Pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere!

Last night was Kultur Natten ("Culture Night") in Copenhagen, and the whole city was buzzed on the drug of relief that this past week was finally over. And a little alcohol, as well. This week was mid-terms for me, which were just plain hard, and the last week before a week-long break for the students and professionals of Denmark. 

The city made up for the hell that was mid-terms with a massive, Copenhagen-wide celebration of Danish culture. Through the night, the city's cultural institutions flung open their doors for the people of Copenhagen, and threw a party. I met up with a whole group of friends, and went to the top of Round Tower, the private cathedral of the Royal family that connects with Parliament, the ruins of Absalon's castle, and the inner parts of the city hall. 

Round Tower was built as an observatory during Christian IV's reign. To reach the top of the tower, you walk up this really broad, circling path up to the top. It was built so wide so that King Christian could ride up to the top in a horse-drawn carriage. Legend has it that even a car made a trip up in 1912. There was a little bit of a wait to see the observation deck, but the workers handed out chocolate, so all was well. At the top, there was a panoramic view of the city at night. One of my friends is in the Copenhagen history class, and knows all about the city (and her eyesight far surpasses mine), so she could point out all sorts of things, which was a ton of fun. 

The Royal family's cathedral used to be 100% private, but then some idiots who were on the river behind Parliament accidentally threw a firecracker on top of the roof, and it caved in. Taxpayer's money was used to fix the cathedral, and so to be fair the royal family opens it up for the public every now and again, like Culture Night once a year. I was a gorgeous room, and everything was either white marble, gilded with gold, or covered in red velvet. 

After the cathedral, we found our way across a plaza to wait to see the ruins. Bishop Absalon founded Copenhagen in 1167, and the ruins were his original seat and castle. Currently, they lie underneath Parliament, and so no one hardly ever gets to see them. It was so cool and dark and creepy because you had to climb down these stairs that wound their way underground. The ruins weren't all that much to see, but hey, they've been there since the 12th century, which made them impressive. Also, there was a group of nuns singing, and we followed them up and out to where there was a group of monks. And all of this was amidst a fairly tipsy crowd. 

In Denmark, there aren't any rule about public intoxication, or drinking in public, and so everyone was roaming the streets holding beer cans and what not. But last night was also fairly family-friendly, and so I didn't really see anyone getting out of hand. On the way to city hall, we tried to go to the old jail, but it closed right before we got there. It was okay though, because outside of the jail I bought a bag of almonds from a street vendor that were still hot from being coated in cinnamon, sugar, and I don't know what else, so life was pretty fantastic at that point. 

The bus ride home was fairly intense. I've never taken a bus that late (the 12:01), and I've never seen so many people on it at the same time! The bus driver actually closed the door on people, and left some stranded at the station because the bus couldn't hold any more. He didn't even stop at the first few stops, because no one had chimed to get off, and so he wouldn't even try to take more on. Usually if the bus is full, I only have to wait a couple of stops, and then there are plenty of places to sit. Last night, there wasn't room until one stop before I get off (so for about 30 minutes), and then of course there was no point. I finally got to go to sleep for a loooong time, and it was beyond amazing. 

And then today was Halloween at Tivoli!

I am a bit of a fool for any type of holiday, but I absolutely love Halloween. Pumpkins are my favorite, and I just love everything about it. And because all of the children of Denmark are off of school this week, Tivoli re-opens for this one week, completely bedecked for Halloween. I met up with four other EPS girls to just hang out in the park. We only payed for admission, and not for the rides, but it was completely worth it. I have never seen so many pumpkins in my entire life! They added a whole little Halloween village, and almost every square-inch of that place was covered. I'm so glad that I went to Tivoli in September because I could really see the difference. I finally got to have hot apple cider (the kid version, not the alcoholic type), and I felt a bit akin to a little kid in the biggest candy shop in the universe. 

For the rest of tonight I have to pack because tomorrow travel break begins! I'll be on a bus all day on my way to Belgium, Brussels. I'm so excited because I'll get to see my friend Kerice from home, because she's studying in Belgium for the semester. The focus of Belgium will be the EU, obviously, the UN, and NATO. I'm SO excited. After about four days in Belgium, we'll head to the Hague, Netherlands, to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Did I mention I'm excited?!?!

Then after a quick regrouping in Copenhagen, I'll be off to Dublin, Ireland, Zurich, Switzerland, and Rome, Italiana for two more weeks of traveling! This is the main event of studying abroad, and I don't think I could be more anxious/excited/slightly scared (ALL in a good way) if I tried! Wish me luck!

P.S. Once again, through multiple attempts, Blogger has failed to load my pictures. I blame slow internet connection. :(

Some pictures of Sweden

Read the post below first... These are just some pictures of Sweden from last weekend, because I didn't actually post any yesterday. I haven't uploaded pictures into a facebook album yet, but as soon as I do, I'll put that link here as well!



My first time in Sweden! Woohoo!
On the hike down, down, down.

Andy had my camera in Ladonia, because I needed both hands for climbing.
Becca from Danville, KY, me, and Erin from Columbus, Ohio.

What to do, what to do

This weekend is my first weekend out of four weekends to spend in Copenhagen. I'm a little bit at a loss for what to do with myself! Four weekends ago was short study tour, then there was Bornholm, Sweden, and now! So far as I can tell, Danish families don't really do all that much on the weekends, and no one has left the house all day. Luckily, I have to go into the city tomorrow to do some research at the library, and for a consultation on a project with my Creative Industries teacher, as well as a textile designer, so I won't get cabin fever.

So, two weekends ago was biking in Bornholm. We had to meet at Frue Plads by our school at 9 o'clock at night to take a bus to the overnight ferry that you have to take in order to reach this remote little Danish island. It's actually so remote that after WWII, everyone sort of forgot to kick out the Russians who occupied Bornholm, and so it remained under Russian control for several years after the end of the war. Poor little island! The overnight ferry wasn't too bad, but I only got about two hours of sleep, which, as I found out, is not conducive to successful biking. We arrived at our hostel in the town of Gudhjem at sunrise. I was in the first of two to get to eat breakfast, so my friends and I ate, were given bikes, and sent off on our own to explore the island by 8:15.

Bornholm is in the Baltic Sea, about 5 hours away from anything (by boat, obviously). It was great and beautiful and everything, but oh my goodness was it hilly! I was biking, on rickety old street bike, with three other people. Three of us were normal, and one was an athelete. We were Andy, Dana, and I (ALL from the Seattle area!), and Allison, whom I love, but she does crew at Maryland, and pretty much kicked all of the Seattle-kids butts. It was a really hard day for me, and I've decided that I will never bike uphill ever again, but it was completely worth it for what we saw. Besides the beautiful, wild coastline that made me miss home, we saw castle ruins that reminded us all of Ireland, as well as one of the three round churches that Bornholm is famous for. The church that we went to at Olsker was built by the Vikings in the 12th century. You could go up the narrowest, most shallow staircase I have ever seen in my life, to the upper two stories.

When my friends and I started climbing, I was a bit slower than them because I was still exploring down below. I didn't actually know there was a third floor, and when I got up to the second floor, with the shaking, creaking wood floor, in a dark room and didn't see anyone, or any way out, I got mildly freaked out. Thankfully, when I called out my feeble "guys?" they answered from above. Which was ironic, given I was in a church.

On the bike ride back, up another, never-ending hill, I was seriously tempted to just give up, and sit down by the side of the road and wait. We got completely lost in the farmlands of Denmark, and though we saw some adorable animals, it was not exactly what I would call fun. But we made it back, sore butts and all. We joined up with some other kids later that night to go out for some dessert, and watched as our fellow DIS-ers searched the town fruitlessly for a bar, or really any form of nightlife, of which there was none to be found.

The next day we weren't really in to the whole biking idea, so we set off on foot to find Baltic Sea and Glass, an amazing glass-blowing place we had heard about. The director of the hostel gave looked up the bus schedule so that we could ride down to what was supposed to be a gorgeous beach, instead of biking there, which was a way longer trek than we had made the day before. So we went to the glass blowing place about 4 kilometers away, and then walked another few kilometers to wait for the bus. We waited. And waited. And waited. The bus never came. We walked back towards our town, and passed the Bornholm museum. After consulting one of the helpful workers, we discovered that tourist season just ended, and therefore, there would be no bus. At all.

Well, great. We walked all the way back to town and had an excellent meal of smoked herring (which Bornholm is also famous for). My more intrepid biking-mates headed back out to do a few more hours of exploring on wheels. After biking back up the hill to get out of town, I said no thanks, and did my exploring closer to home. Another overnight ferry back to Copenhagen, a bus ride, and a short walk later, I fell into bed at 9am Monday morning.

Sunrise on Bornholm right when we got to the hostel.

A very small part of the castle ruins.
The round church with the coolest tree ever.
Me, Allison, and Dana right behind Baltic Sea Glass.

Last weekend on Sweden was much more relaxing. Instead of leaving at night, we had to meet early in the morning for the bus to take us to the ferry to Sweden. Then it was only one day of biking, followed by a day of canoing. The biking was so much easier than on Bornholm, which was greatly appreciated, although it still wasn't exactly a walk in the park. I was with two different girls, and a different Andy than I was with on Bornholm, and we still managed to get lost. This time, we ended up hiking our bikes up a nature trail because we took the wrong turn off without realizing it. We finally got to a place where we could lock our bikes, and continue hiking towards our goal unencumbered. It was kind of a hard hike, but we got to visit a whole other country (neither Sweden nor Denmark) once we reached the end. We were in the country of Ladonia, in a city made entirely of driftwood, on the beach of Nimis. This guy built the city out of driftwood, including towers and walkways, which the government of Sweden sort of had a problem with. And so, the country of Ladonia was declared. It was sad that the founder wasn't at home, because you can become a citizen of Ladonia for free, or pay $12 for a title of nobility.

The next day was canoeing, which is my absolute favorite! It took my friend Erin and I awhile to figure out how to keep straight, but once we did, there was no stopping us. All the leaves have started changing colors, and it was a beautiful day on the river, albeit a bit nippy. Once we reached the boathouse where we had to leave the canoes, we had time to walk into a random Swedish town, where we found ice cream and a petting zoo. The DIS bus picked us up back at the boathouse, and a bus ride, ferry ride, another bus ride (on which we passed my exit for home, which was torturous), and a last bus ride 40 minutes back to where we had passed, and another weekend came to an exhausted close.
This is Nyhavn, the area of town that has the canal street, the night before leaving for Sweden.

This coming week is mid-terms, so I'm anxious to have that over with. Then, this coming Saturday, I leave on the long study tour to Brussels and the Hague, and the three week travel break begins! I have a bit more planning left to do, so I'm looking forward to a crazy week!