Julemåneden [Christmas Month: My last week in København]

Wow. I absolutely cannot believe that I am sitting at my completely empty desk in a completely empty room waiting to leave for the airport. My time in København went by so quickly, I want to rewind and go through it all again. Luckily, my experiences are not quite over, and I leave tonight to meet Kelsey in Salzburg, Austria and continue on for 2 weeks in Europe! I'll have to rally to get the energy to continue, and though parts of me really want to go home, especially since all of my friends are now at home [if they're not delayed in various airports because of the snow] but I know that traveling will be AMAZING.

My last week in Denmark was amazing. On Sunday, we had a birthday dinner for my friend Josh, who was on my trip to Rome. It was a nice way to see each other and say an early goodbye. It was also a nice celebration for him, since it was his 21st birthday. The next day, Monday, I had my one and only final from 3-5. After my final, I went to Bente's house for dinner. She lives about 20 minutes outside the city in a lovely suburban area. She cooked traditional Danish food for me, it was magnificent! I'm not quite sure what they were called in Danish, so I'll try and describe them in English. There were pickled cucumbers, and these hamburger type things, but without buns. Over the pseudo-hamburgers was sauteed onions, which was SO good. As a side dish, there were potatoes, with this delicious, special Danish sauce. The whole meal was absolutely fantastic and so filling. Bente even made dessert! We had Ris a la Mande, which is the rice pudding type thing, with almonds in it, &a warm cherry sauce over it. It was to die for good. Everything was absolutely delicious, so hopefully I'll be able to get the recipes. She also gave me the prettiest ornament from Georg Jensen. It's a beautiful gold heart that hangs on a red string, I love it! Hopefully I'll be able to come back to Denmark one day to visit her, or hopefully she'll come to New York!

The next day, Tuesday, I went with some of my close friends, Alex, Aubrey and Laura to the largest mall in Scandinavia. Funny how you go to a completely different continent, different culture &you still end up in a mall. It was only a 10 minute metro ride away, and we got to pass the Bella Center along the way which is where all of the Climate Conferences are happening. I've never seen so many people standing in such a long line in such freezing weather. But the mall was a great experience: I finally bought myself a pair of boots! A little late, since I couldn't send them home, but it's all good. After the mall, we decided that we would go to Christiania's Christmas market. Christiania is a part of Copenhagen that is very special...essentially, people are living there illegally. It's state owned property and people that live there don't pay house taxes or anything. However, it's more commonly known as the drug center...you can easily go there to get weed, or anything harder that you might want. Because of this, I hadn't yet been to Christiania, but every Dane I spoke to said that I must go. So after the mall, the 4 of us took the Metro to Christiania for their annual Christmas market. Walking into Christiania was a little sketchy, but then once you were in, it was like you were no longer in Denmark. It was honestly kind of like walking into a tent city on the lower east side of New York City. People were sitting around fires that were started in garbage cans to keep warm, and there were just booths around the edges of people selling things. They don't want people taking pictures, so I can't show you, but it was definitely different than any other part of Denmark I've seen thus far. The market itself was inside luckily, because at this point it had started to snow. We wandered around, but most of the things were kind of hippie-ish. I did buy a gorgeous pair of earrings though, that were handmade by the woman selling them, similar to the Made by Mara booth in the Union Square Markets. After shopping, I headed out to dinner with my group of friends from my core class. There are 7 of us, and it was so nice to just catch up and talk with friends. After dinner, we headed to karaoke, which always proves to be a fun time.

Wednesday was another jam packed day. Alex and I woke up early to catch a train to Malmö, Sweden. It's amazing that we can just take a train across the water to Sweden, don't need a passport and it didn't take more than an hour. Malmö is sort of just a much smaller version of Copenhagen, which makes sense, due to the fact that Denmark ruled Sweden for a long time, and they are close in proximity. It was lovely just walking around Malmö, and it even started snowing! Many people from Copenhagen head to Malmö to go shopping because it's not outrageously expensive to get there and the prices are exactly the same, but when compared to the US dollar, something that is 250 SEK versus 250 DKK is much cheaper. With the Swedish kroner you divide by 7, versus the Danish kroner you divide by 5. After walking around Malmö, we came back to Copenhagen to go to a "dinner bop," Christmas themed! We all went to Brittany's room, and it was a nice small gathering, with Brittany, Laura, Aubrey, Alex and myself. We tried to have everything red &green themed, and then have some latkes, but alas, that did not work out too well. The latkes ended up being a no-go, but we did have red &green peppers, as well as snap peas in our stirfry, so it was good. As a salad, we had spinach leaves, with dried cranberries &goat cheese: very green &red and very delicious! We also attempted to make the Ris a la Mande for dessert...it actually turned out pretty well! During dinner, it had begun to snow, so by the time we headed outside, Copenhagen was covered, and it stuck!! Both Brittany and Aubrey are from California, so they LOVED the snow. Ironically, we were headed to the Ice Bar, on the one night it decided to snow in Copenhagen. The Ice Bar is part of the Ice Hotel, but it is literally a bar that is all ice. All of the walls are ice, all the cups are ice, all the tables are ice, etc. You get these huge blue parkas to wear to keep you warm. We all went there, and had an amazing time, though it did get a tad chilly. After the Ice Bar, we headed to Mojo's Blues Bar to listen to some quality live music before heading home for the night in the snow.


Alex, Me, Aubrey &Laura at our Christmas dinner bop!


All 5 of us in our huge, warm blue parkas in the ice bar! As you can see, all the walls around us are completely made of ice, as are our cups.

Thursday we decided to sleep in a bit, and then Laura, Alex and I went to the Planetarium. I always forget how much I love Planetariums, Aquariums, Zoos, etc. But it was loads of fun, plus we got to see an IMAX movie, about the sea, and how global warming was affecting everything. It was cool to see how even the Planetarium related things to COP15, the environmental conference going on in Copenhagen my last 2 weeks here. After the Planetarium, Alex and I met up with our friends from our housing to go to a last final dinner at Hard Rock. It was nice to get everyone together for the last time.

Friday was really the last full day that most people had in Copenhagen, and was the day that DIS had their closing ceremony. I went to say goodbye to many of my friends, and my teachers, which was really sad. I got to say goodbye to all of my friends from my core class, which was so nice. Then, after the ceremony, Alex, Laura, Brittany and I all went out to our favorite restaurant, The Laundromat Cafe for dinner. Because Friday was most peoples last nights, my whole hall went out together Friday night. There's a night club across the street from my apartment, and it just so happened that one of our favorite singers, Medina, who is very popular in Sweden and Denmark was going to be there that night. So naturally, we all decided to go to the night club, La Hacienda, to see Medina. It was completely packed with people, both DIS students and Danes. After seeing Medina, we stayed for a bit more, but then headed back. At 5:30 AM, all 3 of my roommates left, which was sad, and also meant I was living in a huge, empty, quad by myself. But it was sad to say goodbye.


my group of friends from my core class at the DIS closing ceremony.

Yesterday, Saturday, was just spent packing and cleaning as was today. It's so surreal, that the whole semester is over. It flew by. I feel as though I just got to Copenhagen. I've never been good at goodbyes, and these were harder than usual, because it's not like you're just going to see them when you go back to school next semester. We're all spread out all over the country and you never really know when you'll see them again. Hopefully, though, we will all get to see each other again soon.

Now, I'm leaving tonight to meet Kelsey in Salzburg Austria, then Venice Italy, then Brussels, Belgium &finally London before heading home. I'm sure it'll be a great two weeks, with tons of new experiences! But for now, it's not hej hej Danmark, it's vi ses: it's not good-bye Denmark, it's see you later.

November through December...

Wow, where has all the time gone?! I don't even know. I have 2 days left in Copenhagen. It's so surreal. Unfortunately, I've had so much work that it's been hard updating my blog, so this will be a long update on everything since Rome, which is about a months worth of time.

So I had a lovely weekend after getting home from Rome to ease myself back into Copenhagen. On Monday evening, my Danish teacher invited my whole class over to her house for a "hygge" [a Danish word for cozy atmosphere] dinner. She made the traditional Christmas dinner which was duck, potatoes &a sauerkraut type thing. Surprisingly delicious, even the sauerkraut which I was not expecting. Then for dessert, she made us Ris a la Mande which is possibly my favorite Danish food ever. It's essentially a slightly vanilla-y rice pudding with chunks of almonds &then on top of that, you put heated cherry sauce. It is so savory &delicious. Something that I also noticed was that most Scandinavian countries have very white houses, with large windows to enhance the natural light, when they do get it, which isn't very often in the winter.

That Wednesday, my Developmental Psychopathology class took us to an Autistic School, which was actually amazing to see. It was fascinating to see how much our daily life activities could be altered to better benefit people with autism.

Then skip forward a week to Wednesday, Nov 25th, the day before Thanksgiving. Normally, I would expect me to get super homesick at this time because Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. However, Mom &B came to visit me in Copenhagen!!!! It was absolutely magnificent. They were here for 5 days, including Thanksgiving day. Of course, I don't have an oven or anything really to actually make a Thanksgiving dinner, so we took my friend Aubrey out to dinner. We went to the Carlsberg Glyptotech museum, which was amazing. It's the museum that houses Degas' statue of the little Ballerina girl. I've always loved Degas and it's been one of my life dreams to see this statue, so I finally got to see it, &it was such a great experience. Then I took them for lunch at The Laundromat Cafe...of course, it was delicious as usual! Later that night we went to Tivoli which had just opened with all of the hygge Christmas decorations. It was so beautiful.


me &b in Tivoli!

The next day we went to see Amalienborg, which is where the Queen lives, as well as the Marble Church directly across from Amalienborg. After the Marble Church we walked to the Round Tower, which was a great experience. Built by Christian IX, the Round Tower used to be an observatory and watch tower. You can walk up to the top of the tower and look out over the city of Copenhagen. Not only does it give you a great view, but it was nice because it was something that I hadn't yet done in Copenhagen. After spending some time up top, we headed to lunch at this cute little cafe/restaurant where B had her first alcoholic drink! :] Later that afternoon, we headed to the Jewish Museum in Denmark. A tiny little museum, but stock full of history. I won't go much into the detail, since a lot of it overlaps with a previous post, but it was fascinating, especially being able to see all of the old relics. Then comes the best part of the whole day. Grandma &Grandpa paid for us to have an amazingly delicious Italian dinner (tusind tak!! translation: a thousand thanks!) It was such good food, and it was nice to be with family, especially in Copenhagen.

The next day was a lot less hectic...we slept in and started our day at the Rosenborg Castle, which houses all of the Crown Jewels. Let me tell you...makes anything less than like, 5 carats look like a single grain of sand. It's pretty much ridiculous. It was really awesome being able to see the crown jewels though. After that, we walked along the water to get to the statue of Den Lille Havfrue, aka The Little Mermaid. The sun was actually out which is a first in Copenhagen, so even though it was chilly, it was still great. Of course, after all that walking, plus with Mom &B still being jetlagged, we decided that it was nap time. After our nap, we headed to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. It was an awesome night, and it was great being able to see The Little Mermaid and the Crown Jewels because I hadn't yet seen either of those.


some of the crown jewels


me, b &mom in front of the little mermaid!!

Unfortunately, that was our last day together &they left to go home on Sunday. But it was AMAZING having them come to visit. We had so much fun getting to see Copenhagen, and it was great seeing them over Thanksgiving.

Just a few days after, on December 1st, I went to go see Paramore in concert in Denmark. I decided that music was such a huge part of my life, that I had to see a concert while I was in Copenhagen, and since I have already seen Paramore 3 or 4 times live, I figured that would be a good concert to see abroad. The concert was so different from what I expected, though. Because they don't get to tour Europe often, instead of playing at smaller venues the way they used to in the US, they played at a huge venue, &the line to get in was outrageously long. It was also amusing to see the Danes, who take amazing pride in their language, sing along to every single word in English. Despite the large crowd though, the concert was still fantastic.

The next day I went with my pop culture class to go see the South Harbor. It is very similar to 5 Pointz in New York. For those of you who don't know, 5 Ptz is a whole deserted factory that has since been converted into the heartland of graffiti in Brooklyn. The work itself is amazing, with portraits of Biggie &Tupac, as well as many other things. South Harbor was very similar...it is the only place where graffiti is really tolerated. Spray cans are lying everywhere, &all the walls are covered in peoples tags. It was great to see similarities between the two cultures.


some of the graffiti in South Harbor

That Saturday, I went with some friends to see the Nutcracker, or in Danish: Nøddeknœkkeren, performed by the Danish Royal Ballet. While you would generally expect the story lines to be the same, they surprisingly weren't. I mean, the same general story line was the same, but there were so many different aspects to it. There were so many additional characters, and plot twists but the dancing itself was still amazing, and I am so glad that I still got to go see the Nutcracker this year.

The next day, I went to my visiting mom, Bente's house. She is like half an hour out of the direct city center, and it was awesome to get to see her apartment. In Denmark, they go visit the graves of their loved ones once a season to decorate them, so I went with Bente to decorate her parents grave. After that, we went to see the shore, even though it was freezing, &then ate lunch at this adorable cafe that was round and made out of glass so that we could look out at the shore. Bente is so sweet and it is so nice to have someone show me the more cultural things about Denmark that I never would have seen otherwise.


Bente with her parents grave. It's tradition to cover it with pine, then stick red tulips [specifically made to survive the winter cold.] On Christmas Eve, Bente will return to light a candle near her parents grave.


the shore: it's still beautiful even in the freezing cold.

After that nice relaxing weekend, work started picking up, while classes were winding down. On that Tuesday, we had our final reception for my main class, which was really sad. We all got together and DIS provided food and wine for everyone. Our teacher Rita gave a speech and it was a great way to say goodbye to everyone, though it was really sad. The reception was hyggelit though, so it was lovely to be able to hang out with friends &just relax.


my close friends &our teacher, Rita, at our reception. Aili was sick and couldn't make it, so we drew a picture of her so she would be there in spirit.

On Friday, Hanukkah started at sundown. Luckily, it was also the last day of classes, so a group of friends &I all went out to dinner at the Laundromat Cafe, which was great. It was the last time that we were all really able to hang out together, since the next week was finals &the weekend after everyone is leaving. It was nice to be able to just chill out and have dinner with a group of friends &not have to worry about work for a while.

About this time, COP15, the environmental conference is also just starting. There were tons of protests and Copenhagen was suddenly full of tourists and very important people from all over the world. There are tons of things in Copenhagen that relate to the climate conference, but I'll update more on that in the next post.

That was a very, very quick summary of my past month, up until last Friday. I will update all about Finals Week &my adventures by the end of this week, because there will be a lot more stories!! I'm so sorry again about the delay, but if I don't have internet while traveling, expect another long wait until I'm back in the US to update you on my 2 week Europe Extravaganza!

When in Rome

Again, sorry for the delay in posting, but as we get closer and closer to finals, I get more and more pressed for time. By the time tonight is through, I will hopefully be up to date.

So on to Rome! This was actually my least favorite place that I visited on my trip. I'm not really sure what it is about the city, but I just did not enjoy it the way I have with most other cities I've been too. Anyway, on a Sunday morning we checked out of our hostel in Florence and headed to Florence's main station again, this time to take a train to Rome. We had bought our tickets in advance, and were assigned seats. Getting our suitcases onto the train was an adventure...luckily they had small storage places for them at the end of each car. The seats were arranged in groups of 4, with a table in the middle. Carolyn &I sat opposite one another, sharing the window. The people that sat down next to us were insanely sweet. It was a mother and her deaf son, who was about 25 I believe, from Australia. They were the nicest people in the world and the whole hour and a half train ride we spent chatting away about various topics, with the mother signing for the son. It was such a cool experience, and I love meeting new people that have interesting stories to tell. The son was flying back home after his travels, but his mom was going to Rome to fly to Turkey for a friend's wedding. They were so nice and the mom spoke some French, so between her French, &my Spanish, we were able to decipher some of the announcements. The countryside of Italy that you see in between Rome and Florence is absolutely gorgeous. Granted, it was a tad cloudy, but even still, it was so picturesque.

From Roma Termini (the train station) we figured out how to get on the Rome Metro, and get to our hostel which is near the Spanish Steps. Unfortunately, the whole time we were there, we didn't get to see just the regular Spanish Steps because we happened to be there at the 20th anniversary of the falling of the Berlin Wall. Because of this monumental event, the Spanish Steps had a tribute to the Berlin Wall on the steps, with fake pieces of the wall decorating the steps.

I went to Rome with my study abroad program, DIS, and because I went with them, they took care of the days activities and such. After traveling by ourselves for a week and trying to figure out the transportation system as well as food, and maps and which sites were the ones that were most worthwhile to see, it was so nice to have someone else that actually knew the city take us around Rome and worry about all of those things. The first day we did sort of walking tour, in quite rainy weather. We hit all of the touristy spots such as the Trevi Fountain (of course I threw a coin in!,) the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, the Ara Pacis and other important places. In the middle of this walking tour, the skies opened up. I mean, REALLY opened up. It not only poured, but HAILED. So that was an interesting way to just see the city and experience the insane random rain storms that Europe loves to have for literally 5 minutes, and then the weather will be fine.


throwing a coin into the Trevi Fountain!


Me, Carolyn &Aili in front of the Trevi Fountain


the Pantheon


the Ara Pacis

After our walking tour, we all headed back to our rooms to take a nap, because we were all worn out from traveling and wanted to nap before dinner. DIS paid for us to have dinner at this place near our hotel in which we were given wine galore. We were all so tired though, that we just ate quickly and headed back to the hotel to pass out, since we were walking up early the next day.

We were all up bright and early the next day to go to the Colosseum, which was so cool. We were able to skip the lines and go in to wander around and see the inside of the Colosseum. I did not realize how cool it would be to actually go inside, but it was awesome to experience something so old.

After the Colosseum, we headed out to the Forum Romanum, which is the definition of ruins. Never in my life have I ever seen so many old things all in one place. And they are legitimately old, not just a hundred or so years. We got to see the old Senate House, the Temple of Saturn, and so many other ruins. Admittedly, it was really cool, but it was a little too much time spent there, and I didn't know enough about the ruins to find them interesting for that long. Overall it was really cool to see these ruins though. Then we went to various other really important churches, but the one that sticks out the most in my head is the Capuchin Crypt. It was actually kind of creepy. It was a long stretch of rooms that were decorated with Capuchin Bones. I wasn't allowed to take pictures in it, but there are a lot of different rooms: the crypt of the skulls, crypt of the pelvises, crypt of the leg bones &thigh bones &crypt of the three skeletons. As depicted in their names, each room is decorated completely with that type of bone. It is one of the scariest, creepiest, coolest things I've ever seen.


not my picture, but clearly the room of skulls. scary, yet awesome, yeah?

Then we had dinner on our own, and we headed out to this gelato place. It was supposedly ranked by the New York Times as the best gelato place in all of Rome. Definitely good gelato, but the second gelato place we found in Rome was SO many better.

The next day was probably my favorite. We woke up early to go to the Vatican Museum and Vatican City. The best part is that we got to skip the line, which was awesome. Our group also got an actual tour guide, so we were able to learn everything about what we were seeing, including all of the old statues and such. I love tour guides for exactly that reason. Also, I just find it amazing how much knowledge they retain, it is absolutely amazing. The best part of the tour was seeing the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. It was so elaborate, I can't believe that Michelangelo painted all of that in only 4 years. As a group, we all had lunch together, paid for by DIS. There were appetizers that just kept coming, pizza that just kept coming &wine that just kept coming. It was amazing. I don't think I've ever been that full in my entire life. Then we headed to St. Peter's Basilica, which was another really cool experience. We climbed the dome, and saw a beautiful view of the city, as well as seeing the beautiful facade of the Basilica. That night, a whole group of us went out to dinner by the Pantheon, which was delicious. The restaurant gave us free sparkling wine, which was delish. Then comes the gelato. This is hands down the best gelato I've had since I was in Europe. We would return to this same place once a day for the rest of the trip. I got chocolate amaretto &chocolate coconut. Both of them were to die for, but the chocolate amaretto was hands down the best gelato/ice cream I think I've ever had. Ever.


Me &Aili in front of St. Peter's Basilica



view from the top of the St. Peter's Basilica Dome into the center of St. Peter's


La Pieta, in St. Peter's Basilica

The whole next morning was spent in Ostia Antica, which was about an hour ish away by train, but it was a really cool experience. Ostia used to be the old trading port, so everything is in ruins. We got to see an old theater, &the ancient Roman toilet system. They had running water under the toilets, and actually kept them relatively clean. We also got to see the original statue of Cupid &Psyche, which was in what used to be a completely marble room. The train into and out of Ostia was this rickety, old, subway type car that was just completely covered in graffiti. In a way, it almost reminded me of home. That afternoon we met up with my friend Alex, who lives in my building in Copenhagen and was in Rome, though not our trip. We wandered about for a bit, and it was nice getting to see her in Rome. That night, we decided not to go out, but found a place to buy cheap bottles of wine &so we all hung out in the hotel &drank wine together.


cupid &psyche


ancient toilets in Ostia



graffitied train to Ostia


Carolyn, Me, Aili &Alex in front of the Trevi Fountain at night

The last day, we went to go visit the graves of Shelley and Keats, Circus Maximus &the Baths of Caracalla. Keats grave didn't even have his name on it, we only know that it is his grave because his friend is buried next to him &put up a memorial type headstone for him. It was awesome to also see the Baths of Caracalla, which were actually huge, in comparison to what I thought they were going to be. The rooms were super intense &there were mosaic floors, as well as mosaics along the top, closer to the ceiling. For lunch, we headed to the Jewish ghetto, which wasn't too large, &had amazing food. Then we wandered around, did some window shopping in stores that we can't afford, and then all met up as a group for dinner. DIS took us out for "appetizers" because it was a girl on our trip's birthday, so we all had sparkling wine &appetizers, then headed out to dinner. Dinner was like food that just kept coming, &tons of refills of wine. Essentially, it was amazing, not to mention that they gave us delicious tiramisu for dessert! We were leaving Rome the next day so we decided to just buy more bottles of wine &chill out in the room again, which was nice and relaxing.


Keat's grave, labeled: Young English Poet


Aili, me &Zach at appetizers

The next day, we just packed up all of our stuff &got on the bus to the airport. After two weeks of traveling, I must say that it was really nice to be back "home" in Copenhagen. It's a city that I'm familiar with, and it was nice to be in a comfortable, known environment and be around my own stuff. Overall, Rome was not one of my favorite cities, but I am really glad that I got to see it, and all the history involved. It was fascinating, and plenty to see. Again, I am so sorry that this entry is kind of short &not really in detail, but studying for finals awaits... I'll update about life back in Denmark soon!

[a much delayed] Ciao da Firenze!

Hello from Florence! ...Or I guess I should say "Hello from Bologna!" What a tough time we had trying to actually get to Florence. We flew from Barcelona to Zurich, and then from Zurich to Florence, errr, I mean Bologna. Apparently when we left Zurich, the weather was pretty bad in Florence, but they decided that we could fly anyway. We flew over the Swiss Alps--they are breathtakingly gorgeous. By the time we got to Florence, we got all set to land, started descending &then all of a sudden were going back up into the air. Naturally, we were all pretty confused, though the weather was pretty terrible. Then the pilot comes on over the loudspeaker and announces that due to poor visibility we would be unable to land in Florence because he could not see the runway. Of course we couldn't just hover in the air, so then the pilot comes back on and says: "due to poor visibility, we are unable to land in Florence. I will try flying to Bologna, hopefully the visibility will be better there. I hope this isn't too much of an inconvenience." Naturally everyone on the plane is like "yes, that is quite the inconvenience, I have all my plans set for Florence," but there was nothing we could do. Fortunately we were able to land Bologna where the airline hired buses to take us to Florence, though these buses were about half an hour, 45 minutes late. So imagine a whole plane load of people standing out in the rain with their luggage, about half of whom don't actually speak Italian, with no airline or airport personnel around waiting for buses. Quite a comical site if you think about it. The buses finally came and drove us the hour and a half back to the Florence airport through pouring rain. From the airport we got on a "shuttle" that took us to Santa Maria Novella, the main train station in Florence. Luckily, our hostel was a close walk from there, though it was pouring rain. What an experience it was trying to roll our suitcases in the pouring rain, while holding an umbrella &trying not to get the map wet. We finally made it to the hostel, and were rewarded well: it was the nicest hostel I've ever seen in my entire life. Not only was the inside nice, but it was SO ideally located. The hostel was literally located on the same street as Galleria Dell'Accademia and about 50 meters from the Duomo. We checked in, put our stuff down &just relaxed for a bit. Originally, we were supposed to meet up with Carolyn's family friends that were also traveling in Florence, but because of our insane travels earlier in the day, we got into Florence much later than expected. Luckily, courtesy of Mom's boss, George, we knew about a restaurant close by, so we just headed there for dinner which was just a simple pizza &Carlsberg to remind us of dear old København. Of course after dinner we got gelato- I tried hazelnut this time, it was delish! After all of our traveling, we decided to call it an early night, plus we had an early morning the next day.

the gorgeous Swiss Alps


Welcome to Florence! ...I mean, Bologna. The bottom of the sign is in English

The next morning, we got up early to venture to Pisa. The hostel had breakfast included, so we went to the breakfast room and met this really nice Irish couple that was traveling. After breakfast we headed straight to the train station &we managed to buy train tickets without a problem at all, and got on the train. This was when we decided that Florence transportation hates us. We sat on the train for about 10 minutes before some people started getting off of the train. No announcement was made however, so most of us just sat there waiting. Then the man next to me started talking to a woman who had heard an announcement in the station, though no announcement was made on the train, so I asked what was going on. He informed us that there was a mechanical error with the train, &it probably wouldn't be leaving for another 20 minutes. Then he was like "I'm changing trains, there is another one that goes to Pisa that you can get on that should leave in 5 minutes," which was very nice of him. So Carolyn &I run to that train, and are FINALLY on our way to Pisa. I guess because we went on a Thursday morning in the beginning of November, it wasn't terribly crowded, and the signage was VERY poor. We found our way though &I'm so glad we did. The tower was so pretty and it was such a typical tourist thing to see. We bought tickets and climbed to the top of the tower--we got lucky &had a beautiful sunny day. We climbed the 296 steps to the top, &once you were on the top, you could DEFINITELY feel the tilt, which kind of gave you butterflies in your stomach as you walked around the top of the tower. It gave you a beautiful view of Pisa and the mountains in the background.

After the tower, we walked back to the train, picking up this amazing pizza along the way for lunch. Thank goodness there were no problems with the train on the way home, or else I think we would have been beyond frustrated! On the way back to our hostel in Florence, we stopped to get our daily dose of gelato. In terms of mixing, I did not pick my two flavors well (mint chocolate chip &tiramisu) but individually, they were both delicious, though i much preferred the tiramisu. After that we had a little siesta, and that night met up with Carolyn's family friends that we were supposed to see the night before. Jack and Holly took us out to dinner in Palazza della Repubblica, which was adorable. There was a little carousel that was lit up in the middle of the square which was so cute. For dinner, I channeled mommy. As an appetizer, I had lox on bread, but for my main course I had eggplant parm that was beyond delicious, as well as some white wine. After dinner, Jack and Holly took us out for our second dose of gelato: this time I got coffee and straccitello, which is essentially vanilla chocolate chip. It was good, and my matching skills definitely were put to much better use this time, but it wasn't my favorite gelato. Then we just relaxed and went to bed early to be well rested for the Uffizi the next day.


typical tourist picture, leaning on the Leaning Tower of Pisa.


The Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Duomo that is right next to it. (Don't get confused, there are multiple Duomo's!)


Overlooking the beautiful view of Pisa!

The next morning, Friday, we got up to head to the Uffizi. We had booked our tickets in advance over the phone, because we heard that the lines can get ridiculously long. So we head to the reservation gate, only to find that their computer system broke down &we have to wait an extra half an hour for them to fix it. Of course, within this half an hour, all of theses amazingly rude people try to cut the line, &walk in the entrance, straight up to the counter to try to get their tickets. Apparently, when you see a line in Italy, that doesn't mean anything. Everyone in line was furious, and finally when this one woman walked up to the window, the guy in front of us called her out, and was like "Do you not see the line?! Wait your turn like everyone else" &she tries to respond with "Oh, but we made reservations" &everyone in line, in unison, said "so did we!" Then she tried to get her tickets anyway, but thankfully the system was still down so she had to go to the back of the line. We finally got our tickets though and made it into the Uffizi.

Let me tell you, they are not kidding when they say that the Uffizi is a lot of walking, and a lot of famous things to see. We saw Botticelli's "Birth of Venus" and "Primavera" as well as so many other famous, amazing paintings. There was also an amazing view of Ponte Vecchio, the shopping bridge from the window of the Uffizi. After walking for about 2 and a half hours around the Uffizi, we headed out to the Duomo. We took a pit stop for a sandwich, and took a slight detour to find what is considered "the best gelato place in all of Florence." A place called Vivoli, that had some seriously good gelato. Not to mention great flavors...I got dark chocolate and amaretto. It was pretty much heavenly...I wouldn't come across better gelato until Rome, but we'll get to that later. On the way to the Duomo we also passed a restaurant called "Danny Rock" around the corner from the gelato place, so of course I had to take a picture!



We also decided to take a random pit stop at Santa Croce, which is [this is a terribly analogy] but like the Westminster Abbey of Florence. It has the tomb of Michelangelo and a plaque acknowledging Da Vinci, as well as so many others. Then we walked on to the Duomo as originally planned, and my goodness we did not know what we were getting ourselves into. We walked around the basilica and just admired everything. We decided to climb to the top of the Dome, because everyone told us that we had to, plus it had become a nice day out, so we figured why not? We climbed 463 steps to the top, the last 100 of which were probably almost vertical. It was an experience to say the least, but the view at the top was so breathtaking that it was worth it. All of Florence has these gorgeous red roofs, and you can easily see all of the different churches, it was just beautiful.

After our exhausting day, we went out for dinner at this place near-ish to our hotel. I had this really good chicken dish, and of course on the way home we stopped for gelato. This time I got pistachio, which was pretty decent. Because it was a nice night out, we took a stroll down Via de Tornabuoni, which is the expensive shops like Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, etc. By this time, our feet were killing us, and it was about 11, so we decided to just head back to the hostel.


Michelangelo's tomb in Santa Croce


The Duomo: that is the dome we climbed, all 463 steps!


The wonderful view of Florence from the top of the Duomo.

Our last day in Florence was Saturday, and we put it to good use. We went to the Galleria Della'Accademia in the morning, which is where Michelangelo's "David" is. To be quite honest, the museum in itself is a huge letdown, the only thing worth seeing is David. Michelangelo does not disappoint, David is huge! I did not realize quite how large the statue was, but it was quite large. There was also a really cool photography exhibit by a guy named Maplethorpe. That was pretty much it for that museum though, we were in and out within an hour. It would've been faster than that, but in the middle of the main room a girl just passed out &the EMS had to be called...it was kind of terrifying. Carolyn &I decided that it would be more respectful (&better for our day) to keep moving on, instead of joining the crowds that stood watching.

After the Galleria Della'Accademia, we walked across the Ponte Vecchio [the bridge mentioned earlier] to get to the Pitti Palace. The bridge was pretty cool...there was this random statue on it that had a gate around it, and all over the gate people had just put tiny little locks, so it was a gate covered in locks. I have no idea what the significance of that is, but it was pretty cool looking. We got to the Pitti Palace and saw the Bobali Gardens, Royal Apartments and Costume Gallery. The Bobali Gardens reminded me very much of Versaille, plus we got to see it on a beautiful, clear day; it was beautiful. We found this little tower type thing, that had a garden on top &it gave us such a gorgeous view. The Royal Apartments were also really cool...it's amazing how ornate these rooms were. Never in my life could I imagine living in a room that was that elaborately decorated, I would be terrified that I would damage something. Then we saw the Costume Gallery, which gave an amazing portrayal of the outfits worn throughout the years. Though a lot of the outfits looked quite uncomfortable, I think it'd be fun to try them on just for kicks.

We decided to eat lunch in the Museum because it wasn't that expensive, and I ate this amazing spinach pie. After lunch, we headed down Via Maggio, which has some more expensive shops, and saw the Santa Spirito as well as a building on Via Maggio that is well known because it is ornately decorated. We crossed back over the canal and ended up exactly where we wanted to be: the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum! I want to say "thanks" to Jacqui who was the one who told us to go to this museum, I would say that every girl that goes to Florence has to see this museum. Anyone who likes shoes, this is like heaven. A really, really expensive heaven. Ferragamo designed shoes for everybody from Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe to modern day actresses like Drew Barrymore. Of course the museum let us out into the store, which was so expensive that things didn't even have prices on them. It was definitely a worthwhile experience to see, and I realized that Marilyn Monroe &I are pretty much shoe soul mates, because every shoe she requested is exactly like something I would wear.

It was raining when we left the Ferragamo store, but we headed to the Santa Maria Novella Church anyway. We saw it in the rain briefly, and then decided that we were exhausted so headed back to the hostel for a siesta. After our siesta, we headed out to find dinner. Along our walk, we crossed paths with a parade playing "hava nagila," so naturally I was confused. As far as i was concerned, it wasn't any big Jewish holiday, so I tried reading their signs. It turns out that it was a gay pride parade that was protesting something about the Pope, I believe. Quite fascinating. We ate dinner at a nice restaurant in Palazza della Repubblica again. I had delicious gnocchi, and then Carolyn and I split a salad. The one thing that I don't like about Italy's food, is that salads come at the end of the meal. I just find that bizarre, and usually that's not the last taste I want left in my mouth. But Carolyn &I split a salad that had brie, apples, walnuts &lox...sounds like an odd combination, &it definitely was. But I like all of those things separately, &surprisingly, they all worked together. Both Carolyn &I were impressed. On our walk home, we got our last gelato in Florence, because the next morning we would leave Florence for Rome!


The Ponte Vecchio, though this picture is taken from the window of the Uffizi.


The absolutely gorgeous view over Florence from the top of Bobali Gardens.


Ferragamo has his own stone sign outside the whole block that he takes up.


the whole band that was playing hava nagila.

I will say, Barcelona &Florence were definitely my two favorite cities I visited on this trip. Both of them were amazing, in two totally different ways. Florence was old and beautiful, while Barcelona wasn't such a pretty city, it was so energetic &bustling that it was equally amazing. The buildings in each city also had very different styles. Old fashioned churches in Florence, while Barcelona was a mix of old buildings and much more modern and unique buildings like Guadí's buildings. I don't know if I would be able to choose between Barcelona and Florence however, because they're two totally different cities. I promise, now that I'm on break for a few days, more posts will come about Rome and life back in Denmark!

Saludos desde Barcelona!

Although I've just gotten back from my whole 2 week vacation, I will update one city at a time to prevent long, boring blog posts that no one will want to read. I'll start by saying that Barcelona and Florence are tied for my favorite place visited...they were both AMAZING. I did get to use a bit of my Spanish, though they speak mostly Catalan, which I knew. In written form, I could get most of the Catalan, but overall it was pretty easy to get along with just my Spanish and occasionally English.

On Halloween morning, Carolyn &I left a brisk Copenhagen at 5 AM to get to the airport on time. Despite the early time, it was absolutely worth it. We were in Barcelona by 10 AM which is where the struggles start. For starters, the hostel gave us directions from the airport to the hostel, which was helpful...except that they didn't put the correct full name of the station that we had to get off at. So of course, we took the train for a lot longer than necessary, but then realized &got back on the train in the opposite direction. When we finally get off at the correct stop, we realize how much walking we have to do to transfer, and how many steps we have to carry our suitcases up. We finally made it to Las Ramblas, one of the most, if not the most, touristy street in Barcelona. Our hotel was on a street right off of Las Ramblas, but our only directions were "walk towards the sea," when we could not see the sea. Naturally, we picked the wrong way to walk, but luckily realized this only a short while later, so we turned back around, and finally found our hostel. We settled in &then decided to go out for lunch, at the average Barcelona time about 2 PM ish.

For lunch, we stopped along the touristy Las Ramblas, because it was the only place we knew of, and were too tired to go searching for other food. We had delicious tapa, chicken paella &of course, sangria. The sangria had massively long straws in them, and of course the mugs they were served in were also huge. It was amazing though, especially since the weather was so nice we didn't need jackets and we sat outside watching people, eating paella &drinking sangria. yum!


me with my sangria!

After lunch we decided to head to the Barcelona Cathedral. Even though the front was slightly under construction, it was gorgeous. Then we went inside and were able to actually go to the top to see a great view of the city. As you'll notice, this will become a reoccurring theme...we were able to climb to the top of many of the landmarks and see amazing views of all the cities. The front of the cathedral has towers that raise up to 230 feet, with tons of stained glass &100 carved angels. The Cathedral covers gothic, baroque and 19th century architecture while also remaining one of the most important religious monuments in Barcelona. Walking home from the Cathedral started our gelato spree...Carolyn &I had gelato at least once a day every day over break. It was absolutely delcious. So on our way home we stopped to get our first gelato, and ate that while wandering down one of the main shopping streets.


the front of Barcelona Cathedral, with some construction

For dinner that night, we just had some quick pizza and of course, more sangria. This time we weren't in such a touristy restuarant so instead of ordering just a massive glass of sangria, we made our lives easier by ordering a pitcher. (Big sacrifice, I know. haha.) Of course we were exhausted after all of our traveling, so we went to bed early, which was nice because we were ready to go by 8:45AM. It was also interesting because while Halloween is a big deal in the US, it is slowly spreading to Europe. The Danes are starting to celebrate it, but in Barcelona it was random adults and then tons of little kids. So walking home Saturday night we saw some people dressed up, but nothing compared to the US. Sunday was a busy day. We lucked out because the first Sunday of every month the museums are free, so Sunday November 1st was a lovely time to pick Barcelona! After the free breakfast at the hostel (which consisted only of 2 pieces of toast &orange juice) we headed out on a long walk to the other side of the city. We started at the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (National Museum of Art of Catalonia, aka MNAC.) We got there as it opened at 10AM, and saw tons of art from the 4 main art periods. The Museum is in this beautiful building, Palau Nacional which was built in 1929. MNAC was also in a park that was right around the Olympic Stadium of the Barcelona games as well as another stadium and a gorgeous fountain. The park had a hill that MNAC was located on and it gave us another gorgeous view of the city. It was so much of a hill that the park actually installed escalators for people to go up and down. After MNAC we headed to the Picasso Museum, that we also got into for free. Picasso definitely did a lot of art that I had never seen before, that I wouldn't have pegged as a Picasso. He also did a lot of portraits which didn't look like the "typical" Picasso, as well as pottery which surprised me. Then we wandered home, of course stopping for gelato, and then taking a lovely, well deserved, siesta. That night for dinner we went to this awesome winery type place, where all the walls were lined with wine bottles, and had not only great food, but also an amazing pitcher of sangria. In order of deliciousness, this place definitely had the best sangria, also because it was the strongest, and the least bubbly. By the time we finished eating it was 11:30, so we headed home to get a good nights sleep for the massive amount of walking on Monday.

Monday by far was my favorite day. We dedicated the whole day to seeing Guadí creations. Antoni Gaudí was Barcelona's best architect, and loved to use nature, mosaics and beautiful colors. Although he is no longer alive [he accidentally got hit by a trolley because they didn't recognize the city's most famous architect. Tragic, right?] La Sagrada Familia is still under construction and probably won't be finished until about 2025. It was absolutely breathtaking. Not only was the outside façade amazing, but inside, although construction was still going on, had so many gorgeous stained glass windows. Then Carolyn &I were able to go up to one of the towers, and had a GREAT view, plus it was a gorgeous day. The front of La Sagrada Familia looks like it's "dripping," and above the main entrance door, there is such an intricate carving of religious stories, because Gaudí was very religious. The pillars were also held up by turtles which were beyond adorable. He continuously used mosaics to incorporate color and nature, which was much more apparent in La Pedrera and Casa Batlió.


La Sagrada Familia, still being built.

We walked from La Sagrada Familia to La Pedrera, which is another Gaudí creation. The outside looks like a wavy rock, and the whole roof has funky mosaic-ed statuesque type things, that are actually chimneys. This was Gaudí's last design before dedicating the rest of his life to designing La Sagrada Familia. It is an apartment building, so we were able to see a potential apartment, as well as the roof.


the outside of La Pedrera, which looks like a wavy rock


Me &Carolyn on La Pedrera's Roof, in one of the mosaic-ed sculptures.

After La Pedrera, we walked to Casa Batlló which was definitely my favorite. It was designed by Gaudí based on the sea. By locals it is called Casa dels Ossos because the outside appears like a skeleton, despite the marine based inside. Everything was blue, and mosaic-ed, or based off of a particular marine animal. The stairwell leading up to the roof was lit by completely natural light, which meant that the blue mosaics showing the water got progressively darker as they went up, to account for the natural light, so that when one looked up, it would all look like the same shade. The protectors on the railings were made of sort of foggy glass, which made it look like everything was under water. Then in the courtyard, there were turtles directly out of the door...it was just the most intense, beautiful, architecturally and interior designed amazing thing i have ever seen, and Gaudí did it all by himself. It is utterly unbelievable. The outside is also completely mosaic-ed, making it gorgeous. Though you can't see the roof well in this picture, the roof was also completely a Gaudí design, and meant to look like fish gills.


My favorite Gaudí creation: Casa Batlló, or Casa dels Ossos, which by looking at the balconies, you can see how it looks like skulls. The colorful outside is all completely mosaics, and the big windows lead into the main living room area, that was all completely lit by the natural light that those spacious windows let in.

Of course after all of this amazing sightseeing we were starving, so we stopped at a sandwich and had a quick lunch and rested our tired feet. We then walked home down the Passeig de Gracia, or the main shopping street. Needless to say, this was a welcome break, although our feet were tired. Though I didn't buy anything because it was mainly the high end stores like Chanel, it was still an awesome experience, not to mention we saw random castles &important monuments along the way without even meaning to. We found amazing gelato and by the time we had walked home, we were ready for our daily siesta. Of course by the time we woke up, we were hungry for dinner, so we wandered about and found this really cute place that was completely decked out like a fishing place. We figured we would have more amazing paella, but this time we had lobster paella, which was fabulous and way too much to eat. The tapas we ordered were also delicious, along with, of course, another pitcher of sangria. This restaurant had an adorable wine holder: it was shaped like a cello! It was so creative, plus they had an amazing collection of bottle openers shaped like all funky things. After that, we just headed back to our room for the night after an exhausting day of walking around so much.

Tuesday was our last day in Barcelona, so we started it off right, and went out for breakfast at this place called Granja M. Viader, and it was absolutely delicious. We tried the traditional "mel i mató" which is honey on a ricotta ish type cheese, and i had a hot chocolate. The hot chocolate was actually like a melted chocolate bar, it was intense, and absolutely delicious. The mel i mató was interesting, but i would definitely give it a second chance. After a nice breakfast, we headed out to the Parc de la Ciutadella. This park was the one that had Parliament, the zoo, this GORGEOUS fountain, Cascade Fountain, and their Arc de Triomf. The day was gorgeous and we not only enjoyed the weather, but also loved just chilling out, and not going at such an intense pace as we had been the past few days. There was also a holocaust monument in the park, which we randomly stumbled upon. The best random stumbling upon however, came walking home from the park when we happened upon Museu de la Xocolata, aka The Chocolate Museum. How could we not go in?! The entrance ticket itself was a little bar of chocolate, and then we walked around an exhibit that told us all about how chocolate was brought to Europe, and admired these amazing chocolate statues of amusing things such as Mickey Mouse, Ben Hur and Gladiators. Plus, we each bought a little piece of chocolate deliciousness after the exhibit, which held us over until lunch.


The Cascade Fountain


La Pieta in chocolate, at the Chocolate Museum. I found this amusing, like foreshadowing as to what was to come next week in Rome.

We left heaven on earth, aka the chocolate museum and were wandering to lunch when we randomly bumped into some DIS kids. It was so bizarre that in such a huge city we managed to bump into a group of people that we actually knew. But then we each went our own way, and we ate lunch at a place called Bliss. I didn't think it was that blissful to be honest, but it wasn't half bad. Afterwards, we swung by the Palau de la Música Catalana, which is this amazingly beautiful completely mosaic-ed music hall. Unfortunately, we got there at like 3:45 and the last entrance was at 3:30, but we got to see the outsides and look in the window. This was designed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner, and apparently on the inside there is this amazing stained glass ceiling. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see it, so next time I'm in Barcelona, that will definitely be on my list, as well as Park Güell. Park Güell was designed by Gaudí, but we didn't have time to make it there either, unfortunately. Though we did make it to Palau Güell, designed by Gaudí Tuesday morning before our breakfast. It was actually located on the same street as our hostel, but we hadn't seen it because it was closed Saturday, Sunday and Monday. We weren't able to go up to the roof, which is usually a main point in the Gaudí architecture, but even from the ground level looking up, it was gorgeous.


Palau de la Música Catalana, from the outside.

We ended our day by eating dinner at El Jardin, an outdoor restaurant in this really outdoorsy little square. Again, we ordered a pitcher of sangria, tapas and this time we tried crepes. The tapas were delicious...one we ordered was asparagus wrapped in lox with avocado. Might sound disgusting, but it was absolutely amazing. Then the crepes came, and they were beyond filling, but absolutely delicious. After dinner, I found a scarf that said "España" on it, to support the Spanish National Soccer Team and then we headed to the hostel of our friends we had bumped into to hang out with them for a while. After that, we went back to our hostel only to arise early the next day to head to Florence!

Overall, I would say that Barcelona was definitely one of my favorite cities. There was just something in the air that made you love the city, I'm not quite sure what it is. I can't wait to get back, and see all the things that I missed, as well as hopefully see many more things that I didn't get to see, such as the Dalí museum, because it was out of the city. Also, by the time I get back, hopefully La Sagrada Familia will have been completed. All in all though, it was a magnificent city, and I absolutely cannot wait to return!

Friendly Faces!

Even though these have been the 2 most stressful weeks so far, they have also been the most fun. After Friday, I will have successfully finished all of my midterms! And of course my reward for that will be two magnificent weeks gallivanting around Europe!

This week I finally got a new visiting family. Her name is Bente and she is the sweetest lady in the world, and a single mother. Her son is a few years older than I am, and is now living in the US for a year and a half because his job transferred him. She is so nice, I can't wait to spend more time with her! The first time we got together she brought me to Parliament and we actually got to sit in on a hearing. It was insanely cool, especially since the main person talking was the Minister of Education, and I had just visited the Ministry of Education earlier that week. Never in my life did I think that I would be able to sit in on Parliament, especially a Parliament session that would directly affect what I was learning.

The week just keeps getting better from there--Padre Kaleko came! We saw a bit of Copenhagen while he was here, and I got to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe, which was awesome. The waiters randomly got up on the bar and started dancing to Grease Lightening, which was hilarious. Never in my life have I seen that happen at a Hard Rock. It was so nice to spend time with my dad, especially in Copenhagen. Plus, grandma &grandpa paid for a really nice meal out, which was absolutely delicious. So thanks grandma &grandpa!!! I loved it! :-D


padre &me in front of Carlsberg brewery elephants!


Then, to make the week even better, Kelsey came to visit from Bath, England!! Although it sometimes got tough to have both Kelsey and her friends as well as my dad here, it was so worthwhile to see both of them. Together, we all got to see where the Queen lives, the marble church, and wander the city. We also got to go to the Carlsberg Brewery, which was great! I mean, two free beers with the price of admission?? I'll take it any day! I also finished both of my beers &put padre to shame...I don't think he even finished one. It was fascinating to see how the brewery actually makes beer, and how they progressed over the years. We also all went out karaoking, which was a blast! Sunday night was also daylight savings time here, so not only did we gain an hour of sleep, but I'm now only 5 hours ahead of the East Coast until you all have daylight savings.


kels, carolyn &me at the carlsberg brewery!

This week has just been more work, but I have Friday to look forward to! Today, (Wednesday) in Danish class we had a "field study" which is otherwise known as a field trip. We watched "Flammen & Citronen" otherwise known as "Flame and Citron." It was a movie about the Danish resistance to the Germans occupying their country in World War II. Though it was a bit bloody and long [2 hours] for 8:30 am, it was SO interesting, and based on real people. After seeing this movie, we went to the Danish Resistance Museum to learn all about the Danes during WWII.

Denmark was invaded by the Germans on April 9, 1940 in the early hours of the morning. By the time most of the country woke up, the Danish monarchy had already signed a pact with the Germans stating that the Danes could keep their government and systems in place, along with their police forces. The only difference was that there were Nazi's patrolling the streets, though they couldn't actually do anything. The best thing about this was that it meant that Hitler couldn't touch the Danish Jews. There is often a myth about the Danish Monarchs wearing the yellow Star of David to protect the Jews in Denmark, but this never happened, for many reasons. Because the Nazi's didn't technically have control over Denmark, they couldn't take the Jews. Therefore, the yellow Stars of David didn't even exist in Denmark. The Danes were also told to cooperate with the Nazi's, to make their lives as easy as possible. They kept this up for a while, but after a while resistance groups formed. The first was a group of 8 boys, the oldest of whom was 17, the youngest, 13. They called themselves the Churchill Club, after Winston Churchill who absolutely despised Hitler. After various activities, such as ambushing cars, or changing street signs so that the Nazi cars drove into the forest. Doesn't sound like much, but this is the first resistance that the Danes openly showed. These boys were caught after 8 months &put in jail, except for the youngest because he was still too young by Danish law. They sparked a revolution however...now small resistance groups were popping up all over the country.

This is where the movie comes in: The Flame (real name: Bent Faurschou Hviid) and Citron (real name: Jørgen Haagen Schmith) were two famous Danish resistance fighters. They worked with a group and killed the Gestapo [German Spies] as well as Danes who betrayed them. They were both captured and killed 6 months before the war ended, though technically the Flame committed suicide with his pill. The resistance fighting began to get quite violent in 1943, after the Danish Monarchy completely handed over power to the German Nazi's.


the originals: on the left: Flammen, on the right: Citronen

the movie cover. though i'm not usually one for violent movies, i really enjoyed this movie, i think because of the history behind it. just in case you couldn't tell, Flammen is in front with the red hair, &Citronen is in the back with the glasses.

Handing over complete power of course meant that the Jews were in trouble. However, an amazing thing happened. At the time Denmark had 7,000-8,000 Jews all integrated into society. After the Germans took over, the Nazi official that was to send out the message to discard of the Jews, first warned the Danish Jews. To this day, no one knows why, but out of the 8,000 Jews, only 500 were captured by the Nazi's. The others managed to get escape to Sweden on fishing boats and such, along with a lot of help from the resistance movement, including Citron. Now out of the 500 Jews that were captured, the records show that only 100 actually died because the Danes consistently annoyed the Nazi's about their well-being. Either way, that is an INSANELY low amount. Still too many, but Denmark did an amazing job saving their Jews and making sure that they were protected. After the war was over, when many of the Jews returned they found their properties untouched, &looked after by their neighbors. Isn't that fascinating?? I still can't believe it, i find it absolutely mind blowing.

I know, I'm a really big history nerd when it comes to things like this, but I can't help it! I'm so sorry for the mini history lessons, but once I get started, I just can't stop...it's so fascinating. Especially after watching Flammen & Citronen, and finding out that it was actually based on a true story. That even though Danes aren't very violent, they are full of national pride, and understandably, didn't like being occupied by the Germans. I'll probably end up going back to the museum at some point to actually read all of the plaques, because today we just had a quick tour.

Anyway, on a brighter note, on Saturday Carolyn &I leave for our 2 week break! We'll be heading first to Barcelona, then Florence, and then Rome. I absolutely cannot wait!! It should be positively amazing, and I'll have tons of amazing things to update with!!