Almost Home Bound...

After a 4-hour exam and 10 page (well 8 page..tehe) paper, I'm officially done with summer school! As happy as you think I must be, my classes weren't very difficult and of course Jesus helped me through my finals so there's not much of a difference on how I felt before finals week and after..I'm just sadder now since it's all coming to an end...

Copenhagen Business School

The campus is actually really really nice. There's actually 3 different locations that you either have to walk 15 minutes to or take the metro (we should have that set up for UH..haha kidding).

The side of Solbjerg Plads

inside, the stairs we had to walk up everyday for class

inside the Library, crazy no? totally beats Hamilton

(photo credit: Martin)

co-ed bathrooms!

Oh em so this was one thing that I totally disliked. No offense to the guys but seriously, it smelt horrible in there everytime I went in. Oh poo...literally. haha kidding

randomly placed plants on the ground

This was another thing we could not understand. If you look at this picture, there are plants randomly placed. So when you're walking, you can't just walk straight. You have to maneuver your way around them. You might not think its that bad, but if a person riding a bike is heading your way and you both have no idea where the other is going then it makes it confusing. It's just funny.

So if you haven't guessed already, this is my "I'm going to miss Copenhagen" blog.

I'm going to miss Valby

64B Valbygardsvej

This is where I lived for 6 weeks. The window on the far left on the "2nd floor" (which they call the 1st floor) is mine. To be honest, I was not happy about our living conditions when we first moved in. Our rooms are fine, but when we arrived it was soo dirty and dusty, such a turn-off. Don't even get me started about the very dirty bathrooms and filthy kitchen. The first week of school we didn't even have internet! It was so bad Michelle and I were going to move out to a different place, but we decided to stick it through. I'm glad we did though. The place is horrid, but the people are amazing :) It got better as the weeks past. I bought cleaning materials so I could clean the bathroom before and after I took a shower, everytime I took a shower, with slippers and gloves on of course. Leave it to the Filipino to clean all the time. Also, I don't know how to cook so that solves the kitchen problem. I kept my room clean for the most part so all in all it was bearable.

of course I kept it this clean all the time ;)

my dad laughed when I said I was gonna clean so I could take pictures

of it before I started packing..lol

I'm going to miss my aunties.

Since we moved into our housing, my aunty dely would text me every night to ask how our day was, if we had dinner and say goodnight. Often times they'd invite us to dinner so we didn't have to go out and buy food. Those times were the best! We had dinner for free and it was actual food! Not just food from 7-11 or Hong Kong Grill (which is still really good). When we'd go there, we'd get crazy full because you know them Filipinos, it's rude if you don't eat the food they give you. It was goood food though :D

salad, RICE! and fried chicken

spinach sauce, potatoes, ham (danish food)

yup they feed us well :D

After they would usually bring out fruits or dessert like icecream or cake. I am honestly very grateful that they're here. They also live literally 2 bus stops away from our dorm (crazy how things work no? God's so funny). Anytime I wanted a little taste of home, we'd just go over. I guess that made being away from home for 2 months easier. Also, if ever we needed help with something, we'd just call them. For example, since EVERYTHING is in danish, including the menus, I'd call them to ask what things were. On one occasion she even came to the restaurant we were in (Hong Kong Grill) to be our translator, plus she paid for the food! Did I mention they're extremely nice? Very hospitable. We even brought our Singaporean friend Lin over for dinner and she utterly enjoyed them as well. I feel very sad that we're going to leave them, especially since they treated us like their own children. I'm spoiled with love wherever I go ;D It's gonna be sad not being able to just take a bus ride to go see them, but in time we'll see them again...

I'm going to miss the transportation system.

Copenhagen has a very efficient train, metro and bus system. We can take a combination of the three to go anywhere we want to! To school, Tivoli, the main shopping street, Nyhavn (place by the canal with all the colorful buildings) we only need to take a bus. Plus, it doesn't drop you a mile from where you want to be. It brings you right to the front. Plus, if you get lost (which Michelle and I did) you just get off the next stop, go back and go to the right direction. Metros come every minute! On time too! It's just way too convenient. In Hawaii (or America in general) we NEED cars to be able to function. I cannot imagine taking TheBus everyday to school. When I use to do that it would take me 2 hours -_-

going down to the metros

told you they come every minute :)

I am going to miss the people.

Danish people are the most nicest people you'll ever meet. And I thought we had Aloha! Now that I think about it, us locals can sometimes be hostile to tourists, but not the Danes. Even if you're a foreigner, they're still extra nice. There are so many times people speak to us in Danish and we cant understand but instead of being irritated, they politely smile and say it in English. Even the people proctoring our exam were beyond nice! It's funny, the non-native Danish speakers get mad when we can't understand Danish, but the Danes whose mother tongue is Danish don't hold it against us and kindly repeat themselves in English. I can go on and on about how awesome they truly are. Thats because I thought Hawaii was known for being nice, but the Danish beat us by miles I must say. Gives me a new perspective about treating tourists, lol strange but true. In Italy they weren't that nice, even in the tourists spots. In here, even if we're at a neighborhood grocery store they're the same.

Lastly, I'm going to miss all the people that I've met and come to know and love during this program. We were having a conversation on the 2nd floor (because it's so much more cleaner than our floor) and our friend Oli was saying that today, we are all here, but on Sunday we will all be scattered all over the world. It's a bit hard to grasp. For this moment in time we were all meant to be here for a season, but that season is coming to an end and we'll be going back to what is familiar and comfortable. People always ask me, "Why Denmark?" and I really don't know why I chose here, but I do know that there was a purpose and that I'm glad that I came. Even if Copenhagen is the 4th most expensive city in the world, it was well worth it. It opened my eyes to things that I would not have realized if I was home. It allowed me to become more independent and not rely on my parents. People think that I'm so dependent on them but in reality, I wasn't really given the opportunity to be independent until now, and even they realize that.

Thank yous

Fish Scholarship for paying most of my way here. It was such an awesome experience that I am forever indebted. Also thanks you Rikki and all the FISHies for your support. Don't worry, once I'm home i'll be getting to work :)

Ernst & Young for the Business Night Award that paid for my flight here. In honor of you, I took a picture by your auditorium in CBS :D haha.

Parents for allowing me to come (even if they kinda had no choice..haha) but also for all the love and support (financially and emotionally). And Jeannine for making our skype conversations ever the more enjoyable. The rest of my family and Hannah for all their love and support as well.

Michelle for coming on this journey with me :D yay we spent the summer in Europe!

And of course Jesus (you saw that coming huh..hehe) for loving me and taking care of me and protecting me and giving me joy and peace and for holding my hand during this whole journey. Even if I'm a million miles away from home, He's right here, He never left me. He was here when I felt sad and enjoyed with me when I was happy. He'd give me peace when I'd stress out about things back home. When things went wrong He always told me that He's got it under control. Who am I to argue? I'm just tiny compared to everything He's created, yet I'm the apple of His eye. This trip showed me that He's the same God here as He is in Hawaii. This whole world is not big enough to separate me from His touch, provision and love. Hmm, God's good :D

I leave for Hawaii on Sunday morning, 8am. 24 hours later I arrive at 8pm Hawaii time. I'll see if i'll blog one last time before I leave. If not, next blog I'm going to be home.

Until then, Aloha.

Week Before Finals...

I can't believe it, I'm leaving for home next week! With that being said, we have to hurry and do all the things we wanna do before we leave. This week was pretty eventful and I'm glad. It gives the feeling that I'm making use of the little time I have left in Copenhagen.

Tuesday, Tivoli

Michelle and I together with our friend Matt went to Tivoli. It's a small scale Disneyland and it is said that it is what inspired Walt Disney to make an amusement park when he visited Tivoli. We picked a perfect day to go. It wasn't too hot or cold, there was a bit of a drizzle for a little while but that's about it. It is also really pretty inside!

We bought the unlimited rides band so of course we had to take advantage by riding more than 10 rides, some even twice. My favorite was the drop one, where you go really high and you have no idea when you're gonna drop :D We rode that twice (to Michelle's dismay..lol sorry Michelle). I actually get a huge thrill of being up there and not knowing when we're gonna drop. At first it's extremely scary, but it's sooo much fun!

it was pretty high ;)

The ride that I disliked the most was the swings. So if you know me, I absolutely LOVE roller coasters. I really don't care how fast it goes or how high the drop is or how many loops there are, I just love them! I am however beyond afraid of heights. I can deal with being high for a moment, but not for a long duration, and the swings at Tivoli aren't like the ones at the 50th state fair. It goes super high as to give you an incredible view of the city, while swinging way up in the air. Not like I could enjoy it because I was way to scared to look from side to side...but I had to do it because it was the only way I could get Michelle to do the drop...lol

soo not like the 5oth state fair, just fyi. haha

We also did the plane ride thing where we could either choose to control ourselves or put it on autopilot so we chose autopilot. When it first starts, it flips you around and on your side then starts going around. It then goes really really fast that I couldn't even scream anymore because of the tremendous air pressure blowing on my face (it didn't stop me from screaming my head off when it started slowing down...). It was a very fun ride though.

We rode a whole bunch of other rides but these were the most memorable. We then found Little Mermaid! The real one is in China and won't be back until October or something but there's a replica at Tivoli. This was one of the reasons why I wanted to go. I refuse to leave Denmark without getting a picture with the Mermaid!

Oh did I mention the food at Tivoli is crazyyy expensive? So as wise college students, we ate lunch before we entered and then left before dinner so we could eat at home :D Worked out quite well I must say, since we already had to pay 300 kr to enter and ride.

Thursday, Valby Dinner

We thought it to be a good idea to have a nice formal dinner with everyone in our house (Valby), so Matt sent out a facebook invite. Our friend Andy found a place that looked really nice so Matt set up reservations for 22 people. I also wanted everyone to dress up so I kinda emphasized that. Then comes Thursday and lo and behold, everyones dressed nice! The guys wear nice shirts, some even with ties and the girls all dolled up with make-up and pretty clothes, I was very pleased :D Also, there were exactly 22 of us! Headache for the restaurant but a joy for me. The place turned out to be pretty expensive, but it was well worth the money. Most of us ordered the Veal.

A-stinking-mazing! How amazing you ask?

Yup, I wen pound um. Sorry had to speak pigeon,

There's no other words to accurately describe this picture...haha

You have no idea how happy I was that this dinner turned out to be a success. From the location, to everyone dressing up, to the amazing food, us not getting lost, everyone able to come, and having the exact amount of money for the humongous bill we had, it was truly an awesome night :D

Friday, Hamlet's Castle!

Ok so I didn't read Hamlet. I tried, but it was way to complicating for me. In any case, I still wanted to go and see it. It's actually called Kronborg in the city of Helsingor. We had a 1 hour private tour around the Castle.

I can't tell you much about the castle besides the fact that it was built by King Frederick II and altered by his son Christian IV. Once it became old fashioned for the Royal Family to live there, soldiers then moved in. It was quite fascinating I must say. After the Castle we had around 3 hours free time before we had to meet at the bus. That would have been cool if it wasn't so COLD! Man oh man, we were freezing our behinds off. We all just wanted to find a nice restaurant to have a good meal and warmth, and we did!

yup my food photos again.

I had grilled chicken with salad and baked potato for 15 euros, delicious!

Last thing, Random Thought

It's so funny because Denmark loves Hawaii! In Tivoli, they were selling leis! Plastic kinda ghetto ones of course but still, it was beyond shocking to see.

Lei Stand

Michelle and Matt rocking the shaka :D

aww Hawaii...

Then today at Helsingor we were walking and we came across this.

how random right?

I don't know if a local wanted to start up a business all the way here in Denmark or they just like Hawaiian words. In any case, It made us smile. We're so close to coming home and I can't help but get excited. At the same time I'm going to miss it so much here. Maybe not our dirty bathroom and kitchen, but even that I'm getting use to. It's so different here, but it seems like I've finally gotten use to it. Also, it's finally getting cold! At least one week I can use the 5 different jackets I brought from home because I thought it would be freezing these 6 weeks.

Finals week

We have a final on Tuesday morning from 9-1pm (YES 4 hours..oh em). We also have a 10 page paper on the EU due. After that's all pau, hopefully we can get more souvenir shopping and site-seeing before we go. Then an early flight on Sunday morning! 24 hours of traveling and I reach Hawaii Sunday night! So trippy....lol. Yay i caught up in my blog! Hope you enjoyed it :D

Aloha.

Why Hello There Berlin :D

Before I arrived in Copenhagen, the Social Program at the school offered a social package along with 2 weekend trips to Bornholm and Berlin. I initially was just interested in the social package as to save some money since the trips were 1500 kr each (about $300). Upon finding out all the people who were going to Berlin, I then regretted not taking up the opportunity. Then I got a text last Monday from my friend who said a girl in her class was willing to give me her spot since she bought a ticket to Sweden for that same weekend. OMG was my reaction, lol. Was I really going to be able to go to Berlin?! I immediately skyped my mom to see if it was ok and she said go for it, so I did! It was also very good that there was 1 other girl who was selling her spot, so Michelle got to come too! Talk about all things working for good no? Chee.

Since I registered late, I really had no idea what was going on, what we needed to pack, what was on the agenda, etc. The social coordinators were good to send me information right away though so I was able to get it 2 nights before we left.

Friday

Bus Ride

We needed to be at the meeting place 6:30am so we woke up at 4:30am to cook breakfast and pack lunch. If you know me, my classes start at 11:40 and 2:25, so my body was absolutely shocked that I was up 5 hours before I usually get up (never again...lol). We rode 2 hours on the bus, went on the ferry (which was pretty pimp I must say) for an hour, then back on the bus for another 4 hours before we reached Berlin.

our bus inside the ferry

inside the ferry, one of the food places

Berlin, First Reaction

After that long bus ride, we finally reach Berlin. Contrary to what all the German natives back in Copenhagen said, Berlin was SUPER cold! I looked at the weather and saw that it would be raining and such but when I asked people, they said it could not possibly be cold during this time. NOTE to self: listen to google weather.

Dinner

After we briefly settled into our rooms, we were off to our 3-course dinner at...

haha sounds great doesn't it?

It was actually very good. We started off with a salsa/tomato soup (cold), I had a goat cheese burger, then ended with apple pie and icecream :D

Brandenburg Gate at Night

After Dinner we decided to explore the city for just a bit. We decided to go Bradenburg Gate at night and boy was it a site to see!

Too bad the police car had to be there. There was an event in the morning that they were setting up for. It was a bit scary because the police were walking around with dogs. In all honesty though, since I didn't know I was going to Berlin till 3 days before we left, I didn't brush up on any of my Germany history. I'm glad we were accompanied by a friend who knew the significance of this place. I don't know if I'm getting this right but I believe it was the previous Nazi center and it was also the location where they announced the removal of the Berlin Wall. There is way more history than what I'm presenting to maybe it will spark your interest and you'd might wanna google it for yourself ;) tehe.

Saturday

Walking Tour

We woke up bright and early to get ready for our walking tour of Berlin. As you could imagine, there were many places where we stopped so I decided that I'm going to write about the places that I thought were interesting and that I could remember.

Holocaust Memorial

There is no explanation for why it is set up the way it is, so it is open for interpretation. Some people saw it as coffins, others saw it as Jews of all different shapes and sizes. You can't tell from this picture but as you go further in, the ground goes lower and the blocks become taller.

A friend of mine who is Jewish said that he saw it as what the Jews had to go through. Walking into it represented their hardship and persecution. When you reach the middle is where it was it's deepest, but then as you continue walking, you can finally see the other side until you've reached the end. Although it was such a terrible and dark time for the Jews, in the end they're still here. They still made it through and were able to rise from the adversity that hit them so hard and in a sense come out victorious.

No I do not take pictures of random pieces of land. Below this ground is a bunker where Adolf Hitler and his wife killed themselves. Our tour guide told us the story of Hitler's last birthday on earth and the main discussion of the night was how to effectively kill oneself. Hitler shot himself in the head and swallowed a cyanide pill as to not face the consequences of his actions.

The Berlin Wall

"Disappointed? Ya people expect to see the Great Wall of China" says our tour guide. So although the wall seems fairly short and not that hard to climb over, there were other factors that hindered East Germans to escape. There was actually another wall before this wall that they had to go over. If they did, the section between the two walls was essentially a death trap. If a person was seen in this area, the guards would immediately open fire. You couldn't really hide either because this section was covered with sand. If you somehow get to the wall, you would have difficulty grasping it because if you can see, the top of the wall had a round structure that makes it impossible to grip it.

The feeling of being so close to freedom...just on the other side of a wall.

Checkpoint Charlie

This was the main crossing point between East and West Germany. You could imagine all the escape stories that must of taken place here as well. Our tour guide said that East Germans would ask diplomats to saw them into the seat of their cars. Others would pretend to be American Soldiers and just walk right through. KEY is: Chew Gum. Then you are American, lol.

I am seriously proud to be American, for at least I know I'm free.. :D

Humboldt University of Berlin

This University is the oldest university in Berlin. It is home of 29 Nobel Prize Winners. The most interesting thing for me was the fact that Albert Einstein taught in this university.

Could you imagine being in Albert Einstein's class? oh em.

Rest of the Day

We went to many other places but these are the most memorable to me. After the tour we followed our tour guide to this restaurant where we had a german dish!

Schnitzel!

It was quite delicious I must say. We then spent the rest of our day shopping! 5 girls, 1 guy, so much fun ;) We of course went to H&M. What I noticed about Berlin was that there were a million H&Ms and a million Starbucks! From the short time I was in Berlin I saw 5 Starbucks. Then we went to a shopping street that reminded me of the Waikiki Strip without the beach and there were literally 5 H&Ms, on the same street! After the 3rd one I got pretty tired of it, lol. We then had dinner at an Italian Restaurant. We had 4 courses for just 9 euros! Amazing...

Sunday

Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp

On our way back to Copenhagen we stopped at a concentration camp and had a private tour. In reality, even if we were physically there and we had a whole lot of explanation, it was still difficult to fully grasped all that happened in that place. This particular camp's main purpose was for prisoners to work and not a death camp, yet there was of course mass murder that also occurred there. You couldn't expect anything but horror stories after horror stories, and it does get to your heart someway or another. The biggest thing that impacted me was the fact that these soldiers were brain washed to think that the prisoners were not considered human and should be treated like animals. Who has the right to say that a fellow human being is worthless? Especially in the case of the Jews. It just appalls me. It seemed like the whole world just watched it happen too. Also, the prisoners were stripped of their identity to the fullest. They were all given a number and from that time on that's all they were known as. My friend Lin and I were talking and said that we complain about so many things, but when you think about what other people had to go through, our problems are nothing compared to their hardship.

I'm so grateful for life, and freedom, and security...

map of the camp

11:07

time when the Soviets liberated the camp

work makes one free

this was on the gate of where prisoners entered

(soo not true...)

this is where the prisoners had to report every morning and night

each one of them had to be accounted for

pretty much a death trap

3 to a bed, so 9 to a bunk bed

and hundreds more on the floor

form of torture

they'd have their hands tied in the back, go on a stool and put their hands over the metal sticking out, then the stool would be kicked from below them breaking all parts of their body, leaving them in excruciating pain. This form of torture was used for when the soldiers wanted to find something out from a prisoner

jewish star

monument

After we left the concentration camp, it was another 8 hours until we got back to Copenhagen. I am very glad I was able to go to Germany though. Such rich history, though it may not be very pleasant, but we can't change the past, just improve for the future.

Aloha folks and thanks for reading!