Denmark has followed me home!

So, I never quite got to writing about my trip unfortunately.  I got home and headed right into the brunt of summer – my internship and searching for a part-time paying job.  Here we are at the end of summer, my last day of work is tomorrow, classes at Tufts start next week. I really would like to finish up this blog… I feel like I left it open ended and I want to write about my final trip so that I can remember it down the road!

For now I just wanted to tell you a funny little story.  I live in a house that is split into two apartments and a Dane just moved in downstairs! He has lived in Copenhagen his whole life and even lived in a Kollegium with DIS students!  I feel like it is fate that Denmark has followed me home because I miss it so incredibly much!  He is getting his masters at Tufts so I will be seeing him around campus and at home!  The other day I sat on the porch and discussed how even though I do not miss Netto there is a part of me that just wants to walk through it again and pick out my bland bread, interesting ham, and the token sutterhome red wine.

Another Eurotrip down…

Sorry I have not written in so long and there was no closing to my blog when you would have expected it.  I was so busy the last three days in Copenhagen packing and saying goodbye that I had no time to write.  Also, my mom arrived a day before DIS ended!  I didn’t even tell you about the trip we just finished.  We stayed in Copenhagen for three days before heading out to Vienna, Venice, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Munich and back to Copenhagen (where I am now).  It was an incredible trip and I hope to write more about each place but for now I thought I would just do a sum up of my time abroad since I am sitting here reflecting about it.  I arrived in Copenhagen on January 17th when it was freezing snowy weather and I leave tomorrow morning May 28th when it is some-what sunny and some-what warm.  In these 4 and half months I have done so much:

• Gone to 10 countries: Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, France, Scotland.

• Gone to 20 cities: Aarhus, Ribe, Esbjerg, Copenhagen, Malmo, Munich, Amsterdam, Geneva, Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Mondsee, Prague, Budapest, Rome, Venice, Paris, Nice, Glasgow, and Edinburgh.

• Been on 28 plane rides
• Been on 5 trains (one overnight)
• Used 6 different currencies: Danish Kroner, Swedish Kroner, Euro, Pound, Hungarian Forint, Czech Crown
• Gotten lost and found my way
• Become great at reading maps

That of course is all related to travel which is what is on my mind at the moment.  There will be more blogs to come about my trip and about my experience overall studying abroad. It may not be right away as I have lots to do in this next week at home but I definitely don’t want to leave my blog unfinished!

Facing Reality

I am sitting here and I am about to head to DIS for my last exam.  Time has flown by.  I have tried to ignore the fact that we were leaving so soon…but I think I now have to face reality. We thankfully have a few more days together before we have to leave but suitcases are starting to fill the hallways and emails about departure are starting to fill our inbox.   It is a weird feeling- a mixture of happiness and sadness.  I am SO excited to see my mom, who arrives in Copenhagen in just three short days.  I am SO excited to go on our two week adventure together (something we have been dreaming about doing for a long time). I am very sad to be leaving a city that I have fallen in love with, friends that mean the world to me, and the apartment that was my home for the last four months.

I have a lot to do in the next three days – pack, check the last couple “to do in Copenhagen” things off my list,and  say goodbye to many people I care about.

It’s never over till it’s over

I have so much more to write about before I leave.  I’m going to have to write every other day at this point!  I haven’t even mentioned that my time in Copenhagen is coming to a close… maybe it is because I don’t want to actually admit it.  Today was my last day of classes which made it seem more real.  I’m going to try to live in the moment and not think about leaving!

On Wednesday night I went to my first Danish football game!  It was a huge game as it determined whether F.C. København was going to be the champion of Denmark!  I went with some friends that I live with and Susanne and it was an absolute blast.  We sat in the fan section and boy do they have huge fans.  They sang and cheered the ENTIRE game.  Half the time I couldn’t even see the field because they were waving so many flags!  It was hard not being able to sing the songs but once in a while they sang one that I could pick up on… like “We are the Champions.”  We were the champions… they won 4-0!!!!! It was a great cultural experience and so much fun.

On Thursday night I had my closing ceremony for my core class, Psychology of Happiness.  It was a very emotional night as I have grown very close to my classmates and my teacher Helle.  This has been a class that opened my eyes to new fields of psychology and new possibilities in my future. Every lecture, field study, and study tour has added something to my life both academically and personally.  I will always remember the incredible Esbjerg school and Kaospilots in Western Denmark, Judy Barber and the Greyfield Institute in Scotland,  getting my ear pierced in Glasgow with eight of my friends, playing never have I ever for two hours, climbing to the top of Arthurs seat, stuffing food into our mouths to get to the ghost tour, whiskey tasting, girl talk before bed, the incredible snow topped hills in Scotland, the laugh’s we shared, when Helle said “If you are going to party like rockstars, please bring another rockstar home with you”, the night walk around Ribe, Sam’s bar in Aarhus, the scary man at Danshostel, Brittany’s sheep scarf, riding the cannons at Sterling Castle, our crazy kilted tour guide in Edinburgh, the homeless man who stole the pizza, the viking ships, being excited to go to class every Monday and Thursday, the experience of the end of semester workshop, incredible lectures and guest lecturers, and one of the most amazing professors I’ve ever had.  There are countless things that I will remember from this class.  What I do know is that I have never had a teacher who is so enthusiastic about the subject matter. I have never had a teacher who has inspired so many students to actually care about what they are learning about.

A nice time in Nice

I had a wonderful few days in Nice, France!  The weather our first two days was fantastic, high 60s and bright sun.  Our hotel had a gorgeous roof top terrace with a bar, restaurant, and pool that overlooked the entire coast of Nice.  Since I’m still a gimp with my ankle we spent all of our time on either the beach or the pool.  Our first full day we decided it would be a great idea to lay out on the beach ALL day and soak up some sun.  That might have been a bad idea because our skin was not so used to being in the sun after living in Copenhagen for four months.  We got severely sun burned! I got a wonderful sun glass tan too.  Despite the sunburn, it was an incredibly relaxing weekend. It felt so good to once again lay on the beach with not a care in the world.  I read two books (trashy beach chick flick books) which is always a nice break from school reading.

144 hours of couch time

The last 5 days have been dull, dull, dull.  My lovely ankle has kept me from doing lots of things.  I made a permanent residence out of the couch in our common room and I became and expert on keeping my leg elevated and iced.  I managed to walk to DIS for class but that was the extent of my adventuring outside of 14 Skindergade.  I am slowly improving despite my ankle getting uglier and uglier.  It’s still very swollen and now pretty much my entire foot from toes to about 4 inches above my ankle is bruised.  It’s stellar.

Tomorrow I had to Nice!!! Good thing we planned a lazy vacation full of lots of beach time otherwise I might not have been able to go on the trip! The airport will be a struggle but it will be worth it to be sitting on a beach chair with a drink in my hand watching the sunset over the ocean.  I have been craving some beach time.  I will be back on Sunday! Hej Hej

A First Hand Experience With the Danish Health Care System

I never thought I would get to tell you about the Danish Health Care System first hand… but I unfortunately can.  On my morning run through Kings Garden yesterday I rolled my ankle and took a fall.  Classy clumsy me. I thought I could walk it off but unfortunately it was a little bit more serious than that.   I called my roommate and being the best friend in the world she skipped class to come help me.  We called a cab and went to a hospital that one of our RA’s suggested to us because it was the biggest…but they couldn’t help. Apparently some hospitals only take severe trauma patients, which I clearly wasn’t. So we hopped in another cab and headed to another hospital that COULD help me.  I have been to the hospital many times in my life and this was definitely the most smooth trip to the ER I have ever had. All I had to do was give them my CPR card and explain to them what happened. Within 20 minutes I was in a private room being attended to by the most gorgeous doctor (Grey’s Anatomy worthy…).  After consulting someone who was more experienced they decided I should get an XRAY.  This only took another 15 minutes and I made friends with the XRAY man.  Thankfully my ankle is not broken, just a very bad sprain.  They wrapped me up, gave me Danish crutches (which I have decided not to use because they are impossible), and sent me on my way.  It took just over an hour all together… impressive.

So I write from the comfortable spot on the couch that I have made my new home with my foot propped up with ice.  I have not really moved much since yesterday but I hope tomorrow I might be able to be up on my foot a bit more!

Eyjafjallajoekull and Queen Margrethe II

So now that I can finally finished blogging about each of the amazing cities I visited, I can tell you about what has been going on since being back in the lovely CPH.  DIS is right when they said it would be a different place after travel break… over the two weeks we were gone flowers bloomed, restaurants moved outside, ice cream popped up everywhere, things turned green, the city bikes were put out, the sun came out, it broke 50 degrees, people came out of hiding, the streets filled… I loved Copenhagen before but now I love it ten times more.  The city is alive and invigorating.

Last Friday was the Queens Birthday (Tillykke med fødselsdagen Queen Margrethe II) and it was a perfect day.  We decided in honor of the Queen we would refrain from going to our morning class (shame on me, shame on me) and instead strolled down Strøget to join the festivities.  First of all, I had no idea that you could possess so many Danish flags – they were everywhere – hanging out of windows, hanging on streets, hanging from the steeples of churches, in peoples hands, everywhere imaginable.  We lined Strøget and waved to the Queen as she paraded from Amalienborg to Rådhuspladsen.  I had never been so close to a Queen before and probably will never be again.  Afterwards we picked up some of our new favorite ice cream (from a new ice cream “shack” in Frue Plads), grabbed some blankets, and went to lie out in Kings Garden.  It is sad that we are able to bask in the sun in only 55 degrees but after months of being cold 55 degrees feels great.  To make the day even better, later that night we played Taboo!!!! I LOVE Taboo and was so excited to find out there is an iphone application!  It was a day full of sun and laughter and it couldn’t be beat.

Then the unimaginable happened. A volcano named Eyjafjallajoekull (only a ridiculous volcano like this could have a such a ridiculous name) in Iceland erupted and shut down Europe for the last 5 days.  A gigantic ash cloud decided to make it’s way to Europe grounding all flights and closing all airports for 5 full days.  People were and still are stuck everywhere.  The stories of people being stuck (including two people visiting us who might as well just move into my apartment at this point) are ridiculous.  We have obsessed over the news and sit in circles in our common room seeing who can find out the most recent information or who can find out the best routes to get anywhere by train.  Friends are taking 40 hour train rides back to Spain and Parents are paying 5,000 dollars to fly back to the United States after 6 additional days of being stuck in Copenhagen.  At this point it has stopped being ridiculous and starting being straight out funny.  Who would have thought a Volcano could cause this problem for so many people and put airlines into 1.3 billion dollars of debt.  On the bright side, exactly a week after the eruption, Copenhagen airport started to open this morning. WE ARE NO LONGER STUCK!

The Fairytale City of Prague

We arrived in Prague an hour late because the air space around Prague airport was cleared for the Russian president who was flying in to sign the treaty with Obama.  Leaving the airport we saw airforce one!  You could tell immediately that the US president was around when there were police on every single corner, tanks surrounding the US Embassy, and helicopters with spotlights flying in circles. Thankfully we only had to deal with it for a day!

First night in Prague: We got into the airport around 6:30 so it was still light out. We decided to head out an get dinner and the light in the sky was just incredible.  Everything looked fake with the sun reflecting off the colorful buildings. It was very cool.  We got to Old Town Square with just enough time to hear the astronomical clock strike 7!

Old Town Square and the Easter Festival: Old Town Square is beautiful. I think it looks like one of those fake little villages at Disney World. Seriously, it is unreal.  From the astronomical clock and horn blowing to the horse drawn carriages it couldn’t feel more like a fairytale.  There was a fantastic Easter festival in the square all the days we were there.  There were adorable little girls doing traditional dancing, a blacksmith, street vendors, those amazing Prague pastry cookies, and so much more.  We couldn’t get sick of walking through it.

Our 6 hour tour of Prague: I think one of the best parts of this tour was our guide because she was so weird it was hilarious!  Some of the things that came out of her mouth made me die inside they were so ridiculous (hilarious at the same time).  It certainly made our 6 hour tour interesting! We got to see all the big sites of Prague – the Charles bridge, the Prague Castle, Old Town Square, and the Jewish Quarter. We saw the coolest sculpture of books in the municipal library.  We had a traditional Czech lunch – I had Goulash and dumplings (It was surprisingly good!) with our guide and then headed on our boat ride!

The boat ride: The boat ride was equally as hilarious as our guide. The station where we caught the boat was even more Disney World like with sailors playing their accordions. There were some very sugar high Czech children that would not stop trying to press buttons and run around the boat (it was a small boat…) and our captain seemed like he was ready to throw them overboard.  He was making jokes to us in English about the children, as they did not understand.  It was quite funny.  The tour finished with him asking me and Caroline if we would take his number and making jokes that he can cook and he is a good catch (mind you, he was saying this in front of all 15 people on the boat loud enough for everyone to hear).

The View of Prague Castle: Prague Castle from lesser town, Prague Castle from old town, Prague Castle from the Charles Bridge… doesn’t matter its still beautiful!

Horse Drawn Carriage: Since Prague is Disney World for adults we just had to take a horse drawn carriage ride.  It is a great city to have a carriage ride minus the cobblestones, which make the carriage a bit bumpy.  We did it at dusk and were wrapped up in blankets… it was adorable.

Dinner with Larissa: We got to see another good Tufts friend who is studying abroad in Prague! We went to her favorite place to go out to eat – a full day breakfast place that has blueberry pancakes!  We ended up sitting there for a long time reminiscing about freshman year and all the funny stories we had in our dorm (we all lived in the best dorm- Miller Hall shout out).

Delicious Prague Cookies: Basically warm bread with sugar on them and they are fantastic….

The Astronomical Clock: Not only did we watch it do it’s thing 3 times we also walked to the top!  The view of Old Town Square was fantastic.  Everything looks even more fake- like a little model city with fake people.  We were up at the top when it struck noon and we got to see the trumpet player first hand!

Baguettes and Brie in Paris

From Budapest we headed west to Paris.  It was Easter Sunday so we figured things would be pretty dead but surprisingly lots of shops and restaurants were open when we landed!  Our first night in Paris was great because we met up with some of the girls we live with at their hotel and caught up after being gone for just over a week.  It was fun to tell stories of our adventures.  We had 4 nights and 4 full days in Paris and here are some of my favorite things that we did:

Sacre Coeur and Monmarte: Monmarte was a beautiful area with adorable small residential streets intertwining each other.  It is the former artist district and you definitely get that vibe. We drove by the Moulan Rouge on our way up the hill to Sacre Coeur.  I thought the view from up on the hill was gorgeous. You could see all of Paris and we had a gorgeous morning light.

Notre Dame Cathedral: This is another building that I have studied in architecture before   so once again it was great to be able to see it in person!  We went in and decided to light candles!  They have little machines that you put 2 Euros in and you get your little candle to light.  Care and I each light one.  I love Notre Dame for its stained glass.  It was so unlike any of the other churches we saw on our journey.

Avenue des Champs-Élysées: Caroline decided to walk up the whole thing started from Concorde Square.  The first half mile is surrounded by trees and gardens and then there are big shops and restaurants.  It was fun to judge our distance from the Arc de Triomphe as we got closer and closer.  We ate lunch at the Champs at a great restaurant called George V. We sat outside and had our first crepes! I had a ham and cheese crepe and it was delicious.

Arc de Triomphe: We walked 284 steps to the top of the Arc to a beautiful and interesting view of Paris. This is where you see grand manner and the works of Haussmann because the Arc de Triomphe is the center of radial avenues.  I can imagine if you are flying above it looks like the Arc is the middle of an old wooden wheel.  From the top you call see how long and straight the boulevards of Paris are.

Eiffel Tower: We visited the Eiffel Tower on three different occasions –during the day, at dusk, and at night.  My favorite visit was on second to last night when we decided to go to a French grocery store and bought a baguette, cheese, and red wine.  We brought our food and our hotel towels to the Eiffel Tower, had a picnic, and watched the sun go down.  This was the second time we saw the tower light up but this time about 20 minutes later it started to sparkle! It was very cool.  It was definitely my favorite moment of Paris.

Musee D’Orsay: This is definitely my favorite museum ever.  They have the most incredible collection of Monet’s.  I would have been happy with just seeing that room. I love Monet, Van Gogh, Degass, and so many more impressionist painters. I even made a couple of new favorites in Orsay.  The building that houses this museum is also very cool as it was an old train station. They did a fantastic job of reinventing the space.

The Louvre: We are lucky for sure because we only waiting in line for 5 minutes after opening.  We headed straight to the Mona Lisa which I have to say was a bit of a let down.  You hear about something your whole life and when you get there you realize how small it actually is.  It was still a great experience to see it but was not the highlight.  My favorite exhibition in the Louvre was the Ancient Egyptian collection.  I love Egyptian art!  I got to see Hammurabi’s Code which I definitely wrote a paper on in Art History freshman year at Tufts! First, the Louvre is gigantic. Second, you will get lost in the Louvre. Third, you will come across great art that wasn’t on your list of things to see.  We though the Syrian and Iranian art was really cool and we found it by mistake (by being lost!)

Versailles: Versailles was beautiful but I wish I could have seen in about a month later when the flowers were blooming.  It was at least green.  My favorite parts of Versailles would definitely have to be the sculpted gardens and the façade of the palace.  The colors, the gold, the black and white marble floor all make for a beautiful picture.  It is funny to be in Paris and be looking from the steps of a huge palace and feel like you almost see aspects of Washington D.C. It is the Grand Manner style of design that I learned in my Copenhagen History and Contemporary Issues class.

Haagen Dazs Ice Cream Fondue: For dinner (I know you are cringing parents) we had Ice Cream Fondue… what a fantastic creation.  They give you 20 little round balls of ice cream in a frozen trey and you dip them in to Belgian chocolate! Caroline and I were in heaven. We most definitely want to suggest to J.P licks this fantastic invention.

Angelina’s Hot Chocolate: We went to the famous Angelina’s to get some of the famous hot chocolate.  It deserves to be famous because it was incredible. It’s like melted chocolate with home-made whip cream. Delicious!

Hotel du Louvre: This was a fantastic hotel not only because of it’s location but also because of our Parisian room!  We loved our all blue somewhat clashing room!