I have three weeks left. To the day. Craziness.
In the past few weeks I have been trying to catch up with work, which at this point seems like a losing battle. I have 1 take home test, 1 final, 2 ten-page papers, 1 six page paper, a debate, and an "extensive" quiz left. we have thursday and friday off this week so I will be buckling down and attempting to knock out two of those papers.
what has happened since i last wrote? well the weather and copenhagen changed. we now have more hours of sun than darkness. the gelato stand opened back up. i went the first day back at class from travel break. they recognized me. i am a regular to the point that when their credit machine wasn't working this sunday, they still let me have my cone. they told me to pay next time i come back--because they know that i will be back within days. the one good thing is that their price went down 5 kr, about 1 dollar, since last season.
i discovered a beach by my kollegium. very pretty. i also ran the half i have been training for. it was painful. i ran last sunday. my time was fine, the fact that everything was marked in kms made it harder to pace but i'm happy with my time. i finished which is always the primary goal. there were many moments when i didn't want to but i powered through. Now i just need to find a new race in maine to train for this summer.
the volcano hit iceland, as all those not living under a rock probably have heard. i disrupted travel in and out of copenhagen. it also changed the weather. volcanos have a cooling effect; this was evident when on last monday i was comfortable wearing sandals and two days later it snowed. Yes, snow. in april. i travel 3000 miles from maine and am unable to avoid the snow in the spring.
last friday i went over to a friends, ran, baked and made pizza. saturday i had two friends over for dinner. i made red lentil soup and flatbread. it was the first time i made that red lentil soup, and i was pleased with the results.
other news, i have an internship for the summer. it's nice to have plans and i'm looking forward to the work.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Around and Back
So I arrived back in Copenhagen Monday, exhausted. I was going to update yesterday evening, but I lost power(more on that later). Here is the wrap of my final travel break of the semester.
Last week I spent Monday through Friday in Paris. After my visit to the louvre Wednesday I headed over to the Museum Orsay. I love Van Gough and really wanted to see something of his. I was thrilled to discover that I could get into that museum free as well--thank you Denmark. As luck would have it the Van Gough exhibit was under construction, but they place his painting in a random hallway. It was a little jarring to see these famous works just placed in a regular hallway with little to no security, but nice, refreshing even.
Overall I think it was the best museum I have ever been to. It was overpopulated, I didn't have to wade around in the crowds to see a painting. It was quite, clean, and the selection was exactly up my ally. I wrote down a couple of names of the artists that I really loved--Armand Guilaumin, Jozf Rippl Ronai, Andre Deran, Edgar Degas, and of course Monet( how could I not love the artists who painted gorgeous sailboats?)
After the Museum I made my way to the Eiffel Tower. The weather was still beautiful so I figured I should take advantage of it. I got in line, a long line. I was only there for about 5 minutes when a couple and their teenager daughter approached the mother-daughter pair in front of me. They explained that they were American and accidently made a reservation for 6-not three and had three tickets to sell. I weighed my options--wait in line for 2 hours or speak up. I spoke up and joined their group. There reservation was at 7 so I had 45 minutes to kill. So I walked around the Eiffel tower and took some neat shots(see right).
At 7 we got to jump the line and head right to the top. Very pretty views--yet very windy. After that I headed back home. Next day I went into town into the Marsais- the old bourgoise district. Great people watching, great weather. Then later went for a run, had a final dinner with the family I was staying with, and packed up. The family was so great and really made the visit memorable for me.
Friday I traveled to Bologna. I arrived, got a bus into the city and then the confusion began. The public transportation in Paris is great. It is easy to learn, even when you don't understand the language. Bologna is the opposite. It is a bus system that stops at seemingly random places. People in the town try to be helpful, but they don't even know where to catch the line. I literally walked up and down a street for 40 minutes because people kept giving me contradictory directions. An hour after that I arrived at my hostile, which was 20 minutes outside the city in the middle of no where. Not joking, it was literally in the middle of a field. Oy. I washed up, emailed the family, and then received word from my friend Elisabeth that she was not going to be able to meet up with me tomorrow in Levanto because someone stole her passport and money from her in Budapest. That made me nervous. Like in Dublin, I slept with my passport and credit cards in the band of my sweatpants. That turned out to be useful because one of the girls in the room snored incredibly loudly. In the middle of the night, after already being woken up twice, I slammed them against the wall and rolled over. It worked, she woke up, and I had a chance to get to sleep.(See picture below of the hostile)
The next morning I headed into town, walked around for a bit, and then got on a train to Levanto. It was a 4 hour trip via the train, many stops. I do love traveling by train though, so it didn't bother me. The views out the window were very neat. Got to Levanto and had to find a place to sleep. I was going to stay at a campground with Elisabeth,but there was no way I was doing that alone--I could imagine a lifetime movie being made out of a decision like that. I got a room at a hotel-got the price down from 40 to 25 euro, went for a run and got a nice meal to eat on the beach. The next day was Sunday, Easter. I went to Church-it was built in the 1200s and had been operational since the 1400s. The mass was said in Italian but the hymns were familiar. I went to the train station after changing into hiking clothes. I bought a three day pass for the Cinque Terre. Seconds after I was on the platform and thought-what am I doing? I do not want to hike alone for three days. I am way to clumsy for that/have bad luck. So I sold my ticket to a fellow tourist, went to the hotel, booked a plane ticket out of Pisa the next morning, packed (I think packed in maybe 2 minutes, defiantly a record for me), and headed out.
My flight out of Pisa was at 10 AM, but the earliest train out of Levanto was at 6 something, getting to Pisa Central Station at 838, and then I would have to get to the airport. That was cutting it too close for me, so I knew I should just leave Levanto Sunday night and spend the night at the airport. I didn't want to get a room at the hostel because a) I would have to pay for a room and b) hostels aren't that much better then airports in terms of the quality of sleep(for me anyway). Levanto is 12 km away from Monterosso, the first town of the Cinque Terre in my direction. I decided to walk there. I took the roads because I knew there would be plenty of cars and people out-there were. It ended up being a two hour hike up such high windy roads. It was fun. Nice views, sunny weather(even though it was suppose to rain). I defiantly walked longer/got lost but it was fine. Got to town, got gelato, and put my feet in the water.
Next I got on a train to Pisa and made it to the airport. I washed up, changed into comfy clothes and settled in for the night in a section where fellow backpackers were sleeping too. Long story short didn't get much sleep. But in the morning I was got on the plane and got back to CPH safely. I was asleep before take off through the landing.
Yesterday was a catch up day, as is today. Last night I was blow drying my hair and the fuse in my room blew. I didn't do anything out of the ordinary and was using a danish dryer. fun stuff. They were able to fix it this afternoon, thus the reason I have power and a working computer.
Last week I spent Monday through Friday in Paris. After my visit to the louvre Wednesday I headed over to the Museum Orsay. I love Van Gough and really wanted to see something of his. I was thrilled to discover that I could get into that museum free as well--thank you Denmark. As luck would have it the Van Gough exhibit was under construction, but they place his painting in a random hallway. It was a little jarring to see these famous works just placed in a regular hallway with little to no security, but nice, refreshing even.
Overall I think it was the best museum I have ever been to. It was overpopulated, I didn't have to wade around in the crowds to see a painting. It was quite, clean, and the selection was exactly up my ally. I wrote down a couple of names of the artists that I really loved--Armand Guilaumin, Jozf Rippl Ronai, Andre Deran, Edgar Degas, and of course Monet( how could I not love the artists who painted gorgeous sailboats?)
After the Museum I made my way to the Eiffel Tower. The weather was still beautiful so I figured I should take advantage of it. I got in line, a long line. I was only there for about 5 minutes when a couple and their teenager daughter approached the mother-daughter pair in front of me. They explained that they were American and accidently made a reservation for 6-not three and had three tickets to sell. I weighed my options--wait in line for 2 hours or speak up. I spoke up and joined their group. There reservation was at 7 so I had 45 minutes to kill. So I walked around the Eiffel tower and took some neat shots(see right).
At 7 we got to jump the line and head right to the top. Very pretty views--yet very windy. After that I headed back home. Next day I went into town into the Marsais- the old bourgoise district. Great people watching, great weather. Then later went for a run, had a final dinner with the family I was staying with, and packed up. The family was so great and really made the visit memorable for me.
Friday I traveled to Bologna. I arrived, got a bus into the city and then the confusion began. The public transportation in Paris is great. It is easy to learn, even when you don't understand the language. Bologna is the opposite. It is a bus system that stops at seemingly random places. People in the town try to be helpful, but they don't even know where to catch the line. I literally walked up and down a street for 40 minutes because people kept giving me contradictory directions. An hour after that I arrived at my hostile, which was 20 minutes outside the city in the middle of no where. Not joking, it was literally in the middle of a field. Oy. I washed up, emailed the family, and then received word from my friend Elisabeth that she was not going to be able to meet up with me tomorrow in Levanto because someone stole her passport and money from her in Budapest. That made me nervous. Like in Dublin, I slept with my passport and credit cards in the band of my sweatpants. That turned out to be useful because one of the girls in the room snored incredibly loudly. In the middle of the night, after already being woken up twice, I slammed them against the wall and rolled over. It worked, she woke up, and I had a chance to get to sleep.(See picture below of the hostile)
The next morning I headed into town, walked around for a bit, and then got on a train to Levanto. It was a 4 hour trip via the train, many stops. I do love traveling by train though, so it didn't bother me. The views out the window were very neat. Got to Levanto and had to find a place to sleep. I was going to stay at a campground with Elisabeth,but there was no way I was doing that alone--I could imagine a lifetime movie being made out of a decision like that. I got a room at a hotel-got the price down from 40 to 25 euro, went for a run and got a nice meal to eat on the beach. The next day was Sunday, Easter. I went to Church-it was built in the 1200s and had been operational since the 1400s. The mass was said in Italian but the hymns were familiar. I went to the train station after changing into hiking clothes. I bought a three day pass for the Cinque Terre. Seconds after I was on the platform and thought-what am I doing? I do not want to hike alone for three days. I am way to clumsy for that/have bad luck. So I sold my ticket to a fellow tourist, went to the hotel, booked a plane ticket out of Pisa the next morning, packed (I think packed in maybe 2 minutes, defiantly a record for me), and headed out.
My flight out of Pisa was at 10 AM, but the earliest train out of Levanto was at 6 something, getting to Pisa Central Station at 838, and then I would have to get to the airport. That was cutting it too close for me, so I knew I should just leave Levanto Sunday night and spend the night at the airport. I didn't want to get a room at the hostel because a) I would have to pay for a room and b) hostels aren't that much better then airports in terms of the quality of sleep(for me anyway). Levanto is 12 km away from Monterosso, the first town of the Cinque Terre in my direction. I decided to walk there. I took the roads because I knew there would be plenty of cars and people out-there were. It ended up being a two hour hike up such high windy roads. It was fun. Nice views, sunny weather(even though it was suppose to rain). I defiantly walked longer/got lost but it was fine. Got to town, got gelato, and put my feet in the water.
Next I got on a train to Pisa and made it to the airport. I washed up, changed into comfy clothes and settled in for the night in a section where fellow backpackers were sleeping too. Long story short didn't get much sleep. But in the morning I was got on the plane and got back to CPH safely. I was asleep before take off through the landing.
Yesterday was a catch up day, as is today. Last night I was blow drying my hair and the fuse in my room blew. I didn't do anything out of the ordinary and was using a danish dryer. fun stuff. They were able to fix it this afternoon, thus the reason I have power and a working computer.
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