Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Farmor och Pappa
Uppdatera: Efter jag kom tillbaka från min födelsedag helgen i Köpenhamn, åkte jag tillbaka till Lund för att bö på min väns lägenhet. Hon hetter Ännie (och är samma gammal som mig) och är Kerstins dötter (Kerstin är en kvinna som min mamma har känt sedan hon var i Sverige när hon var mycket yngre). Jag gick till hennes lägenhet i måndags, och hon var på väg att flytta till Göteborg eftersom hon börjar universitetet där på hösten. Så jag bodde i hennes lägenhet mitt i Lund för den sista veckan min själv. Det var skönt att sova mycket och göra ingenting för en liten stund. Jag handlade lite i Lund och åkte buss till Lomma (en lokal strand) en dag. Nu är det tisdag, och jag är på min Farmors lägenhet i Ängelholm. Igår packade jag upp alla min väskor och lämnade Lund för restan av resen. Jag väntar nu på min Farmors för Pappa. Han ska komma till Sverige ikväll och träffe mig och Farmor. Vi ska stanna på en lägenhet i staden tillsammans och ska besöka farmor mycket den här veckan. På sondag ska Pappa köra mig till Stockholm för att hjälpa mig få fast i min lägenhet. Han hittade en jättebra lägenhet online på airbnb, som ligger precis mitt i staden! Vad kul:). Jag ska bo där på min egen för två veckor och ta en annan mer intensiva svensk kurs. Jag hoppas att där ska bli andra studenten i min kurs som vara runt min ålder som jag kan hänga ut med och få vänner. Vi får se! Hoppas allt är bra hemma:)
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Min Födelsedag!!
Jag var i Köpenhamn i helgen av min födelsedag. Några av min vänner från programmet åkte med mig. Vi gick ut tillsammans i staden och hade en fantastisk tid. Det var en jättebra födelsedag! :)
BERLIN
Sorry for my lack of posts recently, I've been so busy! Berlin was absolutely amazing! So 4 of us girls from the program went together: me, my roommate (kelsy--from UCSB), another girl Elsa (UC irvine), and another girl named Angie (UCLA too, though didn't know her before the program). Angie left before the other 3 of us on a different flight, and then Elsa, Kelsy, and I were all on the same flight departing from Copenhagen on Thursday night of July 25th. The flight was only 40 minutes. crazy. Europe is just beyond me...like that's how long it would take to get from LA to san fran....but instead your transported to like an entirely different country, with a different language and culture. UGH I JUST WANNA LIVE HERE FOREVER! So cool....anyways, the flight went smoothly, and we arrived pretty late (around 11pm) that same Thursday. We figured out how to take the trains and subway to our hostel, which was located in the very young, artsy neighborhood of Berlin (here's their website: http://www.globetrotterhostel.de). The hostel was super cool and really cheap (a total of 63 euros total for 3 nights for each of us...and we got our own 4 person bedroom. awesome). It was recommended to me by another guy I met in my swedish program who had recently traveled on his own to Berlin and said it was located right in the middle of all the great nightlife, and where all the young people were. He was so right! We met so many interesting people, from all over the world....and unlike some hostels, NO ONE staying there was over the age of like 25. We met tons of Australians (they just love germany for some reason), people from Sweden as well, Netherlands, Belgium, Brazil, just so fun. So Thursday because we checked in pretty late we didn't go out because we decided that we really wanted to go see Sachsenhausen concentration camp on Friday (about an hour outside of berlin), and needed to get up early in the morning for the all-day affair. Although I have visited Dachau--a concentration camp near Munich---that i saw with my family a few years ago, Kelsy, who's never been to Europe prior to this program, hadn't seen one. And I agreed that if you come to Germany, it's really something one needs to see.
So here begins the story of Emma the Navigator. Note: I will now whole-heartedly admit that I am by NO means spatially aware. Like me reading a map = a HUGE struggle fest. Yet, I am the one who herded my doe-eyed American friends onto a total of 3 different trains and a bus to get to Sachsenhausen, all in about a 2 hour period. AND on top of that, little did I know (or just didn't remember from the last time I was in Germany), that similarly to the Italians, many germans just can't speak English. Say what??? Like I was honestly pretty shocked. I don't mean to sound superior by any means by saying this, but English kinda is the world's dominant language of communication. So someone working at a coffee shop outside Berlin who doesn't speak English is one thing: totally understandable. But the middle-aged woman wearing a bright red outfit sitting at the DB "Deustche Bahn" information desk at the Hauptbahnhof (aka Grand Central Station of Berlin), not being able to speak English, is a whole different story. Like whaaaaa???? So yea, on top of my spatial challenges, I had to blend my knowledge of Swedish and German together to get us to Sachsenhausen and back that Friday. And I did it all. Take that.
Ok so Saturday: Saturday was unfortunately a bit of a setback of our whole European adventure. My friends experienced a pretty bad theft, resulting in the loss of Elsa's iPhone, Kelsy's iPhone & $1200 camera [Nothing of mine or Angie's was stolen]. So how did this happen to us when I consider myself to be super paranoid and always cautious traveler that I am? Well here's what happened: So upon our return around 6pm on Friday from the concentration camp, my friends and I took a nap and then went out to several bars and clubs with some guys we met at the hostel. So we didn't get back until pretty late that night (or rather super early that saturday morning)....so after I slept for a few hours, I got up to walk down the hall to use the bathroom (we had our own 4 person bedroom, but shared the bathroom and shower facilities with our floor; typical for a hostel and no big deal). Meanwhile let me say now because I haven't already that it was FREAKING HOT in Berlin that weekend. Like record-breaking heat they have ever had, and super humid as well. On top of that there is NO air conditioning anywhere, and rarely are there fans (like what is that about?!?!?) Hahahah my friend Elsa is such the diva of the group, and everywhere we went she would make a comment about the heat, scream "what is this a third world country?!?!" and then proceed to whip out her little gold fan and fan herself while we were walking. Hahaha. But I don't blame her for whining, because it was pretty miserable. SO, back to the story: I woke up around 7am to go use the bathroom, and noticed on my way back to my room that all the other rooms had left their room doors open because the hallway was pretty cool and had some cool air to let in. So I thought to myself, 'genius idea'!! So when I got back into the room, Angie was fast asleep, but both Kelsy and Elsa were somewhat awake, and I briefly asked them if we should leave the room door open for a bit just to cool off (thinking I would leave it open, then shut it before falling back asleep). Wellll, I fell back asleep, and unfortunately so did the other girls. We learned later that morning, that during that brief hour and a half in which we all fell back asleep with the door open, someone had come inside our room and taken the 2 phones and camera. But what made the whole thing scarier was not just the fact that these things were taken, but that the hostel was able to catch it on tape with a video camera they had in the hallway. We watched it later that morning after filing a report at the police station, only to watch a man who happened to stumble upon this opportunity and take it. It was scary to see him enter our room, not once, but FOUR FREAKING TIMES that morning while we were asleep with the door open, and watch him leave with our stuff. Ugh looking back at it now I know it was all our fault, and stupid of us to feel to comfortable when we should've been more careful. The odds of something like that happening were so slim, but yet it did happen. So Saturday was kinda a sad and disappointing day for my friends. But in the end, we realized that it could have been so much worse. No money was taken, we still had our passports and plane tickets, and none of us were hurt, which is the most important thing. So we definitely learned our lesson and to ALWAYS be careful. The hostel submitted the tape to the police, but there was no luck in identifying the man or retrieving the items. Anyways, because of that we didn't do much saturday, but to be honest it was so hot we didn't really want to do much. We went out to eat and shopped around in the hipster area of where our hostel was. That night I convinced us all to go out with some of the guys again, and we had such a great time. Oh ya, that's another thing: prices are AMAZING in Berlin (I mean, compared to scandinavia). Happy hour meant 2 beers for 1 euro. No joke. Hah, it was probably the only time in my life where I could say "hey guys, drinks on me tonight!" and actually mean it. Because I could order about 10 beers for the equivalent cost of a small nonfat latte back in Sweden...
Sunday was so much fun. Our flight back wasn't until like 8pm which was great and so we got out into the heart of Berlin where we were able to sight see and visit the Reichstag (main capital government building), brandenburg gate, and a bunch of other really cool historic stuff (lol I forget the names). We met up with one of Kelsy's guy friends from back home who was also traveling around Europe and happened to be in Berlin same time as us. We stopped by the brandenburg gate first, and there we say these hilarious looking octo-bike things (clearly some kind of tourist attraction--8 people sit in like this ring shaped bike and then the main guy bikes it forward). We payed the guy to be able to take us to the end of the street and back, but he went above and beyond. He was literally the nicest german man ever and took us all through Tiergarten (The big park in the middle of Berlin) and was our tour guide for the day, telling us about all the historic monuments. It was great, and really lifted the other girls' spirits from the day before. Hahaha he even had little speakers that he whipped out and so I got to plug my ipod in.
So picture this: 3 american girls laughing hysterically, sitting in a bright blue circular octo-bike-thing with a german man shouting out landmarks, driving down Ebertstrasse in the middle of traffic with the Brandburg gate in the background, all while blasting swedish house mafia through giant speakers. Lets just say all the other tourists were SO jealous.
So here begins the story of Emma the Navigator. Note: I will now whole-heartedly admit that I am by NO means spatially aware. Like me reading a map = a HUGE struggle fest. Yet, I am the one who herded my doe-eyed American friends onto a total of 3 different trains and a bus to get to Sachsenhausen, all in about a 2 hour period. AND on top of that, little did I know (or just didn't remember from the last time I was in Germany), that similarly to the Italians, many germans just can't speak English. Say what??? Like I was honestly pretty shocked. I don't mean to sound superior by any means by saying this, but English kinda is the world's dominant language of communication. So someone working at a coffee shop outside Berlin who doesn't speak English is one thing: totally understandable. But the middle-aged woman wearing a bright red outfit sitting at the DB "Deustche Bahn" information desk at the Hauptbahnhof (aka Grand Central Station of Berlin), not being able to speak English, is a whole different story. Like whaaaaa???? So yea, on top of my spatial challenges, I had to blend my knowledge of Swedish and German together to get us to Sachsenhausen and back that Friday. And I did it all. Take that.
Ok so Saturday: Saturday was unfortunately a bit of a setback of our whole European adventure. My friends experienced a pretty bad theft, resulting in the loss of Elsa's iPhone, Kelsy's iPhone & $1200 camera [Nothing of mine or Angie's was stolen]. So how did this happen to us when I consider myself to be super paranoid and always cautious traveler that I am? Well here's what happened: So upon our return around 6pm on Friday from the concentration camp, my friends and I took a nap and then went out to several bars and clubs with some guys we met at the hostel. So we didn't get back until pretty late that night (or rather super early that saturday morning)....so after I slept for a few hours, I got up to walk down the hall to use the bathroom (we had our own 4 person bedroom, but shared the bathroom and shower facilities with our floor; typical for a hostel and no big deal). Meanwhile let me say now because I haven't already that it was FREAKING HOT in Berlin that weekend. Like record-breaking heat they have ever had, and super humid as well. On top of that there is NO air conditioning anywhere, and rarely are there fans (like what is that about?!?!?) Hahahah my friend Elsa is such the diva of the group, and everywhere we went she would make a comment about the heat, scream "what is this a third world country?!?!" and then proceed to whip out her little gold fan and fan herself while we were walking. Hahaha. But I don't blame her for whining, because it was pretty miserable. SO, back to the story: I woke up around 7am to go use the bathroom, and noticed on my way back to my room that all the other rooms had left their room doors open because the hallway was pretty cool and had some cool air to let in. So I thought to myself, 'genius idea'!! So when I got back into the room, Angie was fast asleep, but both Kelsy and Elsa were somewhat awake, and I briefly asked them if we should leave the room door open for a bit just to cool off (thinking I would leave it open, then shut it before falling back asleep). Wellll, I fell back asleep, and unfortunately so did the other girls. We learned later that morning, that during that brief hour and a half in which we all fell back asleep with the door open, someone had come inside our room and taken the 2 phones and camera. But what made the whole thing scarier was not just the fact that these things were taken, but that the hostel was able to catch it on tape with a video camera they had in the hallway. We watched it later that morning after filing a report at the police station, only to watch a man who happened to stumble upon this opportunity and take it. It was scary to see him enter our room, not once, but FOUR FREAKING TIMES that morning while we were asleep with the door open, and watch him leave with our stuff. Ugh looking back at it now I know it was all our fault, and stupid of us to feel to comfortable when we should've been more careful. The odds of something like that happening were so slim, but yet it did happen. So Saturday was kinda a sad and disappointing day for my friends. But in the end, we realized that it could have been so much worse. No money was taken, we still had our passports and plane tickets, and none of us were hurt, which is the most important thing. So we definitely learned our lesson and to ALWAYS be careful. The hostel submitted the tape to the police, but there was no luck in identifying the man or retrieving the items. Anyways, because of that we didn't do much saturday, but to be honest it was so hot we didn't really want to do much. We went out to eat and shopped around in the hipster area of where our hostel was. That night I convinced us all to go out with some of the guys again, and we had such a great time. Oh ya, that's another thing: prices are AMAZING in Berlin (I mean, compared to scandinavia). Happy hour meant 2 beers for 1 euro. No joke. Hah, it was probably the only time in my life where I could say "hey guys, drinks on me tonight!" and actually mean it. Because I could order about 10 beers for the equivalent cost of a small nonfat latte back in Sweden...
Sunday was so much fun. Our flight back wasn't until like 8pm which was great and so we got out into the heart of Berlin where we were able to sight see and visit the Reichstag (main capital government building), brandenburg gate, and a bunch of other really cool historic stuff (lol I forget the names). We met up with one of Kelsy's guy friends from back home who was also traveling around Europe and happened to be in Berlin same time as us. We stopped by the brandenburg gate first, and there we say these hilarious looking octo-bike things (clearly some kind of tourist attraction--8 people sit in like this ring shaped bike and then the main guy bikes it forward). We payed the guy to be able to take us to the end of the street and back, but he went above and beyond. He was literally the nicest german man ever and took us all through Tiergarten (The big park in the middle of Berlin) and was our tour guide for the day, telling us about all the historic monuments. It was great, and really lifted the other girls' spirits from the day before. Hahaha he even had little speakers that he whipped out and so I got to plug my ipod in.
So picture this: 3 american girls laughing hysterically, sitting in a bright blue circular octo-bike-thing with a german man shouting out landmarks, driving down Ebertstrasse in the middle of traffic with the Brandburg gate in the background, all while blasting swedish house mafia through giant speakers. Lets just say all the other tourists were SO jealous.
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Next mini-trip? GERMANYYYYYYY!!!
Können Sie Deutsch sprechen?? Nein?! Ich kan!! AHHH so excited I´ve made plans to go to Berlin next weekend!!! It is our last and second 3 day weekend during class so 3 other girls in my program and I are going!! I´ve been to southern Germany before (munich, etc) with my family but never Berlin! Couldn´t be more excited!!
Men fredag har jag en rese till "the island of ven" (forlåt jag vet inte hur man kan säga den på svenska) och denna helgen ska jag träffa mina kusine i Kristianstad! Det ska bli kul!
Sorry for the mixtures of languages...pretty soon most or all of my posts will be entirely in Swedish (so for the swedish readers--mom & dad--bare with me on my grammatical mistakes because I won´t be using any translation helpers or lexicon). To the rest of my family/friends, sorry but I need to practice!! Haha you can use freetranslation.com or bingtranslator.com to copy and paste what I write to translate it. Tack!!
Men fredag har jag en rese till "the island of ven" (forlåt jag vet inte hur man kan säga den på svenska) och denna helgen ska jag träffa mina kusine i Kristianstad! Det ska bli kul!
Sorry for the mixtures of languages...pretty soon most or all of my posts will be entirely in Swedish (so for the swedish readers--mom & dad--bare with me on my grammatical mistakes because I won´t be using any translation helpers or lexicon). To the rest of my family/friends, sorry but I need to practice!! Haha you can use freetranslation.com or bingtranslator.com to copy and paste what I write to translate it. Tack!!
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Falsterbo och Österlen
So this week I finished my first round of classes (each language course is separated into 2 three week segments, for a total of 6 weeks) and so I had my test on Thursday, and will begin my next course monday with a new instructor. I'm excited to keep learning and improving! I've been very busy lately and have either gone out or done something every day after class this past week. On Tuesday, I went and visited Farmor again in Ängelholm. I went right after class around 12:30, took the bus to the center of Lund, hopped a train, and arrived there at 2:10pm. So easy and doesn't cost a thing (because I bought that summer card at the beginning of the summer that takes me on public transportation all around Skåne as much as I want), such a good deal. So I plan on going to visit Farmor after class at least once a week; when I arrive we usually sit and talk (it's really where I learn most of my swedish, she doesn't speak english) and we have dinner together and later I take the train back around 9pm. It's nice I get to see her so much now cuz I've really missed her.
So that was Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday I went with my friend Sarah (the girl from Cal here on the program) to her swedish friend's summer house in Falsterbo after class. OK, so this friend of hers (named Ebba), Sarah met at the beginning of her stay here through a family friend connection she has back home. Ebba's a little younger (i think 18, though almost 19) and has the nicest, coolest, most wonderful swedish family ever. Oh, ya and they are freakin' LOADED. Like really wealthy. I think that's the common misconception that some people have about Sweden; that they think that because Sweden's a socialist country, and everyone lives fairly within the same means, that there's no chance of ever being rich. FALSE. Rich people in Sweden do indeed exist. While yes, there are fewer than say in the US, and the chances of becoming that wealthy are not as easy or accessible as if you lived in the US, it's still very possible. Also, one of the main differences of rich people in Sweden versus the US (keep in mind this is a generalization) is that Swedes don't flaunt their wealth. They aren't loud, and obnoxious, buying huge-ass mansions that are completely impractical, or 15 mazarattis. Nope. They keep to the stereotypical swedish persona of remaining very private and low-key. But being private does not mean that they are not warm or welcoming! Quite the opposite. This family was SO nice. I've never met them before and they said "Oh but you must come join our family bbq for dinner!" and "Oh but you must come back and stay with us here next weekend!" just sooo nice. And it was great cuz while Sarah preferred to speak english, most of the family spoke swedish with me cuz they knew I have a stronger swedish background and wanted to improve my swedish seriously.
But prior to meeting up with the family, Sarah and I decided we wanted to eat some lunch and head down to the beach to tan a bit. So we stopped by this local adorable-looking lunch place to grab a sandwich to go...this place was the CUTEST little beach restaurant. Like similar to all the high-end little eateries in Manhattan Beach. And ALL the people who were there were young, beautiful, and very nicely dressed. Hah, I turned to Sarah and was like, "Dang, it's like Tommy Hilfiger in here!" and Sarah goes, "No man, Tommy Hilfiger can't afford this shit. He's on a budget. Nawww, this is Ralph Lauren." HAHAHA I died. So funny. And she was totally right...and the beach was even more so that way. Every one was super tan, fit, young, AND rich. Time to scope out my future husband. hahaha jk. After that, and after we ate dinner with Ebba's family, we took the bus back to our apartment in Lund. Took about an hour but it was super easy to navigate. Got to bed around midnight. Perfect day:)
Yesterday (friday) my program had its first scheduled field trip out so the southeast region of Skåne. We had two stops: one at an old medieval fortress called Gimmelhus, and the second at a little swedish fish town in Österlen where we saw an old swedish stonehenge called Ales Stenar (here's the link to someone else's blog I found further describing both places with pictures; copy and paste this URL: http://alexlotz.wordpress.com/2011/07/10/gimmelhus-and-ales-stenar/ ). It was absolutely beautiful! Ales Stenar was located along the coast and it was the greenest most beautiful place ever. We were up on a ledge overlooking the ocean surrounded by hundreds of red poppys and tons of paragliders, not to mention tons of cows and sheep, haha sweden's finest. Such a wonderful trip! Today I'm headed back to Copenhagen for the night haha....did I mention I love that city?
So that was Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday I went with my friend Sarah (the girl from Cal here on the program) to her swedish friend's summer house in Falsterbo after class. OK, so this friend of hers (named Ebba), Sarah met at the beginning of her stay here through a family friend connection she has back home. Ebba's a little younger (i think 18, though almost 19) and has the nicest, coolest, most wonderful swedish family ever. Oh, ya and they are freakin' LOADED. Like really wealthy. I think that's the common misconception that some people have about Sweden; that they think that because Sweden's a socialist country, and everyone lives fairly within the same means, that there's no chance of ever being rich. FALSE. Rich people in Sweden do indeed exist. While yes, there are fewer than say in the US, and the chances of becoming that wealthy are not as easy or accessible as if you lived in the US, it's still very possible. Also, one of the main differences of rich people in Sweden versus the US (keep in mind this is a generalization) is that Swedes don't flaunt their wealth. They aren't loud, and obnoxious, buying huge-ass mansions that are completely impractical, or 15 mazarattis. Nope. They keep to the stereotypical swedish persona of remaining very private and low-key. But being private does not mean that they are not warm or welcoming! Quite the opposite. This family was SO nice. I've never met them before and they said "Oh but you must come join our family bbq for dinner!" and "Oh but you must come back and stay with us here next weekend!" just sooo nice. And it was great cuz while Sarah preferred to speak english, most of the family spoke swedish with me cuz they knew I have a stronger swedish background and wanted to improve my swedish seriously.
But prior to meeting up with the family, Sarah and I decided we wanted to eat some lunch and head down to the beach to tan a bit. So we stopped by this local adorable-looking lunch place to grab a sandwich to go...this place was the CUTEST little beach restaurant. Like similar to all the high-end little eateries in Manhattan Beach. And ALL the people who were there were young, beautiful, and very nicely dressed. Hah, I turned to Sarah and was like, "Dang, it's like Tommy Hilfiger in here!" and Sarah goes, "No man, Tommy Hilfiger can't afford this shit. He's on a budget. Nawww, this is Ralph Lauren." HAHAHA I died. So funny. And she was totally right...and the beach was even more so that way. Every one was super tan, fit, young, AND rich. Time to scope out my future husband. hahaha jk. After that, and after we ate dinner with Ebba's family, we took the bus back to our apartment in Lund. Took about an hour but it was super easy to navigate. Got to bed around midnight. Perfect day:)
Yesterday (friday) my program had its first scheduled field trip out so the southeast region of Skåne. We had two stops: one at an old medieval fortress called Gimmelhus, and the second at a little swedish fish town in Österlen where we saw an old swedish stonehenge called Ales Stenar (here's the link to someone else's blog I found further describing both places with pictures; copy and paste this URL: http://alexlotz.wordpress.com/2011/07/10/gimmelhus-and-ales-stenar/ ). It was absolutely beautiful! Ales Stenar was located along the coast and it was the greenest most beautiful place ever. We were up on a ledge overlooking the ocean surrounded by hundreds of red poppys and tons of paragliders, not to mention tons of cows and sheep, haha sweden's finest. Such a wonderful trip! Today I'm headed back to Copenhagen for the night haha....did I mention I love that city?
Monday, July 8, 2013
L'arte d'arrangiarsi
"L'arte d'arrangiarsi" is an italian expression that means "the art of making something out of nothing" (ok, yes I admit while I'd like to take credit with being all artsy by quoting italian, I actually stole the idea from 'eat pray love'). But in all fairness I think the expression sums up my ability of turning a 3-day weekend into a fantastic vacation to Italy quite perfectly. NOW I understand what all the fuss is about. Italia is truly a breathtaking place (though here I'm speaking in terms of the real italy--aka the countryside, but I'll cover that more later). When I arrived, I flew into Rome-Fiumicino airport and took a 40 min train from there to the main train station in Rome--[Roma-Termini]--to meet my friend Kenzie. She had been staying out in the countryside of Tuscany interning at a family friend's company for the past month. She took the train from there to meet me, and I found her without a problem, and we proceeded to go check into the hotel that her mom had booked for us right near the train station in Rome for the next 2 nights. It was a beautiful hotel, and we got there around 10:30pm. I dropped my stuff off and changed (cuz I was dripping sweat, italy is HOT), and then we decided we were a bit hungry and so checked out the hotel's restaurant. Ok, the restaurant is located on the rooftop (aka on top of 10 floors) with a balcony full of candle-lit tables that overlook all of Rome. Like to the left, I see the colosseum...what about to my right you ask? St. Peter's Basilica. Yes: Vatican City. Well, my welcome to italy couldn't have been more perfect. We had a glass of white wine and ravioli. Perfetto! Princess Emma was quite content. Ahhh, i could get used to this haha.
Kenzie then told me the plan for the weekend. She has taken some italian courses back at school and had been in italy working for a family friend's company for the past month or so. Even though she had been there for some time, she hadn't even gotten a chance to explore every bit of Rome which was perfect. She had reserved tickets for us to go to the Vatican the next day at noon (Friday). So the next morning we got up, ate breakfast at the hotel (again, I emphasize AMAZING food), and grabbed a cab to the vatican. It was SUPER crowded and pretty hot out but I actually didn't mind. I mean, it was the freaking vatican okay, just so cool to be in its presence, haha. There was a huge line, but our reserved tickets let us bypass it all which was great. We toured through all the various museums inside, with old artifacts, maps, statues, etc. Then I got to go inside the Sistine Chapel which was absolutely breathtaking. Procedures for entering any church in italy are pretty strict, but especially the Sistine chapel. Course it's July, so it's super hot out, and most women (including myself) are wearing tank tops and shorts, or dresses. Well "modest" dress is required to enter any such holy place in Italy. Therefore, employees were handing out like paper ponchos to drape over ourselves to cover our shoulders and legs. HAHA i looked ridiculous, I had to take 2: one to tie around my shoulders, and one for my legs. Literally wrapped up like a mummy but whatever.... Also: absolutely NO pictures of the Sistine chapel are allowed. Like the italian police come up to you and take your camera and delete all your pictures. No joke. Man, were those asian tourists in for a surprise...
After that, we went outside and around to the front of St. Peter's basilica and walked around. From there we went to the famous Spanish steps and after, the Trevi fountain (you know, in all those hollywood films) and then walked past the main government building and later past the colosseum. Whoever doubted me (*cough* Dad, haha just kidding) that Rome couldn't be covered in a day is seriously wrong. We were on a mission to do it all and we did. We got back to the hotel around 6pm, showered and got ready for dinner. We had some prosecco at the hotel bar before leaving for our dinner reservations at a nice italian restaurant at 9pm (italians eat late...also thanks in part to midsummer hours).
Haha so dinner that night (Friday): We get there, course everyone stares at us whenever we go anywhere. Oh ya, haven't covered that yet: I know this is a generalization, and I would like to edit this statement for other places outside major touristy cities in Italy, but men in Rome are creepy. Like CREEPY. We couldn't walk around (even in daylight) without getting cat calls, yelled at, followed around by, anyone and everyone. I definitely have never experienced anything like that before. It's like I literally had a blinking sign around my neck that said "HI I AM A FOREIGNER PLEASE SAY INAPPROPRIATE THINGS TO GET MY ATTENTION". Like they think that's ok to do?? Ummm noooooo! But honestly we were fine, and Kenzie and I always stuck together which was good.... But back to dinner: So the food we were able to order fine, but then came the wine...well we wanted to have the house wine (a red), and figured we wanted to splurge and order a bottle...course the waiters just nodded and said "si...si...si" literally like no english. (that's another thing, italians never really speak english). And so we said the house wine for the both of us and they were like "si....one liter, one liter" .....Kenzie and I just looked blankly at each other. "Ummm...sure, ya that's great thanks!", she said. She then turned to me and said "a liter is a bottle right?" Of course being the dumb blonde that I am I said "uhhh, I think so"....Well for all you reading this now and thinking I can't do math, you are right. A liter is NOT a standard bottle of wine. It is much more. HAHAHAHA, well needless to say we had a great night;)
The next morning (Saturday) we woke up early at like 7:30am to catch a 9am train to Siena. Kenzie was going to take me to Tuscany to meet/stay with the couple she had been staying with and working for all this time. But before I met them, Kenzie and I spent the daytime on our own in Siena. We took a total of 2 trains from Roma Termini, for a total travel time of about 2 hours and 45 min..got there around noon. Not too bad! We walked around, ate lunch at yet another amazing place, went and saw the Duomo (cathedral), and shopped and stopped for an afternoon drink in the main square. Just beautiful. Then around 6pm, the couple picked us up and took us to their home only about 15 min away. They lived outside Siena which is in the Chianti region (yes, like the origin of Chianti wine!) in Tuscany, Italy. Beautiful home! They lived in such an old and lovely town. Italy just has so much history! They were in the process of renovating their home but explained to me how their home is 500 years old...incredible. Anyways, we showered and changed because we were to go to their friend's surprise birthday party. So I basically had the BEST authentic italian experience ever. Like all these people were the warmest, loudest, craziest, happiest, most welcoming people I have ever met. All of them ranged from late twenties to early fifties perhaps. Just so great. Oh and the wine! Man, they definitely enjoyed having Kenzie and I as the center of attention. They did not leave a glass unfilled. "Ohhh eeeee-ma!"... (italian accent here)... "Morrr wine?" and before I could say anything they fill up my glass, stand up and say "SALUTE!" and clink my glass. Well no saying no to that! Literally there was first grappa (cuz they served some greek food as well as italian), sambuca, later some red wine, white wine, more red wine...."Ahhh buta trya diss one 'ere!" they would say......"iz a specialay prosecco"...and then later...... "Ahh limoncello! diss one 'ere is hommade. You musta trya!" ....and I haven't even gotten to the food yet (also, freaking delicious). Hahahah. They were so great and funny. Such a wonderful experience!
Anyways, I returned home without any problems. Left Tuscany around 3pm Sunday for a late flight that night out of Rome. I got back to my apartment in Lund pretty late though (2:30 am Monday morning), but I still made it to class this morning:) Oh ya class! Hahah, amidst all this travel I'm still chugging away at my swedish lessons, improving slowly and surely. I will finish the first round of classes this week, and get another instructor for the next level of instruction for the next 3 weeks after that. It's going well! I also forgot to mention I visited my grandma (Farmor) in Ängelholm last week which went very well. I will also visit her again after class for dinner this week on Wednesday. Oh, and tomorrow afternoon I'm headed out to falsterbo (a swedish beach town) after class with a classmate who met a swedish friend who has a beachhouse there. Just so busy!! Love it here in Sweden and Europe in general:) Couldn't be having a better time <3
Kenzie then told me the plan for the weekend. She has taken some italian courses back at school and had been in italy working for a family friend's company for the past month or so. Even though she had been there for some time, she hadn't even gotten a chance to explore every bit of Rome which was perfect. She had reserved tickets for us to go to the Vatican the next day at noon (Friday). So the next morning we got up, ate breakfast at the hotel (again, I emphasize AMAZING food), and grabbed a cab to the vatican. It was SUPER crowded and pretty hot out but I actually didn't mind. I mean, it was the freaking vatican okay, just so cool to be in its presence, haha. There was a huge line, but our reserved tickets let us bypass it all which was great. We toured through all the various museums inside, with old artifacts, maps, statues, etc. Then I got to go inside the Sistine Chapel which was absolutely breathtaking. Procedures for entering any church in italy are pretty strict, but especially the Sistine chapel. Course it's July, so it's super hot out, and most women (including myself) are wearing tank tops and shorts, or dresses. Well "modest" dress is required to enter any such holy place in Italy. Therefore, employees were handing out like paper ponchos to drape over ourselves to cover our shoulders and legs. HAHA i looked ridiculous, I had to take 2: one to tie around my shoulders, and one for my legs. Literally wrapped up like a mummy but whatever.... Also: absolutely NO pictures of the Sistine chapel are allowed. Like the italian police come up to you and take your camera and delete all your pictures. No joke. Man, were those asian tourists in for a surprise...
After that, we went outside and around to the front of St. Peter's basilica and walked around. From there we went to the famous Spanish steps and after, the Trevi fountain (you know, in all those hollywood films) and then walked past the main government building and later past the colosseum. Whoever doubted me (*cough* Dad, haha just kidding) that Rome couldn't be covered in a day is seriously wrong. We were on a mission to do it all and we did. We got back to the hotel around 6pm, showered and got ready for dinner. We had some prosecco at the hotel bar before leaving for our dinner reservations at a nice italian restaurant at 9pm (italians eat late...also thanks in part to midsummer hours).
Haha so dinner that night (Friday): We get there, course everyone stares at us whenever we go anywhere. Oh ya, haven't covered that yet: I know this is a generalization, and I would like to edit this statement for other places outside major touristy cities in Italy, but men in Rome are creepy. Like CREEPY. We couldn't walk around (even in daylight) without getting cat calls, yelled at, followed around by, anyone and everyone. I definitely have never experienced anything like that before. It's like I literally had a blinking sign around my neck that said "HI I AM A FOREIGNER PLEASE SAY INAPPROPRIATE THINGS TO GET MY ATTENTION". Like they think that's ok to do?? Ummm noooooo! But honestly we were fine, and Kenzie and I always stuck together which was good.... But back to dinner: So the food we were able to order fine, but then came the wine...well we wanted to have the house wine (a red), and figured we wanted to splurge and order a bottle...course the waiters just nodded and said "si...si...si" literally like no english. (that's another thing, italians never really speak english). And so we said the house wine for the both of us and they were like "si....one liter, one liter" .....Kenzie and I just looked blankly at each other. "Ummm...sure, ya that's great thanks!", she said. She then turned to me and said "a liter is a bottle right?" Of course being the dumb blonde that I am I said "uhhh, I think so"....Well for all you reading this now and thinking I can't do math, you are right. A liter is NOT a standard bottle of wine. It is much more. HAHAHAHA, well needless to say we had a great night;)
The next morning (Saturday) we woke up early at like 7:30am to catch a 9am train to Siena. Kenzie was going to take me to Tuscany to meet/stay with the couple she had been staying with and working for all this time. But before I met them, Kenzie and I spent the daytime on our own in Siena. We took a total of 2 trains from Roma Termini, for a total travel time of about 2 hours and 45 min..got there around noon. Not too bad! We walked around, ate lunch at yet another amazing place, went and saw the Duomo (cathedral), and shopped and stopped for an afternoon drink in the main square. Just beautiful. Then around 6pm, the couple picked us up and took us to their home only about 15 min away. They lived outside Siena which is in the Chianti region (yes, like the origin of Chianti wine!) in Tuscany, Italy. Beautiful home! They lived in such an old and lovely town. Italy just has so much history! They were in the process of renovating their home but explained to me how their home is 500 years old...incredible. Anyways, we showered and changed because we were to go to their friend's surprise birthday party. So I basically had the BEST authentic italian experience ever. Like all these people were the warmest, loudest, craziest, happiest, most welcoming people I have ever met. All of them ranged from late twenties to early fifties perhaps. Just so great. Oh and the wine! Man, they definitely enjoyed having Kenzie and I as the center of attention. They did not leave a glass unfilled. "Ohhh eeeee-ma!"... (italian accent here)... "Morrr wine?" and before I could say anything they fill up my glass, stand up and say "SALUTE!" and clink my glass. Well no saying no to that! Literally there was first grappa (cuz they served some greek food as well as italian), sambuca, later some red wine, white wine, more red wine...."Ahhh buta trya diss one 'ere!" they would say......"iz a specialay prosecco"...and then later...... "Ahh limoncello! diss one 'ere is hommade. You musta trya!" ....and I haven't even gotten to the food yet (also, freaking delicious). Hahahah. They were so great and funny. Such a wonderful experience!
Anyways, I returned home without any problems. Left Tuscany around 3pm Sunday for a late flight that night out of Rome. I got back to my apartment in Lund pretty late though (2:30 am Monday morning), but I still made it to class this morning:) Oh ya class! Hahah, amidst all this travel I'm still chugging away at my swedish lessons, improving slowly and surely. I will finish the first round of classes this week, and get another instructor for the next level of instruction for the next 3 weeks after that. It's going well! I also forgot to mention I visited my grandma (Farmor) in Ängelholm last week which went very well. I will also visit her again after class for dinner this week on Wednesday. Oh, and tomorrow afternoon I'm headed out to falsterbo (a swedish beach town) after class with a classmate who met a swedish friend who has a beachhouse there. Just so busy!! Love it here in Sweden and Europe in general:) Couldn't be having a better time <3
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Bella Italia!!!!
SOGUESSWHOJUSTBOOKEDAFLIGHTTOITALY!! yup, me :) I'm soooo excited I have never been so spontaneous in my life! So it turns out that there are 2 fridays on the program where I actually don't have any class. I definitely made up my mind then that I wanted to do some fun weekend excursions when I had the opportunity of a 3 day weekend. Of course, I had no plan in mind to go to italy. Many of my friends are studying abroad all over Europe currently, and I just thought how fun it would be to visit some/or one of them. I was sitting in class today, and asked my instructor "Hur lång är flyg från Köpenhamn till Rom?" to which he responded that it would probably be only like a 2 and half hour flight. Just beautiful. Everything in Europe is just so close it's amazing. Well, one of my best friends Kenzie from home (whom I haven't seen since like Spring break) is interning in Italy right now, and I facebook-messaged her asking her how crazy it would be if I came over for three days. She was so excited!! I can't believe it's actually happening though! I found a descent deal on a flight in I'll depart out of Copenhagen next Thursday night (I get out of class Thursday at noon) and come back to Copenhagen/Lund late that same Sunday evening. So surreal. Ahhhh I've never been to Italy before!! can't wait to explore Rome! <3
Til then I've got lots of other fun things planned.... I joined "Lund Nation" today (the equivalent of like a sorority/fraternity back home) and they host parties/events every Thursday/Fridays/Saturday nights. It's really my only shot of meeting other swedes here my age because Lund is pretty dead during the summer unfortunately. But I'm definitely making the best of it! Also, I'm headed back to Copenhagen with a few friends tomorrow (friday) night for the night again. Haha, I just had way to much fun the first time to not go back!
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