Thursday, May 28, 2009
Crazy
When we walked in, Mus and Flemming began speaking Danish. Flemming soon saw me and they changed to English. No problem. I commented how I thought it was cool that they could switch languages so quickly and asked how many languages [Flemming] knew. He said 11. I believe him.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Final Week. Exam 1
I have my final exam on Friday in Design of Integrated Circuits. I will study hard for that one as well. It is going to be another tough test.
On Saturday, I leave Denmark. Sara and I are still planning what we want to do. I'm not sure what our plans are yet, but, we will definitely be celebrating, somewhere, somehow.
After my exam today, it was gorgeous outside so Paul and I went on a run around campus. There is a wonderful "nature trail" that runs around the entire perimeter of campus. It is a 5k.
After that, we went to Paul's boxing gym and hit the bags together for a little while. Then we went back home for dinner. It was a great way to unwind from a 4hr test in the morning.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Dinner
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Soccer!!?
I got the opportunity to attend a soccer match today. A friend of mine from Design of Integrated Circuits (we call him Moose) invited myself and another kid from that class (Amado). Moose is Danish, but, Amado is from Mexico. We had a great time.
A huge flag that we held up during their national anthem.
The opposing fans are in the top of this pic. They had a bunch of flares lit.
I don't think the confetti ever stopped flowing the entire game. Not to mention all the toilet paper. We didn't sit down either; no one did in our section. A beer shower accompanied every goal. The final score was 4-0. It was really cool.
When I got back to my room, I went into the kitchen and Thomas was in there. He said "I didn't know you went to THAT soccer game!" He was very impressed.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Belgium 2- Antwerp
Day 2 began for Sara and I when we woke up at 10am. We were elated when we opened the curtains and saw a blue sky.
In one of the main squares of Antwerp
We were only walking around the church when we heard that an English speaking tour would be beginning soon. We jumped on that opportunity and were in a group of about 5. Originally, we weren't planning on staying very long, but, the tour was so interesting that we stayed for the whole hour. Much of the church is famous for the paintings that it houses. There are three paintings by Peter Paul Rubens, painted in the early 1600's, that are the most famous.
Another thing I thought interesting was that Napoleon was here and he wanted to move the church to Paris, brick by brick, because he thought it was so beautiful. Although that never got completed, he did have all the artifacts moved to Paris (including the paintings). Luckily, they have been returned. In that period that it was not a church, it was a barn for animals.
From there, we continued towards the river because we wanted to see the castle that houses the maritime museum. This was a legit castle. It looked like it was built for war. We didn't get to go inside because it was closed for some reason. However, we did get to walk around the outside of it.
"Inside the church gate, the Mount Calvary is situated, surround by houses from the beginning of the 16th century. It's a peculiar, spectacular open-air theatre of statues, built between 1700-1734.
It depicts the trial, torture, death and burial of Christ.
The Calvary garden was built from 1700-1734 and has 63 lifesized statues made of sandstone.
The idea came from two Dominicans who went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem and came back with the plan of making a "little Jerusalem".
The "road of angels" shows ten archangels that show the artifacts with which Christ was tried and brought to death: sponge, thorn crown, whip, cross, ladder etc.
There are 4 great prophets and 12 small prophets. It is very rare to see so many prophet statues together.
The old houses on the right hand side show the 4 Evangelists.
The Calvary itself shows Christ on the cross and also as being mourned by Mary Magdalena.
Four pastors of the St. Paul’s church are buried in this statue garden."
Here are some pictures of that. It was really cool and Sara and I felt lucky to get to see it. It was almost as if it isn't regularly open for viewing.
From there we proceeded to tour the inside of the church. It was equally as magnificent as the first. We didn't get a professional tour guide this time. It was ok though. The splendor of these churches just blows my mind. I love the Gothic style. I think that is the coolest style for a church.
After leaving this church, we went towards the train station because we wanted to go to the ZOO! We had heard that Antwerp has a great zoo, but, first, we had to get homemade ice cream. It was delicious.
After the zoo, we went back to the hotel room to meet Chris for dinner. He had sent us a message that said he was going out with his work for dinner. We were on our own again, but, that was not a problem. Sara and I went back the square in front of the nearby church. There, we found a nice little Italian restaurant again offering a 20% student discount.
We decided to eat here and it was one of the most relaxing atmospheres I'd ever been in. We were eating great food outside in the sun, looking at a 600+ year old Gothic church, where Napoleon and other famous people had been, WHILE a violinist played near the entrance!!!! It was like paradise.
After the wonderful meal, we went back to the hotel for a little while and relaxed while waiting for Chris to turn up. It got to be like 9:30 so we decided not to wait for him any longer. We went to a convenient store down the street and grabbed some good local beer that we brought back to the room. We drank and watched TV. An hour later, Chris came home and he joined us. We ordered Pineapple Express and watched that.
Afterwards we went to bed. We all got up at 7am or so and Sara and I caught a bus to the airport at 8am for our 10:40 flight. We were debating between taking the 8 or 9 am bus and it was good we chose the 8. The bus got stuck in traffic for a while and then getting through security at the airport took a long time. However, after that, we made it back to Copenhagen no problem.
Belgium was a great trip. I enjoyed Antwerp more than Brussels but that could have been due to the weather difference. Either way, Sara and I had a blast touring the cities together. We are great travel partners. I'm glad we got to explore Belgium before leaving Europe. Now, it is crunch time.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Belgium 1- Brussels
Sara and I made it to Belgium safely. No problems at all. We had a nice morning. I got up at 5 and prepared breakfast for Sara and I. She came over at 5:40am and we had eggs and sausage and apples. It was a great start to the day.
We were on different flights. I flew with SAS and my flight left an hour before Sara's. Therefore, I got into the Brussels Airport an hour ahead of Sara. That was fine. I killed the time walking around the airport. It was a really nice airport. She landed right on time. We met up and then took the train to the center of Brussels where we began our sightseeing.
As soon as we got out of Brussels train station, we felt rain drops. In a matter of minutes it was raining pretty hard. Not pouring, but, raining. We didn't let it deter us. We found a tour bus and hopped on that. We were driven around the city while listening to a description through headphones. It was nice, but, the rain kinda ruined it. It was a good way for us to see the most of the city in the short amount of time we had.
In front of the Atomium
The Triumph Arch
By now we were getting pretty hungry (it was like 3pm). We began looking for a restaurant. Anyway, we found a nice little restaurant. It was just what we were looking for. We had trouble reading the menu because it was in Dutch and French. Those are the national languages of Belgium. However, we were able to get an English menu so we did that.
I had a chicken curry sandwich and Sara had a ham and cheese sandwich. They were each very good. Of course, we had to get beer as well. This was our first experiment with the Belgian beer and we each thought it was very good. We also had to get a Belgian Waffle. It came with powdered sugar on top and was really tasty.
Around 6pm we made it back to the train station and took the train from Brussels to Antwerp. It was a 40 minute ride. Once we got off the train we had about a 20 minute walk to the Hilton, where Chris was waiting for us in the lobby. Perfect timing.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Belgium
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Labor Day
On Friday, I went with a couple kids from my kitchen to a park in the city. Apparently, it is the thing to do on Labor Day. It was really cool. The only thing I can compare it to is Log Bay Day; except there were 10,000 more people and it was in a park. It was really intense. Everyone was just hanging out, partying. The weather was great for it as well.
Me and Kezia.
After dinner finished, I thought it would be the perfect time to introduce S'mores to everyone. They were a HUGE hit (Mom, you may have to send more). We had enough supplies that everyone in our group of 10 or so, got 2 or 3.
After the S'mores, we just hung out together for the rest of the night. I wanted to take it easy. Now, I have to do some real school work. Also, the countdown till I leave has begun. I don't really want to leave and wish I could stay longer, but, I am excited to start working in Pittsburgh for the summer.