Lost in Amsterdam

Hi everybody!

Long time, no post! Sorry about that! My excuse is being off in Amsterdam for a week, and my valiant effort to be a good student when there are so many new things to explore!

I'll try to keep my descriptions of Amsterdam succinct (which I think my English teachers can attest to - I'm usually quite good at it!). In short: I LOVED AMSTERDAM! It's quite possibly one of the greatest cities I've ever visited!

I went to Holland (I know what everyone is thinking right now- wait isn't it the Netherlands, but the Dutch and Danish both refer to it as Holland so I'm going to go with it!) Anyways, I went with my sustainability class so it was educational and fun (so don't worry Mom and Dad I'm still learning!). First we went to Rotterdam, which is one of the biggest ports in the world (who knew?). Rotterdam and Amsterdam are very different. The best way to describe Rotterdam is a smattering of the tackiest buildings thrown together in one city, and they somehow managed to make it seem so cool! We only really had a day there, and it just so happens that the entire city of Rotterdam shuts down on Monday so my attempt to visit a museum and a green walking street were unsuccessful. I had a great time just walking around the city for the day, though! And I just couldn't stop taking pictures of all the crazy buildings!


I'm only going to go into detail about two academic visits because I don't want to bore you all too much! The first company we went to in Rotterdam was Except Netherlands. It was an awesome company that worked on sustainability projects. They take a completely multidisciplinary approach to sustainability, and hire people from a bunch of different fields. I swear this woman was treated like a celebrity at the end of her presentation! We all wanted to shake her hand and get her business card! My whole class is in love with this company and their mission. It also finally help me put a name to what I actually want to do when I grow up! Who knew that my dream job actually had a masters program attached to it!

This was inside! 

Before getting to Amsterdam we stopped at Park 20/20 which is a cradle to cradle business park. Cradle to cradle is when you create no waste - so they didn't want to ruin the integrity of any of the materials they used. For example, they didn't put grout on their bricks, weld their steel, or stain their wood. They also put a big emphasis on health - they only used materials that aren't know to cause diseases, and they even put in lights that had the closest wavelength to natural sunlight as technologically possible to improve the working conditions and productivity. Needless to say, it wouldn't be a bad office building to work in!

Then we finally made it to Amsterdam! First stop? The Red Light District! Actually, we went on a bike tour (which I highly suggest if you ever go to Amsterdam!), but the guide was very eager to show us the Red Light District and a windmill! We basically saw the whole city in the 3 hours, but I think the real miracle was that we survived the excursion! Cars aren't the only thing you can get hit by in Amsterdam! There are TONS of bikes - it would be hard to even imagine this many people biking in the US. But, the other bikes weren't even my main concern... It was the trams running down the middle of the road! So remember to look both ways when you think you're standing safely on a sidewalk! Aside from the small holdup that I caused for 2 cars and 3 bikes I would say that the bike tour went rather smoothly.

The five biggest things I learned in Amsterdam were:

1. Don't go to a coffeeshop if you want actual coffee - you need to go to a cafe for that.
2. The Red Light District is the safest area of the city because it's the only place you're likely to see policemen (I still question my tour guide on that one haha..).
3. It is never a good idea to build an entire city on a bog.
4. The biggest entertainment for frat guys is throwing bikes into the canal!?
5. Well, I already mentioned the trams.

Regarding the third remark, there were houses that were literally tilting forward or leaning on each other! Hopefully the 30ft wood beams that they stick into the ground won't give out anytime soon!

Despite the sinking houses, the city was absolutely beautiful! All the houses are tall and narrow, and the canals add so much character to the city. I had the chance to take a canal tour too! It was such a cool view of the city!

I'm sorry I lied about only discussing two academic visits. I have to describe two of the dinners I went to! The first was a cooking demonstration by a woman that can make a wedding dress out of food (not wearable of course - but still amazing!). They have a completely vegetarian menu, and you help them cook a delicious six course meal (they decide on what to cook beforehand). They also have a different them every couple months. The theme when we went was landscape, so they designed a different landscape with each dish. I'm not even sure what I was eating, but it was amazing! Dad you would have loved this place! Also, they don't charge a specific price for the meal - you have to decide what the meal was worth to you once you're done, and that's what you pay them. Pretty crazy!

The second dinner was at an Indian Restaurant (I think?), where some crazy woman who was originally from Missouri led us in a meditation, which was more of an exercise than meditation. Needless to say, it wasn't very relaxing! Then we had an amazing Indian dish of rice and a bunch of vegetables and stuff (again vegetarian - I was enjoying my meat-free meals!), which we ate on cushions on the ground. Then a few of my classmates and I just layed on the floor for a couple of hours after the meal in a completely relaxed and blissful state. It was such an interesting experience, and I loved it!

I also got to visit the Anne Frank house. It was an amazing visit, yet quite somber. It's so hard having to imagine living in such a small annex for over two years without ever being able to go outside. And it breaks your heart to think that they were caught just several months before the end of the war. The exhibit was really well put together, and I was really excited for the opportunity to actually see the annex after having read Anne Frank's diary.


On that note, I'm finally done talking about my Holland trip!

Oh, and one last thing. Christine - they actually speak Dutch there! :)

Alright, well I'm going to Vienna, Austria this upcoming weekend and then Spain and Italy for my two week travel break at the beginning of April! I'll try to update about Vienna before I leave for my travel break! I hope everyone is enjoying their 70 degree weather back at home - it's a balmy 40 degrees here!

Lost Without a Blog

Hi again!

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. I’ve had some papers and exams for class so I’ve been rather busy! So I apologize in advance because this will probably be a long post because I have a lot to catch up on!

The weekend of February 9^th-11^th I went on a short study tour for my Sustainability class. We went to Ærø island (it’s alright, I’m still unable to pronounce that myself), which is an island off the southern coast of Funen. The trip was amazing, especially if you’re really into sustainability movements like me! The island is about 20 miles long, and absolutely gorgeous! Their electricity is run completely off 6 wind turbines (and these turbines were HUGE!). I wish I had my own picture to share with you, but unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me the second day of the short study tour. But, I found a picture online to show you! To give you an idea of the size of this wind turbine it was 100 meters high, and the small generator you see on the top was the size of our coach bus! The rotor blades were 60m long! It was a truly amazing sight to see! Aside from visiting the wind turbines, we went to one of the largest solar panel fields in Denmark (also stole a picture from the internet). Ærø used the solar panel farm for their heating. However, it only supplied 4% of their heat throughout the winter months so the technology still has quite a bit of developing to do. They stored the heat in this GIANT pool (I can’t remember the dimensions anymore), and they intend to build a larger one soon!

On the first day of the study tour (sorry for going out of order, I was just really excited about the wind turbines – clearly my favorite part of the trip!) we went to a small ecovillage on southern Funen. It was wicked cool (and I have pictures of this!). It was a small group of people that lived in a commune (sort of like the idea my dad is always preaching about!), and they all divide up the work of keeping up an organic farm that supplies them with a good percentage of their food. They cook dinners together, and make goals to live sustainably. They make the majority of their houses out of recycled material, and design them to maximize passive heating, etc.

 

The rest of the trip was spent on Ærø, and we spent a lot of time outside. Good thing it’s the middle of winter and freezing! The water was partially frozen, and created this gorgeous ice structures on the beach. Also, our ferry to the island had to plow its way through ice to make it. Several of the students in my class kept making references to Titanic.. brrr! We also went to an organic brewery and tasted some delicious local beer!

Alright, I’m done with my environmental rant for the day (maybe!).

I have a few great train stories that I can share with you all (great now, somewhat frustrating at the time!). The first one took place at 3am. I was out with a few of my friends, and we noticed the time and wanted to catch the 3:17 train so we wouldn’t have to wait another hour for the next one. However, getting a hot dog was a higher priority at the time (the hot dogs are delicious here!). While I was standing in line I saw my watch crawling closer and closer to the inevitable 3:17, but we were so close to having a delicious hot dog! We kept insisting we would make it on time! Fail. We missed our train. To comfort us during our hour wait we bought chocolate from 7-11. Crawling into bed at 5am never felt so good!

The second is just purely pathetic. I had already had a HORRIBLE day with trains! It normally takes me about an hour to get into Copenhagen. I had to meet my group at 3:30 so I left my house to take the 2:13 train. It never came so I hopped on the 2:43 train. I have to switch trains in a city called Roskilde. Normally I wait 5-10 minutes for a train there. A quick 25 minutes later a train rolls up to help me meet my group a half hour late. It turns out my group didn’t have much work to do. So I was only in the city for a half hour, and then started my fateful journey home. I waited about 20 minutes for a train to Roskilde. Get to Roskilde, and the trains to my town (Gadstrup) were apparently only running every hour that day (instead of the usual half hour) so I waited about 45 minutes for that train. I sit down and I’m SO excited to almost be home after the long/unproductive day of waiting for trains. My stop is the first stop and I got up a couple minutes early to stand by the door because I was so excited to get home! Unfortunately, I apparently don’t understand the concept of pushing a button to open a door. I was unable to open the door and the train left Gadstrup with me on it! Simply terrible. Off I went to unknown territory. I hop off at the next stop (don’t worry I figured out how to open the door in that span of time), and watched the train that I need to catch drive away. I figured that I would probably have another half hour wait until the next train. Wrong. I had another hour wait. At this point it was about 7pm and I was not happy. So I called my host dad to pick me up. I decided that telling him I slept through my stop was slightly less embarrassing then explaining that I couldn’t open the door. Whoops.

 

Ok, I’m moving away from embarrassing train stories! I got to visit the Danish Parliament building (my professor for Environmental Policy is actually a member of the European Parliament!) It was pretty amazing, and we even had a mock debate about Denmark becoming a green front-runner, and all the separate groups represented a party. Of course, I had to represent the far right party, who’s extreme idea of a 40% flat tax rate is not popular among the Danes (that is much too low of a tax rate!). It sounds just like America’s far right! My professor is a part of the Social Democrats, and he attended the New Hampshire Republican Primaries. His reaction was priceless! He was completely baffled by Ron Paul. Anyways, the visit to the Parliament building was a great experience!

 

This is my last story I promise! I went to Sweden today with my host family! It was really fun! I guess a lot of Danish people like to shop there because it’s cheaper than in Denmark. The city, Malmo, is fairly similar to Copenhagen, but some of the buildings and the architecture reminded me of Boston as well! Made me think of all my Boston family! It was quite amusing to watch my 15-year-old host sister obsess over picking out shoes for her confirmation (which is a really big deal here apparently). They learned pretty quickly that I’m not much of a shopper. But, I have officially been to Sweden! I guess if I got really lost on the trains in Copenhagen I could wind up in Sweden so that may not be my only visit!

Well, thanks for reading (if you lasted this long)! Next weekend I’m going to Amsterdam for a week with my sustainability class! I’m really excited! I’ll be doing some really great things that I’ll have to update you about it when I return (hopefully quicker than this time)!

Oh, in other news my host dad informed me that Maine caught the one of the largest lobsters in the world (I haven't verified this information) - so yayy Maine!! It must have been pretty important if the news reached Denmark (or there isn't anything exciting going on in Denmark)! 

Lost Without a Purse

Hi everybody! Happy Superbowl Sunday! Go Pats! 


I wish I was at home to celebrate with family and friends, but I hope you all have a nice day! I suppose none of my stories today could top the excitement of the Patriots winning yet another superbowl, but I had some spare time today so I'll give it a shot. 


On Wednesday, I went to an electric vehicle company called Better Place. It was amazing! The building was so nice! It had a lot of huge touch screens that explained all about the car, and they even had a theater right in the middle of the lobby that had the curtains casually drop around you. Not sure if you can visualize this, so you'll just have to trust me that it was amazing! I'm not entirely convinced that electric vehicles will become the next big thing (yet), but the car was very nice, and they have set up quite an infrastructure here (charging stations all around and battery switch stations that take less than 5 minutes to switch!). I even got to drive the car! It was weird to drive a completely silent car, but felt good to know I wasn't using gas! 


Anyways, I'll stop rambling about all this environmental stuff! Everyone is probably wondering why I'm discussing an electric car when the title of this post is about a purse. As most of you know, I don't own a purse. I never thought it was much of a problem until this weekend. When I went out with a few of my friends on Friday night I checked my coat. It was about 2 when we decided to leave to catch the 2:18 train (which only runs every hour). Unfortunately, my coat check number fell out of my pocket and the lady wouldn't give me my coat back even though  I had identification in my pocket! Needless to say, we missed the 2:18 train.


Despite looking all over the place for my number I was unable to find it (shocking) so the lady informed me I would have to wait until 5 to get my coat. I was already a little sick so I was not too keen on this idea.  After waiting 20 minutes for the manager I was finally able to retrieve my coat (thank goodness he was more reasonable!). I bought my friend a hot dog to thank her (which was an adventure in itself!), and we sprinted to catch the 3:18 train with a hot dog in hand. Looking back, we decided this was the best part of the night! 


It was after this night that I realized how imperative a purse is! However, I think I will always leave my ID in my coat pocket just in case! 


On Saturday I went with my host family to a family friend's house for dinner! I couldn't stop thinking about the Schneider's the entire dinner, and how much Rachel and Dr. Schneider would have LOVED this dinner! Dr. Schneider - you're idea about eating dessert before dinner might not have caught on in the U.S., but it appears fairly normal here! We ate birthday cake before dinner last weekend, and I actually had to do a double take when I saw waffles on the table as an appetizer yesterday! Yes, we had waffles and ice cream before dinner (Rachel- where were you!?). Not only that, but they also had jello shots before dinner?? Then we concluded the night with Mexican food! It was certainly the most interesting/amazing meal I had ever had! Unfortunately, I had no one to share my amusement with because everyone there thought it was completely normal! And Mom, I'm sorry to inform you, but your years of drilling me on how to set a table correctly are useless here. They put the fork and the knife on the right! That will probably be my instinct when I get home so it's probably best if I don't set the table anymore.   


Well, let's hope to see lots of spiked balls today (I hope everyone got the Gronk reference)! And once again, GO PATS!!!!!!!!


Quote of the Day: "Mikaela, get a purse"  - everyone

Lost in Class

Sorry for the apparent delayed post (I've been receiving a few grumbling remarks about how I don't post often enough) so I figured I could take this time to update you on my past week in Copenhagen! 


The past week has been a whirlwind! I think that is the only way I can describe it! Classes have officially begun, and despite only having three days of classes I have still managed to fall behind on my reading. I feel as though using sightseeing as an excuse is more legitimate here than in Gettysburg though! Schoolwork is not the only thing I've been struggling with, but also the doors. I have somehow set off every alarm that exists in the DIS buildings within an hour time span. I wouldn't be surprised if the politiet came after me soon!


So since I'm using sightseeing as my excuse for falling behind on my reading I feel as though I should be more specific as to where I visited. I saw Amelienborg Palace (where the Queen lives), as well as Rosenborg Slot (another castle that was important) and my host family's summer home, which is right by a fjord! At Amelienborg I saw the changing of the royal guards, which consisted of a half mile (that's a guess) march where they played all sorts of instruments. Then, a formal ceremony where they break the other guards. It was really entertaining to watch! Everything I saw was just beautiful! Unfortunately, I haven't had my camera with me for the past week so I have no pictures to back up my excuse. 


Also, I moved in with my host family! They are all so nice, and it has been great to experience the culture! Everything is fairly similar to the U.S., except that they don't eat peanut butter here (I'm not quite sure how I'll handle that!), and they serve their yogurt out of a milk carton? Hmm.. I haven't had the courage to try that yet! Oh, and several of the family members have had birthdays, and they decorate with flags (very patriotic), wake each other up in the morning by singing happy birthday, and however many candles you miss while trying to blow them out is how many boyfriends you will have for the year (at least I believe that's what they said). Beyond that, being with the host family has really made me want to brush up on my Danish.. if only I could get around to pronouncing one word correctly!


In other news, the Danish handball team won the European Championship! I wasn't even quite sure what handball was, but apparently it is HUGE here! I got caught in the middle of their celebration in Copenhagen today! It was crazy! I wasn't even able to move my arms it was so crowded! Apparently there were 15,000 people there, and they all had the Danish flag and were screaming for the players. It was all so exciting, but it did make me late for the reservation for my host sister's birthday dinner. Whoops! 


I suppose I have some reading to do, but I will try to update more frequently! 

Lost in the Metro

We made it to Copenhagen! 



Unfortunately, we couldn't even get past the airport without getting lost - or almost setting off an alarm (I guess my blog name is appropriate!). Our flight was overnight, so I haven't slept in the past 27 hours (I figured I should preface my blog with this!). After dropping our billions of suitcases off in the fanciest hotel I've probably ever stayed in (thanks Sal!) we set off for the metro. This was our first mistake - assuming we could navigate a metro that is completely in Danish. After standing at the ticket dispenser for twenty minutes we succumbed to buying our tickets from an actual person instead. We told the woman where we would like to go, and set off on our way. 

We didn't even make it one stop before we were asked to get off the metro because we had punched the ticket wrong (whoops). Fortunately, we met two friendly women on the metro that informed us there were two stops for the center of Copenhagen. We took the first of the two stops they suggested. We stepped off the metro, walked down one road for five minutes and immediately decided to go to the next stop because there were no coffee shops in plain sight (I'm not sure if I can blame this on being overtired, or just being completely overwhelmed by this foreign city I've decided to stay in for the next four months!). 


Fortunately, the next stop had coffee shops all over the place! When Emily ordered her macchiato, she gracefully dropped a 50 kroner down the crack in the counter. Despite the baristas best effort to retrieve the money with a knife it was hopeless. The 50 kroner was lost. What was Emily's immediate reaction: "Oh no! I dropped my 50 dollar bill down there!" It was difficult to remind ourselves that 50 kroner is not the equivalent of $50 (like our reaction might have showed, but instead $8 or $9). Needless to say, I think that barista thought we were crazy!


Also, Christine and I decided to ask the barista how to say "thank you" in Danish (tak). I think that is the only word I can successfully pronounce in Danish as of now. We decided to look up sorry when we got back to the hotel (undskyld). And that looks like one of the easy words. I think it's safe to say that I won't be able to speak any Danish upon my return to the U.S.!


Our next mistake was letting Christine navigate (sorry Christine!). We walked up and down the same street several times before Emily put herself in charge. We finally started making progress. However, we were "those" tourists that stopped at every corner to read a map, and took pictures of literally every single thing in sight. I think it's safe to say we represented America well today! Everyone is so friendly, though, and we had multiple people stop and ask us if we needed help while we were trying to figure out the map. The only way to describe this city is chic. Every single person is drop-dead gorgeous, and looks like they belong on a runway, not roaming the streets of a city. The houses are all colorful and beautiful. Most of the roads, or sidewalks, are made of cobblestones, and the architecture is amazing! 

We found the school, stopped in a few amazing cathedrals, wandered around a gorgeous pond/park, drank several more cups of coffee, and ate dinner at 2:30 in the afternoon (or 8:30 am our time - ugh!). After dinner was when we decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel for the night (and it was already starting to get dark). We had been up for 27 hours, and it felt like one of the longest, yet most amazing days ever. All throughout the day we kept saying how excited we were, yet we were too tired to even show our enthusiasm. It took us a half hour to locate the metro again, but we eventually found it and remembered stamp it the correct number of times. Yet once again, we didn't even make it past one stop before we realized we were on the wrong line, and had to get off again (this one I'll attribute to sheer exhaustion, and the confusing Danish language!). At long last, we made it back to the hotel and collapsed. We are off to explore the city again tomorrow so I'm sure there are only more adventures to come! 


P.S. I've decided to do a quote of the day for my blogs (I will most likely only do this while I am traveling, but I'll try to keep it up!)


Quote of the day: 


"So, what do you call people that live in Copenhagen? The Kopennese?"

I guess it's time to start packing..

Hi Everybody! 


In a couple of days I will be embarking on an adventure to Copenhagen, Denmark! I am extremely excited for the opportunity to meet new people and immerse myself in a new culture! I will be staying with a host family in a small town (Gadstrup), which is about 35 kilometers outside of Copenhagen. I'm arriving a couple of days before the start date of my program so I will have the chance to explore the city with a couple of my friends before school starts (I keep forgetting that I'm actually going there for classes - not just to explore Europe)! So if I survive the first couple of nights lost around Copenhagen with my friends I will spend the next four months there for a semester abroad where I will be learning Europe's views on environmental issues! 


I have never blogged before, and I am historically known for forgetting to do things so I can't promise frequent updates, but I hope to update this often enough so that you can get a sense of my trip! Since there is not much excitement in Maine at the moment I will try to update this once I'm there and bring some funny stories to you all!


-Mikaela