duniavania

Me No Like Packing & Goodbyes

2008-12-17T13:23:00.000-08:00

It's 17 Dec. That means 4 more days to go and I'm going to meet my family in Italy.
Excited to see my mom and my lil bro (and my dad again). After his conference in Poland, he came to Copenhagen for a couple days.

Anyway, so I'm done with school. My last oral exam was on Monday and boy...it was hard!Thanks to my awesome group members for the encouraging words. I wasn't feeling good that time because I can't stop thinking about my camera *hiks I lost it. I really hope it will come back to me because there were so many pictures from the last day at my church. :(

Okay..positive thoughts...so yes, I'm in the middle of packing and saying goodbyes to my friends here. It's not easy. It's been almost 5 months and it's just amazing to see in such a short time, I met many inspiring people here. My church, my cool Danish group members, Logos' ship crews, CBS friends and many more!! Seriously, I wish I could just record my voice saying "Goodbye friend. Nice to know you." and replay it for my friends. So, I don't need to say a word.

Well, who knows? Maybe I'll come back to Denmark :)
Jan 2, I'll be in Eugene. Moving, unpacking and adjusting.

ps: Mom, can you come here and help me packing?

Nativity story in the Logos Hope ship.
I went to the ship before starting to study for my exams. Hoho...

Forever Gloria! choir at First International Baptist Church.
A beautiful ending :)

.Dad with his gløgg (warm wine with raisins and almonds). We just had dinner at Nyhavn. Thanks Dad for the dinner! ;)

After a stressful oral exam, we decided to celebrate with ice skating at the Kongens Ntrov.

Went to the Amalienborg with Dad during his last minute in Copenhagen.

Nørrebro Cemetery

2008-12-05T06:40:00.000-08:00

December is here already!Wow, 26 days to 2009. Are you ready???
Well, I can't wait for my winter break. This week, the European business, international marketing, cultural communication and event managemet became my besties!Woohh...

Last week, I took some pictures at a cemetery at Nørrebro. The white snow makes it more prettier.
Enjoy the pictures! ~ it takes a long time to add images on my blog so...hehe..i'll just give the link of my picasa album, okay? :)

My dad is planning to come to visit me next weekend. He's in Poland at a conference now. He is really excited to see the Little Mermaid. I told him already it's really not a big thing *haha. But, still...it is part of Denmark. :)

I'm going to leave Denmark in 16 more days *sigh. Thinking about this makes me sad. Most of my friends who are studying abroad here are also leaving pretty soon. I'm going to miss them! :(
But, yeah...can't wait to see my mom, dad and my brother in Italy!Woohoo....any suggestions where I should go in Italy??Even though it's going to be cold, gelato bars will still be on my list! ;p

Happy Winter!

Tillykke med Fødselsdagen

2008-11-21T13:25:00.000-08:00

Happy (Belated) Birthday to Me!

Now, I'm 21...wooh, my aunt said it's time for me to use eye cream. Well, I guess I'll just wait. I think cucumber still works, don't you think?

Wow, almost a month I haven't been uploading new posts! So sorry about that. My school is getting crazier. And I don't travel that much. While, I'm writing this post, the weather is -1 celcius. Oh my...and it snowed today!

So...how do Danish people celebrate their birthdays? Of course you will have your birthday cake with candles. AND also Danish mini flag on top of your cake! :) Yup, they sell it at groceries stores. I need to bring it to Eugene! :)

My birthday was really quiet and nice. It ended with a surprise too! While I was practicing piano at church, two of my friends, Pei Yun and Brittany came to celebrate my birthday! Wury made scones and potstickers too. And then....Frieda came with a chocolate cake topped with choco frosting. Mmm....Thank you my dear friends! :)

I also made enchiladas for my birthday lunch. Haha...my Polish roommate tried enchiladas for the first time and she loves it!Mmm...enchiladas, choco cake, scones, potstickers, and many more!I also got birthday cards from my grandma and my friends. Mange tak for your wishes and prayers! :)

my birthday enchiladas! ;)

me & my birthday cake

my lovely friends with lovely homemade scones!

me and frieda who made the choco cake!

The Ship of Hope

2008-10-28T11:33:00.000-07:00

Have you heard of Logos Hope? It's one of the ships owned by the OM Ships International.
It's still under construction (it's almost done!). And I'm so lucky to be on board for a couple hours to meet the crews and even see the engine room!

Brings knowledge, help and hope
That's is the purpose of the OM Ships. Their vision is to impact the life of every visitor with the Good News of God's love. Everytime the ship stops in a country, the crews won't be inside the ship all the time. They go meet the local people and spread the gospel. They want to be involve with the locals too.

Last Saturday, I came to see the ship along with my church. When we arrived, we were greeted with the crews (not all of them of course, the total crews are almost 350 people). It was really awesome to see how God brings people from different countries to be together in a ship and sail for 2 years to spread the gospel!

The ship is open to public. They also have a book fair inside the ship. So, if you know that one of the OM Ships are in your country, you should visit and see inside the ship. It's really cool! You'll be inspired by the crews stories. I was really touched to hear their stories and their willingness to serve the Lord. Seriously, being in this ship it's not that easy. You will leave your family, your friends, and your comfort zone!

Are you interested to join them? Go to their website: Logos Hope

Click here to see more pictures!(please let me know if this link is not working! ;p)

CBS vs UO

2008-10-24T00:30:00.000-07:00

While I'm waiting for my laundry (tips: go early in the morning, not many students want to do their laundry at 8 am), I thought hmm...I didn't share enough about my school in Copenhagen.

Copenhagen Business School (CBS), is a private university. According to their website, CBS is one of the largest business schools in Northern Europe. How big is CBS? There are almost 16,000 students (it's always difficult to find a seat in library or in cafetaria).

1. Buildings
CBS has 7 buildings located in different places in the city. If you have 2 classes in different buildings, hoho, you better bring your bike or run as fast as you can! ;)

2. Schedule (oh how I miss Duckweb!)
CBS is in semester term. You need to be careful reading the CBS class schedule because not all your classes start in the same week. I only have 1 class in the first two weeks. After that, my other class starts. And 5 weeks later, my 2 other classes start because these classes are Q2 (Q2 means classes start after mid semester).
So yes, I had many free times before and now...I have 4 classes which means...more readings and less free time! ;)

3. Mascots
CBS has no mascot. Their color is blue and white. Sports here is not as big as in the UO. There are sports club and they usually play with other universities. But, not like in the UO where students and alumni come together to support their school team.

4. Test
Usually, in the UO, oral exam is for students who take language class. In CBS, there are classes that has oral exam for your final exam. For my classes, I will have 2 open-book exam for 4 hours!I can bring my laptop (i'm not sure if I can access the internet during the exam..haha). The others will be group projects and oral exam (15-20 minutes). Oh my...I'm a little bit anxious about this since this is new to me.

5. Independent study
In here, you are expected to be an independent student. There are no office hours for you to talk to teachers. If you have questions, bring them to the class or post the questions on Site Scape (it's like Blackboard). Teachers can't tell you how they will grade you. My teacher said "It's not legal for me to tell you how much percentage the projects weigh". Interesting huh? And there are soooo many readings. The library is always crowded with students studying for hours. Attendance won't affect your grade too. Piuhhhh.. ;)

Anyway, did I tell you that I went to Tivoli again? Last week, they opened for Halloween. And now, they close again. They should have opened it until next week. But yeah, it was so fun! Tivoli was filled with pumpkins. Woohhh....

Danish flag is always everywhere. You can find them on birthday cakes, Christmas tree or even on candies.

The 1st winner of the biggest pumpkin contest. It weighs 335 kilos!! My oh my...how many pumpkin pie you can make?

That's why I love Tivoli!

Boo!

There were long lines at the entrance. It was really crowded!

I will come back to Tivoli. Actually, I got the season pass so I can come everyday! Well, they will open again in the middle of November for Christmas season! Yayy...!

The Birthplace of HC Andersen

2008-10-16T07:11:00.000-07:00

Remember The Little Mermaid, Thumbelina or The Little Match Girl?
These well-known fairy tales was written by Hans Christian Andersen. He was born in April 2, 1805 at Odense. Odense is the main city of Funen island. I went there by train on Monday with two of my friends, Wury and Brittany. It was a 1 1/2 hour train trip from København H station to Odense station.

While we're on the train, we're reading Odense map of tourist attractions and Lonely Planet's Denmark book. And...we realized that many museums are closed on Monday!Oh no!What should we do in a small town for 5 hours? After we arrived, we went to the Tourist Information office. And, whew...because it's the mid semester break, all museums are open!

Now, Odense is a small town with 158,163 inhabitants (thank you, wikipedia!). It reminds me of Eugene! Eugene has almost 154,000 people. I didn't find any Cafe Yumm or Chapala's at Odense. ;p

Odense is a fun town. You'll see many cute and nice restaurants. We went to the HC Andersen Hus to take pictures in front of Andersen's house. All houses in that area are so cute. Small houses with cute colours. I felt like I'm in a hobbit's village! There are many shopping stores at the central town.

After walking around the central town, we decided we want to eat and try Odense delicacies. Well, we found ice cream place that sells ice cream 2 scoops for 10 kr ($2)! Woohoo, we were so happy. :) I got chocolate hazelnut and strawbery sorbet. Mmm...We only have 45 minutes left before our train to Copenhagen leaves. We passed a Mexican restaurant, El Torito.

And yes...we had nachos and Mexican tomato soup at Odense. There are no Chapala's but El Torito helped three of us, who really miss Mexican food, to end our trip to the birthplace of HC Andersen. Woohooo!!

Btw, after we left El Torito, we're making plans for having Thanksgiving dinner and also a Mexican food night. Anybody wants to join us?

Can you see HC Andersen icon on the green light?

Me in front of the house of HC Andersen. In December, in front of his house, there will be a Christmas market where you can find Christmas decorations and seasonal drinks.

Ok, I only have 2 pictures. *What?????
Hehe. Uploading pictures on my blog takes lots of time. So, I uploaded them on my picasa website. You don't need any g-mail account to see the album - Odense Trip. Let me know if it doesn't work. Enjoy!!

Visiting the Neighbors!

2008-10-07T11:23:00.000-07:00

There are many ways to travel cheap. Yes, yes. You just need to ask and open your eyes. So, my friend told me that there's this pass called Around the Sound that you can only purchase in Sweden. Øresund bridge connects Denmark and Sweden. The pass includes a one-way train ticket from Copenhagen (Denmark) to Malmö (Sweden), a one-way ferry ticket from Helsingborg (Sweden) to Helsingor (Denmark), trains and busses for 2 days for a seriously good price.

Me and Pei Yun (she's my travel buddy) took a train from Copenhagen Central station. Guess what, I had to come back to my dorm to get my passport. The information lady said that I need to bring it. But yup...you don't need it. Huhu, wasted 1 1/2 hour for that! ;)

Sweden is cheaper compare to Denmark. If you want to go shopping, go to Sweden. But, Swedish people come to Denmark to buy alcohol. They said it's much cheaper. When we arrived at Malmö, it's true that food & clothing are cheaper. Shopping time!! *at the end of our trip, we didn't get anything though...;p

A brigde next to the Malmö central station. This town is not as big as we thought.

Swedish meatballs
We ate this wonderful dish at a Mexican restaurant. I found that funny. ;p

St Petri kryka (St Peter's Church)
The oldest building in Malmö from 12th century.

Inside the St Peter's church

Amazing. I can't stop looking at these beautiful art!

This is just breathtaking! Really wanted to come closer and touch it (can't do it!).

The Malmöhus Castle
At first, it was a castle. But after Malmö became Swedish, it was used as a prison. Sad :(

A view of the Turning Torso tower from the Malmöhus castle.

The Lund's Cathedral from 12th century.

A huge astronomical clock at the Lund's Cathedral.

Candles of prayers

The altar of Lund's Cathedral

It's an old well at the crypt of the Lund's cathedral.

Forget to bring cash for offertory? Just swipe your card!
You can even donate for charity groups.

Remember the Subway's commercial? "5 dollar foot long..."
Well, it's actually 8 dollar foot long in Sweden.

At Helsingborg
Waiting for the ferry to bring us back to Denmark! Bye Sweden!

Jægersborg Dyrehave, the Deer Garden

2008-09-28T14:10:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday was a beautiful day. It was warm. I wore short sleeves and didn't wear my jacket at all!

Me and my Singaporean friend, Pei Yun, went to Jægersborg Dyrehave or in English, the Deer Garden. This garden/park/forest is really huge! The whole area is 11 square kilometres. We didn't walk around the garden. We took the shortcut. ;p But still it was a nice long walk.

Many people come to this place to play golf, horse rides, picnic and see the deers. Yes, according to the wikipedia, there are 2000 deers in this place!But......we didn't see any. We asked around and a lady said that probably the deers are in the forest. It's suppose to be their mating season. Maybe that's the reason why. Because usually, the deers stay next to the mansion (see the picture below).

The park was really close to the coast near Klampenborg. Sweden is really close to Denmark. You can actually see Sweden from here.

Have a great week, everyone!

Legoland Billund

2008-09-22T11:39:00.000-07:00

I'm always fascinated by these little bricks. I remembered I had my 1st lego duplo set and when I was ready to move to the next level ;p, I built houses, an ambulance, and a farm. Lego is amazing!I usually play Lego with Polly Pockets (yes, Barbie is too big for Lego).

Lego is originally from Denmark. The word Lego came from let godt which means "play well". Wikipedia has some interesting facts about Lego. Check it out!

Two years ago, I went to Legoland California. It was a little bit boring. I only enjoyed 3 rides. Most of the rides are for children under 12 years old. And by the way, you should try their fried apples with their cream cheese dip. Mmm, yumm....

Anyway, I really enjoyed my trip to Legoland Billund! They have a 4D Lego movie (not in Danish but in gibberish..haha), 5 different theme rides, a Lego tower and a huge concert place!This year is actually Legoland's 40th birthday. They have concerts every weekend for this month.

Billund is located in Jutland island. I went there by bus with other CBS exchange students. It took us 3 hours from Copenhagen to Billund. We passed Funen island, an island between Jutland and Zealand. Too bad I missed the bridge!! I slept in the bus the whole time! ;p

The main entrance. Welcome to Legoland!!

Me and the miniature of Nyhavn at Copenhagen. Everything is made out of Lego bricks!

Sleepless Legoland!

The Statue of Liberty.
The model is 9 meters high and is built with 1.4 million Lego bricks!Wow.....!!

Now, I can tell people I've been to Amsterdam! ;) The windmill and the boats can move. Even the trains too...

It's a huge castle! It's too big for a restaurant and a mini rollercoaster. Not made from Lego though.

Mini Mount Rushmore in Legorado Town.
I forgot how many pieces they used for this.

Yummy mini doughnuts!Oh my...They don't have apple fries but this doughnuts are good too!

The "Extreme Riders"...hoho...it was quick and fun!

Greetings to you, my friend!

This is the miniature of Norway.

At the Legorado city, children (and adults too) can trade their golds into a Lego medal.

Hmm, should have brought marshmallows so I can make smores! ;)

I think this is best roller coaster picture ever because I opened my eyes!! Woohoo....

The Legoland trip was really really FUN!!One of the happiest place on Earth!Hoho... :)
Got to go now. My potatoes are ready! I'm going to make a potato salad with greek yoghurt. Mm, hope it will turn out good.

Thank you, Skype!

2008-09-10T08:20:00.000-07:00

A week ago, I got a mail from my mom. She usually sends me magazines and newspaper articles from Indonesia. "To keep you updated", that's what she said.

It's amazing where ever I am, I'm not disconnected with my friends and families. Thanks to Skype, MSN, facebook and postal service! :) Using Skype, I can call my mom 2-3 times a week since now we only have 5 hours difference. No need to buy calling cards. I use Skype Credit. It's more cheaper. She needs to get a better internet service though so we can talk for free!

That's a lot of stamps! Rp. 68,000! Haha...Thanks, ma.

Skyping (haha) with Yvonne. It was her birthday, so I called her and we blew the candles together! Happy Birthday! The cake was "great", Pong!

I had a long weekend. I attended a 3-day conference, Ethics and Economy conference hosted by the Goethe Institute and Copenhagen Business School. After the last day of conference (yes, i was really tired-my brain received too many information), I went to my favorite place, my kitchen. I made crepes (with nutella) and berry sauce. It's easy, quick and yummy. I need to find the danish word for whole wheat flour. I have to make a healthy version of these crepes if I continue to have this as my snack (or dinner).

5 Hours of Fun at Tivoli!

2008-09-07T22:05:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the Intro Week bracelet, CBS exchange students can get discount for Tivoli's ticket.
Usually the entrance and multi-ride pass cost 285 kr (about $ 57). With the bracelet, it costs only 180 kr ($ 36). Yippee!!!

Tivoli is one of theme parks in Denmark. Located in the central city, it becomes one of the popular tourist attractions. When it's dark, the lights are so pretty. This place is really colourful and has beautiful gardens. There are some nice restaurants (with nice price of course...) and free concert every Friday!

I went here with Anja and Stefanie. Both of them are from Germany. We were in the same class at the Danish Crash course. We met at 5 pm and went home around 10.30 pm. Lots of walking, eating and talking! ;)

Tivoli has many concerts throughout the year. This week, the New York Ballet Company is playing in Copenhagen. Heard that tickets were sold out!

It was fun but too bad they only did it once!

One of the beautiful views in Tivoli. My friend from Germany, Stefanie, said "This place is really romantic."

This ride is soooo awesome. It got a little bit cold and windy though. Brrr....Too bad I can't wear my glasses so I can't really see the city really well. I saw the City Hall, the Central Station and even fireworks from somewhere around the central city.

After the ride
Anja looked so happy and me.....looked shocked, probably because the wind. ;p

Food, foods and foods! Yup, you can't get hungry here.

Welcome to China town! There was a food place called Asian Station. I was so excited to have rice with chicken or sushi. But, instead of serving Asian food they have hotdogs, french fries and fish. Oh well.....

The Pantomime Theater. That day, the show was The Little Match Girl, a fairy tale by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen.

More rides.....

The main entrance

Isn't it pretty?

I like this one. There's a nice restaurant here.

Hmm.....candy shop!

Yes....they have Cold Stone!!
When we entered Tivoli, Anja told me that there is an ice cream place from US where you can create your own ice cream. I was like...was she talking about Cold Stone?And yup......the one and only Cold Stone in Copenhagen!

Stefanie and Anja with their first Cold Stone ice cream. I had dark chocolate mint with pecan and banana. Mmm, mmm.....yummy yummy!!

We ate our ice cream and stood next to the water fountain (all the seats were taken ;p ). I said, "This is a nice way to end our day." And both of them agreed.

Frilandsmuseet: The Open Air Museum

2008-09-07T07:30:00.000-07:00

Frilandsmuseet, the Open Air Museum is located at north of Copenhagen, Lyngby.
It is one of the largest and oldest in the world. In this museum, you can see more than 100 buildings from 1650-1940.This museum is on a 86 acres land! Many people came here just for a walk or even to ride a horse coach.

Here are the pictures of Frilandsmuseet:

This museum is really beautiful and well organized. In Jakarta, there is a similar concept called Taman Mini Indonesia Indah. It's like Indonesia in a miniature park. If you have Google Earth, type Taman Mini Indonesia Indah. You can see a miniature map of Indonesia on a huge pond. There are also traditional houses from each province in Indonesia and many museums too. I haven't been there for a long time. The last time I came there, it was not really clean. :(

Free time in A Rain-Free Day

2008-08-31T11:02:00.000-07:00

What will you do if you have free time in a great weather?

a. Go to the beach (Too far and didn't bring my sunblock lotion)
b. Bake cookies and invite friends to come over (Don't have enough kitchen utensils. Anybody wants to send me some kitchen stuffs?)
c. Get a free ice cream with free dark chocolate bits topping. (Not possible)
d. Go to the Freetown Christiania where it's the "Hippiest place in Denmark". (I better go here during the day instead of evening.)

So me and my rooomate, Aga, went to Christiania at the eastern side of Christianshavn. We followed a group of people assuming that they're going there. We walked for about 20 meters and we saw a building with grafitti all over it. I heard noise people skateboarding and heavy metal music. I said to Aga, "I think we're in the right place."

We weren't allowed to take pictures. My Danish course teacher said that it's because they don't you to take pictures of them selling illegal stuffs. Well, I wasn't expecting they will sell it in front of tourists (Christiania is one of tourist attractions in Copenhagen). And, yup, there I saw people selling marijuana. We went to the food places because Aga was hungry. But when we arrived, Aga didn't feel hungry anymore.

I heard that you can't live there without the approval of the Christiania's community.The place was really interesting. Some people go there to buy (and use) drugs or watch music concerts. Some people go there to see Christianian people because they are different. They have their own rules. They are there because they want to be free.

The entrance of Christiania.

"You are now entering the EU"

Vor Frelsers Kirke (Our Saviour's Church)
I can't get in because it was under construction. Too bad, I would love to see a pipe organ from 1698!As you can see from the picture, the church has a spiral tower. Reminds me of churches in Russia.

A couch boat! I want to be on that boat and watch television and be couch potato!

Me and Aga.
She's from Poland. She drove from Poland to Denmark. Wow! And she makes awesome crepes!!

We brought some delicious breads and sat on a bench next to the canal. Looking at boats, people and pigeons was really relaxing. Hmm...I love it!

Well, school starts tomorrow and my first class is at 8 am. Go go, Vania!

Flavors of København

2008-08-25T13:31:00.001-07:00

Everytime I have a "food adventure", I always take pictures of the food so that I will remember the flavors of it. :p Here are some pictures taken from my "food adventure" since I arrived in Copenhagen. Velbekomme!

Oh yes! Soft ice-cream with dark chocolate sauce and pistachio toppings from Chocolate by Hand. When I came to this shop, I felt I was dipped in a pot of melting chocolate. The smell really makes you want to buy 4 dozens of their chocolate squares!
Just looking at this picture makes me drool already!*oops

I bought a 3-layer cake, which is common for Danes's birthday cake. I put strawberries, whipped cream and.....yes, the evil Nutella. My Danish friend told me that Danes decorate their cakes with small Danish decoration flags. The strawberries here are so tiny and cute!

A small thin-crust pizza. Toppings: ham, pesto, cheese and tomatoes. In every corner, you will find many small restaurants that sell pizza, pasta and kebabs for affordable prices (35 kr or $ 7 for a small pizza). There are several kebab places next to my dorm that keep calling me to come inside. Hoho...who wants to join me?

Yoga Peach Juice. Highly recommended. It is really good!!!

Falafel that I brought at Strøget. It reminded me of falafels in front of the U of O Bookstore. :)

Gelato. I had a mix of tutty-fruity and chocolate. Mmm...You can find many gelato parlours in Copenhagen. They are everywhere!

Jeg vil gerne have en flaske mineralvand. I will have a bottle of mineral water.
Couple days after I arrived in Copenhagen, I didn't really like the tap water. It taste different.
Today, I actually just bought lemon juice for my drinking water.

I have to admit that lately I have cravings for eating jasmine rice. So, I made chicken curry. Curry with warm rice. Yes, yes. Me happy lah! It's quite difficult to get Asian foods and spices. I could get soy sauce at most groceries stores but not Indomie or peanut sauce! ;p

Where I live right now, Nørrebro, has many little shops that sell food products from Germany, Turkey, Spain and even Thailand! In this area, many families are mostly from Middle-East countries. I will definitely have a blog post about Nørrebro!

More pictures!

2008-08-20T12:40:00.000-07:00

Ice Cream Car
The driver will ring the bell and park in front of apartments. An ice-cream bar can cost 19 kr (around $4). Today, I just had a soft ice cream with chocolate and pistachio. Oh my...it was really good!Even though, I'm lactose intolerant but that doesn't stop me from having ice cream and cheese! :)

The S-train
Transportation in Denmark is really nice. There are bus, train and Metro. The Greater Copenhagen region is divided into 95 zones! A single ticket, where you can use any transportation in 1 hour, costs 20 kr (US $ 4).

Kristuskirken
There are 4 different churches meet in this building. One of them is the First International Baptist Church, the one that I go to.

Havneparken at Island Brygge
It's next to the Bryggens Kulturhus. Took this picture while me and my friends were waiting for the Crash Course BBQ last Tuesday.

Havneparken at Island Brygge.
Actually that day, I saw many people kayaking, canoeing and jet skiing there. Oh, I also saw some people swimming too! The water was cold..brrrr....

A Bike at Havneparken
A Danish friend told me that if you see a bike that has not been used in 7 days, you can take it. A used bike can cost from 600-1000 kr ($ 120-200). Bikes are expensive but many Danes prefer to bike since the transportation cost is quite high. Yup, Danes bike even when there's heavy rain and snow!

Havneparken at Island Brygge
It was my second day learning Danish. I was tired. Haha. Hvad skul det ver? Hvad hedder du? Hvordan kostner det?

Taler du Dansk? Do you speak Danish?

2008-08-20T11:33:00.000-07:00

Jeg hedder Vania. Jeg kommer fra Indonesia. Jeg lesser business.

I've been learning Danish since last Monday. Two people told me that Danish is not a language. It's a throat disease. The pronunciation is different compare to what is written. My crash course will end on Friday so I won't be able to make a 5 minute speech. But, at least, I know how to introduce myself, how to buy groceries and tell the time.

During the crash course week, students can join the social evening activities. On Monday, we learned about Hygge. It means cozy. Yesterday, we had BBQ at Island Brygge.

My friends from my Danish class. Tiziana from Switzerland, Stefani from Germany, Jessica from China and Anja from Germany.

Danish sweets.

BBQ at the Island Brygge. We were divided into groups of 4. Each group got a disposable grill, 4 steaks, 4 sausages, garlic bread, tomatoes, potato salad and marshmallows. We even got instruction of how to do use the grill, how to cook the meat and how to melt marshmallows!

The CBS exchange students.

Our group had trouble with the grill. As you can see, half part of the grill wasn't ready. We looked at other groups and saw that most of them were doing fine. Haha. We almost decided to go to a restaurant. But, we made it. :)

Tomorrow, students are supposed to cook a dish from their own countries. I'm planning to make Nasi Goreng since it's really easy to make. Unfortunately, I don't have the cooking utensils to make it. What I have in my kitchen are 2 small pans, eating utensils and 2 plates. Hmm...

Celebrating Independence Day in Denmark

2008-08-19T12:42:00.000-07:00

On the 17th of August 2008, I went to the Indonesian Embassy at Hellerup to celebrate the Indonesian Independence Day. At 10 am, the flag ceremony began. It reminded me back when I was at school in Indonesia, almost every week, me and other students must attend the flag ceremony.
Sing national anthem, school's hymn, school's pledge, etc. Oh gosh. Most of the time, me and my friends thought this was some kind of a torture from our teachers.

But, it felt different this time. Usually, I would join my friends to make some annoying noise during the ceremony. This time, I stood there in silent. Trying to capture its wonderful moment. Seeing the flag raised while we sang our national anthem, Indonesia Raya, I felt it was calling the people to become one and to remember the hard work from our founding fathers.

It was amazing. It took only 30 minutes. As usual, we lined up to shake hands with the Ambassador, Mr. Abdul Rahman Saleh and his wife. While people were busy taking pictures with the Ambassador (he was an Attorney General in Indonesia), I was busy in the line waiting for the real Indonesian food!Yum..yum...!!

Me, the adopted grand daughter (that was what Frieda kept telling her friends) and Frieda, my pastor's mother. She said that her biggest mistake is to marry a Dane (of course, it was a joke!).

The Ambassador and wife with the Flag "people". I don't know what's the word for it. Haha.

Lapis Legit. I should have taken 3 more pieces since this cake is really rare in Eugene!! (It's difficult to make)

All the Indonesians, Indo-Danes and Danes sat down together eating free Indo food!The Indo Embassy even served Nasi Tumpeng!

The Indo Ladies who lived in Denmark for more than 10 years!
A Indo lady who lived here for almost 30 years told me that no matter how long she has been here, her heart is still in Indonesia.

Thank you, Frieda for bringing me to Hellerup! It was really nice to meet the Indonesians there. Dirgahayu Indonesia!

Moved to Svanevej

2008-08-16T10:01:00.000-07:00

Just bought an ethernet cable. It felt weird not having internet connection for 1 day.
Oh no, what did technology do to me?;p

Yesterday, I moved to the school dorm called Svanevej (don't ask me how to pronounce it).
It's a little bit far from the campus but at least it's close to the S station and bus stop.
Apparently, I'm sharing my room with another girl. Thought we're only sharing bathroom.
My roommate hasn't arrived yet so I have the room for myself. :)

Left side belongs to me!

A view from the entrance ;p

Tomorrow, I'll probably go to the Indonesian Embassy to celebrate our Independence Day. Hmm, I hope they have Indo food that I can buy. Maybe they have chicken satay with peanut sauce. Oh yumm!

Nationalmuseet: A Journey to the Beginning

2008-08-14T03:15:00.000-07:00

The National Museum of Denmark
10, Ny Vestergade

Can you understand this? In the museum, they have a list of the alphabets during stone age.

The wind instrument from late Bronze Age.

A silver cauldron. Weight 9 kilos. Made around 100 BC.

In the People of the Earth exhibition, they have collections from my tribe, Batak! These scultures are from 1800!

They have gamelan too! And also the portrait of Sultan Hamengkubuwono.

I don't need to go to Egypt to see mummies!

I walked from the Stone Age to 21st Century. I spent almost 2 1/2 hours there. Learned a lot from this museum. I learned about people, Danish history, Roman empire, Vikings, Christianity and the Beatles (yes, they have Elvis too).

Next destination: Dansk Jødisk Museum (the Danish Jewish Museum)

København: The City

2008-08-14T02:50:00.000-07:00

Amalienborg, the winter home of the Danish Royal family

Nyhavn "New Harbour"

The Little Mermaid

Strøget, the longest pedestrian shopping in Europe

The Zoo tower

A view of the canal near Christianborg Palace

The Black Diamond, the Royal Library

Yes, it's perfect.

2008-08-13T10:36:00.001-07:00

Several of my friends had asked me to write a blog while I'm in Denmark.
So, here you go, my friends.

I'm so excited. This Friday, I'm going to move to my school's apartment, Svanevej.
Today, I went to the Nationalmuseet (National Museum of Denmark) and the Dansk Jødisk Museum (Danish Jewish Museum). I took the bus 2A using my 10-journey card.

Most museums in Denmark are free. My today's journey only cost kr 30 for the Dansk Jødisk admission. I brought crackers, cheese and grapes for my lunch. Yumm! Eating my lunch next to the Christiansborg Palace was a pleasant time. The weather was nice in the afternoon.

It's just perfect.

I will upload the pictures soon! :)