Happy Danish Valentines Day.. and more

Haven't had a chance to update in awhile, very busy with school and everything. Lets see, a short recap of my past few days here... Tuesday I had a full day of classes (2 classes--6hrs), and then went to the library to work/study until about 9pm, so really nothing exciting. Wednesday I had no classes because my one workshop got moved to Friday. I was still up early though.. 7:30am.. got ready and to the library for the day it was. I had to work on this group project for my Sports Economics class, we presented on Friday, so I got that completed along with readings for International Management and Corporate Finance.

I decided to take a break and get some shopping done at Norreport. (Shopping because I had just recently found out that I had plans for Valentines Day... Dino was surprising me with a whole night of activities!!) While at Norreport, I finally broke down and got a Nutella crepe for lunch, I have been wanting one ever since senior year of high school when we were in Paris and would eat them all the time. It was amazing! On to shopping for a Danish valentines gift--this was tricky because I had no idea what we were doing, maybe it was casual like dinner and walking around the city or going to a movie or who knows maybe it was alot more formal than that. I know he likes psychology so I was thinking about getting him a psych book (I now realize how poor my gift giving skills are..), went into the bookstore and wandered around, finally found what I assumed was the psych section and remember that I dont speak Danish at all so there was no way I would have any idea what I was buying which made me nervous so I decided I'd keep looking. Same thing with the card, there were only 2-3 English cards so I had to settle on a really lame one instead of taking a chance on a Danish one. I ended up finding this shirt for him at a store downtown CPH (Copenhagen) where the two people working (male and female) helped me pick out the right one and gave me some pointers on how Valentines Day is celebrated in Denmark. Sounded more casual than in the US... no one really knows/cares, which is kinda sad. I like it in the states on Valentines day when people are all in a good mood, excitement about getting flowers and nice cards, etc.

After my shopping break I went back to school to meet Dino and try and get my computer battery figured out once and for all. Apparently they canceled the order b/c I tried using my card but having it sent to his address. It ended up taking around 1.5hrs and still got nowhere. ahhh frustrating!!! At 4pm I had a group mtg for my Sports Econ project. I definitely felt some culture shock there. At UWL when you have group things everyone is done with what theyre supposed to be done with and are prepared. I can pick out only a handful of times I showed up to a group meeting (there have been plenty!) and someone didnt have a part of their stuff done. Here I was the ONLY one who had everything completed. I thought I might flip out for a second b/c how the heck are things supposed to go good when you dont even have your stuff done?! I had to realize that this wasn't La Crosse anymore so I couldn't impose the standards of the UWL culture to this situation. It was so hard to just sit there and listen to why people weren't prepared.

After that I met Dino again b/c he was in a mtg too, then we walked to the Metro together and got on the subject of dinner.. I told him I was probably having chicken noodle soup and he laughed at me. He was determined to get me some "good" food. (I, personally, consider chicken noodle soup to be one of the best foods, but whatever..) So we went into Fotex and he was translating everything from ingredients to nutritional information to cooking instructions. Finallly got some really good groceries! Later that night was dedicated to planning spring break and homework. Spring break--we're flying into Paris on March 12th and planning on staying in Paris for a few days, then going to Spain, flying back from Madrid to Berlin, staying there for a few days, then back to CPH. Whew. Should be fun!!!!!!!!!!!!! That night everyone was hanging out in the common room on 3rd floor, I ended up staying there until around 2am, and I had class in the morning...ahh.

Three hours of sleep really doesnt cut it when you have a full day of classes. I walked to my first class, figured out it had moved since last week so I ended up doing my homework and hoping to cut in during one of the breaks, didn't happen though plus I had another class that overlapped it so I got my homework done, got some lunch, and then went to International Management. More group work where I was the only one out of 7 people who did the reading!!! I cant believe this! I know everyone is on exchange and its supposed to be fun but it was only about a 15pg article which is nothing compared to the other readings you get here. Unreal. After that I went tanning and then to the library for awhile so I would be free for Valentines Day celebrations!

Okay--my Danish Valentines Day experience.. Dino showed up at exactly 7pm, dressed up and had a single rose. I figured it was going to be a good time after that! We walked to Mamarosa, an italian/mexican restaurant right in the center of the city. He had a table reserved on 4th floor with a welcome drink waiting and everything. The food was sooo good, the place was cool. After dinner we walked some more, ending up at the first place we ever went in Copenhagen. It was the old, round, tower where you can see whole city. It was decorated with candles and red blankets in every windowsill (there are a ton on the way up), we sat in one for awhile and a photography student asked to take our picture..haha weird! We ended up walking to the top, there was telescopes set up to see Saturn and an area where you could look up at the stars. Afterwards we got some tea and stopped at a windowsill again for awhile. When we left there was a bike taxi waiting for us! Ahh it was sooo cool! We rode around and down by the canal, etc. AND there were chocolates, champagne, roses, and a heart shaped pillow too :) I don't think I could've asked for a better Valentines Day. Seriously it was pretty much a page out of a fairytale :)

Then Friday came and I had to do a presentation, it went pretty good, it was in our Sports Econ workshop so smaller groups and we got into some pretty interesting discussions on all sorts of topics. I met Dino for lunch and then had Corporate Finance lecture. I went and picked up my camera (which finally came in) after that, turns out its exactly the same one I had before only it works. Then I came back, relaxed, took a nap, and then we all got ready to go out. We played beer pong and listened to country music, it made me feel so at home! We went out to Club Vega, on the other side of town, free entrance and somehow free beer too. There was some really popular DJ there, it was pretty fun although not my type of music. Today (saturday) I have been completely lazy, talked to mom and finally updated this blog! I should probably go and do something...