My Grad School Experience

Bilbao, Spain

2007-12-05T22:38:00.000+01:00

So I took a 3-day, 2-night trip to Bilbao, Spain--MY FUTURE HOME! I am spending my 2nd year of graduate school studying and writing my thesis at la Universidad de Deusto in Bilbao, Spain. WOO HOO!!!

I've been to Bilbao before; but this time, the experience was different because I was checking out my new home. Hahaha. But yeah, it was fantastic. It was as beautiful as I remember and I just can't wait to be there. I don't have pictures now, but here are some of the experiences I had:

-a very small percentage of Spanish speak English (I was the waitress at a resturant because our group of 20 didn't speak Spanish, except for me, and the resturant staff did not speak English)

-the city is a mixture of very old and very new architecture...its really quite beautiful and strange all at the same time

-I LOVE SPANISH FOOD AND LANGUAGE!!!

-people are still sporting the mullet-look in Spain....its so ugly!!!

-on the bus ride from the airport to the city center, we had armed soldiers board the bus and search for terrorists (ETA is the terrorist group of northern Spain--guess you're not safe anywhere these days)

-Bilbao is about the size of Milwaukee, WI (without the metro)...Copenhagen is the size of the Milwaukee (including the metro)....I guess I'll never escape my true hometown of Muskego/Milwaukee, WI!!! Hahaha

-Spanish kids, speaking Spanish are too cute for words....even the way they are dressed is to die for.

Although I have decided this a long time ago, it was confirmed that if I was not ethnically Persian or did not hold a US passport, I'd want to be Spanish! :)

Stop the Hate (November 29)

2007-11-30T01:18:00.001+01:00

Last night was an eye-opening night for me. It was quite strange, actually, but eye-opening nonetheless. So like I have mentioned before, if you are an American traveling, you will get people who have their opinion about the US. EVERYONE has an opinion about the US, which is fine. I have opinions about other countries as well, it’s natural. As a whole, Denmark (DK)and other Nordic countries are known for being the racist countries because they are (until very recently) homogeneous and don’t have a lot of visitors coming to these cold regions to visit. Also, the populations are so small that if even 100,000 foreigners come here, that’s 2% of the entire population of DK—so you can see how much this has impacted DK in the past 10yrs or so…and not in a good way.

The problem in DK is that because of their social-welfare system (free education for all, free healthcare for all, etc) lots of people want to emigrate to DK. But what also happens is that they have abused this system and don’t integrate into society as they should and so the Danes are upset and dislike the immigrants. So it’s valid for them to feel this way. But in turn, now Danes are really not open to foreigners.

So I have had some problems with people staring at me because I look like the Middle Eastern immigrants they don’t like, and I can understand that. I’ve also had people ‘attack’ me (verbally) because of being American and because (of course) I have so much to do with the foreign policy of the US and the decisions Bush and our government makes. Ha. Naturally, I have been very open to this experience and not taken anything personally. I want to break stereotypes, not reinforce them. But that’s fine with me. When you come from the country that is controlling a lot of the world’s politics, that’ll happen to its citizens when they travel. And actually, in general Danes like Americans so usually people are curious as to why I’m here in DK and what I like and dislike, etc. So 99.9% of my experiences with Danes have been positive or neutral at the very least.

Well, last night was just such a shock to me and I’ll explain to you why. So I identify myself as Iranian-American. I’m neither completely one nor the other. Growing up in my house was Iranian culture and influence and outside my home was American culture and influence. I speak both languages, eat food from both countries, and practice cultural things from both places— so I feel that I am both. That is who I am and who I am comfortable being. Not a problem, right? WRONG. I have had 2 people in DK, so far, tell me that A) I can’t be both Iranian and American, I have to pick one and B) that I’m not American—that was from this older man last night.

So I am not American, hmmm, that is odd. I’m pretty sure I was born and raised in the US, I hold a US passport and I’ve never lived in Iran…but to him, I’m not American. Do you know why? It’s because I don’t speak like ‘an American’ (as in I have an accent and I used ‘different words’—think about how non-native speakers speak and the mistakes they make)…AND BECAUSE OF THE COLOR OF MY EYES…THEY ARE BROWN! WHAT? Yeah, no joke. He said he can tell I’m not American by the color of my eyes. Ha.

I was so shocked at this ignorant statement, coming from an older man who has lived in Denmark (he’s Danish) and France, Germany, England AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA! It was the most bizarre thing I’ve ever heard. I mean, I know people discriminate against people about skin color but eye color…wow. Such an interesting experience. In the end, he was still nice to me and whatever, but to him, no matter what I said (with my apparently non-native English accent and vocabulary) I was not an American in his eyes. And that’s because Americans are either Black or White, as he said.

So please, please, PLEASE….for the love of God…people, lets stop this ignorance because of people like this that we still have war and hate in the world. This is unnecessary. This is 2007, the world has been taken over by globalization and from it, and we should take this opportunity to educate ourselves and each other. We need to realize that we are all human beings on the same earth and we are all equal.

“The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.”

Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá’í Faith (http://www.bahai.org/) made this statement in 1882 and still to this day, most people don’t realize this. I hope that we can each, in our daily lives, work towards creating a world without hate and racism. There is no need for it and I think, slowly but surely, the peoples of the world are recognizing this.

I guess all I can do is try to make a difference one person at a time….what will you do to solve this problem?

Turkey Day 2007

2007-11-24T01:12:00.000+01:00

FINALLY, TURKEY DAY IS HERE!

I was so happy to have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner at my home, with family and friends, here in Copenhagen. We had the best food and it was probably the most expensive turkey I’ll ever eat in m life—a whopping $160.00 for a 14lb turkey (for those who don’t cook, in the US, a normal Thanksgiving turkey of the same size is about $25.00). Yeah, don’t worry; we have finished ALL the meat over the week—of course.

My two best friends in Copenhagen, Nora and Noisette, were able to join us as well and it was just so nice to share such a special day with them. It was funny though because they were like “We’ve never been to Thanksgiving dinner…we’ve only seen it in the movies. Do you have a turkey and stuffing and everything?” It was cute and they had a blast.

After dinner, the girls and I were taught Danish by a 5yr old (who was soooooooo cute)...
...and then we headed out to the bars for some dancing. We met some nice people there and just had a really great night.
Judges Say: Thanksgiving 2007 gets two thumbs up!

Spanish Classes in Copenhagen!!!

2007-11-21T01:11:00.000+01:00

I signed up for Spanish class and have found that I can understand everything (YES!!!) but I have forgotten almost all the grammar I have learned over the past 6yrs (NOOOO!!!!). So, I’m going to have to study hard and get a tutor to help me refresh a bit. Other than that it’s cool to see all these Danes speaking a language that I understand!

School—papers and topics, class

2007-11-20T01:09:00.000+01:00

Wow, I’m officially finished with classes in my first semester of grad school. That is just unbelievable. Classes started in September and finished November 21. Now I have until January 3 to turn in two 15pg papers. Around the 22-23 of January, I have to go back to school and have an oral exam about my papers—AND I’M SO NERVOUS ABOUT THIS! It’s like defending your thesis, only it’s for smaller papers. But that is still nerve-wracking!

My topics are as follows:

The Evolution of Citizenship—I’m writing about how citizenship was always taught (e.g., moral education is the religious term and citizenship is the secular term. Both me the same thing) by the church and revolved around the nation (e.g., Roman-Catholic, Greek-Orthodox, etc). But now, we have an idea about regional citizenship (European Union Citizenship) and I want to see if it’s possible to teach it and have global citizenship. I know the answer is yes because the Bahá’í Faith is doing so (and has been for almost 200yrs now). So I’m just exploring that a bit more

Curriculum Development – I’m writing about a Baha’i curriculum that is used all over the world and is meant to be universal (for Baha’is/non-Baha’is from any country in the world). So I’m going to explore how this curriculum was created and whether or not it is appropriate for all learning styles.

I won’t go into more details because most of you would find it too much, but if you are interested, I’d be more than happy to discuss it with you further…just let me know!

Ashley’s Visit & Christmas Markets (November 16-19)

2007-11-19T23:59:00.000+01:00

My dear friend Ashley came to visit me for a weekend and it was a lot of fun to show her around. It was strange though because it was my two worlds (US life and DK life) colliding. But as I found out, they fit together fine, so it was just a lot of fun all together. Ashley picked a great weekend to come because this was the first weekend that the Christmas markets were open (in Nyhavn and Tivoli) and all the Christmas decorations and lights were being set up. We had a blast and it was great to spend time with a good friend.

AIESEC Conference (November 2-4)

2007-11-06T01:02:00.000+01:00

I recently joined an international student organization called AIESEC and have enjoyed my experience with it so far. AIESEC has been around for quite some time now and some famous alumni include Helmut Kohl, Former Chancellor of Germany; Janez Drnovsek, President of Slovenia; Alec Erwin, Minister of Trade and Industry, South Africa; Martii Ahtisaari, President of Finland; Borislav Skegro, Vice Prime Minister of Croatia; and not to mention every US present from Kennedy to Clinton!

Right now, I am part of the AIESEC DENMARK UNIC chapter and serve as a Project Manager for the Entrepreneurship project. It’s been great so far and I’ll write more about our project as it develops.

SO outside of meetings and projects we also have leadership/professional development opportunities through workshops at conferences. The first conference I attended was call Citius 2007 and it was just outside of Copenhagen. I had a blast and met a lot of really great (and inspirational) people. We have sessions/workshops, speakers, a formal dinner and Global Village (each group represents a country and dresses like them and serves their food and drink). Here are just a few pictures from the conference…

Like I said, this has been a really positive thing in my life here in Copenhagen and I’m thankful to have found it. Now I have a lot of new friends all over the world!!!

Aarhus (Oct 19-21)

2007-10-23T23:28:00.000+02:00

I had the wonderful opportunity to spend a weekend with 3 friends and road-trip it across the country….literally!

Our trip began with Rosa Lisa, Sasha and I taking a bus 2hrs to a ferry, which then took us 1h to shore, which is where we caught another bus for 2hrs until we arrived in Aarhus, Denmark.

Upon arrival in Aarhus, our dear friend Kathrine picked us up and drove us to her cozy apartment near the University of Aarhus. We spent the evening cooking, talking and laughing. It was simply an amazing night.

After a good nights rest, we woke up, packed our bags and then we were off to begin our road-trip to the west coast of Denmark. The drive was about 3hrs to get there and on the way, Rosa Lisa and I ‘couldn’t hold it’ any longer so Mommy Kathrine pulled the car over and Rosa Lisa and I made a quick bathroom break IN THE WOODS! Ha. I’ve never done that before, but I guess there is a first time for everything! After we got back into the car, we drove about 45mins longer and then arrived to beautiful Ringkobing.

In Ringkobing, we saw fjords (A fjord--or fiord--is a long, narrow estuary with steep sides, made when a glacial valley is filled by rising sea water levels) and walked around this cute little town. Before we got back into the car, we stopped at a cute pizza place and found Rosa Lisa a new boyfriend! Ha. Just kidding. He was Italian (like her) and so it was funny because he was in love with her. Ha. Anyway, after yummy pizza we got back in the car and were on our way to see “The Windmill Farm” (as I called it).

Okay, so in Denmark, they are really great about using power generated by wind—hence the windmill. You see huge fields of them, like hundreds of them, and so when we were driving, it was like looking at farmland, with these HUGE windmills in the middle. So I called it the “windmill farm”. ANYWAYS, to confirm this new name, when we went to an area just outside of Ringkobing, there were hundreds of windmills…AND COWS! Ha. Too funny. We took pictures, had a few good laughs and then got back in the car to continue the road trip to the west coast. Before we got too far into our trip, we stopped at a cute little church just to see the it. Apparently, it’s typical Danish.

Eventually, we made it to the west coast to the city of Sondervig. I don’t really have much to say about it other than it was REALLY windy, cold and beautiful. Check out the picture of the 4 of us ----->

Once we had frozen to the core, we hopped back into the car and headed to Katharine’s mom’s home in Silkeborg to make dinner and sleep. We made a yummy dinner of cabbage soup and salad. The salad dressing was a very…unique…and creative recipe created by yours truly. We didn’t have a lot of ingredients so we had to do with what we had. I think we ended up using sugar, pears, cinnamon and something else. Nonetheless it was a yummy salad and soup.

We slept well, we woke up the next morning and drove back to Aarhus and then took a bus, to the ferry, to another bus, to the train station, which then allowed me to walk home and sleep in the comfort of my own bed.

It was a great trip to share with great friends. We laughed a lot, talked A LOT about our papers for school and just got to know each other (and Denmark) a little better. I’m so happy I was able to go with them.

DANISH MUSIC

2007-10-07T15:28:00.000+02:00

Oh brother...this is what is 'cool' and 'popular' in the dance clubs and on the radio these days. Outside of mostly American music (their Top 10 list looks almost identical to what you can find on MTV's Top 10), these are some Danish favorites:

Dodo and the Dodo’s - "Vågner i Natten" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VkQTvbMvOc)

Danser Med Drenge - "Hvor længe vil du ydmyge dig?" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEbilSUOI6w)

Nik & Jay - "Et Sidste Kys" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X_q0vPTwIo)

I haven't decided how I feel about this yet! :)

Life Update!

2007-10-06T15:12:00.000+02:00

Life updates are in order, I know. So here is the quick version…

School - This week is a big week for me. I have to turn in my two 15pg paper proposals—which means I have to pick a topic and sources and outline the entire paper…YIKES! It’s a bit stressful, but luckily this is just the outline. After I turn these in, I am free for a week! WOO HOO! I have next week off and I’m so happy about that! It is a much deserved (and desired) week break. But yes, school is still fantastic as are my professors and classmates! Friends - What can I say? I have met the two best girls in all of Denmark—AND THEY’RE NOT EVEN FROM HERE! Ha! Noisette (France) and Nora (Germany) and I are inseparable. We do everything together and always have the best time doing it. Friday night we went to a local bar just to meet up and then made our way to Da Vinci bar. This is the same bar I was at the night of my birthday. We ended up LOVING it there! I mean, we were there from about 11pm to 5am—when they kicked everybody out! Ha. It was great. Now, let me tell you, Europeans love, and I mean they LOVE, cheesey American music. Some of the ‘best songs’ we heard of the night (that people were going wild for) were: Macarena, YMCA, Backstreet Boys “Backstreets Back”, Donna Summers’ “Hot Stuff”, and so many other SUPER LAME songs! Ha. It was like being at a bad wedding dance or something! I was waiting for the Chicken Dance or something, but thank goodness they did not play it. I have to admit, the DJ did play some other awesome songs, so it was overall a fantastic night. We dance for about 5hrs and will definitely be back there sometime VERY soon. Other than that, I have enjoyed quiet evenings at the homes of dear friends. Just talking, eating and getting to know each other--who could ask for anything more?Food - I am not sure I have had much Danish food since I’ve been here, but what I have had, has been great. All the restaurants are really delicious, no matter how much its costs (usually ridiculously expensive) its always good. As for my cooking skills, well, I haven’t made much since the zereshk polo and chicken kabobs…but I have invited the girls over for dinner on Tuesday night, so I’ll be sure to take pictures and keep you posted on my cooking abilities!

Family - Mom and dad are doing well—traveling like crazy—and Parham is also doing well. Everyone is happy and healthy, and I couldn’t ask for anything more than that. I think Parham is coming back to Copenhagen over Christmas, which will be so great!

Upcoming trips - I decided to meet up with my good friend Mark in Oslo sometime very soon. We’re going to have a weekend rendezvous there, because its halfway between us (he lives in Stavanger, Norway). And Chris is coming to visit me in Copenhagen in January—so we will most likely take a week trip to Paris as well. Other than that I hope to get to other cities in Scandinavia soon. Copenhagen has been great so far, I love it, so I assume that I’ll enjoy the rest of the area too!

Language skills - Well, I wont talk about my Danish languages abilities (because they are nonexistent) but I did find a Spanish language conversation group which I attended last week. I had a blast and really hope this continues until I leave for Spain. I also plan to sign up for a Spanish class too! I just have to see when I can find the time to attend! My farsi is also improving and now I have begun studying French again. Well, not formally studying, but I’ve reviewed some of my books and try to speak French with Noisette as much as possible. I have found that I still can understand quite a bit, but I just need to remember the verbs and I’ll be conversational again—crazy huh? I guess that summer in Montpellier was good for something!

ME!!! - I’m doing well. I’m happy to be here, enjoying these amazing experiences and trying to make the most of my time here. The more I study and explore this city, the more I realize how much I love Europe and want to live here. I don’t think I could ever permanently live here—my family is too important to leave behind—however, IF my brother, mom and dad ever ended up here permanently, you could definitely find me in Spain! Ha. Its so wonderful here. But really, I realized that I love the lifestyle and hope to live like this in the US someday.

I'M PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN! :)

2007-10-05T14:57:00.000+02:00

So yes, EVERY TIME I tell someone I am from the USA, they are like “I have a few things to discuss with you”…and then they usually proceed to ask me questions about:

US Foreign Policy
Bush
The War in Iraq
Education System in the US
Welfare (or lack thereof) System in the US (The Danes have UNBELIEVEABLE benefits here. Its crazy. I’ll write more about it some other time.)

…and if they are not asking me questions about the US, they are telling me that they think the following about Americans…

Americans aren’t as educated as they should be
Americans don’t care about politics or world happenings as much as they should
Americans are overweight
American culture is taking over the world

…and my biggest pet-peeve about all this is that EVERYONE I have met so far generalizes and makes blanket statements that “all Americans are ________”. WE’RE THE MELTING POT! PEOPLE ARE SO DIFFERENT FROM COAST TO COAST!

But yes, its hard for Europeans who come from countries that are primarily homogeneous (most of them) and who are dealing with immigration and diversity for the first time. For example, immigration is a big deal in Denmark now because about 10yrs ago, there weren’t really any non-Danes living here. Now there are. For Americans, we are used to living in diverse settings—well most of us anyways—so its not odd to see people of different colors or hear people speak different languages, especially if you come from a big city. But here, that is not the case. Its difficult, but they are learning to adapt.

Its just interesting. I think its hard for them to understand what the US is like because most of them have never been there and if they have, they have only been to 1 or 2 cities. Another explanation can be that the United States is almost two and a half times the size of the European Union is about the same size as the USA (The EU has over 492 million citizens where the US has 300 million people). So its difficult for them to compare their individual country (including culture, ethics, etc) to the US--we're just too big for them to grasp. Its better when I tell them to compare the US with the EU, then they come to their senses....sometimes!

I have lived my whole life in the US and don’t claim to understand American people or to know what they’re all like! But anyway, I guess this is the struggle I have being an American living/traveling outside of the US. Everyone knows about us and is upset with us (about something or another), so it is my job to break down those stereotypes and be a positive representation. I wont let you down, don’t worry! Ha.

Opening Day of Danish Parliament (2 October 2007)

2007-10-02T23:48:00.000+02:00

The first day parliament was back in session after there break was such a crazy day. I have never witnessed anything like it!

First, BILL CLINTON WAS HERE! He was signing books at a local bookstore. How funny is that?

That evening, Mom and I went to a coffee shop to read and we noticed lots of young people, dressed up in costumes and holding signs and yelling stuff to people walking by. Being a non-Danish speaker, I didn’t know what they were talking about, so I asked someone. They said that these demonstrators were complaining about the welfare-system in Denmark and wanted more benefits—ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Most of you probably don’t know how incredible the system is here. It is a social-welfare state here, so everyone who lives here (resident) gets benefits. EVERYONE, regardless of how much money you make, whether or not you have a job, how many kids, etc—it doesn’t matter—you get benefits. So the people here are taxed about 50% (or a little more) of their salaries which then is spent on public benefits. So everyone has a doctor here (even me!) and gets to go to university for free (and students even get money, scholarship, to help them pay for books and housing…even though they don’t have to pay for tutition!!! CRAZY). And if you lose your job, you still can get up to 80% of your previous salary until you find a new job! HOLY COW!

Yes, so those are just some basic things that make it so nice for people to live and work here. So back to the demonstrators, they wanted more benefits. There is a study that shows that 7 out of 10 Danes are willing to pay more taxes if it means securing their benefits. WOW! So yes, they were demonstrating for this. Later, after walking to the Danish Parliament (the actual building) there were thousands of people there—all against the party in power now. They were playing music, shouting at the building, making speeches, and….DRINKING! Ha. Danes are always drinking. Any reason they have to just hang out and drink, they’ll take it. So yes, even though this was a huge demonstration against the party in power now, people came with their kids for a peaceful evening of music, public announcements, etc. Very interesting to watch.

Mom and I were there for about an hour and then left. It was all in Danish, so it was worthless to stay longer, but it was interesting nonetheless!

The Wonderful Month of September!

2007-09-27T15:12:00.000+02:00

Oh my goodness. I apologize for the lack of regular updates. This past month has been nothing short of crazy—and very fun! Overall, I’ve adjusted to life in Copenhagen (CPH). Living with mom and dad is going quite well—much easier than I had expected. School is very interesting and I’m figuring out what I want to do ‘when I grow up’! I’ve met some really nice people here and have found my 2 ‘best friends’ here…and well, yeah, that’s about it.

Here is a quick recap of guests at our house for the past month, enjoy…

August 14 = Pouneh Arrives in CPH
August 15 – Sept 9 = Ali, Laressa & Parham are here
Sept 12 – 15 = Baba joon is here
Sept 15 – 20 = Baba joon, Atta and Kami are here
Sept 20 – 22 = Atta, Kami and Amoo Behshid are here

….So yeah, you get the picture. We had non-stop guests since I’ve arrived—meaning I slept in the living room for a month!!! Ha. It was great to have everyone here though. It made it so much easier to move away to a new country.

(Now, to backtrack to the end of August/beginning of September)

After the wedding in Paris, Ali, Laressa and Parham came back to CPH with mom, dad and I. We had SUCH a good time together. The best part was spending my 23rd birthday with my family! It was the best birthday I could have asked for!

Other than celebrating my birthday with my family, we just did some more sightseeing…

Once Parham, Ali and Laressa went back to the US, my grandpa Baba joon came to visit for about a week. Same thing happened, lots of laughing, eating and having fun!

Another great thing that happened was ‘Girls Night Out’! I invited my 9 female classmates over to my house to make dinner and hang out. We really enjoyed the night and each other’s company. Check out some pictures…

Speaking of classmates, as I mentioned before, school is going very well. I have decided that I would like to develop curriculum to help immigrants/refugees better integrate into society so that they, and especially their children, can be successful, active members of society. So how am I going to do that—I HAVE NO IDEA! For starters, I am going to talk to different people, here in CPH, that work with immigrants/refugees to find out what they do and what efforts are currently taking place. Then, I’ll focus all my papers and my masters thesis on this subject. I hope my thesis will allow me to really know what type of curriculum is needed and will benefit immigrants the most. In addition to tall of this, I’m looking for interesting summer internship opportunities. Wish me luck and if you know anyone, read anything or have suggestions, please let me know! I am all ears and so curious to learn more about this growing problem!

And the last part that I haven’t told you about yes is Atta, Kami and Behshid’s visit to CPH. We had THE BEST TIME! Oh my goodness did we laugh a lot. My Amoo Behshid hadn’t see Atta joon and Amoo Kami for about 33 years, or something like that—the last time he was pretty young (15 maybe) at Atta and Kami’s wedding—weird! Ha. The highlight, for me, at least, was me making Zereshk Polo ba Morgh (barberry rice with chicken) all by myself. It actually tasted good and it was my first time making any type of Persian food! WOO HOO!

But yeah, we laughed a lot and enjoyed the 48hours together. On Saturday, EVERYONE LEFT—Mom, dad, Behshid, Kami and Atta. My Amoo Behshid went back to Cambridge, England and the two best friend couples went to Italy for a week. Now I sit home alone and wait to receive text messages from my mom and dad that say things like “Naples is beautiful, you should visit it some time” or “We were just in Pompeii. Its really great”….how much does it suck to get those texts? I can’t complain though. This week has been fun. I finally get to sleep in my bed, in my room and do what I want. I have been cooking every night and hosting mini-dinner parties at my place with my new friends.

Life sure is good…I’m so lucky and so happy!

Until next time…

Leila's Wedding (Paris, France)--Here’s how it all went down

2007-09-03T23:46:00.000+02:00

…Mom left home for Paris on Tuesday, Ali and Laressa left for Paris and Wednesday and Dad left for Paris on Thursday—and poor little old me was left in Copenhagen all alone. I went to class Friday and then I was off to Paris for my cousin Leila’s wedding. The wedding was incredible, although getting there was quite the trek. It started off with me realizing, very last minute that I needed to buy shoes to go with my dress. I went shopping around 6pm on Thursday night and spent WAAAAAAAAY too much money for shoes (although they were super cute).

Friday, I almost got on the wrong train, but a nice Danish man helped me find my way to the airport. After arriving in Paris, I needed to cash my traveler’s check, except I couldn’t because half of the terminal was blocked off by soldiers carrying guns. So after walking to the other side of the airport and waiting 15mins for them to cash the traveler’s check, the guards left and I was able to get to the train station. Once at the station, I couldn’t purchase a ticket because I didn’t have any Euro-cents. After 10mins of trying to purchase gum and get change, I bought a ticket and then guessed as to which platform to go to and which train to get on. Luckily, I chose the right one and after 30 minutes, arrived at Gare du Nord train station. There, I found a taxi and was taken to my Khaleh Sholeh’s apartment.

I walked into the building and found the attendant gone. Crap! Where is the key? It was under the mat. So once I figured out where the key was I was left with figuring out which door to go through—there were two glass doors, one to my right and one to my left. I tried both and figured it out. Then I needed to figure out which floor to go to—I went up one and again, 2 doors. I tried both doors and FINALLY found the right one (NOTE: I was told all these things the night before, at 11pm, and I didn’t right it down. But, in my defense there were some very important details left out—so it wasn’t completely my fault that I didn’t know where to go). Okay, so once I walked into my aunt’s apartment, for the first time ever, I had to find my stuff. Mind you, the wedding had started at 2pm that day—it was 6:00pm when I arrived to her apartment. I was told all my stuff would be in the computer room; but of course (after I figured out where the computer room was), it wasn’t there. My suitcase was, but not my dress or hair straightener. After searching through a few more rooms, I found all my belongings and got ready.

Once the cab came to pick me up, the driver not only didn’t speak English, but also didn’t know the location of the wedding. CRAP! So, he made a few calls and I eventually made it there. Now, because of the language barrier, I wasn’t able to get dropped off at the main door. I ended up getting dropped off at some side entrance. I walked through all the bushes and trees—yeah it was that sketchy—and walked in on the wedding….only, when I looked at the bride and groom who were posing for pictures, IT WASN’T LEILA AND DANIEL! YIKES! I walked in on the wrong wedding. I was sly about it and walked through the wedding and out the door. I found someone who worked at the place and they pointed me in the right direction. I finally found my family and the rest is history….well, not exactly. The wedding was amazing. I think it was about $60-$70,000 and it was just beautiful. They had a traditional Persian ceremony and then an amazing line of food and entertainment.

The bride and groom danced to a song together—only all of us were on the dance floor too and it was a dance song (think house music or something you’d hear in a club). The same went for the father-daughter dance. How original! I loved it. So we danced for a few songs, then the first course came. Then 4 more songs, then the second course. Then Leila told the story about how the two met. Then another course. Then her cousin (a professional dancer/instructor) did a salsa dance with her husband. Then another course. Then 4 more songs. Then dessert. Then more dessert…and yup, you guessed it, MORE DANCING! Parham, Kita and I closed the place out at 4am with the bride and groom. It was just too much fun. It was the best wedding I’ve ever been too. The cousins got home, ate, bonded and passed out from exhaustion. And then came round 2…

The next day, Khaleh, Parham, Kita and I got ready to have 60 people over for a dinner party for the bride and groom. We cleaned, cooked and entertained until 3am. It was so much fun and really elegant. I enjoyed it a lot.
On Sunday, I flew back home to Copenhagen and spent the evening waiting for dad to arrive and read some text for school.

Today was the first day of grad school and it went very well. I look forward to learning more about my field and even more to my Danish language class which starts tomorrow! It’s a 3-day crash course, so hopefully I can pick up a few words!

That’s all .Thanks for reading! :)

Kita's Final Days

2007-09-03T23:40:00.000+02:00

Friday night with Kita, my wonderful 13 year old cousin, we ended up going out for some delicious sushi in the city center. We got to sit on the floor (true Japanese-style) and ate some great sushi. We even got a little creative with our eating utensils (see photo below)!

On Saturday, there was a 5k walk, or something like that, supporting an environmental cause. There were literally thousands of people walking through the city, right in front of our house. As we watched some of the people walk by, we noticed a strange sight. Take a look at the picture below and tell me which 3 “people” don’t belong…

…HAHAHA! I know, how random is that! Stormtroopers hanging out in my “front yard”. I love it! So anyway, after another crazy day/night, Sunday came and Kita went back home to Paris, France.

Don’t worry, I wasn’t able to miss her because within hours of her departure, my cousin Ali and Laressa came to stay with us (again)! We spent a fun week together—I attended class while they went sightseeing, then we all had dinner with mom and dad. It was very nice.

This is parked outside of my apartment....HOW CRAZY!

2007-08-24T23:12:00.001+02:00

This yacht is parked outside our window--literally. Check out the stats...

Name: SKAT

Price of Yacht: $135million

Price of Hellicoptor: $8million

Size: 233ft

INCREDIBLE!!!

Graduate School - Day 1

2007-08-20T18:03:00.000+02:00

Since I got here, I have done a lot of sightseeing in the wonderful city of Copenhagen and its surrounding suburbs. Here are some pictures of the sights I've seen...

Pretty view in Helsingor, Denmark.
Kita and I, with a view of Hamlet's castle (seriously, the castle back there is the one from Shakespear's play Hamlet).
Incredible view of the ship masts...
Captain Eftekhari!

Monday, August 20, 2007--Day 1 of my Masters program....AND IT WAS AWESOME! I met students from all over the world (20 of them--I'm the only one from the US), met some of the professors and took a walking tour of our tiny campus.

One of the buildings I have class in.

As for my program, I found that I will be submitting two 15 page papers per semester, in addition to a 30min oral exam about each paper, each semester. During my last semester I'll be writing an 80-100 page dissertation on the subject of my choice (which I will have to figure out by October 2007---YIKES!). I think this is going to be the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my life to date. I am so lucky to be studying with such bright students from all parts of the world (all continents except for Antarctica and Australia) and with all different backgrounds. Oh, they also told me that I will learn how to write conference abstracts so that I can present my research at conferences around Europe--how sophisticated and cool does that sound? Gosh, I'm so pumped. Its going to be A LOT of work, to say the least, but totally worth it.

Anyway, after a day jam packed with information, I left campus and went home. On my walk home from the train station, I could help but smile (mind you, I'm walking alone, listening to my iPod, so I must have looked quite odd to those passing by me) because I saw the 25 bikers (bicycle riders) stopped at the red light. I'm serious people, they have their own lane, traffic lights and respect on the road. Its quite funny--I'll have to post some pics of the crazy biking habits of the locals here.

Velkommen hen til København--Welcome to Copenhagen!

2007-08-17T11:55:00.000+02:00

My first 36 hours in copenhagen has been pretty fun so far. Mom and dad have a beautiful home and the city is gorgeous too! My cousin Ali (Minneapoli, MN) and his girlfriend Laressa came to visit about 16 hours have I arrived and today my other cousin Kita (Paris, France) will be joining in on all the family fun! My grad school prgram starts on Monday and I couldn't be more anxious than I am right now! It is going to be absolutely incredible. I found out that I get to visit museums, castles, palaces, and listen to a lecture in parliament during my first two weeks! All the lectures sound very exciting and meeting my classmates from all over the world should be great as well.

Last night we went to dinner with my dad's boss and his wife, another VP and his wife and daughter (from the US) and then my mom, dad and I. It was a cute little resturant in Tivoli (the world's 2nd oldest amusement park). It was really a lovely dinner--good food, good company, good ambience. I had fun and hope that my dad takes me out for more business dinners. Its fun to live the life of the rich and famous (at least thats how I feel when I compare this experience with the life of a poor college student!) and I also enjoyed learning about business and about how the "corporate world" really works.

I have also found that EVERYTHING is un-Godly expensive here--I'm not kidding you. According to a study, Copenhagen is the 6th most expensive city in the world! New York City is number 13---if that can give you some type of idea how poor I feel here.

Anyway, enough facts. Here are some pics....enjoy! :)

Our building

Diningroom

Diningroom/Kitchen

Livingroom

My bathroom

My room

I'm in London Baby! :)

2007-08-13T00:29:00.000+02:00

My few days in London have been really pleasant so far. I was able to locate..

...Chinatown, London…

…see some inappropriate things!

Mostly, I've hung out with uncle Behshid, grandma, and great uncle Daie Joon. OH, and I met my cousin Omeed for the very first time. It was so fun to meet him and his friends. I hope I’m lucky enough to have friends like that when I get to Copenhagen!

I’ll be leaving for Copenhagen on Tuesday and I can’t wait! It should be an experience. Just think, I’ll walk into a foreign apartment and see all the furniture from my house in WI, there…AND THEN I’ll open up a few boxes and put together a new room with my old stuff---weird.

Anyways, I have mixed feelings. Check back in a few days to see what happens.

Cheers!

DC Adventures

2007-08-12T22:34:00.001+02:00

DC was pretty low key. I spent time with my 3 aunts, grandfather and brother. As usual, I loved every minute of it.

The craziest adventure was my eastcoast tour of all the Chinatowns, by bus, to New York City. There are these really cheap coach buses that leave from Chinatown (in all cities—DC, Phillidelphia, NYC, etc) and run several times a day. So yeah, I saw 3 different Chinatowns in the course of 4.5 hours!

Chinatown DC

Chinatown Philly
Chinatown NYC

When I got to NYC, I was reunited with my best friends Jorge and Nino. I met these two while studying abroad in Madrid. It had been nearly 2 years since I had seen them, so you can imagine how wonderful it was. We laughed, I cried (when I saw them, and said goodbye…of course!) and we all agreed to do a Madrid reunion, in Madrid, when I moved to Spain!

THE BIG APPLE!

Me, Jorge, Nino

My week in Eastbourne

2007-08-10T00:20:00.000+02:00

So far, I’ve had a blast in Eastbourne. This is a seaside city, mostly old people live here and lots of tourists come to visit each summer. So far, nothing super special/exciting has happened. Just some quality time with grandma and my uncle.

I saw the city…

….I saw the sea…

…I ate traditional English food—fish and chips…

…and I had some delicious ice cream!

I will be in London soon to visit my great uncle, visit a religious holy place and hang out with my other uncle who will be visiting London (to see me) from Cambridge, England.

Cheers!

Goodbye US, Hello Europe!

2007-08-07T23:21:00.000+02:00

On Monday, August 6, 2007 at 9:30pm I passed through the security checkpoint in Dullas Airport (DC) and sat alone at my gate, waiting for my flight. Until this point, I hadn’t gotten sad about leaving. I was really excited and couldn’t really fathom that I was leaving for 2 years. I sat at the airport and called a few family members and friends to say a final farewell and man did the waterworks start. I was THAT person, crying in the airport. I bet I looked really cool!

Anyway, I got onto the flight and there was one other person in my row. She was about 21 years old and from Peru. We talked throughout the flight and she gave me some insight on long-distance relationships (she lives in Peru, her boyfriend in Spain for 2 years—so 1 more year to go). It was nice to chat with her and have someone to talk to. After an 8 hour flight, I WAS IN EUROPE!

London is always a great city. I left Heathrow Airport, took the underground to Victoria Station to take a train to Eastbourne, to a taxi to take me to my grandmother’s house—phew! I was in transit from DC to grandma’s house for roughly 12 hours.

Cheers! <-- (That’s what the English say!)

My Bags are Packed and I’m Ready to Go…I Think!

2007-07-30T22:31:00.000+02:00

My Bags are Packed and I’m Ready to Go…I Think!

So after a week of procrastinating, I finally packed all my stuff up into many boxes and suitcases and was ready to leave my wonderful city (Chicago) and embark on a very long raod-trip to Washington DC. Saturday morning, I woke up and ran a few errands and around 1pm went out to fetch the car to load it up and head to Midway Airport to pick up Chris. As I turned the corner I didn’t see my car…IT WAS GONE! I called the police, they had me call the impound—who had no record of my car—and then called the police again. This is what the officer told me:

Officer: “It sounds like your car has been relocated.”
Me: “What does that mean?”
Officer: “It means someone got permission from you Alderman to move a few cars so they can use the spaces for the day.”
Me: “Okay, so when are they going to bring my car back?”
Officer: “Miss, your car has been relocated. That means they have moved your car to a different location.”
Me: “I understand what that means, but what I don’t understand is where my car is now and why you can’t tell me where it is.”

(…to make a long story short, this is what the end result of this convo was…)

Officer: “Your car has been relocated to one of the 4 parking lots down by the lake or it has been relocated to a vacant spot within a few blocks from where you had parked it.”
Me: “So how do I know where they put it?”
Officer: “You have to go out and look for it.”

…And so it began. I set out for 3 hours, by foot, searching the streets and parking lots of Chicago looking for my frickin’ car. IT WAS AWFUL!

I started looking at 1:30pm and around 8:00pm (after filing a stolen car report) I found someone who could tell me where it was. SERIOUSLY, THIS WAS INSANE!

And, at the end of all this drama, I didn’t even get a ticket. So bizarre. I hate big cities sometimes. They have these secret laws that no one is aware of, but apparently are legal to execute. Weird.

Anyway, on Sunday morning, Chris and I set out for DC.—11 hours later, we got there.

How Do European's Get So Smart?

2007-07-23T17:37:00.000+02:00

So I wrote a letter to my master's program, asking them to fill me in on the academic calendar and this is what I found out....

I have an introduction course from August 20 - 31 from around 9:00am - 4:00pm.

During the actual semester, I will have classes...

Every Monday (9:30am-12:30pm) from September 3 - November 19th.
Every Wednesday (9:30am - 12:30pm) starting September 12 and ending on November 21.
OPTIONAL: Every Friday. There are lectures which will be given by the college staff, external experts and MA LLL visiting scholars.

My exams follow this format:

Two exam essays will be submitted in the beginning of January 2008 and that the oral exams will take place in the end of January/beginning of February.

So still, I pose this question to you. Since European students NEVER are in class, how do they get so smart?

Home Sweet Home

2007-06-28T15:35:00.000+02:00

Our new apartment is located in such a great part of town and its super cute. Check out these pics...

Our building.

My mom in front of our building.

The view from my bedroom.

Our "front yard"...lol.

Here is a map of where we live in realtion to the Queen's palace--(apparently we are neighbors) and Nyhavn--the area with all the colorful buildings.

Grad School Program

2007-06-11T18:04:00.000+02:00

I have officially been accepted to The European Masters in Lifelong Learning: Policy and Management program. This is a full-time, multi-site program offered by the Danish University of Education (DPU), Copenhagen, the Institute of Education (IoE), London and The University of Deusto (UD), Bilbao. I have chosen to follow the management track, which will place me in Copenhagen for 2 semesters (yes, I'll be living with mom and dad there) and then 1 semester in Bilbao. My 4th and final semester is still up in the air; but I'm hoping to stay in Spain if possible. My program officially starts in Copenhagen on August 20, 2007 and I can't wait! :)