Interesting things about Denmark

So here’s a few interesting things I’ve learned about Denmark thus far.

1) KNOW THE LANGUAGE! Despite the fact that pretty much everyone here does speak English it’s really frustrating to not have ANY idea what is going on. On top of this I feel like and American idiot because I only know one language and these people know 3! (Danish, German and English) Hello, what is wrong with us in America that we can’t get it together and know more languages? There’s a whole world out there and I feel lost right now! So to help me learn Danish I asked for a Danish language book for Christmas. Today I completed lesson one and learned such important things like how to say welcome to Denmark “Velkommen til Denmark” and how to say the 29 letters that exist in the Danish alphabet which by the way some of those letters are NOTHING like English. For example a J is actually pronounced like a Y and a U is sorta like an O so it’s really messing me up! But I will continue to make efforts. I find its much easier to read the language than to actually speak it. I can recognize a lot of words but when people are talking I don’t know what’s going on. I told Joe we should go to the library and get out little kid books like the ABC books we have in English maybe that will help To make matters worse the French that I actually do remember (which seems to be way more than I thought) keeps wanting to creep into my Danish skills (or lack of!) so I find myself wanting to put le and la in front of everything and that doesn’t work here. So this language thing is certainly a challenge.

2) Food. Ok so I pretty much like everything so I’m not having to much of a hard time adjusting to the food here. The other day Joe and I found these little juice pop things so I made him buy some. I picked out orange and he picked out lime. I’ve tried the orange flavor and it’s pretty good. I like the little character too!

Breakfast is also a little different here. Musli is very popular which is good because I like it! You mix it with a little bit of yogurt and you have instant breakfast. It’s actually really good!.

Today my tasks were to go to the post office for Joe so he can mail something back to the States and decide what to eat for dinner. The post office was really interesting and SO well organized. You walk in, take a number and then the numbers pop up at the counter and you get what you need. I paid for my stamp and was on my way to Fotex (the grocery store) in search of dinner and stain stick (This morning I dropped the top of my make-up bottle onto the floor and it got all over my jeans). I quickly found the prepared meals which Joe and I decided would be a good choice since he has Danish class tonight. So I picked out what appeared to be some type of steak and potato dish that I will put in the oven and cook before Joe gets home. Well I didn’t really know what this stuff was so when I got home I decided to look it up. It’s called “Mørbrad på kartoffelbund” Kartoffelbund are potatoes and so I figured it was some kind of red meat. Well I put in Mørbrad into google translate and it tells me it means lion! So I kind of freaked out for a second, like did I really just pick Lion for us to eat for dinner? And who eats lions anyway!? After some more research on google translate I soon discovered that no we were not about to eat some exotic meat tonight but were in fact going to enjoy Tenderloin and potatoes! (Sign of relief!) I’m up for meat adventures but LION? I don’t know about that.

3) Daylight. So interesting thing about the geography of Denmark. Due to the fact that we’re much closer to the north pole the sun sticks around for a LONG time during the day. Typically the sun rises around 4am and sets just before 11pm. It’s really kind of awesome but makes you not sleepy around 9 or 10 like you should be because it still feels like sun you would have around 7 or 8pm. (Speaking of time, things are done in military time here so I’m try to get used to that as well). So 2300 rolls around and it’s finally dark out, but in just a few short hours it will be light out again! Have no fear! During the Summer Solstice the sun is actually up for 17 hours 29 minutes and 38 seconds in Kolding. That’s a lot of sunlight. :) But it’s pretty cool!

So I guess that’s about all for now. We’re thinking of taking a day trip somewhere this weekend and we have some leads on a bike for me so HOPEFULLY someone will e-mail us back. Denmark has version of e-bay and craigslist kind of rolled into one so we e-mailed some people with bikes for sale in Fredericia (1 stop up on the train) for good prices so we shall see. It will be nice to have a bike so I can actually get places without the bus.

Alright, Happy Memorial Day to everyone back home, I hope you are all enjoying BBQs and fun times with your families and friends! We miss you all.
Love from Amanda

Getting settled

Hello Everyone!

So this weekend has given me the opportunity to get settled in here in Denmark! :) Last entry I had arrive (always a good thing!) so now the adventures begin.

Friday was a lazy day. I found myself sleeping until almost 11am. Joe of course had to go to work so I was left to my own devices for the morning and early afternoon. So I didn’t really do much at all, which was wonderful. I have some craft project I’m working on and got everything unpacked. Joe was nice enough to make room in his closet and give me some storage space. I did bring 2 huge bags of stuff. :) Friday night Joe requested cheeseburgers and fries for dinner. (He really misses Baltimore pub food!) so I made some burgers and fries and we settled in to watch the NBC show Community (Really funny if you haven’t seen it, highly recommend it!)

Yesterday we went to the mall and picked up a few things at Bilka for me. Bilka is kind of like a super Walmart of Target. They pretty much have EVERYTHING you might need there and it’s not too expensive. We also ate sausages for lunch. Sausages are a big thing here in Denmark. They’re like the hot dog stands you can find in big cities in the States but about a million times better. The buns are hollow in the middle and they put the ketchup or mustard in there and then the sausage. DELICIOUS! :) We took the bus back to the apartment and relaxed for a bit. Later on we went for a walk to the water. Joe showed me where the beach is that I’ll likely spend a good amount of time at. It was a BEAUTIFUL day yesterday! The weather in Denmark is really interesting though. It reminds me a lot of Syracuse weather, wait 5 minutes and it will change. They have these little clouds that blow through and rain in one area of the town. Friday it was raining at the apartment and not raining at Joe’s office. So it’s kind of funny how that works. But all in all the weather has been nice. :) We met up with one of Joe’s friends from work last night to explore the town in the evening. It was a fun night.

Today has unfortunately been kind of gloomy. It did clear up for a while so we were able to go for a nice walk by the lake and Koldinghus (the castle). While we were walking we happened upon a little family of ducks and a family of swans. It was so fun to see the little babies! Such a beautiful sign of spring! (I need to be better about carrying around my camera so I can capture these moments!)

So my project for the day has been to decide where I want to go and what places I want to see. There’s 11 “Must See Cities” and 5 “would like to see if there’s time.” In addition to all those places there’s a lot of great little towns near Kolding that I’m hoping to explore. :) Today as Joe and I were walking around the lake we were talking about all the things I can do while I’m here. So I came to the conclusion (again really) that I’m going to make the most of out this trip and see and do as much as I possibly can. Since I’ll have the whole day to do things I’ll make lots of day trips to other areas and visit lots of Denmark. My hope is to see some friends in the area too. I’m so excited for all the adventures we’re going to have this summer. It still doesn’t feel real sometimes that I’m here and will be for a long time. I can’t wait to start exploring! More updates to follow!

Love from Amanda

Let the adventures begin!

Here I am arrived safely in Denmark! It's currently a little after 7 and we've finished up some yummy Danish frozen pizza (I'm really serious, its good!) and had an awesome brownie with coconut and chocolate glaze for dessert. I'll be heading to bed soon though because I'm exhausted!

So yesterday I started my trek to Denmark by driving my car to Frederick so Shannon's family can drive it and watch over it for the summer. (Special thanks to them!!!) Shannon and I then drove to the airport area and stopped for some lunch before dropping me off. (More special thanks to Shannon for taking the day off to get me to the airport!) The flight from Dulles to Amsterdam was just fine. A little bumpy at some points, but overall a good flight. I slept for a few hours which was also helpful. The food was also pretty awesome. I had a pasta dish with pesto and almonds, some couscous with chicken and a brownie with chocolate mousse for dessert. Yummy! The second flight was an uneventful 45 minutes and I landed safely in Billund right on time. My bags somehow managed to be some of the first few off and so I was out the door to meet Joe right as he was pulling up in the bus. So we came back to Joe's apartment, had some lunch and we went for a walk around the town. The weather has been really nice here and everything is so pretty and green now compared to when I was here in March! :)

So after a safe and uneventful trip my summer adventures will begin! This weekends plan is to lay out our summer trips, get me settled and get me a bike! (This bike could be a good thing because all the delicious treats I eat will be burned up by riding everywhere) So I'll post again soon!
Love from Amanda

Now we're really heading out

Well, I lied....I said I wouldn't post again until I actually got to Europe, but I decided that since I've managed to get almost everything done I'd go ahead and do another post. (This blog just might become addictive!)

So the packing has commenced. I started last night. Let me tell you, it's challenging packing 3 months of your life into 2 bags! Here's what we're looking at so far....


Somehow all that clothing will fit into that suitcase...currently we're working on that and I'm just not sure how I managed to get it all in there before!



These bags are just about packed and ready to go! YAY!

Now, on to checking in online...well after 30 minutes and 4 phone calls to both KLM and Delta I am not checked into my flight and will not be checked in until I get to the airport tomorrow. This makes me extremely unhappy and frustrated and I hope doesn't reflect on what the trip will be like. My reservation does exist because when I spoke to people they were able to pull up my information but why no one could just check me in over the phone I don't know! So needless to say I'm a little frustrated and hoping that this isn't going to make the trip more of an adventure than I would like!

So, I'm off to finish my bag and hope that things run smoothly tomorrow! I'll post again when landed and settled in Kolding!

Love form Amanda

And we're almost off!

Hello Everyone,

So I've decided to join the ranks of blogging and create a fun blog so everyone can keep up with my summer adventures (and Joe's) in Europe! (This is maybe the ONE good thing about having Joe be over there for work right now - mostly free Summer in Europe!) So needless to say I'll try to keep this updated, which I'm sure won't be a problem since I won't have a whole lot to do. Oh that just sounds so wonderful and I can't wait! :) Please feel free to leave any comments or suggestions on where we should go and what we should do!

Today being Saturday and 4 days from departure I'm continuing to try to get things in order to fly on Wednesday! I've starting pulling things together to pack and finalizing things here in Baltimore. I can't wait to head out on Wednesday! :) Hopefully there won't be any problems or issues!

Enjoy following the blog and I'll post again once I've made it safely to Denmark!
Love from Amanda