a pair of glasses and an ace bandage, I participated in a UVa tradition this past Sunday morning. Why? I don't know. I wanted to do something crazy and completely out of character, and as my brother said, this was much safer than drugs and sex. And I agree! Everyone also keeps asking if I wore shoes. Well the answer is no! That would be cheating, and it's gonna take more than 100 meters each way and wet grass to make me cheat. Despite it all, the most exciting thing about it was realizing that I could run the entire way without getting winded. Yay for physical fitness!

I guess the experience did two things for me. One, it reaffirmed my awesomeness (at least in my own mind). And two, it help me see that these things that I build up in my mind are not nearly as big as I think they are. I mean, once the pants came down, it was like, "big whoop." It was a fun experience nonetheless.

Current Location: Charlottesville, Virginia
Current Mood: accomplished

Well the saga is over. On Friday, my last day, I did the whole tourist thing. I took pictures that I probably should have during the first week. But the weather was nice, and all the tourists were out, I couldn't even enjoy my last day in the city. Oh well. I guess, as I reflect on my time here in Denmark, I am sad to go. It feels strange to know that I will not be coming back, I am surprised at how quickly this place grew on me in just four months. There seems to be a general consensus though. Everyone is sad to leave, but we all miss there families and various things from the US...

Me and the Anticlimatic Ending.....Well, I'm gonna miss Denmark, but it will be nice to not have to sleep on a futon.


Time of Arrival: May 19---3:30pm EST

Current Mood: happy

Hurray for feeling 5 years old again! For my biology of marine mammals class, we went to this zoo two hours away. I forgot how great zoos were. We got to see all these animals, and our teacher would tell us all these strange facts. One cool thing, we got the lion section during feeding time. They all these carcasses that the lioness and cubs were going after, and they pined the male, and gave him this huge one hung from a tree. It was a fun time. What capped off the five year old feeling was when we got into the van and headed to our next destination, we were given snacks...and juice boxes, yay! So it was like a little trip down memory lane.

Speaking about strange animals doing things. They have this thing here called MusicGrandPrix, and the rest of Europe calls it Eurovision Song Contest. Basically, different countries from Europe and close countries in other continents compete. They send a representatie song writer/singer to perform. It's pretty entertaining, but a lot of them only further the "crazy European" stereotype. Though some songs are good, most are just fun.

Current Mood: happy

So, I had this field trip yesterday...

I had to go 45min to get to the liberation museum. And then I was told that it was only a little past the Little Mermaid. Ha! That would help if I had been to that statue (I know, I've been here for three months without seeing the Little Mermaid, I deserve to get lost, yada, yada, yada) Anyway, an old guy with a baby helped me out. So my ire towards Scandinavian tour guides continues. This guy wasn't stuffy (the museum was, but that's not the point) or haughty. But somehow a tour of museum that was one floor and all of four walls worth of exhibits, (okay so they were long walls, but no more than 70/80 ft) lasted a little more than an hour. An HOUR! I know more about Denmark during WWII than I ever wanted to. Then we had to come all the way back to Helsingor, waste some time, then took another 40min train ride farther north. We than went to this church were Jews were hidden. That lasted about thirty minutes, max. Then we wandered through town so that we could see the kind of boat and conditions the people traveled the 8 or 10 km to Sweden in. Oh, that had to be an uncomfortable half-hour out of their lives. Then we were supposed to go to the beach. An hour or so later we finally get their (the chaperones decided to stop to get food, and just about everyone decided to wander off, but I wanted to see sand, darn it!0 So when you think beach, you think wide expanse of sand, shells, water. For starters, the bright, bright sun that had made my morning wanderings not a happy time had now gone away. Then we saw the beach. First, it was next to this processing area. Why are they taking us to a beach next to commercial mining or processing, or whatever?! Then the beach was about 5 meters wide from grass to water. And the beach didn't have shells, it had Rocks, not pebbles, Rocks. You couldn't even really walk barefoot because of all the debris in the sand. This was not a beach, it was a section of coastline. I was mislead! But the train ride was pretty at least.

Waste of time!

Current Mood: angry

SO, for those who don't know. When I was about five, I learned that my name was French. Ever since then I have wanted to go to Paris. I finally had a chance to go.

So, I went with a friend, and we were gonna meet a third at the airport. So, for those who don't know, Charles de Gaulle is huge! All the domestic flights have their terminal. British Airways and Air France share another huge terminal. And all the cheap flights have this third terminal that is far, far away from the others. Now, our friend came via British Air, about forty minutes before us. We expected her to be waiting for us. When we realized that our cheap flight brought us to a different terminal. We dragged ourselves the half mile to the shuttle stop to ride a half hour to the main terminal. This is about nine thirty at night. The people on the shuttle were jerks, they wouldn't move to let you on. So we had to push our way on. Correction, I pushed my way on, my friend huffed that she didn't feel comfortable asking people to move since this was a nonEnglish-speaking country, I rolled my eyes (she is small, but still). So we go to the other terminal, get there. Search it for a good twenty minutes. Realize our phones don't work, and that they don't make calls over the PA for people. So now we're a little worried. It's about ten, we can't find a working payphone, and it's drawing closer to the time when I told the hostel we would showing up. So we head back to the terminal hoping that our friend is there. She wasn't, and the terminal was closing for the night. No info people to help us translate, no police to help us locate anyone, just a couple of cleaning people shuffling around. At this point (10:50) we were both tired and cranky. I tried calling the hostel, thinking that they might give away our rooms if we don't show up soon, got an answering machine in French (after 9pm I only speak English). So I'm fuming at our inability to contact anyone. Eventually my friend is able to contact our third, apparently she came right as we left and vice versa. and since the shuttle rides are about a half hour, we missed each other in transit. so we waited for her by the train stop (where the shuttle drops off). She eventually shows up, and we are able to get on the train. We show up at the hostel.

Another challenge, we have a two person room, but we need to have three people in the room. We're able to get past the night guy easily, our third just says that they're visiting a friend and goes upstairs. But the next morning we come to realize, when you leave the hostel, you have to check your key. So things are slightly more tricky in the morning when we try to sneak out. As soon as I hand the key over the guy says, "Room 31, that's a two person room, but you are three" We then convince him that she came early this morning. He looks skeptical, but allows us to leave. Coming back in the afternoon, he stops us again, "Room 31, that's a two person room, but you are three" We tell him that our friend is just visiting. SO when we go back out, our friend decides to find a room for the night (since it was her last one with us) to avoid getting us in trouble. So now I would like to say something about French guys. Everyone thinks that French people are jerks, but they're not. If anything, they're too nice. I think that every French guy over thirty gets this creepy grin and when they speak, their voices always sound like they're trying to swoon you. I find it creepy.

Anyway, Paris was super cool. The Eiffel Tower was fun, we got there it had started to rain and be windy, so on the top floor it was hard to walk. But I was able to "skate" around on the wet metal, it was really fun. We also went to the Louvre, that was cool. But the Mona Lisa was a little disappointing. But all the statues were awesome. We went to Sacré Cœur, this famous church on top of a HUGE hill. All these people kept trying to try string around our fingers. We spoke to them in Danish, and they left us alone. Same thing worked for the gypsies begging for me. On Sunday we three went to Notre Dame. They were having service. It was a little crazy. The priest would speak, then this lady would sing, then out of nowhere a pipe organ started going off. But I guess if I was Catholic I would be used to it. We also went to the Arc de Triomphe. There was some kind of Greek pride event going on. That was interesting. Then we walked down Champs Elysse. The next day my friend and I split up. She went back to the cathedrals, I went to explore the city. I saw the Bastille monument, La République monument (basicially a monument attesting the greatness of the French people), and went to La Defense. This is a more modern city, with glass buildings, some water, a Great Arch, a bunch of crazy statues and sculptures, and a nice view of the city. I loved it. The next day we went back to the Eiffel Tower to take some pictures from the other side. Then we split back up. My friend went back to the cathedrals, and I headed to Luxembourg. It was really nice. I only had time to explore the modern part of the city, but it was good to be in a city that lacked cobble stones and buildings older than my country.

OH! But one funny thing, the very first thing I saw in Luxembourg was a billboard that said Maryland. I was very excited, despite that it was an advertisement for cigarettes.

Oh, and by the way Parisians don't suck. They're actually helpful and nice, especially if you speak (or at least attempt to speak) their language.

Current Mood: happy

I have never been so happy to hear English! I went to London with my school, and I think all of us had the same feeling. We could walk down the street and understand what people were saying (for the most part anyway). We could turn on the TV and know what was going on. We could ask for help without having to act out what we want. London was good.

We had the academic visits as one would expect. But we had a lot of time to sightsee. Starting with a bus tour that we had right after lunch on the first day. I had a chance to visit the Globe Theatre, Notting Hill, Buckingham Palace, Kensington (this area where all the demi-Royals live...we had High Tea there), and to ride the London Eye.

So the school paid for us to have transportation passes the 6 days we were there. I learned the Tube pretty well. IT SUCKS. It smelled, was about a mile under ground. And just when you thought you couldn't get any deeper, you had to switch trains, requiring one to go even farther under ground.

My favorite part of the trip was the three shows I got to see. With my school, I saw Wicked (a musical prequel to the Wizard of Oz). I also saw my favorite play, Equus. A play full of psychological twists. Harry Potter was in it. Actually, he did better than I thought he would. Though I will say, he captured one aspect of the character really well, but left another major aspect of him alone. I also saw Avenue Q. It's this hilarious play involving puppets.

London was good.

Current Mood: chipper

So, I think it's a requirement for all Scandinavian tour guides to talk as if they're better than you are. I went to Hamlet's Castle, Kronborg, on Saturday and the tour guide lady just went on. That's the problem with paying people to talk, they do. I don't care what you think about putting pirates' heads on pikes, I don't care if the Swedes looted the castle at some negligible point in history, I don't care if you guys had to put up a wall to help support the castle, at least not the third time you say it. And get that light out of my face. She had this flashlight, do you think she was gonna use it to point out different aspects of the room as she talked about them, nope. She just left it pointed toward the crowd, so in this dark cavern of a room, you were blinded by the light. Aside from the tour guide, he castle was pretty cool, and if it didn't cost a small fortune to get in (okay, no more than an prime attraction in the US, but you know how expensive those can be)then I would probably go back. Though I can wonder around the outside for free.

Current Mood: annoyed

Later that same day...

So, everyone is really tired. No one is really doing much, so I say, well the tour leaders have invited everyone to dinner with them, surely there would be at least one other student who picks them up on this offer. Nope! I was the only one. But it was okay, I got to eat at the big kids' table. Not to mention, the restaurant we went to, this Thai place, almost the entire group ended up coming to. So we unintentionally took over this restaurant, and they suddenly had 50 hungry, American college students to feed.

This night, I was in the group that got to stay at this bed and breakfast, I tell you, it was like staying at a five star resort after spending a night at that train hostel. The last day they took us to this glassblowing factory. It was a lot of fun, I even got to blow some glass! (But they didn't let us keep it).

Part Four is an album on facebook.

Current Mood: satisfied

The next day we went a few hours north to visit some schools. We were supposed to look at how the schools special education programs were running, that was really interesting. We even this student, he barged into the room and introduced himself (in English!) and shook all of our hands. Then they fed us (which is always a bonus!)

We got some time by ourselves, only to realize, hill! The city was literally built upon a hill. The main buildings were on top, and the rest were stuck to the sides, sloping downward. It was amazing, the first hill any of us have seen since coming to Denmark. Anyway, it at this time that I began my hunt for a Swedish flag. Up, down, around. I must have walked all eight streets of this city. I even ended up, at one point, at the docks. Well, on the way back to the meeting spot, I decided to check the visitor's bureau, maybe, just maybe they would have it. Success! I am now one Swedish flag richer. It's funny, I haven't even got my Danish flag yet.

After that we did a walking tour of the city. Apparently, the Swedish Navy is based in this town. We saw the Naval school, complete with canon and anchor. We saw the naval church, and they had this beggar guy out front. Apparently he was a this guy who lost his entire family, and one winter, while he was begging to get some money to pay off a debt, he was frozen in his current form. Now he's wood, and you have to lift off his hat to put money in his head. Then the church uses it.

Current Mood: happy

Sweden was a lot of fun. I got to do some bonding with some of the others in my program. Grew closer to friends I had, and met a lot of new people. First we went to this old cathedral. It was really pretty. Then we went to this center for special needs. Well, it was more of a resource center. They supply things for teachers and schools, but do not directly work with the students.

Then, that night, we stayed at this train hostel. It was an actual train, it didn't move, but it was a train. And we slept in the sleeping compartments. It sounds really cool, but those "rooms" were tiny. There was barely enough room for one of use, let alone all three of us who were staying in the room. For some reason it just didn't really click with anyone that when they said train hostel it was going to have actual sleeping compartments. Oh well, lucky for me, I don't really party, so I was able to get into bed wuthout having to deal with extra bodies in the room.

Current Mood: disappointed