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!