Poland and Back

5 days and 4 nights of Poland...where to even begin this story. The beginning sounds appropriate I suppose. What started out as a simple flight out of Malmö, Sweden to a Warsaw hostel via shuttle, turned into a 12 hour trek with 11 hungry (therefore slightly crabby), and freezing cold people. Needless to say, things did not get off to a very good start, not to mention the not so fabulous first experience of a Hostel (you think the comforters in hotels are gross...and our 6th bunk mate in a group of 5 girls was a 50 something man with a belly that would put Santa to shame).

I realize everything to this point sounds really negative and awful, but of course that's not the case. Warsaw was a really beautiful city, not so tourist friendly (I've never have had so many people mad at me in such a short period of time) The best thing about Poland was that everything is so cheap, so we went a little crazy with our brief period of being able to afford eating out (not possible in Copenhagen without emptying your wallet).

Friday we were up at a time that no person should be up at (4:30am) to catch a train to Krakow and from Krakow take another train to Oświęcim which is where the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp museums are located. I think that has to be one of the most profound experiences of my life, other than moving to another country of course. The air seemed thicker there and you could still sense this overwhelming feeling of desperation that was once present. Something like that makes you really appreciate the life you have, no matter how hard it gets.

We returned from Poland on Sunday with few travel issues and the anticipation of getting away from cold and snowy Poland. However, Copenhagen greeted us with 4+ inches of snow, and today a lovely snow storm. Funny how I thought I was going to be able to escape winter by coming here and it only seems to have followed me. Denmark is having one of the worst winters in 23 years.

Classes start this week and I am very excited to get back into the swing of things. I'm only taking two classes and they both happen to fall on the same day of the week. So with only one day of class I'm going to have a lot of free time to fill (if you have any suggestions of hobbies that I could take up please let me know).

I realize this has been waaaaay too long of a post, so if you have made it to the end without being completely bored cheers to you! Much love.

Hang on to your hats people of Warsaw!

So what started out as a trip to Amsterdam turned into a trip to Berlin which then turned into an excursion around other parts of Denmark/Sweden (who knew there was more to Denmark than just Copenhagen!), which then returned to a trip to Amsterdam...and somehow is now a trip to Poland, though I'm not quite sure how that happened. Anyway, we (as in the foreigners and I) will be spending 4 nights and 5 days in Warsaw doing what ever it is you do in Warsaw. It's funny how you go abroad with plans to go to certain places and end up somewhere completely different; Poland was not on my list. And here's the kicker...the entire trip so far comes to about $100 (Mom ignore the dollar signs), and supposedly everything is cheap there, though I'm not sure how anyone knows that since no one going has ever been there. To top it all off I will get to experience my first ever Hostel stay (Mom don't watch the movie Hostel)! Another first in a rapidly growing list of firsts!


Love

Pictures etc.

Here is the link for my photo album/journal/what ever

http://kingabroad.shutterfly.com/

The last 13 days in a nut shell...

I can't believe that I am actually making a blog...I don't even like the word! But I figured that coming back after six months of being away and trying to answer "how was your trip?!" would be impossible. So here you will find the answer! I'll try to keep this up to date for my avid fans, but I can't make any promises...seeing as how I already forgot my password. I think I can post pictures on here somehow so you can see what I am seeing (sort of), plus this would be so boring to read if there weren't any pictures!

I'll get you up to speed with what I've done so far! When I landed in Copenhagen it was 1:20pm and the sun was starting to set...as if my internal clock wasn't screwed up enough from next to no sleep and a 7 hour time leap. My friend Mark and his parents Lone and Flemming picked me up at the airport and drove me back to their house in Humlebæk (pronounce hum-leh-bek), about 30 minutes north of Copenhagen by train. They are like my Danish family, Lone worries about me as much as my mom does and they like to spoil me. That night I went out with Mark and his friend Magnus to my first ever bar (ironically called Manhattan), in the town called Helsingør, and had one of the local beers called Tuborg (not as good as Carlsberg but good in it's own way).

New Years was quite an experience! At midnight thousands of people go to the city square in Copenhagen (they have a clock tower there) and everyone lights off fireworks. Needless to say I was a little nervous when I saw people walking around wearing huge plastic goggles, but I'm happy to report I still have both eyes. Mark gave me a tour of Copenhagen and it is a beautiful city! The buildings are amazing, there are cobble stone streets and there are people everywhere. I definitely enjoy the feeling of living in a big city! There is so much more to do and see that I don't even know where to start!

On the 5th of January my Danish class started and although I am the worst at learning languages it has been a lot of fun. I made friends with the majority of my class (about 13 people) and we do things together nearly every day. The Danes have this motto or mentality that they call "hygge" (good luck pronouncing that one) which involves spending time with friends and enjoying each others company (beer/wine optional) which I think is something that we have down pat (usually with booze).

Tonight was a monumental moment for me so brace yourselves for this one...I cooked myself dinner! Alfredo from scratch with garlic chicken and well of course pasta. Be amazed! It's a huge step up from rice or pb&j. I should have taken a picture but I don't want you to be jealous of my new found talent. I'd like to thank the movie Julie & Julia (or what ever it's called) for motivating me to try cooking...it only took me two hours.

More to come soon. Hope you're not bored already. I'll work on the pictures

Love