CFA Level II

After passing Level 1 of the CFA at the December 2010 writing, I decided to not attempt the 2011 June exam....new job, new in Copenhagen....too many changes to also be worrying about studying. probably a good choice...i was absolutely drained after Level 1 and think it took me a couple of months at least to recover.

So early last fall, I signed up for writing the June 2012 Level II exam. These are my general thoughts on the exam and my preparation....

• I had the books delivered in early September but really only started looking at them in mid November. I had really enjoyed the derivatives section in level 1 so thought i would start with that. Likely a dumb thing...after a few chapters of some review and some new parts, i quickly became overwhelmed with the new material and decided I had to go back and start at the very beginning....starting at chapter 56 out of 64 chapters was likely a stupid thing.
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• December: many christmas parties, gatherings, shopping....my books were not opened again.
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• January: I started studying seriously. All weekends, at least 8 hours a day and at least 2-3 hours on weekdays. Maybe one night off a week.  The other cool thing to happen in January was that my work submitted a team to participate in the Rotterdam marathon in April. Of course I had been disappointed that i had not managed to run the Berlin marathon the previous year, so I signed up. I figured that for four months i would focus on two things: running and CFA. And then after the marathon i would spend the final six weeks focusing on CFA. 
• Running: I ran a 21 km race in Kalunborg in early January, 2 hours and 6 minutes i think? road to marathon looks good.
• CFA - managed to start on ethics and get bored as per usual (last time i left ethics until the very end. I wanted it to be fresh at the exam date, decided to do the same). I started on the Quantitative section and then Economics. I have an MA in econ so felt those two sections would be straight review and pretty easy to breeze through. I hit a wall when i got to the chapters on exchange rates....found that stuff pretty tough.

•  February: Studying going ok. We had a couple of work events at the start of the month: hockey and dinner and then a bowling and dinner night. Both nights I had a few drinks and both following days were not as productive as I had hoped. I also went to Canada for a week. I took the book on Corportate finance with me but did not open it. For some reason i felt better just having it with me....
• Running: I ran a 21 km race in Ottawa, the Winterman Half marathon in just over two hours. At least I am improving somewhere.
• Studying: this month was not as good as i had hoped. I cannot find my calendar for study calendar for February, but I know that on Feb 26 I was only on Chapter 31/64...

• March - I made a very detailed calendar of a running and studying plan. Running 5 days a week, spinning 2 times a week and then a circuit training class on Friday mornings when I could fit it in. For studying, my plan was to have covered all of the material by April 4 so I could spend the Danish Easter break (which is a lovely set of 5 days off) reviewing all the material and then writing my first practice final exam on the 5th day off. Of course i did not managed to get through all the material by the April 4. I got hung up on some of the sections in Derivatives, as well the fixed income chapters - while i found them to be some of the lesser challenging ones - were just compiled with lots and lots of info!
• Running: ran 21km Pig run in CPH, 1 hour and 58 minutes....cool.
• Studying: this was a better month for studying, I am starting to get scared.

• April: Although I had not finished all the material by my deadline of April 4, I decided i would still spend the Easter weekend reviewing all the material I had covered to date and practicing the end of chapter questions. I had not covered chapters 56 - 64 or any of the ethics chapters at this time. I figured this was ok....i could slowly over the next month review while i took in some of the more complicated info in these chapters (or so i found it). So i had a really big push for the CFA over the Easter weekend. This was also the weekend before the Rotterdam marathon too, so not too much running was expected. I tried to maintain the momentum over the next week and left for Rotterdam on Friday April 13. Took about 1 week off i think in April to participate in the marathon, and then got back to the grind.
• Running: Marathon completed in 4 hours and 16 minutes. Exactly about the time i expected which was great.
• CFA studying: by the end of April i was well on my way to having gone through most of the material for a second time. Still no review of ethics, still only into my first covering of portfolio management and derivatives. And the chapter on hedge funds - UGH! I left that one too.

• May: now the focus was 100% on CFA, no more running. There was a quick work trip to Stockholm at the start of the month to see Denmark play Sweden at the IIHF world hockey tournament....as well as a cold, but i did drop the running entirely. This is when my back started to hurt. I had been studying in the same chair, using the same table and same position for months and months with no issues....but as soon as the running stopped, the pain started. This made studying for the long intervals over the weekend days very long. I had to take more breaks. The other great thing that started in May was my vacation leave from work. I had started at my job the previous January but did not get full vacation until May the following year. I decided it was best for me to take a week of holidays staggered over the month. Denmark is also luckily endowed with 3 civic holidays in May - perfect timing for taking days to study for the CFA. In all I had 8 days off of work in May, sometimes I would take a half day and study in the mornings and work the afternoons. Sometimes I would take the whole day. By the end of the month I was just so beat down. I had gone over most of the material 3 times, with ethics i focused my efforts on the chapters that differed from level 1. I only developed my trick for exchange rates the day before the exam at noon...and after that I was done, could not study anymore. My biggest regret for this month was only starting to go through the CFA practice exams the week before the exam. My 'May' plan was to write one the first week and write the other two weeks later....i never felt ready at those times.

• Exam Day: I spent the night in the hotel where the exam was being written, Radisson Blue in Copenhagen. Great hotel, expensive, and breakfast not included. I got there in the early evening, worked on some practice exam questions, and had some wine. I ordered room service for the next morning - best thing ever! To have a huge bowl of bacon come to your door the morning of the CFA was well worth it. ;) I wrote the Level 1 exam in London, in a room with what seemed like thousands of other candidates writing. Writing in Copenhagen was a far more cozy experience. I think there may have been 200 - 300 candidates in the room which was nice. And at the break, we walked out to the lobby and there was lunch waiting for us! What a nice thing to have for you in between the morning and afternoon sessions. My official thoughts on the exam were:
• I just had enough time. In level 1, especially the afternoon session, i finished after about 2 hours. For both the morning and afternoon sessions of level II, I just finished in time to have 10 minutes to review. I hate reviewing though.
• I found the derivatives section very challenging. Wish I had spent more time there.
• Special thanks to a friend in canada writing level III this year....we had been talking about the rhymes he uses to remember certain things, and one of them really came through to me in the exam. Props to him, the bond traders and the housewives!
• I found level II a lot more challenging than Level 1. Level 1 I was able to remember all the formulas, not for level 2. I just ran out of studying time...

All in all in worked out well for me. I did manage to pass CFA Level II on my first attempt even though I really did not have a good feeling coming out of it.

<50% in the Derivatives Section
>50% and <70% in Ethics, Quantitative, Corporate Finance, Economics, Financial Analysis
>70% in  Alternative Investments, Fixed Income, Equities, Portfolio Management

No idea how many hours I spent studying. I think this is a difficult measure of studying to assess because all hours of studying differ in quality. I know it was a lot though. And i think if it is really something that you want, and you give it 100%, you can pass it.

Danish Midsummer - Sankthans

In Canada, we all look forward to Canada Day (July 1). It represents the start of summer, and for me a day of eating poutine and eggs for breakfast, drinking strawberry margaritas and - if still awake at 9pm - watching the fireworks. It also represents the start of at least one holiday a month leading up to Christmas!!! (August long,  Labour Day, Thanksgiving, Remembrance Day, CHRISTMAS).

In Denmark it is kinda the opposite - all the holidays of the year are officially over now until Christmas. The last one was at the start of June, so I guess you can say that the midsummer festival here (which is not a holiday) represents the end of the holiday season.

Side note - midsummer in Sweden is a holiday.

Back to Denmark for now and a short discussion on the midsummer holiday called SanktHans. Instead of me trying to explain what the holiday is, i will start with a short description from the ever trustworthy wikipedia -

In Denmark, the solstitial celebration is called Sankt Hans aften ("St. John's Eve"). It was an official holiday until 1770, and in accordance with the Danish tradition of celebrating a holiday on the evening before the actual day, it takes place on the evening of 23 June. It is the day where the medieval wise men and women (the doctors of that time) would gather special herbs that they needed for the rest of the year to cure people.

It has been celebrated since the times of the Vikings by visiting healing water wells and making a large bonfire to ward away evil spirits. Today the water well tradition is gone. Bonfires on the beach, speeches, picnics and songs are traditional, although bonfires are built in many other places where beaches may not be close by (i.e. on the shores of lakes and other waterways, parks, etc.) In the 1920s a tradition of putting a witch made of straw and cloth (probably made by the elder women of the family^{[citation needed]}) on the bonfire emerged as a remembrance of the church's witch burnings from 1540 to 1693^{[citation needed]}. This burning sends the "witch" away to Bloksbjerg, the Brocken mountain in the Harz region of Germany where the great witch gathering was thought to be held on this day. Some Danes regard the relatively new symbolic witch burning as inappropriate.^[7][8]

In 1885 Holger Drachmann wrote a midsommervise (Midsummer hymn) called "Vi elsker vort land..." ("We Love Our Country") that is sung with a melody composed by P.E. Lange-Müller at every bonfire on this evening.

The points I really like from this description are as follows:

1. It was an official holiday until 1770 (lol - Canada was not a country then....no even close!). I wonder what made them decide in 1770 to declare the day no longer a holiday.

2. What i take from the celebration is that you gather around a big bonfire, place a straw witch on the bonfire and watch her burn while singing songs. But whenever i think to myself "What an off tradition of celebrating the burning of women"....i think think of the funny North American Tradition of waiting on February 2 to see a groundhog emerge from its hole to determine if we will get 6 more weeks of winter. Both are quite kooky.

3. Yes, some Danes i have talked to do regard the witch burning as inappropriate. I was asking my co-workers how they wold all be celebrating the day to see what they would say....including my boss who i asked if they would be attending a witch burning or hosting their own burning at home. He told me they would be hosting their own burning at home because his son really wanted to make a witch to burn (not sure if either of us were serious in this conversation.....but great answer).

Last year on Sankt Hans day, we went to the Kongens Nytorv area to watch the burning. There with good friends, we drank many beers and watched the witch burn away into the night.

                                         Witch - pre-burning (notice all the people watching)

       Witch - post burning (notice the young child taking photos)

This year we decided to attend a different location - the Frederiskberg Garden. We arrived very early (5pm) to get a good spot for the burning and were surprised to see that we were among the first to arrive (not so surprised 15 minutes later when the rain came). A short interlude at a friends house where we have our cheese and wine picnic inside and then back to garden. We tried out best to sing the official song (i personally think my danish is a little better when i am drunk) and then cheered with everyone as the witch went up in flames. It was really a nice time - great to see so many people get together and celebrate summer - even if the main thing I (as a Canadian) get out of it is that we are burning a witch.

 Us with our Rose Port at the burning

A view of the witch on the bonfire from our amazing pre-rain

spot....the rain came soon after. The witch still burned quite well 

at 10pm despite the rain....i wonder how much lighter fluid they used.

Danish McDonalds

I am not one that regularly attends McDonalds, but on the few occasions I do go, i tend to enjoy it. I remember in high school driving in old red to the nearest Mcdonalds to buy the nugget and french fries toonie deal, and driving between Vancouver and Calgary, stopping at McDonalds first thing in the morning to buy egg mcmuffins for the famous breakfast sandwich comparison (i like MdcDonalds the best, i think Ben may prefer Starbucks or Tim Hortons...)

That said, there are McDonalds in Denmark. And funnily enough, since we have moved to the suburbs, to a community called Søborg, I now live within a 2 minute walk to a McDonalds. I have though only been to the local McDonalds a handful of times - they do not offer my favourite item, the egg mcmuffin, on the menu. They still open at 9am in the morning, at which time you are welcome to buy a burger, etc. So, i have gone for chicken mcnuggets once and a happy meal another time...that is all.

So why the blog post today on McDonalds? I just ran 16km this morning - longest post CFA II run en route to the Berlin marathon at the end of September. 16km is nothing compared to what I was running before the Rotterdam marathon, but I was still feeling pretty proud.... like I owed myself something. So i decided I would treat myself to a Daim McFlurry. I walked the two minutes to McDonalds, ordered my McFlurry only to be told that they were sold out of that flavour. I did not care for smarties or magnum flavours so i just left.

No big deal you think....but it turns out that almost every time i go to a McDonalds in Denmark there is a problem. Here is a short history (almost all at unique locations).

1. Mcflurry. I REALLY wanted the Daim McFlurry today. And of course they are sold out. I don't think they have ever been sold out of a McFlurry type any time I have ordered one in Canada.

2. Coffee. We ordered some cappuccinos there once....10 minutes into waiting, the McDonalds service representative told us the machine was broken and we had to order something else. 10 minuets to tell us that? and broken?

3. Egg Mcmuffin. The main McDonalds at the busy Nørreport station had been rumored to have breakfast sandwhichs (Ben had one once), so one saturday morning we decided to make the trip down to get one. We arrived at about 9am, and were told that on that particular day, no, Mcdonalds was not serving breakfast. Apparently only certain staff were trained at preparing breakfast and none of them were working that day. Huh? Let me back there - i can make my own egg mcmuffin if you give me the supplies!

side note - i have been to mcdonalds and stockholm and helsinki for breakfast and have enjoyed an egg mcmuffin there....i am not sure what Danes have against the egg mcmuffin. it really is delicious.

4. McChicken sandwhich. I ordered a McChicken sandwhich - no big deal right? It took the staff 15 minutes to prepare it. After about 5 minutes I asked what the problem was. I was told that the 'McChicken' was the most complicated of the sandwhiches and required extra time to make. Really? the McDonalds staff in Canada seem to have it down pretty good.

5. Also I would like to comment on the long lineups at all of the McDonalds in Denmark. Especially Nørreport. They definitely lack a level of efficiency that is present in Canada.

6. One more difference between Denmark and Canada - no honey mustard sauce! My favourite for chicken mcnuggets! And all sauces, including ketchup, cost extra. There are no free flowing ketchup dispensers around the restaurant. And if any of you are familiar with the Big Mac Index, you will know that the Big Mac in Denmark is the fifth most costly Big Mac in the world at $5.37 US. Canada's Big Mac is not much cheaper - coming in at $4.63 in 8th place. But compared to some of the other Big Mac prices in the world - hot damn is Denmark (and Canada I guess) expensive!

At least i get ketchup included in Canada. 

The Castles of Denmark – To Visit or Not To Visit – that is the Question

Note to everyone: this is a post written by my very well-written mother. Again, heres hopes to more blogging in the future on my part....

Quick question: When you hear the word ‘Denmark’ what do you think of first? Cheese? Vikings? Lego? Perhaps a foaming mug of Carlsberg beer or the ubiquitous Danish pastry? Or, if you have already had the good fortune of visiting Copenhagen, the word may conjure up images of hundreds of bicycles lined up haphazardly along side office buildings and metro stations. The Danes do adore their bicycles and cycling paths. But castles? Never. The surprising reality is that Denmark has a wealth of royal palaces and castles for the enthusiast to explore; each one with its own unique story. In fact, if you are so inclined, Denmark can be another one of those ‘ABC’ tours.

Using our daughter’s home in Copenhagen as our base, we travelled around the city as well as to neighbouring towns using Denmark’s extremely efficient and friendly bus, metro and S-tog systems. Thanks to ‘Google Maps’ planning a day trip is easy but, even without access to a computer, most Danes are happy to offer directions and many have at least a basic understanding of the English language.

Our first stop was Rosenborg Slot located in the centre of Copenhagen and very close to the ‘Round Tower’ (another ‘must-see’) and the main downtown shopping area. We arrived at the castle on an unusually warm April morning to discover that Copenhageners were already out lounging under the trees and on the lush lawns with their picnics and prams. It is a credit to the Danish Royal family that so many of the royal palaces and grounds are open to the public to enjoy. Rosenborg is just one of several royal palaces within the city limits that visitors have to chose from.

Rosenborg was built as a summer palace between 1606 and 1634 by Christian IV whose influence and coat of arms appear in many of the castles in Denmark. He had an obvious flair for architecture and is credited with designing much of this Dutch Renaissance castle himself. Rosenborg offers three floors with numerous rooms to explore, each one beautifully furnished to evoke the time period of various Danish kings. Portraits, tapestries, furniture, glass, porcelain – the rooms are rich in detail and visitors are welcome to linger at their leisure. It’s tempting to stand at a window in any one of these magnificent rooms, admire the gardens beyond, and imagine what the view was like in Christian IV’s time. You’ll need several hours to fully appreciate Rosenborg as it also houses the Royal Treasury of Crown Jewels.

Our second stop was a day trip to the town of Hillerod, the location of Frederiksborg Slot (‘slot’ is the Danish word for castle). And what a castle it is! Complete with moat, grand entrance, great halls and gardens that have been compared to a miniature version of Versailles, Fredericksborg is steeped in Danish royal history and culture. Christian IV once again takes credit for this impressive structure, with later kings adding sections to the original building. Take your time to wander unhurried through the enormous rooms, which include a great hall and a dining hall for lords and ladies of the Royal Court. This is the first time I have ever seen an entire store room filled with porcelain – magnificent place settings of plates, platters and bowls all used in royal receptions from the past.

While we stood in one smaller sitting room, my husband suddenly mentioned that it was almost noon and that the clock in the room would be chiming very soon. A security guard overhead his comment and invited us to follow him. He led us, along with another couple, down a corridor into a larger room where there were a considerable number of elegant clocks of various sizes and shapes. “You want to hear clocks,” he said with a grin. Over the next several minutes there was a symphony of chiming, tinkling, booming and musical cacophony as each clock marked the hour.

While the rooms of Frederiksborg are sumptuous, the gardens are equally as impressive. Admittedly any comparison to Versailles seems weak, but the gardens are expansive and well worth taking an hour or more to explore. We settled onto a park bench next to a pond complete with ducks to enjoy the scenery and a simple lunch of Danish bread and cheese. During the summer months a boat takes visitors around the lake behind the castle. Our visit, unfortunately, was too early in the season to enjoy this option. As well, we encountered many gardeners busily prepping the flower beds, planting annuals and cleaning the fountains for the summer ahead. It just means that we will have to make another trip to Fredericksborg to see the gardens in their full colour and flair. In reality I would welcome the opportunity to re-visit this castle and wander the hallways once more.

But there’s more. In fact, we saved the best for last. The town is Helsingor, right on the seaway approach to the Oresun Sound; the castle is Kronborg, Denmark’s most famous and most popular castle, better known as Hamlet’s castle. It is generally agreed by academics that Shakespeare never visited Denmark but he obviously had heard about this impressive Renaissance castle and chose to set his play in the town of ‘Elsinore’. The approach to the castle is a bit of a walk, especially if you are arriving by train. The massive castle looms ahead, elevated against the horizon. Surrounded by a moat, with bastions and ravelins overlooking the channel, Kronborg was first and foremost a military fortification, at the hub of international shipping.

Visitors to this castle should take advantage of the guided tours if at all possible. There are several tour options but the most unique one is of the castle’s casemates. It’s a rare opportunity to climb down into the depths of the castle and imagine that, centuries ago, Danish soldiers lived in these dark, cramped, probably damp, quarters month after month. The tour includes the dungeon where captured deserters spent their final days and a glimpse, by flashlight, of the statue of the infamous and enormous Holger the Dane. If you are unable to arrange for a guided tour be sure to purchase a flashlight to help guide your way through the maze of small, dark rooms with low ceilings. Fortunately we were with a guide who had a flashlight, knew her way around and could warn us in advance of low ceilings and uneven floors. Otherwise I might still be down there trying to find my way out.

The guided tour of the Royal apartments is equally as interesting. It includes a glimpse of the royal and regal chapel. Our animated guide was especially keen on conveying the sights, sounds, tastes, smells and scandals of the time period. She had us imagining the pageantry, the protocol and the stench of the grand reception rooms. There was some heated discussion in one of the dining halls where a 17^th century banquet feast on display included a bowl of ripe tomatoes. One member of our tour group was positive that tomatoes would not have been available in Denmark during that time period. At the end of our guided tour, as we rested our tired legs on a park bench, we encountered the same couple who had followed us into the room with the chiming clocks at Fredericksborg. During our chat with them, just to prove that it really is a small world, we learned that they were from the Sandy Hill area in Ottawa. They wanted to know which castle was next on our list. But, alas, our exploration of Danish castles was over – at least for this visit. A pilgrimage to the home of Danish author Karen Blixen, or Isak Dinesen as many know her, was the next excursion on our agenda. But that’s another story for another day.

Written by Mom

Bike riding

I started this post a couple of weeks ago....here is a short continuation and an additional bit at the end.

With the move of my work location from Hørsholm to Gentofte I have been able to trade my hour long bus commute into the country-side for a 7km bike ride. Up until now I have not taken full advantage of all the biking opportunities Copenhagen has to offer - special lanes and traffic lights on nearly every street for bikes as well as the smooth, flat terrain that is Denmark.

After leaving my bike 'Old Red' outside, unused and unloved from November to May, I thought it best to take her in for a tune up prior to my first ride to the new office. Poor girl was completely rusted out. I had to get the chain replaced and even the bell had lost its ring. My co-workers, all avid bikers who hold their bikes in quite high regards, would have been very disappointed in my lack of attentiveness. Oh well. 100$ later and my bike was in as good shape as she would ever get.

So here is a summary of my week commute so far:

Day 1: My bike was still in the shop, so I took the bus in the morning and ran home (I guess this does not really support my post title too much). -1 for me

Day 2: It rained, so I took the bus. -1 for me

Day 3: Biked in at 5:45am so I could have a little run before work. The wind was really working against me but it was so early that there were no other bikes on the road...so I felt I was going fast. Bike ride home was nice ride beside the highway....nice ride, but again the wind was going against me. I guess I just do not have my bike legs yet....i was passed by a very old guy on a much crappier bike then mine. He seemed to be having no problem with the wind! 1 point

Day 4: More wind today. its funny how this danish wind makes little inclines seem like monumental mountains. Today I went in a little later and kept getting stop by the school crossing guards that monitor the bike lanes....ugh. and I passed my first bike lane roadkill - a poor squirrel was hit (i guess) by some speedy biker. Awesome. So windy though that the huge doormat outside of a chinese restaurant blew right out in front of me while i was riding up one of those HUGE inclines (sarcasm?). Not to worry though - i think i could have walked faster than I was riding so it was not too difficult to avoid. 1 points

Day 5 - I am tired and my legs and ass hurt (i guess it takes a couple of weeks before you can really get used to sitting on the seat). Today on my ride in I managed to swallow two bugs. Disgusting - but on a positive side I guess it is a good source of protein and perhaps it means that I am biking faster. 1 point

So all in all the first week was ok, but I am looking for some harsh improvements.

new part!

Now I have been biking to work for just over a month now and I must say that it has gotten much better. 7 km each way is not too bad. The weekend after my first week at the Gentofte location, Ben and I visited Aero Island for a weekend break. While on the island we decided to rent bikes and bike around for the day. Good idea in principal, but without the proper map and good sense of direction, our rickety rental bikes and us ended up climbing the main island 'highway' to the highest point of the island instead of following the so called leisurely path along the coast. While we did eventually find the correct bike path, our 40km bike ride that day wore both of us completely out. I guess we still have some work to do....

Shoppers Drugmart vs Apoteket

On Ben's many trips back to Canada this year he has been able to bring back some of my favourite products. From clamato juice to kraft dinner, I am very lucky to be endowed with quite a few bits of Canadiana here in CPH.

One Canadian icon (which I would not have called an icon while living in Canada but have since switched to a different tune) that is impossible to join me here in Denmark is Shoppers Drugmart. Oh the reliable drugstore that always has a location near you that is open 24 hours a day! Just in case you get that middle of the night migraine and need to rush out for some intense tylenol. Or if you are on your way to work at 6am and decide now would be an amazing time to get a prescription filled. And of course, my favourite, the boxing day shopping deals! When all the boxed christmas sets of my products go on sale for half price....heaven!

The drugstore system, or Apoteket as it is called, is nowhere near as seamless as my good old Shoppers. Take my experience yesterday getting a prescription filled. It was a beautiful sunny Saturday, birds were singing and people were out and about enjoying the sunshine. Not me though - it was off to the Apoteket which is inconveniently open between 10am and 3pm and not at all on Sundays (wtf?). For people who spend their weekdays working this timing allows a very small window to get prescriptions filled. Ok...to be fair, the Apoteket is open until 6pm on weekdays...but really, when you compare this to Shoppers Drugmart it means nothing!

Anyways, so 11am off to the Apoteket I go. I walk into the store and immediately take a number. I get 72. The pharmacists are currently serving numbers 58-60. There is no telling how long I will have to wait. So I grab a chair and wait. And wait. And wait. You may be asking yourself "Why grab a chair and wait? If this is a pharmacy, can you not spend your waiting time perusing the shelves and shelves of many wonderful products....like at Shoppers?". Nope. There are no shelves and shelves of wonderful products here. Well...there is one shelf that has some fish oil, baby products and fiber...nothing really fun to look at. So I sit.

Ultimately I wait half an hour before a pharmacist is ready to serve me. Within another 3 minutes I am out the door (I am a pretty fast customer compared to some of the people waiting ahead of me in line). Number 66 was STILL standing at a station.

While half an hour is really not a big deal out of teh grand scheme of things, when I have the Shoppers Drugmart system as a benchmark I cannot help but be annoyed. At Shoppers you spend a couple minutes dropping off your prescription then you go off to shop (i used to go across the street and buy fruits and vegetables). 10 minutes later I would pop back in and my prescription would be ready. No waiting, no taking numbers, no muss no fuss. And if I did decide to wait in Shoppers I would use my time wisely perusing makeup, candles, cards, hair products, chocolate and magazines. Perhaps someone not raised on the Shoppers system would question why so many un-pharmaceutical related products belong in a Canadian pharmacy? My answer: to make the waiting painless.

Something new...

I am sorry to admit that I am likely one of the worst bloggers ever. Everyday I say to myself "Today is the day I will update my blog"...and then I find another episode of 30 Rock that I have not watched...yada yada yada....the blogging falls off the priority table. For today I will just try to summarize some of the things that have happened in the past 3 months (wow...it has been a long time) as well as some work related tidbits.

1. I passed my 3 month review and still have a job (yeah!)

2. I passed my Level 2 danish courses (yeah!) and proceeded to complete one more week of classes before throwing in the towel for the time being. For these exams we had to read several Danish short stories and be able to discuss them with the examiner. We also had to be able to hold a conversation in Danish with a classmate. Our topic was dream houses and I am happy to say we absolutely rocked it! The weather just started getting nice and I dreaded spending all day Sunday as well as Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights doing homework and attending classes. I plan on going back though in May....maybe...

3. Ben and I have had a lot of visitors in the past month. A couple of friends from my old Ottawa U days stopped by for a weekend followed by some close friends from Vancouver followed by my parents (who are currently here). This has given us a chance to go a lot more sight seeing. I have finally seen the mermaid...and let me tell you it is really nothing to write home about.

4. Ben has been the main traveler in the past three months, with trips to Canada, Switzerland, Sweden (I was on this one too!), England and back to Canada. Otherwise, the big trips for the year are to Spain, Turkey, Iceland and Croatia...with some little trips on the side. You can expect some photos and stories to come!

5. I signed up for the Berlin marathon at the end of September. Leslie - you would be happy to know that my new co-workers are just as enthusiastic about running as my peer influences in Vancouver. While in Vancouver I tended to run around False Creek on my own, my co-workers run once a week around the forest where I work...and man are they fast! I had the "opportunity" to run with them this week as my usual running partner was off enjoying the Canary Islands. While they were running at a nice leisurely pace, I was running 30 meters behind them, huffing and puffing to keep up. It is evident that I am going to have to give some things up if I am going to give some things up...most likely the delicious pastries we eat every Friday morning at work or the ever-present Carlsberg and Tuborg varieties that are cheaper than water wherever you go.

6. I have convinced some of my co-workers to participate in an NHL hockey playoff pool (something I miss dearly). I am sad to report that I am sitting in second place after the first round...I figure the person in first just got lucky and it will not hold up! I currently get up in the morning and watch my hockey games before coming into work. Otherwise I can read the scores on everyones face...which ruins the game! This morning was the first time during the playoffs that I caught the CBC stream of a hockey game...I was so happy to hear Don Cherry rant again.

7. Table Football. There are strategically placed football tables in my workplace - and Ben's - that I am relating to a North American smoke break or a Starbucks run. Coffee and tea is provided by my workplace so there is no need to venture anywhere outside of the office (not that I really can anyways because I work in the middle of a forest). So as a means to have a quick bit of non-work related social time we play table football. While I was showing some improvement for a while I seem to have taken a turn for the worst now. Another foreign colleague and I challenged two Danes to play today...and lets just say that the ROW did not win this one...not by a long shot.

8. My workplace is moving to a new location beside IKEA in three weeks. Meatballs, ice cream and hotdogs for everyone!

9. My mom will write a blog post about the castles of Denmark (because now she has been to more castles than me and she has some time to get into blogging while she is here).

10. More blog posts about stuff to come!