T minus Kiel Days...

Das größte Segelsport-Ereignis der Welt, das größte Sommerfest im Norden Europas: Kiel heißt zur Kieler Woche Skipper und "Seh"-Leute aus aller Welt herzlich willkommen.

I have no idea what that means, but we were there, at Kieler Woche Skipper, or whatever it was. There was food from nearly every region of the world (Swedish food was oddly missing), so I settled for some Israeli, Turkish, and a Danish dessert. I did however enjoy watching Sebastian eat a nearly one meter long bratwurst from Poland, and Fabien managed to find the French Fry station (those French love their fries???)

Needless to say, there was plenty of food, for even the most exotic of eaters. Oh, and we were of course in Germany, so there was plenty of beer. All in all a great little city festival on the port.

Scottish Pub

Once upon a time, Sister Swede studied with a Dane at Watertown High School. The Dane loved Watertown so much, he returned for many summers to visit with his fellow Goslings. One summer the Dane stopped coming to Watertown... The people of Watertown were sad, and so Sister Swede met up with the Dane in Copehnagen.

(left to right: Dane, Awesome Pub Performer, Sister Swede)

The Hand Holding is Over

Scandinavian cooperation takes a pause today, as Sverige takes on Danmark tonight in qualifying for the 2008 Euro Cup. Tickets are going for 500 Euro ($675 USD), so I'm going to sit this one out to join my Dansk rivals here in Sonderborg for a night of drinking and watching good 'ole fashioned Scandinavian football. I'm predicting a 2-1 Sverige victory.

This was the scene at the 2004 UEFA Euro Cup when Swedes and Danes swapped jerseys after a 2-2 draw ensured they both would move on... to the demise of Italy, who needed anything but a draw... there's nothing like Scandinavians working together!

International Food, (drink) Day

Have you ever had an Afghani nut? How about a Romanian dessert? Either had I, until Friday's "Intercultural Snack-evening."

Now, you have all been here in Sønderborg for 6 months or longer, but have you had a taste of Denmark, yet?

And what is the taste of your country???

Make a traditional snack and drink from your place of the world, and bring it to our Intercultural Snack -evening for your fellow exchange students to taste -and have a taste of their country, too.

The first thing I thought of was to make Swedish Pancakes with Lingon, but upon authorization from the international director she asked that I bring something "American," since I am the only American representative. First of all... it is nearly impossible to find corn and turkey, the only two real "American" foods I could think of. So what did I end up making? Hot Dogs, Peanuts, COOOOLD BEER! The traditional pastime of a day at the ballpark, nothing is more American than that.

I did however do something that I am not proud of... I bought a case of... gulp... Budweiser. It was the only American import beer available in the distant land of Denmark. That isn't an acceptable excuse, and in retrospect I should have forgone the idea of having an American beer rather than serving that sad excuse for a beer. I hope I didn't anger the beer gods back home, and rest assured the first thing I will do upon my return home will be to crack open a Milwaukee brewed Miller product.

I will also take this moment to propose a new Man-Law:
"A man must always carry a six pack of Miller Lite when traveling overseas in the event that there are no Miller products available" - Man Law

Kollegiet Olympics

Yesterday marked the annual Kollegiet Olympics here in Sonderborg. Each of the student halls in Sonderborg (Sønderskov-kollegiet, Ungdoms-kollegiet, Handels-kollegiet, Park-kollegiet, Borgmester Andersen-kollegiet, Damgade-kollegiet, Humlehøj-kollegiet) are invited to form teams and participate in Football (Soccer), Volleyball, and Brännboll.

However, it isn't a athletic competition so much as it is an excuse for Danes to drink (we do that a lot here). Eight o' clock in the morning a Danish breakfast is served and washed down with a cold beer (to be followed throughout the day with warm ones). This signifies the start of the games...

Our international team quickly became familiar with the rules... when someone is playing too well, they are given a "green card" by the referee. This player is ordered to the sidelines and handed a warm bottle of beer. They must finish the beer before they are allowed to re-enter the game. Not only does this encourage competitive play, it gives a player an excuse to take a breather and a brew.

It was a long day of fun in the sun, and in the end, our international experience in both sports and drinking were not to be matched. We won the two sports we entered (none of us knew how to play Brannboll) and took the trophy (there was no trophy). Needless to say, block 4 HK goes down in the books as the champions.

The best was yet to come though, and through all the Danish chatter over the loudspeaker: "Det er bestyrelsen, som indgår udviklingskontrakt med WET T-SHIRT CONTEST!!!"

I remembered to snap a picture during the first "heat," the later rounds proved too captivating to snap pics of...

Great day, or greatest day...? It's hard to tell.

Euro-Tailgate 2007

Yesterday was the first of many days to come in which we grilled the meat of our choice on the courtyard grill in our backyard. I chose a prime cut of Danish deliciousness. The festivities were to celebrate "The Last Tutten" rather than a Brewers game, but had the tailgate feel nonetheless. Funny how grilling a piece of meat over a few beers is celebrated everywhere in the world. I guess the American tradition of man, fire, and meat isn't all that exclusive.

Fernando (Spanish with mullet) manned the grill as German, Danish, French critique.

The grill has the seemingly magical ability to attract all men within a five mile radius around its smoldering coals. Men from all walks of life forget their differences while under the grills spell, as they stand around a fire gossiping about the exotic salts and spices they have used on their prized cut of meat. Men compliment each others meats, and express their pleasure about how great it is at least once every bite. Men act on their primal instinct to watch over and guard their precious prime rib. They bribe and argue about who's steak gets to be in the coveted sweet spot right over, but not too close to the hottest coals. Every man reverts to thousands of years of evolutionary favorable behavior: i am man. man kill bear. man cook meat.

When a man volunteers to have a BBQ, the following chain of events are put into motion:

1. The women buys the food
2. The women make the salad, prepare the vegetables, and make dessert
3. The women prepare the meat for cooking, place it on a tray along with the necessary cooking utensils and sauces, and take it to the man who is lounging beside the grill - beer in hand

Here comes the important part:

4. THE MAN PLACES THE MEAT ON THE GRILL

More routine:

5. The women go inside to organize the plates and cutlery
6. A woman comes out to tell the men that the meat is burning. He thanks her and asks if she will bring another beer while he deals with the situation

Important again:

7. THE MAN TAKES THE MEAT OFF THE GRILL AND HANDS IT TO THE WOMAN

More routine:

8. The women prepare the plates, salad, bread, utensils, napkins, sauces and bring them to the table
9. After eating, the women clear the table and do the dishes
10. Everyone PRAISES THE MAN and THANKS HIM for his cooking efforts
11. A man asks a woman how she enjoyed "her night off" and, upon seeing her annoyed reaction, concludes that there's just no pleasing some women!

I have a theory on understanding where you stand in a relationship. Number one on the list signifies: you are joined at the hip; all the way down to six: you potentially are in a relationship.

1) buying a grill together
2) buying a car together
3) having a pet together
4) getting a joint checking account
5) buying a house together
6) exchanging/merging playdoh

St. Patrick Who?

Apparently, St. Patrick didn't do much for Danes, because they had no idea what St. Patrick's Day was. One Danish guy commented, "is that the day people dye their beer green and drink the whole day?" Despite this being "Swede in America," I am also a little Irish, so it was a shame not to be able to celebrate this day. We did however make a bathtub full of glogg, so I learned a new tradition, be it related to St. Patrick or not.

We're on a beer run...

What do you do when the taxes on alcohol make buying it prohibitive... drive to Germany of course! Sonderborg is 15 minutes away from the German border, so a road trip to the border is a common occurrence for Danes. So common as a matter of fact, that there are stores run by Danes in Germany for just this purpose. Kinda like sex shops and fireworks at the Illinois border... and Danish residents get a discount by showing their residence permit. All prices are listed in Danish kroner and you pay with Danish kroner. Each person in the car can import 50 liters of beer, so we all piled in Fabians Peugeot and went to Flensborg, Germany.

First Day of Classes

Thursday marked the first day of classes. My International Economics professor decided to be in Sweden Skiing instead of teaching, so my first class was canceled. He failed to tell anyone, and a student called his cell phone and he was on a lift to the top of a Mountain. My Finance and Investment professor speaks with a Danish fake British English accent, and is hilarious. This course sounds exactly like my Finance course from last semester, so it should be easy. First impressions of the schooling process are that it is very informal, and the professors prefer to be called by their first name. This varies greatly from some of the pompous professors in the US that get all in a huff if you don't call them Dr. whatever.
Thursday also marked the grand reopening of Tutten, the residence hall pub in the basement of our dorm. Try to imagine if McCormick Hall invited all of its residents to the basement and served beer... thats what it is like (only with hot Danes and Germans instead of drunk Wisconsin girls.)
It seems rains nearly every day here, on and off, kinda like Seattle. From what I hear from home it's cooooooold, so 50 degrees and rain is okay with me.
Well... off to the intro party, more to come.

First Impressions: Denmark

I arrived into Sonderborg station at 9:17 pm last night, awaiting my guide to pick me up. After a 1/2 hour, I decided he wasn't coming, and made the 1.2 mile trek to my apartment building (thank God for GPS). I knocked on a random door once I got there, and was greeted by a very kind Dane. Long story short they were able to track down the guide, who was at Tutten (local pub), and got the key to my room.

The moral of the story: Don't expect a Dane to be sober after noon.

Prague (Part 1)

How dare you force me to try and describe about Prague... see for yourself and look at the pictures here.

If you don't believe me... come here for $433 round trip and I'll prove you this is the best city since Dublin (aka the second city I've seen...) Meet me in Old Town and I'll prove it (ask me why it's good... I'll give you my 9,546,9832 minute explanation and we can go from there!)

We saw a ballet in the Prague National Theatre, (Mozart? Mozart!) We saw the Jewish Ghettos, and that was just in the first day! I'll let you know the rest of what i see in the next 3 days i have in Prague!

Time to get moving...

You'll notice the timer SLOOOOOWLY counting down on the right side of the blog... I'm not sure if thats going to help make these last few days faster or not, but wow have these last few weeks been long and boring (as can be noticed from my BORING posts)!

Pilsner A pale pilsner. The most common type of beer in Denmark are the Pilsner. For instance: Carlsberg HOF, Tuborg Grøn, Royal Pilsner.

Classic An all malt pilsner with more color and taste. The classic type is named after the Tuborg Classic. For instance: Tuborg Classic, Tuborg Classic Gylden, Carl's Special, Royal Classic

Guld Øl (Gold beer) usually refers to the strength of the beer. Basically all tax category II beers are called Guld Øl named after the Tuborg Guld. Examples include: Tuborg Guld, Carlsberg Sort Guld, Carlsberg Dark, Royal Export

Stærk Øl (Strong beer) refers to tax category III beers such as Carlberg Elefant, Tuborg Fine Festival, Royal Selection.

Juleøl (Christmas beer) are usually gold strength beer with additional flavor. Examples include: Carl's Jul, Carlberg 47, Tuborg Julebryg, Royal XMas

Påskeøl (Easter beer) are usually gold strength beer with additional flavor. Examples include: Carl's Påske, Tuborg Påskebryg, Royal Spring.

Hvidtøl (White beer) is classic Danish beer, pretty much unknown anywhere else. It is brewed from white malt, and should not be confused with wheat beer or Belgian white beer. It was once the most common beer in Denmark but has declined much so it is today just a soft beer usually served at Christmas with rice pudding. Considered it has an alcohol content of appr. 1% by volume Hvidt øl can be consumed by many underaged people. It has a malty sweetness and none to moderate hop bitterness.