nvahyN is Nyhavn spelt backwards

I'm pretty sure I'm the last exchange student to visit Copenhagen's most touristy area, Nyhavn.  I went there yesterday on what was considered by many a 'good' day in terms of weather: 6 degrees and lots of wind.

Ever heard of the travelling gnome?  Well, this is a picture of Clarence the Mantis; Leah's travelling macho-baby-doll/thing/creature.

I'm currently lounging in Paludan, every law student's favourite cafe near campus, perusing through the CPH:DOX program with Leah.  She's leaning over my shoulder, telling me that I spelt 'favourite' wrong, but she's American so she wouldn't know better.

A Force to be Reckoned With

This week my blog reached a milestone - 2,000 views!  Watch out Google, Facebook and Yahoo; you have a new competitor in town!

I am so glad to see that people out there actually read this!

I've been so busy of late.  My best friend from the US (who I haven't seen for 18months) just arrived in CPH this weekend.  She's staying for two fun-filled weeks so I spent all of last week smashing some readings out of the way. Yesterday we spent a whole day at KB Hallen looking through people's trash and turning it into our treasures (pictured).

I've noticed this week that all the leaves around CPH have either fallen or are about to.  I brought my camera with me to campus last week in the hope of capturing the last remnants of a once-colourful Copenhagen (pictured).  Caro, as usual, is a natural when it comes to photos.

CPH:DOX:WOW

While I was studying today I was hugely distracted by the CPH:DOX program...it looks AMAZING...like WHOA!  I'm going to look into buying tickets tomorrow for a number of documentaries including one about Joaquin Phoenix's past year as a fake rapper.  I have to admit I fell for his crazy stunt, but I still have a lot of respect for him; I think it takes a lot of courage to pursue such a creative project that has jeopardised his acting career. 

As part of the festival, there is also a Youtube Battle next Saturday evening that I wish I could go to...but I'll be in Amsterdam.  It's basically an event in a bar where two groups compete to win cheers from the crowd by taking turns in playing the most random/gross/interesting/funny/weird/creative youtube videos on the spot.  My friends back home, Caley S and Steve M, would've especially loved it.  In fact, I picture them battling each other in a Youtube World Championship one day.  Steve would unleash a video of synchronised Japanese businessmen.



Then Caley would respond with a pokemon video of Australian politics.

Halloween: no tricks just treats

I had a priest, an astronaut and some others over last night for pre-drinks, pre-eats and face-painting before the big Halloween party down the road at Vega.

I wore a Nokia 3210 costume I made a few weeks ago for a 90s party at Egmont Kollegium, and it was kind of tricky riding my bike in it.

 
While we were at Vega, I was stumbling around looking for a bathroom and before I knew it, my friend Lizzie pulled me up onto a stage and I had apparently won a best costume prize.  I scored a bottle of Fisk, Denmark's national (and grossest) drink and enjoyed it with my blood-oozing pals and Superman!

Indendørs Loppemarked

Just got back from the best market I've ever been to.  Okay, maybe not the best (my friends always say I use too many superlatives), but it was nonetheless mega-fantastic.  It was just down the road on Enghavevej, in a large, naturally lit warehouse.  There were two main rooms; one with crates and pillows everywhere for everyone to sip on coffee, tea, soft drinks or beer (pictured).  The other, a whole room filled with stalls stocking cute homemade cupcakes (that my sister would've loved) and high quality second-hand clothing, accessories and electronics (and everything else under the sun) at the best prices I've seen at any market (outside of Asia).  I witnessed the most amazing Flamingo bag ever (which my friend back home Sarah Birchley would've died for, pictured), and bought a number of things including a navy blue suit for 20DKK ($4), an authentic Atlanta Olympics 1996 backpack for 30DKK ($6), some coffee table books on art and design, and two pairs of mint condition Adidas sneakers for 150DKK ($30, for both!).

As you can see, I bought a lot, so I spent most of the afternoon lounging on a crate and admiring what all my friends had bought; from mittens and records to tutu-dresses and Halloween costumes!

There are two more coming up before Christmas, so lookout for ads at your local cafe!

Laterz Alligatorz

NorsomeFoursome@fjords.com/awesome

I'm so tired and uninspired to study right now.  Wishing I could turn back time a week and hang out in the Fjords of Norway again.

This time last week, KD, NC, Lau and I were still enjoying our roadtrip around Norway.  We'd caught the world-renowned train ride from Oslo to Bergen early in the morning, passing by misty creeks, snow-capped mountains, extraordinary glaciers and glistening rivers.  It was a beautiful journey lasting approximately 7 hours, and we entertained ourselves with lots of eating.

Upon arriving in Bergen, we stayed at a hostel with a stunning view of the city behind it.  Our photo-shoot (pictured) behind the hostel was definitely one of my highlights of Bergen.  There, we visited the old quayside, Bryggen, which lasted about 10 minutes.  I don't know why UNESCO have added it to its list of World Heritage Sites; it's as interesting as watching paint dry.

It was here in Bergen that we rented a car.  We had great difficulty in organising where to go as most hostels around the country had been closed due to it being low-season for tourists.  Fortunately, we found a hostel in the middle of nowhere, about 4 hours from Bergen in a town called Borlaug.  The trip there was enjoyable, with roadside stops at majestic waterfalls and large rocky hill-sides with marvelous views of nearby sites reflected in the pellucid waters below (pictured).  The hostel in Borlaug was warm, wooden, cosy and in mint condition...and it was all ours! No other tourists were there so it was like we had rented a luscious holiday home in the woods to ourselves.  To our delight, a generous buffet breakfast awaited the four of us on both mornings we stayed.

Contrary to our original plans, we decided not to drive to the most popular fjords and national parks because of time constraints and our reluctance to pay ferry fees.  So instead we visited the Jotunheim National Park.  It was a little over an hour away from Borlaug and we stopped over numerous stunning sites on the way, including a lake that had started to freeze up and a mountain that was lightly sprinkled with snow (pictured).

Unfortunately, when we arrived at the outskirts of Jotunheim we couldn't find the walking path that would lead us to the best parts of the national park, possibly because they were completely covered in snow.  We braved the freezing climate and climbed as far up a mountainside as we could for some breathtaking views of the fjords (pictured).

When we returned to Bergen for our flight to Copenhagen, we were surprised to see it was snowing heavily.  NC taught me how to make a snowman.  We made and positioned our snowman on the side of a road at the airport (pictured) so that it was greeting all the passengers who'd recently arrived in Bergen.  They would honk at us and wave back and it was a beautiful way to end my mid-semester break.

End. and Off to Bed I Go.

Bob Loblaw Weekend

I've been trying to study for my imminent European and International Commercial Law final exam (this Thursday!!!) and I'm finding it suprisingly difficult to study.  Not once this semester have I had to sit at a desk for more than an hour to study (I'm a bad student), but after discovering the Black Diamond library a few days ago, studying has become a bit more 'fun' as it's such a modern, inspiring and social place.  There are great transparent glass walls which provide beautiful views of the canal, and rooms which are Oxford-esque (with those vintage green lamps!).  I'm currently procrastinating and thought I'd just write something here.

I skyped with my mum a few days ago and she commented on how convoluted my blog is; my posts are not at all in a chronological order so it confuses her as to what exactly I've been doing recently.  Well, for now (sorry mum) I'm going to continue my tradition of selecting random events from the past 2 months to blog about before it becomes too late.

Below are some pictures of the Law Weekend held at Western Camp, Rødby a few weeks ago.  Probably best to some it up with a few stats:
-1500L beer
-120 x law exchange students
-2 x nights
-1 x beach
-1 x halloween party

We were randomly placed in different activity teams so it was a great opportunity to make new friends.  I was in the Orange team and I think we had the best team war cry/dance/rap and we didn't lose a single team activity.  We were surprised not to win the overall team comp, but later during the halloween-themed party, an international mentor pulled us aside and told us how great we were and presented us with a bottle of vodka which we finished in 2 minutes!

I'm having trouble selecting my favourite photos from that weekend, so I'm just including the entire shortlist instead.