En Hyggelig Thanksgiving Mad

...that translates into "A 'Cozy' Thanksgiving Meal", which is exactly what I enjoyed last night!  I was feeling sad that I wasn't going to be able to indulge myself as we do in the States for the day, but I ended up having a great Thanksgiving anyway.  Some of my friends organized a big potluck party that started at about 7:30 and lasted until midnight!  Although I was too lazy to make something (I bought some cookies and brownies to bring along), some of the partygoers brought some amazing dishes, including a wonderful turkey, stuffing, lots of potatoes, garlic bread, creamed spinach, and cooked vegetables just to name a few.  Best of all were all the desserts, especially the pumpkin pie!!  I was so happy to have some homemade food.

It was especially fun because a good amount of Danish (and Polish) people came to try out the American tradition.  They even made some great desserts and brought along lots of gravy, as well as tons of beer and wine.  They told us that they had decided they love American holidays after celebrating both Halloween and Thanksgiving with us.  Plus, I got to get a little first-hand insight into the Poles' opinions on the climate package for the EU, a topic which I will be debating next Wednesday for my political science class and that they were very passionate and knowledgeable about.  

The best part of the night was definitely after dinner, though, when one of the Poles grabbed his guitar and played us a bunch of American songs to sing along to, which probably sounds very cheesy but was actually so much fun!!  During that time, I also got to meet a lot of new people since there were so many people there!  One of my friends and me even stuck around after the party to talk with some of the Danes and Poles since they were so funny and nice.  They invited us to a party called the "Almost New Year's Party" which will take place on "almost the last day of almost the last month instead of the last day of the last month" (ie this Saturday).  I am definitely considering going, but I have a very busy weekend ahead of me, as my friends and me are trying out the Absolut Ice Bar tonight (a bar completely made out of ice!), then going dancing at our favorite club; and then I am probably heading out to my friend's host family's house to celebrate her birthday with them on Sunday.  However, since I had enough food last night to fuel me for the rest of the weekend, hopefully I'll have time for it all!

A Whirlwind of Events...

These last few weeks in Denmark have gone by incredibly fast!  It's hard to believe that there's less than a month until I'm back in Washington!! However, there's lots to update on, starting with the election on November 4th.  We were all pretty excited about it here, but it was cool to see how politically aware the Danes were as well.  They seemed even more passionate about the election than some of the Americans I know!  On the night of the election, I headed over to my friend's kollegium where they were having a party all night.  The Dane who was in charge of setting everything up had posted pictures of Obama and McCain all over the walls and set up a big projector so everyone could watch every step of the election.  He had even set up a bar called the "oBARma" where you could buy refreshments and some much-needed coffee!  All in all, it was a very exciting night, and it felt great to have been able to contribute a vote!

Since then, I've just been focusing on having a great time with my wonderful friends and trying to study, especially for my more interesting subjects (Danish Language & Culture and Hans Christian Andersen).  Even though Denmark, obviously, does not celebrate Thanksgiving, it has been getting ready for Christmas for quite a while!  The other weekend, my friends and me went out for "J-Dag", which is a day when the big beer company hands out free Holiday Tuborg beers at all the bars.  All the employees are dressed like elves and dance around all night while carrying in loads of beer.  We chased the truck around the city and got free holiday hats, too, which was a lot of fun.  They had even put fake snow all over Copenhagen!

Even better than fake snow, though, is REAL snow, which is currently all over the ground outside!  I'm not really a big fan of the freezing cold weather, but it was very exciting to see such huge snowflakes starting at about noon yesterday and lasting all through the night.  To really set the holiday tone, we went to Tivoli, the famous amusement park near our study center, as soon as it got dark (about 4:00 pm!) and wandered around in the snow to see all the pretty Christmas lights, Santa decorations, drink hot chocolate, and dance around in the snow.  By the time we left, the snow was starting to get pretty heavy, and when I woke up this morning, there was a lot all over the ground here at my kollegium in Albertslund!  I'm hoping that it lasts all weekend so that school will get cancelled on Monday, but somehow I don't think it will last that long.  For now, I'm just staying nice and warm inside, debating on whether or not to try my luck out at the new ice-skating rink they just set up outside in the middle of the city!  

Italia: Roma & Firenze!

Sorry that I'm so ridiculously behind on my posting!  I knew my post about Italy would take a while, though, so I've been waiting for some solid free time, which is now!  In short, Italy was so much fun!  I flew to Rome by myself because I didn't really want to fly home to Copenhagen from Spain and then back to Italy right away.  Luckily, one of my friends from abroad was going to be in Rome that same day, so we stayed in the same hostel, which was a lot of fun! Unfortunately, one of my roommates was puking all night, which wasn't very pleasant. 

The next day, I got up early to meet the group at my hotel, which was convinently located right next to the Spanish Steps.  The first day was already eventful: we walked around the city and got to see cool things like the Piazza del Popolo, Largo Argentino, The Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, and much more!  After that, we got our first amazing dinner!  I

don't know how the Italians can eat so well, and still stay so thin!!

The next day, we got to see The Colosseum, as well as many other classical monuments.  The Colosseum was absolutely amazing and so crowded!  It was so weird being inside after seeing so many pictures of it!  The Forum Romanum was almost even more amazing, though, because it was so enormous!  From the outside, it looked like we could walk through it in a half hour, but it took us a couple of hours at least.

While in Rome, we also got to some places that are not-so touristy, which was very nice.  Probably two of my favorite places to visit was a cemetary where famous authors, like von Goethe, Keats and Shelley are buried, and also the Baths of Caracalla, which was an ENORMOUS bathhouse.  In contrast, another very cool place which was VERY touristy was Vatican City.  There was so much beautiful art, it was almost overwhelming.  The Sistine Chapel, in particular, was very impressive because of Michelangelo's artwork on the ceiling.

After four days in Rome, we headed off to Florence, which I liked a bit more because it wasn't so crowded everywhere.  Most of the artwork that we had been learning about class was all in Florence, such as The Birth of Venus (my personal favorite) by Botticelli and Michelangelo's David.  I have to admit, though, that probably my favorite part of Florence was the fun clubs we went to. 

We all went out as a group twice, which was fun, and we really got to know each other really well.  By the end of the trip, I had made some really cool new friends, which was the best part

 of the whole trip!!

I have to say that after visiting all of these places, I am still 100% glad that I chose to study in Denmark, though.  I have adjusted very well to life in Copenhagen and think it was a perfect pick for me!

Seville!

I'm a little bit behind on my blog, but I've been pretty busy!  Even so, I figured I couldn't skip posting about my trip to Spain!  After leaving London, I headed over to Seville, Spain to visit my friend Elizabeth who is studying abroad there for a semester.  I was very excited to go there since I have never been to Spain and don't know much about the culture.  After I met Elizabeth at the airport, we walked for 45 minutes to my hostel, which was absolutely gorgeous.  It was pretty much like a luxury hostel, with marble floors, a rooftop garden and a comfy lounge with computers and Internet.  The employees even did my laundry for me!

I discovered how wonderful the tapas were right away...We headed to a little cafe that evening where I ordered some croquetas and a dish of chicken curry, which were absolutely delicious.  I definitely had my fill of croquetas over the next few days.  Elizabeth had to translate all the menus and order for me at every meal since I don't speak any Spanish except for "si" and "uno".  English was definitely not as commonplace there as it in Copenhagen, which was a bit of a challenge for me but also really cool since I love listening to other languages.

My favorite part of the whole trip was probably going to a museum, which I know is very hard to believe.  However, this was the most fun and interactive museum I've ever encountered...so much so that I would gladly go many more times!  There were different exhibits where you could make your own music, watch your shadow play with bubbles, or mold shapes with some goopy material that looked like Play-Doh.  We weren't supposed to take pictures, but I snuck in lots because it is so hard to explain what exactly we did there!!

The day before I left, we went to some Arab baths with Elizabeth's friends, which was just what I needed!  It was absolutely amazing: there were different floors which each contained different types of baths to relax in, including a peppermint bath, a saltwater bath, a steaming hot bath, a freezing cold bath, and more!  My favorite thing was actually probably the steam room, which also smelled like peppermint.  It was almost hard to breathe because the steam was so thick, but it felt so good that I had to make myself leave after twenty minutes of lying in there.

After checking out a huge festival where we shopped amongst hundreds of vendors and bought delicious Greek food and crepes for dessert, I decided I better call it an early night since Elizabeth had to get up in the morning for her trip to Granada and I had to wake up at 4:00 AM to catch the bus to the airport!  Besides that ridiculously early morning, though, I would have to say that my first visit to Spain definitely lived up to my high expectations!