Europe – Page 11 – a lizard abroad

December 4, 2015 – Polka Dots + Chickens = Chicken Pox?

December 4, 2015June 30, 2023Posted in Denmark, EuropeLeave a comment

It’s okay. No chicken pox were had. But of polka dots and chickens, there were many. I’ll get to that later.

Tuesday of this week, Jackson and I finally managed to make it to Malmö, Sweden to investigate the land of his ancestors. We wore our matching Van Gogh socks from France:

Lots of cool architecture

And giant lamps (Jackson for size)

Malmö City Hall

Sankt Petri Kirke (St. Peter’s Church)

The Turning Torso office building in the distance, usually a tiny speck on the coastline visible from Copenhagen

Malmöhus Slot (ruinous castle)

At the end of the night, we found this charming little cafe cluttered with mismatched and second-hand chairs and sofas: Café Alé

We got gingerbread cheesecake, orange-cinnamon rice pudding, and hot chocolate, as per usual. The whole bill was about the price of an average hot chocolate in Copenhagen. Ha!

When we got back to Copenhagen, we did a little Christmas shopping:

And listened to some ukelele music being played by some boy from Los Angeles in Gamel Torv:

Then we went to Charlie Scott’s, the little jazz bar I meant to become a regular at, but never got the chance. Finally, I sat down and had a real drink while listening to some beautiful bass and jazz clarinet!

My first Irish Coffee. I couldn’t finish it. I tried so hard.

Jackson and I were the youngest ones in the room by about thirty years.

Wednesday: Sorry for the blur, but you just have to see the decorations one of our bus drivers put up!

Literally the cutest. She was also wearing a Santa hat, and there was a stocking hanging in every window.

We went to Our Savior’s Church in Copenhagen because I’ve been wanting to climb that beautiful spire for months, but it was closed because of the rain and the slick steps…. ):

Still pretty, though, and we got to witness some musicians putting on a performance for these youngsters, who quickly became tired, sprawled out on the floor at our feet, and began petting each other on the head:

All of the kids in Denmark wear full snow suits, despite the lack of snow. It’s great.

To make up for Jackson’s tower-less-ness views of Copenhagen, we ran over to the Round Tower for my third time:

At least the view never gets old.

Check out these find-and-label charts they put up:

Can you see how they correspond? So neat!

Then I shipped Jackson off to the Netherlands so I could go on my last study tour with my core course, all the way to Tre Kroner and the Munksøgård eco village, home to chickens and those with green thumbs:

We toured a building made entirely of straw, un-fired clay bricks made from the ground under our feet, and logs from the surrounding forests:

But the best part was the toilets:

These are instructions. The toilet (if you can tell from the picture) is actually divided into two sections, and you have to be careful about where you put your shit (our guide’s words, not mine!) Twice a year, they fertilize their fields with all the urine. Craaaaaaazy stuff, man.

A trip to the Bastard Cafe, a board game bar in Copenhagen, followed, and I came close to winning Catan. I also got this:

Hot chocolate…. Yummm… (Hot chocolate and hot cocoa are two very different things in Europe. Cocoa is what we are used to in the States, where chocolate powder is mixed into milk/water/cream. But hot chocolate is a glass a hot milk with chocolate chips or chunks on the bottom that have to be stirred in. The result is a suspended chocolatey goodness, and the last few sips are always pure chocolate rather than the powdery dregs of “hot cocoa.”)

We then ate dinner at “Rub and Stub,” a volunteer-run restaurant which uses donations and leftover foods from other restaurants and food banks to make all of their dishes. Therefore, the menu changes every day, and you never know what you’ll get! (The name could be better, though. It frankly just reminds me of putting out a cigarette.) Our class was unfortunately lectured because four plates were thrown out due to confusion on everybody’s dietary restrictions, and food waste is the worst enemy of the restaurant. Embarrassing, I must say.

I’ve also discovered I can tolerate Rose Wine:

I finished the whole thing, though it was a lot fuller than a normal glass of wine when it first arrived, quite dauntingly.

WOW SORRY FOR THE LONG POST. I just have so many pictures I want to share! Last snippet! (It’s long, but mostly pictures.)

I went to the Louisiana Museum with Sara yesterday to see the new Yayoi Kusama exhibit, the same artist who designed the crazy tulip sculptures that were at the train station in Lille, France:

Yes. Those things are supposed to look like penises. Kusama really appreciates nudity and freedom of the human body.

A lot of her work focuses on “infinity”

^ I think this one’s my favorite! The floor beyond the tiny platform where we stood was covered in thin layer of water to enhance the reflections, and apparently Maria fell in once! Tehe.

The sticker room: upon entering, a man handed us a sticker and let us put it wherever we wanted: the couch, the tables, the lamps, the cutlery lining the dining table, the ceiling if we could reach (I couldn’t). I put mine on the as-yet blank sign that read: “No stickers beyond this room.” Ha.

Playing the sticker piano!

The entire Louis Vuitton store once partnered with Kusama and painted the outside of its giant New York store. Insane.

We finished the night with this little oddity, some sort of modern sculpture that took up the whole room and was made up of giant fake ants, human body parts, some sort of neon gel fluid, fruit, and Plexiglas. Why…..?

Okay. Thanks for sticking with me through this post, if you made it this far! I’m off to walk the sunny streets of Copenhagen for a bit before hopping on my plane to Amsterdam! The last frontier. Can’t wait.

Venlig hilsen/ best regards/ vriendelijke groeten,

Lizzy-wa

December 4, 2015 – Det var Mørkt i Dag, men Nu Se Jeg Sol

December 4, 2015June 30, 2023Posted in Denmark, EuropeLeave a comment

-translation: It was dark today, but Now I See the Sun

I’ve been sleeping in all week, accidentally missing one class, while the rest of my morning lessons were canceled. Because of this, it was extremely unsettling walking to the bus this morning in the pitch darkness in order to make my 7:44 S-tog (train). I tried to read on the train to appreciate my last few days of the commute, but I couldn’t keep my eyes open and resorted to a half-wakeful nap. The sun is peeking out of the clouds now, though! Maybe I’ll have a pretty view from the plane as I fly out to Amsterdam this afternoon.

Today was the last day of class, and it’s really hitting me hard. I also had a heart-to-heart with Sara Jensen last night about what I’ve learned, what I’ve loved, what I’ll miss, etc. It’s heart-breaking! Plus, the past few days of class have actually just been mini-feasts with each set of peers and teachers. In Danish, we even did a gift exchange, and for Creative Travel Writing, we walked to a buffet downtown! DIS, man. I’m telling you.

I told Sara last night that the thing I would miss most is travelling (and my host family, of course!) But it’s different, because missing people is one thing, while missing a way of life is something… bigger. I can talk to Sara and Maria on Facebook, and we may even visit each other in future years, but who knows when I will get another chance to come back to Europe. The likelihood that I will ever spend another four months here is next to nothing, though I’m thinking I’ll have to find a way to make it happen somehow.

I’ve just become so adventurous in the past year! I feel like I can do anything, tackle any challenge, take on big changes, throw out all my material possessions (I won’t, but I could!), and start a new life, because that is basically what I’ve done in the past few months.

In just sixteen short weeks, I’ve explored major cities in TEN different countries:

Denmark: Copenhagen, Birkerød, Allerød, Hillerød, Roskilde, Helsingør
Germany: Hamburg
Sweden: Stockholm, Malmö
Italy: Rome
Iceland: Reykjavik
France: Paris, Lille
Norway: Trondheim
UK: London
Belgium: Brussels
Netherlands: Amsterdam, Leiden *soon to be completed

IS THAT INSANE, OR IS THAT INSANE?! I also have a passport stamp from Toronto, Canada, but I don’t think that one counts since I didn’t leave the airport. (Same with Frankfurt, Germany on the way home.)

I have now been to more countries than I have been to states in the US. (Twelve countries and nine states if you count D.C.) I just can’t wrap my head around this. I have always felt so unworldly and jealous of those who had the opportunities to explore other lands, my mom included. Now, off nothing more than a whim and a strange, misguided determination, I have become one of the “Been-tos.” This is a term from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel Americanah, and it is used to represent a club of people who have returned to Nigeria after travelling and living abroad. They meet-up every couple of weeks to discuss the outside world and all the bores and dullness of home. “Ugh. I’ve been-to Pennsylvania, and the food there was so much better…” “Have you been-to London? Art there was so much more prevalent.” etc. I feel like I’ll need to start one of these clubs of my own, or I’ll go mad keeping it all inside me! A completely normal conversation to have with a classmate here follows this basic pattern:

“Did you go anywhere last week, or did you just stay in Copenhagen?”

“Oh, I went to Rome and Iceland. It was amazing! You have to go to Iceland if you get the chance.”

“Oh my gosh, I’m actually meeting a friend there next weekend! It’s one of the girls I went to Prague, Vienna, and Budapest with a few weeks ago. I’m so excited.”

…

….

……………………….

Seriously?! How is that even real life?! Sorry. I know this post is scattered and rant-ish, but I’m basically just spilling out random thoughts about my semester because I can’t come to terms with it being over.

The title of this post is reflective of my mood as well as the weather, though. For the past couple weeks, I’ve been really sad about leaving Europe, doing my best not to think about it and explore as much as possible before going home. But the more I think about it, the more excited I get about coming home to Christmas. It will be so great to cuddle up on the couch with my dog and watch The 25 Days of Christmas on ABC Family (provided we haven’t changed cable deals again?) and bake Christmas cookies with my mom. I’ll visit all my friends at school who have been having way too much fun without me, and I’ll get to finally see my sister’s dorm room in person, not just over Skype or Viber. I’ll celebrate missed birthdays and dole out souvenirs. I’ll have my first legal drink in the States, as long as someone else pays. (I’m still a stickler. Give me the free water!) I have plans to force my brother into re-teaching me Munchkin and bragging to my dad about my successful turkey-roasting experience. I’LL WRAP MY PRESENTS AND THE UNDERSIDE OF THE TREE WILL BE BEAUTIFUL. That’s what I’m most looking forward to, though I am worried about how well my things will fit in my suitcases under the weight limit.

*sigh. Talk about bittersweet. Like this chocolate I’m eating.

I’ll also miss Danish. It has been positively amazing and eye-opening to study a language while being surrounded by it. I’m sad to leave though, because I am just now getting the hang of it! The Danish language has been my greatest cultural connection to Denmark, and it has made me feel most at home in Europe. Less conspicuously American and more of a shy Scandinavian. When I go home, there will be no hiding where I’m from!

Okay. I’m distracted by my chocolate now and can think of nothing else deep to say, so I guess I’ll end it here. Sorry for the anti-climax.

Venlig hilsen/ best regards,

Lizzy-wa

November 30, 2015 – Birthday Weekend

November 30, 2015June 30, 2023Posted in Europe, FranceLeave a comment

Helloooo, world! I write to you from the Charleroi Airport in Southern Belgium, and I have just completed a very relaxing, very unexpected, very off-the-cuff weekend with The Significant Other.

Friday after class, Jackson and I met up with Brian from UW and NTNU to explore some last-minute Copenhagen sites before the three of us caught our various flights. We met at good old Amalienborg, and I FINALLY got to go inside the Marble Church. It’s beautiful from the front, and I’ve taken about a million different pictures, all more or less exactly the same as the one my mom gave me the day before I left for Denmark that was taken a little over twenty-one years ago. So neat. Every time I have tried to go inside, though, time has been non-permitting or the church has been closed for some reason or another. But not today! Or Friday. It is possibly closed today. I would not know, as I am in Belgium.

Then we ran over to Nyhavn and had some espresso/ ice cream before grabbing some bagel dinner at Bagel Me, and off we went! Brian to Trondheim to take a final (good luck, Brian!) and Jackson and I to Charleroi.

This trip was all Jackson’s idea, spurred by a tiny hipster concert happening somewhere in Northern France (spoiler: we didn’t actually get to the concert), so I duly left all arrangements to him. He booked the flights and the housing and he was in charge of all planning. I was interested to see how it would go.

This is how it started.

I was not surprised to learn that his idea of “planning” was really to “not plan.” Ha. We landed at 10:25pm and ran to catch a bus that left at 11, but we had to go on a mad goose chase for bus tickets that ended up costing about $25 more than if I had purchased them online ahead of time like I wanted to. *sigh. We didn’t get to Lille, France until around one, and it took us about half an hour to figure out how to get into our airbnb apartment, which ended up being a kind of shabby college dorm with a no oven, a tiny shower, a tiny TV, and a great view. Plus, it was right next to the train station, so that made walking in the cold and rain less horrible. Sleep ensued.

Here’s some art in front of the train station

And our view of the park below

Oh, I almost forgot. Check out this amazing airport faucet. As per the instructions, I placed my hands under the center to wash, and then spread my hands to the wings to dry, upon which all of the bubbles and remaining water in the sink sprayed up in a magnificent fountain to cover me, the mirror, and the lady to my right. ‘Twas embarrassing.

We didn’t wake up until around eleven, which seems to be my natural wake-up hour after a late night of travel. It took a while to gather our energies, shower, and get our bearings, so we didn’t actually leave the building until one. Then off to explore Lille! (Or what little of Lille there was, in our minds. We were expecting something along the lines of a small village inhabited with nothing but cafes and huts.)

We were pleasantly surprised to find the city absolutely bustling with people, history, food, markets, lights, architecture, and non-smallness. Lille is not little. Do not be fooled.

We had also landed in the middle of a weeks-long arts festival, so the streets were adorned with gigantic statues and advertisements for various concerts, performances, and museums were plastered to every surface. We found a screaming student deal– five euros for a sandwich, a Coke, and a… UGH! It was this delicious, flaky pastry that was long and rectangular, filled with chocolate chips and possibly marzipan, and it started with a “b,” and I can’t remember what it is called. But it was delicious. Of that, I have no doubt. Here’s a picture:

We brought our lunch on a little tour of Lille, starting with the magnificent Paroisse Saint Maurice chathedral about a block away.

The selection at Paul’s, including “Petit Pauls” up on the top, complete with chocolate shoes and hats. (:

The cathedral from the back

From the inside

From the front! My phone was too small to capture it in its entirety

Then off the the Porte de Paris, a large arch-like structure in the middle of a traffic circle, similar to the Arc de Triumph set-up in Paris (or so I’ve heard, seeing as I missed that little sight while I was there).

And the gardens surrounding the structure

Right next to this was City Hall and the Hotel de Ville Belfry, which people are normally allowed to climb to gain a view of the city from above. But alas, it was closed! Hmph. We made our way to one of the most subtly quirky parks I’ve ever seen, fenced in on all sides by red, with built-in bubble benches facing both in and out:

Jackson tried his hand at steering a London double-decker:

And we ate our lunch on the train:

Crap. I didn’t get a good picture of the whole play structure, but one part consisted of several train cars, including the front, a dining car, and a caboose. We ate in the dining car, of course, and it had a perfect little table in the middle of the two benches.

There were also motorcycles. This place was hip.

Afterwards, we stumbled into Palais des Beaux-Arts, a beautiful museum that supplied admission, coat check, and iPhones with audio guides for a mere four euros.

My favorite piece was this wall of Laughing Cow Cheese labels, which was titled On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life. Yes, that is the entire title of Charles Darwin’s most famous essay. So strange. So strange. The wall held frame after frame of labels from every country, in every language over several decades and was supposed to reflect the strength of consumerism and capitalism. Sheesh.

Here are the cows.

View from the lobby

The square outside the museum

The museum itself

Then, CHRISTMAS MARKETS:

So much shopping was had. One thing I am going to really, really miss about Europe is the abundance of pedestrian-only shopping streets in place of gargantuan indoor malls. There’s just something special about hurrying about in your winter coat (or your host sister’s winter coat) before ducking into a store that looks promising, only to pop back out again minutes later to brave the cold and find another target.

Since the Ferris wheel inside Tivoli was rather small, and the one in the middle of Gammel Torv near the DIS campus was about nine dollars a person, we decided to hop on the giant wheel in the middle of one of the Lille Christmas markets. ZERO REGRETS.

The wheel

Our tokens

An alternative view of both the Wheel and Jackson’s nose

The market from our basket

The streets below

Another Christmas market off in the distance

It went so high, and because we sat on the same side of the basket, we were tilted over slightly, threatening to spill out into the lights and bustling ants below us. The view from the top was gorgeous, and we could see the whole city.

We kept repeating to ourselves how much better the wheel was than climbing the City Hall tower: cheaper, no actual climbing necessary, and an endless flow of Christmas music wafted its way up to us amidst the happy chatter of market shopping. It was probably the happiest point of my weekend.

From the top of the tower, we glimpsed the inside of a French bookstore on the fifth floor of a building lining the square, so we made our way over after disembarking. The thing was huge!

Unfortunately, the English section was rather small. I did find one book that peaked my interests, but I’ll save it for when I’m back in the states and all books don’t cost upward of fifteen dollars:

That night back in our room, we made art, inspired by the French culture around us:

Boom.

Also, just look at this beautiful fountain outside our stay:

In the morning, we ran to a cafe for breakfast before packing our bags and catching a train to Brussels:

We ordered a “hot chocolate,” and we were delivered this hot milk with a huge glob of melted chocolate in the bottom that we had to stir in. SO GOOD.

Then some last-minute sights:

The icon of the arts festival, about twenty feet tall

Some more figures a little way down the street

Towers!

Towers + Christmas = happiness

Those tulip sculptures again, coupled with some strange architecture

Thirty minutes later: Hello, Brussels. What did we get ourselves into? We stepped out of Brussels-Midi Station into a cacophony of chaos, noise, haggling, wind, and rain. A gargantuan weekend market was taking place, and we dove right in. Food, clothes, comforters, scarves, bags, fresh fruit, fresh meat, fresh herbs, fresh vegetables, hot ethnic food, Belgian waffles, you name it. I settled for a sweater, and we got a waffle from a waffle truck, because those are a thing in Belgium.

Everything was so fresh and colorful. I felt like I was in an Indian or Indonesian market rather than a market in the middle of a Western, Northern European country. It was so strange. Why don’t we have things like this everywhere? We got stuck in there for nearly an hour just because it was so huge.

This blurry man was trying to sell a pineapple.

I then bellowed the meaning of life to all those who cared to listen:

Just kidding. It was an act of silent protest.

Both Lille and Brussels were on high-alert because of the Paris attacks, posting armed soldiers and guards near every main pedestrian street and large shopping stores, malls, and buildings. Our bags were checked every time we entered a building that wasn’t a cafe, and we saw lots of these:

Check out the recycling in Brussels:

Tehe.

And a pretty square:

We eventually found our way to the peeing statue, though by accident:

It’s called Manneken Pis, and much like the Little Mermaid, the most famous icon of Copenhagen, Manneken Pis is underwhelmingly small and rather insignificantly-placed.

This led us to one of Brussel’s main shopping streets, thank goodness. All was alive with tourist shops, waffle cafes, and chocolate. NO COMPLAINTS, HERE.

In the town square, or Grote Markt:

We also ran into the Brussels Climate March, several hundred people banging drums and chanting in French about climate change. Pretty cool stuff, since I probably wouldn’t have made my way into town to see the one I missed in Copenhagen.

We only had four hours in Brussels, so the last hour was a mad, sweaty dash. We found a very Pantheon-like building which turned out to be the Brussels stock exchange:

And the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula:

And a park:

And this park was flanked by the Royal Palace:

Gotta get out that Pocket Constitution.

Some more artsy shots on our way back to Brussels Central Station:

And in a few hours, we made it home to this:

My host family designed these adorable mice of the four of us at a little market at our town library for my birthday present. THE CUTEST.

Oh yeah, and I’m twenty-one now. How did that happen? I don’t feel any different, but that sure was an amazing birthday. Three countries in one day? I’ll take it. Thanks, Jackson, for an amazing birthday weekend! And thank you to everybody else who wished me a special day! Your wish was granted. (: I am going to miss French, though. It’s so sing-songy and lovely sounding when the shopkeepers and cashiers say “bonjour,” and “au revoir!” Back to “hej” and “tak,” for me!

Venlig hilsen/ best regards,

Lizzy-wa

November 27, 2015 – I’m Practically a Dane at this Point, and Happy Thanksgiving!

November 27, 2015June 30, 2023Posted in Denmark, EuropeLeave a comment

It’s true. I may still find it an absolute pain to type English on Danish keyboards (though admittedly it is mountains easier to type in Danish on Danish keyboards… no Google-copy-pasting the æ, ø, and å), but I feel quite at home here. Crazy that I will be going Home home in just TWO WEEKS AND A FEW HOURS. GET READY, AMERICA.

The reason I am in such a jittery and CAPITAL mood is that I just finished my oral Danish exam. Man. I was nervous as a cockroach. (Assuming those things are nervous.) I was second out of the class, and we had to have a conversation in Danish with our teacher while another Danish teacher sat taking notes while simultaneously recording our conversation. Gah!!! I’ve been mumbling to myself all morning, and my host dad Jesper and host sister Maria were quizzing me over breakfast. (Hvordan har du i dag? … Godt, men jeg er træat, fordi i går, holde jeg fest.) Jesper, at least, said he was impressed by my learning as much as I have without them speaking Danish around me at home. I am quite impressed, as well, let me tell you. I’m nervous, though, because I just realized that in the heat of the moment, I forgot to use any advanced vocabulary and sentence structures. I was just trying to have a natural conversation!!!!! Ugh… I’m really sad about it, but I’m hoping my fluency and conversational attitude made up for it. Cross your fingers.

Earlier this week, I was actually buying Maria a birthday present at a little jewelry boutique and had the longest and first real Danish conversation ever with a real Dane in a real Context and it made me real Happy. Normally, Danes hear my poor Danish pronunciations and immediately switch to English, despite my best efforts to practice out in the real world. This time, however, I was the only person in the store, and I guess the lady must have either just been really nice or really wanted to sell me something. Either way, she succeeded! At both! We talked about how I was getting something for my sister’s birthday (min søsters fødselsdag), what I was looking for, what color (guld, sølv). It was actually fantastic, and I was in a state of euphoria the whole time. I’m pretty sure my eyes were about as wide as my face would allow for the greater part of the conversation, but she never switched to English. Not once! My Danish failed me when I finally decided on a necklace (uh….. that one…). I kicked myself internally, but she pretended not to notice. Then as she was ringing me up, she said, “Danish is hard, huh?” (But in Danish of course. I just can’t remember her exact phrasing.) She is basically my new bestie. I was failed yet again when she said, Hav an god dag, and I forgot how to say, “You too.” So I did the next best thing and ran away. Baby steps. Baby steps.

Alrighty. Current events. Maria’s birthday was on Tuesday, so she’s a whopping seventeen!!! Can’t believe she’s younger than my brother. That night, instead of joining her birthday dinner, though, I had another Scan|Design event: Thanksgiving dinner! ‘Twas delicious and sustainable and local and I was way too full by the time I got home at midnight. Those Danes really like to take their time at dinner parties, let me tell you. The restaurant was called MadMad MadBodega. I originally thought they were crazy for using the same word three times, with some sort of restaurant stutter, but Tessa enlightened me and we were informed that two of the “Mad”s are actually Mads, which means “food” in Danish. Clever little buggers. Unfortunately, I just discovered that I have not a single picture from the event. We traded our coats for drinks as we walked in the door, and I left my phone in my pocket! You’ll just have to imagine the deliciousness I guess.

I found another alcohol I liked, too. Some sort of pink Champagne cousin. And we had to participate in a Thanksgiving trivia to decide who got to break the wish bones. There were two, and my team didn’t win either!

On Wednesday, Jackson and I had quite the adventures in København. First, we went on a field study with my European Art class to see a Japanese art exhibit at the Danish Design Museum. My teacher introduced him to the whole class and kept trying to get him to elaborate on his vast Japanese cultural knowledge.

I found this gem out in the lobby. The chair was cool, too.

Then we went on a field study with my Danish class. We watched “The Royal Affair,” a fantastic Danish movie about… a royal affair which took place between the Danish queen and the king’s personal physician some two hundred years ago. Apparently some of the affair took place about a ten minutes’ walk from my home in Birkerød at a little hunting cabin! Highly recommend the movie with subtitles!!! Afterwards, we had a tour of the Royal Stables and the reception rooms of Christiansborg Slot, conducted by none other than my Royalty teacher Stephen. Oh, Stephen…

The castle

One of the royal horses! They liked me. And they’re a special Portuguese breed which are born black and turn whiter with age to become more pure and noble. #knowledge

Thrones from the nineteenth century, I believe?

Her majesty the Queen with the Royal silver lions

Okay I thought this part was the coolest. The great hall of Christiansborg is lined with tapestries that were made about fifteen years ago. Normally I find tapestries horribly dull and boring, not least because of their lacking color schemes and solemn themes. But these guys! Wow. So modern and colorful and artsy! I love it! This one is actually depicting the family and characters involved in the Royal Affair!!!

To wrap up the night, we got some Danish pølsers and headed to Tivoli!

I gotta use up that silly season pass I bought, after all. It was fantastic. Tivoli is about a thousand times better when you do the rides. They are intensely ridiculous. We stayed away from the big coaster, because I couldn’t handle the loop-de-loops after all the other spinny and stomach-turning rides we went on. Right off the bat, we tried the ride I’ve been eyeing all year: one of those big swings, but it rises up to about the height of an Extreme Scream. Fifteen or twenty stories, maybe? I thought it would just offer a calm view of the park, but I was wrong. That swing was absolute madness. Madness. Madness. MadMad Madness. It was like the Extreme Scream except that instead of a single drop, we were enduring an endless whirlpool in mid-air, with no clue as to when it would stop, and it was raining, so I felt exactly as I’m sure Harry Potter felt during that one really nasty Quidditch match in his third year of school. The brooms helped, too:

Tehe. Just kidding. Those brooms were there for Halloween, and I stole this picture from Tessa went we went about a month ago. For the Christmas season, the chairs were just adorned with lights! And terror!

There were lots of other rides, including Jackson’s supposed first Ferris Wheel, a children’s carousel (the ride operator got quite the kick out of Jackson), and a water boat game where we had to compete to laser-shoot a bunch of light targets on our journey through a gold and diamond mine. At one point, there was a waterfall in the middle of our path, and they hadn’t warned us, and I had my book and phone with me! This was the result:

It was actually just a trick waterfall, and it turned off right before we went under. Those sneaky Danes…

Thursday was Thanksgiving, and I somehow landed the job as hostess. And guess what? WE COOKED A TURKEY. A REAL LIVE (not live. it was dead.) TURKEY. FROM FRANCE. The cleaning consisted mostly of me reading from the internet and yelling at Jackson while he responded with questions such as, “What are the giblets? Where? Where are they supposed to be? Which side is the head? There is no inside! Oh, these? Woah, what’s this?” It was pretty great. And it tasted great, too.

That’s my man… (He gave up and let one of the moms cut the turkey after he got past the drumstick.)

We had Mikayla and Tonia’s host families over too, and we organized it potluck-style. There were also four pies. Pure insanity, I tell you. And only two champagne glasses were broken! And I only broke one of them! Yay!

The night was actually such a success. We should have taken a group picture, but I didn’t think of it until just now! And Maria had to miss because of work. I was sad, but she was pretty excited for leftovers when she got home.

I made that Apple pie! Crust from scratch, of course!

I have one more class today, and then I’m going to run home, pack, bring Jackson back to Copenhagen, hang out with Brian from UW who is studying at NTNU with Jackson who is here right now, fly to Belgium, take a train to Lille, France, and sleep. Wow. Here we go….

Venlig hilsen/ best regards,

Lizzy-wa

November 23, 2015 – London!

November 23, 2015June 30, 2023Posted in Europe, UK + Ireland2 Comments

What a weekend. So busy. So stressful. So sightseeing. I’ll admit, London was pretty and clean and the food was good and there were a lot of fun surprises, but the transportation was just the worst. Very hard to figure out the best deal and the best times to do things. I was a mess. Thank goodness Jackson put up with me for the most part. I know I wouldn’t have!

My favorite part was Saturday afternoon and evening. We saw the London Eye, a Jamaican stunt group nearby who used a little girl as a prop (scary), walked over one cool bridge after another, saw Big Ben (okay technically not – apparently Big Ben is the name of the actual bell inside the clock tower, not the clock or the tower itself, and we did not see the actual bell, so I guess we didn’t really see Big Ben!), wandered to Westminster Abbey on accident, found what we thought was St. Paul’s Cathedral (it wasn’t) and made our way to Buckingham Palace. All this just to make the meeting point for a free walking tour. But we gave up about five minutes away and decided to take our time to the palace.

This is the best I could do for a picture with the Buckingham Palace guards. Is that good enough, Mama?

Then the best part: the metro stop for Buckingham Palace was plastered with signs and arrows to a Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. We didn’t think much of it, but I thought it sounded Christmas-y and interesting, maybe a Christmas market or something, and we wandered over.

Holy guacamole, Batman. This place was rad. It actually was an entire winter wonderland carnival-fair thing,with rides and shops and lights and Christmas trees and fair food and OH GOSH JUST SO AMAZING. About ten steps into the park, we bought a roasted duck wrap. Best. Thing. Ever. We wandered and oohed and awed and Jackson really wanted to go on a ride, but they were £6 each, which is about $9, which very nearly qualifies as robbery. So we just bought more food instead. Fudge and a bratwurst. We are classy. We really wanted to check out the circus they had (with a full circus tent!) but we had reservations for late-afternoon tea, so we made our way out.

(we bought some)

This was a slow-moving carousel for drunk people!!!

The rough life of not being followed around by a personal photographer but being too embarrassed to ask a stranger to take this picture

Tea was equally wonderful, though admittedly neither of us had tea, and the atmosphere was not very tea-like. Rather, it was a classy little Indian type restaurant, and I had a mango chilli cocktail. Whoops. (Finally, I have found a drink I like. It was the first full drink of something I have managed to finish without wincing or choking or giving up.) Jackson had a grilled lamb burger and cider, and I got the three course set dinner: watermelon quinoa salad, super spicey tilapia, and chocolate mousse with caramelized bananas. It was a success. And we had a special couple’s table out to the side. Probably one of the more romantic dates we’ve had!

Lastly, we explored a gigantic bookstore in search for a novel written by my Creative Travel Writing teacher. It was called Waterstones and it was wonderful, though sadly, they did not have her book. Ugh. I will have to continue my search, because I want her to sign it before I fly back to Seattle!

(This isn’t the book my teacher wrote. It’s just an adorable one that has a positively hideous cover in the US version. Ugh.)

So yes. That was the best part, in my opinion. We did other things too, though. All the sights and sounds of London. A double decker bus tour. The London Underground. The London Overground. Oh! And this:

I am a Ravenclaw, and I prefer to leap my way to Hogwarts, thank you very much! (The print was absurdly expensive, but Jackson only managed to capture a blurred landing of my jump, so what choice did I have?) It was pretty hilarious. They provided the school scarves for the photo, and then they had a guy standing there who threw the scarf up so it looked like you were running through the wall. Ha!

Our hostel was great, too. Free breakfast, and it was a lot cozier than the Generator hostels I’ve been staying in, though it was a ways out of the city.

We didn’t make it to any museums, but er did that on purpose to not have a repeat of our much-too-indoors Paris experience. In hind sight, Paris had much better weather, and Jackson and I both nearly lost a few fingers and toes on the open-top bus, but eh. It was fun! What more a you want? (besides sun and a possible ten degree increase in temperature?)

OH AND IT SNOWED ON SATURDAY.

Okay. Now for some pictures I forgot to talk about:

The interior decoration of King’s Cross

Wand shop at Platform 9 3/4

The Ravenclaw Diadem, which you could purchase for just a few thousand pounds

The Tri Wizard Cup!!!

A pretty clock tower. Can’t remember which one. Ooops…

King’s Cross from the outside

The royal horse guard

Jackson and a lion in Trafalgar Square

A British post box. So cute.

Jackson geeking over Sherlock

The London Underground! We wanted to find 221B Baker Street (Sherlock’s address) but didn’t have time during our short stay. We barely made our plane, if I’m honest.

St.Paul’s Cathedral

When we finally made it onto our $75 tour bus ride

A view of The Shard and The Egg! (London has quite some eccentric architecture.)

The Tower Bridge!

The London Dungeon: sounded fun, but not worth forty dollars at the rate we were going…

The Shard! And The Jackson!

Another strange building

About to cross the Tower Bridge

Check. Out. That. View. Man.

The Tower of London! The caster which housed King Henry VIII. Gosh, I love that guy.

Toasting with some proper medieval goblets

Oh, and we went to Harrods! It was insane, and I bought Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

The seats on the Underground

My view as we left London! So long! I probably won’t miss you!

Well, I’m off to study for my Danish final tomorrow!!!! Goodnight!

Venlig hilsen/ best regards/ cheers!

Lizzy-wa

November 20, 2015 – The Week Before London

November 23, 2015June 30, 2023Posted in Denmark, Europe, UK + Ireland2 Comments

Golly. Add a few points to the stresses of London. After missing that first bus, I purchased tickets for the next one, but the seats were given on a first-come-first-seated basis, regardless of what our tickets said, so I wasn’t seated until the next bus. When I finally got off, it turned out the stop was actually a FORTY MINUTE WALK away from my hostel (in the cold, unfamiliar, dark-as-night-because-uhm-it-kind-of-was-night territory of the outskirts of London). Plus, I was starving. Luckily, the poorly-placed bus stop was conveniently placed with regard to a reasonably-priced Asian restaurant. I’m talking no more than twelve steps. It was glorious. Plus, they always get Chinese take-out in the British movies, so it felt appropriately cultural.

Now I’m in the hostel waiting for Jackson, because he was supposed to arrive about two hours ago, and he still isn’t here, and I’m trying to simultaneously distract myself and keep myself awake. Here’s hoping it works and that he arrives soon…

Okay. I’m backtracking now all the way to last Monday the 16th. I had a busy week before I went to London, and I never got a chance to talk about it! So I’m taking a break, and I’ll tell you about London in the next post. Kay?

I think Monday was normal, as far as I can remember. I probably did lots of homework and made plans to do other things that didn’t happen. A nap may have also taken place.

Tuesday, however, was a whole bundle of fun. No sarcasm. Denae invited the homestay network over for a nondescript, celebratory dinner, which was kind of a Thanksgiving slash Danish Christmas slash Reunite After That First Homestay Event Event. It was great and delicious. I’ve come to really appreciate just how hard it is to stay in touch with people who are not already a part of your life for some other reason (ie: classes in common, same commute, same favorite st–woah. wordpress in London just underlined “favorite” with the red squiggle that means it’s spelled incorrectly, because they spell it “favourite.” this is great. wow. their keyboards are also different. the quote sign is where the @ sign should be. struggles.– Right. Same favorite study spot, etc.) Therefore, it was great to see some other Allerød and Birkerød people again.

The dinner was delicious, and the table was arranged so classily (my word)! Even the napkins were folded differently for each person.We had turkey, beef, roasted carrots and beets, scalloped potatoes, warm bread, gravy, salad…. Yes. ‘Twas a good time. And for dessert, we had ris a la mande, a traditional Christmas Danish dessert with a French name. It’s a rice pudding (the good kind) with a bunch of chopped-up almonds, and the person who finds the one whole almond in the bowl (there were two since there were so many of us) is supposed to hide it until all of the pudding is gone, reveal their find, and then get a prize. The prize was an advent calendar!!! I was jealous, since I’ll be missing the first twelve days of my fantastic, customary truffle-filled advent calendar Mom bought from starbucks so many years ago. (Why does British wordpress also think “Mom” is spelled incorrectly?)

We also did a gift exchange. Super great idea. Everybody puts their wrapped gift in the middle of the table, and their are multiple cups with dice in them (one per cup). It’s a mad speed round of rolling and passing, and if you roll a six, you get a gift from the middle, regardless of whether you already have one. I managed to have four of the twelve gifts by the end. Huzzah! Round two is the same, except when you roll a six, you get to steal a gift–physically. You have to actually get up and grab whichever gift you want so the rolling and passing can continue uninterrupted. I had five gifts at one point and ended with two. Then the people with multiple gifts keep their favorite and dole out the rest to those without. I got fluffy socks. #winning.

Wednesday was my Ultimate Adventure Day. First I had a field study with Royalty in the Land of Equality. We showed up at Roskilde Cathedral around 9am and got a tour by our professor, the amazing Stephen. It was so much better than when I tried to peek in the last time I was in Roskilde! (Granted, a service was happening last time, so I couldn’t do much exploring.)

The grave of the most recent king of Denmark, the father of the current Queen Margrethe II. He liked gardening and nature, so they broke tradition and put him outside the cathedral.

The inside!

A royal height chart, just like the one on my kitchen wall back home! It’s pretty hard to make out, but the very tallest one is Peter the Great. Tehe.

King Christian IV’s chapel, where he’s buried. The ceiling is painted with stars because he was very close to Tycho Brahe. Neat, huh?!

The pretty organ!

The three figures surrounding this tomb are known as the Little Mermaid’s sisters because they were created by the same sculptor.

Okay. This is where it gets weird. This is the model for the current queen’s chapel, where she will be buried. She and her husband, Prince Henrik, will actually be underground, but above them will be a set of steps, three pillars to represent Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, and a glass coffin/ oval thing with the silhouettes of the Queen and Prince. Creepy, if you ask me.

Afterward, Stephen took us to coffee at the same cafe that Jackson and I had tried out last time. I got ischokolade, hot chocolate with whipped cream and ice cream. HE-LLO.

More adventures ensued.

Certain that I would likely not venture to Roskilde again before the end of the semester (long journey), I seized my chance to explore the Viking Ship Museum. I learned a lot, too! Those crazy Danes found five ships form the 1000-1200s a few decades ago that had sunk to the bottom of this Viking blockade. They reconstructed the scraps, analyzed the crap out of them, and then rebuilt them from scratch. They tried to do it exactly like the Vikings, because again, the Danes are crazy. They used axes and tools and materials that the Vikings would have used. No modern machinery here. And after they had rebuilt these five giant sailing ships, some other crazy Danes went out and actually sailed them! To test the designing prowess of the Vikings, I guess. Seriously nuts.

The completed reconstructions

One of the original Viking ships (or what was left of it!)

Another angle of another ship

Me trying to not be lonely inside a model Viking ship. There was a giant shield and Viking costumes that I really wanted to pose with, but I was too embarrassed to ask anybody to photograph my single self.

Those red things are giant shields!

Just a typical Viking boat-constructing shed, where they were still at work creating another ship. Honestly, where do they find these rugged men who think it would be a good idea to act like Vikings and build gigantic sailing ships with axes and their own bare hands?

The sun had come out by this time, and I took my time to walk through the city a bit. I had nothing else planned that day, though I had dreams, certainly. I found myself in a fantastic little bookstore, grabbed a sample copy of a novel for free (in Danish), and convinced myself that I will get at least one novel in Danish before I return to the States. The covers are so cool, and that way I can brush up if ever I want to! (on Danish, that is)

A view of the Cathedral on my walk back to the station

Some pretty wreathes at the Roskilde Christmas market

Art in the town square

On the train home, I was debating whether I shouldn’t go the whole way and just go up to the Louisiana Museum by myself. I have been wanting to go back ever since I bought my season pass on my first visit, for goodness’ sake! But I was too tired and it was getting dark. I also really wanted to go to the ballet again (this time to see Swan Lake), but again with the tiredness. So I settled for going home to relax. I plopped down on my bed, opened– JACKSON IS FINALLY HERE AT THE HOSTEL. ONLY 2.25 HOURS AFTER HE SAID HE WOULD BE. I WASN’T WORRIED SICK OR ANYTHING. I’M FINE.– Right. So I got in bed and turned on my iPad, only to find an email from my core course teacher offering me free tickets to… The Danish Ballet. Performing Swan Lake. Wow. I had to go, obviously. I ate some food, packed a sandwich, and hopped on the train yet again.

Lights next to the metro station!

The ballet was strange. As per usual, it seems. The performance was not just Swan Lake. Oh, no, sir. They only performed the big meeting/tableau/showcasey scene, which lasts about 45 minutes. After intermission, the dancers came back on, sat in the raised orchestra pit, and performed a “choreographic concert.” This consisted of a sort of interplay between the dancers and this very complicated lecture given by a very old man that played every once in a while on a screen behind them. The “choreographer” was an American, and he sat at the conductor’s chair “conducting” the dancers to say and do the most ridiculous things sometimes. It was very interesting. Much more acting exercise than dance, if you ask me. It’s really hard to explain though, so I won’t try. But it was enjoyable, nonetheless. Can’t say no to free art!

I was tired as heck on Thursday, and sicker than before. My throat was throbbing, and I really, really, REALLY did not want to get out of bed, but I just HAD to go to the last day of my core class. We got clementines and cookies, at least. After that class, I had a three hour break, so I met up with some of the Iceland Gang for some studying (no studying occurred) coffee and hot chocolate. Prime choice.

Abbi and I explored some Christmas markets afterward!

“Everything is made of chocolate”

I thought I had taken the picture before Abbi made her way in, but I was wrong… So very wrong…

I raced back to Creative Travel Writing to hear a talk by a guest speaker, Nagieb Khaja. He’s an amazing Danish journalist who reports on extremely dangerous and active events and groups. He’s been embedded with the Taliban and Al Qaeda, he’s been to several different war zones, including Syria, and he has reported on the gang activities in Copenhagen. It was such an interesting and enlightening talk, and he linked the activities in Paris and the actions of IS all the way back to the first World War. He also kept asking us really serious questions about American military actions that we had no answers to. I asked him a question about objectivity in the kind of intense journalism he works with, and he went on to explain that staying objective and neutral is what keeps him safe when he is interviewing potentially dangerous people in highly tense situations. Very eye-opening.

Friday (sorry for so much stuff this week!) I had a field study with my Royalty class to the Amelienborg Museum. Our teacher Stephen works there as a curator of sorts, so he had an all-access pass for us. (Amelienborg is where the royal family lives, by the way!)

A view of the Marble Church from Amelienborg Square

The epitome of a (royal) man cave

A sort of Iron Throne!

Some pretty Christmas sights on my way to Danish (I was late).

Okay! I think that about covers it for my week before the London trip! London will be the next post. I am now back in Copenhagen. So yes. It is technically Monday the 23rd now, but I started it on the 20th! So there!

Venlig hilsen/ best regards/ cheers!

Lizzy-wa

November 20, 2015 – Good Week, Bad Air Experience

November 20, 2015June 30, 2023Posted in Europe, UK + IrelandLeave a comment

I feel like I’m in a video game! I’m on the metro to the airport so I can take off for London! Host sister Maria was supposed to go with me, but we could never quite work out the details, so I’m dragging along Jackson instead. Good thing, too, because Maria is sick as a dog. Poor thing. Except that I think she gave it to me and Jesper, too. Sara is the only one who hasn’t been sick all semester. She says that I apparently wear tooooo many clothes, so I do the opposite of not wearing enough and make my body weak and prone to illness. Whatever, man. I’m not gonna go running around in a sweater. I learned the coat lesson the hard way back in middle school. Thanks a lot, Dad. Apparently you are the reason for my sickness! According to Dr. Sara, of course. Not sure how reliable that source is, though.

This week has been quite a good one, actually! Very busy, but we’ll balanced, and I accomplished a lot. I was home for less than five total days, so I’m pretty impressed with all I did this week!

Even the airport is festive with the Christmas season! I love it.

What I don’t love is passport control and having my boarding in the farthest gate possible. We’re walking outside to climb airplane stairs again!

Okay. So far London is meh. Security is high and passport checks are a thing. My right ear wouldn’t pop and I almost cried on the descent. It felt like the right side of my head was exploding. Then when I landed, I blew my nose and everything starting spinning horribly fast and it was just a mess. Then the bus ticket guy was super super rude. Those dang Brits! Where are Hugh Grant and Colin Firth?! Plus, I was a procrastinating little twit (British word) and didn’t book my bus ahead of time into London, so now I’m sitting on the floor of the bus ticket center (no seats) waiting for the next one. And I’m hungry.

Okay. End rant. I’m in London. Jackson should arrive soon, though his plane was delayed half an hour. This will be an interesting 47 hours!

Venlig hilsen / best regards/ cheerio,

Lizzy-wa

November 11, 2015 – What is a Trondheim?

November 17, 2015June 30, 2023Posted in Europe, NorwayLeave a comment

Trondheim, my dear mother (and father), is a tiny little place that is forgotten by all, somewhere in the near-middle of Norway. It is the third largest city of Norway, but that really isn’t saying much, seeing as how Oslo is the only city that matters (kind of like how Reykjavik is the only real city in Iceland). No offense to Trondheim. But this was the first out-of-Denmark-non-tourist-site I’ve been to, and it was a little unnerving to be unable to find souvenirs!

Needless to say, because it was such a small, quiet, cold, rainy, dark town (sun sets around three pm), it was hard to get much done. Add that to the fact that I was tired (still am), and you get a full week of basically nothing. Mrp. I’m fine with it!

Nidaros Cathedral, built between 1070 (?!?!) and the 13oo’s, burned down in pieces during several fires, and reconstructed to its original fourteenth-century glory between 1869 and 1969. Crazy stuff. It was also built on the tomb of St. Olav. He is important. But I am not sure why.

View from the back

More pretty angles!

Old Town and the bridge that gives couples a year of good luck for every time they cross together- we only crossed twice. Whoops!

Some pretty river views near Old Town

Trondheim’s own little Nyhavn

Shopping district (Jackson experienced his very first shopping spree and has since been nerding-out over his new hip clothes. What a nerd.)

Okay. This obelisk has a cool story, to be continued after the next picture.

Apparently this is the track they use for summer skiing races. Because it is Noway and that is just what you do in the middle of downtown in Scandinavia, apparently.

My first European rainbow! Jackson had to head up to class, so I stayed downtown in search of a souvenir shop. I was unsuccessful, but I did find this little gem, a lot of rain, a lot of second-hand stores, and a sweater from Denmark that had a tandem bike stitched onto the back. I would have gotten it if it hadn’t been an extra large!

A dinner for champions, home-cooked by Uncle Ben. (The salad was all me.)

A hike up to the second campus in a rare bout of sunshine

The chocolate milk is actually insane in Trondheim.

A late-night walk along the river. Oh wait. Just kidding. It was actually about 4:15pm.

Another baby hike/walk on my last day. We spent most of our time watching a dog, four boys under the age of nine, and a dad try to kick a soccer ball back and forth on a hillside. Much falling occurred.

That sculpture thing again in the middle of downtown. So cool!

This is how Trondheim airport works. I felt like Madonna or something.

And then I flew home! But wait. I didn’t talk about the things we didn’t photograph:

On Thursday, we got together with Brian and Sofia from UW for a little reunion, and we ate at a Thai restaurant with those wonderful sunken tables before watching Spectre in the theaters. Norwegian movie theaters are even more expensive than those in the States, and you have to reserve seats ahead of time like in the actual theater. So strange.

On Saturday, I got to meet all of Jackson’s friends, the Dutchies and the Germans! (He only knows one Norwegian. Funny how that works.) We went to dinner in the city and came back for some good old-fashioned Catan, and I creamed them all. Jackson was my side-kick. But they were all super nice, and Koen, one of the Dutchies, is letting us stay in his Netherlands apartment when we visit in a few weeks! Yippee!!! Jackson’s roommates were also total sweethearts. Aranka (Belgian) is even part of a Charleston dance group at NTNU. And Yannick (German) is a mechanical engineer, just like yours truly. How can you ask for anything better?

Jackson’s little apartment/house is positively perfect for college living, and he pays a fraction of the price that I’ll have to pay for something much less wonderful once I get back to Seattle. Each room has a downstairs, a way-too-steep-and-would-probably-never-pass-safety-laws-in-Washington staircase, and a loft bedroom. However, all the houses look slightly distorted and short, despite their two stories, because the slope of the roof starts right after the first floor and makes a really steep triangle up to the sleeping area. Maximal use of space! Genius. Why do we not do these things?

But my favorite part of Trondheim was that everybody understood my Dorwegian. That is my personal rendition of Danish with some Norwegian flairs thrown in here and there. Seriously! It was amazing! I felt so cool and Nordic. In Denmark, even if I try to speak Danish, Danes will switch to English without hesitation. It’s disheartening and makes me doubt my Danish skills, and therefore I rarely put them to use (despite my Danish final which is apparently next week. *sigh). But in Trondheim, both in the city and on my flights with Norwegian, they responded in Norwegian every time! Twice, on the plane and in the store, a lady began talking to me in English, but when I responded in Dorwegian, they switched to Norwegian! IT WAS THE GREATEST.

Okay. I think that about sums up my Trondheim adventures. Oh, and I just realized I forgot to include a single picture on this post that contains my face or Jackson’s. So here you go:

Model status in the woods.

Venlig hilsen/ best regards/ Vennlig hilsen,

Lizzy-wa

November 17, 2015 – Rome, Past and Present

November 17, 2015June 30, 2023Posted in Europe, ItalyLeave a comment

Hello, there! Really quickly, I would like to look back a bit at some cute little Rome pictures that were recently delivered by my professor:

Just kidding. I will only post one, because the other is just a close-up. But aren’t we cute?! That’s the whole class. And some giant and old building behind us. (;

Even older:

Have I shown this picture before? I hope not. That would be embarrassing. It’s my core course smooshing together to fit down the steps of the narrowest street in Stockholm, Mårten Trotzigs alley. I miss my Swedish city!

Also, check out Copenhagen right now!

Setting up for the Christmas market in Gammeltorv! Color me excited. Imagine my shock Monday morning when I looked up from the many puddles to this beautiful view of a giant Ferris Wheel!

More Christmas decorations! Love. Love. Love.

Okay. I’ll continue with Trondheim on the next post. As a side note, the main photo for this post is a view from a typical 7-11 here. I tell ya, Europe is insane. There are 7-11s on every corner here, about as prevalent as Starbuckssss (not sure how many s’s to put) in Seattle. And McDonald’ssss in Paris has an entire bakery section that sells top-notch macaroons. What is life?

Venlig hilsen/ best regards/ arrivederci/ vänliga hälsningar/ ar revoir,

Lizzy-wa

November 14, 2015 – What Happened in Paris?

November 14, 2015June 30, 2023Posted in EuropeLeave a comment

This post was originally meant to be a recounting of my Paris adventures, but in light of the recent events, I thought that seemed a bit… distasteful. Instead, I would just like to reflect on the tragedy of the attacks and reassure everyone that I am safe, along with all of the other DIS students that have been in Paris this week and are still there now. In fact, I was supposed to be there on Friday night. I originally signed up for the Impressionism Paris course which included a study tour to the city during the second half of this week (possibly Thursday through Sunday?) They are all safe, but I can’t imagine the trauma they and their families have been experiencing. Thankfully, all of those close to me knew I was in Trondheim already. Jackson woke up this morning with a string of emails, texts, and messages inquiring of his whereabouts. He’s also safe! Just less informative on his travel itineraries, I guess.

My thoughts go out to all of the victims, witnesses, friends, and family members affected. The horror is unfathomable. It’s also unnerving that this past week, I’ve spent most of my time watching Sherlock (British criminal investigations, terror attacks, etc.), and The Bridge (Swedish/ Danish terror attacks, also fictional and focused on the investigations), and reading The 100-Year Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared, which brushes off deaths, war, and terror like nothing! I don’t really know what to say about the coincidence, but… It gets to me. And it reminds me of a quote from another book, Little Bee: “Horror in your country is something you take a dose of to remind yourself that you are not suffering from it.” It pains me that while I’ve been indulging in fictional horror and terror stories, others have been experiencing the real thing.

And not just in Paris. Wars are taking place all over the world. On a near-daily basis, I am reminded of the refugee crisis in Europe that is due largely to the conflicts in Syria. Everybody recognizes the horror, but nobody knows what to do with it.

I guess I don’t know what to do with it, either. I think what’s important right now is to remind ourselves of how fortunate we are, even in the smallest ways.

Thank goodness for the rains of Trondheim.

Best wishes to all.

Lizzy-wa