Munich, Germany

Life starts when you step outside your comfort zone. Without question the best and craziest week I have ever had. Logan and I  left for Munich Tuesday night with a backpack and a bag of snacks and met Mariah at the Munich airport-she flew in from madrid.

Together the 3 of us traveled to meet Julian, a "couchsurfing host" that I reached out to the day before. He was kind enough to host us last minute. We arrived at the mama pizzas restaurant at midnight, he lived in the apartment right above it and I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous about meeting strangers for the first time to sleep on their couch. If it didnt feel right, the 3 of us decided we would go to a hotel. But as soon as we got there he and his other 3 roommates were so welcoming, they got us a beer and we spent the next hour or so talking and hanging out. We knew immediately that we were safe and that they were awesome and this week was going to be an experience of a lifetime. 

 (Johannes missed the smiling memo.)

The next morning Julian and Johannes
went out of their way to help us figure out the city and the metro. They lived a 5 minute bus from the city center. It was so easy thanks to their instructions. We spent all day Wednesday in Munich exploring the city, we saw the pinoteck modern museum and the famous clock tower and had coffee and dessert in the square and went to the hipster town and went to Gartnerplatz. It was a full day! 

We then went back to the apartment and  got ready to go out. They suggested we go to one of their favorite wednesday night clubs, So we ventured out there and on our way we met 3 guys from Tennessee who were in Europe traveling. We decided to all go to a bar together and finally settled on americanos, after the first club wouldnt let logan and our new guys friends in. It was 2 for 1 at Americanos so it worked out perfectly. We took full advantage. The music was great, the dancing was fun and it was all around quite the night. Lol *more to come later* We got back to the apt around 230am and thank god I set an alarm before going up, because we needed to be up at 8 to make our tour to Fussen and Linderhof. (We had to stop and take a picture at the infamous Hofbrauhous)

We pre-bought tickets to see sir Ludwig castle and the Neuschwanstein Castle!  We barely woke up in time and ran to the central station. Thank god again for Julian's instructions, they are what saved us. We just made it on the bus and then slept on and off as we drove for an hour through Germany's country side! Omg it was stunning. Sir Ludwig seemed like a pretty cool guy with incredible taste! His gardens and castles were incredible! We stopped in the beautiful quant town were we walked around an stood at the base of this huge mountain! We couldn't help but think how smart it was to book a tour, we were too hungover to have to plan anything on our own. this way we were forced to get up and make a bus, sleep on the bus and then wake up in a beautiful place and explore. It was mindless and beautiful and just what we needed.

Then we got back on the bus and went to the Neuschwanstein castle, this castle inspired Walt Disney's Cinderella's castle. And for good reason. I honestly haven't seen something so beautiful. We saw people hang gliding, and I promised myself that I will be back and next time I'm going to hang glide!





After our big adventure we went back to the apt and got ready to go out once again only this time with our new friends:) we met Julian Martin Johannes at their favorite bar and started the night with a few beer and sambuka shots! These were way fun, you rise your mouth with the alcohol and then you have a friend light it on fire! So your whole mouth is on fire! It was so much fun! I thought forsure I would be the one to burn myself but I didn't so it was good. Haha we then contained to an electronic club where at first I really didn't want to pay to get in, but once inside it was incredible the walls were projectors and kept flashing images and shapes in different colors, it was wild. We didn't leave the club till 3am. 

Again, made it back to the hotel and had to wake up super early to make our your to Salzburg. It was so hard getting up this morning. We had to find out way to a train and were seriously running through the train station looking for the track. I felt like we were in a movie, but we made it.. Barely. Hahaa we got on the train with the group and immediately fell back asleep. And hour and half later we woke up and made one of our famous pita, nutella, banana sandwich combo.

We got off the train and got a walking tour of Salzburg and hit all the infamous spots where the sound of music was filmed. The three of us were slap happy (probably still drunk) at this point. We couldn't for the life of us stay with the group, we kept getting lost. Finally the guide started bribing us with chocolate smarties- which worked a little better. Then we were given 4 hrs to explore on our own. 

We immediately thought food and wandered down a hill a found a festival where everyone was singing and drinking in the giant tent and we decided this was a good place for us. We ordered this amazing meal and each one beer. Well after one beer we were encouraged to try ... Which a kind of tasted like wine. The guy who recommended it spoke broken English but said watch out, it's good but it's "surprising you later". We went to order 2 each bc they were in relatively small glasses (in comparison to the beer mugs we had been drinking out for the 45 min prior) but the guy behind the counter looked at us sideways and said "ni". One each to start. 

Well thank god we only got one..  we later found out that the one guy was right.. it caught up with up. A little bet went a long way. Long story short, we befriended these older adults next to us. they cane from Edinburgh and  Barcelona. They were great and we became really good friends with them, they even invited us to come over for dinner back in Edinburgh when we go next month. We exchanged contact info, so hopefully well get a good free meal haha. 

Anyways in the middle of taking shots with 85 yr olds we realized that our train was leaving in a half hour and we wanted to buy a lederhosen and a dirndl! We're drunk running around the city looking for the booth that had all the dresses and we finally found it, we literally grabbed like 7-8 dresses and hopped in the back of the guys van to try them on. (Not as sketch as it sounds-don't worry dad, my drunk judgement is unmatched). After all the effort of trying them on we left with a white crop top and 2 aprons. (the next day we realized we should have went for the whole dress but thats okay, mariah made it work! she had a dress that looked perfect and i had a shirt that i was happy wearing.) Anyway after getting them we ran through salzburg looking for our group. We were so drunk, i went up to a lady and instead and said excuse me but instead of saying what i actually needed i fell to the ground in laughter. We were too drunk to function. That "wine" guy was right..one drink was enough.  

  Well, drunk us navigated very well and found the bridge with the locks on it and got to the train seriously just in time. We had a ceremony on the train for Mariah's lost scarf and finished the Nutella and snacks as celebration for another unreal day. We slept for the 2 hours on the way home. We woke up, still feeling pretty good and went back to the apt where Johannes and Martin had prepared a homemade traditional German meal for us! It's called  Käsespätzle. It was amazing. It had a special kind of pasta with cheese. We all sat around, ate together and had a few beers, It was amazing and exactly what we needed! 

That night we played kings cup with rules they had collected from all the people they met in their travel. Best game of kings cup yet, and I will forsure bring some of the rules back with me! We also met the 4 other couch surfers that night! They were four girls from northern Germany that were here for Oktoberfest. They went to bed pretty early to prepare for the next day, we decided to go out yet again. We went with Martin and Johannes to Johannes' friends apt about 10 min away, we had wine and talked with their friends there, it was so relaxing to sit and enjoy new friends with wine and candles. We were there for what felt like 20 minutes, but if was actually 2 hours. After Martin and Johannes wanted to show us they're favorite bar and so we went there. It was so local it wasn't even funny. You walk in to this place on a completely residential street and the whole interior was decorated with red leather and felt chairs and curtains and mirrors and a huge wooden bar. It was carpeted and honestly felt more of a lounge for rich politicians. Lol there were maybe 15 people in the bar. It was perfect, had another huge beer which I didn't come close to finishing, we left the bar around 4am and we walked back to our apt and got back around 430am. We went straight to sleep. 

Martin slept over on the couch with us bc it was too late for him to get home and he set the alarm for 630am. He woke me up by startling me and then licking my face hahaa. Julian and I got squirt guns and woke up Mariah and Johannes with them. We got dressed really fast, and Logan for to wear a pair of Johannes old lederhosens. Everyone looked so great. 

We got to the park after buying about 12 pretzels in the train station and cut the line with all of martins German friends. We, still being pretty drunk, were talking and social inch until they finally let us in. We walked around the building and inside and saw Mariah and Johannes already there with a table right up front! It was perfect. We all sat there and played UNO until noon when the owner of the brewery opened the first barrel. It was a huge deal and the crowd was cheering and chanting, it was a blast! This parade came right through our tent and people with whips came from no wear and started standing on the tables and cracking the whips in tune to the music. It was amazing. We got our first mugs of beer and we were thrilled. We all cheered and started drinking. Half way through the mug I knew that the day was only going to get better! 

We got through the first in 15 min and then nursed the 2 and 3 mugs for the next 3 hours, sang songs and ate pretzels. It was indescribable. 

Later, Logan and I left the tent and had an awesome sandwich and then on our way back to the tent we got seep rested. He wandered from me and I couldnt find him. I went back to the tent without him thinking he would find his way back. I go there and continued to drink and sing the rest of the night. Mariah put her head down around 830. She was tired. But me and the Germans had a great time. I was still a little worries about Logan because at this point it had been about 6 hours since anyone had heard from him, but we kept singing anyway.




When Oktoberfest ended I made sure to grab a mug for myself,  Mariah, Mariah's camera and phone and Logan's jacket. Then me Johannes and Julian and I carried Mariah back to the apt around 1230. It was quite the night, when we got back everyone fell asleep, so I packed everyone in the respectful suitcases and cleaned the kitchen. I called the police station and the hospitals in the area looking for Logan. We had to leave for our plane that left at 630am. At 330 I woke Mariah up gave her some water and explained to her that Logan's missing. We didn't know what to do. We had to get to the airport which was 30 min away, and we were honestly about to leave Logan in Munich. Julian said that he would be welcome to stay another night when he found his way back to the apt. So Mariah and I were 2 minutes from walking out the door when the bell rings and you hear Logan stumbling up the stairs asking for 5 euros to pay a taxi. Mariah and I were so relieved and still so drunk, I seriously couldn't stop laughing. The combination of the whole day was comical. I felt like I was in the movie The Hangover. Where the hell had Logan been the last 12 hours. I still don't think I have the full story. We took Logan's cab to the airport (thank god, I have no idea how we would have caught a cab at that hour) and said goodbye to our new friends and then to Mariah at the airport.

Logan and I went to get our boarding pass, still drunk he went to the bathroom and I went up straits to find a place for us to sleep for the next hour and a half bc security was closed, I found a bench in a restaurant cafe and Logan never found me. Fortunately he found the gate and I set my alarm for 20 minutes before boarding which was literally just enough time. I could have used 30mins- but hungover and navigating an international airport was an experience, I was just happy to see Logan at the gate we got on the plane and slept the whole way. I don't even remember taking off. But an hour later we landed and made it back to copenhagen. The perfect trip! I was hungover all day Sunday and most of Monday. Absolutely worth it, the stories from this week will be some I will have forever.

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.