Maybe I should be a make up artist?

There were 3 parties organised for Halloween. Kengo seemed really excited about it, because it was going to be his first and only Halloween EVER. So he made the most of it, going as a Japanese theatre character. I drew his face :) Then Mahiro must have thought I wasn't too bad, so he allowed me to unleash my creativity on his face too :)

My work: Kengo as a Japanese kabuki and Mahiro as Joker. Ayaka made up herself as cat woman - her hair was done so to resemble cat ears.

We couldn't stay long for the party in order to make the last bus. We left just as the party was getting started!! Why do Danish parties have to start at 1am?

Getting colder

On Tuesday, I walked outside and saw a man cleaning the ice off of his car window. Then as I walked a bit further, I noticed how the grass and leaves on the side walks had a peculiar grey coat on. It was the dew turning into ice. It was very cold that day, it felt like we had skipped Autumn and delved straight into Winter.

- Edit -

2 Nov: It's winter already!

Shopping in Berlin (or not)

We were met by our friend Marcin in Berlin. After a week in each other's shoes, we were glad to have some new company and we were all a bit more bubbly than what we were in the proceeding days. Marcin's girlfriend is on exchange in Berlin, so lucky for us he was there to visit her. He took us to the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag. He seemed like a local, knowing how it was free to go inside Germany's parliamentary building and go up to the glass dome. We had a traditionally German dinner, I had pork knuckles and tasted some German beer.

Group pic in front of Brandenburger Tor

Glass Dome on the Reichstag

German meal!

The next day we met an American couple on their honeymoon. They had been on the same walking tour as us and we bumped into them at the cheap German restaurant the tour guide had recommended. So we had lunch together and then walked to the East Side Gallery, which is where the longest stretch of the Berlin Wall now stands.

And randomly, we found this store Pylones in Amsterdam and Berlin. It sells the cutest homewares, I love these graters. If only they weren't €14 for a small one!!

Mussels in Brussels

Brussels is the capital city of Europe, it is also a place of great food. I had 3 waffles in 2 days, twice-fried pomme frites with mayonnaise, mussels, truffles and pralines. Happiness. It was voted the boringest city in Europe, but I only spent half a day looking at the most important sites, so I didn't find it too bad. The food certainly made it quite interesting

Truffles :)

Waffles with strawberries and chocolate sauce near the Mannequin Pis statue (obviously the thing behind us is the statue)

Mussels and pomme frites

Pomme frites with mayonnaise in a cone - how the Europeans eat chips

In Bruges, we went up the Tower, looked at the canals (not a lot because it was raining) and then to the Town Hall Museum where we spent half an hour playing Lego. There were times when young kids would come over to us, silently expecting us to vacate the seats for them (there were only 3 seats) but that didn't happen. Their parents thought this was strange and pulled their reluctant children away from the Lego.

The famous canals of Bruges

Playing Lego at the Gruthusemuseum

Michaelangelo's "Madonna and Child" one of the few Michaelangelos outside of Italy

Sex, Drugs and Romance

The journey to Amsterdam was stressful from the beginning. We decided to walk to Hamburg train station, but we underestimated how long it would take. We thought it would take about 30-45mins but it was 1hr of power-walking, bright and early on a crisp Saturday morning after only a few hours of sleep. We got to the station in the nick of time, and luckily the train was slightly delayed, otherwise, we definitely would have missed it. I was so glad for this failure of German efficiency.

A visit to Amsterdam cannot be devoid of sex and marijuana. Of course we visited the Red Light District, it was OK, not too dirty, just ladies standing behind red windows. We only saw one guy walk into a window, and he got jeered by the other bystanders. When we were walking out of the district, we saw this Asian grandfather walking in the opposite direction, speaking to some policeman, we overheard the policeman giving him instructions on how to properly buy a prostitute. Gabby and I kept staring at the grandfather, when he noticed our turned heads, he called out to us, "Would you like to show us the way?" Ugh

Amsterdam Red Light District

I've been longing to have a hash brownie ever since JJ told me about Monica/Lucy/Amani's experience last year. I was a bit worried about the effects since it was my first time taking any drugs, so I halved with Gabby at the coffee shop opposite our hostel. It was quite yummy, like mint-choc cake. Then we went back to our hostel and waited for the effects to kick in. We waited and waited. An hour later I still didn't feel any different. It was 11pm by then, I was tired so I went to bed. Quite disappointing that my first weed experience happened in my sleep.

And romance? Unexpectedly, Amsterdam was so with its many canals, bridges and bikes. It looks like Venice! I think it would be romantic to take boat ride on the canals on a sunny day.

Amanda disliked Amsterdam from the beginning, "It's the most touristy place I've been to!" she complained. She also complained about how the smell of marijuana pervaded the city. She abhorred at how this city is famous for its sex industry and lenient drugs policy. During my time there, I liked Amsterdam: it was refreshing to be out of bland and quiet Århus, Amsterdam was bustling, vibrant and exciting. But once I reached Brussels, I came to appreciate her opinion - the crass commercialism of Amsterdam was rather overwhelming.

I think everyone has a photo in this giant clog outside a souvenir store in central Amsterdam

Having a staring match with a (real) cat sitting on a teddy bed in a shop window

I never knew pancakes were a Dutch speciality

Couch-Surfing in Hamburg

And before I knew it, it is the mid-sem break. Where did the time go?? For this break, I spent the 10 days on a whirlwind trip through Germany, Netherlands and Belgium

We didn't know the accommodation in Hamburg would be so limited and demand so high. So as every first year economics student would know, lack of supply with excessive demand will move the price upwards. To unacceptable values for us. Especially considering how expensive Amsterdam and Brussels already were. So we decided to try out a new and unfamiliar concept (for me at least...although we were all virgins when it came to it): Couch-Surfing.

We arrived in Hamburg sans one third of our travelling group: Amanda had not received her Eurail ticket on time because the delivery guy came to her dorm during the two hours of the day when she was in class. She arrived in the evening when she arranged for her ticket to be delivered again. Unfortunately, then she realised that she had been sent the wrong ticket for the region of Austria instead of Benelux which is where we were going. You could tell she was very stressed about it all, but she put on a brave face and forced a laugh at her misfortunes. That's such an admirable quality of her.

As mentioned above, we were all virgins when it came to couch-surfing, so the fact that the host took us out for the two nights we stayed over was quite a shock to me. Especially the first night when he took us to trivia at an Irish Pub (the topic was on the most famous German movie made, The Boat). You can smoke inside pubs in Germany. The smoke was so strong that my chest hurt from breathing all that carcinogenic air. I really felt like I lost a few years of my life that day.

There isn't such a thing as a free lunch, but if I'm putting my comfort and health at risk in exchange for free accommodation, then I'd rather pay a grossly inflated price for a hostel. Not to mention, after sightseeing the whole day, I'd rather have an early night in, especially if I have to get up early the next day to catch an early train. So yes, couch-surfing was an interesting experience, and I don't particularly regret having done it, but it's not terrain I'm eager to explore again any time soon.

Hamburger scenery: a bench in the Inner Alster; funky building; funny advertisement

Hamburger food: potato pancakes with apple sauce and currywurst

Århus' First Crimson Blush