My Danish Home

Heylooo all...

     Today is Monday and class was long and pretty boring. Adam, Kevin and I had to do a presentation on Froebel and his teaching philosophy- Other people in class had other important philosophers,but I can say that we totally kicked ass(sorry for the language)...and if there was a competition on best presentation- we totally won.

My main reason for this post is to show you some pictures of my beautiful Danish home. I just took the pics and feel the need to share. The Top picture is the living room, next is the Dining room- I love the table cloth!! The next picture is of their kitchen, 

It's sooo Scandinavian- Straight out of IKEA, except really

expensive. My host-Dad LOVES Coffee, so they have this really awesome Coffee maker. It can even make Espresso- all with the click of a button! Mmmm, its sooo yummy. Adam and Kevin came over last night so we could work on our presentation, 

and we all drank a bit too much coffee and I didn't feel well later because of it...Oooopppps.

  Also, exciting news!!..I have completely booked my trips for the third week of my travel break. Starting the 2nd week in march i have 3 whole weeks off!! First I am going to Holland with my PCD program. Then, I signed up for another trip with DIS- to Turkey! Then during the third week I am going to visit my beloved Katherine in Paris where I am going to meet up with my friend Kevin

 and then the two of us will be taking the train to Florence and Rome (Mmmmmmmmm,

 Gelato!)

The Bunny's name is Tromle- It belongs to Frederikke, my host-sister. I'm watching it for the week while they are away skiing in Austria! So jealous.

Ciao-Ciao for now!

Slippery.

~Oslo, Norway~

Hello friends-

After the excitement of my last adventure I have the continuous urge to travel... So, when my friend Adam suggested taking a cruise to Norway I, of course, said YES!! It only cost 75 bucks and we left Friday and came back today ( Sunday). There were four of us that traveled together- Adam, Kevin, Shana and myself- and we are quite the crew. 

 We almost missed the boat- partly due to my lack of understanding the meeting place and partly due to Adam's phone not working. In the end, all turned out just fine.

  At first I thought we were taking a Ferry and that the trip would take 6 hours or so. I was wrong- and glad I was. It takes about 16 hours by boat to get from Copenhagen to Oslo, but luckily we were traveling on an actual cruise ship. We packed our own food and booze, spent the night drinking with friends, and stumbling around the boat- man, those waves were tossing us all

 over the place! At one point during the night, we were rocking back and forth so much that everything just slid right off the table in our room! We also went out dancing and ended up being the only people on the dance floor rockin' out to the YMCA! I don't know why no-one else wanted to join...

Oslo, as it turns out, is a beautiful city. When we first arrived we sneakily took the train up to the top of one of the mountain. As the train steadily climbed higher and higher the ground suddenly became more and more covered with snow! It was the first time, since arriving in Scandinavia that I have seen snow! 

I unfortunately was not wearing my snow boots and I spent most of the day slippin

g around, even falling right on my butt and getting covered in mud- but it was all well worth it. At the top of this mountain you can rent these awesome looking sleds to ride down and then take the train back up- I wish we had had the time....i'll just have to go back!

P.S. We sneakily did not pay for the train- hehe, free ride!

We then walked around and saw the rest of the city- Including the Royal Palace, The Sculpture Garden, City Hall, A Castle/Fortress and the beautiful Harbor. 

Oh oh! And...when Shana and I exchanged our Danish Kroner for Norwegian Kroner- the lady made a wonderful mistake and gave us twice the money!! WOOHOO!!....I then spent it all on lunch and tax-free candy. :-)

I had a wonderful weekend and I managed to not get sea sick..mission accomplished!.....Where should I go next??!!

Still feeling the rock of the boat,

   Vickiii

"To Be Continued..."

Heyyylooo-

  So, I am here to continue my last blog and finish telling you all about my three day trip to Western Denmark. On the last day we went to a town called Arhus. Arhus is located on the mainland of Denmark, known as Jutland. Arhus is also known as the 'little brother' of Copenhagen. Here we visited De Gamble By (The Old Town) and an Art Museum. The Old Town is a reconstruction of what an old town in Denmark would have looked like a long time ago....It's like Denmark's version of "Old Sturbridge Village". All the houses were just too darn cute. I can't tell you a thing about it because I failed to listen to my tour guide. My friends and I were a bit distracted by something now known as "The Stink Eye". If you would like to learn what this is, please consult me at a later time. (Picture at Left) 

We visited this Old Town with the other half of the PCD group and they seemed to not be having nearly as much fun as we were. They were all complaining about how they couldn't wait to get back to Copenhagen, and everyone on my trip didn't want to leave! The students that I traveled with on this trip are the same ones going with me to Holland- so I am super excited that we all get along so well! I'm already counting down the days until our next adventure!

We also visited the Art museum in Arhus. I really liked this museum. I visited the Modern Art Gallery, The Contemporary Art Gallery and this special exhibition they had in the basement called the 9 Spaces- where the rooms were made to resemble those of Dante's Divine Comedy...It was very interesting! One peice of art really bothered me though...It was a video of a man sacrificing a horse and dismembering each individual parts of its body. These parts are now on display in jars inside the museum- but the video was horrific!! Talk about animal cruelty...this would never fly in the states!!! We also tried to go to the Activity Room because we really wanted to be crafty. We sat down and  started constructing our peices of Art...Adam decided to cut out large Penises on Magenta construction paper. At this point in time a lady came in and kicked us out. Not because of the Penises, but because we needed a ticket to be in there. Oh well.

This weekend I am taking an over night mini cruise to Oslo, Norway! I am super excited. Also, I have gotten word that there was a special on American TV about Denmark being the happiest country in the world!!!..well, let me tell you...I think its rubbing off!!....I couldn't be any happier :-)

Living amongst the happiest people,

    Vickiii

PCD takes over Western Denmark

~My Tour Companions~

Hello fellow Americans-

    You are about to be very jealous of my life, if you aren't already. I just had the most amazing weekend, best yet during my time in Denmark- thanks to my fellow PCD students who are just too freakin' amazing and a three day bus trip.     

     

DAY ONE...Titled 'Educational, yet Fun!' - The first day of our Study Tour to Western Denmark put us in a town called Odense- The Center of Denmark. It is on an Island in between the one Copenhagen in located on and the mainland, Jutland. To get here we traveled over what used to be the longest bridge in the world- until, Japan built something longer. It was a beautiful site. Here in Odense, we made some educational visits... We first went to a Multicultural school located in what is considered a 'Danish Ghetto' - by far the nicest 'ghetto' i've ever seen. The school had mainly all Immigrant children in attendance, consisting of Vietnamese, Turkish, Somalian, and Lebanese background. Here at the school they emphasize the importance of learning the Danish language and have specially trained Language Pedagogues to assist the children. As you can see from this pic, my favorite part of this visit was the playground. I'm the girl in the striped dress who looks a little too big for her car- but Oh, So much Fun!! We also visited the Odense Culture House. This is a community center for adults with mental and physical disabilities. Here they can get a job

 doing something they love, while learning important life skills to survive in everyday society. There is a whole art studio- refer to picture- and the paintings were amazing. I am so impressed at the concentration and determination these people have, and so much talent! There was also a whole music studio- The band played for us and they have already released 4 albums. Incredible! They also have a full working kitchen and diner, computers, a movie theater, and a fabric looming room. The whole place was filled with amazing equipment- I just wanted to stay and play!! Denmark is an amazing country that does so much for it's people- esp. putting so much effort into the children and their disabled. Its such a refreshing thing to see.

DAY TWO...Titled "Peace and Serenity"- Odense is also the hometown of the one and only...drum rollllll please.....Hans Christian Andersen, who happens to be one of the many loves of my life. Amazing Fairy Tale author and a Master of Oragami. Anyone who knows me well knows about my love for fairy tales- and Bed time stories ;-) Hans is famous for tales such as The Little Mermaid, The Emperors New Clothes and Thumbelina, but he has written hundreds! We visited the Tinderbox, which is the children's museum for Hans as well as the 'Adult' Museum. The children's museum was soooo much better, mainly because we got to dress up. At the Tinderbox- children get to pick out their own fairy tale outfit and act out their own fairy tale in an indoor Imaginary Land. PCD students know how to have fun- so, of course we dressed up! I had the prettiest pink dress and signed the guest book as Princess Victoria...only thing that was missing was a Tiara. After spending some time with Hans we took the Bus to a Contemporary Scandinavian Art and Design museum. The Art was interesting, but the best part was the Activity Room- where I was able to utilize my Arts and Crafts skills and make some beautiful jewlery. The next thing I am going to tell you about is my favorite part of the whole trip. There is not even a word to describe what i saw and felt at our next destination. We drove to our next hostel, which happened to be on in the middle of nowhere, in the woods on the largest lake in Denmark.

   This picture captures everything about the place, i felt so relaxed and perfectly content while here- as well as completely amazed at all around me. We watched the sunset and had a wonderful dinner while Jan, one of our intructors, serenaded us with his music. After dinner we went BOWLING!!! I hadn't been bowling in quite sometime- DIS bought us pitchers of beer and we had an hour to make the most of our time. My bowling team, AKA 'Sticky Vicki and The

 Transparent Funk' consisted of Sticky Vicki using Pink The Stink as my weapon of choice, Mo Shizzle using The Green Machine and Luscious Luke throwing it down with The Ebony Queen.We also had Professor X helping us out- which consisted of a combined effort between the 3 of us, since we lacked a fourth player. Let's just say- we got real funky and totally kicked some bowling ass. Team DIS THE SHIT couldn't even compete, sorry boys.  Once we arrived back at camp-Jan had let my friends borrow his guitar for the night, which we took full advantage of. We spent the first part of our evening sitting on the the long dock above- drinking wine and listening to Maury and Kevin play guitar. It was quite the perfect gathering. We then went to hang out with some Business kids who were also at the hostel with us. They were staying in these awesome cabins, so we were able to all hang out inside....again listening to Maury play some amazing tunes on the guitar. I wish this day could have lasted forever- it will be forever burned into my memory bank- in The Most Amazing Experiences section.

Well- Day Three will be under a "Be Continued" section. I've been bloggin' for far too long and I'm also awaiting the arrival of my Day Three Pictures. I went a little over board with my picture taking causing my camera to die before Day Three started- therefore I borrowed a friends camera- Thanks Miki. As soon as I get the pics I will update you again on the rest of my journey. Until then- hope all is well and best regards.

The World is such a beautiful place.

Perfectly Content,

   Vicki

Bee Mine.

Dearest Missed Lovers,

  As I have mentioned previously, the Danes do not celebrate Valentine's Day. Absurdity!! But, I have decided to not let this stop me. I bought my host family roses and made them a beautiful heart-shaped card. I also just got finished making 20 valentines for all the PCD students!!! I also plan on wearing red and as many hearts as possible tomorrow. My outfit will hopefully shout- Yes, I AM AMERICAN AND I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Tomorrow at 7:30 I am departing for my tour of western Denmark...thats in about 6 hours, and I have to leave in about 5 and i'm still doing laundry- Oooppps, No sleep for me!! I was very worried about my car-sickness and the bus ride tomorrow morning. My school is so fantastic that during our field study to the Play Ground today my teacher stopped at the pharmacy and helped me buy  some medicine. She also told me that the bus driver has a special seat up front with him in case I do start to feel sick....gosh, I hope I don't have to sit next to the bus driver!  Keep your fingers crossed for no puking tomorrow!! My host mom told me to pack some bags just in case. haha. 

When I arrive back from my trip I will upload pictures from my playground trip and tell you a bit about it.

For now, I will fill you in on a little incident that occurred last night. You see...I had my friend Miki sleep over and we decided to go out last night. We went to a lovely little Jazz bar and stayed out till about 3AM. My family had informed me that the Metro runs all night and is the best way to get home....Thank goodness I thought- because the NightBus can be a pain in the buttocks. Anyways, when we arrived at the Metro it was, of course, closed. I had no clue what to do and my anxiety kicked right in. I ended up calling my host-mom at 3am!! I don't think i will ever get over feeling bad about this, not to mention she couldn't remember which bus I needed to take so she paid for my friend and I to take a cab home!! Denmark is expensive enough, but a cab ride?? EEK- By the time we got to my front door it cost 30 bucks and my lovely host-mom came running out in her bathrobe to pay the driver. My family is absolutely amazing...but I still have to make it up to them, or i'll never feel quite right. She didn't seem bothered at all...was glad I had a fun night and felt comfortable to call her.  I love having a Danish Family!!!

Laundry time-

Supporter of Valentine's Day,

 Vicki

    XOXO

A New Home.

Anxiously awaiting friends and family-

Good news! A lovely Danish family came to rescue me from The Land of Suffering-a.k.a Albertslund-at 3PM on Sunday.

~My new room~

~Is this not made just for me?!~

  The Danes are very punctual- My new host father along with the eldest daughter and friend arrived to meet me right at 3. I immediately received a hug from my new Host Dad and I knew then that everything would be perfect! I haven't slept much the past two nights from shear excitement alone! Ahh, I honestly can't stop smiling- ask any of the students in my class. 

      :-)    :-)    :-)    :-)    :-)    :-)    :-)

I really could not have asked for a nicer family. The eldest daughter is quite good with her english and seems like she is going to be a lot of fun to hang out with. At the moment she is on a week long skiing trip with her class. You may ask where Danes go skiing???---Sweden of course, poor things! The 2 yr old girl is just too precious- I wish i could speak Danish so I could communicate with her more easily...but I find that making funny faces, weird noises and putting on silly hats seems to work just fine.

I have my own room and shower. I swear they decorate the room as if they knew I was coming, its just so me. They also have a really fancy coffee maker and I get daily home cooked meals. On my first night here my host-dad made his WORLD FAMOUS Omelets- and he wasn't lying, Mmm Mmm- I may dream about them for weeks. I feel like I have so many stories to tell, but I find myself to be at a completely loss for words due to my euphoric state.

I will be quite busy for the rest of the week- with no time to Blog, So i will give you a quick overview of my upcoming adventures: Tomorrow I am having my friend over for dinner and a slumber party ( YAY! ) Wednesday we then have a field study to a community playground. Thursday I leave for a short study tour to Western Denmark. We were supposed to be going to Lego Land, but it is closed in the winter. :-( I am very disappointed. But, from Thursday to Saturday I will be traveling Denmark in a bus with some other PCD students. I am quite excited for some traveling, although i am now very sad to leave my new family. As soon as I get back I will update you all on where i've been and what I have been up to. Talk to you all then!!

**EMERGENCY NOTICE** Danes do not celebrate Valentines Day. I've been able to find a few cards- but no decorations, candy, or fun Valentine's goodies. Please send me love!

Feeling much more at home,

  Vicki   XOXO

P.S. For Dad- the drink is pronounced 'Fisk-eh-Fisk', with a mouth full of potatoes. 

Fiske- Fjaes

~My wonderful friends at the bar last night- and of course, the Mojito~

     

Here it is folks- The Famous Fiske-Fjaes.

Hey all- 

  I know I already posted today...but I felt it was necessary to put up the Fiske-Fjaes picture. Also, I can not sleep because I am too anxious about my move tomorrow. I am filled with excitement and nervousness all at the same time...I just want to meet them!!!

Keep your fingers crossed for me,

Miss you all. XOXO

Exciting News arrives!

~Kevin, Myself and the Infamous Mojito~

Hej friends-

As you know, I was a bit bitter about my living situation lately- actually i've been hating it. So, being the emotional person I am- i complained, cried and got them to move me. I decided the Kollegium thing just wasn't what I wanted, so my school has found me a lovely family to live with. Actually I haven't met them yet- but the Mom has e-mailed me and seems extremely adorable. They have two daughters, 11 and 2 years old. I'm sooo excited to get to play with kids AND eat some tasty Danish meals. Mmm. Also- they are only 20 minutes away from my school...which will make my commute so much easier. Now It takes me about 40 minutes by train, and the night bus takes about an hour ( ughck ).

So, I've been packing up all day- Dad, I'm going to need another suitcase! I've already accumulated so much crap. Oops. But, tomorrow at 3PM my new family comes to pick me up and take me to my new home. Cross your fingers for me that they are just as loverly in person as they seem via e-mail.

I feel like I should catch you up on some of what I have been doing. So- for this blog I will start with the Night Life, because it is so fantasmic!

There was Jazz Fest going on here two weeks ago- plus they seem to enjoy Jazz over here, as everyone should, because they have quite a few Jazz Bars. So- I have dont some bar hopping on different nights to check out the Jazz scene- and it may be one of my favorite things. Sitting with good friends, having an ice cold glass of Carlsberg and listening to Jazz music while in Copenhagen is just an amazing experience. It gets even better when you meet nice old Danish ladies who want to bone your good looking friend so she ends up buying the two of you drinks all night. Yes, yes,last Jazz bar I went to- thanks to my friend Kevin and his charm- a nice lady bought us drinks all night, including delicious Mojitos. Mmmm- free drinks!

I also went to a Blue's bar one of the first nights I was here, and that was also great- it was an open mic night, so different bands got to play.

Last night I figured I would branch out a bit and took a night off from the live music and went to a bar/night club with a few wonderful friends. We enjoyed our shots of Fiskeh-fisk( or however you spell it) and danced the night away. I didn't get back until about 5AM, so I obviously had a wonderful time. :-)

Now I am off to a MexiBar- Yummy Mexican food and cheap drinks. I will fill you all in on my move after I am all settled in. Oh- I hope they have internet for me...eeeekk.

Excited to escape the barracks-

  Vicki

The Forest

    This is what I expected of the Forest....

This is the actual forest...             

Hello dearest friends-

Today I learned that the average Danish child has a much larger bladder than that of your average American child.

Today I went to the forest, there is NO TOILET in the forest. It is also cold and muddy. Did the 20 children care?- NO!...Did i care?- NO! ( well, a bit :-) In order to get to the forest the Pedagogues from the Bornehaven I work at and myself walked 20 children to the bus stop. We then took the city bus to the subway station. We then took the subway to the train station and we took the train out into the woods! The Forest is a big deal for schools in the city, everyone goes! They are obsessed with this forest. Because of all the hype I was expecting to find magical creatures...maybe a candy mountain?? No, no- its just a forest. But it was still quite loverly to get out of the city and see some trees and even some Sunshine!!! We hiked about 30 minutes to our camp site, where we made a fire and even cooked our own lunch, including hot chocolate. Mmm. The kids climbed trees, played on rope swings and log bridges ( which frightened me beyond belief! ) and we even went fishing in a little lake. I am not allowed to post pictures of this kids online, for obvious reasons- but oh I wish I could!! These children look soo freakin cute all lined up with their snowsuits on- it is quite a site! You will all just have to come to Denmark and see it all for yourself.

Navigator of the Danish Woods,

  (Your friend) Vickiii

This is where I live.

~The Cement Barracks I call home.~

~My Freezing Cold Room- Brrrrr.~

Dearest friends back home who have warm places to live-

   My dorm's heating system is a piece of crap. Luckily I finally received my parents package which included a pillow and warm blanket- I will hopefully be able to sleep through the night now...all warm and toasty. 

My friend Miki and I have re-named our Kollegium. We refer to it as the Prison barracks in The Land of Suffering...lucky for us it also came with its own sest(sp?) pool! As you may tell I'm a bit bitter about my living arrangement at the moment... But- I'm surviving through it.

I could be out celebrating Mardi Gras/Super Tuesday/No class Wednesday this evening- but, I was invited on a field trip to 'The Forest' with my children tomorrow, so I have decided to get some sleep so that I am well rested for a full day of outdoor fun with Kindergarteners. The schools over here in Denmark seem to be obsessed with this 'Forrrresttt'- so i am quite excited to see what all the hype is about. I am hoping to come back with some sort of magical creature. I will make sure to report back on my findings. 

Bitter- yet glad to be in Denmark,

  Vicki

This is my bike.

This is my lovely bike!- Cross your fingers for nicer weather!

A Brief Introduction.

Dear friends of the U.S.A.-

As you know, I have safely arrived in Copenhagen, Denmark. My Dad and I came a few days early to get acquainted with the city and act as true tourists. We were both able to finally step foot on our ancestors home land, Sweden- YAY! Unfortunately, it was freakin freezing- but still very beautiful. All the fisherman put out their 'catch of the day' in their little fish huts- its quite an adorable site, too bad I don't care for the taste or smell (ick) of fish.

I also have myself a lovely blue bike. The weather just needs to get a bit nicer before I can ride it around. I also need a light for my bike, its actually a law here- and I don't have the money to pay their outrageous fines! If you are caught on the train with a wrong ticket- you get fined 600 Kroner ( which is about $120 )- I've seen it happen twice...leaving both girls in tears. Goodness, i'm soo forgetful- I hope it doesn't happen to me!

** Interesting facts: There are only 5.5 million people in Denmark and only 8% of those are of other ethnicities, "Denmark for the Danes!" There is also a 50% Income Tax, 25% tax on everything you buy, 200% Tax on automobiles and our American Dollar is worth crap-therefore everything is too damn expensive.

Classes are wonderful and I'm actually enjoying them all.I am taking: Children in a Multicultural Context Theory and Practicum, Migrants Minorities and Multiculturalism and Sociaology of European Families. I was elected Class Rep. for my Sociology of European Families course- which pretty much means I get to have free coffee and chat with the professor. :-) I also just enrolled in a 1credit Turkey at the Crossroads course- which includes a week-long tour of Turkey!!!

Thursday was my first full day at my Practicum site. I assist in a Danish Preschool, which has kids from 3-6 yrs of age. My Preschool is located in Copenhagen and is unique because every child comes from parents with a non-danish background. Most of the children are Muslim and therefore speak Arabic, so we get to learn Danish together. So far I have learned my numbers 1-10 and my colors! The 5 and 6 yr. olds got quite a laugh out of teaching me the colors- mainly amusing by my horrible pronunciation of the difficult Danish language.

This is a very brief intro- but as more happenings occur I will keep you all up-to-date. 

Much love to all those back at home, miss you bunches!

Your friend across the sea,

 Vicki