Since it has been so nice out I have been running almost every day- I LOVE it, but do have some funny stories associated with it.
Once I was running and a bug flew into my mouth, it was pretty gross. I licked my hand to get it off my tongue and a dead bug appeared on my hand. I licked it a few more times to make sure I got all the legs which also came along with smeared blood on my finger- gross!
I run up a hill and turn a sharp corner filled with bushes on my run, which is where I once literally ran into someone else- hard on contact.
Another day I was running belong a soccer field located in a park where lots of families picnic with a bathroom at the corner of the field. But instead a guy was peeing in the bushes beside me.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Friday, May 8, 2009
ICE Bar, the oldest amusement park/roller coaster in the world and Tivoli
Last weekend I went to the Copenhagen Ice Bar. The entire bar is made out of ice, even the cups! They gave us big capes to wear to keep us warm too.
Today I went to the oldest amusement park in the world, Bakken. It is also home to the oldest roller coaster in the world. It is actually a really long, fun, wooden ride and even has a driver in the last car! This amusement park was more like Six Flags, while Tivoli (the more famous amusement park in the center of Copenhagen I went to with my parents) is more similar to Disney.
Today I went to the oldest amusement park in the world, Bakken. It is also home to the oldest roller coaster in the world. It is actually a really long, fun, wooden ride and even has a driver in the last car! This amusement park was more like Six Flags, while Tivoli (the more famous amusement park in the center of Copenhagen I went to with my parents) is more similar to Disney.
Laundromat Café & Ketchup
There is this really cute café near where I live called the Laundromat Café that I have been going to study for finals. It’s a café, but they also have laundry there too! I was wondering why I was able to get so much work and studying done, usually at home I can never go to Starbucks to do work. Then I realized- its because everyone is speaking Danish. It is a lot easier to concentrate when people are speaking a different language and you can’t ease drop! Yes, I am taking Danish, but not that good.
On another note, I am out of ketchup but too cheap to buy another bottle because I am leaving in one week! (This one lasted me my entire stay). Meanwhile in Denmark you can’t just make a Burger King bag and take a bunch of ketchup packets- you pay for them here. So I think I will get creative like my friend who does not like the ketchup here (it does taste different) and use tomato sauce; or use salsa like I do with everything else (Salsa and carrots is a GREAT snack).
On another note, I am out of ketchup but too cheap to buy another bottle because I am leaving in one week! (This one lasted me my entire stay). Meanwhile in Denmark you can’t just make a Burger King bag and take a bunch of ketchup packets- you pay for them here. So I think I will get creative like my friend who does not like the ketchup here (it does taste different) and use tomato sauce; or use salsa like I do with everything else (Salsa and carrots is a GREAT snack).
The Queens Birthday
Flags were on all of the busses, it was great! Soldiers marched down streets of Copenhagen for the changing of the guards- as they do every day, but many came to watch. There was a big crowd around to see the Queens of course. However, I pointed out to my parents the apparent difference in culture. In the states if everyone was crowding around to see something, there would be no space to move! Here however, everyone remains in their own personal bubble here and do not stand close to each other. If the ball fell in Denmark on New Years Eve there still would not be a true crowd!
Danish Culture
Danes have a very different culture and are brought up differently than Americans. While Americans are raised to think they are something special, Danes are told they are no better than anyone else. This is also shown in their school system; there are no honors or advanced classes. Everyone is in the same class, not exceptions.
Additionally, Danes do not brag. You will not find a grandmother bragging about any accomplishments, gymnastics competition, modeling, or good grades as mine does. Did I mention Americans are different?
Additionally, Danes do not brag. You will not find a grandmother bragging about any accomplishments, gymnastics competition, modeling, or good grades as mine does. Did I mention Americans are different?
Monday, May 4, 2009
Hamburg, Germany
It was finally time for the day I had been dreading yet eager to experience. It was time to travel to Hamburg, Germany to see a concentration camp with my Holocaust and Genocide class.
We would leave Friday at 5:30 and arrive in Hamburg at 11 that night. This included about 4 hours of driving and a 45-minute ferry ride. Saturday morning we woke up at 8 (some people hung over from going out with the teachers the night before- I was smart enough to know it would be a long enough day as it was) and first went to a school where 20 children were murdered right before the end of the war (the Germans killed them because they did not want any trace of the medical experiments they had performed on them during the war). There was a museum inside but we did not have enough time to go in so we just stood outside and had a 15-minute lecture.
Next we made a short stop to see a building that still had punctures from the bombing during World War II. We then went to the city square to see a church, and had a little over an hour to walk around and grab lunch.
At 12 we headed to Nuengamme, the concentration camp we would be visiting. It was not what I expected at all. First off out your guide was great but I’m not sure she knew we were a Holocaust and genocide class; I did not learn as much as I thought I would. She is a historian and has a very interesting background. Her grandfather was an SS soldier. She also informed us that it is complete bull shit if anyone tells us people were forced into the position, it was a chosen profession. She used the term bullshit once more, it is the response she stressed to anyone in the town would claim they did not know about the camp during its existence.
Anyway, it was s beautiful day and there where a few beautiful flower bushes, which confused me- it was not the feeling one should get when visiting a concentration camp. The barracks had been taken down after the war because the camp was turned into a prison until 20 years later when it became a memorial for the Holocaust. There were extensive exhibits that were well done with a lot of material about the camp but nothing too much to see, or at least not as much as I though I would see.
I think it is good that they still have the camp in its somewhat presence because I saw a few other tours that I assumed to be “class trips.” I think for schools in the area it is a very important trip to take and I was glad to see it was there for them to visit, especially because our tour guide informed us of the 5 percent of Neo Nazis that still exist in Germany. Additionally, there are conservatives who agree with some of their standpoints; which is why I think it was good for other schools in the area to be visiting.
One girl on my class described her reaction well, “it was hard to connect with.” Another point to explain my feelings towards the camp was that my teacher said one year he was at another camp and there was a survivor who said, “they have grass here now? I don’t remember there being any grass, if there was grass back then we would have ate it.” However, I would like to mention that my teacher said the camps in Poland are very different than the ones in Germany.
We would leave Friday at 5:30 and arrive in Hamburg at 11 that night. This included about 4 hours of driving and a 45-minute ferry ride. Saturday morning we woke up at 8 (some people hung over from going out with the teachers the night before- I was smart enough to know it would be a long enough day as it was) and first went to a school where 20 children were murdered right before the end of the war (the Germans killed them because they did not want any trace of the medical experiments they had performed on them during the war). There was a museum inside but we did not have enough time to go in so we just stood outside and had a 15-minute lecture.
Next we made a short stop to see a building that still had punctures from the bombing during World War II. We then went to the city square to see a church, and had a little over an hour to walk around and grab lunch.
At 12 we headed to Nuengamme, the concentration camp we would be visiting. It was not what I expected at all. First off out your guide was great but I’m not sure she knew we were a Holocaust and genocide class; I did not learn as much as I thought I would. She is a historian and has a very interesting background. Her grandfather was an SS soldier. She also informed us that it is complete bull shit if anyone tells us people were forced into the position, it was a chosen profession. She used the term bullshit once more, it is the response she stressed to anyone in the town would claim they did not know about the camp during its existence.
Anyway, it was s beautiful day and there where a few beautiful flower bushes, which confused me- it was not the feeling one should get when visiting a concentration camp. The barracks had been taken down after the war because the camp was turned into a prison until 20 years later when it became a memorial for the Holocaust. There were extensive exhibits that were well done with a lot of material about the camp but nothing too much to see, or at least not as much as I though I would see.
I think it is good that they still have the camp in its somewhat presence because I saw a few other tours that I assumed to be “class trips.” I think for schools in the area it is a very important trip to take and I was glad to see it was there for them to visit, especially because our tour guide informed us of the 5 percent of Neo Nazis that still exist in Germany. Additionally, there are conservatives who agree with some of their standpoints; which is why I think it was good for other schools in the area to be visiting.
One girl on my class described her reaction well, “it was hard to connect with.” Another point to explain my feelings towards the camp was that my teacher said one year he was at another camp and there was a survivor who said, “they have grass here now? I don’t remember there being any grass, if there was grass back then we would have ate it.” However, I would like to mention that my teacher said the camps in Poland are very different than the ones in Germany.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
My long travel
I never woke up at 5:45 the next morning so easily y because I was so excited to see my parents. Little did I know the adventure that lied ahead of me. My flight was at 8:45 and I left the apartment at 5:40, the trip from the airport to the apartment was a little under an hour and a half. However, the trip from the apartment to the airport was just about 4 hours.
The train running from the main station to the airport was out; this equaled chaos. Everyone with suitcases was walking (or running) in different directions and I did not even speak the language. I finally found my way onto a train that would take me to a bus to the airport. After a mash pit getting onto the train (with my suitcase), getting onto a bus that dropped the very crowded bus off in the middle of the Paris ghetto with everyone’s luggage, standing on another bus not being able to move with a little kid pueking in front of me I made it to the airport a little before 10 am. The only reason I was not in tears after finding out the next flight was 12 hours later was because I meet a cute boy.
Apparently 15-20 other people missed the same flight for the same reason. So I spent the day napping, reading, making friends, and trying to nourish myself in a very expensive airport while keeping kosher for Passover.
By the way that was the earliest I had EVER left for an airport for my flight and the first time that I EVER missed a flight.
The train running from the main station to the airport was out; this equaled chaos. Everyone with suitcases was walking (or running) in different directions and I did not even speak the language. I finally found my way onto a train that would take me to a bus to the airport. After a mash pit getting onto the train (with my suitcase), getting onto a bus that dropped the very crowded bus off in the middle of the Paris ghetto with everyone’s luggage, standing on another bus not being able to move with a little kid pueking in front of me I made it to the airport a little before 10 am. The only reason I was not in tears after finding out the next flight was 12 hours later was because I meet a cute boy.
Apparently 15-20 other people missed the same flight for the same reason. So I spent the day napping, reading, making friends, and trying to nourish myself in a very expensive airport while keeping kosher for Passover.
By the way that was the earliest I had EVER left for an airport for my flight and the first time that I EVER missed a flight.
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