2 ten page papers which will be due at the end of November. However, I have been able to have a bit of fun...like on the 18th of October I was able to go to Legoland. It was about a 3 1/2 hour drive there, but it was worth it. I can't believe how incredibly creative the workers there are! There was the statue of liberty, Mt. Rushmore, Taj Mahal, White House, Nasa Station, and of course replicas of many major cities in Europe, like Nyhavn (Copenhagen), Amsterdam, London, Scotland..It was awesome! And it was the first day where it was not frigidly cold outside so that was nice.

This was huge...size of a two story house and it's ALL legos!!

As for what has been happening more recently...we just started our 2 week fall break. So far one week of it has gone by. The week started with some of Tri Delts coming to stay with me for Sensation White, which is this HUGEEEE rave of like 30,000 people all dressed in white. It was so much fun, except that I somehow caught a fever and had to go back early. We also went to the ICE BAR!!! It was so cool! I never wanted to leave, we're definitely going back :)

The next day, Tim and I left early for Budapest, Hungary. We stayed at a hostel with non-working elevators and were four flights up (I fortunately was able to have the guy carry up my suitcase). In Budapest, we were able to go to a Turkish bath which was amazing! Although it was like 30 degrees out there, we were able to rent bathing suits from the bath and ran outside to get into this olympic size hot tub....it was so nice and hot that all you could see was steam. There were fountains everyone that acted like a massage...so relaxing! We fortunately went early, so there was not as many people there except for some elderly folks. Then inside the bath, there were like 15 other tubs, all different temperatures, ranging from freezing to hottt! There were also two saunas, which were nice to dry off in since we were towel less. After the bath, we soon discovered that all the museums were closed on a Monday...so we opted to go to a mall, since it seemed like our only option. The mall we found seemed a bit sketchy at first as it was only had some food markets. Somehow after a half hour of exploring, we found the inner mall...which had six levels!! It seemed like it went on forever. After walking around for a bit, we found an AMF bowling alley (it had the same pictures and videos and everything from our AMF!) They even played the Greenbay-Minnesota game! After some bowling (where we both scored 84 and 89) we watched the game for awhile and then decided it was time to find dinner.

On Tuesday, we went to the TERROR museum which was all about the reign of terror brought on by the Nazis and then the USSR afterwards. I had no idea how much Hungary was a part of Nazism and Socialism. It is so sad to learn about the terror this people brought to a nation, but overally it was a great museum. We also went to a Hungarian agriculture museum, kind of by mistake, but I learned that through the domestication of the pig, the Hungarians were able to extend the pig's spine by 3 vertibrae, making better pork! Interesting! :)

Later that day, we had our flight to Prague, Czech Republic. Here we were able to stay with our friends Krista and Lauren for part of the time. Prague was amazing--my new favorite city! The night life was so great especially considering we were there Tuesday through Thursday morning. We went to a club made entirely out of car parts (yet we called in the computer club??). There I met this Czech girl who used to nanny in Potomac and she knew me from Club Beverly Farms as the dancer! So crazy! She nannied for a family on Tuckerman.  What a small world!

As for sights we saw, we did like a five hour walking tour where we got to see a lot major things, like the Palace, the Jewish quarter, and different galleries. We also were able to see the Astronomical Clock in Old Town Square, which every hour puts on a little show. Including movement of the clock, a trumpet player, and then 2 men who sword fight. Quite random, I would like to know the history behind it, haha.

After Prague, Tim, Jen, and I took a train to Vienna. And that's where I am now. Except, most currently I am sitting in the terminal of the Vienna Airport waiting to board my flight to Istanbul. Vienna was such a beautiful city. I definitely felt at home here and would love to return when the weather is a bit better. From my travels, I have decided that I would like to learn German next. In Vienna, we did a lot of walking around and met a lot of cool people. One guy we met was from South Carolina and is taking a year from his life to just travel. I wish I could have the courage to do that...

As for what we saw, we went to the Music House, which had this intereactive music museum that was awesome. I was pleasantly surprised.

Denmark: The Happiest Country in the World

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=3841772n

Post Oktoberfest

So now that Oktoberfest has come and gone,it's time to reflect. I'm sitting here in the Muncih airport, waiting to board my flight in about a half hour. And well, Oktoberfest...definitely an experience that everyone should have. Imagine leederhosens galore, beer after beer after beer...., odd colored sausages, pretzels, and kisses everywhere!

Tim and woke up around 630 to get ready, eat a quick breakfast, some mimosas to start off and then begin our trek to the tents. When we arrived at the tents, we went immediately past the fair/carnival rides in search for the Hofbrau tent, aka HB. We got in line, which was already SO long and were really anxious to get in (it was a little after 8 by then). Then after part one of the line, we waited again (and we were literally second to go in) for another twentyish minutes.

Then we found out after a bunch of German was yelled that they weren't opening this door for at least another hour and we needed to go to the opposite side. Once we finally got in, we just sprinted in to get a table since you can't get served otherwise. We finally managed to get a table on the upper deck and we ran into some fellow Richmonders who joined us. So it was six of us, this young Japanese couple and two German couples who kept to themselves. It was a good time hahaha

Unfortunately by 1030 everyone was kicked out of the top since it was apparently reserved. So all of us had to go and wait outside again for another hour to try and get in. By this time we all needed to use the bathroom and that was a huge setback--the lines for the bathroom...ABSURD. Only 3 stalls for the girls, so everyone just started peeing in line...not so sanitary!

Finally we were all sick of waiting so we tried to sneak in or flirt or bribe our ways in. One girl got in for ten euro and a wink, but they rest of us managed to get in for free. Some waitress saw us and felt bad and grabbed my elbow and pulled us in...hahaha it was great since the security guard next to us had just told us no. So we bought beer from here and big tips because it was so nice of her.

Anywho, I ended finding a bunch of Deltas and we all had a great time together. Our day was full of beer intertwined with random pretzel bites and tap water. Guys kept joining us and wanting to take photos or get to know us but it was kind of creepy... Everyone was so into kissing everyone--not my cup of tea!

By the end of the night I had scored a free pasta and free beer. The next thing I knew was I looked at my phone and it was 9PM. By then, it was time to eat, try and take a Hofbrau liter mug and sleep. Myself, alice and jen left together and went to a little bar bistro by their hotel. Then I went back and headed to sleep so I could wake up and fly back to the good 'ol CPH DKK :)

Afeitazen!

PS,
My gate check-in guy, he is wearing leederhosen....

In Munich, counting down the hours until the big day!

So I have just landed here in Munich and decided to just do a quick little update while I wait for Sam and Tim to arrive here as well--both their flights are getting in I believer fifteen minutes later, so perfect timing :)

As for my flight...very interesting! After my embarrassing overly dramatic breakdown/ freak out over the travel warnings to germany, I psyched myself up for the trip. Talking with DIS and mom made me feel a lot better. Anywho, my flight...oh boy. The only thing I can think to compare it to was a frat boy reunion/airlines you see in male comedy movies. It was a bunch of Scandavian men, some dressed normally others in no joke, leederhosen (sorry, just sounded it out). Everyone was walking around, drinking, and having a good time on our hour and a half flight. It was certainly the noisiest flight I've ever experienced, but fun. Just what I needed after my morning panic.

Anywho, it was a bunch of guys with long blonde hair (overly gelled I may add), dressed well and taking photos of one another in funny sleeping positions. One guy who was sitting in the row across the aisle from me was seriously like a paprazzi.

Other than that, it was pretty uneventful. I just read The Pact and tried to study Danish for my test Monday.

Updates soon after the big festivities!!!!!

Drugs, History, and a Reality Check

I guess where I left off was just about 2 weeks ago! I did fortunately make it back and got to go to Ikea. Granted I have never gone to Ikea in the US, but let me tell you--hugeeee! It was basically an amusement park of furniture. I have never seen so many different chairs, lamps, storage units, etc.. All I really wanted was a full length mirror, I know, so vain, but it's so hard to not know what you fully look like! Anywho, I ended up buying a mirror, a new larger pillow, bedding (a duvet cover, pillow case), some kitchenware things like a baking pan, and of course a ton of hangers--but I still didn't get enough!

Of course it would have been nice if I actually thought about how I would have to transport everything home...I was struggling through Copenhagen with all of this and finally managed my way home with only breaking a corner of the mirror. But I definitely love me bed--so much more snuggly and pillowy :) With this inspiration I was able to hang my 89 photos I printed before leaving so I am feeling much more at home in my room.

Then on Wednesday, the 9th, I had a double field study, one at 9:30 to the Danish Parliament and one at 1:10 to Christiania, which is that hippie town Mrs. Kramer talked about (Mom). The Parliament is really neat- so much history, but still very present. Each Prime Minister gets to choose an artist to have paint a portrait of them, and it was cool to see that some men chose very abstract artists, while others were very basic. But also, one of the best things there was that they have a sort of like, revolving elevator, meaning it never stops. It's basically a shaft you climb into when it comes up (there is no door) and it moves through all the floors without stopping, meaning you just jump out of it on your floor...can't imagine handling that every morning in heels!

As for Christiania...I could not live there, but I can see the appeal. In a basic sense, it is a little town made of the men and women who moved to the Christianhavn island when the military base left there. It is very controversial because Christianhavn is a veryyyy nice area--the most expensive real estate in Copenhagen (so probably in Denmark, but I don't know for sure). It's right on the water and very high end. But these squatters who claimed the land, pay nothing to live there and refuse to leave, despite different government demands over time. And the big thing is well, it's a big drug town. They believe very much in pot and hash, but are "Strongly against hard drugs." I took a picture of the rules:

I think my favorite is no bullet proof clothing? I would like to know the story behind that one...But in Christiania, you can't really take pictures, there are a ton of no picture signs. There was a news story this past week about a journalist getting beaten up for taking photos and not turning in his camera. Apparently there are big "bodyguard" types who protect Christiania from photographers and police. For some reason the police aren't really allowed to enter? But the big pull in Christiania is there is "Pusher Street," which is exactly what it is. It's where everyone can buy weed and hash, somewhat discreetly, but actually not at all. When I was with my class, we saw big bricks of what I guess was hash? I don't really know what hash is, just only heard of it so I assume it was that--at first I thought it was chocolate, oops! Haha.

Also, we got a guided tour throughout Christiania and I must admit--beautiful! It was very interesting to see children were running around with little to no clothes on in the day care center and that many people just seemed to drugged up, but the community is definitely very art friendly and seems to care about each other. But get this--so no one pays for the house, which means you don't own it, which means you can get kicked out at any point and be left homeless. Our guide was telling us that the town hall decides who can and cannot live in Christiania (you must apply to live here, you can't just set up camp..some have tried and were introduced to the bodyguards). If the town hall decides you can't live there they go to that house and kick you out. It seems ironic since Christiania was founded on a free love environment. But to each their own...

But that day was nice because I got to know Emily and Tim, who I have become pretty good friends with. We have both those classes together so we hung out, calling ourselves jokingly the Tripod. It was good that we got to know each other since literally, none of us could name one person in our European Politics class, which is the class we go on all of our travel tours with.

Speaking of which, that Thursday we left for our first short study tour. We left from Copenhagen at 8:30 to drive to the ferry, which we took to Lübec, Germany, which is apparently on the list of 1,000 places you must see before you die. In Lübec, we went to the Willy Brandt museum, who was a Nazi resistance leader. We also had a nice tour of Lübec from a man who had the most serious mustache:

The side view from the start of our tour

Here he is, at a 600 year old restaurant (where we ate when we arrived-wish I had known at the time to appreciate it more!) Here are more views of the restaurant:

A 400 year old table!

The restaurant name ^

Here are other pictures of Lübec:

And here is a piece of the Berlin Wall, at the Willy Brandt museum--very cool I thought!

Then we left for Hamburg on Friday, which is definitely a larger city with more stuff to do. I wish we could have had a lot of time there, but we were able to extend our stay, but not for the night since we were supposed to stay at a hostel in Sønderborg, Denmark (very southern part).

While in Hamburg, we went to their Parliament to hear about their relations with the EU. I also got to try my very first Schnitzel! Not bad...it reminded me sooo much of Milanesa from Argentina. In fact, I'm pretty positive it is the same idea. Lightly breaded thin meat. I went to the grocery store when I went back to Copenhagen and bought chicken schnitzel. I really wanted to get a pretzel while in Germany, but never did :( But hey, OKTOBERFEST IN 5 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay Richmond reunion!!

Oh and also, while we were in Hamburg, we saw a pro-Nazi and anti-Nazi march. It was so intense to see a pro-Nazi march! We briefly walked with the anti-Nazi march while walking to meet the bus.

Once we arrived in Sønderborg that night, we tried to find a place to go out. So a bunch of us walked for about 25 minutes and found a hopping little street where we first to Penny Lane, which was a Beatles tribute bar, where we met some Icelandic guys, who then took us to MexiBar....as sketchy as it sounds. We stayed there for about 12 minutes and left for our walk back to the hostel. And let me say, I hope to not stay in too many hostels...I could not help but think about all the hygienic problems with them....Thank goodness I brought my own sheets :)

On Saturday morning, we went to a lecture on German-Danish relations at Southern Denmark University, which was pretty interesting and then we went to the "Danish Gettysburg," even though the death toll was not even a quarter of Gettysburg. But it is where Denmark lost a huge part of their territory to Germany in 1864, I believe? Here is a photo from the fields:

After that, we drove a ways to go to an art museum, which I think was dedicated to Arne Jacobsen who was a famous Danish chair designer. It was a very contempary museum with lots of chairs.  He created the egg chair and lots of chairs that are kind of funky that are veryyyy common. Here's an example:

After that, we traveled back to good ol' Denmark. That night Emily and I just hung out and had a good time. And then it was back to the grind when Sunday came. This past week was pretty basic. On Tuesday, it was Emily's birthday, so I helped plan her birthday dinner at her kollegium. We made our cobb salad (yesssss!), a creamy curry chicken, and I bought a bunch of Danish bakery desserts for her cake. I think it was a good time for all. Then we all went downtown to go out since she hadn't been out yet and we definitely got her to have some fun :)

Then on Wednesday I had a field study at an Islamic art museum at 8:30, and another tour of Parliament, but I also got to hear a very enlightening talk on Turkey-EU relations (since my field study was for my Turkey at a Crossroads course). Our speaker was very diplomatic in her talk, and helped sway me a bit to accepting Turkey into the EU. Right now, however, I don't think I really think it is the time for them to join. There are so many variables, like it will be the 3rd largest member state, meaning large amount of representatives, meaning strong voting power at first entry and within 10 years it is supposed to have the largest population....Also, with the EU membership, there is free travling within EU borders...meaning Iraq will now border EU nations...I am worried how that would affect terrorist activities...But a huge bonus of Turkey joining is there would be a bridge between "Eastern" and "Western" culture, as well as the Islamic and "Christian" culture, which I think would be a huge benefit for both sides.

Then on Friday, a bunch of us went to Tivoli for the evening and my friend Jen and I got to go on a bunch of rides, including the famous swings, which is (I think) the highest points in Copenhagen--you litereally see everything when you're on the swings and it's kind of like the ones at typical amusement parks, but A LOTTTTTTTTT higher, like a lot a lot, faster, and only seats of two every so often. But it is seriously AWESOME, one of the coolest things you can do. I hope they keep it open, even when all the rides close so we can go on them when y'all visit! Then we were able to hear the band that was performing that night, Infernal, which is a really famous Danish pop band. I think I am going back to Tivoli Monday night to see another concert.

Then after, Jen and I walked around and met many random people who came and talked to us, including some guys who were from Italy and Turkey. Then we finally settled on going to Happy Pig, which is a really popular bar/dance place. Reminds me of Richmond. But it was an awesome night, we just danced the night away with different people and stayed out until 6 AM! I saw the sun beginning to rise....

Then on Saturday, I went to my friend Brielle's (from UR) "apartment." It was a teacher she babysits for apartment, but while they were away she and our friend Abby were living there since they hate their kollegium. We ate pizza and drank some girlie drinks and then went out. We ended up going back to Happy Pig so we could meet up with some of Richmond guy friends. We ended up staying there until about 2, then we decided to hop around and then went back pretty early.

They had to take the night bus, while I had the metro. And that's when reality struck. It's amazing to think I have been here for about a month. But also because of that feeling, I felt safe and comfortable, so I'm glad I got this somewhat scary reminder. I admit, it's not smart that I went to the metro at night by myself, but it was just easy. But this man followed me down to the metro and cornered me against the esclator asking for my phone number and telling me how beautiful I was. And I told him I had a boyfriend and he wouldn't like this and he kept thinking we should be friendly companions, so I told him I saw my friends and went up to these Danish girls and grabbed one's arm and acted like we were best friends. Fortunately, the one girl whose arm I grabbed, understood, but her friends were confused and were talking so loud like "WHERE ARE YOU FROM?" but I just hung out with them. I got on the metro and then was going to get off with them and wait for the next metro (the guy told me he was going to my same stop--I never told him where my stop was or anything. I said I was from Canada, named Amalia and had been studying here a year and he didn't get why I wouldn't say where I lived). Anyways, as I was getting off, two girls from Richmond happened to see me on the metro and called my name (ughh since I was Amalia, not Caroline!--the guy was watching me the whole time on the metro). So I told them we had to get off at the next stop and wait, so fortunately we got off at Christianhavn and waited ten minutes for the next metro. Safe and sound and with others :)! A reminder to never be by myself, because that was definitely a bit frightening.

Met the new Fam...hopefully they aren't sick now!

So as it turns out, sickness does in fact follow me. Who knew you could catch the flu while abroad...basically starting as soon as I stepped off the plane. I guess "living the life of riley" (as Dad would say...if it is in fact, "riley") has really caught up to me. I thought I may had just a cold and sore/achy from all the walking, but it was really just the flu, which I left practically untreated, until now. My fever finally broke after not being able to sleep last night (up until at least 4:30 AM to wake up for a 9 AM Field Study!). Anyways, I bought some mystery Danish medicines that the pharmacist recommended and they definitely helped my fever. Now I am just using sudafed for my ear ache and dayquil/nyquil.

I feel guilty now for not treating myself, since I'm now worried I may have gotten my visiting Danish family sick :(...who I met this past weekend!!! There is Dad, Claus, who I had been in contact with and speaks fluent English, Helle (pronounced Hell-ah, I believe), who is pretty good, Isabella (12) and Oliver (6). Oliver does not speak any English and Isabella is just learning. They are such a tall family--not what I was envisioning, since they had brown hair, but still very Danish :) After a fiasco at the train station with trying to find the intercity train, the right spor (aka track), etc. I finally arrived. Claus picked me up at the Roskilde station, which is about 15 minutes from their house. Normally I would go to one much closer, but do to construction this was my only option.

As we driving to their house in Tølløse, a small "suburb" slash country town outside of Copenhagen. Their family has 3 cats, many bunnies, a new very cute puppy Aslac (which I can hardly believe I say it is cute since it's a small brown terrier...but it is so adorable!), and I believe some guinea pigs? They're family is very children oriented--the entire backyard is dedicated to their kids. They had a TV in practically every room in the house, which was unexpected (seemed like a more American trend, or so I thought). The house itself seemed more simple on the outside, but beautiful on the inside, very modern, simplistic--a light wood, white walls, silver accessories. Very trendy. Claus and I talked for awhile and I had the grand tour of the house. It is considered large for a Danish house (had 3 floors), but probably average for an American idea of a house--an interesting difference I noted.

Finally it came time for dinner, and we had burgers and fries. They thought I would be missing some good old American food and apparently Oliver loves burgers. It was exciting though because basically I made the french fries--peeled the potatoes with Oliver, cut them into fry shapes, oiled them, put them on a pan, and let Claus salt them because I was worried I would overdo it...love that salty food! After dinner we all watched TV; they wanted to show me a TV show they really liked which was like a combination of Survivor and Fear Factor, but unfortunately due to the Denmark-Portugal soccer game it was not on. Instead we watched Coyote Ugly, as a family. Not a movie you would expect to be make international fame...At first I thought they kept it on because it was American and English, but I asked if they had seen it before (since Oliver was watching too, not the most appropriate I would have thought) and said yes, so it was an experience! Haha, but it was nice of them to have us all hang out.

After the movie I went to bed in their basement on this semi-pullout couch, it was perfectly decent and I was able to sleep in order to get back on an early train into Copenhagen. I needed to be back by 9, which meant I had a 7:45 train to catch.  I needed to be back early for an Ikea trip.

To be continued...

OKTOBERFEST is official!

YESSSS!!! I finally booked my plane ticket which means I am officially going to Oktoberfest, I have my room already and just need to get the other ticket thing. I also just bought my Sensation White ticket!!! Great times to be had I'm sure! Sensation White is basically an all night techno event--I hear it's one of the best times and it's right here in Copenhagen!

Other than that, I have been getting into the swing of things, building a routine. The rain has officially started. It poured on and off today, proving bringing my rain boots an amazing choice. I have already bought another umbrella because the one I brought cannot handle the wind and rain. I am excited to experience the Danish "hygge" or pronounced "who-gah" which is supposed to be a state of mind of coziness, comfortableness, etc. This is how they are the happiest country in the world....staying cozy with candles :) As the rain was starting up again this afternoon, I passed a bagel stand and this man gave my friend Nicole and I free bagel sandwiches. She got a salmon sandwich and I got a chicken salad one...kind of smelly, but at least it was free! A nice treat considering how expensive DK can be.

On another side, I am meeting my visiting Danish family! They sound great; there are the parents, Claus and Helle, and they have two children and many pets. I can't wait! However, I'm trying to decide what may be a good gift to bring...

Other cultural fact I learned:
No doggy bags from the restaurants! They will look at you like a crazy person if you ask for one

Oh and p.s. daddy, if you thought my feet were dirty before, you can't imagine after these showers! It's so gross thinking about what touches this floor

Getting started!

Alright, so I've been here in Kobenhavn for almost 10 days now. I have definitely been adjusting to how things work here...just a little different! So here's what has happened so far.

August 22nd (departure from USA!!!)

We're delayed because of the worsening weather conditions and take off in an alternate flight pattern to try and avoid the weather. Other than that, no major complaints about the plane ride...typical ride. However, I decided to take my ambien after dinner was served and it didn't work! I didn't know this, but I guess if you don't fall asleep while taking it you begin to hallucinate.... well that happened to me for sure! Very weird.

August 23rd (arrival in Copenhagen!!)

So around 7 in the morning, we finally arrived. We went through customs and all that jazz--I hate myself for how I packed, almost impossible to manage! Yet, I see no other option. Thank goodness for that man not officially weighing my bags :) After a little bit of waiting, we loaded buses which took us to the DIS IT university (Which they told us we'll never see again) around 8 AM. We had to unload our bags again and store them in a bike room. Then we went to pick up our arrival packets, cell phones, and money stipend to purchase our train tickets. Then we had to wait until 1:30 or so to LEAVE! So, some of us went to an empty room that had some fold down movie theater style seating and slept (including myself).  Then we were off to our respective housing!

We arrived at Orseunds, which is where I live and were able to unpack. We had the afternoon off until 7, when they were holding a pizza party for us in the restaurant downstairs. I live on the seventh floor of Orseunds. They're are about 20 DIS students living here and there are about 1000 residents...so definitely a minority! My hall seems pretty quiet, haven't really met many people except a really nice Danish girl, Caelia (sp?)  and a guy who I call Lars because I can't remember his name.

Before the pizza party, myself, Ashley (a girl from Richmond), Dom (a boy from Richmond), and Danielle (a girl from Loyola MD, friends with Dom from before) went to visit another guy studying in Copenhagen from Richmond, Mike. We went to his apartment in the city center and hung out on his roof. We definitely had some awesome weather. It was so beautiful and relaxing up there.

Monday through Wednesday we had different orientation stuff, like a scavenger hunt (where my feet and lower back wanted to kill me after the first hour), an opening ceremony with a string quartet, survival danish (hej!=hi!, hej hej!=bye!), and academic program things. All basic.

On Monday night, we all went out to two bars, first called the Happy Pig (but I prefer to call it Bar with an Arrow, since that was it is...pictures to follow!) and the Australian Bar. Both were very American, probably because they were like 10 yards from our school...

The school is set up in an interesting manner. There is a "main building" where there is the front desk where our packages go and the offices are for different departments like housing and study tours as well as the library and lockers. Then across the street there are two buildings (A and B) where almost all the classes are held...at least all of mine are held here except for the one in the main building. A and B are very tall buildings and it is annoying to have to climb 5 flights of stairs into a room with no air conditioning--everyone is literally sweating bullets afterwards because it's just so humid and hot. It seems to me that air conditioning is not popular here. It's either heat or windows open.

---
And now my room. It's definitely very spacious, I can't complain about that at all. I also have a great full wall of windows that I can look out of for weather . The view isn't ideal, but not bad. I look at the other section of our building and parking. They supplied me with a desk, 2 chairs, a bed, and like four shelf sets and awesome closets! Of course, when I moved in no lights worked... I think I have been able to make it a bit more homey now, by hanging my 89 photos haha.

As for the bathroom....oh man. It reeks!!!! Our RA type person, Mimi was telling us that Copenhagen passed some law that all buildings built before a certain year can't be repaired or have work done...including ours! Basically, there is a problem with the sewage system and the smell just stays there. I've already tried to buy a fabreeze type project and a toilet scent thing and no luck. I also bought shower shoes because it grosses me out what may have been on that *concrete* floor since we shower on it! I refuse to go in the bathroom barefoot. It's very interesting using this utility bathroom, but fortunately the person before left a shower curtain so I can prevent half the bathroom from getting completely soaked. But I must admit, the shower pressure is nice, the water gets hot, and it is very convenient to brush your teeth in the shower :)

On Thursday we started classes, my schedule is as follows:

Monday, Thursday:
10:05-11:25 (EU)
11:40-1:00 (Danish)
4:25-5:45 (Terrorism)

Tuesday, Friday:
2:50-4:10 (Leadership Across Cultures)

Friday only:
11:40-1:00 (Turkey)

So far the classes aren't too bad, definitely not a joke though! There is a lot of reading, especially for my EU core class.

And now for the cultural differences I have noticed:

• Danes seem unfriendly, but they really just don't talk to people they don't know, unless they talk to them first--> public transportation is basically silent
• Public transportation is so popular, but not as popular as bikes!!! Bikes are EVERYWHERE! And beware of bikers, they are vicious and hold no mercy to those in their way
• There is public transportation etiquette, i.e silence, you don't really sit next to people you don't know, bikers have desginated bike seats and if you're in the way, be prepared to get stared at evily...
• When going out to dinner, not only is it expensive, it is also a long ordeal. You must ask for your check or be prepared to be sitting their until closing...
• Danes have no word for "Excuse Me" or "Please"--> again, not because they're rude, just it's not their nature. You have to shake your bag to get through--it really works! I tried it in a crowded grocery store, I shook my bag and everyone moved to the side like clockwork
• Alcohol is VERY present. Everytime I have gone to class, no matter the time, I see people drinking wine by the metro station...even at 7:45 AM....
• Last, but not least.....the fashion!! It's so crazy. Basically throw all your neons together and some leggings and you're good to go
• Things to have: leather jacket, HAREM PANTS!, way oversized shirts, leggings, opaque tights, boots, comfortable walking shoes that seem cute, prints, and of course, scarves! OHH and definitely some wacky sunglasses....like thing aviator style with cheetah print or something....they love wayfarers, but even spicier looking ones
• I can't wait to get some Georg Jensen earrings though :) Not too pricy.....

Moved in!

Before I write much of anything, I'm just going to post some photos of my room--I have finally managed to make it look like someone may live here who has a bit of taste?

Here is the look in my room from my mini foyer type hall thing:

And now here are some more....

 my hall/foyer type area, i have a similar closet on the otherside too

And last, but certainly not least.....

(and this is taken from underneath the hole in the wall where i'm supposed to place my showerhead which is next to the sink (not pictured))

Stay tuned!!

THE START OF COPENHAGEN!!!!! :)

Back from Talamplaya in one piece :)

Hola familia!

This past Friday, we left at midnight to arrive in Talamplaya (sort of like the national park area here in Argentina...about a 7-8 hour drive) to start hiking for 2 1/2 hours at 8:30 AM. For breakfast, they gave us each a brown bag of pastries...like dulce de leche filled crossiants. First, a sugar rush is not a good idea when full energy is needed and second, all that sugar is nasty in the morning. Oh well.. but of course, knowing me my problems did not start there!ç

You will never believe what I did....on Friday night, before we left to go to school, I did a bad thing! After Ali and I ate dinner, our family´s favorite show, Justo a tiempo came on. I asked Dora if I could use her microwave (which she has NEVER used and it´s probably 10 or 15 years old) to heat up a heat pack I bought for my back (my back and left knee are wanting to kill me right now :( ). So me and her are attempting to read her Spanish manual and finally I figure out we have to set the clock time, before any heating can be done. So I set a random time (because as it turns out all of the center buttons, i.e. 8 5 2 0, were broken!) and then put my pack in to heat. I set it for 77 seconds, since that´s all I could do really. The next thing I know, the entire kitchen LOSES POWER! I blew their fuse, everything shut off. At first we thought it was the entire house, but fortunately it was the kitchen and their father´s old bedroom that no one goes in. They were scared I fried their refridgerator and TV, but fortunately for me (and my wallet!) nothing was damaged, except the momentary black out for the evening. Tita was really mad at me because she wanted to watch TV, but fortunately Dora was really sweet about it.

I later found out (after I returned and the power was fixed by an electrian) that the entire street lost power as well....ay yi yi!

Anyways, so once we were on our journey, I tried my best to sleep, but I was in the window seat so my knees felt paralyzed and i was next to a heater....basically I got second degree burns on my legs and sweated through all my clothing. Gross!!
Once we started hiking I was definitely nervous. We had a 2 hour hike UPHILL, completely up a mountain. Nothing prepares you for straight hiking. My knees were throbbing, but fortunately I brought my ice and heat pack. The view, partway (with knee brace and all!):

In the photo is my little, Lexie (left), me, and my friend Brittany, who is living with my little. This is us on top of the mountain, and here we are below it (including two other girls from Tri Delta):




The hike was definitely worth it, it was a terrfic view--lots of great photos to come! These were two from my friend Brittany´s camera.

After that hike, we ate lunch and then went on another hike-driving tour thing. We drove, then hiked for a little, drove more, hiked more, etc etc. Not as cool.
Then at night, we ate dinner at a GAS STATION. It was like a "nice" restaurant that shared space with the gas station, I did not enjoy it to say the least.

The next day, we were supposed to have a 5 1/2 hour hike. Fortunately this was mostly straight with some hills mixed in and some literal climbing up rocks. I scratched my sunglasses I bought here :( In all, we walked 8.7 miles and we were so fast it only took 4 hours 45 minutes. We hiked through a canyon or valley called "Valle de la Luna" or Valley of the Moon. It was pretty neat. Then, we ate lunch and did a forty minute hike through another canyon type place full of neat rocks. I was able to make three wishes at at "wishing rock."
And of course, for dinner we ate at the gas station again.

On Monday, we were able to sleep in until 9 and then went to a vineyard. It was an organic vineyard that only sold red wine. We tried a cabernet and a Malbec. I did not enjoy either, so sorry familia, no wine from there! We are going to one more vineyard, however, in Buenos Aires. After the vineyard, we went to a cemetary to see something really creepy. We went to the tomb of Miguel "Angelito" something... He died 60 years ago at age 5, and was dug up 15 years after his death when people noticed the toys left on his tomb were moving. When they dug him up, they saw that he was perfectly preserved and in tact. So they reburied him. Again, 15 years later, they noticed the same thing--toys moving. So they unearthed him again. And he was still preserved. So now his tomb is a shine and seen as a miracle. People come from all over the world to visit this shrine and pray to him for miracles. It was so creepy though because he was in a glass coffin, and he looked like a dirty doll. I still am unsure if it was real....

Anywho, after the cemetary we ate at....the gas station! for the third time.... :(

Then we finally started our journey back to Córdoba. On the ride, we watched the movie Australia, and then these things called "Classic Project 4" or whatever number it was whcih was snippets of music videos from a time period, like the 90s 80s 2000s, etc. Pretty entertaining. Then we watched 7 Pounds.

And now we are here!

As for yesterday, it was our first day back to classes. I also had my last riding lesson, we went on a trail ride! It was great and I was able to jump as well. :)

Today, after my class I went with Dora to a "cheap" mall to buy a suitcase for the US. I found the best duffle-esk bag, I can´t wait to show you! And I also found a great leather purse :) And it was all so cheap for us! Ahh It´s crazy the exchange rate :)

I now only have 2 more days left! We leave for Buenos Aires Sunday morning; i have to be at the airport at 7 AM.

Ciao, I have my culture class now, talk to you soon :)

Finally went to the mall!

Oh and I thought y´all may enjoy this. After classes yesterday, Ali and I went to the mall (called Dinosaurio, yes like Dinosaur) and bought some things for our upcoming trip to Talamplaya from Friday to Monday. I got some spandex capris...everyone is SO skinny here I was worried their biggest size wouldn´t fit, but fortunately it did! And then some sunglasses as well as a hairdryer and straightner that I can then use in Denmark because they have the same voltage and plugs.

Okay, off to lunch! Finished my second paper today and then I have tango tonight! And riding tomorrow! I will be cantaring, which I thought was good except that she has been even allowing first time riders to cantar and jump. So much for years of experience...oh rules abroad :)

A recap of the Northwest

Hola a todos! We just came back from an awesome trip to the "Northwest." On Wednesday, we met at the school at 11 PM at night to be greeted by our double decker bus! Imagine this image, but with Spanish writing. It was awesome! The first floor was half filled with I think 10-12 lazy boy style chairs. On the right side, there was 2 lazy boys (with GREAT RECLING abilities and a board you pull down from the seat in front of you for a bottom bed piece) and on the left there was a solo lazy boy. I choose that seat in the backrow. It was great, way comfortable. I attempted to sleep in a curled ball position, why I don´t know. I am not very good at sleeping on transportation things, no matter the comfort level. The upper level had probably 50 seats, very comfortable, but smaller. They also reclined well, had the board for your feet, and hugged your body nicely, I could have slept well there too. The coolest part was the front of the bus-- a panaromic view from the top (look to image to see). It was almost like being a part of a video game.

The reason we had this bus is because we had 8 hours to drive until we arrived in Tafi de Valle in the Tucuman province. We went to rock garden view and a myths and legends musuem and then arrived at the hotel and walked around the area at all their different shops. Before dinner, we all went to the only bar (it was a veryyy small puebla), and had a little too much fun before our dinner. But the dinner was great with our friend Michael, or Miguel here, making the different animal noises we told him. After dinner we all hung out for awhile and then went to bed. We had an early departure the next day for Amiacha del Valle and Quilmes/Tolombon.

In the morning, we left for a church and jesuit musuem (and I realized I left my North Face vest there! Que triste!...I´ve ordered a new one already (ON SALE), not wanting to part....). After lunch, we went to the Quilmes ruins, which was kind of like seeing a Mayan temple, but it was like rock walls, with grass floors...very cool! Again, great view! That night we went to an observatory . We watched an "Origin of the Universe" movie in SPanish...so a little complicated...and got to look at the moon and Saturn (saw the rings and all!) through a large telescope.

The next day was the day I was loooking forward too--the winery! We went to the Bodega Etchart in Cafayate (in the province of Salta). Unfortunately, this was the morning I felt really sick and nauseas. We did some wine tasting and I bought 5 bottles of wine, one for everyone in the family. After our lunch there, we had a four hour drive where I thought i was going to vomit the entire way...oh stomachs, how great they work! When we arrived in Salta (the capital of Salta), we visited a church and then more artisan markets. For dinner, we went to una peña, or show, at "La Vieja Estación." We got to watch "guachos" do traditional dances and chants and then women came and danced as well. It was really neat. I wish I could have enjoyed it more since this is when my sickness was full blown with fever and all. After the gaucho performance, the winner of Argentinean Idol came out to perform. He was cutee! and a good singer. Again, I wish I could have enjoyed it more. Salta was the biggest city we went to, so everyone was drinking and enjoying their wine and champagne that came with dinner and went to a beluche afterwards while I went home to take a bath and sleep. At around 4 AM when my room mates returned I realized my clothing was soaked through...sweated out my fever so that´s good! Unfortunately, my stomach was still doing flips.

On Sunday, we left Salta for Purmamarca-Tilcara. We saw the mountain of 7 colors and got to hike through its pathway for about an hour (great for my stomach!). Then we drove on and stopped at an all natural acoustic mountain crevice thing. It was a former waterfall and had formed the most perfect cave-esque place, I believe it´s called Pucara. There was a 3 man band who was playing and got everyone dancing. It was great to watch, I´m sad I wasn´t up to moving around too much :( Before dinner we went to an anthropological museum that had a cave we could enter. It had staircases about one foot thick and no railing and it was pitch dark. We followed each other in a line up and down these scary stair cases, I was sure I was going to fall off and crack my head on all the stones. After the museum, and shortly before dinner, some of us went to a little caféteria I found and drank "submarinos solos" as a merienda. The submarinos are like hot chocolate, but you recieve hot milk with chocolate powder on top and then you add a dark chocolate bar to melt in it. So good!

On Monday, we stayed in Tilcara but we visited Humahuaca as well. We visited a textile factory where they produce goods from llama wool. I bought a great gift there that y´all will have to wait and see! We also went to a mini musuem on indigenous cultures. It was pretty neat but freaky at the same time because there was a thing there that I had dreamed about a year ago! I dreamt about people making objects out of bread and there it was there--exactly how it looked in my dream! crazy!! My favorite part of the museum was there medicine room though, it was full of voodoo and a painting that depicted how you could go to a "doctor" and tell them to kill you if you were sick and didn´t want to continue on. Creepy! Although with my stomach still hurting it may not be that bad....just kiddiing! I would never give up, and I know it´s not serious :)

When we returned to the hotel, we had our final dinner full of a lot of wine (again, I didn´t drink any knowing my stomach). More animal noises from Mike and then lots of toasts, some drunk some not. We all went to bed and then woke up early (5:45 for me!) for our 20 hour ride back. Fortunately, some how it only lasted 14 hours, including an hour stop for lunch. We passed the time with sleep and charades. Definitely enjoyable :)

And now we are back to the daily grind and school work. Ciao for now! Pray for my stomach :)

Oh Collectivo

Today I turned in my first paper! It was great to be able to write a paper that "made sense" in full Spanish without my Mac Translator by my side. I had been worried about writing this, but I am glad I got it done.

As for the rest of my day Monday and yesterday and today...it´s been interesting! On Monday, we had to stay after our culture class to watch the movie, La Misción, with Robert de Niro as a young man--can you believe he used to have a six pack? Still had the mole though...

After class though, I ran to catch a bus (or collectivo) that I thought was what I needed...but boy was I wrong! I decided to get off when we went through a tunnel I recognized, but do not need to go through and hoped for the best. After looking around to get my bearings, I realized I had no idea about which direction to go towards. It was about 8:30 at night on a street that would be similar to Rockville Pike. I found a brightly lite baby store that looked safe and decided to attempt the lost puppy, somebody help me look. I went in (after repeated attempts at pulling the door open, when you had to push) and told the owner I was lost. There was a young, cute couple who were looking at stuffed animals who recognized my distress. It was clear the owners did not know where my street was, my fortunately the couple did (and they knew English as well!). They told me the would show me home so I just waited for them to pay. I thought they were going to walk me there, but instead they drove me! In the US I would have NEVER have gone in the car with strangers, but they were young, 5 months pregnant and I could tell they were great people. They drove me home and all was well.

Buen Suerte! Wow, I still shudder at the idea that I willingly entered the car of a stranger, but I´m glad I did. I love Argentina :)


As for Tuesday, we started horseback riding! It was great to get back on a horse after everything with my knees and back. Although I wish I could get an ice pack for them. I rode a beautiful black mare named Osa and she was great, needed extra leg, but a total sweet heart-ç.The instructors were impressed and said I could go straight to canter next week (while the rest are learning basics) so that should be good. It would have been embarrassing to be stuck at beginner considering I´ve been riding since about age 7. At the end of the lesson, they gave us mate and we went home.

Just to be brief, i then experienced Argentinean Wal-mart. I have to run to class now and then leave for the NORTHWEST! Ciao!

We finally did it!

This past weekend was quite an interesting one. On Friday, after our gnocci lunch, myself and two other girls went to explore the surrounding area of the school (after all, we have a 5 hour break in between our 2 classes UGH!). We wanted to go to a bakery, but everything they had was really dry and not fresh (as Ali and I found out later when we attempted to buy something and it was less than tasty). Instead, we walked around and went to a Grido Helado--they are everywhere! It´s a ice cream and what I think is gelato (it has a similar texture to it) store with a ton of flavors. I bought a dulce to leche and chocolate chip ice cream combo, pretty tasty! It was interesting though, because they had the cones stocked in front (like in the US), but then there was this one cone, that was a cone, and then had a semi circle on either side of it so to hold 3 separate ice cream scoops. I pointed to it and said, "¿es interestante, no?" And the 3 workers just laughed and said "aparece a un pene...jajajajaja" (jajaja=hahaha in Spanish). They thought I wouldn´t understand so the joke was on them! But yes, it really did look like one; I don´t know what self respecting person would eat one of those, but who knows!

Anyways, after we returned, we went to our Culture class, where we had a presentation on folklore instruments...for 2 hours! It was interesting and I wanted to try to play their amardillo miniature guitar, but I didn´t get a chance to :( Our teacher looked like he could be a giant; think Hagrid from Harry Potter, but gray hair, and in a ponytail. After Ali and I returned home, we tried to nap before dinner, which was....GNOCCI! I could not believe that we were eating gnocci again, it was such a random coincidence and I didn´t want to tell Dora we had it previously. But hers was definitely a lot better than the school´s gnocci. Then, we started to watch the TV show, Justo a Tiempo--think Price is Right had a baby with a stereotypical Japanese game show. They leave the TV on while Ali and I eat, and it has become a tradition to watch this show after we finish. On Justo a Tiempo, the host, Julian, mentioned gnocci and Dora said it was a tradition to eat gnocci on the 29th of every month! How interesting! Good thing I like it :) I guess it comes from the strong Italian influence in Argentina.

Ali and I originally planned on going on Friday, but after going out Thursday, we decided we needed to sleep, especially since we had to wake up early to meet at UBP for our tour Saturday.

Saturday, we visited una estancia (a farm owned by Jesuits), ate at a real argentine restaurant, and visted Che Guervera´s childhood home. The estancia was FREEZING! There was no heat on our bus, in the estancia or anywhere...I think the temperature must have been around 35 or 40. I definitely did not pack enough warm clothes! As for the restaurant, it was pretty good. It had a salad bar, so I filled up on a nice green salad, yay vegetables!, and bread. It took so long to receive our food since there was 24 of us, but I´m glad it did because I did not like what I ordered. I wanted to order something really Argentinean, so I got Matambre a la pizza, based on Jhonny´s reccomendation (one of our guides in Argentine, really cool, fun, young, goes out with us, buys us shots, convinces beluches (clubs) to let us in for free, without IDs). It is similar to our pizza, but instead of bread crust, the meat, matambre, was the crust. It was matambre with tomato sauce and cheese on top. It was a rectangle shape. I was hoping it would be good since I had eaten a matambre empanda here and liked it, but I was dissappointed. The meat was so fatty! And my first bite tasted like a salt mine had exploded in my mouth. Thank goodness for dessert too! :) We had a vanilla-chocolate ice cream ball covered in a chocolate shell with dulce de leche in the inner center.

While at lunch I heard some funny stories about people´s host families, the funniest came from Andrew and Michael. When they arrived, their mom did everything for them. But then, with each day she adds a new chore for them to do. Here are some examples: take out the trash, make their beds, make their beds with the comforter under the bed sheet SO THAT their beds match, their comforters are different, buy bread for dinner (she gave them a 2 peso, and it cost 5!), etc... I almost died laughing at this. Ali and I are so lucky to have Dora, she is such an amazing person!

Finally it was time to leave to go to Che Guervera´s house. It was interesting...when all took a lot of photos "on" (think people trying to push the leaning tower of pisa) the infamous motorcycle (from the movie motorcycle diaries). Then we saw a movie about how amazing and what a hero he was. My culture teacher, Roberto, had guided us here and kept interjecting. He would go on for 10-20 minutes at a time. Once, however, he went on a rant, on how awful the US is towards South America and I got mad. I felt like he was calling us ignorant, and we only listen to our parents and CNN and don´t care to learn or read books. I finally said something to my teacher because I think that is really unfair to say, considering we came on this trip voluntarily; we wouldn´t be here if we didn´t care. Especially seeing as I am optionally taking HIS culture class.....

Whatever. When push comes to shove, I had to forget about it, but I am not looking forward to seeing him today for class. When we got home, we decided it would be the ideal time to go out since Sunday was our ONLY free day during the trip. We met up with our group at Contender again around 12 and were ready to dance (beluches don´t open until at least 1 or 2 though!) We finally all shared remises (taxis) to go to Studio Theatre. It was definitely a lot of fun, there was this HUGE room with hundreds of people and a stage (that of course our group took over!). There was also a chiller bar room type place--it was great! We stayed out until about 330/4. I could have stayed out longer, but I think I would have started to drink more and I didn´t want to spend the money.

We took a cab home and went to bed. We woke up pretty early, since Dora was having an asado at her house for her sister-in-law, Blanca, Jessica (our friend from Clemson who "lives" with Blanca, Blanca´s daughter, husband, and new 8 month baby and her dog) as well as another woman. We ate good empandas, spaghetti, chicken, quiches (called tarta here) and desserts. I loved this thing Blanca´s daughter made, it was water crackers with chocolate and grounded oatmeal and refridgeratd...yummm! The meal was kind of awkward for Ali and I because everyone spoke so fast, that we were left silent until a question was directed at us. It was nice though to see so many people.

After we ate, Ali left for el centro for homework help while Jessica and I went on a walk around the area. We went to a playground and seesawed and swinged. It was great :) When we got back to the house I took a nap while she read. After my nap, Jessica left, and so had everyone else except Blanca. I went and talked to Dora and Blanca for 3 hours about just about everything--religion, politics, my life, my family, etc. Then Ali returned home, we ate asado leftovers and off to bed!

I had my first test in my Literature class today, and I hope I did well! I didn´t know one thing so I hope I got an A! That´s all for now, I need to go eat!

ciao!

The first few days

First, I have tried to draw a lay out design of our house. We live on la calle Blas Pascal and are near a large street, similar to a Rockville Pike, called Rafael Nuñez. We have a large property compared to other houses, probably 1 acre or 1/2 acre (not good at measuring!). Forgive the top, I forgot I extended it :) Haha. But a little about the house: Ali and I live with two women, Dora, our mom, and Tita, her cousin. We share a room and so do they. We also share the house with 4 Boxers (as in the dogs), as you can see from their outdoor garage-cage area. There are also I think 10 parrots. Quite the peanut gallery :)

I feel very lucky to be living here. It is their winter, so the pool is empty, but it is a great property. Dora has been HANDwashing all of our clothes every day or every other day and making our beds, cleaning the bathroom, cooking our food, etc. She is simply amazing. The food is delicious! Except, as we are now into day 6, we have noticed it consists solely of a bread product and carne--not complaining, but I appreciate diversity now. Dora is great about providing vegetables, but salads are hard to come by. She has made us this great vegetable stirfry-steamed dish with meet, a vegetable soup (excellent after a cold rainy day) and other things as well. Everything is great. One big difference I have noticed is that they don´t eat much breakfast. Dora and Tita only eat lunch, perhaps bread and coffee at night. For breakfast we have bread and milk. The bread and milk are much sweeter here, and taste a bit better too :)

One thing I forgot to mention was that on Sunday night, we decided to meet up with Jessica and her friends from Clemson, who were also studying here for abroad. We went to Chris´s house and drank vino and listened to electronica. Then we headed back to Chip´s house until about 230 and Ali and I decided we couldn´t be quite Argentine yet and stay out until 8 or 9 AM, and went home. We were supposed to go to a roof party (turned out to be great and on top of a gas station!). Dora made fun of us the next day for coming back so early--we had even slept until 12!

As for the school (Universidad de Blas Pascal)...Ali and I walked the first bits (cab on Sunday for our tour, walked home, to school, and home) and it took 45minutes! Ayyyyy! We then asked Dora to show us a bus stop becuase it was raining the next day and we opted for a bus. So we´ve been using that. The school i srelatively small and I think it had 5000 students? Only some live here. I have class at 9:15 and 4:00. With a 5 hour break in between so no time to return home for a nap since we eat lunch at 130. It´s been pretty good so far, and big portions! Lunch is the biggest meal of the day. We´ve had a type of spaghetti, a burger without a bun, arroz con pollo, and today it is supposed to be gnocci! I´m excited for more carbs haha :)

For other cultural experiences, we´ve had 3 tours, one city-downtown Còrdoba (aka El Centro), one bus tour of the "the ugly side" of Còrdoba, and one walking tour of the National University of Còrdoba (fourth oldest college in the world!). I wish I could appreciate them more, but our schedules have been so packed I can´t help but be tired! Yesterday we had a tango lesson. I have a new respect for the Dancing with the Stars celebrities.

Today, instead of my 4 PM Culture and Language class, we are having a presentation on Folklore and instruments. It should be entertaining. Then we are taking a bus tomorrow to Che Guevara´s house. We are trying to decide if going out tonight is worth it since we have to be at school by 9. When in Rome...so I think so :)

We went out last night to Contender, which looks like a really hip place (sells things similar to a 40 oz beer for 10 pesos). It had white square cushions and red walls. Since our whole group went at 11, it was basically emptired so we took over the pool tables. Jhonny, our Argentine guide who works for Blas Pascal (UBP), showed up and it was a good time. We met some more Argentines as well as some of our friends from Clemson and Canada! At around 1 or 130, Jhonny took us home and we got some sleep before our early classes.

That´s all for now, one class down, one culture program to go! Off to lunch!

Ciao!