I See the Sea!

Ok, I already talked a little about Rome, so I'll move on to Cinque Terre..., where we ventured after Rome...

CT is a collection of 5 small towns along the northern Italian coast, known for their quintessential beauty and excellent hiking along the sea cliffs.Cinque Terre, even with blurry photos, is absolutely spectacular.  When you get off the platform in town, there is a huge, sweeping view of cliffs with the sparking Mediterranean before you.  It is simply stunning. (No seriously, go google image this place…NOW.  I’ll still be here when you get back, and the story will be much, MUCH better). We stayed in Riomagiorre, the first town.  I booked an 8 room dorm in a hostel, but it wound up being a private room in an apartment style set up…AND the owners were American, to boot!

We checked out the town the first day (I bought a few disposable cameras), went grocery shopping, and made one of the most memorable meals of my life.  An old standby I call “Kaitie and Daddy” pasta, named for the one dish we always make together: penne, pancetta, cream sauce, broccoli, pine nuts, parmesan cheese, and—what CT is known for—pesto.  ALL was fresh.  ALL was delicious, complete with a bottle of wine and our own private terrace.  We had a great view of the town and the sea, and could hear the waves crashing in the distance.  An American mom/daughter joined us, and we had a wonderful conversation for a couple hours, then drowsily crashed into bed.  

After letting ourselves sleep off Rome, we hiked the famous Cinque Terre paths from one colorful city to the next—it was a little overcast, but still beautiful.  And SO. MANY. STEPS.  We took the route from Monterosso to Vernaza, and were alternately trudging along  just to get it over with and stopping to catch our breath and look behind us at the amazing view.  The path itself was beautiful—if treacherous.  There were vineyards terraced into the cliffs that have probably been there for hundreds of years, sweet smelling lemon groves (complete with a little old man selling homemade lemoncello), and knarled olive trees.  It was totally and completely Mediterranean.  We packed lunches and ate our PBnJ on a cliff with an uninterrupted view of the sea and Monterosso.  Stunning.

Vernazza was a hard town to beat, and was certainly the most colorful.  We walked through the old monestary (CT was originally just a collection of monestaries that were connected) and then grabbed gelato (surprise?) and basked in the sun along the water. It was…perfect.  : )

The next two towns we just skimmed over via train—it was beginning to rain and two of the paths were closed due to a previous landslide.  We made it back to the hostel, did some laundry at a local laundromat, and met some more great people—from Italy, Australia, New Zealand, and America.  So fun!  After cleaning up we ate at a local restaurant, met some other American students, and continued on our way home.  Walking down the street, tired and ready for a good night’s sleep, we suddenly heard “Koompen-hauuunnnn,” the Danish way of pronouncing Copenhagem, and naturally a honing signal for anyone living in there. We turned around to find another DIS student sprinting towards us….come to find out there were several groups of DIS kids milling around there.  We had a drink with the guys, caught up on Kopenhavn-ish things, and went home to pack and get some sleep. 

The next day began the marathon that was France.  Our trains were something as follows: Riomagiorre to La Spezia, La Spezia to Genoa, Genoa to Nice, Nice to Marseille, Marseille to Cassis.  If you have ever encountered the faulty Italian train system, you can understand why we were nervous.  Luckily, it all ran very smoothly.  It was also raining the second half of the day—leaving the gorgeous Italian coast for the clear morning light, and tunnels/fields for the rainy afternoon.  The trains themselves were fine, and we met some fun people along the way.

 

 CT Highlights:

-THE dinner

-“Me time” while hiking

-Meeting and getting to know great people in the hostel and while walking around the towns

-Realizing my bankcard would only let me withdraw 50 euro at a time.  Hello unnecessary fees.

-Attempting to resurrect my horrific Spanish skills in order to talk with a man in our train compartment.  Didn’t really work.  Laughter did.

-Train to Nice: reaching into the overhead rack to grab my pack, while the train went around a sharp and sudden curve.  Finding myself literally lying on top of the people next to me as my head dove towards the window with a resounding thud.  One thought I was drunk.   One thought I had a concussion.  I thought I was going to die.

-Listening to four complete strangers talk for 3 hours, in Italian, without stopping. Whoa.

-Being hit on incessantly by a French man, “You American?  Oh I LOVE Americans…oh you are my favorite oh my honey my baby.”  …nej tak. 

-Literally running from one platform to another in Nice, stepping on the train as it started to pull away

I'm BACK!

Yes, I do realize that it’s been far too long since I’ve written, BUT I have a good excuse!  Midterms, and THREE WEEKS OF TRAVELING!

The past (well, how long has it been since I’ve written?) few weeks (?) have been a complete and total whirlwind—some of it seems so real, but some was also such a fairytale dream.  DIS midterms went well, nothing too major, and I even got an A on my Danish oral exam (generally because of my fabulous host family).  With that, I packed up everything in my backpack and hit the road for a few weeks!

Week 1: Study tour to London/Oxford, England.  I was really not expecting to like London, and I couldn’t tell you exactly why.  But—to my great surprise—I found myself falling head over heels in love with it, and I can’t quite describe that either.  Even in the rain, it somehow felt just as it should be, and “my city.”  We did have generally good weather though, and loved just walking around and taking it all in.  The second night we were walking around Covent Garden, and randomly decided to buy spur of the moment tickets to “Wicked,” about two hours before show time.  BEST decision of the trip—the show was amazing, and it was fun to do something so spontaneous with friends!  We all bonded over the typical tourist spots, but also eye opening visits to, notably, Edelman (huge PR firm), TNS World Panel (market research analysis firm), and The Telegraph (newspaper). ..aka…I’m meant to live and work here.  : )   So many more good things to say about London…I’ll come back to this one later.

 

Roman Holiday

Rome wasn't built in a day, but it can definately be seen in two!

After an...interesting night in the Standstead Airport, we woke up at 4am to get through security and onto our 6am flight. All went very smoothly and we slept like babys on the plane and even was able to--enflight--book a bus ticket to town. (We flew into Ciampano, which is about 40 minutes outside of the city). Bus tickets in hand, we made it to the station and promptly booked train reservations to Cinque Terre and the Italian portion of what is going to be a verrrryyyy long journey to Marseille. The hostel was really close by so we stopped in, dropped luggage, and were on our way!

Highlights:
Day 1:
-Roman Forum, Colleseium, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps.
-The Forum was JUST my type of place, if a little overrun with tourists (though expectedly so). The ruins were incredible, but the gardens and general lanscape/ambiance was so perfect. It's hard to imagine what everything must have been like back in the day, but for now, it still eminates beauty, grandeur, and power.
-The fountain and steps were... just "eh." It didn't help that it was raining for most of this part, and FULL of people. Cool, but the feeling was kind of lost.
-Dinner: A very classy outdoor cafe on our street...delicious gnocci with REAL pesto...so so so good. Followed by gelato that was...uninspired. Still, when in Rome...! Also, there was a dad and his two teenage sons sitting near us at dinner. Eavesdropping, as any good traveller does, I picked up that they were speaking DANISH! I could make out a little of their conversation, which was thrilling and comforting, in a very weird way. It was a great little confidence boost. :)
-Our hostel...oh our hostel. Rome was the most difficult place to find a hostel, simply because there were so many. We stayed at the Freedom Traveller, and it was...well...it was a bed to sleep in. The sheets seemed very clean, which is I guess the important part. Everything else was really dingy and very old. The shower basically dripped water, so that was...amusing?

Day 2:
-Vatican museum and Sistene Chapel, St. Peters, Vatican City, Pantheon
-The first two just had TOO much to take in. It was all very beautiful, but I was pretty much just following along with what Claire said (she's really into art/art history). I had very little preconceptions of all things Vatican, so I was consistently surprised!
-We met up with Claire's friend Callegee who is studying in Rome. She went to the sights with us and took us to a famous gelatto place for... LUNCH! Haha in trying to save money we opted for a huge gelatto for 1.5 euro. Perfect.
-ST. PETERS IS AMAZING! I've loved seeing great cathedrals since I've been in Europe, and reading Pillars of the Earth recently has only added to that. But St. Peters is easily the most stunning cathedral in the world, as I suppose it should be. Words or pictures can't decribe the very holy beauty that you are hit with when walking in. It is simply stunning.
-My feet feel like they're going to fall to pieces at any given moment.

Right now it's about 5:00 and we're sitting in the lobby with FREE INTERNET (ok, at least this place has that going for it) and are debating dinner plans and what to do for the evening. I know it's suspensefull, but you'll just have to wait for my next internet portal to find out what went on. It'll more than like likely be, "I ate. I went to bed." or something along those lines. Daylight savings was today and I'm SO tired. :(

BUT! I am proud of us for having gotten this far on our own, and everything seems to be going smoothly. Tired feet aside, I've walked miles already in terms of knowledge of myself and traveling confidence. Not bad for a few days work.

Vi ses. :)

I la la la la looovvvveeeeee london!

Soo...right now I'm sitting here in London's Standstead airport, on a friend's computer, waiting for my flight to ROME...in 9 hours. Haha. I've never slept in the airport before but hey there's a first time for everything..!

It's hard to describe the past week without using the word whirlwind. We were in London Sunday through Thursday, and Thursday/Friday was spent in Oxford. I am not a huge fan of big, metropolitan cities, but found myself falling SO in love with London. It helped that we had fabulous weather, but even on the one rainy day it just felt like I fit here. Hard to describe, but it was really a wonderful feeling and so refreshingly unexpected. I <3 London!

I'll update more about the trip later, when I'm home in CPH and have my own computer and some more time to write. For now, rest assured that I'm safe and sound and just enthralled with Europe. I'm already trying to figure out when/how I can get back here!

Highlights:
-London eye, in the rain. Sick joke.
-AMAZING hotel with the best shower in the world.
-Fish and chips...multiple times.
-Bonding with new people from the CMM program.
-Navigating the Tube, and succeeding.
-Spontaneously buying tickets to an extra broadway show...WICKED. No but really, it was wicked. (haha...bad pun).
-Packing for 3 weeks in a backpack. OMG.

I'll write more later! Wish me luck!! :)

so much. so so much.

too much to type.  the short (or not so short) version:

-same-old-same-old school.  still loving international advertising.  tuesdays and fridays are perfect days.

-researched advertising/marketing internships again.  applied.  keep your fingers crossed!

-went out on the town friday night/morning.  ventured to moose.  loved it (props, caroline).  met a fun, very good looking danish guy (!).  talked for hours.  excellent night.

-got work done on saturday.  cleaned (haha, reference previous post).

-mikro FINALLY went into labor on saturday afternoon around 4:00...didn't actually have the first puppy until around noon on sunday.  sunday was spent huddling around mikro and just watching her.  nerve wracking.

-puppy #1 (Limbo): breached...aka came out feet first.  gitte literally had to pull it out.

-puppy #2 (Mambo): three hours later.  head first, but the head was too big.  thought it wouldn't survive.  lots of phone calls to the vet to determine how to get this poor puppy out.  30 minutes of labor later, we have a puppy!  

-  ^  ...i'm never having kids.  that sealed the deal.  

-booked travel break, minus the hostel in prague.  final plans are as follows:

March 22-27: London/Oxford with CMM program.  

March 28-30: Rome, Italy

March 30-April 1: Cinque Terre, Italy

April 1-5: Cassis, France

April 6-8: Interlaken, Switzerland

April 8-10: Munich, Germany

April 11-12: Prague, Czech Republic

April 13: Travel home.

-EURail passes purchased, itinerary made.  so much train travel.  sick.  only bringing a backpack, and not even a hikers one or anything.  did anyone ever think i was capable of backpacking for three weeks...!?  certainly not me.  should prove for some good learning experiences, and of course some epic stories.

-package received from mom (LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!) with goodies from home and additional things for travel.

-term paper for HCAnderson class.  nej tak, but it came out better than i thought.

-midterm for advertising on friday.  ja tak (er..hopefully).

aannndd....that brings us up to speed.  more or less.  i'll probably write something while traveling, if i can.  

vi ses!

X-Factor obsession. Whoops.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAqDY9Ms8MM

Claus, the love of my life.  When I move back to Denmark, we’re getting married.  Then he’s taking voice lessons.  In that order.   Jeg elsker dig, Claus. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVnU2Uudp9w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLkboHLoESA

Mohamed Ali.  This 15 year old is UNBELIEVEABLE.   He gets my vote every week.  : )

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksLOemJrVU4

Lucas.  Wannabe emo 15 year old, but still pretty good.  This song was his best, and it was stuck in my head FOREVER.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko6T2Qg9-xg

Asian Sensation.  I saved the best for last.  No description needed…just watch.

Mama mia, here I go again...

It was looking like it might be a pretty under-the-weather weekend.  My good friends were out of town in –gasp- Berlin, I was (am) still sick, and the family had planned some sort of sporting day with the neighbors on Saturday.  If you know me at all, you know that sports are NOT my thing.  At all.  Like I said, things seemed a little downcast.

But as it turns out, quiet and “normal” was exactly what I needed.  Friday night I came home, grabbed a glass of red wine as usual, and settled in with the family to watch X-Factor, the “American Idol” of Denmark.  I am pretty much obsessed with this show, and Friday didn’t disappoint: it was ABBA night.  I’ve had “Does Your Mother Know” and “Knowing Me Knowing You” stuck in my head since.  Whoops.

Saturday commenced the weekend as I’ve come to love: waking up around 8:30 (on a weekend?!  Who knew I had it in me?) to Gitte’s delicious homemade breakfast: fresh, hot bread with jams, cheese, and chocolate—yes, for breakfast, and it’s dark and wafer thin, so no, it’s not very unhealthy.  After breakfast and tea it was homework time for several hours, then a quick lunch of breakfast leftovers and off to the “sport day.”

Like I said, I am pretty much the antithesis of whatever “jock” girl you knew in high school.  Anything involving coordination is really not my strong suit…and…well…most sports require at least some.  One of our neighbors, Jan, works at an elementary school and was able to use the gym for a few hours.  We (the family and Caroline’s friend, Katrina), Jan, and another set of neighbors (Paul, Rounhil, and their baby Noah) met at the school and just…played!  At first I have to say I was pretty weary of the whole sports thing, but we wound up playing just fun made up games—the kind you play in PE class as a kid.  Handball, soccer, badminton, dodgeball, volleyball. Everyone made mistakes, everyone was good at some things and bad at others, but mainly everyone laughed.  At themselves, at one another, it didn’t matter.  Sports aside, I had a really great time just being energetic and having fun with friends and family.  We even packed hot tea and cake, and at risk of using the word incorrectly, I found the afternoon to be pretty hyggelit.

Sunday began with the same weekend breakfast routine—again, delicious—and more homework.  It was very rainy all day, but cozy because of it.  Gitte went on her run, I took Mikro on a walk by the pond, and we all made our weekend lunch tradition: smorrebrod.  This week I tried the fried slice of cod roe, and unfortunately…nej tak.  But hey, at least I tried it!  After lunch I read more of my book (Pillars of the Earth…SO good and somewhat relevant to my time in Europe!) and sent a few e-mails.  Mom called :) and we had a nice chat, and around 4 it was tea time.  Tea/coffee and some sort of small snack are usually served, and Sunday it was American pancakes!  I’ve tried my hand at Danish pancakes (crepes), but we thought we’d switch it up and try the American version.  And so, with the help of foodnetwork.com, I whipped up some American goodies and melted sordbaer jam for syrup…and OMG they were so good.  And the family liked them too! 

And then…time to clean.  In addition to typical Sunday cleaning (my room, laundry, etc.), we decided to clean out the kitchen cabinets.  And by clean out I mean SCRUB.  With ABBA singing away in the background (really, I can’t get enough), we scoured a few cabinets and called it a day.  Dinner and a Danish movie later it was time for bed, where I now sit typing this blog.

In lit classes we were always taught to analyze, not summarize.  And though the above is really just a summary of my very low-key weekend, it says a lot.  I—finally—feel at home.  Knowing a routine and holding my own without fear of doing the wrong thing or saying something strange.  Feeling free to add my own input or not say anything at all.  Finally understanding this place is home now.  I’m not just a visitor or a guest, but a part of a family.  While we were cleaning Gitte said as a joke, “Oh my.  Come to Denmark to clean!”  I’ve offered to help clean in the past and she always tells me that nothing is really expected because of my busy days and long commute.  But I have to say, the simple act of rocking out to 70’s Scandinavia music and scrubbing a cabinet has the stunning ability to make me feel normal again.  Weird to describe normal that way, yes, but it’s true.   It’s my Carlin family dancing to the Rolling Stones while cleaning up dinner.  It’s my Elon family singing Katy Perry while getting ready in the apartment.  It’s ABBA.  And mama mia, I am home. 

So was it relaxed?  Yes.  Was it exciting?  No.  But was it needed?  Definitely.  I count this weekend as one of the best yet.

Jeg hedder Kaitlin og jeg komma fra USA og Danmark. :)