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...
2 comments:
GREAT post, Rachel, and so much more fun than using my prep period for grading or planning. Looking forward to the next one. Steer clear of licorice balls!
Oh my god, GAMMEL DANSK! I remember having that on my study tour, too. We went up to Jutland and had to walk/run like 15 minutes up this giant sand dune, and I had the wrong kind of shoes on for traversing across sand dunes. I drank the shot and it was gross, and it was almost an hour before I could wash the terrible taste out of my mouth. Still, Gammel Dansk is a Danish tradition, so I guess the grossness was worth it.
Sorry about the quiche and the licorice. Not two of my favorite foods!
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