It is time, my friends, to bid you adieu. Thank you for following me on my journey and my adventures.
I am back in a country of English speakers (though not my home country), and that means I am nearing the end. There is nothing too much to report from the UK, other than repeated visits do not diminish my love but in fact ever increase it (including a newfound head-over-heels love for Oxford).
I saw some places for a second time with Mom but we still managed to do things I hadn't done in my first tour of the UK, including a Denmark-redux in the form of Legoland Windsor.
I am currently in Edinburgh, Scotland, which is my absolute favorite city in the entire world. Last time, I visited it as a tourist and as a place to do and see things. This time, I am enjoying it for itself - taking time to relax from my hectic months of sightseeing and decipher the foreign language that is Scottish (at least twice I have been listening to conversations, trying to figure out what language it was, only to suddenly realize minutes later that it was English). The greatest excitement I had was my first (well, possibly second, if you count the suspicious not-Paul-McCartney-encounter...so, let us say, first confirmed) celebrity sighting. The prospect of a Starbucks was too irresistible for me, but I was rewarded for my addiction, when the British comedian Jimmy Carr sat down at the table right next to mine. Now, if only it had been J.K. Rowling, who is rumored to be writing once more in cafes in Edinburgh - an activity which I can fully understand. Edinburgh is a city of inspiration, beauty, and magic.
One last day here, and then I will return to Brodsworth for two weeks of doing archaeological things, hanging out with old friends, and possibly making even more new friends. And then, after 226 days, the day toward which I am looking forward to and dreading with equal measure - it is goodbye to Europe but hello to home.
So, with that - only one final reflection that this has been the greatest experience(s) of my life. And that even with many of the great European cities at my feet, it is the people, more than the places, that give the greatest joy, for it is the people who make the places.
I have enjoyed writing this blog, so I hope you have enjoyed reading it.
Farewell, my friends!
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Denmark, the Last
From Helsinki, it was back to Denmark, where we made a tour of the country and visited what seemed like millions of mom’s old acquaintances. I had met most of them before, but, once again, I have very little recollection of my first Europe trip.
My head about died when suddenly, after a month of not speaking Danish, people began addressing me in Danish and actually expecting me to answer. After a few days, I began thinking in Danish – only problem, I don’t have a large enough vocabulary to properly think in Danish. It would, perhaps, have been a better learning experience in the beginning of my trip, rather than the end, but ah well…I was assured that the country Danes have heard from everyone about the difficulty of speaking Danish in Copenhagen, where everyone just speaks English as a convenience.
The city of Sønderborg, where my mom’s Danish family lives, has an annual Ringridning fest, which celebrates the old tradition of riders with lances trying to get these tiny rings onto the lances. It’s a big festival now. There’s a parade first with all the riders who are participating and also bands (There were Scottish bagpipers there! With the rest of one of the royal bands…they had a concert later in the afternoon, and it was so awesome. It also got me super excited for Edinburgh and bagpipers on street corners, even if they do only play the same song always…). Then they have the fairgrounds where the riders compete and there are also food stands and carnival rides.
I discovered that there is a point when a ride stops being fun. Mom and I went on this one spinning ride, and I was so impressed, because Mom was going on it…and then it was the longest ride ever. We timed it afterward, and it was five minutes of spinning backwards and forwards and whipping around. After about two minutes, I started thinking “This is really long!” After three and a half, I was thinking “I’m glad I didn’t eat lunch…” After five, I was about ready to kiss the ground when we got out. We couldn’t go on another ride for another two and a half hours, and even then, my mom still felt her stomach churn if she did something too fast.
I also saw the Jelling Stone (the largest rune stone, in which Harald Bluetooth claims to have united and Christianized Denmark), and two more bog bodies…one that was kind of random lying in a church in a town which appeared to be the hick-town of Denmark (all the rest of the time, the Danes have seemed so classy…but not in this town). The other was none other than the Tollund Man – a pretty huge deal in archaeology, and one of the best preserved prehistoric bodies. It seems that my study abroad could be relabeled as “The Search for Bog Bodies” and it has also made it one of my last wishes to, when I die, be thrown into a bog for archaeologists to find hundreds of years later.
One of my favorite places was Skagen, or the northernmost tip of Denmark, where the North Sea and the Baltic Sea meet. The weather had been sunny and even upsettingly hot (not as bad as Budapest, mind you, but bad enough) until, of course, the day we went to the beach. That day it rained – with a few thunderclaps thrown in there – until we left the beach, at which point it decided to clear up and get warm again. No worries – though I may have complained too much to my mom, I still loved it, and the beach was beautiful. The Baltic Sea was warmer than the North Sea by just enough that I could tell, and much warmer than the water in Finland, so I waded in the water, stood where the two seas crash into each other, and waded back. And to top it all off, when we returned back to the town, we saw an elephant walking down the road. Because Skagen is just that awesome. (Or possibly because there was a circus there that evening and they were promoting it…)
Leaving Denmark was not as sad as it could have been, mostly because of a mix-up in days when my rental agreement ended, leading to a hurried and frenzied packing job, but still a very nicely cleaned apartment – mostly thanks to my mom. Then came the task of hauling all my luggage (everything fit really nicely, surprisingly, but I forgot to be worried about the weight and annoyingness of carrying multiple bags each). Everything worked out in the end, though, and we made it to the ferry with a stop at Ribe – Denmark’s oldest, and cutest, town!. Then, we were on a boat, leaving Denmark, and greeting my old friend England.
It is only now, relaxing, unhurried by errands or sightseeing, that I can really realize that this amazing experience is over. It'll be a little weird to go back, but I am looking forward to it.
My head about died when suddenly, after a month of not speaking Danish, people began addressing me in Danish and actually expecting me to answer. After a few days, I began thinking in Danish – only problem, I don’t have a large enough vocabulary to properly think in Danish. It would, perhaps, have been a better learning experience in the beginning of my trip, rather than the end, but ah well…I was assured that the country Danes have heard from everyone about the difficulty of speaking Danish in Copenhagen, where everyone just speaks English as a convenience.
The city of Sønderborg, where my mom’s Danish family lives, has an annual Ringridning fest, which celebrates the old tradition of riders with lances trying to get these tiny rings onto the lances. It’s a big festival now. There’s a parade first with all the riders who are participating and also bands (There were Scottish bagpipers there! With the rest of one of the royal bands…they had a concert later in the afternoon, and it was so awesome. It also got me super excited for Edinburgh and bagpipers on street corners, even if they do only play the same song always…). Then they have the fairgrounds where the riders compete and there are also food stands and carnival rides.
I discovered that there is a point when a ride stops being fun. Mom and I went on this one spinning ride, and I was so impressed, because Mom was going on it…and then it was the longest ride ever. We timed it afterward, and it was five minutes of spinning backwards and forwards and whipping around. After about two minutes, I started thinking “This is really long!” After three and a half, I was thinking “I’m glad I didn’t eat lunch…” After five, I was about ready to kiss the ground when we got out. We couldn’t go on another ride for another two and a half hours, and even then, my mom still felt her stomach churn if she did something too fast.
I also saw the Jelling Stone (the largest rune stone, in which Harald Bluetooth claims to have united and Christianized Denmark), and two more bog bodies…one that was kind of random lying in a church in a town which appeared to be the hick-town of Denmark (all the rest of the time, the Danes have seemed so classy…but not in this town). The other was none other than the Tollund Man – a pretty huge deal in archaeology, and one of the best preserved prehistoric bodies. It seems that my study abroad could be relabeled as “The Search for Bog Bodies” and it has also made it one of my last wishes to, when I die, be thrown into a bog for archaeologists to find hundreds of years later.
One of my favorite places was Skagen, or the northernmost tip of Denmark, where the North Sea and the Baltic Sea meet. The weather had been sunny and even upsettingly hot (not as bad as Budapest, mind you, but bad enough) until, of course, the day we went to the beach. That day it rained – with a few thunderclaps thrown in there – until we left the beach, at which point it decided to clear up and get warm again. No worries – though I may have complained too much to my mom, I still loved it, and the beach was beautiful. The Baltic Sea was warmer than the North Sea by just enough that I could tell, and much warmer than the water in Finland, so I waded in the water, stood where the two seas crash into each other, and waded back. And to top it all off, when we returned back to the town, we saw an elephant walking down the road. Because Skagen is just that awesome. (Or possibly because there was a circus there that evening and they were promoting it…)
Leaving Denmark was not as sad as it could have been, mostly because of a mix-up in days when my rental agreement ended, leading to a hurried and frenzied packing job, but still a very nicely cleaned apartment – mostly thanks to my mom. Then came the task of hauling all my luggage (everything fit really nicely, surprisingly, but I forgot to be worried about the weight and annoyingness of carrying multiple bags each). Everything worked out in the end, though, and we made it to the ferry with a stop at Ribe – Denmark’s oldest, and cutest, town!. Then, we were on a boat, leaving Denmark, and greeting my old friend England.
It is only now, relaxing, unhurried by errands or sightseeing, that I can really realize that this amazing experience is over. It'll be a little weird to go back, but I am looking forward to it.
Finland
I’m a little – nay, a lot – behind. I considered simply letting it peter away, but as I have at least one reader still, and I am sitting on a train to Edinburgh, I decided perhaps to let everyone in once again on what and how I’ve been doing.
After Oslo, Mom and I traveled to Helsinki, which I enjoyed much more. I’d been there before, when I was 10, but I have very few memories of it. We have several family friends living in a suburb of Helsinki, and it was great fun seeing them again. The trip was a little more relaxing, though still an awful lot of sightseeing. I’ve confirmed something I had suspicions about before, which is that, perhaps, two months (and counting) of traveling is a bit much. I’m having a fantastic time – but sometimes I really long for my own bed and to not move my place of residence for at least a week.
Some interesting occurrences in Helsinki:
We saw a group of school band kids from Denmark. As they converged on us, all speaking Danish, suddenly things felt right and normal and “this is how it’s supposed to be.” Then I had to stop and think for a moment, and I realized I was very weird if after hearing too much English, I was comforted by the strange, strange language that is Danish. Actually I was very weird to think I was hearing too much English in the first place.
Our friends took us to a medieval market in the city of Turkuu (possibly with only one u, but with Finnish, I think it’s safer to misspell on the side of too many vowels, rather than too few). The majority of it didn’t get going until the afternoon, but the morning was still great, seeing all the crafts. Sort of like a Renaissance Festival, without the shows, but in an actual old city. So much more authentic when you’re in Europe!
We took a steamboat ride to the town of Naantali, a small, cute town, which also is the location of Moomin land. Moomin, if you do not have the joy of being acquainted with it, is a series of cartoon characters developed by a Swedish-Finnish writer (back in the day when Finland still belonged to Sweden). They are about the cutest things ever, and I spent way too much money in Finland on Moomin paraphernalia.
The last day, we e went on what Olli kept referring to as a “southern cruise…with pine trees, not palm trees!” Also known as sailing to one of the southern islands. We were able to actually sail for a bit until the wind completely died, so we had to use the motor the rest of the way. We picnicked on the island, and then even though it was (almost) the hottest day in Finland in 100 years – we didn’t break the record by .2 degrees – the water was FREEZING…but I jumped in anyway. However, I did not stay in for long.
After Oslo, Mom and I traveled to Helsinki, which I enjoyed much more. I’d been there before, when I was 10, but I have very few memories of it. We have several family friends living in a suburb of Helsinki, and it was great fun seeing them again. The trip was a little more relaxing, though still an awful lot of sightseeing. I’ve confirmed something I had suspicions about before, which is that, perhaps, two months (and counting) of traveling is a bit much. I’m having a fantastic time – but sometimes I really long for my own bed and to not move my place of residence for at least a week.
Some interesting occurrences in Helsinki:
We saw a group of school band kids from Denmark. As they converged on us, all speaking Danish, suddenly things felt right and normal and “this is how it’s supposed to be.” Then I had to stop and think for a moment, and I realized I was very weird if after hearing too much English, I was comforted by the strange, strange language that is Danish. Actually I was very weird to think I was hearing too much English in the first place.
Our friends took us to a medieval market in the city of Turkuu (possibly with only one u, but with Finnish, I think it’s safer to misspell on the side of too many vowels, rather than too few). The majority of it didn’t get going until the afternoon, but the morning was still great, seeing all the crafts. Sort of like a Renaissance Festival, without the shows, but in an actual old city. So much more authentic when you’re in Europe!
We took a steamboat ride to the town of Naantali, a small, cute town, which also is the location of Moomin land. Moomin, if you do not have the joy of being acquainted with it, is a series of cartoon characters developed by a Swedish-Finnish writer (back in the day when Finland still belonged to Sweden). They are about the cutest things ever, and I spent way too much money in Finland on Moomin paraphernalia.
The last day, we e went on what Olli kept referring to as a “southern cruise…with pine trees, not palm trees!” Also known as sailing to one of the southern islands. We were able to actually sail for a bit until the wind completely died, so we had to use the motor the rest of the way. We picnicked on the island, and then even though it was (almost) the hottest day in Finland in 100 years – we didn’t break the record by .2 degrees – the water was FREEZING…but I jumped in anyway. However, I did not stay in for long.
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