It's a Bird, It's a plane, It's.... Lis attempting to Rock Climb?!

I had an amazing adventure today attempting to rock climb on the cliffs of the Baltic Sea in Sweden.  First let me say it's not as easy as it looks... and it doesn't even look easy. 

I couldn't have asked for a better day to explore the world of rock climbing: the weather was gorgeous, the area was beautiful, and there is no better way to procrastinate on writing final papers!

This was taken right from where we were rock climbing - as we climbed we had an amazing view of the Baltic sea stretching towards Sweden... unfortunately, our faces were usually full of rock at the time. 

It was at this point in my endeavor to successfully climb the 3rd level course that my foot got stuck in a crevice. It was in my attempt to free myself from the captive wall that people attempted to motivate me but saying there was a child who needed my help at the top, or a puppy, or ice cream.  At this point I had already lost my mind and screamed such things as "I hate kids, but I like puppies!" and "I really want an ice cream sundae!"

Eventually I found a way to free
myself from the crevice and continue
on my climb to the top. VICTORY!

Despite my temporary insanity whilst climbing that 3rd rock face - I decided to attempt the most difficult one (at a beginner level obviously)... it is here, my journey truly began... as I started to rock swing instead of rock climb (due to my several failed attempts to initially get up) However, I managed to find a nice resting place about half way up... after I shimmied my way into a little whole. It was there I regained the sanity and strength necessary to make it to the top!

The easy part... the only easy part. And by easy I mean it only took me 3 attempts to reach that point (it was before here that I fell off and started swinging from the cliff, which was actually surprisingly fun)

Shimmying my way over - I needed to get to the jagged part on the right of me because there are no grips for your left hand on this rock face... so it was an interesting balancing act.

Once I had slid over to the right, I was stuck in this position for about 10 minutes as I debated how I could possibly move any farther. I asked my belay to let me back down, but he kindly refused. So I continued to simply hangout at this point contemplating my next move... and what did I decide?!

I scurried my way into a little chair of sorts - as I decided to rest half way up the rock face. Sadly, at this point my camera died and I need to wait for someone to load the pictures of me successfully defeating this cliff.  But don't fret, after I napped here for a little I managed to pull myself into a standing position and continue to conquer the cliff.  After that all I needed was a little dip in the Baltic Sea to call it a day... and by little dip I mean the Sea was so cold it sufficed as an ice bath for my aching muscles. 




Now I can officially cross Rock Climbing off of my to-do list!

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words - any luckily for you, that means you don't need to read as much!

While I'm too lazy to go back through my blogs and add pictures to them like I said I would, here are some of the highlights of the past month!

The stunningly beautiful Nyhavn - We couldn't have asked for a prettier day - however, the entire canal street was jam packed with people. Pesky tourists!

Copenhagen, Denmark 

--> The Little Mermaid: I'm still not sure why this is so famous, but I finally made it there to see it :)

Copenhagen, Denmark

Michael getting really into his picture taking - yeah, we had to put up with this all week. 

Museum Island - Berlin, Germany

Berliner Dom - Berlin, Germany

Absolutely beautiful! The building, not the weather...

Old Town - Prague, Czech Republic

They were having a Easter Celebration at the time, so the whole place reminded me of a renaissance fair. 

Prague Castle - Prague, Czech Republic

While the Castle is beautiful, the real beauty is the Cathedral inside... also note, my parents and I climbed to the top of the tower in the center... well I climbed it, they practically sprinted up it! Such good role models

Trafalgar Square - London, England

The square was pretty empty when I was there, but don't fret the did have the Olympic countdown going!

Westminster - London, England

Much prettier than I thought it would be. The entire area (the abbey, Big Ben, Parliament) was gorgeous!
Also, Big Ben is the name of the bell, not the actual tower.

Windsor Castle - England

I thought this place was much cooler than Buckingham Palace - and there were a lot more funny looking guards here!

Stonehenge - England

I think y'all already know the explanation for this one

A bunch of rocks

The Times... They are a changing

What a difference a few weeks can make.  Copenhagen has decided to skip the Spring season and rocket straight from Winter to Summer... and I don't hate ittttt! Record heat is taking over Denmark, and by that I still only mean mid 60's, but hey I'll take it. The fountains are no longer frozen or empty, people are actually outside, and with that the days of wearing 4 layers are over.  Besides the new abundance of people who are roaming around Copenhagen (including a lot more tourists), the most noticeable difference is the change in fashion.  While Danes have always had good fashion sense, at least in my opinion, their winter wardrobe was full of black, gray, and little else.   All of a sudden the weather changes and out comes the electric yellows, hot pinks, and highlighter oranges, it's great!

With the semester wrapping up it means it's time for the work to being.  I'm a week of classes, 2 simulation projects, 2 finals, and 3 papers away from being done DIS (and going to ROME)! And since the weather is nice in Denmark for the 1st time, I decided it's time for me to do something else for the 1st time... work ahead on my papers.  Andrew is coming to visit before my last two papers are due, which means he either gets to spend his time in Denmark watching me write papers, or I need to get them done early.  So with that it's time for me to depart and get back to writing my first paper (10 days ahead of time!).

2 Weeks, 5 Countries, 0 Regrets

So my last day in London was not exactly what I had planned.  I spent a good part of the morning trying to find the free walk-in clinic so I could go see a doctor. Apparently, the free doesn't apply to tourists though.  So a few hours, and $80 later, I walked out of the clinic with not much help, but at least the name of the medicine I needed.  I still managed to go to two museums later in the day though, so not all was lost. 

The next day I woke up bright and early and got ready to depart London for Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath. I was taking a bus tour and I knew it would be great when I saw my tour guide.  He was in a full on beige suit, with a matching bow tie, as well as a dress hat of course.  As we started our tour I realized something was already going awry.  I had checked with the tour company to make sure that the last stop on the tour was Bath, because that is where I was planning on spending the night (while the rest of the bus was going back to London) but when the tour began our guide announced that we would be stopping at Bath before Stonehenge.  However, luckily for me, I managed to convince him that was a stupid idea, and that we should definitely go to Stonehenge before Bath.  Windsor Castle was awesome, and I got to step on the graves of a bunch of British Kings. ( I don't know what the big fuss is about Buckingham Palace...I was not impressed, especially compared to Windsor).

Thanks to my protest to stop at Stonehenge second, we next made our way there.  There are many different theories about the significance of Stonehenge, and it's purpose back when it was built.  The one that makes most sense to me is that they used it as a calander.  The summer and winter solstice both match up perfectly with the rocks, and as the months change so does the area of Stonehenge where the light enters.  However I also have an alternative theory... Perhaps, it was simply an arts and crafts project... hell, what teacher wouldn't give some students extra credit for that?!

Lastly we went to Bath.  The Roman Baths weren't that impressive, but the street magic show that happened outside of the Baths was awesome! Also, the city of Bath is just absolutely breathtaking.  It has a city feel in a country environment, which I really liked.  I met up with my friend there and spent that night at her house. We enjoyed a night out in Bath, which is nothing like Copenhagen, or Berlin... or Prague.. In Bath everything shuts down around 11 or 12 if you're lucky....

Fun Fact I forgot to mention: After going to the Doctor on the 18th it became increasingly difficult for me to eat.  So from that point on until about today I was living on what is essentially the college kid diet... Frappacinos and Soup.  YUM

From Bath I left and went to Glasgow, Scotland to visit another friend who goes to Uni out there.  This part of the trip was a nice way to end for me because it was more relaxing and less constant moving about.  We went to a park, the museum of Modern Art (which is creatively named GOMA...get it... like MOMA in the States...), and also the Cinema.  At the Cinema I saw the best 4th sequel ever created, Fast and Furious 5, though besides for Scream 5 which just came out, I don't know how many other movies have had 5 versions. 

Now unfortunately I must go back to reality... the sad reality that I have 2 finals, a project, 3 papers, and a SIM game to get ready for in the next few weeks. Oh joy! At least I have Rome to look forward to! 

Berlin - Prague - London: Leg 2 of Spring Break

I haven't posted in a while, mainly out of pure exhaustion... the second I get back to my room I usually pass out for nap time. I suppose it's one of the hazards of walking upwards of 6 hours everyday.  So, due to my prolonged absence a lot has happened since I last spoke to you all.
Berlin
- Our second day in Berlin the weather was still unpleasant and we ended up spending a lot of time in various museums. The first museum that we visited was the Memorial to the Murdered Jews, we had visited the monument before, but the Museum underneath it was absolutely worth the revisit.  It really put a personal touch on what had happened. Then we went to the Topography of Terror which documented the rise of the SS and Gestapo. So overall it was a seeming sad day topic wise.

Prague
-The train ride to Prague was beautiful as we were expecting, however the train itself was less than we expected. It wasn't as nice nor was it as fast as we had previously thought. However Prague was exactly what we were expecting. A magnificently beautiful place with gorgeous architecture and cheap prices! The beer is literally cheaper than water in some places. We went to Old Town, Joseftov, and also the Castle District.  The cathedral within the Palace was magnificent, and the climb up 287 steps of the bell tower to get a view of all of Prague was breathtaking.  There was also an amazing view of Prague from the Monastery that we visited.  The food was very similar to the German food, the only problem was the occasional 3 hour meal due to slow service.

London
-I got to London late last night, and meandered from Luton Airport to my hotel in Swiss Cottage.  The hostel experience will certainly be an interesting one.  Half of my room was getting ready for bed when I arrive at 10 and the other half was getting ready to go out.  I think people were moving around in the room until about 3 am, and then other people started waking up at 8.  Today I took a hop on hop off bus tour around London.  Yet with my luck, today was also the day of the London Marathon which passed through sites such as Buckingham Palace, Westminister, and the Tower of London, so getting to those sites proved to be quite the struggle. However, I carried on and made it to most of the sites I wanted too.  Luckily, because of the altered schedule my ticket is also good for tomorrow, so I plan on taking advantage of the Museum Line of the tour and going to the National Gallery by Trafalgar square as well as the British Museum. What I found interesting about the tour buses is that it seemed that I was the only person really taking advantage of the hop on hop off aspect. I was the only person to leave the bus at the Palace, and one of two people to leave the bus in Westminster to see the Abbey, Parliament, and Big Ben.  Hello people.... what exactly are you doing paying a fortune when you aren't actually going to see the sites?  (Due to the bus detours we usually had to get off the bus and walk to the attractions, so you couldn't actually see the main sites from the bus)

Some unanswered questions: Is London Bridge actually famous for any reason? Because it seemed uninspiring to me, yet the Tower Bridge was pretty.  Why are people willing to wait in line for hours to see wax people?

Also, after seeing old men and fat people running in the London Marathon I realized I really have no excuse not too.  I was quite impressed with their perseverance, yet I know for me a 5k is pushing it.   
That's all for now.  

Copenhagen to Berlin: Leg 1 of Spring Break

I'm currently cozied up in a Starbucks in Berlin whilst my parents are both napping back in the Hotel room.  We've done quite a bit in the past few days and still have quite a lot to accomplish in the next few.  My parents finally got to see Copenhagen...well a version of Copenhagen.  Over the past 2 1/2 months they have listened to me talk about the cold temperatures and the fact that the sun never shines in Copenhagen.  Yet, while they were in the city there wasn't a single cloud, and it was a beautiful 63 degrees.  I think they are starting to doubt my version of Copenhagen life. 
I took them to all the necessary sites, and we also went to a bunch of the places I hadn't seen yet.  We took a tour of Carlsberg Brewery (mainly for the two beers they give you at the end of the tour). We navigated our way to the Little Mermaid, and after making a wrong turn, eventually found our way there.  And we went to Freetown Christiania, a little part of Copenhagen that doesn't acknowledge that they are in fact part of Denmark.  The main street, pusher street, is know for openly selling pot and hash.  Though we didn't have any typical Danish cuisine, unless you count the hotdog stands that we went to for lunch...twice, we did enjoy a great Italian restaurant as well as a Sushi place.  

The flight to Berlin was amazingly short.  I only got through two articles in Vanity Fair before we were told to prepare for landing.  Out luggage was out on the belt 10 minutes after we landed... and 2 minutes after that, after no security check or any other bureaucratic process we were waiting in line to by our bus tickets.  Yesterday we meandered through Berlin based on nothing but pure instinct... and what our guide book said... and ended up seeing Hackescher Markt (which is conveniently right behind our hotel) as well as Museum Island which has a beautiful Cathedral as well as 4 museums.  For dinner we walked to an area that is known for their authentic German food, and then we quickly realized that we would be much happier with not quite as authentic German food, i.e., no pickled Pork knuckle for me...
Today we embarked on a 4 hour walking tour of Berlin.  The weather was less than accommodating, but we made the most of it with only a few complaints.  The tour took us to Checkpoint Charlie, we stood over where Hitler's bunker once was, we saw the largest part of the Berlin wall that remains, as well as many other mandatory sites in Berlin.  Oh, and our tour guide looked like Matt Damon.

It has already been quite the adventure, but there is much more to come, which means that more blogs will be appearing when I can find reliable internet access.  And don't you fret, I'll add pictures to this blog once I get the pictures on my computer!

How Time Changes Things

It's amazing how a few months can completely alter the way you look at something.  Over two months ago when I first made the walk to DIS I was absolutely amazed by every sight I saw.  And to be fair to me, on the short walk from the train station to DIS there is a lot to see.  However, the other day I started to realized how in the span of these two and a half months some of these sights that once amazed me have become common place in my mind.  As I leave the station I am standing right across from the gates of Tivoli, one of Copenhagen's more well known areas.  As I continue my journey, a few blocks later is city hall.  A magnificently gorgeous building, but one that I have almost stopped noticing.  Keep going and you're standing right outside of Politiken... the source of all the drama about the cartoons that published the images of Mohammad.  All these amazing sights that I know just zoom past on my way to class.  That is one of the reasons I'm so happy to have my parents here in a few hours... It'll will remind me not to take this beautiful city I live in for granted anymore, and I will remember how amazed I first was when I saw everything...and once again my camera will emerge from where it's been quietly sitting. 

My newest adventure I just beginning.  17 days exploring Europe! Copenhagen, Berlin, Prague, London, Bath and Glasgow.  I'll try to update things when I can, but be ready for some longs posts and lots of pictures in the future!