Copenhagen: First Few Days

It's been awhile since our last post, but we have finally made it to Copenhagen.  After a weekend of settling into our residences and meeting some new international students, we officially started our summer classes today.  We started our day off with an orientation by the director of the international summer program who gave us an overview of what to expect during our time at the Copenhagen Business School.  We then went to grab a quick coffee before settling into our 2.5 hour lecture, only to find that the school cafeteria is more like a gourmet restaurant!!! Deeeeelish!

Orientation at CBS

Our class today was a marketing decision models course (aka market research), and is taught by a professor from Mexico City.  The students are from all around the world, but mostly from Denmark.  We were pleased to find this, as we really want to make some local friends who can tell us about the best places to eat, drink and shop (and study?) in Copenhagen.  The course itself seems at this point to be a bit more challenging that we had anticipated as it involves learning new types of analytical software in order to complete a major final project.  Our second class, Cross-Cultural Management, starts tomorrow and we are looking forward to it as we know several students enrolled in the course.  We're also pretty sure it doesn't involve any analytics, which is good, as we won't have to spend our entire semester on our laptops.

Since arriving, we both signed up for the 'social program' offered by the university, which turned out to be a great decision as it allows us many opportunities to visit cultural sights and meet new friends.  This past weekend the program organized a bbq, a walking tour of the city, as well as canal tour.  Even though it has rained non-stop since we've arrived, we are hopeful that we will be able to put away our rain jackets and wear some of our summer clothes soon.  It is almost July after all.

Taken atop the old Round Tower (Rundetarn) 

View from the top!

The Rundetarn is a 17th century observatory

One thing that we've observed since being here is that everyone rides a bike.  The entire city is designed for bikers, so it only seemed appropriate that we rent bikes for the summer.  We are really excited because we are picking up our bikes tomorrow, and so we will be able to see the city much more easily.  The weather is also supposed to be sunny this week, so we are planning on taking lots of pictures so we can show you all how beautiful this city is when its not so grey.  More pictures to come!!

Wish you were here,
Rose and Sydney

Ibiza

Our trip to Ibiza was overall an absolutely amazing experience. Having heard crazy things about it from nearly everyone we spoke to, we weren't quite sure what to expect. When we flew away from the island today after being there for 3 days, we felt ourselves wishing we had had just a bit more time to explore more of the beautiful island we were leaving behind.

We checked into the Hotel Tropical, which was located in the San Antonio area of the island. According to locals it is the most touristy area of Ibiza that attracts a younger crowd and our hotel was located on a great central street called Carrer des Cervantes. The hotel was great with helpful staff and surprisingly spacious rooms... we even were able to sleep fairly well at night as they had a strict policy against noise after midnight. We loved the style of the hotel, which had a neat retro design that had been well maintained since its original construction. The hotel pool across the street had a bar, restaurant and a dj booth that played amazing music all day.

Hotel Tropical from the poolside

Our first evening in Ibiza we went out for a nice dinner in the West End area of San Antonio after spending the day by the pool. Everyone there is always so friendly and people are constantly trying to sell you tickets for different parties going on that evening all over the island. We decided to buy tickets for the Eric Prydz show at a club called Amnesia since it seemed like everyone we spoke to was going there as well. The evening was great, the club was massive but beautiful on the inside, clean and everyone there seemed to be having a really great time and was there to enjoy the music (which went until 6am.)

Going to explore Ibiza nightlife!

Our second day we decided to explore the city more and did a nice walk along the harbour waterfront. We found ourselves at a beautiful beach not too far from the main strip, with gorgeous bright blue water that was so refreshing and perfect to cool off in.  

On our way to discovering the beach

The semi rocky shore line

Beautiful crystal clear water of the mediterranean sea

That evening we decided to go for dinner to a restaurant we had heard a lot about from various people we had met called Cafe Mambo. It is located on the sunset strip and is a great place to enjoy some food and drinks while waiting for the sun to set around 9pm. Once the sun goes down, the restaurant turns into a club, where patrons spill over onto the beach to drink, party, and enjoy the music coming from the open windows of Cafe Mambo. It was an extremely popular spot, and we met some really interesting people there on the beach after sunset.

Enjoying sangria and a seaside dinner

The sunset is a big event every night.  The dj's time their music to the sunset!!

We traveled with our new friends to a club called Eden, which seemed over priced and not worth it. We decided as a group to instead go to a place just outside of San Antonio called Ibiza Underground which actually used to be Mick Jagger's home in Ibiza. It was an amazing place and a beautiful spot in comparison to the club we had just been to previously.

Ibiza Underground... aka Mick Jagger's old pad

We ended the evening by having some poolside drinks and snacks at our new friends' villa nearby, which was a beautiful spanish rental home.

The three of us flew back to Barcelona today and said goodbye to Courtney who was traveling on to London and then back to Vancouver. Rose and I spent our last day in Barcelona relaxing and enjoying our accommodations at the Hotel Andante which has a spectacular roof top pool with amazing city views!

Rooftop pool deck at Hotel Andante, Barcelona

All in all it has been an amazing adventure so far, and we can't wait to continue on the journey while seeing the sights, meeting interesting new people and making memories that will surely last a lifetime. Next stop, Copenhagen!

Wish you were here,

Sydney and Rose

Barcelona Continued...

After meeting up with our friend Courtney on day 2, we decided it was time for a beach day.  We navigated our way through the hot and busy city streets down to the harbour.  When we arrived, it appeared that everyone else in Barcelona also decided to go to the beach that day.  There were several luxurious yachts and sailboats in the harbour, which we passed while walking to the Barceloneta area.  Our first swim in the Mediterranean was refreshing, however the beach was extremely crowded, and there were tons of vendors trying to sell us tattoos and premixed (and questionable) mojitos. 

Barceloneta Beach...trying to catch up to Courtney's tan.

On day 3 of our trip, the three of us decided to get a relatively early start.  We headed north to visit the Parc Guell, known as the "lungs of the city", which was dedicated to and designed by architect Antonio Gaudi.  His influence from neo-gothic art and nature resulted in a distinct style that can be seen throughout the park.  It was interesting to compare the park to the Segrada Familia, which despite being unfinished, is his most famous work.

The park had an amazing view of the city!

Entrance to the Parc Guell

Tonight we went for an amazing dinner of tapas, wine, and sangria.  We received a recommendation from a new found Estonian friend(?) who told us we had to visit Cerveseria Catalana for dinner before we left Barcelona.  As you can see, we ordered 19 delicious items from their menu, ranging from veal chops, to sauteed mushrooms, to red peppers stuffed with cod puree. Of course, these items paired very nicely with sangria and a bottle of sauvignon blanc.  We highly recommend this spot, but it gets extremely busy after 8pm any night of the week, so try getting there before then to grab a seat outside on the patio for some great people watching!

Bon Appetit!

Pitcher of Sangria, Bottle of Wine, 16 tapas, and one dessert later...

A perfect way to end a perfect trip to Barcelona.

Wish you were here,

Rose and Sydney

Barcelona

 

View from our luxurious accommodations at the Absolut Central Hostal... and no it does not have any relation to the vodka company.

After a very long day, we arrived safely in Barcelona and look forward to posting some exciting updates in the coming days.  Our friend Courtney is going to be arriving here tomorrow and we can't wait to get exploring!

Wish you were here,

Rose and Sydney