Fall Came to Europe, I went to Germany (and some other places too)

WARNING: This is perhaps the longest blog in the short history of blogging, so enter with caution!

Oh my goodness, so much has happened in the last two weeks I don't even know where to begin! I guess at the beginning would be good. But first, I must apologize once again for the lack of pictures. This time I'm writing this on a school computer, so I don't even have access to my pictures, but they will come soon!

Okay, so two weeks ago Thursday, on September 11th, I left with my European Politics & Society class on our short study tour. The EPS kids were really lucky, because we were one of the only programs that got to leave the country. We were study the EU, and what role it plays in European border regions, so we headed to northern Germany. First we stopped at the Lolland Kommune in southern Denmark to talk to the head of the Administration there. He, like many Danes, was fairly anti-EU, and we didn't really learn much of anything about EU relations. He was more focused on Danish regional development, which wasn't all that interesting, and didn't really pertain all that much to what we were studying. After his talk though, we boarded the ferry bound for Germany!

Back on the bus, and before arriving in Lübeck, Germany, one of our Danish tour leaders, Jakob (note: NOT my teacher Jakob, but a different one) gave us all Danish pieces of candy. We've been warned about the perils of Danish licourice, and how it is ten times stronger than American black licourice, but this candy was in small balls that were brightly colored, so we thought we were safe. Oh how we were wrong! Inside these unassuming little balls there was the worst form of the licourice. Salty liquid grossness. I'm not sure any of us actually got it down. Candy here is so much less sweet than at home. Jakob then came around with something called Turkish Peppers. We were all too wise by this point to sample it.

Anyway, we arrived in Lübeck, the city of seven spires, and were met by a German tour guide named Manfred for a guided bus tour of the historical city. Holy cow this was so not your typical high school bus tour. This guy, who, for starters was pretty old and had a giant, white handlebar mustache, was SO dirty! He kept on making all of these sexual references to everything in town, so even the guys felt sort of awkward. Lübeck is known for its excellent marzipan, and he informed all of the guys that they needed to get some, seeing as it's an aphrodisiac. He also mentioned something about champagne, and taking someone's virginity, and I don't even know what all. He definitely made for some great entertainment, but was certainly not family rated!

Lübeck is this gorgeous old city, and it is in one of the regions that was bombed the least during WWII. But that's not to say it got out completely unscathed. Manfred the Crazy took us to this beautiful cathedral, which was home to the biggest organ in either Germany, Europe, or the world (I got a little confused on that point, and Mom, I have pictures). But it also had one of the saddest things I've ever seen. The cathedral got hit in one of the last bombings of the war, and the bells fell from the bell tower. They were left there as a memorial to all those who died. Here is where I had conflicting sadness. These giant bells were cracked and smashed, and halfway in the floor, and one of those things that is so beautiful, but so heartbreaking at the same time, but I don't know if it is a memorial to the German Natzis who were killed, or those that they killed. There was a sign in German that I took a picture of that I think might explain it, but I need my sister to translate it. I'm assuming it's for those that were killed, but still. Not a great thing to be unsure of.

After the cathedral and some walking around time, we went to where we were eating dinner that night at Schiffergesellschaft. It was the coolest place EVER. Manfred had taken us there earlier. It's this old, oooold place from the 16th century where all the sailors met to discuss the shippers business. It was basically the early meeting point for the shippers union. But everything was completely preserved, so we sat on these pew-like benches that were grouped closely together with the ships' seals carved in them, and ate off of 400-year-old oak tables. And the food was A-mazing. No offense to Danish cooking, but German cooking totally kicks its butt. Plus, they even brought us seconds. Mmmm...

We then had to leave the fair city of Lübeck for the horribly industrious city of Kiel, Germany, where a cocktail bar provided the lone source of entertainment before bedding down for the night in my first hostel ever. The next morning at breakfast, my friends and I talked to a German couple who had both studied in the States for the year during high school, and that was the highlight of Kiel. We went on a random ferry ride, had the most boring tour guide ever, which made us all miss Manfred terribly, inappropriate comments and all, I ate the single worst piece of quiche ever, and we were pretty set to get the heck out of there. First we had to talk to a couple of EU workers of Schlesswig-Holstein who were total politicians and THEN we got to leave.

We ended up in the most picturesque Danish town I've seen yet. Sønderborg is located right on the Baltic Sea, and is now just a sleepy little town. I had a really bad night there because I didn't feel all that well and decidedly did not want to go out to bars and stuff, but the only other option was being alone at night in a hostel in the woods. So I went. The next day though, academia aside, was great. I had my first shot ever, provided by my really cool study tour leaders (including the associate director of DIS), on a Danish battle field, at noon. It was this stuff called Gammel Dansk, which is super bitter, but I didn't mind so much because I didn't know what it was supposed to taste like. Everyone else had something to say though. But a tour of Sønderborg, a couple of cultural stops, some cake, coffee, and a long bus ride later, we were back in Copenhagen, very late at night, and extremely exhausted.

Whew! This is definitely turning into the longest post ever! Sorry!

The study tour was the start of an insane two weeks. The Sunday after the Saturday (the 13th) we got back, a friend of my host family's stopped by with her baby. It was cool to meet her, and play with her baby a little, but most of the conversation was in Danish since they were catching up, so I didn't have much to contribute.

Then on Monday, the house was overrun by math scholars. Both Tinne and Jesper are math professors, and they had some of their students over for a pizza party, as well as an Itlian professor from UC-Berkley. I was the only "kid" home, but it was actually kind of cool, because everyone was speaking English, and these were University students as well, even if some of them were alot older then me (like the guy sitting next to me, who was married with a baby on the way).

But oh then Wednesday came. Wednesday the 17th, I got to go to Tivoli for the first time. Generally, 3 hours is a totally sufficient amount of time to spend in this park, which happens to be the oldest amusement park in the world. I spent 10 hours there. We had a field study there for my Creative Industries course at 11 when it opened, so then I spent awhile walking around with kids from my class. But then I ended up with this guy from my class and his girlfriend who had come to join us, making me the most awkward third wheel ever, with this couple I didn't know. On all the rides at Tivoli, you sit two by two, so I was left to slide around in the seat behind these two. NOT FUN. But I had to stick it out for awhile, because Anne (15-year-old host sister) was dancing in Tivoli at 4:30, and then I was going out to dinner with the fam and some friends.

It turned out that after Anne danced, the family wanted to spend some time in the park, so we were to meet at the restaurant in Tivoli at 6:30. I took Ida around, which, let me tell you, was scads more fun than the random couple. Then we had to meet up for dinner with SOME people. Yeah, so it turned out to be 25 Danish people and me! Guess which language was spoken? This one lady accross from me talked to me every once in awhile, and some people debated politics with me, and asked if my family at home went out to eat all the time, but mostly I just sat there. It was sad, too, because I kept on hearing McCain and Obama, and I wanted to join in the conversation so badly! I mean, this is why I'm in Europe! To discuss politics! Oh well. After dinner, we walked around some more, got ice cream, and then finally got to leave at 9.

The next night I went back to Tivoli, but this time for a ballet of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Tinderbox" on the original Tivoli stage. It was a great performance, the sets and costumes were designed by the queen of Denmark, and I was only there for about an hour and a half.

The next day, Friday, September 19th, marked the start of my weekend biking the INSANELY hilly Danish island of Bornholm. But I'll save that, and write about it after I bike and canoe in Sweden this weekend. But let me just say this; I was not meant to be an athletic person for a reason...

How Time Flies

Oh my goodness, I uploaded a picture! I'll see if I can't post more as I go along. This picture is of SOME (nowhere near all) of the bikes at Norreport station, where I catch the bus everyday. It's been quite the past week here in Denmark. I had to remember how to use my brain to complete schoolwork, which ended to varying degrees of success. But more importantly, I found my crown jewels! Oh, and they were worth the wait. I felt a little ridiculous when I realized that there was an entire castle about two blocks to the left and across the  street from the train station, but really, the spire on Rosenborg castle looks pretty similar to every other castle. But I did fun stuff all three days this weekend, and it made for a pretty good time.

(Publisher's note: So I got pictures to load, but they aren't in the right spot. Hmm...another challenge.) 

On Friday afternoon, I drudged home, exhausted from the day and from a short-lived, but still acutely miserable cold. After drifting aimlessly around the house for awhile, I went on a quick trip with Ida and Jesper to drop Anne's overnight stuff off at a friend's house. But as it turns out, this friend lives in Holte (note: not Gammel Holte, where I live). Holte, the new-and-improved Gammel Holte features the most expensive homes in all of Denmark. They weren't huge compared to American mansions, but compared to the houses with the thatched roofs in the Gammel neck of the Holte woods, they were downright monstrous. After dropping off Anne's stuff, and passing more "Dutch houses," which are made mostly of wood, which is not the house-building material of choice in Denmark, we went to Ima, the grocery store, to indulge in a Lutzen-Kjeldsen Friday night tradition. Each person can buy whatever candy they like, but it cannot be worth more than 11 Kroner (a little more than 2 bucks). I was ever so happy to eat my choice of gummy bears and a little snickers bar while watching "Friends" on the couch with Ida. But oh yeah, I'm in Denmark...

So later Friday night, I caught an 8:40 bus to meet my friend Erin in Copenhagen. We were both still suffering from colds, so we just walked around for awhile, and weren't really in the party mood. We stopped in a small Muslim kebap shop, so Erin could get some food. After we were spoken to in French (I thoroughly surprised the old man when I answered him), asked if we were Dutch, and questioned as to our political persuasions, the man behind the counter told me that I reminded him of a dream he'd had the night before. Okay, that's kind of sketchy. After assuring both the French man and the man behind the counter that yes, we would vote, and yes, we would vote for Obama, we were allowed to continue our night.  Walking down Stroget, we decided that we absolutely needed gelato (which, on top of gummy bears and snickers, supplied quite the sugar rush), and eventually found our way to an outdoors cafe, where we ordered wine and sat outside, moving underneath a patio umbrella when it started to rain. I can't speak for Erin, but I know I felt pretty fabulously European. 

However, the next day we were tourists, through and through. I met Erin again in Copenhagen and went to Rosenborg Slot, and to see my jewels! King Christian IV built the castle in the late 16th century as a summer castle (meaning, as you will see, there are multiple Christian IV castles) for his wife, Anna Catherine. The top three pictures are all of Rosenborg. The castle was of course impressive, as most castles are, but what really made it were those jewels. The only other crown jewels I've seen were in England. The display of the Danish crown jewels is much more humble. You enter through the door that says "treasury," and there are all sorts of gilded weapons, but mostly swords and guns off to the right. On the left of the entrance, there are more what I would consider fancy houseware. Like, sparkly boxes and vases and that sort of thing. But in this dungeon-like room there was another door, leading further down still. This was the vault with the jewels. There were the crowns of the king and queen, the absolute crown, the ball and scepter, and all sorts of emerald, ruby, or pearl encrusted, gilded finery. 

Sunday, I discovered that Frederiksborg Slot ("castle") is  grand without aid from luxury gems. Frederiksborg is another castle by the one and only Christian IV. This king had so much money because he was the first monarch to rule after Denmark became a Protestant state, meaning the Catholic church had to turn all of its money over to the absolute monarch, Christian IV. He liked to build castles and make war, and under his rule both the treasury and the extent of Danish territory grew markedly smaller. The castle has over 300 rooms, so I made sure to go with a DIS-led tour, especially knowing my tendency to get lost. The tour lasted an hour, but we barely saw any of the castle. But it really was beautiful, and Christian certainly spared no expense. Even the ceilings in these places are insane. 

Later Sunday night I had to write my first essay of the year. It was on a fairy tale though, so it wasn't too bad. Although this so-called tale made me cry, and I wouldn't recommend it for children. I'm already done with classes for the week because I don't have a field study tomorrow BUT this is the week of the short study tours! I'm so excited because on Thursday I get to go to Germany for the first time ever. I am very lucky to be in the European Politics program, as we are one of the only groups leaving Denmark for the weekend. Also, tomorrow I am hopefully finalizing my plans for the three week travel break in October! Exciting stuff. 

Oh, yes! And since I am apparently a failure at posting blog photos, to see more pictures go to: 

http://facebook.com/album.php?aid=2039578&1=0785a&id=24904347

and

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=203958&1=a2aff&id=24904347

                                                    

Walking in a Fairytale

First of all, I still cannot get the pictures to load correctly, and I keep on taking more! I have yet to figure out who I can consult about my minor technical difficulties while I'm in Copenhagen. Plus, I think it's something with my computer not working, not the program, because I'm having Facebook difficulties as well. Hmm...hopefully I can sort this out soon because my day to day would be so much better with pictures to show from it. 

Today was my first field study. The way classes are organized, we have every Wednesday off in order to do these studies, which are sort of like grown-up field trips. Ideally, you are only supposed to have one field study per Wednesday. Unfortunately for me, in a few weeks I have one make-up class and three field studies planned for the same date and time. Uh-oh! But that is an issue for another time. 

This morning I had to meet in the DIS courtyard for a 9:30am study for my H.C. Andersen class. We had to divide into groups, and then go out in the city to complete a sort of scavenger hunt of places that were important to the master of fairytales. They weren't the most interesting sites because they were all located fairly close to DIS, but I still enjoyed it (yes, academically), which I think is more than I can say for the rest of my group. The sheet with the questions helped me sort of figure out the history of the places I've been passing everyday, not all of which was pleasant.

For example, Slutterigade Plads is the square that has the Court House, which used to be the jail, next to which is Nytorv Plads that has a platform where people used to be flogged or beaten ("Her stod byens kag i en periode indtil 1780"). We also had to find Skindergade, a street where the animals were skinned in the olden days. I was actually on that street the other day, and vaguely wondered why it smelled so strangely. Not all of the places had that much to do with Andersen. Perch's Teashop (where I had also already visited) was on the list, but only because it was established in 1835, which, as far as we know is only important to Andersen because that was almost the only time in his life when he had some sort of significant other (although whether that other was male or female is still somewhat up in the air). But I did find out that the famous teashop has an upstairs tearoom, which I plan on visiting on the first truly miserable day, to treat myself to a cup of tea and a hot scone. 

The real highlight of the hunt was its end at a coffee house called Dalle Ralle. Our professor treated us all (over 60 of us) to drinks. To be fair, we think that there is a budget for each field study, and it's up to the professors to spend it however they wish. We're all becoming increasingly fond of our professor Janis. My latte was pretty much the best one I've ever had. It probably helps that I haven't had any form of caffeine since arriving in Denmark. 

After the scavenger hunt ended, I spent the rest of the day roaming the streets by myself. I forgot my cell phone at home, so I couldn't call any of my friends to come join me, but I got around okay. I never found the castle with the crown jewels, as was my intent, but I stumbled on to some other cool finds. Let me explain though, that not being able to find an entire castle was so not my fault. The lady at the DIS front desk said to just go to the castle, but she didn't give me a name before she returned her gaze downwards, clearly indicating she was done dealing with me. People, this is Denmark. There are SO many castles! So I wandered off in the general direction she had flung her arm to show me, and sadly never found the jewels. BUT I did finally find one of the royal bakeries! Home of the wienerbrod. AKA the most amazing danishes in the history of the world! That kind of made my day. I also found the Copenhagen University Library, which is gorgeous and just plain cool on the inside (gosh, I have pictures of it...if only I could load them!). I returned to Trinity Church, where I had gone earlier in the day on the scavenger hunt, but this time without the 50 million other Americans, and I also found what I think was the music district. 

Tomorrow I'm going to find the local kommune in the town of Holte to register for my CPR number, which is sort of the Danish social security number that gets you all of the same benefits as the Danes. Yay!