EXCITEMENT on this side of the ocean

HERE YE, HERE YE, Kimberly Ivany has enrolled in a Danish language course.

OH YES, by the time June rolls around, (and with it, the time of my return home), it's my goal to have reached the bottom of Modul 2 in the 6-Modul staircase that is Danish lessons!!! A few of my friends here at Skjoldhoj rode the bus into town tonight to attend an information session. Turns out, lessons for 5 months are FREE. The only price I will have to pay is to do my Danish grammar homework. (Which will probably be much like the times in grade 9 French.)

BUT! Speaking of homework, this brings about MORE exciting news!!!

Today was the first day that my class met our actual teacher. She was in Australia this past week, so the first 2 days of school were spent working with Hans, the TV technician, on shooting and editing.

So today we got the COMPLETE overview of the semester, including what assignments we will be given and due dates and all that wonderfully academic information.

Ok. Before I let you in on my semester in Aarhus, let's first take a look at my last semester at Ryerson:

• TV Broadcast
• Radio Broadcast
• Ethics and Law in the Practise of Journalism
• TV Production Techniques
• Elizabethan England

And now, what THIS semester at DSMJ looks like:

• TV Broadcast

...and that is all. HA!!!!

School is very different here in Dane Land. Instead of having 5 differnet classes at the same time, Danish students have the luxury of focussing on ONE class at at time. Therefore, there's never a point where a student would have to juggle a history essay, a radio mini-documentary and a TV production exam all at the same time...(in simple terms, we call that November at Ryerson.)

Now now, I know you're saying, "Seriously Kimberly?? How can you possibly say you're "STUDYING" in Denmark??" (...or maybe that's just my Father's voice being heard across the ocean.)

BUT...(Dad)...BELIEVE ME! The TV program I'm enrolled in is still a full course load. I will certainly be busy with assignments and workshops and lectures. There will be plenty of group work, lots of interviews, and even a final exam.

...but even still, it seems that these next 5 months are going to be WAY less intense than my semesters back in Toronto. At Ryerson, every Friday my classmates and I would come into class at 9:00 in the morning, then have a full half-hour newscast produced at precisely 3:00 that same day. Here in Aarhus, the focus seems to be more on methodology of TV journalism, and taking time to understand the theoretical side. Mind you, they do advertise to be very hands-on and a "learning-by-doing" school, which they are! But you don't know hands-on until you've met Mark Bulgutch.

But not being in a constant state of stress isn't the only perk of Aarhus journalism.

In the middle of March, for our third assignment, our class will be taking a little field trip. To Oslo.

....AHA!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah, I'm just flying to Norway to shoot a story for school, NO BIG DEAL!

In addition to THAT, my cousin Joel will be in Oslo during that time directing opera!!! AND - (I can't say 100% that this is the final plan, or it will actually go through) - BUT WE'RE PLANNING A BACKSTAGE TOUR EXTRAVAGANZA OF THE PRODUCTION OF RIGOLETTO FOR MY STORY!!!!!

OHHHHHHHHHHH man, I'm actually squealing a bit out loud. Norway is definitely in the future!!!

As is Berlin.

...oh wait, did I not tell you? Lauren, Marieke, Kristine and I are taking the train there, not this weekend, but the next.

AHA. Life is grand, people.

Go outside and take a big breath of air and be glad for it :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGbVaJ5kl7s

To football.

...but not soon enough.

It's 1:20 a.m. and I'm back in my room after watching the kick-off and about 5 minutes of playing time. One of these years I WILL see the whole game...although I did manage to see the Dorito commercial. Hi-LARious!!

Goodnight y'all. Tell me how the half time show is!

To football, or not to football

Some facts about Sunday, February 6, 2011:

• I took an afternoon trip to the OCEAN today with Wendy, Marieke and Kristine! It was cloudy and rather chilly, but it got us excited for future picnics in warmer weather.
  

• I had baby food for dinner. Oh yes. But it wasn't your typical Gerber mashed carrot mixture! It was rather a Slovakian concoction made by Kristine! I'll have to ask her again what it's called, but it's an interesting mixture of milk, sugar, and a mystery ingredient from Slovakia that I also can't remember the name of. She boiled those 3 ingredients together, then serve it as a porridge-like substance with butter and chocolate sprinkles on top!

• Superbowl Sunday isn't just a big deal in America.

It's 8:00 p.m., but Danish football fans have to wait another 4 hours to watch the big game on TV since it will start transmitting at midnight!

Naturally, there's a party happening at the Skoldhoj bar (right in the middle of the Skoldhoj Kollegiet complex) complete with wings and nachos and banana cream pie at the 4 in the morning. It was my plan, and a whole bunch of other peoples' plans, to head over there at midnight to show some American spirit...but then I realized that I have to leave for school at 8 a.m.

It's not like I'm a diehard football fan. I mostly just like the funny Nissan commercials and the half time show...but it only happens once a YEAR!

OH what to DO, what to do.

I believe I will do some readings, send some e-mails, and continue listening to Ace of Base, I Saw The Sign until I decide when the hour of 11:59 doth arrive...if I'm not asleep on this keyboard before then. These 3 a.m. weekend nights really catch up with ya.

Food for Thought

HELLO THERE!

It's a blustery day here in Dane Land. 6:11 p.m. and already dark out, but I do have some bright news.

I'm happy to report another decorative addition to my room: an abstract hand-painting on canvas, taken from another common room here at Skjoldhoj Kollegiet. WOO!

But this post gets even tastier!

I think it was the second blog I wrote after arriving in Denmark that highlighted my first dining experience in this foreign land. The danish cuisine that my dad and I feasted on for the 2 days he was here was really something else. In reality, however, I really don't see myself cooking something as exotic as ox bone marrow or horseradish-glazed duck on a regular basis.

So! What does a foreign student in Aarhus do when she's hungry?

Well, first thing's first, ya gotta make the journey to buy some good eats.

Sadly, Denmark is unaware of No Frills and FreshCo. The equivalent to these cheaper grocery chains here is called "Netto." (It's actually amazing. You can buy like, 583 kg of carrots for about 2 canadian dollars.)

But for the many brand-powered shoppers who may prefer to buy groceries in a store where flourescent yellow lighting isn't the main light source, "Foetex" is kind of like Canada's Metro (a little more pricey, but a little more quality). Meanwhile, "Bilka" is very much like our Wal-Mart (pretty much a modern day convenience store, filled with everything from avocadoes to monkey wrenches to pleather shoes that try to look fashionable while hanging messily on white hooks in bulk.)

My first grocery excursion was the day my dad left, and since I really had no idea where any of these stores were located, I stopped at Foetex, the first one I saw on Bus route 15...

...and then I realized I don't speak Danish.

The meat aisle featured things like"oksekød," "kylling," and "malt svinekød," while the milk section has about 20 differnet kinds of cartons with alien-looking brand names. I had NO idea which little container was "butter" and I probably spent a good 5 minutes trying to decipher between spaghetti sauce and salsa. Was that pink package oatmeal or cereal? How much are these cucumbers, since there are 3 different signs above them?

I remember that first grocery trip being really overwhelming. That first day being completely on my own, I was craving familiarity. I just wanted to buy some Triscuits, but I could only find Wasa crackers. I searched the shevles for regular marble fromage, but I eventually gave up since there were literally 49 different brands, names, sizes and shapes of the stuff that I could not have said "cheese" if a person had asked me to at that moment.

I left Foetex with a cart full of pasta, however. Penne looks the same even on this side of the Atlantic!

But today marks the second week I've lived in Europe!!! And with more time to adjust to living in here, and as I keep making trips to Bilka (the grocery store closest to my house), I'm getting more adventurous and way less overhwhelmed by the bombardment of Danish texts.

When I look at this situation objectively, I'm actually really thankful for a chance to BE the foreigner! Imagine how it must feel for non-English speaking people to come to Toronto, walk into a grocery store, and only be able to tell what a food product is based on what it looks like!? English is indeed a universal language, so how often will I get to experience shopping without it?

It's actually funny going grocery shopping with my fellow international students:

"Is this soy sauce?"
"I don't know! Let's buy it and find out!"

"Does this look like chicken?"
"Hmmm, maybe this one more so."
"Ok, let's go with that one!"

That's another thing I love about my Denmark experience so far. Just about every night for the past week, I've made dinner with my friends, and their friends, from all over the world! We buy the ingredients together, we cook it together, we eat together, and we clean up together, all while sharing stories about where we're from and where we want to be in the future and how we miss our cats. (Yes Snowflake, I'm talking about you.)

Maybe this is rather stereotypical, but it seems to me that people from places outside of North America delight in the process of making a meal. Unlike back at home where everyone is drained by routine and caught up in busy schedules, people here actually have a desire to take the time to make something delicious! And not just a desire to make this deliciousness, but a desire to share it! There is a joy here that comes from taking time to communally enjoy good talks accompanied with good tastes. We've had about 3 pot lucks since I've been here!!

...haha, re-reading that sentence makes dinner hour in Aarhus sound like a romanticized world that you read about in cheap paperbacks. But it's true!!

Maybe it IS because it's only the first few weeks here and we're excited to hang out with each other, or maybe we only have this kind of time to set aside for dinner because school is just getting started...Hm. That does make sense. But really, I think that regardless of how busy the weeks get, there will be many more stirfrys, spring rolls, and homemade apple crisp complete with raspberries and chocolate chunks in the future :)

OH YES, dinnertime is sweet.

(Apologies go out to my pal Kraft Dinner. Looks like you'll be staying in your box for a few more weeks.)

CanadiDane

I took a walk downtown from school today.

We finished class at around 1:30, so I had a few hours to kill before coming back for the pizza party and "cultural presentation" night!

I didn't know exactly where I was headed, or where I wanted to end up, or how to even get to where I thought I might arrive at...

But my iPod was playing, my hood was up, my black boots were clicking on the uneven cobblestone as I headed down "Nerres Alle."

They clicked to the beatz in my ears, the wind blew with a warm, foreshadowing force, and the bikes zoomed past me as I walked by my name etched on a building's edge.

"This is just the beginning and the city is yours."

I'm in DENMARK, I thought, and I'm supposed to be.

And I smiled big enough for the passing person to look twice.

Morning tours, mid-day post

Day 3 of orientation!

But let me tell you, we were anything but "oriented" during a lecture about climate change inside city hall this morning. Just about every international student went to the "Student House" last night. It's basically a hang out spot attached to one of the univerisities in Aarhus for exchange students - and danish ones as well - to eat, drink and be merry! 8 a.m. comes fast when you go to bed at 2 in the morning...ok so maybe it's not jet lag. Ha!

Aside from a presentation about climate change initiatives in Aarhus, we got a tour of city hall from a lady who looked like a toad. She was a nice toad though! And the buildling was beautiful.






What followed was a little walking tour of the city. This is Soren, our guide for a tour of the city, one of the Danish students at our school, AND a Colts fan!!! (Shout out to the Robinsons. You've already got friends on this side of the ocean!)









Aarhus really is SO lovely. It's going to be so great in the spring/summer months to be able to come downtown and walk along the canal, the warm breeze blowing over the swaying trees in the green spaces lining the cobblestones streets, as the sun sets at 10:00 or later over the winding roads of the city...

Denmark, I think you and I are going to be great friends.

HOW'S THE SNOW OVER YONDER?!?!

The Best Danish Recipe

What do you get when you cross a morning hot chocolate and a Danish government lecture, paired with a taste of communal stir fry dinner, mixed together with a Tuesday night bar, Danish phrases, and a text that says "see you tomorrow!" all under a perfectly crisp starry night sky???

A flippin' sweet day in Denmark. That's what!!!