If you can't already tell from my other blogs, I tend to be very touristy when traveling to other cities during my time abroad. This past weekend I took touristy to the next level by going on the Sound of Music Tour in Salzburg, Austria. I'm a big fan of the Sound of Music so I was very excited for the tour, which is the main tourist attraction in Salzburg. Unfortunately there was some crazy weather on the day of our tour, it actually snowed...at the end of April!! Other than that I loved the tour. We got to see a lot of the sights where the movie was filmed, and got to hear about behind the scenes secrets. A fun fact that isn't much of a spoiler is that the front of the house in the movie is completely different than the back of the house! We got to see the gazebo, the houses, the abbey, the church where the wedding was filmed and areas of the lakes and mountains region. The tour also included music from the soundtrack on the bus which turned into a sing along of some sorts. Salzburg was a beautiful city and I hope that one day I can go back and see more of it, hopefully when the weather is nicer too. Overall this tour was very worth while, and I highly recommend going on it if you can!
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Keeping up with my blog has become so much more difficult in the final month of studying abroad (wow I can't believe I'm saying last month)! I've been so busy traveling, doing school work and exploring Copenhagen every day. Last week I got the chance to travel a lot because it was our Spring Break. I traveled with one of my good friends from Indiana who also is on DIS. Our first stop was Budapest, where we stayed on the Pest side because the city is split by a river and there is a Buda side and a Pest side (who knew)? I was pleasantly surprised by this city. There was so much to do and it was so cheap which was great considering that Copenhagen is the exact opposite of cheap. Some highlights of Budapest were Parliament, the Chain Bridge, Matthias Church, Fisherman's Bastion and the Szechenyi Thermal Baths. The baths were definitely one of the most interesting "attractions" I've ever been to. I use quotes because to us it was definitely a tourist attraction but there were a bunch of local Hungarian people there who clearly did not see it as an attraction. I felt like the baths were worth going to but I probably wouldn't return. One of my favorite things in Budapest was the Fisherman's Bastion which is a terrace on the Buda side with towers to look out onto the city. After climbing up a lot of stairs and a steep hill we reached an amazing view, it was so worth it.
Our next stop after Budapest was Florence, Italy but on our way there we stopped to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa because our flight landed in Pisa. I loved seeing the Leaning Tower because it is something that I never intended to see but it happened to work out! The fact that the tower is leaning completely on accident is a cool story to hear about and seeing the tower in person was even cooler. My friend and I took the typical tourist picture with our hands holding up the tower and then we headed to the train station to get to Florence. One thing I will say I wish I did more of abroad was taking trains. Copenhagen is not exactly easily accessible by train so I knew I wouldn't be taking trains from Copenhagen but it's a huge bonus to be in a city where it is easy to take trains. The train from Pisa to Florence was so easy, less than 45 minutes! We didn't initially think of this when we planned our trip to Florence but we happened to be there on Easter. A lot of the attractions people see in Florence were fully booked but we still took in so much of the beautiful city. A few of the many things we did while in Florence were seeing the Duomo, the leather market and central market, Piazzale Michelangelo, Santa Croce, the Ponte Vecchio and I ate some of the best food I've ever had in my entire life. The leather market was so cool to see and haggling with the people who sell stuff was a whole new experience. My favorite part of Florence was Piazzale Michelangelo. We walked up a lot of steps to get there to see a beautiful sunset on our last night. My friend and I also saw a bunch of familiar faces while on this trip which made it even more fun. We saw a lot of friends of ours who also go to IU, which gave us a little taste of home. Before I went abroad I read so many different blogs from DIS students and students on other programs. More often than not they talked about being so busy and not being able to blog and at the time I figured I would be fine and that blogging once a week wouldn't be a challenge. WELL I was wrong. I now understand where these past bloggers were coming from because I have been insanely busy and haven't had a lot of time to blog. But right now I'm taking a break from exploring cities and sitting in a coffee shop, ready to blog. Since my last blog here are some things that I've been up too...
Last Thursday I turned in my FINAL paper for my core course, Competing Narratives: Modern European History. After working on this paper for over a week, and doing a lot of drafts, I was very relieved to turn it in. Being done with this class also means no longer having to wake up at 7:00 am to get to my 8:30 am core course, and I am certainly not complaining about that. After turning in my final paper I headed to Mallorca, Spain for a much needed weekend full of warmth and relaxation. Mallorca was definitely not a city that was on my list of cities I wanted to see before abroad but it was so worth it. Booking this trip felt like one of those "you only abroad once" moments and I'm so glad that I did it. I went on this trip with 5 other friends who I've met while on DIS. We basically spent the entire weekend laying by the pool and the beach, which we all agreed was amazing. This trip was so different than any other trip all of us have been on. Traveling usually includes doing as much sightseeing as you can in the time you are in a city. What no one tells you about abroad is that this can be so tiring. It is very worth while but so was our relaxing trip to Mallorca. We got to see some great views, walk around a cute town, and got some sun at the same time. All in all it was an amazing weekend and so much needed after turning in a final paper! SO you might be wondering where I've been living while I've been in Copenhagen for the past 2 months, or maybe not but I'm going to talk about it anyway! There are a lot of different housing options here at DIS. There's homestays, living learning centers, residential communities, Kolligeums (dorms with Americans and Danes) and rented rooms. I live in a residential community (RC) in Osterbro, which is about an hour walk away from the city. There are a bunch of different kinds of RC's at DIS and mine is the most similar to a college dorm. I live with around 50 other people and three SRA's (social residential advisors). My floor has doubles and singles, I live in a double. My room is very cozy and I've come to love it a lot.
One of the best things about living at Tasingegade is the common room. We have one of the best common rooms within DIS and the common room serves as a great place to eat dinner, socialize, do homework, watch a movie and so much more! We also share a huge, very nice common kitchen. This makes it a lot easier to make group meals and share food, because shopping and cooking for one can be difficult. Having lived in a dorm my freshman year and my sorority house the past year and a half, I've never had much of an opportunity to cook. So I've tried my best to do a lot of cooking abroad. It's definitely been interesting an a learning opportunity in general. I've learned that dropping your salmon on the floor when you pull it out of the oven is most definitely not the best way to cook salmon! Ha ha, jokes aside learning how to cook has been fun and I've gotten a lot of help from my floor mates. Tasingegade is one of the reasons why I love Copenhagen so much. I'm lucky to live with an amazing group of people who have made this experience so worth while. Hey! It's been a while since I've written a blog, because I've been really busy traveling. This past week I had my long study tour to Warsaw and Berlin with my core course, Modern European History. We did so many different things over the course of our six days so I'll just talk about some of the highlights...
Warsaw, Poland Palace of Culture and Science: We visited the Palace of Culture and Science on our first day in Warsaw. It is a high rise building that was given to Warsaw by Joseph Stalin in 1952. The building today serves multiple purposes. It is the home to movie theaters, libraries, clubs, universities etc. As a class we heard about the building and then took the elevator to the top to see a 360 view of Warsaw. It was really cool to see a view of the city. Warsaw has a lot of high rise buildings and does not look like other European cities. This is mostly due to the majority of the city being destructed during the war and having to be rebuilt. Museum of the History of Polish Jews: We visited this museum on our last day in Warsaw. I found this to be one of the most beneficial and interesting visits throughout the entire study tour. We got to go through the museum on our own with the use of audio guides which were very beneficial. My favorite part of this museum was that it focused on the life of Polish Jews from the beginning. Obviously there was a large focus on the war and the Holocaust, but there was a lot of information about how to Jews got to Poland and their lives there. Berlin, Germany Olympic Stadium: As a class we were very lucky to get a tour of Olympic Stadium from a visiting faculty member at DIS, Bill. Bill visited our class during core course week to discuss the 1936 Berlin Olympics, so being in the stadium made the discussion come full circle. This was something I appreciated because I never would have gone to Olympic Stadium if I had been in Berlin on my own. Today the stadium is a place for concerts, soccer games etc. Sachsenhausen: In the morning of our last day we visited the Sachsenhausen concentration camp outside Berlin. Having been to the Neuengamme concentration camp, I had an idea of what to expect but this was a very different experience. First off Sachsenhausen is a much bigger camp, and many executions occurred there. It was incredibly difficult to hear the execution stories and to stand on the grounds where it happened. I found this visit to be very important but by no means easy. Over the course of the study tour and my core course in general, something I learned was that the Holocaust was not just about the murdering of European Jews. Thousands of others were killed along the way as well and Sachsenhausen was one of the places where this occurred. Stasi Museum: This was our very last visit on our long 6 day study tour. By the end of the tour I was exhausted and very much ready to relax. However, this last visit was definitely the coolest museum we visited between Warsaw and Berlin. We had a great tour guide who was originally from San Diego but had been living in Berlin. She had a lot of energy which is what made the museum so interesting. Basically the Stasi was the secret police agency of the GDR (German Democratic Republic). The museum showed a lot of different day to day items that were used by the Stasi as cameras to spy on people. They used watering cans, belts, cars etc. as cameras! The entire museum showed how the Stasi managed to spy on people all over the city, it was fascinating. Overall, this trip was very educational but also tiring! We visited a lot of different museums and walked all over Warsaw and Berlin. I would love to talk about all of it but we did so many different things this blog would be way too long. If you have any questions about my study tour feel free to comment or fill out the contact form on my home page! If someone asked me what I miss from back home, Starbucks would definitely be in my top 5 things. If you know me you know that I am a Starbucks junkie. I hate to admit it but I usually go at least once a day, sometimes even twice. BUT, before I went abroad I set a goal for myself to NOT frequent Starbucks while in Copenhagen or other countries. I've done a pretty good job of this, I only went once and it was in the airport after my wallet was stolen so it was necessary. Being away from my Very Berry Refresher's and Skinny Vanilla Latte's has forced me to find alternatives here in Copenhagen. So here is a guide to some of my new favorite coffee shops/cafes that I've found here in Cope.
"Hump Day" is a term that is commonly used for the day of the week, Wednesday. The "hump" refers to getting over the middle of the week hump and getting closer to the weekend. However, Wednesday's at DIS are so much more than a hump day. Wednesday's at DIS are reserved for field studies. A field study is basically a field trip with one of your DIS classes to a cool location in Copenhagen. DIS field studies happen all over the city at places like parliament, power plants, homeless shelters, etc. I like having field studies because it's a great break from classes and it allows students to see parts of Copenhagen that we might not have even known about! For example, my first field study went to the Red Cross in Copenhagen. This was an interesting visit for me because I'm studying nonprofits and fundraising at IU. Another one of my field studies was put together by one of my professors at DIS, it was an international career night. Basically we heard from five individuals who grew up in America but now live and work abroad. It was cool to hear their stories but they also reassured me that I am not interesting in living abroad after college.
On Wednesday's without field studies there are so many things to do! Copenhagen has lots of castles, museums, shops, etc. In general it is also an amazing place to just walk around and explore! So far on my Wednesday's without field studies I've seen Rosenborg Castle and Amailenborg Palace, walked up the Round Tower, found some great coffee shops and restaurants, and explored Copenhagen by walking around. The opportunities in this city are endless. That's all for now-stay tuned because I'm having more field studies soon! Here is something that people don't tell you about studying abroad: planning trips is not that easy. SO much goes into planning trips even if you're only going a train ride away. In the rare case that someone who is studying abroad in the future is reading this I'm writing my top 10 travel tips to help future study abroaders plan!
After a great weekend in Amsterdam, I headed to Barcelona! I've never been to Spain so I didn't know what to expect. Immediately after arriving I was blown away. My friend Olivia and I only had 2 days in Barcelona so we tried to fit as many things possible into those two days, and I think we did a pretty good job. Because we saw so many different things and I want to talk about all of them here is one word and one sentence about each!
Casa Battlo: Colorful. We couldn't go in but we appreciated the architecture from outside and it was amazing. Brunch & Cake: Eats. Unreal brunch place in Barcelona, got a free piece of red velvet cake and then proceeded to walk over 20,000 steps after because it was so necessary. La Sagrada Familia: Barcelona. I feel like Barcelona is know for the Sagrada Familia, it was HUGE and not similar to other churches I've seen in a good way. La Boqueria Market: Fresh. If I could I would move to Barcelona and go to this market every day; so fresh and cheap! Parc Guell: Views. This park was very worth all the walking to see the amazing view of Barcelona; Gaudi's architecture is also so unique. Barcelona Cathedral: Religion. The cathedral felt like much more of a religious place rather than the Sagrada Familia which was more touristy. Arc de Triomf: Huge. I've seen the Arc in Paris and it was interesting to see another Arc de Triomf with Spanish architecture. Parc de la Ciutadella: Fountain. This park was so relaxing, the best part was the fountain which had cool gold architecture. Barceloneta Beach: Warmth!!! Being able to sit outside and have a meal near the beach made this trip so worth while. Camp Nou: Sports! I'm actually a huge football, basketball and baseball fan but it was so cool to see a European soccer game, a sport that I previously knew nothing about. Hey! It's been a while since I've written a blog but I've also had a crazy couple of days. On Saturday I planned to have an easy trip to the airport with my friend Olivia to catch our flight to Amsterdam. What actually happened was the exact opposite of easy. When I got on the metro I checked my purse to realize that my wallet had been stolen out of my bag. Then I began to panic and have a minor anxiety attack (okay it was a major anxiety attack) because I had no money and was about to leave for an entire week. Olivia convinced me that we should try to get to the airport to catch our flight so we did. After landing in Amsterdam I spent about two hours on the phone with my parents and my bank figuring everything out. This was not easy, and it brought on a lot of tears because I was so mad at myself for getting my wallet stolen. Both my parents were so comforting during the entire ordeal and kept telling me not to worry and that it would all be okay. It ended up being okay but this didn't stop me from freaking out, and having a lot of anxiety! I came to the conclusion that this horrible situation was not going to ruin the great trip I had planned. Once we figured everything out Olivia and I went to our hotel, and then walked around before dinner. For dinner we met up with some of my sorority sisters who are studying abroad in Florence but were visiting Amsterdam at the same time as us, and it was really nice to see them! We did a lot of different things in Amsterdam but here are some of the highlights. Dam Square & Pancake Bakery On Saturday we woke up early to walk to The Pancake Bakery, which is known as one of the best pancake places in Amsterdam. Whoever made that statement was 110% right because it was UNREAL. I got a pancake with banana, chocolate sauce and whipped cream and it was huge! Our next stop was Dam Square. We walked around the square where we saw the Royal Palace of Amsterdam and the National Monument which was built to commemorate World War II in the Netherlands. We also walked around the streets that had stores and did some window shopping. Rijksmuseum & Van Gogh Our next stop was the Rijksmuseum, which is the museum behind the "I Amsterdam" letters. We didn't have time to see everything but we got to see a temporary exhibit on South Africa, Holland and apartheid, as well as pieces by Rembrandt and van Gogh. This museum had a lot to offer and I really liked the way they put together the temporary exhibit on South Africa and Holland. Then we went to the Van Gogh museum which was awesome. Some of his most famous pieces that we saw were The Bedroom, Sunflowers, and his many self portraits. The museum was very informative and focused on van Gogh's struggle with mental illness. Something that was very shocking to me was how many pieces there were in this museum, it was full of so much art, all done by Van Gogh! Also this was not even all of his pieces, many others reside in museums around the world such as the Musee d'Orsay in Paris and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Overall, both of these museums were very worth seeing. Heineken Experience & Canal Cruise
After a long day of sightseeing on Sunday we decided to take a canal cruise to relax and see the city from the water. It was a really cool experience and I highly recommend doing one if you go to Amsterdam! We also learned a lot about the city while on the tour. The last thing we did before leaving Amsterdam was the Heineken Experience on Sunday morning. It almost felt like entering Disney World because it was very interactive. I learned that a Heineken beer only has four ingredients: barley, hop, yeast and water. Also beer is about 95% water and it takes a really long time to make! I had never had a Heineken before the tour and I realized that it's a great tasting beer. After we finished the tour I was really happy that we did it because we learned a lot about something I knew nothing about before and got two free beers which was also awesome. Overall even though the trip did not start off on a good note, I still had an amazing time in Amsterdam. From walking the streets with canals, to seeing cool museums and eating pancakes Amsterdam was one of the best cities I've seen so far. I can't wait to come back in May when my brother visits! |
AuthorHi! My name is Annie and I am studying abroad for four months in Copenhagen, Denmark!
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