Onsdag aften: Ris Salat med Malta Mike

Yes folks, this is the first sentence i've ever written in Danish.. and it came out so naturally without any thought. Funny how its always related to food... All it means is "Wednesday evening: Rice salad with Mike". Because thats exactly what i cooked up for everyone: some tasty cold rice salad with all the ingredients "just like my mamma used to make it". This includes finely sliced onion, green and red bell peppers, capers, olives, tuna, shrimps, mint, corn, cucumber and tomato... with a giant dollop of mayo on top just for fun. I also got some nice 8% french beer "Grain d'orge" which we later found out was also made from rice!

IAESTE Farewell party

Tonight was the great farewell party for many of our fellow IAESTE trainees. Held at Nea's place just down the road from my kollegium, we did a BBQ on the roof and followed it up with much alcohol, merriment and laughter. Cheers guys, we've had a great time together, hope to see you all somewhere in the world!

Goodbyes to:
...Nea (Finland)
...Ognen (Macedonia)
...Matt (England)
...Michael Weiss (US)
...Matt (Hungary)
...James aka Satan (England)

- pic - "and don't you forget it...", Mike n Matt
- pic - Matt, Gina and Aliyah
- pic - Nea turns into demonlord after finding puke in bathroom
- pic - Steven molesting the ladies, Aliyah and Kim
- pic - Gary, Cesar, Connor and James... drunk? possibly
- pic - Michael and Ognen
- pic - Hilarious, whatever it was

IAESTE Aalborg Get Together 2005

All i can say is WOW! This was one awesome trip to the beautiful northwest of Jylland, Denmark. We left straight from work and headed North-West in a hot and stuffy coach for a 6-hour ride to Jylland (Jutland in English). Great fun was in store for us even though we didnt yet know it...

Friday
Upon arriving at the old school in which we were to sleep, the IAESTE served dinner for everyone which gave us the perfect opportunity to break the ice and get to know eachother. There were trainees from various IAESTE committees but the majority were of course from Copenhagen, even though i hadnt yet met them all.

- pic - More Beer bottles than Headcount. Welcome to Denmark.

Saturday
We had to wake up early today since we had alot of traveling to do. The IAESTE crew prepared breakfast which i hardly ate since i was still in a daze: i'm not exactly used to waking up at 7am. We had a car for every 6 people, so we hopped in and they drove us first to Rugbjerg Knub, an area where a giant sand dune is constantly moving inland and swallowing up an old lighthouse in its path! Yes, you heard right, sand in Denmark.. and what pretty sand too, the place looked really fantastic and i swear i would have never expected to see this in Scandinavia. The sand was also full of ladybirds! We then walked across the fields to an old church which will one day fall into the sea, as the cliffs it is built on are made of very soft and easily eroded material. As the story goes, sailors realized how close the church was to the edge when they saw bodies and bones sticking out of the cliff face - once belonging to the church graveyard.

- pic - All of us balanced on the sand dune crest
- pic - Although the dune moves inland, sand is lost to sea with wind
- pic - Anita takes on 2 at a time... Mike and Chris
- pic - Mike takes on 2 at a time... Anita and Barbara
- pic - Michael n Mike balance on the edge of a rather soft cliff

Next up was the very northmost tip of Denmark, Skagen. And by tip i really mean tip! This place is the exact point where two opposing oceans meet head-on, and have gradually formed a long spit of sand jutting out into the sea. The opposing seas crash into eachother creating an interesting pattern of small waves, so here we are with one foot in the North Sea and one in the Baltic Sea! The beach is also the cemetary for a thousand large jellyfish, some bigger than a football. We then went off to have lunch on another distant side of the beach, where Uffe fed the hungry mob from the back of his car, and some rich old geezer came and parked his flashy car.

Later that evening, they took us to a cute seaside village somewhere in Skagen. This place was packed with open-air restaurants selling nothing but fish and beer. The aroma of fried seafood was too much to take, so i ordered a big plate of fried cod and shrimps and an ice-cold pint to wash it down. That was some of the freshest and juiciest fish i've ever tasted!

Night was falling so we went back to the school to rest, have dinner (mmm lasagna) and shower in preparation for the wildest night out in Denmark. Aalborg boasts the most exotic entertainment street in all of Denmark, the famous Jomfru Ane Gade (Virgin Anne Street), an entire street of nothing but bars and discos, something like Pacevilla back at home. The street is very different by day as it is by night, as it attracts thousands of youths for partying til the early hours of the morning, which is exactly what we did til 6am.

Sunday

After a drunken sleep in a football field, i woke up to another sunny sunday and got ready to head out for a tour of the City of Aalborg. The city itself has many ancient buildings, but probably the most interesting were the old monastery (i'm sure there's someone brewing beer in there at this very moment) and the wooden buildings, all twisted and contorted with time. We had lunch in the park and then set off back home. Here's a random pic of a really cute yours truly.

Thanks to the Aalborg IAESTE committee for a truly fantastic job! Hope to see you all soon!

The Perfect Day

This is what we decided to call it, because it really was a perfect day. I took the day off from work so that we could start the drinking early.... this is how it turned out



Jonas's Birthday

Since it was his birthday today, we gathered round the kitchen table at 9am as we do for every birthday, and begain the eating and drinking (beer, Gammel Dansk, Jaegermeister.... ouch). This was already a good way to start the day! After breakfast was complete, i rushed off to pick up my personalized Denmark soccer team T-shirt since we were going to the game that evening. When i was almost back home, my mobile rang... "Mike, we're going off on our little eventyr, and you're coming. Don't move from wherever you are, we're picking you up".

Bike Ride

They turn up on bicycles of all things. I hadn't ridden one in over 10 years but i was forced to saddle up and follow them on a 20min ride through the streets of Denmark, shaking all the way but luckily never falling off. This was after a good dose of alcohol. I swear my ass was in pain for 2 days after the ride, either coz the bike was too small or my ass has become too soft with the years. We rode all the way to Svanemollen harbour...

Yachting

Jonas's friend Anders owns a big 46-foot sailing boat, so we hopped on with a few crates of beer and set sail for distant (er.. no) lands. Anchoring somewhere out there by the small island and wind turbine farm, we dived into icy cold water... and quickly rushed out again. With 'peanuts and raisins', we continued drinking beer in the warm sun and dried up until it was time to return home to...

Flame grilled meat n bread, aka BBQ

ok so after a morning of beer, the stomach craves some good meat, and BBQ is the key. It was great fun when we burnt everything black, but we were so hungry we ate it all anyways. It was also great fun when Anders, sitting on the table, rolled over and fell off with legs in the air, smashing a plate in the process. We also held a small farewell ceremony for my watch and someone's mobile who died when we dived into the sea. They're both lying peacefully in the garden of eden somewhere just outside our kollegium. We drank some more, washed up, and got into our footie gear ready for the great football match...

Denmark vs England : a soccer showdown

Dressed to the nines in red and white, us Vikings were ready to support Denmark. Yes folks, i was forced to support DK against the Queen herself, but i only did this on one condition: that we all painted our faces and went as proper vikings. So out came the face paint, and we were truly ready for battle. The fearsome party of seven set out, walking across the park to the stadium, chanting some drunken gibberish all the way, and annoying all the locals. Once there, we ate another meal of hot dogs since we were starving again, and drank some more. The game was quite exciting with both teams playing a decent first half, but Denmark taking all the cake and eating it in the second, ending in 4-1 for Thor's lot: England's worst defeat in 25 years. With the score firmly painted on my buttocks and a few more beers in hand, we chanted yet more drunken gibberish through the streets on a long long walk to...

Heidi's Bar

The barmaids reputably have big breasts and wear traditional costume, but that was all wasted on us because all we wanted to do was chant still more drunken gibberish, taunt the brits, and drink more. The pints were flowing and we also picked up some middle-aged brit who really looked down in the dumps. He was completely drunk and had no clue where he was or how he got there, so we welcomed him aboard and dressed him in danish colours and gave him a pint. After hours of dancing and making "peace" with disgruntled brits, we caught the first taxi out of there.

The perfect day ends here at 3:30am.
Tillykke Jonas, and cheers lads for a memorable day and night!