HOME

I arrived in Raleigh, NC along with all my luggage. The flight over was fine – watchign Princess and the Frog and Invictus and coloring in my coloring book. haha. Then Joy and I said said goodbye to Lily, who headed home to New Orleans. Then we got cinnamon sticks from Auntie Anne’s and appreciated how everyone was speaking English!

Arrived in Raleigh to meet my parents and we went to get breakfast for dinner at Bob Evans. yum.

My semester definitely flew by and I am so blessed that I had the opportunity to go abroad. Thanks for reading my blog – I’ve enjoyed living and writing about it!

 

More Quotes and Reflections

~Updated photos page too!~

“Life’s a voyage that’s homeward bound.” – Herman Melville

“Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.” ~ Matsuo Basho

“Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.” -Robert Frost

I can’t believe I am coming home so soon.

I am honestly not ready for the journey to end, I really do think part of my heart will be left in Copenhagen. This experience was so much more than I expected. I fell in love with a place that has LONG and FREEZING winters (something I never imagined I would survive, let alone kind of like), met some awesome international students, praised God with Danish worship songs, tried new sports and loved them – rappelling especially, became addicted to Danish food (meat, potatoes and pastries), traveled and explored parts of Sweden, Czech Republic, UK, and Norway, and found a second family here.

Coningsby: There is nothing I should like so much as to travel
Stranger: You are traveling. Every moment is travel, if understood.
–Benjamin Disraeli. Coningsby: Or, the New Generation,

“Only that traveling is good which reveals to me the value of home and enables me to enjoy it better.” –Henry David Thoreau. Journal, 11 March 1856.

“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” — Miriam Beard

“Let your memory be your travel bag.” — Alexander Solzhenitsyn

“Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and celebrate the journey.” — Fitzhugh Mullan

“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” — Jawaharal Nehru

“The journey is my home.” — Muriel Rukeyser

“Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quiestest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.” — Pat Conroy

~~~~~~~

I forgot! What I Did This Week:

Tuesday
I took my history of Copenhagen and Journalism/Public Relations exams. Both went well I think, but I don’t know when I’ll actually get my grades.

Wednesday
We woke up to rain, so Joy, Lily and I decided to scratch the beach idea and went to Fields -the largest shopping mall in Scandinavia instead. Then I went to small group for the last time. I have loved getting to know these girls, and I am so incredibly thankful to have found them and have them welcome me into their group!

Thursday
Joy, Lily and I traveled to Malmo, Sweden. It’s only a 30 minute train ride to another country! Malmo looked a lot like Copenhagen though – walking streets, neo-classical and renaissance buildings (thanks history of CPH class!), and we enjoyed looking at quaint houses, going through parks, and shopping. We ate a pizza hut and it was the fanciest Pizza Hut I think I will ever go to. We were seated and they were nice menus and even chandeliers! It was incredibly delicious garlic bread, pizza and ice-cream too.  We tried to go to a chocolate factory but it was closed and that so disappointing! We found out later that we were in Malmo on a holiday, so lots of places were closed or closed early. bummer.

Friday
Yesterday was the closing ceremony for DIS and my history teacher played the M.C. He was so cute and I remembered why I really liked his class, beyond all the learning about buildings and how cities are made. He is so passionate about what he does! We had two speeches by students that were both very good with their ancedotes about what to take away from our study abroad experience. The Director of DIS and a professor spoke and then they presented some awards. My good friend JOY WON BEST BLOG. I was so excited for her! So you can check out her blog here. It hit me that we are really leaving, the semester is actually over and it’s time to reflect and be prepared for my 2 minute answer to “how was Copenhagen?”. In addition to speakers we had a string orchestra play for us the Tango Jalouise and Adante Festivo. I really loved liked the music and like I said from the ballet, I think it’s partly because my mom always listens to classical music.

Then Joy and I shopped a little bit and met my buddy, Nanna. We ate at a Greek place with napkins that taught us greek (with Danish translations so that didn’t really help us).  We walked to the top of the DIS building, not quite high enough to the skyline, but still cool to go up the winding stair cases. Then we grabbed some ice-cream (I know – something new and different!). We arrived at the DIS concluding party and quickly found the candy bowl and enjoyed the music and people-watching. Once the party really got started- thanks to some Britney Spears- we had fun dancing and watching others trying to pole dance. haha. Isabella and Nadja came and I had fun introducing them to my friends and dancing with everyone.

Saturday

TODAY IS MY LAST DAY IN COPENHAGEN….and it’s raining. I woke up to yummy pastries with my family and am trying to cope with going home. Then Isabella, Michael, Lotte and I went to a big flea market. We looked at jewelry and scarves and even heard a Beatles cover band. In addition to booths, they had fair rides, although since it was raining, no one was riding them. Isabella got interviewed by a paper while we were there too! We came home and had barbecued chicken and fries and watched movies. It’s weird to think this is my last night here and I am actually leaving tomorrow…

Hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my adventures as much as I’ve enjoyed living and writing about them! I’ll blog when I arrive back home and probably some more reflections, but for the most part -this is the end of the road.  Thanks for taking part in my journey with me.

“Although I’ve traveled far, I always hold a place for you in my heart” –The Promise by Tracy Chapman

 

I Will Miss….

What I will Miss about Denmark:
-reliable public transportation where I can get work done or just relax instead of concentrating on driving
-great pastries
-hygge nights with my small group girls
-walking streets where it is easy to shop, eat and enjoy life
-beautiful parks within walking distance of home/school
-my host family making fun of my chocolate addiction
-pretty architecture and rich history of the city
-ability to easily travel throughout
-the constant sense of excitement and adventure and need to explore

What I’m Looking Forward to Back in North Carolina:
-CHICK-FIL-A and COOK OUT
-warm and sunny weather consistently during the summer
-everyone speaking English from the get-go
-familiar brands, being able to easily read labels of food.
-ability to get up and go when I want; not relying on a train to get me there.
-seeing my friends and family – duh!

What I’ve Gained from Studying Abroad:
-challenge myself. try new things for fun. I can find new interests – like rappelling and hiking! who knew I would enjoy the outdoors so much?
-grades don’t define my worth, experience is just as valuable of an education as the class room
-God works through people, across borders, across language barriers, no matter where you are in life. He intervenes and His plan for your life is perfect
-I can’t keep thinking that Europe has it so much better than the U.S. – there are things I would change about America, but Europe isn’t perfect either. Instead of complaining about these things, I should make efforts to change them!
-I absolutely love nature, especially the calm sound of the water. I need to spend more time enjoying God’s creation.

Denmark has a low rate of poverty and I think that is a great thing, but I’ve missed volunteering and advocating for the poor and working towards social justice. I think I want to bring the U.S. to the same level as Denmark in terms of its socio-economic equality.

As I said on my first blog post, I always dreamed of moving to Africa and saving the world, and when I first arrived here I didn’t know if I really could be far away from everything I’ve grown up with. But now, I am definitely more comfortable on my own, more willing to ask to for help, appreciate being spontaneous and doing something fun just to be fun, and have loved learning and living in Copenhagen.

Can’t wait to see what my next adventure will be and where it will take me!

 

1 more week to go

Monday and Tuesday
I had classes then came home to work on final projects and such.

Wednesday
I had a field study with my history of Copenhagen class. We went to look at new urban development projects in Orstad. We saw buildings that used to be industrial in nature that were turned into apartments, environmentally friendly apartments, and talked about why they work and why they don’t – like no shops in the immediate area, green areas but no places to sit, etc.

Then I grabbed a quick lunch and had the second half of the role playing game for Journalism and PR. We had to come up with a crisis communication plan, and potential news stories.

Thursday
Was my last day of holocaust and genocide class and my history class. It was sad to say goodbye to the instructors, but I am happy to not have to do so much work.

Friday
Was the last day of class and I had my last international advertising class. We took a quiz on Barbie. haha
Some questions included:
-In year 2000 what human characteristic did Barbie get?  a belly button
-In 2000 what political office did Barbie run for?  President of the USA
-What was Barbie’s horse’s name? Danser
-Who was the first designer to make a dress for Barbie? Oscar de La Renta
-What airline did Barbie work for in the 1960s?  American Airlines
-In 1998 Mattel made a 50th anniversary doll for America’s most spectated sport, which was? Nascar

After class Joy and I went to a store called Gina Tricot because they were having a great spring sale – clothes for 19 or 29 DKK (aka like $5 or $7). I ended up not buying anything, but I may just have to go back. ha. Lily, Joy and I then met for dinner at pizza place and headed to TIVOLI (the amusement park)!

After shoveling out $60 we rode lots of rides, walked around the lake, got ice-cream and enjoyed some of a Danish pop star’s concert. It was so much fun, other than the fact it was like 40 degrees and raining. We went on a ride like Small World at Disney but it scenes from H.C. Anderson fairytales, we also went on swings really high in the air, “the demon” which went upside down several times, and “the dragon” was the worst. The Dragon had you going up and down and around and around so many times, I almost felt sick.

Saturday
I woke up very early and went to LEGOLAND with DIS. It was almost a 4hr bus ride, and we arrived to another cold and rainy day.  We entered the park in Mini land with miniature version of Copenhagen and other cities like in Norway, Sweden and Amsterdam.  Then we walked around Pirate land, Legorodeo (wild west theme), and Adventure Land. Some highlights included: making up our own roller coaster on a computer and getting to ride it, eating cotton candy (aka candy floss) in the rain, baking bread over an open fire at the Indian teepee, seeing Mt. Rushmore out of legos.

I only have one week left here in CPH and its been such bad weather its making me ready to go home. It’s been back in the 40s and rainy/cloudy all this past week – I hope it goes back to spring like weather for my last few days.

I have exams on Tuesday and then still lots to do and see before I head home on Sunday.

 

Bornholm

-updated photos page and to see more go to my facebook page-

Thursday
I had the day off from classes so I slept in and then went to Christiantown (near Christiania, but not the same thing).  I walked around just window shopping and taking photos of pretty buildings. There was a harbor, like New Haven with full of cafes and people walking and boats, but not as crowded as New Haven.  I met Nanna and we went on a hunt for ice-cream. I had read about an Italian chocolate and ice-cream store not too far so we went there first, only to find out they didn’t have ice-cream yet (this season). LAME. So we walked back to Christiantown and found a cheap place. I tried a Swedish berry flavor, something with an M… I forget. haha. and of course, chocolate. We took our ice-cream and sat along the water and enjoying the view. We saw several canal cruises go by and Nanna said that I have to do one before I leave. Somehow my list is getting longer rather than shorter of stuff I must get done.

Still to do: Tivoli, picnic in one of the parks, amager beach, Bakken with friends, go to Malmo (Sweden)

That night I met up with the DIS group to take the overnight ferry to Bornholm – an island of Denmark east of Copenhagen. It’s been called the “Hawaii of Denmark”.

Friday
We arrived at 6 am and took a bus to the town of Gudhjem, where our hostel was located. We settled in our rooms, had a great breakfast of granola and yogurt and bread with delicious honey. Then we got our bikes and we were free for the whole day! Joy had never ridden a bike in her life so we took about 30 minutes to try and teach her in a parking lot. I was very impressed by how quickly she got it – she didn’t give up even after a couple of falls. I had to give her credit – she bypassed training wheels!

We decided to hike along the coast instead of biking for the day. We walked about 5k and saw waterfalls, beaches, creeks, farm hills, and cliffs. It was a pleasant day with the sun peaking out of the clouds and the temperatures fairly mild. We arrived to a museum as it started raining and decided to take a bus to Allinge. The town was so cute!

We found a tourist info office and stopped in to figure out how to get to Hammershus -ruins of Northern Europe’s largest fortress (dating back to 1250) and  we walked the 2km. We arrived at Hammershus to very strong winds and stopped for lunch. I had a delicious burger and fries while Joy had a club sandwich and yummy hot chocolate. We made our way through the fortress, which was a lot cooler than I thought it would be. We took lots of scenic photos and tried not to get blown over.

We wanted to get back to the hostel so we made our way to the bus stop. After being told by 2 people that the bus was coming at 3:20 we waited and waited. Until about 4 when another couple told us the bus wasn’t coming, but a bus would come to the next stop (that was in walking distance of where we were). We made our way toward the next stop and asked a lady at another hostel if the buses were coming. She said yes and we kept walking. Made it to stop, and waited. No luck. At this point, Joy and I were exhausted and cold and frustrated. We found out the buses weren’t running on a normal schedule because it was a holiday – prayer day I think. We decided to walk the 2km back to Allinge and see if the tourist info place was still open.

On the way we called one of our tour leaders and asked for help. We called the taxi service but the recording was in Danish and no one would pick up. We called the hostel and they agreed to meet us at the gas station in Allinge. Joy and I felt relieved and walked fast to hurry home. We arrived at the station and sat, then we got a phone call. The hostel couldn’t help us because we didn’t have a bike problem – Joy was great though and bargained that the hostel would call a cab for us. Finally, a cab came and we were on our way back to hostel. It was a frustrating thing to be stuck, but we made it back! We had dinner and then relaxed in the room before going to bed early.

Saturday
We woke up and breakfast then decided to give biking another try. We took the bikes and walked (and made attempts to bike) the 2.5km to Melsted. We arrived at the Baltic Sea Glass Company and it was great! We watched a demonstration as a couple made a pretty bowl and walked around looking at all the displays of candle holders, bowls, vases, wine glasses, etc. We went outside and took photos of the great view of Gudhjem and biked almost the whole way back. I was so proud of Joy – she didn’t give up on the uphills and we made it back all in one piece!

We returned our bikes and went to look for smoked herring – a traditional dish. We found a place along the water and ate outside. It was a gorgeous day and the fish was tasty. We had wanted to take a bus down to the famous beach Dueodde, only to find out that buses weren’t running to the beach. I’m not sure why that was…but oh well. So we made our day of walking around the town and hiking some trails. We took our time, looking at glass stores, chocolate and caramel shops, and scooping out ice-cream places for later. We hiked up to the windmill on the top of town and got a nice view, then found a trail to a lake. It was really peaceful and relaxing -not really having a schedule, but just enjoying the weather.

We came back to the hostel, showered (it was early in the evening but we wanted hot water – there were 50 other girls on the trip.) and had dinner – lasagna. Then Joy and I hurried to the ice-cream place we had found (they were only open until 8). The store was adorable – like a 50s diner type thing, decked out in pink and attached to it was a candy store. I decided on Lion (a candy bar) and After 8 (like a peppermint patty) and then soft-ice on top. The soft ice was amazing. So delicious. I mean the other ice-cream was good too, but the soft-ice was my favorite.

We found out we had to move all our stuff out of the rooms ASAP so we took our stuff downstairs and walked to the water for sunset. It was a beautiful – a great ending to our trip.  We walked back to the hostel and read some then got on the overnight ferry to head back to CPH. I slept in between the wall and row of chairs and it was much more comfortable because I kept the seats reclined to make a dark little cave for myself. haha.

So
Only 2 weeks left until I come home and still a lot to do. No more DIS adventure trips, but more adventures to come I’m sure!  I have good bit of work to do this week – 2 history assignments (analyzing 4 buildings and a paper), advertising portfolio, news simulation for Journalism and PR, and who knows what else. After this week I have 2 exams on Tuesday 11th and then I’m done. I have several days until I come home to the states on the 16th!

 

Days Go By

Saturday
My host family took me to Bakken – the oldest, still working amusement park in the world. It was in a really pretty setting – close to the ocean and in the woods. We walked through a park to get inside. We brought the dogs with us and its free to enter so we just walked in and looked around. There were lots of food vendors with fried food, and candy. It smelled delicious at every corner. There were quite a few rides, but not as many big ones as I had expected. We walked around and then found a place to eat. I watched some little kids go one of those free fall rides, but it was a mini version (for the kids) and they loved it. They screamed and giggled the whole time. haha. I also noticed how people of all ages were at Bakken. I saw lots of older couples just walking around, young parents following their kids, teenagers, and lots of people with their dogs. Michael and I went to ride the oldest, wooden roller coaster and it was quite fun. It was later pointed out to me that part of the ride was burned in a fire in like the 1700s. I really enjoyed spending some time with my family away from the house and hopefully we can do more of that with this nice spring weather!

Sunday
Was a chill day, I watched some dvds, did some homework and started setting plans for when I get back to Raleigh to stop by Elon and see some of my graduating friends.

Monday
Was the last day of current trends in the news media! We had hot chocolate and reviewed for the final. In Holocaust we started talking about the Rwandan genocide and I was so disappointed with myself in how much I had already forgotten, even though my research paper was about the Rwandan genocide.

Came home and looked into the American Dance Festival performances for the summer and am pretty excited to go to some more great dance shows with my mom.

Tuesday
We had a guest speaker in Journalism and PR talk about crisis management for VisitDenmark after they had a viral video that didn’t go over so well. It was a video we had watched in advertising, so I already had somewhat of an understanding, but the presentation was provided some very good “lessons learned”. In Advertising we had a guest speaker talk about movie promotion and we looked in to the advertising of Avatar in Denmark. I still have not seen the movie and don’t have a really strong desire to ever see it, but there were definitely a lot of ways they could have creatively advertised it.

Afterward, Joy, Lily and I walked through the King’s Garden at Rosenborg. It is still a little early but we did find a spot with lots of blooming red and yellow tulips. Then we went to the botanical gardens which was pretty big and very peaceful. Even though its right in the middle of the city, with the lake and trees, you feel as though you are far away from the traffic and noise. Lily had fun pronouncing all the scientific names of the plants

Then we had a simulation for Journalism and PR where we were split into teams and we were the communications department, given tasks to come up with a press policy and then do a press conference for our company. It was a lot more relaxed than the press conference I did last semester for my strategic writing class, and the expectations (like they have been for all my assignments) were very vague, so we didn’t know what we actually needed to do. I felt as though I could not remember anything I have learned in my previous communications classes and it was hard to work with a group of 6 because everyone wanted to participate and add to the discussion – it was overwhelming.

Wednesday
Today I had my final for Current Trends in the News Media. I can’t believe I am done with that class -thank goodness though. To celebrate Rachel, Molly, Lily, Joy and I went to Christiania. Christiania is a self-autonomous commune of about 850 residents in Copenhagen. Marijuana is legal there, so it was just out in the public for people to buy – very strange to see from my perspective. I felt as though I had stepped into another country outside of Denmark – everyone was very relaxed and there were vendors with jewelery, clothes and drug-related things on the street, no photos allowed though. We walked around the residential area – very rugged, old houses that looked really quaint, and along the waterfront. We even ran into another American, Ben, who now lives in Copenhagen.

Off on my last adventure trip tomorrow – to the island of Bornholm for the long weekend!

 

Films and Friends

Tuesday
I went to class and then came home and did work. We got pizza delivered (like in the U.S. you can order it online, which I think is cool) and I watched the movie the Prince and Me -which is about a Danish prince who goes to the U.S. to be a normal college kid and falls in love with Julia Stiles’ character. It was cool because the scenes filmed in Copenhagen – like at New Haven, Rosenborg etc. I have been to! And when they showed the palace and stuff, I knew it was not the real home of the Royal Family.

Wednesday
Was a cold and nasty day outside so I stayed inside and worked on papers and watched tv. IT SNOWED. Ridiculous, this weather. Thankfully, it didn’t stick or anything, but seriously. Snow? It’s April – give me back spring!

I also thought a lot about volunteering, because the program here didn’t work out, so I haven’t volunteered all semester. I am excited to get back to Raleigh and Elon and start getting involved again. I keep finding organizations and blogs that inspire me, like the ONE campaign, The Huffington Post,  and Nicholas Kristof (NY Times columnist who recently spoke at Elon).

Thursday
I had a test in my holocaust and genocide class and the essay question was simply “discuss the dilemmas in society preventing genocide”. What a huge question for a couple of college students to address. It got me really angry though as I wrote about how the international community doesn’t act because of political or economic reasons and that we need to rise above those reasons and stand up for humanity, for our fellow people that are DYING.

Then Lily, Joy, Veronica and I had McDonalds (my first time since I’ve been here) and went to a  Spanish film (with English subtitles) called “For the Good of Others” that is part of the Copenhagen Film Festival. It was a good film about a doctor who gets the ability to heal his patients with his touch. It had a good moral dilemma and it wasn’t the perfect “happily ever after” ending we are used to from Hollywood.

Friday
Our Journalism and PR class went to the PR agency I had visited with my advertising class, called GeelmuydenKiese. We talked about the organization and studied a few cases. One case was researching how Danes feel about Nokia and another one was about a Philips product. It was comforting to hear from professionals doing some of the same tactics I have been doing in classes. Being in the office got me really excited because when I get back to Raleigh I have interview with a big PR agency for a fall internship!

Then the church I’ve been going to had a documentary night and showed Darfur Now, which is really inspiring. We had two guest panelists, one  aid worker who has been to Sudan and another woman from Sudan to speak to us afterward and I was really moved by the whole event. I wish I had learned how to get involved in Copenhagen earlier than my last month of being here! But I definitely want to continue involvement once I am back home.

Watching the film and hearing the stories really put school into perspective for me. I’ve realized honestly that my grades do not matter. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I am still doing my work and will graduate from Elon, but I’ve come to see that grades don’t define me as a student. Who actually asks for your grades after your first job or internship? There is so much more beyond grades that I want to accomplish with my life. I know it’s over-used but I want to make a difference in the world. I want to tackle big issues and make changes and inspire others. I don’t need a perfect GPA to do that. I am excited to see where God leads me, because I know that advocacy with non-profits is definitely the right direction but there are so many issues – public health, human rights, poverty – to tackle. Where to begin?

 

Sweden Canoe and Hike Trip

Friday
Isabella and Nadja took me out to the discotek! First though, they had to do my hair and make-up. I had two girls fixing me up, picking out my wardrobe and then the rest of the family watching me get ready. Then we went to Christian’s house for pizza and music and off to the discotek. It was pretty big, with several bars, dance floor, pool tables. It was weird for me since everyone was so young – people under 18 can get in only on Friday nights, where as in the U.S. 18 is the youngest you can be to get into bars.

Saturday
I left at 6am to go on the optional adventure trip to Sweden. I missed the train and had to wait 20 minutes, then the train was going to stop 2 stops before where I needed to go so I switched to the metro. Then the metro line was stalled so I switched to the other metro line, only to be told to get off that one and back to the original metro. Finally, I arrived and I was still on time for the bus to Sweden!

We had a 2 hour bus ride and 20 minute ferry ride. Then we were dumped off the side of the road to start canoeing down the Ronne A river. It was freezing, windy and cloudy. I was not looking forward to it. Joy sat in front and I was in the back, since I had a little experience with canoes (thanks to working at summer camp in 2008). We tried to get off, but only got stuck in a tree that was in the water, the wind kept turning us around and finally the guides got us back to the bank and drove us to another spot to try again.

This time it was much nicer. Calm water, not a lot of wind, and very peaceful. We enjoyed the birds singing and the sites. We saw some Swedish boys fishing and we hit the bank again, I was worried we would get turned around again and the boys told us we were going the wrong way, but we got it figured out and continued on our journey. We docked the canoes and then walked into town and stopped at Netto for some snacks. Then we hopped back on the bus and drove to the hostel in Jonstorp, Sweden. The hostel was really nice -run by a couple and very cute. We had delicious beef stew and bread then left to hike to Nimis.

Nimis is part of the Kullaberg Nature Reserve and is a driftwood structure that is a maze of towers and tunnels that go from the cliff to the water’s edge. The creator nailed the first piece of driftwood together 27 years old and its not yet finished.

part of the drfitwood sculpture

I absolutely loved it. It was really small to climb through the structure, but it was fascinating to think about how or why the creator started this structure. Then we climbed along the rocky beach and then there another cool structure made of rocks that looked like a building.

We went back to hostel and had a bbq with chicken, sausage and veggie burgers, potato salad, salad and bread. Then I journaled, talked with Joy for a while and then went to bed pretty early.

Sunday
We woke up to a good breakfast with bread, meat, granola, cereal, we packed up and and left to go back to Kullaberg Nature Reserve. My group did orienteering first and we went to the lighthouse and had to guess distances from the lighthouse to other parts of the reserve. It was extremely windy and I thought I was going to be miserable the whole day, but the next stop was climbing down a cliff to a rocky beach and going to a cave. It was beautiful! Then we walked up some green hills and had to solve some puzzles, and we walked passed where we were going to go rappelling after lunch. It was a beautiful outlook into the water from the mountain. Then we went to another cave along the water and built a rock tower. It was great.

We ate our pack lunch and then went off to rappel! Joy was nervous, but she did it! I did the easy wall, and the guy said I was a pro, haha. Then I climbed up to the top of the mountain to rappel down the harder wall – it was with the ocean right below us. I loved it. I stopped half-way down just to sit and enjoy the view. I really do like rappelling! The sun started shining and I had to stop walking back to the bus because the views were amazing- the blue sparkling water, green hills.

me in the pink rappelling

Then we went to Ellen’s Cafe, right along the coast and had delicious carrot cake and hot chocolate. The rocks and water were again, beautiful and I spent some time alone just sitting enjoying the view and listening to the lapping water.  We could also see a small water-front town – so cute! I would totally live there  but only for the summer. haha.

We took the ferry back to Denmark and I enjoyed seeing Kronborg from the water!

Fun fact: it is illegal to ride your bike drunk.

 

The Queen’s Birthday!

-Updated photos page-

Queen Margrethe II turned 70 today!

This whole week has been celebrating including a banquet and gala performance. Today Joy, Lily and I met up and followed the crowd to Amalienborg to see the Royal Family wave from the balcony. After shoving our way and not being able to see the changing of the guard, we moved closer and were actually able to see the Queen. It seemed like everyone in Copenhagen was there, all waving the Danish flag and little kids on their dad’s shoulders.

The Royal Family on the balcony of Amalienborg

It was pretty cool to actually see the Queen.  Joy and I talked about how America never celebrates the President’s birthday like this, but maybe it is because our President is democratically elected and therefore there are a high number of people who do not approve of him, or because the country is so large that it would be hard to plan celebratory events?

Joy and I at Amalienborg for the Queen's birthday

After seeing the Royal Family we walked down New Haven and then went to King’s New Square to see the Queen go by in a carriage. We couldn’t actually see the carriage, but we enjoyed the live band and all the guards passing on horseback. Then we walked up Stroget and Joy had to leave for class.

Lily and I continued to City Hall and watched on a big screen the reception and children singing to the Queen. Then we got free cake! The Queen also waved from City Hall – with much less people and a clearer view, it was nice to really see her.

Lily and I eating free cake for the Queen's birthday!

It was beautiful weather and I am so glad I got to celebrate with all of Copenhagen!

Earlier this week Joy and I took on the National Museum. It was huge with three floors and we only made it through one exhibit. We saw the ethnographic exhibit and got to see artifacts from around the world. We also had lunch and enjoyed ice-cream outside. The spring is beautiful here – sunshine and warmer weather, flowers blooming and people sitting outside of cafes and enjoying all the squares.

 

Travel Break part 2: Stockholm

Thursday
We woke up early to catch our flight to Stockholm. After a 20 minute express bus, that we used to read our guide books and kind of plan our day, we arrived at our hotel and dropped our bags off. We walked down to Old Town and the royal palace, but were told the palace would close in 20 minutes. So we walked around and went to the armory. It was filled with outfits, armor, and horse gear from the 1500-present and downstairs were several carriages in tact from the 1600s, etc. It was really cool to see a carriage in real life- they looked similar to the portrayal in the movie Marie Antionette, like I had imagined.

The we walked to the national museum where I saw Swedish design – furniture and home accessories, as well as paintings and sculpture work. It was interesting to see some objects that the Swedes had taken from the Danes. I felt hurt and angered they had taken “my stuff” and I’m not even Danish- I just feel like I am.

In the National Museum, part of design exhibit

After resting in the hotel we went to Jensen’s Bofhus, which is a restaurant I had been to in Copenhagen, and it was quite tasty.  We tried ordering garlic bread to share, but our waitress told us the dish was only good for 1 person, and same with the bread basket listed under appetizers. I guess sharing dishes before the meal isn’t common? For dessert we went next door to McDonalds and had sundaes/ Mc Flurries.

Friday
We woke up and quickly left after breakfast to have a tour of City Hall – where all the Nobel Prizes (except the Peace Prize) are awarded. We also saw where the city council meets – 101 seats with 52 of them filled by females! The tour guide also touched on the rivalry with Denmark saying the architect planned the city hall tower to be 105 meters tall but then  found out that Copenhagen’s city hall was 105.6 meters high, so the Swedes built a 106 meter high tower.

Stockholm's City Hall

Then we took a bus to the Vasa museum, an intact 17th century ship that had been salvaged, the 64-gun warship Vasa that sank on her maiden voyage in 1628. The ship was huge and had lots of decorative sculptures on it – something I didn’t picture on a warship. We watched a 30-minute film about its creation and salvaging and the technology of the 50s was pretty cool with divers fishing huge wires under the hull of the ship to bring it up to the surface.

We grabbed hot dogs and went back to the palace. We saw the changing of the guard and then toured the royal apartments. As we went up to the guest and staff apartments we caught up with a tour in English and it was nice hearing more about the rooms.  One thing the guide stressed was how it was not really a museum because whenever there is a head of state visiting they really do use the rooms.

changing of the guard at Sweden's royal palace

Afterward, we walked down in Old Town and got some hot chocolate before heading back to the hotel. I took a nap and then instead of taking forever to figure out dinner plans, mom surprised us with reservations already made. We walked back to Old Town and along the way hosts from restaurants tempted us with free drinks, etc, but we continued to our destination. We ate at a place called JTs and the rest of the family was more adventurous than me. Andrew had an elk burger (which was good), Jonathan had reindeer, and mom got Swedish meatballs (Andrew says they are better than IKEA).

Saturday
We woke up early and said our goodbyes. My family headed to the airport and went to the train station. After a 5.5 hour train ride I found myself in sunny Copenhagen once again, feeling back at home.