Møns Klint

Last weekend I went on a day trip to Møns Klint, which are chalk cliffs on the east coast of the island of Møn in Denmark. Before telling a little more about the experience I have to say that I remember signing up for this trip when I came to Copenhagen in January and thinking that the trip wasn't happening for such a long time. And now it has come and gone. It's amazing how fast time is going by! There are definitely pros and cons to it. The way I've described it to everyone who has already asked is that I will be excited to go home and see my family and friends and just be home, but that does not mean that I'll be excited to actually leave Copenhagen. They're definitely two separate things. I know that I will miss being here terribly. Anyway, whenever my roommate and I start talking about how little time we have left we get really upset and rush to change the subject...so, Møns Klint!

We got up somewhat early on a Sunday to get a bus that DIS had arranged for us and drove for about two hours, meaning I got about two more hours of sleep- can't complain there! When we got there we were introduced to our tour guides and then continued to walk down 400-something steps to get down to the water. Quick side comment: going down that many stairs was fine, but going back up was a different story. Anyway, among other things, our tour guide told us about the fossils that could be found on the beach and then left us to see what we could discover. I found a few fossils, and felt like a little kid again when I came home with rocks in my pockets and backpack.

The cliffs were absolutely beautiful, and despite the fact that it eventually starting raining which then turned to snow, it was a great day.

Fossil hunting!

Two of the fossils I found. They came from octopi!
They're the tubes that gases go in and out of so the octopus can rise and sink in the water. 

Pausing for a break on the way back up almost 500 steps.

England: The Land of Tea and Harry Potter

Last week I went to London with my positive psychology class. Despite having to get up at 3:30am to get to the airport in order to meet the class and catch a flight at 7:20 and then never really catching up on sleep after that, it was a great trip. I saw the big sights like Big Ben, the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and- for those of you who are awesome enough to have seen Disney's "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" and understand the excitement behind this- Portobello Road Market. Additionally, I went to Kings Cross Station to see Platform 9 3/4, and I also walked across Millennium Bridge, which is in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie. I went to the British Museum and saw the Rosetta Stone, Ancient Egyptian mummies, and an Easter Island head. 

As a class, we also got to experience Afternoon Tea. It was an extremely fancy event with lots of tea in beautiful cups that were continually refilled by extremely proper waiters who put napkins on your lap and pulled out your chair for you. Along with the tea, we got a three-tiered offering of finger sandwiches, desserts, and scones.

The weather on the first day was not great. It was so cold and snowing like crazy. Unfortunately we had a walking tour that day, so it got cut short. The weather got gradually better for the six days we were there though. 

On one of the days we had time set aside to perform random acts of kindness. We divided ourselves up into small groups and were given ten pounds to do whatever we wanted with. Christie and I decided to go into coffee shops and anonymously buy coffee for people. It was tricky because it was really busy when we first started, but we patiently- though excitedly- waited in the shop observing. When there was no one in line to buy anything, we jumped up and talked to the barista. Although they were initially very confused and we had to explain a few times, she agreed to tell the next person who came in and ordered that their purchase had been taken care of and they did not need to pay. We asked the barista not to tell them who we were and we just went up a little while later and paid. We did this three times in three different shops and every time the barista was thoroughly confused by what we were trying to do. Our best experience was the second time we did this. The barista was very nice and excited to help us, and we tried to casually watch the man who got treated to his free coffee. When he heard that his purchase had been taken care of, he beamed. We think he was definitely the one who appreciated the small act of kindness the most out of the three strangers who we bought for. It was a fun experience, and it makes me want to do little things like this more often, even if it does not involve money.

London Eye

Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

Inside the Globe Theatre

Buckingham Palace

Millennium Bridge

Rosie, Christie, and I on Millennium Bridge

The Complete Opposite of Spring

Happy first day of spring, here's a snowstorm! Today is the 20th of March, the first day of spring, only eleven days until April. What are you thinking of? Green grass? Sunshine? Maybe even some flowers blooming? I bet you weren't thinking of snow, heaps of it. And of all days to have a walking tour for a field study, it was today. To look on the bright side though, rain would have been much worse than snow. Quick note to make this even more upsetting: my parents are in the Bahamas. I'm so jealous! But I hope they're having a fantastic time.

For my Hans Christian Andersen class we had a walking tour through certain places in the city that HC Andersen visited and lived when he was here. It was really interesting to see, but I have to admit the wind and the cold were sometimes a little distracting.

I spent the rest of my day relaxing in the warmth of my room and writing a fairy tale for this same class. The assignment was rather open, and the gist of the professor's guidelines was to write a short story or fairy tale inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's writing. I really enjoy writing fiction, and I'm quite happy with the result. It's simplistic and a quick read, but it's pretty cute, if I do say so myself. If you feel like reading some more (I apologize for the lack of pictures in this post), here it is!

Spotless

Barcelona!

First of all, I'm sorry this post is so delayed. I was welcomed back to Copenhagen with an immense amount of schoolwork. Also snow. Do you realize how strange, and quite disappointing, it is to be barefoot on a beach in Barcelona one day and then bundled up in a coat and scarf bracing yourself against snow and wind the next. Needless to say, I'm ready for spring. And apparently Copenhagen is awaiting a huge snow storm in the beginning of the week. It's mid-March. I'm not okay with that. 

Anyway, Barcelona!

Christie and I outside the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art

We arrived on Wednesday and it was raining, which was extremely disappointing. The next day was sunny and beautiful though, and we decided to take the bus tour. It was a hop-on hop-off tour that went to all the big sites around the city, but Christie and I rode one route for two hours, hopped off and got lunch, then hopped back on a different route and rode that for two hours. We sat on the upper, open level of the bus and it was very relaxing. We decided we would just ride the entire route and take note of the places we wanted to go back to in the next few days. It actually ended up being very good. It gave us a better idea of the city and what we wanted to find on our own. 

Sagrada Família, an absolutely beautiful church

Sagrada Família

On the tour, we happened to see this man in a park making bubbles. 

On our second day, we decided to go to Monjuïc, which we had gone to on the bus. We walked to the hill, and started on our way up, stopping to admire the views and take a look at other sites that interested us on the way. The Olympic Stadium from the 1992 Olympics was there, and it was amazing to see. It's so cool to think that Olympic athletes had competed in that stadium and run on that track. 

Where the Olympic flame burned

Probably one of my favorite things I got to see

We continued up Montjuïc a little ways and decided to take the cable cars to the top. Initially, we debated whether or not we wanted to actually pay for the cable car, but in the end, we definitely made the right decision. The views were incredible.

Sculpture inspired by the Olympic torch

At the top we visited Montjuïc Castle.

On our way back down the hill, we went through some beautiful gardens and a park where we found lots of fun things including two huge slides, a zipline, a mini ropes course (unfortunately a large group of young kids were playing on it so didn't get a chance to), and interactive, musical sculptures. 

For the rest of our time in Barcelona we visited the market, ate lots of good food, and went to the beach. I also got a taste of good ol' Vermont. We found a Ben & Jerry's stand, where I splurged and bought classic chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream on a crepe with chocolate. It was probably one of the best things I've ever had. But I suppose I'm probably slightly biased being from Vermont. 

Market

Christopher Columbus Statue

Another wonderful thing about going to Barcelona was getting the chance to see one of my best friends, Julia. She is studying abroad there and on the last day I got to see her and catch up.

This is Lisbon

I have now been in Lisbon for four days, and it is truly amazing. Compared to what the weather forecast told us, we have actually been pretty lucky. We've had a little rain, but also a lot of beautiful sunshine and pretty warm days. We arrived around noon on Saturday and Christie's host cousin Hal met us at the airport. He helped us to figure out the metro system and find our way to the hostel called This is Lisbon. If you ever come here I highly recommend this hostel. It is amazing. The people who work here are incredibly friendly and so, so helpful. We had signed up for an eight-person room but we ended up having it to ourselves, which was nice. After settling in, we wandered the city for a little bit and then had dinner at an adorable little Portuguese restaurant. We also had the best sangria! So good we had to get it last night as well. 

We started off Sunday morning by eating our breakfast outside on the terrace at the hostel. It was the best sitting there and enjoying the view. 

After this we had a free tour organized by the hostel. It was just Christie, Ilana, Hal (for a little while until he had to go catch his plane back to Copenhagen), and I with the tour guide. What we had been told would be a two hour tour turned into a six hour tour. It was almost constant walking, but it was completely worth it. We saw so much- most of which we would not have found on our own. Our guide, Eduardo, was so much fun, and we had some great conversations with him. For dinner that night we just got some bread, cheese, and fruit from a nearby grocery store and ate at the hostel. Groceries are fantastically cheap here, especially in comparison to what we're used to in Denmark. 

Ruins we went to on our tour

View from the ruins

Christie and an orange tree. 
She and Ilana later climbed it and picked oranges for all of us.

Yesterday was pretty rainy, and we were exhausted from all the walking the day before so we took it pretty easy. We played cards at the hostel in the morning after breakfast for a while. Then Lorenzo, a man who we have met here at the hostel, invited us to join him and a friend for lunch. We went to a vegetarian Japanese place and it was very good! Afterwards we tried green wine, which is extremely Portuguese. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and playing cards with friends at the hostel. In the evening, a Portuguese couple came and made us a traditional dinner. We shared this dinner with the couple who prepared it for us and a French couple who are also staying at the hostel. A group of Germans also sat at the table with us, but had made their own meal. Christie and I discovered that between everyone at the table, we could count to ten in eleven different languages: English, Spanish, French, Danish, Swedish, Portuguese, Japanese, Hebrew, Arabic, Italian, and German! It is an amazing experience to meet all these people from around the world. And everyone is so friendly and open.

Today we went to Castelo de São Jorge. It was beautiful, both the castle itself and views of the city from the castle walls. It was built in the 11th century. I find it so interesting to explore places with such history and try to imagine what it would have been like in the past.

Peacocks and cats were roaming freely at the castle.

After the castle, we went to a street flea market and then stopped to get lunch at a little restaurant on our way back to the hostel. Instead of going out to eat tonight, we went to the grocery store and bought pasta and a few things to make back at the hostel. Making dinner ended up being much cheaper than eating out. And it was fun to cook together and sit in the living room/dining room of the hostel.

Tomorrow morning we're off to Barcelona!

Next Up: Portugal and Spain!

In about twenty minutes I will be starting my journey to Lisbon, Portugal. I will be there until Wednesday, and then I'm off to Barcelona, Spain until Sunday. I probably won't update this until I'm home so ta ta for now!