April 23rd - 29th

Thursday was another gorgeous day. The weather just keeps getting better and better. Had a coffee with Leoni at New Harbor this morning. We rode our bikes in - this city is so easy to get around in on a bike. I'm going to get spoiled. She had to go to work so I grabbed some lunch and headed to the King's Garden. Sat in the grass and enjoyed the weather and my sandwich. Spent the afternoon riding around the city. Went to Rosenborg Castle and the Botantical Gardens. The Gardens are amazing. I spent over an hour just wandering around looking at all the flowers. They also had a greenhouse you could go through. One of the rooms was a rainforest. It was so ridiculously humid in there. I couldn't even take any pictures because my lens kept fogging up.

Friday morning I got up and went to the gym. Met Petra and one of her friends at the park in King's Gardens after lunch. We all had reading to do for school so we sat in the grass and snacked on potato chips and strawberries. I got a little bit of a tan. Not a bad day! Petra and I made a pizza at my place. We chilled here for a little bit. I drank a half bottle of wine. She's still on anti-biotics so I was drinking alone. And called it a night.

Saturday, same routine. Went to the gym in the morning, then the park in the afternoon. Only today I went to Faellenpark by my house. It was another nice day but pretty windy so that made the weather a little cooler. I didn't stay out as long today. Met Amit and Guido out for a drink. Went to Bang & Olsen's and a new bar called Lille Boutique. Lots of fun, had a little too much to drink of course.

Sunday I had to start studying for my final on Tuesday. Spent most of the day in the library on Sunday and Monday. Not fun but honestly I have nothing else to do, so why not? Tuesday I was at school all day (9 AM to 9 PM) working on my final. It was a 24 hour case on the US Toy Market. Luckily something I know a little about. Just glad it wasn't based on some obscure European market. Turned it in Wednesday morning. Now I'm done until June 8th! Between now and then I just have class once a week. I'm going to have a lot of free time on my hands. But I think I'll be okay.

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April 17th - 22nd

Met up with my friend, Petra this afternoon. One of her friends from Prague came to visit so we did some sightseeing. Copenhagen finally put out their free bikes, so we picked up a couple of those. Rode along the water to see the Little Mermaid Statue (my favorite) and then rode around a castle. It was such a nice day we went to the King's Garden Park. Tons of people out having picnics and playing soccer. Afterwards went to grab a beer and sandwich with another friend, Ulrik. I think this was the first time I've eaten in a real restaurant since I've been in Denmark. It's so expensive that you can't really afford it. Met up with Amit later. Found this new bar called Mexi-Bar. Small but super fun. And cheap drinks!! shots of tequila were $4 and margaritas were $7 (cheap by CPH standards). Needless to say we took full advantage of the cheap booze!

Saturday morning I definitely felt the effects from Friday night. Slept in a little bit, went to the gym. Still not quite sure how that happened, but I did it! Met up with Petra and her friend later in the day for a coffee. Another gorgeous day. Went home for dinner, but then met up with everyone again later that night. Went to one of my favorite places - Bang & Jensen's. It's just a nice chill-out bar. Lots of young people, so it's a lot of fun. Made it an early night. After Friday I wasn't quite up to it.

Sunday morning all of us met up (Petra, her friend, me and Amit) and went to Roskilde, Denmark. The Viking Ship Museum is there. We didn't go into the exhibits, but they have quite a few boats out in the water to look out. Spent the rest of the day exploring the town. Very small and very dead on a Sunday. Copenhagen is usually really quiet on Sundays, but this was worse. We probably only saw a handful of people outside of the museum all day. Strange. Even though it was small they had this ridiculously big church in the middle of town. It was gorgeous but we couldn't figure out how such a big church was built in such a small town.

Monday was back to school. Went onto campus, had to print some stuff. Did my reading for class on Tuesday. Had dinner at Petra's that night. Amit cooked. Wanted him to make something Indian, but he made tacos instead. No worries, it was really good!

Tuesday I was at school all day. Went in the morning to start work on my study guide for my Marketing final next week. I'm working with a couple other girls in my class and we're splitting the work. Supposed to have it done tonight. Had class after lunch then back to the computer lab to finish my notes. Had a mini-emergency today. Petra had been having some issues with a cyst in her armpit and finally went to the doctor in the morning. They had her in the hospital ALL day. Kept telling her that she would need surgery but kept postponing it. So she was trapped in a hospital room all day with no food and nothing to do. So I headed to the hospital to keep her company. Ofcourse by the time I got there, they let her go and decided to do the procedure on Wednesday. Poor thing was so upset, so we had dinner at her house and hung out. I got a lesson in socialized medicine today! Scary!

Wednesday was a slow day. Had a lot of errands to run today: cleaning, drycleaning, gym, etc. Plus it rained so it turned into a really lazy day. Oh and Petra's procedure went great. She's much better!

April 11th - 16th

Boring week, back to normal - I miss vacation!!!

Friday night when for happy hour drinks with my friend, Lara, from Canada. Went to my favorite Friday night bar that has two for one drinks until 10. Was supposed to be an early night but we ended up meeting a friend of hers at a club at 11. Stayed out until 4:30, which I definitely haven't done since I was an undergrad. Had a lot of fun though! The club was awesome. I had been there before and they play great music.

Saturday was a waste because of Friday night. Slept until noon, went to the gym, watched a movie. That was about it. Because of the Easter holiday most of the shops have shortened hours or are closed. This started on Thursday and runs through Monday. Strange because this isn't a very religious country but they get a 5 day weekend for Easter. Needed to run some errands but couldn't get much done.

Easter Sunday was a nice relaxing day. Went to the gym in the morning, then took a long walk through my neighborhood and a park by my house. It's been amazing weather this week. In the 60s every day, you only need a light jacket. Copenhagen is a completely different city. It seems like the population has doubled in the last couple days because there are so many people out and about. it's great. It makes the city so much more fun when you don't have to bundle up and spend the least amount of time outside as possible. I've been in California too long, I forgot what that's like. Went to mass Sunday night. Not very many churches have English services and they were all at night. Another strange thing about this church. Half the congregation was Asian. Still haven't figured that one out.

Monday I started studying for my final on Wednesday. It's a 24 hour case, but I have to organize all of my notes and make sure I have everything straight. Tuesday was the same thing except I did have a class in the afternoon. All day Wednesday was dedicated to the final. We got it at 9 AM and is due at 9 AM on Thursday. Not very hard really, it was only 5-6 pages. Got up early on Thursday to make my final changes and turn it in. Then I had the rest of the day to myself. Went to the gym, ran some errands. That was about it.

April 3rd - April 10th

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This is going to be a long one. Just got back from vacay and I have a lot to tell everyone.

Friday morning, my friend Amit and I left for Prague. Got there mid-afternoon. This is an absolutely amazing city. It's beautiful, tourist-friendly and CHEAP! Spent the afternoon walking around and taking it all in. There are Easter Markets going on so all of the squares are set up with booths selling food, crafts and other souvenir stuff. The main square had a stage set up and had traditional folk dancing. And the weather was amazing. I wore flip-flops for the first time in months. I was almost more excited about that than anything. Went out for a nice dinner that night then hit a couple clubs. The first bar we went to was called Chapeau Rouge. There were three levels: live music, DJ/Club, and regular bar. Very cool vibe. Then we headed back closer to our hotel and hit a club called Celnice. Lots of fun. The only problem is that you can smoke in the bars here. Actually you could smoke in all of the cities we went to on this trip. Definitely not used to that anymore.

Saturday we went to Prague Castle. Gorgeous grounds and it seems to go on forever. After lunch we took a funucular (cog railway) up the hill and walked through a park and the monastery. We met up with our friend Petra this evening. She walked us through a couple different parts of the city and gave us a history lesson. That night we went for a traditional Czech dinner. The restaurant was down in this dungeon type room and was decorated very medeival. The meal mostly consisted of meat and potatoes. Which isn't surprising. Her boyfriend met up with us later and we went to a bar in the residential part of the city. It's always good to know locals then you get to see the "real" city.

Sunday morning we got up SUPER early. President Obama was giving a public address in the square at Prague Castle. We left the hotel at 6AM. His speech was at 10AM. Petra and her bf were supposed to meet us but they overslept and went later. It took us about a half hour to get to the castle. The buses were ridiculously crowded. We were packed in tight. Once we got there it took about an hour to get through the line and through security. We had to go through metal detectors and get searched. Crazy. Once we were in then we just had to wait. They had food vendors and plenty of bathrooms so no complaints there. It was actually really well organized. The president, first lady and Czech PM came out of the castle around 9 AM and did a very brief ceremony. Then they all went back inside and came out an hour later for the actual speech. It was pretty amazing to be there. Although we couldn't actually see the president there was such a great vibe from the crowd. Everyone was happy to be there and see him. There was a definite feeling of acceptance and excitement from everyone. One of the weirdest parts of the day was seeing all of the snipers that were set up around the square. They were on most of the rooftops and you could see them through windows of alot of the buildings.

After lunch we met up with Petra again. They went to the speech also. Ran into someone they knew and got into the VIP area. She was about 30 feet from the podium. I'll post some of her pictures they were amazing. She took us outside of the tourist areas again this afternoon. Had a picnic on the grounds of a huge church that was the original site of the kingdom. Went to a traditional Czech pub that night for drinks and dinner. Had an early night because we were all exhausted from our early morning.

Monday morning we got on a train and headed to Vienna. Got there a little after lunch. We checked into our hotel and explored the city. Vienna is known for their coffee houses. We went to a famous once this afternoon and had lemonade and strawberry dessert. Yummy!! You can rent bikes really cheap here. Once you pay a 1 euro registration fee you can pick up a bike at any of the stations around the city. The first hour is free then it's 1-2 euro per hour after that. It's cheaper than public transportation. And you get to see more of the city. There was a really nice bike trail along the Danube Canal so we followed that through a big chunk of the city. Had dinner at a pub close to the water. Then stopped at a couple other bars before we called it a night.

Tuesday morning we jumped on bikes again and headed into the center of the city. Stopped at another coffee shop for some actual coffee this time. Then we went to St. Stephen's Basilica. They have a huge tower that you can go into. It gives you an amazing view of the city. One interesting thing about Vienna is that there is a lot of construction going on. While I was up in the tower I counted 13 different cranes that were all doing work on different sites. Good to know the construction industry is thriving somewhere. After this we went to the Hofburg area, which is the Royal Palace. There are also quite a few museums in this area. After lunch we went to the Museum Quarter. This is one complex that holds 5 or 6 different museums. Got there too late in the day to go in any of them, plus they were expensive. Spent some time that afternoon relaxing in the park. The weather was AMAZING this week. We really got lucky. It was a nice change of pace from the weather in Copenhagen. Tonight was our last night in Vienna so we went for traditional Viennese food - Goulash. My Frommer's guide recommended a place called the Goulash Museum. It was awesome. This was probably my favorite meal the whole trip.

Wednesday morning got on a train to Budapest. Arrived around lunchtime. This was a very interesting city. It is a gorgeous city but there is something vaguely depressing about it. The people don't seem very happy or very wealthy. We stayed outside the city center so this afternoon we went in and explored the castle. It was a huge area. Quite a few museums and beautiful churches. Plus an amazing view! Went back into the city center for a snack and probably the best lemonade I have ever had in my lift. I didn't take a picture of it and now I'm regretting it. So good I can't even describe it! Went out for dinner later that night. Tried to go for drinks but the city was pretty dead. So sad, it was our last night of vacation.

Thursday morning I slept in, then we headed back into the city for lunch. Found a really nice place on a major street. Then it was time to head to the airport. Such a great trip, had a blast and ofcourse it went too fast. I'm working on getting the pictures uploaded. When I do I'll post the link.

March 30th - April 2nd

I had my last sessions for two of my classes on Monday and Tuesday. Now I'm down to one class per week until I leave. Unfortunately I still have finals. Kind of a strange system here. They don't have a "final's week" like most American universities. Because the final is 100% of your grade they have to space them out so people have time to study for everything. One of my finals is on the 15th and the other isn't until the 28th. Hopefully it won't be bad to take the final a MONTH after class is over.

Wednesday was a gorgeous day! It got up to 50 degrees. I never thought I would be so happy to see 50 degrees! Spent the day running errands and doing a little shopping. Went out with Amit and Guido that night. Found a bar in Norrebro called Olbaren, which literally translates as Beer Bar. They served specialty beers. Of course, the German loved it! And it wasn't even that expensive - relative to other bars in Copenhagen. It was a lot of fun. The bartender was Australian and pretty much everyone there was speaking English so we talked to a lot of different people.

Thursday is another beautiful day!! This morning I turned in my first final. It was definitely not the best paper I've ever written but I should do okay. The professor likes me and the grade transfers back as a pass/fail, not a letter grade. It feels good to have one finished.

Leaving for Prague and Budapest tomorrow!! Can't wait! Found out this week that President Obama is going to be in Prague the same time we are. He's giving a public speech on Sunday so we're going to go. There's also a rumor that he's staying at the same hotel as we are. It's very exciting!!!!