Hello my loyal blog readers,

I have had quite a week!  In a nutshell, I had a blast with Jen Jen and Heather who came to visit this week, I finished a huge group project that was 60% of my grade (with an A-, horray, what a relief!), and experienced my first snowfall in Denmark.  So basically, it was a great week.

Jen, Heather and I had a ton of fun this week.  We went to a jazz concert that was really fun even though it was mostly old people (we youngins spiced things up a bit), ate some great food including a traditional Danish meal, which I had not had yet since I have been here!  We enjoyed the Christmas decorations and spirit, as well as the magical Christmas atmosphere at TIVOLI!  Definitely the highlight of my week.  For those of you who don't know what Tivoli is, it is basically a theme park here with some rides, great restaurants, a bunch of shops and great decorations.  Walt Disney drew his inspiration for Disneyland from a visit to Tivoli, so if that doesn't convince you of it's magic, I don't know what will.  I had been holding out on going until Christmastime because it is a little pricey, and so Jen and Heather and I went on Friday.  And wouldn't you know, it was the first snow of the season that day.  I can't explain how BEAUTIFUL it was there, but I will post some pictures to try to illustrate.  We went on a 10$ roller coaster that I would say was worth it, munched on some "varm vaffels" and sipped on yummy glogg.  

Tivoli, AMAZING

Jen and I at the Absolut Ice Bar, I can't figure out how to turn it :( Sorry

As you can see, we also went to the Absolut Ice Bar.  As if it wasn't cold enough already!  But we had a great time, it was definitely an experience and I am glad I went because I am sure I would regret it if I had not gone the whole time I was in Copenhagen!

It was so great to have them here, I really needed that espeically because I am so sad to be missing Thanksgiving in Shasta this week, and CRAFT DAY.  I guess I can't complain though because I am going to Paris on what would be craft day... boohoo, poor me.  I got most of my schoolwork done last week so this week should be fun as well!  Updates soon!

Here it is, at last, Spain!  It feels like forever since I have been back in Denmark, so I will try my best to recap everything.

Barcelona was, of course, beautiful and tons of fun.  It was kind of a bummer that all of my friends studying abroad there were off elsewhere on break while I was there, but Pat and I still had a great time.  It was a little overwhelming though; there were tourists and Americans everywhere.  I guess I have gotten used to fitting in in Denmark, but obviously Pat and I stuck out like sore thumbs in Spain.  Our hostel was cute and in a bustling area, and it was fun to meet the people from all over who were staying there.  I enjoyed my first experience with real Spanish tapas, and will forever thank Barcelona for introducing me into tortilla sandwiches.  Not actual tortillas--tortilla is what they call a sort of potato-omelet, which itself is scrumptious, but put that baby on a sandwich and it is heaven.  I am serious, even the ones we got that the lady did not defrost all the way and were still frozen in the middle were exceptional, and that's saying a lot.

We went to the Picasso museum, and it was WAY cooler than I thought it would be.  Not a lot of his later stuff was there, but all of his works from his youth were and I was blown away by how amazing and realistic his paintings were when he was, oh you know, about EIGHT.  It's crazy how that transition to modern art occurred.  We also saw a lot of Gaudi architecture... I really didn't know I was a fan of architecture until I saw this guys stuff--AMAZING does not even begin to describe it.  The Sagrada Familia--or as I liked to call it, the Sangria Familia-- was crazy; something you can't really understand unless you go.  So go, all of you!  And the park he designed... I felt like I was in a Dr. Seuss book or something!  So those were the highlights from Barcelona, along with the amazing weather which was such a nice change.

This is a picture of Las Ramblas, the big (touristy) pedestrian street by where we stayed.  It was awesome except for the fact that there were tons of stands selling caged animals like tiny bunnies and chinchillas and mice.... so sad. Pat had to tear me away, I wanted to free them all. But anyway, it was a beautiful street, as you can see:

Next we flew to Granada, which was definitely my favorite stop in Spain.  I am sure it had something to do with seeing my friends who are studying abroad there.  That was really what I needed, I had really really been missing my friends from home.  Granada is such a charming little city and a very nice change of pace from the craziness of Barcelona.  The Moorish vibe made the city very unique, and the teahouses were SO AWESOME.  At one point I found myself sitting in a Moorish tea house drinking Pakistani tea and reading "Three Cups of Tea"... which is about Pakistan... a little ironic? 

 Anyway, the highlight of Granada, besides seeing my chickens of course (no, not real chickens...), was the Alhambra.  One word: B-E-A-UTIFUL. okay, another word: MAGICAL.  And maybe also just plain AMAZING.  When I was reading tour books before we got to Granada I kept reading about "the magic of the Alhambra" and how it is the most visited site in Spain, but I honestly had never heard of this place.  Nor am i quite sure how to describe it.  It basically is a huge ornate Moorish/Spanish-style castle and series of other old buildings that are... well, they are old.  Sorry but I really don't remember the history here.  Except that Ferdinand and Isabella were involved somehow so that makes it pretty old.  And the gardens were beautiful; we didn't even get to see the big garden because there was a huge downpour while we were there (thankfully we had already seen the palace) and we got to run down the hill back to our hostel (which was also gorgeous and charming, by the way) in really classy blue plastic ponchos.  But nonetheless, it is just a stunningly beautiful place.  I would put it way up there on the places to see before you die list.  This is a picture of a fortress in the Alhambra, I have a lot of other pictures I will put on Flikr so check them out! 

Next, Pat and I took a 3 hour bus ride to Seville.  To be completely honest, I don't remember too much of Seville.  I was absolutely exhausted and only there for less than 24 hours anyway, plus my camera had run out of batteries and I lost my charger somewhere along the way.  Oh, and all of my jewelry.  Yeah, not fun.  But annnnyway, I do remember Seville being similar to Granada in its architecture and Northern-African vibe.  It was a beautiful place and I wish I had gotten to explore a little more, but what we did get to do was see a Flamenco show.  I literally  have never seen anyone so concentrated or passionate about anything as that Flamenco dancer.  It was not at all what I expected--it was much better.  I thought there would be all these ladies prancing around in tacky frilly dresses, but it was actually just a singer, guitarist, and dancer all fully hypnotized by the music and in their own world, seemingly unaware that there was anyone watching them at all.  So yes, that was definitely the highlight of Seville.  Sorry, no pictures, but I will steal some from Pat to put on Flikr later.

It was sad to leave Spain and my brother, who stayed there for a few more days, but I was really anxious to get back to Copenhagen.  After my day and a half in Amsterdam, of course!  Amsterdam... what a crazy, crazy place.  It really didn't seem real.  The canals are gorgeous, the people are so, so nice and happy (hmm, I wonder why??)... I had been really really excited for the Van Gogh museum, especially after the taste we had in Vienna at a temporary Van Gogh exhibit, and it lived up to my expectations and made me want to sit down and paint right then and there.  I never made it to the red light district, which apparently was stupid on my part, but I really didn't have time nor was I particularly interested.  

I met up with some friends while I was in Amsterdam, but there were a lot of people from Santa Clara there at the same time who I never got to see.  I was there for Halloween, which actually is not a big deal at all in Europe, even in the crazy city of Amsterdam.  But I wore my Viking hat all day anyway and got some strange looks.  Vikings didn't actually wear hats like those, by the way, according to my Nordic Mythology class (see mom and dad, I am actually learning stuff over here!)...  Anyway, it was a great ending to the trip, but I would love to go back when I have more time and energy (but really, which one of these places would I NOT want to go back to??)

It is really great to be back in Copenhagen, I have had an absolutely insane week though and been at school from sun up to sun down every day (which isn't too hard when the sun rises at 8 and sets at 4:30, but still...).  So I am very much looking forward to the weekend and my cousin Jen coming next week!  I hope the weather gets better when she is here, it has been very windy and rainy... not fun.  Anyway, I will be better about updating from now on, now that I am all caught up!

After London, I flew to meet up with my family in Vienna.  Vienna was gorgeous, but I was exhausted and sick at this point in my trip so I'm afraid I didn't give enough effort to really take in all of the city.  Sorry, Vienna.  A couple of my favorite things (besides being so happy to see my family, of course) were the Mozart Strauss concert that we went to, and the Van Gogh exhibit.  The architecture was beautiful as well, and it was great to meet up with my friend Julienne from school who was studying there.  However, my time there is kind of a blur as I was either half asleep or in desperate need of sleep most of the time.  I guess that means that I must go back someday to give it the proper visit it deserves!

Luckily, a few days later when it was time to go to Prague, I was feeling much better.

Prague really blew me away.  I had heard that, like most European cities I had seen, it was beautiful and, unlike most European cities I had seen, it was cheap (which proved to be relatively true, especially compared to Copenhagen and London).  But I also found Prague to have a charm that I can't quite describe here.

I guess what explains it well is my very first experience in Prague:

We had arrived midday and decided to wander the city for a bit.  We walked to the city center to find that there was a political rally of sorts with a concert and free food and beer.  It was a very lively place and everyone seemed to be very happy (I don't blame them, come on, it's free food and beer!).  But what really made me realize Prague was a great city was when an older man got on stage and started singing Frank Sinatra 'Under My Skin,' but with his charming accent it sounded like "under my schkeeeen."  Priceless.

Other fun things we did included exploring the old castles on the hill and the wonderful views from there, and seeing a jazz show at a place Bill Clinton had once played the saxaphone... they took this claim to fame pretty seriously and had pictures of him everywhere.

One word of advice for anyone who might go to Prague someday:

Don't mess with the swans.  They are vicious.

First of all, let me just say.... HORRAY FOR OBAMA!

Last night I went to my friend's kollegium to watch the election coverage.  The Danish students who live there had planned a whole big party... they were all decked out in Obama shirts and buttons, there were posters and red white and blue streamers all over the walls, and they had made a map of the US on a whiteboard and colored in each state red or blue as the results came in.  (Oh, and they had a big picture of Sarah Palin taped onto a trash can lid for people to throw trash at... maybe a bit offensive to some but clever nonetheless).  CNN coverage was projected onto a big screen, and everyone was so into it, it was so adorable and fun.  I really felt like I was back in America, that's how much the Danes care about the election.  It is a really awesome thing to see the world so involved with the election and even better so have foreigners congratulate me, saying "you finally got it right!"  This may sound a bit dramatic, but I sincerely felt more proud than ever to be and American as the results rolled in and the Danes high-fived all of us, thanking us for helping to bring about a much-needed political change.

So now that my political rant is over, I will get on to recapping my three week trip....

First stop, LONDON!

Anyone who knows me well already knows of my undying love for London, starting with the fateful troop 1776 trip in the summer of 2005 and continuing with my senior trip with my dear friend Jessica the next summer.  Needless to say, I was beyond thrilled to be going back.  This time, I went with my Communication and Mass Media program, all 40-something of us plus our two fearless teachers, Marie and Jakob.  Seeing as it was an 'academic' trip, I wasn't quite sure how the itinerary would be planned out, but it turned out that we had a perfect balance of academic visits (all of which actually turned out to be fun, like the trips to Oxford and the BBC), cultural experiences (Spamalot!!!) and free time.   I had a few friends in the group, but by the end of the week we were all super close and having a blast together.  

The first day we basically just took a big walking and bus tour around the city, which was fun because there was a lot of stuff that I hadn't seen before like the London Bridge and the Tower of London that we got to see and hear the history of.  The next day, we went to Petticoat Lane Market, which was super fun but sort of a mistake because I didn't have the money or room in my luggage to be shopping at ridiculously cute little booths in a ridiculously cute little market.  But I restrained myself... sort of.  Or at least justified my purchases as all being one of a kind London type things, which is true.  But anyway...

We went to the Tate Modern after that, which I had been to before and I am not so much a fan of modern art but it's always fun to wander around museums anyway.  And then was one of my favorite things, the London Eye.  I have always wanted to go but never really gotten the opportunity so it was perfect that they had it planned out for us.  We went at sunset and had beautiful views of the whole city (that's where I took the picture above), and you can fit a lot of people in the pods that take you around so we had a blast.  

Other things we did throughout the week included a tour of the BBC; I wasn't very excited about it because who wants to LEARN when they are on VACATION?, but the building was very cool and high tech, and a lot of people in our program are interested in TV journalism so it was especially great for them.  We saw the British museum as well, which is probably my favorite historical museum because of it's awesome ancient Egypt exhibit featuring the Rosetta Stone, and the ancient Greece and Rome exhibits as well.  And, as I said, we spent a day in Oxford and had a kooky tour guide who showed us where parts of Harry Potter had been filmed and insisted that we reenact them (sounds dorky was was pretty entertaining, especially when the teachers got involved).  

Here is our leader Jakob as Malfoy sneaking up on Harry

And who could forget Spamalot?  This was one of the highlights of my trip, I would say.  I always liked Monty Python, but this musical really took the humor and ridiculousness up a notch.  Very, very entertaining.  And the sad thing is that I would love to see it again but I know that it would not be quite as good anywhere else.  Oh well, another reason to go back to London someday!

We ate VERY well on this trip.  The three-course meals at fancy restaurants was a big change from my grilled cheese for every meal thing I had going on before I had left Copenhagen.  And, of course, the good eating would continue for the remainder of the three weeks.  Needless to say, my stomach is not very happy with my upon my return to my meager eating lifestyle in Denmark.  

The nights out were fun, of course.  I was able to meet up with some of my Santa Clara friends like Megan and Nadine, at it was wonderful to see familiar faces.  One of the nights we went out we ran into a German bachelor party doing a pub crawl, that was pretty entertaining.  They were having people paint the face of the bachelor, so of course I decided to paint the faces of all of them with hearts and glitter and very mature things like "I like guys."  Heh.  It is fun just to go to pubs in London and talk to people; British people are probably as nice as they come.  So anyway, London was, as you can tell, a BLAST.  I will update later on the rest of the break, and I leave you with this picture of my artistic masterpiece...

I am back after my three weeks of traveling!  I had such an incredible time, I can't even begin to explain what an amazing experience this was.  I am too exhausted to write about everything in detail right now, but I assure you that posts and pictures will be coming soon!

Until then, I am going to sleep...