Pacific Pale Ale

Yum!

At 5.something% alcohol by volume, this was a much better beer than last week's, at least by my standards. It was much closer to an IPA than the Bombay Pale Ale- much hoppier. I was a huge fan. It also really hit the spot on what was the hottest day Copenhagen has seen in 37 years.

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Word of the Day:

Tak for det: Thanks (Literally translated it means 'thanks for that', but people usually just use it in place of 'thank you'.) Pronounced 'tock for day'

Classy Saturday

This Saturday we, by sheer dumb luck, ended up planning a pre-arrival day intern gathering in Kongens Have (Kings Gardens) on the same day as a pretty spectacular cultural event. The Danish Royal Orchestra, regarded as the oldest orchestra in the world, tracing it's origins back to 1448, as well as the Royal Opera and Ballet were performing some sneak previews of their upcoming season right in front of Rosenborg Slot (Rosenborg Palace). So we gathered our wine and cheese and joined the numerous cultured Danes who flocked to the park with us. 

Just look at this horde of cultured folk.

Let me tell you, Danes come prepared to picnic with class. There were quite a few groups who showed up with tables, tablecloths and massive spreads of food. We were happy just to relax on our beach towels and munch some gouda and pretzels. Nowhere but Copenhagen can you sit in the sun in front of a castle and get serenaded by world class singers and musicians while watching one of the best ballet companies in the world, all for free. 

Rosenborg Slot just pre-sunset.

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Word of the Day: 

Abe: Monkey or ape. It's the same for both. Pronounced 'abe (as in Honest Abe) - eh'. 

Things I See While Biking Home: Edition 1

Copenhagen is a cool city. And like any other city, every so often you see some really different or weird things. So from here on out, every time I see something particulary odd or interesting you'll be the first to hear about it. Cool right?
On Thursday, while biking home past the lakes I saw a line of nice, bright, yarnbombed trees, and a speed limit sign.

Snazzy.

So, ladies of the Fayson Lakes knitting club, get to work. You've got competition from overseas.

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Word of the Day:
Vi ses: See you. Pronounced 'vee seis (as in the Spanish word for 6)'. I know it's not techically a word, but it's a very useful phrase.

Bombay Pale Ale

There is a tradition among the interns at DIS of getting a membership at one of the local breweries (which shall remain nameless since we've all sworn to protect its identity from students). For an insanely low price, you get one free beer every Monday- a 59 dkk per week value! 

The two beers I've tried so far have been most satisfactory. So from here on out, you all get to look forward to a weekly review of the latest brew I've tried.

Behold: the Bombay Pale Ale

I expected this to be an IPA, but alas, it was not the least bit hoppy. Rather it was pretty mild and even a little bit sweet. It's also 6.5% abv, which according to the Danes, is a pretty important indicator of the quality of a beer. Allegedly, the higher the alcohol content, the better the beer. I'm not sure I believe this.

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Word of the Day

Rabbit: Kanin. Pronounced 'kah-neen'. We learned this while watching Wallace and Gomit and the Wererabbit. Or in Danish, Walter & Trofast: Det Store Grøntsagskup. No idea why they changed the names of Wallace and Gromit. Or what a Grøntsagskup is, other than that it has to do with vegetables.

Statens Museum for Kunst

On Saturday afternoon forayed to the Statens Museum for Kunst (State Art Museum). This is just one of many free museums in Copenhagen, so with our limited intern budgets, the price was just right. The building itself is pretty cool. The special, visiting gallery spaces are housed in the original building, and the free, permanent exhibit of predominantly Danish art is in a new addition.

The two structures are nicely joined by a glassed-in corridor.

Here's another shot of the joining of new and old.

Most of the art on display was kind of weird, but it was fun to check out. I got the feeling we may have been in the more modern section.

There was what appeared to be a hairy rock.

Some cool colored sculptures.

This was my favorite piece- slivers of mica scattered on panes of glass. It looked a lot better in person.

Apparently the strings inside the sphere are a three-dimensional recreation of a Black Widow web.

Aren't we cultured?

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And now, at the request of one of my most dedicated readers, your first Danish word of the day:

Ost: Cheese. It's pronounced like 'toast' without the first 'T'.

Stella Polaris

On Sunday a bunch of us interns attended Stella Polaris, whimsically described in their literature as "the sparkling jewel in Europe's festival crown... This chill-out and astonishingly free electronic music festival is where you'll find Europe's more discerning festival-goers". Now I wouldn't go so as to say that any of us are particularly discerning when it comes to music festivals, but we heard "free" and our curiousity was immediately piqued.

Get a load of all these discerning people.

This turned out to be an excellent life choice, since we got to see Röyksopp perform for free. Not to mention hang out in the sun, and meet some incredibly odd people. My personal favorite was Søren, who was there with his coworkers. He spent the better part of an hour trying to convince me to go on a date with his son. If anyone ever needs a self-esteem boost, Denmark is the place to get it. Men are not the least bit shy about telling you that you're beautiful.

A totally gratuitous picture of sunrise in Fælledparken.

And an arsty shot of the lakes at night.

Kulturhavn

We were lucky enough to be around for Kulturhavn this past weekend. This was a cultural festival held along the harbor in the city. So we spent all day Saturday wandering through the festival, checking out the various events, all of which were free. Since we're all living on the cheap, this was a huge perk. And the weather shockingly cooperated the whole day. I thoroughly enjoyed swimming in both the harbor baths.

The Islands Brygge bath.

I did not attempt kayak polo. 

Locks on Bryggebroen. Some have pacifiers attached to them.
This is a tradition that is part of growing up as a Dane. When children are being
 weaned of their pacifiers, they are locked or tied to something. Some locks also represent relationships,
with the names of couples on them.

A bunch of us learned to paddleboard.

I was tricked into signing up for a race, and amazingly came in second.  I won a bunch of goodies!  Us three ladies are the big winners. (And if you look in the background, you'll see my new Danish friend Lars.)

Kullen, Sweden

There are a great many perks to working for a study abroad program. One is that there is a lot of training, which sounds terrible, but when you realize that all training is accompanied by gallons of coffee and usually food, it's excellent. Another is that they generally take you on cool trips, abroad. That being said, us interns have just returned from a bonding trip to the southwestern part of Sweden. 

The red A is where we were.

We got to wander around a nice little seaside village. One of my illustrious coworkers attempted to teach us how to use the manual settings on our cameras, so we were supposed to be practicing our new 'skills'. I was not very good at this.

Here's a Swedish beach.

And some Swedish rocks.

And a nice picturesque harbor.

 After 'practicing' our photography, we headed off to a tea/coffee house. It had beautiful gardens, and a petting zoo. The general consensus was that it looked like something out of Alice in Wonderland.

We were served vanilla hearts. Delicious.

And we got to pet pigs.

And horses.

 We then spent the remainder of the evening and night at the hostel, playing lawn games, grilling, getting rained on, and just generally getting to know everyone. 
In the morning, we went on a quick jaunt to Ladonia. This is a micronation of one square kilometer on which sculptor Lars Vilks has built some fairly incredible structures entirely out of driftwood. Somehow, despite looking like piles of toothpicks, they're completely sound, and you can climb all the way up to the tops of them. It's basically a playground for grownups. 
I had a great time climbing all over the various towers, and swimming. The water was surprisingly not freezing, and spectacularly clear.

The approach.

Epic.

Applying for citizenship in Ladonia is completely free. I have naturally done this. Hoping my paperwork comes through soon!