Below are the 13 most recent journal entries recorded in simpotnaya_deva's LiveJournal:

Saturday, January 31st, 2009
5:10 pm	Random thoughts... I saw the face of Sven Merrill today in a truck in Copenhagen. It was frightening.I went to a choir concert tonight and it made me miss Chorale. I also realized that choirs need guys, because these girl choirs got boring after awhile.I have no class until Monday because I am going on another trip this weekend.I shopped at a store called Vi Ses today, which means See you later. Irony is, the shop was run by two blind women.I am watching Swedish Idol on TV right now. It is scary how much is it like the American version.I am still tired from my Bornholm trip. So I think I will head to bed soon... (Comment on this)
Friday, January 30th, 2009
2:39 pm	Bornholm Weekend My goodness what a weekend it has been. I don't think I have fully recovered from the weekend that was Bornholm. So this is a quick run down of what happened. Friday night we boarded a ferry at like 10 PM. It is an overnighter, so we leave at 11:30 and get there at 6:30 AM. My gal pals Franci and Kassie, who are both from St. Lawrence University in NY, went shoppign that day to get some food and then I took a sleeping bag and a backpack. So we got on the ferry and it was a blast, because most people just went to sleep but of course we stayed up for awhile. After getting some sleep we woke up at Bornholm and got off to see the town. Well, we missed the first bus to the town where we were staying so we just ended up finding a gas station for coffee and Danishes. Finally we got on the bus and got to our hostel where the owner greeted us in a robe. We got settled and spent Saturday just walking around, getting more food in town and then walking up to this awesome castle ruin at the top of a cliff. If you want to see pictures, go to photos.yahoo.com/mitch_colgan. They rock. That night we ate at this really cool hot dog stand in town and just hung out. We were exhausted though and got to bed early. Sunday we woke up, packed and headed by bus to the town where all of the other people from our school were staying. They were on a huge bike trip, which we didn't want. But we met up with some of our friends, took some bikes of people that were too sore to bike and headed out. By the end of the day, I had biked 20 KM, or like 13 miles. I know. Ridiculous. Today my legs hurt and I am sore. But it was a ton of fun. Then to get home, we hopped on a ferry that took us to Sweden where we were supposed to meet up with a train to take us home. It was probably the windiest night of the year and the boat was a-rockin'. It was HORRIBLE. I spent most of the trip outside in the freezing wind, becasue that kept me from throwing up. Yeah. It was great. Finally I feel asleep on the floor of the boat and we made it back. Unfortunately the wind put us behind time and I missed the train home, so I had to take a bus. I finally made it home at 2:15 AM, only to have class at 10 this morning. Needless to say, I was a little tired. But it was a total blast. We were very glad we went, and it was a gorgeous part of the world. Tonight I will study my butt off for my first test, and then Thursday I am heading out on another trip with my school. Should be fun. But now I am gonna go get ready for dinner -- IT'S MEXICAN NIGHT HERE IN COPENHAGEN!! At least at our house! :) (Comment on this)
Thursday, January 29th, 2009
10:42 am	Weekend Plans I used my credit card for the first time today in Europe (GO BETTER BANKS!) and I booked a seat on an overnight ferry to Bornholm. It is a tiny island off the coast of Sweden, but it is part of Denmark and it's supposed to be really nice. So I am heading out tomorrow with my gal pals Kassie and Franci and we are hitting the island. We'll be there all weekend and get home probably Monday morning before classes. So that's what I'll be doing. I really want to rent a moped while I'm there. I hope they have them. But I don't have a Danish lisence. So that could be a problem. Maybe. Hmm. My host mom brought me home a bottle of wine today from her wine school. I was excited but she said I have to wait 5 years to drink it. So on my 25th birthday, you better believe I'll be cracking that baby out. Just hope you're invited...She said she tasted like 2000 dollar wines in France. Crazy. Just buy a computer or something. Geez. OK, bed time and then packing...Laters. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
6:39 am	Funny story about yesterday So yesterday I was done with class at 1:30 or so and I went back to the main part of our school where there are a ton of tables and computers and whatnot, and met up with my friends Keene and Francie. They were both done with classes too and so we were just goign to run some errands. Francie got some film developed and then we were just walking and decided that we were hungry. Well, the day before we got these little pizza things from a bakery and they were TASTY, but I wanted to stop by Netto, which is like the cheapest grocery store chain just to see what they had. And I definitely found a 5 kroner Strawberry Dan-Cake which was like heaven on earth. If you go to my picture page, you will be able to see just how glorious this dan cake was. I devoured it. It was amazing. I definitely plan on getting another someday soon.Oh, and by the way, Francie is like the Michigan version of Becky Mowers so she's always a blast to be with! (Comment on this)
Monday, January 26th, 2009
2:36 am	FYI I definitely went to a birthday party this weekend for a coworker of my host dad. And it was definitely a blast. At this party, I sat next to the Danish version of Mia Poston, full out with a lip ring and everything. Also at this party, I got my first Danish phone number. Yeah...from a 75-yr-old man. He was in the Danish Navy and learned a lot of English and wants to continue talking to me so he doesn't forget it...and I want to play badmitton with him. He plays twice a week, and I wish to go with. So it's a fair trade. I talk and he gets me into badmitton for free. WHOO HOO.Later peeps. (Comment on this)
Sunday, January 25th, 2009
2:28 am	YAY FOR CLASSES?!?! OK, so today was like the best acedemic day ever, because I dropped my Russia under Putin class and got into a class called International Marketing and Branding. Doesn't that sound like fun?? I know, thinking about learning about the current state of the Russian Federation under its wonderful leader Vladimir Putin is just EXHILERATING, but at the same time, I think I need to take this marketing class. The reason I didn't sign up for it in the first place is because I technically don't have the prereq for the class, so I did what any well respected college student would do -- lie. I kinda stretched the truth and told the registrar that my Intro to International Business class dealt a lot with marketing. Oops. It won't hurt them. So I went to class and my professor is in the marketing department for Carlsberg, the Budweiser of Denmark, and he had amazing real life experiences to put with all of the things we were learning about. So not only was it educational, but interesting. WOW! It's amazing! Almost makes me want to study. Almost. But I have to, because the classes are tough. Much tougher than Bradley. Oh well. Found out more about my trip to Prague today. Yeah, that's right, Prague. Despite the fact that Suzanne Kula didn't like it, I AM PUMPED.I am actually so pumped, I'm gonna go study. Yeah. (Comment on this)
Friday, January 23rd, 2009
10:18 pm	Classes So I just finished with classes for the day. At 1:45 PM. Isn't that crazy? I am so used to Bradley going to school for hours on end. And I don't even have classes tomorrow! So I am officially done with classes until 12:15 PM on Thursday. This is very weird, but a nice change. All of my classes are in really old buildings around the city, so there is always a walk to it, but it's not a big deal. Today I had a European Business Environment class, so we are learning about the European Union and really fun stuff like that. Then I had Danish and my class is really fun and the professor rocks. Then I finished out my day with the Economic Theories of Globalization. That class will be hard because there are a lot of smart people spouting out things that they know. Like this guy from Harvard talking about the Chiquita banana tariffs in the 1990s. Yeah. I'll start studying now.Not really. We are gonna go walk around for awhile before I head home on the train. Then tomorrow we are walking around too. Because there are no classes. And tomorrow starts this whole culture fest in Copenhagen when there are dozens of free concerts. Who is pumped about this? Me.Laters. (Comment on this)
Thursday, January 22nd, 2009
8:56 pm	PS... Denmark's Women's Handball team won the gold medal. That was the title of the last post.And if you want to see pictures of my exciting weekend, and much more...visitphotos.yahoo.com/mitch_colgan (Comment on this)
Wednesday, January 21st, 2009
8:21 pm	HANDBALL BABY I just got back from one of the most exhausting weekends of my life. Sure I wasn't busy the whole time, but I have realized that listening to people talk for hours in a language you don't understand is one of the most exhausting actions ever.So I left with my host parents on Saturday to go to a wedding in Jutland, which if you don't know Danish geography is a pretty far ways away. We had to drive, take a ferry, and then drive more. But it was all good, I slept and read and such. Then the wedding began at like 4. It was at the groom's parents house and when I asked how many people would be there, they said, oh, it's going to be a huge wedding, like 125 people. OK, that's tiny, but whatever. So the wedding ceremony was at the house, then we hung out and ate and stuff. It was getting kinda boring because I didn't understand anything they were saying. But there were a lot of cool things. Like during the reception, they write songs for each other and sing together. And a lot of people talk alot. It was cool. Also, the bride showed us all the garter belt she was wearing. Fine. Then the groom dropped his pants and showed us his boxers. Weird. However, by like 10 PM I expected to go, but no, they party all night. They finally started dancing at midnight and they had a band that played covers of popular American songs. You know, like Mambo No. 5 and Brown Eyed Girl (even though NO ONE in the room had brown eyes, this is Scandinavia here!). We were still there at 2 AM and we had gotten there at 4 PM. My god it was long. But fun. And I slept well.Then on Sunday we went to my host mom's parents house and hung out with them and took a little boat ride. It was gorgeous. I loved my host mom's mom because she couldn't speak any English but still talked to me like I did understand Danish. Very funny. And the first question they asked me was "Do you drive a 69 Chevy?" Weird.We just got back today and I am getting ready for my first class of the semester. The classes are goign to be hard, I think, but I have no classes on Wednesdays and really only 2 or 3 classes the other days. Easy compared to having Chorale everyday!Laters... (Comment on this)
Monday, January 19th, 2009
2:01 pm	MEAN GIRLS So I definitely spent last night in the city (Copenhagen) with my gal pals Felicia and Maura. And we did what any Dane would do...go to see Mean Girls at the Palads. It was the single most amazing experience of my life. OK, I lied. But it was tons of fun. We are these three Americans in this Danish movie theater watching an American movie in English with Danish subtitles. Hehe. We all laughed at the same parts. It was fun. The girls next to me were laughing at my giggles. And though I had seen the movie before in the hotel room with Tyler and Erin, it was 30,000 times better this time because I actually stayed awake. I am learning more Danish and I'll get to practice more this weekend when I go to a wedding and then sailing. I am nervous because I don't know anyone, but I'll have plenty of homework to keep me busy.GOD BLESS BRADLEY! For never giving us homework BEFORE school starts. NOT THE CASE IN DENMARK....Off to tour the Carlsberg Brewery now...it's the Budweiser of Denmark. Yeah. (Comment on this)
Sunday, January 18th, 2009
12:05 pm	Lots of memories... So this has been a very memorable day and I'll tell you why.1. I started my first unofficial day of classes with a Danish Language Crash Course just so we can start understanding this crazy language. So I am pronouncing all of my O's and OO's in a room of 20 students. Well, the part that makes this all hysterical is that the guy next to me is from Beijing. That's China for those of you that don't know that. So this Chinese guy is learning Danish next to me. Needless to say I was laughing for a bit of the time.2. We went to Linda's brother's house for dinner. OK, I walk in thinking, this is a very nice place. Then I notice in the living room is a widescreen plasma flat screen TV. Then I realized that this is the rich brother of the family. But their house is very nice and they are very nice too. It was a fun night of eating and talking and a nice walk around town.All in all, I am so glad I am here. It's a learning experience every moment and it's cool to hang out with my classmates too. However, I might not be saying that it's too fun when the actual work starts on Monday. Blah. Shout out to my Bradley peeps that start school tomorrow!Laters. (Comment on this)
Saturday, January 17th, 2009
8:11 am	COPENHAGEN! So I made it to Copenhagen today (Sunday). It was a very long flight over here and I actually got stuck next to a crying baby. I just laughed, thinking, this is my luck to be stuck on an 8 hour flight next to a child yelling its lungs out. But it shut up quickly and I slept nicely. But things are well now at my family's house. It's small but comfortable and their daughter is adorable. Unfortunately she's very shy and really doesn't speak English. But we'll get along fine...the Minnie Mouse doll I brought her kind of won her over. But I'm gonna hang out with my family for awhile, so I'll have to update later...Tak, Mitch (Comment on this)
Thursday, January 15th, 2009
2:35 am	And the fun begins... So I finally decided to join the whole LJ world and sign up for a journal. My rationale is that I can detail what I do in Denmark so I will remember it and also allow people in America to see too.Yes, I am leaving for Denmark on Saturday. I am so pumped. I am so less nervous than I ever expected just because I know this will be a great experience for me. I feel like a freshman again, except I know no one. It's like I am actually going away to school instead of Bradley. Man am I pumped.I got an email from my host family yesterday and they are adorable. Mom, Dad and baby girl. How much fun will that be! And that way I don't have to cook for myself as much (thank god).So the Olympics have been consuming a lot of my life lately. I watch religiously. I was impressed that a lot of people on the speech team are really into it as well. I'm still not sure that I like Michael Phelps but I sure do love the Olympics. I feel like a loser because I am 20 now and do not have a medal around my neck. Michael Phelps has 5 now. Geez.So look forward to many more posts in the future!Denmark in 3 days! (Comment on this)