Berit & Chris's weblog

Berit's Graduation

Berit recieved her Diploma today, a MSc in Information Technology, E-Business. The graduation ceremony took place in the very new, 14 days old in fact, ITU building opened by Prince Joachim (who has been suffering in the media a bit lately!). This was culmination of two years hard crafting and worrying by the gorgeous Berit who can be seen here trying to avoid having her picture taken whilst being presented with her diploma :-)

The IT University of Copenhagen's new building, in the Ørestad, has only been open for a couple of weeks now so unfortunately Berit never had the chance to use it for anything other than the graduation ceremony. Although there was still the odd finishing touch left to do, the new building was mighty impressive and looks like it will be the perfect backdrop to give future students plenty of inspiration.

Copenhagen bound

Chris and I are spending a few days in Denmark due to my graduation tomorrow, and managed to squeeze in a few coffees with old study friends in Copenhagen today. First, we met up with Maria, my thesis partner, in Baresso on Købmagergade to celebrate life in the real world and the fact that Maria has recently landed a fantastic job with a recognised Danish pharmaceutical company. Later, we met up with my old study group from Copenhagen University to reminiscence about student life, discuss the upcoming American election, and catch up on royal gossip on a day, which brough the announcement of the divorce of prince Joachim and princess Alexandra.

Celebrations!

I am in a weird and wonderful state of disbelief; after more than five years of study, I finally had my last exam. My thesis partner, Maria, and I defended our thesis earlier today, on knowledge transfer in communities of practice, as the culmination of our MSc., hereby ending months of stress and frustration. Now, I cannot wait to celebrate the good result with everyone back in Bristol. Thank you for all your kind words of support :-)

Read thesis abstract in pdf. format.

Reunion

I am back in Denmark for the next three weeks to finish my exams. And last night I met up with 12 old classmates from elementary school and a former teacher to celebrate our 10 year reunion.

It was a fantastic evening, beautifully organised by two very special girls, Anne Mette and Tine, whom I haven’t seen in years. After drinks, we sat down to a wonderful meal, wine and dessert accompanied by musical classics from the late 80s and early 90s. And we couldn’t stop talking. It’s surprising how much you still remember from those years, and how much everything is still a part of you, and it was fantastic to reminiscence about school trips abroad, general outings and that unique all-girl cocktail party. Although, we all looked a little different from 10 years ago, we agreed that maybe we hadn’t changed that much after all. Still, we were growing up. A few had become parents, were engaged or married, and some had moved abroad. We had been an important part of each others’ lives for ten years, and I am confident that I had the best class mates anyone could have wished for.

Fairytale Wedding

It has been a wonderful day. Earlier today, Danish Crown Prince Frederik married his fiancée at a beautiful ceremony in central Copenhagen. More than one hundred thousand people had lined the streets and were waving Australian and Danish flags. After the ceremony the couple went by open carriage, escorted by horses, to the Danish Royal Palace, Amalienborg. Here crowds of well wishers had gathered, waving to the couple, who had positioned themselves on the balcony. Following the 'balcony-scene', Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary continued to Fredensborg in North Zealand to celebrate with family and friends. Luckily, DR's online broadcast worked (almost) perfectly; I 'borrowed' this picture from their website Royal Wedding.

Highlights from the reception, were also broadcast online, including speeches by Queen Margrethe, Crown Princess Mary's father and the groom, and the romantic and traditional wedding walse towards the end of the evening. No doubt, my eyes will be somewhat puffy tomorrow morning!

Catching up

Reassured that Chris was on the mend and safely back from hospital, I escaped from my studies and had lunch in Copenhagen at café Klaptræet with my newly married friend, Vibeke. It was fantastic to see her again after so many months, and we spent some five hours catching up and looking at photographs from her wedding and honeymoon to South Africa. It looked amazing, and was quite a difference from the wet and wintry streets of Copenhagen.

Egg engineering

Chris is spending a long weekend with me in Denmark. Today, we jumped on the metro to visit the latest tourist attraction in Copenhagen, Fields - Scandinavia's biggest shopping mall. And I was well pleased. Chris on the other hand found there to be far too many clothes shops! We of course had to visit the obligatory kitchen come interior design shop where I took great delight in watching Chris puncture his finger whilst using his great engineering talent trying to figure out what an egg pricker was!

Getting Older!

Since Berit's over in Denmark finishing off her thesis right now we decided to use it as an excuse to celebrate my Birthday over here. Denmark is currently experiencing a proper winter, snow and all, which is providing a good distraction when one is trying to forget the fact that there's only one more year in the twenty's bracket for me!

Berit's brother John has just bought a new flat in 'the city of tomorrow', as mentioned in one of our last entries, and one of the first things we did was to go and have a look. It's a fantastic flat and I'm extremely jealous, I only wish the same value and quality flats were available in Bristol. The city of tomorrow is now known as Västra Hamnen (West Harbour) and John’s flat is on the Sundspromenaden (Quayside Promenade). If you download the .exe below you’ll see a 180 degree view of the whole area. Look carefully on the left hand side and you’ll just be able to see the ‘Turning Torso’ (see separate pic), which should be a pretty impressive place to have a flat when it’s finished. One thing that caught my eye are these polished black rocks which are dotted around the waterfront. They turned out to be one of the many interesting sculptures dotted around the place.

Download file

We went the boat show in Copenhagen yesterday, which pleasantly surprised me. It was pretty big and included much the same as the London boat show, just in smaller amounts. It was a very pleasant experience viewing the boats here too since you could get on every boat straight away. What I did note was that we viewed pretty much the same boats as we saw at the London show but came away with a completely different opinion, both on price and quality. Looking at 35-40ft blue water cruiser types, instead of the Dufor/Gibsea looking like very good value for money with good layouts, as in London, the Jeanneau's seem to top the tables here. Proves that if I was ever actually in the market for a boat it would be worth doing the rounds at a few European shows before making a decision :-)

Danish Christmas

We spent a lovely Christmas Eve and a First Christmas Day in Denmark, relaxing and eating far too much. In Denmark, Christmas is celebrated on the eve of the 24th with pork roast or duck, potatoes and red cabbage. For dessert, we have rice pudding with hot cherry sauce. A surprise almond is hidden in the pudding, and the person who finds it can lay claim to a present. Later, we open our presents and indulge in cakes, biscuits, marzipan, oranges and glögg. On the 25th, we continue eating – the traditional Christmas Day lunch is quite elaborate and intended to fill you up for days!

Christmas in Tivoli

Today, while I met with my thesis partner, Chris went shopping with John in central Copenhagen and realised poor shopping ability runs in the family!

Later in the afternoon, Chris and I joined the long queue in front of Tivoli. Christmas in Tivoli is celebrating its tenth season, and it seemed like the perfect place to get into the Christmas spirit. Thousands of white lights lit up the trees inside the garden and paths were lined with specialist shops selling handmade ‘nisser’ (pixies), traditional Danish Christmas decorations, glögg (mulled wine), cakes and other delicacies. And there was a lovely smell of roasted almonds and burning coal.

Xmas shopping

We survived the shopping! Click on pics to see some shots of Copenhagen by night at Christmas time.

Xmas in Copenhagen

After a long days travelling, including Auntie Joy coming to the rescue by supplying safe sanctuary for the mini whilst we are away, we arrived in Copenhagen late last night to start our Christmas hols. The flight was excellent, partially because the plane turned out to be one of SAS’s Airbus A321-200’s and it was Berit’s first flight on an Airbus (just in-case anyone should be wondering why this is significant I actually work for Airbus so it’s not all down to sad plane spotting :-)

Copenhagen Airport is quite impressive, with artwork like the one in the pic here to greet you as well as the ‘to be expected in Denmark’ designer chairs. It all has a very modern, clean and well organised feel to it, so it's a good airport to arrive at.

We’re spending Christmas in Kokkedal with Berit’s mum, Lis, and brother, John, and then on to Guernsey on Boxing Day to celebrate the new year with mum and dad. We’re off into Hørsholm and Copenhagen today, Xmas shopping of course!

Royal Danish Announcement

Today, it was announced from the Danish Royal Palace that the crown prince is to be engaged to his Tasmanian girlfriend, Mary Elizabeth Donaldson on October 8th 2003. The wedding will take place in May next year.