A series of noteworthy events

My last month in Copenhagen has proved to be just as fun and exciting as I could have hoped, even though the weather has been sub par and extremely disappointing (It's May and hasn't hit a high above 55! Something is going wrong). The weeks have been marked by several exciting encounters and events that will remain with me as some of my most fond memories of my time here.

The Queen and The Oak Room
The week I got back from travel break was a build-up to the Queen's birthday on Friday, which is a huge deal. After finishing a final presentation in my political rhetoric class Thursday evening and feeling particularly enthused at its completion, Viv and I decided to go out...something we hadn't done on a Thursday yet since we always have class (early for me) the next day. It turned into a pretty comical night after the fact when we both met up with the rest of our friends Friday morning to see the Queen in the same outfits we were wearing the night before. But Friday was full of excitement and Danish pride, the sun was shining (briefly), and we were happy to be in Denmark. We only saw the queen for about one second when she came by on her horse drawn carriage, but at least we saw her.

The next evening we decided to try out a place we had heard of for nice cocktails in Norrebro (called The Oak Room) and have a "classy" evening. Classy turned into one of our friends not even being able to make it out of her apartment and down the stairs and the rest of us spending upwards of $20 for a drink. Needless to say, we spent Sunday relaxing at our respective homes. I actually ended up going to the Copenhagen Cherry Blossom Festival with my hostfamily, because my hostsister is really interested in Japanese culture. Unfortunately, it's been so damn cold here that the trees were completely devoid of any blossoms, but it was still pretty cool.

The next week we made a last minute decision to go to the ballet when DIS put tickets on sale at a reduced price. We saw A Midsummer Night's Dream and the Queen showed up! We didn't even know she'd be there, and right before the performance started, she walked into her private box and everyone stood and applauded. So we had two run-ins with the Queen from the previous Friday to that Wednesday. Definitely a highlight of the week.

Confirmation
That Friday we went out for a mellow night to the Norrebro Brewhouse and woke up Saturday morning to sun...finally! It didn't last long, but stayed long enough for us to enjoy a day at the King's Gardens. We laid in the grass, drank Somersby (a carbonated alcholic beverage that tastes way too much like Hansen's soda), and ate our recent favorite discovery: sour cream and onion chips. There is a brand of sour cream and onion chips sold in Copenhagen that are seriously like a drug or something. They are so incredibly delicious and have quickly become a staple item every time my friends and I get together.

Sunday proved another epic cultural experience for me as it was my hostsister's confirmation. Being confirmed when you're 15 is a very big deal in Denmark, but is more of a tradition than a religious event. Pretty much everybody gets confirmed. I went to the church with the family (so much family) and sat through the hour and a half service in Danish, which really wasn't that bad. Afterwards we headed to lunch at a waterfront restaurant downtown. There were about 80 people there, and we spent several hours eating, drinking, and singing. Yes, singing. On one's confirmation, it's common to take songs that already exist and rewrite the lyrics to be about the person who was confirmed. I think Michelle had three songs rewritten for her, that everybody joined in singing (except me because they were in Danish), and at the end everybody raises their glasses to her. It was all very fun, plus the food was amazing. Michelle's big gift is a trip to Japan next spring, which I think she's really excited about. That's what she wanted. After lunch, we headed back to the house for more food and ice cream and drinking. We barbequed outside and the kids jumped on the trampoline. It was such a fun and pleasant experience to get to be a part of this tradition with my hostfamily. Plus, I knew a considerable number of the people in attendance because I've met them all over the course of my time here, so it was nice to see familiar faces. As the night ended, it was just the younger crowd left around the kitchen table, and I was somehow convinced to go out with everyone...on a Sunday. We went to a bar that reeked of cigarettes and ended up staying until 2:30 or so, drinking beer and choosing songs from the jukebox. It was pretty fun. I think I've gone out on almost every night of the week now too. Except maybe Monday.

May Day
The following week was a breeze because we had Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off from school. On Wednesday I went to Bakken with my fam. It's the oldest amusement park in the world and you pay 40 bucks for unlimited rides until close. Thursday, Viv, Annie and I explored Nyhavn (the quintessential Danish street that you see in all the pictures/postcards) for lunch and walked around some. Maybe you'll recognize it:



That night we decided to go out but ended up just wandering the streets and not being able to decide where to go. The one upside was that it was so humid I wasn't wearing a jacket. Too bad that only lasted for that day. The major highlight of the weekend came Saturday, which was May Day. On May Day in Copenhagen, there is a huge festival in Faelledparken, which is the large park next to the Parken soccer stadium. There is live music, food tents, and amusement park rides, but really it's just a bunch of people walking around and day drinking and having a good time. I can't remember if I've mentioned this already but Denmark doesn't have an open-container law...so it's completely legal to walk down the street sipping a beer. It was a little cold, which was a bummer, and started raining at one point, but we still had a great time.

This picture is a little dark, but you can see the crowd:



Birthday week
Monday was my birthday! It was a little anti-climactic turning 21 in a country where I've been able to drink legally since arriving, but my hostfamily made a great dinner for my friends and me and it was complete with the Veuve Clicquot champagne my mom conspired with Viv to buy for the occasion. It was nice to have everyone over to see where I've been living and enjoy dinner together. Here's Annie, Viv, me, and Holly in the kitchen:



The real celebration came this Friday when we went out...a little too hard. All I'll say is that at one point we were at a bar that is legitimately called Pussy Galore. Apparently it's where the prince used to hang before he got married, so we wanted to check it out. I think the turning point of the night had to be when I asked my friend Holly to go order me the strongest drink the bar had (at Barcelona bar). I think it cost almost $30. Needless to say, I didn't move much Saturday and spent the day with Holly, sleeping on and off and watching Harry Potter. Viv came over in the late afternoon with yummy snacks and Charlotte and Leah arrived soon after. We spent the evening making dinner together and relaxing after our crazy night.

Here we all are in Annie's apartment Friday night:



Recovery Saturday:



Now it's Sunday and I have two finals in the next two days. My last week in Copenhagen is upon me, and I can't even believe it. I still haven't booked my travel plans for the week before Greece, which is slightly stressing me out, but oh well. It will get done. But before I forget, here's some little tidbits I've been meaning to post but keep forgetting:

- Danes don't necessarily wear their wedding rings on their left hand. As someone whose curiosity leads her to automatically look at someone's ring finger upon meeting, I noticed this early on. Don't think I'm too creepy, I just think it's interesting to see if someone is married, or not married, or married and not wearing a ring. One of the Russians I met in Moscow was only 23 years old but wearing a wedding ring. Interesting. I just wonder what the story behind everything is.

- Denmark doesn't have water fountains anywhere. Not even in the gym I go to.

- It's really common for girls and guys, starting in high school, to have their boyfriends or girlfriends sleep over regularly. It's not viewed as a big deal at all. When Viv inquired to her hostsister about her hostsister's boyfriend sleeping over, her response was something like "well duh, he IS my boyfriend."

- I spent $35 to get my bangs trimmed the other week. Just let that soak in.

Bad fashion, great ice cream, beautiful scenery

It's been almost three weeks since my travel break ended and I still haven't gotten around to writing about the second week of my break. I don't even have the excuse of having to do a lot of work because I've had a pretty mellow last three weeks with minimal to no work load and maximum hanging out, drinking Sommersby in the sun, and obsessing over the Madonna Glee episode. But for the sake of documentation, I'll back track.

Geneva: beautiful scenery
After I got back from Russia, I left the next day for Geneva, Switzerland where Cherin is studying abroad! She actually doesn't technically study or live in Geneva, but for sake of reference, I just say I went to Geneva. Erin lives in a town called Rolle that's about 20 minutes outside of Geneva by train, and her school is in Nyon, closer in towards Geneva. She picked me up at the airport and we headed back to her house for amazing lasagna that her host-mom had made. This was the view I saw walking from the train station to her house. It was my first glimpse at how amazingly beautiful Switzerland is.



The fresh, crisp air and breathtaking landscape were exhilerating and rejuvenating. We also lucked out with great, sunny weather the whole week. I've never realized more than this semester how much the weather affects your mood, or at least my mood. That first night we spent at home, catching up. The next day, we woke up to sun shining through the window and it turned out to be a gorgeous day. Erin and I made our way to Nyon, where her school classrooms are located and she showed me around. Our first stop was a castle that overlooks Lake Geneva and serves as a frequent pre-gaming location for her and her friends. We ended up just sitting there for what seemed like two hours because it was so warm and pleasant and the view was spectacular. Here's what we saw:



We eventually made our way down to the water and ate lunch at a cafe along the boardwalk. This was a standard lunch other than the fact that it was Easter Monday (the Monday after Easter is almost a bigger deal in Europe than Easter actually is) and there was a woman at the bar who was absolutely smashed at about 2 p.m. Not to mention she looked the epitome of a fashion faux pas in pleather leggings that revealed every piece of fat on her body, a bright blue racer-back tank top that further emphasized the rolls spilling over her waist band, and black heels that were probably bought at a porn shop. She kept going up to all the men at the bar and rubbing their heads and kissing them on the cheek. I was surprised the restaurant didn't kick her out. But it made for some interesting entertainment.

After lunch, Erin and I wandered down the boardwalk, bought some ice cream, and enjoyed it while sitting with our feet over the water. We sat and people watched...saw several adorable puppies and even more adorable small children running around. Other than to eat, our entire Monday was spent basking in the sun. That night we met up with some of Erin's friends and made Mexican food. It was fun to be able to meet the people she goes to school with and just hang out.

On Tuesday Erin needed to do work for her independent study project so we headed to the United Nations library. Did you know you can get a personal desk at the UN library? So cool. While Erin studied, I wandered around, tried to go to the Red Cross museum which is right across the street, but of course it's closed on Tuesdays. I stumbled upon a museum of glass and ceramics and helped an Irish couple find the entrance to the UN tours (I felt pretty cool being able to tell them where to go even though I had just been there myself for the first time two hours earlier). Unfortunately, there isn't too much to do in Geneva, and I resorted to lying in the sun in some grass in front of the Red Cross and listening to John Mayer. This is the view from the top of the Red Cross building:


The building in the picture is the United Nations

Later that day, Erin and I went on a walk around Rolle by her house, along Lake Geneva. The beauty of the mountains and the water in Switzerland never ceased to amaze me. It's so serene and relaxing. I could actually feel my mood get happier because the sun was shining and I was surrounded by so much natural beauty.



This was our view along the water.

Budapest: Bad fashion
Wednesday morning we left for Budapest together. We arrived to warmth that would stay with us the rest of the week. Budapest marked my first real hostel experience in Europe, and I have to say, it wasn't that bad. We stayed in a place called Leanback in the Erzsebet neighborhood on the Pest side of Budapest. I didn't know this before I went, but Budapest is actually divided by a river into the Buda side and the Pest side. The owner of the hostel was always around and extremely helpful. He pointed out numerous places on the map to go see. Probably the highlight of our hostel experience was getting to eat the cocoa puffs that were put out for breakfast in the morning. I'm lucky that I still get cereal to eat in Copenhagen, but Erin has been waking up to yogurt and muesli every morning since January, so this was a welcome and familiar change. We spent the first afternoon site seeing near Hero's Square. We tried to get into the zoo but couldn't find the entrance and ended up walking an hour in the wrong direction, contemplated going to museums but decided against it because we didn't want to pay, and found one of the open-air baths Budapest is famous for and really wished we had brought our swim suits so we could go in. The baths are a huge complex of open-air pools that all have different temperatures. They looked very inviting, but we were unprepared.

Being in Budapest marked my second visit to a post-communist country in two weeks, and I can tell you that the one thing Russia and Hungary definitely have in common is the worst fashion sense of anyone in the world. I've never seen so much jean on jean, tan pantyhose with open-toed heels, or just straight up hideous outfits in my whole life. I know it sounds like I'm being critical, but seriously, it was bad. I really wish I had taken more pictures of peoples' clothes and less of buildings I don't know the names of. You'll just have to take my word for it.

Vienna: great ice cream
Since we had so much time in Budapest, we decided to take a day to visit Vienna, which is only three hours away by train. Plus it was only $40 round trip. We got there around noon and immediately found a place to eat lunch. Then we tried to find our bearings and ended up going into an office to ask someone to point out to us where we were on a map. We were having difficulty figuring it out. Turned out we were right by the largest shopping street in Vienna, which we definitely proceeded to walk down. It wasn't long before we spotted an ice cream store that was very crowded and had to stop. Despite the fact that I had just eaten a custard pastry five minutes earlier, I indulged in another treat, and it was the best decision I made all day. That ice cream was probably the most amazing ice cream cone I had ever had. I got Nutella flavor sandwiched on either end with mango and raspberry in between. It was to die for. I don't even remember what Erin got but it was just as mind blowing. We continued happily down the street with our out of this world ice cream cones, the sun on our faces, and the feel of a bustling city all around us.

We basically spent the whole afternoon walking EVERYWEHRE around the city. The Museum of Art, Museum of Natural History, National Library, a beautiful park, the Belvedere, and everything in between. The architecture was beautiful and impressive. And the National Library was spectacular, in addition to the fact that I eyed several extremely attractive guys walking in and out to study. I don't have pictures of them, but here's the outside of the library:





This is the Belvedere Palace. Now it's a museum with Austrian paintings. Though, of course, we didn't pay to go in and see them...students traveling on a budget...food wins over museums.

On our way back to Budapest on the train, we were exhausted, but felt a sense of accomplishment in having conquered so much of the city in just a few hours. The sun was setting as we sped back, and we sprawled out on the seats and listened to music together. The train is such a pleasant experience. This was our view:



Back in Budapest: more great ice cream
Friday was spent doing major site seeing on the Buda side. We crossed the bridge and made our way from the Fisherman's Bastion to the Buda Castle (now a history museum) to the Citadel which sits at the very top of a huge hill and overlooks the entire city. It was warm enough that I wasn't even wearing my jacket most of the time and we were rewarded at the end with the massive view of the city at the Citadel and then a nap in a sprawling green park at the top of the hill.


Fisherman's Bastion


Buda castle, looking at it from the Pest side before we crossed the bridge


View from the Citadel

After relaxing in the grass for the rest of the afternoon, we made our way back to the hostel, and along the way, happened to find one of the most famous confectionaries in Europe. It's called Gerbeaud's and sits in a main square near the shopping streets on the Pest side. This was the ice cream sundae we splurged on:



We spent a very pleasant couple of hours sitting outside with our sundae and people watching in the square. For dinner, we ventured to a hummus bar near our hostel and it did not disappoint. It was exactly the kind of cheap, but amazing meal we needed. We even met some other American students who were studying abroad in Italy but on spring break in Budapest.

By the time Saturday rolled around, we were exhausted from a week of walking around three different cities and let ourselves indulge in back-to-back movies at the humongous theater inside the mall. We saw An Education and Dear John. Seeing movies in a foreign country is actually a really interesting experience. There are assigned seats as if you were going to see an actual theatrical performance and the commercials played before the movie starts are, obviously, all in a different language and for products that we don't necessarily have at home. The movies themselves are almost always in English with subtitles, but being Americans watching American movies in a different country, you're bound to laugh at parts that no one else thinks are funny, and then you start laughing harder because no one is joining you. Anyways, it was a relaxing afternoon. The next day we had to say goodbye and head home to our separate cities.

So, what did I learn?

Traveling on your own is EXHAUSTING. From the logistics of booking planes and hostels, to figuring out where to go once you're there and the cheapest way possible to enjoy a new city, your brain and feet hurt afterwards. That one week of traveling made me gain much more respect for a friend of mine who spent an entire year after high school traveling by himself in Africa and Europe. It's physically and mentally taxing, but an extremely rewarding experience. And there's something to be said for figuring it all out on your own. Erin and I were pretty proud of ourselves for trekking all over Vienna and Budapest, getting to all the major sites, happening to find two amazing places to eat ice cream, getting ourselves to and from the airport, and not running out of money. Plus now I can add three more cities to my list of exciting places I've visited.

I apologize for this post being so long, and completely understand if you don't even get far enough to read this apology. But there was a lot of ground to cover! Hopefully I'll be able to write about my last three weeks back in Copenhagen some time soon.

hej hej

Time Warp...continued

Finally getting around to the rest of the week!

Novgorod
Wednesday morning we boarded a bus to Novgorod, the medieval capital of northern Russia. When we got there, we toured the Kremlin and St. Sophia's cathedral. One thing I definitely didn't realize about Russia beforing going there is that there is more than one Kremlin (though the one in Moscow is THE Kremlin I think)...and that the Kremlin isn't one building. It's more like a fortress with several buildings meant for government use and then churches. Here's the outside wall of Novgorod's Kremlin and St. Sophia's church:





In the afternoon we visited a monastery where Jon's friend Father Dimitry is a monk. This was the most fascinating part of our visit. Jon translated for him because he speaks little English, but he was still so articulate and had great metaphors. He said that at the end of all our lives, we have to pass an exam- an exam with God I think. And the exam consists of one question that is different for every person. Father Dimitry was trained as a mechanical engineer before he became a monk, so there's an extremely interesting combination of science and religion in his life. The monastery is situated around a lake that looked icy and crisp. It was a pretty setting and very peaceful.





Wednesday night marked my first experience on an overnight train. We took one from Novgorod to Moscow. The compartments we slept in are probably the size of a walk in closet, with four beds and a tiny table. There isn't a lot to do on an overnight train, especially with our limited space. We did make an excursion to the restaurant car, where we encountered the Russian "Shrek" hooker waitress I talked about in my previous post. After that, we'd seen enough, and went to get ready for bed. Going to sleep was actually a pretty pleasant experience because we had the window open, which allowed for fresh air and created nice white noise with the sound of the wind against the moving train. You could see all the stars since we were in the countryside. I popped in my headphones and listened to Midnight Train to Georgia and everything felt great...until we had to wake up at 5:15.

Moscow
When we arrived in Moscow, we went straight to our hotel and back to bed for a couple hours. When we awoke, it was time for a bus tour around the city. It took us an hour to get to Red Square because Moscow traffic is so bad. Red Square is a large open space surrounded by the Kremlin, a huge department store, St. Basil's cathedral, a museum, and the mausoleum where Lenin's body is on display. Even though most people (or most Americans) probably think of Red Scare when they hear Red Square, Red in old Russian actually means beautiful.



Straight ahead you see St. Basil's, on the left is the department store, and on the right is the Kremlin.

Once we were in the square, we went into the mausoleum to see Lenin's body. It was awesome. We were told not to speak at all as we descended down these really dark marble steps with (really cute) Russian guards every five feet motioning you which way to go...even though there was only one way to go. I found the perceived seriousness of the situation, along with the dark lighting, attractive but completely devoid of emotion guards, and the fact that we were going to see the preserved body of the dictator who first ruled the Soviet Union all very funny, and had to try very hard not to laugh as I walked through the mausoleum. We weren't allowed to actually stop and look at his body, we had to keep moving. So I only got a glimpse of Lenin, but he's not that big of a guy. Kind of short. Plus he's behind a glass box and you can really only see from his chest up.

Afterwards, we got back on the bus and went to a lookout point by Moscow State University where you can see the whole city. The view was a little hazy, but here it is at night:



Can't see a lot but the lights look cool.

Then we went to the cemetery where Yeltsin and Kruschev are buried. Then dinner, which was a very interesting experience. We split into groups and were paired with other Russian students who took us around the city and cooked us dinner. I was with another American and three Russians: Nadia, Max, and Vadim. We walked around for two hours before we made dinner, which was a little annoying only because we had been up since 5:15 and had already been touring all day. I was tired and hungry. But we eventually made our way to Nadia's house where we made dinner. We had vodka and chased it with pickles and salted/pickled tomatoes. Sounds weird, but it's actually not that bad. The salt kind of negates the liquor's taste. We talked throughout dinner and played charades. Then we got in Nadia's car and drove to the lookout point by the university again (which is why I have a picture of it at night) and then a monastery with a park and walking path around it. At this point though, I was really ready to get back to the hotel and go to bed. We finally did get back around 1 in the morning.

Funny anecdote: When we were getting lunch on Thursday, a kid on my trip was trying to go to the bathroom but he needed a code or something to unlock the door. Some people who spoke English were trying to help him figure it out and one of them said "Everything in Russia is under control, even the bathrooms." He said it as a joke, but it's so true! Russia is such a backwards country from what most people are used to, and it's based on obedience and control. I can't remember if I said this already, but before we got on the train to Moscow, or before we would enter a big building as a group, Jon would tell us to look serious and not talk so that our behavior wouldn't overwhelm the Russians and be more like what they're used to. So bizarre.

Friday was our last day in Moscow and it was very relaxing and fun. In the morning we toured the Kremlin, which isn't as cool as you'd expect it to be. Just a bunch of buildings you can't go into because they're for government use, and some churches. But at this point in the trip we'd seen about a million churches. We had the rest of the day off though and a group of us headed back towards the hotel to go to the outdoor market nearby it. From the outside it almost looked like a Russian Disneyland or something because it's a cluster of colorful castle-like houses and cottages. Here's a picture:



We wandered around, got kabobs, bought souvenirs. The weather was great- nice and sunny. We even met an American family visiting their son who is studying abroad in Moscow. Then we got ice cream and parted ways to relax before the farewell dinner in the city.

The dinner was so much fun. Wine and vodka were abundant and a bunch of the Russians people had met the night before showed up later in the night, which called for even more vodka and wine. The next morning I woke up an hour late and a little dizzy, but otherwise felt fine. The Moscow airport was definitely an experience to remember. You have to go through security just to enter the airport at all. Then you have to go through security again with all your luggage. THEN you check in to your flight, drop off your luggage, and get your boarding pass. On to passport control, and finally regular security where you walk through the metal detectators and only have your carry on items. It was a process. Plus the bathrooms were foul. And Russia hasn't outlawed smoking inside. So airports, restaurants, you name it, are fair game. GROSS. The airport was also very poorly laid out-very small and narrow. Needless to say, it felt so good to touch back down in civilization and be welcomed by the hard-wood floors and Hugo Boss of Copenhagen airport. Going to Russia was an amazing experience that I'll probably won't get again, so I'm really glad I took advantage of it. But it is a country still tainted by its communist and Soviet history, and has a lot of catching up to do in terms of modernization.

I spent the next 24 hours relaxing, doing laundry, and re-packing for my flight to Geneva on Sunday. Next blog installment: my week with Cherin!

Lets Do The Time Warp, Yeahhhh

WOW. All I have to say right now is two weeks is a really long time. My last post was the week before our travel week began, when I was swamped with papers and tests. But Friday finally came and all was well. It actually felt weird that we were all about to embark on a two-week break because (that week aside) I didn't really feel like I needed one. At school, I can't wait for spring break to come, but being here is almost like a constant spring break. But hey, I'll take the two weeks off.

St. Petersburg
I left on Sunday, March 28 for Russia with my Russia Past and Present class. It was a DIS organized trip with a corresponding one-credit class I've been taking on Russian history. Our first stop was St. Petersburg. Ironically, we stayed in a hotel called Moscow. It was more like a huge convention center. Here's what it looked like:



My first impressions of St. Petersburg were that it was cold and rainy. There was still ice on the ground in most places. Our teacher said Russia was going through it's annual thaw. My view of the city on that first day was that it was old and run down. All the buildings looked like they were deserted leftovers of another time. There were street trolleys operating that looked so cold and uncomfortable- old, rusting, and completely metal. No cushioned seats or anything. All the posters in the metro stations looked like they were from the 80s and never got taken down. The whole landscape of the city makes you realize how much more recently Russia became modernized, and it's still working on it. The country was literally stuck during the Soviet Union, and you can tell. Here's pictures of a trolley and a metro poster:



I took this photo from our moving bus but hopefully you get the idea.

Check this out:



Even the people are lagging behind on the times. I saw one too many mullets in my one week in Russia and definitely too many fashion violations. Not only were we pretty sure that the woman who worked in the restaurant car of our overnight train from St. Petersburg to Moscow was working a second job as a hooker, she also looked like an ogre. Literally. Her face was green. It was like she had put on foundation, but it was green instead of tan. Needless to say we were a little taken aback and didn't order anything. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Probably the most notable moment of our first night was our experience with Russian vodka. We ate dinner at a restaurant called Cafe Jam (actually owned by Danish people!) and our teacher got each of us a shot of vodka and proceeded to explain to us the right way to drink it. I'm sure you can guess that it doesn't involve mixing it with Fanta or chasing it with cranberry juice. The Russians mean business when it comes to vodka. They usually give a speech leading up to the initial drinking of the shot about how great it is that everybody has come together, etc, etc. Jon's (our teacher, a Dane who used to live in St. Petersburg and speaks fluent Russian)speech lasted about ten minutes, making it the most build-up shot of vodka I'd ever had. When we finally took it, it burned and made us all feel extremely warm. It was so strong. Russians always chase vodka with food. Usually pickles or something pickled. Sounds weird but is actually kind of good. The salt mixes well with the liquor flavor. We actually chased with bread that night, but I encountered the pickle habit later in the week.

Tuesday we took a bus sight seeing tour of the city, which wasn't a huge success for me because it was cold and windy outside, making me not pay attention to any of the information Jon was giving us, but it was really warm on the bus, which made me drowsy and tired and prompted a 20-minute nap between each excursion. We saw the Peter and Paul fortress and cathedral, where all the leaders and royals are buried. Nicholas II's family has an entire room to themselves, and they are actually considered saints in Russia. I couldn't help but take a picture of Anastasia's plaque...so funny that probably every American child's first point of reference when it comes to Russia is that animated movie.



She's on the right!

Tuesday afternoon was a little better just because the sun came out. We went on a walking tour and saw Dostoevsky's apartment and a TON of churches. If there's one thing Russia does right, it's churches. They are beautiful and ornate and covered in gold. Amazingly intricate and have the slightest smell of wax from all the candles burning. We actually got to see a service in progress on Sunday night, which was pretty cool since it was Palm Sunday. Inside a Russian church, women must cover their heads, while men must uncover theirs. You're also not allowed to lean on anything or put your hands in your pockets. All of the churches (and most of the buildings in Russia) are painted in pastel colors on the outside- blue, yellow, green- and are known for their "onion" shaped domes. Here are some pictures:



I can't remember the name of this one, but it's where we saw the service on Palm Sunday



This is inside the Peter and Paul cathedral



We saw this one on the way to the Mariinsky theater. Sorry, don't remember the name. There were so many churches it was hard to keep track!



I think this is called the Church of Spilled Blood. Notice the "onion" domes.

Monday evening we went to the Mariinsky theater and saw Swan Lake performed. The theater was beautiful inside...completely pastel green and gold. And I always love going to the ballet, so seeing a Russian ballet performed in Russia was amazing.

Ok I'm not even on to Tuesday and this is already too long. Russia was just such an interesting place! There's so much to say. I'll try to do Tuesday quickly and save the rest for another post.

Tuesday morning was filled with the kind of touring I prefer. It wasn't about sight seeing, but about meeting Russians, seeing how and where they live, what their culture and every day lives are like. We split into small groups and had a young Russian take us around the city. My group's guide was Maria, who was super cute and really nice and willing to talk to us. Russians don't usually like tourists, so Maria was great. We visited a typical food market, a communal apartment building, stopped for tea, took our time, chatted. It was great. In the afternoon we had a tour of the winter palace, which is massive and spectacular. Jon said everything was so built so large to remind visitors to the city of Russia's size and power. Take a look:





We had the rest of the night to ourselves and nothing too noteworthy happened. I'm off to bed! Installments for the rest of the week will come soon!

Wait...I have work to do?

Ok I know I didn't get around to my usual weekly post, and seeing as how my last two posts were about a trip that happened almost three weeks ago now, I just wanted to say I'm alive! Barely. For some reason, all my teachers recently thought that maybe there should be some studying involved in study abroad, and I've been hitting the library all day since Saturday. I had two exams today, and I admit I haven't exactly been diligently doing the reading for either of those classes all semester...which meant last minute cramming and waking up at 5 a.m. this morning. In addition, I had a paper due for my Hans Christian Andersen class for which I was supposed to find at least two outside sources to support my topic, but had absolutely NO LUCK at all in doing so. After several emails back and forth with my teacher explaining my dilemma, she finally told me that she liked my topic anyways and to forget all about outside research. Win for me. Tuesday done. Moving on to a political campaign video for the most disorganized and undirected class I've ever taken, Political Rhetoric. Try organizing an entire political campaign for a political party you've never heard of until two months ago in a political system you haven't grown up understanding. It's not easy. Next is an 8 page research paper on how Harry Potter fufills the hero myth, originally due Thursday (bad news since I haven't started) but I got an extension to Friday. Another win for me. Other than that, all I have to worry about is avoiding my new obsession with deep-fried waffles, topped with warm nutella and vanilla soft serve. I'm not kidding, one bite will change your life.

Back to the books. Leaving for Russia this Sunday! Just have to get through the week...

PS- It's finally starting to get in the 40s (8/9 celsius) here and it's amazing! I have a whole new outlook on what it means to be cold after surviving a Danish winter, so having it be 45 and overcast is absolutely amazing. But since my mom was nagging me continually to put up a picture of myself in my rabbit fur hat, here's evidence of a colder time:



My friend Holly and me before seeing a movie in February. Side note: Holly and I are going to Greece together at the end of May. I. AM. SO. EXCITED.

Winning London, part 2

Picking up where I left off...

Stonehenge is a bunch of rocks
We woke up early Wednesday morning to take a bus to Stonehenge. It's in an open field in the middle of no where. It was crazy cold and windy, which kept me from being able to concentrate on anything except shivering, let alone what our tour guide was saying. I did take a ton of pictures though, but after a while, you realize you just have 100 pictures of rocks at different angles and it stops being cool. Here's a random selection:







Probably my favorite part was actually visiting the giftshop afterwards and investing in an awesome Stonehenge plastic cup that's like those ones everyone had when they were little of different Disney movies, where there's a layer of watery glitter and charm things floating around when you shake it. I had one of the 101 Dalmatians when I was a kid. Pretty sweet. This one has a cartoon rendition of Stonehenge with floating moons and stars.


Taking a Bath
After Stonehenge, we made our way to the small town of Bath. It was such an architecturally beautiful little town. We had time on our own to explore and get lunch before meeting the group for a tour of the ancient Roman Baths, a natural hot spring where Romans came to socialize way back when. We got to look like uber tourists and listen to an audio tour on one of those huge black cell phone looking things. Observe:



Later in the afternoon, we sat down for tea at Sally Lunn's tea house. Apparently she's famous for her buns, which also makes for an entertaining rhyming scheme: Sally Lunn's buns. Very fun to say over and over. They were actually pretty good. Almost like huge hamburger buns, but flakier, and topped with butter and cinnamon sugar. We also had a bowl of clotted cream (kind of like whipped butter but it doesn't have as much taste) to spread on them as well. I ended up having three (including my own) because some girls didn't want theirs. Then I felt sick. Here is one:



A group of us then took a beautiful walk around the town and by the water. It was so nice and relaxing. Take a look:



For dinner we stopped at the most adorable cottage on the way back to London called The Pear Tree. It had all wooden tables and dim lighting and a fire going. It kind of reminded me of Camp 18 on the way to the beach at home, but smaller and quainter, better food, and no animal heads. It was very cozy and enjoyable. And when we left you could look up and see all the stars, because we were in the middle of no where, and it was just a moment of great contentness because it had been such a good day and everyone was in a good mood and we were having so much fun.

Walking across Abbey Road is easier if you're the Beatles
I'll skip over most of Thursday to the part where Holly, Hillary, and I went on a quest to find Abbey Road. More specifically, the crosswalk the Beatles walked across for their album cover. We found it, and attempted to take an imitation shot. But this proved more difficult than expected. There was a lot of traffic, and to really get a good picture, we would have had to ask a stranger stand in the middle of the street, dodging fast cars and buses and bikes, while we slowly walk across in attempt to look something like that iconic image. There were other tourists there too, and it was pretty comical to watch everyone try to take pictures of themselves walking across. I'm sure people who live in that neighborhood are so over the amount of visitors they get to this random little crosswalk. Here are our valiant attempts:





Notice that Holly actually took her shoes off in the second picture in an effort to make it look more authentic. Props to Holly.


Miley Cyrus wrote the national anthem
That night we got to see Billy Elliot (so great!) and then somehow managed to get a good amount of our group to all go out together, including our teacher Jonas. We ended up at the most quintessential Eurotrash club called The Zoo. We hung in a back room that had it's own bar and everyone was dancing and having a blast. Since coming to Europe, every time we're out and Party in the USA (the Miley Cyrus hit) comes on, it's a cue to every American girl to start screaming and freaking out from excitement. It's like the new age national anthem or something. Somehow we all become really proud to be an American when that song comes on. Well it came on that night at the Zoo, and EVERYONE (guys and girls), all 20 of us or whatever, promptly sung every word at the top of our lungs and had our hands in the air. It was probably the greatest three minutes of my whole week.

Perspective
Friday we visited The Telegraph, which had such an impressive newsroom that made me fall in love with wanting to be a journalist all over again. Here it is:



We returned to Copenhagen that night. All in all, it was an amazing trip. All the exploring I did made me want to do more exploring in the other cities that are a part of my life (Portland, DC, Copenhagen). And I think the trip was the first time it really hit me how much of a valuable experience it is to travel abroad. And not even travel abroad, but just leave home, leave what you're comfortable with. It's only by leaving that we can fully appreciate what we've left behind. I've definitely found that to be true since being here. Leaving Portland for DC has made me love Portland that much more, and leaving DC for Copenhagen makes me miss the fast-paced District more than I ever thought I would. Even leaving CPH for London for the week made me appreciate Copenhagen's unique qualities, the same way returning to CPH from London made me look forward to the next time I'll get to spend time in England.

I've been back in Copenhagen for a week now and things are just coming along. I feel like we're at the point where things aren't as novel anymore, and we're just living our lives, but living them in a different city. It seems odd to have such a normal routine in a foreign city, and sometimes I can't decide if I'm ok with it. But it's actually kind of nice. Although I'm still on the lookout for fun things to do and new things to try! Obviously. Ok I'm off to bed. Hej hej

Winning London, part 1

I'm going to have to do this post in two installments because otherwise it'll be way too long. I'm also going to try and divide it into sections with themed headers...

My week in London last week was amazing. I honestly didn't want to come back. There were several reasons for this, but the familiarity of England to home and the amount of sun I experienced definitely had something to do with it.

America is paranoid and I need to learn how to travel light
We left Feb. 28, so I guess two Sundays ago at this point, and arrived in London after an extremely easy two hour flight. In fact, my whole morning at the Copenhagen airport was probably the most relaxing time at an airport I've ever had. Going to school so far from home, my last three years of flying have been characterized by waking up at 4 a.m., having too much luggage for one person to grogily manage by herself, carry-ons that weigh almost as much as my actual suitcases, and sweating profusely from running around with so much stuff. It's no wonder I hate flying. But this trip was different. We got to the airport about two hours early, breezed through check-in, dropped off my one bag (that wasn't bursting at the seams!), and strolled through security with my one purse. It actually felt weird to not have more things, like I had forgotten something. At security, we didn't even have to take our shoes off or walk through the sensors holding our boarding pass (boarding pass and passport went through the belt). My friend Charlotte and I got a big breakfast at a sports bar and relaxed for an hour. I also saw a Starbucks, which is the first one I've seen since coming to Denmark. We completely forgot that we had to go through customs and started walking to our gate about 15 minutes before boarding. Luckily, that was easy as pie too, and we showed up with plenty of time. Anyways, lesson learned? Americans are insanely paranoid when it comes to flying. We all just need to take a breather and realize that no one is hiding a bomb in the sole of their shoe.

Disappointment followed by euphoria
My first hour or so in London was slightly tainted by the fact that it took me about two seconds to lose my Danish SIM card on our tour bus when I was switching it out with my European SIM card (probably shouldn't have been doing that on a moving bus. But sometimes I'm overeager and do things at impractical times). It dropped on my seat and when I went to reach for it, POOF, into a black hole. I seriously looked everywhere and couldn't find it. Mystery forever. Once I got over that though, the week was great. Monday was perhaps my favorite because I got to spend a lot of time on my own exploring the city. It was so empowering and rejuvenating to navigate a new city by myself. I absolutely loved it. It was a beautiful sunny day and I was just another person in the hustle and bustle of everything. I hate traveling in a huge group of Americans in a foreign place because it attracts so much negative attention. I'd much rather do it all on my own. And London was so much busier and livelier than Copenhagen. People walked with purpose, they spoke to each other on the Tube...as opposed to the Danes who maintain strict silence in places like public transportation and seem to constantly be on a leisurely stroll. While it's nice to be part of a culture that lives life at such a different pace, London is much more of a "me" city. So anyways, I did some shopping at TopShop on Oxford Street and later in the afternoon, wandered to Harrods by myself. Harrods has the most overwhelming shoe display I've ever seen. I was in shoe heaven. I wish I had taken a picture of it, but I bought a pair of black leather ankle boots instead to secure my memory of the room. I did take a picture of the Veuve Clicquot champagne bar though, a champagne that seems to have become a staple at family gatherings at home and that I have learned to love. Here it is:



After Harrods, I got on the Tube to meet the rest of my group for dinner. Riding the train, listening to my iPod, and writing in my travel journal, by myself in London, I was actually in a state of bliss. I loved the independence. Dinner was at this awesome, hip place called 1001 that had a barbecue and outdoor picnic benches, as well as an indoor lounge type area full of hipsters with Mac laptops. Plus a DJ playing tunes by Bob Marley and the like. It had a great atmosphere. Cafe 1001 is also the host of London's only weekly short film screening, called Short & Sweet. The films we watched were weird to say the least.

Seeing the sun is the key to happiness
Every day in London was beautiful and sunny. I was ecstatic. You could literally feel the energy of our group rise becuase everyone was so pumped to not be surrounded by fog, snow, and dreariness ALL THE TIME. On Tuesday afternoon, after a visit to a local PR agency called We Are Social, my friend Holly and I had the most wonderful afternoon walking around London. We visited the Tower of London (just the outside, we didn't go in) and then got a vanilla ice cream in a chocolate dipped cone and ate it by the water as we people watched and looked at the Tower Bridge. Here's a picture:



Afterwards, we made our way to Big Ben and Parliament and had a great walk by the water. Here's me in the sun and the wonder that is Parliament!



All the exploring I did in London made me want to do more exploring in the rest of my life, not just in Copenhagen, but even at home in Portland and at school in D.C. Of course, the sun helped in terms of actually wanting to spend time outside, but still. It was so exciting to discover a new place for the week and it made me want to be more conscious of exploring the other cities that are a part of my life. Ok I think this is the end of part 1. I'm off to bed. Another post will be up soon!