The real beginning

8:30am came way too early Saturday morning... and as a surprise. My alarm either didn't go off or I completely ignored it and fell back asleep. I jumped out of bed, literally, took a shower, stuffed some clothes into my bag, and headed to the airport.

The flight was only about an hour and a half and we arrived in Vienna in mid afternoon. My first impressions were not what I was expecting. The airport is actually far outside the city. We couldn't even see Vienna from our plane as we landed. And there were no hills! We were all expecting hills! Alive hills!

We took a bus into Vienna. Still no hills, but we found the city, and it was beautiful! We went straight to our hotel to check in and freshen up. The hotels were actually quite nice, with a huge bathroom and a beautiful view of the city. Lucy and I roomed together.

We quickly (or it seemed quick to us) showered and got dressed for the night. We went to a swanky cafe for some authentic Austrian food: bread with pistachio butter, a goat cheese and vinaigrette salad, boiled beef and vegetables, and a Hungarian (?) trifle for dessert. It was all delicious!

After dinner we walked to Vienna's most famous music hall for a Mozart concert! I was stuck in a corner behind a column, so I couldn't see a thing (the musicians were dressed in period clothing), but the music was beautiful. The hall we were in has some of the best acoustics in the world! We heard waltzes, minuets, and a bunch of other song categories that I should know but don't. Whatever they were, they were wonderful.

We had planned to explore the city a bit before bed, but the dinner and the music and the long day left us pretty ready for our fluffy white beds.

Let's start at the very beginning!

...a very good place to start! (I thought the Sound of Music would be appropriate since I went to Austria!)

It all began Friday night with KulturNatten! This was Copenhagen's 10th annual Culture Night, where all of greater Copenhagen comes into the city to celebrate the beginning of their week-long fall break with family, friends, fun, fairs, and free exhibitions! And everyone comes out in full force! (Maybe I took the alliteration too far, but its true!)

There was some sort of open house or special event or culture something on every corner. With a 75DKK button (about $15), all the events and the transportation between them were open! We stayed in central Copenhagen, the area we knew best.

We found balloons and arts and crafts, met some crazy musicians, watched a break-dancing performance in the Glyptotek, and made our own stamps! We'll receive 50 of our original designed stamps in the mail!

It was a very cool way to end the first half of the semester!

Post #1 of probably about 17 about my travels...

Most importantly, I made it home safe and sound! I had a wonderful time, and I've already posted pictures to give you an idea of how fabulous Vienna and Budapest were.

I'm going to try to do this in increments, so not to overwhelm you or myself in the process. It might take awhile. I've got to unpack, do laundry, repack for Russia, VOTE, register for classes, figure out my Italy itinerary, read Master and Margarita, plan a trip to Germany, and begin a paper... all before Sunday!

Try to read these from the bottom up!

The end of Ramadan!

Since my family is Muslim, they have been (partly) observing Ramadan for the month of September, so the first of October was a celebration! It was like a Muslim version of Thanksgiving and it was wonderful!

Malika spent all day Tuesday and Wednesday morning cooking and cleaning in preparation. When I got home from class on Wednesday, people were already arriving. They came in waves, but total I think about thirty people squeezed into our little apartment. Friends and family were invited, but I think we hosted the entire Chechen population of Denmark!

The women, children, and men all ate in separate rooms, the women all covered their heads with scarves and stood up every time a man entered the room. Everyone was hugging and kissing and talking a hundred words per minute in a mixture of Danish, Russian, and Chechen. So basically, I understood about 1% of what was said, and that 1% was mostly about me, but it somehow felt nice.

Obviously I did not observe Ramadan, so I wasn't sure if I should celebrate its end, but everyone insisted that I eat (and eat and eat and eat) and they all seemed genuinely happy I was sharing in their celebration. The food was delicious! I want Malika to give me the recipes for some of the salads and desserts. I couldn't tell you what I was eating, but it was so good! It really felt like Thanksgiving! There were no prayers said or any mention of Allah... it was just a family reunion!

I bonded with the children, of course. Laila was two and spoke very little in any language, but she did know "I love you" in English and by the end of the day, she could say my name! Most of the children were around eight or nine, and they dragged me outside in the cold rain to play tag and hide-and-go-seek. If you can say "tal" (tag) and count to fourteen in any language, you could play! Later we ventured into my room... which was a terrible decision on my part because they never left! It was fun though. We played Krig (War) and Fisk (Go Fish) and listened to music on my computer. Khava discovered Skype and spoke to all my friends!

People began to leave around five, but Malika's sisters and their children stayed all night. I have no idea where they slept! Our kitchen is now bursting with fruit and candy and other hostess gifts from the guests, in addition to all the leftover food. After fasting for a month, they know how to make up for it!

Bornholm

DIS offers several "adventure trips" to remote places throughout Scandinavian that students wouldn't otherwise be able or know to see. Bornholm was one of those places! It is a little island off the coast of Sweden in the middle of the Baltic Sea and has been controlled by Sweden, Germany, and Russia at different times throughout its history. The name Bornholm actually comes from an old Danish word meaning "height" because of how high the island rises out of the sea, very much unlike the rest of Denmark. We definitely appreciated its name while biking up the never ending hills!

We took an overnight ferry to get to the island and stayed up half the night talking and playing cards and eating nutella on dried banana chips--delicious! We arrived on the island just before dawn and by the time we bussed to our hostel, we got to watch the sun rise over the sea. It was a great way to start the day. We napped and showered and ate a huge breakfast at the hostel before grabbing our bikes and hitting the road.

We decided to head north on the first day towards the old castle ruins of Hammerhus. We knew we were in trouble when the first kilometer was all uphill, but it was worth it. The ride was beautiful! We stopped halfway and hiked to the "tallest waterfall in Denmark"... all 50 meters of it. We climbed to the top and rested for awhile on the rocks. Around noon we made it to the ruins of what was once North Europe's largest medieval fortification. It was very impressive, even if it was ruined!

We biked back to a little town we passed through to get some traditional Danish food: smoked herring on rye bread with onions and egg yolk... and french fries! It was all delicious, but after our day of biking, we probably would have eaten anything! Our trip home didn't seem to be any easier. I am convinced the island defies the laws of nature. It was all uphill! I felt like I was in an M.C. Escher drawing. We were beat by the time we got back to our hostel. We decided to suck it up and went walking around the town for awhile. We ate dinner at the hostel and hung out in our 12-person room for the rest of the night. We were too tired to move! So we told riddles and played games and passed out before 10pm!

Sunday we had the second breakfast shift so we actually got to sleep in a bit, but we were back on the saddle/painful bicycle seat by 9. Today we decided to go south, in search of the "finest sand in the world," which we were told would be all downhill, but it wasn't! We stopped right out of town at the Baltic Sea Glass studio. They had beautiful blown glassware. I thought I'd found my artwork for the trip... until I learned that it was $2500! We all settled for small stud earrings as a souvenir.

The day began with beautiful weather, but it got worse as the day progressed. We actually missed a small shower while we were in the glass shop, and biked under blue skies for another hour or so, but by the time we reached our next destination, the wind was blowing and the waves were rough and we could tell a storm was approaching. Which is why we decided it would be a great idea to jump into the Baltic Sea!

We were told to go to the lighthouse in Svaneke (sp??) and climb to the top, but being Sunday, it was closed. But what we found was better! Below the lighthouse was a little park with lots of sand, a volleyball court, and a diving board set on the rocks. It was perfect! It took us a few minutes to get our nerve up, but we all stripped down to our underwear and jumped off the diving board into the sea. The tide was coming in, it was about to storm, we couldn't see the bottom, and we didn't test the temperature, so this was probably not one of our best ideas, but it was incredible! The water was shockingly cold... it knocked the breath out of us. The maybe 50 degree air temperature felt so warm when we got out! We scrambled to get dressed before the waves took over our rock platform... one had already gotten my camera! It wouldn't come on, so I just prayed it would dry out and work again. It took a few days, but it is alive!

We kept heading south, freezing and wet, to see this sand, but after our adrenaline rush at the lighthouse, the sand just couldn't compete. We stopped at the beach long enough to eat whatever food we'd packed and write our names in the sand, and then we left in search of a warm coffee shop.

Finally, we found some downhill on the return trip. The weather cleared up too and we flew back to town. Unfortunately we got back before our roommates with the key, so we were locked out of our room until the registration office opened at five. It was miserable! We were cold, tired, hungry, wet, and we smelled like the ocean. By 5:05 we were all either showering, napping, or eating. We ate dinner again at the hostel, packed up all our stuff, and walked around town in search of dessert before heading back to the ferry. The return trip was awful! We expected to be so exhausted that we'd easily fall asleep, but the storm that had been threatening all day finally hit, and the boat rocked back and forth all night.

After a sleepless night, we arrived in Copenhagen around 7:30am and I headed to class!

Weekend Study Tour

Every program of DIS goes on a long study tour during our 3 week study break, and a short study tour over a weekend to greater Denmark. My program, European Culture and History went to Ribe, the oldest town in Denmark. Although the tour was called "Ribe Study Tour," we spent very little time actually in Ribe.

After a sleepless night, we boarded the bus and left Copenhagen around 9am and I immediately fell asleep, or at least as asleep as I could be on a very uncomfortable bus with a microphone-happy tour guide. We stopped several times along the way to Ribe at different locations. After crossing the world's third longest bridge from Zealand (the island Copenhagen is on), we stopped at a castle on Funen (the island west of Zealand, east of Jutland). Members of the royal family still reside in this castle, but had to open it up to the public to pay the enormous taxes. They entertain the public with beautiful gardens, sculptures, mazes (we had to cheat to get out!), museums, tree-top bird watching walks, etc!

After a short stop in a small harbor town to eat lunch and stretch our legs, we continued through Runen and visited a Danish folkehøjskole, an ”alternative” school for the arts. Your average American would call it a hippie school, but it is an old cultural tradition and still highly regarded in Denmark. Folkehøjskoles specialize in many different areas, from religion to art to fishing. The one we visited focused on film, musicals, dance, etc.

We took a short tour of the school and hung out with the Danish students there. We played a US vs. DK football/soccer game and got slaughtered, but we returned the favor after teaching them American football. Our feet were covered in mud by the time the dinner bell sounded, so we just walked around with bare feet. I think I’d love this place! After dinner we had tea and coffee and conversation with the students, and then listened to a guitar/singing performance by Martin. It was so much fun!

We left the folkehøjskole for Ribe, where we were sleeping. Our “hostels” were amazing. They were actually like small townhouses, complete with a full kitchen, cable TV and a hot, enclosed, well-pressured shower!

Friday we went to an island town off the west coast that is only accessible during low tide. We took a tractor-pulled bus across the sand and biked around the island. The scenery was breath-taking. It was like stepping into another time with old windmills, farmers, and a lot of sheep and cattle.

From 2008-09-14, CRAZY WEEK

We stopped at a few towns on our way back to Ribe, but they were kind of on the boring side. The scheduling wasn’t the best, so we hit the towns after everything closed. We ate dinner in Ribe at an Italian restaurant and went on a “tour of the night-watchman.” The tour was in Danish and English, but we tended to tune him out during the Danish part and forget to pay attention during the English part. Plus it was dark, so we couldn’t really see what he was talking about!

Saturday we got up and went on a daylight walking tour of Ribe, and I wish we had done that in the beginning of our trip. The town is beautiful and has hundreds of years of history, but we didn’t really have time to explore! Ribe was a Viking village, and they have a fabulous museum of artifacts and remnants from the time of the Vikings. It was very interesting! We went to one of two Catholic churches in all of Denmark. After Denmark became Lutheran, the king had all the monasteries burned. He allowed the one in Ribe to remain however because of all the good works of the nuns. Right beside the cloister, of course, is the Lutheran church, which was a very strange mixture of old and new. We climbed the tower to get a view of the whole city. It was beautiful and a great way to end our trip.

From 2008-09-14, CRAZY WEEK

Friends Update

It continues...

After getting back to the city from our trips to Western Denmark, Grace, Laura, and I stashed our bags in the DIS building before going out. Somehow, my bag got locked in a room, so I'm without makeup, a toothbrush, etc. until Monday. On our train ride home, Laura freaked out because she thought she'd lost her house key... again. Her host family has already had to change the locks on the house once, because she lost her key and address card together in her wallet. (On that subject, she overnighted a new debit card and pin number but for some reason can't activate it, so she's been without access to money for over a week.) After frantically searching through her own and Grace's bags, Laura found her key. But this of course led Grace to look for her key... and discover she lost it. The side pocket of her bag has a zipper on the top and bottom (why??) and the key apparently fell right through. To top it off, her family went out of town for the weekend, so she can't get into her house until late tonight. And her cell phone is dead. We all really wanted to go to church tonight, but Laura doesn't have money for the train ride, I don't have conditioner or a brush, and Grace doesn't have a home. It looks like we might call it a day.

From Transport