Enjoying Danish holidays (in Amsterdam).

Although President's Day, Memorial Day, and (my favorite) Thanksgiving are nowhere to be found on the Danish calendar, since moving here, we have discovered that Denmark has no shortage of national holidays.  And it only took us one month of living in Denmark before we decided to put some of those Danish holidays to good use.  Unlike the US (where you don't usually get any special time off for Easter since it's already on a Sunday), Denmark gets not 1, not 2, but 3 (yes 3!) Easter-associated days off every year (Thursday and Friday before Easter and Monday after Easter).  So it didn't take long for David and I to decide that this was the perfect time to take advantage of the short distance between us and new European adventures.

After a quick flight to Copenhagen, we flew another an hour and a half and soon found ourselves in the land of tulips and canals...the Netherlands.  And (how's this for good timing?) our good friend Matt was able to meet up with us in Amsterdam before flying back to the US.

First impressions..."wow, it's really pretty here".  Every other street had a canal running through the middle of it, and the layout of the canals basically determined the layout of Amsterdam.  Along the canals, trees cast their branches over the water, and the cobblestone streets were lined with old canal houses.  (And that reminds me, roll-y suitcases and cobblestones are not friends.  There's nothing like your suitcase wheels going click-click-click-click-click along those old streets to announce "hello everyone, I am a tourist".  At least, we weren't the only ones.)

Second impression...whoa, watch out for that cyclist!  Like our friends the Danes, the Dutch are very comfortable on bicycles.  And it's a good thing they are because I did not envy anyone I saw trying to drive a car through the streets of central Amsterdam.  In addition to the narrow streets and throngs of cyclists and pedestrians, cars had to park along the canals, and I don't know how drivers got out of their cars without falling into the water.  

We spent two and a half days walking our way through Amsterdam with stops at the Rijksmuseum (ruled by Dutch master painter Rembrandt), the Anne Frank House (still decorated with pictures of celebrities and royalty put up by Anne herself), and the Heineken Brewery (where they not-so-subtly proclaimed Heineken the perfect beer) with breaks for pommes frites as often as possible.  Seriously, the frequency of places selling fries was kinda a dream come true for me.  The popular mayo topping that they put on the fries, not so much.  I tried it once then stuck to ketchup.   

Rijksmuseum

Rembrandt's The Night Watch

Anne Frank statue outside her house
(pictures weren't allowed inside)

Heineken Brewery

In addition to the ubiquitous fries, we were also constantly surrounded by...other tourists.  I guess this is expected since we wanted to see the same things that other tourists wanted to see.  But there were just so many, and so many speaking English.  And on that note, I want to express my sincere gratefulness that somehow the rest of the world decided to learn English as a second language.  Ok, that's probably an exaggeration, but the point behind it sure has made European travel a lot easier for two English-only-speaking Americans.

Since we didn't venture outside the city, we didn't get to see some of the quintessentially Dutch things like windmills and rows and rows (and rows and rows) of tulip fields. But we did pass by the bloemenmarkt which has been bringing flowers and bulbs to central Amsterdam since 1862.

The Flag of Amsterdam

Besides its canals, Amsterdam is usually known for its more...uh...seedier side.  Even the Amsterdam flag has XXX on it (which apparently comes from the city's coat of arms, but what an amusing coincidence).  What surprised me most about the red light district was how normal, even pretty, it looked with its canals and canal houses just like the rest of they city.  I would show a picture, but I didn't take any photos there for, uh, obvious reasons. 

Anyway... 

I was gonna write one big blog post about our entire Easter travel week, but this seems like enough for now (and after 4 days in Berlin, I have even more to write about that city).  I'll end with a few recommendations in case anyone reading this happens to be planning a trip to Amsterdam anytime soon.

Amsterdam is FULL of art from the Renaissance to the present.  We only visited the Rijksmuseum (and didn't even have time to go through that entire building) because it had the most in one place and we were only in the city a couple days, but art fans would not be bored in this city.

Anne Frank House was thought- and conversation-provoking, as expected.  You actually walk through the small spaces where she and 7 other people lived in hiding for 2 years.  They also have the original copies of her diaries.  Because this museum is so popular, there's usually a 2 hour long line snaking around the block.  We went at 7:30pm on a Tuesday and only waited an hour but almost didn't get in because they close the doors at 8:30pm.  It's definitely worth the wait.

We enjoyed some delicious Thai food, falafels, beers, pancakes (the Dutch kind), and of course, fries.  Amsterdam is loaded with restaurants, but I can vouch for these as being good and not too pricey.  Oh and there are these delicious caramel-syrup-waffle-cookie things that are often served with coffee.  (Just looked it up; they're called stroopwafels.)  We liked them so much we bought our own pack from the grocery store.

I guess that about sums it up.  Overall, I'd say I really enjoyed Amsterdam.  I'm not sure that I'd plan another trip there because, even with only 2 days, I feel like we did everything we wanted to do in the city.  But the trip was totally worth it.  And it was definitely worth it to see one of my favorite people from back in the US here in our part of the world.  We miss you, Matt!  And to the rest of you, come visit us any time!  (And I'll write about it in the blog!)

One month in.

Yes, you read that title correctly.  We have been living in Aalborg for one month!

"What have you been doing this whole month?" I hear you asking.  Where are all the pictures of you guys gallivanting to one European city after another?  (We'll get there.)  How do you feel?  Are you adjusting?  Do you speak Danish yet?  What's the food like?  Have you been hit by a cyclist?  Do you have any friends?  David, how is it working for a Danish company?  Alana, what do you do all day while David is at work?  Do you sit around crying while looking at pictures of your friends back in Boulder?  (No, but I love you all and think of you often.)  Do you eat danishes everyday for breakfast?  (Also, no.)

David will have to speak for himself about working in Denmark (and hopefully, I'll get a job one day and experience that for myself), but here's what I've been up to for the past month:

FINALLY!

1)  Finishing grad school stuff.
Yes, I defended back in January, but it's pretty common to have to make some revisions to your dissertation after you defend and to prepare papers to submit to scientific journals.  But, of course, right after defending, the last thing I wanted to do was more work.  Then, shortly after defending, David was offered the job, and planning to move to Denmark was much more exciting that finishing my dissertation.  Fortunately for me, the deadline to turn in the final copy of my dissertation isn't until April 18, and I can do that electronically, and last Thursday, I did!  So most of what I've been doing here has been putting the finishing touches on my dissertation, and now I am officially done with grad school!

2)  Looking for an apartment.
This has been harder than I expected.  There is no equivalent to Craigslist (at least that I've found), and Craigslist has always been my go-to for finding apartments.  Instead, there are several different websites that have listings of available apartments.  But most of the listings have no pictures, and many have only generic (read "useless") descriptions of the apartments, and every listing has to be translated into English by my new best friend Google Translate which can lead to some funny descriptions (like "the apartment can house no livestock" which I assume means "no pets").  Most surprising to me was that all of these housing websites require that you buy a subscription in order to have access to the landlord's contact information, and the subscriptions are only valid for a set amount of time.  Also, for several weeks, neither one of us had a phone.  So I didn't want to buy a subscription and then not be able to contact any landlords because we didn't have a phone.  Fortunately, one of David's co-workers let us use his subscription because he found a place (Thanks Daniel and Bailey!).  So the search is on.  But now, for every 5 landlords I contact, maybe one will respond.  We have our temporary place until May 15 so I'm not too worried yet, but this process has already taken longer than I expected.

3)  Figuring out what to cook and then cooking lots of it.
I like to cook, and I really like to eat, and Denmark isn't that different from the US regarding food so there haven't been too many surprises in this area.  But cooking here has taken a bit more time than I'm used to.  First, our kitchen is TINY.  We don't have a lot of space to store food, and we'll be moving anyway so the less we have to move the better.  Therefore, I don't have the usual stock of ingredients to work with.  Second, we don't have an oven so anything baked is not an option.  Third, and the thing that requires the most planning, I'm not always sure what ingredients the Danish grocery store will or will not have.  Canned black beans have been quite elusive in Denmark, and these were a staple of our diets back in CO (I miss you burritos!).  However, avocados are all over the place.  So I scour the internet looking for recipes that have minimal ingredients and don't require baking and have ingredients that I know I can find here and, ya know, taste good.  Then, I head to the grocery store and walk up and down every aisle because I still don't know where things are (and I'm embarrassed to ask anyone).  Once I find a winning recipe, I make ton of it because our kitchen is so small that cooking in it is more of a chore than it used to be.  So now we have a ton of food, and it is at this point that I realize that I've always taken microwaves for granted.  Of course, Denmark has microwaves; it's this little apartment that doesn't.  It also doesn't have another thing I've taken for granted, a dishwasher.  :(

4)  Facebook-ing, Skype-ing, and trying to stay in touch with people around the world.
Can you imagine that just 100 years ago when people moved from Europe to the US their only way of communicating with people back home was writing a letter that would float on a ship across the ocean?  They would maybe get a reply in a month.  (And forget about visiting back home.)  Technology is something I'm not taking for granted.  I think I would feel a lot more alone in this new country adventure if we didn't have an internet connection.  So post all the pictures you can on Facebook...I'm the person commenting on them at 4am (when it's already noon here).

5)  Planning adventures.
The most exciting benefit of living in Denmark is the entire new continent that we get to explore.  Yes, most of the past month has been spent getting settled in Aalborg.  (And I don't even feel that we're really settled yet.)  But the traveling starts this week!  David gets off work on the Thursday and Friday before Easter and the Monday after Easter so we are headed to Amsterdam and Berlin!  Pictures to come next time!

Springtime in Aalborg.

I wasn't expecting the weather in Denmark to be all that great especially because I'm a big fan of sun and heat.  But since we've been here, I haven't had too much to complain about, and in fact, this weekend in Aalborg brought us sunny days and temperatures around 10-12 C (50-55 F).

So, of course, I took the opportunity to be outside as much as possible, and it was outside that I kept thinking "oh that kinda reminds me of Boulder".

Most obvious Boulder similarity... BIKES!

BIKES EVERYWHERE!
This should surprise no one because Denmark is known for its bike-friendly culture, and it has not disappointed.  The only thing I'm disappointed about is that my bike is still on a boat floating somewhere in the Atlantic, but one day soon, I can join the hordes of cyclists speeding around town.  Most of the residential streets around us look like the picture here with bike after bike parked outside the buildings.  But (this surprised me) these bikes aren't locked to anything!  At best, they may have a small locking mechanism on the back tire which I've read can be easily popped off with a screwdriver.  That's not to say that bike theft is uncommon in Denmark; apparently, it happens all the time.

Next Boulder similarity... runners everywhere.  Every time I go outside, I see people running.  On my street, at the waterfront, in the parks.  I've even started running again (it's a great way to get to know a city).  Maybe it's all the endorphins from running that makes the Danes so happy.

Well, it's the endorphins and probably the dogs.  Aalborg, like Boulder, loves dogs.  Just like I always see runners, I always see people walking their dogs.  However, I have noticed that Aalborg residents aren't as good about picking up their dogs' poop as Boulder residents are.

And, like Boulder, all of this biking and running and walking dogs preferably happens outside in the sunshine, of course.  Everybody and their mother (and their baby and their dog...) was just out taking a stroll this weekend.  It reminded me of a spring day on Pearl St.  Well, minus the Flatirons and the street performers and, ya know, people speaking English.

And one big difference from Boulder...there's water here!

Our new city.

When I last wrote, we had only been in Denmark about 4 days, and we had spent those days catching up on sleep, unpacking, and trying to navigate the Danish grocery store.  So when I last wrote, I didn't have too much to say about our new country, and the only pictures I could show were the ones I had taken of our little apartment.  But our little apartment basically looks like a dorm room (i.e. not that exciting), and I know what you really want to see is what it looks like outside the apartment.  I can hear you now... "Alana, it's great that you have place to live, but what I really want to know is: what the heck is Denmark like??"

Well, now that we've been here about 12 days (and I've remembered to bring our camera while exploring), I can actually show you around a little.

The apartment we're in now is in a great location.  It's an easy 20 minute walk or 5 minute bus ride to the city center.  So we walk down there a lot.

Our street

More of our neighborhood

Our neighborhood, looking towards the
city center

The Internet tells me that the city of Aalborg has about 100,000 people which makes it about the same size as Boulder.  But walking around here, it actually seems bigger and busier than that to me.  Even during the middle of the day on a Thursday, the main streets were packed with people.

In the city center

Algade, one of the main pedestrian shopping streets

The main landmark in the center of town is the white cathedral, Budolfi Kirke.  There's all the older buildings and cobblestone streets and open plazas you would expect in a European town.  There's even an old castle which now houses some of the city's administrative offices (can't say we have that in the US).

Aalborg is also right on the fjord.  So there's nice places to run or walk along the water, and apparently, in the summer, there's even a place to swim in the fjord.  (Although the air temperature doesn't get that warm here, so I'd imagine the water temperature is even colder.  But I guess this is Denmark not Hawaii.)

Walking by the fjord
(you can't see it, but it's to the left)

In front of the Utzon Center
(a building designed by the same guy, an Aalborg
native, who designed the Sydney Opera House

Looking towards the water

Since it's a university town, Aalborg has lots of young people, and therefore, lots of bars and restaurants.  One of David's Danish co-workers has been showing us around.

St. Patrick's Day at the Irish House
(Thanks for the photo, Bailey!)

AND since we live in Denmark now, we can go to places like this:

Bageri = Bakery!

Where the long line of people and the delicious smells coming out the door, tell you that it must be good.  I was told that the Danes make good pastries, so far, they haven't disappointed.  Maybe that's one of the reasons the people here are so happy... well, delicious pastries and 37 hour work weeks and 5 weeks vacation time.

Happy in Denmark :D
Come visit us!

We live in Denmark now.

For a long time, it didn't really hit me that we were actually moving to Denmark.

Sure, David and I had talked a lot about moving overseas after finishing grad school, and I was excited when David interviewed for jobs outside the US, and I was VERY excited when he was actually offered the job in Denmark.

But even when he signed the job contract, it didn't hit me.

It didn't hit me when we started selling our furniture.

Didn't hit me when movers packed up and loaded the rest of our stuff in a giant shipping crate.

Bye stuff!

All the stuff going to Denmark.

Packages ready to go.

Even at our goodbye party, I had to remind myself that everyone was there...saying all this nice stuff about us...because we were moving OUT OF THE COUNTRY.  (Boulder friends, you guys are so great, and we miss you so much already!  Thank you for playing games about us, writing kind notes to us, helping us clean our apartment, loaning us a truck to move stuff, going to Stout Month with us, and showing us how awesome the past 6 years have been.  We love you all!)

And as we drove out of Boulder, it was sad and bittersweet and all those feelings you have when you leave somewhere you've been for a long time and leave people you really love, but I still couldn't believe that we were leaving Boulder because we were moving to Denmark.

Car packed full.

Bye Flatirons!

Bye Boulder!

Then, during the week we spent visiting family and telling everyone about Denmark (It's north of Germany and south of Norway.  The money is called kroner.  The weather is temperate.  The official language is Danish, but they speak English very well.), it kinda felt like we were just on vacation and would eventually go back to normal life in Boulder.

But then...on March 10, as I was packing my suitcases, it no longer seemed impossible.  I was packing these suitcases because I was getting on a plane to Denmark...TONIGHT!  

And it actually happened.  We live in Denmark now.  

To some degree, it doesn't seem all that different from just moving to another place in the US.  We're getting settled in our new place, locating the nearest grocery store, figuring out the bus routes.  But then, as we unpack suitcases in our little room, a commercial interrupts the music playing on Spotify, and the commercial is in Danish.  Velkommen til Danmark!

***

David's company found us the (very) small furnished apartment that we are living in now.  But the place is only temporary, and one of my top priorities here is finding us a permanent place.  Although small, the apartment is in a great location close to the city center and the fjord (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limfjord).  Hopefully, we will get some exploring in this weekend.

View from one direction.

View from the other direction.

View from the main room into the tiny
kitchen.  

There is one main room with a small table, some chairs, a
bookshelf, the bed, and two wardrobes.  The kitchen door
is to the left in this picture.

Bathroom is just off the kitchen.

In Transit.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

It's the same feeling you get when you ride a roller coaster as you (ever so slowly) approach the top of the first hill. It's your first time on the ride, so you don't know how bad (or good) the drop is going to be. What you do know is that you signed up for it and you're well beyond the point of no return.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

It feels like a long time since we started prepping for a new beginning. Five weeks ago we signed the final contact with GomSpace. One month ago we were flying back from San Francisco after a whirlwind trip to deliver our residency visas. Ever since, we've been coordinating goodbye parties, packing & shipping, family visits, and flights.

At this point, we've gotten pretty tired of saying goodbye. Once we arrive, it will be nice to put "hello" back into practice. For now, we're in transit, in the odd space where neither is applicable.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

-David