Copenhagen (among other things)

Haven't written here in over a week so I think I'm about due...I'm currently in a hotel room in Oslo, Norway and should probably head to bed soon, but wanted to follow up with what's happened since I last posted...

The day after my last post visited my mom and her friend who had flown in to Copenhagen and made their way to the Grand Hotel in Lund. That night we walked around town and had a nice meal in one of the town squares. I had a nacho dish, which despite what I heard about Mexican food here, was not too bad. Thursday I went with them, and later met up with some friends, at the Malmo Festival. A few of us watched a band known as The Sounds perform. They were awesome (especially the whole use of cigarettes/wine while singing)!

Late Friday after my last Swedish class, my mom, her friend, and I went to Copenhagen for the weekend. We met up with a family friend named Jane and her family. They live out in the countryside about 30 minutes south of downtown Copenhagen. They are very nice and allowed us to sleep at their home on Friday night. She and her husband Kenneth cooked us a traditional Danish dinner consisting of meatballs, open faced sandwiches, and a whole bunch of other stuff which I'm forgetting right now...In the morning we went to a bakery to buy a lot of Danishes! They were tasty. That day we went to Tivoli Gardens and the theme park. For the first time ever I went on one of those "supreme scream" type rides that go straight up and drop down. I think I'm good for awhile...

The next day we went to a Church Service in Danish...that was nice. Afterwards, we walked over to see the changing of the guard at the Danish Royal Palace. From here we walked along the water down to see the Mermaid Statue. We later took a nice canal tour that took us around the area. We visited Nyhaven which was a very cool part of Copenhagen! It is basically a long street of different restaurants and bars, in different colored buildings, lining the canal. I'll post pictures soon. Soon after this we headed back to Lund, as I had a Swedish test I had not studied for yet.

The following day, on Monday, Aug. 24, we all had our Swedish test. I'm glad this is over...and even more glad I took it Pass/No Pass as opposed to a grade. After this we had registration day at Lund University. It took about an hour and a half of waiting in line to receive a bag of information that really could have just been handed to us. Later in the day I went to visit with our UC Coordinator, Linus Lindgren, who's been very helpful. My classes for the quarter include 4 SAS courses (Scandinavia Areas Study), and possibly some Political Science courses, though I have not been to the office yet.

It was a busy weekend in Copenhagen and the same for Monday with the Swedish test and registration, but it didn't stop there...Monday night we left for Stockholm, then to Estonia, back to Stockholm, and to Norway (where we're at now!). Details on this past week to come...