Days 123-130

Before I talk about the last couple days I just want/need to write out something I've been thinking about/talking to Ellie about. My main lesson of this whole experience is really that the little things count for more than anyone understands.  I mean this in regards to the little things Dany DIDNT do for us...the little things that reminded us of home...and the people from home making or breaking my day.  There is nothing sadder then 1. HAVING to be the one to contact someone back home in general and 2. not even getting a response. The people that have reached out to me while I've been here have done more for me then they know, especially those who really seemed to care what was going on, the good and the bad.  It's that phone call in the morning or facebook message that means so much.  Yes I am twenty years old. And yes I am very independent and can take care of myself 99% of the time.  But that doesn't mean that I don't need to feel that people care.  It's an email to see how my week has been. A simple comment on a photo I took.  It's showing that though I am an entire ocean away, I still matter.  And I don't mean for any of this to seem needy or self-centered, cause I don't mean that at all. If anything it's just a matter of WANTING those things...not needing them to be happy...because I now know I can do that, for the most part, on my own. I just really appreciate even the comments made about my blog. The "hey how are yous."  It's really easy to feel very alone when you're so far from home, and I'm so thankful for those who have been there for me. And the ones I feel like I have to pry to get to talk to me?  It really hurts...more than you realize more than likely.  Not that those are probably even reading this.  Pointless I suppose...but being here has made me stronger, more independent, more confident, and most importantly, happier, and I am so thankful for those in my life that have been with me through this experience in my life.

I also mean it regards to it's the little things about American culture that I appreciate. Like the fact that if we like something about another person, we'll walk up and tell them. Anything from a person's smile to their shoes.  Europeans, even Camilla said, just don't do that.  They look shocked when we do, but seem to appreciate it.  They are such private people, but such public people at the same time.  I appreciate that walking around the mall or on public transportation you don't have to dodge couples licking each other's faces. I appreciate being able to understand people (aka English). It's a crazy feeling to wake up every day and not know what's being said around you. It'll be strange to hear English everywhere, for sure. It's really the littlest things about life that make or break every day.

ANYWAY on a much more fun note. LEGOLAND! Thursday Ellie and I went to Legoland & had way too much fun.  When you first walk in there is a miniworld of legos.  It was really cool to see the exact places we were in Copenhagen in lego form.  The boats, cars, even the water LOCKS moved.  It was so intricate and amazing. I decided it's my ideal future job.  The rides were super cool though. There was one that at the beginning you put in your height and then chose the moves you wanted the ride to do and how fast...so it was like a claw thing with seats on the end. It was fun but Ellie and I of course picked ALL of the ones that went upside down.  Oh and we also got in trouble on the dragon ride for taking pictures...the guy claims he told us so he stopped the ride to come out and yell at us.  But no we didn't get put in time out or anything :P We grabbed lunch, hit up a few more rides, but headed home early cause though it was fun, 6 more hours wasn't possible. Linda picked us up and we went across the street to this recently built place that inside had restaurants, bars, bowling, minigolf, an indoor pool area (very cool) and a few other things.  My cousin Alex works for his dad who owns the company that did the fire security system there...pretty cool. From there we went to Linda's "garden house." Which is so completely adorable. It's a cabin on a small piece of land where she has her gardens (duh) but also a few trees and a fish pond. The cabin is completely perfect and if I could I would definitely live in something like it. We picked some fresh mint and rhubarb to make juice with before heading home. Ellie and I both got nice sun burns over the course of the day.

During the day on Friday we just hung out until Linda got home.  Once she did we drove an hour to see my cousin Alex and his girlfriend Camilla. They had a whole dinner set out when we got there along with a couple bottles of a spritzer-type-wine. We had pita bread to stuff with just about anything you can imagine. It was so good.  After we all had coffee and then Linda went home and us "kids" went out.  We went to an Irish Bar for a Guiness, a bar called Froggys for these Smirnoff type drinks, a kind of upclass bar (very cool) where Alex bought Ellie and I Sex on the Beach drinks, then to a bar that was kind of underground where we had another Smirnoff type drink and a typical Danish shot called "Black Swine." I think we impressed Alex because with all the build up to how gross it was supposed to be, Ellie and I didn't even flinch.  It was basically straight licorice (I later found out mixed with gin & vodka).  It was such a fun night though.  I love being here and getting to know this part of my family.  We grew up in two very different cultures but family brings us together, and it's pretty cool to compare things about our lives and where we live. And they were SO amazing to us. Alex paid for absolutely everything and when we got home laid out this huge (most comfortable EVER) air mattress for us, made it and everything.  Neither Ellie nor I could get over how amazing they were to us, it was very much appreciated. I'm hoping that I'll make it back out there once or twice more to see them before I go home.

The next morning they set out a full breakfast for us (bread with spreads, cereal, tea, coffee, juice). And then Alex took Ellie and I into town so we could explore in the daylight.  We walked around for probably 2 hours or so. Ellie bought a swimsuit and I had to resist every urge to buy a really awesome pair of sandals.  I was good though. From there we decided we were going to try to get back to Vejle earlier so we headed to the train station to see if there might be a sooner train. Yup, that train was 5 minutes after we got to the station, and we made it.  40 minutes later we were back in Vejle.  It had been chilly and cloudy in Odense but in Vejle the sun was scorching.  Much appreciated sun.  We walked around, got a little lost, and finally found the hospital to wait for Linda getting out of work.

Sunday we went for a ten mile bike ride.  It was my first time on a bike in a longggg time I think.  But all went well for the most part.  The breaks on the bike I'm using aren't fabulous which took some getting used to...aka going down a hill and almost falling over at the end of it. Haha And on the way back they have these weird little bugs that I don't know how to describe, but they were everywhere.  Sure enough one flew STRAIGHT into my eye. Well, remember my lack of breaks, and now I couldn't see. A terrible combination.  Well Ellie helped me not kill myself and she literally had to PULL the damn bug out of my eye...it had like wrapped itself around my eyeball. Most disgusting feeling EVER!  I was only mildly traumatized though :p After Ellie got her shoe laces wound up in her bike and when she stopped and got off another biker came reasonably close to hitting her.  Needless to say it was an interesting 10 miles, but still fun.  My butt only hurt ya know for like 2 days. Haha.  The trail is nice though and since I'll have so much free time after we get back from the Netherlands, I'm hoping the weather will be nice so I can utilize it.  That afternoon Ellie and I attempted to lay out in the sun, but the wind made it just a bit to cold.  I've made a good dent on the book I'm reading (especially now), Forever Odd. That night we watched the first two Matrix movies and after I got to skype with my family some for the first time in just about forever, which was nice. I'll be home so soon, it's weird. Have to make the most of my time here, which partly means just relaxing and enjoying my time off from the real world.

Ellie flew out Monday so the morning consisted of sleeping in a bit and her packing.  We took her to the airport to see her off and then went grocery shopping before going home.  It's weird that her time with me here is already over...like she'll be home in less than a week (she went to London with another friend).  Time goes ridiculously fast.  But anyway. Linda and I cleaned the apartment in the afternoon and just relaxed while planning our time in Holland/The Netherlands.  I'm really excited to get to go there. We're leaving Saturday night now and staying in a hotel that night.  We have to drive through Germany to get there so I'll be able to add 2 more countries to my list.  I'm also really excited to see the Anne Frank house, my relatives houses in Amsterdam, and meet some more family. That night we watched the last of the Matrix movies and I bought Yankees tickets for a not so much surprising surprise for someone. I suck at surprises, but oh well. Haha

Tuesday started my days of just relaxing, sleeping in, and reading. So Tuesday, Wednesday, and today I've slept in, done the dishes, showered, and just hung out really.  Tuesday night we watched the first night of EuroVision, which made me miss my time in Russia badly.  Yesterday, Linda and I went to her garden house and I helped her out some there.  The fresh air was nice.  But I've really just been sitting outside reading, working on stuff I need to get done before I get home, and enjoying some alone time. Tonight we'll watch the second group for EuroVision which consists of the more major countries (Tuesday was really the further east and smaller countries). And then tomorrow we are running some errands in Vejle.  Saturday I'm going to a wedding with Linda for a girl she works with and then that night we're off to The Netherlands!! So excited for that :) We'll be there till Thursday I believe, so my next update probably won't be until next Friday or Saturday.

A month from tomorrow I'll be on my way home...AHHH. lol.  I'm getting excited, but at the same time nervous. There are reasons that I definitely want to go home...and a few reasons that I really don't want to go home.  Re-adjusting is going to be interesting, and probably take some time. I've gotten so used to my life here.  I guess that'll happen after going on 5 months.  Paris already seems like something of so long ago but I can tell it changed me.  I can't believe I was there just over a week ago.  Definitely glad to be out of that living situation...but I do miss the carefree way of life we had there.  I'm lucky to still have some time in Europe before submerging myself back into the "real" world in the states.

Until the next Adventure :)

(by the way I've written this over the course of quite a few days...tell my mood changed a bit after i just got some time to relax?  yeahhhh. haha).

Days 120-122

Denmark is so beautiful today. The sun is out, there is a nice breeze, and it's just warm enough.  If it was like this every day till I leave, I would be perfectly happy, I might not even want to go home.  This lifestyle is so much more me.  Cities are fun to visit.  Going to big clubs can be fun. But all the time, just isn't for me.  I really am liking it here, even if it is just hanging out and relaxing.

But about Copenhagen:

Monday morning, we got up at six and pretty surprisingly were not completely exhausted. I think my body is finally getting used to my horrible sleeping schedule.  I either get a ton of sleep or really none at all. We got on the train no problem and all was good until a group of probably 15 kids got on....like 12 year olds.  They were SO freaking loud.  So, so, rude to everyone around them. Ugh.  But we finally got to Copenhagen and away from them.  The hotel/hostel was only a few blocks up from the station. And for being listed on hostels.com & $40 a night...it was super nice. We had a room with 2 beds, a desk, an armoire, a little room with a big mirror and the fridge, and then our own bathroom. The woman in charge of the place was super nice too. After we hit up the Tourist Information Center to buy tickets for the hop on hop off bus.  Then the guy outside put us on the wrong bus so we missed the changing of the guards, but it was kind of cool because he ended up giving us the more expensive ticket and we got to see some of the city that there weren't so many people in. After we talked to the company to make sure our ticket would be good for the next day, we weren't particularly impressed. But I have definitely learned through the amount of travel I have done that things can and WILL go wrong, so the best thing you can do is just relax and see how it'll fix itself. There ends up being no sense in getting worked up about it.  It usually works out. So after we finally got on the right bus and headed around the center of the city. Copenhagen is beautiful. I love the harbors. There are such colorful buildings surrounding them and the boats are lined up nearly perfectly for a painting or photograph. We got off the bus and headed to Rosenborg Castle. It was expensive to get into, but it was kind of neat to compare what I'd seen in France, Ireland, and Italy to what there is here. We also got to see the Crown Jewels, which were spectacular. Weird enough there was a ring with a fly in it, so strange. The crowns and necklaces were beautiful. After, we got back on the bus and saw the guardian angel over the harbor and the Gefion Fountain. We ate lunch on the Nyhavn (sp?) Street that ran right along the water. We got totally ripped off too, 40 krones (over 6 dollars) for a bottle of water. Ugh. From there we saw the Royal Theater and searched for a while for the Ice Bar and a microbrewery.  We were standing exactly where we THOUGHT it was. We gave up, bought a milkshake, and walked down the walking street of the city. It had the oldest department store on it and the Guiness World of Records building. Next we took a short nap before heading to dinner. It was one of those awkward times when things were closed and the night things hadn't quite opened. We went to a Turkish Buffet for dinner and FINALLY found the Ice Bar. Except this time....it was closed.  Clearly it wasn't meant to be. We settled for ice cream and sitting in the city square listening to music. There was THE funniest looking old Asian woman sitting across from where we were feeding the pigeons.  We took some pictures with the statues and fountains then headed back to the hotel and passed out at like 9:30. I cannot remember the last time I went to bed that early.

The next morning we were up by 8 to start the day.  We walked a good couple miles to Christiania, or the hippie town of Copenhagen.  You weren't supposed to take pictures, but I of course did.  We could smell people smoking pot right out in the open, kind of funny. There was awesome art work and it was easy to tell that these people didn't care what anyone thought of them. On the way out the back of the sign said, "Welcome to the EU." Clearly they also were allowed to live pretty much the way they wanted.  It was a long walk but I'm glad we went. Definitely a good part of the city to see. After we walked to try to find the the changing of the guards. We were passing a group of students and had to walk a bit into the bike lane and a biker decided to run straight into Ellie. Didn't really hurt her, but he had plenty of room, was just being rude.  When we got close to the palace and couldn't find it we decided to be lazy and took the bus all the way around the city. By then we had walked so far that I didn't feel too bad. We finally got to the changing of the guards, in literally the nick of time.  It wasn't as crisp as I thought it would be. And it was strange that the guards could talk to people, we took pictures with one of them, I don't think he was particularly impressed, Haha.  From there we went into the Amelienborg Palace. There wasn't a whole lot to it because the top floor was closed but some of the Queen's old dresses were there. We tried to go to where the Crown Prince and Princess will be living but stood in line for like an hour, only to figure out that we couldn't make it and our train.  We did get some pretty awesome sandwiches for lunch though before finding the train and heading home. Overall it was a great trip. We got to see all the basics of the city and it was nice that it was a big city but not anything like Paris. People were pretty nice there. The weather was decent, no rain, but not hot. Compared to the pouring day before, we were grateful that it wasn't pouring.

I have learned that I don't understand Danish really at all. There are some words that are pretty similar to English, but the ones that aren't are completely different. Numbers for instance, with how fast they speak them, sound like giberish. It would definitely be cool to pick up some of the language though.

Last night Linda made us homemade pizzas and then I talked online for a bit before going to bed.  It was beautiful out today. After sleeping in, talking online a while, and eating cereal for the first time in 4 months, Ellie and I attempted to mow the backyard. Linda has an older style mower, non electric.  The neighbors were amused at watching us try to do it. We finally succeeded, sort of. I think it looks like the cows chewed on it. After we tried to take the bikes out and kind of failed again. The seats were way too high and we couldn't figure out how to lower them.  So we went for a walk instead.  When we got back we couldn't get the door unlocked...we literally stood there a good 5-10 minutes try to unlock it. Finally a man was walking by who I don't think understood anything except for that we couldn't get the door open...he looks at the keys...turns the handle...and the door opens.  I am not sure I've ever looked so dumb. Or blonde. haha. But we got in and Linda was home soon after. So we ran to get groceries with her, ate root veggies and salad for dinner, and now I'm here, writing this, and watching a movie.

It's been a really good couple of days and tomorrow Ellie and I are headed to LEGO land. I can't wait to pretend I'm 12 again. Some would say I act 12 sometimes anyway :p Friday night we are driving up to see my cousin Alex, Linda's son. Ellie and I are going to spend some time there Saturday.  Sunday Eric (Linda's other son) will be here for dinner. And Monday, Ellie leaves. :(  Time once again is flying by. I can't imagine going home but I know it'll be here before I know it.

Such a relaxing life here.

One Chapter Closes, as Another Whole New Adventure Begins (Day 116-119)

Last time I wrote I may have implied a nice quiet sangria night for Maggie's birthday.  Oh, not quite. But I'll start with the day.  Once Maggie got back from church we headed to Musee D'Orsay, stopping for my last crepe in Paris before.  Luckily the line to the museum was almost nothing AND Maggie & I got in for free with our international students IDs, just paying 1.50 euros for the exhibit. I like the exhibit a lot but it was not set up very well. There were far too many people.  I didn't learn that I had retained a lot more information from my stupid art class this semester than I thought.  I knew a ton about many of the artists there. I don't know how much the other girls cared, but I felt smart, hahaha. We walked around a little bit of the rest of the museum before heading out for the Eiffel Tower and some lunch.  There was a bakery right near the Eiffel Tower where we got AMAZING sandwiches. We took a few pics by the tower, but it of course started raining.  Ellie tried to go to the top, but they closed it like FOUR people before her. Lame.  While we were waiting for her, Maggie and I watched a dance group under the tower and then met up with Sasha and Eddy for a coffee. Before dinner we stopped by the apartment. Bad idea. Ugh.  Dany waved papers in my face saying she wanted Ellie to pay for 4 nights of food even though she only ate their for 2 dinners. I told her no way would I ask Ellie to do that. She gave up quickly but went off saying how we didn't know anything about suffering in life and other shit like that. I let it mostly go in one ear and out the other.  At the same time I found out from Linda that Billund airport may be on strike on Saturday, when Ellie and I were flying in, so we might have problems.  It was a stressful 45 minutes.

But we went to dinner and all was good. Sushi was amazing. It was Maggie (the birthday girl!), Ellie, Sasha, Mannat, Anna, Adrian, and me.  After we headed to Le Bar 10 where Will joined us at well.  I am going to REALLY miss that place.  Thursday nights have become a lot of fun.  We each had like 6 glasses before moving on to L'Urgence Bar.  Coolest/most bizarre bar ever. In the bathroom they had pictures of rectal exams. So funny. Oh and one random picture of a woman's chest of course. We ordered drinks, which are served in baby bottles I might add, and a couple people took shots out of test tubes.  I had a regular shot, and it was gross. From there we headed to the Frog.  Haha oh the frog is always entertaining.  There was a group of guys claiming to be from US News and buying us drinks. Adrian and I split a beer that came from who knows where and there were a couple rounds of shots.  Maggie had 3 shots thanks to those guys.  They claimed they were looking for a "cover story" for the newspaper. Yeah okay. It was hilarious nonetheless.  A little bit later we headed to the bus.  I made a "drunk" call on the way. Though I was not drunk! I got us all to the bus and luckily the bus was pulling up just as we walked up. :)  It was only 2:00 or so but considering we started at 7 with dinner, we were all ready for bed. After about an hour and a half or so of not the ideal ending to the night, we went to bed. By this time I was just so emotionally drained that I couldn't handle much of anything. It was a great night. But a rough ending made the tears come far too easily.

Friday morning I was up at 9 talking to the states. I waited till noon or so for the girls to both be functioning and then we waited for Ellie to get back from Versailles so we could all head to Angelina's for one last delicious hot chocolate.  Before we left Dany had Sasha ask me when my "friend" would be paying for the food. 1. she suddenly forgot "Ellie" suddenly? 2. SERIOUSLY?!  And then Ellie unfortunately met her at the door downstairs and Dany didn't even say "hi," but just got in her face asking when she would have the money, after we had JUST told her Ellie would give it to me to give it to her. She really was somethin' this week. It was amazing of course. As was the bowl of fries Ellie got, haha. Maggie had to go to school and Sasha had to go to work so Ellie and I hung out and waited for Eddy. After he got there Ellie grabbed a souvenir and then we headed to the Louvre.  I got Eddy in for free with my student pass (yay yay) and then we walked around a bit. He was so nice to spend the afternoon with us. I wish I'd had more time to talk with him because helping him with English really helps my French.  Once we parted ways with him, Ellie and I went by her hotel and my apartment before dinner. I ran upstairs to change out of my soaked shoes and Dany wasn't happy when I wouldn't stop everything to talk to her.  I had stripped my bed but she still wasn't sure "if I was leaving that night." Dumb, dumb. And then she went off about how I had to make sure I left my keys, well duh.  I escaped pretty quickly and we went to dinner at a bar/club/restaurant called Fox where Eddy had made us reservations.

It was amazing. I had a pasta with mushroom sauce. YUM.  Maggie invited two of her friends from her program and one of their parents.  The bill was like 130 euros total and the parents paid for it!  Totally not expected at all, but so appreciated. I forgot what it was like to be around friendly, just plain nice, people.  I felt bad that they were paying, but at the same time it was awesome because they didn't have to, they had just met us, but they were just doing it to be nice. I definitely missed that. After we were on the way back to the apartment to move my luggage to Ellie's hotel when I got a text from Dany saying she was waiting for me at the apartment because she wanted to say "bye, bye," haha Dany saying something implying kindness? I knew it couldn't be true. And of course when we walked in she was probably the rudest she had been to me. And the only reason she had waited was to make sure she got her keys. I didn't even say thank you. I really just wanted to say, "Peace the F*** out" and slam the door, but I held my tongue.  No surprise that my last encounter with her would be negative. But anyway. From there we got my luggage into the hotel and went to the Eiffel Tower to meet up with Adrian & Will to say bye.  Ellie got to see it light up, and tried to go to the top again...but they closed it AGAIN. It clearly wasn't meant to be.  Saying bye to the guys was sad, but I mean I never felt like I was leaving Paris. And I mean there is always a chance of seeing some of these people again.  After saying our goodbyes Ellie, Maggie, and I went by the frog and I said bye to Sasha. Luckily it was busy cause if it hadn't been, she would have been the one able to make me cry. Last but not least I said bye to Maggie. I'll definitely miss my roommates.  I don't know what I would have done without them in Dany's house.  We've definitely all kept each other, at least reasonably, sane. From there I went back up to the hotel room, took a shower, repacked my suitcases, talked to the states for a few, and passsssssed out.

Saturday morning we were supposed to get up at 6 for a shuttle to the airport at 7. We set THREE alarms to MAKE SURE we would in fact get up. K, so 1. NONE of our alarms went off so we woke up to the phone ringing 2. the shuttle was THIRTY MINUTES EARLY.  Not cool. So we threw on clothes as fast as we could, luckily everything was together the night before, and ran out the door. Not the greatest start to the morning. Jenn = a little cranky. Haha (sorry YOU had to deal with me :p). The shuttle picked up three other people before taking us to the airport. In between two of the pick ups there was like a gang fight/beating going on! Ellie could see it more than me but apparently a group of guys were beating someone...so scary. I'm glad I couldn't see much of it.  ANYWAYS. So the shuttle guy tried to charge us extra money, I talked to his supervisor person and said NO! Haha. It worked. Then he dropped Ellie off AT THE WRONG PART OF THE TERMINAL & me at the wrong end of mine. Way to go champ. But whatever.  It was kind of cool in the airport because everyone I talked to talked to me in full out French first, before realizing I could only 90% understand them.  But I did well. I apparently learned a lot more than I thought this semester. Checking in was weird because I used the self check in because no one was at the desk. And it printed the baggage sticker tag things there too...so I had to put them on myself. Haha such a failure. I should have taken a picture cause it was so bad. Security was luckily a breeze. Like legitimately I just walked right up, no one in front of me. Then it got interesting.  My gate was supposed to be gate 50. Well I walk to the sign that says 50-52...and there is no 50. Awesome! So I ask a woman, in French, what to do, and she is a complete bitch to me. So I just grabbed some breakfast and sat down to watch as everyone walked over to where 50 was supposed to be, looked confused, and walked back to where I was all while crankily talking to the states. I needed some sort of vent from the rude French, it really is too bad that it isn't a stereotype for some. They ended up changing the gate and delaying my flight.  Once on, I passed out legit within 5 minutes. I woke up once thinking we were in the air, nope we were still on the ground. So I don't really even know how delayed we ended up.  After landing, I explored/got lost, till I found an ATM for Krones. I finally found a nice girl in a souvenir shop to point me the right way. The Copenhagen airport was amazing!  Krones are really cool looking too!  I'll have to bring one back for at least one person to see. I bought some Chinese/Vegetarian, delicious food to eat and looked around. It's really hard to get used to the Krone because like my lunch was 59 Krones, but that's only 10 dollars (expensive for lunch but not my point). It was like in Russia too...each individual rubble was worth like nothing so it was 2-300 rubbles for a meal (still only like 9 dollars).  Hopefully in 6 weeks I'll be used to it...just in time to go home though. Haha I explored a bit more before heading to my gate.

The flight to Billund I attempted to sleep but the guy next to me was sitting like half ON me and was STARING at me the whole time. Ugh.  And we didn't speak the same language or I would have at least attempted some conversation.  The flight was only 40 minutes though. We landed and my luggage was some of like the first 10 to come out, never happens. And Ellie and Linda were waiting right there for me. It was raining, but I was SOOO happy to be here. Linda's condo is absolutely adorable and the room I have here is a mansion compared to what I had at Dany's.  I love this place.  I could literally feel the stress lift off me.  We had wine and her homemade fish chowder for dinner followed by watching Mama Mia and eating chips with this really cool apple cider bubbly stuff. So good. I think I went to bed around 1... Ellie passed out around 12.

Today I woke up to someone calling (good way to start the day) :) and then Linda had set out breakfast for us. I don't remember the last good breakfast I've had. It was very much appreciated. We sat for like 2 hours talking, Ellie and I took showers, and we headed out for the afternoon. First, Linda showed us downtown Vejle (pronounced Viila).  We saw the train station and walked around the city. I LOVE it. There is some really unique art and fountains all throughout.  I can't wait to go back when the shops, like the free trade one, are open, so I can explore more.  There is a small museum that gets a new exhibit on the 22nd, and is free, so hopefully Ellie and I can see that before she leaves.  The water runs right through the city, and with the brick buildings and small streets, it is amazing. Falling in love I do believe. From there we went to Jelling (Yelling) and saw the church, cemetery, and museum there.  It was cold and rainy but very pretty. Royalty used to be buried in ships apparently with their dogs, horses, etc and here there are two hills, I don't think people in them? but just like memorials to people. Also there is some of the first Viking writing there on two stones. It's on one of them that "Denmark" was first named on Danish land. The church there is protected by the United Nations, along with the museum.  The museum had an exhibit about Greenland and climate change and then another part of the history of the area. A nice escape from the rain and pretty neat to learn about. We hit up a grocery store after, $.30 water, heck yes, and headed home.  Linda made us homemade hot chocolate with bread/cheese. It was delicious and what we both needed to warm up while posting pics to facebook.  For dinner we had pasta and salad. Making that salad was the first "cooking" I've been allowed to do in months. It really is the little things in life. Since dinner I've just been writing this and we had some amazing tea while watching tv.  A nice relaxing night.

Tomorrow we're going to Copenhagen in the morning and staying there until Tuesday afternoon. I'm excited but really hoping I don't spend too much money. Being as careful as I can. Denmark so far has been amazing though. It's just so nice to relax.  Ellie and I are hoping to go to a nearby city to see a museum there on Wednesday, LEGGO land (haha) on Thursday, and not specifically sure what else. Meeting up with my cousins Alex & Eric hopefully soon too.  This was the perfect transition between Paris and home. I get to relax and just chill out before going full force back into my hectic life back home.  It's so green and the air is just fresh & crisp here. I love it. Might have a problem getting me to come home. ;)

43 days until Maine. And until then I plan on enjoying every moment here.

I guess I can't say Au Revoir anymore...so umm...

I'll write soon :) <3

Paris is Coming to an End (Days 106-116)

I'm sitting here realizing that I only have two days left in Paris. If someone can tell me where the last four months went, I'd appreciate it.  It feel like yesterday I was writing in this blog about how excited I was to go and how much I still had to do before I left. Four months seemed like a decent chunk of time then, and now it just seems like a blip.  There are people and things in my life that make it (not in a bad way) seem like a lot longer, but really I'll be sitting in Denmark at this time in 3 days (Let's all cross our fingers the ash cloud doesn't leave me stuck in Paris, homeless).

Last week was really a blur. I usually look back at my facebook/twitter statuses to figure out what exactly happened each day, but according to them all I did was count down to Ellie's arrival and study.  Tuesday I had my French final.  I thought it was going to be awful, but it really wasn't. Wednesday I had my art class. whoo hoo. Then that night Maggie and I went to eat at breakfast in America, veggie wrap, dr. pepper, chips/salsa, and a milkshake for dessert = success (I know, I know, I talk about food a lot...whatever :p). I think it was this night that I started packing, I know, exciting. I had 65-70 pages to read for my International Relations class so much of the week was taken up ATTEMPTING, and mostly failing, at reading that.  I did get it done, finally, though. Thursday my friend Kat that is studying in England got into Paris with her friends, so I grabbed lunch with them before letting my homework take back over my life. I finally finished that and the 58+ pages of notes I did on the book around 2 am that morning. Sometimes I really do try too hard. Friday I had class, the last one of my Junior year. No biggie. Then I cam home and packed.  I got almost everything packed surprisingly, and now I'm trying to fit the last things, that's what is always hard.

Saturday was so much fun.  We got up super early to go to Giverny.  If you haven't looked at my pics on facebook you should definitely check them out.  Giverny is where Monet's home and beautiful gardens are.  It was slightly complicated to get there because we missed the first train by like a minute, but we grabbed a coffee and waited for the next.  After the forty minute train ride with obnoxious children, we took a 10 minute bus.  The gardens were just absolutely amazing. I cannot even describe how pretty it was. We saw the lily pad pond where he painted, his home, and all the thousands of flowers. After we went through the gift shop (post cards of course) and then went to find food. From there we just wandered for a while until we found this cute little cafe type local restaurant.  This old French man comes up to us to talk to us and when I walk up he gets this funny look on his face, "You close your eyes when you sleep?" he asked me. I of course replied "yes." And he responded, "Well if I had eyes like those I'd never close them."  So cute! Haha.  Someone has competition :p  After we just wandered some more before waiting for the bus to take us back to the train, to take us home. After Sasha and I packed a little more and got ready for dinner and then to go out.  Going out was quite the adventure. We started at the Charlotte Bar, definitely a place I'll miss, and then tried to go to a hookah lounge but it was too full so we tried to kill time at 2 different bars before, against my will, going to a guy's apartment to have a glass (or plastic cup) of wine. Finally, we escaped there and went back to the hookah lounge.  All of us girls (Mannat, Sasha, Maggie, and I) had Mojito Teas...instead of soda there was iced tea in them.  We also got to try Moroccan tea, which was amazing.  The hookah was fun, I hadn't done that since Russia.  Not a habit, just an occasional good time.  From there we went to the Highlander, a Scottish pub, it was strange because you had to be like silent while you stood outside. I'm guessing they got a lot of neighbor complaints.  By this time we were all pretty exhausted, I mean it was like 3 am?  Julien, Sasha's cousin, bought Mannat, Maggie, and I Coronas because the credit card minimum was 15 euros.  He doesn't drink and just wanted a coke.  We tried to pay him back and he refused. It's nice to interact with nice people on occasion.  After Eddy drove all of us girls home and I think I passed out around 4:30.  At first a rough night, but it ended up being a pretty good time.

On Sunday morning I woke up to skype, like actually video skype, FINALLY with someone. Ellie's flight was supposed to be in super early, but thanks to the stupid volcano, she was delayed.  I got to sleep a bit more which was nice though.  I met her around 2 I think finally?  We met up with Mannat, got Ellie into her hotel, and then we all grabbed some lunch.  There really isn't much to do, at all, on Sundays. I had bought tickets to a hip hop show, but it was at that point impossible to make it, stupid volcano. After trying to get Ellie a naviGo for the metro, and failing, we parted ways for a bit for showers and naps.  That night we went to the Frog & Princess with Maggie and Sasha. It was actually a lot of fun.  It was their quiz night, and minus the creepy-ass guys next to us staring at us, we had fun.  Part of it was a beer chugging contest, a half pint. Yeah guess who got nominated for that one?  Jenn v. 10 guys. I didn't really stand a chance. And the beer was gross. I'm a dark beer kinda girl ;) They actually put peach mix into the dark beer I had and Ellie had cherry, it was delicious.  I don't know quite when we headed out from there but after we just headed home.

I had my international relations final on Monday afternoon so I met Ellie for a crepe and to go to the mall for some errands before it.  My final was kind of ridiculous. I wrote 12 pages in 2 hours. The last couple of which, SUCKED. Oh well.  That night we ate dinner at the apartment along with Eddy. Dany was showing off like no other. She had champagne and wine for us, yeah we never get that.  We ate these barnacle things that kind of looked like snails at first, they weren't terrible, but I'd be okay not eating them again.  Can say I tried it, I guess, at least.  We also had fish. So my body was on a seafood overload.  Ugh I need to detox from all the seafood when I get home. So sick of bones in fish. Eww.  After, Ellie and I went to a cafe around the corner and had a drink and just talked.  I swear she and I could sit and talk forever. It's really nice having someone from home here, someone who knows what point I was at before I left, and knows how good this experience has been for me.

Tuesday we tried to go to Musee D'Orsay, only to get there and find like a 2 hour line.  And it was raining and cold. Where is the summer weather, Paris?!?  We went to Notre Dame instead and then I showed her Shakespeare & Co. bookstore.  Ugh I'll miss that place. Favorite bookstore ever.  After, we went to the catacombs.  It started pouring and neither of us had an umbrella of course, but luckily this super nice couple behind us had a huge one and invited us under.  They clearly weren't French.  We finally figured out they were German.  We waited about a half hour or so and finally made it in.  I'm glad I got to go back because the catacombs really are one of my favorite things here. After we grabbed lunch at PanHel (Sandwiches), then went to ABS to return my book before dinner.  Dinner was Maggie, Ellie, Dany, and I. Dany still was showing off some, but not AS bad as the night before. She went on a racist rant about immigrants, which was awesome, NOT.  Then I attempted to study the night away, ending up on skype. But finals were really a waste of time, though International Relations stressed me out a bit.

The next morning I crammed some more for my final before heading off. The teacher told us it was only art pieces in the book, yeah she lied. It still wasn't as bad as the midterm, but none of us were particularly impressed.  After I met up with Ellie and we (I) grabbed lunch and we mailed our post cards.  Last night was the ISA farewell dinner so unfortunately we didn't have much time to do anything. I went back, took a nap, and got ready.  Dinner was less than fabulous. Their version of "vegetarian" dish was pasta with salmon. Awesome, more seafood. I gave away the salmon and attempted to give the pasta some flavor with a ton of salt and pepper. Before that we had goat cheese salad, which was actually pretty good.  The dinner took like 3 hours almost though so I missed going to the movies with Maggie & Ellie. BUMMED. But I went home to make Maggie her birthday card and just hang out, finals are more exhausting then I had realized.

Today is Maggie's birthday so we got up early to go to Musee D'Orsay, but she wanted to go to church first so we'll hopefully head to the museum soon. From there some pictures by the Eiffel Tower are necessary and dinner with friends for sushi and Le Bar 10 for one last sangria outing.  I cannot believe I have a day and a half left in Paris.  All my stuff is nearly packed on my bed and I still don't think I'm leaving.

I will miss some things about this place. I'll miss my roommates and having them to vent about life with. I'll miss Maggie and my cafe dates for drinks to freak out about our futures and just talk about life in general.  I'll miss the crazy people talking to themselves walking down the streets and in the metros.  I'll miss fresh bread and cheese at dinner, having a glass of wine when going out.  I'll miss that there is always something to do here, even if we decide to just stay in and watch a movie. I won't miss the horrid smell of the metro, but I'll miss how convenient it is. I will miss just worrying about me. But that will be more so when I go back to the states. I'll miss the freedom of not worrying about so much.  Though I hate money, hate asking my parents for it, I will miss not having to work.

But I guess this is just another short chapter coming to a close in my life.  I really just cannot comprehend that it's over. And more than that, I'm a senior in college now.  Where did the last not just 4 months, but 3 years go. I appreciate life so much more after being here. I appreciate the things I have back home and the opportunities I've made for myself. I miss my family. I miss my Gramp so, so, much.  It's hard to not even be able to call. I miss my friends. I miss you. But even with all the struggles here, this has been the absolute best thing I could have done for myself.  I was not in a good place mentally before I left, and going back, I feel stronger, a whole hell of a lot more confident, and just overall, happier. No matter what happens when I get home, I just don't want to lose how I feel about life now.

On that note, I'm going to go enjoy my last day and a half here and make the best of it.  Oh and try to somehow fit the rest of my stuff in my suitcases....hmmm.

Next time I update will be from Denmark <3

Au Revoir.

Days 93-105

It's been an interesting 2 weeks. Lots of good things outside the house, and per usual lots of not so great things within the lovely apartment.  Having a week off class meant getting to see a lot of Paris but was frustrating at the same time because I'm/my parents are paying so much for the time here. We have less than 2 weeks left here and I have such bipolar feelings about it.  We're all finally feeling, for the most part, comfortable here, but at the same time something that happened last week (I'll get to that) makes us not feel so safe.  I'm so excited to go to Denmark. So excited for Ellie to be here (in just a week). And at the same time I know that 8 weeks from now I'll be ready to be home (possibly to only want to get away soon after).

Tuesday Keshia and I went to Les Invalides.  The site holds the Military Museum and Napoleon's resting place. It was beautiful outside for the first time in forever! It was actually warm enough to not need a jacket; way to go Paris, finally.  It took us a while to figure out where exactly we were supposed to go, but we eventually found the chapel, Eglise Saint-Louis des Invalides, it was beautiful. I'm not usually very into military themed places (I don't know how to put that any better), but this was an exception. There were nearly ancient banners hanging to surround the whole room. We read after that they'd been around since around the 1600s. There was glass in the back that looked back onto Napoleon's resting place.  When we finally figure out where to go to see the sarcophagus, it was...bland.  There are apparently like six or seven layers of materials, but it really was not very exciting. It did sit in the middle of the room and was huge...but ugly if you ask me. After we went to meet up with Maggie to go to the Grande Arche at La Defense. When we were pulling into the station a guy was apparently staring at me as he walked the length of the cars (we were on the 1 so they're all connected to walk between) he came up behind me and reached up the back of my dress. He kept walking and it happened so fast that I didn't have the chance to react. I just kind of stood there in shock. After Keshia asked me why I didn't hit him or anything. In some ways I wish I had...but once I get to what happened to Maggie's friend, you'll all know why I'm glad I didn't do anything. So we got off and wandered. Once again we got far too much attention from the men around us.  I definitely WILL NOT miss the European men. Like really...leave us alone. But anyway the Arch wasn't so grand...it was actually pretty freakin' ugly. But there were some interesting installation art pieces around and we wandered through some shopping areas.  We took some fun "jumping" pictures and then called it a day and headed home.

On Wednesday I relaxed most of the day. In the afternoon Keshia and I went near the Louvre to do some souvenir shopping. I got some things for a couple friends. If you want something and read this then tell me what you want...it's way too hard to just figure things out for people!!! :)  We had fun and it was amusing to see all the tourists around. We did our best to speak French but as soon as they heard us speak English, French was out the window. We had a fun afternoon though...still have at least one gift I need to find. After we grabbed a smoothie (delicious) and then went and wandered around Chatlet for a while. Found a cafe and grabbed a drink during happy hour.  I had a pink mojito.  Yum.

Mannat had been stuck in Germany thanks to the volcano eruption but finally made it back Wednesday. So Thursday, Maggie, Mannat, and I went to the Pantheon.  It was about time. The Pantheon was beautiful inside. A lot of the art we've been studying in post-impressionism is painted on the walls of it. We got shushed at several times when we went down to the tombs...we probably had too much fun looking at the dead people. There are some really important people there though, Rousseau, Voltaire, Emile Zola, Maire Curie, and more.  There is also still quite a lot of space for more.  I kind of wonder what you have to do to end up there...it seemed to be quite the random assortment of people throughout history.  After Maggie and I went to Madeline to go to the honey and mustard stores. Both have the crazies assortment of flavors.  The honey place let us sample them which was of course fabulous.  I picked up mustard for Dad and honey for my sister.  They'll both of course be sharing. :)  That night we just hung out, drank wine, and Sasha and I dyed our hair.  Mine is like strawberry blonde now...but quickly fading. My hair doesn't like not being blonde.  Taylor says I should go brunette. We'll have to see about that. Haha.

Friday was an awesome day.  Maggie and I went to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch.  I had a veggie burger with onion rings, delicious, and a pomegranate martini.  Our waitress was English and kind of amusing.  Maggie had a chicken sandwich and a raspberry lemonade with I think had rum in it.  I love Hard Rock.  They have such unique atmospheres.  Probably my favorite restaurant if I had to pick.  After we met up with Sasha, Chloe, and Julie at Mariage for tea. Mariage is this really famous, REALLY EXPENSIVE, tea place in France. We split 3 kettles of tea between the 5 of us. It was delicious but 9 euros for a kettle of tea is a bit much. After Maggie and I went to look for shoes and buy some breakfast for Sunday morning. That night we went to a cafe right by the house to get out and have some drinks. We had 2 each and chatted about virtually everything. Much of it focused on what we'll do after college.  It has clicked that I am graduating next year and should probably start to figure out what I'm going to do.  I've looked at a few graduate schools and will probably start applying.  Half of me wants to get away...but the other half really wants to stay in the northeast.  We'll see what happens.  I'll definitely miss Maggie and my chats when she heads home in 2 weeks.

Oh and Thursday night was the night I had fabulous nightmares about going back to TRH for work.  It was so bad that in the end of my dream I flew back to France to get away. haha.  Oh geez.

Saturday I was going to go to Versailles but instead spent the day finishing the Senior Farewell slide show for Alpha Phi...and I studied at least a little for my final on Tuesday.  It was nice to have some space and just be alone for the day.  Much needed sometimes.

It was Saturday or Sunday that Maggie told me about her friend.  There were 4 girls walking in the metro Friday night, when they heard a group of guys (turned out to be 6) calling out things to them (nothing out of the ordinary), so the girls walked faster. The guys caught up...grabbed at the girls butts and clothes.  The girls ran. One girl didn't get away.  The guys punched her in the stomach causing her to fall down the stairs and hit her head on the cement steps and to be knocked unconscious.  The guys kicked her in the stomach and head before running off. The girl regained consciousness on the way to the hospital and flew back to the states.  The worst part is that the girls weren't doing anything wrong. There was nothing they could have done. The guys here always give American girls too much attention...but for something to have actually happened...we definitely don't walk around without checking behind our backs anymore.  Makes me glad to not be here too much longer, it's almost a constant state of paranoia. Not feeling safe is not a good feeling.

Sunday Maggie and I got up at like 5:30 for our day trip to Belgium.  Neither of us were totally happy to be up that early, but the day proved to be worth it. It was a 4 hour bus ride with one stop on the way.  Bruges was amazing.  It was a town basically stuck in the medieval times.  It was set up in a circle with the water surrounding it.  The ocean used to come right up to it.  There were boats running through the town along with horse drawn carriages.  We didn't get to go on the boat ride because the person in charge of our tour didn't make it clear how long we'd have to wait to get on the actual boat. We had mussels, fries, and beer for lunch. So delicious. (delicious is the word for this blog entry apparently). My dad would definitely be proud of the amount of mussels I've consumed here.  After we of course had to get a Belgian waffle as we walked around.  We found some souvenirs and some chocolate for ourselves before going into the Notre Dame church their.  Inside it's extremely German and they have an original Michelangelo piece on display.  I'd never seen a church quite like it. By then it had started to rain and it was time to go anyway.  The fresh air for the day was greatly appreciated. And though nothing particularly "exciting" happened it was just a nice relaxing day outside of Paris. I got some pretty pictures as well. Picking pictures to display in my apartment when I get home is going to be quite the task.  [My 7th country too :)]

This past week was not nearly as eventful. Monday I FINALLY got my care package that my family had sent like 2-3 weeks before along with a post card from Doreh.  It definitely made my day, but also made me rather homesick. That night I studied for my final and wrote my 10 page paper that was due Wednesday, up till 4:30am but having the work done was worth it.  Tuesday was my last real French class and then my final in the English course. It was supposed to take 2 hours and I walked out after 40 minutes.  The professor stopped my before I left to tell me what a pleasure it was to have me in her class and to keep writing because she feels I have a gift for it.  It was really nice of her but I didn't really know how to respond. All I've ever wanted to do is be a writer...so to have people, especially teachers, telling me my writing is good, means a lot.  That night everyone else was writing their papers so I just stayed in.

Wednesday I started the day finding out that I got Janaya's apartment to live in next year and talking to a certain American (great start to the day) and then went to Centre Pompidou, the modern art museum, with my art class.  We were looking at the "older" modern art, aka early 1900s.  It was definitely strange at points but not as strange as I've heard some of the other floors are.  Seeing Duchamp's pieces was pretty cool too.  There was also this color blue displayed, I can't remember the artist, that is supposed to represent infinity.  It's copyrighted so no one can use it and the paint is made specially so that there is no yellow oil to distort it. After, since we were all beyond exhausted, Taylor, Mannat, and I met up with Stephen at Starbucks. Dany had been her psychotic self lately so Maggie and I went out for sushi with Mannat to not deal with her at dinner. They gave us free drinks and the sushi was of course amazing. After we went and got a drink before heading home. Thursday was the last day I had to get up early for French class.  We didn't have a real class though an instead met with French students that were in "beginner" English. We were all dreading it, but it went pretty well. Their English was just as rough as our French and they'd been studying it for 10 years.  After I came home to take a nap but ended up on skype for a few hours and then trying to talk to people back home about our issues with ISA here.  I didn't get far but the person I talked to does want to talk more when I'm back at school.

Thursday night was Bastille night :)  Maggie, Sasha, Mannat, Tanuja, Adrian, Will, and I went to a bar called Les Furieux. Maggie had been before and it definitely wasn't the typical bar.  Imagine a biker bar in the states. Everyone was super nice though and there was some pretty decent "scenery." After we went to the Charlotte Bar, which Anna, Mannat and I had been to earlier in the semester. We got a couple drinks and 2 shots before calling it a night. I thought I would be home by 12:30 or so...but 3:30 is definitely the same thing.  It would have been earlier, but a couple people wanted crepes and while we were waiting something like 10-15 taxi drivers showed up and the ass of a guy made all of theirs before any of ours.  Luckily Sasha's boyfriend, Eddy, was there and drove Maggie, Sasha, and I home.

Friday morning I spent on skype again and attempting to read my chapter for my night class. The chapter didn't so much get accomplished but the quiz was easy.  After class I felt like shit...like so tired that all I wanted to do was lay down.  I text Sasha to tell Dany that I wasn't going to eat, but she was asleep and didn't get the message. As soon as I walked in I went to Dany to tell her. She rolled her eyes at me and made some comments about me just telling her...well considering I was in class?!?  I raised my voice to say never mind and walked off as she told me to tell the other girls dinner was ready.  We walk in to sit down to eat, and she turns the corner starting to talk shit about me when her face freezes as she realized I'm standing there. Yeah...stupid.  I didn't even pretend to be happy at dinner, because I was more than pissed. Her effort to talk to me was to tell me how white I am...I think she may have meant pale...but umm yeah maybe that's why I wanted to lay down?  She just makes me so mad because she thinks she can just talk shit about us and have it be okay.  I'm writing her a letter before I leave. And it's not going to be rude...but very matter of fact.  Translating it should be interesting though.  I've just REALLY had enough and don't think that just pretending everything is okay, or making excuses for her, is the right way to deal with it. So anyway I left the table early and tried to lay down.  After we went to see The Green Zone finally. It was SOO GOOD! Another movie that I think affected those of us that were American in the theatre a lot more than it could have affected others. It was very well done.

Yesterday I got a wake up call from the states, so much for sleeping in super late :p, talked for like 3 hours. Very much an okay way to spend the early afternoon if you ask me. After, Maggie and I went to a cafe around the corner to grab lunch.  Dany was in her typical LOVELY mood and said she does our laundry (which we hang, fold, put in the washer, everything but press start) so she has the right to make us do other things SHE'S getting money to do. Taking out the trash may seem like something stupid and small...but after finding that she had gone through my stuff..I wasn't too into doing anything for her. Lunch was a great break and if we both didn't have work to do we probably would have run away for the rest of the day. Dany thankfully didn't grace us with her presence at dinner so we ate just us and then I just read until bed.  Boring Saturday, but relaxing.

Today we got yelled at for not saying hi to her while she was on the phone and for not cleaning the water up IN THE SINK.  And other than that I've written this and am going to study for my French final and start on the 60+ pages of International Relations I have for Friday.  A less than exciting weekend, but Ellie is here in a week!! :)  It hasn't really clicked that she is really going to be here...but I really can't wait.

I got asked a couple weeks ago what I'll miss the most about Paris.  I've been struggling with the answer. I can name things I won't miss...the men, my host, the dirty streets, the rude people.  Dany has put a HUGE damper on my entire trip.  Yes, there is a lot more to this semester than her...but coming "home" to such a stressful situation, sucks. She hasn't made me regret coming here, but I haven't liked it here nearly as much as I feel I should have. And I do blame her. But I will miss my roommates, the freedom here, the cafes. I have learned a lot here. A major part of that is that I don't want to ever live in a city this big. I miss the fresh air of Maine more and more. I miss not watching my back all the time or clutching my bag and making sure the zipper is towards the front.  I'm sure it'll be difficult to adjust back though.

It's amazing how much I feel like I know about this city. The metro for instance. I don't think I'll ever forget how to get places and what lines go where.  The 1 is always crowded but it goes incredibly fast.  The 5 is faster than the 7 except when it breaks down, which is often.  The 7 is a good way to get places but takes a while because of it's interesting route. The 14 is automated, smells funny, but futuristic.  The 6 has a beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower over the Seine. It's best to listen to music while on the metro because people won't bother you and you can pretend you don't hear the beggars playing music or yelling their stories for money.  Don't smile at anyone.  Don't even make eye contact if you can help it.  People in Paris don't walk around looking at the ground because they're sad, it's to women a way to avoid the pigs that they call men and a way for everyone to avoid stepping on all the crap on the sidewalks. Say "bonjour" everywhere you go.  Walking into stores, cafes, ELEVATORS, everywhere. In that way people come across as incredibly friendly.

I have 7 days till Ellie gets here, 13 till we go to Denmark, and 57 until I'm home. Still lots to see and do...

Au Revoir!