Klubben Continued

Klubben continued...

PS - pronounced Klew-bin

Mattias and Rachel - Mattias is one of my 'trainers' aka soccer coach.

This picture is to show you a tiny glimpse of how packed Klubben starts to get, and what the dance floor looks like...bodies everywhere. The two girls to the right of me are in my class (BPM), Anne Mette and Gitte.

Klubben

Next up are pictures taken at Klubben. Klubben is the student club in the basement of the business school. If you are a member of Studenterlauget (the student union), you get into Klubben for free. Only ASB students can attend; it is open all day - students go down and study, play games (Danes play a lot of board games!), eat, drink, etc. Thursday night is the club night - and after about 8p it starts to get packed. There is literally no ventilation, and there are so many bodies packed into Klubben that the walls literally drip sweat. I can say, Klubben is fun when you are a) in the mood and b) with a good, big group of people. But it is definitely not a place I will frequent too often!

Can't remember the girls name on the left, but she was one of two students in charge of the international students intro week. The guy in the middle is Landry (pronounced Laundry) and is from France. His accent is soooo thick, it is hard to understand what he is saying. But, for all you Nebraskans with connections, he made mention that he wants to move to the US for a summer and work on a farm, preferably with animals. I told him I could try to help him out with a connection if he was serious! To the right is Maggie.

Kenneth and I at Klubben.

These are students in my study program (MSc in Business Performance Management - we are called BPM). Left is Jacob, Christina, Andre and Peter is below. I will say, the kids in my group were a bit intimidating at first. I was the only international student - they are all Danes - and they would easily slip into speaking Danish. Christina had a preparty at her house one night and Rachel and I actually went together...it was awesome! We had so much fun. I am definitely much more comfortable with them now.
I don't really know the guy in the middle, but the girl on the right is Line Madsen. I play soccer with her, and she is the one I am closest to on the team. We are actually becoming pretty good friends...sometimes girls can be a bit clique (no way!), even at soccer practice. I always liked the fact that Line wasn't that way. We also bonded over the fact that we are the only two that wear Copa Mundial soccer shoes, which are by far the best in my opinion!! Practice is funny because I am always decked out in my Nike gear, and they are all decked out in Hummel - a Danish brand, and is the largest by far over here. Anyway, Line and I have gotten to know each other, and it is very refreshing that I found someone with the same smart ass, sarcastic sense of humor as myself! She is by far the funniest Dane I have met so far, and we communicate pretty well...throwing jokes back and forth with each other. We also are very in sync together on the soccer field. She has the most experience, and was actually close to making the Danish National team before she had an injury and blew out her ankle.

Random Culture Pictures

Yes, not all pictures will contain a beer in hand, but that is often when the camera comes out. I have fondly nicknamed Rachel "Razzi" after the paparazzi, because she is a picture taking machine when we are out. I mean, we come home, and there are 60 pictures taken! Most times I don't even bring my camera, and I just download from her!

Have you ever heard the term "couch surfing?" I had not until I met Rachel. We met on a Monday, and I found out she was couch surfing, which is this whole sub-culture on the internet. You put a profile on this website of yourself. You are basically saying if people travel and need a place to crash (for free) for the night, they can contact you and arrange it with you. This is how she has travelled Europe before...and was doing this in Arhus. That same day I met here, we went to the place she was couch surfing, got her stuff, and had her move in with me at Jesper's place (my friend Nanna's boyfriend's apartment).



This is a picture of where she was sleeping. It was one great big room, with, no joke, at least 8 beds (whether couches or futons, or mattresses on the floor) all in the same room. You sleep with all these strangers....it was too much to handle. I couldn't do it!

You leave your luggage and stuff in the apartment all day too. Lots of trust involved with strangers....

And yet another culture picture! Yes, we are at Social Club. However, notice the fashion (specifically purple tshirt and scarf). Most boys wear scarves here, which is kind of cool actually. They are very into fashion, much more so than American guys. Secondly, and obviously, you would never see guys drop their pants at a club in the US. Yet, somehow it is okay here...

Intro Week Revisited

Intro week took place the second week I was in Denmark; there were activities and meetings for me all week, geard towards Masters students as well as international students. It was a GREAT way to meet people...I met Rachel the first day there. We sat a row away from each other and I heard her talking to a girl - during a break, I asked her where she was from because I knew her English had to be from America.

At any rate, here are some pics from that week to update you.


This was a picture from bowling. For those of you who don't know, I typically HATE bowling. This ended up being a really fun night. We were served dinner at the bowling alley, which was steak and french fries. It was actually really good! This was the day I met Rachel (on the right, from Minnesota) and the night we met Maggie (on the left, from Canada).

This was at a pub off the main strøget (street) in the city center. This place is called the Golden Lion, and most like a pub back home. However, everyone drinks beer in Denmark. A long island iced tea was ordered (much stronger than back home though), and it cost 150 kroner...which is $30 USD for a mixed drink! From left to right: Kenneth Knudsen (Denmark), Bjarne Knielsen (Denmark), Maggie Schulman (Canada), Me, Carlos (Mexico), and Rachel Lewis (Minnesota).

My friend Kenneth and I.....

This was another night out during Intro week; we met these guys from Holland and hung out with them. They can be pretty crazy, but fun! Left to right: Me, Vincent (Holland), Sjbren (Holland), Rachel.
This picture is at Social Club on the dance floor. We were told this club is mainly for international students, although some of our closest Danish girlfriends (who don't go to school with us) go here all the time. One side has European music, the other side, American music. Its always a good time, typically. This picture was taken before the fog...and I mean, serious fog shows up while we dance! Left to right: John (Holland), Rachel, Me, Vincent, Mihai (Romania), and the Holland boys' friend from school - can't remember her name.

I FINALLY GOT PAID!!!

For those of you have been part of this whole financial ride with me....I FINALLY got my scholarship money from the government yesterday! I was only supposed to get a portion in advance because they messed up. I was originally going to have to wait until October 14th. But typical Danish fashion, expect less of some, and you may get more. So I received it all! I can finally afford to buy books for school!!!!

Keep in mind, today is October 7th, and I have been in this country since August 19th...living without any of the money that had been promised to me. Thank God for Granny, my mom, my dad, and Kelly and Naz for being my little bank runners in the US.

This is a good day..........I can finally pay people back now.

You Know You Are Not in America When....

I hope that this will be an ongoing list that I can continue to add to. The first weeks Rachel and I were here, we encountered crazy things everyday that we just had to laugh at. Things that would never, EVER happen in America. Kind of interesting....so here is the first installment:

You Know You Are NOT in America When...

-You walk 30 minutes to school each way, and think it is a short walk!

-There is vomit everywhere in the street on Monday after the weekend is over.

-You get teased by Europeans for wearing jeans with tennis shoes.

-You drink beer at everything, and AFTER everything (at school, after soccer games).

-You eat steak and french fries for dinner....at a bowling alley.

-A Long Island Ice Tea (which is made a little differentely) costs $30!!

-Wedding bands are worn on the right hand, and girls don't have diamonds :(

-You walk past a stroller on the sidewalk (by itself), the mom is in the store, and the baby is in the stroller.

-Certain Europeans think they will get shot if they come to the US.

-You get a hehehehe instead of hahahaha or lol on instant message or text message.

-Text message is called SMS.

That is all for now. Hope you enjoyed. I still have a little work to do to update to present day, so look for those soon!

And the Results are In....

Last night was a ton of fun! There were probably close to 100 students that joined together at Klubben to watch the soccer tournament last night (basically all were guys, except for the table I was at, which consisted of some of the girls from my soccer team). During big games, the bartenders hand out pieces of paper--you have to choose who you think will win the match. If you were loyal, you chose the Danish team; if you wanted to get FREE BEER, you chose Manchester United. Each time the team you chose scores a goal, you get a free beer! This was kind of interesting. We all chose Manchestere United, and they ended up winning the game 3-0. It was funny, because most everyone was rooting for Denmark, but everytime Man U scored, everyone cheered...for the beer, obviously.

It was a good night - a nice way to get out and meet some new people, and make it home at a decent hour!