Vi ses, Denmark. Jeg vil savne dig.

Well it's approximately 6:00 in the morning here in Copenhagen and I just said goodbye to my closest friends I've made since being here. Soon I will standing in the airport saying goodbye to my host family and to Copenhagen. Looking back on these past four months I can honestly say that they have changed my life. I have a new perspective of the world and of who I am and what I want to do with my life. I fell in love with this city and the people here and I can't wait to come back. I know that this isn't actually "goodbye," it's just "see you later."

I have done more in since arriving in January than I ever would have thought to be possible. I've been to 18 different cities in 11 different countries with 11 different languages and 7 different currencies. I've been to 16 museums, 9 churches and 3 breweries. I've done two bike tours, went snowboarding in Sweden and climbed to the top of the Eiffel tower. I've seen the sun rise 5 times in 3 different countries, I biked over 30 kilometers everyday to class (once the snow melted) and drank enough beer to last me a lifetime. But beyond all the things I did while I was here it was the lessons that I've learned that are going to really stick with me forever. These are the things I have learned from the Danes:

There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing--you'd think I would have learned this in Minnesota but I was way too optimistic in Copenhagen and thus frequently under dressed.

Do NOT cross the street unless the little man in green. It does not matter if it is 3am and there are no cars or people in sight, you must wait.

If you can sit on the bus without sitting right next to anyone that is preferable. Also, if you are sitting next to someone and another seat opens up you are expected to move.

You can set your watch to the buses but you can bet that the trains will be late. Always.

If a stranger on the street smiles at you, you know immediately that he is either not Danish or drunk. And if he is drunk, he's probably Swedish.

"Religious Holiday" is code word for let's go out and drink since we don't have to go to work/school tomorrow. No one can actually tell you what the holiday is for...

Skål is by far the best "cheers" that any language has. After coming across prost, salute, na zdraví, geluk, a votre sante, na zdrowie and salud I would have to say that Denmark wins because skål is the most fun to say.

AND now this post must be delayed because I just found out my flight was canceled. STAY TUNED! Hopefully I can get home...

Well I made it home! And it was a rough day getting here but now that I made it it feels so good to be home.

The beginning of the end

I can't believe that in two days I will be in the Minneapolis airport, attempting to find my luggage at the baggage claim and hoping that my dad will show up on time. My time here has gone by way to fast but I guess that can also be a good thing. Never once was I just sitting around, wishing that I was back home or wanting to leave. I packed a lot into these four months and that trend continued with the past two weeks.

After I got back from Paris I wad one week left of classes and it was a busy one. I had three papers to write, an oral presentation (in Danish!) and a final exam. But I managed to survive and have some fun. My host family and Anne (my mom's friend from when she lived in Denmark) and I went to Louisiana on Sunday. No, not the state famous for Mardi Gras and jazz but the art museum in Humlebæk, a city north of Copenhagen. They had an exhibition called "Color in Art" that was incredible! It showed how the use of color changed over time and had works from Matisse, Kandinsky, Miro and many others. The exhibit also had much more than just art--I learned how we perceive color, how different colors evoke certain emotions and how color sensitive I am (I scored a 4 on a scale from 1 to 100 with 0 being perfect). After the exhibit we wandered around outside where they had many sculptures on display in these beautiful gardens. There was also a big grassy opening right on the sea and Sweden was clearly visible even though it wasn't the clearest of days. It was a really gorgeous place. After Louisiana we went to Dyrehaven which literally means animal garden. It was the hunting grounds of the Danish king before their current queen and is a big open park with lots of deer! There is a castle in the middle of the park that Jan told me is where the king kept all of his mistresses. It's up on a hill so that the king could see if the queen was coming and make his lady caller leave quickly. So scandalous! There is a golf course in the garden now and there were a bunch of deer just chillin' right next to the green. Luckily for the deer, we did not play golf because I most definitely would have hit one of them...

The week following my Sunday out and about in the greater Copenhagen area was finals week. Normally this would mean no fun and a lot of studying but let's be honest, I'm studying in Denmark--the most laid back country I've ever been to. So during that week I had my last soccer game, climbed the steps of Our Savior's Church in Christianshavn, enjoyed my last night at Scottish Pub, went to the championship game for a Danish cup and went to Tivoli. The church gave the most incredible view of Copenhagen I've seen. It was a lot of steps and many twists and turns through what felt like an old dusty attic but by the time you made it to the top it was worth it!My last night at Scottish Pub was very fun but unfortunately I left approximately five minutes before I should have because I missed Third Eye Blind coming into the pub after they finished a concert nearby. Shoot. Maybe next time?
On Thursday my host dad called me and asked me if I wanted to go watch a football game with some of his colleagues. I said yes and was expecting to go a pub and watch a game on TV but before I had time to process what was going on I was in a suite at Parken (Copenhagen's stadium) with a cold Carlsberg in my hand watching the championship of the Ekstra Bladelt Cup. Can you say amazing? The game was one of the best soccer matches I've ever watched--super intense, went into overtime and two beautiful goals were scored. It was a much better way to spend a Thursday afternoon than my original plan of studying for my Complexity of Caner final...

The last thing on my checklist of "Things to do before leaving Copenhagen" was Tivoli Gardens and I checked it off on Friday. Tivoli is the inspiration for Walt Disney world and it definitely shows. It's like every childhood fantasy any kid ever had all rolled into one cozy little park. There were gardens and lights and birds everywhere! It was so picturesque and not to mention fun. We elected to only go on one ride as it cost about $15 but we chose very carefully and I think ended up on then best ride in the park. It's like the tree swings at any amusement park except it goes up really really high. I was able to see Sweden! We also played on a park that was clearly meant for small children and enjoyed a cup of varm chokolade! So now that I've seen it all and experienced everything Copenhagen has to offer I guess it's time for me to go home. My host family is throwing me a goodbye party tonight and we're having our last dinner at Sticks N Sushi tomorrow and then Monday I have to catch a plane and head back to Minneapolis. Crazy!

My long weekend in Paris

Last week there was some sort of religious holiday in Denmark but no one I asked seemed to know what it was all about... Regardless, it meant that I had a couple days off from class and my friend Kirsten and I took advantage of the extra time by going to Paris! It was one of those almost surreal trips where you have to keep reminding yourself where you are and what you're seeing because nothing seems real. Needless to say, I had an amazing time and I'm very proud of how much we were able to pack into our three days there.

We got into Paris late Wednesday night and basically only had the time and energy to eat and go to bed. We woke up Thursday morning bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready to see everything this city had to offer. We started our morning with a bike tour of the city, which was awesome! We saw so much and the weather was absolutely gorgeous so it was a really enjoyable way to start the day and get acquainted with the city. We saw the Gold Dome (Yes, it's real gold), the church where Napoleon Tomb is kept and it's connected Les Invalides, the first veteran hospital ever built. Then we went over Alexandre's Bridge, the most photographed bridge in Paris and it's easy to see why--it's gorgeous! And apparently it was way ahead of its time structurally speaking because it doesn't have any supports in the middle.

Next we passed through Concorde square where they executed a bunch of people during the French Revolution including Marie Antoinette then we stopped for lunch in the Tuileries garden. It was quite picturesque, enjoying my ham and cheese crepe in the middle of a French park with the Louvre behind me and the Eiffel Tower in front of me. After lunch we continued on our tour and saw the Louvre, the Grand Palais and finally the Eiffel Tower! After our bike tour Kirsten and I decided to be the ultimate tourists and make our way to the top of the Eiffel Tower. After 710 steps to the second floor we had to take the elevator all the way to the top. The view was incredible and we enjoyed playing "Where's Waldo?" with all the famous Parisian sights. After making it up and back down the Eiffel Tower we decided that it was time to treat ourselves to some sort of French pastry. Kirsten got an eclair and I got some sort of nutty tart from a man who spoke no English whatsoever but his enthusiasm made up for the huge language barrier. Next we made our way to the Arc de Triomphe and walked down the Champs Elysees. At this point our feet were killing us and all we wanted was a bed but instead we forged on and met one of Kirsten's friends in the Jewish quarter of Paris, lovingly referred to as "the swamp." This was a really fun part of the city that we probably would have never ventured to on our own. It was full of bars and shops and was generally a very hip neighborhood. It kind of reminded me of uptown but French. After the best falafel I've ever had, we called it a night and went back to the hostel for a much needed good night's sleep.

On Saturday we woke up to a dreary, rainy day. Luckily we had planned to go to the Louvre that day so the weather didn't spoil our plans one bit. The Louvre was daunting. There were huge crowds around every major work of art but that didn't stop us from getting right up front and getting a good look at these things. The Mona Lisa was okay, I think pictures of the painting are better though... The Venus de Milo however was spectacular. It really lived up to it's hype and I was thoroughly impressed. The rest of the museum was fun to wander through. Since we got in for free (EU students!) we decided to spring for audio guides so I actually learned a lot about the different artists and their works. After a quick lunch we crossed the river and went to the Musee d'Orsay, the impressionist museum. For me, this was better than the Louvre. There was a really interesting painting in every room and I fell in love with several. I'm really glad we decided to do this museum and it may have been the highlight of my trip to Paris. After we were all museumed out we decided to check out a couple churches. The weather had improved dramatically so we sat outside and admired the Notre Dame for a while before we wandered around inside. After Notre Dame we went on a little adventure to find Sainte Chapelle because we had heard the stained glass was amazing. We could see the steeple but we could not seem to find the church and kept walking in circles. Finally we realized that you had to go into the Palais of Justice, a gated square, in order to get into it. All the walking paid off though because this stained glass was incredible. It told the entire story of the Bible through the windows of this church--Gorgeous! After a long day of sight seeing we decided to treat ourselves to a classical French dinner. We started with escargot, followed by some sort of chicken with mushrooms and finally creme brulee for dessert! It was the perfect ending to a perfect day.

And this brings me to our last day in Paris. We started at the Sacre Coeur. The church kind of reminded me of Aladdin and I think that's why I immediately loved it. This church had more steps to climb so naturally we decided to climb them. After 350 steps we were on top of the church. I felt like Quasimodo climbing around up there. The path led us all over the roof of that church before we got into the dome, which gave us the most spectacular view of the city. After the Sacre Cour we tracked down the Moulin Rouge and then made our way to the Luxembourg gardens. We took a nice little nap in the sun in front of Luxembourg Palace, right next to a pond that little kids were sailing boats on. Then we wandered around the Latin Quarter a bit more and saw Sorbonne (University of Paris) and the Pantheon (where a bunch of famous people are buried). To cap off our day we went up the Montparnasse skyscraper in order to take in the city of Paris at night. It was breathtakingly beautiful. We could see the fireworks at Disneyland and about 5 minutes after we got to the top, the Eiffel Towel light show started. It was incredible. It was the perfect ending to the perfect weekend in Paris.

More Pictures:

Eiffel Tower (obviously)

After our bike tour and before Kirsten realized she was
totally fried (In case you can't tell, she's a redhead...)

View from the top of the Eiffel Tower. That tall skyscraper in Tour Montparnasse (The one we went up on our last night) and was built in the 1970's. After it was built the French decided it was ugly and didn't allow any other skyscrapers to be built within the Paris city limits.

Arc de Triomphe

Pyramids at the Louvre

Escargot!

Notre Dame

The Mona Lisa

Paris from the Sacre Coeur

On top of the Sacre Coeur, again

If you look closely you can see the Eiffel Tower between us...

Pond at Luxembourg Gardens

Luxembourg Palace

The Pantheon

Parisian Street

Disneyland Fireworks

Paris at night

The Eiffel Tower Light Show

Tillykke med fødselsdagen, Dronning Margrethe!

Today Queen Margrethe II turned 70 years old! And the Danes love their queen so this was no minor celebration. At noon the Queen was scheduled to come out onto her balcony at Amalienborg Palace and wave to all of her adoring countrymen and women. So my Danish class set out at about 11:30 to go see the queen. The palace was absolutely packed but we somehow magically found a perfect spot and I was about 50 meters away from the queen! She came out and waved and the crowd went crazy. Thousands of Danish flags were being proudly waved and everyone was trying to get a picture of the Queen. This proved to be a difficult task though because every picture I took seemed to be of a Danish flag and not of the Queen... Then the Queen's husband joined her on the balcony and he was soon followed by her two sons and their families. After they became tired of waving they made their way back inside and the Danish people started chanting something to the effect of "We won't leave unless you come out again!" And sure enough she came out two more times and gave the Danish people what they wanted. Then she got into her carriage and drove through the streets of Copenhagen on her way to her birthday brunch at the town hall (Radhuspladsen). I once again got to wave at Queen Margrethe but this time I was so close I could have given her a high five if I wanted to.

The whole day was filled with excitement and everyone seemed to celebrate in their own little way. Most stores had signs in the windows or were at least flying flags. My Human Health and Disease teacher brought us all pastries and the nice man working at the kiosk where I bought some coffee gave me a discount since it was the Queen's birthday and I was an American trying to speak Danish. Even the city buses were decked out with Danish flags. So it was a very exciting day for Danes and wannabe Danes alike and a very fun piece of Danish culture that I'm glad I got to experience.

More Pictures:

Marmor Kirken (And a massive crowd a people I navigated through to get a front row spot to see the Queen)

A random band that we accidentally stumbled across

Happy Birthday!

Some Queen's Guards

The Queen in her carriage

Second Leg of Euro Trip 2010

So unfortunately my limited access to the internet over the past week means that once again, this is going to be a bit lengthy. I apologize in advance and will be thoroughly impressed with anyone who reads the entire thing and isn't my mother.

Day 1 (Sunday April 4)

I flew into Venice early in the afternoon and took a waterbus from the airport to San Marco Square to meet up with my friends. It was a minor miracle that we found each other because it was Easter Sunday and the square was even busier than it usually is. After dropping our stuff off at the hotel we headed out for some authentic Italian food. I ordered the ravioli and it was honestly the best pasta I think I've had in my entire life. The pasta was followed by gelati and wine and a walk back to our hotel in the pouring rain.

Day 2 (Monday April 5)

We woke up and went exploring through the markets in Venice and I found some great Murano glass souvenirs. But the shopping was short lived because we had to catch a train to Milan to meet up with one more friend. While on the train we got hungry and decided to get off in Verona for lunch. This decision was made rather quickly and in our hurry we accidentally got off at the wrong Verona station and ended up in the outskirts of Verona. On Easter Monday. In the most Catholic country in the world. Needless to say nothing was open. We managed to find a small bar that had people in it and through a combination of German and French we communicated that we needed food. The bartender was nice enough to make us some sandwiches and sell them to us for 1 Euro even though they didn't technically have food for sale. So all in all our first "oops" of the trip turned out to be a very entertaining adventure. Once we got to Milan we stored our bags at the train station and headed out for a night on the town. We managed to get to the Duomo di Milano while it was still light out (Left) but the rest of the sights of Milan were seen in the dark. It was my friend's birthday so we had a big celebratory dinner complete with wine and gelati and then we went off to find a bar that was open. The whole Easter Monday thing made this a difficult task but eventually we found a great place with a friendly bartender who took good care of us. After the bar closed we went to a dance club and then walked 5 kilometers to the train station. We got there around 6 am and our train pulled up ten minutes later. We managed to get two train compartments between the five of us so we all were able to spread out and get a decent 5 hour nap in.

Day 3 (Tuesday April 6)

Around 11 AM we pulled into the Monaco train station and we were a dirty but hungry group of girls. We recognized that this was one of the richest countries in the world and we all looked like we hadn't showered in days, stayed up all night and then slept on a dirty Italian train but our hunger overpowered any shame we may have felt and we decided to seek out lunch. Then, after checking out the Casino Monte Carlo and mingling with the rich and beautiful people of Monaco we hopped back on the train and made our way to Nice. Nice was our new favorite city, mostly because we were all able to take a shower but also because we found some cheap French baguettes and brie cheese and ate it on the beach. We explored Nice for the rest of the afternoon and decided to call it an early night since we had to get up at 4:30am to catch a train to Marseilles. We were in a 6 person room at our hostel so we had one random roommate who happened to be one of the best looking men I have ever seen in real life. His name was Steve and he was from Australia. Besides being nice to look at he gave us some of the worst but most useful information of the entire trip. When we informed him we might wake him up because we had to catch an early train he looked at us in shock and said, "You do know the French railways are on strike tomorrow right? Nothing is going to be running..." Well, no, we obviously did not know that. Thanks, Steve. It was at this point that I turned to my friend, Jess, and cursed her for saying that she likes France so much she never wants to leave.

Day 4 (Wednesday April 7)

First stop- Bus station. We knew there was an overnight bus to Barcelona and that had become our Plan B. Well, Plan B failed because the buses were booked for the next 3 days because of the strike. So on to Plan C- wait a day and just cut a couple cities out of the original plan. We were promptly informed that unlike most train strikes which only last 24 hours this one was indefinite and looking like it was going to be at least 3 days long. Fabulous. Plan D- rent a car. After adding in gas and the extra insurance since we're under 25 the price was more than flying there (Plan E). And flying there wasn't cheap. Plan F was my favorite. Go back to Monaco and convince an old rich man to take us to Barcelona in his yacht because one of us was getting married in Barcelona on Friday and the rest of us were her bridesmaids. We even walked into a bridal shop and were very close to buying a veil for emphasis before logic took over. Plans G -K consisted of horses, bikes, kayaking and other slightly unrealistic forms of transportation but they were the best we had. At this point things were looking a little desperate because I had started suggesting apparation, floo powder and broomsticks. We decided it was time to pause and reboot. We headed to the beach for a picnic lunch complete with mimosas and took a couple hours to calm down and enjoy the sun. In one last desperate attempt at the trains we went back to the train station and saw that there was a train to Marseilles in 2 hours. We didn't know what we were going to do once we got there but we did know it was further west so we headed back to our hostel, packed our things and set out for Marseilles. We got into Marseilles after dark and learned that a train to Montpelier was leaving at 6am the next morning. So we decided to continue with our plan to just keep working our way west and went with it. The hostel we stayed in that night was sketchy to say the least but we all made it out with all of our organs, something we weren't positive would happen when we checked in.

Day 5 (Thursday April 8)

We rolled in to Montpelier around 9AM and immediately started seeking out ways to get into Spain. At this point we had given up on Barcelona and just wanted to cross the border. We found out that if we took a train to Perpignan there MIGHT be a bus into Spain. So that's what we did. Once we arrived in Perpignan we were informed that the city wasn't big enough to have a bus station so we would have to find an internet cafe. Well this tiny city didn't have one of those either so we convinced a hotel concierge to let us use their internet and managed to find a bus into Girona, Spain. When we finally crossed the border into Spain we all literally cheered--Success!! A hop, skip and a jump later we found ourselves in Barcelona! So instead of the one train we had planned on taking, it took us 4 trains, 2 buses and metro ride to get into Barcelona... But we made it and we were in good spirits the whole time. It could have been a disaster but we took everything in stride and ended up laughing at most of it. So for our "Yay we made it" dinner we decided to try some authentic Spanish food and took our waiter's recommendations. Probably not the best idea in hindsight but again, an entertaining adventure. We ended up with octopus and peppers which were both delicious and a stew that was not so delicious. The stew had boiled cabbage and potatoes with a Spanish sausage (tasty), shredded pork and beef (blah), a pig elbow (not sure how to eat it so I didn't try it) and a pig ear (cartilagey). Luckily the sangria was delicious and they brought us tequila shots on the house. After a night out on the town we were making our way back to the hostel and noticed that we were being followed by two men. There were five of us girls and we tried to pull everyone in tighter and let them pass but that didn't work. One of the men went up to my friend, grabbed her arm, went for her purse and was immediately tackled by another friend of mine who just so happens to play rugby. She proceeded to rip his very expensive headphones in half and then he got up and ran off. Meanwhile the other guy cut the strap of Jess's purse and turned to run past me so I decided to punch him in the face. He stumbled a bit but kept running. At this point the police had been called and we basically sprinted to our hostel. All of the credit cards in the purse were canceled within 20 minutes and after some calculations we realized that there was only about 2 euro in the purse that was taken. The most valuable thing in the purse was a beer mug we had stolen from the bar we were at earlier in the night. In fact we had moved almost all of the valuable things in Jess's purse into my purse in order to make room for the beer mug. So all in all these two guys got their asses kicked by a bunch girls and only got 2 euros out of it. It was a frightening experience but it ended up the best way it possibly could have.

Day 6 (Friday April 9)

We had to go to the police station this morning and fill out an official report. Almost two hours later we left the police station and surprisingly the stolen cards had been returned, unfortunately the beer mug was not recovered. At this point we were all pretty upset with Barcelona in general and decided to spend the afternoon at the beach to give it a chance to redeem itself. This was a great decision and after a fabulous dinner of tapas and paella we were starting to enjoy Spain a little more. Then we found a free concert in an old square and a bar with 4 euro mojitos. After stumbling across the best Chinese takeout I've ever had, we decided to take a cab home and I would go so far as to say that we were all actually liking Barcelona at this point.

Day 7 (Saturday April 10)

We went on a fabulous free walking tour of Barcelona's Gothic quarter. I learned a lot of interesting fun facts and saw the less touristy side of the city. We had timed the tour perfectly so that once the tour was over we could go back to the hostel, get my things and get to the airport in time to catch my flight back to Copenhagen. However when we returned to our hostel and walked into our room all of our things were gone. Our lockers were empty, our suitcases were missing and we had no idea where they were or why this had happened. After a heated discussion with the hostel staff we found out that my friends (who were staying one night longer than me) had changed rooms but no one had told them this. They were not happy campers... After tracking my bag down, my friends escorted me to the airport slightly behind schedule but not in danger of missing my flight. At this point I was barely phased by this but the girls I was with were fuming. I learned that they got a full refund for last night and several vouchers for free drinks and food at local restaurants. Just as Barcelona had started to redeem itself it all went downhill again.

I had never been so happy to feel the airplane to touchdown and walking through the Copenhagen airport was incredibly comforting. Don't get me wrong, I had a great week. I realize it sounds like I did nothing but complain about everything that went wrong but through all of the mishaps we managed to keep a positive attitude and make the most of it. I saw some places I had never seen before, tried food and drinks I had never tasted, ate plenty of gelato, learned a lot about the girls I was traveling with and my poor pasty white skin got to see the sun. I had a fabulous two weeks of traveling around Europe and learned a lot but it is so nice to be back in home sweet Copenhagen.

More pictures from the trip:

Cannolis in Venice

Wrong train station in Verona

Duomo di Milano

Monte Carlo Casino in Monaco

In Monaco with France and Italy in the Background

Nice Cathedral

Sunset in Nice

The border between France and Spain--Success!!

The beaches in Barcelona are fake--they stole all their sand from the Sahara Desert

Barcelona Cathedral

Gothic Bridge- If you walk under it backwards and make a wish, it will come true.