I've returned to Denmark!
I have so much to share with you! I had an awesome time on my trip and it may take a really long to write it out so be prepared! Congrats to you if you make it to the end!
My spring break started off with a rocky start! My computer decided it was time to stop working! It was very hard to deal with as Erica, Tara, and I were heading for our 12 day trip…with very limited internet! Which made communicating with my parents really hard, as they were going to going to be searching for a computer/iPad for me! Thankfully, with the use of Tara's computer, I was able to Skype with my parents to figure things out when we returned! So hopefully soon I will have an iPad to of my very own! Happy early birthday to me…?
The night before Tara, Erica, and I left for our trip the AIK hosted it's 20th anniversary party! It was a very fun night! Full of dancing, laughing, and international flags! I even tried my hand at bartending! I need to work on my Danish if I am going to continue! Regardless, it was a super fun night!
On March 23rd, Erica, Tara, and I headed on our way to Paris, France! Yay! We got the the train station and waited and waited and waited. Our train was supposed to leave at 8:19am, but no trains came and no trains left. We must have a 'foreigners: please help' look to us because eventually a very nice lady came over and explained what happened! Apparently there was an accident and all trains were cancelled! Not good for those of us who needed to get to the Copenhagen aiport for our flight! Luckily, they were able to put us on the high-speed train! Unfortunately, because it was not the original train we were supposed to take, we had to sit on our suitcases inbetween carts. It was a long 4 hour train ride!
The rest of traveling that day was good! We got on the plane and soon enough we landed in Paris--ready for our adventure! After a bit of struggeling, we were able to find our hostel with the help of Erica's French! Thank goodness one of us spoke it!
I made it to Paris!
That night we met up with our friend Matthieu, who is from Paris! We went out for supper with a few of his friends! It was really fun! Afterwards, Matthieu showed us around some pretty cool things like the Seine River, The Notre Dame, and one of Paris' lock bridges! He also told us some history which was awesome! We parted ways and headed back to our hostel.
One of the Lock Bridges in Paris!
March 24th! On Sunday we went to Le Sacré-Cœur and bummed around that area of Paris. We found a nice cafe to eat in and eventually made our way back over to the same area we were the night before. We tried to look for the Modern Art museum, Musée D'Art Moderne. We found it but the line was really long so we admired the outside of the building. It was constructed inside out! All the pipes, vents, etc are on the outside, very cool to look at! We went back towards The Notre Dame and sat in the small park behind it. Notre Dame is beautiful! I could spend days staring at it! Ahh! We eventually made our way to Jardin du Luxembourg. It was very pretty. There was a little fountain/pond in the middle that little kids were racing their sailboats! Each sail boat was a different country! Naturally the Denmark and USA boats stayed together! :) We attempted to find a famous cemetary as well, but to our luck it was closed when we got there! We called it a day and headed back to hostel where the true Parisians in us came out! We had baguettes, cheese, and wine and enjoyed our evening! It was a really good day!
March 25th! An exciting day! We met up with our friends Ali and Tiff (both from Australia studying at AAU with us)! We headed to the Notre Dame (like I said, I could spend days there!) and actually went inside to look around! It was soo pretty! However, in the chaos of people we lost Tara. My thinking was that she would wait by the exit/outside, but Ali and Erica insisted on looking around for her. I found her outside waiting for us! Haha! We eventually made our way over to the meeting place for a free walking tour that had been suggested to us! Our tour guide, Mariel, was wonderful! She's from the US (Go 'Merica!) and has studyed in France for the past 4 years! She took us around Paris, told us history, and explained some of the culture clash! The Cross-Cultural nerd in me looved it! We saw the Seine River, The building were Marie Antoinette was last held before her death, the famous Paris art school, and ended in the Jardin des Tuileries after a walk through the courtyards of The Louvre! So exciting! We went for dinner than decided to make our way back to The Louvre! The perks of being a European student--free admission! Ahh! We made our way to the Mona Lisa. There is so much to see even on the way to the Mona Lisa. It's so much better in real life than replicas in textbooks, online, and what not! From there we decided to find the Ancient Egyptian exhibit! Did I mention how huge the Louvre is? It felt like we walked forever! We found a bench in the Ancient Greek statues area to just sit and chill for a bit. I had woke up not feeling well, but forced myself to keep going as I was in Paris! However, it really hit me when we were sitting there! My fever really kicked in, not fun! We eventually decided to continue on our way to the Ancient Egyptian exhibit, but sadly the Louvre was closing so we didn't get to see it! Being worn out from the day we headed back to Ali and Tiff's hostle for supper and relaxing! It was a really good day, despite me not feeling well at all!
Side view of The Notre Dame
March 26th! We found the Eiffel Tower! We walked along the Australian Promenade on our way to the Eiffel Tower! It had a great view! We eventually got in line to go up into the Tower! About 15 minutes before we were able to buy our tickets they closed the very top! A little upsetting but the second floor is a long way up there and has a great view so no complaining from me! It was awesome being on the tower and looking out over Paris. I wish the weather would have been a little warmer and the fog wasn't out, but it was still really cool! We took our photos and did the tourist thing before heading back down and finding a cafe for lunch! We also walked around and looked at the Paris Opera House, where the Phantom of the Opera was based on! It was a beautiful building! From there we went to the Trocadéro to take photos of the Eiffel Tower from! It was really pretty and the sun started to come out! From there we found the Arc De Triomphe! Another gorgeous thing in Paris to see! We spent some time walking around it before heading out! We decided to go on a second free walking tour from the same group (CultureFish, check it out if you go to Paris!)! This one was based in Montmartre! Our tour guide this time was Pierre, and again was wonderful! We saw the Moulin Rouge, the last vineyard in Paris, saw the homes of famous artist like Van Gogh and Renior! We learned again about some culture clash, the Man who walked through walls, and France's Marilyn Monroe! It was a great tour! We saw so much and learned so much! It was wonderful! We ended the day attempting to help some Canadians find their hostel at Gare du Nord train station, but we were unsuccessful! We also had to say goodbye to Ali and Tiff as they were headed to London the next day and we were headed to Venice! Paris was really fun! I enjoyed in a lot!
View of the Eiffel Tower from the Trocadéro
March 27th! Travel day! We had some slight confusion with our Eurail passes, but eventually we got things set straight and we boarded our train to Venice, Italy! Tara and I found our spots and Erica headed to who knows where! Surprisingly, I remained calm even though she had my ticket! With the help of a very nice French girl sitting across from us, we got our stuff figured out and eventually made our way to the other part of the train where we found Erica! The train trip was really good! The French and Italian country-sides are very pretty! It made the 10 hour trip go by really fast! Or it could be that I finished two books.. whatever the case we arrived in Venice around 10:30 pm! Even at night Venice is pretty! We passed over the Grand Canal to find our hostel! It was a very good day!
In Venice, Italy!
March 28th! Venice, Italy! Tara, Erica, and I had breakfast and decided we were going to walk along the main walkway through Venice, only to find it raining! Not ideal weather for sight-seeing but we decided to forge through! We walked through the streets, did some shopping for gifts, and eventually found a cafe to eat at! We walked around some more before heading back to the hostel to warm up and take a nap! We must have been out of it, our short siesta turned out to be 3 hours long! We went to the train station to get our tickets for trip to Florence, went to the grocery store for food, and had a relaxing night as the rain decided not to let up!
March 29th! With the sun shining we decided we were going to find St. Mark's Basilica. We headed on the same route we took the day before, we found a smaller church to go in and look around on the way! It was very pretty! Nice to see! From there we continued on! St. Mark's Basilica is very pretty, inside and out! As well as the Piazza San Marco. We thought the line was going to be a lot longer than it really was, but thankfully the line moved fast! It was beautiful inside! Lots of gorgeous paintings and some statues made the short wait worth it! We looked around the Piazza San Marco before heading back to the Gluten-free cafe for Tara! We decided to make our way back towards St Mark's Basilica to continue on the route we had mapped out! We walked around, saw some really cool shops (Gucci, Prada, etc) but did not go in. And to our luck, it started to rain, again! We found shelter in a church turned music museum! It was interesting. Lots of violins, guitars, flutes, and the likes! It was nice to get out of the rain but eventually we decided it was time to head out and find our way back! Unfortunately for us, we got slightly lost and had to turn around and trace our steps back, passing St. Mark's Basilica for the third time that day! We found a grocery store and got some food for the evening.
March 30th! We spent the morning at a cafe drinking coffee and using the internet! Like I said, internet was not as readily available to us on the trip as we had hoped! Regardless, it was nice just sitting in the cafe enjoying life, and coffee! From there we boarded the train to Florence, Italy! The trip was pretty short! Once there we met Erica's Auntie and cousin Bryan. We ate quickly at McDonald's before boarding another train to Pontedera, where Auntie lives. Pontedera is a lovely city directly between Pisa and Florence! We settled in to her house, went grocery shopping, had supper, and heading over to Penny's house (a niece of Uncle Mhar, Auntie's husband) where we were greeted by lots of family! And food! I would have to say that our stay in Pontedera was filled with lots of food, family, and good times! We even tried our hand at some karaoke! It was a great evening, but really fun!
March 31st! Happy Easter Everyone! To start off the day properly, Bryan and Vien (brothers) took Erica, Tara, and I to mass! It was so interesting being in an Italian Catholic church on Easter! The church itself was very modern, it looks nothing like the Basilicas we have back home. The service was in Italian so I really did not understand what the Priest was talking about, but I was able to follow along as Catholic Masses follow the same order! From there we went back to Penny's house to get some lunch before heading to Pisa! Pisa was an unexpected stop on our trip, but welcomed with open arms! We had a lot of fun in Pisa as the weather was gorgeous! For the first time, we didn't have to wear our jackets! Bryan and Vien acted as out personal photographers! It was nice not having to ask random people. We walked around, looked at The Leaning Tower of Pisa, went inside the The Duomo as well as the Baptistery and enjoyed the weather! The boys were nice enough to buy us gelato and keychains! After that we also went bowling before heading back to Pontedera. Guess who got second place? And the sad thing is, I'm not that good at bowling either! Once we got back we were greeted by more food, karaoke, and good times! It was a lot of fun just relaxing and enjoying the company of others!
March 31st! Happy Easter Everyone! To start off the day properly, Bryan and Vien (brothers) took Erica, Tara, and I to mass! It was so interesting being in an Italian Catholic church on Easter! The church itself was very modern, it looks nothing like the Basilicas we have back home. The service was in Italian so I really did not understand what the Priest was talking about, but I was able to follow along as Catholic Masses follow the same order! From there we went back to Penny's house to get some lunch before heading to Pisa! Pisa was an unexpected stop on our trip, but welcomed with open arms! We had a lot of fun in Pisa as the weather was gorgeous! For the first time, we didn't have to wear our jackets! Bryan and Vien acted as out personal photographers! It was nice not having to ask random people. We walked around, looked at The Leaning Tower of Pisa, went inside the The Duomo as well as the Baptistery and enjoyed the weather! The boys were nice enough to buy us gelato and keychains! After that we also went bowling before heading back to Pontedera. Guess who got second place? And the sad thing is, I'm not that good at bowling either! Once we got back we were greeted by more food, karaoke, and good times! It was a lot of fun just relaxing and enjoying the company of others!
Erica, Tara, and I in Pisa
April 1st! Today was really fun! We met Shy at the train station and headed to Florence for the day! The train ride was short, thankfully! We first headed toward a church, imagine that a church in Italy! Haha! We were distracted by a few stores along the way! I bought myself a scarf (something to remember Italy by!) and Tara bought the 3rd Harry Potter book for her collection of international HP books! The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore was beautiful--both inside and out! We waited in the short line to get inside and look around! From there we decided to find some food and get some bus passes so we could view the replica statue of David on the hill! It was so pretty up there! We were able to see all of Florence from up there! We decided to walk back from there so we could see more along the way! Again, it was a gorgeous day out so jackets were off and we were enjoying the sunshine! We decided to go find the real statue of David! We walked around, thought we were wrong so we turned around, realized we were right and turned around and finally found the Galleria dell'Accademia! Unfortunately when we got there, it said that it was closed. I was devastated! I had dreamed of seeing the real statue and we weren't able to go in. Disappointed, we decided to walk back so we could head home as it had been a very full day. We decided to take a new route and found that the museum was actually open! We quickly got in line and anxiously awaited to see the statue of David! It was awesome! I couldn't believe how big the statue is and detailed! It was awesome to see! A highlight of Italy for sure! We looked around the museum some more before heading back to Pontedera! Auntie had arranged for us to go to another one of the cousin's houses for supper and company on our last night! We had so much fun hanging out, watching the two little ones play (both around the age of my nephew JoJo, made me miss my goobers), and talking! It was a lot of fun!
In front of the replica statue of David in Florence, Italy!
April 2nd! In the morning we had breakfast and conversation with Auntie before leaving for Rome, our last stop! I will say I definitely miss Italian coffee, something about it is so wonderfully delicious! Auntie walked us to the train station and saw us off! It was nice! Soon enough we were on our way to Rome- with no idea where our hostel was as we hadn't had internet consistently since Paris! Once at the Termini de Roma , we bought a map and found out our hostel wasn't too far so we decided to walk! About half way there is started to rain, than the rain got harder and the thunder started! We hid in a doorway to avoid the heavy rain that soon enough turned to hail! It was horrible! Erica pulled out her umbrella and once the rain died down, we went back on our way. One thing about Rome that everyone should be aware of is the street sellers trying to sell umbrellas. They will follow you, no matter how many times you tell them no. We tried saying no in English and Danish (so exciting say nej to them!). We kept walking trying to ignore the guy following us. Eventually we stopped to adjust our bags and the guy moved on. He had finally got the point and we realized we were at our hostel! We checked in and got out of the rain that unfortunately was ruining our sight-seeing in Rome. We were stuck in the hostel for about 5 hours as the rain wouldn't let up. Once it let up we decided we had to get out of the room and experience Rome! We settled on the Trevi Fountain. We set out. There is so much to see in Rome! From the orange trees on the streets to the United Nations headquarters, to the guards, to the Ruins of Rome! We saw a lot on our way! Unfortunately we took a wrong turn and ended up at the Altare della Patria! We had no idea what it was while there so I looked it up when we got back. Apparently is a monument for the first king of Italy, Emmanuel. It was really pretty! We even found the Roman Ruins not to far from it! The history geek in me came out as I saw the ruins and imagined what life was like back then! It was starting to get dark and the rain was starting up again so we decided to head back. As we waited at the stop light we noticed how close to The Colosseum we were! It was just down the street from us, but it was closed already so we knew we couldn't go then! But it was awesome to see it from afar!
April 3rd! Our last day. We got up pretty early as we had a lot that we wanted to see! We set off for The Vatican! Unfortunately, we misread which stop we had to get off at and got off a few stops too late. So we bought new tickets and headed back a few stops! We got to the Vatican and walked around until we stumbled upon St. Peter's Square. We cleared security and went in and luckily for us Pope Francis was out and giving a sermon. It was awesome! The Cardinal the got up after him summed up what he was talking about-- he was talking about the importance of women in Religion. Very inspirational! It was also awesome to see the crowds reaction to Pope Francis and what he was talking about! From there we decided to find a place to eat and plan our the rest of the day as we only had a few hours left before we had to get to the airport and we had a lot we still wanted to see. We decided to visit the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museum! It was beautiful! There was an Ancient Egyptian Exhibit-- so awesome! There was a real mummy in there! I was in love! From there we found the Sistine Chapel. I got goosebumps! Looking at all of the paintings of Michelangelo and especially The Touch! I have studied it in many of Dr. Paasch's classes so I knew slightly what to expect, but I still got goosebumps! It was amazing! If we wouldn't have been on a tight schedule, I probably would have stayed there all day to stare at the ceiling and observe all that it is! We pulled ourselves away headed to the Trevi Fountain and we actually found it! It was awesome to see in real life! And the weather was perfect! We did our photos and tossed some Euros in the fountain in hopes of returning one day! Again, time crunch forced us to leave early. We attempted to make our way to The Colosseum but unfortunately we had to skip it as we had to get our train to the airport. I decided that I have to return to Rome to see The Colosseum and the many other things!
At The Vatican
Our trip back was interesting! Our first flight was delayed by a bit so we had to run to catch our second plane to Aalborg. Making this the second time I have ran to catch a flight at the Copenhagen airport! We arrived at our gate to find it locked and empty! Unsure of what to do, we found the closest board and saw that there was no gate for our flight. We ran around to find out what happened. The first person we talked to was not very helpful. However, we found a group of Danish guys heading to Aalborg and asked what happened. Due to technical problems, our flight was delayed until 1 am. It was around 10 when we arrived. So we found a couch and slept waiting for a gate number to appear. Slightly after midnight the gate number appeared and we headed to our gate. We made it back to Aalborg a lot later than expected and to our luck, Erica bag did not make the trip so we filled out the form and got a cab back to the AIK where were greeted by Ali, Micha, and Lennie who waited up for us! It was a nice surprise! A great trip overall!
I'm sure you are sick of reading but I still have more to tell you! Haha!
The weekend we returned, we had the opportunity to go to Mathias' summer home! On Saturday morning ten of us headed out! With the weather being so nice we were able to canoe for an hour and a half! Micha, Haiyong, and I made an excellent team! Basically, we're pros! About two-thirds of the way in it slightly started to rain, but we persevered and made it there! The summer house was so nice! We had a giant family supper (tacos, my favorite!) and enjoyed each other's company that night! Alcohol may have been involved. But we danced and laughed the night away! The next day we cleaned and headed back, the weather not in our favor. Waiting at the bus stop it started to sleet. But again, we survived and made it back to the AIK around 5pm!
Our Family Supper!
To make things even better I got my RESIDENCE PERMIT! Look out dual-citizenship! I am officially a resident of Denmark until July 14th! I applied for my CPR number (equivalent to the US Social Security number) to further along my citizenship!
There has been so much that I have experienced and done in the past three weeks! Its amazing to think of all that I saw and experienced. These are things I will never forget and hope to one day return and see again! I also joined the adult world and started applying for jobs post grad! It's a weird feeling thinking I am to that point in my life, but also cool knowing that I am so soon to being done with my undergrad!
In case you are wondering, I got my iPad today (Thursday)! And am loving having the ability to type on a keyboard and look at a screen bigger than my iPod! It is also my last week of classes, the end of my college career is soon near!
I promise the next blog will not be the long! But if you survived to the end, well done! Pat yourself on the back!
-Suz
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment