Quick Catch-up!

I feel like an abusive mother who has left her child abandoned in a car, without even cracking a window! Haha yeah the past couple of days and weeks have been very busy, but the funny thing is I cannot think of what I have been doing. Oh well the important thing is that I am back again.


So in order to pick-up again on my blogging I think I shall just give a few highlights of what has happened in the past couple of days, deal? deal!


6. March 

Faxe Stand - Brøndby Stadium

The smell of sweat, grass and dirt are in the air finally and it was time to kick-off the second half of the Danish Football season in the Superliga! Martin, Vanessa and myself took the free train (it was the first Sunday of the month) to Brøndby to watch the Brøndby IF boys take on Lyngby. Thankfully the football gods blessed us that day with blue skies and tolerably cold weather. We made the 3-beer and one Haribo candy bag walk to the stadium, which was made all the more tolerable with a big fluffy beer jacket! 


Once we took our places in the Faxe Stand (where the real dedicated fans stand, sing, jump and cheer) it was kick-off time! One of my many favorite things about Brøndby IF is at the beginning of every home game they play "Jump" by Van Halen when the home team comes walking out and at half time they play "Can't Help Falling in Love with You" by Elvis and everyone sways back and forth with their scarves held high. This is a football club with good music taste. There was also little bit of extra American flare at the match too, because I brought a flag to the game to support the newly acquired American player Clarence Goodson, I felt oddly patriotic. The game was rather enjoyable even though it ended in a 1-1 draw, partly because I was a wee bit tipsy but mostly because I was so happy to be watching football once again. 


I also went to another match last weekend, the 13th, with Martin, Nickolaj and his girlfriend Erika. It was kind of like a double-date football match, very fun and very hyggeligt. The match was made even better by the fact that they beat SønderjyskE 2-0... second place here we come! See the end of the post for a video of the Van Halen introduction at the games.


11. March 
Very early this Friday morning with coffee and bananas in his backpack, Martin and myself biked on over to a movie theater in the center of the city to watch Inside Job. Martin had free tickets to the 9.30 showing because his bank went bankrupt and practically said "Hey we fucked up, sorry. But go see this movie about how screwed up the economy is for free!" Pretty sweet deal if you ask me.


The film was really good, it definitely deserved the Academy Award for Best Documentary Film this year. I have never really understood this economic crisis that we are in, it was just this giant enigma wrapped up in economic jargon, pie charts and red/blue arrows going all sorts of directions... so confusing. However, this film did a very good job at explaining how this all happened. Perhaps it was Matt Damon's sultry voice that helped me make better sense of it, nonetheless I would definitely recommend it to everyone!


Side note it was really funny eating bananas in a movie theater! They should really catch on, quite food and if the movie is bad throw the peel at the screen.


14. March
The reason I bring up this date is simply because I was really proud of the compliments that my professor gave me in my History of the European Union class. We had to write up a synopsis of what we were going to write our final paper on and then discuss all the proposals in class. I was a bit intimidated having a prof critique my paper in front of my classmates, but my worry was proved needless. Morten (in the Danish universities it is preferred that you call the prof by their first name, very informal) thought it was well focused, thought out and a really great jumping off point to my exam paper. 


For all those curious academics, I chose to write my paper on the legal framework of Protected Geographic Status in the EU. I am going to be asking the questions: What were the driving forces behind the creation of the Protected Geographical Status? Perhaps discuss which countries and industries were elemental in its creation and who, if anyone, opposed the labels. Secondly, I will analyze to what extent these regulations have actually succeeded in preserving local expertise and tradition, whilst preventing the over standardization of food, wine and spirits within the European Union. To give an example of what these labels are, if you buy Champagne you are guaranteed that the grapes for that wine were grown in the Champagne region of France because it is against the law to call something Champagne if it does not come from there. Additionally there was a recent court case between Denmark and Greece, because Denmark was producing Feta cheese and selling it under the name "Feta," however Greece protested because that name is a protected name so Denmark had to change the name to "salad cheese." Interesting, eh?


17. March 
"I dag er din fødselsdag, hoorah hoorah hoorah" Yes yesterday was Martin's birthday, the big 24 woo hoo!! It was a wonderful day. In order to have a real Danish birthday breakfast we biked over to a bakery on Islands Brygge to get some freshly baked pastries. Once back home we ate our Danish delights and drank Starbucks Mocha Lattés (the kind you buy in 7Eleven), it was a very decadent start to the day. Then it was time for a little Band of Brothers watching, courtesy of the gift that my parents gave. 


Later on we biked over to his place and had a sampling of brie cheese, blue cheese, salami, chorizo and crackers with a lovely French wine. It was kind of my interlude to telling him that his birthday present from me was a wine tasting class in Paris, when we go for my birthday... I honestly cannot stop daydreaming about our trip together, can't wait!


After relaxing at his place and watching the weather quickly turn from decent to dårligt. As it began to rain more and more and then quickly turn to slushy snow we decided to forgo the energy and money saving bikes and seek the warm interior of the city buses instead. So the 5A it was to the sushi restaurant at which I made reservations. We indulged in a platter of sushi for two, edamame, seaweed salad, Asahi beer and a small bottle of the warm house Sake. It was a lovely day with the birthday boy! And on Sunday I have been invited to a family get together to celebrate not only Martin but his aunt and cousin who coincidently have the same birthday, I am looking very much forward to meeting more of the Ast/Grand family:)


Well that did not take too long. It gets rather overwhelming when I do not update my blog for a long time because I feel like I have to catch up on EVERYTHING that I have done, but it is pretty easy just to hit the highlights... no more slacking on the blog, promise! Vi ses.