19 Days

…since my last post! Let’s revisit bullet point format:

• Work has been very busy - the semester is OVER as of this Friday (can’t believe I’ve made it through 2 semesters)
• My wallet crisis got resolved
• The weather has been absolutely gorgeous these past 2 weeks - no rain, 60s
• I got my bike fixed - new chain and a new kickstand (don’t laugh, bicycles are serious business)
• I’m moving my belongings in a week to the new apartment right before…
• I head to Dubai on May 26! I’ll get back on June 1 and head directly to the new place
• Also, Dad and I have booked flights so it’s official - 2 weeks of vacation in July to Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, Zagreb, Zadar (Dalmation Coast), and Ljubljana (Slovenia)
• The Copenhagen Marathon was today! Stine and Samantha participated and did an excellent job. It was so much fun cheering them on from the sidelines - we were all so proud! Pictures below-

Apart from all the above, I’d also like to say that…I’ve been getting very little sleep lately. This is mostly to blame on all the daylight (*good thing). According to timeanddate.com, the sun now officially rises at 4:51am and sets at 9:23pm. However, it starts getting light at 4.30am and isn’t completely dark until about 10.00pm. On Thursday evening I fell asleep while reading, woke up at 8.45pm, and could have sworn I was late for work. Such a drastic change from January when it started getting dark at 3.30pm.

Copenhagen at 10.00pm

Frontrunners pass my apartment on Nørre Farimagsgade

Waiting for Stine and Sam

Most of our group with Sam

 

Goodbye Winter Clothes; Hello Spring

Well! I haven’t written in a week or so mostly due to the fact that Spring has arrived and I’ve been outside a lot lately. This past week has been the most gorgeous week in Copenhagen since…well, I can’t remember actually. It has been sunny for about 8 days straight with temps in the 50s (even pushing 60 degrees!). What is even more exciting: longer days. According to timeanddate.com, we are gaining 4 minutes of sunlight a day; the sun officially rose today at 5:31am and set at 8:45pm (it’s definitely light by 5am and not completely dark until 9:30). Yes…Enough of being a weather nerd. In other news: my wallet fiasco is close to being resolved with most of my money refunded; I am moving to a new apartment in Østerbro beginning June 1st; I picked up my permanent passport so I’m all set for Dubai; I got my first sunburn on Saturday; Dad and I are working on planning a trip to Vienna/ Bratislava/ Budapest/ Zagreb/ Ljubljana (Slovenia) in July; I’m working on booking a flight back to the U.S. at the end of August; and finally, I’ve started some preliminary job searching. This week is also a 4-day week thanks to Kristi Himmelfartsdag (the literal Danish-to-English translation being “Christ sky travel day”), or Ascension Day, on Thursday, May 1. Now, as I might have mentioned before, Denmark is not a religious country so the mention of Ascension Day usually triggers images of hordes of people drinking beer all day in Fælledparken (…I hope it doesn’t rain). Work has also been busy (end of semester, upcoming seminar, planning for summer sessions, etc.). In general, just keeping busy. Alright, enough for now. I want to hear how everyone else is doing; send me an e-mail!

 

Photos

See pictures below of Mom and Claire’s visit to Copenhagen!  It was extremely cold then but the weather has been nice(r) lately - 50 degrees and sunny!  I am still waiting for the first day I no longer need to wear my heavy coat.  Soon…

- Mom and Claire at Christianshavn -

- Claire and Mom atop the Round Tower -

 

Where Do I Start?

Oy, I wonder if I can write blog posts in bullet point format (?). I think I’ll try. It’s been awhile since my last post. Every time this happens I wonder why I even bother with a blog since the point is to actually keep people posted (no pun intended). Anyway! Here’s what’s been happening since the latter half of March:

• Mom and Claire came to visit! We saw most, if not all, of the main tourist attractions in Copenhagen. We also spent a day in Malmö and another day at the Louisiana Art Museum in Humlebæk before going up to Helsingør. Louisiana has to be one of my favorite art museums (right now they have a great Cézanne & Giacometti exhibition). It was really, really nice seeing Mom and Claire; I miss having them around already (and curse the 7 hour time difference).
• Another new and exciting event: I’m going to DUBAI! The purpose: to attend an HR conference sponsored by CAHRS (the Cornell Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies). I’ve booked my plane ticket and plan on arriving a day early and staying an extra 2 days (for a total of 5 days) at the end of May.
• My cousin Megan and her boyfriend Kostia took a train from Falun, Sweden and visited me in Copenhagen the weekend before last. It was a nice, relaxing few days complete with a Danish league futbol game on Sunday (and 10-year-old children screaming obscenities from the nose bleed section).
• As I was saying goodbye to Megan and Kostia at the main train station on Sunday evening, my wallet was stolen from my purse (unbeknownst to me). I noticed it was gone Monday morning at work and cancelled the card just 12 hours after it’d been snatched. Unluckily for me, ALL my money had already been withdrawn/spent. I still have no money (as the thieves overdrew my account) and am living off a loan from work. Hopefully I’ll hear from the bank soon and be able to recover most of the losses. The silver lining: my wallet was found by the police and mailed to me today! Only my cash and Dankort were missing (health insurance card, driver’s license, old Cornell ID, etc. were all intact).
• I went to Legoland in Billund (Central Jutland), Denmark this past Sunday. Legoland is always such a treat and surprisingly appropriate for all ages.
• The weather is getting nice (though not quite there yet). Yesterday, it was 55 degrees and partly sunny. Today it was overcast and more brisk. I am waiting for the day when we can all sit in Kongens Have, drink beer, play Kuub, and not have to wear our winter jackets.
• Wednesday, April 16 is Queen Margrethe’s birthday. I plan on going to Amalienborg Palace to witness her waving to the masses at precisely 12:00 (I hope 2 year-old Prince Christian makes an appearance).
• Tivoli opens on Thursday, April 17.  I’m ready to purchase my season pass and go to outdoor Friday concerts and weekly fireworks (a sure sign that summer is around the corner).
• And finally…Friday is a holiday (Great Prayer Day). For a country that is not very religious, we seem to get a lot of religion-inspired holidays in the Spring. I am not one to complain however.

Well, I think that is all for now! I will upload pictures of Claire and Mom’s visit shortly. Until next time! ~Maureen

 

New Pictures

Because tomorrow is a holiday in Denmark (which means I can stay up late), I’ve finally uploaded pictures from my trips to Århus and Warsaw in February as well as my trip last week to London and Brussels. London, Brussels, and Århus pictures are in the “Border Crossings” folder. Enjoy!

Maureen’s Photos

 

Spring in CPH?

Not yet! It snowed last night just when we all started thinking that Spring was right around the corner. No big deal. These pictures were taken this past Sunday afternoon in Kongens Have (the King’s Garden), just a 5-minute walk from my apartment.

 

Thank Goodness for Copenhagen…

Well, I’m back from a week spent leading a group of 40 twenty somethings on a business-related “study” tour to London and Brussels. Without going into detail (because I don’t know who has discovered my blog), I didn’t have such a great time because of a few unruly students. The week was bound to be stressful but I really didn’t expect to encounter 75% of the problems we ran into. To be fair, there was a minority of students on the trip who were really great and who seemed genuinely interested in the academic visits and in taking advantage of cultural visits in each city. London was amazing as always and I even enjoyed Brussels more so this time around than I have in the past. Getting back to Copenhagen was such a relief. I spent most of the afternoon Saturday (we got back into town at 10am) catching up on sleep followed by another 11 hours of sleep that night. A few more nights like the last and I might actually catch up on all the sleep I didn’t get over the past week. Anyway! On a brighter note, the stressful part of the semester is over, the students are on break for another 2 weeks, the upcoming workweek is just 3 days, and Mom and Claire come to visit this Friday! I cannot wait.

 

Warsaw

Last weekend’s vacation in Warsaw was great. To recap: myself and 2 co-workers left from work on Thursday to catch a flight and spend almost 3 whole days in Warsaw. It turned out to be just the right amount of time for a balanced mix of siteseeing, eating, and staying out late with new Polish friends. We did the few touristy things - visited the Museum of the Warsaw Uprising, went to the viewing deck atop the Palace of Culture & Science, walked around “Old” Town, and visited the Royal Castle. I could go on and on about each of these places, but I’ll save it for one-on-one discussions later. It struck me how little background I had on Warsaw. To think that the entire city was destroyed and then rebuilt to what it is today in 60 years. It’s hard to sum up the general feeling you get when walking around the city. Think Soviet architecture (mostly giant, drab apartment buildings) amongst newer skyscrapers and strip malls. Add in, among other things, the prevalence of old (mostly) women hobbling along the streets, people silently eating bowls of borscht soup in milk bars (while sitting in plastic deck chairs, without taking off their winter coats, or talking to their company)…and Warsaw seems a bit depressing. To the contrary, we met up with a Polish friend studying at the Warsaw School of Economics who took us to a house party, introduced us to his friends, and later took us to a bar/disco/club playing none other than American 80s pop music. We ended up having a lot of really good conversations about the upcoming U.S. election (who to vote for, predictions, etc.), the recent implementation of the Schengen Agreement in Poland, the difficulty of obtaining visas to visit the U.S., and the vast difference between generations of Polish people. In all, it was a great night and showed a young, vibrant side of Warsaw that we wouldn’t have otherwise seen. Poland is definitely progressing and I’d really like to go back. Still working on posting pictures…will post a link soon. Cheers! ~Maureen

 

Weekend Destination: Poland

My Polish vacation has become a reality!  I’m trading in Danish kroner for Polish złoty and heading to Warsaw for the long weekend.  Photos and commentary to follow.  Have a great weekend!

 

The Happiest Country in the World

Once again, Denmark is the happiest country in the world. And by happy, I mean content. The simple explanation: modest expectations and a different take on success. A co-worker passed along this 60 Minutes story on why the Danes are so content and happy. Click here to watch!