One last exciiting post full of lots of adventures

So I’m writing this now, a few days after my day trip because this has been the only time I’ve had to recap and post (due to internet issues). The best way to sum up my day in Copenhagen is by just touching on the many things I did and letting pictures tell the rest of the story (I did a lot)! After a 10-hour overnight bus ride (which was not all that bad… I managed to wake up when we crossed the ocean/canal/whatever it is called right outside of Malmo, Sweden on a really cool bridge), I arrived in Copenhagen at 8:00 am, way before anything opened and we didn’t even arrive at Central Station… we arrived at some random street a few blocks away.

Fortunately, I was able to find my way to the station and had a slow breakfast there until things started to open. Around 9:00, I walked past City Hall (and saw the Hans Christian Anderson statue that is pretty popular there) and towards Stroget Street, the major shopping street through the city.

Since nothing was really open, I figured I would walk to the university area and check out a few sights that my guidebook said would be worthwhile. After turning down a side street, I ran into 2 guys from Australia who asked for directions (surprisingly, I knew where they were trying to go!) and we talked for a few minutes about how they were living in Britain but just kind of wandering around Europe for a bit. After that, I walked too far down the street and ended up at a park where I got to see some drunken people passed out on the grass. I turned around and went to a church that looked more like something you would see in the movie Gladiator (Roman columns, lots of details, etc.) and then made my way back to Stroget.

I passed a lot of stores and a couple of town squares. When I got to the biggest square, I decided since it was still early, I would hop on a boat tour through the canals to get an idea of where everything was in the city. I jumped on a boat at Nyhavn, a popular harbor and trendy restaurant area.

While waiting for the boat to depart, I was lucky enough to witness a drunk guy fall into the canal which was pretty funny (trust me, he wasn’t in danger and all his drunk friends were a little confused… later, when I walked by, they were still there probably sleeping off their hangovers).

We saw a ton of sites on the boat: the new opera house, The Royal Theater, some $2 million lofts on the water, old battleships, some old buildings that are known for things that I cannot remember, Amalienborg Palace, the little mermaid statue (made famous by the story from H.C. Anderson), a cool church with an external spiral staircase you can climb up, the Black Diamond (city library which was painted with little diamonds in the paint for it would reflect on the water and it would reflect back onto the building), the National Museum, the old stock exchange building, Christainsborg Palace, and the most well known home of H.C. Anderson. Once we got off (after an hour), I decided to visit most of those places on foot as well as some museums. The first thing I did was catch the changing of the guard at Amalienborg Palace. Aside from getting yelled at by a guard because I was sitting in the middle of where the changing was going to take place, it wasn’t that eventful because the queen was not in residence so it isn’t as exciting.

Then I walked up to the Danish Resistance Museum which was actually pretty good. It displayed a lot of information and items from the underground sabotage army that Denmark had during WWII.

Then I walked up a little further to the Little Mermaid and surprisingly got a picture with no one else in it (I think it is like the most over-taken photo in Denmark).

I walked back down along the harbor and went to the Danish Jewish Museum which was a huge letdown. The building is shaped like the word Mitzvah which is cool but there was very little information in the museum. I thought there would be a lot more on Denmark’s role in WWII and how the Jewish population increased then but it was mostly just a summary of what Judaism is. I was done in like 10 minutes.

After that, I walked to the National Museum and briefly looked around. I especially like the coin collection from like the past 500 years or so. After lying in the grass for awhile, I decided to head across the water to Christhavn, a trendy section of town. I went to the best bakery ever (Lagkagehuset) and got an incredible fruit tart and blueberry muffin.

Then I made my way over to a church where you can walk up the 400 stairs in the external staircase of the tower and see great views.

Unfortunately, the whole building was closed for construction and I didn’t get to climb it. I walked one block over and found the entrance to Christiania, which is a famous commune known as the free society within society.

To be honest, I was absolutely terrified walking through there and didn’t stay for long. Read more about it here: http://www.easyjetinflight.com/features/2004/aug/christiania.html It is a neat concept but I did not feel safe or like I belonged. After that, I didn’t have much else to do and it was approaching closing time for most things. Since I saw in my guidebook that the National Gallery was free (for the main exhibit), I headed that way on the metro (my feet hurt by this point and I didn’t feel like walking all the way there). I passed the Rosenborg Castle and Treasury but didn’t feel like paying the $10 entrance fee so I just took a few pictures from the road and kept on walking.

I walked into the National Gallery 20 minutes before it closed and everything was free.

I walked around pretty quickly, wasn’t that interested, and then went back out and down the street to the Botanic Gardens. After killing some time there, I headed back into the main part of town and sat in the square by City Hall for about 30 minutes to try to waste some more time. I got to witness a group of gypsies steal money from a guy (he knew it and chased them down) and try to con others (I had read about this happening and was just amazed to actually see it occur). Then I waited outside in the cold about 1.5 hours for the bus and headed back to Stockholm. I got in around 6:00 am and made it home around 7:00. I slept until 9:00 and then Brandy and I checked out, locked our bags in the lockers at Central Station and did a bit of shopping down the popular Drottinggatan street again. We ate lunch at a great place (free salad buffet and coffee included for like $15, which is good there) and then we headed to the harbor to take a tour of the archipelago. After sitting there for about 30 minutes (and after I enjoyed my marzipan and chocolate ice cream), we decided not to do the tour since we wouldn’t have long on the island and she had already done something similar the day before with everyone else while I was in Copenhagen. We did a bit more shopping and then picked our bags up, headed to the airport on the train, and got picked up by our hotel shuttle (we were staying close to the airport the last night). We had a nice dinner in the hotel and then crashed. Brandy got up early for a different flight and then I headed out around 8:00 for my 10:15 flight. Everything went well and I made my connection in Chicago (didn’t have much time though) but my bag didn’t make it. And as I write this at 5:30 am Wednesday morning (I didn’t sleep much due to the time change… I’m wide awake), I still don’t have my suitcase even though they told me it would be on the next flight out last night. So, we’ll see what happens today with it.

I hope you have enjoyed all my stories and adventures and don't forget to see the pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/JELeventhal Some of the folders have been updated (like the random pictures taken by others) and I know there are still a ton from the other girls that are great that I need to get!

Copenhagen

Yesterday was a great day in Copenhagen! I want to write about it all right now but I will try to wait until tonight because I want to upload some pictures too and can't do it on the hotel computer. But be ready... I did a ton yesterday and got back early this morning (6:00 am), slept a little, and now we're getting ready to move our stuff to the hotel that is closer to the airport and then we're going to get on a boat to check out the archipelago. Stay tuned for more info. tonight because it will probably be my last post from Sweden since I leave tomorrow morning around 10:15!

Another day...

Well, today was not such a good day. Because I feel pretty crappy, you are just going to get a quick run down of why it was bad:

1) We got up early for the train
2) When we got to Stockholm, no one seemed to know what they were doing and therefore a lot of time was wasted trying to figure meaningless stuff out.
3) I wandered the streets and my legs hurt from it. In wandering, I found our hostel and had some interaction with a rude guy at the desk and just didn't like the feel of this place (it's like a hostel trying to be a hotel and I'd rather have the laid back attitude of a hostel than this place).
4) I went back to meet everyone at 4 only to find out like 45 minutes later that they pushed the meeting time back and I didn't know about that.
5) We spent too much time trying to figure out the subway system here (which is really easy) and the prof. seemed to have no idea what she was doing and yet I did, but that didn't matter.
6) Right after checking in, we turned around and went to an expensive (like everything is here) dinner but on the way, I fell on the stairs and hurt my hip pretty badly and was therefore uncomfortable and not doing well during dinner. And to make it better, the prof. turned around and looked at me after I fell and then just kept on walking.
7) Now I'm light headed and hurting and about to pass out for many hours I hope.

On a happy, positive side note, I bought my ticket for Copenhagen today. I will be getting on a bus at 10:45 pm tomorrow night and taking the night bus into Copenhagen. I get there around 8:00 am, will go to a few museums and then get back on a bus at 9:00 pm Sunday night and take the overnight bus again back into Stockholm (arriving at 6:00 am).

I would give more details but we don't have wireless here and I'm on this tv/computer in our room with a keyboard with Swedish symbols on it and it is really difficult to type on.

Back to the city

Heading back to Stockholm today at 6:10 am and getting in at 9:20 am. I will post about yesterday and today at some point tonight I hope. We are all traveling as a group now and there's a big chance that I might take an overnight bus on Saturday night into Copenhagen to spend a day there (and take the night bus back on Sunday night). Keep checking to see what I decide on!!!

Polkagrisar

I think today was the best day we have had here so far. We were a little worried starting out (since we knew we would be riding bikes and not many of us had been on them in awhile) but it got good real fast. We were up and at the bus stop at 7:45 am to take the bus to Gränna. When we got there around 9:00, we went into a Polkagrisar (Polkapigs) shop and bought a ton of Polkapigs!

We then headed to a dementia care home that was very home-like, calm and relaxing and it was a place I really enjoyed visiting. After that, we walked to the dock area and stopped into another Polkapig shop, this time to learn how to make them. Two people even got to go in and help do it! Afterwards, we had about 20 minutes to take pictures before catching the ferry to Visingsö. We took so many good pictures and hopefully I will get them off my friends’ computers soon and get them onto my picture album. We hopped onto the ferry and took about a 30 minute ride across the lake to Visingsö.

When we got there, we had a picnic lunch by the lake and then went and got bikes to begin our lovely ride. We biked about 3 km and stopped at the Kumlaby church, one of the oldest medieval churches in Sweden. We got to climb up these really steep, creaky and cave-ish stairs and went to the top for an amazing view and pictures.

After coming down and getting a few pictures of the inside of the church, we hopped back on our bikes and rode to an independent living home not too far away. It was a nice, brief visit and we were done early and had just over an hour to bike around the island. We decided to go to some castle ruins and even though we went to the wrong one (we went to the church ruins instead), we still had a good time and took so many great pictures again (once again, I’ll have to get them from others).

The old church ruins

I think we were trying to take a cute laughing picture

Sitting in the flowers/weeds

When our pyramid failed, we tried for other cheerleading stunts

We then met at a restaurant by the lake for dinner at 3:00 (yeah, a little early). We had home-cooked salmon casserole surrounded by mashed potatoes and the best chocolate cake dessert, with whipped cream and passion fruit ice cream. When we were down there, we had another 45 minutes to hang out and we just talked in the restaurant for a bit. Around 5:00 we jumped back on the ferry, then back on the bus and got home around 6:00 and now we are just relaxing and getting ready for our last full day as students in Jonkoping (since we leave early Friday morning for Stockholm).

We figure our legs will be so sore from biking tomorrow but it was well worth it! It was funny to see everyone in a row and every time a car would come by, we would all yell it out since me and a few others were like drunk-biking and going all in the middle of the road a lot!

Relaxation

We had a fairly uneventful day and by uneventful, I in no way mean boring. When something now is uneventful, it is a good thing, meaning we had a slow and relaxing day which we have all been craving. Our lecture this morning dealt with the research that is going on at the Institute of Gerontology at Jonkoping University. Then, we had the chance to have a discussion with some of the grads students about how their programs work and any other questions we had. It was nice to compare the structure of our programs and gain new perspectives on some things. We finished early (YAY!) and had an extra long lunch which was needed really badly. After eating, Katelyn and I went into two of the thrift/antique stores around the corner and then had to book it to the bus stop to go to our site visit. Our site visit was the Ekhagens Guest Home, where they provide palliative care (hospice care… for those about to pass away). It was a good visit and sad for some students who had a hard time even going into one of the rooms. We got down with that visit early also and I went shopping with Emily and Crystie. We went in a few stores and I ended up with an Italian herb mix to make into bruschetta (or dip or something), and yes, I know that wasn’t very Swedish seeing as it was Italian! I came back to the hotel and hung out in the lobby for a bit and then Shannon and I had dinner on the pier. We discussed what my assignment should be for this class, since as a grad. student, I have a bit more to do then just the every day stuff. We also talked about my role for next year at Adult Day Services (since I have a full 10 hours there a week) and it sounds like everything will be good in the fall. I like what we have mapped out for me. We got ice cream after dinner and since then, I have just been watching tv, washing clothes in the sink and talking to the other girls here. We don’t have internet now (after I called to complain, they confirmed that it is really broken unlike last night when I called and they did not think there was a problem), so I’m posting this the next day (I hope, if it’s fixed) and just changing the date on the post so it reflects the day this all happened. Tomorrow will be really busy but hopefully really fun. We will be taking an early bus to Gränna, learning about the manufacture of Polkapigs, taking the ferry to Visingsö and then have a bike tour around the area.

A two-day sum up

Before I go into how tedious today was, I will quickly sum up yesterday. Yesterday morning (when we were still in Goteburg), we got up around 10:00 to clean our rooms (required and weird) and then checked out around 11:00. We took the tram to the train station, locked our bags in the big lockers, and went walking to find the Paddan city boat tours. After getting slightly turned around (and going the wrong way… surprise, surprise), we found the little kiosk and just barely got on the 1:40 boat tour.

Aside from the fact that it was like 30 degrees outside and we went out on the harbor which made it even colder, it was a really fun tour. We went down the canals throughout the city, around the harbor, and saw lots of the famous sites (i.e., museums, ships, churches, markets) around Goteburg.

I took a lot of pictures and the captions contain the descriptions (if I actually remembered what the guide said the places were). When we were done with that, we went shopping at Nordstan, the big shopping mall.

It was huge and we all split up at times to go into different stores. I did not end up buying anything (which was disappointing since there was an Esprit there and I’m in love with that store) but no worries. It is nice to know that I am being frugal and will not have a massive credit card bill when I get back into town! We got done shopping around 5:00 and had until 6:30 to relax and wait for our bus. We got some ice cream and other stuff to snack on and then made our way on the bus and headed back to Jonkoping. We got home around 8:30, worked on our journals from our Friday visits and then went to bed.

Now for today… If there is one thing I really dislike (maybe even hate), it is when someone changes the schedule and we do not find out until plans have already been made and then things have to be changed. We found out this morning that we had to be back from lunch at 12:40 (rather than 1:00) to go to our site visit. I was planning on getting my sandwich back at the hotel and resting a bit during our break. Instead, I rushed back with Chelsea (who needed to get her bus pass), had 5 minutes to eat, and then had to rush back to campus (we were late too). To make it even better, we walked from the campus to the bus station and the bus station is like 100 yards from our hotel! We could have just met the group there! Some other people had been at the grocery store right over here too and walked back to campus with groceries only to have to walk back to where the store was again. We were SO angry. Then, we got on a crowded bus and heading a little ways down a road, got off, and then walked like half a mile to Ramseygården, an assisted living place that felt like it was in the middle of nowhere. To make it even better again, we then waited outside for 20 minutes until someone realized we could 1) just walk in the front door (we thought it was locked or something) and 2) go around the back to the entrance we were really supposed to be at. Since we were not happy about what had already gone on so far, there were a few of us that just did not really enjoy the visit. Also, this place was just like the Solstickan Care Home that we visited a few days ago, so it seemed like there was nothing new to learn. We thought we would be done early but then we sat down for an hour to have coffee and talk some more. I am pretty sure I passed out on the table during the talk. I caught parts of it but again, it was nothing new. We came back around 4:00 (after walking back to the bus stop and waiting 15 minutes for the random bus to come) and I watched a little bit of the Simpsons and then came downstairs to the lobby to work on some journals for the class (which is what I am almost done with now… I needed a break though so I’m blogging instead). I do not think anything else is up for the night, other than just watching tv and taking it easy.