Mind the gap

Guuuullll... well *this* is awkward. Hello gang. Right now you might be thinking "Lizzy, you have been the worst blog updater of all time." And, hey, I can't argue with you there. But, you can't say I didn't warn you! I promise I have a long list of excuses for my lack of blogging ranging from the legitimate "but but.. my laptop was stolen!" excuse, to the very lame "I was, quite frankly, too busy eating cupcakes" one. Either way, I am sorry. Just like the signs over precarious stepping situations around Europe ask, I beg you to mind the wee (not so wee) blogging gap. Without further ado, here is a final y'er a peein' blog post:

In less than 48 hours, I will be in land of Chipotle, sunshine (yes,  it is *still* pretty freaking cold here), my puppies, and all of my incredible friends and family. While my experience here has been absolutely wonderful, I could not be more excited to be heading back. My last few days here have consisted of a lot of "woah... I am *never* going to be back here again?'s" and "thank GOD I am never going to be back here again!'s" So, I would like this post to serve as a little intortubes scrapbook of my experiences. At the end of every summer at camp, I always write myself a list of things to look back and laugh/smile about. I am not very good at taking a zillion pictures, writing heartfelt poetry about my time in awesome places, or (clearly) updating a witty blog. To me, I like to remember the special, hilarious, " is this real life!?" moments. So, here are a few I will carry with me:

1) Being asked if I was "practicing for a puppet show" by a Dane while signing at a video camera on my computer. I laughed so hard that I snorted cider out of my nose ( I do that a lot.)

2) Having my *entire* backpack stolen, melting my cutting board all over my burners, burning my dinner, and having my toothbrush fall in the toilet all in one day.While I found exactly 0% of this amusing at the time, I grew a lot that day. I firmly believe that no summer at camp get's really great until you reach the tipping point from exhaustion to insanity. This day was my tipping point, here.

3) Weeping with laughter while signing inappropriate ABC ASL Stories in a cafe with some friends. I believe more drink spitting ensued.

4) Trying to navigate the Netto for the first time (err... really any time). The Netto and I have a *really* love/hate relationship. As soon as I return to Wegmans, I am sure I will realize how awful it really was. The produce is sketchy at best. Some days you can't find a single edible looking green thing in the store. However, Netto is also home to some BOMB danish pancakes and chocolate mousse. I will miss it... ish. I never did get used to "processed America peanut spread" or any other version of Danish PB. POISON.

5) Eating Agnes Cupcakes with friends on a sunny day outside the glass market. Before coming to Denmark, I didn't even really like cupcakes.Denmark is no culinary mecca, but this place is incredible. Much like baked apples, and naps in my usual college life, these cupcakes served as a therapist to my friends and I here. Bad test? Cupcake. Homesick? Cupcake. Backpack stolen? TWO CUPCAKES!

6) Walking with my family around Copenhagen in driving snow in mid-April, trying hopelessly not to have our cheap umbrellas reverse themselves.

7) Hanging out with adorable Danish kids (not to mention hottie Danish pedagogue) every Thursday. Laughing every time my favorite little boy, Jonas, babbled in rapid-fire Danish at me because he didn't give a single shit that I couldn't understand him.

8) Winning a leadership award for "best essay" for an essay that I wrote in 25 very grumpy minutes post backpack theft. Using my prize gift certificate to buy celebratory danish shoes!

9) Climbing trees in the beautiful Copenhagen parks. On the two warm days of the semester, the afternoons spent eating mangos, reading, and napping up there were the absolute best.

10) Jumping on the (BUILT INTO THE SIDEWALK) trampolines near Nyhavn, and seeing "Medina" in Tivoli. I did both of these things in dear-god-why-is-it-still-so-cold-here weather. Street trampolines have to be the single most brilliant idea in all of human existence. Tivoli is a theme park right in the center of the city. It is weird, cool, and delicious (which is an excellent three word summary of my time here as a whole!) These were my last two really unforegetable experiences here.

Four months has flown. Thank you all for supporting and loving me through this awesome time. I can't wait to see you all in just a few days. :) Until then, this is me signing off.

If you're an American when you walk into the bathroom, and you're an American when you walk out of the bathroom, what are you when you're in the bathroom?

Y'er A Peein'

:) It's been a *great* pee.

Love,
Lizzy

Bagpipes, Harry Potter and Happiness

Hello beautiful people!

Ten lashes with a wet noodle for me. I have been the worst updater of all time these past few weeks. After a week and a half of crazy travel, I had a lot of homework (and by homework, I mean sleep) to catch up on! I have so much to share with you all, so I am going to break it down into highlights/lowlights and pretty pictures. Alright, here we go: 

Sunday, March 4th (otherwise known as built-in-pun day, or Marley James Mandelaro's day of birth), I flew to Edinburgh, Scotland for my "long study tour" with DIS. 

Highlight: The Copenhagen Airport does not give a single shit what you do. Because Denmark has essentially no crime rate (have I mentioned the fact that they leave babies outside alone in strollers for hours at a time?), Danes aren't too concerned with security. They pretty much always forget to check my passport in that airport, and I am even allowed to wear my SHOES through security. Simple pleasures. 

Lowlight: We had a short layover in London. The Brits, as it turns out, take their security *real* seriously. Fortunately, my father (who always "forgets" to take his enormous tube of toothpaste out of his carry-on) was not with me. I forgot I was carrying my laptop, and the security folks were *not* amused. I lost my awkward pat-down virginity. 

We spent our first two days in Glasgow. The city was not nearly as charming as Edinburgh, but it was still pretty great. My second night, I went to a vegan tapas restaurant that was UNREAL levels of delicious.

Highlights: My first night, we were wandering around the center of the city. It was a Sunday, so Glasgow was not exactly hopping. We were about to head home when we turned a corner and saw this: 

A beautiful, lit up ferris wheel right in the middle of the city. The view was absolutely incredible. 

Look, Mah, I am not having a panic attack! (One Lizzy-small-child-Huberlie was a bit notorious for crocodile tears until they let her off the ride.) Horray for no more fear of heights! 

We also went to some incredible academic visits (lots of cool meditations and alternative schools and such), and got fed an outrageous amount of delicious food. It would seem that DIS uses my obscene UofR tuition to feed me four course meals. I'm not too upset about it. 

Lowlights: Obviously, (true to lizzy form) I forgot my camera on the evening of the ferris wheel adventure. I stole this picture from a friend. Our next two days in Glasgow were spent making academic visits around the Scottish countryside. The visits were great, but as many of you know first-hand, the wrong-side-of-the-road driving + whindy Scottish country roads + long bus ride combination = barfing Lizards. Gross. Finally, there was the bagpiping. Oh, the bagpiping. On our last day in Glasgow we took bagpiping lessons. Because I am obviously super musically talented (note the sarcasm), I was able to create some of the most annoying sounds known to man. I was seriously considering blowing one straight in my ear and praying for a resulting deafness. Unfortunately, I managed to retain my hearing... and walk away with constant annoying bagpipe tune stuck in my head. 

This is the only picture snapped where I was not plugging my ears. You can't tell, but I am nearly in tears from the horrible, horrible sound that man is making. 

After our stay in Glasgow, we headed back to Edinburgh for a few days. After about two hours there, I was totally in love. Edinburgh is almost annoyingly beautiful and charming. It immediately made it to the top of my must-re-visit list. Here are some of the bazillion pretty pictures to prove it: 

I was so in love with Edinburgh that it is PRETTY hard to pick just a few highlights. Over the course of our two days there, I hiked Arthurs Seat (an awesome little mountain right in the middle of the city), ate at an absurdly perfect Indian restaurant, went to the Elephant House (aka: the birthplace of Harry Potter), saw Edinburgh castle, drank my second best cup of hot chocolate in Europe (Europa is still the reigning champ), and had an absolutely incredible lecture from a psychiatrist who uses positive psych with his patients. Pictures? If you insist... 

Hiking Arthur's Seat in weirdly beautiful weather. 

Casual cliff pose. 

" Birthplace of Harry Potter"

Perfect hot chocolate... annd... maybe I found an Anthropologie in Scotland. Jaime Westbrook, you understand why it was necessary that I visit. 

Big ol' cannons at Edinburgh Castle :)

Overall, the trip was absolutely incredible. My group was super fun, and I totally fell in love with Edinburgh. I flew back Friday afternoon and went straight to Berlin, Germany. I have literally like 400 pictures from there that I need to upload still. I promise I will update again tonight. (Someone should *probably* hold me to that.) Lunch time. 

Miss you all, and can't wait to see you again soon (my parents and sister come in less than 3 weeks!) 

Love, 

Lizard 

Spring? Is that you?

Hello wonderful people,

Remember that time I gave you permission to shout at me until I updated my blog frequently? Come on, you slackers! Okay... so I *might* be the one who is a slacker. I promise I have a semi-legitimate excuse for my lack of updates. I know you are going to find this VERY hard to believe, but it is actually SPRING(ish) in Copenhagen. Now, compared to the freeze-your-eyeballs (and, I am told, other balls) off weather of my first few weeks, just about anything feels warm. Really though, it has been absolutely beautiful here for the last two weeks. The other day I walked around without a coat! That's right, sans parka. I even enjoyed it! Today, I was able to whip-out the SPRING jacket. It's only about 50 or so, but it is so much lighter than when I first arrived. The sun is usually up when I am getting up now, and it didn't set until almost 6:30 today! Big progress. I absolutely can't wait until it is even warmer and brighter. By the time la familia arrives, I am determined to bust out the sandals!

Because the weather has been so great, I have spent a lot of time exploring around the city doing touristy things. I am pretty sure I told myself I would do all of these things my very week here, but they were quickly tossed into the "do this shit when it is not so jeffin' cold" pile. The time has come. Last Saturday,  I walked up to the top of the Round Tower. It was totally stunning.. but *very* windy. I managed to conquer my childhood fear of heights atop CSM's pamper pole, but I was still prreeeeetty darn terrified that I was going to be blown off of the top of this thing. Pictures? Your wish is my command!

 This one is not of the Round Tower, trees with sweaters are just the cutest. 

Saturday was wonderful, but Sunday was the real gem. Why? Well, after reaching the very end of my 35-pair supply of underwear, I am happy to report that I, Elizabeth Jane Huberlie (yup, that's my middle name... don't question it) successfully did my laundry. I can almost hear the sound of my parents applauding from across the ocean. For those of you who aren't aware, I probably hate laundry more than I hate jello, mayonnaise, and dentists COMBINED. So, this was no small accomplishment. Still not impressed? Allow me to explain the laundry process here at the ever-luxurious Tasingegade (my apartment complex). First off, the laundry is located in a basement that is only accessible by elevator (probably safe, right?) This wouldn't be *that* annoying, if all of the elevators in my building went to said basement. They do not. Nope, only ONE of the elevators has the button to bring you to the basement. So, when you press the button to call an elevator, you simply have to cross your fingers that the magic-basement-button elevator comes. There is only a 1/4 chance, there. Anyhow, after getting down to the secret basement, I discovered that the washing machines were made for elves. Because I chose to wait 35 days to do laundry, I obviously had four normal size human loads to do. In troll land, that turned into about twelve loads. You're right, Tasingegade, I *do* want to spend my entire day changing laundry. In stark contrast, the dryers are made for GIANTS. I could literally have a (really dangerous) slumber party with me and six of my closest friends inside it. I could have put ALL of my loads in it to dry at once. Y yer washers and dryers no match, Denmark?! All well. Next, I discovered  were all in Danish. Obviously I went with the "click randomly until this shit works" method. Fortunately, about 10 hours later, I ended up with un-shunken, not-totally good smelling but not totally bad smelling reasonably clean laundry. Mission accomplished. 

I realize that these last few posts have been a bit dull. I think at this point, Ali and my mom are probably the only two bothering to read about my riveting laundry adventures. I promise, in the next week, I will have some real adventures to share. Sunday, I leave on my long study tour (with my school) in Edinburgh, Scotland! The next weekend, I will be in Berlin, Germany! :) A few weeks later, I go to Prague to see Miss Jennifer Taylor (my childhood best friend). Then, just a few days later, the family comes! Time is FLYING! 

Love you all and miss you (and Chipotle, and Panera, and my puppies and my bubble bath, and the UofR Libraries) SOOO much. 

143, 

Lizard

One Down, Three to go!

Hygge. Every table in Denmark has a candle on it! 

Hello Humans,

Can you believe it?! One month ago today, I began my journey to Copenhagen! I can't believe how fast time is flying. I am trying to savor every minute, because I know the next three months are going to go by even faster. It seems like it was just yesterday that I was jetlagged, totally lost, and terrified of public transportation. These days I am just normal tired, in a perpetual state of kind of lost... kind of found, and terrified of only two of three types of public transportation. Leaps and strides! Just kidding. Really, Copenhagen has become very homey. I have never been a real city girl, but I really do love it here. There is so much to explore. Every twisty, turny little side street in the center city has a cool bakery, bar, cafe, thrift store, boutique, or museum tucked in it. Every day is a new adventure. In addition, this month has forced me to be *way* more independent than ever before. Maybe by the time I get home, I'll almost be like... like... an adult?! Just kidding. All grown up's are pirates.... and we kill pirates!

Speaking of being a child for the rest of forever, I have some crazy stories for you guys. As you may or may not know, I spend every Thursday here hanging out with the most adorable children on the planet. Last Thursday, my (insert Danish word for kindergarten thing that I cannot spell, say, or really explain very well here) went on a field trip. Where do Danes take field-trips? Oh.. the middle of the forrest, obviously. Who built to fire? The five-year-olds, obviously. Not only did they build a fire.. they built a better fire than I could have. Now... a lizzy fire is pretty much spraying an absolutely dangerous amount of lighter fluid on a burning little twig and hoping it catches... but still! FIVE YEAR OLDS. Think that is crazy? Guess what the youngest ones were doing while some of the older ones were making the fire. Oh, just.. whittling.. using HUGE KNIVES. In Danish schools they not only allow children to use knives, they flat out encourage it! Guess who almost cut herself while trying to help one of the four-year-olds? THIS GIRL. By the end of the day (which was, all joking aside, awesome), I am convince the children thought I was the biggest DUNCE in the entire world. As I have mentioned in just about every post... my Danish is absolutely horrible. However, the kids are too young to really grasp the concept of my language barrier. Therefor, throughout the day, they were chatter away at me, stare up at me expectantly, and then give me a look that just screamed, "Wow lady.. I asked you if you like to play tag. What are you...a moron?" Answer: Yes. Even with the language barrier, my interactions with kids here have been such an incredible learning experience. When you take away your ability to talk to kids, you are reminded of all of the ways that we communicate non verbally. Essentially, snow-ball fights, weird faces, and crazy sound effects were the name of the game, that day. (Err... well, let's be realistic. That's a pretty standard day in lizzy-land.)

Unfortunately, the rest of my week has not been all that exciting. I think God (or the aforementioned evil gypsy witch) was reading my blog last week and went "Ah ah ah... not so quick!", when I declared myself plague-free. Tuesday night, after I posted my last update, I came down with plague round two. I spent all day Wednesday in bed. Thursday, I knew I had to visit my site and play with the small children in the woods, so I shlupped my butt to the drug store/pharmacy in search of some cold medicine. Here is my word of advice to you folks: WORSHIP AMERICAN COLD MEDICINE, because it is the nectar of the gods. The cold medicine here is made for babies and people who hate fun. Who doesn't like the loopy knock-you-on-your-ass high (not to mention the blissful decongestion) you get from Mucinex? Apparently, the Danes. I settled for some nasal spray and cough syrup, and managed to make it through Thursday. I kept the rest of the weekend pretty low key. Nap time is the happiest time of any day, so I just kind of made all the day time nap time. I caught up on lame chick-flicks and not lame cool movies I'd missed, and had some pillow talk skype with my puppies. I could probably write a whole book about how obsessed I am with my puppies, but I will spare you the pet-owner bragging. You should know, though, that my puppies are the cutest, smartest, (errr, well, one of them anyway), and most lovable little monsters on the planet. Here, I will insert to obligatory shout out to Mara and Bill, and tell you that I ALSO had a wonderful skype date with my parents this weekend. If I don't, Mara will guilt trip me about how I like the dogs more than her. She doesn't lick the phone when she hears my voice. It's pretty hard to compete! (Just kidding. Love you Mom & Dad!)

The absolute best part of my weekend was Saturday night, when I ventured to a friends apartment for dinner. Having conquered the scary Netto, I am actually capable of whipping up some culinary delights here. However, cooking in my own kitchen is roughly akin to sticking your hand in a blender on high. I don't think I realized just how spoiled I was in my beautiful Riverview kitchen last semester. I think my "kitchen" here is the size of my mini-fridge my freshman year. My friends apartment has a REAL kitchen with a REAL oven. It was absolutely magical. We made two different kids of pizza and apple crisp. Last semester, I saved my parents a therapist bill or two with apple crisp, bubble baths, and naps. Needless to say, I am losing a few marbles without crisping or bubble-bathing abilities. The second best part of my week was my AWESOME sign language group. I forget if I've told any of you about this, but I managed to find a bunch of fellow DIS students who are native signers/ASL students/are super interested in learning more about ASL. I didn't realize just how much I would miss it, here, and I was so happy to find some people who shared my passion. I found an awesome group of people to laugh, sign, and drink coffee with in the super "hyggely" (pronounced Hue-glee) meaning cosy, student cafe. Much like silent coffee did in the US, it keeps me going through the week. Horray!

Reading this post was probably something like watching paint dry. Not too much to report, this week. The next few weeks are full of super exciting adventures! I promise I'll post some more pictures next time. Love you all!

143,
Lizard

My Rainbow Panorama

Brace yourselves: It is 35 and sunny in Copenhagen today. That's right... it's above freezing, for like.. the first time since I arrived. I didn't even wear a scarf! Miracles do happen.

I have so many adventures to tell you fine followers about! Where to begin?

Last Wednesday, I spent the day exploring the National Museum in Copenhagen. We have no Wednesday classes, here. Because I have to wake up ungodly early, "hump day" frequently is synonymous with "nap day". However, I was feeling particularly cultured and decided to go venture out like a real person. The museum was pretty standard old-shit-that-I-find-nerdy-cool-because-I'm-an-anthro-major type stuff. There were signs all over promising me a TREASURE ROOM... but after about an hour of looking for a room full of shiny things, I concluded that no such room exists. Womp Womp. Here are some pictures of things I DID see there:

Very large rocks. 

Charming knights. 

Probably the exit at the Ministry of Magic. 

Unfortunately, a few hours into my Wednesday adventure, the plague struck. I hypothesize that the grumpy museum guard ladies who yelled at us for standing in the fireplace PROBABLY were gypsy witches, and cast a horrible death spell on me. I have never gotten sicker faster. I went home, ate an egg, and fell asleep at 5:30pm. It's a wild life. 

Thursday morning, I left for my short study tour around Western Denmark. I was still feeling like a plate of garbage (Note for Rochestarians: not a garbage plate), but I was excited to get out of the city for a few days. The trip was a combination of academic, cultural, and just-for-funs visits. The first cultural visit was advertised as a "castle". Now... I am no castle expert, but this thing was more creepy-old-house-owned-by-really-rich-lady-who-looks-like-cruella-de-ville than it was castle-y. The tour guide spoke pretty much no English, and told us "NO FLASH", when I guess she meant to say "No cameras". So, I managed to snag some rather unimpressive (and probably illegal photos) of said boring old house: 

The "Great Hall". It was probably 10 degrees in here. Danes hate happiness.. and heat. 

Velvet walls. Oh la la! 

Next, we headed to a town called Middelfart (that's pronounced mid-fart), to go to a bank whose name I cannot spell for the life of me (and also because I don't have any of the fancy Danish characters on my computer). Regrettably, the banks name is pronounced "Mid-Fart Butt Segs". I'll let you take a moment to appreciate that one for yourself. I mean come on... I know I am not your most mature friend, here, but WHO could resist laughing at that. (PS. Sorry Mom, I never claimed that this would be a PG blog!) The bank was really incredible. They have a super sustainable business model, and they use a lot of positive psychology and wellness theory to guide their company. Meditation rooms, open floor plans, and a really incredible installation art! Pictures, you say? Comin' right up!

For a place with such an unfortunate name, it sure is pretty! 

Artwork built right into the floor! 

We spent our first night in a hostel. I was still plagued by the plague (tehe), so I went to bed at around 8:30. I am obviously the biggest party animal you know. Friday morning we sat through a few cool presentations about NGO's by women who had anti-butts. You know.. not just flat butts or little butts. But butts that actually actively caved inward. The NGO's themselves were actually totally awesome, so I probably shouldn't be butt-judging anyone. Next, we traveled to Aarhus, Denmark to visit a really incredible alternative school called "Kaos Pilots". We played a lot of awesome games. I, for the second time, taught a group how to play some good ol' High Five Buddy. Camp is everywhere, folks. As if this did not make me miss camp enough, we spent our second night at a camp site in woods. The cabins were warm and cosy, and we spent the night out by the camp fire, roasting s'mores. Continuing the "Danes don't really understand American food" theme, the marshmallows were obviously super weird. But the stars were out, and I made lots of new friends. Hooray! 

cute little camp :) 

By Saturday, I was almost feeling like a functional human being. We spent the day at this INCREDIBLE art museum in Aarhus. The museum in mostly installation art. What is this, you ask? Yeah, I had no idea either. It is something you almost need to experience. The artist transforms a space, rather than a canvas or sculpture. It is pretty incredible stuff. Sometimes it is just incredible to get a chance to see how absurdly talented people can be. I can put my socks on correctly most mornings. So, that's exciting! My two favorite pieces in the museum were "Your Rainbow Panorama", and "Boy". The former is this breathtaking installation at the very top of the museum. Each part of it gives you an new perspective on the incredible city view below. Inside the museum, there is a piece called " Your atmospheric color atlas". It is just a room filled with thick fog and intense rainbow lighting. As you walk through in a circle, the colors blend and transform. According to one kid in my class, it is "just like an acid trip." Excellent. Obviously, in true Lizzy form, I had to be rushed to an exit as I nearly passed out. There is a sign on the front that said "This rainbow may be too disorienting for some." I suppose I can never live inside a rainbow. Pout. 

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the day:

"Boy"

I am convinced he is more real than I am. But, then again, I *might* be a cyborg. 

143's in Denmark <3 

<3 Warhol 

Overall, the trip was absolutely incredible. It was a great bonding experience. In addition, with DIS picking up the tab, we went to some AWESOME restaurants. Real food?! What is this. I had the single most incredible brunch I have ever had in my life on Saturday morning (and I am somewhat of a brunch connoisseur, so this is quite the accomplishment!) I never considered myself a picky eater, before, but Denmark has seriously pushed me outside of my comfort zone. As the wonderful Kate Mahar once said, we kind of order things here that SOUND like something we might like.. and then end up getting something weird and confusing. But, I am adjusting well. Through an intense process of trail and error, I have found a lot of really great things in the scary grocery stores near me. Instead of JUST eggs and peanut butter (not together. ewwy!) I am now living off of: peanut butter, nutella, apples, bananas, dried appricots, rye bread, danish pancakes, cherry tomatoes, spinach, Nutella, Cherios, rice, and ground chicken. A steady improvement, right? 

Many more adventures to come. I can't believe I have been here three weeks, already. :) Longest days, shortest weeks. 

Love & Miss you all! 

Lizard 

Happiness is a warm butt

Greetings from the only warm spot in Denmark. I am currently at school sitting on what I like to call the magic bench. They only heat classrooms and big spaces, here, so finding a warm spot to relax at school is near impossible. Remember all those nice fancy lady clothes I brought? Welp, I haven't taken off my coat in two weeks. Here's to hoping I can dress like a real human when (read: if) it gets warmer. Today, I sat down on a bench and, for a second, questioned whether or not I had peed my pants. MAGIC WARM BENCH. It must have a heater living directly under it (or it is the throne of god). For the first time at school.. my butt is warm. Ah sweet bliss.

It's been a week since I last updated. Remember how I warned of a "lizzy+blog=luv4eva" honeymoon period? To put it metaphorically, Blog and I are on the flight back from Aruba. (Keep heckling me to post, Allison Huberlie!) I promised I would post over the weekend. But Sunday quickly turned into one of those days where you wish the world was 150% quieter, darker, and less-stale booze tasting. Blogging was far less appealing than my pillow. 

Where to start? Classes are going well. Two of my professors are phenomenal. My positive psychology professors name is "Mads", and he looks and acts like a younger, more charming version of Mad Eye Moody. Making all of my Hogwarts dreams come true, one step at a time. Then, we have the terrifying professors. On the first day, my anthropology teacher accidentally touched the wrong button on our smartboard. He then SLAMMED his head against it and yelled (hehem. pardon my french) "FUCKING SHIT I AM GOING TO KILL MYSELF!" He is easily the most terrifying man I have ever met. The Danes, as a whole, have a *very* cold, sarcastic sense of humor. They also love to swear in English. For example, you will see a group of Danish teens walking and hear "blah blah blah blah Verstergade godnut tac moar FUCK THAT SHIT MAN." It totally threw me off the first couple of days. I am convinced that my other crazy professor, who claims to be a child psychopathologist, is just a confused alcoholic. She gives directions like "Stand up and walk to the front of the... oh my you're scarf is pretty... tell me your name and then.. the book defines child psychology as... it's cold in here.. nevermind stay seated." I don't think I have heard her finish a complete thought, yet. She does a lot of stumbling around and giggling at herself. Somebody needs to stop pre-gaming lectures. 

My second weekend in Copenhagen was pretty wonderful. I have classes ungodly early all week. Three days a week, I have to wake up in the SEVENS. I haven't seen 7:00am since high school. (Okay, so technically I see it every day of camp in the summer. But that is fake life, where I get to wake up and play capture the flag while dressed like Tinkerbell. It totally doesn't count!) Last semester, I had no classes before 12:30pm, and no Friday classes. Needless to say, having to experience actual morning hours, and coming to the realization that weekends are only two days long has been *brutal*. So, I allow myself to sleep in on the weeekends. Saturday, I kidnapped Kate Mahar for a few hours, and went exploring. We romped around the city, chatting about camp and trying not to freeze to death. Here are some pictures from our journey: 

These photos were taken all over the city. The final picture is perfect, and should be captioned "MOTHER OF GOD MY HANDS ARE COLD." In case you are wondering, it was approximately -2 degrees fahrenheit with the wind chill, that day. Every picture brought to you today was nothing short of an excruciating sacrifice. Kate and I would get to something pretty, rip off our mittens, cry, snap a few pictures extremely quickly, cry some more, and put back on our mittens as fast as possible. Obviously, only very pretty things like Kate Mahar faces merited photographing/torture. My hands were beet red by the end of the day. 

Saturday night was absolutely wonderful. But, the kind of wonderful that makes Sundays really un-wonderful, wonderful. (Sorry, Mom!) I managed to drag myself out of bed long enough to venture over to IKEA for the first time ever. The store was super intimidating, but I finally found some things to make my apartment a bit cozier. I even found TOP SHEETS! The Danes are very fickle with their bedding, so this was a real accomplishment. Even though I wanted to eat that morning just about as much as I want to jump into a pit of knives on any given day, I was SHOCKED by the killer IKEA food. It was also the cheapest food I have found to date in Denmark. I spent the rest of the day in boring paper writing land, wishing I was watching the Superbowl (aka: the animal planet puppy bowl). 

On a more reflective note, I am really starting to love it here. It has taken me a few weeks to settle in. The Netto is still the scariest grocery store ever, and my Danish is still as horrific as ever (How is Vestogade pronounces vest-er-gale, just.. how?!) But, things are becoming a lot more homey. I know my way around a good part of the center city. I have a favorite cafe, bakery, bar, and grocery store, and I even found a way to watch my favorite tv show over here (absolutely 100% legal and not sketchy... I promise)! This coming Thursday, I am going away on my first study tour. I leave ungodly early to tour the Western Denmark countryside. I promise to blog as soon as I get back with lots of pretty pictures! 

Love and miss you all!

Lizard 

Eggsellent Weekend Adventures

Hello All! (Rumor has it, more people than just my mother are reading this? I am shocked!  Some of you are relatives, so y'all are forced to like me. Some of you work with my mom. You are probably at least a little afraid of her, so you are just doing what she says. But having seven whole followers! I feel downright special! ) Thank you all for reading and writing back to me. I miss you guys!

It seems impossible that I have only been here a week. I am a little bit proud of myself. In the course of seven days, I have already accomplished a LOT. Remember how I was lost in scary public transportation land for 2 hours my first day? Who has two thumbs and knows how to get herself to and from school using Bus 14? THIS GIRL. Having whined to my father about my inability to understand any map (I attribute this to what I call extremely-early-onset Alzheimer's, but Bill seems to believe my condition is called "air-heads syndrome"), I am VERY proud of this accomplishment. So, to further self-aggrandize, I am going to take this one week anniversary opportunity to detail some of the fun/terrifying things I have learned thus far in Denmark. Hehem:

Top Seven Things Lizzy Learned After Seven Days in Copenhagen:

1. Denmark is really, really, really jeffin' cold. I know, I know, you are saying "but, but Rochester, NY has the grossest weather in all of forever and everywhere. It CAN'T be that much worse." Ye of little faith.... come here and see for yourself. It doesn't snow here, it just burrs all the time. I am 90 percent sure I have lost weight in effort to maintain homeostasis alone. Therefor, I have devised a plan of survival. May I introduce THE QUEST FOR THE PERFECT CUP.

2. Turns out, Copenhagen seems to have more cafes than people. If I were a coffee drinker, I would be all excited for this. But, because I become a crackhead when I drink coffee (see Facebook statuses during last finals week for confirmation), I made the executive decision not to publicly embarrass my new friends by drinking it. I had all but resigned myself to a lowly, cafe-less life when I hit a stroke of brilliance. A friend of mine recommended that we go to a little cafe in search of what her guidebook called "the best hot chocolate in Copenhagen". SOLD. So began my quest for the perfect cup. Since, I have memorized the word for "hot chocolate" in Danish (varm chokolade), and tried it all over. Turns out the the Danes make INCREDIBLE hot chocolate. This morning, I had "tri-color" hot chocolate from a nice little cafe with wifi. White, milk, and dark chocolate hunks that you slowly stir into your holy-shit-that's-hot steamed milk. Hi, heaven!

3. Food in Denmark is absurd. It is extremely expensive, and not all together impressive. Because I am a a college student on a budget, I spent my first week essentially living off of eggs. Unfortunately, I can't manage to figure out how to buy salt at the scary grocery store. So, they were pretty bland eggs. After 4 days of every possible pathetic combination of egg, rye bread, and mysterious cheese, I hit a wall. I walked past a seven-eleven (Note: I don't have one of these anywhere near me in the US. But there are about 10 within walking distance here), saw "CHIK STIX, 25 KRONER" on a big sign in the window, and ate some mysterious grilled chicken on a stick. This was probably a new low point in my life, but the non-egg protein was so very worth it. On Sunday, I managed to find my way to the less scary grocery store that sells things that look more edible. So last night and tonight, I ate THIS:

Cheese tortellini with pesto, garlic, cherry tomatoes, 

white beans, and spinach. NOM NOM NOM. 

4. Nobody J-walks in Copenhagen. and I mean nobody. There aren't even very many cars. What happened to good ol' left, right, left again cross? Here, literally every single person waits for the nice little green walk sign. I think I live in a land of robots. Real nice ones, though. 

5. Bikers are deadly. When DIS sent be an information packet that told me this. I was like, "hehehe. nice little old men on bikes." FALSE. Bikers here are intense. They are FLYING by, and they will not stop for any reason. There are bike lanes all over Copenhagen. Unfortunately, they are often the same height as the sidewalk. I have learned to remember NOT to walk in them, for fear of becoming bike lane kill. Note, the Danes don't have a word for "J-walk" but they DO have a word for road kill. Terrified. 

6. Danish women are, at bare minimum, 300 percent better at life than I am. Remember all that wizzing around on bikes the Danes do? Danish women fly at a million miles an hour, carrying purses, backpacks, children, groceries, etc. etc. in the snow, rain, and (did I mention?) FREEZING COLD. All the while, they look like this: 

If I every try to bike around here (currently, still to terrified and cold), I will likely look like this: 

7. TIGER, which is something of a cross between Target and the dollar store, is the most fabulous store on earth. However, Tiger and I are currently in a fight, because of my final observation: stores close here at any time they gosh darn please. Oh, you wanted something from Tiger at 2:00pm on a Saturday? NONE FOR YOU. We are open Sunday afternoons. Just kidding.. not at the location nearest you, we aren't. Oh you fickle little socialist Denmark, you. Fortunately, the grocery store nearest me has slightly more reliable hours. Yesterday, during the Great Toilet Paper Shortage of 2012, I was very thankful it was open at (GASP!) 8:00pm! 

All silliness aside, I had a wonderful first weekend. Much bar hopping, shopping, strolling, and napping was had. Naps are win, always, and there is a wonderful shopping street here named Strogot where all of the worlds pretty little ditties are to be found. I obviously purchased two more scarves and an ear warmer, because it is le-freezing. 

Time for some homework! (What?! I thought I was just here to play dress-up-like-a-european-lady!)

Love you all, 

Lizard