Wind in my hair and the open sea ahead of me: A cruise to Oslo, Norway!

My dearest family and friends across the sea-

I write to you today from a cozy four person cabin aboard the ship DFDS Pearl Seaways.  My friends from DIS and I were welcomed aboard yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon and the ship set sail at 17:00.  We bid Copenhagen farewell from the outdoor deck where there was a bar, live music and two hot tubs.   Once we could no longer see the land we ventured back to our room and took a nap, rocked to sleep by the steady movement of the ship.  We then watched the breathtaking sunset from the deck and the rest of the evening we spent exploring the various restaurants, bars and nightclubs.  We ended up back in our room, watching Ever After until we were deep asleep.   In the morning I got up extra early to see the sunrise.  Unfortunately it was a rather cloudy day and although it was bright when I got up to the deck at 5:15, I was unable to see the actual sun break forth in the sky.  It was still enjoyable and a type of peaceful that you don't get anywhere but on the sea.   I went back to sleep for a few hours and dreamt a Titanic-esque dream of our cruise ship navigating the rough waters and sailing through debris from previous wrecks. 

I awoke from my nerve-wrecking dream to the wake-up call on the P.A. system and in just a short hour we arrived in Oslo.  We watched again from the upper deck as we pulled into the Oslo Harbor.  We saw the old fortresses, the modern Opera House, the rolling ski hills in the background and the spires of multiple churches shooting up into the sky, breaking away from the rest of the skyline.  We disembarked from the ship and began exploring the city.  Our first stop was a famous bakery where we enjoyed pastries while sitting out in the cool morning air.  We then walked through the city to the Sculpture Park.  This was quite the site.  A giant park filled with sculpture after sculpture, many of them nude and emoting feelings from happiness to rage to playfulness to love.  The park was also covered in beautiful gardens, trees, grassy spaces and fountains.  The Scandanavian love of the human body is quite different from that in America so it was quite amusing to see little children climbing all over the naked sculptures that were posed in various positions:  men, women, babies…lots and lots of babies, and even aging men and women were depicted and climbed upon here. 

After the park we walked to the National Gallery where we saw many pieces of art including Edvard Munch’s famous “The Scream” and “Madonna”.  We even saw my favorite sculpture: Auguste Rodin’s “The Thinker”.   We saw works by Monet, Degas and Picasso.  Since we only had a few more hours in Oslo we didn’t spend long there.   Next we walked to the Royal Palace, saw a few of the guards marching outside the Palace and then continued on to a very modern part of the city: a shopping mall right along the harbor.  We found a place to eat after which we felt it necessary to sample the ice cream in Oslo (delicious, by the way).  Our last stop was the massive fortress area where we could climb up and see across the top of the city and, in the other direction, see out into the blue expanse of water.  No worries, no one was attacking the city, but we stood ready at the cannons…just in case. 

Eventually it was back to the cruise ship for our tired little bodies.  We again sat up on deck and drank some wine as we watched Oslo fade from sight.  Some snacks, a small nap, some drinking and here I am.  We will sail through the night and arrive in Copenhagen around 9 am.  Just a short little cruise that was full of adventures!

The sky in Farum.  I just love this photo.  

In the last two weeks, besides the massive loads of paper-writing I was doing, I also did get the chance to do some fun things.  I forgot to mention this but after Bess left Copenhagen (unfortunately, we forgot to get my camera back to me so it went to Scotland with her), I went on a bike ride with Jesper, Karina and Rebecca around the lake not too far from Bagsvaerd.  It was the same lake that we drove to and walked around 4 months ago on January 16th when I first got to Denmark.  Back then it was all brown and covered in ice and slush.  I even liked it back then so imagine how happy I was to go back now that the grass and trees are green, flowers are blooming, the lake is shining in the sun, rowers are out rowing and nice cool breezes were blowing through the air.  It was awesome to see again one of my first memories of Denmark.  This time I was wearing a tank top, shorts and a baseball hat and we rode all around the lake by way to dirt parths. It is amazing to think of all the time and experiences that have passed since that first walk by the lake.  Here I go, getting sappy about leaving again.  I'll change topics right now and save the sappiness for later!

The next weekend, on Saturday, April 30th, I went with the family to Andreas's soccer game and watched his team take home the win!  I am quite impressed by how good those boys are...especially considering that they are 12.  It was more fun for me to watch their game than to watch NFL in America  (*GASP* did I really just say that?!? Sorry, I suppose that was a little un-American.  Maybe I have been in Europe too long?...Nah)    Here are some photos of my soccer-star host brother

Andreas and Sif, the adorable dog we were doggie-sitting for the week. 

The next day was the field trip to the Open Air museum and my adventure to Farum.

Traditional Danish house with thatched roof

Seaweed roof house

Pretty art I found in Farum

My computer is about to die and I need to go buy some food for this evening so I better sign off.  In just 2 hours I will meet up with some friends and then we will leave for a short cruise to Oslo, Norway! We will be on the boat tonight, spend tomorrow in Oslo and then travel back to Denmark Wednesday night.  I have no idea what to expect so whatever happens will be a surprise!  It's a beautiful day here so I imagine being on the sea will be quite lovely.  Don't worry, you will get lots of pictures as soon as I return to land.
Vi ses!!

Papers, papers, papers galore.

Monday night after Bess left I got right to work on my final papers.  Here is the run down of what I had due:

Wednesday, April 27: 7-page essay for my Sustainability in Austrian Architecture course.  My topic was clever family initiatives in Vorarlberg, Austria (the state we studied).  At the beginning of the class we had been given a list of topics and we each picked one to focus on.  I was a little sad that the one I picked didn't really have anything to do with architecture, but I still enjoyed learning about family life in the state of Vorarlberg.  I ended up titling my paper  Clever Family Initiatives with a focus on innovative playgrounds.  I found that Austria (and Europe in general from what I have seen of it) have some really cool playgrounds, very interesting and creative themes.  I compared those to the typical playgrounds in America (or at least the ones in Newton). It turned out to be a pretty fun paper to write and I finished it Wednesday morning and turned it in Wednesday night at our class get-together.  One class done.

Sunday, May 1:  Field trip to Open Air museum for 20th and 21st Century Danish Architecture.  We got to see how farms/villages were set up in Denmark, northern Germany and southern Swedish a few hundred years ago.  We saw actual houses from that time that had been taken apart and moved to this location and then put back together.  They had very thick thatched roofs; we even saw one house with a roof made of seaweed!  They really made use of whatever was available in the area.  It was a beautiful day for that field trip and afterward I did a little exploring of my own.  I rode the train up to Farum, the very last stop on my line of the S-tog.  I walked through the town a little and found a super cute Sculpture Park.  It was quiet and peaceful and I looked at all the sculptures and then sat on the grass for a bit with my computer and edited one of my papers.  It was nice to finally see what is at the end of the train line that I ride every single day.

Monday, May 2:  10-page final synthesis for Positive Psych and a final portfolio of previous papers and assignments and write-ups from field studies.  It ended up being just over 30 pages all together.  The paper was a discussion both of the class and of positive psychology as a field; its pros and cons, any doubts I have about the field and certain topics I found especially interesting.  It was extra nice to turn over the hefty stack of full pages.  Second class completed.

I also have a final Danish presentation on Monday.  I was in a group of 4 and our topic was Sust-DANE-ability in Denmark.  I described some of the green initiatives within architecture, both in current projects and in future plans.  I also discussed the "Finger Plan" of Copenhagen, which was created in 1949 to plan for the future growth of the city.  Instead of expanding endlessly outward (urban sprawl) like many cities, they decided to only expand along 5 "fingers".  These fingers have the main transportation lines and the "suburbs" are compacted around these transportation hubs.  The space in between the fingers stays green and rather undeveloped.  It was a way to be smart in making public transportation efficient and available and a way to save green space that is not that far from the city...two ways of being eco-friendly.

This is the "hand" with the actual city in the palm.  
The S-tog runs up on each finger.  I live along the "ring finger" line.  

Anyway, the rest of our presentation focused on organic food, wind power and biking in Denmark...all of which are very prominent ways in which the country works to be "green".

Thursday, May 5th:  Last 2 essays for Danish due.  One was a 5 page term paper on one of three topics that she gave us.  I did mine on a comparison of Hans Christian Andersen's The Ugly Duckling and Henrik Pontoppidan The Eagle's Flight.  They were both tales written by Danes but with very opposite morals.  I won't go in to too much depth but the moral of The Ugly Duckling (as I am sure you know) is "It doesn’t matter if one is born in a duck yard, when one has lain in a swan’s egg!”"  and the moral of the Eagle's Flight is  “It avails but little to have come from an eagle’s egg, if one is raised in the poultry yard.” 

I compared these two morals in terms of true beauty and whether beauty plays a large role in happiness and then I analyzed them with the Danish perspective (being that everyone is equal and no one is "special" or "unique" as the ugly duckling/later beautiful swan was).  I found Andersen's iconic tale to be ironically much less Danish than Pontoppidan's.  

The other paper for Danish was a short letter, written as if we were trying to get an interview for a job we desired, using our semester in Denmark as something that makes us an exceptional candidate.  Mine is a little long but I think I will attach it to here just in case anyone is interested in reading even more of my rambling.  If not, go ahead and skip down to the rest of the post.  Or get off the internet and get yourself a cookie, that is completely fine too : ) 

Experiencing Life Abroad

                It seems like the experiences that shape you the most as a person are the ones you never thought you’d encounter.  When I first applied to Knox College, I never dreamt that that choice would lead me to spend four months living, studying and exploring abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark.  Nevertheless during my second year at Knox I managed to find the Danish Institute for Study Abroad and suddenly there I was, in January of 2011 during my junior year, flying across the Atlantic Ocean to a cold and windy Copenhagen to meet my host family and begin a life in Denmark.  I am the first of my 4-person family to travel, let alone live and study, abroad.  I was not particularly encouraged to leave my friends and family behind, but I think my parents eventually, though reluctantly, accepted the fact that I sought adventure and was determined to find it.  It is now nearly 4 months later and I have savored every moment of my adventure thus far.

                One of the selling points for studying abroad in Denmark is that “You can study in another country and another culture, but in English.”  This is highly attractive for someone like me who can speak English and only enough Spanish to get by at a Mexican restaurant.  Professors, previous students and DIS pamphlets raved about the Danes’ fluency with English.  That turned out to be completely true, the Danes speak English impressively well.  What I naively failed to realize, however, was that the Danish language would surround me all the time and that while the Danes can speak English, signs, maps and menus cannot.  Though I cannot, and sadly will not, be able to speak fluent Danish, my time here has encouraged me to study the language, listen closely (a.k.a. eavesdrop) to conversations on the train, and constantly practice Danish with my host family, which did teach me enough to help me find my way around the city, read most advertisements and order lattes and sandwiches in Danish cafes.  Although I will likely not make use of my Danish skills back in America, I will use my experience to better empathize and tolerate people for whom English is not a first language.  I am grateful for the Danes’ patience as I pathetically attempted to order wienerbrød and øl, and I now realize how isolating it is to be surrounded by conversations that, to outsides, resemble the Sims’ language.  This dramatic increase in tolerance and valuing diversity is something I never would have gained by staying in small town Iowa and Illinois where my culture and my language is always the majority. 

                My first morning in Denmark, a cold, blustery January morning, I took public transportation by myself for the first time.  Thank goodness my host family warned me that you have to press the button to open the train doors, otherwise I am certain I would’ve just stood there waiting nervously for them to open as if by magic.  The entire 20-minute commute I sat by the window, watching giddily as we passed one cute Danish town after another, each with a name I could not begin to pronounce.   Now, after 3 months of riding the train almost every day, I can list the towns and describe at least one landmark from each that I notice on my commute.   Coming from a small town in Iowa where I learned to drive at 14 years old and drove myself to school every day, using public transportation has been a major part of my European adventure.  It gave me the opportunity to see Danes in one of their natural habitats and for me to be a part of this day-to-day system of transportation.  I adapted the Danish ways and do not regret giving up my non-sustainable habit of driving myself to school each and every day.  I even began riding my bike the 15 kilometers into the city, which is the epitome of Danish commuting, as Denmark’s goal is to have 50% of Copenhageners commuting on bike by the year 2050.  I am proud to contribute to the 30% that already do commute by bike, in rain and in snow….and in hail.

                Doing something new is almost always a little scary, if not a lot scary.  The thing about studying abroad is that you are constantly doing something new.  I did quite a bit of traveling during my time abroad, some of it within Denmark and a lot of it elsewhere in Europe.  Much of the time I was by myself, finding my way through airports, riding buses and trains, and standing in a city rotating a map back and forth to find my way around.   I believe these experiences have greatly shaped my ability to be successful in complex environments.  Finding my way around various European cities has greatly increased my confidence, especially in situations that are much less scary than almost getting lost in Milan, speaking with strangers in Austria, and avoiding pickpockets in Barcelona.  These situations I have faced have helped me realize what I am capable of and how successful I can really be. 

                I wholeheartedly believe that my experience in Denmark has shaped me as a responsible, resourceful person and has given me the abilities of an exceptional employee.    I have gained considerable independence by living away from my family, friends and comfort zone for this length of time.  I learned to explore the world around me and look inward for reflection, rather than always seeking other people’s opinions and approval. 

                I am prepared to take my newly developed abilities and apply them to my future area of work.  I do hope you will consider inviting me for an interview to see for yourself how my time abroad in a country 1/3 the size of my home state has helped me mature into a unique and fascinating person.

                                                Tusind tak for your time,

Rachel A. Clark     

And with that, Danish class was over...which was quite sad because I really enjoyed that class.  I realize that I will likely not use Danish again (unless I get so lucky as to find a cute Danish boy living in Iowa :P), and I know I did not get very good at the language since I was here only 4 months, but I did feel that it really enhanced my experience to be able to read some signs or order in Danish if I really wanted to.  I also learned a lot of cultural and historical things about Denmark that have made me feel much more informed about this small country in which I have been living.  

Friday, May 6th:  Final 7-page research paper for Developmental Neuropsychology due.  My topic was neuropsychological rehabilitation after traumatic brain injury in children and if and why it is better/more effective than either cognitive rehabilitation, physical rehabilitation, or speech rehabilitation on its own.  My thesis/summary of the paper was this:  

 In the following analysis I will first discuss the potential effects of pediatric acquired brain injury, followed by the types of assessments used after injury, and finally I will argue for the importance of a neuropsychological approach to rehabilitation after such brain injury.  I surmise that the neuropsychological approach to rehabilitation is necessary for the best possible recovery after 

acquired brain injury, especially in developing children.  

I actually ended up turning in that paper on Thursday because I didn't have any class on Friday and I had finished editing it so I figured I might as well.  I also had my final European Urban Design Theories class on Thursday.  I have been done with actual assignments in that class for awhile so our last class consisted of going on a field trip to another part of the city and seeing some interesting culture houses, a library, and a community youth building and then we ended by relaxing and chatting on the rooftop terrace of a cute little restaurant.   

And then I was done. Done with all my academic work for the semester.  I am really liked all of my classes and though I did have more work than I expected throughout the whole semester, I am glad I took all 6 classes because I got to learn about a lot of different areas, from Danish architecture to Danish language to Austrian Architecture to Sustainability to Happiness to European Urban Designs.  Pretty cool, if I may say so myself.

Even though I was sad to have my classes over because it meant my time was really running out, I have to admit I was relieved to be done with all the paper writing.  So then it was time to begin adventuring.

But right now it is time for me to get some food from this cute cafe that I am currently sitting in.  Be back later!

   

Favorite word

Also, I keep forgetting to write about this, but a few weeks ago I discovered one of my favorite Danish words.  It is bananer.  Bananer is the plural for banana. Hehe, I just love it saying it...bananer.  Just thought I'd share : )

Being a tourist in Copenhagen

As I said in my last post, my Knox friend Bess Cooley flew over to CPH from Scotland to spend a few days with me.  We met in the airport and I taught her all about the transportation system as we rode the metro and S-tog back to Bagsvaerd.  Karina picked us up from the train station because she is the best host mom ever.  The kids were away at their mormors (grandmother's) so I showed Bess around and we ate some smørrebrød with Karina and Jesper.  The next day we went into the city and saw some of the big tourist attractions: Amalienborg Castle (where the Queen and her royal family live), the Little Mermaid  (she is adorable, but so little!), Tivoli from the outside, the Roundtower and 

I forced Bess to let me take some "typical tourist" photos of her :)

The statue made to resemble Hans Christian Anderson's fairy tale character

H.C. Anderson himself!

In the roundtower. Note the energetic little boy zooming up the ramp!

Copenhagen and Rachel!

Bess and I on the top of the Roundtower. We could see so far!!

We were pretty tuckered out from walking all over the city so we went for pastries (of course!) and then headed home.  Karina and Jesper had gone to Karina's mom's to stay for a few days for the easter holiday so Bess and I made some food, drank some wine and just relaxed and chatted about all the important things:  Knox, Scotland, swimming, senior year and boys.  

On Friday we were very excited to go on a canal tour.  I hadn't been on one yet and I do know quite a lot of the harbor pretty well, but I was really looking forward to seeing it all from the water side.  Unfortunately, before we could go sit in the direct sunlight for an hour we needed to pick up some sunscreen.  Bess is a little too fair-skinned to not get burned and I should probably wear sunscreen so I don't add to the skin cancer I probably already have from so many hours lifeguarding by the pool.  Keep in mind, however, that this is good Friday.  Nothing is open. Well, a few places are open but they are mostly little kiosks with ice cream, candy, beer and soda.  The only place we even found a single bottle of sunscreen was after we asked the worker and she climbed up on a ladder, grabbed one bottle and told us that it cost 130 kroner! That is about 27 dollars or so, for just one small bottle...of SPF 20! Yeah right. No way we were splurging on that.  We decided it would be better if we just rubbed chapstick with SPF 10 all over our faces.  As we were discussing this we were just really wishing there was some way to find something Bess could wear on her head that would perhaps shield her face from the sun...oh wait! A hat!  We decided to look at a little tourist shop for either sunscreen or a hat.  No sunscreen, but we did find some cute, super touristy Copenhagen hats.  I told Bess that I would buy one, as a souvenir for myself, and she could wear it for the day. She wanted me to get the one with little cartoon mermaids, but I opted for the cute, pink, frayed-looking baseball cap.  I think it is fairly stylish although Bess was pretty reluctant to put it on, haha.  Maybe Bess just isn't quite the pink baseball hat kind of girl.  Wanna see how swell I looked in it...this is while we were standing in line and I was making the worst fashion statement ever.  But hey...you gotta do what you gotta do to stay comfortable

Sorry it's sideways...computers get the best of me sometimes :(

Besides me looking a little silly, the canal tour was fantastic! We enjoyed the sun, saw a lot of awesome buildings (a few of which I got to tell Bess about because of my architecture courses!)  It is fun having the inside scoop on the area and getting to show someone around.  After the canal tour we went and got hot dogs (very popular street food in Kobenhavn) and then went to a film in the city at the Copenhagen Film Festival.  Because my Milan video won runner-up, my prize was a gift certificate to the theater in the amount of two tickets.  It was perfect that Bess enjoys foreign films; there was even a film called Poetry (Bess is a poet) so I took her on a date to the theatre : )  It was a sort of sad movie, but it was very, very good and I am glad we experienced some cultural art in the city.  It was late when it got over so we walked around the city a bit and enjoyed the lights of Tivoli and the night people as they wandered around.  I always love walking around Copenhagen at night. I did quite a bit of it at the beginning when I was getting to know the city, so it was really nice to do it now that I am so familiar with most of it.

Saturday the family came home from their Grandma's.  Bess and I went on a bike ride to a really beautiful cemetery near the city.  It is more like a park with tombstones than just a cemetery. People were pickicing and sunbathing all over the place.  We walked around, saw Hans Christian Andersen's grave and enjoyed the spring flowers in bloom.  Then the whole family was back when we got home so Bess finally got to meet the kids.  We had a very nice Easter dinner and celebration in the evening on Saturday.  We had some neighbors over and ate lots of traditional Danish smorrebrod.  I even shared some of my precious peeps (which I got in a package from my Aunt Karla!), although I think most of the Danes found them a little too sweet.  What can I say-- I have quite the sweet tooth.

Sunday we went to the Glyptotek, it is an art museum right beside Tivoli.  It is free on Sundays and I have been wanting to go there for awhile so this was perfect.  We saw many beautiful sculptures, lots of renaissance paintings and we even walked up to the roof and saw Copenhagen from above...which was a great view of the neighboring Tivoli, with the rollercoasters full of screaming kids and everything.

Bess fits right in with the book shelf! 

After the Gylptotek I took Bess to a cafe I knew she would absolutely adore.  Like I said earlier, Bess is a poet...and a writer...and a lover of books. So I took her to the Paludan bogcafe...the book cafe.  It is full of delicious-smelling old books and I think she was very happy to eat dinner while soaking in the wonderfulness of the surrounding bookshelves.  That is definitely one of my favorite places to study and now that I know they have the most delicious chai lattes, I might have to plan a few more book cafe dates into my schedule before I leave.

Monday was unforunately Bess's last day in Copenhagen. We had not yet visited Christiania and it is definitely a must-see when in Copenhagen so that is what we did after Bess bid farewell to my host family.  It was the most beautiful day for a walk around the interesting society that is Christiania so we went for a long stroll along the water, looked at all the cool houses and then got some food and organic Christiania beer and sat by the water while we ate.  We also went shopping for some Christiania souvenirs.  I found a gorgeous hacky-sack and a little pin to add to my small collection and Bess found the perfect Bevar Christiania! tshirt.  That means "preserve Christiania"  because it is currently struggling to stay out of Danish government control.  Actually, the debate has been going on for a long time but just this past month or so, they did vote to overtake Christiania, which is so sad because it is such an iconic Danish landmark that stands for the freedom of speech and an alternative lifestyle.  The government is trying to buy the land from them but I certainly hope they stay strong and that people help them to buy the land themselves so the essence of Christiania can remain the same.

One last thing needed to happen before Bess could leave Denmark: she needed a Danish pancake.  We went to the city, right to Stroget (the pedestrian street) and finally found a place to get pancakes (which are pretty much like crepes).  Bess got one with jam and sugar and I got one with nutella and banana.  We even got to watch her make them right in front of us.  Absolutely delicious.  Although I did not want to see Bess go, we then had to get to the airport for her flight.  I was so incredibly glad she could come visit.  Not only was it great to hang out with a Knoxie, and a Knox swimmer no less!, it was also really fun to be a tourist in my own city.  I don't get to do that everyday!  It was the perfect end to a really wonderful spring break

And then it was time to hit the books.  Not too many exciting things happened in the next two weeks because most of it was going to classes, writing papers and finishing projects.  It was a pretty crazy few weeks.  There were definitely a few exciting things in the midst of the work though, so I will write more about those later.
Thanks again for following me on my adventure. Sorry for the long posts- just trying to get caught up!
Again, happy mother's day to all!
Vi ses. 

The rest of Barcelona...

I left off on Monday, when Hannah and I were awesome tourists and we woke up nice and early to get to La Sagrada Familia.  That was probably my favorite "touristy" thing we did.  We both enjoyed just sitting and soaking in the intriguing facade and learning about the different "scenes" that Gaudi designed for the church.  When we finally pulled ourselves away (mostly because there were too many tourists, not because we were tired of it), we found a grocery store and picked up a really healthy lunch to eat in the park.  Since we are college kids, and we are Americans, what I mean by healthy is chips, nutella (because they didn't have salsa) and Sunny-D.  See, all the food groups...sort of.  Anyway, we enjoyed it quite a lot.  We finished all the chips, but thankfully had a little nutella left over to eat with some baguettes later in the day.

Me, Natalia, Mandy: Knox at the beach!

Hannah and I!

Our next stop was to meet Natalia, Mandy and Chris so they could show us where their favorite "off-the-beaten-track" place to go is.  We took a train to a small town about 30 minutes away.  While we were on the train we passed multiple "postcard-picture perfect" little towns with beaches and beautiful white villas.  I was practically in Heaven.  Natalia laughed about how giddy I looked.  But I truly was giddy. We were going to the beach!! The beach is a rare occasion for an Iowa girl like me.  The town we went to was called Sitges and it was breathtaking.  The blue/green ocean just lapping calmly at the soft, white sand beach, past the quaint streets full of cute shops, cozy cafes and delicious-smelling bakeries.  We were all prepared with our swim suits, towels, sunglasses and some food to eat at the beach.  We spent a whole afternoon just laying out, dozing off (that was mainly me) and just chatting.  We even braved the water a little...Chris went all the way in, I went in to my stomach and the others just to their legs or so.  It was chilly but it was definitely worth it.  The sun was shining brightly Bso we dried off quickly. We spent some time walking around the city after we grew tired of laying on the beach (not me...the lifeguard in me never grows tired of that).  We saw the Barcardi Museum, although it was closed unfortunately, we got some ice cream and baguettes for later and then we headed back to the train station.  It was so nice to get away from the super touristy areas and be in a not-so-crowded, not-so-stressful beautiful area.

Monday night was our failed attempt at going to IceBarcelona, an "Ice Bar on the beach"! Everything in an ice bar is made of ice...the bar, the glasses, the seats, the sculptures.  Hannah was so excited about this, as was I.  We met Natalia in the city and made our way to the beach...only to find out the Ice Bar was closed.  It was the saddest, strangest mystery.  There was no sign saying it was closed due to malfunction or anything, the doors and windows were all closed even though it was the time that it was supposed to be open.  Then we noticed a bunch of ice dumped out onto the beach.  It was still solid, though melting quickly in the warm Spain night, so we knew it hadn't been out there too long.  What happened in the IceBar???  We can only make guesses so we thought the refrigeration system must have broken or (this was my guess) an ice criminal came in and destroyed some of the statues...so then they had to close it down and throw all the ice on the beach.  No matter what happened, we were very sad.  However in the end it all worked out, we went back to La Rambla and found this "grungy" little bar that Hannah and I thought was the coolest thing ever.  We loved it!  It was full of college age kids just hanging out, playing pool and drinking.  It was definitely off-the-beaten-path...it was more like "the path that no one takes unless the know about it" because it was on a dark street, with an intimidating wooden door at the entrance and then the seating and bar were practically in a dungeon they were so far down.  This was where I had my first sangria. And it was amazing!  The most fruity, delicious drink ever.  Hannah, Natalia and I had a wonderful evening (or morning, as it was already 1 am) just sitting drinking, talking about all sorts of things and laughing a good deal.  It certainly was not a bar made out of ice but it still turned out to be a really great night.

 

Since Hannah and I are such awesome tourists, we got up Tuesday morning around 6:30, even after our late sangria night.  This time our goal was to be the first-ish ones in line for La Pedrera, the wavy apartment complex designed by Gaudi.  We were successful-- second in line!! 

La Pedrera was by far the most interesting apartment complex I have ever seen...and I have seen quite a few while being in my Danish architecture course. I can't say I loved the colors (lots of yellow/tan and greens...ick!) but I certainly did appreciate the design.  And we were the first ones on the roof, which was fantastic!!

I do believe Gaudi must have had quite the imagination to design all these figures and shapes.  We spent a good deal of time on the roof, taking photos before it became to crowded by other tourists and then we spent some time perusing the gift store.  My most unique souvenir so far: a shot glass that is wavy and mosaic, just like Gaudi's work.  So cool!  

After that we went up to the Barca stadium where we met Natalia.  We were unable to really see into the Barca stadium without paying a million euros (ok, it was actually only 19 but that is a lot just to walk around the inside of a stadium!)  Nonethelss it was a great thing to see because soccer is such a huge thing in Spain and it was fun to see where FCBarca plays.  We also checked out the MEGA gift shop with everything from tshirts to shot glasses to soccer balls to girly makeup bags and such.  I wanted to swoon just from how much stuff there was in there.  Thankfully, we left before I could actually swoon...or before I could spend way more money than I should.  We met up with Mandy shortly after that and went to a cafe to get coffee and hot chocolate.  This hot chocolate, however, is like no other hot chocolate on the face of this earth (or in my experience, at least).  This was basically a cup full of melted chocolate. Seriously, you can't even drink it, you have to scoop it out with a spoon.  It was amazing...but almost too rich for me to handle. And that is saying something because I have the biggest sweet tooth ever!!  After the hot chocolate we made very exciting plans for the evening: a cozy little picnic on the beach! We went and bought food and wine before heading back to our hostel to relax and change clothes.  

We all met up in the late evening and walked down to the beach.  We got a late start so our picnic began around 10:30.  We had a smorgasboard of delicous food, fruit, baguettes, meat, cheese, peeps and wine.  Could it get any better than that??  Unfortunately, when we bought the wine, we didn't even think about needing a cork screw to open the bottle.  Natalia and I made a quick trip to the grocery store nearby to sweetly ask if they could open it for us.  Natalia speaks fluent Spanish, so I was not nervous to go with her to ask them.  When we asked, one guy motioned us to go over to the other guy. He got out the cork screw and said "You want it open?"  We smiled and nodded our heads tow which he said "Cinco euro".  Us: Hahahaha....*silence and nervous smiles*  Him:  So...yes? (and he proceeds to open it, then he hands it to us)  Us:  Gracias! Gracias!  Him:  Yeah...cinco euro!!  Us:  Hahahaha!!.....um.....*we look at each other to see if he is actually joking or not.  He says it one more time as if he actually is not joking...Cinco euro!  and when we start to look really nervous (neither of us had money, and cinco euro would be a heck of a lot of money for just opening a 3 euro bottle of wine!) Natalia tried to say something to them and then I tried to say (in spanish) I don't speak spanish (yo no hablo espanol)...then the other guy just waved us off and said Buenas noches! (goodnight)

Haha, we grabbed our wine and scurried out of there and then burst into laughter about how we thought he was actually serious!  We all enjoyed the rest of the chilly evening on the beach , watching the dark waves roll onto the beach while the moon reflected off the distant water.  It was a very memorable evening.  By the time Hannah and I made it back to our hostel we were so sleepy but definitely sad that we had to leave in the morning.  It was a great way to end a great stay in Barcelona.  

In the morning we packed up our stuff and went out for one last exploration.  We met Mandy for coffee and croissants from the best croissant place ever.  It really pays to know someone who knows their way around : )

We begrudgingly waved good-bye to Mandy at the train station and went back to the hostel to check out.  We lugged out stuff up to Plaza Catalunya and finished off all the food from the night before (including half a watermelon that we spilled all over the ground as we slurped it up using only plastic forks from the hostel kitchen).  We briefly met up with a friend of mine from DIS who was also traveling in Barcelona and we chatted with her before she went off to take a Tourist Bus ride around the city.  Then it was off to the airport for us.  

My flight left around 3 and Han's didn't leave until 6ish so we had to say goodbye at security.  Since we traveled together so much, Han and I are even closer than before. We are more like sisters now (especially because we got a little snippy with each other when we were tired and hungry and cranky...hehe), but I could not be happier that I got to spend part of my spring break with her.  We had bought a few croissants to go from breakfast so we sat down outside security to finish eating them.  Before we sat down Hannah spotted some money on the ground.  Turned out to be 20 euro, just sitting there.  We contemplated the whole time we ate our croissants about what to do:  do you turn in 20 euro thinking someone will realize they dropped it and go to someone in the airport asking for it?? or do you just pocket it and think it was your lucky day??  We eventually decided, after difficult discussion, that we should keep it but do something cool with it. Since it was 2 ten euro bills, we each took one and I already decided what I will do-though I have yet to do it.  There is a man who plays clarinet sometimes in the train station hallway and I have always wanted to drop more than 2 kroner into his case.  He is quite good and I've never even heard him squeak.  So hopefully I will see him before I go back to the states...because I have ten euro for his case : ) 

Well, that was my wonderful, relaxing and yet exciting, barcelona trip with Hannah.  After chilling in the airport for an hour or so my plane took off and I slept the entire way back to Copenhagen, where I was greeted by my friend Bess!  Bess is from Knox and is studying in Scotland.  Hannah and I saw her when I took my trip to Dundee and then she decided to come to Copenhagen to see the city and visit me! I was more than thrilled to play tour guide for the weekend and my family was nice enough to let her stay with us the whole weekend and even have a wondeful easter celebration with traditional Danish food!  But....more on that later.  For now, I best get to bed...thanks for sticking through this long post!!  I gotta get all caught up soon so I have time to write all those scary "reflect on my experience" type of posts before I head back to the states which will be....next Wednesday. EEEK!! 

Oh, before I sign off, Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful mom!! Karen Clark is beautiful, strong, kind and loving. She taught me how to strive for the best, but also to love myself as I am...because she always loved me, no matter what.  I hope your day is lovely, Mom...just like you : ) 

And also a special Happy Mors Day to my awesome host mom, Karina. Sorry we all forgot about it until today when you reminded us, haha-- I hope tomorrow turns out to be a wonderful and special day!    

And of course happy mother's day to all the other mothers I know.  You all are so special and deserve to have a most beautiful day.  Lots of love from Copenhagen!  

Blogging marathon: Ready, Set, GO!

Well happy May everyone.  That's right, it's May.  It's already the 5th of May (oh wait, Feliz cinco de mayo!!) But yes, it is May and I will leave Denmark in 2 weeks.  How on earth has it gone this fast?  At the same time, it has been a long four months since I've gotten to hug my family, call them on a cell phone, eat Swedish fish and my mom's homemade pizza.  At least I have a lot to look forward to upon my return to the states.

There is SOOO much I need to write about.  Lucky for all of us, I have only one more class this afternoon before I am done with the entire academic aspect of my study abroad experience. I simply cannot believe it.  Of course I was anxious to be done with all the papers and the reading and the thinking (haha), but as soon as I turned my last paper in, I almost teared up.  I know that I still have 2 weeks here, but the end of the classes means my time is winding down really quickly.  I will miss my teachers, I will miss speaking Danish, I will miss hearing the accents...but I have to stop now because I am positive there will be a super long post in the future about all the things I will miss from Denmark.  Before I stop to reflect on those things, I need to catch you all up on my last few weeks.  I left off after I wrote about my Austria trip, right?  So that means that I have not said one single word about Barcelona...which was AWESOME! So I shall write about that now : )

Friday, April 15th I flew out of Austria to Barcelona, where my cousin Hannah was waiting for me.  We had a hostel booked right in Downtown Barce so the plan was for us to meet in a very popular square right where the bus from the airport would drop me off.  Would have been a perfect plan if my plane hadn't been an hour late and if my phone had actually worked like I expected.  Instead my phone did not work at all and I found myself in this beautiful square in Spain, by myself with all my luggage (backpack and duffel) at 10 at night. I was supposed to call the hostel 30 mins before I arrived so someone could go wait for me. Since my phone wasn't working I couldn't get ahold of Hannah or the hostel.  I suppose part of me was a little worried but I knew I needed to figure something out so I found my way to a Starbucks (with the help of 2 nice Spanish guys in a nearby cafe) and I called the hostel from skype.  The guy was waiting to check me in so I asked the Starbucks waiter if he knew where "La Rambla 76 (address of the hostel) was".  He said "Yes I know exactly where that is.  Me: " Umm...ok "Can you tell me where it is?"  Him: "No"  Me: *very confused look* He cracked a smile and laughed at my distress before he said "yeah of course, just go up this street, turn left and walk all the way down. It'll be on your right."  Phew, with a gracias and adios I was on my way to the hostel.  It was a longer walk than I expected but my judgement was probably skewed by the weight of my two bags pressing into my shoulders and the fact that I was pretty nervous of being pick-pocketed (something you don't really have to worry about in CPH).  I eventually made it to the hostel, walked up the dark stairs to the floor of the hostel, where a man opened the door and said "Yeah, you're Rachel?"  Me: "Yes! Thank you.  Do you know if Hannah Seyb is here yet?"  Him: "Yea....your friend?" Me: "Yes! My cousin." With that he walked into a room, picked up a brightly colored shoe and said "This her shoe?"  Me: "YES!! Yes that is hers!!"  Phew, I was in the right place!  The hostel guy started checking me in and soon Hannah and her friend Carly walked in.  It was so nice to see a familiar face!  The rest of that evening was spent settling in and then going over to Carly's place and just hanging out making plans for the rest of our trip.  We hit the hay pretty early because we were both so pooped.  Also, "early" in Spanish standards is 1 or 2 in the morning.  The real parties don't even start until about 1.  Man I felt like an old lady being exhausted at midnight :P

Thankfully Hannah and I decided to sleep in a little the next morning.  Austria was great, but I was a bit tired of getting up at 7 am for a full day of traveling and exploring.  We snoozed until the middle of the morning and then we headed out into the city.  Our first stop was the Market, just down the road from us, where we found delicious-looking fruit and baguettes.  Nothing like lunch for just a few euro- nice change from Copenhagen prices.  Oh, I can't promise my accounts of everything will be quite chronological, which would be fine except for the few of you who will read both my and my cousin Hannah's stories...she was the one who took detailed notes of all we did so I sincerely apologize if I put the wrong day with the wrong gelato flavor or the wrong weather with a different touristy thing.  Hopefully you enjoy all my stories anyway : )
Anyway, so Saturday was our first full day in Barcelona.  We planned to meet up with my friends Natalia and Mandy (from Knox) who have been studying in Barcelona since August.  We decided we would meet them "after lunch", which is actually the middle of the afternoon for us non-Spaniards, as the Spanish eat lunch around 2 or so.  Since we had lots of time to explore before meeting them, Hannah and I walked down La Rambla to the harbour area.  It was a beautiful day and we thoroughly enjoyed the large doses of sunshine.  Once we had met up with Mandy and Natalia at Plaza Catalunya they asked us what types of things we wanted to do: walk, shop, eat, get coffee and chat, any or all of the above? We mostly wanted to walk and maybe relax in a coffee shop.  So we did that. We walked up to the University where they go to classes and then found a place to sit and I ordered the only coffee type drink I will actually drink, a cortada (espresso with sugar and milk).  We then met another friend of Mandy and Natalia's and they decided they should show us a very impressive mall.  Impressive, I'll say! This mall used to be a bull fighting arena until the government outlawed bull fighting.  So then they changed it into this 5 (?) story high mall where you can shop or eat any of the delicious food inside, and you can also take the escalators all the way to the top where you can walk around the outside and look out at the city.  It was amazing!

Mandy, me & Natalia on the roof of the mall

The inside. The mall is what you see here...times at least 5. 

Saturday night was a FCBarcelona vs. Real Madrid football game...which is a really big deal.  Football is even more intense in Spain (obviously) than in Denmark, so they really go all out.  And Barca vs. Madrid is a huge rivalry!  So, to truly enjoy this cultural event, Hannah and I went with Natalia, Mandy and one of their other friends to this cute little bar near Natalia's house.  It was about 10 other people (all over 30 at least) and the 4 of us.  It was awesome! We had such a great time, seeing the way real people enjoy the cultural sports.
That was a full Saturday for us so it was off to bed after the game ended.

Part of the beautiful ceiling

Sunday we also let ourselves sleep in a bit. We woke up to music and lots of cheering out on La Rambla.  This is terrible, but I had totally forgotten it was Palm Sunday. But you definitely can't forget something like that when you are sleeping right above the main street where holy parades take place. Even though it took Hannah and I a while to get ready when we got outside we still were able to see a few a lot of people carrying palm branches, followed by a large Jesus float, followed by official church people.  That was pretty neat to see.  We met up with Natalia and Mandy Sunday afternoon to go see Park Quell, a park designed by Gaudi in the early 1900s. Story goes a man owned all the property and asked Gaudi to design a park/garden area for all the wealthy people around.  Somewhere along the way it became a public area and to this day it is free to enter and explore.  It is incredibly beautiful with lots of green grass, trees, bushes and all colors of plants and flowers.  He designed very interesting pathways, walls, stairs and an amazing pavillion or patio type thing resting atop 89 massive pillars.  You can walk underneath the pavillion with all the pillars and even the ceiling has really fantastic designs in it.  The entire park is covered in mosaic artwork.



After this we headed off to the train station to pick up our friend Chris who had just flown in from Germany.  We knew him from Knox when we were freshman before he moved to Germany.  Sunday night we got to go to a Tapas restaurant!  My very first tapas restaurant.  Although they were absolutely delicious, the tapas didn't fill me up the way a few hearty open-faced sandwiches do...therefore we all felt it necessary to go out for some waffles and ice cream afterwards!  They are called golfree or something like that in espanol :S  Hannah and I split a nutella covered waffle and one with honey and sugar. Both were amazing. That certainly did the trick of filling us up and getting us all nice and sleepy for bed.

Monday morning was when we became really good tourists.  We woke up around 6:30 I believe, were out the door by 7 and hopped on the metro towards La Sagrada Familia, the gorgeous cathedral in Barcelona, also designed by Gaudi.  Out of all the churches I have seen in Europe (and that is quite a few) this is by far my favorite. Gaudi used color in all the right places and although the forms are not what you usually see on churches, it is magnificent in its own way.  There are not too many words that are apt to describe it so I will mostly post pictures.  

Lower part of the outside

  

Some of the spires. Beautiful colors. Too much construction :(

This is maybe my favorite spot in the entire church.  With the sun shining in, that window was amazing.

Shadows from the facade decorations on the pillars/columns.  Wow.

I think I will pause for now. It is hard to follow the amazingness of that church so I will wait until tomorrow perhaps to continue on with my stories.

Come back soon!