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

An introduction to my friends...

From Caroline in Copenhagen

LK, Grace, Laura

LK is from Atlanta, Georgia, but goes to Wake! I didn't even know other students from Wake were studying with DIS until a few days before I left for Copenhagen. She lives with a Danish roommate very close to the center of the city in an adorable apartment. She can ride her bike to school everyday in about 20 minutes. She was the first of us to find peanut butter. She has a "rough guide" to Copenhagen that she frequently refers to for fun restaurants, clubs, attractions, etc, and it has been great! LK has got it together. The rest of us, however, are a mess.

Grace is from Minnesota and attends St. Olaf's College in St. Paul. She comes from a very Scandinavian, Lutheran family... her mother made matching dresses for her and her sister every Easter. She lives with a Danish family in Farum, but because of construction on her rail, she has to take the train to Birkerød (where I live), then a 30-min bus to her town, then bike for 10 minutes to her house. Her commute has of course made for some good stories. The chain of her bike fell off one morning on her way to school and she came to class covered in black grease. On one of our "bus-capades," she dumped the contents of her purse all over the floor. As she was scrounging the pick up all the change, the bus turned and she fell on top of an old woman who yelled at her. She managed to gather most of it and then dropped it all again. Change went everywhere! Several minutes later, a woman came to the back of the bus to hand Grace some more change she'd missed.

Laura is from Wrightsville Beach and goes to Southern Methodist University in Dallas. She also lives with a Danish family in Holte, which is on the same train line that Grace and I take. We try to all meet on the train, but that rarely works out as planned. After our fabulous day at Tivoli, we had a little trouble figuring out which platform to get on in the Central Copenhagen Station. It's pretty big. We were following Laura because she was in a hurry and we got on the wrong platform. After accidently missing our train, we told Laura to go on without us on her train (she has two options), instead of waiting to ride with us. After all the stress of finding the right train, she left her wallet on it, and was left without her transportation pass, her money, her credit cards, etc!

I cannot exclude myself from this of course. My disastrous accidents probably win the prize! I've taken the wrong bus numerous times. I forgot to put on deoderant the second day of class. I've missed a class because I wrote it in my planner wrong. I hurt my foot. I fell asleep at the bus stop and had to sleep in the student lounge at DIS. I can't understand my family. I missed my stop twice in the same night (refer to Saturday's Adventures). The list goes on!

Our first attempt at going out in the city probably paints a pretty accurate picture of our experiences here in Copenhagen. On our first Friday night, DIS sponsored a party at a nearby club called LUX, and Grace, Laura, and I decided to meet on the train and go together. I was running late, and since I can never figure out the bus schedule, I decided to walk to the train station. About 5 minutes in to the walk, I realized I had forgotten the night bus schedule. The trains stop running at midnight, and the night busses are the only way to get home. I decided to wing it for the sake of time and kept walking. Another 5 minutes into the walk, I realized I didn't have my admission ticket. I walked all the way home, turned my room upside down, and still couldn't find the ticket. I called Grace and Laura to tell them I was going to be really late, and decided this time to wait for the bus. My feet were already killing me-- the left one because of my mysterious injury, the right one because of a blister caused by my heels. We all finally made it to the club and stayed for awhile, but when we left, Grace couldn't find the claim ticket to get her purse. We looked everywhere, but had to describe every minute detail of her purse and all its contents, fill out a detailed form, and 20 minutes later, she finally got her purse back. We got separated from Laura and could never get in touch with her. We found out later that she dropped her phone and didn't have the code to turn it back on. She couldn't figure out the bus schedule either, and had to sleep on her friend's couch. And after all that, I still forgot the night bus schedule.

We should have realized after this night that we were doomed...

Sunday

Grace, Laura, and I decided to meet in the city and go to church this morning (actually afternoon). I got into the city early and went to the botanical gardens. It continues to amaze me how no matter where you are, in the middle of the city, you can find a little oasis. The gardens are a two minute walk away from the train station, but once you’re inside, its like you’re in the country a hundred miles away. I didn’t have much time to explore, but I walked along the paths for a while and went into the greenhouse. The landscaping was very natural and simple, but it was breathtaking.

I met the girls back at the station and we headed to church. The bus rides are always interesting but we made it to the right stop. We couldn’t find the right street though. We asked probably 6 people, including a group of policemen, and no one knew where it was!

We went to the International Pentecostal church, but it wasn’t the Pentecostal I’m used to. We missed praise and worship, but the sermon was much more like a lesson. A couple co-preached on dating. It was very applicable to three single twenty-year-old girls, but it wasn’t very in depth or scriptural. We took communion and then gathered in their version of a fellowship hall for coffee and cookies. It was very nice. We plan to visit several churches though, and maybe start a Bible study.

It was a beautiful Sunday in Copenhagen!

Saturday's adventures

Saturday was amazing! We all woke up early and went home to shower, eat, nap, etc, and Grace, LK, Laura, and I met in Holte to start our adventures for the day. Figuring out the bus schedule was the first hurdle, and we actually got off at the wrong stop, but we were absolutely thrilled with our mistake. We found a beautiful little quay, with a wall of rocks protecting gorgeous sailboats, and a small beach nearby. We were really hoping to rent some kayaks or Sunfish, but the season is apparently over, and there were none to be found. We entertained ourselves instead. We went walking in the COLD surf and found sea glass. The beaches here are known to have white, very fine sand. Ours did not, but it did have a lot of interesting and colorful rocks. We walked all around the harbor and walked/climbed/crawled on the rocks back to the beach. That was a little treacherous, and not at all good for my slowly healing foot, but it was definitely an accomplishment and we rewarded ourselves for not dying with ice cream!
LK had made plans for the night, so we split ways at the train station. Grace and I went back with Laura to her house so she could change clothes and we could regroup. On the way, David from Hillerød called and said he had tickets to the REM concert in the city!!! He was kind of sketchy with the details, but he gave all of us free tickets to the show! We were SO excited!
We went into the city early to get something quick and cheap to eat. We opted for the infamous kebabs found all over the city. They are not like the kebabs I am used to… more like gyros. Luckily I got chicken in mine, so I didn’t have to see them shave the meat off of the huge rotating chunk of animal like they did for Grace and Laura’s. We took them to a park to eat and made another great discovery! We thought the park was just a basketball court with a few tire swings, but it had the coolest playground! There was a Viking ship turned on its side and two huge tiki-mask-like structures (I’m not sure what the overall theme was supposed to be) with rope ladders, spinning logs, climbing walls, and tightropes connecting them all. It was so much fun! Copenhagen is full of surprises literally around every corner.
We managed to tear ourselves away from the park and met David in Østebro for the concert. He definitely recalled a ticket from a guy friend of his, but we tried not to feel too guilty about it. The concert was held in the soccer stadium and it was filled with tons of people! We found our seats and REM came on in less than 5 minutes. It was incredible! They played a lot of new stuff that we didn’t know, but by the end of the show, we heard all the classics. It was a sweet show.
Here, unfortunately, the night went bad. It was such a shame too, after such a perfect day. Laura and Grace decided to go out, but I was too tired and David and I left for home. We made the last train of the night, but I missed my stop! I rode all the way to Hillerød with David (two stops past mine and out of my zone). There were no more trains and I couldn’t reach any of the friends I know in that town. Some helpful Danes showed me to the nightbus, but I had no idea where to get off. It was a terrifying ride. I went past my stop AGAIN! I got off at the next one and waited for the nightbus coming the other direction, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to read the bus schedules! After giving the bus a 10 minute grace period, and passing on two taxis, I started walking in what I hoped was the right direction. I nearly turned around several times, but finally came to familiar territory and made it home. But of course, the door was locked and I’d left the key in my other purse! I had already decided that I’d rather sleep on the street than call Malika and admit I was lost, and then I had to call her anyway to let me in the house. I felt terrible! I left the city at 12 and didn’t make it home till 2:30!

Tivoli

For our first weekend, Grace, LK, Laura and I went to Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen's famous amusement park. It was so much fun! We were not expecting anything like it. In fact, we planned to stay for a few hours, and jokingly said it would be nice to see the park at night, and then we stayed till 11pm! We kept forgetting that we were actually in the middle of the city. We felt like we were in another world. It was very easy to see why Walt Disney was inspired to build Disneyland!

They made use of every available inch of space. Sometimes it was hard to figure out what line to stand in, because the rides were so close to each other. On some of the roller coasters, we could reach out and touch the bushes, or the ground, or probably a person standing in line if we tried really hard. Half of the rides were hidden too! We kept discovering more and more, and most of them looked like kiddie rides, but they surprised us! One of favorite parts was a room full of moving parts, uneven floors, slides, funny mirrors, and spinning wheels. It was a workout!

We ate dinner in the park at an outdoor cafe overlooking the lake. We watched the sun set and all the lights come on. Everything was lit up. We made another loop around the park and rode the swings again to see the city at night. We didn't even get to do all the things we wanted to do before we had to leave. We're still not completely comfortable with the transportation system! We wrapped up the night with some delicious icecream and headed home.

First Week

The first week was CRAZY!

I LOVE the city. It is amazing! There are churches and squares and cafes and boutiques on every corner. DIS, where we go to class, is located in a beautiful building in one of the oldest parts of the city, so it is right in the heart of the city. The main shopping street, Stroget (roughly pronounced Stroel) is only a block away.

We didn't really have much time to go exploring though... every day was jam-packed with meetings and orientations and tours around the city. This combined with the emotional strain of meeting a hundred new people and coping with the new family, plus recovering from jet lag, left me pretty exhausted and overwhelmed.

I am just now getting into any sort of routine (I still haven't had a "normal" day of class yet), but I don't really expect the semester to ever really calm down. There is just too much to do and see!