Week 4: Change of the Guard, CBS, Trip to Berlin!

Week 4 started off strong! I began the week on Sunday by watching the Change of the Guard at Amalienborg Palace. It was a great experience and I highly recommend watching it if you have the chance. It happens at 12:00 everyday, but make sure to be early to find a good spot because there is usually a huge crowd.

Afterwards, I hung out with my CBS exchange buddy to BUKA Bakery Frederiksberggade. BUKA is such a great and popular bakery!! I highly recommend going to this location. But beware it is extremely busy!

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CBS Campus

In the last blog I promised pictures of Copenhagen Business School's campus! So here here they are:

The campus is very large and has multiple buildings/ areas in different parts of the city. If you're in Copenhagen, I would highly recommend getting a bike in order to move faster between each building. This would help especially in the case that you have an overlap between classes.

CBS Canteen

CBS has a canteen (cafeteria) and it's SO good. If you need a quick and healthy lunch this is a great place to go, especially since it has a large variety. Aside from that, prices are incredibly cheap. You usually pay by weight at the canteen and for a decently sized plate you pay $5-$8 USD.

Other fun facts about the campus:

CBS has two shopping areas next to it:

• The Fasanvej Shopping Area has stores like Lidl, Fotex, Matas (an apothecary), 7Eleven, and a few restaurants on the street. Aside from that, this shopping area also has FitnessX (gym), and Swapfiets (a bike subscription store).

• The Frederiksberg Centret Mall has stores like H&M, COS, Flying Tiger (great for stationary), Pilgrim (Danish jewelry brand), and more!

  
  

  Some words of advice:

• I noticed in Denmark that is a little more difficult to buy over-the-counter medicine. For the most part, you cannot purchase medicine at a retailer like you can in the U.S. You need to go to an apothecary like Matas or Apoteket to actually purchase medicine, or even things like contact solution. This is something pretty important to know especially if you catch a cold while abroad or need anything for eye contacts, and other personal needs.

• A store that I recommend: There is a store in Denmark called "Normal" that is great for buying a variety of goods that you'd typically find in the U.S. Normal has a lot of well known brands across things like skin care, hair care, oral care, and makeup, and much more. The prices are also relatively cheap and reasonable, so if you're on a budget or need something that you would typically find in the U.S, I highly recommend stopping here. For example, needed an inexpensive hair dryer that was compatible with the EU plugs, and I found a great one at Normal for roughly $10 USD.

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Trip to Berlin

This weekend, we went to Berlin, Germany. To get there, my friends and I took a bus from Copenhagen Central Bus Station to the main bus station of Berlin. Although the bus ride was around 8 hours, it was very interesting to experience since I've never done a ride that long. A cool thing about traveling there was that we were able to ride the bus onto a ferry that took us across to Germany. The ferry had a convenience store and a place to get quick food which was really nice. Aside from that, we were able to go onto the ferry's deck and look out onto the water (It was extremely cold!).

We were on the ferry from about 1:00AM- 2:00AM, and we then offboarded and began the commute again. Unforgettably, after we loaded on to the bus, the driver took off immediately with no time to spare and two of our friends were left behind. They gave us between 5-10 minutes to get back on and there was no room for being late. It was quite the learning lesson and it taught us to never be late in Europe. Punctuality is key (for the most part). Being late and missing a train, bus, or boat is a very expensive mistake. Our friends were left behind in the middle of nowhere at 2:00 in the morning, and while they were still able to make it to Berlin and meet us, it cost them lots of time and about $120~ USD. They ended up sleeping at the bus terminal and catching another bus and train to Berlin.

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Berlin was a very fun experience, we were able to go to the Brandenburg Gate, Memorial to the Murdered Jews, as well as the Berlin Cathedral all in one day.

Some words of advice:

• Consider exploring a city by night (safely of course), the city exuded a very different vibe and energy than it did in the morning and it was so much calmer and fun to explore. Berlin looked very beautiful at night and it was so fun being able to see it differently.

• Additionally, try to look into the history of the city prior to visiting it. Even if you do just a little bit of research. I think this makes a huge difference in your experience, since you may notice a few things that most wouldn't be able to see. For example, my friend Aiden was a little more aware of the historical aspects of Berlin such as the subtle differences modern vs. Soviet architecture of the U-Bahn. When he pointed that out it helped us understand the history a little more.

Here are some pictures!

Aside from that we all were able to eat very good food at cheap costs. If you are in the area, I highly recommend going to Curry 61 to get Currywurst with fries. I was very surprised at how good it was. It hits the spot!

The next day we started off by going to this amazing bakery close to our hostel called Zeit für Brot. I highly recommend going here if you are in the area, but there are also other great cafes in Berlin too that are worth visiting.

Afterwards we went to the Jewish Museum where we were able to learn more about the history and culture of Jewish people. It was an interesting museum because it was a mix between various Jewish artifacts, modern architecture, and exhibits. This is a great place to visit if you are interested in world renowned architecture and history.

We also went to the Reichstag Building and Ruyam Gemüse Kebab for lunch! I'm not too well versed with kebab food, but my friend said that this was the best kebab he ever had in his life. So that and the 30K+ 5 star reviews are pretty convincing!

To wrap up the night we got dinner at Hofbräu Wirtshaus Berlin for authentic German food. It was so awesome! We had a group of 19 people and we were very well accommodated for and the food came out very fast. If you ever go, I highly recommend getting the German pork knuckle, apple strudel with vanilla ice cream, and a German beer. It was such a cool experience with live entertainment and a great atmosphere.

In the morning, my friend and I paid one last visit to Zeit für Brot and picked up a souvenir. We also visited the Haus Schwarzenberg art gallery. We then left to go back to Copenhagen!

Overall, I had a really good time on this trip. I highly recommend going to Berlin if you have the chance!