Trip to London and Visit from Mom and Al

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity and all of it has been novel and exciting!

Two weekends ago I had the opportunity to visit my friend Kirsten in London. I got to see a lot of the major sites, such as Trafalgar Square.

While we were there we went to the National Gallery where I saw a myriad of artwork form well-known painters, and most notably I got to see the Sunflowers by Van Gogh.

I saw a lot of the iconic sights in London.

Everyone knows that giant Ikea poster of Piccadilly Circus. So of course I had to make my way over there to get a picture in front of those picturesque crossroads

In this picture you can see the London Eye, Westminster Palace, and Big Ben.

Here’s another picture I got of the London Eye. While i did not take a ride on it, given the exorbitant price and hour-long commitment required to do the full revolution, I felt seeing it was good enough for me. 

I also got this picture of Big Ben with the sun peaking out behind it. Given that I was in London in February, I would say the presence of the sun was a lucky surprise.

Along with my trip to London, which by far exceeded my expectations of what I believed to be just another generic European city, I had the pleasure of having my mom and Albert coming to visit me in Copenhagen!

We did a lot of sightseeing (and eating) in the three days they were here and we got a lot out of the trip.

One of the first things we did was visit Christiansborg Palace, which is the seat of the Danish Parliament, the Danish Prime Minister's Office and the Supreme Court of Denmark. Unfortunately the elevator was not working when we went to visit so we could not stand at the top of the tower, but the building was beautiful and being able to go inside was still amazing. 

We also had to make the mandatory visit to the Little Mermaid statue. As always there was a crowd of people surrounding the small sculpture, but we were still able to get some good pictures. 

While making our way from The Little Mermaid to dinner we walked around Kastellet, which is s one of the best preserved star fortresses in Northern Europe. As the sun was setting, I got a scenic picture of this windmill.

We also got to walk by Nyhavn Bay as the neon signs were starting to light up, signaling the beginning of a bustling Saturday night.

On Sunday our adventures continued at the Old Carlsberg Brewery where we took a tour of the original facilities and drank some beers.

While there we also got to see the world’s largest collection of unopened beer bottles, which is noted in the Guinness Book of World Records! Currently, there are more than 16,600 different kinds of beer bottles displayed in the collection. 

We also saw the Jutland horses that pull the Carlsberg wagon around Copenhagen. They are a hallmark of the Carlsberg brand and well-known around the city.

Overall, both the trip to London and the visit form my mom and Al were a great addition to my time studying abroad and I can’t wait to see what this journey has in store for me next!

First Month in Copenhagen and Trip to Athens

As of February 18, it has officially been a month since I’ve started my semester in Copenhagen and I can say confidently that it is really starting to feel like home. 

I have done so much, whether it be seeing the mute swan, the national bird of Denmark,

seeing the Rosenborg Castle, the summer house of King Christian IV, which was built in 1606,

walking through the iconic Elephant Gates, a prominent feature of the original Carlsberg brewery site,

or going to a flea market where the offerings were too plentiful to make any purchasing decisions

Also, as promised, I have taken this picture of one of my favorite buildings at Copenhagen Business School. It is called Kilen and within the school it is known as the wedge. There are four other main buildings that I still need to photograph, each beautiful and unique in its own way. This happens to be one of the more modern structures on campus. 

Recently, I went on a very exciting trip to visit my friend Haley where she is studying abroad in Athens, Greece. I had no intentions of going there prior to coming to Europe but given the ease of travel here and relatively low travel fares, Athens seemed like somewhere I had to go.

Her school and apartment are located right in the historic area of Pangrati. The city’s history and timeworn charm contrasted with the modernity of Copenhagen and many of the other cities I’ve visited in my travels. Although worn and outdated, I found Athens to be fiercely dedicated to its illustrious culture and history.

Right down the street from her apartment was the Panathenaic Stadium used in first modern Olympis games in 1896.

During my trip, one of the obvious activities I had to do was visit the Acropolis.

As you walk up the stairs to the main area you are greeted by a propylaea which is a fancy name for a gateway to The Acropolis.

The largest structure at The Acropolis is the Parthenon. You can see the city is doing construction to maintain it, but the fact that a structure built in 432 BC is still standing is incredible beyond words.

An even earlier and equally impressive structure is The Erechtheion which is the temple dedicated to Athena and Poseidon

From The Acropolis we were granted unobstructed views of the city below. Here you can see the Temple of Hephaestus who I learned was the patron god of metal working,craftsmanship, and fire

Also, across the way is Mount Lycabettus, which I evidently would be climbing the next day.

…one day later…

The climb up Mount Lycabettus was quite strenuous, especially since Haley and I took the route of the dirt path instead of the paved steps which, believe me, was not on purpose. Mount Lycabettus is 277 meters or 908,793 feet tall and is the tallest point in the city.

As you can see I was quite sweaty from the climb. 

At the top of the mountain is the Chapel of Saint George which was built in the 19th Century.

It was a beautiful day and you could clearly see The Acropolis, along with the rest of Athens. 

Athens is a beautiful city and I certainly intend to make it back there one day to revisit this rich and authentic city, along with many of Greece’s other well-known sites.

Stay tuned for the next update!

My First Couple of Weeks in Copenhagen

Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay in my posts. I have been waiting to collect enough photos and stories to write about for this update. I have been in Copenhagen for a little over two weeks and I can confidently say that so far I am in love with Denmark. Besides the friendliness of the Danes, the easily accessible public transportation and the commitment to superb design, Denmark has so much history and knowledge to offer its citizens and tourists. 

One of the first sights I visited in Copenhagen was the Rundetårn, or Round Tower. It is a17th century project proposed by Christian IV to serve as an astronomical observatory. 

Here is the tower from the street view. You can see it still stands tall in all its brick-laden glory.

At the top of the tower you get an unrivaled 360-degree view of the city below.

Here is one of my favorite shots that I took while I was at the top of the tower. 

After spending some time taking in the magnificent views, I decided to get some lunch. While Danes do have their own style of cuisine, I was surprised to find the influence of the middle east at many of the restaurants.

Given my love for pita and falafel, that was my lunch for the day.

Walking around the different areas of Copenhagen, there is a lot to see and do. As always, one of my favorite things to photograph on the streets is people and their unique performances.

Here is a man playing the keyboard while a group of young students and their teacher watch him perform.

Another major attraction in Copenhagen is Nyhavn Harbor, known for its bright, multicolored buildings and array of sea-bound vessels. If you’ve ever seen Copenhagen on a postcard or in a movie, there is a good chance it took place at Nyhavn Harbor

This picture is proof that I was there, in case there were any doubts. 

The last major attraction I want to show you is the Little Mermaid Statue depicting the fairy tail character we all know, which was invented by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen.

The first weekend we were in Copenhagen, Sydney and I decided to take the train 30 minutes east to Malmö, Sweden. While, admittedly, there was not a lot to do, the town was clean and beautiful and had many restaurants, shops and cafes that we enjoyed. 

There were quite a lot of churches and castles to appreciate. Here is Sankt Pauli church. 

Besides the architecture, I found some friendly aquatic birds that let me take some pictures of them. Please enjoy:

Here is another picture of a street entertainer, this one playing a saxophone. His commitment to his music despite the cold temperatures and inattentive spectators is admirable.  

Most recently, as a last trip before classes start, I went to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art with my friend Danielle. Danielle and I have known each other since middle school and by a complete accident, ended up at the same college and in the same city for studying abroad. You can see Danielle in the candid picture below. It only made sense for us to make plans and spend the day doing something a little different. 

And let me say, this museum, was a little different, if not very different. From the obscure videos of random footage backed by nonsensical speeches to the abstract sculptures of things I have yet to fully comprehend, there were only so many pictures I could come home with of which I felt would be suitable for this blog, and here they are:

A giant sculpture of a brass thumb

A rock atop a mirrored stick

A cubed number sign, pound sign, or as it has recently come to be known as, a hashtag. 

And a cone

While I could not come to entirely understand the meaning of most of this very modern art, the museum itself was beautiful and rested on the peaceful Nivå Bay. 

Today, I did finally have my first class and I am very excited to be going to school at Copenhagen Business School. I will try to get in some pictures of the school’s buildings in my next post as they are all very unique and dazzling in their own way. I am so happy to be here in Denmark and I can already tell that this experience will be like none I’ve ever had before.

To end this post, I would like to leave you with one last picture of a street performer, this bagpipe player, who is evidently fully devoted to the skill, with kilt and all.  

Our Hike In Iceland

I have been in Denmark for over a week now and Copenhagen is already starting to feel like home. I will start uploading my pictures and stories from Copenhagen in a week or so once I have enough to make a post. First, I want to show you all my last updates from the Iceland trip, specifically our hike in Reykjadalur.

Sydney and I scheduled our hike through a local company called icelandactivities.com, a well-reviewed, family-owned company operating in the greater Reykjavik area. What was really amazing about the whole hike was that it was just me and Sydney and our guide...and his Pomeranian. The hike was personal and contoured around our pace and sight-seeing desires. Our guide was immensely informative and friendly; he is the one behind the camera in the pictures I am going to show you in this post.

Here Sydney and I are at the beginning of the hike, excited and eager to climb the mountain and see the hot springs. 

Within the first thirty minutes of the hike, we realized just how hard hiking in Iceland in the winter can be and we understood why they told us it was important to be in proper physical shape before signing up for the hike.

Here I am trudging through knee-deep snow. Even though the temperature outside was below freezing, the amount of physical exertion this hike required still had me sweating.

After about an hour or so of hiking ( I really don't know because no one was keeping track), we finally reached the hot springs.

While many of the other springs we saw smelled of rotten eggs from the sulfur, this hot spring, luckily, had no foul odor and was one of the cleanest in the valley. 

Sydney and I, as quickly as possible, changed into our bathing suits and sprinted to the hot spring.

 

Although initially uncomfortable, we became quite cozy in this naturally heated bath. In case the steam in this picture isn't a good indication, the contrast between the temperature of the air and the water was quite drastic, yet we still kept warm. 

Because I like to make decisions in my life based on the memories I want to have when I'm older, I decided to take on a particular challenge our tour guide gave me. Though I did have to ponder the request a bit at first, ultimately I gave in to my desire to have interesting stories when I go home and decided to make a snow angel.

In nothing but my bathing suit, I got out of the hot spring and dropped into the snow, waving around my limbs to create a snow angel. You can see Sydney in the background questioning my sanity.

I think this picture accurately portrays just how much the bitter snow stung my skin. I had some emotional support from the dog though. 

Here you can see my beautiful snow angel. I am proud to have done this because now I have the pictures to prove it and the fond memories of my recklessness. 

This is the last picture I have to offer from the hike. While there are many others that I will have to show you all when I come back home, only so many of them can be used to tell a story and I think this creates a perfect end to this story. 

Here I am, tired but triumphant, at the top of the mountain. The sun setting in the background and the burn in my muscles combined to provide me with a proud sense of accomplishment.