Iceland Photos

I will of course be writing a blog post about Iceland with details but I am leaving tomorrow to go to Berlin so it will have to wait! But in the mean time here are some photos, enjoy!

                                                     Best picture I took all trip!

 Making a funny face... but the wind was blowing and I had left my coat on the bus! haha

 All geared up and ready! This is before we walked down to the Althing (the original location of parliament)

 This is the geysir...

And this is what I looked like after voluntarily standing beneath it! Ah how I love warm pee smelling water, really gets me going in the mornin'.

 In Iceland 60% of the population believes in elves... this dude made me believe in giants for a brief moment... kinda still do.

 See I can ride a horse! An Icelandic one at that! His name was Vindur and he took me off the path at one point and even tried to run away but I love him anyways. I talked to him constantly and even sang him a few songs... he was a lucky horse if I do say so myself.

This is my Ogre face, grumpy. See Dad I can do it too!

 Not my best angle but I definitely win points for being classy ;)

 Under the waterfall at the Blue Lagoon before we left for Copenhagen.

I'm pretty sure this is our only class photo and I must say we nailed it!

More to come in about a week!

Wowzers it's been a while...

a whole month has in fact passed without my checking in and writing a blog. Time is whizzing by and I'm already missing Denmark even though I'm still here. It's kind of like the second to last week of camp, it isn't ending but you start to feel nostalgic and wondering where all the time went.

The first thing I remember was not checking my email one Tuesday morning and heading to class. When I got there I checked my email at DIS and found that my class had been cancelled and I didn't have to be there until 2:50... and it was now 9:45. So instead of sulking around inside I high tailed it to Rosenborg Castle and the King's Royal Garden. I sat outside enjoying the sunshine and leaning up against a tree. It was relaxing and the first time I'd truly just sat and disconnected with school and work for a long time.



Before I talk about long study tour I'm going to mention an assignment I did just the other day. My friends Manya and Rebecca, are in The City of Copenhagen: Contemporary Issues or something like that. Either way the course is all about Copenhagen and it's development as a city. We had to go on a walking tour of Vesterbro and look at urban renewal and the different forms it could take. It was really fascinating and worth while. Each group of blocks was formulated differently and each was unique. Carsten, our professor, had us walk to a playground and of course we played on it!

We found the coolest slide ever! It had a climbing wall on the other side and you had to climb up through the parrot to get to the slide!

I think the easiest way for me to show what happened on my Long Study Tour to Tallinn and Stockholm would be to paste this link. It's to the video I made of my class and our good times. Oh and here it is again: CDD: Children with Special Needs Core class travels to Tallinn and Stockholm! It's corny but it's cool. I also did all the music on garage band. Lb and I made the first part of the first song together but I did the rest of the stuff cause I needed more material to work with.

Now back in Humlebaek it's getting warmer and warmer. I wore shorts the other day with a winter hat as I took a walk through the extensive back woods. Now that it's gotten nice out we typically go for walks after dinner and watch the sun set and wander around the fields, along the coast, or through the neighboring town. Once we gave ourselves nicknames and talked like we were gangstas... which was hilarious considering we are the whitest of the white. There are a few "gangs" in Humlebaek but they're just kids on scooters that hangout near the train stop. Super scary! ahh :p

Soooo guess who visited me for a whole week? My parents! It was super fun and awesome getting to spend time with them and have them explore Copenhagen. We went out to dinner and really yummy restaurants and went to museums. My dad and I went to Christiania but only bought fruit salad... sorry to disappoint anyone, haha but naw it was really nice to look at the art, which fills the place. There are statues and graffiti everywhere and people of all social backgrounds. It was sunny and warm so even some families were there. It was a major "go there after work" day so people in business suits holding joints were a common occurrence. Dogs were also running around all over the place. Dad and I walked up onto the former bastions that had been landscaped into a park of some sort.

I'm waiting for my mom to send me the pictures she took throughout the trip and then I will add some here. She and I had a lovely time at meals catching up. It was difficult to balance classes and seeing my parents, so by the end of the week I was exhausted. We spent Saturday going to brunch at the hotel (I stayed at Manya's in the city so I didn't have to commute) and then went to Helsingor to look at Hamlet's castle. We then came back to get lunch, but there wasn't any, so instead I showed them around Krogerup and we went to the Louisiana Modern Art Museum for lunch. They also went and looked at the Picasso exhibit while I wandered around trying not to fall asleep! We then walked back to Krogerup and packed a suitcase of my stuff for them to bring home. Walked them to the train, and said our goodbyes. Waved them off, walked back to Krogerup and sat on a hay bale watching the sun go down. Lasagna for dinner, cooked by other students(every Saturday night we cook our own dinner). Then I went to take a nap at 9 pm... but didn't wake up until 9 am the next day! I slept through people knocking on my door and yelling my name, so I guess I really was that tired!

Parents got home safely and everything is going well. Did my group presentation on Inclusive education on Monday and have started reading 101 Reykjavik for class. It's by Hallgrimur Helgason and is extremely well written. Apparently one in ten Icelanders will publish a book during their life, which is astonishing! Good for them!

No class or field studies today so I'm gonna write my paper that's due on Friday and watch a movie. I've been playing hours upon hours of card games, mainly President & Asshole, and Egyptian Ratscrew!

Just an Update

So I'm sorry I haven't exactly been keeping up with my blog... had midterms today and a presentation in a few hours. After that I am on the home stretch... this Sunday my core class is going to Estonia and Stockholm, which I am super excited about! I am also in the process of trying to plan my spring break... first week I'm going to Iceland with my Vikings and Sagas class and after that I'm meeting up with Ben and whoever else and going to Italy and maybe Brussels... we have to figure it out still.

I am going to participate in a panel discussion between LGBTQ students in Denmark and those in my study abroad program. I have no idea how many people will show up but Anders booked a room for 180 people! It's at the end of March but I'll keep you updated and can hopefully get it streamed online or something. I think the cultural differences and experiences will be extremely fascinating.

As you all know, I love garlic... they make this really potent garlic stuff. It's minced garlic that's left to marinate in itself with a little olive oil and it's delicious but makes your breath stink! Well basically that's what's on my lunch... yummy.

Last Wednesday my teacher took us on a tour of the Bastions of the Citadel that is still perfectly intact in Copenhagen. It was used for defense during the Early Modern period and was never disabled and has been made into a nice area to jog. Here's an aerial view:

It was super cold out but covered in a light dusting of snow. I fell in love with the contours and will definitely be taking my parents there when they visit!

We also went to Amalienborg palace and got a tour. You can't take pictures inside but it was beautiful. The inside rooms had been preserved until now because no one had been using them. They are Rococo style and lavishly decorated. My favorite room had fountains with fish carved on it.

The Danes are going home this weekend and on Sunday the Americans leave until Friday.... We're not gonna see each other for a week! So sad and weird.

So funny story... just try and visualize it. Small car from Norway that's a stick shift. 4 Americans, 1 Dane, piled inside (yes mom, all with seatbelts) and driven 3 minutes to the town center. Didn't stall once! Find two shopping carts (put coin in it so you can unlock it, get coin back when you return it.... should do this in the US). Put 7 cases of beer in one cart, and 6 cases of beer in the other. I'm pushing one cart and my friend the other. Switch off with others and eventually get it to the car. Load it up. Send it home and the rest of us walk back.

This was what we went through to provide alcohol for the party on saturday. Usually the beer gets delivered but we had to go on an adventure this time! They had to make a second trip to get 8 more cases of beer... pretty ridiculous if you think about it. We also bought food and made fried rice for dinner! yumm

I don't even know where to begin! i haven't updated in two weeks and so much has happened!

I went on a short study tour with my Children with Special Needs class and it was fantastic. We looked at inclusive education and different examples of it working with students of varying ages. A cool video was shown to us, here's the link: i highly recommend this, it's about changing the system . We stayed in Odense and went to Hans Christian Anderson's museum and the Tinderbox. The Tinderbox is an interactive creative space where children can experience fairytales first hand. This time they had the Little Mermaid and it was super cool. Here are some pictures! We also dressed up : )

We went out in Odense the night before that and played some pool and did some dancing. We also got desert at a Turkish restaurant, it was a crepe with ice cream in the middle. it was delish.

It was a lot of fun! Classes are going well, I have a number of group projects but they are all under control. I'm currently reading Egil's Saga, which follows a viking named Egil and gives lots of

miscellaneous names and lineages. I love the book though, I would recommend everyone to read a Saga.

I finally did my laundry and cleaned my room! You guys know how messy I am so it must have been Really bad in order for me to do a massive cleaning!

It's dinner but i'll post later with landscape pictures and stuff

Side note: If anyone wants to catch up with me and actually see my beautiful, shining face, should fb message me or email me or leave a comment here cause we can skype! it's about a 6 hour time difference! 

Recent observations:
-Danes are extremely friends, make pretty terrible (lame) jokes, and love to party.
-Handball is not a joke. It is an extreme sport they take great pride in, and for good reason because it's an awesome sport!
- Getting lost in the city is more fun when you're by yourself. No one freaks out and asks you to figure out a map, you are your own guide and you have all the time in the world to wander and explore.
-The woods near my house are haunted by a spirit. He is male and I think it's his name engraved on a stone at the end of the path... but I'm gonna see if google brings anything up. But my hunch is that he is waiting for someone to return and is waiting at the edge of the woods in a clearing for them.
-I'm lame when it comes to drinking wine... I usually need to add something to sweeten it, usually some type of juice.
-Rules are extremely relaxed if they exist at all. I am currently in the library at school, at a computer, eating! Wow never thought I'd be allowed to do that. At home the only rule is that you can't enter or exit the building through a window.... Oskar broke that rule by knocking on my friends window and climbing in at 3 am on saturday. Alcohol is technically not allowed to be open on trains but it is a norm and allowed as long as you are behaving.
-Layers are the best thing ever! You can have a cute outfit underneath but you better have a fleece, hat, under armor, and gloves on too!
-Breakfast consists of cornflakes with yogurt or milk, or bread and cheese or jam. Lunch consists of a packed sandwich or more recently a tupperware with a strange mix of last nights dinner. Right now I have tomatoes and cucumber with a salmon/potato/carrot/squash/spinach quiche, which I must say is delicious! Dinner will sometimes but cold, sometimes hot, it depends on what was for lunch. Either way there is always food to be found. If you're late it's always available after in the kitchen, which I will be tonight.
-The Danes drink pretty much every night, there are different levels of drunk though, depending on everyone's mood. This weekend the majority were drunk from friday afternoon until sunday night... some even into monday morning! They are extremely hardcore and their version of Edward 40 hands involved saranwrapping 8-10 beers to their hand and drinking them all and stumbling around. Before bed when I go downstairs to make lunch I will usually run into people at various stages of drunkenness attempting to feed themselves. Some are definitely more successful than others but the place is usually left in disarray. The Danes are social drinkers and this behavior is not considered alcoholic... it never even crossed my mind as an option. It's simply a different culture and no one ever gets sick surprisingly enough. On weeknights most have one or two beers and we Americans sometimes partake but usually we have homework and early classes (i wake up at 7:30 every day) so we don't drink with them, but we do go to Choir Practice on Mondays and Stomp on Tuesdays and Danish Dancing whenever it's held. The students here don't have homework so they are free to do as they like after their classes. It's difficult being in such close proximity and not being able to hangout with them 24/7 and not being able to drink with them all the time- but I like the balance I force myself to make. It's a give and take relationship and I love it.

It's amazing here and life is so free and rewarding. my History of Copenhagen and Contemporary Issues class is teaching me all about what's under my feet and what I'm literally walking on as I go around the city. Churches from hundreds of years ago still stand and the wall that used to guard the city is part of the foundation of my school's main building. The metro line is currently being expanded and archaeologists have been given the opportunity to look where one of the walls used to be and excavate in the process of renovating the new station. History is being dug up!

If you're wondering why this post is so long it is explained by the fact that I still have two hours before class and am trying to keep myself occupied. I still need to finish my tour assignment in the city but it's cold and I'd much prefer to sit inside then wander right now. I wandered yesterday and my heart is satisfied with that trip for now.

Pictures are coming soon! I'm waiting for my friend to upload hers so I can add stuff.

first weekend

friday night: party held by DIS in a discotech was awesome. my friend and i unknowingly wore matching shirts. it was awesome. it was a club with crazy lights and free beer and champagne and apparently wine, which i didn't find out about until we left : / i love wine so kinda sad. anyways really fun dancing. made some new friends and talked to some acquaintances a bit. if you want more details i can tell you but not on my lovely blog that my family can read. hi mom hi dad i know you're reading this :p

saturday: went winter bathing in the baltic sea! we intended on dunking but it didn't drop off fast enough so we ended up running out by the time we waded up to our knee and were numb for a few minutes. so glad i did it though!

we cooked dinner for ourselves on saturday night and did it family dinner style. next weekend i'm cooking with a few jews and we intend on making some jewish food : D

saturday night: one of the halls hosted a party for everyone which was super heroes versus evil villains. it was epic! my friend ben and i were twins again and did a mafia/mob type outfit. others were the incredibles, powderpuff girls, twoface, wonderwoman, catwoman, QUAILMAN!! remember when i was quailman last year? haha it was a great night. i put up pictures on fb too. basically a great day. stayed up till 4am but also got up at 10:30 for breakfast! and didn't take a nap! such a win

inspirational quotes and concepts

things i jot down in classes that my teachers and friends say. this will get updated throughout the semester:


-to treat everyone equally you have to treat them differently

-lived democracy: voice of child is important and they can make their own choices... let the child live with freedom and negotiation

-about DC: you can smell power in the air

-you can read information from everything you see
          -text is found on stairs, buildings, everywhere