Prague + Back to the States

So to round-off my semester in Copenhagen, 2 of my friends and I took a 5 day trip to Prague on a $50 round-trip ticket (gotta love it) and I have to say that it is definitely one of the greatest cities I have ever visited. It has everything you could ever want! It is truley a tourist's playground as 70% of those employed in Prague work in the service industry. They have insane amounts of tourist sights to see on top amazing architecture in general.

We took two walking tours while in Prague from "Free Prague Tours" which were about 3 hours each and they took us around both the east and west banks of the river that runs through Prague. We got to see Prague castle, the old City Hall, the new City Hall, Charles Bridge, and various other churches/chathedrals. The best part about the tours though were the tour guides! On the first day we have a cinical college age girl who swore up and down that Czech people have no values, they don't care about anything, and everyone gets divorced at least 3 times in their lifetime (they have a 75% divorce rate). Needless to say she was very entertaining. The girl on the second day wasn't quite as entertaining but definitely equally as knowledgeable.

The bar/food scene also must be mentioed (maybe even moreso than the touristy stuff). Depending upon where you are - you can find a large traditional czech mean ie potato pancakes, three different cuts of pork, three slices of bread, and the best saurkraut you've ever had for 6 bucks. And with that you can order a .5 liter of beer for a $1.25. AMAZING! That was even in one of the more touristy areas. When we ventured outside of the city center we found a la carte meals for 5bucks and beers for 50cents.

In general, the people on Prague are the nicest people I've met in Europe, as a whole. Maybe it is because they're so dependent upon tourism to survive or maybe it is just their good nature - either way they're very helpful with just about anything!

Before I post some pictures I want to give a shout-out to my new best friends who are still in Copenhagen. Jeffrey, my Dutch compatriat, Phillip, "ze German!," Julian, "the Frenchman," Josh, the New Yorker, and of course my fellow GLOBERS Daniel and Weck. We all lived in the same apartment building over this past semester and grew to be really great friends. Definitely is one of the greatest part of being in this program - the bonds and networks that grow.

I forgot to share one story about Prague that you may either find offensive or really cool. So... On Easter Monday, to elebrate Jesus's rising, the young men of Prague break into the houses of the young women (literally... if your door is locked they have the right to climb up a ladder and break in the window) and then chase these young girls to beat htem with a stick. Once thr girl has gotten beaten, she has to give the guy a handmade egg that took her about 3 hours to make. To top it off, when all the girls go to school the next day, they compare marks... and the girls without marks are considered to be ugly and unpopular. Basically, it's not only okay to beat girls in Prague, but it's encouraged!

Picture time! These aren't in any particular order.

These are the guys minus Julian. (From the Right) Josh, Jeffrey, Moi, Daniel, Phillip, Weck - this was the morning that I was flying out.

The Cathedral on top of Prague Castle. This was our crew for the day. We met Yui Chi (we dubbed in Luigi) on our tour that day. To the right of him is Meghan, a girl from UNC who was studying in Lund. To the right of her is Josh and Weck.

This was the day that we left Prague... it had snowed quite a bit. Doesn't it look like how you imagined Eastern Europe?

Prague Castle

Charles Bridge from the island that is partly underneath it.

Europeans seem to have a fixation with peeing statues... They're peeing on the Czech Republic.

Another shot of the Cathedral at Prague Castle - notice the Christmas Tree - they had elaborately decorated ones all around the touristy areas.

This is the well where they used to burn witches ie Protestant women back when the Catholics were in control. It is supposedly haunted by these witches and if you touch the stones around it you will be cursed with negative energy. (Interestingly have of our group was seperated from teh guide right after visiting this sight - BUT - this lead to us meeting Luigi!)

One of the cathedrals in the center square of Prague - Amazing architecture.

One of the bars we went to the first night - They had 8 in-house brewed draughts. Wheat, Sour Cherry, Dark, Vanilla, Coffee, Banana, Nettle, and Light.

FYI - I'm home now! And will be until the 30th! Hope to see a lot of you guys!

Bruxelles

Brussels was the second trip that we took for the GLOBE Program in Europe. This trip aligned a great deal with one of our courses, Corporate Responses to European Integration. The course itself examined the various institutions of the EU on a macro level, the directives they pass on the meso level, and the affects on corporations working within the EU on the micro level. Overall it was a great course and I learned a ton of stuff that I never would have learned because of it.

The pictures aren't that exciting because there aren't but so many sights to see in Brussels, but they cover trips to visit the EU Council, EU Parliament, EU Commission, and various lobbying bodies and group to get an in-depth understanding of the supranational entities within the EU.

Overall, the sights in Brussels we're pretty cool but they didn't have quite the same affect as those in Berlin. My favorite was the "Manakin Pis" which is a statue of a small boy peeing water into a basin. The ingenious part of this statue is that you can change the substance that he pees... We got to experience this our first day as they were having some celebration that required the small boy to pee beer! So, we got a few free beers from the lad. T'was quite exciting and just reaffirms my belief that beer, not oil, fuels Europe.

In general, Brussels is as you would expect the majority of Europe to be... Relatively expensive, crappy weather, no "the customer is always right" attitude. BUT don't let this discourage you from making a visit. Brussels is the center of what is going on within Europe right now and if they are going to become "The United States of Europe" (what my roomate is writing his honors thesis on) then it will take place in Brussels.

Check out the photos!

This was our last day in Brussels. Some of us guys were hanging out at a local Pub, Churchhills, playing some pool

Definitely one of the coolest pubs ive ever been to - Delirium Cafe - where they have over 2000 different beers from around the world and live music at their bar downstairs. Highly recommend!

The main square in Brussels at night. It was gorgeous. There are buildings like this all the way around the square and those are the power lines with lights on them.

Parliament - one of the less efficient bodies of the EU as it has some 750+ members from all the member-states.

The UNC GLOBE Guys at the Parliament building.

Berrrlin!

Hello everyone! I've returned safely from my trip to Berlin and I wanted to share some of my photos/experiences with ya'll! (I don't know why this is underlined but I can't get it to go away.) I only have a little while because I'm just taking a break from studying for an exam, but I'll provide some captions and give you a gist of what is going on. Also, these pictures are for the most part in reverse chronological order.

My authentic German meal:
Pickled Pig Knuckle, Stewed Potatoes, Sauerkraut, Mashed Peas, and of course,
a Stein of Oktoberfest Beer

This was our last stop on the way out of town.
This is where they held the Potsdam Conference

The bar at the hostel:
We took it over on Karaoke Night =)

This is looking down on the mirrors from the dome on the Bundestag (German Parliament)
The architecture of this building was insane!

Holocaust Memorial - this was my favorite monument to visit.

Brandenburg Gate - very similar to the Arc De Triomphe

Inside the Holocaust memorial.
I love this shot.

The destroyed church. Now a monument to remind everyone of the destruction during WWII.
This was my second favorite monument, and was right outside my hostel!

Speaks for itself!

Berlin Wall, does the mural look familiar?

At the Jewish Museum. This pit is to represent the void that the Jews fell into during the Holocaust.

The Garden of Exile at the Jewish Museum. Walking through it, you feel uneasy; almost queezy.

Outside the Bundestag.

The Berliner Dome

Hope you all enjoyed checking out these pictures! I have many many more but this is all I have to post now. Hope everyone is doing well and I miss you all!

"Love your momma"

This post is a looong time coming and now, sitting in my international management class - there is nothing else I'd rather do.

The title of this post comes from my Strategic Management professor and it means, "a statement that is so general that it is true for everyone (ie. we all love our mommas!)."

I've finally gotten into a routine here in CPH. It has been tough because my class schedule changes every week. One week I'll have class T,W,Th and the next will be M,W,F. Also, the classroom for each class changes EVERY TIME. It's insane! Definitely a sign of the mediocre organizational systems over here.

Thursday will be my last day of Strategic Management class! It has been a three week sprint where we had class 5hrs a day for either 2 or 3 days a week - pretty intense. The professor, Ron Sanchez, is great though, he has a ton of experience and some great stories. I will have the exam for this class when I get back from Berlin in two weeks!

We leave for Berlin this Sunday. We will be there for 5 days visiting various firms and organizations. Should be a pretty interesting experience; however I only have one suit to wear! Haha. Here is our schedule for the week:

http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=globe0809%40hotmail.com&ctz=Europe/Copenhagen&pvttk=8ec1e5797765d135b3e01061f06804c5

Two weekends ago, a few students from HK invited me to come celebrate their Mid-Autumn Festival with them. The context of this celebration is the fullest moon of the year. If you want to know more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Autumn_Festival. So 5 or 6 HK guys and then 4 of us Americans, and 1 Dane all congregated at one of the dorms. We all helped out in cooking a HUGE meal of 5-6 chinese dishes. The focus of the party seemed to be on the dessert: mooncake (not to be confused with moonpie). It is a little cake that has a cooked egg yolk in the middle. It good, but I think I could only eat it in small pieces.

The Chefs and I

Outside of the dorm

Inside courtyard of the dorm

My dad came to visit me two weekends ago too! It was a great visit for us, 1 because I got a suitcase full of American goodies, and 2 because we had such a great time! We spent most of Saturday together eating, talking, touring the school. Saturday night we went to a great Blues Bar - Mojo. It was fantastic!

One of the school buildings: "The Wedge"

The band at Mojo

Before I sign off I want to give a shout out to all you ECU fans that ya'll played a great game this past Saturday and to beat some butt for the rest of the season!

And of course, get well soon TJ Yates, GO TARHEELS!

Summer winding down

This weeks marks the beginning of my classes... I know, don't feel bad for me though, it's only two days of class =P I just wanted to drop a line to all thanking for recipes and what not. If you would like to continue sending me some, email them to sgdstarcraft@gmail.com. The grocery store situation is WEAK! Canned soups and beans are relatively nonexistent outside of green beans and corn... I wanted to buy some pinto beans at the "luxury grocery," but they're $4 a can... HAH. Today I made a interesting concoctions... green beans strained and cooked w/ butter, salt, pepper. I added an egg and a little cheese. Was pretty good - not going to lie. Thank god I will eat practically anything.

I've been getting in the groove here. Going to the gym most days, which is located really near by to the school and my apartment - fitnessdk. I've been reading quite a bit too; I've gotten through two and a half books since I've been here. I haven't been to any more museums though - the best day to go is on Sunday because they're free then!

For our last "intro week" activity, the Danes through us a Casino themed party. Needless to say, it was quite a debauchery. They broke out the craps table, texas hold'em, and black jack. However, not too much poker was played because the Danes decided to spend the last of their budget on bottles of gin, vodka and greenolives (that's how they do martinis here evidently...) It was a really good time though and I feel really comfortable with each of them as we move towards the academic part of our stay.

It's been slightly different with the UCHK kids. They went to Norway last Thursday so they haven't been coming to the events with us. Also, the majority of them, except for two, don't drink. This has cut down on our bonding time with them quite a bit. Also, they aren't very athletic so they skipped out on our two sports days =/. I'm not saying our relationship with them is bad - we just want them to come hang out!

Weck and I - Reppin' UNC

Our "Elite" GLOBE Program

Much love to you all!

Can't we all just get along?

55 hours ago, i was assigned a 45 pg case pertaining to Vestas, a windmill producing company originating from Denmark. Our assignment was to work as a group, 2am, 2dan, 2chi, to analyze this document and to answer four different "challenges" in a 9pg report and a 13 min presentation. Well, needless to say, I was a little apprehensive to get started on this project because I was not sure how well the three nationalities would work together. Interestingly, at least in our group, it was awesome! It was really impressive how we each were able to utilize our strengths to divide up the assignment and then, when editing, everyone maintained their composure and offered their own opinions while giving others equal weight.

We turned the 12pg document in yesterday at 6pm (9pg of info, 3pg of appendix) and then prepared our 20 slide powerpoint for our presentation today. We just finished presenting about 2 hours ago and tonight we will go to a banquet where they will announce the winner of the prize - which should be relatively substantial. Honestly, I doubt we will win... but that is fine with me because of the way we all worked together! It was truly amazing given are very different backgrounds. The greatest difference became evident during the presentation as we each had our own style and experience with the scenarios. Not to toot our own horn... but we from the states came out in full force during this portion. I don't know if anyone is interested but feel free to ask me for a copy and I can e-mail it to you.

My Group!

This assignment was the only assignment that I have until September, so next week presents numerous fun activities for us! We will do a bit of sightseeing so I'll be able to give you the tourist's side of Denmark.

I have one request of you all too - Please post me some easy recipes this blog! =) The selection at grocery stores around here is limited so try to keep things basic also, remember who we're talking about here... I don't have that much experience.

Velkommen til København

I'm sitting here at my desk looking out the window a comfortably cool Sunday and thinking about how to begin my first post... I want something interesting or thought provoking, but nothing will come to mind. Finally, after staring out the window for the past 10 minutes, I noticed that I am living directly across from a flesh colored Greek Embassy! (See Pic 1) Pretty crazy eh?!

So, now that that's taken care of, I can proceed with describing this amazing place! I have to say that the only thing to complain about here is how fast money runs out of your pocket... For example:
Pint of Fosters - 47kr = $9.50
Jack and Coke - 50kr = $10
12oz Diet Coke - 10kr = $2

--- Don't worry, I eat too ;)

But you can't even complain about that because of the experience you're getting to have in this amazing place! I can see why this is ranked the happiest nation in the world! The people are nice, the food is good, the nightlife is hoppin', and of course the women are beautiful (I'm just sayin'). My apartment is located downtown, about a 10 minute walk from Nyhavn, the walking streets, and the water. My room is HUGE. It has a 10ft ceiling and is by far the largest room I have every lived in by myself. My hall mates are a hodge podge of Copenhagen Business School (CBS) people from varying nations of the world and there are also a few native Danes who do not attend CBS. We all share a kitchen which is well equipped but leaves you wanting more on cleanliness. My room is right next to both bathrooms, the washing machine/dryer, and the kitchen. I'm currently stealing internet from someone else's router because for whatever reason the internet is out. I honestly don't have enough stuff to inhabit this room because I'm leaving a bookshelf and a table completely unused. The walls are bare, but I'm sure I can find something to fill the space.

Greek Embassy

My KitchenMy BedMy ViewTo the Right
To the Left

My Desk and Dresser

Another Window Shot