I was lucky enough to have my whole family come visit me in Copenhagen over Thanksgiving last month and, despite the very typical Danish weather, I had so much fun showing them around the city I've been calling home this semester. Click here to check out the video I made of our trip:
My Thanksgiving celebration actually started a few days before my family arrived, with a 'Friendsgiving' dinner at my apartment! Each of us contributed a dish (I was in charge of the mashed potatoes - they got rave reviews) and we all talked about our family Thanksgiving traditions from home. It was a delicious meal, probably the best we've made all together, and such a fun way to kick off the holiday before everyone left for the break.
the friendsgiving spread...makes me hungry just looking at it!
(almost) all of Henrik Ibsens Vej enjoying our feast
I met my family at the airport early on Wednesday morning. Usually I'm the one being greeted at the airport - not the other way around - so it was fun to see what it feels like from the other side of the gate! It was too early to check-in to our Airbnb so we headed to Coffee Industry for a little breakfast. Of course, Copenhagen greeted the fam with beautiful rainy gray skies. After a quick bite to eat, we took the metro to Islands Brygge and got settled into the apartment. Mom, Dad, and I picked up a few essentials at the grocery store while everyone else took a quick power nap before heading out into the city to explore.
The first stop was to the Round Tower to get a good overview of the city. Even though it was a little foggy, it was still really cool to get an idea of what Copenhagen looks like from above. And we even popped into the church that's attached to the tower which I hadn't been in before and it was absolutely beautiful! Next, we walked through the Christmas markets around Stroget, the main shopping street here in Cope, before heading to Nyhavn. We walked all the way down the Christmas market along the canal to see the iconic colorful houses but, after exploring a little more, everyone was pretty tired from the time change so we headed back to the Airbnb for an early night in.
gloomy city views
one of many Christmas markets in the city center
they have some pretty majestic market decor around here
The next day, we headed back towards Nyhavn to take some pretty iconic family selfies and to test out the famous trampolines along the water. It was all fun and games until I got a little too ahead of myself and completely wiped out on the last trampoline - both my ego and hip bone got a little battered ;) Next, we headed across the bridge to one of my favorite places to eat in the city: Paper Island. Everyone got something different to try and we topped off the meal with crème brûlée donuts, a dessert I've been dying to try for the past few months. So good. And, as we were leaving lunch, the sun actually started to shine, which was a welcome change from the usual late-November gloom.
Nyhavn at Christmas!
the lovely parents :)
the first of many family selfies
these things are too much fun
After lunch we walked over to Christiania so I could show everyone the alternative hippie community side of the city. It's definitely unlike any other place I've ever seen before. I think this article sums it up pretty well if you want to learn more. We also walked by the tower at Church of Our Saviour, and checked out the interior which was stunning. The organ they have there is ginormous! Every church in Europe just exemplifies how old all of the cities are - some of the churches here date back to the 1400s which absolutely blows my mind.
the tower at Church of Our Saviour
We walked back towards the city center, for the much anticipated visit to Tivoli! This amusement park is located right in the middle of Copenhagen. It is the second oldest amusement park in the world, opening in 1843. and rumor has it that Walt Disney even based Disney World off of Tivoli. The park is known for going all out for the holidays, and the Christmas season that is currently going on is no exception. (Side Note: Since the Europeans don't celebrate Thanksgiving, they go straight into the Christmas season after Halloween. That means I've pretty much been seeing Christmas decorations everywhere since the beginning of November, and our family Thanksgiving celebration certainly had more of a holiday twist. But, with Christmas as my favorite holiday, I really can't complain!) I had only been to Tivoli once before, actually just a few days before I went with the fam, because my Danish class took a field trip there to see the Christmas Cabaret. But this time it was actually still light out so I got to see the whole park much better! We walked all around, through the Christmas market stores, and even rode one of the roller coasters! It's such a magical place, and definitely a must-see if you ever come to Copenhagen.
the entrance to Tivoli at Christmas
winter wonderland style
saw this giant Christmas tree and a full on photo shoot ensued
coming to a Christmas card near you
loved this shot
a whimsical oasis in the center of the city
nighttime views like this are hard to beat
After Tivoli, we headed back to Paper Island to check out the Contemporary Art museum located right next to the food market. Since the whole Island complex is shutting down at the end of this year *sobs* they were having a farewell open house at the museum with free admission to all of the exhibits. We all got to try out the Virtual Reality headsets they have, which was equally weird and cool at the same time. But mostly weird. After our jam-packed day, we went back to the apartment for a gourmet Thanksgiving dinner of...pizza! Not your average holiday meal, but no one was really up to making a huge feast. Besides, Thanksgiving is all about spending time with family anyway and we sure ticked that box!
Thanksgiving, the Copenhagen way
The next day began with a visit to Rosenberg Castle! I had been here earlier in the semester, but I had only walked around the castle grounds. This time, we actually took a tour of the castle and got to see the crown jewels! The inside of the castle itself had so many ornate decorations, fancy clocks, and obscure objects from back in the 1600s. One of the coolest rooms was off the side of the ballroom, and was where the royal family kept their china and glass collections locked away. To see the crown jewels, we walked down into a dungeon-esque area below the castle that's still guarded round-the-clock by the Danish military (reminded everyone of Tower of London). The collection was absolutely beautiful - and definitely gave me some inspiration for my Christmas list..kidding..sort of.
quite the desk!
the castle was filled with such beautiful artwork and furniture
the throne!
one of many insanely ornate crowns
seems like they might have a few to spare!
Rosenberg in all its glory
For lunch we walked over to the Glass Market, another favorite of mine. This market definitely gives more Reading Terminal vibes than Paper Island, as it has actual market stands mixed in with restaurants. Meghan and I shared the seasonal risotto from Grød, a delicious parmesan pasta topped with kale and apples. It was pretty life changing actually - I'm pretty sure Meghan is still talking about how good it was. Afterwards, we went to tour the Carlsberg Brewery! While quite different than the Guinness experience, it was fun to learn more about how the brewery has been around practically as long as the city of Copenhagen has. Highlights included the stable full of Carlsberg horses, the bottle collection room, and the complimentary beer tasting, of course. Since I don't live too far from the brewery complex, we walked over to my apartment afterwards so everyone could see my home for the semester.
pro tip: you can trade your souvenir pin in for another beer
over 22,000 unopened bottles of beer!
The next day, we decided to hop over to Sweden for a bit to check out the Christmas markets in Malmö. And also just because it's cool to say that you visited another country for the morning. The city is only about a 45 minute train ride away and it's very similar to Copenhagen, but maybe a little quainter in my opinion. It was decorated so nicely for Christmas, and even though the markets were a little disappointing, it was still fun to walk around and see something different for a change. We got muffins from a delicious bakery before walking over to the Malmö Castle. There was also a random Dutch windmill on the castle grounds that we got to explore. Four hours was just the right amount of time to explore the little city so around lunchtime we headed back to Cope.
one of the main squares decked out for Christmas
more Christmas in Malmö
definitely reminds me of Cope
so many cute stores and boutiques!
the Malmö Castle
not quite sure what this was doing in Sweden!
Next on our tourist bucket list was the iconic Little Mermaid statue on the harbor. This statue was gifted to the city by Carlsberg brewer, Carl Jacobsen, in 1913. It is based off of the Little Mermaid fairy tale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. I feel like everyone has a big idea of what this statue is supposed to be, seeing as it is supposedly one of the major landmarks in Copenhagen, but it's actually quite small and a little (dare I say) disappointing. However, I feel like I would be a failure if I spent four months in this country without at least paying her a short visit. Afterwards, we ate our way back through the Kongens Nytorv Christmas market, trying everything from mini pancakes to traditional German sausages, before heading back to the Airbnb for the night.
there she is!
for such a little mermaid she does draw a pretty big crowd
one of the nicest hotels in the city transforms into an Advent calendar at Christmas time
delicious mini pancakes
On Sunday, we visited Maddie's host family for brunch! Heidi (Maddie's host mom) did not disappoint, serving up her delicious bread rolls, crepes, and traditional danish pastries. I'm definitely going to miss her delicious home cooked meals. After we ate, we walked up a big hill by their house and got a really good view of their entire neighborhood. It was so fun for everyone to meet and it ended up being a highlight of the trip for my whole family. The rest of the afternoon was spent finishing up some last minute shopping in the city center and cleaning and packing up the Airbnb. We found a traditional Danish restaurant for dinner and reminisced about the trip over frikadeller and flæskesteg.
Denmark meets America
the whole gang :) definitely a peak of the trip
It was so nice to have my family here for a few days and play 'tour guide' for my staycation Thanksgiving break. While I'm sad to see this semester come to a close, I can't wait to see them (and all the rest of my family) in less than two weeks! The only thing standing between me and my final adventure - a week in London and Austria - is my Danish exam on Saturday. Wish me luck and let the countdown begin...
Hello everyone!! I think it's about time I update you on what I've been doing for the past month or so :) I've had a couple of blog posts written up from my October travels and I'm just now getting around to editing and posting them so bear with me as I bombard you with my abroad adventures.
Last month my core course spent a week in Germany and the Czech Republic on what DIS calls our Long Study Tour. This week was jam packed with academic site visits, sightseeing, food, and culture and it was definitely a highlight of my semester so far. Click here to czech (hehe) out the video I put together of my trip and keep on reading if you want to learn more about what I did!
Day 1: The trip began with an early morning flight out of Copenhagen to Berlin. The plane we took to Germany was a propeller plane and probably the smallest plane I've ever been on. There was room for two seats on each side and not much else! After arriving in Berlin, we quickly dropped off out luggage at the hostel and went straight to the parliament building for lunch. In order to get in we had to show our passports and be checked off of a list at security - it felt very posh and official. We took a huge glass elevator all the way to the top floor and ate at the restaurant they have there. The weather was perfect and we had an unreal view of the whole city.
After a delicious but slightly weird lunch of pork and caper meatballs (??) we headed to Fat Tire Bike Tours for a biking tour of the city. This turned out to be one of my favorite parts of the trip - we saw all of the major sites in the city (the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, the TV tower, the Bebelplatz, Brandenburg Gate, holocaust memorial, and many many more) and our tour guide told us so many interesting stories about the different historical landmarks. For some reason I was absolutely blown away by how much history the city has - much more than I ever have in any other city. I guess it's one thing to learn about WWII in school but when you're actually standing where Hitler gave his speeches or where the Nazis burned thousands of books it's kind of surreal. One of the most interesting parts of the tour was when we went to the spot of Hitler's bunker, where he waited out the end of the war and ultimately killed himself. Today it's literally a parking lot with no indication that anything happened there because the Germans didn't want to attract any sort of 'memorials' to the Nazis.
We ended the bike tour at the main church in the city center. It just so happened that we were in Berlin during their Festival of Lights so there was a super cool music and light show being projected onto the building. Afterwards we headed back to the hostel to check into our rooms and went out for burritos for dinner (if there's one thing Copenhagen is lacking it's Mexican food!!).
the parliament building where we ate lunch
check point charlie - the final crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War
the book burning memorial at the Bebelplatz - these empty underground bookshelves have space for around 20,000 books, as a reminder of the 20,000 books that went up in flames here
the holocaust memorial - the artist has never told anyone what it exactly means but it is a bunch of massive brick pillars that descend into the ground
one of the last standing sections of the Berlin Wall
the Brandenburg Gate - where Ronald Reagan famously said, "Tear down this wall!"
the Berlin Cathedral - the largest church in the city
Day 2: On Monday, the class was split into small groups for independent company visits. My group visited the Aspen Institute. This international think tank recruits intellectuals across many fields to give talks and influence global policy on a variety of issues. It was super interesting to learn more about how the organization operates and remains non-partisan despite government funding.
Afterwards, my group headed over to the East Side Gallery, a stretch of the Berlin Wall that has been converted into an art exhibit. Hundreds of artists took sections of the wall and painted it with all kinds of imagery - from bright and abstract flowers to controversial political cartoons, to dark images of the wall's original purpose. We spent a good hour and a half looking at each installation (and taking a few hundred photos of course). Here are a few of my favorite shots:
Then we headed in pursuit of kurrywurst for lunch. This classic German dish is comprised of sausages smothered in curry tomato sauce. My verdict? Solid 6.5/10. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the city before going to our next company visit, Deutsche Bahn. This is the company that provides almost all of the trains and railways in Europe and we learned how they approach business strategy and regulation in the EU. The session was on the top floor of the building and we again got an amazing view of Berlin. Following the visit, we had a group dinner where we were served what my professor referred to as the typical Oktoberfest meal. It was quite possibly the largest pork leg I have ever consumed in my life.
kind of hard to tell but this thing was literally huge
Our post dinner group activity was a field trip to a wine bar where you pay 2 euros for a glass and can have as much wine as you want for the entire time you're there. It was all self service and they would switch out different types of wine as the night went on. At the end of the night you paid what you felt they had earned! I thought it was a super interesting concept and super fun way to bond with my class and professors.
Day 3: Tuesday began with a visit to the Story of Berlin Museum. It's exactly what it sounds like - a museum that details the history of the city from its origins to post WWII. Not my favorite activity of the trip but we did get a private tour of the bunker located under the museum. It was built in the 1960s and could house over 3,000 people in the case of a nuclear bombing. I couldn't even imagine staying down there for more than a hour. The 'beds' were stacked three high, there were only a few bathrooms, very little air flow, and the only access to the outside world was via a single telephone. Thankfully the shelter never had to be used and today part of it serves as a parking garage.
At lunch we were served another classic Eastern European dish: goulash! This definitely ranked higher on my list than the kurrywurst. Afterwards we went to another company visit, this time with the German Car Association. We learned about the singer market for cars in the EU (all cars produced and sold in the EU have to pass strict standards on emissions and safety), alternative fuel cars, and 'Dieselgate' (VW's emissions scandal). After the presentation a few of the girls in my class decided to go to the top of the TV tower. This tower is the second tallest structure in the EU, but it's going to regain its status as tallest post Brexit, when the Shard is no longer in the EU. The tower was built in the 60s and definitely gives retro but modern vibes. It kind of reminded me of something that would be in Tommorowland in Disney World. We got to the top after dark and got to see the whole city sparkling with lights.
the TV Tower with projections from the Festival of Lights
Day 4: On Wednesday we hopped on a train to Prague! The ride (or at least the parts I was awake for) was beautiful - we passed through so many cute towns in the German countryside. Upon arrival, we checked into a beautiful 4-star hotel (shoutout to DIS) and immediately left for a walking tour of the city. Again, this was a great way to get oriented with the new city. Highlights included the Prague castle, Charles Bridge, and the Old Town Square. As we ended the tour and got some time on our own before dinner, I spotted a guy in the square who was wearing a Villanova Engineering sweatshirt. Turns out he was there with another Villanova student on Fall Break. Small world! Dinner was goulash soup and regular goulash as the main course! I think it's safe to say that we were pretty goulash-ed out by the end of the week :) That night I got to meet up with my friend Maggie, who is studying abroad in Prague for the semester, and four of my sorority sisters who were also visiting the city for their fall break!
outside the Prague Castle
inside the castle
tons of beautiful stained glass!
beautiful view from a lookout over the city
walking around the old town
Day 5: The next day we headed a little bit outside the city to visit the car company Skoda. They produce all of their cars at the massive plant they have in the Czech Republic because it's so cheap there. We got to go inside the plant and see the cars being assembled which was super cool! We also toured the museum on-site which showcases Skoda cars from throughout the years. After lunch, we had the whole rest of the day to ourselves so my friends and I did some exploring in the city. We got trdelníks, a typical Czech dessert that's basically a donut cone with chocolate spread on the inside and filled with vanilla soft serve ice cream. So. Good.
definitely a highlight of the week
We also checked out the John Lennon wall, a wall filled with John Lennon-inspired graffiti and pieces of lyrics from Beatles' songs. That evening we walked around the city a little more and ended up at a rooftop bar where we watched the sunset. Prague is definitely one of the most beautiful cities I've ever been to - I swear if you google 'photos of Europe' pictures of the quintessentially European streets found in Prague would show up. That night I met up with my friends from Villanova for dinner. It was so nice to be able to catch up with them and hear about their study abroad experience (two of them are studying in London this semester) and get the update on campus life from the two that are at nova this semester.
second famous wall of the week!
we saw this street from the lookout on the first day and knew we had to find it somehow!
the castle at sunset
view from the rooftop
Day 6: On the final day of the study tour, we had a company visit with Skanska, the fifth largest construction and development company in the world. Instead of going to their office, we had the information session at their culinary school! After the session was over we took a cooking class with a Czech chef. We made a delicious Hungarian dish of chicken with paprika sauce served with rice. My class was split into groups of three and we all competed to see who could make their sauce taste the best. The chef chose my group's dish as the winner and said it tasted exactly how his grandma used to make it! For dessert we made an apple tart with vanilla cream sauce. It was a delicious and super fun way to end the trip - out of all the planned activities I definitely think it was my favorite. Afterwards we headed to the airport and made our way home to Copenhagen.
the final product of our cooking adventure
The long study tour week was absolutely exhausting but so incredibly fun! I had such a great time exploring two new cities and making memories with my class. One of the reasons I chose to study with DIS was because of their planned travel included in our curriculum and I can 100% say that this study tour exceeded my expectations.
