Michael Carøe Andersen

Tag: friends

IAESTE Day 2007 in Prague

Yesterday the local committees of IAESTE in Prague organized the annual IAESTE Day to promote the IAESTE programs at different universities across the world. I was happy they asked me if I wanted to give a presentation about how I had benefited from IAESTE. So I told the story of How I Ended Up In Prague Because of IAESTE (Some of it is on page three of this IAESTE UK alumni newsletter). Its been a while since I had done a presentation but I really enjoyed the afternoon talking with people about going abroad.

Even better was the evening were they had organized a banquette for business contacts, alumis and member. Good and free food and drinks is a great thing that I come across way to seldom.

See more pictures at flickr.

October 19, 2007
Belgium and Holland Tour de Force

This past weekend Mehmet fired up his Skoda and we went on a westbound road trip. Mehmet is a Turkish friend from IAESTE Prague and together with Femi, me and Mehmets friend Murat, we started out Thursday night around 1am. We got to the German border about an hour later.

I never realized how privileged I am being pale and having a Danish passport. Going in and out of countries have never taken me a long time. This time was quite different however. Apparently there was a stamp in Mehmets passport that wasnt right so it took almost 2 hours before they finally let us through. That set us back quite a lot in time and it took us until Friday afternoon before we reached Breda, Netherlands were we met up with Aytek another of Mehmets friends.

All three Turkish guys works for ExxonMobil so in we got the tour when we went to pick up Aytek. Here are Murat, Aytek, [Aytek’s coworker], Mehmet and [another coworker].

Friday night we spend in the old and beautiful city of Bruges, Belgium. Here are the guys in front of the Belfry Tower from 1280.

Femi and I crashed at a hostel in town while the other guys went on to met another friend. Saturday the next stop was Antwerp were we stayed for the afternoon walking the city and getting some true Belgium fries.

And then it was on to Amsterdam with the Red Light District, coffee shops and canals everywhere. We all had a blast and ended the night at the night club Escape which must be one of the biggest in Amsterdam.

We ended up with two 50 euros parking fines and since we couldnt find a hotel or hostel we slept in the cars. Everyone was tired so it wasnt as bad as expected and Sunday morning we went for a short walk around Amsterdam before driving the 10 hours back to Prague.

Another awesome weekend is over so fast!

[ Update 13/9] Murat just uploaded his pictures and there are gems like this two:

September 12, 2007
The Swedish Invasion

Back in 1631 a Swedish army invaded Prague and now they are back! – This time with a more peaceful aim.

Backsell the Swede was an intern in Michigan at the same time as Femi and I and after spending a year in Germany him and Toni (another Swede) did a trip of central Europe before heading home.

Its a weekend of Swedish style drinking, ~~snus chewing~~ snusing and partying sprinkled with a little touristy activities in the mix.

July 28, 2007
Making new friends

A month ago I got an email from Alena in Koice, Slovakia asking some questions about doing an internship in Ann Arbor. She hadd somehow come across my blog and seen that I had worked at Menlo. We wrote back and forth a couple of times and I asked her if she knew anybody in Prague. She had a friend – who had a friend – who lived in Prague and thats how I got to know Ilja.

Yesterday we met Ilja for some food and pivo and had an excellent evening. His friend Jana also joined us as we spend a couple of hours in a very small pub that used to be the watering hole of Emil Holub. Jana and Ilja made a good efford in teaching us the sounds and words of the Czech and Slovakian languages although most of it seems forgotten today.

Later on Ilja invited us along to a party at some friends place. Here is a picture were we get ready to indulge in some Slovakian slivovice:

All the Czechs (and Slovakians) Ive met so far has been very kind and helpful – Im really looking forward to living here for the next six months. Dkuji!

June 3, 2007
A round of goodbyes

Finally it is tomorrow Femi and I are jumping on the plane to Prague

The last two weeks we have been homeless so we went to my parents place for shelter and good food. It was nice to spend a few weeks in the tranquility of Southern Jylland and I got around to say goodbye to some of my friends and family.

I got time to go to Rømø – the island with the huge beach.

Went sailing on Limfjorden with Klaus and Louise

Heavy drinking with the university pals

Played some football with the nephew

Biking with my dad in the club uniform

Wiki-ing with my grand parents

Today (Thursday 31st) is my last night in Copenhagen this time around – so if you are in Copenhagen and want to say goodbye you can catch me at Nemoland, Christiania around 20 – midnight.

May 31, 2007
Rødgrød med fløde – part II

I’m about to move out of Copenhagen so the last couple of days I’ve been packing. It’s tiring and quite boring but today I came across a CD with forgotten video clips from Michigan.

I can’t believe it’s been almost a year since I left. Still that year in Ann Arbor was the time of my life and the clips I found here sure brings back good memories of some of the great people I hung out with.

When my parents came to visit we made a Danish BBQ at the roof of my house. I had to make the people there try to say the name of the dessert.

See also Rødgrød Med Fløde part I

May 11, 2007
Mi casa es su casa

Last weekend two guys from Madrid stopped by our place for a couple of days. I didnt know them and they didnt know me but they found me on the website Hospitality Club (HC) where travellers can find free accommodation. Ive been a member of the site for two years but so far I hadnt used it myself and wasnt home when people wanted to stay at my place. This time it worked out – and it was a blast.

The cool thing about HC (and other sites like CouchSurfing) is that everybody gets something and it doesnt cost anything – social software at its best. When I travelled to America in 2000 I tried to use Servas – an off-line predecessor of HC started in 1949 – to find some people to stay with in US. The idea was great but in practicality too cumbersome for me. With HC its fairly easy and relatively safe to meet local people and get cheap accommodation.

Nacho and Alfredo are studying aerospace engineering and architecture and they had found some cheap flights to MalmÃ¶. So they had a few days to visit Copenhagen. They brought along some Mahou Negra cerveza (thanks!) and local red wine and then they cooked a traditional Spanish omlet. Here they are in action:

They stayed with us from Saturday till Monday so we went to a private party Saturday night and to Sunday Reggae at Rub A Dub (thanks for that idea, Alice).

Nachos and Alfredo invited us to a party at their apartment the 16th so now we just need to find cheap tickets to Madrid

February 10, 2007
Rope Walking Video

A friend asked for a video from last springs IAESTE trip to Wisconsin and I finally got around to edit the clips together – so here are four attempts to do rope walking.

November 12, 2006
Mikaels, Jens og Jokerens København

Ja, jeg er tilbage i Danmark og er ved at have etableret mig igen, og nu fik jeg så også taget mig sammen til at skrive et indlæg her.

Min postnummer er 2000 og det har indtil videre været en god oplevelse at flytte til hovedstaden. Jeg har meldt mig ledig og skulle gerne få dagpenge fra fra slutningen af denne måned.

Imens jeg har været her i København har musikken især stået på Mikael Simpson, Love Shop og Jokeren – og det passer meget godt til byens stemning, sådan en sær blanding af det afslappede, poetiske og det fanden-i-voldske.

Roskilde var sjovt, men jeg tror jeg er ved at være blive for gammel til at holde festival en hel uge – eller også var det bare fordi jeg var ved at mættet for oplevelser. I hvert fald droppede jeg det meste af søndagens program, for at tage hjem for at sove.

Et par dage efter jeg var flyttet ind kom Alberto og Luiz fra Puerto Rico forbi, så jeg tog dem med rundt i byen og var rigtig turist. Her er lige en samling turistbilleder fra vores tur, I kender nok de fleste steder.

Copenhagen dreaming, Copenhagen time, Copenhagen mine

July 17, 2006
Deutschland

Så er jeg tilbage i gode gamle Europa – herligt! Jeg ankom til Frankfurt i morges og har tilbragt dagen inden i byen, da der var 8 timer imellem mine fly.

Inden jeg tog afsted fra Ann Arbor fik jeg sagt farvel med en omgang øl og chips på taget af kollektivet. Det var godt at samle de folk der var tilbage herover og få mulighed for at sige ordentlig farvel og få en sidste øl, og en snak om gamle dage.

Tyskland spiller i aften så folk er på gaden og synger og fester, som jeg aldrig har set tyskere før – det var en god oplevelse og jeg ville ønske jeg kunne blive her og se kampen, men det må blive en anden gang for nu går mit fly snart.

Julia er en af AIESECerne fra Michigan, som vi har festet med og jeg vidste hun var i Frankfurt for et praktikophold, så jeg fik koordineret at mødes med hende inde i byen til en kop kaffe med en par af de internationale venner hun havde herfra. De påstod at de ikke havde farvekoordineret, men hvis man placerede de tre piger ved siden af hinanden var de i de helt rigtige farver til dagen.

June 24, 2006