kiwi in copenhagen

too much beer..?

2010-07-28T14:56:00.006+02:00

Monday afternoon I was enjoying a nice bike ride home until I was almost at Kongens Nytorv and the chain fell off. I thought I would walk the rest of the way as it wasn’t far but then I realized the back tire was flat. Now I was really going to need to take my bike to the bike doctor. So Tuesday I used my old bike and raced home after work to take my other one to the shop. I got there just before the shop closed thankfully then went to meet with Martin at the cinema. We were to watch a Japanese vampire movie called Thirst but then realized that it would be in Danish subtitles so bought some dinner and headed back to mine instead.

Then Wednesday I went back to the shop to collect my bike. It cost a lot but is nice to have everything fixed and have a first gear again! I then went to Nyhavn and met with Natti. I haven’t seen her on about a year so it was really great to catch up. We sat near the canal and had some beers and talked talked talked. Thursday I was waiting for Martin to finish hockey and Phong called so I went to meet with him at Sankt Hans Torv. Phi, Christian and Kaare were also there and was nice to catch up before everyone left besides me and Phong. I was really tired thanks to all my early shifts at work this week but I stayed with him until Ana arrived and then met up with Martin in Oak Room.

Friday I got to sleep in for an extra 30 minutes and be at work at 8:30 so was finished at 4pm. I then headed out to the Friday bar and had some beers in the wind until it was time to head to Christian and Linda’s for their Roskilde Reunion party. They had a really nice bbq dinner set up outside and was great to see everyone again. The party moved inside later and went on till early hours until I had to leave to sleep.

I was very happy to not have to watch rugby early on Sat and was feeling very hung over. But I had to get up and out to meet with Morten, Maart and Lars in Vesterbro for dinner and drinks before heading to Vega for the Bad Religion concert. I was feeling much better after some margaritas and beer and the concert was freakin awesome. Morten and Lars were soaking wet afterwards from moshing up the front and we headed to Boutique Liza for some yum cocktails before I headed home and left the boys to party.

Awesome!!

Summer tans, even Morten has a little colour.

I'd only been waiting like 16 years to see them live..

Lars with a mean rock face.

Pwetty

Freaken awesome party!

Sing along with Bad Religion..

!!

Lars and Morten had been moshing it up the front.

Mort bought this awesome shirt! We like.

Sunday I had a slow start to the day and then met Morton at 3:30pm at the station to go to the Grøn concert. There was a lot of people there and we found a spot to put down our blanket and have some beers. We didn’t really like the music though and it was really windy so we left to find somewhere warm to wait for D.A.D. We found a nice little bodega and drank cheap beers, played cards and ate cheese and ham toasties then headed back to the concert. It was worth it for D.A.D. They were really good, classic rock songs with the Danish crowd all singing along. The bass player was especially interesting as he kept coming out with different guitars, my favourites being the olive on a stick guitar and see through guitar.

Aaaah the last of the summer festivals.

D.A.D rocked!

The drummer high up off the stage.

3 years!!

2010-07-23T15:54:00.007+02:00

I was very glad to get home early on Monday and have time to relax and do laundry etc. I walked with Martin to the metro and he headed off back to Sheffield. Then I waited for Martin (toooo many Martins!!) to finish work and he picked me up and we biked to Nyhavn for a Jazz Festival concert. We had picked up some pasta salad and wine from Magasin and it was really nice until my eye started feeling like it had grit in it. It got much worse so we biked to the afterhours doctor and he told me I had an eye infection. This on top of my blocked up sinuses and cough made me feel not very good L My eye looked even worse in the morning and I tried to get out of work but we were only 2 on the late shift so I went in for a couple of hours later on.

It started getting much better after using the antibiotics for a few days and thanks to lots of sleep ins and quiet nights by the weekend I was feeling good. Saturday morning I woke up early to go watch the rugby and Maria joined me at the Cross for the first Tri Nations match. It was a great game and the All Blacks showed they really are playing well now. The sun was shining and we had another beer after the game with the bar owner outside in the sun before heading to the Boat Bar in Nyhavn. We were soon joined there by Ana and Morten and then others arrived later and it was a lovely afternoon spent in the sun. Soon we were all getting hungry though and got some Indian takeout and had dinner at my apartment. We then sat out on the balcony listening to music and I got told off by a neighbor at some point for being too loud. A few people whom stayed late played tekkan before heading home and me going to sleep.

View from the Boat Bar in Nyhavn.

Enjoying the sun with Pirita and Ashraf.

Sunday was very quiet and I relaxed and slowly cleaned up the apartment. Martin arrived back from Jutland later very sunburnt. Monday and Tuesday were very quiet (just how I like it!) then Wednesday after work I went shopping and bought myself a little grill. Martin put it together for me and we went food shopping then met with Borgar and Phong at Islands Brugge. It was a really nice evening grilling and having a few beers near the water.

Yah, my new grill =)

Friday was Paulo’s last day at work =( So I joined him and others at the Friday bar. We had drinks in the sun on the balcony before a colleague Eduardo kindly invited everyone back to his place. His neighbours had cute floppy eared bunnies and we ate pizza and drank beers. Martin also joined and then some of us headed into town to Bar 7. It was far too hot in the bar and the drinks were really strong. So Saturday I was not feeling too hot. Especially in the morning when I got up early again to watch the rugby. It was not as good a game as the week before but still a good result for the All Blacks. We then headed over to Martin’s friends where he was to kitty sit for the weekend. We had a really relaxing afternoon/evening cooking on the grill and lounging on the couch. Sunday I headed home to do laundry etc while Martin played hockey and then we headed back to Amagar and I finally went to see the beach. It was really quite nice as the temperature had cooled a little and there were not many people. We walked from the start all the way up the peach and boardwalk to the end. Then it was back to the apartment for another grill and relaxing night.

Around the corner..

Roskilde 2010!

2010-07-09T16:17:00.046+02:00

Wednesday after work I biked into town to meet with Sarah and Pirita and we shopped for picnic food before heading to Kings Park to enjoy the afternoon sun. We did not have much luck with the grill which did not light but it was probably a good thing as you are apparently not allowed to grill in the park anyway. So we headed back to my place and grilled on my tiny stove top and had a lovely dinner on the roof terrace. We were going to go watch the Skt Hans bonfires but Germany was playing a World Cup game and Sarah got engrossed. It was quite late by the time this ended so the girls left and I went to sleep.

Friday UK Martin was arriving. After work I left my bike at home and walked to Tivoli. After we met up we went inside to trade our Roskilde tickets for wristbands. I was surprised how short the queue was after last year’s massive wait for some people and we soon had our wristbands. We then went back to my apartment so that Martin could dump his bag and seeing as our wristbands gave us entry to Tivoli we headed back so that Martin could have a look around. We got some beers and waited for the band to start but there were not many people which was very strange for a Friday Rock concert so we headed out to my old school for the graduation party. Morten met us there and soon Ana and Phong joined and it was really nice to catch up with school peeps. It soon turned into a very fun raging party and it was not till after 4am that we finally made it home and crash.

Saturday and now I needed to pack for Roskilde! I was soon all ready so we grabbed my bikes and headed out to Christiania for some shopping ;-) We had a beer but did not hang around too long as we needed to head out and we soon at the main station waiting for the train to take us to Roskilde. Once there is was a bit of a headache because the next train to the festival wasn’t coming for another hour so we went to wait for the bus. We could not fit on the first bus though and we ended up waiting a looong time in the hot sun to get the next one. It was quite funny watching everyone trying to hoard onto the bus with all their luggage and then frustrating as the bus drove straight past where we wanted to camp and drop us right at the back of the festival. We walked over to where the guys were camped but Malle and Michael were not around so we set up our tents on the opposite corner where some guys kindly said we could camp. It took longer than it should have to put up the tents but we were soon done and could go get beers and hang out.

Yeah we have arrived and the first awesome music box.. this one solar powered.

The next couple of days consisted of visiting the guys camp which was conveniently near ours for beers and to watch skateboarding or football on the giant screen they could see from their camp. Going visiting different random camps in the festival looking for parties and/or english/aussies/kiwis. Sitting in the bar also conveniently close to our camp to get some shade and cold drinks. Walking all the way to the cinema to watch a zombie movie only to not get in. Going to Gringos to eat the only decent food in the festival. Walking to the swimming lake and sitting in the shade drinking bloody marys. Watching England lose their game with a crowd mostly full of Germans.. It was in the beginning the most relaxing festival ever. The weather was beautiful and sunny and after I woke up in the morning, took all my clothes off, opened the door to the tent to let in what little breeze I could get, I actually slept in each morning. The toilets were pretty close and flushed! Flushing toilets at a festival.. wtf! There was never a queue for fresh cold water and life on the West side was pretty chilled.

Foam party in Van Damme Camp.

The travelling Coffin Camp party.

Coffin Camp party hits the Skyline Bar.

My UK buddy Martin.

View from camp.

Watching England vs Germany World Cup.

I got bored..

Why Steve Sanders Camp? Answer: Why not!!

Coffin Camp.

Girls five aside football tournament.

Loved the ball dresses.

Yeah 80's Glam Rock rules!

View from the guys camp at the skate park.

Wednesday and the day started out like most others. In the afternoon we were sitting having some beers in the guys camp and was feeling pretty good but Copenhagen was calling and as it couldn't come to me, I, for the first time, left the festival and headed back to the city. It felt really good to have a shower and then lounge on my couch watching movies. And sleeping in a real bed! But I was very happy to get back on Thursday and thought it was quite worth leaving for the feeling I got when the train station pulled up to the festival. I was back! I caught up with the guys for some drinks before the festival opened and Martin and we headed in to see Patti Smith's memorial for the people that died at Roskilde 2000. From there we headed to the Arena stage for Paramore. Martin went to listen to LCD Sound System and I stayed to see Sick of it All. We saw a bit of Valient Thorr before the big act of the day, the Gorillaz!!

Woohoo! Festival is open!

First look at the Orange stage.

Gorillaz.

Friday we had day passers coming =) It's lucky i got up earlyish as Morten arrived around 11am with beers. Thankfully he had also bought some food as the queues for the shops at camp were more hideous than normal and it was very warm. We sat in the now empty skate park area for awhile before heading over to the guys camp where Phong and Rasmus had turned up. Then it was into the festival area again this time to first see Meshuggah who weren't as good as I was hoping. We then watched a bit of this strange band Tinariwen and had a bit of a boogie before heading to the Orange stage for Dizzy Mizz Lizzy. There was a huge crowd for this Danish band but I did not think it was so great so Morten, Martin and I headed behind the stage to the Rum and Cigar bar for some well.. rum and cigars ;-) 7:30pm Morten and I headed up the front of the main stage for the mighty Alice in Chains. We had a very good spot and it was a really great concert. Then Martin joined us again for Them Crooked Vultures. I had to leave early though as I had been really looking forward to seeing NOFX for a loooooong time and headed over to the Arena. I bumped into Mik Mik and some others and thoroughly enjoyed this show. Was pretty tired after though so headed back to camp to sleep.

Yeah we have a day tripper..

Rum & Cigar bar.

Drinking lots of water at the Orange stage.

Alica in Chains!!

Them Crooked Vultures.

Morten was gone in the morning and we had a very slow start to the day. But I soon had a text from Pirita that she would be there in one hour so quickly raced to the showers. It was packed and had to queue in the steamy muggy building but felt good to be clean. As I was walking back to camp I bumped into her and Hans and we had some drinks in the bar joined by Martin before heading into the festival to see Patti Smith. She was amazing and sitting in the sun near the orange stage listening to her and her band we imagined we could have been at a festival 30 years ago. Martin and I headed over to Pavilian to chill out for awhile and bumped into Daniel who told us Phong and Rasmus had managed to get into the festival again. We were soon joined by them. Then we headed to the Arena stage to meet back up with Pirita and see Pendulum. They had been very good last year at the Big Day Out in Auckland and I was looking forward to a boogie. We then headed back to the orange stage for Muse. I wasn't too fussed to listen to this but it was pretty good stadium music and we bumped into Marle and Kaspar. Hans was very tired so he and Pirita left while Martin and I stayed to listen to Prodigy. Martin headed right up the front but being very tired I went for the second section of the pit. This too proved too close though when the guy next to me kicked me in the ancle. I went a bit further back to enjoy for awhile and then went on a mission to find a toilet. I soon wondered what was up though as I was seeing strange hallucinations until I realised that it was the after effects from the lights on the Prodigy stage.. wicked! Was absolutely exhausted by the time I met up with Martin again so we headed back to camp to crash.

The local.

We LOVE Mucho Machos!

Muse.

These guys couldn't contain their excitement.

Prodigy.

The crowd at Prodigy.

Sunday it was actually quite nice to have no visitors and have a real chill out day. The first band we went to see was Motorhead and we bumped into Christain and Peter at the memorial area which was a good place to watch from. After Motorhead it was over to the Arena for yet another band I was lucky enough to see twice in June, Killswitch Engage. Then I had nothing I wanted to see for awhile so I headed back to camp to chill for awhile before meeting back up with Martin for Pavement. We caught the last of the afternoon sun next to the Arena stage and relaxed before it was time to go to the Orange stage for Prince!! He was really good. I wish he would have played more of his own songs and not covers but his disco medly was fantastic =) We had thought of leaving Sunday but were pretty tired after the concerts so thought we would brave the camp destroyers and sleep a bit.

Roskilde art.

The memorial area is a great spot for bumping into people.

The Orange stage from the memorial.

The memorial stone, reminding people how fragile we are.

This guy had the best stuffed bird ever!

View from the memorial area.

Awesome graffiti next to the Arena stage.

The 'alien shagging the cow' is a loved sight every year.

Prince!!

As it turned out it was the most peaceful night in Roskilde. I woke up around 7am after a good nights sleep and finished packing up my bag. The trains weren't running very often so we walked to catch the bus to Roskilde station, then straight on the train and we were home. Then it was time for tea, toast and showers before walking Martin to the Metro for his journey back to the UK.

Sonisphere and the awesomeness of Prague..

2010-06-23T16:55:00.046+02:00

Tuesday I was pretty tired but got up and took the bus to work for a relaxing trip. It wasn’t so relaxing though as the traffic was awful and I was late =( Operation salad and healthy eating got into full effect (after being cooked bacon, eggs and pancakes for breakfast!) and then it was a quiet night at home. Wednesday after work I had time for a quick dinner before biking out to Amager Bio to meet with Julie for the Crowded House concert. Her sister and sister’s husband joined and it was an enjoyable night. At first they played a lot of new songs that were good but we really wanted to hear the oldies. They played these towards the end of the concert thankfully.

Thursday I was getting very excited. It did not take me long to pack a small bag and Friday morning I was off to the airport again, this time to just meet Morten. Though as soon as I arrived I bumped into Martin and his friends whom were also on the same plane as us. We got a couple of beers and waited then it was a very short flight and we were in Prague! We met with the other Danish guys and got a taxi with them dropping them off first and then onto our hotel. After dumping our bags we headed out to find some food and found an authentic looking Czech place to eat. The food was very rich and filling and we really needed to do some walking after the meal. We walked down the hill and soon ended up at the river and were greeted to a beautiful site of the bank on the other side with Prague castle. Walking down the road we hit Charles Bridge and after a little shopping in one of the many souvenir shops underneath we joined all the other tourists walking to the other side. After a little look around we headed back to the Old Town and took a rest and a beer in a square near Hard Rock Cafe. Then after a little more sightseeing our feet were sore so we headed back to the hotel and jumped in the spa for an hour downing redbull vodkas and thoroughly enjoying the warm water and jets. Feeling very refreshed we got a taxi to Hells Bells to meet with the guys and had a very fun evening in this iconic unique rock bar.

Sightseeing in Prague.

Hells Bells Rock Pub!!

Enjoying the cheap beers.

Creepiest toilet ever!

Kiss art on the walls =)

Saturday I awoke just in time to head downstairs in my pjs to grab breakfast. Then we got ready and waited for Kevin (friend of Martin's who lives in Prague) and his colleague Ann.They arrived with a taxi and we headed out to the Sonisphere venue. It was very hard to find! We ended up stuck behind a queue of cars waiting to park. After our taxi driver talking to about 5 different policemen we turned around and he dropped us at a point we could walk to the festival. The area was visually amazing with many abandoned wrecks of buildings. Then we came to a big field where you could camp and the disused army airport that was the venue for the festival. We got our wristbands and entered just as Devil Driver started playing the main stage and once in we headed for the second stage to watch another awesome concert from Volbeat. Then it was time to source some food and we waited ages in a queue for burgers. Soon we had burgers and more beer though and were all happy. A bit of t-shirt shopping and then over to the main stage for Megadeth. At this point I lost my little crew but luckily bumped into Martin and the guys at a redbull tent. Megadeth were not that great so instead I got stuck into the vodka redbulls and soon the others joined and we were all together for a short time. But then Slayer came on and the group split up. Morten and I luckily ended up in the crowd next to Lars and Andreas and Slayer were very good. Then it was time for the mighty Metallica!! What a great end to an awesome festival. I managed to meet up with Martin and Morten and the 3 of us tried to find a way home. This proved be even harder than getting there!

Abandoned buildings on the way to the festival.

Camping next to the festival.

Volbeat rocked!

With Kevin and Ann.

The boys making friends.

Vodka redbull makes you happy.. Martin and Mort.

Slayer!

Metal heads..

Metellica!! Thanks to Morten for the pics, I had had too much vodka redbull :P

We were definitely not up in time for breakfast Sunday but being really smart, Morten and I had booked a table at Hooters for lunch and once there got stuck into the yummy cocktails. We were soon feeling better, no thanks to the not very good food and the other guys turned up looking worse than us. Morten and I went to watch the NZ soccer game at an Australian bar we had seen on Friday and I was very happy at the outcome against Italy. After the game we walked around a bit waiting for our dinner reservation. We then headed to where we were about to be provided with a fabulous medieval fantasy dinner show! We headed down to the basement and the decorations were great. Lots of dark wood with candles and skins thrown over the chairs. Soon a band came round playing energetic music and lovely belly dancers. They came round with baskets of food and it was a very enjoyable evening. The highlight for me was when one of the girls draped one of her snakes around my neck and left it there for awhile. Everyone in the room gasped but I loved the feeling. It maybe got a little scary when its head came around to snake around my neck =) After dinner we walked to find the guy’s hotel and had a few beers with them before heading back to our hotel very happy.

Hooters!!

teehee

Hangover food.

Little bit of sightseeing before dinner..

This looks interesting..

In the dungeon.

The belly dancers were lovely.

The band was cool.

Especially their shoes!

yum!

I like pirates.

oooh snakes! yes please!

=)

Creeeepy.

The next morning we packed up and went for breakfast before calling a taxi to the hotel. A guy turned up with a very nice car and it was a pleasant cheap ride on our last day. At the airport we bumped into Kevin and Ann, Ann was on the same flight with us back to Copenhagen. After checking in we did some shopping and boarded the plane back home. I was very tired but we were soon back and once home I dumped my bag and crawled into bed to try to catch up on some sleep. It was a really great weekend, I have a very good impression of Prague and Czech people but I was very exhausted! Martin turned up later also very exhausted and we vegged out on the couch watching movies.

Download!!

2010-06-17T12:32:00.060+02:00

After another couple of late shifts it was soon Wednesday and time to head to the airport to meet with Morten and Maart. We were soon checked in and boarding the airplane and it was a short flight to London. We had our first taste of English food with lunch in an airport pub before catching a train first into London, then connecting to a train to Derby. By the time we arrived it was after 5pm but it was easy to catch a taxi with 2 other festival goers outside the Derby station and we were soon dropped off near the festival. We had loaded Morten’s bag up with beer as he had one with wheel but this soon proved tricky when we had to navigate through mud getting into and inside the festival. Once inside I phoned Martin that I met at Roskilde last year from Sheffield (another Martin.. how confusing!!). He had saved us a spot and it was really close to the village, choice as! So soon we were a happy camp of five including his friend Robbo and once we had all the tents up relaxed and cracked open the beers. We went shopping for a gazebo and chairs, checked out the village, ate yummy Chinese noodles and sausages with chips and then went looking for the parties. We ended up in a tent with Rock karaoke, it was not what I expected. People were getting up and singing with a full band behind them. The tent was packed and was a good little party. Afterwards we never really found anything interesting so we headed back to the guys big tent and played drinking games until the sun started coming up.

We are on our way..!

Happy boys =)

We're here!!

Puurdy..

This shop did not contain what I hoped ;-)

Steak pies with mashed potato and baked beans.. yes please!!

The first night in my little tent was very cold so I welcomed the morning when it was a bit warmer and slept in. We then went looking for breakfast and I was very happy to find a little stall called Strumpets with Crumpets. The ladies were dressed in frilly saloon girl outfits and made yummy crumpets for me with crème fraich and plum jam and strawberry jam with clotted cream, mmmmmmm! After a slow start to the day we drank vodka red bulls and headed into the village to watch some comedy in the cinema tent. Then we went back to camp and met with Martin and Robbo and walked around visiting other camps. We first headed to where we saw a Danish flag but were disappointed as they were English guys and just randomly had picked that flag. But further on was an Aussie and a silver fern flag. This little party had kiwis and aussies and we spent the rest of the night hamging out, talking and drinking beers with them.

Inside the Turborg bar was going off.

Outside it was even crazier.

Maart looking tough?

Giant yorkshire pudding stuffed with sausages, mash and onion.. yes please!!

There were lots of sparkly rides.

They played rock music =)

Woooah, Ghost Train.

Some of them looked pretty damn scary!

Me with the Carlsberg man.

Morten wanted some hugs.

The ghost train looked pretty scary.

Robbo and Martin were looking forward, pity it was the crappest ghost train ever.

The next day the sun came out, yay! It was a nice relaxing morning but soon time to head to the festival arena!! We were surprised at how long it took us to walk to the arena as it did not look that far away on the map. We felt like sheep joining the thousands of other people pouring into the site. But once in we were soon rewarded with the fantastic view down the sloping hill of the main stage and the massively impressive AC/DC stage. After sorting out drinks we headed to the main stage to watch 36 Crazy Fists followed by Killswitch Engage. Both bands were good although the sound was affected a little from the wind. We had some time after that to get some food and I thoroughly enjoyed the chips with cheese and gravy. Then it was time to head to the front for Them Crooked Vultures. This was another amazing performance. What an awesome day already and followed off by AC/DC. They sounded amazing, the stage was awesome, the effects, Angus, the girls flashing there boobs on the big screens and then all topped off by fireworks.. very impressed!

Morten's mancave.

Brushing your teeth festival style.

First view of the Main stage and ACDC stage.

Second stage.

Morten had a big night..

36 Crazy Fists.

The crowd for Killswitch Engage.

The awesome AD/DC stage.

Dave Grohl in Them Crooked Vultures.

John Paul Jones.

AC/DC!!

Saturday was again another sunny day. It started off slow with the three of us getting breakfast and some shopping around the village but once back at camp we got stuck into the beers with the boys. We soon joined some Norwegian girls that had turned up across from us and were having so much fun I could not convince anyone to head to the festival to hear Volbeat. So by the time we got there Megadeth were well into their set. This was followed by Deftones and then we were all very excited for the main event Rage Against the Machine. They were very good and it was a highly energetic and fun concert. We all walked back to camp very satisfied.

It's getting messy around camp..

??

We made some friends.

Rage Against the Machine!

Massive crowd for Rage.

Frontman Zach de la Rocha.

Sunday we didn’t hang around camp long as this was going to be another epic day of concerts. Cinderella were playing when we got there and we relaxed in the sun a little before making our way up front for Slash. His show was really good and his guest singer performed the songs really well. What a legend! Then there was not much space before Billy Idol played. I chose not to go up the front and was quite happy about that because it soon started pouring down. What a pity! I spent most of his performance huddled under a clothing rack in front of a stall. I was supposed to meet the guys at our meeting spot after but they were not there and I shopped for a rain poncho. I then got the call that they had run back to camp as some of them were just wearing t-shirts and they brought back our wet weather gear. It was a relief to put on my gumboots as the ground had soon turned to a sea of mud. Thankfully it stopped raining though and we enjoyed listening to Motorhead before heading to the second stage to see Airbourne. I did not know who these guys were but Martin was enthusiastic and we were glad we went as we were treated to a fun, energetic rock show. This was highlighted by the singer climbing up the rigging at the side and playing his guitar at the top of the stage before security pulled the plug on him. We headed back to the main stage and caught the end of the Stone Temple Pilots set and headed in to the front for Aerosmith. It was a joy seeing the legends that are Steve Tyler and Joe Perry play and an awesome way to end the festival. After that we headed back to camp exhausted for an early night.

Crumpets!! Mega yum!

Breakfast time in the village.

Cinderella, nice way to start a Sunday.

Followed by Slash, second time I'd seen him play in 2 weeks.. sweet!

The legend.

Airbourne rocked!

Singer Joel O'Keefe is a legend.

!!

Aerosmith.

Steven Tyler.

It was an awful night to try to sleep. The campground was very rowdy with people packing up to leave all night and stupid drunk guys running around whacking tents. I was sure some guys were going to fall on me and therefore did not get much sleep. It also rained but had thankfully stopped when we got up to pack up. We then walked to where we could get taxis and had a little wait until we were thankfully picked up and took back to Derby. We picked up our train tickets and headed to a takeaway bar for a yum brunch of mince pie with a cheesy baked spud. Then it was back on the train to London and then Gatwick. We had some time at the airport to shop and got some sausages and cheese from M & S and stuff from Boots. It was around 8:30pm when we landed back in CPH. My bags were much heavier than when I left and I trudged back from Kongens Nytorv to dump my stuff and eagerly hit the shower.

Leaving in the mud.

A picture says a thousand words but most importantly.. yum!

The start of June music madness month..

2010-06-07T20:50:00.023+02:00

Just in time for festival season summer arrived in Copenhagen. Wednesday morning was beautiful and sunny and after breakfast Martin and I biked out to Amager Strand for the Copenhagen Live Festival. Once there we ordered jugs of beer and met with Morten, Maart and Bo. Luckily Bo had sunblock as the sun was relentless on my very pale skin. The first to play was Slash and his band and it was a great way to start the festival with some classic rock. They even played some Guns n Roses songs. Then was Skunk Anansie which were nice followed by a emoish Bullet for my Valentine. Then it was Volbeat and finally Rammstein!! It was a really great day and after Martin, his friend Daniel and I biked to a bodega for some more beers before heading home very happy.

Slash and his band.

Slash!!

Rammstein!!

Lucky Thursday I had a late shift and could sleep in. Friday was also a late shift and straight after I biked to Vesterbro to join in the Distortion Festival. It was in full swing when I got there and thousands of people were partying in the square and the streets. I managed to find Barbara and Jolene. They were busting to find a toilet so we found a bar and I got a refreshing bourbon cocktail before queuing in a kiosk to buy warm beers. We then wandered around a bit but most parties had finished. We ended up near the skate area and I happily bumped into some of my old friends there. B & J had been there awhile till then so they left and I met with Maart and Morten whom had also been partying a long time and were very merry. We walked to Carlsberg where there was a big dance party but left Maart there and went back to get my bike. A very unsteady Morten took a taxi home and I dodged all the drunken people on my bike on the way back home. It was quite disgusting how many really drunk people there were around actually.. almost enough to make you want to stop drinking :P

People everywhere at the Distortion Vesterbro Street Party.

Projection art on the wall at Carlsberg.

Carlsberg Vesterbro

Saturday Martin woke me up early and we headed out to Vesterbro again where there was a hockey tournament going on. It was a very nice sunny day and I was very much enjoying watching all the men get ready to play ;-) We drank beers and listened to music then it was time to meet with Barbara and Jolene again to attend the Spring Dance at Carlsberg. It was a beautiful setting in a garden with daisies growing in the grass but the dance was very disappointing. There was pretty xylophone music first then the dance had very strange noises (music?) and was not very pretty. Also I was a little tiddly from the beers earlier and old ladies were telling me to shhh so I headed back to the hockey. When it was over we biked to a bridge where there was another Distortion party. It was lovely sitting in the sun next to the canal listening to the dj and watching all the interesting people. But I was quite tired at this stage and could not wait until 10pm to join the 2 minute rave so we went back home to watch movies.

Watching hockey.

Watching spring dance.

Interesting wall in the Carlsberg gardens.

Bridge party.

Sunday after a relaxing morning I biked over the bridge to Islands Brugge to join the last Distortion chill out party. It was another lovely day and lots of people but unfortunately no Distortion bus with djs as in previous years. Maart and I chilled out in the sun drinking beers and people watching then walked to Christiania for the free Sunday concert. We got an amazingly good burger and potatoes with chili mayo in Nemoland and watched the rock band. Then it was a short pleasant bike ride home and a relaxing Sunday night.

Sunday Concert at Nemoland.

my new pad..

2010-06-05T23:51:00.001+02:00

I have been promising some pics from my apartment and it just so happened that I finally found a place for nearly everything and the sun was shining a little so I took some pics..

Spring blossoms in the backyard.

View from the balcony in the afternoon sun.

Balcony.

Morfar's orchid still going strong =)

this is spring??

2010-06-01T21:49:00.006+02:00

The next Friday was Copenhagen Carnival and I stayed for Friday bar and drinks with the girls. Around 8pm I biked with Ida to the park and we met with Morten. We went straight for the electronic area and soon met some very young girls. They were also very friendly and shared their bottle of yummy apple Bacardi pouring very strong drinks. A mixture of this and the all the red wine from work seeing as they ran out of beer and it was not a late night.

Electronic festival or what we affectionately call 'crack corner'.

Morten and Ida.

Saturday I felt the after effects of drinking with 15 year olds but feeling my age. It was a good thing there was rugby on and I headed up the road to the Cross to meet with Brendan and the yarpies. The Cross couldn't find the channel so we went to Zulus which was nice as they have walls opening up to the sunny street. Martin joined after watching hockey and after the rugby I met a nice Italian lady tourist whom we shared drinks and conversation with until quite late.

Sunday and it was time for Flight of the Conchords!! I biked over to Frederiksberg and met with Barbara and Karl for a drink then we headed to the venue. While walking into the hall we bumped into Kat and Margrethe and was great to catch up with Margrethe for a little before the show started. Arj Barker that plays Dave on the tv show was the opening act and he was pretty funny. Then the Conchords opened with the robot song and performed a great show. It was very entertaining and funny and everything imagined in a FOTC show. Afterwards we met with Malle and Kaspar whom had also seen the show and had a few drinks before going home exhausted.

First they were robots..

Then they were joined by Nigel.

Then they rocked out 80's style.

Thank goodness Monday was a holiday and I used they day to thoroughly relax and enjoy myself as you should on a holiday. Then I headed to Martin's for yummy food and great company. Tuesday was tough at work as I was tired after a big, long weekend. Wednesday it was my time to cook and I visited quite many supermarkets (the food shopping sucks in the city!). The highlight was my favourite Chinese shop though and I decided on japanese for dinner along with some Japanese beer tasting and sake. The teriyaki chicken was a hit and as it was my choice for movie I enjoyed watching Eagle vs Shark again.

Thursday was pretty non-eventful and Friday I was looking forward to Friday bar again. This time Veronica, Maria and Michael from Treasury were there and we had a nice time catching up. I was sensible and stuck to the beers this time but still was there till around 10pm so had a fun bike ride home with Ida. Once home I relaxed with a funny movie Fido about a make believe time when all dead turn into zombies unless you remove the head from the body and bury them and people have found a way to control their desire for human flesh :P

Saturday I was up to Norrebro to meet with Morten and Maart for festival shopping. We headed to Silvan and picked out tents then to a cafe for a yummy brunch listening to the mayor of Copenhagen talk at a artwork unveiling in a square. Maart went to work and Morten and I continued shopping before reaching my place and relaxing a bit before Pirita and Sarah turned up. We had some drinks, watched some of the Eurovision competition and listened to music. Maart joined us again when he finished work and played dice games until late in the morning.

Pirita and Morten.

Me with Sarah.

Maart shakin those dice.

mm mmmmmm.

We ♥ drinking games ☺

zombie time again

2010-05-16T22:30:00.014+02:00

From Monday it was all about getting better. I worked all week and came home, unpacked a little and relaxed before doing it all again the next day. Thursday we were supposed to go to quiz night but lots of our team members couldn't make it, mike was sick and Barbara and I were tired so we all missed it. So Friday I was ready for some fun! I finished work at 4pm and so did Maart so we headed by train to the school bar and met with Barbara and Morten. Had a few beers there then headed to my new place for pizza and more beers. Martin joined us and we had a mini Tekken 2 competition. Rune's band Black Tongue was playing at Huset just up the road from my new apartment so we headed there and met with Phong, Phi, Rasmus, Louse and Gitte etc. It was a nice concert and afterwards I invited everyone back to mine for more beer and Tekken. It was a very successfull first 'everyone come back to my place' night.

Rune on the right..

Saturday everyone was feeling the effects of the Friday night. Morten came to mine and we watched Dead Snow, a Norweigian zombie before we got enough energy to head to Norrebro for the Blagardsgade street party. First we had to get some dinner though and then we went to Valhalla. It was packed! We were soon joined by Maart and Anna and had some quiet drinks. I was pretty tired though and enjoyed a nice walk home and crashed.

Drawing on the wall at Blagardsgade Street fest

Just something pretty on the walk home =)

Sunday I cleaned and unpacked more, it's slowly getting oragnised. Later that night Martin came over and we met with Phong and Daniella at the cinema and watched Where the Wild Things Are. It was a sweet if a bit sad movie. Monday and back to work. We had a cooked breakfast so started the day with lots of bacon mmmm. Tuesday I had my first late shift. I didn't manage to get to the gym in the morning as I had stayed up late watching movies Monday night. So I was pretty tired when I got home almost 10pm.

Then Wednesday I had managed to swap to a 9am start so after work I could rush home, get changed and race to the rock to get zombiefied. Borgar and Ana had been waiting an hour already and it took a further hour to get our makeup done. By the time they got to us they were rushing and did it very fast for free. They still did a good job and I looked very gory. We walked to the nearby square and got into our 3 groups before heading to the first bar. It was nice in the bar but so much more fun outside where all the 'normal' people were very surprised. The second bar was more like a club and we had fun dancing a bit until it was time to head to the last bar, the Australian bar. This bar was fun as I met a tattoo artist and his friend and we talked until it was almost time to head back to the Rock. There were so many people trying to get into the rock that I gave up waiting and went home to sleep.

Borgar was a little confused and didn't realise i was already a zombie!

On the crawl from the Rock.

Gathering in the square.

This girl was great with her basket of meat.

This nurse got bitten while she was trying help others at the hospital.

Clubbing zombie style.

Me with Ana zombie

Thursday I was a little hung over thanks to all the free shots at the bars on the zombie crawl. But I didn't need to be at work till 1pm so could take my time. Work was quiet being a Danish holiday at Saxo but the phones rang hot so we weren't bored. I was once again very tired when I got home at almost 10pm again though and could only make it from the couch to bed. Friday was a holiday again at Saxo so quiet with not many people around but still lots of peeps from around the world calling. I finished work at 6pm and got straight on my bike and then on the train out to Martin's. He had cooked and we had a relaxing night watching movies and drinking whiskey.

Maybe a bit too much whiskey though :P Lucky Saturday was raining hard and the perfect day for lounging around eating candy and watching spooky tv programs. Sunday I was able to call home and talk to James which was great as it seems ages since I talked to him. It was after 2pm when I got off the phone but still yucky weather perfect for hanging at home. I managed to get all the laundry done and a little more unpacked and now it's late again. Although I have late shift tomorrow so I may be able to make the gym and spa =) Laters!

busy, then sick, then move..!!

2010-05-03T21:13:00.010+02:00

I was very much looking forward to Wednesday night after a quiet weekend and start to the week. I met with Morten and Maart at a lovely little grungy bar in Norrebro for some cheap beers before heading to Rust to meet with all the others and see Inouwee and The Black Tree play. Inouwee were awesome, Janus was also playing and the singer had a lovely voice. Then was nice to catch up with everyone over a few beers before heading home not too late as work the next day. Thursday I had a lovely quiet night before it was Friday and time to head out again.

Inouwee

I snuck out of work without even looking at the Friday bar and had a few hours at home until it was time to bike to school and meet Morten at the hippie party. We were really early but it was mainly to get in some beers and head to the youth house together for the Omnihil concert. I was not really dressed for the hippie party seeing as I was going to a death metal party and was glad when I got the youth house I fitted in. And then my idea to not get too drunk went out the window when I spied the 20 kroner cocktail bar and tasted the delish (strong!) zombie cocktails the lovely girls had made. It was a short but very loud set by the Omnihil with their new singer. And once again was great to hang out with everyone until a few of us decided to go back and check out the hippie party. Bad idea!! Massive contrast between the very loud death metal and the terrible euro trash pop music at the party. Still it was a very fun and late night.

Phi and Phong's Dad, Uncle and Mum.

Lovely graffiti in the most repulsive toilets ever :P

Should have tried the pot chai..

mmm cocktail list

Saturday though I had to be up and met with Barbara, Maart, Ana and Morten to see a play. Lucky the theatre was right near my apartment and at least three of my fellow attendees were as hungover as me. The play was called the Blue Room and described as 'pure theatrical viagra'. I had no idea what to expect but was pleasently surprised as it was a very funny, entertaining show. Then all of us but Maart went to get some dinner while he went to quickly ready his place for a small party later. We headed there after dinner and were joined by some others. It was nice but I had to be up early Sunday so left earlyish and went home to sleep. Seems I made the sensible choice as I got a text from Morten at 6:10am saying he was on his way home.

Maart's couch is rather uncomfortable..

Sunday I woke up and got on my bike to Hellerup for the ANZAC Day commemoration ceremony. There were not so many people I recognised this year but Mark was there and the Cross crew and we had some beers after in the sunny park before heading off to meet at the Cross. We then had a very nice day drinking Aussie beers, eating ANZAC bisciuts, meat pies and lamingtons and watching a very odd game of Aussie rules football. I stayed much later than I thought I would and it finished off a very nice busy weekend.

New Zealand's ANZAC wreath.

The service was held in a beautiful park in Hellerup.

Monday I was tired but stuck it out at work and rested when I got home. Tuesday after work I biked straight into town to meet with Pirita and Sarah at the Custom House restaurant as they were having a deal where you could pay half price if you were finished before 7pm. We made the most of this and ordered oysters, steak and wine. It was a very nice meal with lovely company and after dinner we headed to Ruby for some delish cocktails. It would have been nice to have moved already but I biked all the way back home after.

Yummy oysters!

Wednesday night Martin was cat sitting again so I met him at the apartment to watch a movie. It was interesting I guess, I've never seen a vampire movie with so many guns in it before :P I was feeling fine but at some point during the night I started waking up feeling a bit sick. Then when I tried to get up I realised just how sick I was and called in sick and spent the whole day in bed. Friday I was a little better but had no energy after eating nothing the day before. I didn't do much better on that Friday but knew I had to get some energy to move the next day. It was late Friday by the time I stared packing and I had to wake up early on Saturday to get it finshed.

My helpers Barbara, Karl and Martin turned up at 11am and were really helpfull moving everything downstairs. Then was the drive through town avoiding May 1st demonstrations on the way. We soon got everything moved into the new place and I got things sorted with Marianne. Also her Mum turned up with flowers for me which was really nice. Then I shouted my helpers lunch before coming back and relaxing for a little bit. But not long as I had to be back at my old place to meet the people buying my bed. Then biking all the way back to my new home and a few hours of unpacking until I collapsed on the sofa from exhaustion.

Sunday I got to sleep in =) But I did get woken up by a very strange noise and watched my new tv while unpacking. I couldn't avoid it too long though and headed back to the old place to clean. 4 hours later.. I had finally finished cleaning. Marc and Rina gave me a really great graphic novel with Danish artists and Phong came to help me move some shelves I thought I wouldn't need. He has a really cute little car but it fit and was finally all moved.

From Wonderland with Love.

getting used to no study =)

2010-04-19T21:29:00.002+02:00

It was a nice quiet week until Thursday and quiz night again. We were not the full team that week and the questions were harder than normal. Not even our lucky table and lucky pen couldn't help us but I think we did well coming in fourth considering. It was not a too late night home though and back to work Friday morning. Then was Friday bar =D I stayed for a few drinks and then headed to my school bar to meet with Phong and Ana. There weren't too many people there but it was nice to hang out in the court yard now it's a bit warmer. Then it was time to cross the road to Fode's and his birthday party. Phong came with me and we were soon playing rock band with a vengeance. I was being a bit of a mike hogger but seeing as no one else seemed to want to sing it was okay. It was heaps of fun and Maart and Karina also joined the party. Next thing it was about 4am when I got home.

Saturday I had Morten coming over for dinner so I had to clean! and shop! Barbara had bought me sausages and loads of cheddar cheese back from Scotland so I cooked us some bangers and mash with cheese sauce and Maart joined us when he finished work. We hung around at my place a little too long organising how we were going to get to the Download festival in June so that by the time we got to Valhalla we had missed the Johnny Cash tribute concert. It was really busy but we found a table got some dice and settled in to some good times and drinking games. Next thing we were being kicked out as the owners were tired and headed home another late night.

It was another quiet start to the week and I am really enjoying the relaxing time after work. Wednesday though I had a date with the ballet. I met with Barbara, Anca, Ana and some other ladies at the theatre and had some wine and gossip before taking our seats to watch a Midsummer Night's Dream. I got a bit of a surprise as instead of being all lovely fairies it was more like a Midsummer Night's Dream in outerspace with horny alien contortionists! But the second half was much more like I would expect a shakespeare in ballet.

Damn that week went fast! I was worried it would drag being the first full work week in a little while but it flew past. Next thing it was Friday again and again I had a few beers after work. Morten was there as he and the other guys were supposed to see a movie but he decided it would be more fun to come with me to the school bar (of course!!) It turns out the others missed the movie also spending too much time wining and dining beforehand. It was a fun bar but not eating any dinner is not a good idea and I was not home late.

I then proceeded to have a very relaxing weekend. Sleeping, watching Dextor, cleaning apartment and reading my book. I also managed to get time to call home <3
I'm not sure I even have any photos from these last weeks but I will have a look and add later if I find. Now time to finish the book (yip, it's a goodie). Laters

Happy Easter!

2010-04-05T21:42:00.003+02:00

It was a nice short week at work with Easter holidays starting on Thursday in Denmark. I hadn't asked for the time off but Julie assumed I would be taking it. I decided to come in Thursday and Friday though as I needed to make up the hours. We had Wednesday bar this week and was nice to have a few bevvies with some of the girls from my new team before rushing home to change and head to Rust to see Omnihil! This was the finals of a competition they were in and they only played four songs but was great to see everyone and we screamed and cheered and headbanged a lot. Unfortunately it was a voting system this time and some indie rock band won :P

Yay! More Omnihil =)

Rockin with Ana and Gitte

Martin and Kaspar were taking their beard promise very seriously..

Thursday was nice and quiet at work and I took the chance to start answering the phones. It was not bad with Johanna to listen in and help me. After work I headed to Piritas for an Easter dinner with her, Sarah and Morten. S & P had made a real nice dinner and then brought out the vodka and jagermeister shots. I had a couple but was sensible with work the next day and watched amusedly as my three friends got very merry. It was nice that I didn't have to be at work till 11am though and Friday was very quiet at work, too quiet.. boring! I went home and had a quiet night after the last two fun ones.

Easter =)

Nice pose from Sarah.

Aaaw, with my girls <3>

So Saturday I was ready to party! It was a lovely day and I headed into town for a bit of shopping and then later went out to Morten's place for dinner. We were joined by Ana, Maart, Phong, Sarah and Michael. Morten once again cooked amazing steaks and we played drinking games and listened to music before heading into town to Valhalla. I was so tired on the way that I got the taxi to drop me home and was soon fast asleep.

Very smokey kitchen!

Sunday after a relaxing day getting over the hangover I biked all the way to Amagar where Martin was apartment and cat sitting. They were lovely, fluffy friendly cats. Although very spoilt! I used to think I was bad with all the incredibly useless gifts I would buy Butters. He cooked dinner and then we drank very nice whiskys and watched Shutter Island.

I was very glad to have today (Monday) off. Time to do laundry and relax before back to work tomorrow. I went out to the apartment I would be moving to to sign the contract and once again feeling very happy with my good luck finding this one! Glad it's a short week, Laters =)

visit from a friend

2010-03-30T16:58:00.004+02:00

I managed to grab a couple of hours sleep and then got ready and headed out to meet with the others to go to Lyngby. We had a to wait a while to be able to get in to Templet but then they gave us free beers and jagameister shots and it was not long till the Omnihil were playing. Once again they performed great. Was a bit short but there were some tired peeps so we headed back to the train station. I was rather tempted to join Kaspar, Nicolai etc for a drink in Nørrebro but knew it would never be just the one and had a date to meet Martin.

The Omnihil

Sunday it was home to unpack, do laundry and relaaaaax. Because Monday it was back to work. It was rather uneventful with work, pilates and apartment hunting until Thursday when it was time again for the pub quiz! Ashraf had a colleague who is going to Australia to the end of the year so as the apartment is close to the Southern Cross I arranged to meet with her before the quiz. I was really relieved that I liked the apartment. It is in a great location in the city and the girl was really nice and showed me the balcony and roof terrace! She is not leaving until July but said I could have it 1st of May so I said I would rent it. I was very excited when I headed to the Cross and met with the other mighty Medicated group members. Mark had his expense account that night but we paced ourselves until we won and all of a sudden got the bottle of vodka. We were so happy it was gone in about half an hour but Kat had a date so we did not stay out late.

The Mighty Medicated take out the quiz again!

I should have known better but I didn’t leave Martin’s until almost 11am Friday morning and had to race home, drop of my bike and then rush out again to meet with Venetia at the airport. She was there when I got there and we wasted no time catching up on the trip back to mine. We relaxed at home for a while before heading to the school bar and meeting with Morten. It has got much warmer so people were sitting outside and it didn’t seem so busy. We then headed into town to get a traditional Danish dinner and then home not too late.

Saturday we woke up and it was raining a lot. So we had a relaxed morning and then took the bus out to IKEA in Gentofte. It seems like everyone goes to IKEA on a busy day though as it was very busy. We had a look around and I probably bought a lot of things I don’t actually need but it was fun and the Swedish meatballs were yummy. Then we didn’t have much time after getting home to get ready for Eva’s birthday party. Lucky it was very close and could walk. Not long after we got there Eva turned up and was very happy. It was amazing they managed to keep it a secret from her for months. It was a fun party and Venetia enjoyed meeting some of my Danish friends but we had another party to go to and walked not far again to Phi and Annesofie's apartment for their joint birthday party. It was great to catch up with everyone there and I was having a great time but Venetia was not used to Danish drinking and the jet lag was kicking in so we headed home around 2am.

Kaspar is funny =)

The only picture of me with Neesh.

Saturday we were supposed to sightsee in Copenhagen but Venetia was hung over and very tired so we had a lazy day instead. I did some food shopping cooked dinner and we had a Dexterathon finishing up the second series. Monday we were well rested and headed to the main station to catch the train to Malmo. Once there we did a little shopping and found a lovely little restaurant/pub and had a yummy lunch. Then a bit more shopping and back to Cph as Venetia was heading to England. We had plenty of time and said our goodbyes before I headed home tired and ready to blob for the night.

Ischgl!!

2010-03-25T17:11:00.006+01:00

Link to my web album.

ischgl

*Photos below thanks from Maart.

It was a nice relaxing time to meet at the airport at 5:30pm on Saturday and we were soon checked in and on our way. Once we arrived in Innsbruk my bag worrying did not arrive. But since there was one left that looked similar we told the baggage info lady and luckily the bus to St Anton was held up by a girl going there also losing her luggage. So the stupid guy whom took my bag without checking brought it back and we could jump in the van and head to Ischgl. Once there we were shown to our rooms at the small hotel and dropped our stuff and headed into town. We found a funny restaurant playing romantic music :P and after having something to eat headed to a nearby bar for some beers. This was our first taste of Niki’s! As soon as we walked into the bar there was a couple making out and we soon saw this was a regular occurrence. We enjoyed a few weiss beers before it got late and we headed back for some sleep.

The next morning was a beautiful sunny day and we walked down the hill to town and found our way to the other side where the ski hire shop was. Once kitted out we headed through the tunnel to the cable car and made our way up the mountain. Once there we took random chairlifts and ended up in Switzerland. The slopes were great there and hardly any people. The restaurants had nice traditional food and plenty of weiss beer. After a great day we skied all the way back down and after dumping our skis at the ski shop went to find the after ski. Most of the bars were so busy you could hardly get in but we went all the way back to Niki’s and found a table under a heater and warmed up with some hot red wine (gluhwein) and some flying hirschs (vodka jagameister shots). After we were warmed up we headed back out to find food and ended up at a very busy little restaurant. We all thought the sausage salad sounded appealing until Maart ordered it and it turned up, mmm a whole salad of cold luncheon sausage :P I was happy I had ordered pizza! We then went back to Nikki’s and met a fun couple from Belgium and proceeded to drink faar too much vodka redbull before I called it a night and left the boys to it.

Getting kitted up.

What a beautiful first day!! Check out the fatties on the lift..

Lars and I.

Oh boy was I glad I did. Because as bad as I felt the next day the guys looked 10 times worse. We woke at 8am and went to breakfast then did the whole walk to ski shop and get kitted out routine. Then it was up the mountain and this time to ski a different part of the mountain. The ski area is mostly red runs which are intermediate but most are very wide slopes with good snow so quite easy. Apart from the odd hard bit thrown in! Lars at lunch was so hung over he almost fell asleep in his bowl of spaghetti and it took him a long time to even attempt to eat it. When we were back down the mountain we quickly went home to change and then back to Schatzi bar to meet with the Flemish couple. No one was in the mood to party though not surprisingly so we had some dinner and was home early this night around 11pm.

Blah :P

So Tuesday everyone was fresh again and it was snowing a lot when we awoke. We headed up the mountain and had a great time in the fresh powder snow and enjoying the fact that most people were probably having an off slopes day. We headed back to our favourite Swiss side and just had to remember to catch the chairlift back to Austria before 4pm so we wouldn’t be stuck in Switzerland all night! We once again did the warm-up wines at Niki’s before heading to Schatzi where the music was better and we enjoyed watching the girls dancing on the bars while eating yum pizza. We then watched a night show with some people skiing down the slope in town and doing jumps. Then it was back to Niki’s for more Flemish, Dutch madness. German Shlager music, people making out everywhere and lots of fun. Towards the end of the night we saw Rod Stewart! Well he looked a lot like him and I enjoyed a dance with him before he bit me on the neck! Who knew Rod was a vampire??

It snowed a lot!

Weeee, snow is fun =)

mmmm, gluhwein

aw, then we saw some deer

night show, awesome

Partying with our Flemmish friends

Love balloon <3

OMG!! It's Rod Stewart ;)

So it was another late night but as Lars would repeat many times over the week.. “if you can drink, you can ski”, we were up at 8am again the next morning for breakfast and were amused to find Rod in the dining room of our hotel =) This was slow day skiing as we were feeling the effects of the late nights and tired legs so we finished a little earlier than usual and headed to the pools. It was a shame there was no hot pool but was still nice to have a little with the sun shining through the windows. I endured the sauna for a little while before having a very long hot shower and waiting for the guys to finish their sweat sessions. Feeling refreshed we headed for dinner and then to the pub for some Guinness to celebrate St Patricks day. We probably would have gone home earlier if we didn’t meet our ski host and stayed for more beers with him before heading back through the tunnel and to bed.

St Patrick's Day.

The next day was a beautiful day so we headed right to the top of the mountain and skied the long way to the Swiss villages. There we had a yummy lunch soaking in the sun before hitting the duty free shopping. From there it was a very scary cable car ride back up as the car held hundreds of people and I could imagine how that that would be to carry all that weight up the mountain. But we survived and skied some more before having to head back. Then we hit the after ski again meeting some Danish people at Niki’s with a love of flying hirsch shots and lots of beer. I was rather embarrassed when an old guy asked me to dance and tired me out before moving onto another girl. Where did he get his energy from??

So beautiful and sunny up the mountain.

The next day was our last day skiing sniff sniff so we headed to our favourite area in Switzerland. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed a beer on the sunfilled decks of the restaurant in the afternoon before heading back to Austria and for our last night. We went to Schatzi for dancing and pizza before heading home to freshen up and then out again. After meeting friends at the pub we hit a few bars before heading to the much anticipated Pasha. It was not as good as expected with cheesy dance songs and boring interior. I guess it should have been expected after enjoying the colourful shlager scene all week. I was home around 4am for 2 hours sleep before having to wake at 6am and be in the van on the way back to the airport. Once again I could not feel so bad when the guys had had no sleep at all and looked so tired. We were back in Copenhagen before midday and it was grey and rainy but noticeably warmer. I headed home and was soon tucked up in bed for a few hours sleep before heading out again to see the Omnihil!

The end of being a student!!

2010-03-22T21:38:00.011+01:00

Monday I had completely forgotten about the ballet!! Thankfully Barbara phoned me and was a nice surprise to meet at the theatre after work and watch a very nice show. First was a Scottish ballet and funny to see them dancing in kilts, then was a beautiful dance with no story. Barbara had just finished talking about how many times she has seen the Queen there and then she walked in! It was nice to be in the same room as royalty.

With Barbara at the ballet.

The Danish Queen!!

The Lovely Royal Theatre.

Tuesday night we met at the airport and got a lift to Malmo from one of Morten's colleagues. We drove to the new arena and joined the queue in the cold for Rammstein!! Lucky we didn't have to queue for too long and were soon inside to grab some beers before finding our disappointing seats at the back for the concert. It would have been great to be up the front but all of those tickets had sold out. The first band Combichrist were actually quite cool and funky but we were waiting for the main act and Rammstein did not disapoint. It's just a shame that we were so far away from them so I promptly went home and bought a ticket to Copenhagen Live in June so that I can see and hear them up close =)

Opening band, Combichrist.

Too far away, but still awesome show.

Du Hast!

Crowd surfing!

Wings of Fire =)

More.. more!!

I don't remember much more of that week, I was probably just working on my project. Because then next Friday was hand in day! I even had to skip the quiz night that week as of course as usual I left too much to the last minute. Friday morning I was up and at school to print out my report and hand in. There was a queue for the printer and problems burning the cds but I eventually handed in at 12:30pm and then it was time to pop the champagne and enjoy being finished with Malene, Sune and Georgie. We then headed up to the new building and found Borgar, Freyr, Lucas and Brennan. We went to get some beers and went back to the chill out and were soon joined by Maart and Mort. We stayed playing dice games until people started turning up for the party so just stayed and partied all night. I think I left around 5am meaning that it was the longest day I had ever had at school!

Saturday I was up and heading to Morten's for dinner. I took my computer as he had bought me a new hard drive and he put it in the computer and installed Windows 7. I must admit it is freaky losing all your programs but guess if I didn't know what they were I wouldn't miss them. Lars, Ana-Maria and Maart turned up and Morten cooked yummy steaks. We started playing cards and the next thing it's 6am when we are leaving.

A really horrible drink Morten had picked up in Budapest (but with a cool name).

Morten cooks a good steak & Maart makes a pretty good salad.

So you would think that Sunday I would relax but no, I had to pick up my bike from being left at school Friday so carried on to Martin's where him, Kat and me watched the final hockey game of the olympics.

Monday it was first day of new job and boy was I tired! I am now up on the fourth floor with the service centre and it is nice that some of my friends are in the team. I sat listening in on calls and watching what they did and then went home to sleeeeep. The rest of the week was also very tough as I was not used to being at work all day everyday. I was very happy when Thursday came along and after work I met with Maart and Morten to watch stand up comedy at the Dubliner. It was okay and afterwards we went out to the square as they were giving away free beer, sausages and throwing out money! I soon learnt the definition of cold though when we rather go back to the bar and buy drinks than stay outside and get thrown money.

Friday was supposed to be a quietish night at my place with Morten looking at my computer but after a few drinks at the Friday Bar we then got into my single malt whisky collection at home and decided it would be a good idea to crash Janus' housewarming party. It was really great to see Karina and Louise etc and it was very late (or early!) when I got home. There was no time to rest though with Mr Energiser, ie Martin phoning in the morning and wanting to hang out. Then it was time to get glammed up and head to Elena's 30th birthday party. I was feeling the effects of the night before but after a few wines and a lovely meal felt much better. It was nice to meet some of her lovely friends and catch up with others such as Ashraf, Pirita and Zoran. It's always a great party hosted by the lovely Lena =)

Sunday there was no time to rest either as I headed to Sarah's new apartment in Nyhavn to meet with her and Pirita. It is a beautiful, old apartment right next to the canal and she cooked a lovely meal. Then was time to go home and sleep before another busy week.

Phew, getting there.. Monday I didn't study as much as I should being so tired after the weekend so Tuesday I was up quite late working on my exam presentation. Wednesday I was then up early to finish it and headed to school. It was nice I had some time to talk with some others who were also taking the resit and Lucas to give me good advice on how to make a good exam. Then it was time to take my exam and I met Barbara and the external examiner. It went way better than I thought and I was not that nervous at all. I ended up with a very respectable 10 and was feeling on top of the world. We thought about getting something to eat but with us being tired and a lack of good food places near school went our separate ways home instead. I then had a very nice relaxing afternoon not thinking about study.

Thursday it was time once again for the SC quiz!! Unfortunately we were one member down with Martin having to work and Mark forgot to eat dinner and got very drunk but we still came in 3rd place. Friday I was feeling the effects of the stress and busy weeks and stayed in bed all morning to make sure I would be okay for skiing. But Morten and Maart had the day off to so we visited the Friday bar at my school. Not for a late one though as Saturday I had to pack and meet Maart and Lars at the airport at 5:30pm.

Now it's late and I will have to upload photos tomorrow, also write the Ischgl blog!! Laters.

it's been awhile..

2010-02-15T11:44:00.017+01:00

Hmm I shouldn’t leave it this long.. now I need to remember what I’ve done the last couple of weeks. I do remember the quiz night.. mostly because we won!! I met at the Cross with Mark and Barbara and Kat was there with a friend Martin so we made a nice team of 5. It was pretty obvious early on that we had a good thing going and were getting better each round. The anagram questions were hilarious and we spent a long time trying to work out what Oscar award winners name could be made out of the words Inner Boob Tiger. We won the bottle of vodka but Mark and Barbara left not long after and Kat, Martin and I did a very good job finishing it off before I jumped in a taxi home around 3am.

Thank goodness for 12pm starts on a Friday! But I avoided the Friday bar and went home for a quiet night. It had snowed a lot during the week and Saturday Maart, Morten, Ana and I met at Fælledparken with the idea to build a snowman. What we didn’t realize was that the snow was so powdery there was no way it was going to hold together. We had fun playing in the park though until we were very cold and headed to Jensen’s Bøfhus for some steaks. Then it was back to my house so I could get changed and some drinks before heading to Valhalla. It was quite quiet there but we had fun playing dice games. Martin turned up with his super powered energy and when Maart tried to leave some girls wouldn’t let him =) Martin and I then headed to the Cross to meet with Kat and we all headed back to M’s for more beer and ‘I have never..’ until the early hours.

Snow angle, further on there is someone cross country skiing through the park and yes people still bike with all the snow..

I'm standing on the frozen lake =)

The Pavilion in Faelledparken, unfortunately not open in the winter, we could have used hot coffees!

The next week was no quiz week but Valhalla had organized a rock karaoke night and some of us met there to potentially greatly embarrass ourselves. As normal with karaoke once people start they don’t wanna stop and even Morten was up singing. It was lucky my new camera had arrived and was a very fun and another late Thursday night. Friday I met with the guys at the Friday bar before they were taking Morten away for his mystery birthday weekend. Turns out they took him to Budapest. They kept that secret well. Then I went with Lena to her place before heading into the city. We were supposed to meet with some Saxo girls at Hornsleuth bar but it was over crowded and horrid so instead we went to Kant bar and met with Martin (Malle), Louise and Gitte. Lena went home and soon after I had had enough and after walking to Nørreport jumped on a bus to school for the Intro party. I met Lucas outside and he said no one was there so I happy when I saw Mia, Karina and Anders. Martin was at home having a quiet night but was attracted by the idea of student bar prices and soon joined us. The bar was packed and even though not many people I knew was there it was nice to see another great party going on, probably helped by the amount of shots Anders kept lining up on the bar!

Who hangs out their washing in a snow storm??

Frozen canal at Tuborg Havn.

Saxo Bank building, where I work.

Singing with Joanna and Ana Maria.

Martin and Morten shouting/singing..

Saturday then I wanted a quiet night despite Karina and Phong texting me wanting me to come out. I would have loved to catch up with them but thought I would give my liver a break and had a nice chat to Dad before going to sleep. Then in the morning I rang to talk to Mum and James and had a productive Sunday working on my project. I had a meeting with Barbara on Monday for my project and it’s a bit scary with so little time to finish it. I am so so happy to have her as my coach again! Thursday night was time for quiz again and our same winning group met up again at the Cross. It looked like we were doing very well again but a team that used to come a lot but hadn’t been since xmas turned up and they were very good. We came in a close 2nd though and enjoyed our second prize of 8 beers. Maybe a little too much :P

Friday I stayed for some beers at the Friday bar again and then home for an early night. Saturday I was up and off on the train to Malmo. It was very cold when I met Albert and we walked to TGI Fridays where Veronica, Maria and Michael were already there. It was a good thing I had hardly anything to eat and I ordered a plate of Jack Daniels ribs with shrimps. Before that came I had a yummy cocktail called a banana split that tasted just like milkshake. Halfway through my lunch I was struggling but was very impressed with myself when I finished it all. The large lynchburg lemonade I washed it down with was also delicious. After lunch I did a bit of shopping and surprised myself with buying a pair of ski boots at the sports shop. They heat molded them to my feet and feel very comfortable. No more uncomfortable rental boots for me =D After I got home Morten came over and we downed some beers and headed to the Rock for the Fastelavns party. Maart was already there, Kat turned up not much later and Ana and Joanna joined us after their movie. We drank many beers, especially at happy hour when they were 10 kr, and enjoyed seeing all the costumes people were wearing. My personal favourites were Amy Winehouse and Christian dressed as a very stunning blonde bombshell!

Malmo in winter.

TGI Fridays!!

My lunch, ribs with shrimps & Jack Daniels sauce mmm

Yummy drink! Lynchburg lemonade.

yum yum, all finished

Later on that night.. happy hour at The Rock.

graduation party.

2010-01-25T11:02:00.003+01:00

Another week with not much done except work and gym until Thursday night when I went to the Cross to meet with Kathrine and join the quiz night. There was only the 2 of us but we joined with 2 Danish girls Kat knew and proceeded to gracefully lose the quiz. The losing shots were not too bad though and then we went downstairs to party like you do on a Thursday night.

This time on Friday I didn’t even walk past the Friday bar and snuck out the back door and home for a quiet night. Simon, Kay, Flynn and Ronan were in Auckland so I tried calling Dad but not there and then called and had lovely long talk with Mum and James. Sat morning I woke up and got to talk to Dad and Simon. I cleaned the apartment, went shopping and then Morten turned up for dinner. Maart turned up not long after so I threw an extra steak on for him and we had nice time drinking wine before heading to the bus stop and meeting with Phong, Ana, Karina etc at Valhalla. They have started having happy hour from 12am – 1am with 10 kr drinks so was nice cheap night =)

So with exciting part of the week over it was back into the quiet part of the week. Lena was back from Dubai so I actually made to a bodyball class. So much better when you have someone else to go with for motivation. Thursday was our fourth semester graduation party. It didn’t matter that I’m not finished yet so I went to the opening of the new building for the bachelor program and met up with Barbara, Lucas and Borgar. Then we walked down to school and mingled with everyone until the graduation ceremony started. I was very happy to receive a team spirit award for being an outstanding person of the semester. Lucas also received the award. Then it was time for dinner which was actually very yummy and then the party started. Morten and Maart turned up quite early but Ana, Phong and Karina didn’t come till later. It was really nice to catch up with everyone and have more dancing on the bar. I look forward to more school parties this year.

Receiving my award from Barbara and Michael.

Hello!

Me with the other two winners, Anders and Lucas.

Friday I had to be at work at 12pm which was quite painful after getting home at 5am! But it’s not so bad cause I went straight to lunch and then a bit of work, then Friday cake, a little more work and then to the Friday bar. I sat with the IT guys who were all meeting to go to Warsaw for the weekend and then stayed a bit with my colleagues before heading home for a quiet night. Saturday I headed over to Sri’s at 3:30pm for her birthday and house warming. It was nice to see everyone outside of work and we played games, ate yummy Indian food and hung out there till 8:30pm when everyone left. It was too early to meet anyone so I headed home for a little before going back out to meet Ana at Valhalla. I was sitting with some Danish guys when Karina, Phong etc. turned up and then Nadia and Louise. It was a really fun night but when I got to Phong’s I realised I didn’t have my camera and was upset and went home. It could be at Valhalla but I am not very hopeful. I’m not sure why anyone would want to steal it though as it is almost 6 years old and not worth anything to anyone else. I doubt you can still get the battery chargers.

Sunday I had a nice relaxing day watching reality tv and movies and now it’s back to another week. Must really get going with my project!

(update: camera never turned up so lack of photos for this blog. But I have bought a new one and it has been snowing a lot and lovely here in cph so lots of photos next time!)

★·.·´¯`·.·★ New Years ★·.·´¯`·.·★

2010-01-18T11:47:00.005+01:00

It was so nice to have the Tuesday off and I unpacked, did laundry etc. Then Wednesday it was back to work. It was very quiet though and even more so on Thursday as I was the only one working in payouts. At 1pm we got champagne up on the fourth floor and then we finished up at 3pm. Then it was off home to get ready for New Years! I wore a new dress I had bought in England and some very high heels I had bought online and got sent to Derek and Sue’s. They made me very tall! When I was ready I walked down to catch the 18 bus all the way to Phong’s. I was surprised at how easy it was, it took like around 5 minutes. I love the public transport in Cph!! Phong and Peter were out but Karina was cooking in his kitchen and they had set his small apartment up very nice with a table and New Years decorations. Soon they came back and we were joined by Ana, Morten and Maart. We had a yummy pumpkin soup for starters with lots of cheese and then roast beef with scalloped potatoes and vegetables. I wasn’t really hungry for desert but Karina had prepared a chocolate mud cake with ice cream and exotic fruits. After dinner we had some drinks and partied a bit before walking to Kaare’s to join everyone at midnight. We popped the champagne and then went outside to watch people setting off fireworks and then partied the night away. I jumped in a taxi and got home around 5am very tired and happy.

Party table.

OMG Morten is smiling :P

Two of the chefs, Peter and Phong.

Nice hat??

Karina looking glam!

Sparklers =)

Friday was spent sleeping, recovering and relaxing. I watched the Time Traveler’s wife which was a beautiful movie and at the end I was balling with tears streaming down my face. Then Saturday night we were out again. I headed over to Phong’s as they still had the table set up and Michael cooked a yummy ‘burning love’ and we drank up Phong’s JDs. Then we headed to a nearby Bodega where Peter and Kenneth and some others were having some drinks. The beers were very cheap there, 16 kroner but it was very smoky. The smoking law is very strange in Denmark as it allows bars that are smaller than 45 feet to be able to smoke inside. This means that the small bars can be very bad and all your clothes and hair smells so bad when you get home. After here we went to Gitte’s as it was her birthday and I continued partying there until around 6am.

So Sunday again was all about relaxing and this time I watched the Lovely Bones. It had not got very good reviews but I thoroughly enjoyed it and thought that it was very well made. Monday I didn’t go to work as there was to be a day at school where 4th semesters showed their projects. When I got there though they were presenting in Danish so I went to find Barbara and we drank tea and gossiped for a while before I headed home. Tuesday I was back to work and after lunch I headed to the spa at the gym for a very pleasant time reading my book, drinking tea and soaking in the hot pool. I did this again Wednesday so by Thursday I was ready to tackle a gym class and went to pilates. It didn’t feel like we did very much and seemed like a very unstructured class but I was feeling it on Friday. Thursday night I met with Kathrine at the Southern Cross for some beers and it turned into a very fun night playing first poker, then dice games and then a very funny game of ‘I have never’ with the Danish girls, the Aussie barman, the owner and Mike the quiz night organizer.

It was lucky I was working afternoon Friday as I definitely needed the sleep and went to work at 12pm for lunch. It was nice working a Friday afternoon again as I got Friday cake and then when I finished at 4:30pm I joined the others at the Friday bar. I was feeling a little dodgy after the unexpected late Thursday night and thought I would have one or 2 beers before heading home but it was fun and I didn’t get home until 10:30pm. Then I jumped into bed with a big bowl of popcorn and watched the movie Chopper. It was an interesting movie that I was recommended to watch from Veronica as we talked at the bar about how hot Eric Bana is =)

Saturday it was time to party again.. again!! I headed out on the bus then train then Metro to Amar to go to Ana’s place. I met Morten at the station and Ana came to get us. It was bloody freezing out there! Amar is a newer part of Copenhagen and there is a lot of empty space, futuristic office buildings and apartments and large carparks. We were soon joined by Ionna, Phong, Karina and an American guy called Brendon and had a very fun night in Ana’s little Kollegium apartment.

English Christmas

2009-12-31T14:50:00.008+01:00

It was an early start on Tuesday morning! I was up at 4am to get ready and on the bus at 5am towards the the airport. I was supposed to leave around 7am but the plane was delayed 50 minutes. It was lucky I got to Gatwick with just enough time to get on the train to Reading. From there I talked to Derek and Sue and they asked me to get another train to Leamington Spa as there had been snow and was hold ups on the motorway due to accidents. It was no problem for me and I was soon being met by Derek at the station. We went back to their house and caught up and I was so happy to be back in an English speaking country. They have Sky television with so many channels and newspapers and magazines in english.. bliss. It was not a late night due to being up so early and then the next morning Sue took me into Leamington Spa to go shopping. First stop was Boots and I spent a lot of time in there before going to the mall and walking up the main street. There was one shop I went back to and bought a bit in there. Was nice clothes and good price, Jane Norman. Then it was time to meet back up with Sue and head back to Whitnash. That night we went toWarwick and went to a pub for a drink before going to their favourite Indian restaurant, Warwick Spice. I had been there before with them and they do cook yum Indian!

With Sue and Derek at Warwick Spice.

yum!!

The next day we had visitors and a lot of planning before christmas. We had fish and chips from across the road, it was very good. Then after dinner we went around to Sarah's to drop of the mountain of presents for the kids. Christmas day I was up and getting ready at 9am. Then went to get some breakfast and unwrap presents with Derek, Sue, Ralph, Sadie and Sybil. I was the youngest there and I've never seen so many presents with no kids around! Then all the others started turning up and we had a lovely christmas lunch with 15. After we played games and talked to other family through Skype then the few of us left played till very late so I did not feel so good the next day..

Ralph with his litle mountain of presents growing.

Sadie and Sybil.

Tom & Gemma, Brian & Louise.

Playing games, Andrew and Derek.

Ralph and Sadie thinking hard.

Sue and Derek.

Yum!!

Boxing day I did not surface till around midday. It would have been earlier but Derek did not sleep well and had put a do not disturb sign on their door so I figured I could have some more sleep. When I did Chris, Katie and the girls had turned up and we had another yummy lunch of turkey soup and cold meats etc. Then we played more games until they had to drive back to Frome and Sue and I stayed up to watch Australia on the movie channel.

Playing celebrity heads with Ellie, Lydia and Katie.

And Chris =)

Then Sunday I got to shop again and had more fun in Boots and Jane Norman. We had yummy lamb roast for dinner before Gemma and Tom turned up and we went into Warwick to some pubs. I had a great time getting to know Gemma better and downed a few pints before jumping in a cab back to bed. Monday we had a restful morning plus I had to pack my back with a lot more stuff than I came. We had turkey curry for lunch and then said goodbye to Ralph, Sadie and Sybil before getting into the car and heading on the motorway to the airport. It was lucky we left a bit earlier as there was a lot of traffic but I was there in time and said goodbye to Derek and Sue. I had a little bit of time for shopping before getting on the plane for the short flight home. It was late once I reached Copenhagen so caught a taxi after the Metro and came straight home.

disaster..

2009-12-31T14:37:00.008+01:00

Tuesday meeting at school was fine, Barbara said that she didn't have any comments on my writing so that was a good sign. After school I went into town to meet with Louise, Eva and Nadia. It was pretty cold but I had to go at least once to one of the climate convention concerts and this night was Gogo Bordello! We got there a bit early but was worth it for the spot we got close to the stage and as soon as the band started playing and everyone started dancing we got warmer. I went home straight after the concert as Wednesday was another early morning at work.

COP15 in Copenhagen.

Hopenhagen

Radhusplasen with the big tree and the big globe.

The crowd going wild at Goggo Bordello.

Thursday meeting at school was rather a lot worse. It was now getting painfully obvious that we were not going to be able to hand in anything I would be proud of. I don't know what happened with the communication in my group but the website kept changing from the original design which I thought we had discussed and I had wrote about. Still I worked on the php code for the e-mail subscription hoping that we could pull through.

Snow!!

Friday i went to work at lunch time and did a few hours after lunch until it was Friday bar time. It was the last Friday bar of the year and although was a bit quiet there were a few people there wanting to celebrate and after we got kicked out of work we headed to a bar in the city for a few more bevvies. I was not home late again though as I had another meeting at school.. on a Saturday morning!!

It was not nice to wake up but I made my way to school and the website had changed again. It was nice looking but again not what we had discussed so the decision was made that we would have to split up and finish separately. It is a huge bummer to not graduate in January with everyone but having 2 months more to finish it (and 2 months more of student allowance!!) is not a bad thing. Most of the hard work is done in the analysing and designing process so now I just have to make the website and finish the report. I went home and watched a movie I had downloaded called Thirteen. It was a pretty good movie and very true to how some thirteen year olds can be. I stayed home and had an early night as even though I didn't have to finish the project I still had a lot to do.

So Sunday I cleaned my apartment properly for the first time in ages! Then later that afternoon I went to town and met woth Morten, Maart and Lars and had some dinner before meeting with Karina and the others to watch Avatar in 3D. It was a very cool movie and some of the creatures were pretty scary in 3d! Monday I went to school to sort out deferring till March and then the bar opened and was nice to have a few beers with everyone before saying goodbye and Merry Xmas!

Julefrokosts!!

2009-12-14T22:53:00.006+01:00

The week started out pretty quiet, keeping out of the cold and studying. I went on a trip to the mall on Wednesday after work and was very happy to see the fashion has gone back to the 80's! There was black lace, tigers and studs everywhere! Along with a good helping of sequins. I didn't find anything to wear to the work xmas party but did find a great 80's glam rock outfit for a fun occasion.

On Thursday night I headed over to Kathrine's place. She had 2 free tickets to a Swedish band Takida so we jumped on a bus to Lille Vega to check them out. We were pleasantly surprised that the band were rather cute and didn't sound so bad either. After a few yum Jim Beams and after the concert we headed back to the Southern Cross for a nightcap before heading home. Friday I was a little tired and stayed home for the first Friday in ages!

Then Saturday was Christmas party time! I got all glamed up and headed to McGrath's pub to meet with some others before hand. Was pretty disappointed that the football was on but it was soon time to head to dinner. We had dinner at my old office above the Waterfront mall. It was set up really pretty and was nice sipping champagne and watching people turn up looking great. We had a seating plan but luckily I had some friends at my table. The starter of salmon was nice but then we had to sit through long presentations before the main course. This of course led to a lot of wine being drunk. Then when the main turned up I could hardly cut the meat let alone chew it. Then was a few mouthfuls of desert before heading to the party. We had a quick shot for the walk and got to our building where there were cocktails and a band waiting. I grabbed a cocktail, went to dance and the rest of the night is a blur.

Dinner in the Waterfront office.

Party at the Saxo building.

The dancefloor.

So Sunday was a very quiet day and soon it was another week. And yet again another quiet start to the week spend studying and writing. Thursday after school I biked in the rain to meet with Sarah and Pirita to shop for our Julefrokost the next night. Then it was home to get dry and an early night. Friday I went to work, then had a meeting at 1pm at Bellevue, our last meeting before hand in. Then it was home to quickly change and head over to Pirita's. I got there just after 4pm and we started preparing for the Julefrokost. Sarah ended up being quite late and she had the pork but we got it in the oven and Morten turned up to lend a hand. Then everyone was turning up and we had glogg before sitting down for the fish course. Our guests brought us a lovely bottle of snaps that was soon drunk up and we pulled the other from the freezer. It was then another 2 courses before desert of ris ala mande, yum yum! After some dancing it was time to head out to save the neighbours more noise and some of us headed into Nyhavn and to a secret bar. It was cool, looked just like an apartment building but we were ushered downstairs to a stylish bar. It was not a party place though so we left some there and headed to the bar where the others were. This was more of a party place and more dancing was done before heading home very happy around 5am.

Colour coordination! The brights..

And the borings.

Herrings and snaps.

Desert.

Snaps!!

Dancing.

My beautiful co-hosts.

Full Album.

Saturday I slept for a loong time then slept some more. It didn't seem possible to go out again but I got dressed in my 80's glam rock and jumped on a bus to meet with Karina. We then headed into town and bumped into Borgar outside Huset. Once inside and with beers we hung out with the gang and tried to talk with a very loud metal band playing. Next it was time for Omnihil and they played another amazing concert. We went for some beers backstage afterwards and laughed that there was no JDs and strippers and then headed across the road to a very crowded, very small, very Danish bar. I only lasted here a little while until I was very tired. I walked down the road to catch a night bus and was surprised when Sina turned up from the salsa bar as it was around 4am, totally random and I hadn't seen her for ages. Pity I was too tired to talk much and to even wait for the bus so I jumped in a taxi and was very happy to crawl into bed.

Phi with his metal face.

The Omnihil, Phong, Dag and Rasmus.

Backstage.

With Kaspar.

So then Sunday was recovery day and write, write, write! I managed to write a bit of report and send off to Barbara for our meeting Tuesday. I have lots of pics but right now have to write so will try upload tomorrow.. laters.

vampires, thanksgiving and last school friday bar.. ever =(

2009-12-02T11:53:00.008+01:00

Monday after work and study I headed over to Louise’s place and we watched Twilight again in preparation for the big night on Tuesday!! It was lovely to catch up with her, Eva and Nadia and I could never tire of watching that movie.

Tuesday was a busy day at school organising for the special Friday bar this week and preparing for our meeting with Bellevue on Thursday. Then it was off the meet with the girls for a quick dinner at Chilli Milli’s before stocking up on popcorn and watching NEW MOON!! We saw it at the Imperial which is a grand cinema. We had great seats at the back and they are very comfortable with a reclining back. The movie did not disappoint and I could tell by the wolf whistles and clapping from the theatre whenever the boys took off their shirts that all the girls were enjoying it. It had a lot more action than the first movie and Edward was not too greatly missed as he was replaced by a very good looking wolfpack. I now look forward to reading the book and wait for the 3rd movie next year.

Thursday was a very busy day at school trying to sort out sound systems for Dennis to play on Friday and get the posters up at school. Sune was busy finishing the design proposals to show Julie at Bellevue and he came up with 3 good design ideas that we could show her. I think the meeting went well although she said something about liking blueprint style graphics, which was a bit out of what we had been working on and late in the project to consider changing the design. We now only have 3 weeks in which to build the website and write the 45+ page report. Then Thursday night I needed to have an early night in preparation for a huge Friday!

I was up and off for work at 8am Friday morning and then after lunch I raced home, got changed, skulled a redbull and headed to school. Steve and Dennis were getting set up, and I got some advise from the friday bar staff how to run things then soon it was 2pm and time to start serving the students. I had some great help behind the bar, especially with Borgar and Anca changing the kegs that were needing to be done quite often in the beginning. Dennis' music was great and the party really got started. Steve was a great dj and we were having a lot of fun dancing behind the bar. Malene was looking lovely and Pip was a great help until I think he drank too much of the merchandise and disappeared =) Borgar and Sune had to leave but Georgi and Karina turned up and helped me out to till the end along with Michael. Anca was with me the whole time. All in all it was a fantastic last friday bar but it is going to be sorely missed. After we got kicked out of the school around 11pm a bunch of us were looking for a party but ended up in a random bodega playing dice games. Good times!

Dee

Okay no one told me about the grey thing.. Malene, Pip, Sune and Borgar

Michael with DJ Steve Williams

It's fun on this side of the bar!

Saturday then was a slow start to the day before heading to the main train station to catch a train to Malmo in Sweden. It only takes around 35 minutes to get there and then I had to try to find Albert's apartment from the very confusing maps I had. I found the Coop anyways and Michael came down to get me. We had a very nice Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, cornbread, pumkin pie and other traditional American food. I washed this down with a few bourbans but all too soon it was time to leave and catch the train home. Sunday I relaxed a lot which meant a lot of report writing to be done on Monday!

Smoking inside the painted lines only?? With Hulya at Mamlo Central Station.

too much italian wine..

2009-11-23T11:51:00.007+01:00

Tuesday we had movie night at school and I must say I am enjoying my new hours at work with afternoons off. We saw a movie called Objectified which is directed by the same guy as Helvetica. It is a very interesting movie and as it is to do with good design it could never end really, the scope of the subject is so huge. The rest of the week was very quiet so I was very much looking forward to Friday.

We got giant toblerone at work.

Friday I worked the afternoon shift as at 4:30pm there was to be a special Italian bar at work with Italian wine tasting. They were a little late with the tasting and rushed through the 7 different bottles so I am blaming this on getting a bit too drunk too quickly. But I was not the only one and after the bar Lars, Maart and some other Saxo guys came with me to the school party. It was a lot of fun catching up with friends at the party and making new friends but it was all too soon that I was home and feeling very hung over the next day.

Italian wine tasting.

Jonas and Lars from Saxo Bank.

Mmmm antipasto.

So then it was a very quiet rest of the weekend. I watched Wall-E, a cute Pixar movie and The Countess, which was very gothic, dark and creepy and also fascinating since it is based on a real Hungarian countess from the 16th century.

Tuesday I stayed at school till 6pm trying to figure out the PHP and MySQL database I had been working on for a little while. I finally managed to get it to work (don’t ask me how!) so felt pretty good about that. Then I took the metro over to Amager and met with Anders for dinner and a movie. We ended up watching this really nice Clint Eastwood movie Gran Torino, I would totally recommend.

Thursday It was quiz night again and I biked over and picked up Karina and we headed to the Cross. It looked as though no one else was turning up but then Bjørn, Chris and Glenn turned up at the last minute. We were a big team but as Karina and I aren’t very good at the questions we did not have an advantage. But we helped out a lot in the last round by solving all five of the anagram questions. We ended up drawing for 2nd place with 2 other teams and lost out on the snap question. Then I was sensible and left with Karina, not so sensible though as we stopped past McDonalds and Burger King on the way home.

Was just a little tired on Friday and raced home from work to scull back a redbull and head to school. It was the first time I think I’ve not been to school on a Friday and I was nervous no one would be there but I happy to see Malene and Sune there and Ana and Morten soon joined us. We had a few more redbulls and then it was time for me and Morten to head into town for his birthday dinner. It was at a very traditional Danish restaurant and we had a lovely 3 course meal of salmon to start, duck with red cabbage and brown potatoes and then Ris a la mande for desert. Then we all headed up to Louise’s Friday bar stopping at a lingerie shop opening on the way for some free champagne and discussions on which underwear looked the best. Louise’s Friday bar was loud and busy. It was nice to see Gitte and Nicolai but I was soon tired after a long day and was lucky to get the night bus straight outside.

Blurry picture of me drinking snaps at Morten's birthday (it's kinda how I felt afterwards to..)

Saturday I was going to have a quiet night but after waking up feeling a little bad thanks to the shenanigans of the night before when mark suggested I come watch the rugby it was not a bad idea. So I biked down to Zulu bar and soon had a nice cold pint of beer in front of me and was the only person cheering for NZ at the bar. Even Chris was on England’s side that day as the All Blacks have been winning all their matches which is not good for Aussie. It was a pretty boring game but nice that we won. Phong soon turned up and we moved down to the Cross where a lot of Bundaberg was consumed while singing along very loudly to 80’s rock songs.

So Sunday then consisted of getting over 2 day hangover, doing laundry and not getting really anything else done that I should have. Where does the time go..?

back to work..

2009-11-11T15:47:00.005+01:00

Well this blog is going to be a lot less colourfull than the last few. I arrived home Wednesday 28th Oct and it felt good to wash all my clothes and sleep in my own bed. Thursday it was back to school and work. I was halfway in the middle of a workshop on Usability and it was hard to fit in (it seemed hard even for the people who had been there all week). Friday I was looking forward to the Friday bar and after a few drinks I raced home to drop off my school stuff, gulp down some dinner and into town to meet with the guys at Studenterhuset for Lars' band Roof on Fire's album launch party. Some others turned up so we headed across to town to meet up with all the others out. We picked up a few more peeps at Cafe Blaisen but when we reached the bar the others were at there was a big queue. So we headed to the Globe which suited me fine as I soon had a nice big pint of guinness =) After that we didn't want to queue for the bar so I headed home.

Saturday night was Juan's leaving drinks at The Office and Pirita kindly invited me over to dinner at hers first. She had taken Italian cooking classes with her work and made a yum dinner of salmon starters, rissotto and tirimasu for desert! Then we biked up the road and had some delish cocktails with some of the guys from work. I had got a little cold so I was sensible and didn't stay out too late. Anyway the next week was soo busy.

I had late nights every night trying to write my travel blogs and study after being at work and school. Wednesday we had a system issue at work and we all worked overtime meaning I worked 10 hours and then came home to make our midterm evaluation presentation which we gave on Thursday morning. The other teacher present liked our project which is great so now we just have to work hard to finish it. Thursday night I raced out after work to The Cross for quiz night. We were supposed to meeting some guys from England that Karina knows but they went to the Australian Bar by mistake then didn't want to leave. Lucky Glenn, Chris and Bjorn turned up so we could make a good team. It looked like we were doing well in the beginning but we finished a respectable fourth. We had a few drinks and everyone left but Glenn so I said I'd have one more drink with him which turned out to be more like four and I was home quite late.

We had been having a workshop in Javascript and Ajax last week and it was already waay over my head so when I turned up late and hungover on Friday it didn't make much difference. Soon enough it was Friday bar time again and I enjoyed a few beers before heading home exhausted for an early night. I had a really great sleep and was looking forward to dinner at Corrine and Mat's place. It was a nice little dinner party and Corrine had cooked some really amazing Indian food. Next thing it was about 2:30am and I biked home and called home as I knew I would not get up in time in the morning.

Matthew and Corrine in the kitchen cooking up some YUM!

Dina and hubby.

Isrin with his cute family.

Lena with Isrin's little girl Sofea.

Scotland & Ireland pics..

2009-11-10T23:31:00.001+01:00

You can find my whole album here:

scotland & ireland 09

Ireland

2009-11-08T21:39:00.013+01:00

I'm listening to this station while writing this.. http://my.liveireland.com/page/radio-1

Now I'm in an Irish mood! I arrived at Dublin airport around 10pm and found the airport coach only to discover it wasn't the one that would drop me right by the hostel. It dropped me in a very central location though and I walked past the Millennium Spire and it was not too much further. There was only one other girl in the room and I jumped straight into be but I had a top bunk and it was noisy with people walking around above me. The next morning I was up early, showered and eating yuck hostel breakfast and then waiting for the tour. There were a lot of people in the lounge and I was curious as to how many tours were leaving that day. It turned out that we had a big bus and were 43 people on the tour! This was very disappointing after the lovely experience of the small Scotland tour but we were soon on the road and Tom the guide was introducing us to the Paddywagon Tour. First stop was a big park in Dublin full of deer. We stopped to look at a giant cross that was the place where the pope had held a service. Then it was back on the bus and to the site of an old monastery Clonmacnoise. It was beautiful place with ruins of churches and old crosses. We saw an interesting short film on the history of the place before it was time to leave again. Then we arrived in our stop for the night, the lovely seaside city of Galway. We had some time before meeting for dinner so after dropping our stuff of at the hostel I went with a few girls for a walk around the main streets. It is a busy little city with lots of students. It was also Bank Holiday weekend so a lot of people around. Then after going back to the hotle to freshen up we met with the others for dinner and then headed out on the town. First going to a large bar where Tom had recommended. It was a good place if you were a big group out to party but we were after something more traditional and found a lovely little cram packed pub where there was a folk band playing. I had a few yummy guinness and Irish coffees before going to head back to the hostel. On the way I bumped into Adam from the Scotland tour but he was off to a nightclub. Then I bumped into 2 Aussie guys on our tour and went back to the pub for one more guinness.

Clonmacnoise

Shop Street, Galway

mmm fish n chips =)

double MMMM, guinness and Irish coffee!

Folk band

The next morning I felt surprisingly good considering the amount of guinness and whiskey I had drunk the night before. The breakfast at the hostel was fabulous as they made pancakes to raise money for breast cancer and did all the dishes! The first stop off the bus was at a pretty castle on edge of the water. The it was onwards and heard the horrific story of the potato famine and other incredibly sad things from Ireland's past. We had a quick stop when one of the American guys spewed on the bus and it got cleaned up then the next stop was The Burren, a beautiful area of limestone and cliffs on the seafront. Then it was on to the Cliffs of Moher! It was very windy but nice weather and had a nice walk around the site. Afterwards I looked around in the shop and was astounded that when I came out it was raining and you couldn't see anything! Great timing! We then drove on to our next stopover in Killarney. We went to a pub for dinner and then followed Tom to a bar for some drinks. It seemed like a nice little town but we had had enough partying the night before in Galway and didn't stay out to late. Also we had to be up early for a jaunting car ride the next morning.

Oh look.. another castle =)

Spew stop, everyone off the bus.

Beautiful cliffs at The Burren.

Limestone as far as the eye can see.

Lovely view at the Cliffs of Moher.

The Cliffs of Moher.

We awoke and had a horrible breakfast, I was not impressed with the hostel at all! Then when we waited outside we saw a line of horses with jaunting cars turn up. I got to ride up the front and it was a little ride through town until we reached Killarney National Park. Just inside here was Ross Castle and we jumped off the cars to look around at the beautiful scenery. Then it was back to the hostel and waiting for Tom with the bus. First stop for the day was Blarney Castle. The gardens surrounding it are very beautiful and I was amazed at how many rooms of the castle you could walk into. It was a short queue at the top to kiss the Blarney Stone and just a little bit scary when you have to lean so far back. Lucky there was a charming man holding onto me and then I was just trying not to think how many other people had kissed it :P Then it was just one more stop at a lovely little town with a castle built on a big rock face for lunch before being dropped back in Dublin. Lucky it was not far to my hostel for the next 2 nights and I easily found Barnacles right in Temple Bar. I went to my room and was greeted very friendly by my room mates some American guys and girls. I checked out what was recommended to eat and found a Chinese place nearby. Then I explored a bit but was so tired from my back to back tours that I read my book and had an early night, pleasantly falling asleep to the live Irish music playing at the Temple Bar next door.

Jaunting car ride.

Ross Castle in Killarney National Park.

View from Blarney Castle.

Kissing the Blarney Stone.

A view from the top of the castle.

The Castle on the Rock.

Temple Bar.

The next morning I woke up to no alarm for once! Had a leisurely breakfast and then headed out towards the Guinness Storehouse. It was an interesting walk past beautiful big churches and the Viking area. And soon it became obvious that I was in the Guinness area. The big brick buildings were very impressive and historical. Then I was inside and looking at the fascinating exhibitions and learning all about Guinness. I spent a good few hours going through the building and then reached the top and waited rather impatiently for my guinness. I bumped into a guy from the Ireland tour Chris and he was having a great time as he'd met a bunch of ladies who gave him all their drink tickets and was on his fifth! The view from up the top was awesome but it was soon time to leave as I had spent most of the day there. So as I didn't have too much daylight left I thought I would head back and look around Trinity College and Temple Bar during the day. I stopped off at Queen of Tarts a lovely little cafe Lyn on the Scotland tour recommended to me. Then I ventured over the Liffey River and up O'Connel Street a little before turning down a shopping street and going a bit crazy on sausages and cheese at Marks and Spencers. I headed back to the hostel with some cans of guinness (yes I was really getting a taste for it at this stage) and chilled out a bit before heading out to meet with Joanne and Lara from the tour. We went to a hotel where they had live Irish music and then Irish dancers and on the way back to the hostel Joanne and I went to see the statue of Molly Malone which was close to Trinity College, therefore close to Temple Bar, therefore Dublin is a nice small and easy city to get around. Joanne left and I thought I better have one drink at the Temple Bar next door to the hostel and ordered a Jamesons and listened to some more Irish music.

Dublin Castle.

Christchurch Cathedral.

View from the top of the Guinness Storehouse.

O'Connel Street.

Millennium Spire.

Ha'penny Bridge over the Liffey River.

Irish Music.

The statue of Molly Malone.

The next morning I didn't have to get up too early so was a nice stressfree breakfast and pack up and head to the busstop to get to the airport. Then I was on my way back to cold, rainy Copenhagen. Ireland amazed me not only by it's beauty, haunting history and fun atmosphere but by the lovely, friendly Irish people. But I could not shake the memory of Scotland even after 5 days in Ireland. Yes the Scotland tour was better, with less people, but it was also the amazing nature of Scotland that I will not soon forget.

Scotland!!

2009-11-01T22:17:00.017+01:00

wow, wow, WOW.. what a beautiful country!

Copenhagen was rainy and grey when I left and then I arrived to a beautiful sunny day in Edinburgh. It was very easy to find the shuttle bus and I had my first introduction to the lovely Scottish personalities with the friendly and helpful bus driver. I had to walk up a steep hill to my hostel just off High Street in the Old Town. I dumped my bags and then went wandering around trying to keep my jaw from hanging on the ground at the beauty of the old city. I finally stopped when I was starving and had fish n chips at a pub. I made it down to Princes Street but it was being worked on and not very pretty. Looked like good shopping though. I thought about going on a haunted tour of the city but as I had an early start the next day I bought some gossip mags and settled on a comfy couch in the hostel lounge. Oh it was good to have things to read in english!!

Looking down at the Scott Monument, Edinburgh.

I had a suprisingly good sleep for being in a 10 bed room. Then walked a little way up the road to meet with the Wild in Scotland tour. There were only 7 of us on the tour, 6 girls, 1 guy, 2 Aussie, 2 German, 1 Netherlands and 1 Canadian. There was also our bus driver Colin and a friend John whom was catching a lift up to his hometown with us. We got on the road and out of Edinburgh and then our first stop was at a battlefield near Stirling Castle where we heard about the battle of Bannockburn. We had a lovley view from here of Stirling castle poking up from a could of mist. We had a couple of scenic stops along the way at Loch Lomond and up in the mountains before reaching Dunadd Fort which was a settlement from around 500AD. I was going to say there is a beautiful view from there but it seems pointless as there was beauty everywhere you looked in Scotland. After this we went to some other ancient sites nearby with standing stones, burial cairns and stone circles. We then went to our first castle, Carnasserie Castle where we could walk inside and all the way up it's round tower. We stopped to shop for food for dinner and beer and arrived at our hostel in Oban where we cooked dinner had a few drinks and then fell into bed tired after a full day.

Stirling Castle.

Beautiful view driving into the Highlands.

Carnasserie Castle.

Sunday the alarm went off at 7am again. Colin first got us lost trying to find 'the lost valley of the hairy coos'? Then we stopped at St Conan's Kirk, a lovely, if a bit odd church that a guy built for his mother as she was getting too old to walk to the nearest church. It was raining a little that day so it seemed more like real Scotland. We then walked through a soggy marsh to reach another beautiful old castle. This one was closed up but was nice to walk around. We stopped in Glencoe at the Commandos Memorial and again at the side of the road to build a rock tower as many before us had before it was onto another castle. This one was more intact and Colin explained that it was built in the 1920's to replace a castle that had been destroyed. We then dropped John off and went to our home for the next 2 nights, the Stationmaster's House in Strome Ferry. This is a lovely hostel. We had the whole place to ourselves. Lyn, Adam and I shared a room with an ensuite with a heated towel rail. There is a lovely big lounge with a fire and the housekeeper Hillary who cooked for us! The first night we had local salmon and a yum cake with custard for desert. The table top lifted off to a pool table underneath so we had a cosy night playing drinking games and pool and sampling some whisky.

Kilchurn Castle.

Commandos Memorial.

Rock towers.

Eilean Donan Castle.

View from the Staionmaster's House, Strome Ferry.

The next day we woke up and headed to the Isle of Skye. We stopped to hear the tale of the five sisters but we could not see them due to clouds. We heard an amusing story from Colin about the tale of Saucy Mary while crossing the Isle Bridge, stopped for pictures of a beautiful waterfall and heard about the tale of the Old Man of Storr. We drove up and then walked further up into the Quiriang. There was a very beautiful view up there of mountains, islands and ocean. We then drove to a beach where there is supposed to be dinosaur footprints in the limestone. But we looked around a lot and could not see them. Next it was onto the Faerie Glen. This is a beautiful, mossy, mysterious place and they filmed a scene from the movie stardust there. There is rocks on the top of a hill that looks like a fairy castle and brightly coloured mushrooms, you could so imagine fairies living there. By the time we go to the next scenic spot it was very windy and cold so we didn't stay long. Then it was back to the Stationmaster's house where Hillary had prepared a yum dinner of wild boar chilly with apple crumble for desert. After dinner we played more drinking games and attacked the whisky again. A guy called Gordan who used to work at the house called round with a yum single malt and Colin told me about the zombie movie he is writing. I have to admit Strome Ferry is the perfect setting for a zombie flick!

Get out of the way hairy coo!

View from the Quiriang.

Walking up the Quiriang.

Fairy Castle

Where they filmed a scene from Stardust

Drinks after dinner at the Stationmaster's House.

It's lucky we got to sleep in an hour extra the next day after our late night. Was a bit hung over for the boat trip but the fresh air was invigorating. We ate fresh scallops and saw the local crabs and as we got further into the loch I went up the front of the boat and watched 2 dolphins following us. It was so amazing, they were so close I could almost touch them. After that it was out of the wet clothes and back on the bus with a sad farewell to the Stationmaster's house. We stopped at a couple of beautiful viewpoints including a big sand dune where Gordan said we could slide down. It proved to be the most unslippery sand ever though and only got sand in my pants due to Colin grabbing my foot and dragging me down. Then we arrived at a little seaside town for lunch. There was not much in the way of food places but a little store on the end called Nanny's had one older lady working in it who made us smoked salmon on bread to curb our hunger. Next stop was Loch Ness and as we looked out at the beautiful loch with the sun setting Colin told us about the legend of the Loch Ness monster. After shopping we drove to the little town we would be staying in, had dinner and then took a little adventure to see a castle. Urquhart Castle was closed but lit up my floodlights and we only had to jump over two gates to get into the grounds. We then spent a fun time exploring the castle and playing games in the shadows before going to head back. Colin saw a car up in the carpark and we all thought we would get in trouble but luckily it wasn't any guards.

Hauling in a catch.

Dolphins!

Most unslippery sand ever..

Beautiful Loch Ness.

Urquhart Castle at night.

'The Nessy Monster' at Urquhart Castle.

It was pretty miserable and rainy when we woke up and Colin dropped us at the Loch Ness visitors centre while he refueled the bus. Luckily the shop opened and we looked at the tacky souvenirs and different tartans before heading back on the road. Next stop was at Tomatin Whisky Distillery where we had a tour. Then we went to a beautiful place called Killiecrankie and Colin told of the battle that the Jacobites won against the army of the English king William III. We stopped at a cute little ski town for lunch and I tried Poutine, a Canadian dish consisting of hot chips, gravy and cheese.. YUM! We stopped at Colin's favourite whisky distillery Dalwhinnie and a visit to see a 5000 year old tree before arriving at our hostel. We had saved up enough kitty money to have dinner at the hotel next door before walking a little up the road to Castle Menzies. This castle is supposed to be one of the most haunted properties in the UK but we had a tour with a lot of other people so I never felt scared. But was interesting to look through the castle then we headed back to the hotel for some drinks.

Tomatin Distillery.

Killiecrankie Pass, the site of a famous Jacobite battle against King William III of England's army.

5,000 year old Yew tree.

Tour of haunted Castle Menzies.

Adam looks like he's seen a ghost =)

Thursday we got to sleep in a little and then we drove to St Andrew's which is a lovely little seaside town full of students. It has the first golf course ever and the university that Prince William attended. We went to a restaurant and I tried haggis for lunch. It was okay, the gravy helped a lot I think. After lunch we walked through the glorious remains of St Andrew's Cathedral. It really was an awesome sight with the gravestones overlooking the beach and a golf course. After St Andrew's we next stopped at a forest where there is a place that is supposed to have been used for pagan religious worship. People had left little charms and curiousities that Colin said were spells. Then it was back to Edinburgh and a last singing of The Flower of Scotland on the bus. We said our goodbyes then I went back to the hostel to dump my stuff and head out to meet with most of the people on the tour for a yummy Indian curry dinner. Then we headed to Grassmarket for some drinks and wasn't too late home as the bars closed early.

First ever golf course, St Andrews.

Girl attacks haggis!!

St Andrews Cathedral.

View of the beach from St Andrew's Cathedral.

Beautiful pagan religious site.

Yummy Indian at Khushis Restaurant, Edinburgh.

I got woken up early by most of the girls in my dormroom talking and rustling around in their bags very noisily. Then I had to be up to meet with Lyn and Adam up the road. We went for a tour of the Real Mary King's Close and was fascinating and horrifying to hear how people used to live in the city hundreds of years ago. We then walked up the road to look at the castle and after having some lunch at a cafe that was in a building that used to be occupied by the guy that inspired the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde story I said goodbye and walked to the museum. I spent a few great hours learning about the history of Scotland before grabbing some fish and chips and then heading to Princes Street for a last minute shop. Then I had to get my stuff, back on the airport bus and on my way to Dublin!

The front of Edinburgh Castle.

Effigy of Mary Queen of Scots at the museum.

Princes Street Gardens.

Looking up at the castle.

Colin teaching us the Scottish National Anthem, The Flower of Scotland.

quick catch up before i'm off.. =)

2009-10-15T12:51:00.003+02:00

Thought I better write about the week so far before it all becomes about holiday!! Tuesday after work I met with Sune at the Thai place next to work and had a yum panang curry before heading up to the Bellevue Theatre to watch their current show. It was in Danish but the 2 guys performing were entertaining with their funny expressions and singing and dancing. It did not seem long before it was finished and Sune said it looked like I enjoyed it more than him.

Wednesday I decided to skip the gym class as I was feeling the short time frame before leaving and had a bit of time at home after work to do laundry and prepare packing a bit before heading to Pirita's on my bike. The wind was quite strong and actually going my way so I was there pretty fast and was soon enjoying yummy mussels cooked in white wine and tapas with Pirita, Hans and Sarah. Then on my way home it was a bit harder biking against the wind but fun dodging all the drunken football fans leaving Park.

So I'm at school now trying to do some work for our midterm evaluation but not really succeeding. Got to head to work for three hours and then it's home to pack and off to Scotland tomorrow!! Expect lovely picturesque blog next time =)

80's rock and girlie fun

2009-10-13T11:56:00.009+02:00

Monday night I started what may become a tradition and baked for our coach meeting at school the next morning. I baked blueberry muffins which may not have been the best idea as I have not baked muffins much before but they turned out okay and Barbara and Sune were happy. Then Tuesday night I rushed to meet with Karina and Ana at Valhalla for the 80's rock quiz. Although it is one of my favourite times in music it was a hard quiz but lots of fun and managed to have a drink with Phong for his birthday before heading home.

Wednesday I couldn't get out of going to the gym as I had planned to go with Lena and Corrine after work. But I chugged back a redbull (thank you Albert!!) and headed to the Body Ball class. It was fun and so much more motivation in a class but we did a lot of squats and I knew I would have trouble walking the next day!

Thursday we had another meeting at the Bellevue Theatre and this time I took my bike to go straight to work afterwards. We had a good look inside the theatre and took loads of photos and then headed outside to take photos from around the exterior. I was supposed to go to another quiz night but I had been doing so much rushing around and shopping all week I decided to rest up instead cause Friday was girlie party night.

The inside of the theatre with it's unique chairs.

The outside with a poster from the current show.

I had a couple of beers at the Friday bar and then headed home to get ready and into my little black dress. Then it was on my bike over to Louise's. It was really nice drinking Asti, eating nibble foods and chatting with the girls. Then after a few hours of this we were ready to head out and took the metro to the city centre. We tried to get into Cafe Blasen but it was packed so ended up in the bar underneath Kathrine's work. This bar is not so great but we had a few drinks and met up with Anders before heading to Heidi's. Not long after being there Louise and I left and I picked up my bike from her place and biked home.

Pretty girls!

I only managed about 4 hours sleep before my alarm woke me up and I was cooking bacon, eggs and baked beans for breakfast. Only Sune turned up and then we walked to Ryparken station to meet with Lucas. We then jumped on the 150s bus and was soon heading out of the city. We got off in a country area (it doesn't take long to reach the country out of Copenhagen) and went to the beautiful old house where the Ansel Adams photo exhibition was being held. The photos were really stunning and it was good to be there with Lucas as he was able to describe the significance of the images. Sune and I went for a walk in the garden behind the house which was made all the more beautiful with the colouful autumn leaves. Then we caught a bus to Holte and found a nice cafe to get warm and have coffee and cake before catching the train back home again.

Walking towards the property.

The front of the magnificant house which is now a gallary.

Strange iceblock looking trees.

The back of the house and the beautiful box garden.

Behind the house.

It was nice to be home and warm and as the Southern Cross said they did not know if they could get the NZ soccer match I thought I would try to find it streaming on the internet. It was a boring game anyway so I just checked what was happening sparodically while watching the investigative documentary Food Inc. Then it was the Danish, Sweden game and it was pretty obvious when Denmark scored a goal as I could hear shouts of joy and stamping feet from neighbouring apartments. Then at the end of the game when I checked and Denmark had won I could tell that there would be a lot of partying in Denmark that night. Me though, I stayed in and got some much needed sleep and was able to get up early enough to call home the next morning. It was a cold, grey Sunday and perfect for staying in and doing housework, laundry and relaxing =)

my beach!

2009-10-09T13:08:00.002+02:00

Check out the cool beach scene on my fridge. Thanks Si, Kay, Flynn and Ronan!