It's not writers block ...

One of the biggest things I have come to realize about this trip is how fast it changes you. I knew that coming was a big change, but I didn't realize that I would actually notice changes in myself...it's kind of exciting :)

Things learned so far:
1. I like to cook
1 1/2. The US should switch to the metric system...everyone else is doing it
2. Light beer should be banned from the US
3. It turns out I like eggs after all
4. The gym is my friend
5. Sunshine should not be taken for granted...EVER
6. "Ice winter" is as bad as it sounds
*to be continued upon realization*


Enough of the sentimental stuff! I haven't had much to tell lately, hence the extended absence of new posts. BUT, next week I am off to London and Dublin for 8 days! I'll have plenty of stories to tell after that! Abbey Road here I come!

Much love

My two cents

I called the doctor today to make an appointment to have prescriptions filled (technicality, they don't take American prescriptions here) expecting to have to wait a week or so to see the doc, because that's how it is at home. I have an appointment for tomorrow. I just wanted to let people know how "hard" it is to see a doctor under a social health care system.

I felt the need to share this thought.

Back to school

Last week went by so fast it made me realize how quickly the rest of my time here will pass as well, especially if I sleep until noon everyday. My first day of class was a real eye opener. My social psychology course has 8 other people in it with a teacher that, instead of lecturing us for 3 hours, discusses the topics with us and asks us for our opinion. It is more like a 3 hour discussion session than a lecture and I think I am going to take a lot away from that. The amazing thing is the informal manner of teaching. He is very catered to our needs instead of the other way around. My one day of class has also been a real eye opener into the social welfare outlook on life. It makes me wonder why anyone would choose anything different.

Politics aside, last week was the welcome week for international students. A university organization set up what was called the insomnia tour, where every night (from last Monday to last night) a different club in the city hosted an event. I didn't make it to all of the nights but it was a great time getting to see different clubs in different parts of the city, even though I lost my voice somewhere along the way. One of the nights there was a party at one of the student apartment buildings and they set up a flip cup tournament. Now this normally wouldn't be a big deal except Europeans don't play drinking games, and most of the teams were made up of people who had never played before. Needless to say my team of two Americans, a Canadian, Spaniard, and a German took the tournament by storm, winning the flip cup super bowl and a bottle of the worst liquor you have ever imagined (called Fiske Fjæs, which apparently translates to fish face).

After many hours spent planning, I have my next trip planned. I will be meeting up with my friend Paula in London for a 5 night stay, and hopefully seeing my friend Grace while I'm there, and then continuing on to Dublin, to meet up with some of her friends for three nights. I still can't get over how cheap it is to get around here! My flight from Copenhagen to London was $24 with my most expensive flight being $60 form Dublin to Copenhagen. While we are in London we are looking into trying couch surfing (Google it). It's going to be a great trip!

That's all for now.

Much love

And I thought I was leaving winter behind,,,

It seems that winter has followed me to Copenhagen...and I am not very happy about that. When I arrived here there was barely any snow on the ground and green grass everywhere, I didn't think such a thing existed this far north. I've been told Denmark is having what is called an ice winter. Since last Wednesday there has been three snow storms, factor in the strong winds of the sea shore and you almost have blizzards that are worse than the ones in Wisconsin. The amazing thing is that there are still people biking everywhere! These Danes don't mess around when it comes to their biking. I'm too much of a chicken to even attempt biking in this mess so hopefully the snow will start melting soon...at least before the 15th because that is when my metro pass expires and I really don't want to buy a new one.

Tomorrow my friend from California is having her 21st birthday party so we have a big night planned. In Denmark, I have heard it is traditional to have a lot of Danish flags present on your birthday, and since she's actually half Danish maybe she'll teach us a thing or two. She tried teaching me the happy birthday song in Danish the other day but of course that was a lost cause. I am going to attempt to make her a gluten free cake for her birthday, which will prove to be challenging seeing as how I still struggle buying normal food (the other day I bought what I believed to be a fruit smoothie (it came in a milk carton) and it turned out to be yogurt...I got a few strange looks from my Danish roommates when I started pouring my "smoothie" into a glass).

I have my first university related meeting today and then my first day of class starts tomorrow! I am extremely anxious (in a good way) to get into the swing of things again. As much as I know that I will never have this kind of free time again in my life, I almost miss my busy Madison schedule. I wouldn't have to find things to do to occupy my time because it was decided for me. This is definitely going to be a challenge.

Much love

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/