Roaming Close to Home

The End of a Journey

2008-12-17T11:50:00.001-08:00

I awoke on the last day of finals after an awful night's sleep at 6:30am. Couldn't figure why I was up and it was weird because I can usually fall right back asleep after waking up too early. Maybe I couldn't believe that this amazing semester abroad was finally ending. Maybe it was because it was the last day I would see all the friends that I have made here. Maybe it was because I had only two tests left and was feeling anxious. Or maybe it was the goddamn earthquake.

Had my last two finals, Advertising and Danish. Got an A in Danish! That means I'm fluent, right? Then immediately after the last tests were done the whole school gathered for Closing Ceremony. It was pretty disappointing; no food, no drinks and full of speeches that attempted to be funny but just failed. It was over much quicker than expected and the last words were given to us by the Director of DIS. "Ok, the semester is over. Have a nice life."

Started to say goodbyes to people I wouldn't see later that night and then came home. Before going out one last time with my friends I went to the Gorgoroth concert. I'll post about that later, but let's just say it was the most frightening experience of my life.

Went to my favorite bar in Copenhagen, The Moose, and saw everyone for the last time. It was a bittersweet moment, we were having fun just like we have been all semester but we knew this was the end.

Came home late and rode my bike for the last time. The next day I had a farewell tea with my roommates and said goodbye.

And just like that, it's over.

What's in a Name?

2008-12-12T03:39:00.005-08:00

I've always been interested in my family history, and while I haven't looked too far up the tree I came across a little interesting fact while studying for my Nordic Mythology final.

The name Osborn comes from the old Norse Ásbjörn. The gods were called the æsir, with ás as the singular from. Even though this word is basically extinct, born still has the same meaning and spelling in the languages that evolved from old Norse. In Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian bjørn means bear. So literally my name means God Bear.

So the name was introduced to England and Anglicized into first Osbern and then to its current form. When people spell it wrong, ie Osborne or Osbourne, I know now that the way we spell it is closest to its original form and therefore, the best.

All this means that our descendants were very likely some of the Vikings who raided and eventually conquered England between 700 and 1000. Awesome.

With 5 days left Scandinavia, I find out that I am descended from the same line as the locals.

From 60 to Zero

2008-12-10T05:09:00.003-08:00

Winding down after a nonstop semester

I remember a few weeks after the semester started I looked at my calendar and realized that I didn't have a free weekend for 3 months. It was pretty daunting knowing that I had so many things planned/planned for me. Travels, adventure trips, and field studies seemed like they would continue for ever, and I was hoping they would. There was always something to do or see with my friends, or else DIS had something going on. This wasn't a bad thing at all though, I love keeping busy, especially when it's with something as fun as exploring Europe. The workload was pretty relaxed so on days I wasn't out of Copenhagen I would find something to do or see around the city. It was extremely exciting and I had really ever experienced anything quite like it.

Well, the mid-semester break ended and after mom left and I had an absurd amount of work to do. Projects, presentations, homework, tests, papers. To make up for the easy first half of the semester the school decided to pile everything together in the few weeks following the 3 week break. I had a period of 5 days that consisted of 2 presentations, 2 tests and a major paper. The semester system is a joke and I really hope I never have to experience it again. Anyway....I was still busy, but this was different. It wasn't fun busy, it was just busy busy. I felt like I had received huge shot of adrenaline that finally began to wear off in the closing weeks of November and coming down from the high was far from enjoyable.

Then, I returned to CPH from Switzerland to discover that I had nothing to do...and for the first time since August, I grew bored. All the major projects and papers were turned in and the homework load started to shrink. The days were getting shorter and shorter; current sunset is at 3:30, growing earlier each day. And after what was apparently incredible weather during September and October, the rain and clouds set in come November and decided to hang out indefinitely. I literally cannot remember the last time I've seen more than a patch of blue sky, let alone the sun.

I had my first final over a week ago, and still have a couple days until my next one. Homework is a thing of the past and all classes have been officially wrapped up. Since everyone has completely different schedules, my social life has pretty much disappeared except for the 2nd trip to the Jacobsen Brewery last Friday.

So as I sit here at one of the many cafes that has become my second home as of late, this semester is finally coming to an end. It's been an incredible couple of months and there's almost nothing I would change about it. I've had the best time of my life living in a different country and traveling to places I've always dreamed about. I've met people and made friends that I will never forget. As much as I have dreaded this, there is nothing I can do to stop this experience from coming to an end. All I can do is look forward, be thankful for the time I've had and get excited to head back to Seattle.

European Film Awards

2008-12-08T12:45:00.001-08:00

Walking home Saturday evening I discovered the European Film Awards were being held 2 blocks from my apartment. For about half an hour I hung out by the red carpet, hoping to see some famous actors. I only recognized two people, and the pictures didn't come out very well. I know I've seen the first guy, I think he's German...or at least I've him play a German guy. And the next guy is the most famous Danish actor, Mads Mikkelsen who played LeChiffre in Casino Royale. That was a cool thing to stumble upon.

Thanksgiving in Denmark

2008-12-04T03:12:00.001-08:00

For whatever reason, DIS decided not to hold any sort of party/celebration/dinner for Thanksgiving. They even did it for Halloween! Weird, it would have really nice to get together with everyone an have a big feast. Looks like I'll have to improvise. Mike and I decided to hold our own little attempt at dinner together. Picked up a Turkey breast from Netto and made instant mashed potatoes and some vegetables. And I made some amazing gravy. It turned out pretty well, the turkey was a little dry but that was about it.

After that we were tired from all the tryptophan and beer, so we watched the seinfeld episode where they give Je4rry's girlfriend turkey and wine so she falls asleep and they can play with her toys. Awesome.

I was planning to meet up with Hanna and Carrie again but they never called so I just got on the metro and decided to chance it. Sure enough, 30 seconds before the Norreport stop, Hanna calls me and tells me to meet them on Stroget. I love how stuff like this just works out.

This was their last night in Copenhagen as they just wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving there before going to Hanna's town in Jutland. The night really seemed like it was a holiday. It felt too cold to be November and there was a hint of snow in the air. I met with them on Stroget and we walked around for a bit. They wanted to go for surprise! Hookah. That was fun. As much as I hate the smell of smoke and how it sticks to your clothes, hookah is really social and the three of us just relaxed and talked there for a couple hours.

Before the night I was really annoyed that I was going to miss Thanksgiving, and that it wasn't good be any fun doing something different, but it turned out to be a really great day. It definitely was not a traditional Thanksgiving but still a memorable one!

Tivoli!

2008-12-03T01:56:00.001-08:00

Right in the middle of Copenhagen lies Tivoli, the famous amusement park. It's probably the biggest tourist attraction in Denmark and one of those thing that you must see when visiting. I've been meaning to go to there all semester, but was pretty put off by the $50 entrance fee. Luckily, I have a small Danish class so our teacher decided to take us all there, paid for by the school. Tivoli has been closed since September and reopened a few weeks ago for Christmas. There were lights and decorations everywhere and a parade was going on right when we walked in.

There's a nightly light show over the little lake. It was gorgeous and the music was incredibly epic.

Our teacher gave us a 'scavenger hunt' list to translate all the names of the rides and stuff. Nope, we just wanted to have fun. Walked around drinking beer and saw the whole park in about 15 minutes, wow it's small. I guess this isn't the States and it's in the middle of a city. We contemplated going on some rides but they were $10 each! Definitely not worth it, so we just longingly looked at them and continued to walk around.

giant enemy crab!

Found the little Greenland exhibit, which is probably the creepiest thing I've ever seen. Weird elves everywhere and most of them look either drunk or dead. We really couldn't figure out the purpose of the exhibit....is this how Danes view Greenlanders?

After a few hours we met with our teacher and he bought us all Glögg and Aebleskiver and we were stuffed. I think he spent about $100 on each of us, thanks DIS!

It was Wednesday night and I didn't have my morning class so I definitely needed to go out. I had plans to meet some friends I made in Switzerland. Hanna is a Brazilian guy who went to high school in Denmark and was visiting Copenhagen with his girlfriend for Thanksgiving. Went to the Scottish Pub and then to the Viking Bar. Awesome people, we had a lot of fun.

Switzerland

2008-12-01T10:59:00.001-08:00

After a hellish week of tests, papers, projects and presentations, I was ready for a good weekend away. Caught the easyJet to Milan and waited for a bus to Lugano. Since my plane was delayed I missed the bus I was supposed to take and had to wait an hour and a half until the next one. Sierra was waiting for me at 6 so I tried to call her and tell her I would be late...well the number she gave me didn't work so I just assumed that she would be waiting for me at the Lugano station. Nope! No one there, so I decided to try the phone again. It worked, I guess it just didn't have a country code...that could have been bad. But one thing I've learned from traveling is that everything always works for me. Awesome.

I arrived in the middle of a play the school was doing on the history of America, definitely entertaining. Sierra introduced me to all her friends and we sat around all night smoking hookah at all. That seems to be the thing to do at Franklin. Makes sense, it's relaxing and a good thing to do when there's no where to go and you just want to hang out with friends.

The next day we took the FLP to the border and walked to Ponte Tresa. There was a really cool market where we bought some baked goods, cheese and salami. Afterwards we found a wine store and bought a couple of 3Euro bottles.

Spent the rest of the day exploring Lugano. A really beautiful city, even though it isn't extremely exciting. We hung out in the downtown area for a while and had the most amazing hot chocolate. It was basically a melted chocolate bar with an ounce of milk mixed in, ridiculously thick.

Had a fun night and slept in as much as I could. Sierra had a couple of meetings to go to so I decided to climb a mountain! Lugano is in the middle of the Alps so there are mountains all around. I didn't really know where the trail was, Sierra just said go to the funicular and turn left....k. Only took one wrong turn and then found the path. It was a gorgeous hike and I made it to the top in about an hour. Switzerland is almost as pretty as Norway.

That night Sierra took me took to a nice restaurant nearby. It's so nice being able to eat good food for a decent price, that's really nonexistent in Copenhagen. I had a horse steak, and it was good but actually a little boring. I was hoping that it would taste different and weird, but it was pretty similar to a normal steak.

Woke up early, caught the bus, and drove through the snow to Milan. Made it back to Copenhagen to take my Danish test. Awesome weekend.

Update!

2008-11-30T04:25:00.001-08:00

First off, I apologize for not keeping this up to date. The last month has been extremely busy with an insane amount of tests, projects and papers. Man, the semester system is stupid. Mostly I've just been hanging out in Copenhagen and trying to soak it up as much as I can before heading home.

After staying up all night and watching the election (OBAMA) I picked up my mom from the airport and we had an amazing time hanging out in the city and then going to Hamburg on the weekend.

Went to a Dark Tranquillity show which was one of the best of my life, you can actually get to the stage at shows here! I then had my first free weekend since September, where I went to another beer tasting, out for sushi and then found a bar with 5DKK beer! Let's just say I spent the whole next day in bed watching Prison Break.

I've been spending most of my Sundays at a Spanish cafe I found in Norrebro. I was sick of sitting at home doing work so I now come here as often as I can (I'm there as I type this).

For 10 days there was an international food market in the square right outside of DIS. I tried to have lunch there as often as I could. Had some paella, wild boar, and a kangaroo burger. Delicious. I finally bought myself a Finnish souvenir from a shop they had there, Kiitos!

Oh, and I finally got a haircut. From a guy who didn't speak english. It actually turned out really well and only cost me $20, which is absurdly cheap for Copenhagen.

And I started attempting to write music. That's really fun and keeps my creative juices flowing.

10/30-11/01 - Bergen

2008-11-18T12:34:00.001-08:00

So I'm gonna put these 3 days into one post. Not because we weren't busy, but a lot of our time in Bergen was hanging out so obviously I'm not going to write about that.

Hallvard has a full time job and and Helge is a student. Ben is in between jobs right now so he offered to show us around the city, very cool. But first he insisted on cooking us breakfast, I hadn't eaten an actual breakfast like that since I started traveling. Bacon, eggs, toast. Amazing.

We saw Bryggen, the big touristy colorful houses on the water just like Nyhavn in Copenhagen.

Then we decided to climb one of the peaks that surrounds the city. There are trams that go up but Ben said those were too touristy so we just went by foot. He said it would only take half an hour....3 hours later we were still walking. Not a bad thing though, it was a beautiful hike and the view was fantastic. It was crazy being on sea level and then just an hour later we were above the snow line.

Relaxed a bit before our big traditional dinner that they promised us. It was whale and blood sausage. The whale was really surprising, it just tasted like a fatty steak, not like fish at all. And the blood sausage tasted just like gingerbread, yum.

Went out for drinks afterward and Hallvard paid for everyone. What awesome hosts, they treated us so well.

Woke up late Friday, Halloween. Went out for lunch at a cool studenty cafe, and then walked around the more hip area of the city. Went to some record stores and then back to the apartment.

One thing both Mike and I were really excited to see was the Fantoft Stave church. Stave Churches were the first churches erected in Norway, 1000 years ago. They are completely wooden and there are only about a dozen left in the country. In the early 1990s when Black Metal starting to getbig, a lot of these churches were burned down by band members who took the music a bit too seriously. The most famous one of these is the Fantoft Church, right outside of Bergen. So on Halloween night we walked through the woods and found it lit up in a copse. It was awe-inspiring and creepy at the same time. Unfortunately those who rebuilt it made it look too new so it's really not the same as seeing an original.

After a pint of Guinness we went to a metal show. Unfortunately the band sounded generic and American, not what we were hoping for. At least we met the guitarist from Enslaved outside. Got home late and watched The Thing, which I fell asleep to even after a cup of coffee.

Really nothing special the next day. We just hung out with the guys until it was ready to go to the airport. Missed the first bus by 30 seconds and got to the airport 20 minutes before our flight. Since it's international we thought we wouldn't make it on. No one even said anything and we made it on no problem.

So ends my Scandinavian adventure. Probably the coolest thing I've ever done in my life. Met some amazing people, saw incredible places and made memories that I will never forget. I'm already missing it like crazy.

10/29 - Voss-Bergen

2008-11-13T12:42:00.001-08:00

Woke up in the hostel to a beautiful view right outside our window. The hostel is right on the lake with mountains all around, very beautiful.

Had a crappy breakfast and then started to explore the town. Not too much to do but we had to be out because check out time was 10.

There was actually a page in our tour book about this small town so we decided to check some things out. It's a surprisingly old place for being in the middle of nowhere. When Scandinavia first became Christian in the 11th century, King Olaf rode around and erected a cross wherever the people had converted. Pretty cool to see the 1000 year old cross and the 800 year old church.

Walked through the cemetery and found the nature reserve. Gorgeous. Little frozen lakes and amazing views of the town and mountains. This was still early in the morning and we were freezing. Went to a cafe and had hot chocolate and soup, perfect. There really wasn't much more to do in the town so we just went to the library and read some Newsweek.

Hiked halfway up one of the mountains on the side of the town. We were watching the sun set at 2:30. And this is Southern Norway in October; with 6 hours of daylight. Crazy, I can't imagine how people live further up north this time of the year.

Caught a train to Bergen! Bergen is gorgeous, built right on a fjord and surrounded by 7 tall peaks. We explored for a few hours and then went back to the train station to meet our hosts.

Mike is really active-10,000 posts in 4 years-in a forum for a metal band. Everyone there is really close and knows each other pretty well. He told these guys we were going to be in Bergen and they immediately invited us to stay with them. Met up with them and they took us back to their surprisingly nice apartment. They're some of the coolest and nicest people I've ever met. Talked to them all night and then they took us out to a metal bar. Awesome. More about them tomorrow!

10/28 Norway in a Nutshell

2008-11-12T07:57:00.001-08:00

When I first decided to travel through Scandinavia I posted on some message boards online for advice. Almost everyone agreed that you simply cannot go to Scandinavia without doing the Norway in a Nutshell tour. I originally hadn't planned on coming here but when I found at that Mike wanted to and our schedules worked out perfectly then I pretty much had to.

The train starts off from Oslo at 8am. It climbs through the mountains and then stops at a small town called Myrdal. From there you change trains and head to Flåm. Flåm is at the tip of the biggest Fjord in the country and a ferry goes part of the way through it. After the ferry is a bus ride to Voss and from Voss is another train to Bergen.

The tickets are good for up to 3 days and both of us agreed its crazy to spend $200 on a one day ticket so we looked at the route and found out that Voss is the only stop on the way with a hostel. So we did 85% of the trip on the 28th and the train Bergen the next day.

There really isn't too much to describe since we were sitting most of the time. The contrast of the mountains and the fjords was incredible and I immediately decided that Norway is the most beautiful country in the world.

To The Mountains

Finse, the highest train station in Europe

To Flåm

In Flåm

Sognefjord

Got off the bus in Voss and walked a cold half mile to our hostel. We were both dead tired and just hung out there the rest of the night.

10/27 - Oslo

2008-11-11T06:35:00.001-08:00

Don't really count today as a Gothenburg day. Had to wake up at 5am and walk in the pouring rain to my train. Nice train ride, I could tell the second we were in Norway because the terrain wasn't just flat. There were hills, valleys and rivers; something I am yet to see in Southern Sweden or Denmark.

Arrived in Oslo at 11am and was set to meet Mike at 1:30, plenty of time to walk around and see a little bit of the city. Immediately found the main walking street and hung out there for a bit. I had a map but really had nothing in mind so I pretty much just wandered.

Eventually made my way to the main waterfront and discovered the old fortress. Not as cool as the one in Finland but still a nice find.

Went back along the waterfront to the Bryggen, the main part of the harbour that has been turned into a giant shopping mall. Wasn't very interesting so I just walked through it pretty quickly. Found the royal palace and then kept walking back into the main part of the city. The one thing I noticed about Oslo was the amount of beggars. There were beggars on every corner, something very strange for a Scandinavian city. And they were all playing accordions. It was kind of funny at first but then it just got annoying.

Found the 'hip' district of the city that had a lot of cool buildings with bright colors and graffiti everywhere. Turned south again and actually found our hostel even though I wasn't looking for it.

It was just about time to meet him so I went to the tourist office and waited. Worked out perfectly, he arrived 5 minutes after me.

After being alone for a week it was nice to finally have a travel buddy to share the experience with. We checked into our hostel and then went in search of metal history.

Black metal, the most extreme and satanic form of metal, had its second coming in Oslo in the early 1990s. Neither Mike nor I really listen to this music but we both think it's really interesting, and it's hilarious to see how these bands try to 'out-evil' each other. We went to the old record store of Euronymous, member of one of the most extreme bands, Mayhem. He was murdered by a fellow member of his band for basically unknown reasons. The record store is now a cafe called Our Daily Bread and we actually had some really nice food there. We asked the employees if we could see the basement where the black metallers held their meetings and they let us take pictures and hang out there for a bit.

We then went in search of the sculpture park, the biggest tourist attraction in Oslo. It's a huge park with giant granite statues, most of which contain weird babies. I don't really understand it but it was still incredible and unique to.

That night we checked out the two big metal bars in town. The first, Unholy, was really cool. It's basically a dive with black walls and candles everywhere. They only played really extreme metal and we had a long conversation with the bartender about Norway and its history with metal.

The next one was called Rock In, which is probably the most famous metal bar in Norway. A bit of a more upscale atmosphere but they only played metal so it was still fun. Mike couldn't believe bars like this existed in the world.

Oslo was a cool city, but we both felt that one day there was enough; all of our other possibilities of activities were really touristy. Tomorrow: Fjords and mountains!

10/26 - Gothenburg

2008-11-10T03:09:00.001-08:00

Woke up to find that it was raining pretty hard! Lame. Oh well, it's laundry day anyway so it shouldn't be too bad. I walked to the southeast of the city, basically the museum district. Was thinking about seeing the Universeum, the tour guide said it was a 'family friendly museum for nature lovers' Not too sure about the whole family friendly thing but I do love me some nature. It looked pretty cool from the outside, like a big greenhouse with an indoor mountain. I walked in and immediately walked out. Strollers, everywhere. Little kids, everywhere. I was probably the only person between the ages of 13 and 30. Nope, sorry. That's a bit too family friendly for me.

Went down the street where there was a modern museum. Not a modern art museum, but a museum that deals with events in current history, basically the last 50 years. It didn't open for half an hour so I figured I would explore a little bit more. Walked along one of the rivers running through town. Really relaxing even though it was pouring with rain. Saw the local soccer stadium and circled back.

The museum was really unique. It has exhibitions on deforestation, revolution, the emergence of hip-hop and even a small section about heavy metal in the middle east. I was wearing my At The Gates shirt, and immediately two people ask me if I worked there...middle aged people can't know the band is from here, right?

The rain hadn't let up by this point so I figured it would best just to go back and start my laundry. Huh, just realized that was the last time I washed my clothes....should probably do that soon. Anyway, wandered back slowly and saw this cool tower on top of a big hill. Climbed to the top and saw an amazing view of the city.

Spent the rest of the day inside unfortunately. Laundry took a lot longer than expected and I also had free internet so I caught up on news (daily show). At night the rain finally stopped so I went on a photo walk and took some pretty cool night pictures.

Disappointing that my only full day here was marred by rain but I realized if there was one day it had to rain during my trip today would be the best. Lazy sunday, laundry day. And it didn't rain any other day on my whole trip so it really worked out amazingly well.

10/25 - Stockholm/Gothenburg

2008-11-09T11:15:00.001-08:00

I had a morning train so didn't have much time left in Stockholm. Basically I just walked around one last time then sat at a traditional bakery with some pastries. Swedish pastries are awesome, lots of chocolate and marzipan. Yum.

The train took five hours, going from one coast to the other. It was a little bit frustrating, I was sitting next to a mother with her two young children who were loud the whole time. Arrived in Gothenburg around 4pm.

As I waited in line to get my ticket to Oslo, a girl started smiling and waving at me. Okay, there is no way I know anyone in Gothenburg, Sweden so I just ignored her, she was probably just waving at someone behind me. But she kept doing it and I eventually walked over to her. It was the Austrian girl from last night! She was trying to get back to Copenhagen but all the trains from Stockholm were full so she came to Gothenburg first. We were even on the same train. Crazy how small Europe is. We had a coffee and after promising to try and meet up again somewhere down the road went our separate ways.

Gothenburg is my kind of city. Big, but still feels small, really laid back and easy to walk around. It was gray and cloudy when I arrived and I started to notice how similar to Seattle it is: West Coast. Relatively new. Important port city. Lots of rain. Happy, relaxed people. Big counter-cultural scene. Developed its own genre of music in the early 1990s. Trees and parks everywhere. Awesome.

I walked down the main street and then started wandering towards my hostel. Magnus in Stockholm warned me that the streets are very confusing and he was right. After running into a few dead ends I finally found my hostel right before check in time ended.

Went out for dinner at a vegetarian buffet which was surprisingly good and then started looking for bars. First checked out a local beer bar that has their own microbrews. Good beer, but it was a bit crowded and there was nowhere to sit so I looked for the heavy metal bar. I was a bit worried when I first walked in. They were playing AC/DC and it was mostly 30somethings. Generic Swedish beer, nothing special. But then, they played both Dark Tranquillity and At the Gates, the bands who invented the 'Gothenbyurg sound' of melodic death metal! That was incredible. Not only hearing those bands in a bar, but hearing them in the city from where they came. So much fun.

After going back to the hostel I found out that I did have a roommate. A Norwegian guy who told me that Oslo is only okay and Bergen is great. Sounds good! Sunday tomorrow...

10/24 - Stockholm

2008-11-06T13:17:00.001-08:00

Decided to sleep in a little bit today because of the really long and tiring previous day.

The biggest tourist attraction in Stockholm is Skansen. It's the world's biggest and oldest open air museum. It opened in the 1800s and the point of it is to keep parts of Swedish history in tact. Most of the museum consist of old homes, shops, and villages that had been either recreated or moved. I saw traditional glass blowing, an old blacksmith, a village from the 1300s and a traditional 18th century farmhouse. It was really interesting but unfortunately this is one of the touristy sites that I wish had more people.

I actually really enjoyed the zoo it had, mostly because I didn't know there was one. The animals were pretty active and I got to take some cool picture of them.

Walked around a bit more and decided to once again explore Sodermalm. I went to a place called the Black Hole Cafe. It must be the world's only black metal cafe. They only play black metal, have upside down crosses hanging on the wall and sell CDs from only underground extreme metal bands. Oh yeah, and they serve coffee. Really a cool environment and definitely unique. But for the first time in my life I felt like an outsider in a heavy metal environment. Every other person in there had really long hear and was wearing leather. And after reading a black metal fanzine I got kind of creeped out and decided an hour is more than enough time to spend there alone.

Again, went to Gamla Stan. Wanted to see it one last time and pick up some souvenirs. I bought some postcards and checked out Handfaste, the Viking shop. Bought myself a mjollnir pendant, I really couldn't resist.

Went with my host to a local couchsurfers meeting. It was really fun and I met a lot of people from all over the place. A couple locals, a few Americans, a girl from Austria. After hanging out at a coffee shop for a few hours two of the locals wanted to walk around with me and another American girl. They showed us some things we hadn't seen and we ended up in Sodermalm. It was really cool meeting and hanging out with such friendly people.

So ends my last full day in Stockholm. It's a really vibrant city, much more than any in Scandinavia and the people are incredibly nice.

10/23 - Stockholm

2008-11-05T09:47:00.001-08:00

After a surprisingly good sleep on the boat I awoke after we had already arrived, and realized I was one of the last passengers left on the ship. It was 6:30 in the morning and it was still pitch black outside. I had a basic idea of where I was and started making my way to the city center. I walked along the waterfront and it started getting lighter. I decided to sit down and watch the sunrise. Well, turns out the sunrise takes a long time so I sat there until about 7:30 until I got bored.

Headed into Gamla Stan, the old town. This is a small island where Stockholm started around 800 years ago. It has kept all its historical charm with crooked streets and narrow alleys. Unfortunately nothing was open yet so I just wandered and soaked it up as much as I could.

Walked north to the main part of the city and found the walking street. I love this idea of the walking street with tons of shops and restaurants and people. It seems like every European city has at least one. Had a breakfast of coffee and a pastry and just kept walking. I had pretty much all day so I decided to try and see as much of the city as I could. The weather was once again perfect with no clouds in the sky. I can't believe how lucky I have been.

Eventually ended up at Central Station where I bought my ticket to Gothenburg and a 48 hour metro pass. Back south to the island of Sodermalm, which would quickly become my favorite area of the city. Just like Kallio in Helsinki, trendy with lots of young people and cool stores.

Back at Gamla Stan I watched the changing of the guard at the royal palace. Really touristy, I know, but it's one of those things that you have to do.

Found a free museum listed in the guide book so I decided to check that out. Had all the historical stuff about Sweden, including a massive exhibition on Vikings. Towards the end of the museum, it got kind of existential. There were exhibits talking about what 'truth' really is and we should question facts, even at this very museum....okay?

I lost track of time and had a ticket for a canal tour so I had to hurry to get there. It was nice to see Stockholm by water, and actually learned quite a bit about the city. My favorite fact was about a Swedish warship that was the pride of the navy when it was built in 1628. To celebrate its launch the whole city got school and work off to watch. Less than a mile after it left the dock it capsized and sank. Awesome.

By now it was 4pm and I decided that I should try and get in contact with my Couchsurfing host. I asked him 3 times for his address but he only gave me his phone number. I tried calling him 5 times on a public phone and on my cell phone...every time it said the number was disconnected. Great. Now I have no place to stay tonight. I was definitely getting worried so I went online and frantically posted on the Couchsurfing message board that I needed a place in Stockholm. Within 10 minutes I had a response and within 30 minutes I met the guy and we were on our way to his apartment! I love the internet.

His name is Magnus and he works for the Swedish Ministry of Finance. He lived a good 20 minutes north of the city by train but his apartment was really nice. When I arrived there was another couchsurfer staying there. I asked him if he was traveling and he said 'no, I'm studying in Stockholm.' 'Oh, well then how long have you been couchsurfing here?' 'About 8 week' 8 weeks! I can't believe how nice these people are! Magnus is letting this Belgian guy practically live with him for free, crazy.

Hung out with the guys and planned my day for tomorrow!

Helsinki/Turku - 10/22

2008-11-04T01:11:00.001-08:00

Last day here. Well, half day. My train to Turku left at noon so I still had half a day to explore the city. After saying goodbye to Anna I headed to the city center. I realized I hadn't seen the southern part of the city and there is supposed to be a cool park there so I walked around a bit. Once again beautiful weather.

There was a recommended cafe on the edge of the water but there was no outside seating! Screw that, I want to spend my last hour in Helsinki enjoying the sunshine. After wandering around the park some more I went back to the fish market. There's a really cool tent set up that sells coffee. Sitting in the sun drinking really strong Finnish coffee and eating a traditional donut was a really good way to end my time there. The city is a lot busier when it's really nice out. Duh.

Crumb Thieves

Time to do some souvenir shopping. I really wanted to buy a corny 'traditional' Finnish hat from a vendor but they were actually really ugly, not cool for $30. Oh well, I have my postcards, memories and photos.

The train to Turku wasn't as spectacular as I had hoped for. Sure, the Finnish countryside is nice but it's not too different than Denmark; mostly farmland and fields. The most exciting part was listening to Finnish radio. I didn't feel like using the battery on my MP3 player so I plugged into the train. The first thing I hear: Nightwish! So cool being in a country that not only has no problem with metal but plays my favorite bands on the radio. Really exciting to hear it like that.

I didn't know what to expect from Turku. It's the second biggest city in Finland, but that really doesn't mean much. I had 6 hours there and I thought that would be perfect. Arrived at 3pm and the big castle closed at 4 so I ran to the bus and made it just in time. Castle was pretty cool, nothing too special but it's the biggest tourist attraction so I had to see it.

Made it back into the city to start exploring and look for dinner. Saw the Cathedral and the main square with the walking streets, and riverfront etc.Couldn't find the place I wanted to eat at and the recommended bar didn't serve food. Hadn't eaten in about 6 hours but still wasn't ready to go down the kebab path. Saw a Viking themed restaurant, really couldn't say no even though it was kinda pricey. For some stupid reason they didn't serve mead but the food was actually incredible. Goat cheese salad and game stew with rabbit, deer and bacon.

So, I've explored the vast majority of the city, seen the two biggest sites and eaten dinner....in 3 hours. Still 3 hours to go, great. It was getting pretty cold and dark so I just needed to find someplace to sit. Found the local mall and just sat on a bench and read for about an hour. Decided to walk along the river to the ferry terminal and still got there an hour before check in.

I had to make my reservation for the ferry by calling some office in Copenhagen because for whatever reason the ferry line doesn't do online booking, even though they are the biggest ferry line in the Baltic. The phone reservation gave me a bad feeling but I figured people are more trustworthy than the internet. Right? Nope.

The lady at check in told me the reservation was for the night before. Great. She had to ask her manager just if I could get on the boat...this doesn't sound good for getting a bed. She let me on and then I had to put my name on a waiting list for a bed in case someone didn't show up. Got a room! 'That will be six Euro' 'I'm sorry did you say six or sixty?' 'Six' For a 11 hour cruise with a room it cost me $30 total! That's cheaper than any of the hostels I stayed at. Nice surprise. I was imagining watching the islands go by while standing on the deck. Duh, it was night, couldn't really do that. Time for bed before Sweden!

Helsinki - 10/21

2008-11-03T02:10:00.001-08:00

Had a full day of touristy stuff lined up and I was pretty excited for it. The first stop is the biggest tourist attraction in the city, the fortress of Suomenlinna. It's an old fortress built on an island just south of the city by the Swedes and taken over by the Russians. It was called Sveaborg (sea castle in Swedish) but the Finns changed its name when they had their revolution in 1918. Suomenlinna means the Fortress of Finland (Suomi is Finland) which is a cool name, but kind of ironic when you realize that the Finns had nothing to do with its construction. I had to take a ferry to get there, and it seemed that apart from about 5 Japanese people I was the only tourist.

People thought I was crazy to coming to Finland this time of year, but it was amazing being at such a big tourist site and being practically the only one there. I spent a few hours just wandering around the ramparts and hanging out by the water. I made a playlist of all my Finnish music and listened to it the whole day. Turns out 25% of my music collection comes from here! Pretty cool. I think that's some of the most fun I've ever had by myself. Exploring beautiful ruins in Helsinki while listening to my favorite music. I'm pretty sure I had a smile on my face the whole time.

Now that it was no longer Monday I could actually go to some of the museums. My goal was to limit myself to 1 museum per city unless it was free. I chose the Kiasma museum of modern art. I don't really get modern art, but it looks cool so why not?

Translated: Black on Black, a picture of you.

My favorite piece. After seeing DO NOT TOUCH all over the place, there was a sign that read: Please, take a piece and half the room was filled with licorice. Now that is good art.

The next biggest tourist attraction is the Sibelius monument. Not a lot of famous people come from Finland but when they do, they make sure you know about them. Sibelius is a composer from the early 1900s. The monument is a kind of organ type thing. Again, I was the only person there! I heard that this place is crawling with tourists in the summer so I felt pretty special being there all alone.

Next up is the Olympic stadium. Wasn't really that interested in seeing it but the top of the tower is supposed to have the best view of the city. It was great, but a little too cloudy to be anything amazing.

Walked through an old neighborhood with traditional Finnish houses on my way to the Kallio district.

Kallio is the 'hip' area that every city has. Seattle has Capital Hill, NYC has the east village, Copenhagen has Norrebro and Helsinki has Kallio. My main reason for going there was to partake in a traditional Finnish sauna. Saunas are immensely popular in the country and just about every hotel and apartment has one. The tour book recommended the oldest one in the city and the only one to still use traditional wood fire instead of electric heat.

It was definitely an experience. Coming from the states I'm not that used to nudity, especially when it's all middle aged guys. Man, it was hot. I've been in saunas before but this was ridiculous. I couldn't even breathe through my nose because the steam would burn my nostrils.

What you're supposed to do is go in and come out a few times. Obviously it's bad to spend more than a few minutes in 180 degree heat. After my second time I was cooling down in the locker room and a local started a conversation with me. Kind of interesting talking to a naked stranger but he was nice and had been to Seattle before.

Anna wanted to meet me for coffee so went back to the city center to explore a bit more before meeting her. Found a Hesburger, a Finnish hamburger chain and decided to try it. I'm not going to count it as fast food because it's a 100% Finnish chain. Wasn't very good and gave me a stomach ache. That's what I get. Met with Anna at the cafe and she wouldn't let me pay for coffee, what a nice girl. And so begins my addiction to coffee. I used to hate it but when you're cold and tired, it's pretty good.

Headed home and relaxed a bit before going out that night. It was raining a bit, but just Seattle rain so I could handle it. Went back to Kallio and had a metal bar in mind. Found the place called Tauku and it was by far the coolest bar I have ever been to. Metal posters all over the walls and a jukebox with an amazing selection. They had my favorite Czech beer too! Awesome. Sitting in a Helsinki bar, listening to Finnish metal and drinking my favorite beer. Does life get any better? I planned on staying only an hour but I couldn't tear myself away until the very last tram home.

Got to the tram station and the last 2 were canceled! Great. Luckily there was a girl about my age waiting for the same tram going to the same stop. Funny how these things always work out for me. When you're traveling alone, you are never really alone. She just moved to the city from Turku and helped me find the right bus to get on. Man, Finnish people are nice. After another great day I was already missing this city.

Helsinki - 10/20

2008-11-02T05:08:00.001-08:00

An 8am flight meant that I woke up at around 5. Quadruple checked my bag and I was good to go! I have never been so excited for anything so the hour and a half flight seemed to take an age. Finland was beautiful from the air, totally flat like Denmark but lakes EVERYWHERE, and this wasn't even the lake district. Arrived at the airport at just before 11-Finland is an hour ahead-and caught the bus into town. I was really lucky with the weather, sunny and as warm as it could possibly be for this time of the year this far north. I had my tour book so I kind of followed a walking tour it recommended. Started off at the fish market and explored a good section of the city from there. Most of the sights were churches but apparently everything is closed on Mondays in Finland so I couldn't really go inside.

The Presidential Palace

The coolest church was this half underground one built basically like a cave. Helsinki has all these rocky outcrops all over the place and an architect decided to turn one into a church. At this point I was starving but all the places recommended in my book were closed! Stupid Mondays. Eventually I made my way back to the city center and found Cafe Zetor, a tractor-themed restaurant that serves only Finnish food.

Helsinki is pretty cool, similar to Copenhagen with more interesting architecture. The city has fantastic transportation even though it's relatively small. I had heard that the nordic cities aren't very happening this time of year so it was weird seeing a capital city with so few people around.

Part of the reason I embarked upon this journey across Scandinavia is because of my love for metal. All of the biggest and best metal bands in the world come from these countries so obviously there is a lot more culture surrounding it. It seems a very large amount of Finnish males are metalheads. Just about every other guy I saw had either long hair, a band tee or camo pants (considered very metal in Finland).

I found a website called the Heavy Metal Travel Guide which lists pubs, shops and clubs where they are at the least sympathetic to metal. My first stop was Hellsinki, a metal clothing store. Pretty cool, but $40 for a t-shirt is a bit over the top.

I had plans to couchsurf with a girl named Anna who lived just north of the city. I had a few hours left before our agreed meeting time so I decided to walk the rest of the way to her place. It was about 3 miles but I enjoy walking and exploring so I figured why not. I would really regret this later. It was a bit hard finding her place. I had a basic idea of where she lived but her street didn't exist according to Google Maps so I had to use a Finnish trip planner site so figure out about where it is. I actually found it after walking in circles for a bit. Basically a log cabin surrounded by some apartments.

She wasn't home and I wasn't 100% sure if it was the right place but her really nice neighbor let me use her phone and assured me that this was in fact where Anna lives. She showed up 10 minutes later and greeted me with a hug, I could already tell that this would be a great experience. She took me upstairs and showed me her place. She gave me my own bed, cooked me dinner and even let me take a shower! Beyond any of my expectations. Anna is a 23 year old school teacher who works only so she can afford to travel. She's been basically everywhere and is working right now so she can spend a few months in India. She's a vegan and a really sweet person. I couldn't have asked for a nicer host.

Now the full day of walking with a huge backpack had finally caught up with me; I was ready for bed at 9pm. Hung out with Anna a bit and went to bed early. So far so good, I survived my first day of lone travel.

Prague

2008-10-19T08:09:00.001-07:00

Wednesday

We arrived a bit later than we were supposed to on Wednesday night. After being dropped off at our hotel (conveniently located between the red light district and the biggest tourist area) we started yet another pub crawl! Our tour guide was a 21 year-old local who took us to his favorite places. The first one was an old brothel where we were treated to a traditional meal of goulash with dumplings.

The next place used to be where the executioner of the city lived a few hundred years ago. The beer was fantastic, some of the best I've ever had.

Our last stop was an underground place pub we tried the last of the 3 main types of Czech beer, what our guide referred to as light (traditional pilsner, which comes from the city of Pilsen in Czech Republic) medium/middle (bitter pilsner, almost a pale ale) and dark (stout, the great one I mentioned earlier) This place had famous cartoons from a local artist all over the walls. Slightly on the vulgar side.

The girls wanted to go home and sleep, lame, so the guys went to explore the city. We walked along the river which had fantastic views of the castle and cathedral and found our way back to the hotel about an hour or so later...After having some fried cheese of course. Probably the best late night food imaginable. A piece of mozzarella deep fried and covered in mayo. After a small taste of the city I was really excited for the next two days.

Thursday

First order of business was to go on a walking tour of the city. I had wanted to wake up early to try and find a nice Czech breakfast, but our pub crawl guide told us those don't exist. He said everyone either eats at home or picks something up at the grocery store. We saw pretty much all of the touristy sites in the city. Starting with Wencelas Square and the Old Quarter, we moved on to the Jewish Quarter, Charles Bridge, the castle and the cathedral. Since the Nazis took over early off in the war and there were rumors that Hitler wanted the Castle for himself, nothing was destroyed during WWII. It's really cool seeing a city that has buildings from the 14th century in great condition.

We had lunch on our own before visiting the Czech Beer and Malt Association so a bunch of us found a place by the Charles Bridge. I would call it Czech Fusion, the food was amazing. When the bill came he charged us for the marinated duck, instead of the grilled duck which four of us had. The marinated duck was 4 times the price so one of the guys in the group had to argue with the waiter. The school had given us money for lunch and the bill was only about $20 a person but it was the principle of the matter. The waiter wouldn't budge even though he was clearly trying to rip us off so we gave him money for what we actually ordered and walked out.

The CBMA is in charge of all the breweries in the Czech Republic. The CEO gave us a presentation in which he kept reiterating the health benefits of drinking a pint or more a day, saying that all doctors recommend this and it gives you much needed proteins. I guess the Czech people take this to heart because they have the highest beer consumption rate in the world. 160L per year for the average person. That's a pint every day. The world and US average is 80L, less than one beer a day.

He then gave us a tour of Staropramen, the second biggest brewery in the country.

After dinner we went out to a restaurant for crepes and beer. Unfortunately it was raining pretty hard so none of us wanted to go searching for a bar afterwards.

Friday

We visited the Czech T-Mobile headquarters which has about 80% of the market in the country. Then lunch at the Prague TV Tower, a weird space-ship looking thing that has metal babies crawling over it. Yes, babies.

This was the official end of our study tour so some people left to continue their travels-almost everyone is going to Italy-and the rest of us had 5 hours to kill before our long bus ride home. 2 of my friends were leaving and the girls just wanted to go shopping then sit at the hotel. Melissa and I wanted to do something fun and I had written down some stuff that I researched before. We chose to go to an old monastery that brewed beer. We took the metro and the tram to get there, and that only took 20 minutes! Prague is the same size, if not smaller than Copenhagen. The monks are long gone but the brewery remains in the form of a restaurant. All the beers are seasonal, so we had all four that were available. Great, but not amazing.

The walk back was incredible. The monastery was right by the castle on top of the hill so in 2 hours we saw the entire city from both sides. After doing some souvenir shopping we went back to the executioner's pub for dinner. One of the things we were told to try was pickled sausage. We found it on the menu for $2! It was literally picked, soaked in vinegar with a pickle shoved in the middle. So our evening which consisted of 3 beers each and a meal each came to about $15! Prague is amazing, definitely one of the coolest cities I've ever been to, I can't think of any place remotely similar.

The bus ride back was 14 hours! At least it was at night so I slept about half the time. What a great week!

Berlin

2008-10-19T02:40:00.001-07:00

The first part of our week long study tour was to Berlin. I've been there once before and remember loving it so I was really excited to go back now that I can appreciate it a bit more.

Sunday

Our first stop was Sachsenhausen, a concentration camp about an hour outside of the city. It was really easy and definitely not the happiest way to start off the trip but it was still really interesting to see. It's so weird seeing something so tragic and horrible and it all happened just last century.

We made it to the city in the evening and checked into our hotel. We were given free 3 day metro passes and after a boring chicken dinner we were told to find our own way back. It was a Sunday night so we figured there wouldn't be too much going on. We walked around for a while and then found a bar that was crowded. After ordering our beer we walked outside and a girl asked us, "Are you in the group?" "Yes..." "Here are some plastic cups so you can drink on the way to the next pub" Apparently we had stumbled into a group of tourists doing a pub crawl, pretty convenient! After 2 bars we were done and managed to find our way home.

I forgot what it's like to be in a big city! Berlin has the same population as the whole country of Denmark. Even though our hotel was in the city, it still took 20 minutes by metro to get anywhere. Pretty weird since I'm used to a maximum of 3 stops.

Monday

Woke up early for a bike tour of the city. I had already seen all of the sights but it was still a blast. The weather was decent and the bikes were really fun and comfortable.

For lunch we went to the oldest restaurant in Berlin, so I was really looking forward to a nice traditional German meal...nope! More chicken. Our academic visit was to Deutsche Bahn, one of the biggest train companies in Europe. The presentation was nothing special but the view from the top of Potsdamer Platz was fantastic.

We had a three hour break, and everyone just wanted to sleep! I walked through the park and made my way to the Siegessäule, the Victory Tower. Turns out it was built to commemorate the defeat of the Danes! Absolutely beautiful view.

That night we went back to where the bike tour started to do yet another pub crawl. It's a great way to have fun and see the local bars.

Tuesday

Went to site of the future BBI Airport that they are hoping will become one of the largest airports in Europe. It sounds cool but right now it's just a bunch of cranes and dirt. Got dropped off at Hackescher Markt for lunch and finally got a chance to eat some traditional German food. Schweinshackse mit sauerkraut!

I don't understand why all the other students just want pizza, hamburgers and spaghetti...you can get that anywhere! That night the Festival of Lights started. Basically they light up all the big buildings around the city. The pictures can speak for themselves!

Wednesday

Took a tour of the 1936 Olympic Stadium. The tour guide was fantastic so it was a lot of fun. Tons of history there and a it's really cool looking building.

Now, off to Prague!

Malmo

2008-10-07T01:04:00.001-07:00

So a bunch of us decided to spend a Saturday in Malmo. It's pretty cool being able to take a train 30 minutes to another country. The city was pretty small, and we saw almost all of it in about 4 hours. It's always nice to see something different though.

The Turning Torso is the tallest building in Sweden. I guess its paint is very light-reactive so one minute it was white, the next it was gray.

The parks in the city were huge and beautiful.

Møn: An Absurd Adventure

2008-10-01T14:12:00.001-07:00

All DIS students have Wednesdays off because that's when there we have our field studies, short field trips in/around the city. This is the first Wednesday I didn't have one, so I decided to have an adventure. Most kids will just get drunk Tuesday night and sleep most of the day away but I felt like doing something special. My friend Carly and I both wanted to do this so we searched for day trips around Copenhagen. We heard of a place called Møn; home of the White Cliffs, supposedly one of the most beautiful places in Denmark. The cliffs themselves were gorgeous but we had more fun attempting to get there.

Train

We took a train from central Copenhagen to Vordingborg, which the tour book said is 1.5 hours south. After an hour the train came stopped with no announcement. A minute later we looked out the window and realized it was our stop! We jumped up just as the train started to pull away. The conductor was really nice and stamped our cards so we wouldn't have to pay extra to get back to where we wanted to be, luckily the next stop was only 20 minutes further. When we got on the train back the conductor checked our tickets. I showed him the stamp and started to explain what happened when he stopped me and simply said, "I know" and moved on. I guess the train conductors have been gossiping about the stupid American tourists! Finally, we arrived in Vordingborg an hour and a half after we were supposed to get there.

Bus

From Vordingborg we took the bus to Stege, the main town of Møn. It was only a 30 minute ride but cost $9 because of the crazy zone system in Denmark. In Stege we asked the people at the Tourist Information center how to get to the cliffs. They said there is no direct bus but there is a frequent one that goes fairly close. The bus arrived and we hopped on it. Well, the bus decided to change routes after we sat down and the bus driver only told us this after the one we were supposed to take drove away! Another 30 minutes until our bus. By the way, it was pouring with rain this whole time. It finally came and we took it to the other side of the island. I asked the driver when to get off, "Oh! You want to walk through the forest?" "Sure..." We got off and walked about a kilometer in the rain through the woods.

Cliffs

We made it! After 6 hours we finally made it to the cliffs. They were absolutely gorgeous. There were huge white cliffs rising 500 feet with the water being surprisingly blue for such a gray day. The rocks from the cliffs were like chalk, very white and soft. For a nice change of pace the rain decided to stop right when we got to the beach and it held off until we were finished there.

Bus #2

The woman at tourist information informed there was one direct bus from the cliffs...which came at 4 and then never again. We arrived at the cliffs at 3:30, meaning we had 30 minutes to see what had traveled 6 hours to see. After taking all our pictures and soaking up as much of the landscape as possible, we rushed back to the bus stop. We were waiting at a big sign that said BUS...which apparently is not the bus stop. We realized this at 3:58 when the bus drove by on the road 200ft away. Well, time to walk back through the woods and hope the bus we took there was still running. It was! and we made it back to Stege.

Stege

We were cold, wet and tired and just wanted to relax. We found the local brewery and had a cup of hot chocolate before enjoying a much deserved sample of the local beers. Sitting down and drinking something had never felt so good.

The Way Back

We had learned from our previous blunders and made it back to the train and eventually Copenhagen without a problem. It may have sounded like we ran into too many problems, but isn't that exactly what an adventure is? If I've learned anything from Indiana Jones, things aren't supposed to go smoothly and that's just part of the fun. Even if we had never made it to the cliffs it still would have been a great day. After 4 buses, 3 trains, 280km and 11 hours, we were home.

Denmark: Land of the Vikings

2008-09-28T10:39:00.001-07:00

Everyone thinks Vikings are cool. Everyone. Being in their homeland is really interesting, for the Danes it's not some far off ancient peoples; it's their ancestors and their history. My Nordic Mythology class is probably the most interesting and fun class I've ever taken, I actually enjoy all of the readings. We've had two field studies so far, one to the National Museum which has the largest collection of Viking Age artifacts in the world, and another one around Zealand, looking at a bunch of different things from the Viking Age and before.

On our Zealand trip yesterday we first went to the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde. Roskilde was the main port before Copenhagen existed and 50 years ago they found 5 ships underneath the fjord there. They took the pieces and put them back together to get an idea of what the ships were like. Some were large and built for trading, others were small and meant for the warriors.

Burial mounds are all over Scandinavia and only a small number of them have been excavated. This one is from the Stone Age and it's about 5000 years old. Oh yeah, we got attacked by a bat.

Heorot hall, also known as Hleiðargarðr, is the biggest and most famous hall of Viking times. It's the main hall in Beowulf and it's what Tolkien modeled Meduseld (Theoden's hall in Edoras) after. Not much to see now mostly just the ridgeline of the foundation, but still interesting. My teacher is pretty much a Viking.

Probably looked like this at one point:

This is a round fort which was a base for a few hundred Vikings. They would carry out raids and then return here to the barricaded walls. The original mounds for the walls are still in tact and the foundations for the building have all been recreated.

Runic stone at a Christian church. They still used runes after the Viking age, as it was part of their tradition.

Pretty cool.

Bornholm

2008-09-22T13:53:00.001-07:00

Saturday

Well, technically the ferry left Friday night, but close enough. 6 hour ferry ride from Copenhagen to Bornholm, nothing too exciting.

Arrived in Bornholm at 6am and drove to our town. The island is fairly small, you can get from one end to the next in about 30 minutes by car. We stayed in a town called Gudhjem, a little fishing village on the central northern coast. It was really quaint, but way too quite for a group of 100 college students.

We settled in around 7 and hopped on our bikes at 8:30. The map they gave us had almost no details and only very general routes to follow. There were four of us in our group and we decided to do the Cultural Tour. This consisted of the towns along the north coast, some ruins, and one of the island's round churches.

First we arrived at Allinge, a town on the Northwest tip of the island. Nothing special, just a nice place to take a break and soak up the local culture...which is surprisingly lacking for a warmish Saturday.

Next up were the ruins of Hammershus, the largest medieval fort in Northern Europe. They were spectacular. There was almost no history of the place but we found out it was built in 1250 and was attacked multiple times by both Germans and Swedes.

There was a restaurant just outside the ruins where we decided to stop for lunch. One of the things Bornholm is famous for is their smoked herring. It was probably the saltiest thing I have ever tasted but was delicious nonetheless.

The route we were told to take recommended that we ride along the coast on the way home but we did that on the way there so decided to go inland and make out way paste the round church. The church was really cool and this round style only exists on this island and a few random places in Sweden.

We were supposed to backtrack to get on the main path but we felt adventurous and wanted to find our own way home. This consisted of farmland and trees. Nothing else. Along the way we saw a sign to the round church where we just came from and decided it was time to ask for directions. We talked to one of the farmers and he pointed in the right direction. After getting split up at a fork, attempting to get cell reception, more backtracking and lots of hills, we got back to the hostel at 5:30.

Total trip: 9 hours, ~55-60km.

Sunday

On the southern tip of Bornholm is a sandy beach which is said to have the finest sand in the world. Everyone else said it was amazing so we really wanted to get there. But it was 30km each way and we were tired from yesterday so we decided to take the bus. The receptionist at the hostel gave us the bus schedule and we were on our way.The local glass museum was on the way so we decided to walk there and then find a bus stop.

After 45 minutes of waiting, a local told us that Sunday busses only run in the Summer, which technically ended 2 weeks ago. Great.

We had lunch and then tried to figure out what to do. There was still 4 hours left and we didn't want waste it. The center of the island is home to the third largest forest in Denmark-which really isn't saying much-so we headed there. It was a nice ride and we saw another round church, but it was a carbon copy of the other one. The rest was again, farmland.

In the center of the forest is an old lookout tower. Wasn't extremely tall or exciting, but it was a great place to take a break and see a nice view of the island.

The ride back was painful. Strong winds, on and off rain, and less light by the minute. Around 7pm we finally made it back to the hostel exhausted and ready to go home.

Total trip: 4 hours. ~40km

For the ferry back, I booked a cabin so I was able to get a decent 5 hours rest before a full Monday of classes and homework. Overall it was a great weekend. No matter what city you are in, it's always good to get away and I'll be doing that every weekend until November! It was probably more physical exercise than I have ever gotten in my life but I survived. I've now been awake for 17 hours. Life is good.

Heavy Metal as a Community

2008-09-18T13:58:00.001-07:00

An interesting thing happened today. As I was walking around the DIS building between classes I saw someone with a sticker reading Arsis. Arsis is a technical melo-death band that I only recently discovered and happened to be listening to only hours prior. I pointed it out to him, and we talked for 10 minutes about what bands we listen to and what shows we want to see while in Copenhagen. A simple sticker lead to a new friend.

Then, as I was leaving the building, I noticed someone else with a sticker on their laptop. This was a sticker for The White Stripes. As I walked by I realized something, this person has probably never made a friend because of this sticker. Why? Because The White Stripes are a household name that just about everyone knows and has heard, so there's really nothing special about liking them.

This made me realize that heavy metal is more than just a genre, it's a community. Because it has a relatively low number of listeners, we tend to stick together and befriend one another. I think it's because listening to metal is a hobby. You can't simply turn on the radio and hear it. You have to go out and search for it, and decipher what you like. Most people hear a pop song on the radio, think it sounds good, buy the cd and forget about the band in a few months. When we discover a metal band, we really have to pay attention. Metal is extremely complex, that's why it's such an acquired taste, so connoisseurs of the art-form don't take it quite as casually. I've never really asked someone who listens to pop why they like it but I would assume the answers would be "It's catchy" or "easy to sing along to." Ask a metalhead why he likes a band and he can talk for hours about their dueling-guitar solos, complex riffs or deep imagery. Metal is a passion that takes dedication.

So when two people meet who are into heavy metal, they immediately have A LOT in common. They understand each other and appreciate the fact that someone else listens to the music for the same reasons. I could go on and on about why I love heavy metal, but this is definitely the top reason.

Western Denmark

2008-09-13T10:30:00.001-07:00

Struer

Struer is a small town on the western coast of Jutland. We went there to visit Bang & Olufsen, one of the world's pinnacle manufacturers of high end A/V equipment. It was an amazing place, and we saw lots of the internal workings of the company that most people never get to see. At one point we were asked to hand over all of our cameras and cell phones because some of the things they are working on in the factory are still 'top secret'. The best part of the trip was being given what they refer to as the ultimate home theatre experience. We watched a concert on a crystal clear 100" projection with 3,500 Watt speakers.

This is the world headquarter's, standing on the edge of town literally 100 yards from a farm. The closest city is Aarhus, a 2 hour drive. Kind of an odd choice for a company that caters primarily to multi-millionaires.

The 50" TV costs around $20,000, each speaker is $10,000 and the full setup will run about $150,000. That includes the lights, blinds and doors which are all powered by a single remote. The speakers each provide 360-degree sound and so much bass that that they have to be 150 pounds just to sit still on the floor. This was definitely the highlight of the trip.

Aarhus

Aarhus is on the opposite of Jutland, facing the east coast. It's the second biggest city in Denmark, and with a population the same as Seattle I was hoping it would be a really cool place. We arrived there Thursday night and the bar scene was pretty much nonexistent. Friday we went to visit a company that makes stylish futons, but it was really boring and we could tell that they are having a rough time making a profit. Friday night DIS decided to switch us to a hostel 2 miles north of town in the middle of the forest.

Friday night was pretty fun; we went to a couple bars but they were unfortunately the same price as Copenhagen but I still didn't spend TOO much. $40 for dinner and a night out is pretty cheap for Denmark, some people ended up paying $150 because they decided to go out for Mexican which in Denmark is considered a fancy exotic cuisine.

Odense

On Saturday the other groups all got to go to Lego-Land and we were stuck going to the third largest city to see HC Anderson's birthplace. It was a pretty nice city but really nothing special.

Botanical Gardens & Carlsberg Brewery

2008-09-07T04:32:00.001-07:00

It's easy to complain about how expensive in Copenhagen is. The 25% sales tax is the highest in the world along with Sweden and Norway so literally everything is more costly than in the states. It's a rough transition but I've been trying to find things that are both unique to Copenhagen and relatively inexpensive. The 'dollar store' Tiger is so named because the 10 kroner coin has the same animal on it. Most things in the store cost 10-20DKK (2-4 dollars) and they have a pretty decent selection just like discount stores in the US. With nothing planned for Friday Michael and I decided to buy a 20DKK bottle of wine and sit in the botanical gardens in the middle of the city. It's basically an odd park with all sorts of strange plant life. Definitely something you don't expect for the middle of a city.

A surprising number of plants were poisonous

Saturday we went to the Carlsberg Brewery, which supposedly has the cheapest beer in Copenhagen. For $10, you get a tour of the museum and 2 beers of your choice. Very cool.

This is what 14,000 bottles of beer looks like

Turns out Master Brew has 11% alcohol. Not a wise choice in retrospect.

DR & Christiania

2008-09-03T05:54:00.001-07:00

First thing today was to go to DR, the national TV and radio network for a field study with my Lost in Translation class. We went to see how the subtitle department works. It sounds exciting but was actually pretty mundane, especially since our tour guide was a 65 year old who is an 'expert' and 'only still working here because they can't find anyone else better than me.' At least the building was cool.

I've been wanting to go to Chrstiania for a while and it was well worth the wait. It's a freetown, basically a commune of hippies who wanted to live away from the modern materialistic society and set up their own way of life. They are famous for openly selling pot but that stopped in 2004 after the police raided it.

The graffiti there is actually art, not just random letterings or gang symbols.

We went to a famous restaurant that only serves one dish per day, and it's all vegetarian. It turned out to be one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten, it was a homecooked tomato curry with some sort of fried tofu/chickpea 'meat.'

Unfortunately, we had to return to the European Union.

Kronberg Castle

2008-08-31T09:45:00.001-07:00

About 30 minutes north of Copenhagen is a town called Helsingor, which is located on the water at the narrowest point between Denmark and Sweden. We went to see Kronberg Castle, the setting for Hamlet. The original castle is 600 years old but the one standing today was built in 1640.

The foundation of the original castle is still in tact and is used as the basement/storage area called the casemates. It's basically a labyrinth of corridors and small rooms that acts as a barracks during times of war. This is where Holger the Dane lives. He's a legendary soldier who wakes up during times of war to help fight for Denmark. He is yet to awake from his slumber.

My First Night 'Out'

2008-08-30T02:03:00.001-07:00

Last night DIS hosted a party for us at Luux, a pretty fancy club in central Copenhagen. It was only for us students and we were given free entry and 2 free drinks. We showed up there around 9:30 and it was pretty cool, everyone was having fun and I saw familiar faces all over.

Got to the bar and learned that our free 'drinks' consisted of either Carlsberg, vodka or rum drinks. And not a pint of Carlsberg but a 10 oz glass, not even a full beer's worth. Whatever, it was free so I shouldn't complain. Well 30 minutes later it was time for another drink so we got in line to wait. and wait. and wait. we stood there or 35 minutes before we could order and surprise surprise, no more beer, no more rum. Only vodka tonic and cranberry juice.

We finished our drinks and went to find a bar where we were supposed to meet a friend. Well, the friend never told us where the bar was and we ended up walking around for about 40 minutes. We eventually stumbled upon it and realized that he wasn't even there and the bar was too full to sit down. Went to another bar; also too full to sit down. It was late and we were tired, time to go home after an uneventful night.

I took my friend home who also lives in Frederiksberg-albeit on the complete opposite side-and waited for the bus. It came...and went as I discovered my metro pass gone. It hasn't left my wallet since I bought it earlier this week and I had it with me when I went to the club. I'm not the sort to be clumsy and drop something from my wallet without realizing it. But for whatever reason I decided to put my wallet in my back pocket that night and the metro pass sticks up about half an inch. I guess someone must have grabbed it as they brushed by me in the crowded club. Not the night out I was hoping for.

Metro pass: $100

Taxi home: $20

New Metro pass: $90

First Friday night in Copenhagen: Priceless

Worst. Jet lag. Ever.

2008-08-27T17:51:00.001-07:00

Jet lag flying from North America to Europe is pretty bad. Most people aren't tired when it's their usual bedtime and end up waking up after a few hours of sleep. It's different for everyone but most people end up feeling it at least a little bit.

It's Thursday now, making it my fifth day in Copenhagen. My jet lag was pretty average when I arrived, going to bed at a 'reasonable hour' and waking up later and later. 2am, 5am, 5:30 am. Two more days and I should be perfectly on schedule....right?

Orientation week has been pretty busy and extremely tiring. Waking up early and miles of walking every day is not a good combination. At first I thought it would be pretty easy to deal with. Just force myself to stay awake as late as I can and hope that I'll wake up at a reasonable hour. Seems easy enough. Turns out I'm not that strong-willed.

The first few nights were fine, going to bed around 9 or 10; getting a reasonable amount of sleep. Tuesday however was another strenuous walking day. I walked to DIS, walked all around the Latin Quarter and so I planned on going out for a beer to reward myself. Well, the walking really did me in so I decided to take a nap around 7. Let me rephrase that. I decided to lay in bed with some music on, thinking that the music would wake me up after a little while. Well apparently I woke up and turned the music off, only to return to bed. I woke up at 9pm, just in time for dinner which my roommates were nice enough to make for me. Oh well, 2 hours isn't that bad, I just won't do that again.

Fast forward 24 hours. I did it again. Much worse this time. I told myself I would not lay down in bed to compromise my sleep schedule. Well, 7:30 rolled around and I had once again been walking around all day, woken up early that morning, and just finished eating a big Asian meal. Fine. I'll take a quick nap. Only 30 minutes and I'll be sure to set my alarm. Now it's 2am and I find myself waking up from what was essentially a full night's sleep, on top of my alarm clock. I'm pretty angry at myself right now, because I'm sure it will now be an extra couple of days until my schedule is normal. And to top things off, today is the first day of class which starts in 6 hours.

I'm pretty angry at myself right now but I know I'll look back at this and laugh. This is one of those things you need to learn from experience, and when you tell yourself 'do NOT take a nap' you'll learn not to do it, no matter how many miles you've walked or how much Asian food you have eaten. I'm not sure what I'm going to do but I can only guess crashing in the student lounge during my 3.5 hour break today is the most likely event, followed by another long evening of trying to keep myself awake. On the bright side, I have plenty of extra time to finish all of my homework!

Arriving in Copenhagen

2008-08-24T12:11:00.001-07:00

It's 9pm here and I've been awake for about 26 hours. The flight went by quickly, even though I couldn't fall asleep. The plane was delayed two hours but luckily there were about 15 of us (2 of which were guys) on the same flight together. We all found each other as we got to baggage claim and shared big van taxis to the orientation site.

There were students everywhere. Literally hundreds of them, all looking very tired with a lot of luggage. We found our way to the registration desk and a DIS person ran up to me and asked me if I was Andy. Apparently they somehow missed the fact that I was on the delayed plane and were looking for me all over. My roommates were there when I arrived. After introductions I asked them if they have been waiting long. "No, we're really hungover so we only just got here." We took the metro to go back. It's really nice and brand new, a lot like the 4,5,6 in NYC. It's only one stop from their place to the university or a 15 minute walk.

They are very cool people, easygoing and laid back. After showing me the apartment they took me around the area of Copenhagen in which they live, Fredericksberg, and got some pizza for dinner. Why pizza? "We were going to cook you traditional Danish meatballs, but we're too hungover." Apparently pizza is the only food that is reasonably priced in Copenhagen, it costs about the same as in Seattle, so I'm probably going to be eating a lot of it.
As you can tell, I have wireless! On the way over I talked to some people who live in host family houses 1hr+ away and don't have internet there. I'm very lucky to be in this location with these great people. I am extremely tired and I'm going to go to sleep soon; tomorrow morning we have a welcome speech at the Royal Library. I'll add pictures in a few days and keep updating!

Concert Review: Dethklok 06/03 Seattle

2008-06-06T00:47:00.001-07:00

I was pretty skeptical about this show. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Metalocalypse and Dethklok's music but I just had no idea what the crowd was going to be like or how the show would be. I have no idea who the typical Dethklok fan is, but according to all the negativity on message boards, I can tell most of them aren't your typical metal heads. Metalocalypse is a show on Cartoon Network, so I have no idea who watches it. Teens? Definitely. Preteens? Possible. People who "get" metal? Probably not.

It was pretty funny when I actually saw the crowd after I walked in following Chimaira's set-I've seen them two times and did not want there to be a third-and finally realizing who the typical fan is. It's a 30-year old fat slob with overactive sweat glands who looks like he spends all day in front of the TV all day. Honestly. Fat nerds everywhere. This made for the worst smelling show I've ever been to.

But enough about the crowd. I've seen random Youtube clips of Dethklok playing live and figured it would mostly consist the band playing the songs followed by cartoon clips on the projector. This is pretty much exactly what happened. They opened with the Detheme and the rest of the concert followed this song, clip, song formula. Brendan only talked to the crowd once, and this was in all three of his Dethklok voices for about 25 seconds. Even though I was expecting this it made it the least intimate show I had ever attended. Fortunately, the band played ALL of their good songs, which is all but about four songs from their album. The Premier/Fenix/Showbox SoDo has always had less-than-average sound because it is essentially an old warehouse. There was a lot of bass and I couldn't hear Skwisgaar's incredible solos too well.

Overall it was a decent show, but it was pretty obvious that that band had only played a few shows together before this. I hardly ever pick up mistakes when seeing bands I see but this night I picked up three, all surprising from drummer Gene Hoglan. Weird. Oh well, still pretty damn good for a fake metal band. Glad I got to see them.

Energy 3/5

Sound 3/5

Crowd Interaction 2/5

Song Selection 5/5

Concert Review: Tyranny & Bloodshed Tour

2008-06-03T11:33:00.001-07:00

Firewind: Awesome.

Dark Tranquillity: One of my favorite bands.

Arch Enemy: A band I've always wanted to see live.

Tyranny & Bloodshed Tour: Heavy metal at its finest.

Firewind

When I first started listening to heavy metal about 4 years ago, I desperately tried to figure out what genres I liked, so I illegally downloaded songs from just about every metal band that I had heard of. Tracks off of Burning Earth was my first introduction to power metal and I loved them. But, time went on, I lost all my music files and I never got around to picking up any of their albums. Fast forward to 2008. I got my hands on a copy of The Premonition and absolutely love it.

I normally like my power metal to be more symphonic and epic, but I still love listening to Firewind and was genuinely excited to see them play live. Gus G is a reported 'guitar god' and his playing was flawless at the show. The rest of the band wasn't too energetic; the lead singer mostly stood in place most of the time and the drummer looked like he was 45 years old...nevermind just looked it up. He's 43. And he used to be the drummer for Helloween. Ok, he's cool. The band mostly played songs off of The Premonition and sounded pretty good. Unfortunately they had to open. Greek Metal FTW!

Energy 3/5

Sound 4/5

Crowd Interaction 3/5

Song Selection 4/5

Divine Heresy

Deathcore. Meh.

Dark Tranquillity

As I mentioned earlier, they are one of my favorite bands (I know I say that a lot but I consider about 20 bands to be my 'favorite') I saw them about 3 years ago at the same venue and loved their show.

Mikael Stanne is one of the most unique metal frontmen. He sings death metal yet has a smile on his face the whole time and is continually telling the crowd how much he loves them. They played a fantastic set which strangely didn't feature any tracks from Character but was brilliant nonetheless. Mikael was on the monitors half the time and did multiple stage dives; I love it when singers try to have fun with the crowd. There was too much bass and not enough drums and guitar, but that's my sole complaint about their set.

Energy 5/5

Sound 3/5

Crowd Interaction 5/5

Song Selection 4/5

Arch Enemy

One of the few metal bands that I love but have never seen live. I've heard they put on a fantastic show and was really excited to see them. They did not disappoint. They entered the stage as silhouettes with blood-red backlighting. Very metal. It was pretty ominous and at first but got a little frustrating after the blinding strobe lights came on and stayed on the whole time. I would have liked to be able to see a bit more of their features but shows are about the music first and foremost, right? They were loud without being painful and started the set by going seamlessly from "Blood on your Hands" into "Ravenous." Unfortunate Angela Gossow is about 5'1" and I didn't even get to see her until they were about 10 minutes into their set. She didn't move around and get into it as much as she could have, but she made up for it with her perfect voice and constant emotion.

It's always frustrating seeing a female-fronted band because the audience is continually screaming some less-than-savory remarks that get old fast. Instead of ignoring them or being confronting, Angela took it in stride. After their first five songs she said, "It's getting pretty hot in here, am I right?" Of course, half the crowd responded with a resounding TAKE OFF YOUR SHIRT! And surprisingly, she obliged, revealing a skimpy camisole underneath. After hearing our cheers and jeers she told us "If you're good, maybe I'll take this one off too..." Wow. Never thought I would here that from a lead singer. The show continued as amazingly as before with the obligatory Anarchistic/Anti-Bush statements from Angela that drove the crowd into a frenzy during "The Last Enemy." They ended their set with an encore of "We Will Rise" and everyone left the building with a smile on their first. A damn-near perfect headlining set.

Energy 4/5

Sound 4/5

Crowd Interaction 5/5

Song Selection 5/5

Concert Review: Nightwish 05/23 San Diego

2008-05-26T19:35:00.002-07:00

Don't you love coincidence? The second time I ever visit San Diego for a weekend Nightwish just happens to be playing on a tour where they skipped Seattle. Awesome.

Unfortunately I came late to the Nightwish scene, only getting into them after Once came out and not even checking out their back catalog until recently. As much as I am ashamed to say that, I still consider them one of my favorite bands. Their 2005 North America tour was canceled so I was never able to see them with Tarja. When they came to Seattle last Halloween in support of Dark Passion Play it was one of the best concerts I have ever seen. It's a fantastic feeling to see a band live that you have been listening to for years.

Anyway, back to San Diego. I got to the show 10 minutes before they hit the stage, so I don't know-or really care-who opened. It's weird seeing a show in a city that you don't call home. It just doesn't feel as...intimate I guess. I'm used to seeing shows with the majority of the crowd being 15-30 year-olds. House of Blues has a policy that if you are under 18 you must be with a parent. WTF? So almost a quarter of the audience were middle-agers who weren't into the music. Weird.

Nightwish, however was damn near perfect. They sounded awesome and I didn't even need to use my earplugs. (Yes, I know it's metal to be loud but I just can't stand a noise-induced ear hangover) Like I mentioned earlier I have been listening to their earlier works a lot recently so I was pretty disappointed that their setlist was EXACTLY the same as it was 6 months ago; playing almost exclusively recent material. None of it was bad, I was just hoping for a little more variety. They were energetic, happy and had a moderate interaction with the crowd. Annette is still absolutely gorgeous and I'm pretty sure most of the guys were just staring at her cleavage the whole show.

Even though it wasn't as thrilling as the first time I saw them, it was still as epic as you would expect a Nightwish show to be. Good times.

Energy 4/5

Sound 5/5

Crowd Interaction 3/5

Song Selection 3/5

Concert Review: Paganfest 05/05 Seattle

2008-05-11T17:21:00.001-07:00

I have been looking forward to this show for a long time. I got into Ensiferum about a year ago and Victory Songs quickly became one of my favorite albums. Turisas I had always known but I never took the time to listen to them much. Tyr and Eluveitie I only recently started listening to.

Eluveitie

Slania is so far my favorite album of 2008. Its new take on both melodic death and folk metal is extremely refreshing and its not often that you hear a band that is in a genre of its own. After hearing Slania, I picked up Spirit, musically similar but with a lower production quality. Before the show I was able to meet with Chrigel the lead singer and give him an interview. It was a very fun time and it's cool to see a lead singer who is so friendly and down to earth. The interview is posted in MP3 and text.

Their live show was fantastic! At first I was skeptical about how interactive they would be considering they have 8 members in the band. These doubts were swept away seconds into their opening song. They were navigate the stage surprisingly well and had some very cool choreographed headbanging and water-spitting. They played a selection from the two aforementioned albums and the sound was crisp and clean, although at times I had trouble hearing the hurdy-gurdy and fiddle. I have never seen a crowd react so well to an opening band before.

Energy 4/5

Sound 4/5

Crowd Interaction 4/5

Song Selection 5/5

Tyr

Hardly even worth mentioning. I've always thought their recordings were good but unoriginal and slow at times. Their live show was awul. Tyr stood in place and did absolutely nothing special. They only played about 5 songs, one of which is from their most recent album and two of which are unreleased so the crowd couldn't really get into. And for some reason it sounded like they weren't hooked up to the PA. Didn't even bother taking pictures.

Energy 2/5

Sound 2/5

Crowd Interaction 3/5

Song Selection 1/5

Turisas

I've heard that Turisas is an amazing live band and it's true. They were extremely energetic, very crowd-oriented and the costumes/war paint they wore only helped their performance. Hearing their version of 'Rasputin' live was incredible; the audience went crazy. They sounded BETTER than they do on their albums, I have no idea how that is possible. Oh yeah, and their accordion player was insanely hot. One of the best live bands I have ever seen.

Energy 5/5

Sound 6/5

Crowd Interaction 5/5

Song Selection 5/5

Ensiferum

Ensiferum was initially the only reason I wanted to go to this show. I was extremely excited to hear 'One More Magic Potion' and 'Blood is the Price of Glory' live and they did not disappoint. They had a very good mix between the songs, playing mostly Victory Songs and Iron stuff. Unfortunately they hardly spoke to the crowd definitely could have used the stage space a lot better. Their sound seemed somewhat quiet and I'm still questioning their decision to put their keyboard in the corner hidden between a banner and the rhythm guitarist. Nevertheless it was still wonderful to see them play; a great end to a great night.

Energy 3/5

Sound 4/5

Crowd Interaction 2/5

Song Selection 5/5

Overall the show was fantastic. I have always loved tours with multiple semi-well know bands instead ones that have one big headliner with a bunch of unknown. Paganfest was an extremely unique tour and its popularity proves that the folk metal scene is finally started to get the praise it deserves in this part of the world. It's going to be a long time before I forget this show.

Album Review: Children of Bodom - Blooddrunk

2008-04-20T19:10:00.001-07:00

Children of Bodom is one of my all-time favorite bands. Their music is what first got me interested in Scandinavian metal and my life has never been the same since. With that said, I was obviously very anxious to hear their new album. Their previous effort Are You Dead Yet was extremely disappointing and I was hoping that that this new album would put them back on track to the good-ol' days of Hatebreeder and Follow the Reaper.

The album opens up quite promising and the first keyboard sounds trick you into thinking that their old sound is back. But when Alexi opens his mouth and the third word you hear is cunt, you know you're in for another broken english swear-fest like their previous two albums (I lost count of the word fuck after 20). I seriously thought their song titles and lyrics couldn't get worse than the last album but they did exactly that. "Lobodomy" "One Day You Will Cry" and "Roadkill Morning" are just some of the beautiful titles on the new offering from the Hate Crew. Not only that, but Alexi does not even attempt to change his vocal style. He has had the same raspy scream since COB started and I consider him one of the worst extreme metal vocalists. On the previous albums this didn't bug me at all because the music was so brilliant.

On their early albums, COB's music was haunting, original and catchy. While it still keeps its distinctly Finnish power/melodic death mix, it starts to sound more....American. Every once in a while a metalcore riff finds its way into the songs making it sound mainstream and sometimes boring. Gone are the days of the Janne/Alexi soloing duels and precisely timed medleys. As the band gains popularity they have seemed to have created a more generic sound.

All of my complaints aside, I want to point out that it is not a BAD album, it is just extremely disappointing from my perspective. If I had never heard COB before I would love this disc. It still has a sound of its own and pulls off something that no other band can. The album is solid with some well-written songs and flawless production. But after so many amazing albums to compare it to, this can hardly be considered a masterpiece.

7/10

Album Review: Eluveitie - Slania

2008-03-05T15:20:00.001-08:00

Last month, Paganfest was announced with tours in Europe and the US. Ensiferum is one of my favorite bands, and I'm also a big fan of Tyr and Turisas. Eluveitie I had never heard of so I decided to check them out. This album is fantastic. I can't speak to their previous releases, but this CD is really something special. Mixing Gothenburg-style metal with traditional Celtic folk, Eluvieitie gets the recipe just right. On more that one occasion, you'll think you are listening to a new Dark Tranquillity release, so similar are the riffs and vocal stylings of the two bands. But after a few seconds of crushing metal guitar, the fiddle, violin, and whatever crazy string/wood instruments they use will cut in and take you to their folk roots. The album is heavy and fast and is only slowed down by two haunting yet beautiful instrumental tracks. Chrigel switches between singing in English and Gaulish-a Celtic language that died 1500 years ago-which doesn't distract and makes the album just that much more intriguing.

Unfortunately, the album isn't flawless. I would have liked to see some more use of female vocals; they would have done wonders to the instrumental pieces. I have to question the decision to include "Samon" twice (one regular, one instrumental) I'm all for bands using build up songs that introduce the album, but to include the same track as the first and last song just seems redundant.

Nevertheless, this is one of the best albums so far this year. I can't tell if this is the new wave of folk metal, or the new wave of Gothenburg metal, but it rocks and that's all that matters.

9/10

Concert Review: Sonata Arctica

2008-02-16T18:40:00.001-08:00

Seattle, WA

February 14, 2008

Sonata Arctica is one of my favorite bands of all time. When I started listening to heavy metal about four years ago, they are the ones that introduced me to this wonderful genre of symphonic power metal. I think Reckoning Night was the first CD I ever owned that featured keyboards (I grew up listening to punk and alternative, go figure)

When I heard they were coming, I immediately ran out to buy a ticket, thinking that the show was sure to sell out. When I arrived, I immediately reckognized that this was not the case. The only power metal show I have previously been to was Nightwish, and it was sold out at a 2000+ person venue. But then again, Nightwish does get occasional play on the radio and is much more well know. At El Corazon, which holds about 500 people, the floor was about 1/3 full two hours after doors opened. When the band came on, it was half full. Luckily, this didn't have an impact on the band and they played an amazing and interactive show.

Unia came out about a year ago, and it unfortunately still has not grown on me. Almost every song is slowed down and it simply doesn't feel like Sonata Arctica. Not a single track stands out above the others and "Paid In Full" was an extremely odd choice for their single; it is mainstream and boring. So, before the concert I prayed that the band would stay away from these dull songs during their live set; I know, I know, it's ridiculous that a band wouldn't play their new material live. I guess a part of me just hoped that they knew Unia was far from their best album. Just as I suspected, about half of their set comprised of Unia tracks. Here's the unfortunate setlist:

In Black & White

Paid In Full

Victoria's Secret

The World's Forgotten, The World's Forbidden

8th Commandment

Caleb

Wolf & Raven

Shamandalie

Black Sheep

We Will Rock You

It Won't Fade

Don't Say A Word

The Cage

After seeing the show I realized that it wasn't terrible that they played so many Unia songs, it was simply a matter of they order they played them in. The songs when fast, slow, fast, slow and because of this, the concert didn't seem to flow very smoothly. Also, playing only one track from both Ecliptica and Reckoning Night was very disappointing. Every track on RN is a masterpiece and to see more of it live would have been wonderful. Another downside for me was that they played neither of-in my opinion-their two best songs, "Champagne Bath" and "Wildfire". I know, I'm being picky. It was a wonderful show, they played perfectly and I can die happy now that I have seen them live. But talking to a friend after the show she said to me, 'It was really good but last time I saw them they didn't play any slow songs.' To which I replied, 'Last time you saw them, they barely had any slow songs'

My First Computer Build

2008-02-12T13:41:00.001-08:00

For the last year or so I've been playing with the idea of building my own computer. I've always loved PC games, and my laptop is just no longer cutting it. I have been looking at parts for months now and have been paying very close attention to new hardware releases and advances in technology. My goal was to build a PC that was capable of playing new games on full settings without any problems....for less than $900.

A new decent gaming computer can cost at least $1200 not including the monitor, mouse, speakers, etc. For my build I will be purchasing all new components-including a monitor-with the exception of a hard drive that I took from our old home PC (I already own a keyboard and mouse). The following components I chose for the price/performance ratio and overall consumer satisfaction (based on reviews from Newegg.com) Here goes:

19" Hanns-G Widescreen Monitor

Most gamers nowadays are playing with 22"-24" monitors that can cost easily over $250. I think that anything bigger than 20" is excessive and not worth the extra money. 1440x900 resolution is plenty for me. Price: $165

Cooler Master Centurion Case

ATX Mid is the most common size for cases and this one was cheap with great reviews and has plenty of fans to keep everything cool. Price: $35

Corsair 450W Power Supply

The power supply is the heart of the computer so I didn't want to get a cheap one. Corsair is supposed to be the most reliable brand so I knew my money was going to good use. I don't need more than 350W to power my system so this leaves plenty of room for upgrades. Price: $80

MSI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

This is one of the few motherboards that is below $100 and has a 5-star (egg) rating. Price: $75

AMD Athlon X2 2.8Ghz CPU

Like any product that is offered by only two companies, there is a war going on between Intel and AMD. Intel is supposedly more efficient and less power-hungry. But their chips cost on average 50% more than AMD. I want the most bang for my buck so a 2.8Ghz AMD for $140 is a much sweeter deal than a 2.66Ghz Intel for $200. Price: $140

2GB Mushkin RAM

1 GB is plenty for XP but with games more is always better. Price: $50

Lite-On OEM DVD-RW Drive

It's an optical drive. Nothing special. Price: $28

Gigabyte 512MB 8800GT

The 8800GT is being called the best price vs performance out of any GPU in history. To sweeten the deal, this one comes factory overclocked and has a huge fan on it and is still cheaper than the competition. Price: $260

Slowly but surely, the parts started to arrive. Finally the motherboard came bringing my wait to an end. I've been reading/researching/watching videos on how to put computers together for a couple months now so I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting myself into. After spending some time with the case and figuring out the fans and front panel, I was ready to get started. The case is called 'tool free' so it would be a pretty straightforward task with screws required only to secure the power supply and motherboard.

After screwing the the motherboard, I added the RAM and CPU. It was extremely simple and took me less than two minutes. I heard that it's a good idea to first power on the system with minimum components just to make sure everything works. So I just had the one stick of RAM and no video card for starters.

Looks good except for that ugly, huge IDE cable for my HDD.

Everything was plugged in and ready to go. I hooked up the monitor and...it was working! The MSI screen popped up and then....BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH! It said something along the lines of "Windows has detected an error with your hard drive and must shut down to prevent errors" That sounds very, very bad. I plugged in my laptop to check what it meant. Apparently you can't move Windows from one machine to another without reinstalling it. It makes sense when you think about it. Windows had all the drivers/hardware details for the old computer installed in it so it is incompatible with the new stuff. Luckily I had an extra copy of XP Pro lying around and was able to get the computer to boot from the CD.

Windows being installed, not a BSOD

It was really exciting to see my new computer up and running. Windows took only about 20 minutes to install and after that I was good to go. After making sure everything was working properly and there were no glaring errors I powered it down to add the extra RAM stick and video card. Both popped in quickly and after I tied up the extra cables I had a nice blue and red component interior.

The huge fan is definitely work the extra PCI-E slot it takes up.

The video card was working and now it came time to test it out. I installed Oblivion (which took about 5 minutes thanks to my processor) and fired it up. With 8x AA (no jagged lines anywhere) and 16x AF (no blurry patches in the distance) and at 1440 x 900 resolution the game looked simply stunning. Of course, that's comparing it to my laptop which ran it at 1024 x 768 with no AA or AF but still, I know now how it's meant to be played.

***Update: After two goods weeks of solid use, my GPU died! I couldn't play any game for more than 5 minutes without it crashing. I RMA'd it and decided to go with the superclocked EVGA 8800GT. It's clocked at 650mhz, less than the Gigabyte but still more than standard. It has been running great, with the exception of how hot it gets. Luckily this was the only part I had to RMA and I figured a perfect build is pretty hard to accomplish.

Easiest and Best Bread Recipe! (Beer Bread)

2007-08-02T15:57:00.000-07:00

This is a very simple recipe that makes a delicious loaf of bread. Originally called Beer Bread, I found out that any carbonated beverage (I've never had the guts to try juice) can be used as a substitute. Here's what you need:

3 cups of Self-Rising flour
3 tablespoons of granulated sugar
1 12. oz can/bottle of your favorite beverage
5 minutes of free time

Mix all the ingredients together. Abandon all cookware and just use your hands, this stuff is sticky! Once the mix has reached a uniform consistency and color, pour into a greased regular bread pan (9.5"x5"x2.5" is the most common size, but whatever you have works).

Heat the oven to 375 F or 190 C for 99% of the world. Throw it in for an hour.

*It will go stale in 24 hours so enjoy it ASAP

The color of the mixture will depend upon what beverage you use.

A slightly burnt top crust means it's ready. Yum!

Who needs the Kwik-E-Mart?

2007-07-05T18:10:00.001-07:00

Awesome.

Their floors are stick-E-Mart

They made Dad sick-E-Mart

Let's hurl a brick-E-Mart

The Kwik-E-Mart is real... D'oh!

So......

2007-07-04T09:45:00.000-07:00

June 21-July 4

It's been a while since my last update, so instead of writing 349 sentences of info, I'll condense the last 2 weeks into a juicy little snippet. Here goes:

Natalie arrived June 21st and was scheduled to stay a week but extended that to 10 days, nice. While she was here we did pretty much all the touristy things we could without going overboard. We visited Chinatown, Greenwich Village, Downtown/WTC, Midtown, Chelsea, All over CP, The Met, The Guggenheim, Museum of Natural History, International Photography Center - not that international, LOTS of restaurants, Times², and we saw Spamalot and a standup show in CP featuring Dave Attell. Oh yeah, and the Daily Show where we saw Bruce Willis and Demetri Martin! It was all amazing and bunches o' fun. Here are some pictures:

We visited ancient Egypt...

and The dumbest place on earth.

Then T-Wex scared Natawie.

But Castles make us happy.

Since then I haven't really done much, just been hanging around. Went for job interview Monday, it went pretty well and I should hear back soon. I really really want this job! Tonight: biggest fireworks show in the US.

June 19

2007-06-20T17:33:00.001-07:00

Chinatown

I guess that's cheap...

June 18

2007-06-19T11:01:00.000-07:00

My first full day in NY. Woke up around 10 and left the apartment at 11. My mom and I walked around and through central park. Eventually we ended up in Midtown and met my dad and sister for Indian food. We ate right in the park. It’s so weird being in such a quiet secluded area when you know the city just a block away.

My mom and I walked a bit more after that. Headed to Columbus Circle, a medium sized shopping area by the SW corner of the park. It’s ridiculous how much money people have. Took the subway up about 15 blocks and then hung around Broadway for a bit, eventually making it back to the apartment.

Speaking of the apartment, here’s the view from the rooftop.

Looking East, that green patch is Central Park

Looking South toward Midtown

June 17

2007-06-19T10:44:00.000-07:00

Race day. Woke up around 10 and made it to the track by 10:45 for the second Porsche race. Nothing exciting. Hung around until 1pm when the race finally started. It was a great race, very exciting. Hamilton won his second race in a row-and ever-and it was really great to be a part of that.

It took two hours to fly into LaGuardia, got to the apartment by 8:30. Our apartment is in the Upper West Side, two blocks from central park; an amazing location. Walked around the park for a while and then came back to sleep. I’m so excited to be here!

June 16

2007-06-18T14:07:00.000-07:00

After a nice night of practically no sleep, I got up and headed to the track. After meeting my dad we sat down and watched the end of the F1 practice session. About 2 hours later qualifying started. It was straightforward enough, Hamilton took pole with Alonso right behind him; this could decide the race tomorrow.

The Porsche GT3s were up next and it was really fun watching a race with someone we know taking part. Mark did quite well, and we got to go to his pits and talk with him afterwards. In terms of people watching, today provided the following:

Always-excited Brazilians
A man wearing Ferrari red with a bishop’s hat, robe and cane
A drunk guy peeing in a garbage can
A woman wearing a corset for a top, yes a corset.

We left the track and came back to the campsite. We found our car….with nothing next to it. “Where’s our tent?” and “I think someone stole our tent” were the next uttered words. Fortunately the wind had just blown it away and someone was kind enough to stake it down before it landed in the muddy stream. We then headed out for a snack, nothing particularly exciting.

A pick-up truck turned wading pool. Genius?

Came back and relaxed a bit before going to dinner. A man came up to us and asked us if the tent was ours. We said yes and thanked him for staking it down. “Yeah well unfortunately it hit my car before I was able to do that.” Two deep scratches in the hood and we give him our insurance info.

The plot thickens...

Went downtown for dinner to the usual place; late food=free food. Came back to the site for more Bulgarian lawnmower-techno-pop.

June 15

2007-06-18T11:54:00.000-07:00

Travel day. Woke up at 8am, got to the airport by 10. My flight to DC was delayed an hour, that was fun. We landed in DC as my flight for Indianapolis started boarding. There was no way I would make it. Got off the plane and checked the board, my flight wasn’t listed under departures, awesome. There wasn’t a single United Airlines employee in sight even though this was the United Terminal.

I just started running hoping to either see my gate or someone to ask. I must have passed 20 United desks and all were either completely empty of extremely busy. Finally I saw a desk with no line; I asked the guy and he told me my gate was the next one over. So lucky. My flight should have departed by now but with even more luck the flight was delayed by a few minutes. I took my seat and we were in the air ten minutes later.

Landed in Indy, met up with my dad and headed to the campsite right outside the track; the same one we stay in every year. We get the tent set up around midnight and just kind of hang out and watch the drunk people. Diagonally across from our site was a huge site of Bulgarians. They had EVERYTHING. 3 huge E-Z Ups were covering lawn chairs and tables. Also, a generator powering a television, a stereo system and a medium-sized fridge. They were playing Eastern European/Middle Eastern techno-pop all night long, that’s not an exaggeration. It was playing when we pulled up around 11:45 and was nonstop until at least 3:30am, probably closer to 4. Every now and then another one of our neighbors would yell ever-so politely, “Turn that shit off you retards!” This was responded to with the starting of a lawnmower; yes, the Bulgarians brought a lawnmower to a campsite. After about 15 minutes of screaming himself horse, our now irate neighbor attempted to turn down the music himself. He got out of his tent, walked straight up to the stereo and turned the music down. The Bulgarians just watched him and cranked the volume right when he was back in his tent. This was all pretty funny until it was our turn to try and sleep. Around 2am we climbed into bed and it must have been at least an hour and a half before I fell asleep. Woke up at 9:50 making a total of 11 hours of sleep in two nights; quite a change from an average of 10 a night. Tomorrow: qualifying.

Crazy Bulgarians

June 14

2007-06-18T11:53:00.000-07:00

Today was my last day in Washington until September. After a few hours of packing and getting ready in the morning I left to pick up Natalie at her work in Fife. We drove up to Seattle to the Theta Xi house to meet Michael, Jen and Garth. We hung out there for a bit and goofed around and decided to go out for dinner. I suggested sushi and Michael and Jen were nice enough to okay it even though they aren’t the biggest fans of raw fish.

The restaurant was about 5 miles from the UW campus but it took almost have an hour thanks to one-way roads, wrong turns and that random highway that bisects the north-end of Seattle center. We parked across the street even though there were signs saying “NO SUSHI LAND PARKING” Meh, it was an empty parking lot. Unfortunately the parking lot “enforcement” douche was watching us and planted the ticket on my car just minutes after we entered Sushi Land. We tried arguing the ticket but he really didn’t care for our excuses.

Thirty-five dollars later and an hour since we left the house, we finally sit down for dinner. The food was amazing like I expected; kinds felt bad for the non sushi-eaters but oh well. Fifty bucks is not bad at all for sushi for five people. Awesome.

Played a round of Catchphrase back at Thetaxi and after an extensive discussion of Kipp’s pubic hair–or lack thereof–I said my goodbyes and took Natalie home.

A great last day in the state of Warshington.

Why my out of date, used, bulky, no longer in production mp3 player is superior to your stylish iPod.

2007-03-11T19:26:00.000-07:00

Why my out of date, used, bulky, no longer in production mp3 player is superior to your stylish iPod.
As i spent hours with my girlfriend yesterday attempting to switch her iPod from her desktop to her laptop - and eventually failing miserably resulting in a broken Apple product - i realized something; iPods suck.

Last month i made one of the greatest purchases of my short life. I bought a Creative Zen mp3 player from eBay. Today, I am here to explain to you why this product is a step above the iPod which, as my survey says, 96.4% of you own.

1. AWE INSPIRING POWER
You know a product demands respect when it take a full breath of air just to state it's name. THE FORTY GIGABYTE CREATIVE ZEN NOMAD JUKEBOX XTRA.

2. MORE MONEY FOR BOTTLED WATER
At $80, I dare you to find another mp3 player or even a portable hard drive with 40 GB - including on eBay.

3. YOU PAID MONEY TO KEEP IT FROM SCRATCHING?
Even though I bought it used, it came with all the accesories that were standard when it was for sale in stores. Including: An AC wall charger, a leather carrying case with belt clip, and an industry-standard USB cable; meaning I can use the same cable for my mp3 player, PDA and digital camera. What comes with your iPod? That's right, NOTHING.

4. IDIOT PROOF DESIGN
Like all electronics this device is prone to crashes and freezes. What ever do I do when this occurs, you ask? I pop off the front cover, take out the battery and put it back in. Oh that's right, your iPod can't be opened by you and it must be sent in just to replace the battery or hard drive. (By the way my player can hold a 20, 30, 40, and 60 GB harddrive and I can replace it myself)

5. BACK IT UP
Seeing as how the creator of my music device is not obsessed with the fact that sharing music is evil, I can hook it up to any computer with only a quick driver download to ensure full compatibility. This means I can transfer data or music without forcing my player into disk mode.

What does all this mean? It means you were ripped off and bought a product you thought was one-of-a-kind. Sorry. Next time, do some research. Watching TV does not count.

Now, I'm sure some of you are saying, I'm perfectly happy with my iPod and shame on you for your blasphemy. We're all entitled to our opinions. Mine, however, is the correct one.

What happened to horror?

2007-03-11T19:25:00.001-07:00

I have been a lover of good horror flicks for quite some time. I love the excitement of sitting in the dark and having an unexpected jolt rattle my brain. Lately, the horror genre has changed. It has become cliche by replacing the thrills and chills with blood and guts.

Now don't get me wrong, I love to see limbs torn off and spleens devoured in a cannabalistic frenzy but put those things by themselves and it simply isn't scary. Current filmakers need to memorize these formulas:

Blood + Guts = BORING. Blood + Guts + Paranoia + Terror = AMAZING.

Movies like Saw, Saw II, and Hostel have proven to be immensly popular hits among this generation's horror fanatics. I, however, see nothing but empty plots that try to fill the void with as much carnage as possible. Horror isn't suppose to turn your stomach inside out, it's supposed slowly creep into your brain and reveal itself as a winged demon of the night when you least expect it.

Let's take the new thriller, The Descent. This is one of the best horror films I have ever seen. Period. It doesn't jump into the horror and blood like one would suspect; it slowly builds up the terror so when the monsters finally are revealed, you are sweaty, paranoid and ready to jump out of your seat.

Critics hailed The Descent as "The best thriller since Alien." Holy shit, has it really taken 27 years to come up with a movie enjoyed by critics and moviegoers alike?

I hope this means the times are a-changin'. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.