The Final

So the cause of all my busyness and stress is over.  On May 31 we had the Venture Cup Final to announce the winners where we also launched the Alumni Report that I’ve been working on.  The report was reporting the findings from a survey I sent out to our alumni companies to see if Venture Cup does make a difference. I guess you could say “yes” but unfortunately not that many companies participated and I couldn’t compare the results against non Venture Cup entrepreneurs. All that will hopefully be overcome in next year’s report. If you’re that interested in seeing the Alumni Report then go to: http://www.venturecup.dk/composite-205.htm 

The Final was a very good event. So far I’ve only heard good things from people. The 10 nominees had some very interesting and cool ideas but only three could win the prizes. The three teams were very “tech” orientated but their ideas show some great promise and I’m sure they’ll do really well once they start selling their products. The food at the event was amazing! We had catering from Restaurant Noma which is the best in Scandinavia, top 15th in the world and holds 2 Michelin stars! Add a live jazz trio, some wine and great networking, it was easy to see why people were so happy with the event. I’ve uploaded some of the photos but you can see some more here: http://www.venturecup.dk/composite-204.htm

The Wedding

So the next big thing was Rolf & Renbin’s wedding the day after the Final. Most of the guests caught the bus from the centre of town and took a 1.5hr bus trip to a place called Sorø (a town on the island of Zealand (Sjælland), which is west of Copenhagen). On the bus, Majken and I were responsible for making sure people go to know each other and had fun. So we played some games, had some speed dating and ate lunch to occupy the time. Once we arrived, we had some time to move into our rooms (we were to stay the night) and get ready for the wedding. Which was absolutely beautiful! They had built a platform on the beach of a huge lake. So all the guests faced the lake, the photographer couldn’t get over himself over how good the photos would look.

The couple had a very intimate and cosy ceremony. This was the first wedding of one of my friends that I’ve been to. Which makes a difference, previously I went to family weddings and though they were a lot of fun, this was a lot more special since I knew both of the people quite well. So it was quite touching to see them make public their affections and love for each other. After the ceremony, we had some group photos and then had the cutting of the cake with some drinks. Yes, it was a bit weird to have the cutting of the cake this early for me since usually its later in the program in the weddings I have been to. Anyways, we took some individual photos, wrote messages for the guestbook and had some time to relax before the dinner.

Danish weddings are a lot of fun! They have some traditions which spices up the event. For example, during the dinner if Rolf left the room then all the guys could give a kiss on the cheek to Renbin and vice versa. Another tradition is when everyone “clinks” their glasses (you know how when you want to make a toast, but everyone does it) then the couple have to stand on their chairs and kiss.  But if we stamp our feet they have to kiss under the table. So we had a lot of fun clinking our glasses and stamping our feet… and then clinking our glasses and again stamping our feet J Another thing is that any group of people can have make a speech (when the weddings I’ve been to its just the usual suspects). So some of the fun things people did was change the lyrics of a song so everyone could sing-a-long, Stefan and Niels played a fun game to test how well the couple knew each other and since a bunch of us were AIESECers (including the couple) we taught everyone a line dance J.

A lot of us partied that night but it was the twins (Louise & Majken), Trine, Thomas (Trine’s bf), Mikkel (DJ, Trine’s brother) and I who danced the night away once everyone had left. The bar tender actually came up to Mikkel and told him, in an angry tone, that the party ended now! So after a couple of hours of sleep we woke up, had brunch where the presents were opened and then hopped on the bus back to normal life. Such ended a special and fun filled wedding for me.

The car trip

So Sebastian’s sister is visiting him which meant he had access to her car. So when his sister and her friend went to Malmo he suggested we drive up to Helsingør and spend a couple of hours there. So Seb, Rasa, Nok, Juan José and myself had a semi car trip.  Helsingør, also known by its English name Elsinore, is a city on the northeast coast of the island of Zealand (Sjælland), north of Copenhagen. It is known internationally as the setting of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, where the spelling 'Elsinore' originated.

So on the way, we drove along the coast and admired the view while talking about where we wanted to travel next… Munich and Prague were the more serious contenders. We arrived in the city and took the short walk to Kronborg Castle. Kronborg Castle is situated on the extreme tip of Zealand at the narrowest point of the Øresund, the sound between Denmark and Sweden. In this part, the sound is only four kilometres wide, hence the strategic importance of maintaining a fortress at this location. The castle has for centuries been one of the most important Renaissance castles in Northern Europe and was added to UNESCO's World Heritage Sites list. But for me… it kind of just reminded me of most of the castles in Denmark J But we had fun walking around in the dungeons and trying to scare each other. We spent most of our time having a drink and a snack and watching the ferries travel between Sweden and Denmark. After the castle we had a quick look at the city itself before heading back home.