London!

Hi everyone!

It is time for another post. This week has been very crazy for me. I got back from London on Sunday. I will write more about that in a little bit. I had a lot of work due this week and have a ton due next week. Thankfully, my last final is December 12th and then I have about six days to explore Copenhagen. I return to the United States December 18th. Man this time has gone so fast! It feels like I just got here.

On Monday Leah and her friend Kirby came to Copenhagen! I met Leah when I went to visit my friend Meaghan in Switzerland back in October. Leah had told me she was coming to Denmark in November and so I had her and Kirby stay at my host family's house. Leah and Kirby are from Alberta, Canada.  It was so nice to have them here! On Wednesday, I had them come to my Danish field study where we watched a movie about the WWII Danish resistance and got to go to the Danish Resistance Museum. Later, I showed them Christiania, an old military barracks turned hippy commune. I took them to Pusher Street where marijuana is legal to sell and use. There are around 900 inhabitants of Christiania. Christiania is pretty cool and has some great artwork. Unfortunately, you can't take pictures on Pusher Street, but if want to learn more about it Google it. We also went to Nyhavn and I finally got to go on a boat tour. It was really nice. I'm sure it is a bit nicer in the summer, but I still enjoyed it. There is a Christmas market at Nyhavn, which I am going to have to visit again before I leave.

Yesterday was a tough day for me. I brought my lap top to school so that I could work on my Positive Psychology paper. I filled up my water bottle, but did not apparently screw it in all the way. It spilled all over my backpack and got on my laptop. I thought it was done for. I NEED my laptop to finish my work. I let it dry and today, it is not 100% but will at least last me until I leave Denmark. My screen has significant water damage, but DIS was nice enough to give me a monitor to use until finals are over. I am going to have to buy a new laptop, though, but with what money, I don't know... I'm sure it will all eventually work out.

Anyway, so let me tell you about London! First of all, let me just say, it was way too short! I NEED to go back in order to experience it all. I didn't have time to do all of the touristy things I wanted to do, but this just gives me an excuse to go back.  It was so nice to hear English again and to be able to understand the announcements on the Tube.

Highlights: Drinking high tea at Fornum and Mason, Going to the globe theater and doing an acting workshop (felt just like Actor's Lab at Eastern), Going to a football match West Ham vs. Darby. West Ham won! Seeing Billy Elliott on the West End. Eating fish and chips. Getting a tour of the East End. Trying to find a pub and instead eating Dominoe's pizza. Shopping on Oxford Street.

Sorry it's sideways...

West Ham vs. Derby!

Gosh it was amazing! I NEED to go back.

Oh and today I went to my host sister Jane's school about what being an American is like. Except Jane was sick today. Poor thing. I still went and it was so funny talking to the kids. I tried to explain how small Denmark is compared to the US and they were like "But what about Greenland?" haha. I got asked if I was afraid of spiders, what I like most about Denmark, what I like to do, what school is like in America, and many other questions. I showed them where Philadelphia is and some famous things about Philly. I hope they liked it!

Tomorrow I am going to Tivoli with my buddy group. My host family is supposed to go too, but since Jane and Eva aren't feeling well we'll see if that happens.

I can't believe I only have a little more than two weeks left! Too fast!

Sorry

Hej everyone! Please don’t kill me…. But I don’t think I am going to writing about Part II of my trip. ::runs away as people throw things at her::. I am just really swamped with work and it has been almost two weeks since I have even been in Paris and Vienna that I don’t even think I could write as well-written a report of my time there then I could have a week ago. I have pictures up on Facebook you can check out and feel free to send me a message or ask me about any part of my trip- I would be happy to tell you anything. My one or two (or three or four) sentence thoughts on each city:

Paris- The Eiffel Tower is beautiful, but this city is totally over-rated. The way Hollywood portrays Paris as some super wonderful, fairy tale land, in my opinion is not necessarily true. As I have been told, Parisians do not like Americans, and I felt that with most of the French I dealt with in my 3 days there. Also, two my friends were pickpocketed so that also has a big affect on my view of the city, too.

Vienna- Way less touristy than Madrid and Paris- reminded me of Copenhagen in that respect. Great metros, run 24 hours on weekends, which is really nice. The show we saw we saw was a total tourist trap (they made it seem like we were seeing a show in a huge theater), but it was still really good, heard some Mozart and some opera and saw some ballet.  Also, I got to see where Sigmund Freud worked and saw “the couch”. Very cool!

Anyway, I am now back in Copenhagen and back to a pile of work. I can’t believe I used to update this thing one every five days! I hope everyone has a lovely Thanksgiving! Tonight I am going to my friend Elise’s house to have Thanksgiving dinner. It will be really nice. Tomorrow I am going to London with my Literary London class! I am so pumped! I love British culture. I think it started when I was seven with my love for the Spice Girls and grew with Harry Potter when I starting reading that at age nine. I also really love British music like Kate Nash, Lily Allen, Oasis, Keane (well they are actually Irish but w/e), Katy Tunstall, just to name a few. I will write about that on my next blog so stay tuned!

I cannot believe that I have less than a month in Copenhagen. It has been such a wonderful experience. I wish I could stay another semester, but that wouldn’t really work since I am graduating in May. It’d be like oh yeah… Eastern University? I go here? Haha I almost feel that the traveling I have done has taken away some of the cultural experiences of being in Denmark. I was thinking about it- when this experience is over, I will have been traveling almost four weeks of my time in Europe. I am here for four months, so that means ¼ of my time has been spent outside of Denmark. I feel like I am just beginning to understand Danish culture and now it is almost over! I don’t know if this necessarily a bad thing, I just think that I never expected to feel that traveling around Europe may be hindering my cultural immersion into Danish culture. Just something I have been thinking about…

Well thanks for reading. Coming up next time- my whirlwind weekend in Londontown!

Switzerland and Germany

Hello! Hope everyone is well. I have just returned from a long weekend in Switzerland and Germany! I visited my friend Meaghan in Switzerland and my cousin Phil in Germany.

Friday, I couldn't wait to get to the airport. I only had classes until 11:30AM and my flight did not leave until 5PM. The metro was packed with people going to the airport. This was because Danish children have a week off from school this week (called "Week 42") and many choose this week to travel. My host family is not going anywhere. My host mother just started a job a couple weeks ago, so she cannot take off work. My host father's mother ("far mor"- literally means father's mother) is coming to stay for the rest of the week today. It will be neat to meet more of my host family's extended family. My host sisters had a friend spend the night, which I'm sure they had a lot of fun.

Instead of writing everything I did in Switzerland and Germany I will write some of the highlights. For some reason, it takes an eternity for me to post pictures on here so here is a link to my photo album if you would like to check out the gorgeousness that is Switzerland and Germany.


Highlights:
Getting to the airport and going to the ATM where my debit card would, yet again, not allow me to get money out. I then exchanged $40 worth Danish kroner for Swiss Francs and got 25 francs. Definitely got ripped off... Oh well. For the record: I was able to get money out the next day.

Taking the bus from the airport to Basel train station. When the signs on the bus said, "Banholf SBB" I hoped it wasn't going to take me to a different train station. I asked a woman if the bus was going to Basel train station. She looks at me and goes, "Ya- SBB" Duh! Doesn't everyone know that SBB means Basel train station? haha

Going to the main walking street in Basel, which for the record, looks like a mini- Stroget, the main pedestrian walking street in Copenhagen. Basel, for the few hours I was there, reminded me of Copenhagen.

Eating crepes and getting to meet Meaghan's other friends and fellow CABI ppl Alicia and Leah

Going to Lucern, Switzerland! Got to see and walk on the beautiful Chapel Bridge, Lion Monument, climbing a castle, seeing alpacas, eating truffles, kind of seeing the Alps through the clouds, the train rides from Delemont to Luzern, and eating great pizza in Laufen!

Day 2: Getting to see the lab where Meaghan has been working for eight months.

Going for a ride in a car to see a 1,000 year old tree! (I seriously had not been in a car for two months). Danes, especially my host family, are not real big on driving. And especially considering that they are taxed 150% over the car's retail value and the VERY high prices of gas, think double what we pay a gallon)

Eating cheese fondue and watching How I Met Your Mother.

Finally seeing Phil! And I got to be in a motorized vehicle yet again!

Hanging out at HBR, the dorm Phil is a house parent in and getting to hang out with high school boys and watching them play a game where they jump on top of each other (Tuktuk? Jump jump?) haha some name like that

Going on a hike to find a castle and then realizing we were not on the right path. Oh and feeling sick! I felt so bad that I wasn't feeling too great in the one day I could see my cousin. Phil if you're reading this sorry I was not feeling the best! I still had an awesome time!

Climbing a tower and almost being able to see the Alps!

Eating scnitzel and speitzel. So good! Felt like I was in Lancaster, PA. The part of Germany I was in reminded me so much of Pennsylvania- it was crazy. I now know why so many people with German ancestry chose to move to PA. I also felt like I looked like the inhabitants of Germany/ Switzerland. I feel like in Denmark I stand out since I am not a blonde with blue eyes, though I promise, not all Danes are blonde. I believe I do have some German ancestry so I guess it makes sense that I look German.

I am now back in Copenhagen. I was not feeling real well yesterday. My ears were really clogged and being on the plane didn't help much. Today, I feel much better. I think it was a combination of having a cold/ traveling/ not being able to sleep. Today, I skipped my Danish class. Oh well. My professor wasn't even going to be there- she is in Israel for the week, so hopefully I didn't miss much. I have my Literary London class at 3PM my time. I am really excited about this class. My professors seem really excited and enthusiastic about what we are learning and it just makes me excited to learn about British literature and culture. It also doesn't hurt that we get to go to London for a weekend in November. We are reading Shakespeare's MacBeth. I tried to read it in the airport, but after not reading Shakespeare since high school, it is hard to get back into that style of writing.

Until next time!

~Jenna