Quick update and a farewell!

So like I mentioned in the last post, I'm leaving very soon for a 2 week travel break but wanted to quickly wrap the last post up and say farewell for now!

As far as my past couple weeks, I'll try to say more about that when I get back.  I had a wonderful time with my parents in town!!! Highlights of Berlin were some great dinners and sight seeing and my favorite activity was the Checkpoint Charlie Museum.  It was also very fun to be in Copenhagen with them.  I got to be a tourist in between my classes which was great!  We did a canal tour and spent some quality time with my host family.  It was great for my parents to meet my host family, and for my host family to meet my parents!  I was very glad that we all got along and enjoyed each others company so much.  Again...more later, including pictures :)

Now my suitcases are packed and I am ready to go!  This is just the start to a whirlwind of a crazy but wonderful month!!! First 2 weeks traveling, then my cousin Julie is coming back in Copenhagen with me, and as soon as she leaves Andrew will be here!!!  After that I have a long weekend in London and then it is December...where does the time go?

Right now I'm looking forward to a week with a friend in Vienna, Salzburg, Paris, and Prague and then meeting Julie in Berlin for a week through Germany by train!  I am so lucky and could not imagine a more perfect way to spend my 2 weeks of traveling!  So, auf wiedersehen, au revoir, ahoj, and farewell!!!  Have a great Halloween, *shoutout to Jenn - have a great 21st,* enjoy your extra hour of sleep for the Fall Back time change, and appreciate all November has to offer!

UK Journey Part 2: Glasgow and Ireland

When our plane landed we made a mad dash to the baggage claim so we could meet up with our class on time, whose plane was supposed to land 20 minutes before ours.  Winded and a little disheveled, we read the arrivals screen only to find that their flight was delayed an hour.  We took a seat near where they would enter and enjoyed a little bit of relaxing downtime.  Well, mostly relaxing.  The Scottish police standing around the airport carried HUGE guns and wore a stern expression.  We managed to get them to chuckle a little, but the guns were still off-putting.  When we final saw our classmates coming through the gate we greeted them with the same enthusiasm I expect when I arrive back in the Cincinnati airport!  From then on I fully enjoyed the leisure of a group trip, which means everything was planned and all I had to do was show up (mostly) on time!

A nice step up from our hostel, we got to stay in a hotel the entire week!  Not to mention, a very nice hotel.  Thanks again, DIS.

We stayed in Glasgow for two and a half days and I enjoyed my time there.  The city had some pretty areas, but overall was more industrial and had less charm all over than many European cities.  The first day we went to a beautiful cathedral!!!  It really was one of the most elaborate and biggest ones that I have been to.  Behind it on top of a big hill was a necropolis that we climbed.  It gave a beautiful view and had some of the biggest and most ornate tombstones I have ever seen.  It was a great way to begin my week in Scotland!

While in Glasgow I also went to a lovely tea party, reminiscent of my tea party days!  If only they had big hats, boas, and fancy dresses, it would have been just like it used to.  They had fancy little sandwiches, biscuits, and deserts for us and of course some delightful tea :)  I was actually a little sick on this trip, which explains the lack of pictures I have of myself.  But they are still out there!  I think it's important for you to see other people too, though.  So here are some of my friends in the Willow Tea Room.

We were given the option between two museums, but a friend of mind and I decided we could made it to both and what a great decision that was!  First we went to the modern art museum which has some interesting exhibits, but it was small.  While everyone else left and went back to the hotel or in search of lunch, we ventured far across the city (it was actually about a 45 minute walk!) to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.  As we approached it, just from the outside, we could tell we made the right choice to go see it.  It looked like a castle from the outside and was just as marvelous on the inside!  

Here is the modern art museum

and the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum as we were approaching it.

Kelvingrove had some wonderful paintings by well known artists from all over Europe as well as historical exhibits on things like the vikings, wildlife in Scotland, and even a country-western American exhibit!  

The inside of the museum

Two pieces from the museum.  The one on the left was what a man working at my hotel noted as his favorite, it was the only sure thing I knew to expect before going.  The second was one of my favorites :)                         

Before leaving Glasgow we took a trip to tour the oldest house in the city, built in 1471!  Which was actually pretty impressive for being so old.  The family who lived in it must have been very rich because it is still standing strong today.  

After Glagow we hopped on a bus and made our way to Edinburgh!  I am very happy we took a bus there because it gave us the chance to see some Scottish countryside.  

OK....so I wrote all of that right after I posted UK Journey Part 1: Dublin.  When I stopped it was because I had to run off to meet my parents in their hotel upon their arrival in Copenhagen!  Since that time they have been here, we went to Berlin, and I've been scrambling things together to prepare for a 2 week trip I'm leaving for in about an hour...so I wanted to sum a few things up before leaving for this trip and then add to it later.

So we drive into Edinburgh and as soon as the city is in sight we all think we've just driven straight into a fairy tale!!! It is a beautiful, old city that is centered around a giant castle on top of a giant rock.  We had a great hotel in the center of the city too.  So on this trip, in addition to our academic visits, we took a drive through the beautiful Scottish highlands to a whiskey distillery tucked away in the valleys and by a pretty waterfall.  At the distillery we got a tour.  I really liked the Guinness tour, but I have to say this one topped it.  May it is because I'm not a big fan of Guinness, but a better guess would be because of the beautiful surrounding area.  After that we went to a very pretty castle.  There we got a tour and then time on our own.  Again, absolutely beautiful!  

Another highlight of Edinburgh was a ghost tour.  When I first heard we were doing this I thought it would be similar to the night watchman walk I went on in Ribe, a nice walk around the city at night.  Could I have been more wrong??? It was scary!!! It was more like a walk in volts and chambers underground through the most haunted place in the UK, ranked by the BBC!  So while we were down there the tour guide explained the history of all the crime that happened in these volts hundreds of years ago which leads to why they now believe them to be haunted.  She told us about the strange experience people have and shared ghost stories.  Whether or not you believe in ghosts, it was a spooky place to be! Dark, old, candlelit, damp, underground, and a string of small rooms!  After we got out of there the tour continued above ground with more spooky history of Edinburgh and a demonstration of how they whipped 2 englishmen...yes, a demonstration!  Imagine our shock which she actually whipped the 2 volunteers in my class who agreed to participate in a little role playing.  Luckily she didn't whip them as hard as they did back in the 1800s, but there were still small red welts on the poor guys back :( Not something you'd find in America!  We enjoyed our last day in Edinburgh and headed home.

It was sad to end such a great trip with such a great group of friends, but we were also happy to be back in beautiful Copenhagen, which officially felt like our new home!

UK Journey Part 1: Dublin

My week long trip through Dublin, Glasgow and Edinburgh was amazing to say the least.  I found beauty, culture, and friends.  The cities all had their own beauty, the Irish and Scottish culture had a lot to show, and I made even better friends with those from my positive psychology class and made some new friends along the way!

My trip started on a Friday when I met four other girls from my class at the airport.  Our class was not meeting to go to Scotland until Sunday but we decided to extend our trip a few days and make an extra stop in Dublin.  The tickets were pricey but the second the plane hit the ground I was sure it was all worth it.  It was a beautiful flight in and I enjoyed all of my Irish countryside viewing from the plane before landing...I did not get to go to the countryside over the weekend which only gives me a great excuse to go back someday!  We had a few adventures through the airport, each one of us getting hit with our own doom!  Mine happened when the ATM machine ate my credit card :(  It was not so bad thought because I still had my debit card and plenty of Kroners if I needed to exchange them.  We got a cab, stuffed our bags in, and struggled to understand what we think we English.  We later found accents weren't so thick everywhere, but this cab driver, James, had quite a thick one!

When he pulled up to our hostel I could immediately see it was not a "hostel" like what DIS has spoiled us with.  In fact, I think our first reaction when he pulled in front of it was "why did you stop here???"  As it turned out it was actually a good hostel with very friendly people and a free pancake breakfast!  Because there were 5 of us the only room we could all get in and the room that was cheapest was the 12 bed dorm! AH! That was an experience.  I actually did not mind at all at first.  But by Sunday it was getting a little smelly, a little strange, and we were ready to get out!

We used our time wisely in Dublin and got a full experience!!!  A few of the girls I was with had friends studying in Dublin so it was nice to have them show us around Friday night when we got there.  Our hostel was right by the bar from PS I Love You!  It had a high entrance fee so we never actually went in, but it was fun to see it!


We also saw some beautiful cathedrals...

The castle...

The Trinity College...

Temple Bar...

We took a fun visit to the Guinness Factory which ended in one of the highest points in Dublin, giving us a beautiful view of the city!

And finally something near and dear to our hearts that's been missing from our lives...

It was interesting being back in an english speaking country.  It actually took a couple hours for us to adjust to actually being able to read signs and menus.  Sometimes we'd even find ourselves making things more complicated than needed until we remembered that we could actually get around by reading all of the signs.  The culture also struck me as a little more American than other European cities I have been in.  A large part of this may be due to the english speaking, but I'd also attribute it to the starbucks, subways, TGIFs, and many other US chains that are missing from Copenhagen!  The people also may have acted a little more American just in a general attitude and way of carrying themselves.  I think this was my first trip completely done on my own!  Which was also exciting and a big success...good practice for the long study tour.  

After two nights and two days of exploring we said, "See you later, Ireland.  Hellooo Glasgow!"