Bartending at Studenterhuset tonight! Unfortunately, Emily and I heard that the shift runs 9pm - 2am...which means the trains will have stopped running, and probably the night bus as well, since it's a Thursday. I also have an 8:30 tomorrow, so we're thinking of skipping out around 12:15am, because that's when our last train leaves.
Anyway, I'll talk to you after I've had a night behind the bar! (:
2.12.2009
2.11.2009
Some pictures...
The bridge to Sweden in the background...
National bird of Denmark!
A little street in Odense...where some drunk people latched onto our tour group...
The corner of the Hans Christian Andersen museum, and some of Odense
This is how foggy it was in Kolding - this was the "view" from the top of the castle.
National bird of Denmark!
A little street in Odense...where some drunk people latched onto our tour group...
The corner of the Hans Christian Andersen museum, and some of Odense
This is how foggy it was in Kolding - this was the "view" from the top of the castle.
2.10.2009
Bahaha
Success: My Photojournalism professor said that my project looked good. I win.
But now, I think I'm going back to sleep for awhile. I don't have to do anything (well, except homework) until Thursday - No class or study tours tomorrow! Hooray!
But now, I think I'm going back to sleep for awhile. I don't have to do anything (well, except homework) until Thursday - No class or study tours tomorrow! Hooray!
2.09.2009
CHEAP FLIGHTS X2!!!!!!!
So I finally sucked it up and got the guts to do this.
I have officially booked tickets.
On March 27th, our study tour ends at 3:00p.m. From Oxford, I'll be heading back to London to Heathrow Airport. At 7:50p.m., I'll be headed over to Dublin, Ireland, arriving at 9:10p.m. Consider me master travel-planner - tickets were booked at only $73.63.
I'll stay in Dublin until the 1st of April, and on that Wednesday morning, at 10:50a.m., I'll be headed to the Dublin Airport to make my way over from Paris - arrival time: 1:30p.m.
Price? $56.80.
Rock on.
Wish me luck, 'cause I'm just gunna wing it. I'm not booking hostels, I'm not doing anything. I'm going to Ireland with no plans in mind...just a backpack, some clothes, and a sheet. Yikes.
What else I'm thinking:
I can book a flight from Paris to Barcelona for $88. I can't decide. I think I'd rather hop over to Italy, but...SPAIN. I definitely want to accomplish at LEAST four countries in two weeks, if not five. I'm going to be exhausted, but I think it's worth it.
Other thoughts:
I'm really struggling to figure out what I want to do in terms of train tickets. I'm wondering if in this situation, a Eurail pass is the best idea. They're SUPER expensive, and I guess I'll use it and it'll be totally worth it. There's a package where I can get four countries, but I can only use it over ten days, and all within two months. I don't think that's a problem - I think that might actually be a logical idea. The only problem I see is that it's worth more than all of the plane/train tickets I plan to buy - combined. The thing about a Eurail though, is that it gives me ridiculously good discounts. I can get a night train from Paris to Venice for (low)$48, though I think I'd go for a little higher class (the $48 is with five other travelers), and shoot for the $82. Without the Eurail, they'd be (respectively) $221 and $230. I honestly dont know what to do. I know that I'll need the pass anyway...but the prices are so, SO high that I'm not sure I can bring myself to do it.
A four country pass with 10 days worth $459.
You can only do these on adjoining countries (aka - connected by train or ship). This would actually work out for me though, because I would get the pass for France, Republic of Ireland, Italy, and Spain.
If I don't get this pass, I'd have to figure out means of travel - and this is unlimited train. I feel like that's 10 days of endless possibilities - how amazing! So maybe it is worth it after all. I think I'll wait to book until at least March, though, because it's only valid for two months.
Any suggestions? Ideas? Concerns? Don't tell me about your concerns, actually, because they've probably already gone through my mind. I'm doing it - you can't convince me out of it. So if you're concerned, then just wish me good luck, and pray that I don't get stuck in Ireland harvesting potatoes for the rest of my life or something. I guess there's always Guinness.
Anyway, I've exhausted myself with planning for what's shaping up to sound like a fun spring break! I'm thinking that I'll go from:
Denmark - London - Oxford - Dublin - Paris - Barcelona - Venice - Denmark.
So far I'm to Paris - and have spent less than $150 - three more to go, and if I can keep them all under $100 per flight/train ride, I'll begin to consider myself a totally successful travel-planner. A totally successful traveller, though, I guess that's yet to be determined. The flights from Venice to Denmark are pretty expensive, but I don't know, I guess I'll have to take what I can get, because no matter what, I'll have to get home. So aside from my trip home, expenses should be good. The flight from Venice to Copenhagen, though, would stop in Brussels for about 10 hours - shitty layover, but wait! I'm in Europe. Time to explore? Maybe?? Belgium...supposed to be gorgeous, and a place that I'd have liked to see anyway. Am I allowed to leave the airport in the middle of a layover? Does anyone know? So I guess who knows - perhaps I'll spend 10 hours in the city, hop back onto my flight, and deal with the $214 trip back home to Copenhagen. Sounds good to me!
It's almost 2a.m. and I have an 8:30 tomorrow with a less-than-two-minute presentation that I haven't started. But I don't really care, because it basically means I have to stand up and say who I'm photographing for my final project. Done, and done.
Sweet dreams when you get there!
Lots of love,
Your Potentially-Successful-Travel-Planner
I have officially booked tickets.
On March 27th, our study tour ends at 3:00p.m. From Oxford, I'll be heading back to London to Heathrow Airport. At 7:50p.m., I'll be headed over to Dublin, Ireland, arriving at 9:10p.m. Consider me master travel-planner - tickets were booked at only $73.63.
I'll stay in Dublin until the 1st of April, and on that Wednesday morning, at 10:50a.m., I'll be headed to the Dublin Airport to make my way over from Paris - arrival time: 1:30p.m.
Price? $56.80.
Rock on.
Wish me luck, 'cause I'm just gunna wing it. I'm not booking hostels, I'm not doing anything. I'm going to Ireland with no plans in mind...just a backpack, some clothes, and a sheet. Yikes.
What else I'm thinking:
I can book a flight from Paris to Barcelona for $88. I can't decide. I think I'd rather hop over to Italy, but...SPAIN. I definitely want to accomplish at LEAST four countries in two weeks, if not five. I'm going to be exhausted, but I think it's worth it.
Other thoughts:
I'm really struggling to figure out what I want to do in terms of train tickets. I'm wondering if in this situation, a Eurail pass is the best idea. They're SUPER expensive, and I guess I'll use it and it'll be totally worth it. There's a package where I can get four countries, but I can only use it over ten days, and all within two months. I don't think that's a problem - I think that might actually be a logical idea. The only problem I see is that it's worth more than all of the plane/train tickets I plan to buy - combined. The thing about a Eurail though, is that it gives me ridiculously good discounts. I can get a night train from Paris to Venice for (low)$48, though I think I'd go for a little higher class (the $48 is with five other travelers), and shoot for the $82. Without the Eurail, they'd be (respectively) $221 and $230. I honestly dont know what to do. I know that I'll need the pass anyway...but the prices are so, SO high that I'm not sure I can bring myself to do it.
A four country pass with 10 days worth $459.
You can only do these on adjoining countries (aka - connected by train or ship). This would actually work out for me though, because I would get the pass for France, Republic of Ireland, Italy, and Spain.
If I don't get this pass, I'd have to figure out means of travel - and this is unlimited train. I feel like that's 10 days of endless possibilities - how amazing! So maybe it is worth it after all. I think I'll wait to book until at least March, though, because it's only valid for two months.
Any suggestions? Ideas? Concerns? Don't tell me about your concerns, actually, because they've probably already gone through my mind. I'm doing it - you can't convince me out of it. So if you're concerned, then just wish me good luck, and pray that I don't get stuck in Ireland harvesting potatoes for the rest of my life or something. I guess there's always Guinness.
Anyway, I've exhausted myself with planning for what's shaping up to sound like a fun spring break! I'm thinking that I'll go from:
Denmark - London - Oxford - Dublin - Paris - Barcelona - Venice - Denmark.
So far I'm to Paris - and have spent less than $150 - three more to go, and if I can keep them all under $100 per flight/train ride, I'll begin to consider myself a totally successful travel-planner. A totally successful traveller, though, I guess that's yet to be determined. The flights from Venice to Denmark are pretty expensive, but I don't know, I guess I'll have to take what I can get, because no matter what, I'll have to get home. So aside from my trip home, expenses should be good. The flight from Venice to Copenhagen, though, would stop in Brussels for about 10 hours - shitty layover, but wait! I'm in Europe. Time to explore? Maybe?? Belgium...supposed to be gorgeous, and a place that I'd have liked to see anyway. Am I allowed to leave the airport in the middle of a layover? Does anyone know? So I guess who knows - perhaps I'll spend 10 hours in the city, hop back onto my flight, and deal with the $214 trip back home to Copenhagen. Sounds good to me!
It's almost 2a.m. and I have an 8:30 tomorrow with a less-than-two-minute presentation that I haven't started. But I don't really care, because it basically means I have to stand up and say who I'm photographing for my final project. Done, and done.
Sweet dreams when you get there!
Lots of love,
Your Potentially-Successful-Travel-Planner
2.08.2009
Arhus, Odense, and Cheap Flights
Although Arhus and Odense are the second and third biggest cities in Denmark, I don't think it's saying much. I had a pretty awful couple days, and we didn't really do anything fun. We spent a lot of time on the bus, and I didn't make many friends. I think I'm becoming antisocial, because whenever anyone would go out, I would go back to the hostel and read. Whatever.
So a couple cool things we did:
We went to ARoS which was so unbelievably cool - go check out that link, because I can't explain how wonderful the exhibit we got to see was. It's the digital link. We totally lucked out, though, because the exhibit didn't technically open until the next day, but the curator told us he would give us a tour. We got to meet all of the artists, too, which was amazing. Unfortunately, our tour didn't last more than 30 - 45 minutes, and the rest of the museum wasn't that cool...but oh well.
In Odense, we got to take a walking tour of the city, and saw a lot of Hans Christian Andersen stuff, which was really fun for me. I don't think we were supposed to go, but after telling Morten how much I wanted to go, he managed to get our tour guide to agree to taking us to the museum because we had so much time. We spent about an hour there, and that means that I won't have to go on a study tour to Odense AGAIN, from 9:00 - 4:30 with Janis. Hooray! Because really, it means I have a full Wednesday off. At some point, Morten and I were walking and talking, and it turns out that one of his university professors wrote a biography I used for my research paper last semester, and that I'm reading for Janis right now - really cool, huh? Maybe not, but I'm smitten. Still.
We also got to go to TV2, which is Denmark's biggest TV station - but here it works much differently than the States. There's TV2, which has a subset of five different channels. There's also DR (which I think is Danish Radio, I really don't know), and they're the competitors of TV2. We went to the station and got a really cool tour, and even got to see them broadcast the 4:00 news live - and met the anchor and everything. It was really interesting to see how news stations work. All the while, I was thinking of Marcellus Parsons - what a funny person to think about while I'm in Denmark. Weird.
Anyway, the rest of our trip was comprised of the most miserable weather ever, a super lame castle (that was pretty much the ugliest place I've ever seen, but actually it's where the first Protestant church in Denmark was), a lecture from the School of Journalism in Arhus, a visit to a local newspaper who's going partially on the net for their coverage, and a dull museum that was a floor of old newspaper stuff. On the upside, they fed us two meals a day, and they were at really upscale places, and really, really good.
Well.
Except the fish. There was a fish meal on the first day, and it was like...breaded, but an entire fish. I put my fork on it, and moved it around a little, and my fork managed to slide some of it off, but I gagged, because every bone in that fish's body was in tact...except for the head and the tail. I didn't want to waste it (they pre-ordered everything for us), so I managed to slide some more of its body off of its spine and fish version of a ribcage, but had to stop really soon after. The pieces of it that I did eat were completely submerged in butter for about 10 seconds so I wouldn't have to taste it. I asked our program assistant if I could be switched to vegetarian meals whenever fish was arranged.
But since I didn't go out (and was reading "A Prayer for Owen Meany" - thanks, Katie!), I managed to only spend about $60 - on three pretty nice meals.
Also - it was my first time experiencing a hostel - two hostels, actually. They weren't bad at all, but DIS definitely paid a good amount for them. In the second hostel, for either a three or four person room, it was like $120. I guess that's not THAT much, but considering they're sending around 500 kids to hostels, it's pretty pricey. I do, however, appreciate that they're not throwing us in some terrible place where we'd be likely to die. The first hostel was kind of annoying, because we were so jam packed - it was a tiny room with three bunk beds. I'm pretty sure it was only meant to hold four people, because that was originally what the sign-up said...and they had to add two more.
All and all a bad trip, and I was homesick for Copenhagen the entire time, but I'm still holding out hope that the Communications and Mass Media program won't be entirely lame, and that London will be amazing. We'll be there in about two months, as well as Oxford. I've been looking into booking flights out of London, but I don't really have anyone to travel with. My thoughts? I'm up for a European adventure, and I think I'm going to experiment with traveling by myself - wish me luck. I can book a ticket from London to Dublin for about $70, and then one from Dublin to Paris for about $50 - so I'm thinking about booking that soon. I don't really want to finalize anything until I'm sure that I want to do this alone, but I'm about 75% sure that I'd do alright. It's really nice to be traveling so much, because I just need to book the one-ways, which are SO much cheaper. Any thoughts from you? Do you think I can do it? Where else should I go? Having two weeks to myself for spring break is getting stressful - much less fun planning than I thought. Anyway, if I travel by myself, it'll be a good way to prepare myself for traveling alone at the end of the semester - that is, of course, unless any of you want to come with me!
It's 11:11 here, so I'll make a wish that one of you will come to see me over here in Europe - and if not, I'll just wish that you're all doing well back in the States.
I miss you!
So a couple cool things we did:
We went to ARoS which was so unbelievably cool - go check out that link, because I can't explain how wonderful the exhibit we got to see was. It's the digital link. We totally lucked out, though, because the exhibit didn't technically open until the next day, but the curator told us he would give us a tour. We got to meet all of the artists, too, which was amazing. Unfortunately, our tour didn't last more than 30 - 45 minutes, and the rest of the museum wasn't that cool...but oh well.
In Odense, we got to take a walking tour of the city, and saw a lot of Hans Christian Andersen stuff, which was really fun for me. I don't think we were supposed to go, but after telling Morten how much I wanted to go, he managed to get our tour guide to agree to taking us to the museum because we had so much time. We spent about an hour there, and that means that I won't have to go on a study tour to Odense AGAIN, from 9:00 - 4:30 with Janis. Hooray! Because really, it means I have a full Wednesday off. At some point, Morten and I were walking and talking, and it turns out that one of his university professors wrote a biography I used for my research paper last semester, and that I'm reading for Janis right now - really cool, huh? Maybe not, but I'm smitten. Still.
We also got to go to TV2, which is Denmark's biggest TV station - but here it works much differently than the States. There's TV2, which has a subset of five different channels. There's also DR (which I think is Danish Radio, I really don't know), and they're the competitors of TV2. We went to the station and got a really cool tour, and even got to see them broadcast the 4:00 news live - and met the anchor and everything. It was really interesting to see how news stations work. All the while, I was thinking of Marcellus Parsons - what a funny person to think about while I'm in Denmark. Weird.
Anyway, the rest of our trip was comprised of the most miserable weather ever, a super lame castle (that was pretty much the ugliest place I've ever seen, but actually it's where the first Protestant church in Denmark was), a lecture from the School of Journalism in Arhus, a visit to a local newspaper who's going partially on the net for their coverage, and a dull museum that was a floor of old newspaper stuff. On the upside, they fed us two meals a day, and they were at really upscale places, and really, really good.
Well.
Except the fish. There was a fish meal on the first day, and it was like...breaded, but an entire fish. I put my fork on it, and moved it around a little, and my fork managed to slide some of it off, but I gagged, because every bone in that fish's body was in tact...except for the head and the tail. I didn't want to waste it (they pre-ordered everything for us), so I managed to slide some more of its body off of its spine and fish version of a ribcage, but had to stop really soon after. The pieces of it that I did eat were completely submerged in butter for about 10 seconds so I wouldn't have to taste it. I asked our program assistant if I could be switched to vegetarian meals whenever fish was arranged.
But since I didn't go out (and was reading "A Prayer for Owen Meany" - thanks, Katie!), I managed to only spend about $60 - on three pretty nice meals.
Also - it was my first time experiencing a hostel - two hostels, actually. They weren't bad at all, but DIS definitely paid a good amount for them. In the second hostel, for either a three or four person room, it was like $120. I guess that's not THAT much, but considering they're sending around 500 kids to hostels, it's pretty pricey. I do, however, appreciate that they're not throwing us in some terrible place where we'd be likely to die. The first hostel was kind of annoying, because we were so jam packed - it was a tiny room with three bunk beds. I'm pretty sure it was only meant to hold four people, because that was originally what the sign-up said...and they had to add two more.
All and all a bad trip, and I was homesick for Copenhagen the entire time, but I'm still holding out hope that the Communications and Mass Media program won't be entirely lame, and that London will be amazing. We'll be there in about two months, as well as Oxford. I've been looking into booking flights out of London, but I don't really have anyone to travel with. My thoughts? I'm up for a European adventure, and I think I'm going to experiment with traveling by myself - wish me luck. I can book a ticket from London to Dublin for about $70, and then one from Dublin to Paris for about $50 - so I'm thinking about booking that soon. I don't really want to finalize anything until I'm sure that I want to do this alone, but I'm about 75% sure that I'd do alright. It's really nice to be traveling so much, because I just need to book the one-ways, which are SO much cheaper. Any thoughts from you? Do you think I can do it? Where else should I go? Having two weeks to myself for spring break is getting stressful - much less fun planning than I thought. Anyway, if I travel by myself, it'll be a good way to prepare myself for traveling alone at the end of the semester - that is, of course, unless any of you want to come with me!
It's 11:11 here, so I'll make a wish that one of you will come to see me over here in Europe - and if not, I'll just wish that you're all doing well back in the States.
I miss you!
2.04.2009
Out of Town
Tomorrow all the DIS kids are heading out for our short study tours - this one will take me to Odense (HC Andersen's birthplace) and Arhus - two of the biggest cities in Denmark...actually, maybe they're THE two biggest cities after Copenhagen - I don't remember. But anyway, we're going to see the biggest DK TV station and some other stuff...it should be pretty cool.
I apologize for my inability to keep a blog - I've been so busy and so exhausted lately, it just hasn't been working out. I can't even think of all the things I've done in the last week...I'm sure they were fun though. I'm still totally in love with the city, and I'm determined to come back here and live for a couple years when I get older. The IT guy that helped us work on our stupid HTML coding (for FOUR HOURS....GROSS) told me I should just marry a Dane. I told him I was working on it. I don't think he really believed that it was sincere...because I think he knows my Danish professor. By the way - I really hope he never finds this blog. Like, really.
To you, my Danish professor: If you do find this, hopefully you'll only speak of it if you intend on marrying me, too. If not...........Spare me the complete humiliation, please.
Moving on. So I'll be out of town (with him, actually!!) from tomorrow (we have to get to the bus by 7:30, I'm going to shoot myself, because that means I have to leave at 6:25, which means I have to get up at 5:30....GAG.) until Saturday evening...possibly Sunday morning.
Have a great few days, I'll talk to you all soon.
And to my family - I'll miss you on Thursday, and I wish I could be with you.
I apologize for my inability to keep a blog - I've been so busy and so exhausted lately, it just hasn't been working out. I can't even think of all the things I've done in the last week...I'm sure they were fun though. I'm still totally in love with the city, and I'm determined to come back here and live for a couple years when I get older. The IT guy that helped us work on our stupid HTML coding (for FOUR HOURS....GROSS) told me I should just marry a Dane. I told him I was working on it. I don't think he really believed that it was sincere...because I think he knows my Danish professor. By the way - I really hope he never finds this blog. Like, really.
To you, my Danish professor: If you do find this, hopefully you'll only speak of it if you intend on marrying me, too. If not...........Spare me the complete humiliation, please.
Moving on. So I'll be out of town (with him, actually!!) from tomorrow (we have to get to the bus by 7:30, I'm going to shoot myself, because that means I have to leave at 6:25, which means I have to get up at 5:30....GAG.) until Saturday evening...possibly Sunday morning.
Have a great few days, I'll talk to you all soon.
And to my family - I'll miss you on Thursday, and I wish I could be with you.
2.01.2009
!!
I keep trying to update my blog with a post that I'd saved, but it hasn't been working - so this'll be super short, but...
I'M BARTENDING IN COPENHAGEN! Emily and I start on the 12th of February!!
I'M BARTENDING IN COPENHAGEN! Emily and I start on the 12th of February!!
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