Category: travel

This weekend, being home in Copenhagen meant going to see some things I still hadn’t stumbled upon yet or just wanted to do.

One of those things was going on a “free” walking tour around Copenhagen City center. Crazy as that sounds (for living here for three months) I still wanted a little refresher for some historical knowledge, maybe some insights from the tour guide and another refresher on how to move about the city and how everything connects.

Next, my friends Emma, Valerie and I climbed the Church of Our Savior spire. It is by far the best overview of Copenhagen. If you’re not afraid of heights, or small spaces, definitely a must do.

Then I finished off the evening with a dinner with a group of Smithies (Smith College students) who are also studying abroad in Copenhagen this semester. We have been meaning to get together all semester and so we finally did! (Thanks to the reservation making at Paper Island by Emily!)

Prague was the next destination on SB2016 (Spring Break 2016).

We climbed every mountain, ate all the Trdelniks (one of each variety including; plain, ice cream filled and nutella covered), and laughed more than enough to make me excited for senior year.

Tien and I met my two good Smith friends Preeti and Sadaf in Prague and wandered around the city for two days with them. By wander, I mean literally walked to the other side of town, climbed a mountain, and wandered back. It was actually my favorite day, as I hadn’t seen either of them in almost a year (they both did full year programs in Geneva and Paris, respectively).

Catching up with old friends and exploring a new city is seriously the best thing, no plans, just talking about life.

We also ran into another DIS student from my Human Trafficking class, Avantika and her friend Rachel on the street. We were all on the way to the John Lennon Wall so we ended up hanging out with them for the day. We climbed another mountain, ate brunch, and had a nice Easter Sunday of a bit more relaxed wandering about.

We were also fortunate to catch some cherry blossoms in bloom on the lower half of one of the mountains. So of course, in preparation for senior year, we took some pictures (don’t worry dad, college senior pictures all taken care of !).

The last full day Tien and I were there (Preeti and Sadaf left early in the morning for Budapest!) we did another free walking tour and tried to cross off the last things on our list. We finally climbed to the Prague Castle, found the best view of the city from the Monastery next to the castle and felt really accomplished for finally finding “the view”.

Later that night I finally got to see my friend Christina (from High School) who is studying in Prague this semester. I was so happy I got to see her in “her city” and catch up on life. Once again, so interesting how a different place can change your perspective for the better and just so nice to see a familiar face I knew, in a place I didn’t know.

thanks prahaha for the laughs, the catching up with friends and the mountains for helping me work off all the chocolate I’ve been eating!

This week is technically DIS Spring Break (I reiterate, we have many nice breaks for getting out to experience culture). Due to the unfortunate events in Brussels, my plans to go there were thrown into complete disarray. So, my friend Tien and I went to Berlin instead.

You may say, why Berlin?

Well, our only “real” reservations were for Prague starting Saturday, so busing to Berlin, and train hopping from there to Prague seemed to be the easiest route to keep those plans. Tien’s friend also happens to be studying in Berlin, and thus we had a floor to sleep on (thank you Kat!). Berlin wasn’t exclusively on either of our “must-see” lists, but it was definitely a good idea to go.

We were able to take a free walking tour and then also an alternative tour of the city’s historical area and more modern, hippie-ish areas. It ended up being quite a lot of walking, but then again when doesn’t Europe include lots of walking.

Another place we loved was Fassbender & Rausch aka. a huge chocolate shop with phenomenal chocolate sculptures of Berlin landmarks. Also, specialty hot chocolate in their upstairs café.

Lastly, my favorite part of Berlin was a “food-truck community” type place inside a huge warehouse. It was interesting because people can try their food stand idea out for a couple of months and then determine if people like it (buy it) to keep their stand or abandon their idea for something else. It’s similar to Paper Island back in Copenhagen. It reminded me very much of Copenhagen, the hygge feeling and maybe it was also just the sweetness of all the delicious, freshly made food and drink aromas.

So, mainly we walked and ate a lot, but it was a very fun and unexpected couple of days, which are the best kind of days in the end!

 

 

Yesterday, my friend Kristen and I made plans to check off something on both of our Denmark to-do lists. Go to the ARoS Museum in Aarhus, Denmark.

Many core courses went there for part of their core course weeks, but neither of ours did. So, this Saturday seemed as good of time as any to go!

I could write about all of the interesting things we saw, were made to feel, or things we were forced to question while wandering through the various exhibits, but instead below are just some pictures of my favorite and interesting parts of this museum.

Please note: that I highly recommend visiting the entire town of Aarhus, and making a whole weekend out of their quaint, but large city. It is a “bucket-list” type town of Denmark, but then again, every part of Denmark is worth seeing and experiencing. I wish I had realized this prior to adventuring out there, but I guess this just means I have even more of a reason to go back!

This weekend I had the lovely opportunity to visit a place I’ve been wanting to go for quite some time, London!

Number 1 destination: Platform 9 3/4 because I am a Potter-head.

Number 2 destination: Cereal Killer Café because I am obsessed with cereal of almost any/all kinds

Number 3 destination(s): touristy places like the Tower Bridge, Harrods, Buckingham Palace, Tate Modern Museum, The Royal Mews.

Number 4 destination(s): Seeing people I know! Good to see some Smithies, and my friend Rachel from back home, Minnesota!

Last week I had my first long-study break or long-study tour where I was able to travel to Ireland and explore quite a bit. This type of travel break is a special feature of DIS as it allows you (either now, or later in the semester) to take a week to go with your core course to another part of Europe in connection with your studies, or just have a week to travel or relax. This week, was my free travel week.

Being the ambitious person I am, I decided to go all over Ireland for the week. I started by visiting family friends who live in Dublin and hang out with them for a couple days. They showed me some of the city, and went for a hike in some beautiful mountains. It was the most relaxing and refreshing part of my trip, as well as just lovely to catch up with them after such a long time.

The next city I gallivanted on to was Galway. I got to explore all over the city for a day, which ended up being very wet and got to see quite a lot of street art and eat some delicious (VERY fresh) fish and chips.

The next day, I caught a tour company bus to explore the Cliffs of Mohr as well as half a dozen other sites as well. I could talk about the breathtaking views for days, but I’ll just post some of my favorite pictures below.

Next, I was able to make a pit stop at Bunratty Castle, which is near Limerick. This was an extremely cool place to explore as it is a castle with most of its furnishings still in tact and on display. The castle is free to creep through however one pleases and apparently still holds Medieval dinners every so often. As a fan of the show Reign on the CW, this was right up my alley and I wish I could’ve attended such a dinner, next time I guess!

Along with Bunratty Castle, I was able to stop by Durty Nelly’s which is a pub right next door to the Castle’s village set-up. My Grandfather spoke of that pub from his days working for President Nixon, so it was fun to relax there for a bit and feel connected to him even so far away. Unfortunately, the best picture I have, is a selfie of the old man I asked to take a picture for me (see below).

My last city of exploration, which I was probably most excited about was Dingle, Ireland. This is a cute little town on the Dingle Peninsula is a very difficult area to get to, as it is not a major tourist destination especially not this time of year.

I had a ton of fun just exploring the streets and observing the cute store fronts. The main reason I wanted to go to Dingle was to see my parent’s names in the church marriage book. 30 years ago, my parents got married in St. Mary’s Church. I really just wanted to see the history, or see with my own eyes the full record of my parent’s union– and yes it was there, but no pictures were allowed.

Despite the crazy amount of bus rides and people deciding to scare me about catching flights, I was early for every flight I had and didn’t miss any connections, buses or planes. So what I learned from this Irish journey is, follow your heart and listen to your own instinct over the pub owner’s, or the taxi driver’s, or really anyone else’s. And a little Irish music, can really make a huge difference in rejuvenating your spirits.

 

 

This weekend I was able to make my way to Kronborg Castle in Elsinore, Denmark. While it was a bit of a long trek to get there, it was well worth the train time.

This castle is what William Shakespeare is rumored to have been inspired by while writing Hamlet. Although he never visited Kronborg, he had friends who supposedly told him all about details of life there.

The other importance this castle has is its relation in look to the castle in Disney’s Frozen. So, basically I visited Elsa’s home last weekend.