Monday, February 23, 2009

Potlucks and lots of snow!

Hej!
Last week was potluck week with the exchange students! One was on Wednesday night, and was because one of the Canadian girls , Lianna, had 4 of her friends come to visit her on their reading week! It was really fun, a good reason for everyone to get together. Since I have absolutley no cooking skills, I brought oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies, my new delicious discovery! The night after that was another potluck hosted by Michelle, from Seattle! She called it an International Girls Dinner, which was so much fun! We were supposed to bring a dish from our home country, but really, what does Canada have that is specifically canadian except like, poutine ... which I am obviously not bringing! So I just brought a sour cream chip dip with some tortilla chips- always goes over well at potlucks!!
Also one day last week I had lunch with a Danish girl named Inge (no idea how to pronounce that by the way) who just came back from an exchange to UNB-Fredericton! She showed me a new canteen at the school and told me all about her exchange and how she loved Canada! (how could she not)

It also snowed lots this week! Nothing compared to what Canada is going through right now, I think the university campus was actually closed today, but lots of snow for Denmark!
ALSO THE CUTEST LITTLE KITTY CAT WAS IN MY BACKYARD TODAY. will post pictures later, as are not on my camera yet. it came right up to the door. it was adorableeeeeeeee. i miss cats.



Hilarious danish trees. I think they tried to cut them off at one point (there were powerlines above), but then they grew back ridiculously.

A picture from our Girls night! Shen and Kailey in the back, both from Canada, and the two girls in red are Dace and Liga from Latvia!










The two middle people here are two of the Canadians to came to visit, and the guy on the left.. is Lianna's Danish mentor, Im pretty sure his name was troels, pronounced totally like TROLLS. i thought that was funny.





also this weekend i am going to COPENHAGEN!!! Yay! I am excited. Hopefully I will have some exciting photos to post next time! I am going with the Studenterhus (student house) with some other exchange students, so hopefully it will be a fabulous time! Vi ses!

Sunday, February 15, 2009

week 7

Hej! All week I was really busy with catching up on reading , so I decided to go out both friday and saturday nights! Friday after class I stayed for a little bit in the biology common area/lounge type thing where all of the students go at the end of the week to hang out with the other biology students! It was really fun- Im actually meeting some danish people.. at last!
After that on Friday I had to give my bike back- my friend here had rented one and also bought one, so had an extra one for a week, which i happily borrowed! But unfortunately is now gone, so I am on the lookout for a really cheap, or free bike! Also made some delicious oatmeal chocolate CHUNK cookies, since they don't believe in chocolate chips here! I am going to get fat from all of the baking I do!!
Friday night I followed the other exchange students to the "crazy house".. apparently I didnt know what I was getting myself in to! Definately wasn't my type of party, but at least I didnt stay at home.. :)
Saturday was valentines day! They dont seem to really celebrate it here, so I was excited when I got a valentines day card in the mail from my parents which contained some delicious canadian valentines day chocolate!
Saturday night one of the exchange students Matteo had a big birthday party, which was fun! Almost everybody was there, except for all of the english girls who are in Scotland this weekend! Wish I was there too! But I was with Liga, the latvian girl, most of the night, and it was lots of fun!
During the week nothing too exciting happened- I had to give a 30 minute presentation for one of my classes so I was (just a little) freaking out for it all week!
I think this week might be just a little more exciting than last! Even though there will always be tons of homework to do.. I will only be in Europe for 6 months, so I have to keep telling myself to go out and not study!! A little hard sometimes :)

Sunday, February 8, 2009

:)


Hej! I cant believe Ive been here for over a month already.. time flies!
I have been really busy with class for the last week, I am still getting used to the way the school system works over here! For example the fact that some classes have an exam worth 100% of your final mark, and that it is an oral exam! How scary!! I like my classes for the most part- I really like fish biology! We got to dissect some herring and flounder on Monday which was cool! I was at a table with a couple of danish people so I have some new Danish friends!! I think we even have one or two field trips in that class, so that will be fun!
Animal physiology is pretty cool too, the people seem to be really nice but the course material is a little difficult.. and Microbiology is alright too! My teacher has an extremely long rat tail, which is too funny. The only class I really really don't enjoy is Agriculture... such a bad idea to take that course. At least it is over at Easter!
We've been getting together for dinner with some other students most nights, which is really nice! One night I went to Kailey, a Canadian girl's room with two others and we made some fabulous omelletes. and another night we invited a few people over at our house because Sissi, my German roommate wanted to cook for some people! That was nice, because since I am the worst cook in the world none of my friends even knew where I lived! I just always go to everyone else's house! Another day I went over to James' house to make muffins, as I was totally chocolate-chip muffin deprived. They were delicious and we shared them with all the Danish people living on his floor!
On Friday night alot of the exchange students went to one of their houses and played beer drinking games.. but since that is totally not my thing, me and three Latvian girls went downtown to a small restaurant/bar type thing for a few hours. Very fun!!

I also got a BIKE! Well, not really. I have it for about a week because somebody bought a bike, and has to return this one to the renting company next week.. but until then.. it is all mine! Which will probably make me buy one in the end.. but that is not a bad thing!

Here are a couple pictures from this week! ENJOY!! Hej hej!





Liga and Zanda from Latvia!











Some of the boys at a great big dinner put on at the Italians house!











The rest of the guests! Lots of people.. very small space.









They were trying to slow down cars. .. but instead of speed bumps I guess it is normal to put tiny gardens in the middle of the road. Haha!

Very much embracing the beautiful SUN! It doesnt come out too often.. maybe.. once every week and a half..

My "Hyggelig" candles I bought at IKEA! The word cant be translated, but is similar to "cozy".. so I had to go out and buy some cinammon smelling candles! Danes love their houses to be filled with candles and plants and coffee.....

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Biology classes begin!


Hej!

I am done my first week of classes at the University of Aarhus!! They were very different than Canada, I have to say! They totally dont believe in midterms here, or really anything that involves marks throughout the term. In a couple of my classes 100% of my mark will be determined from a 15 minute oral exam at the end of term, despite doing many presentations and labs and excercises.. very strange!


I met a couple of Danish people this week too! Very exciting!! But unfortunately I have a lot of hours of class per week- about 6 hours of each class per week, which is double the time than Saint John! My classes are: an Animal Physiology, a Microbiology, Fish Biology and the most boring class on earth- Environmental assessment and regulation of agricultural production. Why did I choose that class?!
I was really busy with classes this week to do much else, but I got a new roommate on Wednesday or Thursday which was really nice! She is from Germany and her name is Sissi, and she is a good cook.. and since I am not, it is great! :D
Also this week I went skating again on Sunday afternoon, and Alberto skated by himself! Very exciting. on Wednesday I went out to a restaurant downtown called "Mackies" with James (as everyone else was in Barcelona!!), and it was delicious! Also had dinner one night at Alberto and Mary's, as they are italian and make delicious food, and another night at Lorenzos since I love Italian pasta very very much!
I will leave you with some recent pictures!
The walking lane on the left, biking lane in the middle and driving on the right! Almost every road has the bike lanes as well as the walking lanes!
There was a party on Saturday night at Skejbyparken! Sissi (my new German roommate), Fabian (from Germany also- he is moving upstairs in my house tommorrow!), Mattie from USA, Kailey from Wilfred Laurier university, Me and Dan from San Fransico, who totally loves the Trailor Park boys. too funny.
Rainald and Sissi! They were very excited because since Rainald is from Austria and Sissi from Munich they apparently have the same accent!