| Vivi님의 프로필Confessions of a Cheeky ...사진블로그리스트 |  도구  도움말 |
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9월 3일 Beer, fairytales and the hills are aliveEver had a 1L mug of beer? If you have, chances are that you've been to Munich. The bravians are renowned for their beer and beer drinking habits, especially their Oktoberfest. So it wasn't much of a surprise when one of the first things I did upon arriving in Germany's third largest city was drink a beer. Mind you, that it was around 10am at the time!
Sebastian had to defend his thesis in Munich. So Juan Jose, Rasa and myself thought we would celebrate him finishing univeristy with a couple of litres
 . JJ and I arrived Monday morning to meet up with Seb and Rasa at one of Seb's friends' apartments. We ate white sausage with sweet mustard and pretzels washed down with some beer (traditionally eaten before 12) before heading out to see most of the sites of Munich. I'll upload pictures tomorrow instead of explaining where i went now.. but i will remove the 100+ pictures of Seb and Rasa kissing  Though really sweet, it was a bit toooo much for JJ and I.We also went on two day trips. The first was to the fairytale Neuschwanstein castle, which was used by Disney for both the inspiration behind Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty castles. The castle was built by Ludwig II, King of Bavaria, as a retreat and as an homage to Richard Wagner, the King's inspiring muse. The castle is ok, its a bit too perfect looking and not that interesting on the inside. But otherwise it was fun playing "I spy with my little eye" on the train to pass the time and the walk up to the castle was a lot of fun plus the views of the countryside and the lake was really really picturesque.
The second day trip was to Salzburg, where Rasa and I got to meet up with our former flatmate Richard! He drove us around Salzburg and showed us the sights. Salzburg is the fourth largest city in Austria and is the birth place of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the setting for parts of the musical and film The Sound of Music. JJ has never seen the movie, so the rest of us were kinda mean and forced him to watch it, despite him complaining about how cheesy the movie is and how he hates them singing so much. But it was quite good to recognise parts of the movie that was filmed in Salzburg. For me, it was the first time that I saw real mountains as it sits right next to the Alps. So it was great that Richard drove us up one of the nearby mountains. Which is a huge difference from flat Denmark. I really liked Salzburg, walking around the old part of town you could imagine the classical era with horse drawn carriages and people with top hats.
Basically, that was my trip to Munich, Neuschwanstein and Salzburg. I had an amazing time, not because of the beer, but because of the friends i was with and the beautiful countryside. But..... i do have to say, being in a beer garden with your friends isn't such a bad way to spend a lazy afternoon.
By the way... around August 19th or 21st i celebrated two years living it up in Denmark!!! 8월 9일 Home for Christmas!After the long debacle of getting an extension for my visa (in short: i had to advertise my job role to make it fair to EU and Danish people and apply for my job) I finally got it last week. Which meant that I could book tickets home, in advance, for Christmas!!! My first year I didn't want to go home because I thought I would only be here for a year. In my second year abroad, it didn't work out because I had gotten my visa too late, by which time it was too expenseive to book tickets home. So third time lucky!! I'll arrive in Melbourne on the 20th Dec and then leaving on 12th Jan. So three weeks of family, friends, Christmas, sun, warmth and home!!! I can't wait!!!! It will be two years "living it up" in Denmark on the 19th... or 21st.. i can't remember the exact date... but two years! Time flies. So I'll do a bit of reflection around then after I've moved into my new place (my fourth since coming here) before i fly off to Munich!! 7월 23일 FlorenceSummer in Denmark so far has been marred by overcast skies and rain. So it was a relief to Torsten, Trine and I to escape to the 40 degree cloudless skies of Florence (Italien: Firenze). Torsten's family has an apartment on the "other side" of the Arno River where Florence is situated. The capital city of the region of Tuscany, it has a population of around 400,000 people and was a center of European trade and finance during medieval times. The city is often considered the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance and was long ruled by the Medici family and thus is also famous for its magnificent art and architecture. It is said that, of the 1,000 most important European artists of the second millennium, 350 lived or worked in Florence.
Anyways, we arrived around 2am and the first thing we did was open a bottle of wine "to help us sleep"
, this would be repeated many times during out stay. The Kolind family's apartment had everything we needed, the game Settlers to pass our time while we hid away from the hottest parts of the day or after a night out, a beautiful outdoor dining area as well as comfortable chairs to recline and read a novel.But we didn't spend all of our time in the apartment. The first day was spent walking around the city where we saw Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge: which has shops built upon its edges, held up by stilts), The Duomo (The cathedral in the center of town) where we walked the 400+ steps up the Campanile tower (Bell tower) with its view of all of Florence. We also saw the market where the fresh food part was unfortunately closed (as we wanted to buy some authentic Italian food), so we went to the supermarket instead. Which did not disappoint us at all! We bought all the things we needed for our snacks and lunches which was crusty bread with homemade creamy green pesto spread on top with our choice of either salami or prosciutto... mmmMMMMMmmmmmmm! The tomatoes are some of the best I've had as well! My mouth is watering just thinking about the food we ate in Florence!
We also walked up to Piazzale Michelangelo where we watched the sun set while talking about life with the beautiful city of Florence in front of us. An ice-cream and a drink later, we were ready for some more wine and the challenge of Settlers before getting some much needed sleep.
The second day, Trine and I went to book reserved tickets to the Uffizi (otherwise you line up for 4 hours), went shopping, then had lunch at home. Once the heat had subsided a bit, we then spent an hour walking through the Uffizi Gallery which houses some of the oldest and most famous artworks of the Renaissance. After being inspired by the art, we were motivated to taste some of the best Florentine cuisuine at a nearby restaurant. And we were not dissapointed. For the first course, I had some of the best homemade potato gnocchi, while Torsten had some Rabbit Ragout and Trine had a nice anchovy salad. We all chose the steak for dinner with one of their best reds to wash it all down. None of us were the least bit disappointed with the delicious dinner.
The last day, we hired a car to see some of the countryside. We made our way to San Gimignano; a small walled medieval hilltop town in Tuscany. It is mainly famous for its medieval architecture, especially its towers, which may be seen from several miles outside the town. But the highlight for me was eating lunch while overlooking the Tuscan countryside! The next stop was Volterra with even better views before we drove to Pisa to catch the flight back to cloudy and cold skies
 7월 13일 readingyou know, when i look at other people's blogs they list all these cool and famous and prominent books that they're reading which i guess talks about life and so on. So i thought i would give it a try....
I'm reading: "Seven Years Of Highly Defective People - Scott Adams' Guided Tour of the Evolution of Dilbert"  6월 12일 LegoLand!!!!So, after 1.5 years in Denmark I finally got to go to LegoLand!!! A whole bunch of Interns have been looking forward to this trip for awhile which was organised by the AIESEC people. We woke up early Saturday morning to take the train at 7, where Cagri Han (Turkish) and Rob (Canadian) started downing some beers for breakfast. We arrived in Vejle where we had our own bus take us to LegoLand. And there was sooo many people waiting to buy tickets and get in but luckily we had a group booking. So once inside we made smaller groups and started going to place to place to see the miniatures made of lego, go on the lego train, jump onto a few rides etc. It was such a fun filled day. Danes kept telling me before I went that LegoLand was just for kids, but I think for all of us, we went back to being a kid for a day and had a hilarious time
 After being out under the sun and walking around LegoLand, most of us slept on the bus and train to Århus where we were to stay the night. We had a nice dinner prepared by the wonderful AIESECers of Århus before we went into town for some drinks and dancing. The next day was some quick sightseeing for Vinny and Marjan as they have not been to Århus before. So Anne, the girl we were staying with, showed us around before we all caught the train back to Copenhagen.
That was a pretty quick update but I can't think of much else to say apart from the fact that I had sooo much fun!! I've uploaded some of my pictures but you should cruise around Facebook as there are a lot more photos there! 6월 8일 The Final, The Wedding & The Car TripThe 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. 5월 23일 after much pondering... an opportunity falls into my lapI've made my decision! A few weeks ago I was unsure as to whether I should stay in Denmark or head home. I had nearly made the decision to head home when Torsten, my boss, offered me a position to stay at Venture Cup another year. It had some wider responsibilities and a more challening role to what I had currently. Plus, I felt that I wanted to stay in Europe for at least another year. So everything fit in nicely, so I accepted!
I haven't had much free time where I can write more on my blog, but gererally things are great. Summer is pretty much here in Denmark now, so the weather is awesome meaning I've been going out a little bit more. Work is really busy, writing and preparing an Alumni Report for the printers which will be launched at the last Final of the year. This is where we'll announce who wins Venture Cup 06/07. There are quite interest ideas from the nominees, plus the event will have some good speakers and great food. Food from the best restaurant in Scandinavia, ranked 15th in the world and has 2 Michilin stars... Restaurant Noma. So with a live jazz band, it should be an awesome event. The night after I am going to watch two very very very good friends get married. So a big weekend at the end of May/start of June... perhaps I should sleep a lot this weekend...... but Friday is a team event for Venture Cup and saturday is watching the new Pirate's movie! 4월 25일 Annual Conference 2007So the past weekend marked possibly my last large involvement with AIESEC Denmark at their Annual Conference. I was a facilitator there where I took on, with three other facis, the AIESEC Identity sessions as well as the Heading for the Future Track. Which was quite interesting considering that I am heading for the future myself, see previous posts. The conference itself was a lot of fun! It’s been awhile since I’ve been to a well run conference, or maybe its just that I don’t care anymore since I am leaving :)! The sessions were great, parties were full of drunken fun as was the official dinner/awards night. I won’t bore you with the details but you can see some pics from the conference in my album. 4월 11일 RoskildeOver Easter, two of my good friends and I went to Roskilde for a couple of hours. Roskilde is an ancient city, dating from the Viking Age and is famous for its music festival held in summer. It's west of Copenhagen and takes about 20min by train. So Sebastian, Kreta and I wanted to see the place, but the main draw card for us was the Viking Ship Musuem. Anyways... we met up at the central station and talked about our childhood pets, swimming pools and other random stuff on the way there.
Once we arrived, our first stop was to find the Roskilde Cathedral. It was the only cathedral in Zealand until the 20th century and was built in the 12th and 13th centuries, it was the first Gothic cathedral to be built of brick and its construction encouraged the spread of this style throughout northern Europe. The cathedral is the burial site for Danish kings and queens and since 1995 the cathedral has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But we didn't go in... heheh why? we found out that you had to pay to get in and as Seb said "I've seen 100+ churches".
So we then headed for the Viking Ship Museum by taking a stoll through a really nice park.. see the pictures. The permanent exhibition of the museum shows 5 Vikingships from the 11th century. The ships were excavated and preserved during the period 1962-1969. The exhibition also tells about the Viking period, shipbuilding, underwater archaeology etc. One part was where you could dress up as a Viking which Seb really loved, unfortunately I looked like his maid since he had the more "manly" stuff. Anyways, there was also a Cinema showing a film about the Viking times and the excavation of the ships, we didn't want to wait for the English version so we just watched the pictures in the Danish version hehehe
We grabbed a quick bite to eat, then caught the bus back to the station to head home. It was quite a nice day exploring a little town of Denmark.
4월 2일 Still no decision.. but lots of ponderingI've yet to make a definitive decision on my next steps but I have started exploring some of the options....
I now have a mentor who is helping me with my career planning. We've only had one meeting so far but hopefully I'll get some more clarity through our discussions. I've also updated my CV and application letter and have applied to a few jobs... no reply so far, but its still a bit early. I've also asked my boss about the possibility of extending my contract (and thus my visa) for a few more months, which he'll get back to me on. What that means, if its okay, is that I can stay here in Denmark for the summer before heading home in August. But yes, still some pondering to do....
Generally I am feeling a bit tired of Denmark... or it might be the job.. so its either time to move on to a new job or a new city!
While chatting to one of my close friends back home, I was talking about how I was a little worried about what to do next... but she reminded me that if our parents (we're both second generation immigrants) left their countries with nothing and established a really great and fulfilling life in Australia.. then our troubles are kinda small. So that's reminded me that things will work out, and not to stress too much about it ... though it does help to have a bit of a plan =) 3월 2일 AalborgBeing part of AIESEC Denmark's NST (National Support Team), I get to do trainings at the local offices. So I was called up to do a recruitment training in Aalborg. Since its the last big city of Denmark that I have yet to visit, I went there a bit earlier and spent a couple of hours walking around. Aalborg, the fourth-largest city in Denmark - after Copenhagen, Aarhus and Odense - has an urban population of 122,794. The earliest settlements date back to around 700 AD but its location by the Limfjord made it an important harbour during the Middle Ages and an industrial centre later. Today the city is in a transition from a working-class, industrial city to a knowledge-based one. One of the driving forces in the transition is the University of Aalborg, founded in 1974.
So I walked around for a bit and took some photos.. not much to say apart from its a nice town, I probably should come back when its sunny but it was a really nice break from my hectic life. 2월 23일 HamburgIt was Chinese/Vietnamese (Tết) Lunar New Year on 17th/18th Feb and I was lucky enough to be invited to Hamburg by one of dad's friends. So I was really looking forward to not only seeing another city but getting some really really nice Vietnamese food. I was not disappointed
I arrived on Friday afternoon and started off with a bowl of Pho. Pho is a beef noodle soup with a rich, clear broth achieved from hours upon hours of boiling bones and different herbs served in bowls with white rice noodle, spring onion, slices of raw beef (to be cooked by the boiling hot broth), and then of course the broth itself. Pho is often garnished on the side (more typically in the style of the South) with bean sprouts, lime wedges and other herbs). It has been ages since I've had this last and its one of my most favourite dishes. Dad's friend, Bac Phung, can cook a really great pot of Pho. It was sooo yummy... my mouth is still watering.
After two bowls of that, i needed a bit of a rest before Bac Phung took me out. Hamburg's Tết Festival (New Year Festival) was to be held the next day, so after a drive around town to see some of the sights we headed over to the site to see what we needed to prepare before moving on to my next feast. Argentinian steaks. If you've never had one, you have to try it.. unless you're vegetarian of course. There is a famous chain of restaurants in Hamburg called Block House, where the owner/founder imports beef from Argentina. So I had a salad first with french dressing and then a tender filet mignon with a side of french fries, Block House bread and chimichurri. Chimichurri is a sauce and marinade used with grilled meat in Argentine cuisine and is made from chopped parsley, dried oregano, garlic, salt, pepper, onion, and paprika with olive oil. Washed down with 0.5L of Franziskaner Weissbier (wheat beer from a Munich brewery). I then met his daughter, Tina, at Bond, a bar, to help her celebrate two of her friend's birthdays.
After sleeping in and nursing a slight hangover, I had Bánh chung and for breakfast (sticky rice wrapped in banana or dong leaves and stuffed with mung beans, fatty pork and black pepper) with something else that I can't remember (yellow, sweetish rice) with Cha-lua (sausage made with pork, potato starch and fish sauce; he gave me a roll to take home) and then we left for the Tet Festival. Which is usually a time for everyone to get together have some fun, buy some food and watch a show. So that's what I did.. i went around to some of the stalls and picked up a few nice treats...
- Gỏi cuốn (rice paper rolls that often include shrimp, herbs, pork, rice vermicelli and other ingredients wrapped up and dipped in Nước chấm or peanut sauce)
- Bánh bèo (central Vietnamese dish consisting of tiny and round rice flour pancakes, each served in a tiny round dish. They are topped with minced shrimp and other smaller ingredients)
But I spent most of my time sitting and watching the show which went throughout the entire day. They had Dragon Dance (which was a lot of fun to watch), some people singing Vietnamese songs or acting in a Vietnamese opera/comedy (which was boring, but made me think of home) and a beauty pageant (which was interesting
 ). I took some photos of people wearing Áo Dài, literally meaning "long dress" or "long tunic," is one out of several traditional Vietnamese costumes worn mostly by women. A tradition of Tết is where children receive lì xì (red envelopes containing money) from their elders. Usually, children don their new clothes and give their elders the traditional Tết greetings before receiving the money.Sunday's breakfast was sandwiches of Cha-lua before heading out to take some photos and see the sights of Hamburg. We started at the port and took a ferry around the habour to see the huge port and the river Elbe. Hamburg is the second largest city in Germany and with Hamburg Harbour, its principal port, Hamburg is also the second largest port city in Europe. I also saw this runnel which runs under the river, but cars have to use an elevator to get down and up. Next on the list was St. Michaeliskirche (St Michael's Church) and St. Nikolaikirche (Saint Nicholas' Church, memorial). St. Michael's is a landmark of the city. It is dedicated to the archangel Michael. A large bronze statue, standing above the portal of the church shows the archangel conquering the devil. The 132 m high baroque spire totally covered with copper is a prominent feature of Hamburg’s skyline and has always been a landfall mark for ships sailing up the river Elbe. Saint Nicholas' Church is now in ruins due to air attacks during World War II. The church was the tallest building in the world from 1874 to 1876 and is still the second tallest building in Hamburg.
We then saw the Town Hall, Alster lake and walked around a but before having some dinner (teppanyaki Udon noodles with sliced steak). We had some drinks and headed to The Reeperbahn is a street in Hamburg's St. Pauli district, the centre of Hamburg's nightlife and also the city's red-light district. So after seeing some of the sights there
and one last drink, we went home for one last snack which was similar to Bánh bèo (but in a triangle shape and wrapped in banana leaf).Monday's breakfast was Banh bao (steamed bun dumpling that can be stuffed with onion, mushrooms, vegetables, etc). Then a day of relaxing and packing, lunch of a German dish (roasted meat, potatos etc) before flying home. Which ended my mouthwatering holiday in beautiful Hamburg! 2월 22일 Snow Snow SnowDenmark has been getting some snow on and off for the past month or so. But last night was a huge snowfall (see pictures of the square near my place where i take the bus) so the whole city is blanketed in pristine white.... causing huge delays in the public Transport system. It took me about 40+ minutes to get to work which usually takes 15min.
Today's Weather forecast:
Thursday | Snow tapering off, though strong winds could give drifting in some areas. Temperatures between -4 and 0° C. Warmer with the chance of rain extreme southern areas. Tonight: Winds picking up, carrying another bout of snow, sleet and rain. Precipitation changing over to snow in most areas during the course of the night. Temperature around 0° C. 2월 9일 Speed BanditsYou Don't Know MeOne of my favourite songs by Michael Buble and also sung by Ray Charles
You give your hand to me
Then you say hello I can hardly speak My heart is beating so And anyone can tell You think you know me well But you don't know me No, you don't know the one
Who dreams of you at night And longs to kiss your lips And longs to hold you tight Oh I'm just a friend That's all I've ever been 'Cause you don't know me I never knew
The art of making love Though my heart aches With love for you Afraid and shy I've let my chance to go by The chance that you might Love me, too You give your hand to me
And then you say good-bye I watch you walk away Beside the lucky guy You'll never never know The one who loves you so Well, you don't know me You give your hand to me, baby Then you say good-bye I watch you walk away Beside the lucky guy No, no, you'll never ever know The one who loves you so Well, you don't know me 1월 26일 SushiI have always loved Sushi and now I've been taught how to make it myself. How it started was that Torsten, my boss, was racking his brain for a good company present for Christmas. So much so that he started to ask the rest of us individually what we thought would be a good present from Venture Cup. Eventually one of our ideas stuck in his head and we each got a Sushi Kit for Christmas. It wasn't until a few weeks ago that we made use of it. David, Louise and I gathered at Torsten's place (Steffen had to look after his new born child) where he showed us how to prepare it all. So I was given the task of cooking the rice (since I eat it regularly and can make it without a rice cooker) while Torsten sliced up the raw salmon and tuna and David and Louise cut up the avocado, cucumber and sweet peppers (roasted in the oven, peel off the burnt skin and slice into thin strips). Once everything was ready, we had two mats where we could take turns and compare our sushi making skills while sipping warm sake. We made Maki, Nigiri and Torsten made a hand roll (ice-cream cone shape) while David made an inside-out roll. It was a great night with the work people where we didn't really talk about work (which is rare since whenever we go for a beer we always talk about work.. what we could do better, what needs to change, what our ideas are etc...).
The next step was for me to venture out and try to repeat the night at an "old" interns gather. So at Carolina + Søren's place, Sebastian, Kreta, Juan José and his friend Kasper and I basically did the same thing (except for the sweet pepper, I tried carrots instead ... bit weird but it was okay). The great thing about this night was it was a sort of reunion of the old generation of Interns. We're the only ones left (Laurence is studying in Spain, Rafael is back in Brasil, SeeWei back in the finance world of Singapore, etc...), plus I haven't seen most of these people for awhile.. probably since New Years Eve (in Sebastian's case before Christmas). So it was great to catch up and share stories and with the ever entertaining Juan José present, a laugh wasn't that far away.
(I forgot to bring my camera  which means no pics for you!)1월 19일 Windy EdinburghEdinburgh, capital of Scotland, is one windy place. When you're walking, you're either fighting to stay upright or getting propelled to where you're headed! But, its an absolutely beautiful city with really nice architecture (many of the buildings/districts are listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site) and people (though sometimes you have to listen quite carefully to understand what they're saying). Its also a huge student town so lots of cheap drinks and discounts for students (unlike in Copenhagen where being a student doesn't get you anywhere).
The cheapest tickets for me were to fly to London Stansted then on to Edinburgh and back along the same route. So I spent quite a bit of time waiting for the next flight at Stansted. The flights were a little bumpy due to the wind and I kep looking out my window expecting us to crash or the wings to rip off (morbid i know). I stayed with Lina who is there on student exchange. She lives in a flat where they all pretty much work at the same club/bar... what that means is when you walk into their living room, all you see are bottles of spirits and mixers. So.. in all truth... I spent most of the nights out at bars or clubs and the mornings sleeping in. I did get to see *some* of the city but not that much. I didn't walk up to see the castle (I did take a photo of it) and there was a hill Ann (more about her later) wanted to take me up but because it was getting dark (and windy) we decided not to go (this was at the bottom of the hill where the steps started).
Friday night, I arrived and Lina and I walked to Ann's place where her flatmates had prepared a roast dinner. It was delicious!!! Ann is from HK but moved to study and live in Edinburgh where she went to Copenhagen for a semester on exchange (which is where I met her). Ann lives with her boyfriend (Andrew) and two good girlfriends (Ailleann [pronoucned Alan] and Gemma). Roast dinner was followed with shots of vodka where we made a toast before each shot...took a break talking etc then another toast and another shot. Ailleann had lived in Russia as part of her studies and I think this is the way you do it in Russia. After that, it was time for the girls to get dressed and we headed out to some bars/clubs and had a great night.
Saturday, woke up quite late and went to The Three Sisters for a massive burger and chips with Lina and two of her french friends. It was pouring down but Lina and I decided to brave the elements and did a quick walk around the city, pit stop at Starbucks (during which time the rain thankfully stopped) and then we headed home. Lina had to work so I went to Ann's place for some more drinks. The plan was to head out to Lina's work but after we started playing drinking games (Ming, Mang, Mong; this really simple and quick card game and 21), that never happened. Sunday, was when Ann took me on the rest of the tour of Edinburgh then that night I went out with Lina and her friends to a club. And that was it!!!
oh... one of the highlights of my trip was after 16+months I finally sunk my teeth into a really nice meat pie!!! mmmmmmmmm 1월 2일 New Years Eve, the Danish wayI had a really great new years eve here in Copenhagen thanks to a mouth-watering seafood dinner prepared by the hosts: Søren & Carolina. We were a group of 9 people (Hosts, Rolf, RenBin, Juan José, Diego, Andrea, Norbert and myself) and we started off watching the Queen's speech with the welcome drink in our hands. Every NYE, at 6pm, the Queen addresses the nation and wishes everyone well and talks about the past year and what Danes (as a whole) should think about for the next year. For example, she touched on the issue in Denmark of integrating immigrants and foreigners. We then sat down to a really good dinner with some nice wine. We had: bread with shrimps, mussels. tomatos filled with bread crumbs and crab in zucchini... this list doesn't sound as nice as it actually was
 After dessert, we started the Drinks game.Rolf and RenBin had organised this game to keep us amused (and tipsy) throughout the night. The idea is that each guest (or pair of guests) brings a special drink where they must make a presentation/tell a story behind it. Everyone then scores the drink based on Presentation, Taste and Looks. So after 6 cocktails/drinks of varying alcohol percentage and taste, Carolina and Søren were awarded a special prize for preparing the best drink.
The next tradition was a 10min British short-film/comedy-skit called Dinner for One (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loxMTSe19wA) which is always shown 10-15min before midnight. Its about an old lady who has a dinner every year with some friends, even though they have passed away. Each dish (about 3 or 4) is served with a specific drink (port, wine etc) and each guest receives a special toast. Since they are not there to drink it, it is up to the faithful butler to do the honours! hehehe as you can imagine he gets quite drunk.
Once that is over, we stood on our chairs, counted down and then literally "jumped into the new year". The best thing is that fireworks are not banned in Denmark, so we grabbed our champagne filled glasses and walked outside to admire the fireworks. Norbert bought a few of his own so we got to see a few up close and personal! The last tradition of the night is to eat kransekage after which we headed out to party the night away.
See our festivities here (courtesy Rolf and RenBin): http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2097313963&code=25984395&mode=invite&DCMP=isc-email-AlbumInvite 12월 26일 Christmas in FalsterWell, after waiting a long time to get my visa, tickets back home were too expensive. Luckily, one of my Danish friends invited me to join her family for their Christmas celebrations! She also invited another Intern from Canada, Adele, who is working in Kolding but lives in Odense (the same city were Kristine is studying).
This is how Kristine described her summer house:
"Where do we live? In the Danish outback!!! Seriously, you can’t go much further south than this! We have a great summerhouse in a tiny town called Marielyst, which is about 20 km south of Nykøbing, the largest “city” on the island of Falster. Falster is the island south of Sjælland (Zealand, where Copenhagen is). It takes about 1½ hours to get here by train from Copenhagen."
And it was fantastic, because it was a great chance to get away from everything! The countryside is really beautiful and we took walks along the beach and the water is really really calm... so flat that it looks more like a giant lake then the sea. The food was mouthwatering, from turkey to roast duck, to scrambled eggs with smoked salmon to the really good wine it was three days of really good food. I think that I will need to take long walks and eat salads for a month!
Kristine's parents were really a lot of fun to be with and we had some quite good conversations, especially hearing their stories of the time they lived in Tanzania, Israel, Malta and Bahrain. It really inspired me to travel some more, especially to really different places but at the same time helped me move further along on making my decisions for the future (refer to previous posts). On one side, travelling is fantastic and you develop soooo much from seeing all parts of the world. But on the other side, you never really develop any deep roots and when you return home your friends haven't experienced what you have so things are different. I knew this before travelling but it sort of hints that maybe I can go back and work for a bit, maybe do a masters and then travel again? But then I am still young enough that I can sort of do what I want these days. So should I go home and re-connect with friends and family, start a network I can use in business life... or should I keep going? Or go somewhere different? More to ponder over the next week.
But going back to the Christmas thing... Thanks to Kristine and her parents for letting Adele and I join their Christmas. It was a really cosy and fun atmosphere, something I won't ever forget.... especially the food mmmmmmmm 12월 18일 RomeMy parents were travelling around the US, France, Italy and Singapore and are home now in time for christmas. Luckily, I had the chance to meet up with them in Rome towards the end of their trip. We spent four days seeing the sights, eating some really great food and having having a great time. I got an iPod Nano for Christmas and a nice..hmmm lacking the correct fashion term... but a nice overcoat which I can wear on top of suits, thanks mum and dad!!! So it was really good to not only catch up with mum & dad and spend time with them.. but it was timed perfectly since I really needed a break from work!! The added benefit that for the entire trip we had sunny skies was just awesome. It was a stark contrast to when I returned to København around 3.30pm and it was pitch black and raining.
Anyways, what follows is all the sights that we saw (so you can skip it if you want). Anything in Bold below, I have pictures of!
I arrived Monday afternoon and took the bus to Termini (central station) where I met up with mum and dad. We had lunch together while catching up on all the news then took the metro to where the Spanish Steps are and took some happy snaps there. The Spanish Steps (Italian: Scalinata di Piazza di Spagna), ramping a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, with the church under the patronage of the Bourbon kings of France. At the bottom of the steps is the fountain called La Fontana della Barcaccia ("Fountain of the Old Boat").
And then... the walking started!!! To put it simply, we pretty much walked all over Rome.. taking the bus or metro here and there. Anyways, we walked to Fontana di Trevi: The fountain was built by the architect Salvi (1735) in the time of Clement XII, and decorated by several artists of Bernini's school. It is the front of a large palace (Palazzo Poli) decorated with statues and bas-reliefs on heaps of rocks. The fountain is not only celebrated for its excellent water but for the legend that whoever drinks it or throws a coin in the fountain, will assure his return to Rome... which I didn't do... so I guess I won't be going back to Rome!
Then it was time to admire The Vittoriano Monument, Piazza Venezia. The enormous white marble monument at the was built as a tribute to the first King of a united Italy, Victor Emmanuel II. The monument, also known as 'Il Vittoriano' consists of a large flight of stairs leading to the Altar of the Nation, dominated by a colossal 12m long equestrian statue of the King. Near the statue is the tomb of the unknown soldier, guarded by two sentries of honor. Right next to is it Trajan Forum where we took a bus home.
The next day we went to the Vatican, like all good Catholics should do
. Saint Peter's Square, or Saint Peter's Piazza (Piazza San Pietro), is located directly in front of St. Peter's Basilica, in Vatican City, the papal enclave within Rome. The open space before the basilica was redesigned by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, from 1656 to 1667, under the direction of Pope Alexander VII, as an appropriate forecourt, designed "so that the greatest number of people could see the Pope give his blessing, either from the middle of the façade of the church or from a window in the Vatican Palace". We started off at The Vatican Museums (Musei Vaticani) which are the public art and sculpture museums in the Vatican City, which display works from the extensive collection of the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Julius II founded the museums in the 16th century. The Sistine Chapel and the Stanze della Segnatura are on the visitor route through the Vatican Museums. As of November 2006, it was visited by more than 4,000,000 people for the year. It was quite funny actually... because you go into the Musei Vaticani and take a lot of photos at the start.. gallery of maps, tapestries etc... but after the Sistine Chapel.. you rush through everything else. And there's guards in the chapel to make sure you don't take photos (I took two anyways) and to shhhh people every now and then. We spent quite a lot of time just sitting on the benches of one side of the Chapel looking up... then spent the other time on the other sideAfter a quick lunch and coffee (dad loved drinking coffee in Italy), we went to The Crypt of the Popes where you can see where St Peter and Pope John Paul II were buried. Then we entered The Basilica of Saint Peter, officially known in Italian as the Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano and colloquially called Saint Peter's Basilica. It is the most prominent building inside the Vatican City, it's dome is also a dominant feature of the Roman skyline. Possibly the largest church in Christianity, it covers an area of 23,000 m² (5.7 acres) and has a capacity of over 60,000 people. One of the holiest sites of Christendom in the Catholic tradition, it is traditionally the burial site of Saint Peter. Although the New Testament does not mention Peter either in Rome, or martyred there, ancient tradition holds that his tomb is below the baldachino and altar; for this reason, many Popes, starting with the first ones, have been buried there. Construction on the current basilica began on April 18, 1506 and was completed in 1626.
Walking along the right aisle of the basilica, there are several noteworthy monuments and memorials. The first is Michelangelo's Pietà, located immediately to the right of the entrance. After an incident in 1972 when an individual damaged it with an axe, the sculpture was placed behind protective glass. Up the aisle is the monument of Queen Christina of Sweden, who abdicated in 1654 in order to convert to Catholicism. Further up are the monuments of popes Pius XI and Pius XII, as well as the altar of St Sebastian. Even further up is the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, which is open during religious services only.
Walking down the left aisle there is the Altar of Transfiguration. Walking down towards the entrance are the monuments to Leo XI and Innocent XI followed by the Chapel of the Immaculate Virgin Mary. After that come the monuments to Pius X and Innocent VIII, then the monuments to John XXIII and Benedict XV, and the Chapel of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin. There is also a monument to Alexander VII by Bernini. A skeleton lifts a fold of red marble drapery and holds an hourglass symbolising the inevitability of death. He is flanked on the right by a statue representing religion, who holds her foot atop a globe, with a thorn piercing her toe from the British Isles, symbolizing the pope's problems with the Church of England.
Over the main altar stands a 30 metres (98 ft) tall baldachin held by four immense pillars, all designed by Bernini between 1624 and 1632. The baldachin was built to fill the space beneath the cupola, and it is said that the bronze used to make it was taken from the Pantheon. The representation of a chair, part of the sculpture, is said to contain the remnants of the chair belonging to Saint Peter (It is also said that it is the largest bronze piece in the world.) Underneath the baldachin is the traditional tomb of St Peter.
We then made our way over to The Pantheon - A marvel of ancient architecture, this ancient temple to all the gods is celebrated for its large dome, copied during Greek and Roman revival periods by such designers as Thomas Jefferson. Originally built in 27 BCE as a temple to all the gods of the Roman state religion, but has since served as a Christian church since the 7th century. It is the only building from the Graeco-Roman world which has remained substantially intact and in continuous use throughout to the present day. You can also see the tomb of Raphael which has an inscription.
The next day, we went to The Colosseum which I won't explain since I took photos of the explanations and will upload those instead! We then walked to The Roman Forum (Italian, Foro Romano) which represents the original Forum Romanum, the marketplace and the veritable heart of ancient Rome. Then we went inside The Vittoriano Monument and on top etc...
That was pretty much it, the next morning we said our goodbyes *sniff sniff* and went our seperate ways. But Rome is a beautiful city and if you ever have the chance, you should go for sure. So many beautiful sights and buildings and good food!!!
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