Wake Me Up When September Ends

Yup, I be heading down to Germany for the next 8 days. Berlin first, then Munich. Slightly worried that there has been a general lack of preparations apart from finding accoms and booking plane/train tickets, and that no one has been to Germany before. Okay I have, but a package tour more than 10 years ago does not really count. And no one is going to bring a laptop along. Because we only want the enjoyment and usage of a laptop without the responsibility, and our risk-adverse nature thinks the laptop might get stolen. Altruism does not exist.

Shoving these pessimistic vibes away, I'm happy that I'll be there with people I know and I do think we'll have a lot of fun together - at Oktoberfest (real and genuine!), German Reunification Day and so on.

Something to lighten the mood, also known as my daily conversation with home:

Dear Mom/Dad,

$chool i$ really great. I am making lot$ of friend$ and $tudying very hard. With all my $tuff, I $imply ¢an't think of anything I need, $o if you would like, you can ju$t $end me a card, a$ I would love to hear from you.

Love,
Your $on.

Dear Son,

I kNOw that astroNOmy, ecoNOmics, and oceaNOgraphy are eNOugh to keep even an hoNOr student busy. Do NOt forget that the pursuit of kNOwledge is a NOble task, and you can never study eNOugh.

Love,
Mom/Dad

Just remember I picked a a course which has NO such negative words in them. Its never coincidental :)

To all who are returning back to school after the one week break, cheers!

Autumn Reflections

Usually my thoughts go wild and crazy almost all the time, but the minute I start to blog, they decide not to party anymore. The same goes with assignments and essays. I suspect its because the blank white screen fails to stimulate those brain cells. And this is why I think I will not make a good lawyer, or even office worker for that matter. But aside from having reflections about my thoughts, I decide I will just a pose a simple question:

Can there ever be a best time to visit a place?

Yes this is partly aimed at the failed road trip, because we had the transport, the company, and the weather to back us up. But yet a part of me is glad that I was in Aarhus for this weekend, this slice of time, because I actually got up to many things, which I would have to forego had I spent it in Sweden. On another sidenote, just to maybe get more COMMENTS ON MY BLOG, would you rather go to a safe country alone when the timing was perfect (i.e. theres a festival going on, the weather is great, whatever floats your boat) and not have company, or would having a buddy or group of friends be more important?

Photos from pub crawl on Friday:



Its a bit sad that the name translates to Kurt's Mom. And because it was raining so hard outside, it was filled with people, who would probably be sitting outside in an al fresco cafe along Aboulevarden.. like the next one we went to!



I kinda cycled home tipsy by the end of the pub crawl. My legs felt like lead.

And now photos from the LIVE! soccer game I was at, Saturday. The ticket was complimentary owing to the beer (or two, or five, or ten) I bought at the big university fredagsbar a week ago.






This is what happens when you don't support the correct team...



All in all, it wasn't too bad for a soccer game thats free. There were a few yellow cards, 1 red card, goals were scored (Aarhus team lost 2-1), and a lot of missed opportunities which my german friends cringed at. One said, "if this game was played in Germany, everyone would just get wasted".



Half-time show. "They should sell these cars and buy better players". Hilarious.

As for my bicycle, I've been getting a lot of mileage and exercise from it. The lack of suspension still makes every bump hurt like hell, though.





And finally, my good lock which has withstood the perils of a file:



Turns out my neighbour had her doormat stolen as well. Quite a lot of savages around. There was some guy roaming around the residence in his scooter, peeping into windows, checking whether bicycles are locked etc. Me and another resident didn't take too long to figure out he wasn't up to any good, but theres nothing we can do if we didn't want to cause trouble (something like running a rusty pole up his candy hole. its a nice rhyme too. sorry but this topic just gets me angry. its probably a reason I'm glad I do not share a kitchen with people and my food goes missing)

And for Sunday I stepped out of my comfort zone to learn some basic salsa steps at the Student House. Don't figure I'll write about it this time because I'm planning to keep going there in the weeks/months to come.

The Road Trip that didn't happen

Originally planning to head to Sweden by car from Friday to Monday. I was all tingly and excited at having to drive a Manual Car and controlling the gears with my right hand. But alas, it was cancelled because the primary driver was hum - or rather he said he did not feel so well. And another member was down with a cold too. I guess its all for the best, otherwise I might be sick too by the end of the road trip.

So hey, went to check out a golf course since I had a free Friday.





Beautiful course, but annoyingly hard to reach. Think trying to get from city to countryside, and navigating with a self-made hand-drawn map.

Only went out on the driving range. Supposed to drop in 20 kr for unlimited time and balls at the driving range, but no one was enforcing so.. you get the drift. Anyway my camera batteries went flat after the last photo so, could not take anything else. Headed to the IKEA AARHUS after that by chance because I was searching for the bus stop. Still thinking whether to get a comfortable swivel chair for 450 kr, or to loot my neighbour's apartment at the end of the semester. Heh, heh.



Here's a meal I made the other day, courtesy of pre-packed paste/sauce/condiments. But I take full credit for the presentation.

Shall try to make full use of the rest of the weekend, starting with a Pub Crawl later! Nagging feeling tells me the road trip won't just be postponed, but that's life.

Pay And Pay (PAP)

The irony will probably be lost on all but a few. But anyway this post is not political at all, rather it is a rant on certain things which have made me pretty unhappy on this otherwise fun exchange.

Denmark is expensive. That comes as no surprise, being a Scandinavian country with a welfare system, supported by a punishing 25% tax on all goods and services. How this translates - I had to pay an extra 25% for the crummy bike at the Police Auction on top of the price I bidded for. Should have just followed some people and quietly whisked an unlocked bike away. What sucked was after that I still needed to pay someone to break the lock on the bike. Only conclusion is that the police do NOT sell stolen bikes, more like unwanted/unnoticed bikes, belonging to owners who died or broke their legs. Most lucrative business ever, getting income with absolutely no capital needed whatsoever. Bet the morale at the police department must be really high ("quick find more bikes, we need a bigger bonus this year!!!!")

Next up, how do I benefit from this tax system? Free medical care, free education, no homeless/poor people to bother you. Its so obvious! Yeah right. I'm sure I should fall sick more often to get mileage out of the free medical care (which does not include dental. Apparently dentists are smarter than doctors and did not get subsumed under free state health care, go figure). As for education - while Danes get PAID an allowance for studying, I still have to pay school fees at my home university while I'm undergoing free state education over here. Hooray! As for hobos... well. I'm sure my doormat got stolen by a filthy rich billionaire. Plus my crummy bike caught someone's attention enough to try breaking my lock. And when I think I'm far enough away from home, the same people going round dustbins looking for bottles to recycle and get cash remind me that some things do not change.

Now for the finale. Telco. Yes I have a Danish number, a pre-paid one to be exact. How did I choose it? Went to a kiosk (convenience store), decided that it would be the best because then someone could explain all the unfathomable words to me. More than a month later, while surfing on the telco website, I found out that the amount you top-up each time affects how much you pay on your talktime. WOW. So had I bought a 100 DKK top-up, I pay 5 times more than the person with a 500 DKK top-up. Economic lesson: Perfect information is non-existent in a foreign country, especially when you're a newbie. And the Danish language barrier ensures you stay ignorant as you watch the dollar bills fly out the wallet. Just today when I decided to activate roaming after considering the roaming charges, I found out that they charge 200 DKK JUST TO ACTIVATE THE ROAMING. All for the tedious administrative labour of a mouse-click. Seriously, I swear this system makes me just want to screw it royally. I think the only reason the Danes are the happiest and most contented people is that they drink a lot and forget all their financial worries. And they do hire greedy Americans to formulate ways to rob money from you legally. Now you know.

Welcome to Denmark!

Aarhus Festival

Figured I should at least do a little write-up about the Festival thats ongoing. City centre is indeed buzzing with excitement and swarming with people. There was The Police concert on the day I returned to Aarhus, but.. wrong era for me I suppose. Huge tents have been set up for Live music makeshift bars; a huge stage dominates the centre with a performance each night; many performances/activities/shows are found in various places, open-air and indoor alike; theres the World's Longest Couch (and comfortable too!) set up in town for people to relax. Atmosphere is definitely different the past week.

Unfortunately, when all is said and done, I think it is still not much of a tourist attraction. Most of the people in the streets seem to be Danes just back from summer holiday and eager to catch up / grab a beer with friends and acquaintances.

I did watch a fantastic performance entitled "The Waiting Room", where two performers did stunts and acts to literally kill time. It was very artistic, especially the use of recorded video to complement their on-stage performance. And oh yes, no speech was involved, which was perfect.

Lack of photos can be attributable to the fact that school started this week. Readings are by no means easy or skimpy. It remains a wonder how it is rumoured that exchange students totally do not need to study.

Post-Grad Holiday

Roskilde

Three huge vases which are supposed to symbolise life and death (because it stores food, and stores ashes), and the youth hostel I stayed in. After dumping my pack there, I headed over to.....

Viking ship museum! The main reason I went to Roskilde. Some boring history (disclaimer: could be inaccurate): On showcase are 5 viking ships which were found and restored as best as could be. In the past when Roskilde was the main town, it is likely that these ships were loaded with boulders, sailed out and deliberately destroyed to ward off possible attacks by makingthe route inaccessible. Ironic how in the past, inaccessibility is key to survival, while now it is quite the opposite.

Second photo is about the voyage of a ship called the Sea Stallion which they created after Skuldelev 2 (one of the 5 viking ships). It is to sail from Roskilde to Dublin and back. Just pure wind energy and manual rowing. More can be found at this website.

Last photo is some random display ship for aesthetics/to fill up empty space and the area was useful for restless kids to run about. Oh and there were some viking costumes available to play dress up. But I think I'm a little too old for that.

Dont think this is some easy voyage. I actually had to row the darn thing (see the oars by the side). And later on when the sail was up, the wind/waves became very strong and my pants got wet as a result (no, not what you're thinking). Nevertheless it was a very very fun experience.






Roskilde Domkirke. Admitted to 1995 UNESCO's World Heritage List. Also the place for royalty to be buried in. But I wont be putting up photos of coffins on my blog, no matter how elaborate looking they are. Took a photo of an illustration, I do think thats supposed to be Adam and Eve. The architecture of the Cathedral was brilliant, and someone was playing on the organ when I was there, so that certainly boosted the experience.

Copenhagen

After more than 2 days of solo travelling, was very happy to meet up with Khelvin, who was to be my host in Copenhagen for the subsequent few days. Took some time to get used to the S-train and Metro system, and living in his huge shared house but with only 1 bathroom for 5-6 people. That aside, it felt good to finally be able to kick back and relax, and explore buffet places(!!!) Actually it was just one buffet place, but we were there three times in five days. And all three times I didnt need to eat dinner.

Ok on now to the tourist things of Copenhagen...

Icon of Denmark. I will definitely come by here again, not because its so fascinating, but because its very interesting to see the 1001 people doing all sorts of poses with the Little Mermaid. One person climbed all the way up and.. had some light petting with her. So do drop by to see! Just remember you're neither the first nor the last to... you know.





Carlsberg Brewery. Me and Khel totally went there with the intention to learn about the beer making process, and to see what goes on in a brewery. After all I've never been to APB. The drinking at the end of it was part of the educational experience. Great success!



Just trying out some artistic poses. Ahem so I went to the Louis Tussaud's Wax Museum, and *of course* I did not take any photos there. Distinctive feature of the wax museum was its house of horrors - Pandora's box, wax figure on an electric chair etc.




And finally Tivoli. Weihan and Khelvin posing with their year long membership card of Tivoli. I swear they bought it just so they can go in and collect Tivoli Cups to return for 5 kr each. I think thats the scariest ride in Tivoli.. may do it the next time I come, when I buy the unlimited rides ticket. Heh, heh. Or I may chicken out.

Here's a video of the Live Band playing at Tivoli for the Friday Night Rock. I was informed that this genre of music is techno, so if Danish Techno is your thing, click on...

Graduation

After many years of hard work... okay make that weeks, but make it *very* hard work, I graduated from DENMARK TODAY on 24th August 2007. Yes I have a certificate to prove it.



Guess which one, eh?


Seated (L - R): Elaine, Laura, Elisabeth, Nora, Kristin
Standing (L - R): Petra, Mathilde, Juanmi, Marisa, Johannes, Tim, Matthias, Mau
Not in Picture: Ana, Anna

Obviously being a relatively short stint, it was not a teary moment. Possibly the only tears that were shed were from the teachers when we did our singing in Danish.

The Post without a Photo

Just got back from a week long travel to Roskilde and Copenhagen. Whereas 1st August saw me hauling my huge bundle of stuff all the way from Singapore, 1st September was just a backpack and a few hours' train ride - definitely a lot more pleasant. Also because I had friends with me at the train station, the train did not seem so scary, and having a seat made me seem like less of a bum.

So that has been one month away from home. And I find myself integrating more and more into a place that is growing less strange and less unfamiliar. It shocks me when people bring their old baggage into a new society, and stubbornly reject a different way of life. And it shocks me even more when these people are 'on exchange'.

That does not mean I do not have my grouses. Especially when I return to find my doormat conveniently missing. But I much rather blend in and see things from another perspective.