Last night, my Danish class took a field trip to Tivoli. We were going to see a rock concert, Bo Kaspars Band. A group of us wandered around the park for the night, eating popcorn, playing on the playground, it was a wonderful first experience of Tivoli. While no-one in my crew went on any rides, they looked pretty extreme and it is no shock that Walt Disney was inspired by Tivoli.
Today, my friend Kristen and I went to the Coffee Collective’s [Danish Coffee Company] warehouse and ended up doing a coffee tasting. Neither one of us had ever done one before so, it was quite interesting.
Today was a very long day. Some random things that made me smile, or laugh inside include;
family photo
“the tourist trap”
After a weekend in Amsterdam, I feel happy to still be standing. My friends Christina, Emma and I did a bucket list full of things and I am exhausted. It was a weekend of fun, and I am so happy to have been able to see so much of a city I have heard so many good things about!
I didn’t realize how much of a bike city Amsterdam is. I also almost got hit at least a dozen times while crossing the street, so maybe my Copenhagen bike dodging skills don’t transfer to other locations.
Another great thing about all cities that I love to discover, is the various street art locations and random sightings throughout a city. Here are a few of my favorite sightings from Amsterdam!
“make art not euros”
love me
each event in your life is just part of the puzzle.
One of the top things on my list was seeing the Tulip fields in bloom. While I booked this weekend specifically to see the tulip fields, I missed the memo on how or which fields to see. I had seen on a fellow blogger’s blog last year about her two week trip to Amsterdam, including the tulip fields. She had marvelous photos in the fields. Unfortunately, there was no mention that the pictures were from a field nearby Keukenhof Gardens, not just the gardens. The garden was beautiful, and smelled lovely, but not exactly what I was imagining.
beautiful combination of blooming flowers
feat. the fields I wanted to be in..
these colors just make me want to dance
Another fun adventure was going to the countryside again to see a cluster of windmills which used to produce paint and other goods.
windmilling in the windmill town
favorite jumping picture yet! (thanks Christina)
The last extremely exciting thing besides wandering the canals and eating french fries with mayo, was seeing an art exhibit on Warhol and Banksy. They both make(made) art that looks at the consumerism culture, as well as make statements on society as a whole.
While I have never been to see Cherry Blossoms in bloom in DC or Japan, I think seeing them in bloom in Prague, Budapest and Copenhagen is almost equivalent.
![Prague [senior picture fake laugh]](http://denmark.thebaileyplanet.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/P3263029-768x1024.jpg)
Prague [senior picture fake laugh]
Budapest (near Buda Castle) photo via Mallorie
Copenhagen; just so happy “spring is here”
This evening I was lucky enough to be home for dinner again (after what seems like an eternity of dinner out, even though its only been a week). My host family had a dinner party scheduled with a family they have known for over 20 years. They met each year at a ski resort from the time their kids were very young.
The “ski family” was super adorable, and very interesting to talk to. I was able to talk about everything from board games, like Settlers of Catan (a favorite of my friends back home), Apple products, and the medical field’s role in Denmark. The daughter is married to a Spaniard, who now works in Denmark so understanding how he came to Copenhagen and his take on Danish traditions and cultural differences was also interesting to discuss.
I am very thankful for these get togethers and meeting the friends of my host family. It has exposed me to the feeling of hygge on an entirely different level. Along with hygge, it makes me more inclined to go out and meet and discuss random topics with strangers. Such discussions (from my experience) tend to provide you with new ways to think about your life and values.
yellow smoke of new ideas (shot in Vienna of an artistic street exhibition)
“Miles from Budapest, my hidden treasure chest”- George Ezra
I completely agree with George Ezra, Budapest is a wonderful “hidden treasure chest”. I have now added it to my list of cities that have stolen a part of my heart, but that’s okay, I’m happy to leave it there.
Leg two of this long study tour was my favorite. The area was easier to get around, more friendly and had tons of graffiti (or color in general). Here are some of my favorite parts from the journey.
Part of the “Pest” side skyline
“the crew”
“The Baths” photo thanks to Rita
![a woman actually came and offered carrots to us... [apparently they are a good food to intake water with after drinking?]](http://denmark.thebaileyplanet.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/P4134960-768x1024.jpg)
a woman actually came and offered carrots to us… [apparently they are a good food to intake water with after drinking?]
cat’s cradle
Thanks to my teacher, Silvia and our travel coordinator, Peter for a wonderful study tour!
This week was my Core Course’s Long Study Tour aka traveling with my “Why Cities Matter” class to learn about new places and lifestyles. For my Urban Studies course we traveled to Vienna (and Budapest.. see next post). We were in Vienna for three days and now we’re on the way to Budapest via train.
a beautiful square courtyard
It has this vast atmosphere that has nooks and crannies of which it is unimaginable to think of how it was created.
“inner crannies”
I call it playground city because the area had a slew of playgrounds that many of us enjoyed throughout the tour.
toggling on some springs
monkeying around
![thank goodness for whisper sets [ allow for playing and learning at one time ]](http://denmark.thebaileyplanet.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/P4093594-1024x768.jpg)
thank goodness for whisper sets which allow for playing and learning at one time
So while I’ve been traveling and exploring I have racked up a ton of pictures. Rather then posting them to Facebook, I decided to create a tumblr and just post them there.
My reasons for that are not that “I’m too cool for that” but more that I don’t need to brag, or show everyone every single picture of my adventures. Not every “friend” on FB needs to see every picture from my travels, or cares to get an update on where I’ve been this weekend.
My tumblr is more aesthetically pleasing to the eye and you can look or avoid it! The photos are posted randomly, but have some of my fav memories and street art. I invite you to take a gander! Please follow the link below and enjoy!!
As I near the tail end (I have about 1.5 months left) of my study abroad experience I have taken tons of interest to look through my notes of observations. It has been a hectic two weeks with lots of random but good discussions that have made my mind difficult to “turn off”.
My human trafficking course had an optional field study (around 8pm) to the Red Light District here in Copenhagen. Only three people showed up, which was interesting in itself, but it allowed for a deeper connection and chance to really bond with our professor. Plus, a cluster of twenty students would have been very obvious and would have made the tour less connectable.
I got back together with some people from my innovation in design thinking class and had intellectual and very random conversations with various classmates and my professor. Four of us ended up helping my professor brainstorm a new course, which is still in development (being part of the Empathize stage in his project).
Today I went in for a Danish language help session and discovered even the most tedious task of memorizing vocabulary and sentence structure to be a rewarding and connectable skill. (Hun=she, as in “hunnie” or sweetheart)
I would say my top buzzwords for this semester would be:
background photo; view from Church of Our Savior