The Final Countdown!

So, I have successfully completed my semester at DIS, culturally immersed myself, seen new places, and learned that American food portions really are preposterously large...study abroad checklist, COMPLETE!

Though I still have 1 more day here, I've tied up all the loose ends, bought an absurd amount of Danish candy (i.e. about 10 lbs. of Haribo), and shared many teary and heartfelt goodbyes. Today I am chilling with my family (I think we are going to see Robin Hood) and packing. Hopefully I'll also make it into town for 1 last trip to St. Peter's Bakery as well!

This past week was crazy busy, I wrote my first ever philosophy paper (surprisingly easy, I guess I did learn a lot in that class) during the first half of the week and then studied for my biology of marine mammals final for the second half. Cultural activities in between included: Copenhagen Botanical Gardens, Tivoli, 21st birthday party for a friend (okay, not Danish culture, but culture nonetheless), cake at La Glace, got lots of Danish recipes from my host fam, bought souvenirs, had 1 last hygge night with friends, went to Christiana (Copenhagen's "free" community), and went to the DIS closing ceremony.

I will probably write 1 more cheesy/emotional post when I get home to properly conclude my blog-y-kins, but for now, my time in Denmark is ticking and these bags aren't packing themselves!

P.S. mom, dad, if you are out there in blog reader world, I'm hardcore craving good pizza, just saying...

4 papers down, 1 to go!

Unfortunately not much to report at the moment. Wednesday and Thursday (and a good portion of Friday morning) I was writing papers/learning to speak Danish. Yesterday I had a term paper due in every single class (4) plus a final test and a presentation in Danish where I had to talk about my family for 5 minutes - in Danish...

But, with very little sleep I survived, and now I just have 1 paper and 1 final left and my grand semester in Denmark will officially be over. I have 1 week and a list of 10 cultural activities that I still have left to do too!

Today I am taking it easy, catching up on sleep, thinking about writing my last paper, and praying that I will see the sun again before I leave Denmark (the current 10-day forecast says it will be cold and rainy here until we leave...).

I think tomorrow we are going to try to go to Tivoli but our plans are still kind of up in the air...

Food log:

Breakfast: rolls with jam and honey

Lunch: salmon smorrebrod

Dinner: shrimp and noodle thing (Kristian's recipe!)

More Prague!

I am safely back in beautiful Copenhagen, where the plants are FINALLY starting to bloom! It is still pretty chilly, but manageable!

Prague:

Saturday I ate my one and only non-Czech meal, Starbucks for breakfast, because for whatever reason, all bakeries in Prague are close on weekends! I needed something quick because I was planning on doing a walking tour of the city and Starbucks was my only option (in case you are wondering, Starbucks is overpriced in Prague too, I got a coffee and a muffin and it was one of my most expensive meals...). Anyway, as I ate my Starbucks I watched the clock tower performance in the Town Hall Square (very famous, extremely lame, the 12 Apostles peak their heads out of a door above the clock...and that is it...). Then, I was waiting and waiting and waiting for my walking tour, but of course the guide was sick so the company was only doing the PAID walking tours (I was obvi going to do the free one!). So, I figured I'd just do the tour Sunday and headed to the National Museum!

The National Museum is actually a museum of natural science so I LOVED it, and spent over 3 hours there (it wasn't that big and all of the exhibits were in Czech...but it was still awesome!!!!) They had rocks, prehistory/archeology, zoology, history of the earth and planets, paleontology, and anthropology (the rock exhibit was my favorite)!!!!

After the museum, I had a chicken schnitzel sandwich from a street vendor, and then headed to the Jewish Quarter (called the Jewish Quarter b/c back in the day Jews could only live and work in this tiny section of the city) to go to the Jewish Museum (which is actually a series of buildings, 4 synagogues, a cemetery, and a ceremony hall). However, what I failed to remember was of course, Saturday is the Sabbath Day in the Jewish religion, so of course everything was closed! So, I went back to my hostel to regroup/find a new plan. I decided to go to Petrin Tower, which is a famous tower where the communists had spies or something like that, but it boasts an incredible view of the city. The Tower itself is on a huge hill that is just 1 huge park so I spent some time climbing the hill/walking around the park as well. When I got to the top of the hill there was a GIANT line to get up to the top of the tower (plus about 300 stairs) so I decided to skip the tower and go to this random festival that they were having at the top of the hill (the view from the top of the hill was amazing enough for me)! I got this donut type thing that street vendors sell all over (it is dough wrapped around a wooden stick, cooked over coals, the rolled in nuts, vanilla, toffee, almonds, cinnamon, and sugar) walked around, and sat in a tulip garden! After the festival, I went back down into the city, had yet another fantastic and cheap meal (beef goulash this time, AMAZING!!!!) and went back to my hostel!

Sunday I woke up early, did a walking tour (by this time I had seen most of the sites but it was cool hearing the history of the city), ate lunch (I don't know what it was, but it was like 300 grams of protein smothered in gravy, mmmm!!!) and headed across the river. I went to St. Nicolas Cathedral, St. Vitus Cathedral, and then to the Jewish museum. After that I went back to my hostel to relax before dinner, went to dinner (pork medallions with bacon and garlic, Cole slaw with vinegar instead of mayo, and of course, beer), walked around a little, and then went back to my hostel. I turned in pretty early b/c I had to leave for the airport pretty early in the morning.

Monday I flew home, went to the gym (lots and lots of gravy in Prague...) and attempted to do homework. Had dinner with Anne (Peter was in Koln for work, Henrik had soccer from 6-9), did more homework, and went to bed.

Tuesday was a normal day, class, shwarma for dinner, wall street for cheap beer.

Today I woke up, went to a bakery near my house, ate a pastry on the shore of the lake near my house, and now I NEED to finish my paper that I've been putting off for a week! These next 2 days are going to be major hw days (end of semester rush) so you probably won't hear from me, but I will update next week when I am doing all of my last minute cultural things!

I can't promise that my pics from Prague will be up within the next two weeks, I'm going to be pretty busy, but I will try!

Hello from Prague!!!

So normally I would try to put "Hello from Prague" in the language of the country I am in, but if any of my beautiful readers out there have ever experienced the Czech language, they will understand why this is not the case for this post! Czech is absolutely mind boggling! I guess it is kind of similar to Russian, but all I know is I don't understand it, I cannot relate it to any other language I know/pretend to know, and everyone mumbles/speaks very softly!

Other than the language barrier that caused me to get lost for 3 hours yesterday, Prague so far is amazing!!!! The food is all pork, potatoes, and brown gravy, so naturally I am in HEAVEN!!!! Everything is super cheap as well. I just back from dinner where I had a huge main dish plus a big beer (in a stein and everything) for $6!!!

So yesterday I got into Prague around 10am, learned the hard way that though everything else in Prague is cheap, taxis are not (well, I guess it is not that bad, $30 to get me from the airport to my hostel, about 45 minutes in bumper to bumper traffic!) and then started my grand exploration!

I just started wandering around, ate a 50 cent pastry in this really beautiful park, ended up in Vashrad (sp) which was the fortress/royal residence in the 10th and 11th centuries, got hugely lost, sat in the botanical gardens, got lost again, and then met some friends from DIS for dinner! After dinner (pork sparrow (no, I don't know what a "sparrow" is in pork terms) potato dumplings, bread dumplings, 2 kinds of cabbage (red=delicious, the sauerkraut I left), and delicious beer) we went on a pub crawl which was lots of fun! We ended up at this really famous club in Prague that is 5 floors with a different theme on each floor. I of course was partial to the 80's themed floor, but that's just me!

Today we woke up, got pastries and cappuccino (about $3.50), and headed towards Charles Bridge. This is a really famous pedestrian/touristy bridge over the river. Tons of statues (including one of a woman and a dog - you rub the woman for good luck and the dog for bad luck), lots of street vendors, and a KICK ASS view of the city! After the bridge we walked through the Old Town (as you can imagine, completely beautiful) on our way up to Prague Castle. At the Castle we watched the changing of the guards, took a tour of the Castle and St. George Basilica, and walked down Golden Lane which was a street that has been maintained since back in the day so it is tiny with all these cute little houses (i.e. like any Danish town). This street was where Kafka lived so we got a pic of that too! After the Castle we had lunch and went to see...THE INFANT JESUS OF PRAGUE!! Very beautiful, kind of creepy, and super interesting. Apparently they dress this thing in different little outfits so they have all of these dresses which they had on display at the museum.

After IJP, we went to the Jewish Quarter where we walked around and saw the oldest Synagogue. After that we went back to the hostel, took naps, and then went to a Witch Burning Ceremony. Apparently this is a celebration of the end of winter/Czech's version of Halloween. We went with some people from our hostel out to this random park where the set up actually reminded me a lot of Lolapalooza. There was a big concert (Czech music, very strange...I mean, really out there...) a bonfire, lots of food vendors, people dressed up like witches, and kids running around everywhere! Very weird experience, but kind of cool.

After the fest we went to dinner and then went back to the hostel. Tomorrow my friends leave and I have my schedule all set!

Food log (for today):

Breakfast: nut swirl and cappuccino (nut swirl is kind of like a cinnamon roll with a nutty butter type thing instead of cinnamon, it was off the charts good!)

Lunch: get this, fried cheese (in steak form, as in, this was probably like a 100g slab of cheese, breaded and fried) served with boiled potatoes and tartar sauce (apparently a Czech specialty...)

Dinner: at the fest we had sausages which were delicious and then we went to dinner and I had a pancake/crepe thing stuffed with spinach, potato, mushroom, and cheese

Off to Prague!!

This week was a shortened week (classes only on Monday and Tuesday - meaning I only had class Tuesday, and one of them was cancelled!) because Denmark, though technically a Lutheran nation, recognizes whatever different religions they have here so instead of getting days off school/work for random religious holidays (Ramadan, Hanukkah, All Saints Day, etc. etc. etc.) they just have one big Prayer Day this week. In addition, as I found out tonight at dinner, all 8th graders are confirmed this weekend because it is Prayer Weekend (my host bro is being confirmed, very exciting)!! Soooo, despite the 4 10-page papers and 2 tests (one being an oral exam in Danish...gulp!) I am off to the old world to eat pork, see castles, and drink Pilsner! I will be in Prague from tomorrow to Monday, so I probably won't be posting (though it is not like I post every day anyways, sorry for being such a slacker), but I will take LOTS of pics so you can feel like you too got to experience this grand city!!! Originally I was going to meet my friend from Cornell there (she is in London now), but her parents freaked about the volcano and told her she couldn't go :-( So, I will be traveling the first 2 days with a girl from one of my DIS classes, and then for the last 2 days I will be a lone wolf. At first I was quite freaked out about this since I consider myself to be more of a schooling fish (in fact, I think I am of the tuna variety - I school with other tuna, but I rely on dolphins to find the food sources...), but I feel that this will be a time of self-discovery and learning to find my own damn food!

-->note: sorry for the fishy metaphors, I had a double marine bio lecture yesterday and have spent literally all day writing 1. a paper about humpback whale songs and 2. a fairy tale ( a la H.C. Andersen) about...you guessed it, jilted humpback whale love!

Anywho, other than trip prep, I really haven't done anything exciting this week. Monday I wrote a paper, Tuesday I had class from 8:30am to 9:15pm (though since one of my classes was cancelled I went to a cafe with my friend and had LITERALLY the best carrot cake of life, I wanted to take a bath in the deliciously creamy cream cheese frosting, I actually had to restrain myself!!!) which was NOT fun because the night class was marine mammals and all we did was watch Blue Planet. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Blue Planet more than any human should love a film, but 1. I have seen it many, many times and 2. it was Tuesday night, and as most of you probably know by now, Tuesday night is drinking night and I don't appreciate it when class gets in the way of my rigorous drinking schedule. The one good thing though was they bought everyone sandwiches at the movie and they were delicious and free! Today I woke up and started writing more papers! Of course I didn't get much done because I had planned to get stuff done, but that is life!

Anne has decided that she needs a new house so she had an interior decorator come in and they spent all day talking furiously in Danish, waving their arms, and measuring random things. Slightly distracting: yes, immensely entertaining: double yes. Though I think my favorite part was when Peter came home, accepting defeat that Anne was "spending the family fortune" and whispered that "if she (the decorator) decorates like she dresses we are in deep shit!" (this decorator was wearing combat boots and a skirt that looked like a trash bag sewn in random places by a blind monkey.) Anyway, apparently I am the last host student they will be having for awhile/ever because they were planning what to do with my room (tear). Guess I'll just have to eat the peanut butter my parents sent myself!!!

Food Log:

Breakfast: muesli and yogurt

Lunch: peanut butter and banana sandwich

Dinner: roasted chicken, rice with gravy, green beans, peas

Rosenborg Castle, Ballet, Homework!

Thursday my friend and I went to Rosenborg Castle which was once the "country estate" of King Christian IV. It is now located right in the middle of Copenhagen, along with the King's Garden which is a huge open space with tons of flowers (that are now FINALLY starting to bloom) where people can walk, picnic, etc. etc. etc. Rosenborg Castle is now where they keep the crown jewels which were gorgeous! Denmark doesn't have nearly as many jewels in their treasury as Sweden or Germany, but the Danish jewels were all super ornate and very colorful. After the castle I went home, went to the gym, and then had a wonderful sushi dinner with the fam!

Friday was a normal but really fun day. I had a guest lecture in my marine bio class talking about a mysterious virus in seal communities in Denmark that has caused 2 huge epidemics which was actually really cool (insert lame science joke here...)! Also, in my Hans Christian Andersen class we watched the Disney version of the Little Mermaid to see how it compared to HCA's version (needless to say for those that have read the real fairy tale - it is quite different!). After class I ate the best cupcake of my life (yellow cake, caramel center, milk chocolate frosting, toffee chips on top) and then went home, went to the gym, and then had my favorite Danish dinner (I don't know what it is - I called it Danish hamburgers which caused something of an outcry from the Danes - but it is ground beef, seasoned, covered in flour, and then cooked in a frying pan with boiled potatoes and a brown gravy)! After dinner I met up with some friends (2 people have friends from home visiting so we wanted to all go out together) and had a hygge night!

Saturday I woke up, chilled with the host fam, had an awesome lunch (fish balls and cod eggs - the best Danish smørrebrøds), went to the gym, and then went to the Royal Ballet with friends! The ballet was awesome, we saw "Shakespeare in Motion" which was the story of Othello for the first half and then I don't know what the second half was but it involved Victorian -era dress, an illegitimate child, and a dancing brown bear! After the ballet we went out for a drink and called it a night pretty early since we were all dressed up.

Today is major homework day. I have 4 term papers due on May 7th (all around 10pgs) and I will be in Prague for most of next week. Sooo, today my goal is 1 and a half papers, but we shall see what happens!

If anyone has any suggestions as to something I can cook for my host fam (main dish or dessert) please let me know. I want to make them one last special dinner before I leave but I'm running out of cooking ideas (yes, I only have about 3 dishes in my repertoire...)

Fredericksborg Slot (castle) and other news

Sunday:

Woke up at 5:30am for a field trip to Odense (next island over), thought I hit the snooze, apparently hit the "off" button, and missed the bus! This was very very bad for 2 reasons:

1. we were going on a behind the scenes tour of Odense Zoo and the Fjord Research Center where they rescue and study seal and porpoise (even if you are not into the whole marine bio thing, you have to admit that is &%*& cool)

2. my teacher for this class is kind of immature and moody, so if you do something wrong, she takes it as a personal attack - not good when 15% of my grade is participation...

So, since I didn't have anything planned because I was supposed to be feeding seals, I ate lunch with my host family (outside for the first time!!!) and then went to the DIS library to meet my friend and did homework all day. When I got home we had dinner which was awesome: leg of lamb!!! And then I went to bed early (I did in fact wake up at 5:30...).

Monday:

I have decided that I need to do all of the cultural things that I haven't done yet as soon as possible so I don't keep pushing everything off and never doing it. Sooooo, I headed to the city early, got crepes with nutella and banana for breakfast, watched the first half of Memoirs of a Geisha (soooo good, both my friend and I read it over Spring Break so we decided to watch the movie together), and then got a bunch of friends together and we went to Fredericksborg Castle!!!! The Danes call this castle the "Versailles of the North." It was built by the infamous Christian IV who was big into architecture, nice/fancy things, and spending money! It was super nice (so of course I forgot my camera) and outside they have these really beautiful Baroque Gardens and a lake with a silver fountain. It was also pretty cool because it is in the town of Hillerød which is yet another super cute little Danish town! After the castle I went home to make dinner for my host family: chicken sandwiches with pesto and cheese on garlic bread with a side salad with grapes, walnuts, carrots, and balsamic.

Tuesday:

Pretty normal day. Classes until 5:15, dinner at a pub (really good burgers, fries, salad, and a beer for 100dkk) and then I THOUGHT that I had a movie for one of my classes, but it is actually next week (which I discovered only after frantically running all over the building looking for my class...) So, after that little freak out, I met back up with my friends and we went to our local cheap beer place!

Wednesday (today):

Woke up early for a walking tour around Copenhagen for my H.C. Andersen class (we walked to all of the places that he went to when he lived here). This would be very cool, but unfortunately when I woke up it was pouring rain, while I was walking to the station it was hailing, and by the end of our 3 hour walk, it was snowing! But, despite the fact that we were cold and completely miserable, it was still pretty cool. We went to 2 churches (Sant Peders and Church of the Holy Ghost), Nyhavn (famous street with colorful houses and the canal- most photographed thing in DK, HCA lived there late in his life), and the Royal Theatre Museum - this is where HCA got his start dancing on stage as a young boy!

After our tour, my friend and I decided we needed to reward ourselves with pastries (choc. croissants, mmmm) and then finished watching Memoirs of a Geisha. Of course the book was better (in fact, one of the best books I've read in awhile, I HIGHLY recommend it), but the movie was also very cool! After the movie I went home (still thoroughly cold and wet), took a nice long nap, went to the gym, and then had dinner. After dinner I just hung out, watched Glee from last night (omg omg omg soooo good) and relaxed. Tomorrow I don't have class so I think I'm going to try and see Rosenborg Palace which is where they keep the Crown Jewels!

Food Log:

Breakfast: Muesli and yogurt

Snack: hot chocolate and chocolate croissant

Lunch: 7-11 pizza, not too bad actually, Danish pizza is kind of different and I kind of like it...

Dinner: bacon cheeseburger hamburgers, fresh squeezed orange juice, and fresh honeydew melon.

Thanks for your patience!!!

Hellooooooooooo my beautiful people. First and foremost, as my title indicates, I would like to thank you all for being so patient for waiting for my next post. Spring Break was of course amazing, but we were so busy being tourists I really didn't get a chance to spend much time on the computer and then last week was legitimately the busiest week of my life in Denmark! So, without further adieu, here is my life:

My friend and I were supposed to meet at the train station at noon on the 27th, but she got lost in the city (no, we weren´t going somewhere new, she just got lost...) so we missed our original regional train which actually turned out to be a Godsend because then we were able to get on a direct train to Hamburg which you are supposed to have reservations for but of course we didn't but they let us on anyway!!

At Hamburg we had an hour layover until our train to Koblenz so we enjoyed a delicious cheap German beer! I also drank a HUGE coffee because I was staying up late so beth could sleep this leg (by this time it was like 11pm)

We arrived in Koblenz at like 5am, ate breakfast, and then went to Trier, Germany. In Trier we had like an hour so walked around, almost went to Palm Sunday mass but didn't (not enough time), then headed to Luxemburg!

In Luxemburg we saw a train to Paris, but it was a nice high speeder (expensive, need reservations) but we hassled the conductor until he let us on for 13 euro each, but of course only 1st class was available, so basically the best 13 euro ever spent!! This train was probably my favorite train not only because it was soooooooooo comfy (and b/c we were so exhausted it was nice to be comfortable) but the scenery of rural France is completely indescribable, it was soooo beautiful! Looking back, getting the Eurorail Pass was worth it simply for the fact that not only did we get to see the cities we traveled to, but also the countryside that you would never get to see flying around everywhere!

Got to Paris, had a 6hr layover, so we walked around and saw all the sights (Eiffel Tower, Arch de Triumph, Champs de Elysie, Louvre, Notre Dame - where we attended Palm Sunday mass btw!!!)

From Paris, we took an overnight train to the border of Spain and France (Spain has a different type of train tracks for the rest of Europe so you can't take a train into Spain). This train was extremely sketchy and uncomfortable though, so I'd say this was the low part of the journey...

Got to the border, got a commuter train to Barcelona, and so the Barcelona adventure began!

Found the hostel no problem, it was in a great location and honestly the best hostel I've stayed in, very comfy, very safe place. We were walking around the other night on the street where like every other hostel in Barcelona is, and it is the sketchy-est street in the city (we were lost, and got the heck out of there immediately, don´t worry) but ya, we SERIOUSLY lucked out on the hostel!

After we got settled, we met the other 2 girls we would be traveling with and we went exploring! Hit the big, main, touristy street, went to the fresh foods market (in the morning it is a fresh fish market which was cool to see - we went here pretty much every day we were in Barcelona b/c the food was cheap, fresh, and delicious)! the rest of the day we literally just walked around, got lost, found cool buildings/cathedrals! We ended up watching the sun set in Miro Park which is a park at the top of about 140598569058645 stairs (there is also a museum at the top, but it was closed when we got there). It was obviously gorgeous, you could see allll of Barcelona from above!!

the next day we went for a hike up a mountain/huge hill near Barcelona where the Olympic Stadium is. We didn't make it quite to the stadium (it was a hugeeee park) but we spent all day touring the natural areas/gardens and there was a castle at the top of the hill where you could see over Barcelona on 1 side and the Mediterranean on the other side (not too shabby!!). For dinner, we decided to have our typical Spanish meal so we got a really good reccomendation from the hostel and headed out for some paella and sangria! It was the best meal ever (the sangria tasted soooo good, the paella was AMAZING!!!) and then we walked around the city, went to 1 bar but it was pretty dead, and then headed home!

The next day we saw Sagrada Familia which is an unfinished cathedral designed by Gaudi. The outside was amazing, the inside was just a construction site! But, it is super famous and the outside really was quite something (next task after this: posting all 550 pictures...yes, 550). After that we walked down the "Gaudi Walk" which is not an official Gaudi walk but it has a lot of his designs/buildings on this path which were all very cool. After Gaudi, we got our stuff from the hostel and headed to Madrid!

We got to Madrid around 8-9pm so we dropped our stuff off at the hostel (another great hostel choice by Katie Halpin!) and then went for Indian food (which was of course delicious). After dinner we walked around the city a little but went to bed pretty early so we could have a full day of exploration the next day!

Next day we got up early-ish, and literally walked around all of Madrid all day. We hit the main streets, the big main park (which by the way, was awesome, probably my favorite park EVER) and had a picnic type dinner back at the hostel. In the night we celebrated one of the girl's 21st birthdays (which was actually the next day but we were traveling that day) so we went on a pub crawl which was lots of fun!

The next day we woke up, went to breakfast, discovered that one of the girls had food poisoning (not alcohol poisoning, food poisoning...she is a vegetarian and accidentally ate meat at lunch the day before). So she stayed in bed (thankfully the hostel let her stay even though we had to check out) while the rest of us went to the flea market in Madrid (famous b/c it is all down this one really long street, it literally goes for miles, and you can buy ANYTHING there!) After the flea market, we picked up our luggage and our friend and the 2 girls we met headed to the airport to catch flights home and Beth (the one that had food poisoning) and I headed to the train station to go to Valencia. We eventually made it to the train station (we had to get off the metro once b/c it was making Beth sick again) and we had a little down time before our train. By the time we got to Valencia it was pretty late at night (and Beth still wasn't feeling all that great) so we went right to the hostel and went to bed.

The next day (I believe this is Holy Saturday now) we walked around Valencia, and majorly took it easy. The nice thing was that Valencia has a small historical/tourist friendly part and then the rest is kind of sketchy so we were able to walk the whole city with little difficulty and then just relax (we were ready to have the relaxing part of the vacation). So we took siestas, did laundry, had a cheap dinner (ham and cheese crepes, very delicious) and again went to bed kind of early.

We got up early on Easter for mass in the Basilica (which was about a 2 min walk from our hostel) and then took the city tram to the beach and spent all day at the beach! It was a little cold (definitely not swimsuit weather but still a heck of a lot warmer than Denmark!! After the beach we went back to the hostel, had tapas for dinner (AMAZING) and went to bed!

Monday we took a train back to Barcelona (we cancelled Granada because we would have had to take 4 overnight trains in a row which is just a little too much to handle...) where we had an extra day of chilling before meeting up with another friend. When we got to Barcelona we hung out, did more siesta-ing, and made pasta in the hostel.

Tuesday we explored the part of Barcelona that we missed the first time (Arc de Triumph, City Park, Zoo, etc.) and then went to a "Jam Session" at a local bar/club type thing which was possibly the best part of the trip! It was all locals and the band were also locals but they covered rock songs (so we knew all of them) which was awesome! While we were at the Jam session, we got a call from the guy that was supposed to be taking a train from France to Barcelona (he would arrive the next morning in Barcelona) saying that there was a train strike in France and that he was flying to Barcelona that night! So, after the Jam Session, we made more pasta, and then waited for him to arrive. He finally got in around 1am and we stayed up talking for quite a while.

The next day we went back to Sagrada Familia and the Olympic Park (for Jeff's sake) and then went to the train station to figure out how we were going to get home (considering you can't take a train out of Spain without going through France). Of course the train strike was still in full swing and there was absolutely no trains leaving Spain. SOOOOO we went back to the hostel and found the cheapest flights out of Barcelona: to Vienna!

After we got our plans for going home figured out, we went back out to see more of Barcelona, went to a bar to watch a soccer game, and then had another fabulous tapas and sangria meal!

The next morning our flight was at 9am so we left the hostel super early to get to the airport on time. The flight was very nice and pretty uneventful. When we landed we had to go straight to the train station so we could catch a train to Munich!

It was evening by the time we got to Munich so we went out for dinner to eat German food and LOTS of German beer! We spent pretty much all night at this one biergarden which was probably the most traditional biergarden in Munich (locals actually ate there, not just tourists!).

The next day we had a whirlwind tour of Munich hitting the royal palace, the city square (where they have a coo-coo clock, glockenspiel, and traditional Bavarian Dancers perform at noon), and the English Gardens. We also ate at 2 more awesome German restaurants before heading to the train station once again to catch an overnight train to Hamburg.

We got to Hamburg early in the morning (this is the last day of having a Eurorail pass so we knew we had to be in Copenhagen by midnight on this night) and were planning to see Hamburg, but we were so tired by this time we decided to catch the next train back to Copenhagen.

We got to Copenhagen around 2pm, which means I was back home by 3. It definitely felt good to be home! I unpacked, made choc. chip cookies for my host family, and washed EVERYTHING that I took on our trip. My family was at Kristian's school for a play so they didn't come home until late that night but we had tea, caught up, and then I went to bed!

The next day I got together with my friends from the Germany class and we had a picnic in King's Garden in Copenhagen. It was soooo nice to sit outside in Copenhagen and NOT be a. freezing or b. covered in snow! After the picnic it was time to start thinking about school again considering the fact that I had a BEASTLY philosophy exam on Tuesday!

So, Monday I spent LITERALLY all day studying for my philosophy exam (as in, from the time I woke up to the time I went to bed at 3am).

Tuesday I skipped my first class to sleep in, went to 2 classes, and then also skipped my 4th class to do a little more last-minute studying before the big exam. Of course the exam KILLED everyone, but oh well, it is over now!

After the exam I went to our usual Tuesday bar with my Germany friends and had a somewhat eventful night (the 2 that were dating got drunk and broke up which was less-than-desirable).

Wednesday I had a 3.5 hour bio class in the morning and then a field study to a museum for my philosophy class in the afternoon. After the museum we went to the Carlsberg factory, helped make everything okay with the 2 people that broke up (I think everything is okay now) and then went to an F.C.K. soccer game!! The game was tons of fun of course and I think it took all of our minds off the big breakup!

Thursday I had a meeting with one of my professors in the morning, went shoe shopping (not for me) and did homework in the afternoon, and then went to my Danish teacher's house for dinner (she invited the whole class over for dinner). The dinner was amazing, roast beef, baked potatoes, salad, berry tart and it was really nice to just relax with my Danish class!

Friday was the Queen's Birthday so I went to my first class, got let out of my second class early, skipped my 3rd class, and started my 4th class late so we could take part in the festivities!

We went to the square outside the palace at noon when the Queen and the whole Royal Family went out onto the balcony to wave at the crowd. Then, we rushed to another street in Copenhagen where we saw the Queen in her carriage riding in a parade on her way to the City Hall for her bday lunch. Then, since we had a little time before class, we went to a bakery for birthday cake and then headed to class.

After class 2 of my friends came back to my house so one of them could cut the other's hair (which was hilarious but it actually turned out really well) and then we just hung out. They went home around 7 and then I had a nice meal (for the 1st time in a week) with my host family! After dinner I just relaxed at home and went to bed nice and early!

Today I don't really have plans, I think I will start uploading some pictures, then we are having a family picnic in the park!

Pre-departure cookie-baking/stressing!

Thursday:

Got up, met my friend Amanda for nutella and banana crepes (which we ate while sitting on the side of a fountain in the beautiful Copenhagen sun!!!!), then went to the library to study for my Danish oral midterm. After studying, I went to the gym, came home, did laundry, and ate pizza with my host dad and brother (Anne was in Fyn for work - Fyn is the island next to Zealand, which is the island Copenhagen in on, home of H.C. Andersen). After dinner, back to studying!

Digression: Danish is the hardest friggin' language on earth! It makes no sense, it is literally impossible to speak, and they use the same 30 words over and over in phrases but in a different order so the phrases have completely different meanings!

Today:

I woke up early for some last-minute cramming, and then it was off to school for my oral exam! Luckily, my first and last class of the day were cancelled, so I was able to sleep in a little more than usual, and come home early for the start of Spring Break!!!

My oral exam was okay I think, no huge mistakes, I saw my Danish prof. writing a lot of "+" on my grading sheet so it can't be terrible right? After that, I had my Environmental History class which let out early, and then I went to a bar for my friend b/c she thought she had lost her credit card there and I offered to check to see if they had it (no luck :-/).

After the bar, I went to my other friend's house so we could make cookies for our host families before we left! I made chocolate chocolate chip and she made oatmeal raisin with almonds! After the baking, we figured out our final train schedule for Spring Break, and I headed home for Sushi Friday!

After a nice dinner and an X-Factor recap show with my family, I headed into the city so I could say goodbye to a few of my friends before spring break. If you google pictures of Copenhagen, you will likely get a picture of a street called "Nyhavn" which has lots of colorful buildings and is right on a harbor. When the weather gets nice, all of the restaurants and bars have outdoor seating so you can sit and watch the boats come and go. So, since tonight was absolutely beautiful, we decided to sit out on the harbor and relax! None of the boats were moving b/c it was 10pm, but it was still a beautiful place to sit and just be with friends! After that, we headed home to pack, get our affairs in order, and get some sleep before our Spring Break adventures!!!

Tomorrow I leave at 12:45pm for Hamburg. From Hamburg, I take about 20 different regional trains (regional trains = no expensive seat reservation) to Barcelona. On the way, we will see Munster, Germany and Dijon, France! I think I mentioned this in an earlier post, but I will have extremely limited internet for the next two weeks so I may not be able to post while I am traveling. So, for now, I bid you adieu, I'm sure I will have LOTS of pictures and stories to share upon my triumphant return!!

Love and happy thoughts!!!

Food Log:

Breakfast: muesli, yogurt, and Danish flash cards

Lunch: gross sandwich

Snack: homemade cookies, mmm, I'm good!

Dinner: sushi

More Danish Fun!

Saturday:

This morning I SHOCKED my host family by getting up at 9am (they almost choked on their muesli and yogurt!) but alas, I had a busy day ahead of me, and I went to bed at like 11pm on Friday! After possibly the first Saturday breakfast I have had with my family, Anne and I headed to the gym together (she had a step class, I was going to do my usual workout). Unfortunately her step class was cancelled so she left the gym to go for a run outside (the weather has been surprisingly nice, though it was a little rainy this morning). After the gym, I showered, helped unload groceries, ate lunch with the fam, and then headed to Røldovre to go shopping (indoors) with 2 of my friends.

The trains were being super slow/messed up for no apparent reason (my train decided to stop halfway into the city so I had to get off and transfer to another train), so I didn't get to Røldovre until about 3 in the afternoon. But, we were not to be deterred so we started our shopping trip, went to like 3 stores, and then found out that the malls all close at 4pm on Saturdays (velkommen til Denmark!). So, we decided to go grocery shopping for our wine, cheese, and hygge night and start cooking early. For dinner we made tzatziki dip which is a Greek thing, plus the usual apples, strawberries, cheese, bread, and cookies. It was quite the feast (we had a TON of food) but you'd be shocked at how much 7 girls can eat over the course of 4 hours! After our little picnic, we hung out, watched YouTube videos, and then headed home.

Sunday:

Sunday I had to get up early for the big birthday party preparations! Again, for a record weekend, I had breakfast with my family at 9, which was nice because we had a special breakfast for Henrik's birthday. The table was decorated with Danish flags (apparently an essential birthday decoration) and we had pastries, rolls with butter and jam, tea, and fresh squeezed orange juice!

After breakfast we cleaned, set up the table for our 17-person lunch, and cooked! At 1pm the guests started arriving (Danes as SERIOUSLY punctual people) and we mingled a little before sitting down to eat! Lunch was of course fantastic, Danish meatballs, 2 types of salmon, eggs, about 6 different kinds of herring in various sauces/preparations, liver pate (which, by the way, was disgusting), and this spread thing that was apparently caviar (which was AMAZING!). Of course everything was served on a Danish smørrebrød, or open-faced sandwich (eaten with a fork and knife). After lunch, the boys/men had a soccer tournament and the females and older men walked the dogs (yes, keeping with the tradition, everyone brought their dogs to the party). After our walk we had cake and tea. We also sang the Danish birthday song with is about as long as Stairway to Heaven, super intense (it is a lyrical narration of what a birthday is supposed to be like - there is lots of cake-eating involved...), and (obviously) in Danish. I knew the first 2 lines, but after that I just sat there and looked pretty.

After the party we cleaned up and relaxed. Had leftovers for dinner, watched a little TV, and just chilled out!

Monday:

Originally I was going to go to the gym and then write my last paper before Spring Break, however I couldn't find any outside sources online so I had to skip the gym and head down to the DIS library to use the reserve materials. Since I was already down there I was just going to write my paper at DIS, but because there is such a rush before Spring Break, the library was a. PACKED and b. noisy because it was so PACKED!

So, I photocopied what I needed and went back home to write my masterpiece. I cranked out that paper pretty quickly (for me at least) and then had dinner (leftovers again) with my family. After dinner we sat and talked for a while, watched some TV, and then turned in!

Tuesday:

Pretty standard Tuesday (except I got to sleep in until 7:45am because my first class was cancelled). Class all day, shwarma with the girls for dinner, and then to Wall Street Pub for still overpriced, yet cheap for Denmark beer! The bar was surprisingly busy because there was this big group of Swiss people there (they are on their Spring Break) so we talked to them for quite a while.

Hmm, I'm trying to thing if anything memorable or exciting happened, but I think it was a pretty normal/chill day...OH, but because the weather is getting really nice we saw all of the ice cream stands starting to set up which is very exciting (which means you will inevitably be hearing about all of the different ice creams we will have to try- I would be remiss to miss out on this cultural experience just in case the ice cream here is different from the ice cream in the US!)

Today:

Another pretty boring day! I woke up at about 8 and couldn't fall back asleep for anything so I got up, had breakfast, and headed to the gym. After the gym I came back here, did some homework (though all of my classes are pretty much done until Spring Break), and took a nap. When my family got home we cooked, ate, and then my host family went to a neighbor's house to hear about their trip to Lapland (they stayed in an Ice Hotel a la James Bond). I just stayed here and watched Confessions of a Shopoholic (we all have guilty pleasures, don't judge!)

Tomorrow I am meeting my friend in the city for nutella and banana crepes, and then am studying for my Danish oral exam (woo hoo, this language is soooooooooooooooooooo hard!!!)

Food Log:

Breakfast: Toast and Jam

Lunch: weird sandwich...I have no idea what kind of lunch meat my family bought, but it is pretty gross...

Dinner: SURPRISE...pasta with mussels lol!

Jeg elkser Jesper fra X Factor!!!

For those of you that are not yet fluent in the ridiculous language that is Danish, the title of this little note is "I love Jesper from X Factor" As I have mentioned millions of times by now, X Factor is Danish American Idol. Jesper, is the favorite to win (as in, this guy is friggin' AMAZING) and he is only 15 years old (and is the quintessential cute little Danish boy). The contestants on the show sing mostly English songs (which is kind of nice because they generally pick more recent songs so I recognize about 98% of them) and he honestly sings these songs better than the original artists!!! Today he sang a Danish song originally done by the Danish Band "Gasoline" (hard core rockers from back in the day, has anyone ever heard of them??) and "Speed of Sound" by Coldplay. Of course it was awesome, so I am very happy!

The day started off pretty rocky, I was writing a paper until 1am and then had to study for a Biology of Marine Mammals exam so I did not get to bed until 2am, and then of course had every intention of waking up a little early to study more. That plan was an epic fail (as you can imagine) because I didn't wake up until 7am (I had to leave the house by 7:10) so needless to say, I skipped all forms of personal grooming (except brushing my teeth, you can't leave the house without brushing your teeth), somehow managed to make a sandwich, pour coffee, and shovel muesli and yogurt in my mouth at the same time, and perfected my juggling act holding a cup of coffee and going over my mammals notes while walking to the train. I studied all the way to school, printed off my paper (I have to do all of my printing at DIS), and made it to class just in time!

Once in class things started looking up, I took my test where I a. kicked ass and b. took names. Then I was off to Danish where I dazzled everyone with my exceptional language skills (warning: Danish sarcasm). After Danish I had environmental history and Hans Christian Andersen. After class, I walked around with my friend a little, ran some errands, and headed home to slappe af (relax).

For dinner we had sushi (I think this is our new family tradition - I'm not complaining!!!) and then watched X Factor and ate delicious Danish desserts (chips, chocolate, flaky cinnamon things, and meringue balls). Now I think I'm going to knock out some reading (yes, doing homework on a Friday night is lame, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do!) and go to bed early!!!!

This weekend will be pretty exciting, tomorrow I'm meeting some friends for a little shopping trip (the weather is finally getting warmer, that means I need a new dress!) and then we are going to get some bread, cheese, and fruit and have a hygge (Danish concept, roughly translated to mean having a good/cozy time with friends) picnic! Then on Sunday is my host brother, Henrik's birthday so we are having about 20 people over for a birthday lunch!

If anyone has any ideas about something not too expensive that would be a good birthday gift for a 15 year old boy, let me know!!!

Food Log:

Breakfast: muesli and yogurt

Lunch: sandwich and apple

snack: leftover mashed potatoes (yes, I know that is weird, but they were darn good!)

Dinner: sushi and LOTS of dessert!

This week!

Sorry I haven't written in a while, this past week and the week coming up are super busy with papers, tests, or both in every single class (I guess this is our version of midterms right before Spring Break). So, as you can imagine, nothing too exciting has been happening with me, but here is my week anyway!

Tuesday:

Busy class day, but as always not too bad. It is nice because in all of my classes I have at least 1 really good friend so the day kind of flies by simply because I look forward to seeing my friends! I think that is what is really interesting about going to college but living at home. Usually at Cornell you see people either walking around campus, in the dining halls, at the dorms, etc. so you don't really have time to "miss" people (so to speak). However, here, I'm with my family for a lot of the time and I only see my friends during the school day (i.e. only twice a week) or if we hang out in the city in the evening. I don't know, this is a random tangent and I don't know anything about the psychology of living with friends in a dorm versus living with a family in a house so ya...

Anyway, after class we usually get dinner and drinks in the city but because a. everyone has a lot of work and b. Wednesday was St. Patrick's Day, we decided to go home after class and be good students and write our various papers (Which then turned into the 4 of us sitting in our respective houses talking about writing our papers rather than ACTUALLY writing our papers...) But anyway, I went to bed early because I feel like I am in a constant state of sleep deficit (yup, I may be in Denmark, but I'm still a college kid) and had a really restful night's sleep (I even woke up on my own at 9am, good job Katie!)

Wednesday:

Today I woke up and headed to the main train station in Copenhagen to try and reserve some train seats on the various international trains my friend and I will be taking over Spring Break (rather than booking 90 different flights all over Europe we just got a Eurorail pass so we can take trains all around Italy and Spain). HOWEVER, we got quite a shock when the guy at the ticket counter told us that seat reservations were going to cost about 50 bucks per person per reservation. Needless to say, we did NOT make any reservations and are going to have the ultimate backpacking around Europe experience, hop on whatever trains we can and pray to God that we are going to the right city!

After the train station, I met up with another friend for cake and hot chocolate at La Glace (v. famous cake shop in Copenhagen, the cake is unbelievable and the hot chocolate tastes like just melted chocolate bars!) We spent a couple hours there having "girl talk" which sounds lame but is sometimes very necessary!

After La Glace, I went home, finished one of my papers, and started making dinner for my family! I made Parmesan Chicken with green beans and mashed potatoes. Of course dinner was a smashing success, my family LOVED it and there were NO leftovers!!!

After dinner and dishes I attempted to explain the concept of St. Patrick's Day to my host family (yep, they didn't even know what it was) which was interesting... After telling the whole story of St. Patrick, Ireland, etc., they basically said, "so this is another excuse for Americans to get drunk?" I chose to leave it at that and headed into the city to meet my friends for a green celebration! Of course all of the Irish Pubs in Copenhagen were FILLED with Americans so it wasn't the most fun, but we did get our Guinesses so the night wasn't a complete fail!

Today (Thursday) I woke up, went to the gym, did laundry, procrastinated writing my paper, and then finally did write my paper. My morning class that I usually have on Thurs. was rescheduled for tonight because today is the last day of class so we turn in our papers and then go to a "history class social". Unfortunately I just turned in my paper and left because I have a big test in Biology of Marine Mammals tomorrow morning at 8:30!

Not much on the schedule for tomorrow, classes in the day, dinner and X Factor at night, and probably a night in with the family!

Food Log:

Breakfast: muesli and yogurt

Lunch: sandwich and apple

Dinner: Schwarma and 7-11 ice cream (we ate in the city before our class)

FCK Game!!!

Friday was a pretty good day, my last class let out 15 minutes early so my friend and I literally ran to San Peder's bakery to get Friday cakes (I had carrot, it was delicious) before her next class. Then I went home, spent HOURS loading all of my pictures to various websites (note: all Germany and Amsterdam pics now on photobucket) and then had sushi with the fam!! The sushi was absolutely amazing, it DEFINITELY beats the Cornell Dining sushi (which isn't saying much, but this sushi was legit really good!)

After our lovely sushi dinner we all sat down to watch X Factor (Denmark's "American Idol") which had a James Bond theme which was fun! After X Factor I met up with friends and we went back into Copenhagen! It was a fun night, we unintentionally settled in a gay bar which was actually a lot of fun, but it was pretty hilarious when halfway through the evening some guy came up to our table and said, "you do know this is a gay bar, right?" (He seemed slightly concerned with our presence there...)

Saturday was a very low key day, we had fish balls for lunch (they are honestly really delicious, they just sound gross because there is no English word for them so that is just what my family and I came up with) which were, as usual, amazing! Then I skyped for a while, went to the gym, and even got a little homework done! My host family went to a friend's house for dinner so I only had a sandwich but then my friend came over so we could make more Spring Break Plans (new plan, Copenhagen - Paris - Barcelona - Madrid - Valencia - Florence - Venice) and then we went to my friend's (the other Katy) 21st birthday party! That was kind of fun, but Smith (her college) is on Spring Break now so she actually had a ton of friends (including her girl friend) here so we only stayed with them for a little while (we didn't want to stay out too too late). So, we wished her well, got shwarma (probably my new favorite food, I'm considering making it a food group) for the commute home, and were in bed pretty early!

Sunday I woke up around 11, got dressed, and started getting ready for the big FCK (Football Club - København) soccer game (all DIS students that are taking a Danish Language class went to the game for a field study)! My friends came over to meet my family (we had a nice Danish lunch) and then we painted our faces (wrote FCK on our cheeks with my eyeliner) and then headed to the city to meet more friends and head to the game!

The game was obviously amazing, the Danes were crazy (FCK was playing their all-time rival, Brøndby) so there was some pretty serious chants, heckling, and oddly enough fire (yes, fire. Brøndby set off rockets, and then they got in lots o trouble). Unfortunately DIS put us in the nosebleed section above the FCK cheering section so we couldn't see our crazy fans, and because it was just a mass of Americans, it was very tame (some people just don't know how to get into the spirit of the game!)

After the game I had the pleasure of helping my very drunk friend home (I took one for the team) and finally made it back to my house and pretty much crashed!

Today (Monday) I got up and met my friend in Copenhagen so we could book more hostels for spring break. Of course this is extremely stressful and painful because apparently EVERYONE ON EARTH will be in Italy and Spain at the same time! But, lo and behold, I think we have finally worked out all of the details, the hostels are booked and Wednesday we are going to Copenhagen Train Station to reserve train seats for our international trains!

After the great hostel headache, I met my "Danish Buddy" (Danish college student, DIS pairs us up so we can meet more Danes our age) for coffee. Her name is Marie-Louise and she is studying Biology at U of Copenhagen (and applying for Vet school next year). She is super nice and has so many great stories (she took 2 years off school to travel to New Zealand, Galapagos Islands, Chile, Ecuador, and Argentina). We talked for quite a while but eventually I had to get home so I could eat and do homework :-(

When I got home I made and ate dinner with the family and then started my paper that is due Thursday (the significance of the Memorial for the Murdered Jews in Europe which we saw in Berlin).

Food Log:

Breakfast: granola bar (I was in a rush this morning)

Lunch: Bagel Sandwich, mmm

Dinner: spaghetti with mussels (again)

Copenhagen Crepes!

This morning I had one class (which I almost missed because I learned this morning that my alarm was broken - luckily I set 2 alarms!) which was pretty low-key. We basically spent an hour discussing how much fun we had in Germany and how memorials are very significant to German identity.

After class, I was going to go straight home but instead my friends persuaded me to go get crepes! This was the best decision of my life because they were ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! We got them at this little shop on Strøget (main shopping street in Copenhagen) and the lady folds them up so you can walk and eat (which I have really come to enjoy, I feel like there are a lot of walk and eat foods in Copenhagen). I got mine with nutella and bananas - soooooo good! It was really perfect timing too because I was having nutella withdrawal because that is pretty much all they had for breakfast in Germany so I got used to eating it but of course something that unhealthy would NEVER make it into Anne's kitchen!

After my delicious crepe I went to the train station to try and get out of my train fine. I seriously lucked out because I dealt with this really nice guy who was really understanding and took care of it right away (I didn't have to cry or yell)! Now I have all of the correct zones and no fines to deal with!

After the train, I went home, bought milk (my host family doesn't drink milk at all but I can't live without it so they buy half a liter every week which I go through in about 2 days so I have been buying a lot of milk), and literally had the most productive day of my life! I flew through all of my homework, caught up on readings in every class, took a nap, went to the gym (where I increased the amount of weight I lift!), and cleaned every dirty dish in my house!

Tomorrow will be a pretty exciting day (well, I guess not too exciting but I'm pumped) because I have class in the day and then my host family is treating me to sushi!!!(and treating themselves too of course, it is not like they are going to sit and watch me while I eat delicious sushi) This is quite the delicacy in Denmark because, like everything (but to an even greater extent), sushi is SUPER expensive (Anne said it will be like $100!!!)

Thats all for now folks!

Food log:

Breakfast: muesli and yogurt

Snack: Crepes!!!!

Lunch: sandwich with a new and unknown lunchmeat, I think it is a relative of ham but google translate had no idea what the word was...

Dinner: Tomato soup with noodles - really good actually, homemade!!

Back to the daily grind!

Not much has happened the past couple days (well, I guess stuff has happened but not much compared to last week). Monday I spent all day writing in this blog (this is not hyperbole, think about how long it took you to read that post and then think about how long it took to write!) and then all night skyping with my lovely parents!

Tuesday was back to school which was very strange but good! I almost fell asleep in my first class but thankfully a stimulating lecture on the echolocation of odontocetes (toothed whales, includes dolphins and porpoises) kept me awake (in case you missed that, that was a little Danish sarcasm). But, after a slow first class, I saw all of my friends in Danish class and the day picked up! Tuesday is my late day so I was in class until 5:15 but I got my philosophy midterm back (the one that I was FREAKING about) and I got an A (and I beat my friend from Williams which makes me happy because I'm secretly jealous of his school)!!!

After class I went home and had dinner with my host family (spaghetti with mussels - we eat that quite a bit) and then met up with my friends from Germany (not actual people from Germany, but the people I traveled to Germany with) for 20 kroner beer night (20 kroner is $4 and the absolute cheapest beer you will ever find in all of Denmark - thank your lucky stars that you are in the US and can buy a 30 pack of beer (bad beer but beer nonetheless) for about 10 bucks!). After a hectic manhunt for my friend (also named Katie, got lost on the metro, I had to go find her) we were able to relax at the bar and have "hyggeligt" which is a Danish term for the concept of being with friends/being together/enjoying people's company/etc.

Today, I was riding the train home (I stayed in my friend Amanda's Kollegium (dorm) the night before because my train stops running pretty early in the night on weekdays but because she lives closer to the city she can get a later train) and I was about 3 stops from my house when the conductor came around to check everyone's pass. This is a pretty routine thing so I showed him my train pass and he moved on. HOWEVER, he came back about 5 minutes later (my stop was the next) and asked to see my pass again. I thought this was a little strange but I showed it to him anyway. He looked at my pass and proceeded to tell me that I didn't have enough zones on my pass (like many train systems, Copenhagen and the surrounding areas are split up into different "zones" and you pay to ride the train through certain zones)! I told him that he must be mistaken, and that I ride the same train line every single day to and from this stop. By this time we were at my stop so we got off the train so he could write me a ticket. While he was writing the ticket the other conductor showed me how indeed my pass had the wrong zones on it and I've been riding the train illegally to my stop since the beginning of January (I haven't gotten caught before this because I have all of the correct zones leading up to my stop so I literally just need that extra last zone to go from my stop to the next stop before it and I've never had my pass checked so close to home). At this point I was pretty freaked but they told me that clearly whoever issued my pass at the transportation center just made a mistake (I need zone 52, they gave me zone 51) and if I go talk to them I can probably get out of the ticket (thank goodness that Danish guys love American Damsels in distress!). So, hopefully it will all work out, but a $150 fine for someone else's mistake is no way to start the day!

After my train incident I went home, had breakfast, then went to the gym (good stress reliever). After the gym I came home and did homework pretty much all day (unfortunately the big papers and midterms are starting to pop up). Anne is in Iceland on business, Henrik had soccer practice, and Peter worked late then went to spinning class so it was just me for most of the night but when Henrik got home we ate leftovers and watched a show about these crazy Australians that climbed Mt. Everest (sure the tops of mountains are cool, the view is probably fantastic, but honestly, you'd have to be crazy to want to do that!).

Tomorrow is kind of up in the air, I have one class in the morning and then I'm going to go and try and deal with my train pass (I have fake tears ready and waiting). Then, depending on how I feel, I might either come back home and do more homework or possibly go to see the crown jewels in Rosenborg Castle which is right in downtown Copenhagen.

Food Log:

Breakfast: toast and jam

Lunch: ham sandwich, and Toblerone

Dinner: spaghetti with mussels and stir-fry chicken (leftovers)

My Triumphant Return to Copenhagen!

Hello dear friends and family! I have made it safely back to Copenhagen after a whirl-wind/fun-filled/sleep-less trip to Dresden, Weimar, Berlin, and Amsterdam! I have MUCH to say so please be patient as I word vomit everything I have done in the past 10 days:

Day 1: Overnight bus trip from Cph to Dresden

We started off the journey Friday at 9pm where we all met for a LOOONNGGG bus ride through the night down to Dresden. The trip started as any other, we were all excited, hyper, and ready for the trip...and then my friend was hit with a nasty bout of food poisoning! If you have ever spent 12 hours on a bus with someone puking next to you all night, I'm very sorry, if you haven't, I wouldn't recommend it. It was pretty brutal, every time everyone on the bus was just about to fall asleep he would start puking again. As concerned friend and unfortunate seat buddy, I was always ready with more kleenex and water. It was a pretty miserable night, but to be honest, he was a lot worse off than I was!

Day 2: Dresden

We arrived in Dresden around 8:30am and of course, started the day immediately! We checked into the hostel, ate breakfast (I consumed an EXTREMELY unhealthy amount of coffee because I got about an hour of sleep on the bus), and went on a walking tour of the city. Though I should have been miserable due to the lack of sleep, I think because I was so excited to be in a new place I was wide awake and very much enjoyed the tour. As some of you may know, Dresden was literally incinerated in WWII when Allied forces sent firebombs into Dresden. These bombs created a giant fireball above the city which sucked all of the oxygen out of the atmosphere. Needless to say, Dresden pretty much had to be completely rebuilt. Though there is still construction going on now, the city has pretty much been restored to its original splendor. It is a GORGEOUS city, and I think my favorite place from this trip. We were there on a warm(-ish) sunny day and I loved walking around all of the old buildings, tiny cobblestone streets, and large squares that were everywhere! After the walking tour we had lunch (Italian buffet, so good), went to the top of the tower of the main Cathedral, and then found a Bier Garden right on the river and sat in the sun drinking delicious German beer and taking in the view of the city! After that, we headed back to the hostel to change for dinner and a night out. I, being my father's daughter, was particularly hell-bent on eating real German food, so I basically walked all of my friends around until we found this tiny little restaurant in this man's home. It was him and a chef, neither spoke English, so we looked at the menu, pointed to whatever we thought sounded okay, and waited to see what the heck we had just ordered! Of course, the food was absolutely unbelievable (I had schnitzel with potatoes), the beer was good and cheap, and we all left pretty darn satisfied! After that we wandered around the heart of the city for awhile, went to a couple different bars but it was a pretty tame night (the exhaustion was starting to hit). So, we went to bed fairly early because we had to get up around 7am every day!

Day 3: Buchenwald Concentration Camp and Weimar

The first stop today was Buchenwald Concentration camp which was located literally just outside of the city of Weimar. We got there around 1:30pm and had audio-guided tours around the facility. This camp was a labor camp rather than a death camp (Auschwitz and Dachau were both death camps, the sole purpose was the extermination of people in the camp) so the main purpose of Buchenwald was to house people so they could work as laborers building roads, railroad tracks, etc. However, tens of thousands of people still perished in this camp, either from disease, malnutrition, or suffocation in gas chambers. As you may imagine, it was a pretty sobering experience to say the least, but I'm glad I was able to go and see and learn first hand about such an important part of European history.

After the concentration camp, we headed into the town of Weimar for lunch and a tour around the city. Weimar is a cute little German town known because it was a big center for arts, learning etc. during the Renaissance. Famous residents include Bach, Martin Luther, Goethe, Schiller, and Nietzsche. What I didn't know about Weimar was that Hitler really loved and spent a lot of time in Weimar (he wanted it to be the capital of the Nazi regime) so we were able to see the S.S. headquarters, as well as the balcony and accompanying square where Hitler gave numerous speeches. After the tour we checked into the hotel and headed out for dinner. We had a similar experience as the night before, excellent German beer, menu we couldn't read, and fantastic food! I had a turkey steak (yep, like a tuna steak but turkey) on top of pasta with a Gorgonzola sauce. After dinner we just kind of walked around the city for a while and then headed back to the hotel.

Day 4: Bauhaus and Berlin

This morning we left early in the morning to start our 4 hour drive to Berlin. Halfway to Berlin we stopped at Bauhaus Dessau which is a design school that is known for function, simplicity, etc. and is kind of modern looking. A lot of the technical design stuff was lost on me but this school was the first school that taught art in studios (thus kind of ushering in the way people learn art in today's schools). After lunch at Bauhaus, we continued our journey to Berlin. We arrived in Berlin in the afternoon and were able to explore on our own before meeting for a group dinner. So, my friends and I headed to Potsdam Square and then walked to the Brandenburg Gate and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews in Europe. Both were very cool places to see, the memorial is made up of hundreds of different sized blocks that make up a labyrinth that David Bowie would be proud of (my friends and I all got lost inside so it turned into a man hunt by the end of our visit) and the Brandenburg Gate was obviously very cool. Right next to the gate was the Reichstag Building which is the main building for the German government (we didn't go in because it was time for dinner!) Unfortunately it was a DIS funded dinner so we went to this fancy restaurant and ate pizza so I was pretty disappointed in that.

After dinner we wandered around Berlin looking for cheap beer (which is not hard to find). I had gotten a recommendation from a friend that we had to try beer with Banana nectar in it which sounds completely gross but we all tried it and it was actually really delicious!

Day 5: More Berlin

Today we started the day with a LONGGGGGG walking/bus trip all around Berlin. We went to Humboldt University where we met a professor to talk all about Berlin and its "Identity" We hit the Jewish Museum, the Wall, and a bunch of other stuff that I honestly don't remember because it was so unbelievably cold it was pretty hard to concentrate (especially b/c the prof that was leading the tour was a long-winded type that didn't see any harm in talking about one thing for an hour as I lost all feeling in my various appendages...).

After the walking tour we went to lunch in the top of the Reichstag which was very cool (though the food was gross, and not plentiful enough, it was a fancy restaurant with tiny portions of weird food - not what 30 college kids that had just been walking for 4 hours are looking for). But we were able to climb to the top of the big dome on the Reichstag and see the entire city which was fun. Then we went to a memorial section of the wall that still has a watch tower and the death strip in between. Then it was off to dinner and then to a modern dance performance at the theatre in Berlin. The performance was an interpretive dance using the music of Handel which was very interesting but not really my speed. I'm glad I got to see a modern dance show but I don't think I'll be going back any time soon...

Day 6: Museum Island, Berlin

Today we were, as usual, up early to head to Museum Island. As its name suggests, it is an actual island in Berlin where there are lots of different museums. We went to the Neues Museum which is history and the Alte Museum which was art. Both were very nice, but I definitely could have spent a lot more time in each. After the Alte we had some time on our own so we got lunch and headed back to the Jewish Museum (the day before when we went we only saw the outside). The Jewish Museum was really fabulous and super interactive. It was probably one of the best museums I've been to just because the architecture itself tells a lot about history/significance of Jews in Berlin as well as all of the different exhibits. Unfortunately we weren't able to spend a lot of time in there either because we had to get back to the hostel to change for dinner and then another show. After a dinner of really good fish and risotto (ya, after Dresden and Weimar, my German food experience came to a screeching halt much to my chagrin) and then we went to the Berlin Philharmonic to hear Mahler's Symphony No. 3. The Philharmonic was my favorite part of the trip because it was really cool hearing the Berlin Philharmonic and I LOVE classical music (and philharmonics in general). Needless to say, the music was awesome and Katie was very happy.

After the concert, the professors that ran the study tour invited everyone out for drinks since it was the last night in Berlin. It was lots of fun! DIS paid for the first drink so I knew I had to get something special so I settled on a gin and tonic with Bombay Sapphire gin. It was probably the best drink I've had in my life. One thing that I found interesting is that they put lemon instead of lime in their gin and tonics, and instead of doing tequila shots with lime and salt they do it with cinnamon and orange (I only saw this happen, no tequila for me!). We had a really good time hanging out with the whole class! AND since it was our last night in Berlin we decided to do something very memorable, so we did absinthe shots! They were pretty gross, and the bar only gave us half shots so no green fairy came to visit us, so we just got a snack and then went home to bed after our shot.

Oh, sidetrack, the snack we got is called a Doner or in Denmark a Shwarma. It is kind of like a gyro but 100000 times better. It is fresh kebab meat right off the stick with 2 special sauces, lettuce, tomato, and in Germany they also put red cabbage on top of a pita type bread. It is sooooo good! I have had it in 3 different countries and so far Germany has won the battle of the shwarma but you can be sure this taste test will continue throughout the rest of the semester!

Day 7: Last day in Berlin, heading to Amsterdam

Today was the last day in Berlin so we FINALLY had some time to explore on our own (and we got to sleep in until 9am!!!!). I went to the East Side Gallery where I got a picture with the famous painting of Brezhnev and Honecker making out! After East Side Gallery I explored Alexander Platz (big square in Berlin) where they had an outdoor exhibit of the history of the Berlin wall and resistance against socialism. After that we had our farewell lunch with the class and after lunch the class got on the bus back to Copenhagen but my friends and I had some extra time before our train to Amsterdam so we went to the Pergamon Museum (history museum, houses the Market Gate of Miletus and the Ishtar Gate - both taken from the original excavation sites and are now in Pergamon's Antiquity collection.

After the Pergamon we boarded our train and settled in for our 6 hour trip to Amsterdam. It was actually a lot of fun, we napped a little but mostly talked and played cards the whole time! We got into Amsterdam around midnight so we just went to our hotel to catch up on some MAJOR sleep! We were so sleep deprived from the week in Germany that we decided to go straight to bed and sleep in so we could be refreshed and actually enjoy Amsterdam.

Day 8: First day in Amsterdam

We all slept in until about noon and by the time we all woke up we felt a million times better! We didn't get to the city until about 2pm so the first thing we did was find lunch (breakfast was not included in the hotel much to my chagrin). We ended up at an Argentinian Steakhouse (for some reason they are ALL over Amsterdam) which was delicious because they had a special on steak so I had a really nice steak for the first time since coming here (I'm from the Midwest, I need red meat sometimes!). After lunch we just wandered and got lost around the city. Once you look past the stereotypes of Amsterdam (NO people aren't getting high on the streets in broad daylight and YES there is more to the city than the red light district) it is actually an extremely beautiful city. It rained all day so we didn't really leave the touristy areas but it was still pretty nice. After wandering for awhile we went back to the hotel to change for dinner and then a night on the town (since we were all soaked by then). After that we went to a really good Chinese restaurant which served actual, legitimate Chinese food (no General Tso's Chicken!) which was awesome. After dinner, we hit the Red Light District for the most interesting and slightly scarring walk of my life. Everything you have heard about the Red Light District is true! It is actually on a really beautiful street with a canal running right through it (with swans all over the canal), but yes, there are hookers standing in lingerie in all of the windows trying to lure gross men in. They also have live sex shows all over the place. Honestly, before going, I couldn't really imagine some of the things I saw on the street, it was nuts! I'm glad I went to see it, but I don't see myself returning there anytime soon!

Day 9: The cultured part of Amsterdam

Saturday we experienced the nice part of Amsterdam which is where all of the museums were located. We went to a cute little cafe for sandwiches and coffee for brunch and then went to the Rijksmuseum which is the Rembrandt Museum and the Van Gogh Museum. Both were really really cool because I love both of those artists! We also sat and had chocolate covered waffles (sold on almost every corner in Amsterdam, you can get them cold or warmed up) in a nice little park area. After the museums, we went home, went to dinner, and then out to experience night life in Amsterdam that did NOT include prostitutes. We went to a couple different bars and just hung out for the rest of the night.

Day 10: Last day in Amsterdam

Sunday was a pretty low-key day. We had to be out of the hotel by 11am but fortunately we were able to store our luggage in a storage locker so we could do more sight-seeing. So, we set out for brunch, ate at some random English Breakfast place which was interesting. An English breakfast consists of baked beans, 2 sunny side up eggs, bacon with maple syrup flavor, and little sausages that don't really taste like anything. It was pretty good actually, just kind of weird! After breakfast we went to the floating Tulip Market where they were selling some tulips but mostly tulip bulbs which was pretty cool b/c there were literally 100 different kinds of bulbs depending on what kind of tulips you want. I really wanted to buy a tulip bulb but I wasn't sure how long it will last in my room so I decided not to get one. After the tulip market we went to the old church, Dam Square (where Madame Tussaud's wax museum is located), and lots of little tourist shops! By that time, we had to go back to the hotel, get our bags, eat a final waffle and shwarma for dinner, and then head to the airport! Our flight went smoothly (I slept the whole time) and we got into Copenhagen around 11pm. After that we made our way back to our respective homes and CRASHED!

Thankfully, I didn't have class today so I slept until noon, had a leisurely breakfast, did laundry, answered emails/facebook posts, and went to the gym (I think I ate too many chocolate covered waffles in Amsterdam). By the time I got home from the gym my host family was home so we caught up, made dinner, and relaxed a little. Now, I need to do the piles of homework that has built up and tomorrow is back to the daily grind! Pictures are coming but be patient, I took over 300 this trip so uploading and putting captions on all of them will be quite the task!

Food log for today:

Breakfast: Toast and jam, coffee, banana

Dinner: Danish hamburgers which do not have a bun but are served with rice (or potatoes) and a brown gravy. We also had green beans and peas, and of course, our daily fresh-squeezed orange juice!

Getting Ready to head south!!

Today was a pretty low-key day, I only had one class so I came home early and reread Slaughterhouse-Five. I am giving a presentation on the significance of the Firebombing of Dresden while my class is in Germany so I am talking about the cultural significance through this book. Other than that, I've just been getting ready for our trip to Germany! We leave tomorrow night and we'll be gone for 9 days! Our first stop is Dresden, then Weimar, Berlin, and finally Amsterdam!! I'm super excited b/c I love the people I'm traveling with so we'll DEFINITELY have a good time! I am making everyone go to the Berlin Zoo with me!!!!

Other than reading, I went to the gym, cooked/ate with my family! I am not bringing my computer on the study tour so I won't be able to post until AT LEAST next Monday (Mar 8th)! Never fear though, I will be back with some exciting stories and more sage words!!!

P.S. pics from Stockholm on photobucket!!!

Food Log:

Breakfast: muesli and yogurt

Lunch: rye bread, peanut butter, and cheese...I think Anne through away the lunchmeat...

Dinner: bean/squash soup, pretty okay, the beans weren't cooked all the way though :-(

Stockholm is FRIGGIN' cold!!!!

Hello my dear fans! I am sorry it has taken me 900 years to post, I have been a VERY busy girl!!!

As you may have guessed from the title, Stockholm was EXTREMELY cold!!! I just looked up the weather, it was -14 Cecilius while we are there, however it felt MUCH colder with the windchill (Stockholm is actually a series of islands so think Michigan Ave. in February type winds...). So, needless to say, we pretty much stayed inside as much as possible! We went to the Nordic Museum and the Vasa Museum. The Vasa was an extremely ornate, beautiful ship that was built to be the pride of the Swedish Navy under King Gustav around 1650. However, they screwed up with the amount of water in the ballast vs. ship weight and it sunk before it made it out of the Stockholm harbor! They found in in the 1950's, brought it up from the bottom, and have now preserved it and made an entire museum out of it! It was soooooo cool to see, I think like 94% of the ship is original which is really cool because not only is it from the 17th century, but it was also under water for 300 years!

The next day we went to Gamla Stan which is the old village in Stockholm. We went to the former Royal Palace (still a palace with guards and all that, but the Royal family has since moved to a different palace). At the palace we saw the changing of the guards and the royal jewels! We also went to a bunch of little shops and cafes in the village which was really nice. In Sweden, they have this thing called "Fika" which is like a coffee break. Fika can happen at any time and you have to go to a cafe and drink coffee and eat pastries. I won't tell you how many times we had Fika the first day, but it was more than 2...

The food in Sweden was really good! According to my best friend and secret lover Rick Steves, lunch is the meal to eat out in Stockholm and just do a picnic for dinner. So, we did just that! The first day my friend and I both had a traditional Swedish sandwich which was interesting, it was a big roll with lettuce, tomato, some kind of butter/shmear, and cheese. It sounds weird I know but it was actually very good! The second day I had of course, Swedish meatballs!!!! I cannot express in words how good they were, served with boiled potatoes, some sort of berry that starts with an L, and sweet pickled cucumbers (which I guess would just be a pickle, but they called them pickled cucumbers...). For dinner we did a baguette/cheese/fruit deal, quite good! For Fika we got to sample lots of pastries, including a Swedish bun that is kind of like a cinnamon roll but not, carrot cake, and muffins! Oh, and let us not forget the embarrassing amount of Swedish candy we ate too, cavity city here I come!

Our hostel in Sweden was very nice too, not right in the center of things but pretty close, nice little neighborhood too. We went to a bakery next to our hostel and the guy was so nice he was like a grandpa and gave us free cookies with our sandwiches! But ya, the hostel was clean, no creepers, secure lockers to put your stuff in, not too bad!

On my way back from the airport my train broke down so I actually had to take 4 different trains home. But, after a hectic night, I got home and CRASHED! Monday I got up early because I had to bake cookies for my host family, shovel the driveway and sidewalk, write a paper, and study for a philosophy midterm! Needless to say, Monday was a super stressful/busy day! Tuesday I went to all but 1 of my classes (I skipped the one right before philosophy so I could study) then took my midterm. It went pretty okay, he only gave us an hour and the test was waaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyy too long (as in, everyone wrote 1 paragraph for the 3-4 pages essays) so I think he will be pretty lenient in grading. After the exam a bunch of people went out for dinner and then to a bar so that was a good time!

Today I was able to sleep in and then I had a field trip to Roskilde Cathedral. This is the most famous church in Denmark, built originally by Harold Bluetooth but redone throughout the years. The building standing today is over 800 years old. This is where all of the royals are buried. It was a really beautiful church however they are doing some construction/decorating so we really didn't get to see it in all of its splendor :-( After my field study I went home because I literally haven't seen my family since they got back from Egypt! Unfortunately my host brother has the flu so he has been in bed all day but I cooked/ate/caught up with my host parents which was really nice!

Tomorrow I only have 1 class so I'm looking forward to catching up on homework and sleep!

Food log:

Breakfast: muesli and yogurt and a banana

Lunch: pizza bread from 1 bakery, and then our Danish teacher bought us pastries from another bakery!

Dinner: pasta with a garlic/butter/mussel sauce (we have this dish quite often because it is really good and super easy/quick to make!

Pictures coming soonish!