Denmark Part 2

As my mother has been reminding me, it has been much too long since I last posted here. And I am sorry about that, but life gets crazy when studying abroad! I'm hoping to play catchup today and tomorrow but we'll see how that goes.

In the meantime, I present to you the second half of my spring break. Following my previous post from Phil's class, we hopped on a bus which led us to a train which took us to Copenhagen! I don't remember a whole lot of the train ride because I fell asleep. Which will surprise no one who has taken a long trip with me. However, once we got there and checked into our hostel, I was feeling much more awake.

The fantastic view from our hostel window

I won't drag you through a blow by blow of the exploration of the city, but instead some of the aspects that really stuck with me. 

On Friday evening, we took a walk through the main sites of Copenhagen, including the palace, the old castle and the Little Mermaid statue! Despite the rather chilly walk along the water, seeing that statue was totally worth it. I'm not entirely sure why I was so drawn to it, but I really loved being there! While checking out the statue, we met a group of three Italian girls who were traveling together and exchanged group photos. Despite some communication barriers, we found them to be very pleasant and Phil was able to give them directions to the fountain they were looking for. 

At that point, the sun was starting to go down and our stomaches reminded us that it was dinner time. Earlier in the day, we'd crossed over a large river with several ships docked along the edge. One of them had been advertised as a restaurant and hotel, which caught our attention. Despite the worry that it was going to be super fancy, we decided to check it out. So we walked back and Phil hopped onboard to chat with the owner who was quite pleased to seat us. It turns out that instead of the fancy restaurant we expected, the main ships cabin had been converted into a small dining area with a few tables that led right onto the kitchen. We really felt like we'd just wandered into this guy's living room. But the owner gave us each a beer and made us this delicious soup and some sort of traditional Danish potato thing (I'm still not quite sure what it was but it was yummy!) While we chatted with his friend who was sitting at the next table. It was very low key but also really cool! I'm so glad we took the chance to stop by. 

The following day, we our main goal was to go see the changing of the guard. Though we showed up a few minutes late, the crowd wasn't too horrible and we enjoyed watching the soldiers (who were actually like 16-18!) march in formation. It turns out that the guards are split into shifts based on their height for a more uniform aesthetic. Next to the tall shift, the shorter one coming on looked a bit silly! 

Following the guard change, we explored a little more, seeing the old buildings and churches of the city. Because Phil's studying to be an archaeologist, he was able to tell me far more than I wanted to know about a lot of it! We stopped by the National Museum (I really love the free museums in Europe!) and spent a few hours wandering around the medieval and Egyptian sections. 

As far as buildings go, one of my favorites was the Round Tower, a tower connected to a church. Its one of the higher structures in Copenhagen and you're able to climb it to get a great view of the city! But what was really unique about it is that the king at the time demanded that it be built so that he could get his carriage up it. So rather than stairs, you climb up a huge ramp! 

In addition, there were rooms off the tower periodically, including a cafe, gift shop, and small art gallery and a bell tower. 

Following our trip up the tower, it was about time for our dinner reservation at Copenhagen's oldest restaurant where Hans Christian Anderson hung out! We had more of Copenhagen's open faced sandwiches which were DELICIOUS! 

The next day, we took a tour of Nordic films, the main film production studio of Copenhagen! Though the tour was in Danish, Phil was able to translate for me and I had a good time! We had a chance to see some of the more famous short films from the studio and went through some of the history of Danish filmmaking. 

By the time the tour was over, we were pretty exhausted from sightseeing and decided to take a break and find some lunch and pastries before heading back to the train station. We still had some time before our train, but decided it was much better to be early. So we found a bench to hang out for a while. It turns out that the bench in question was the favorite hangout of some of the homeless people of Copenhagen. At first, I was a bit uncomfortable with them but we actually got to talking and they turned out to be some of the most fantastic, friendly people I'd ever met. In particular, we spoke to this one guy and his dog who sell newspapers on the street. 

After that, our trip back to Phil's place was a bit uneventful and we got back safely with plenty of time for me to pack up before going to the airport the next day! 

Denmark! (Part 1)

Since this week is my spring break, I decided to take the opportunity to visit Phil, a friend of mine who I hadn't seen in about 5 years. We used to fence together years ago, but he eventually had to move back to Denmark. So as weird as it felt making travel plans without my mother's guidance, I booked a flight and here I am.

(Forgive the current lack of eloquence, it is currently 8:30 am here and I'm only about halfway done with my coffee.)

Since my last post, I safely arrived in Denmark. Luckily, Phil met me at the airport and was able to help me navigate the bus routes back to his apartment. I'll spare you a description of my first day in Denmark because it largely consisted of me being kind of grumpy because I was running almost entirely on caffeine and 4 hours of sleep. So there was Doctor Who and a nap involved before I started feeling human again. Luckily I was properly awake when his mother dropped by with some fantastic homemade pizza dough (I desperately need the recipe) and a camp bed for me.

The next day, Phil had to go to class because he isn't on spring break and takes his education seriously. So I had the chance to settle in and get some much needed sleep. Luckily for me, the apartment complex is literally a stones throw from the grocery store. They share a very small parking lot. Unluckily for me, absolutely everything is in Danish. Which is reasonable considering that I am in Denmark. But it was still quite an adventure trying to find food that I recognized that I could prepare quickly in a microwave (I was starving and not in the mood to figure out a new kitchen for real cooking). It took a few laps around the store but I did eventually find something that I'm still pretty sure was lasagna that had microwave instructions on the back (at least numbers are pretty universal if a language uses the same alphabet)
Even though everyone I passed was perfectly pleasant, or at least indifferent, to me, it was actually rather scary being somewhere on my own where I spoke absolutely none of the native language. At least in Paris I as with a group and could manage a few basic words. Hello and thank you get you a long way, I've found. Plus, in Paris, I was with a group. Here, I was on my own and feeling very much the ignorant American. Even though I know most Danes speak some English, I still felt weird being completely ignorant of their language.
Despite this grocery store experience only lasting about 15 minutes, I left it with a very different perspective. I've never had much occasion to think about how fortunate I am to have grown up in an area where my family and I speak the dominant language. I really can't imagine moving somewhere and having to make a living in another country that speaks an entirely different language, particularly if they also didn't speak mine. I like to think that I could make it work, but I know it would still be terrifying.

Later that night, Phil took me into the nearby city of Århus (or Aarhus) to meet his friends from University. We wound up at the Sherlock Holmes pub, which was surprisingly similar to the pubs I've been frequenting in London. But I learned that Danish beer is pretty fantastic and that the stereotypical American to Danes is a southern, conservative Republican. Denmark is a very liberal country so I was thankfully able to smash that stereotype to pieces. That plus the fact that I was able to keep up as far as beer went seemed to make a good impression. About halfway through the evening there was a pub quiz which was good fun even though I wasn't much use. Though there were a few America related questions so I didn't fail entirely.

Yesterday, Phil's classes let out earlier than usual so we took the opportunity to catch a bus back into Aarhus and wander a bit. The main stop of the day was an art museum called Aros, which was pretty cool. It contained a wide variety of work and was a reasonable size, so we actually got through the whole thing! I particularly enjoyed the basement, which featured 9 rooms of various light art (some short films projected uniquely, a few optical illusions and things like that) which had a really unique quality to them. Also, the director's choice exhibit upstairs contained a room full of art based in horror which I was fascinated by. So I'm a bit twisted...

After the art museum, we wandered around a bit more. It is apparently art week in Aarhus so there were odd installations of modern art all over the streets. That was neat to check out in addition to the city itself. Aarhus is composed mainly of red brick, very unlike London. Plus, I was walking around with an archaeology student so I learned far more than I could retain about the history of nearly every building. Eventually, hunger forced us to stop for a small lunch. We picked up fairly traditional hot dogs from a stand on a corner. The Danes are rather clever about this actually. Instead of the bun Americans are used to, the bun is actually round and hollowed out in the middle so you don't have the problem of the hot dog falling out so much and the bun didn't fall apart on me. I think that this needs to catch on in the US.

That night, Phil took me out to the restaurant where he works. I don't even know where to start with that. Not only was it a fairly upscale restaurant, the food was AMAZING and we were served a different type of wine with every course. I'm not sure how I'm going to go back to the cheap wine I've been drinking in London after that! Since Phil works there, we had a chance to chat with the manager and waiters a bit more than normal and it was neat to get to know them. Apparently it was a big deal that he had a girl with him and everyone in the kitchen seemed to be taking turns bringing us water refills and such. But anyway, I'm feeling very spoiled and enjoyed dinner immensely.

With that, I'm more or less up to present. I'll post another entry with some pictures when I get the chance. At the moment, I'm in class with Phil because we're going to Copenhagen this afternoon and I can't get my phone (that has the pictures online). So I've been writing this on a Danish keyboard, which has been an adventure. They moved some of the keys on me! But at least I understand this better than the lecture on archaeology that is all in Danish!

Spring break, here I come

Hello all,

More complete entries of my recent doings will come soon but for now I am sitting in the Stansted airport enjoying my hour of free wifi and a mocha before my flight boards. I like to think that I'm a pretty seasoned traveler for my age, having been flying since I was about 7. In that time, I've had all sorts of airport adventures. Mostly good ones because I learned early how they work and how to be prepared. That being said, I would like to note how much I love the Stansted airport. Yes, I did have to get up at 5:30 am for a 9:55 flight because it's almost 2 hours away from Kensington, but so far it's worth it. Apart from the fact that my flight is about $100 cheaper than flying out of Heathrow, I'm amazed at how friendly everyone is here. The British are known for being polite, but being used to the US TSA, I wasn't sure what to expect when my backpack was flagged for a check at security. What liquids had I forgotten to put in my small, resealable bag? However, the woman simply explained very kindly that my electronics were packed too closely together (that's what happens when a film major travels) and that they should be removed for a rescan. She even smiled at me and answered my question about which conveyer belt it would be coming out on without seeming annoyed at all. When she had to put my stuff in two bins, she came back to tell me that too and wished me a pleasant flight.

So I headed past security feeling pretty good (once I'd tetrised my camera and such back in the bag)

I was also quite glad I'd flown out of a London airport before and with instructions from my mother because they function very differently than American ones. Instead of sitting at your gate for the time before departure, you sit in a large pre departure lounge and shopping area, watching huge boards to find out where your gate is and when it opens for borarding. You only actually go to your gate about 20 minutes before departure. So I'll be doing that shortly. 

Anyway, that's about it. I'm currently running on about 3 hours of sleep and 2 Monster Energy drinks and a mocha. So I'll either be bouncing or passed out on my flight.

Off to Denmark for spring break! Looking forward to Copenhagen and visiting an old friend! My mother would be appalled because we have very few specific plans and will be mostly winging it. Wish me luck!