I say ‘huge’ update but I am just going to run through a few things that I have done this past month that have really capped my experience in Europe. First of all if you are reading this and have any questions as to how I traveled to so many different places and could afford it, please ask away because believe me I only have enough money to feed 2 mice a day but I still managed to go everywhere I planned to. Couple of tips:
Plan way ahead, buy tickets early and book hostels ASAP
Do NOT wait for other people to say ‘ok’ to joining you because you cannot depend on people you barely know and to me its worth seeing the place rather then waiting for people to say they will join you and the process drags out to the point were even the cheapest hostel becomes expensive. So not to be self centered but to ensure you see everything you want to, book everything for yourself and let those interested book their own tickets, etc. Worked for me!
Don’t buy souvenirs everywhere you go… lets be honest… you will probably throw it out or lose it one day and pictures in my opinion are enough. This will probably save you an estimated $300… in my opinion.
Use your friends or other resources like couchsurfing.com (if you’re not too sketched out to meet and live with people you don’t know). Hell, it is studying abroad… take the risk! Saves you tons. Ex: I stayed with family in Sweden, paid nothing to live there. Stayed with a friend’s family in Norway, paid nothing to live there. Used couchsurfing.com to live with a family for free there… saved me $150 for living expenses I would have accrued with the hostel (a.k.a Iceland will absolutely be the most expensive place you go, ex: 6 inch subway costs $15, cheapest beer= $8+)
Go out if that is your thing to do, but keep the alcohol to a minimum. Lets be honest, it is way more expensive in Europe to drink, so when you go out buy just a couple of drinks and that’s it. Call me a loser, but I must say my experience has been much more then bragging about how drunk I was last night and how my recovery the following day has been painful… no, I have had great times out just having a few drinks or none… that is just me. But it probably saved me $300- $400 at least (this whole semester). Pre-game with friends if you really feel the need to have a few, you’ll save tons this way too. Hey I’m just being honest.
TURN OFF YOUR CELLPHONE WHEN TRAVELING OUTSIDE DENMARK!!!! You don’t need it when you are traveling with a group of people but if you really feel the need, just text people… it is SOOOO much cheaper. I have heard students who have stated that they paid between $200 and $1200 in one month for using their phone… need I say more. Every time you enter a new zone and you are roaming, the company will charge you for it. TIP: buy a webcam or microphone and use Skype, yahoo messenger or some other free service you can use online to talk to friends and family at home. By the way, my most expensive bill so far was a painful $16.
This is probably my favorite tip… if you’re going to travel around Europe and do not mind taking trains, overnight trains, etc to locations around Europe buy a Eurail (www.eurail.com) or Scanrail (www.scanrail.com) for travel in Scandinavia. Note: you need to buy it before you come to Europe or have a parent buy you one and send it to you in Europe because the program is only for non- Europeans. You probably want an example of how I saved money…ok: I bought a Scanrail for traveling in Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland). It was a 5 day 24 hour pass for $200. So essentially I can travel anywhere in Scandinavia, as far north, south, east and west my pass could take me for any 5 days in a 2 month period of when I activated the pass. I went to Skagen 1 day (that was a long trip, but so worth it), Stockholm with my cousin using 2 days, up and back, then I went to Oslo, Norway with one pass and from there Bergen, Norway for my last trip. With out the pass, I would have easily spent $1000 more (math: 5 trips, average cost $250= $1250….-$200 for my scanrail= around $1000). Wow…
Another tip, based on my observation and what I have heard, live with a host family if you have the personality to adapt to new situations. This will not only give you first hand experience in Danish culture and language, but you will save sooooooo much money on food.
Like I said these tips are based on my experience and my opinions so feel free to take it or leave it, but I would say take it, haha.
Before I forget, this is totally random but I will forget to mention it: Weird things I ate and where:
- iceland: Whale
- Norway: Salmon and eggs for breakfast
- Sweden: Raindeer, Moose, Halibut, small caviar
- Møn, Denmark: Kangeroo (yes the animal that hops and is from Australia)
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Oops... I forgot I went to Iceland.
I forgot to mention that I went to Iceland this past weekend. DIS arranged a trip to Bornholm Island for a bike tour this past weekend because Friday was a holiday. So for people like me who decided not to go on the trip, planned other things. I planned a trip to Iceland. I bought a ticket the first week of February and made it a point to go considering that it was much cheaper to go from Copenhagen then from anywhere in the U.S..
To make the trip as cheap and memorable as possible, I decided to create a profile on couchsurfing to see if I would be able to crash on someones 'couch' for 3 nights. long story short I found someone I was able to stay with and it was at his granparents house. It was really nice to be able to live with an Icelander because you get more out of the experience. On Friday I went on a tour to Blue Lagoon a hot springs resort, then visited Gullfoss a large waterfall practically in the middle of no where, then I went to a Geyser area which was pretty cool because I have never seen that. I actually met up with another DIS student for the day and we traveled together on the tour.
Dinner that night was Whale, one of the few places in the world you can get it. It was very good! Highly recommend it. It was kind of like a lean steak (remember whales are mammals) and kind of a fishy taste as well. it is difficult to describe but try it if you get the chance.
Then I went out on the town that night with my Icelandic friends and had a great time. I even saw Miss World 2005 all sloshed... that was funny. The last day the kid I was staying with took me and his cousin out to the country to check out some cool sites. The country is really exotic and absolutely beautiful. Waterfalls, volcanos, mountains, geysers, hot springs, huge glaciers.... its just awesome! The people are also very friendly and the girls are beautiful. But beauty came at a huge price... keep that in mind.
To make the trip as cheap and memorable as possible, I decided to create a profile on couchsurfing to see if I would be able to crash on someones 'couch' for 3 nights. long story short I found someone I was able to stay with and it was at his granparents house. It was really nice to be able to live with an Icelander because you get more out of the experience. On Friday I went on a tour to Blue Lagoon a hot springs resort, then visited Gullfoss a large waterfall practically in the middle of no where, then I went to a Geyser area which was pretty cool because I have never seen that. I actually met up with another DIS student for the day and we traveled together on the tour.
Dinner that night was Whale, one of the few places in the world you can get it. It was very good! Highly recommend it. It was kind of like a lean steak (remember whales are mammals) and kind of a fishy taste as well. it is difficult to describe but try it if you get the chance.
Then I went out on the town that night with my Icelandic friends and had a great time. I even saw Miss World 2005 all sloshed... that was funny. The last day the kid I was staying with took me and his cousin out to the country to check out some cool sites. The country is really exotic and absolutely beautiful. Waterfalls, volcanos, mountains, geysers, hot springs, huge glaciers.... its just awesome! The people are also very friendly and the girls are beautiful. But beauty came at a huge price... keep that in mind.
UPDATE: May 10th, 2006
So the last week I traveled to Sweden to visit my mothers family in Veddige which is a small farming town outside of Varberg (south of Göteborg). The area was absolutely beautiful and it was really nice to meet relatives I have never met before. Strangely enough, one of my cousins looks exactly how my grandmother looked when she was younger, that was pretty cool. I stayed with my family of course and traveled with my friend Kjersti who is also from Elon and attended DIS this semester. Varberg was a very nice coastal town I highly recommend going here if you are looking for a coastal retreat that is not very touristy… mind the cold however.
Thursday morning of that week, Kjersti and I were on a train towards Oslo, Norway to visit her family for a couple of days. Oslo was a beautiful city, very clean and nice people. The city is situated in a Fjord and the harbor which is beautiful. After a couple of days in Oslo, we were back on the train towards Bergen. Our trip to Bergen by train was definitely the most memorable experience I had all 3 weeks. The scenery was unreal! The train traveling in and out of tunnels and would be exposed to all different types of climate change, from sun to snow to rain, it was awesome. We also saw a train that was knocked off the tracks by an avalanche one week before. No one was killed or seriously hurt, so that made it an awesome site. As for Bergen, beautiful place, beautiful people and great nightlife! I guess the town has to make up for the fact the next larger city is about 7 hours drive south to Stavanger (which I have also heard is beautiful).
SIDE NOTE: Sweden and Norway (especially Norway) were very expensive. Ex: 1 beer in the convenient store will cost you about $7.
SIDE NOTE 2: eat Salmon in Sweden or Norway, it is awesome there! And try the brown cheese in Norway that is made from goat and cow milk. It’s awesome!
Then we were back to DIS for classes and I decided that that weekend I should recoup from all the traveling. The following weekend I went to Stockholm with my cousin. It was a bit pricy even aside from my cheap ticket because he booked a hotel and the food we ate was kind of expensive… but it was worth it. See the Vasa museum when you are there, that was awesome! The city is absolutely gorgeous situated on islands and a large archipelago. They say it is so clean in the waters of Stockholm that you can safely eat the fish from the harbor in the city.
I returned to DIS late Sunday (by the way I brought work to study a little on the way back, that was a smart move). The following weekend I wanted to use my last pass, so I decided to go to Skagen, the tip of Denmark. This is where the Baltic Sea and the North Sea collide. It was truly an amazing site! The town was picturesque as well as the beach and I finished off the experience with a dish in one of the harbor restaurants with salmon, and tiny lobsters, native to the area. Mind you, this was my last ticket so I had to make the 14 hour trip (from Copenhagen to Skagen and back) in one day. How did I do it? I left at 2am in the morning and had a 1 hour lay over in Federicia a small town that luckily had a pastry shop open at the crack of dawn, so I bought a nice coffee and brown sugar Wienerbrød to keep me company. I also met some really nice people on the small train. The attitude in Jutland is much friendlier in general then in Copenhagen, in my opinion, but the Copenhageners are nice as well.
Then I finally had a little break from my travels, caught up on my studies and set the following Friday as a day for visiting places in Copenhagen I have not seen yet. I guess when you live there you get used to seeing everything and it becomes home, so your interest in the surroundings fades quickly especially when you have a schedule to adhere to. But I decided to pass up the round tower, I was a little stingy on money that day, but I visited Kristian IV’s park which is nice in the spring with a lot of people hanging out there. Then I went to Christiania, the legendary free city of Copenhagen. That was ‘interesting’. Very hippy like place that I imagined and yes there were drugs about… visible in public (not sold in public) which was also strange to me as well. Aside from that the place had its own character and personality that is difficult to describe unless you are really there. Visitors to Copenhagen should try to get around to seeing this.
Finally I went to Møn which is where the white sand cliffs are located on the small island of Møn south of Sjælland (where Copenhagen is). It was awesome! Chalk like sand with flint, and towering cliffs… it was amazing! Definitely try to visit this place. To top off my Møn experience, my host family and I had a nice dinner in the town of Stege which is on Møn Island.
Well that is all for now… I probably should have been studying instead of writing this, but I am not sure when I will get around to it until after finals (which are next week, ahhh!!!!). Basically I won’t have a life until May 17th, after my last exam.
Thursday morning of that week, Kjersti and I were on a train towards Oslo, Norway to visit her family for a couple of days. Oslo was a beautiful city, very clean and nice people. The city is situated in a Fjord and the harbor which is beautiful. After a couple of days in Oslo, we were back on the train towards Bergen. Our trip to Bergen by train was definitely the most memorable experience I had all 3 weeks. The scenery was unreal! The train traveling in and out of tunnels and would be exposed to all different types of climate change, from sun to snow to rain, it was awesome. We also saw a train that was knocked off the tracks by an avalanche one week before. No one was killed or seriously hurt, so that made it an awesome site. As for Bergen, beautiful place, beautiful people and great nightlife! I guess the town has to make up for the fact the next larger city is about 7 hours drive south to Stavanger (which I have also heard is beautiful).
SIDE NOTE: Sweden and Norway (especially Norway) were very expensive. Ex: 1 beer in the convenient store will cost you about $7.
SIDE NOTE 2: eat Salmon in Sweden or Norway, it is awesome there! And try the brown cheese in Norway that is made from goat and cow milk. It’s awesome!
Then we were back to DIS for classes and I decided that that weekend I should recoup from all the traveling. The following weekend I went to Stockholm with my cousin. It was a bit pricy even aside from my cheap ticket because he booked a hotel and the food we ate was kind of expensive… but it was worth it. See the Vasa museum when you are there, that was awesome! The city is absolutely gorgeous situated on islands and a large archipelago. They say it is so clean in the waters of Stockholm that you can safely eat the fish from the harbor in the city.
I returned to DIS late Sunday (by the way I brought work to study a little on the way back, that was a smart move). The following weekend I wanted to use my last pass, so I decided to go to Skagen, the tip of Denmark. This is where the Baltic Sea and the North Sea collide. It was truly an amazing site! The town was picturesque as well as the beach and I finished off the experience with a dish in one of the harbor restaurants with salmon, and tiny lobsters, native to the area. Mind you, this was my last ticket so I had to make the 14 hour trip (from Copenhagen to Skagen and back) in one day. How did I do it? I left at 2am in the morning and had a 1 hour lay over in Federicia a small town that luckily had a pastry shop open at the crack of dawn, so I bought a nice coffee and brown sugar Wienerbrød to keep me company. I also met some really nice people on the small train. The attitude in Jutland is much friendlier in general then in Copenhagen, in my opinion, but the Copenhageners are nice as well.
Then I finally had a little break from my travels, caught up on my studies and set the following Friday as a day for visiting places in Copenhagen I have not seen yet. I guess when you live there you get used to seeing everything and it becomes home, so your interest in the surroundings fades quickly especially when you have a schedule to adhere to. But I decided to pass up the round tower, I was a little stingy on money that day, but I visited Kristian IV’s park which is nice in the spring with a lot of people hanging out there. Then I went to Christiania, the legendary free city of Copenhagen. That was ‘interesting’. Very hippy like place that I imagined and yes there were drugs about… visible in public (not sold in public) which was also strange to me as well. Aside from that the place had its own character and personality that is difficult to describe unless you are really there. Visitors to Copenhagen should try to get around to seeing this.
Finally I went to Møn which is where the white sand cliffs are located on the small island of Møn south of Sjælland (where Copenhagen is). It was awesome! Chalk like sand with flint, and towering cliffs… it was amazing! Definitely try to visit this place. To top off my Møn experience, my host family and I had a nice dinner in the town of Stege which is on Møn Island.
Well that is all for now… I probably should have been studying instead of writing this, but I am not sure when I will get around to it until after finals (which are next week, ahhh!!!!). Basically I won’t have a life until May 17th, after my last exam.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Russia: Moscow, Novgorod and St. Petersburg
This past week I visited the Russian cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg. What an amazing opportunity to say the least. My group left on Monday, March 26th early in the morning. From there we went to a nice restaurant near red square where we were exposed to the Russian way of dining not only in the type of food (which is actually difficult to specify because we had a lot of different food) but the techno music. After that a police man made me delete photos that I had taken of the President’s building… he was being a prick in my opinion. But none the less it was funny after I walked away without paying him off in rubles. Yes you have to pay off policemen sometimes in Russia; it happened 2x to two other guys on the trip. Almost every meal I had, eve n breakfast had techno music in the background… ‘om ste! om ste! om ste! om ste!’ haha.
The second day we toured the world famous Kremlin which is the original fortress of Moscow including several orthodox churches within… one even including singing monks. We also visited what I regarded as my favorite event on the entire trip, Lenin’s mausoleum. It was his actually body encased in wax and placed delicately in a glass coffin with soviet symbols and dim red lightening to add additional effects…. It was unbelievable!
Then we went to the tallest eastern orthodox church in the world, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. It was destroyed by Stalin back in the day to instill an atheist regime. Other cathedrals were used as storage units. That is sad. After that visit we went to the Royal Danish Embassy and were able to meet the Deputy Head of Mission and Minister Counsellor. He basically reports on Russia’s political and economic matters to the Danish government, so he was well informed on all Russian issues. It was a great opportunity.
Wednesday we visited State Tretyakov Museum with our student guides. It was basically a museum of all classical Russia art. It was fairly interesting; I think having a theologian as a guide definitely helped the interpretation of the paintings, etc.
Moscow in a nutshell from my perspective: Beautiful sites near and inside the Kremlin including the world famous St. Basil’s cathedral, BUT the people are not that friendly, the city is so huge it takes forever to get from point A to point B, there are cops everywhere and that is a little intimidating and it is SOOO dirty! I actually had trouble breathing there, I kid you not. A lot of smog and cars plastered with dirt. Also the communist apartments/ flats are the same everywhere so you get lost easily and no one speaks any English and the Russian is difficult to read because it is not written with Latin letters. BUT visit it if you have the chance, especially the Kremlin and Lenin’s mausoleum.
Later that night we had the privilege of hopping on another ‘soviet made’ train and taking a trip to Novgorod. It was an overnight train and it was tight quarters. I also think that the water made some of us sick…. BLAHHH! and Pffffff! Not a good situation. But it was another experience… don’t drink the water. We then toured Novgorod, a town built by a Swedish Viking prince called Rurik in the 9th century, it was fascinating. We also met our new tour guide here as well Varya. We then visited St. George’s Monstery were we met an orthodox monk. We also received some insight from him as well.
Then we traveled to St. Petersberg, settled into our NICE hotel… modern, clean and friendly staff. That night we had a group night out at this bar/club called Fidel (a.k.a Castro). The next day we met up with our new guides and they took us to Peter and Paul Fortress which was nice… there were actually people sun bathing in bathing suits there in the 55 degree F weather we had. Got to love those tough Russians! We finished off the day with our ‘St. Petersburg behind the façade’ tour with our guides. This was one of the highlights of my trip and one of the most humbling experiences I have had thus far. You see, behind all the glamour of these beautiful European like buildings are ugly, out of date buildings/ slums were most of the population lives. We visited an apartment that was inhabited by 9 different individuals or families even though it was originally designed to suit 1 family. You can buy one bedroom in these apartments for roughly $25,000 or rent… which most people obviously do. Wealthier individuals will buy up rooms as they go for sale until eventually they can purchase all the rooms in the apartment. If this is not the case, then fairly wealthy individuals often find themselves living with very poor individuals or families. On top of this everyone has to schedule when they use the bathroom and kitchen and they usually have a reserved space in the kitchen for their own utensils etc. and they sometimes even bring their own light bulb to the bathroom so they use their own and are not subject to paying for a new one once everyone else has worn out the older bulb…. It is REALLY bizarre and sad… but this is reality.
Later that night we made dinner, had pirogues (if that is how you spell it) and vodka with pickles and herring… yes, Russian style…. Drink a shot of vodka, chase with your choice of a pickle or piece of herring fish. Both were disgusting and I would personally suggest using a lemon to chase…. BUT when in Russia I suppose.
The last day I went to the St. Petersburg Ballet to see “Swan Lake”. Think whatever you want but I will be the first to admit that I really enjoyed the performance. The only thing that was slightly annoying was a group of tourists who were taking flash photos and videos the whole time…. It was ridiculous!
After that we went out to a Russian cuisine type joint and ate dinner, had a few beers and some hookah! It was a great way to end and reflect on the trip. The next morning we were off to Copenhagen.
Comments?
PS: if you get the chance to go to Russia go with an open mind... it really is an amazing experience!
The second day we toured the world famous Kremlin which is the original fortress of Moscow including several orthodox churches within… one even including singing monks. We also visited what I regarded as my favorite event on the entire trip, Lenin’s mausoleum. It was his actually body encased in wax and placed delicately in a glass coffin with soviet symbols and dim red lightening to add additional effects…. It was unbelievable!
Then we went to the tallest eastern orthodox church in the world, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. It was destroyed by Stalin back in the day to instill an atheist regime. Other cathedrals were used as storage units. That is sad. After that visit we went to the Royal Danish Embassy and were able to meet the Deputy Head of Mission and Minister Counsellor. He basically reports on Russia’s political and economic matters to the Danish government, so he was well informed on all Russian issues. It was a great opportunity.
Wednesday we visited State Tretyakov Museum with our student guides. It was basically a museum of all classical Russia art. It was fairly interesting; I think having a theologian as a guide definitely helped the interpretation of the paintings, etc.
Moscow in a nutshell from my perspective: Beautiful sites near and inside the Kremlin including the world famous St. Basil’s cathedral, BUT the people are not that friendly, the city is so huge it takes forever to get from point A to point B, there are cops everywhere and that is a little intimidating and it is SOOO dirty! I actually had trouble breathing there, I kid you not. A lot of smog and cars plastered with dirt. Also the communist apartments/ flats are the same everywhere so you get lost easily and no one speaks any English and the Russian is difficult to read because it is not written with Latin letters. BUT visit it if you have the chance, especially the Kremlin and Lenin’s mausoleum.
Later that night we had the privilege of hopping on another ‘soviet made’ train and taking a trip to Novgorod. It was an overnight train and it was tight quarters. I also think that the water made some of us sick…. BLAHHH! and Pffffff! Not a good situation. But it was another experience… don’t drink the water. We then toured Novgorod, a town built by a Swedish Viking prince called Rurik in the 9th century, it was fascinating. We also met our new tour guide here as well Varya. We then visited St. George’s Monstery were we met an orthodox monk. We also received some insight from him as well.
Then we traveled to St. Petersberg, settled into our NICE hotel… modern, clean and friendly staff. That night we had a group night out at this bar/club called Fidel (a.k.a Castro). The next day we met up with our new guides and they took us to Peter and Paul Fortress which was nice… there were actually people sun bathing in bathing suits there in the 55 degree F weather we had. Got to love those tough Russians! We finished off the day with our ‘St. Petersburg behind the façade’ tour with our guides. This was one of the highlights of my trip and one of the most humbling experiences I have had thus far. You see, behind all the glamour of these beautiful European like buildings are ugly, out of date buildings/ slums were most of the population lives. We visited an apartment that was inhabited by 9 different individuals or families even though it was originally designed to suit 1 family. You can buy one bedroom in these apartments for roughly $25,000 or rent… which most people obviously do. Wealthier individuals will buy up rooms as they go for sale until eventually they can purchase all the rooms in the apartment. If this is not the case, then fairly wealthy individuals often find themselves living with very poor individuals or families. On top of this everyone has to schedule when they use the bathroom and kitchen and they usually have a reserved space in the kitchen for their own utensils etc. and they sometimes even bring their own light bulb to the bathroom so they use their own and are not subject to paying for a new one once everyone else has worn out the older bulb…. It is REALLY bizarre and sad… but this is reality.
Later that night we made dinner, had pirogues (if that is how you spell it) and vodka with pickles and herring… yes, Russian style…. Drink a shot of vodka, chase with your choice of a pickle or piece of herring fish. Both were disgusting and I would personally suggest using a lemon to chase…. BUT when in Russia I suppose.
The last day I went to the St. Petersburg Ballet to see “Swan Lake”. Think whatever you want but I will be the first to admit that I really enjoyed the performance. The only thing that was slightly annoying was a group of tourists who were taking flash photos and videos the whole time…. It was ridiculous!
After that we went out to a Russian cuisine type joint and ate dinner, had a few beers and some hookah! It was a great way to end and reflect on the trip. The next morning we were off to Copenhagen.
Comments?
PS: if you get the chance to go to Russia go with an open mind... it really is an amazing experience!
Long Study Tour: Prague, Czech Republic and Berlin, Germany
It was a 16 hour drive (including ferry ride) from Copenhagen to Prague. The city of Prague is absolutely stunning, although arguably dirty as hell. Czech food was a little bland yet I tried as much Czech type food just to say that I experienced as much as I could during my stay. The people in my opinion were not really that friendly, I felt like I had to constantly check my pockets to ensure my Czech Krones were still around… drug dealing seemed to be quite prevent and prostitution as well (this statement got a little old for me: “hey baby… how about a little this a little that… 500 crowns” a.k.a about $30). Strip clubs everywhere with human ads all over the places luring potential customers in their strip club… “hey man, I got the best girls in town…” blah blah blah. It was a fun city but it got old really quick. Admittedly the poor weather conditions did not help.
On a positive note, the city was really beautiful, food was decent, beer was GREAT! On a more professional note, my business group and I visited 3 companies in the Czech Republic: Skoda, 02 and Skanska and 1 company in Berlin: Invest in Germany.
All the visits were fascinating in their own way. Personally I was most interested by Skanska due to the fact that I have some experience in the construction field and was able to interact more with the presenter during Q & A. I was a little disappointed with my tour group itself, some students did not take it as seriously as I would have hoped and that definitely presented a problem. You see some students do not take classes at DIS for credit so their incentive to get involved and learn as much as possible from this fortunate opportunity is diminished…. How sad huh? Overall I enjoyed the experienced. One of the most interesting points I derived from this experience and business in the E.U. is that many companies within the E.U. focus on premium, high priced products. However due to high subsidies and tariffs over a long period of time, all industries have grown with a dependence on some type of state aid. This in my opinion is extremely dangerous for European companies especially considering globalization and increased international competition. THEY CANNOT HIDE BEHIND THE WALLS OF THE E.U. FOREVER. I could elaborate, but at this time you have either lost me, maybe have not even reached this sentence or don’t really care. But if you do and you want to debate about it let me know, I am fascinated by the subject.
In Berlin I went to the Jewish Museum (I actually learned a lot at this place, very interesting), the topography of terror (history on the SS and their unforgivable acts of terror), the Reichstag and the Museum of Medical History (fascinating museum… I would elaborate on its contents but out of fear of politically correct sticklers, discussing the contents would probably not be a good idea so I will keep that to myself or you can question me about it through e-mail). There were other places, but it seems so long ago already…
Well I am getting lazy at this point, the weather is beautiful outside, I promised myself I would start running, so that is what I am going to do now. Would love to hear your comments!
On a positive note, the city was really beautiful, food was decent, beer was GREAT! On a more professional note, my business group and I visited 3 companies in the Czech Republic: Skoda, 02 and Skanska and 1 company in Berlin: Invest in Germany.
All the visits were fascinating in their own way. Personally I was most interested by Skanska due to the fact that I have some experience in the construction field and was able to interact more with the presenter during Q & A. I was a little disappointed with my tour group itself, some students did not take it as seriously as I would have hoped and that definitely presented a problem. You see some students do not take classes at DIS for credit so their incentive to get involved and learn as much as possible from this fortunate opportunity is diminished…. How sad huh? Overall I enjoyed the experienced. One of the most interesting points I derived from this experience and business in the E.U. is that many companies within the E.U. focus on premium, high priced products. However due to high subsidies and tariffs over a long period of time, all industries have grown with a dependence on some type of state aid. This in my opinion is extremely dangerous for European companies especially considering globalization and increased international competition. THEY CANNOT HIDE BEHIND THE WALLS OF THE E.U. FOREVER. I could elaborate, but at this time you have either lost me, maybe have not even reached this sentence or don’t really care. But if you do and you want to debate about it let me know, I am fascinated by the subject.
In Berlin I went to the Jewish Museum (I actually learned a lot at this place, very interesting), the topography of terror (history on the SS and their unforgivable acts of terror), the Reichstag and the Museum of Medical History (fascinating museum… I would elaborate on its contents but out of fear of politically correct sticklers, discussing the contents would probably not be a good idea so I will keep that to myself or you can question me about it through e-mail). There were other places, but it seems so long ago already…
Well I am getting lazy at this point, the weather is beautiful outside, I promised myself I would start running, so that is what I am going to do now. Would love to hear your comments!
Ungdomshuset: Riots in Copenhagen!!!
First off I would like to apologize for not writing in my Blog lately (love how I refer to it like a journal). It has been a busy, blurry, changing time period this last month. So many things have occurred and it really has been a little difficult to catch up with people from home etc. I went from Midterms, right into my long study tour (packed 15 mins before leaving for airport), returned to Copenhagen for 1.5 days, traveled to Russia and now I am back to Copenhagen… to pack for another trip this week to Sweden and Norway in which I will give a separate update.
Anyways, let me give you a little background information on the Ungdomshuset issue. Ungdomshuset, meaning ‘youth house’ is a place that the city government gave to leftist protestor type students (i.e. communists, punks and anarchists) in an effort to provide a meeting place for these individuals to keep them off the street and out of trouble. Long story short, the city mayor decided to sell the property to a woman pastor who claims that god sent her a message to buy the house to oust these youth from the area. This purchase was done 9 YEARS AGO and she still has not been able to force these youth from the house. Finally a court order allowed the police to enter the house and arrest the imposters… it really was a dramatic scene one might expect from an action flick. Around 3 am in the morning the police sent in a helicopter full of police men, they jumped on the roof of the house to break in and occupy from the top down… WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT YOU ASK? Because the youth expected these at some point and made rock piles and brick piles on the roof to throw down at the police if they dared to enter the house. Anyways, they arrested everyone in there, news spread rapidly, and anarchists and other extreme type youth in and outside of Denmark came to riot in the city. They smashed glass, threw rocks at police, burned cars… the whole deal. It was pretty wild! I have a few friends who saw the whole situation because they live in the area. Some of the protestors even wore ninja like gear…. It was bizarre to say the least. Most of the protestors and riots were under 18 years of age and even some of the parents of the youth were arrested for neglecting their child and allowing them to do this. Finally about 5 days or so after the initial riot, they tore the house down. I’m indifferent on the situation because I have not lived here long enough to fully understand the situation… regardless, it was screwed up. HOW DID I GAIN PERSONALLY FROM THIS? I got a sweet poster from Copenhagen’s Politiken Newspaper that looks like a grave and indicates the years of life the house.
Anyways, let me give you a little background information on the Ungdomshuset issue. Ungdomshuset, meaning ‘youth house’ is a place that the city government gave to leftist protestor type students (i.e. communists, punks and anarchists) in an effort to provide a meeting place for these individuals to keep them off the street and out of trouble. Long story short, the city mayor decided to sell the property to a woman pastor who claims that god sent her a message to buy the house to oust these youth from the area. This purchase was done 9 YEARS AGO and she still has not been able to force these youth from the house. Finally a court order allowed the police to enter the house and arrest the imposters… it really was a dramatic scene one might expect from an action flick. Around 3 am in the morning the police sent in a helicopter full of police men, they jumped on the roof of the house to break in and occupy from the top down… WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT YOU ASK? Because the youth expected these at some point and made rock piles and brick piles on the roof to throw down at the police if they dared to enter the house. Anyways, they arrested everyone in there, news spread rapidly, and anarchists and other extreme type youth in and outside of Denmark came to riot in the city. They smashed glass, threw rocks at police, burned cars… the whole deal. It was pretty wild! I have a few friends who saw the whole situation because they live in the area. Some of the protestors even wore ninja like gear…. It was bizarre to say the least. Most of the protestors and riots were under 18 years of age and even some of the parents of the youth were arrested for neglecting their child and allowing them to do this. Finally about 5 days or so after the initial riot, they tore the house down. I’m indifferent on the situation because I have not lived here long enough to fully understand the situation… regardless, it was screwed up. HOW DID I GAIN PERSONALLY FROM THIS? I got a sweet poster from Copenhagen’s Politiken Newspaper that looks like a grave and indicates the years of life the house.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Short Study Tour!
It is almost March! Where is the time going?!?!?!?!? Right now I am actually sitting in the downtown København Royal Library just distracting myself from doing work… so I figured what a great time to write a new entry.
Well last week/weekend I went on my first study tour! Because IBE (international business and economics) program is larger than most other programs we were split into two groups. I am in section B… B meaning Best group, haha, no I am just kidding… but I must admit going on these trips is definitely a great way to get to know your fellow class mates a little better.
The first trip was to A.P. Møller-Mærsk. It is the world’s largest shipping company and is also involved with the oil industry and retail, particularly Bilka and Netto (2 grocery stores in Denmark). The visit was very professional in a sense. We went to the headquarters in downtown København and watched a touching presentation on the history of the company, its business structure and its broad goals for the future. They also introduced a great program for post graduate students that train you in different fields such as international logistics and finance that directly correlate with Mærsk. We took a very small tour of the headquarters and saw some pretty amazing models of their ships.
Our second company visit was on February 14th, actually at DIS. We had a visitor by the name of Lars from SAS (Scandinavian Airlines). Not to jump ahead but this was my favorite ‘visit’… Going into the presentation I was thinking to myself ok just listen and weed out the B.S. because when you speak to most companies or companies come and give a presentation to students, etc. they are usually only going to present the optimistic facts and figures. Well… this was a VERY different presentation. Lars definitely supported his company and gave us useful information on its structure but he also mentioned the various struggles that the company is going through. Being an airline company I guess you can never assume anything right? I won’t get into detail but all in all I was blown away by the HONESTY the man portrayed about his company. Is that because I have been brainwashed to think you can never trust the corporate world… I am not really sure. But another interesting thing is that I actually pulled off an article offline before entering the presentation just so I had some up to date information on recent events involving the company. It was actually a Forbes article claiming all these come back strategies and amazing quarterly figures from SAS… lets just say I found out WHY that was the case during the presentation. I am sure I could have found it out if I had researched more but it was interesting to hear the perspective of an insider.
Anyways I guess you had to be there to really appreciate it… but once that was over, our group was on a bus to Odense. This the 3rd largest city in Denmark and it rests on the island of Funen (actually sounds more like foon’). We toured the Hans Christen Andersen’s house and museum. That was fairly interesting…. If you are unaware of who Hans Christen Andersen is (like me… kind of sad I know), he authored several fairy tale stories some of which include the Little Mermaid, Princess and the Pea… and in think Emperor’s New Clothes (don’t quote me on that one). After the visit to his house we explored the city. It really was beautiful to say the least… in a way sort of a like a mini-København (notice I like to use the øøøø’s whenever possible because it makes me feel cool, haha).
Then we were off to Haderslav which is on the mainland peninsula of Jutland or Jylland in Danish. We stayed in a hostel near the small town and naturally took advantage of its night life. Started with a round or two of KINGS at the hostel then off to the centre of town. Everyone went out that night and had a great time! Of course when I got back with a few people we realized that we were locked out of our hostel…. So I volunteered to climb our manmade ladder consisting of tables and chairs we found outside and opened the second story window to get in…. that was a thrill. I think it was actually more of a thrill when I woke up in the morning and realized what I did…. Haha.
I must admit, that morning was quite a drag for everyone… BUT you have to remember that we are all ‘adults’ so we had to deal with it. After a long breakfast at the hostel (which was actually great!) we headed to ecco our last company visit. The presentation was made by this beautiful girl from Canada. Needless to say, most of the guys were alert during this presentation… even after a long night- ecco clearly planned well. Then we finished our visit was an amazing lunch they provided for us (my mouth is watering right now just thinking about it). I guess you could describe the lunch as the type of food that most corporations in America probably gave their employees before they started slashing costs due to competition abroad and realized that salmon steaks were just not a suitable option…. Ok maybe Google and Wegman’s employees still get this food at lunch.
Then we were off to Århus. This is the second largest city in Denmark and is located on the nose or the central northeast section of Jylland. We visited a very interesting museum called ARoS. I won’t get to into that, but there were some ‘interesting’ pieces of ‘art’ there. There were a couple of exhibits that just blew me away, mainly the content of the ‘art’ and what it was attempting to portray. If you ever get a chance to go… just go in with an open mind… there was one exhibit that I really enjoyed. It was video special effects… and the artist who made this video was inspired by a near death experience where he almost drown as a young child. You just have to go and see it…
After the art museum a few of us went to ‘Den Gamle By’ which is an open air museum. It is basically an old Danish town, constructed using authentic old Danish homes and building that were transported to Århus to recreate what a typical town would have been like ‘back in the day’. Check it out online… it was interesting.
We went out that night and then drove back home the next day and actually had the change to ride a fast ferry from Århus to Odden. For those of you who are from Rochester, NY reading this… yes it was a said reminder of our fast ferry… except this one was operational… ouch that hurts!
ANYWAYS on the way back I bought a hot dog and asked for mustard… yeah it was the most expensive hotdog I have ever had…. About $8. the sad thing is I could not finish it because they but horseradish like mustard on it and I almost puked when I tried finishing it. But then I got to try a popular Danish drink called Gammel Dansk, meaning ‘old danish’. It was not good, but some people might have pretended they liked it just to look cool. Believe me… the aftertaste is not worth it.
Then I arrived home Saturday night and naturally went out. Because I can be kind of random sometimes and meet random people, I ended up going out with a group of Danes I met the previous weekend. We went to this bar called the Rock… it definitely was not my cup of tea, but it was a lot of fun I have to admit. my self esteem was slightly boosted that night because while I was waiting in line, I talking to the bouncer and this girl from Norway behind me goes ‘oh my god are you from America!?’. Yes I said. Then she asks where? I say NY… then she flips out saying I can’t believe you are from there blah blah blah. I couldn’t even get a word in and tell here that I live 6.5 hours away…. and that I have been there like 3 times… haha but even when I told her she didn’t care…. Why I am telling you this? Because when we went in she paid roughly $12 to get me in then paid another $ 8 for my coat and we didn’t even hang out… ok ill take that.
That was that. This past week of school went very fast for some reason… I feel like it was vacation or something. I guess that is what happens when you start realizing how much you like the place.
Ok that’s all for now. Your thoughts???????????????????????????
Vi ses!
Well last week/weekend I went on my first study tour! Because IBE (international business and economics) program is larger than most other programs we were split into two groups. I am in section B… B meaning Best group, haha, no I am just kidding… but I must admit going on these trips is definitely a great way to get to know your fellow class mates a little better.
The first trip was to A.P. Møller-Mærsk. It is the world’s largest shipping company and is also involved with the oil industry and retail, particularly Bilka and Netto (2 grocery stores in Denmark). The visit was very professional in a sense. We went to the headquarters in downtown København and watched a touching presentation on the history of the company, its business structure and its broad goals for the future. They also introduced a great program for post graduate students that train you in different fields such as international logistics and finance that directly correlate with Mærsk. We took a very small tour of the headquarters and saw some pretty amazing models of their ships.
Our second company visit was on February 14th, actually at DIS. We had a visitor by the name of Lars from SAS (Scandinavian Airlines). Not to jump ahead but this was my favorite ‘visit’… Going into the presentation I was thinking to myself ok just listen and weed out the B.S. because when you speak to most companies or companies come and give a presentation to students, etc. they are usually only going to present the optimistic facts and figures. Well… this was a VERY different presentation. Lars definitely supported his company and gave us useful information on its structure but he also mentioned the various struggles that the company is going through. Being an airline company I guess you can never assume anything right? I won’t get into detail but all in all I was blown away by the HONESTY the man portrayed about his company. Is that because I have been brainwashed to think you can never trust the corporate world… I am not really sure. But another interesting thing is that I actually pulled off an article offline before entering the presentation just so I had some up to date information on recent events involving the company. It was actually a Forbes article claiming all these come back strategies and amazing quarterly figures from SAS… lets just say I found out WHY that was the case during the presentation. I am sure I could have found it out if I had researched more but it was interesting to hear the perspective of an insider.
Anyways I guess you had to be there to really appreciate it… but once that was over, our group was on a bus to Odense. This the 3rd largest city in Denmark and it rests on the island of Funen (actually sounds more like foon’). We toured the Hans Christen Andersen’s house and museum. That was fairly interesting…. If you are unaware of who Hans Christen Andersen is (like me… kind of sad I know), he authored several fairy tale stories some of which include the Little Mermaid, Princess and the Pea… and in think Emperor’s New Clothes (don’t quote me on that one). After the visit to his house we explored the city. It really was beautiful to say the least… in a way sort of a like a mini-København (notice I like to use the øøøø’s whenever possible because it makes me feel cool, haha).
Then we were off to Haderslav which is on the mainland peninsula of Jutland or Jylland in Danish. We stayed in a hostel near the small town and naturally took advantage of its night life. Started with a round or two of KINGS at the hostel then off to the centre of town. Everyone went out that night and had a great time! Of course when I got back with a few people we realized that we were locked out of our hostel…. So I volunteered to climb our manmade ladder consisting of tables and chairs we found outside and opened the second story window to get in…. that was a thrill. I think it was actually more of a thrill when I woke up in the morning and realized what I did…. Haha.
I must admit, that morning was quite a drag for everyone… BUT you have to remember that we are all ‘adults’ so we had to deal with it. After a long breakfast at the hostel (which was actually great!) we headed to ecco our last company visit. The presentation was made by this beautiful girl from Canada. Needless to say, most of the guys were alert during this presentation… even after a long night- ecco clearly planned well. Then we finished our visit was an amazing lunch they provided for us (my mouth is watering right now just thinking about it). I guess you could describe the lunch as the type of food that most corporations in America probably gave their employees before they started slashing costs due to competition abroad and realized that salmon steaks were just not a suitable option…. Ok maybe Google and Wegman’s employees still get this food at lunch.
Then we were off to Århus. This is the second largest city in Denmark and is located on the nose or the central northeast section of Jylland. We visited a very interesting museum called ARoS. I won’t get to into that, but there were some ‘interesting’ pieces of ‘art’ there. There were a couple of exhibits that just blew me away, mainly the content of the ‘art’ and what it was attempting to portray. If you ever get a chance to go… just go in with an open mind… there was one exhibit that I really enjoyed. It was video special effects… and the artist who made this video was inspired by a near death experience where he almost drown as a young child. You just have to go and see it…
After the art museum a few of us went to ‘Den Gamle By’ which is an open air museum. It is basically an old Danish town, constructed using authentic old Danish homes and building that were transported to Århus to recreate what a typical town would have been like ‘back in the day’. Check it out online… it was interesting.
We went out that night and then drove back home the next day and actually had the change to ride a fast ferry from Århus to Odden. For those of you who are from Rochester, NY reading this… yes it was a said reminder of our fast ferry… except this one was operational… ouch that hurts!
ANYWAYS on the way back I bought a hot dog and asked for mustard… yeah it was the most expensive hotdog I have ever had…. About $8. the sad thing is I could not finish it because they but horseradish like mustard on it and I almost puked when I tried finishing it. But then I got to try a popular Danish drink called Gammel Dansk, meaning ‘old danish’. It was not good, but some people might have pretended they liked it just to look cool. Believe me… the aftertaste is not worth it.
Then I arrived home Saturday night and naturally went out. Because I can be kind of random sometimes and meet random people, I ended up going out with a group of Danes I met the previous weekend. We went to this bar called the Rock… it definitely was not my cup of tea, but it was a lot of fun I have to admit. my self esteem was slightly boosted that night because while I was waiting in line, I talking to the bouncer and this girl from Norway behind me goes ‘oh my god are you from America!?’. Yes I said. Then she asks where? I say NY… then she flips out saying I can’t believe you are from there blah blah blah. I couldn’t even get a word in and tell here that I live 6.5 hours away…. and that I have been there like 3 times… haha but even when I told her she didn’t care…. Why I am telling you this? Because when we went in she paid roughly $12 to get me in then paid another $ 8 for my coat and we didn’t even hang out… ok ill take that.
That was that. This past week of school went very fast for some reason… I feel like it was vacation or something. I guess that is what happens when you start realizing how much you like the place.
Ok that’s all for now. Your thoughts???????????????????????????
Vi ses!
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