The Ship of Hope

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

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

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!

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

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

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!

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).