Oslo, Norway

13-15 September

Got on the boat at 4 on Friday and went straight to the bar, we got drinks and enjoyed the deck as we departed from the Copenhagen harbor! We bought some champaign and chocolate and found a table at the cute bar and lounge place where this guy was signing and playing his guitar. He was  playing all the best songs, we decided to relax, drink and play cards while we listened to him sing some of the best songs from the 80s and 90s. We played this game called trump that one of my friends taught us, it was so much fun, we seriously played all night. Towards the end of the game, these two guys that spoke danish came over to us and gave us $50 worth of vouchers for drinks at the bar! At first we had no idea what it was, they just handed us two pieces of paper, and smiled and walked away. We were so excited when the waiter told us that it was drink vouchers. They were good for the whole weekend so we decided to save them for the next night because we wanted to be good and rested for our day in Oslo the next morning.

Oslo was so much fun! We got off the boat right at 9:45 so we could have the whole day in the city. We went to an awesome brunch place and had a delicious sandwich.

We walked all over, through beautiful parks and castles and parliament buildings and museums! It was incredible. But I have to say, I think my favorite part was the food festival we stumbled upon.  We were heading back towards the city center and saw everyone eating these yogurts and we were looking for food to bring back on the  boat for dinner so we asked this guy where he got the yogurt and he said it was free at the food festival; we were immediately interested so be directed us around the corner where we saw about 500 white tents.


We walked into the vestal and seriously every tent was giving out free samples! The food was incredible! We tried about 20 different kinds of cheese and meats and then everything from  biscotti's, to sausages, to local honey and fresh homemade apple juice. It was all in incredible! I even tried moose meat and chocolate creme brulee . It was the perfect way to end a great trip to Oslo. We got back on the boat and sailed back to Copenhagen! That night we were playing on getting dressed up and partying hard but we had so much fun last night we decided to do the same thing, we bought a few bottles of wine and some more tolberone chocolate and we drank and  played cards. It was the most perfect weekend getaway! and not to brag but the whole trip: two nights on a cruise, alcohol, food, full day in Oslo-everything included, total came out to be $78.

Couldn't be happier. Great trip with great friends-life couldn't be better.  

Malmo, Sweden

7 September




The viking man: "you must rub my beard for good luck" hahaa










Megan and I went to Sweden today! The train was only 20 minutes to Malmo. It was so relaxing, seriously the perfect way to spend a Saturday. We got there and had the most amazing lunch ever. Had some wine and walked all around the square and to the castle through a beautiful park. I have never felt more content. Over all just a perfect day.

Western Denmark

We spent 3 days visiting schools and other fun places throughout western Denmark. We we got to see how different the education systems vary within denmark and how differently they are structured in comparison to our own American education system. It was really interesting to see the strengths and weaknesses in both systems. On the first day we were in Odense, which is know for H.C. Anderson's city. He has written famous fairy tales such as the little mermaid! We got to go to the H. C. Anderson's museum and play house. every 3 years they tear down the whole inside of the building and completely reconstruct the set from one of his fairy tales. The kids can come to the  house and dress up in costumes and play different characters in the fairy tale. It's completely hands on and built for kids to explore and play. We had the whole place to our selves and they allowed us to dress up and get our face painted and play as children play on the sets! It was an absolute blast. We also went canoeing and went to a rain forest where monkeys came right up to us, not in cages! It was all so much fun.

Christiana

This is a magical community that's in the city of Copenhagen. You're not allowed to take pictures inside Christiana, and for all that know me, that was like taking away a memory. But after spending time there I am so happy that you're not allowed to take photos. This is a way of life not a tourist attraction.  It's truly something that even a picture couldnt show and that words would fail to describe. you just have to go to experience it. The first time I went there I was sitting in this beautiful hill amongst strangers over looking this perfectly eclectic community. Youre surrounded by people young and old,  by professionals and street walkers.  Although everyone is sitting with the few friends they came with, you feel so connected with the other people there. It was like an equalizer. it didnt matter where you cane from or what you were doing there just that fact that you were there and present meant that you belonged. When it was  dark enough a few people lit lanterns and released them into the sky. It was so surreal and peaceful as you looked over the water and community seeing nothing but the lanterns in the sky and the lighters down below. It was truly a moment I will never forget.

Living with a Dane

Amongst all the great people I live with, we also live with an SRA (social resident advisor) named Asbjoin. No one can pronounce correctly, but phonetically is ass-be-on. Thats our trick to help us remember how to say it lol He lives with us in our flat and is responsible for making sure we are culturally immersed and answers our questions. Danes are super sarcastic and if you're not listening for it, it will catch you off guard.  At first we didn't think he liked us very much but now whenever he makes a joking comment we call him sassy assy. The nickname definitely sticks. Asbjoin is an incredible cook! like five star restaurant quality- every day for every meal. He makes everything from scratch including pasta sauce and hummus. On our first night here he made us Thai food and I'm not kidding it was the best Thai food I've ever had. So as we all eat our undercooked pasta and cereal he's eating homemade gourmet meals. He and his girlfriend made an incredible cake to celebrate the september birthdays! It was amazing.  Im making a list of everything and will definitely be getting the recipes!

Anyways on Saturday the 3 SRAs for our building for together and thought it would be fun if they put us through the traditional Danish hazing experience. There are no sororities of fraternities in Denmark so all the freshman and new students get hazed at the beginning of semester. So Saturday morning everyone for l 3 floors got up and were told to meet outside, we needed a bathing suite and thats it. We weren't allowed to bring our phones, cameras, or anything. We're all in the courtyard and they divide us into two teams, the Vikings and the Royal guards. Each team was given ripped cloth to tie around our heads and arms. The royals (my team!) were red and the vikings were brown. Then we all had to paint out faces and come up with a chant. The 2 teams then had to line up and we had to march all through the city with war paint and headbands as we loudly chanted through the city of Copenhagen. Saturday also happened to be a really popular day to cruise into Copenhagen, we marched through the city square where hundreds of Asian tourists started taking pictures of us. I swear I had more photos taken of me in that morning than I have in had in the last 2 years of my life. We marched straight to the train station and took the train to a very industrial looking area of Denmark. We walked to a dock where they put us in row boats, where we got to row around the city of Denmark in the harbor! It was actually beautiful, I really wished I had my camera. It was tiring but honestly so worth it. I got to see an angle of the city that most will never see. For the last part of the rowing they had us race to the dock. My arms were so tired by that point but we did it and my team won! We were happy, because they told us whichever team won the most challenges wouldn't have to clean up after the party they had planned for us that night.  

After we got out of the row boats they have us a traditional Danish  candy bar. It was very good, just like toffee. Then we walked to a grassy field and we played a traditional Danish game called round ball. The rules are similar to base ball, or its played with tennis balls and several people are allowed to be on the same base. At first it was hard because they kept telling us more rules that were slightly different than base ball, but we finally got the hang of it and it was really fun. The next thing they had us do was so difficult but hilarious! They cut holes in the bottom of plastic cups and tied two together with rubber bands. We had to wear them over our eyes, which cut off our peripheral vision. Then we were instructed to play soccer. It was so difficult. You couldn't see the ball much less all the people around you, so everyone was running into each other. The video Asbjion got was hilarious. Fortunately only minor injuries. They then gave us more traditionally danish candy, similar to gummy bears, and harbo candies. at that point  we were dying for real food. We got to the harbor and they now had us doing eating competitions. In Denmark they are a huge fan of licorice which is hands down my least favorite candy/ flavor ever. Ohmygosh it was disgusting we had to eat handfuls of this licorice flavored candy. I'm not going to lie I did not eat it, I started dropping them on the ground and giving them to other people. Yuck.  Then we picked two people from each team to finish a whole tray of Flodebolle each! They are marshmallow like treats dipped in chocolate, and there's about 25 in a tray! The guy on our team was eating 2/3 at a time! I have no idea how he was doing it. We won that competition and then we all changed into our bathing suits and  you could jumped into the harbor off a 20 ft ledge. I opted out of this, I thought forsure free falling after the amount of food I had consumed would be the worst idea, and truthfully I've never been a huge fan of jumping off things, so Saturday was not going to be the day I changed my mind lol. We finally were able to go home and make a real meal

Before we had to meet up again for the party at 8.

For the evening we all got dressed up, (the guys had to wear suits) and

they provided us lots of food and drinks. It was quite the event. After, since we were already having so much fun, we decided to out to the bars and continue the night! It was a blast. I am so glad they planned the day for us, and my team won! So we didn't have to clean, which was really nice.  All in all it was so much fun!

Mountain Biking

After being hazed all day my roommate and I got up to go on a 3 hour bike ride through a national forest, a trip we had signed up for online during the first week of the program. We were really looking forward to this!

The pictures from previous trips were amazing and it required no previous mountain biking experience, which was good because neither of us had ever mountain biked. We met up with the group and took the train about 30 minutes outside the city. When we got there we divided into 2 groups. My guide was danish, of course, and spoke almost no English. He started talking about the bikes and how to use the breaks and the gears. I didn't really understand because of the language  barrier but I felt like I had a good enough understanding to make it on some trails. I did have a bright pink speed bike when i was 8, and I've taken some spin classes at my gym so I felt pretty prepared.



And I  think i would have been had there been anything (i mean anything) that resembled a trail. Some gravel? maybe some semi-leveled dirt? Anything?! We were legitimately off roading. No trails, steep climbs, tree branches hitting your face having to maneuver roots, rocks, and mud. For something that required no previous experience, there were times that i honestly thought i was going to hit a tree and die. As we're flying over logs and down cliffs trying to avoid trees and rocks, I'm desperately trying to remember my spin instructors rules on gears. Was it high numbers going up hill and low numbers otherwise or low numbers going up hill and  high numbers going down hill? I always remembered Dave, my spin instructor, saying "the higher the number the higher the hill", and that we always had to stand up when going up hills. Well I knew from minute 2 that standing up in real life was never going to happen but tried to stick to his higher gear rule. Fortunately, it only took me a few hills to realize that I did not want to be in a higher gear when I'm going up hill in real life, because that made it impossible to climb the hill. Yeah so it was far jump from my "pedal-backwards-to-break-bike"at home and this 3 hr nightmare. With that being said when my eyes weren't directly on the ground in front of me, view and the scenery was incredible. Unfortunately, for obvious reasons, I have almost no pictures to show you. :( All in all it was an experience that I'm really happys over.