My deepest apologies for taking so long to write again, I'm hoping that I'll be update a tad more frequently in the future (although I doubt that will happen, I'm not very good at staying on top of this kind of stuff).
When I last left off I had finished up my first week of school and was slowly getting adjusted to my new life across the pond. Well...not too much has changed, but I have explored more of Copenhagen, gotten more into my school work (and finalized my schedule), and become more adjusted to being in this crazy place.
I suppose I'll start with Copenhagen. The city continues to amaze me. I've wandered around the same neighborhood 3 times now (there are about 15 different neighborhoods in the city, and so far each one has had a very distinct "feel" to it. I can't describe it, but I can definitely tell that there is a lot of diversity within the city, which is really cool) and I continue to be in amazement at what I stumble upon. For example, I walked down some random alley and found this sculpture in front of a church (if I remember correctly)
The architecture and building layout here is also amazing, and unlike anything I've seen anywhere else.
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| A church in the middle of a row of buildings, seemed like an odd placement to me |
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| This tower surprised me for the sole fact that I haven't seen ANYTHING like it in Copenhagen. It looks really different from the majority of buildings in the city. |
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| I love the multi-colored connected buildings. It seems to liven up the city, at least to me. |
Another thing I really like about the city (although I'm sure the residents don't) is the graffiti present throughout the city. Its interesting because I guess it's new to Denmark within the past decade. So a lot of the murals are fresh and vibrant and look really cool.
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| This is a mural outside of Christiania. I really wish I could take pictures and share some of the art from inside of the town, but people aren't allowed to take pictures there. I'm hoping I can be sneaky at some point and get some pictures, because the town is beautiful. |
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| This was outside a skate shop, the other one was painted the same way. The amount of detail on something so small amazed me. |
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| Popeye! |
Another cool thing about this city (and country in general) is the public's use of bicycles and public transportation to get around. For such a small city (roughly 1 million people in the city) there are A LOT of bikes. It wouldn't surprise me if there were more bikes than people. Also, the diversity of people who use bikes here is another aspect that amazes me. Everyone rides bikes. Men and women, young and old, business people and students. Its awesome. I'm not used to seeing 50-70 year old men and women ride around on bikes, but it's not too uncommon here.
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| This is my bike! Isn't it pretty? Haha I'm actually going to try and sell it and get my money back. Its a pain to ride and kind of crappy in general. |
The public transportation here is also very good (also very, very confusing). Its easy enough for me to get to and from school, and also to and from Copenhagen by using a combination of buses, trains (kind of like the light rail in MSP, but faster), and the metro (a subway system). They are very efficient and the lines run fairly frequently. In fact, the bus company is so confident in their abilities to move people, that if your waiting at a bus stop for longer than 20 minutes when buses are running they'll pay for a taxi ride for you. I haven't had to do so yet, but I think its cool.
I've only had two negative experiences with the public transportation here (ironically enough they happened on back-to-back nights).
The first happened on the train. I was taking a train home around 4 (I think, it was really late) and when I got to my stop the door wouldn't open. So I figured I would just go to the next stop, get off, wait 15 minutes and head back to my original destination.
Nope, the exact same thing happened at the next stop, and I was stuck on the train for another 10 minutes.
So after spending a good half hour on the train and 15 minutes waiting at the station, I finally got back to the right station and got home okay.
That was the better of the two. The next night I was taking a bus home (it was late again), and fell asleep. Low and behold I wake up (not sure how long after falling asleep) only to find that not only had I missed my stop, I had stayed on the bus half an hour longer than I needed to. So after getting slightly scolded by the bus driver (I don't think she actually cared), she told me to stay on the bus and she would get me back to where I needed to go. It did, and I made it home okay. but that hour-plus detour was just annoying, especially when I just wanted to go to bed.
Okay, two more things I want to say about Copenhagen. One, I went to the top of the Rundetårn (Round Tower) this past weekend, and my oh my it was quite a sight from up there. Here are some of the pictures I took from the top:
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| The outside of the Round Tower. It was originally built as a stargazing platform (and apparently continues to be one of the best in Europe). I haven't been there in the night, but I plan to go sometime during my stay here. |
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| This is the result of me playing with my camera and discovering it had a panoramic picture feature! |
There were many amazing sights to behold from atop the tower.
Second, I found a new favorite area in Copenhagen, the neighborhood of Nyhavn. Its located on the water, and has a canal running through it. It has many beautiful boats harbored in the canal, as well as many very attractive buildings lining the canal.
So while I wish I could spend all my time in downtown Copenhagen exploring every nook and cranny, I am here for a reason. That being school. In my last post I mentioned I would hopefully be dropping my Dynamics class. I did (thankfully, I heard it got even worse the following week) and picked up a class called "Differential Geometry". This class should hopefully count towards getting my math certificate I hope to receive by the time I graduate. It also feels good to be doing pure mathematics again. Is it sad to say that I missed it? (I'm gonna say no, slightly disgusting, but not sad)
The work load has also ramped up in the past week. I'm actually feeling pressured to get stuff done again, which is weird. I haven't had this pressure since back in Madison (where I felt it almost constantly). It took me way too long to get back into the swing of school, but I think I'm getting there and hopefully I'll be able to get back on top of it in the following days. I have my first assignment due on Wednesday, so we'll see how that goes.
I discussed some differences in the schooling systems in my last post, but another one was brought front and center to my attention today. I'm taking classes with students who are working on their master degrees right now. That fact was a little weird to me, but its been explained that their master level work here is similar to senior level work back in the states, so I'm not very far behind my peers here. In fact I've found that so far I haven't had much trouble keeping up with my fellow students when it comes to working in groups, figuring out problems and the such; which has been a huge relief to me.
Okay, I think that's all I have right now. Well...actually its not, I think I could write for another hour if i wanted to, but its late and I want to go to bed :-p
Here are the links to my facebook albums:
If you can't see them for some reason, and you want to see them let me know. I have another website I can use to show you!
Goodnight world :)
Matty Schwartz
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Edit 1: As always, if you want to know anything else or just want to chat, send me an email or facebook message, I'm more than happy and excited to talk to you!
Also, this is something I wanted to do to keep everyone up to date on what I'm rocking out to over here. Currently its "Words I Never Said" by Lupe Fiasco. I've been obsessed with Lupe, and particularly this song (and another one of his, "The Show Goes On"), for the past week plus. This is a great song where Lupe shares his views on issues in America. Whether you agree with him or not, you have to admit its impressive that a hip hop artist is able and willing to produce raps based on real world issues. Its a nice change of pace from the money, cars, women, and drugs that most other rappers are talking about.
I'd recommend taking a listen, even if you're not a fan of the genre. There is some swearing in it, but overall its a pretty clean song.
Words I Never Said - Lupe Fiasco
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