Norway

Last week was our last travel break. For the first half I stayed in Copenhagen and relaxed, and for the second half, I went to Bergen, Norway with Tim. Bergen was a really nice city, and despite the rain and really cold weather, we had a great time. Unfortunately we did not make it to any of the well-known fjords, but we did take a funicular, or cliff railway, up the mountain and went hiking. Yes, I just had to look up the word funicular. Fun fact for the day! The railway was called Fløibanen and it went up the mountain of Fløyen. In terms of the weather, it was one of our better days in Norway, but still not exactly warm. 

On our last day, we decided to go for a walk in part of Bergen we hadn't ventured to yet. We stumbled upon the aquarium, which we had been considering visiting but hadn't gotten around to. We spent most of the day there and it was really fun. I wasn't a huge fan of the snakes though...

View from Fløyen

A sign on one of the hiking paths.
We got some weird looks from people passing us when we were discussing dinosaurs.
Apparently they hadn't seen the sign.

Alligator at the aquarium

Not a huge fan of this guy.
Didn't help that Tim kept saying that it was trying to escape so it could eat me.

Food time!

We saw a show with this seal and his friend. They're really cute.

That calls for a Carlsberg.

On Tuesday I went to the Carlsberg factory with my friend Derick. It was a self-guided tour and we learned about the company's history as well as beer making. It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny. Although the tour was interesting and a good way to spend the day, I have to admit that my favorite part was petting the horses in the stables and making friends with a cat who was wandering around. We named him Carl. 

Here are a few pictures. 

Dipylon or Double Gate

Elephant Gate

Guinness World Record 2007: World's largest collection of beer bottles
(This record is now held by a man in the US)

Derick and Carl

Carl!

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.