Vi Ses Danmark!

I can't even think of the right words to describe my time abroad. It made me reconsider so many things I thought I knew about myself, my own culture, and Europe. I feel like as I better understood Danish culture, I better understood the American culture as well. I am definitely already missing Denmark and all of the great things about it- especially the people :( but rather than dwell on all the sadness of leaving, ill list a couple of my favorite things about Denmark that I wish I could/will bring back to America!

p.s. this isn't as well thought out and insightful as I had hoped it would be, because I wrote it on the plane in between naps. but I think it covers most of my feelings haha 

1. The welfare state. Is. So. Fucking. Cool. Granted half of you reading this will probably freak out about the socialism of it or whatever, but it works in Denmark. Sadly I know this isn't something I can ever try to bring home haha. But I will try to help people at home understand how it works so well for them! Also, maybe if Americans could learn to want to care for their fellow citizens as much as the Danes, we would be better off. Danes pay such high taxes to receive so many benefits from the state, for themselves as well as others. They think everyone should be entitled to good healthcare and a good education and a home. I can't think of any reason why Americans shouldn't want the same thing for each other. I know paying half my salary in taxes to get all those benefits wouldn't work in America, but a girl can dream right? Or just move to Denmark..  

2. Awesome things about Danish culture in general:
- BIKES. It makes so much sense and is so good for the environment! Also for yourself! Can't understand why every city isn't actively trying to be as bike friendly as Copenhagen 
- everyone is gorgeous. It must be in the genes. Or the constant biking. Or..
- the foooooood. I know not every Danish family eats like my host family, but my family eats so healthy and every single meal I had I loved. If you know me at all, you know that is a miracle, especially considering Denmark is the land of herring (fish=no). Like actually their food was so good and the fact that an after dinner snack was often fruit, and so much of their food is homemade, without preservatives.. Awesome. My body and stomach will probably hate me now that I'm home lol
- open container laws. Need I say more? 
- maybe the greatest public transportation system ever. I will so miss my 20 minute commute each morning, on the comfy train that runs every ten minutes, that's quiet, clean, and with free wifi. Couldn't ask for more. 
- pastries. Needs no explanation. 
- the fact that a place like Christiania can coexist in a city without much issue. Like never in America could a mini city dwell within a major city where they abide by their own rules and governing system, with illegal activity well regulated and not often bothered by the police. it's just so cool, and also beautiful.  

3. People I met while abroad
I know this isn't really Danish (some of them are) but I think the fact that we were all drawn to study in Denmark is key here. I made so many amazing friends who I plan on keeping in touch with and visiting when I can! I've never met so many people from the Midwest before, but I love them. So many lovely days were spent huddling in a cafe over coffee, freezing while exploring the streets of Copenhagen, huddling for warmth outside of bars, being cozy and writing papers in vestergade 23, basically just being cold together anywhere will bring people together. Then there were those few beautiful weeks of park lunches or sunny explorations. 
In terms of the Danes, my host family left the best impression. I couldn't have asked for a better family to live with for the past four months. Each of them made me feel so welcome, in Danish or in English, all the time. They allowed me as much freedom as I wanted, while providing the best home for me to live in, complete with adorable cats :) my favorite times are when we were all together at night, talking or eating or playing cards or watching tv or a movie. Or going to handball or football games together. Or going riding with lærke. Or having friends over for dinner. Also any meal together. Basically, all the time was just great. It was very 'hygge' (my new favorite concept) which I will explain.. Now! 

Hygge is literally the coolest thing about Denmark. It doesn't really translate into English, but usually it means cozy or a good time with friends. Basically, it's any situation where you're with people you love in a comfortable, happy setting. And Danes try to make so many things very hygge. I love that as a culture they value time with loved ones so much. This is probably why they're the happiest people in the world. Of course every other culture values this time as well, but I've never seen it so highly prioritized as in Denmark. You can really feel the intimacy and happiness in every situation too, whether it's in a cafe or classroom or living room. It's one of the things I fell in love with first about Denmark because its just so nice and happy and relaxed and full of loved ones, and isn't that how life should be? 

So now I'm home and struggling to readjust to American culture. Struggling hard actually haha. I had a great travel back, except when they made me check my carry on cause there wasn't enough 'cabin space', and except for that time that I landed in JFK to find that only one of my three checked bags was there. After 14 hours of travel that was NOT what I wanted to hear. So I've been in America since Thursday night and only got my bags Sunday morning, after my dad had to drive to the Philly airport to get them. So basically, fuck you klm and delta baggage services because now I've had only Sunday night to unpack, do laundry, and repack for Tyler place.  

And so this is my last blog post because sadly my time in Denmark is over :( but if, and hopefully when, im in europe again, i will definitely be back in copenhagen! there were a lot of tearful goodbyes, but I'm hoping most of them will only be see you laters :)

Loving London and Milan

This past Friday, I flew to the London Gatwick airport to meet one of my Glenwood flowers from TP, Faye!! At the airport, I met up with Morgan, another DIS person who stayed at Faye's house with me. Seeing Faye again was sooo nice, as was her lovely accent! After spending the night at her house, Faye dropped Morgan and I off at Leeds Castle on Saturday morning. It was b-e-a-uuuutiful, and also used to be the home of the Tudors (which if you know me used to be one of my favorite shows therefore this castle was especially awesome). The castle has huge green fields and streams around it, and lots of white and black swans. Check out the pictures for more on how pretty it was!

Then Saturday afternoon Faye and I made the 2 and a half hour drive to Oakham and to Stevie's house. We had an awesome TP reunion there between myself, Stevie, Faye, and Ellis. I also met Stevie's friend Marisa from somewhere else in England. Between the five of us, the house was full of very different accents. I also met Alfie, Stevie's sister's newborn, who was adorrrable, as were Stevie's dogs, Bonnie and Clyde. That night we went out for Stevie's 21st and I got to meet so many of her friends and family it was awesome! I also got minor whiplash from attempting Faye-level dancing, and killed my feet by wearing wedges for 8 hours, but it was SO fun and so worth it. It made me that much more excited for TP13!

Monday, Morgan and I took the train into London, dropped our suitcases off at our hostel in Earls Court, and went off to explore the city! We saw Big Ben and the houses of Parliament, went inside Westminster Abbey (soo worth the 15 euros),  saw London Bridge, tried and failed to see the Camden Market (we got there too late). That night we also met up with my friends Ami and Violette, from DIS, for a drink around the same time the Boston bombings news broke. Luckily, our bar had wifi, and I spent most of the time there constantly refreshing my nytimes app and getting info from Katrina. Tuesday morning was a bit of a struggle.. Morgan and I set out to find this massive store on Oxford street, which was also near a Chipotle. If you know anything about me at all you know that I can't be in a city with a Chipotle and NOT get any. So, probably against my better judgement, I waited for chip to open at 11, then tried to hurry back to my hostel. But of course, the tube going to the hostel was delayed, then the tube from the hostel to Victoria station was majorly delayed, causing me to miss the train from Victoria to Gatwick that only runs every half hour.. and with that I knew I had missed my flight. I arrived at the airport by 1 for a 1:20 flight and was beyond frustrated.

However, I easily switched onto a flight two hours later into another Milan airport, reminded myself that I was still getting there on the same day, and calmed down a bit before flying. After much struggle trying to get from Malpensa airport to the city center, and getting a cab from the station to the Marsaglia's house (I forgot English isn't as popular in Italy as it is in Denmark). After going to the wrong apartment, I finally saw Carola, Ginevra, Giovanni and Giacommo (Ginevra was my senior one-on-one from tyler place this summer, and Giovanni is her senior midget brother). I arrived right in the middle of Giovanni's birthday, and so I got to meet lots of family members. It was so nice to see Ginevra again!! :)

Wednesday, Carola took me to one of the schools she teaches at, University of Pavia. There, she had her TA, Camillo, take me around the city of Pavia. After some general sight-seeing, I for some reason mentioned that I go to an Augustinian university, and my guide and I got really excited when he told me St. Augustine was buried in Pavia! Slowly, all the Augustine stuff I learned in ACS and my theology class last semester came back, and it was pretty cool seeing the church and tomb he was buried in. When Carola and I got back into Milan, I had a couple hours to explore by myself while she did work at her other school, University of Milan. I went out the insane fashion district, where all the Italian brands like Gucci, Prada, and Dolce & Gabbana, just to name a few, have their massive stores. I didn't go in any, because the tall guys in suits at each door were kind of intimidating. But just looking in all the windows was really cool. I also explored a three-story Zara where I was actually able to afford something! Later that night, we went back to the apartment, where I ate some delicious pesto pasta with Ginevra and Giovanni, watched some cartoons, and got a good nights sleep plus lots of reading The Da Vinci Code.

Thursday, Carola arranged for Giacommo's cousin Julio (most of their family lives in or near Milan) to take me around the city. We saw a lot of stuff. We went inside the Duomo, as well as climbed up it which was really really cool (check out the picsss). We also went to Milan's Castle, and saw the beautiful park behind it! We also went to the Scala museum, where we got to see inside the theater quickly, and they were rehearsing Giselle, which I was obviously very excited to see. Afterwards, I went back to the park behind the castle and read on my Kindle for an hour or two. It was a beautiful sunny day out, like 70 degrees, and everywhere people were playing soccer or frisbee or reading or napping and it was just so so nice! A lovely way to spend the afternoon :) That night, Carola, Giovanni, Ginevra and I got pizza at a very traditional restaurant that serves Florence style pizza (very deep dish) that was soooo so good.

Friday, I was mostly on my own. Carola set me up with a bus tour of the city, which had several routes and you could get on and off at any stop all day which was really nice. I also took Friday to find somewhere to eat lunch which was outside, with seats in the sunshine, that serves pasta, and had wifi (their apartment's wifi wasn't set up yet, and I desperately needed to catch up with Boston news and also with friends and family). I spent two nice hours with pasta, espresso, and wifi :) Later that afternoon, I picked up Ginevra and she came on the bus tour with me! Then, we met up with Carola and she took us to one of her favorite stores, which is an outlet store for all the really nice Italian designers. She bought me this great button down tank/dress, which i'm really excited to wear when it's finally warm enough!

On Saturday, unfortunately I had to leave right before Ginevra's singing/dancing performance at her school :( The whole visit with their family was so so nice, it was both really exciting and interesting to see Milan but at the same time relaxing to be with them. Ginevra asked me when I would come back, and I told her as soon as possible, so I'll definitely be making another trip to Milan as soon as I can to see her :)

After a long trip with AirBaltic, I finally made it back to Copenhagen! It's funny that as Copenhagen begins to feel more and more like home, I get simultaneously sad to leave it and excited to get home for a few days and then get to TP13. There are definitely things I really miss about home, like Chipotle, Surf Bagel, and most definitely not being there to say goodbye to my beloved Polly :( And visiting with Stevie, Faye, and Ellis this break only made me that much more excited to get to Vermont in less than a month!! But on the other hand, I'll be so sad to leave this lovely country, my host family, and all my new friends here. But i'll deal with that when the time comes!

No more international travel for me until I go home! This week is again, full of work (surprise surprise) but hopefully after I get through this week and next, the majority of my work is done and I'll have the last week or two to really enjoy Copenhagen before I leave!

Go check out the pictures to see everything I just talked about!

xoxo Colleen

Father and Daughter do Copenhagen

So while I was leaving Rome on Saturday night, my dad had flown into Copenhagen Saturday morning. I gave him the best instructions I could on how to take the metro from the airport to the city and he was successful!
Sunday morning we explored Copenhagen a bit, and somehow Dad brought the best weather Copenhagen has seen since January. Pure sunshine! Cold, but sunshine. That afternoon we went to my friend Rosie's house for her 21st birthday brunch! Needless to say it was absolutely delicious, there were two quiches, apple cobbler, banana french toast, apple french toast, salads, breads, cheese, hash browns, and I'm definitely forgetting lots of things as well. We had a wonderful time with Rosie's friends and her super nice host family, eating and drinking and then chatting outside in the lovely sunshine. That evening I brought dad to my host family's house for dinner, which was equally delicious and then I proceeded to crush everyone in cards!! It was glorious. :)

Seeing as Monday was the day after Easter, I had no class! Dad and I ventured out to Frederiksborg castle, which was a bit of a long ride out there but sooo worth it. It's a castle/national museum, and they have almsot every inch of wall space covered in paintings! The chapel and Great Hall were both beautiful rooms, I recommend checking out pics on Facebook. We spent a long time in there and both probably took way too many pictures (thanks for that gene dad). There's a massive garden behind the castle, which unfortunately would have been way prettier had it been June or July. Afterwards we got some lunch after my somewhat successful translation of the menu, and ate outside with blankets on. It's still cold but you have to take advantage of the sunshine while it lasts! Upon getting back to the city, I took dad to Christiania, which was fulllll of people relaxing around the lake in the sunshine. We had a quick dinner at the Italian restaurant connected to dad's hotel, and then took the rest of the night to relax.

Since I had classes on Tuesday, we didn't do quite as much. Between my first and second class, I took dad to a cafe called The Living Room, which is literally the definition of Danish hygge. It's full of couches and comfy chairs, very dimly lit, with lots of candles. After my second class, we went to the Black Diamond, or Royal Library. Definitely need to go back there when it's sunny out and I have work to do! Then, I had tutoring, during which I learned that the 12 year old I tutor aspires to be a house music producer, is going to see a DJ in Stockholm alone, has a studio in his house, and spends thousands of kroner on DJ equipment. Shocking but kinda cool. Had dad over again for dinner and then he and my host dad Bjarne had a nice conversation about politics. Then rested up for the busy day tomorrow!

So on Wednesday we started out with a canal tour, for which there was nice weather but the wind on the water got a little chilly occasionally. But we got a great view of Nyhavn, Amalienborg, and the Royal Library. Afterwards, I took dad to Sandwich Pigeon, a DIS classic, and we ate before going to the Carlsberg brewery tour. Somehow we ended up running into my friends Katie and Catie who had gotten there just before us! So the four of us did the tour together, which was very very cool, and included two beers. Met some of the Carlsberg horses which was awesomeee. Also their bottle collection was incredible.. so many! After the tour, dad and I went back to his hotel to get ready for the ballet. We had a really good dinner at Kobenhavn Brewpup, which is right next to one of my classrooms. Then we headed to the Royal Theater to see Romeo and Juliet, which was just incredible. It was the only one of the 4 ballets I've seen so far to get a standing ovation. The dancers playing Romeo and Juliet were fairly young, but that just added so much to the ballet. I think maybe my favorite so far! Although I really liked La Bayadere as well.. Too many good ballets. Dropped dad off at his hotel, and said goodbye until May. So happy he got to come visit, and especially in the good weather! Copenhagen has actually changed from when I left for Rome to when I came back. So many tables outside (albeit with blankets, but whatever), more tourists, and new shops opening. Can't wait to see more of spring! Oh wait but today it rained/snowed/hailed... oh well. It was nice while it lasted.

Coming up in my adventures...
- lots of work this week. yay?
- Ellie Goulding with Rosie!
- London for Stevie's 21st and staying with Faye!
- Milan to visit Ginevra and her family!

Stay tuned for pictures :)

When In Rome...

I'm not even sure where to begin with my Rome trip... other than that it was awesome. You can see pictures of prettttty much everything I mention here on Facebook, seeing as I took somewhere around 1600 pictures in the span of 5 days.
So we arrived around 1 on Monday, after I had had a mere 7 or 8 hours at home to shower, un pack, re pack, and get to the airport. We saw..
Trevi fountain: so so beautiful. and also packed! Rome during Holy Week was definitely an experience. So many people selling things everywhere.. umbrellas (for as soon as it starts raining), sunglasses (for as soon as the sun comes back out), weird dancing cats, roses to take pictures with, etc. Regardless of all the sellers and all the people, it was amazing, and even more amazing at night!
Column of Marcus Aurelius
Pantheon: also amazing. such a beautiful building with so much to see inside
Largo Argentina: Rome's cat heaven. This is an area of ruins that has literally been overrun by cats. Ideally they have their own government system with a pope cat and maybe a censor cat.. jk jk. but that'd be cool.
Campo dei Fiori
Piazza Farnese
Ponte Sisto
Piazza di Trastevere
Four Rivers fountain: Also awesome, and packed with people.
We ended Monday with a delicious group dinner of spaghetti carbonara and of course bruschetta! (obvi I also took pics of my food)

Tuesday, we got up brightttt and early for our visit at the Vatican museum. However, later that day we quickly realized why our teacher Thyge (great man) took us so early. Already at like, 7:45am the place was packed with tours. We followed our tour guide throughout the massive museum, seeing so many things I can't even begin to list. We saw amazing sculptures and paintings and tapestries, and ended in the Sistine Chapel (where sadly no pictures or talking are allowed). It was breathtaking honestly, it's so hard to try to take everything in, basically you just have to stand there and try to focus your eyes on just one part at a time! After our guided tour, we got some time to explore on our own. I tried to see new parts of the museum (according to Thyge it takes two full days to see it in its entirety), but some of my classmates went back to the Sistine Chapel at around noon and said it was actually impossible to make it through it was so crowded. And then we understood why we were up so early. After a delicious group lunch, we went to wait in line for St. Peter's. At first the line looked impossible, but it moved rather quickly. And it was beyond worth it, because that building is beyond words. I wish I could describe to you all how amazing St. Peter's basilica is but I just can't because it is that amazing. So big and gold and full of paintings and sculptures and things with more history than our country... omg. Except we kept realizing we probably shouldn't say 'oh my god' inside the pope's church.. oops. Anyway, the only way I could have maybe described it is through pictures, so check those out.

Wednesday we first went to the Colosseum bright and early on our first sunny day! Naturally, Rome, a city with 300 days of sunshine, decided to have 3 of its 65 rainy/cloudy days when we were there. But I can't complain cause it was sunshine. It was amazing of course, and I also did a WHAM photoshoot! If you don't know what WHAM is you're out of the loop so check it outtttt http://wehadamoment.com/. After the colosseum we visited the Forum Romanum, a huge ruin area of where the Forum was in Roman times. Also so so so much history in every bit of marble. We had to do some sketches, but luckily Thyge accepts my horrid drawings. Afterwards, we went up the Palatine hill and had a great view of the Colosseum, Forum, and into Augustus' house which has just been opened a bit after 25 years of excavation! Check the pics. seriously.

Thursday we travelled out to Ostia Antica, a large area of ruins a half hour from Rome. Ostia was the port through which the Romans got most of their supplies. I don't remember the numbers from class but I know that the ancient Romans had an allotted amount of water per day somewhere over double that of people in NYC! Sadly, Ostia was windy and rainy and kind of cold, but it perked up throughout the day. The highly of Thursday though was definitely after we left Ostia, and a group of us went to the Mediterranean which was only a metro stop or two away. I was SO happy to have my feet in an ocean, even if it was frigid. It was so much fun, and I brought back some sand and shells as well.

Friday was definitely a day to remember becauseee we saw Pope Francis!!! But before I get into all that excitement, Friday morning we saw the Walls of Aurelian and Circus Maximus, among other things. Honestly, the best part about the Circus Maximus was playing with some Italien's dogs.. totally trying to steal them onto the plane. Anyway, Thyge being the great teacher he is, switched our schedule on Thursday, allowing us to do our last group dinner together Thursday night and end early on Friday for those of us who wanted to set up camp for the papa. So Katie, Abby, Katelyn and I had delicious lunch, stocked up on dinner sandwiches, snacks, and some playing cards, and hurried over to the Colosseum. We arrived around 2, although the stations of the cross wouldn't begin until 9:15. However, anyone trying to see the Pope at a public even obviously needs to show up many hours early right? Wrong. Apparently, that's only Americans haha. We were very pleasantly surprised to round the corner to the Colosseum and find the area directly in front of the Pope's stand very empty. It was too good to be true! (turns out it kind of was) We sat, ate, played cards, napped in the sunshine in front of the Colosseum, and made friends with the Italians around us. We talked a lot with an Italian mother and her daughter who go to as many pope events as possible, which she showed us on her camera. But she told us some bad news: around 5, they would kick everyone out in order to make them go through security. And they most definitely did. After the area had filled up substantially, the Italian police slowly forced everyone out of the area. They translated but only roughly, and very meanly. We were sad to leave our prime viewing spot (right on the fence, clear view straight to the pope, right where the procession would stop for station 7, and right across from the media tower). We were sardined and smushed and pushed for about a half hour until we re-entered through 'security' (a casual bag check and patting down for some of us, nothing for others), which would never ever be considered security in America. This was actually one of the only times I missed the American way of doing things. But, luckily, we got right back almosttt to our spot and had a great view. The rest of the night was amazing, a little cold, but we got candles, programs (in Italian but whatevs), and witnessed the procession of various church leaders from around the world right in front of us, and saw Pope Francis in real life and heard him give a speech (also in Italian but whateverrr). Even just the experience of being there was amazing. I've never seen such a large crowd sooo quiet. I was surrounded by nuns, big pope fans, children, the elderly, and many nationalities. Never again (probably) will I have the opportunity to see a new pope give his first Good Friday address, in front of the Colosseum.
Seeing as I'm not Catholic, and I don't generally agree with many of the church's teachings, it may seem odd to some people that I'm so excited about that opportunity. But honestly, it's a life experience I'm so happy I took advantage of for so many reasons above. Plus, I'm a firm believer in understanding the other side, and I couldn't disagree with things without having tried to hear the other side out. And this is the most legit of other sides ever. So no, when I applauded Pope Francis, I wasn't applauding some of his remarks, but I was applauding his mere presence, and his apparent return to a more progressive church, including women and other religions. Plus the man is just adorable!

Saturday: We explored the Castello St. Angelo and took some pictures overlooking Rome on the very windy top. For the next few hours, free time including searching frantically for a viva il papa flag with Francis' face on it (unsuccessful), and eating a delicious last Italian meal.

More fun facts about the trip:
- I had gelato at least once, if not twice, every day. Flavors I tried include: mint, straticella (basically vanilla with chocolate pieces), baccio palma (chocolate with peanuts- THE BEST), champagne (not as good as hoped), and white chocolate.
- Had mostly pasta every day, such as spaghetti carbonara, gnocchi, four cheese ravioli, and the most delicious- spaghetti with garlic and olive oil.
(and yes, I've probably gained quite a few pounds as a result of the two things above... but probably lost them with what I'm about to tell you)
- Rome involves a hell of a lot of walking. I thought I'd adjusted to large amounts of city walking in Copenhagen, but no. My feet, as well as my classmates', were literally crying in pain at the end of each day. They still haven't recovered.
- I was able to buy a vial of holy water in St. Peters, and yes, it is the coolest souvenir ever.
- In case you were wondering, no one's quite sure how to pronounce my teacher's name. We usually go with Tiga, Tiger, Toooooge, etc.
- I felt a selfie was appropriate at every monument.. so yeah, get excited for those pictures.
- Check out our pic of our debut on Italian TV! #famous
- The ceiling of many buildings we visited is almost always cooler than what's in the room. Had neck cramps from looking up so much. But actually, when you walk into a room, always check out the ceiling.

Hellooo Scotland!

So I've been mia for quite a bit but with good reason! Here are some updates on my travels:

After almost missing my flight to Edinburgh (thanks EasyJet for posting the gate like ten minutes before it closes) I landed and miraculously found Jim without any kind of communication. I thought I'd gotten used to the opposite side of the road situation in Belfast, but when I walked up to Jim's car and went to the right side he said, "Oh are you driving?". I only made that mistake like... well all the time. Friday night we went to a cool tapas restaurant and then to a bar to watch the Wales vs. Scotland football match. Apparently, this was the match between two of the worst teams.. and sadly Scotland lost. Regardless, the atmosphere was really cool. The bar was an old bank, so it was huge and was a really cool building. The one time Scotland scored there was so much cheering!
Saturday, Jim and I did an underground ghost tour of Edinburgh. We went through underground vaults that run underneath the Royal Mile, and heard some pretty creepy stories. Sadly it was absolutely frigid that day and our poor guide couldn't wear any gloves to fit with his character! Then we found Erin and spent some time catching up with her :) It was sooo nice to be back with two of my favorite TP people. We got some Dominos for dinner, which was also such a nice reminder of home. We also saw Jim's sister Rachel donate most of her hair to an organization to help make wigs for children who have lost their hair to chemo!
That night, we went to a 50th birthday party of a family friend of Jim's. All I can say is... IT. WAS. AWESOME. Never have I ever (and probably never will I again) be at such a cool birthday party, especially for someone turning 50! It was just down the road, not in a big bar or anything, just a house, but they know how to throw a party better than any bar or club I think. They had so much food, and a seemingly endless supply of alcohol. Everyone was so so nice as well, and it's awesome to have so many people interested in the fact that you're American. Occasionally there were accents I couldn't understand but whatever scottish accents are the greatest. I was getting sleepy around midnight but had to catch a second wind because the dancing didn't stop until 3 or 4 am! The only thing I can really say to describe the party is this video...

Sunday Erin, Jim and I went into Edinburgh and visited Camera Obscura, this awesome optical illusion exhibit with a camera up top to see a 360 degree view of Edinburgh. Some very fun pictures came out of that exhibit which I recommend checking out on Facebook for a good laugh. On my flight back I started to realize just how special tyler place relationships really are. In all of my years there, as both a guest and staff, many of the people I've met have gone on to become my best friends (also boyfriends). I still have a set of best friends from my years as a guest, and now I have a new set of best friends from working there. And while these are friends I see maybe only once or twice a year, it always shocks me how it's always as if nothing changed when we see each other again. It's an amazing thing which I can't ever accurately explain to people (I know Emily shares that same issue with me seeing as we have both tried to write about Tyler Place for various school assignments and it never does it justice). My weekend with Erin and Jim was amazinggg and it only made me that much more excited to get to Vermont this summer, and for Erin to visit TP13!

Two Things I Love: Ireland and Frankie!

First of all: So so soooo sorry for not having updated this in a while, and for failing to Skype like everyone I told I would skype. Things got surprisingly busy!! And this week is no exception, but luckily I finished my paper earlier than planned and took this time to (quickly) update the last two weeks since I won't have time from now until when I'm back from Rome!

Before I left for my study tour, I went riding with my host sister Laerke, which was SO nice! It felt so good to ride again and especially on suchhh cute ponies! Despite the fact that it was freezing, it was so fun and I hope I get to go riding again before I leave!

So- IRELAND: Greatest of all countries, mainly because of the accents

We were in Belfast, which is Northern Ireland, and part of the UK. I don't think I can possibly recap the entirety of Northern Ireland politics I learned, but here's a short rundown.

There are the Catholics/Nationalists/Republicans. They want to be part of the Irish Republic and resent British forces in their country.
There are the Protestants/Loyalists/Unionists. They want to remain part of the UK.
The IRA (Irish Republican Army) is the paramilitary group of the Nationalists.
The UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force) is the paramilitary group of the Unionists.

Basically, they have been fighting each other since the 60's. One thing after another, between British soldiers killing 14 marching nationalists on Bloody Sunday and the IRA bombing and killing unionists. They reached the Good Friday agreement in 1998, but tensions are still very, very high. Consider these points:
- Almost everyone in Northern Ireland goes to a segregated school (Catholic/Protestant) (not universities)
- Almost everyone grows up in segregated neighborhoods
- A good percentage of families would not approve of cross-community marriages
- Children writing "Kill all Tieges" (slang for kill all catholics, and spelled wrong, it should be Taigs)
- Certain sports jerseys banned in bars for fear of violence
- Using one word over another can identify your entire background and stance on the issue (your name, your primary school, gold/orange, Ulster/6 counties, Derry/Londonderry, how you pronounce your H)
- They have more 'peace' walls around Belfast now than they did when they reached the Good Friday Agreement
- The nationalists want the national language to be Irish, therefor the unionists created a new 'unionist' language Ulster-Scots
- Kids my age witnessed and heard about their classmates being shot for wearing the wrong school uniform through the wrong neighborhood walking home

Our time there was really interesting, and it was crazy to see such a segregated culture in something we usually think of as so similar to ours. There were times in our trip where my classmates and I really just wanted to ask "Can't you just suck it up and get along?" but there were other times when we understood where they're coming from, like when they talk about their best friend, father, uncle, or husband being murdered. But at this point, far fewer nationalists even want to join the Republic of Ireland due to their shitty economy, so we're not sure what the fighting is for other than over past feuds. Which is just silly. But, regardless, I learned a lot about some really interesting stuff that really makes you think. A lot of people we talked to tried to compare it to American's tensions between whites and blacks and now with middle eastern cultures, and as much as you don't want to admit it sometimes they seem similar. I'm still shocked and dismayed that such a segregated culture exists in a country I always considered perfect green rolling hills full of wooly-jumpers, but studying it really helped me to actually understand where they are coming from, even if I don't agree.

While we were there we...
- Toured Falls Road with a former IRA member who spent 10 years in prison. he was pretty nice and less scary than you would expect (how can anyone with an Irish accent be scary though...?)
- Toured Shankill Road with a former British soldier who pulled body parts out of the rubble of an IRA bombing
- Visited Derry/Londonderry, the site of the Bloody Sunday massacre (don't know it? youtube the U2 song) and talked with the Bogside artists who painted murals along the road where the massacre happened commemorating the lost and trying to reach peace
- While in Derry, rolled down a lovely green Irish hill.. where Chloe rolled through dog shit hahahaha
- Visited the Titanic experience museum at the shipyards where the ship was built
- SAW THE SCRIPT IN CONCERT. and yes it was awesome. stay tuned for videos.
- Visited the BBC Northern Ireland
- Had tons and tons of my new favorite foods: beef stew, potato and leek soup, and Guinness.
- Visited the Northern Ireland Parliament and talked with a member of the Alliance party (the biggest of the few parties working towards integration and peace.. and by biggest I mean 8 members, compared with the two largest Unionist and Nationalist parties, with 38 and 29 members respectively)
- Visited Queen's University in Belfast
- Visited Trinity University in Dublin
- Went on a musical pub crawl in Dublin... yeah it was as awesome as it sounds.
- Discovered the best Irish pub in Belfast with cheap(ish) drinks, live traditional Irish music every night, and lots of Irish couples being merry and dancing
- Had a class Irish dancing lesson. Really wish there was a video of that!

Then, we flew home on Saturday night and after sleeping allllll day Sunday I anxiously awaited Frankie arriving on Wednesday!!!

After lotssss of trouble with his flights (first flight being delayed an hour an a half, barely making his next connection, and a 7 hour flight for someone who hatesss flying), he finally arrived!!! :D
.... without his suitcase :(
So we spent all of Wednesday relaxing and on hold with the airline, who eventually said they would deliver it to my house on Thursday. Which was helpful except we had tickets to see La Bayadere with my class that night and sadly sweatpants aren't really allowed.
Luckily, Frankie and my host dad Bjarne are similar sizes!
La Bayadere was beauuuutiful, of course. Probably less exciting for a super jet-lagged Frankie than it was for me but he was a good sport :)
Spent all of Thursday navigating a cold and windy Copenhagen, and I use the term navigating loosely. Despite being here for 2 months I suddenly forgot how to read a map (even though I was known as 'the' google map in Belfast) and we ended up just seeing a lot of the same circle of Copenhagen in my quest to find the Black Diamond. But, we did see some important stuff and got some good pictures!
Friday we FINALLY got his suitcase by going all the way to the airport between my classes. Annoying, but worth it so Frankie could wear his own clothes again. Major props to Bjarne for lending Frankie his:
- Pants
- Jacket
- Gloves
- Scarf
Friday after class we explored the city a little more, got my favorite lunch crepes, went up the round tower, and accidentally spent like $30 on candy... most of which he left me here to eat by myself.. uh oh. We also played cards with my host family (one of my favorite activities ever) anddd while I didn't win, I did beat Frankie, fair and square (he would tell you otherwise!)
Saturday we spent a cold day at the Copenhagen Zoo! Got sooo many pictures of the most adorable of animals, and spent lots of time with the polar bears (who were very disturbingly and violently eating half of a horses head... so not okay), and the cutest of monkeys.
In our effort to go to a nice dinner Saturday night, we took a recommendation from my host dad, who said it had gotten great reviews but he didn't know about the price range or food type. Upon arrival we quickly learned- before being explained the menu situation we were served a potato-egg-caviar dish. Then the waitress explained the 4 course meal to us which included stuff neither of us liked, and cost a whopping 600 kroner ($104) per person. Naturally we freaked out cause we can't, and don't want to, afford a meal like that, and so we very awkwardly and politely explained to the waitress that we weren't aware of the price situation before we came, and that if we could pay for our first course and service we'd be very grateful. She was so nice about it of course but we felt sooo bad, but saved ourselves a whole lot of money and then went to a delicious Italian restaurant! Lesson: when you see caviar, make sure you figure out the price super fast!/ maybe restaurants should update their websites with prices so people don't have that confusion in the first place!
Sunday I had to take Frankie back to the airport :( and now we're looking forward to Tyler Place 2013 in just two months!! :)

Upcoming Adventures:
1. This week of assignment hell
2. March 22-24: Scotland to see my favorites Erin and Jim!!!
3. March 25-30: Rome with my art history class!
4. March 30 - April 4: Dad visits Copenhagen!
5. April 12-16: London for Stevie's 21st and exploring London with Faye!!
6. April 16-20: Milan to visit my one-on-one Ginevra and her family!

Stay tuned for pictures and videos on Facebook! :)

Love,
Colleen

Cooking in Denmark!

So on Thursday I accidentally overslept by an hour (I did actually wake up, there's evidence in a illegible text to Frankie, but I must have fallen back asleep) and would have been unacceptably late to my first class. My second class had been cancelled and with my third class of the day not being until 3, I decided to sleep in till 10. When I woke up at 10, I had an email that my third class had been cancelled! Great day. So I got inspired to bake/cook dinner. I chose to make a very American dish, and a personal favorite- macaroni and cheese. I went with a Martha Stewart recipe (also very American), but choosing a recipe was just the start. I also made the New York Times recipe for the best chocolate chip cookie.
First I had to halve the recipe. Then, I had to convert everything to the metric measurements... which was just a hassle. And then I had to translate everything into Danish. And then I had to check for the ingredients. At least two hours had passed until I was ready to go to the grocery store!
I biked to the grocery store, which is right down the main road, which I was pretty proud of. I'm also very proud of myself for finding all of my ingredients and only needing to ask for help once! I discovered chocolate chips are apparently not a thing here and so I ended up buying lots of bars of chocolate. I also solved the mystery of the existence of baking soda in Denmark. Then, I biked to a cheese shop right next to the train station (because I couldn't find parmesan or gruyere cheese at the grocery store). And I'm very proud to say I managed to buy those cheese in the (relatively) right amount from the nice old man who didn't speak any English!
I spent the rest of the afternoon asking my host sister Cecilie where various things were in the kitchen and made my cookie dough. Then it chilled for 24 hours. Next I baked the macaroni and cheese (half on the stove, half in the oven) and despite how nervous I was about it.. it was a success! Very cheesy and fattening and American. Not Kraft or Annie's but pretty good. I don't think my host family was very familiar with mac and cheese but they seemed to like it! As a side dish I wanted to do a parmesan roasted asparagus or green beans.. neither of which I could find at the grocery store. So I grabbed some zucchini instead... only to realize I actually grabbed cucumbers (they look very similar!). But no worries, they tasted good as well.
On Friday I baked the NY Times cookies and they were also a moderate success. They came out thinner than i would have liked, but I'm chalking that up to the difference in ingredients and probably some math errors on my part. What matters is that everyone likes them!

In other news, lately I:
- Went to see the Dans2Go ballet program at the Royal Danish Theater (and am seeing it again with a different class this week!)
- Got a lovely package from my family containing the essentials... tissues, contacts, peanut butter, and Reeses
- Managed to survive a week by myself while my host family skiied in Austria
- Skyped the Villanova career center in an attempt to start looking at internships for next fall
- Emailed/Skyped potential new Tyler Place employees to answer their questions
- Successfully (I think) taught Charlie, the 7th grade boy I'm tutoring, how to solve for a variable
- Went dumpster diving and worked with an asylum seeker from Afghanistan on a photo essay to be published in a magazine in Copenhagen
- Made friends with Bertram, that cat who never likes foreigners (I was the only one feeding him so I'm not sure he had a choice)
- Booked my flights to London, Milan (almost), and Scotland
- Most exciting...
FRANKIE BOOKED HIS FLIGHT TO COME VISIT :D

Here are some baking pictures, and more new ones will be on Facebook soon!

Love,
Colleen