Final Week, Finals Week

As cliché as the phrase is, time truly does fly when you're having fun.  Looking back on my time in Copenhagen thus far, that's exactly what I've been doing.

Studying, of course, has been involved, too, with preliminary assignments, midterms, and some reading.  Lectures were Monday-Thursday every week with a few Friday sessions as well.  Recently, I have been putting the study in study abroad more thanks to my two final exams taking place this week.

On Monday, I completed my four-hour, sixty-question Fundamentals of Finance exam.  Though I can't be sure how well I did, I'm pretty confident I at least passed the exam.  Some questions were more challenging than others, and several questions caused me to second-guess, but ultimately, the assessment did not seem too awful.

With one class done (yay!), I have one more to go.  My Introduction to Marketing final exam is tomorrow, but after that, I am free to enjoy my final days in this wonderful city.

These past few days alone, I have gone from Kronborg Castle to Christiania, from Baresso to Bakken, and to many other places in between.  Even though I've been in Copenhagen since June, there's still so much more to see and do.  To be honest, when choosing this study abroad program, I did not know there would be that many activities and attractions in Denmark.  My summer in Copenhagen and the experiences I've had truly reflect how great it is to live here.

On Saturday, three friends and I took a train to Helsingor to see Hamlet's [Kronborg] Castle.  There, we went on a thirty minute introduction tour of the castle before exploring the rest on our own.  Afterwards, we walked into the town a bit and had some Italian food for lunch before returning to Copenhagen.

Castle ahead!  I loved the pavement directions.

Ballroom inside the castle where royalty would impress guests.

The castle's chapel, a Lutheran church!

Our ticket let us enter the casemates of the castle.  It was a bit dark being underground!

Mini model and actual castle.

Cute, patriotic Danish flags wave across the streets in Helsingor.

On Sunday, I took the opportunity to go museum-hopping and tourist-shopping.  Since the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek museum is free to the public on Sundays, I wanted to check it out!  From there, I bought a few souvenirs downtown before finding Nationalmuseet (which always has free entry).

View from my walk past Islands Brygge towards city center/ the museums

Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek

Turns out, it is an art museum.. and this piece was probably my favorite.  I find the expression to be pretty funny.

Am I studying abroad, or am I on a tropical vacation?  (Just kidding.)  The center of the museum had a garden with palm trees!

Ballet dancer sculpture by Degas

After some searching, I found museum #2.  At this point, I was already pretty satisfied with how many museum exhibits I had seen, so I didn't spend much time here.

From what I did see of the National Museum, there were several representations of Jesus' passion (plus plenty of artifacts from Denmark's history).  The museum is also set in what used to be the residence of some royalty.  Since the Nationalmuseet prides itself on being selfie-friendly, I took a selfie in this old-fashioned bedroom.

 

On the walk home, I passed the pretty Christiansborg Palace (from behind).

Hungry from my journey, I bought dessert (bottom left corner, second pastry from left) at a random bakery for part of my late lunch.

I took the long way home and walked past one of the Big Four accounting firms.  Nothing like a good reminder of why I'm here.  (Okay, classes towards my degree is only part of the reason!)

After Monday's finance exam, I finally was able to exerience Christiania.  Christiania is world-famous for being a free town or hippie commune.  No photography is allowed, which adds to the mystique (though I did sneak a few shots of the nature path we took inside and a pretty view of the water).  The area doesn't have the greatest reputation, which is why I hadn't checked it out earlier by myself, but I felt completely fine.  Walking around with Ronnie and Elyse during the day, nothing was unsafe about our being there.  I even made a purchase: nothing bad, just a 20 DKK braided-leather bracelet.

Our Savior's Church in Christianshavn on the way to Christiania

Approaching Christiania!

Leaving Christiania, going back home to the European Union.

Afterwards, we grabbed waffle cones and headed for Frederiksberg Have.  A friend was playing a mini-concert, so we sat in the grass, relaxed, and listened to some songs to cap off a long but successful day.

One of the best waffle cones I have ever had, and the ice cream was pretty good, too!

My view in the park.

How picturesque is Frederiksberg Have?!

Yesterday (Tuesday), I met my friend Lauren at the Danish coffee chain Baresso at Norreport.  After purchasing a muffin and Chaiz (frozen chai-cino), we were off to the train station.  For only a two-supplement ticket (24 DKK) to my monthly metro pass, I was able to ride to Klampenborg, where Bakken, the world's oldest amusement park is located.  Along the way, a friendly woman noticed the uncertainty Lauren and I had regarding which trains to take and said, "Follow me!"  Thanks to her kindness, we successfully made it to our destination with plenty of time to buy wristbands and ride "alllll the rides."

We ended up not quite going on every ride--as I wasn't feeling the best towards the end--but we hit all the big rides, nonetheless.  I had fun again being an amusement park guest, knowing that exactly one week later, I'll be back to work as an amusement park associate.

These moving/spinning platforms are a common way to hop on and off amusement park rides in Denmark, I've noticed.

Before getting soaked on the very first ride!

Looks harmless, right?  The ride turned out to be kind of scary, like a haunted house.

I enjoyed being at the world's oldest amusement park; going was definitely a necessity while living in Copenhagen.

I love the coasters in the sun. ;) The ride at the front, Tornado, was quite thrilling.  I didn't realize I chose the wrong side to sit on, so Lauren and I were backwards riding this roller coaster.  Across from us were two Danish children: one, a boy with a maniacal laugh.  Going on rides with random Danes did enhance the experience of Bakken, that's for sure.

Let's fly!

I beat Lauren on this shooting ride.  All the while, I hadn't realized I was hitting many targets or that it was even working!

Trying to decide where to eat, we found this 25-kroner place!  Not a bad deal.

Oh so Danish.. my two-scoop waffle cone topped with whipped cream and jam!

Finishing off my second ice cream cone in two days--yes, I have had a good number of waffle cones here, it's fine--is where some excitement happens.  I say excitement loosely, because I'm not entirely thrilled with the outcome, but the story does get interesting.  We sat down to eat our desserts, so when I was done, I was going through my bag (drawstring CMU backpack, fire up!).  Rummaging through everything, I knew something was missing, and patting my pockets, my phone was nowhere to be found.  The last time I recall using it was at the train station, checking the time; somewhere between Norreport and Bakken, 12:12 to roughly 4:30 pm, my phone either fell or was taken from my pocket or bag.  I went to both information sites for lost-and-found as well as several of the rides I went on, and nobody found a phone, though the ride operators were extremely nice about trying to help.  Feeling sure that further searching wouldn't yield advantageous results, I resolved to email the address given to me by the park, and we left Bakken.

Fun times at Bakken!  Lost my phone but gained some memories, right?

Before leaving Klampenborg, at the suggestion of our friend from earlier in the day, we went to the beach.  We wished we had swimsuits and other beach gear, because it turned out to be so nice!  The water wasn't cold, and the beach was sandy.  Pretty perfect.

This side of the beach appeared to have a pier.  Walking the pier in Grand Haven on Lake Michigan is one of my favorite pastimes, so I suggested we go walk the pier.  As we approached the area, however, there were several nude people; awkwardly, we turned around and walked away!  Not at all what we were expecting.  That moment was definitely one of the strangest and uncomfortable (culture shock, I guess) moments of studying abroad here! 

Once I got back to my dorm, I contacted my mom regarding my phone.  There had been no activity on my phone, which is good and bad I guess.  Since I don't have an international plan, I was primarily concerned about the fees if someone tries using my American phone.  Unfortunately, being abroad, there's no way to call my phone and find it (my phone has been on airplane mode this entire time), and I'm pretty sure it's gone forever.  Who knows what happened, and why I'm phone-less indefinitely, but I'm mostly sad about all of the pictures I'll never get back.  Before coming to Denmark, I literally never used my camera, so all of the other fun activities I've done in the past year or so (including my Alternative Breaks, mission trip, and second-year college life in general) were documented on that Droid Mini.  (In Copenhagen, I still took quite a bit of photos with my phone.)  I will never have those reminders back, so for that, I'm disappointed.

On the other hand, phones aren't everything.  They can be replaced.  I'm sure I'll get another cell phone to use once I return home.  Until then, I'm going to enjoy not having a phone to stare at.  Living in the moment is underrated.  As I keep saying, my peers and I only have so much time in Copenhagen.  For most of these people (hopefully not all), I know that goodbyes are fast approaching.  Until then, I want to make the most of my final time here.

Thus, it is time to study up for tomorrow's four-question essay exam in hopes of a successful ending to Introduction to Marketing and to the rest of the week.

End In Sight

Time to share some bittersweet news with all of you:  Yesterday was my last day of classes!  One week from now, I'll be done with both of my exams.  As nice as it is to be capping off summer lectures, I have mixed emotions about finals next week.  Hopefully, I will be well-studied and everything will go smoothly on my exams; it's definitely worrisome.  Starting to look back, too, it's interesting to see how far life has come just over the past few weeks.

Now that my last week in Copenhagen is approaching, I finally wrote out a checklist of things I have yet to do here.  The major points of interest, for instance, are to witness what is Christiania and to ride a bike sometime and somewhere in this city.  Truly, there are many other checkpoints I have devised, but I already have been making progress with my list!

Arriving home from Berlin on Sunday, I was pretty exhausted, and since then, it has been a busy few days.

On Monday, I got going early to walk to Norreport.  My monthly metro pass expired Sunday, so I needed to go buy another one!  Interestingly, just a few minutes into my walk, I was stopped by a man from Afghanistan looking for the immigration office; unfortunately, I did not know what to tell him, but we did find out where each other is from and talk a moment (he said I was nice, so I must be representing the US alright!).

After a beautiful walk that led past the community pools at Islands Brygge, museums and buildings by bustling city streets, and the back side of Tivoli, I went to the ATM and then went to the ticket office for my metro pass.  Easy enough, I paid my 360 DKK in exchange for another 30 days of the metro.  Despite me leaving before that time, the month is still worthwhile as someone who frequents it!

Next to the "billetter" was a street food vendor location called Torvehallerne.  I had previously read about this place and wanted to go, so it was convenient to coincidentally run into it!

From lunch at Torvehallerne, I went to marketing.  Once class was over, I went souvenir shopping with my friend Ronnie.  Though I've scoped out many of the gift stores here, I finally bought the main present I planned on getting.

For dinner, we had Joe & the Juice.  It was my first time trying this restaurant, and what you see cost me 100 DKK, but in retrospect, the food was really tasty and refreshing.  No regrets.

We also walked around Nyhavn, an area that I'll always appreciate the beauty of.

On my way home, I couldn't resist stopping at Fakta and grabbing a donut.  This was just a chocolate-frosted one I enjoyed while taking the long way home.  However, right next to them were Berliner donuts!  While in Germany, I wanted to have a Berliner but disappointingly couldn't find one-- here in Copenhagen, they're raspberry-flavored donuts sold in my nearest convenience store.  Sad.

Tuesday was a more calm day: going to finance, grabbing lunch with some friends, then heading back to Tietgen.  My blogs about Germany resulted from that afternoon/evening.

Wednesday, however, was back to a busier social life.  First, I met my friend Lauren to go to Conditoriet La Glace, an old, historic bakery recognized as one of the best in Copenhagen.  This bakery is even listed on Buzzfeed as one to see, and we were happy to sit down, relax, and check it out.

I ordered the Othellolagkage: "Custard, macaroon bottom, chocolate icing. Decorated with butter cream."  To drink, I ordered hot chocolate to stick with tradition of the bakery "to sink down into a time gap, where there is enough time to enjoy a whole pot of a hot beverage."

Eventually, I made it through the piece of cake, but I barely finished the first round of hot chocolate.  The brochure for Conditoriet La Glace advertises one free refill on hot beverages if you can handle more to drink, which I hadn't thought would be a problem for me.  Normally, I wouldn't complain about dessert being "too rich," and maybe it was just the cake/hot chocolate combination, but it was too much!  I had to pause because I wasn't feeling well.  Thankfully, it went away, and I was fine by the time I ran to class.  (Literally.. I ran to the metro because we turned the wrong way at first and were headed towards Tivoli.. but I didn't miss anything!)

Cheesing after an enjoyable visit at Conditori La Glace!

Last day of marketing!

Since class was brief (simply talking about what might be on the exam), I went back to my dorm quick before heading back to CBS for the second-to-last ISUP Social Package event: a Danish comedy with English subtitles.  Titled "Flickering Lights" (or "Blinkende Lygter"), the film was about a group of gangsters who end up opening a restaurant.  Though I wouldn't have classified it as a comedy per se-it felt like more of an action movie- I can now say I've watched a Danish movie, so that's a success.  I sat by a couple friends, and it was pretty fun.

Afterwards, Elyse and I went to the Danish Architecture Center.  Someone in my Tietgenkollegiet Facebook group had posted a video of a mini-Tietgen, so I wanted to check it out!  The DAC is free on Wednesdays from 5-9, so I had planned to see the exhibit then.  Seeing where I live in a museum, scale 1:20, was pretty cool; I even found my room!  From there, we went to the end of a cookout to hang out with a group of friends for the night.

Have I mentioned how cool I think it is to live in Tietgenkollegiet?  A dorm that gets not only tourists, but models and exhibits in museums?!

On Thursday, my busy week continued; by the end of the day (well, even before that), my feet were sore and my camera battery was dead, so I would call yesterday quite the success.

My day started off with breakfast in my kitchen, where I conversed with the mother of one of my kitchen-mates.  This was kind of awkward, chatting with her while trying to eat my cornflakes fairly quickly, but everything worked out.  I still made it to the metro in good timing afterwards, and I had a pleasant conversation.  One interesting point was when she asked me about air conditioning.  In the past few hot days, the lack of AC in Copenhagen has become apparent; deeper thought has now led me to believe this is due to the city's environmental consciousness.  As I replied to the Danish woman, though, I mostly just miss air conditioning in restaurants (especially considering that I don't have AC at home, either, so I'm otherwise used to it).  Walking around and getting really hot, it's nice to cool off in stores and cafes, but this rarely happens; usually, the shops are warm and cozy, so finding fans in places is a score.

Anyway, I even made it to class early for our final session of finance.  Afterwards, my day got even better when I was reunited with my water bottle!  I had left it behind in a dorm the first Wednesday being here, not knowing I wouldn't be back to retrieve it.  Finally, I got it back, and I'm very grateful!

Then, my good day continued with a perfect cafeteria lunch.  This one was my most expensive canteen meal yet.  The downside to paying for food in weight is definitely feeling fat when your selections are heavy.  However, I got over it with how delicious the Danish cuisine was.  Chicken, meat, potato, pasta, eggs... yum.

35.5 DKK of "yum."

Next, I hurried off to find the Clipper Stad Amsterdam, the world's largest sailing ship, which was to be docked by Amalienborg Palace.  Although I made it there before 1 pm, the time until which the public was allowed to explore the ship, I asked a woman and was told that we could no longer go on board.  This was kind of ridiculous, but I did understand, so I instead kept walking.

The Clipper Stad Amsterdam, the world's largest sailing ship, was docked in Copenhagen.

I walked by what I'm fairly sure is the "blue-eyed building" pointed out on the canal tour, weekend one.

This statue/sculpture is kind of cool.  I think it might be an ad, but I liked how the man, made out of tools, is sitting in a somewhat random location, lost in thought.

Further north, I came across another water fountain with sculptures.  In the back of the photo stands Sankt Albani Kirke: St. Alban's Church, a Gothic-style Anglican church. 

Inside the church was.. a church.  When I was glancing at a paper trying to learn more about the church's significance, the woman asked me if I wanted English or German.  The idea that she thought I was German was pretty amusing.

My path next took me to Kastellet, an area on my list of places to visit.  It turned out to be much different than the star-patterned gazebo floor I was (who knows why) envisioning.  To be honest, I don't really understand the attraction of the place, but I'm still glad I saw it.  All part of the adventure!

The star turned out to be a star-shaped fortress, "one of the best preserved in Northern Europe" (says Wikipedia).  Walking along the trail, I was a bit aggravated to realize there weren't many ways back down to the buildings... which meant you had to keep walking the star outline.  However, I found a nice, shaded bench, where I cooled off and even read a few pages of my finance textbook.  Here is the view from where I sat.

A little while later, I succumbed to walking the rest of the way to reach the trail back down to the bottom of the fortress area.  I came across a windmill!  Probably the first one I saw in Denmark that was old-fashioned, not the high-tech white ones scattered throughout the country.

Leaving Kastellet, I decided to keep going, thinking the Little Mermaid would be close by.  Though I had seen the statue from behind on the canal tour the first weekend, I didn't have a good view, so I wanted to see it again.  The route I took ended up taking me past the Little Mermaid somehow and to the Langelinie pier area.  I wasn't expecting to go so far north (literally, I couldn't go any farther!), but I went with it.  Going past some shops and outlets, I picked up a souvenir present, so that was successful.  On the way back, I walked along the water to ensure that I would make it to the statue I had missed before!

Disney Little Mermaid posters are everywhere throughout the city.. the pressure was on to see the real deal, the famous statue in Copenhagen.

Den Lille Havfrue, the Little Mermaid.  I didn't get too close to where she is seated, as she is quite popular!  Many tourists were here, unsurprisingly.

By the time I made it back to the metro stop, to Fakta quick, and then to Tietgenkollegiet, I made myself a low-key dinner and called it a night.  In total, I walked around for over 5 hours!  Several miles of walking (with my backpack, holding my laptop, book, notebook, and everything) made for quite the exercise but in the best way: exploring more of Copenhagen.  I know one of the things I'll miss about being here is having so much to do and see and being able to simply walk around so much.

Now, I'm sitting at school and wrapping up this post.  I hadn't expected it to be so long, but mind you, there's just so much to show and tell.  It's time to go for me; hopefully several hours of successful studying come out of today.  Studying is something I have to do a lot more of in the coming days... But you can bet I'll have quite a bit of fun mixed in there, too.