Paris after finals

Meaning that I will be posting a lovely blog post about my travels in Paris earlier this week with Martin (it was my birthday present). But I still have two more days of working on my final exam papers, so it will be soon!

Random thought. I hate spraying a sample perfume on myself and then realizing that it actually doesn't smell that good... it's a bad decision that follows you around all day. Vi ses!

Hello, it's Copenhagen calling!

Last Saturday was a great night full of awesomely kitchy pop music, with bizarre costumes and 90s boy-band dance moves. Yes it was none other than Eurovision 2011, broadcasted live from Düsseldorf, Germany. I must admit that I was rather ignorant about the contest, as most americans are. But it is kind of like American Idol in a way, except each country has an original song entry(and they are most often professional singers).


A little history lesson for you guys back home: Eurovision has put many great groups on the international track to success, most successful of which was ABBA. They performed Waterloo at the 1974 Eurovision contest in the United Kingdom. Denmark has won th contest twice: 1964 "Dansevise" by Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann, and "Fly On the Wings of Love" by the Olsen Brothers.


Although most of the songs are horribly corny and do not have the deepest of lyrics, it is just good fun. The best thing was seeing how different countries chose to represent themselves, the songs, costumes, dance moves and singers they choose. Although most groups sang in English, a few sang in their native tongues.


The following songs are some of my most favorites and least favorites. Oh and I guess I should say that Denmark came in fifth place, while Azerbaijan won the entire competition and will get the honor of hosting the 2012 contest.


My Favorites
#1 Estonia - "Rockefeller Street" by Getter Jaani (Placed 24th)

#2 Ireland - "Lipstick" by Jedward (Placed 8th)

#3 Denmark - "New Tomorrow" by A Friend in London (Placed 5th)

#4 Moldova - "So Lucky" by Zdob & Zdub (Placed 12th)

My Least Favorite
#1 Sweden - "Popular" by Eric Saade (Placed 3rd)

#2 Georgia - "One more day" by Eldrine (Placed 9th)

#3 Ukraine - "Angel" by Mika Newton (Placed 4th)

#4 Russia - "Get You" by Alex Vorobyov (Placed 16th)

Enjoy. And now wish me luck as I go back to work on my exams! Vi ses.

An interesting day at Udlændingeservice

This past Tuesday I spent the majority of my day at the Danish Immigration Service - no, I am not being deported or kicked out - but I had some matters that did need attending to. Since I was originally supposed to study in Denmark from June to December, my student visa was set to expire in January. However, as we all know things changed and I found myself wanting to stay in Denmark for the remainder of the academic school year. Consequently I took the necessary steps towards extending my visa to June or July, by submitting an application for extension to the Immigration Service back in December. I was told that I would be hearing from them in about 2 to 3 months. 

However, my visa was set to expire in 1 month, ahh! But the kind man at the information counter informed me that I am legally allowed to stay in Denmark after my visa has expired if I have a pending application for extension, sweet right?! Yes - well except for the fact that it is now May and I have still not heard from them about their decision. And even though I am technically allowed to remain living in Denmark, I am not allowed to travel outside the country unless I have a permit that will allow me to reenter Denmark.

Bahh so complicated!

In about 8 days Martin and myself are going to Paris on our little getaway! So this is where we come back to Tuesday. I went in to get my re-entry permit to make sure that I would not be shipped back home, nej tak! When I came into the office I took a number... then I looked at the number being helped at the moment... looked back at my number... then whispered "aww shit." The number being helped was 82 and my number was 202, insert very sad face. I was so glad that I brought a book, or else it would have been even more painful!

Now for the interesting part. It was a very foreign experience for me waiting in that office. From a quick count of almost two hundred, I was 1 of 3 blondes and 1 of 13 Caucasians... I was definitely stared at by many in the waiting crowd. Normally in Denmark and Scandinavian I never feel out of place, but this was a different story. There were many people obviously seeking asylum from their tumultuous countries, others were fighting to keep their work permits, and some were securing the citizenship of their spouses (many of whom were older Danish men trying to keep their southeast Asian wives in the country). It was a weird feeling for me, thinking "here I am sitting and waiting to get some sticker in my passport so I could go on a romantic weekend trip with my boyfriend, whereas others were fighting for themselves and their loved ones to remain in Denmark."

Three hours later I finally received my sticker, and finished my book! And now I can safely travel to Paris and be assured that I can return home to Denmark. Vi ses!