Celebrating in the City

Friday morning we got ourselves up and headed up to DTU to listen one of the DTU/TTU guys defend his thesis. Well, Michael went to listen and I went to visit our friend Dorte. :)
Roland did great and got a good mark on his defense. There was no doubt that he would, he is a wonderfully smart guy.

Friday evening it was time to celebrate with Roland along with Jason, Bryant and David who are all in the DTU/TTU program. David is your "stereotypical" Texan. He goes everywhere with his cowboy hat and boots and it was a lot of fun being in the city with him to see all the attention he got. It was all good attention too. He said it is easy to meet girls! I don't doubt it. I'd be interested in a cowboy too if I hadn't ever seen one before!

We met in the city and ate dinner at Riz Raz. It is a great Mediterranean food restaurant. We had been once before with Kelli and Mads. The food was just as good as it was the first time and we had just as much fun.

One of Jasons favorite spots in the city is a quaint little microbrewery called, Brew Pub . It was packed and hoppin'. I've had their beer before from a bottle from the store, but never from the actual place. It was delicious. There is even one beer called "Amarillo". We stood around a tiny table, talked and enjoyed ourselves. There was a cute little courtyard in the back that was all dug up for renovations, but I believe we will be making the trip back here in the summer to enjoy it.

As it was Roland's last night in Copenhagen he had to visit his favorite spot, Copenhagen Jazz House. None of us in the group had been there before besides Roland. There was an entry fee which was a little pricey, 90dkk (19 USD), but as far as entrance fees to places, it was actually pretty reasonable. So, I'm not sure why I'm complaining! Hmmm??? The atmosphere was amazing and the music was incredible. The only down side was that we couldn't talk during the performance. I mean I guess we could have, it was a bar, but no one else was so I think we probably would be been hushed. I guess thats the difference between me, just enjoying jazz music and those who LOVE jazz music. :)

Here is a little clip of some of the music.

Saturday was an exciting day! If you're a long time reader you know that one of our favorite ways to spend our weekends is going to the forest. Saturday, we got to start that up again! The weather was nice enough, the sun was out so we put on our hiking boots and went on our merry way. We took different route than we had before and along the way we came to "Garderhøj Fortet". (A Fort) It reminded us so much of the "Lyngby Fortet" we visited in the fall, but less grown over with bush.

Garderhøj Fortet

Around the back of the fort

Caution!
Break Dancing in Progress

(It means roughly there is a steep cliff)

DTU/TTU Program

I have made reference to this program numerous times on this blog. When I started the blog the main people that read it, all knew what this program is and so I never felt the need to explain it. 2.5 years later, I find, it would be a good idea to explain it again plus it will give me a page to reference back to later. :)

Back in 2001 Texas Tech University (TTU) and Denmark Technical University(DTU) here in Lyngby developed a concept for a duel Electrical Engineering Masters Degree Program funded by Texas Instruments. The idea was that the TTU students would move to Denmark for 15 months where they would take classes at DTU and do research for their Masters Thesis at the Texas Instruments branch in Lyngby. The DTU students would spend 1 year divided between Lubbock and Dallas doing the same thing. At the end of the 15 months or the 1 year the students would receive a masters degree in Electrical Engineering from both universities. In 2001 while Michael was finishing his Bachelors degree Dr. Chao approached him to tell him about this program and the vision and told Michael he was interested in having him be the first student. Obviously he said yes. There was a lot of odds and ends to get the program running and at times we didn't think it would happen but a year later in 2002 everything was set in stone and we only had about 2 months to get ready to move to Denmark.

That was 5.5 years ago and now, there have been 13 students that have done this exchange, 7 of which have already completed it and 6 that are currently in the program. The program has branched out and now some of the students coming to Denmark will do their research at the Texas Instruments in Germany outside of Munich.

There are some articles online about the program as well.
The first link is an article Michael wrote upon our departure from Denmark in 2002 for DTU.
The second is an Article from the Tech Newspaper about Michael and Klaus too.
The third link is about the program, but has a picture of us on there.

An American in Denmark (Written by Michael)
Going Abroad Studing with Advantages
DTU Sets New Standard


We came as the first and got A LOT of special treatment and help from the professor in Denmark that helped set the program. Because of that, one of our motivations for wanting to come back to Denmark was to be here to help out with the new students as they came. A payback to the program if you will. Though I was never a student in the program, I feel great pride in it and want to help out where I can, perhaps because it gave me the experience of a lifetime to live abroad. So, last night we had all the guys that have been part of the program that are in Denmark right now over for beer and food to help welcome the two newest students that arrived only about a week ago. Plus it's always nice to have a house full of Texans and some of our favorite Danes! As it turns out Michael was one of the new students Physics Lab T.A'.s his first year at Tech. That made Michel feel nice and old ;)

The Guys

Jens Skovgaard Olsen, Bryant Heath, David Tiprigan , Michael Pate,
Jason Slay, Klaus Krogsgaard, Christian Toft Bjerreskov

A Couple Other Program Pictures

June 2007

January 2007

3 Texans and a Brazilian in Denmark for Christmas

Our Christmas was so nice and relaxing. We woke up in the morning and opened all our presents our families had sent to us and our gifts to each other. We have been talking about getting new knives because ours are getting really dull. Michael surprised me with new AWESOME knives and I got him some coffee cups he really liked.

For dinner we had invited Daniel and Fran over. Daniel is one of the Texas Tech Students here studying at Denmark Technical University. Fran is also a student at DTU and is from Brazil.
Fran made us "Greek Rice" from Brazil. It is a traditional Brazillian Christmas Food. It was cool to hear about her Christmas and New Years in Brazil. It is summer down there right now and she thought it was quite strange to be celebrating Christmas in the winter. She also told us about how they hang out on the beach on New Years. Ah, that sounded nice.

Of course we would have preferred to have been in Lubbock or El Paso for Christmas, but we had a really great Christmas despite that fact.

Fran and Daniel

US!

Dinner

Frans DELICIOUS Brazilian "Greek Rice"
It contains rice, carrots, pecans, raisins, and sliced ham

Æbleskivers for dessert

It was cold and windy on Christmas Day.
This is Fran and Daniel cold before they even stepped outside

Bakken/Dyrehaven Take 2

We have been BUUUUUSY!!!! So, I have a TON to say, but I'll just have to keep some things for later :) Not this past weekend but the one before we went to Bakken again. This time with all the students that have been and are in the TTU/DTU program along with Dr. Chao, the Texas Tech professor that is the man behind making this program a reality. We ate at Bakken then wondered around Dyrehaven for a bit.

Micheal with Soft Ice at Bakken

Jason Slay, Daniel King, Roland Son, Michael Pate, Dr. Chao, Klaus Krogsgaard, Austin Mullins and Jens Olsen-Skovegaard

The Tech Students! Get Your Guns Up!

Walking through the park

A deer!

Our Danish classes are going well, but now we have a brand new teacher. We hadn't had a class in about 4 weeks because ours was sick then out on summer holiday, and now looks like found a new job. SO we got a new teacher last week and WE LOVE HER!!!! She teaches in the same manner that our first teacher taught and we couldn't be happier about it. Just in the first class we could tell how much we are going to benefit from her and how much more we will be getting out of our classes. YEA!!

And Finally Video # 6!
The Partney's in Denmark - Day 6 - Central Copenhagen Pt. 2

Updates and Video

Here's something crazy. It was 5 years ago yesterday (June 4th) that Michael and I stepped foot in Denmark for the very first time. I would never have guess what an important part of our lives this little country tucked up in Scandinavia would become. That also means that today is the 5 year anniversary of my dads death. It is kinda bitter sweet that those two things will always be looked at together.

We have been great. We had the Tech students here for a couple nights and they are now in their own place. It was fun to show them around and be able to help them out their first days here. Someone did it for us and we were grateful. I hope they will look back and feel the same way about us. Saturday we went out to Jen's farm for a little bbq and to watch the Denmark-Sweden Soccer Game. It was, interesting to say the least. It was a great and exciting game until it got canceled in the last minutes of the game because an angry fan stormed the field and tried to attack one of the refs. Game was halted and then called off. We were in the midsts of some very confused and not so happy Danes. None the less, we had a fun time.

Today is Constitution Day in Denmark and tonight we went over to one of Michaels co-workers and his wifes house with Klaus for a bbq. It was a beautiful day and we sat outside and ate and had a nice time.

So, thats what we have been up to.

Now, Video Number 4!!
If you didn't see the first 3 videos, refer to the previous 3 posts to find out what these are all about and to watch the others, before you watch today's video. :)

"The Partney's in Denmark: Day 4 - Bakken and Dyrehaven"

More Houseguests!!

A small handful of you (perhaps just our parents) may remember that when we moved to Denmark in 2002 we had NO IDEA where we would be living until about 1 week before we arrived. The housing office magically bumped us to the top of a waiting list for housing. The housing for students in Denmark is sparse. It is not a country you can just come to and find an apartment like you could in the states. While there are many many apartments, they are not overseen by one central office in each complex. Some people own their apartments and some rent them. Back to my story, we didn't know where we were going to live until the week before we got here. Fast forward to today. Tomorrow 2 new Texas Tech students are arriving in Copenhagen for the DTU/TTU program, and guess what? They don't have a place to live yet! We had offered to let them stay with us if they didn't get assigned anywhere before they got here, and sure enough, they arrive tomorrow and will be homeless. Well not completely, Their temporary residents is in The Partney Suite. They will stay with us for a few days at first because of our very close proximity to the university. Then they will start getting passed around from house to house. Tomorrow Michael and Jens (One of the Danes that went to TTU) are going to pick them up and take them to DTU and go with them to the housing office to get a place to live all set up. This isn't said much but one of both of our big motivators of really wanting to move back to Denmark was to help out a little more with this DTU/TTU program, so while getting news 24 hours before they came that they needed a place to stay might really stress out most people, we are glad we are here to help out. I've only meet them both once and Michael a few times. But we share that Red Raider Bond, so we aren't going to leave them wondering a new country on their own :) Now I'm off to set back up the Partney Suite, do some grocery shopping and making sure they have everything they might need! :)

And now, Today's video!
If you didn't see the 1st video, refer to the previous post to find out what these are all about and to watch the first video, before you watch todays video. :)

"The Partney's in Denmark: Day 2 - Central Copenhagen"