Merry Christmas from Praha!

To our friends and family around the globe, Merry Christmas from Praha!

My mom has a rule that you are not allowed to do anything on Christmas day. Today marks the first Christmas in my entire life that I have left the house and worn real clothes (aka not pajamas). Well, it was probably worth it. We've been pretty exhausted lately - this whole tourist business is not for the weak. We've been very busy seeing castles and churches, letting Rick Steves guide us around the Czech Republic, and drinking a lot of warm beverages.











Prague has been a lovely way to spend Christmas. I was worried it would feel weird not being at home but a little change of pace is always good. Plus I decorated our hotel room with Christmas-related items courtesy of my left over Netto money. We got home Christmas Eve night after listening to Czech music on the square, lit some candles and watched the Pope like the good Catholics we are. (I kid, I kid. Except we really did because there are no english channels). Then I checked the Santa tracker and right when I looked, he was on his way to Prague. Now that's Christmas magic for ya.









 Prague really is beautiful. I can't tell you how many times my mom has compared it to Disney land. And it's true, you can hardly believe it's real! The best part is that it has been much warmer the past two days which has made the whole walking outside all of the time thing considerably more tolerable. That being said, however, our favorite phrase on this trip has become, "wow, I bet this would be really beautiful in the spring." Well, looks like I'll have to come back.




We spent Christmas Eve visiting Prague Castle, drinking hot wine, looking at pretty lights and listening to Czech Christmas songs while  pretending we knew what was going on.



 I should also probably mention that we did take an hour train ride east to visit a Bone Church. My mom told me about a million times that this was probably the weirdest thing that she's ever done with me and I'll agree...but you have to admit, it's kind of cool in a bizarre...super creepy kind of way. This chandelier includes every bone in the human body. Yeah...I know, as I'm typing this, it just sounds weirder and weirder. Then we walked around the town of Kutna Hora that is a UNESCO site and...I'm about to say this phrase again...I'm sure it would be beautiful in the spring...or summer...or fall...or any day but this past sunday which was not only freezing but raining (a truly terrible combination). We were all a bit miserable. Good thing we had an hour train ride back to nap and warm up for a delicious fancy dinner.

And what does a family of three do Christmas day in a foreign country? Well, what all the other tourists are doing: eat lots of food outside in the Christmas market and walk around forever. We went to the Jewish Quarter and memorial (nice light Christmas activities) and listened to some Vivaldi and Mozart (we're really becoming quite cultured). We're all thoroughly exhausted by this point. Definitely ready for Spain tomorrow. Not that Prague hasn't been lovely but I'm looking forward to not having to wear 3 socks and I'm not going to lie, I've had quite enough of the potato pancake and cabbage and sausage thing. Onwards to siestas and sangria. 

Not a bad way to spend Christmas. Now time for some sun. 

Is this real life?

  

The picture doesn't do it justice but heres the Prague Castle and Charles Bridge at night. 

Once again I have to ask myself, how is this my life? Three years ago, a volcano messed up my flight to Prague. Well, this definitely makes up for that. It is beautiful during Christmas (though freezing). The Christmas market is adorable and old town really does look like it popped straight out of a fairy tale. 

To the right above is the Christmas market on Old Town Square from the top of the Astronomical clock tower. We spent quite a bit of time strolling amongst the stalls of crafts, hot drinks, and lots of sausage stands. Every hour, the clock moves and there's a trumpet player. It's quite the spectacle....especially for people like my mom who loves that sort of thing. We watched the "show" three times today. She cheered the loudest because she's adorable like that. 

 

I would be lying if I told you it was all kicks and giggles over here. To the left, we're on a group tour and I am beyond freezing (hence the happy face.) Let me tell you, Prague in the winter is cold. Very very very cold. After our tour we very quickly returned to the hotel and got under our blankets to sleep away the cold and travel exhaustion. Today, however, I have learned. On the right, is a much happier Molly. 2 hats, 2 long underwear shirts, a sweater, leggings, jeans, 3 pairs of socks, winter boots, 2 gloves, and 2 scarves. I wish I was kidding. Oh, and I forgot the most important part: hot wine. 

 

Sampling some traditional Czech food. If the meal on the left doesn't scream Czech I don't know what would. And on the right is my mom lookin all cute with her new favorite treat, a bread/donut concoction. 

 

And of course, we're doing some good ol' sight-seeing. Saw a famous baby Jesus and the John Lennon wall which was really cool. After what my dad called the "hippy wall" we then walked to the restaurant that had been recommended to me by a friend. The only thing better than the look on his face when I tell him it's a vegan restaurant is watching him try to read the menu. (I ended up ordering "vegan fish" while he got a "hippy salad").

Prague is lovely and tomorrow is supposed to be above freezing so maybe I can leave one of the scarves at home! That's exciting. More to come!

Look who joined me in Europe!

DIS is over but that certainly doesn't mean the adventure stops. Look who's arrived in Copenhagen! Having my parents here has made me see the city in an entirely new way. It's so nice to be able to show my parents around and my love for this place has clearly shown. I've been able to show them the metro system,  my favorite cafes and keep them from being hit by passing bicycles. (What would they do without me?)

 My History of Copenhagen class combined with my love of facts has prepared me well to be a great Copenhagen tour guide. I think it's about time for me to leave this place and I couldn't have asked for a better way to say goodbye. I've also been able to cross off more on my "to do list!" I finally saw the crown jewels, finally ate at the restaurant by my house I've been too cheap to pay for,  went to the Carlsberg brewery and then went to the Louisiana Museum (I've been too cheap to pay for it). Hmmm...I'm sensing a pattern, aren't you? It's weird to get out of the "poor student" mentality of traveling, it will certainly be different but I'm not sad about it!

 

Finally went to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. I'm not a huge modern art fan but the 40 minute train ride was worth it if, for nothing else, some delicious food and a beautiful view of the water! Got there just in time for a lovely sunset (which, by the way, is at 3:30pm...yeah...crazy, I know)

We went to Tivoli and had a lovely, hyggelig dinner with my Danish parents. And even Arielle was back for that night from her weekend in Switzerland to join us for dinner. My entire Copenhagen family was together to meet my parents! It was just lovely. 

I know I've said this a million times, but it's just so beautiful!

It really has been a great way to say goodbye to this adorable little city. I'm certainly going to miss it and I'm definitely glad I got to share a little bit of my amazing time here with my parents. Now onwards to Prague!

"Greenhouse is full of love"

"Greenhouse is full of love (very sustainable love)"

I'm lying in bed in the Greenhouse for the last time. I have been conflicted about how to write this because I can very easily make this an incredibly cheesy post about how thankful I am for this amazing journey (which is true), about how I've grown as a person (hopefully true) and about how terribly I'll miss my incredible friends (definitely true). It's been a weird few days. Lots of goodbyes and lots of denial. What makes it even weirder is that while all of my friends go home, my journey continues! In a way I think having my parents arrive will be a good transition and I'm excited to continue my European adventures (without the hostels and picnic lunches...what a concept!) I picked my parents up at the airport yesterday! I can't believe it's been so long! I had a Danish flag to wave and some licorice and soda to greet them with, it was adorable if I do say so myself. Expect some more posts in the future about a very different European experience! The best part about them coming is that my final "goodbye" to Copenhagen gets to be introducing the city to my parents. This week has been dominated by final papers and final goodbyes. And I just love transition so much so it's been fun.

Some final, snowy bikerides past the frozen lakes.

A last trip to Christiania to see the coolest Christmas markets I've been to and to walk around a place that looks a bit like Narnia.

Some last weird "crap, we have so much random food to eat" stir fry. 

  

Final hugs and goodbyes to the best housemates I could have asked for...Friday night we rented out the building across the street and had a party which was fully stocked of our favorite snacks, our favorite people, some Christmas beer, and lots of tissues (we're all quite sick...at this point, I could barely speak, it was kind of pathetic).

I thankfully still have some time to say goodbye to this city but I must say that without these incredible people, my experience would not have been the same. I haven't talked much about my friends here but I can assure you, I've definitely lucked out. They're all so amazing and I've learned something from living which each and every one of them. These goodbyes have been sad but hopefully they're just some "goodbye for nows." And hey, we've already started conversations that begin with "oh yeah, and next summer when we're in Germany" or "Summer 2014? See you at the Roskilde music festival?" Maybe it's just some crazy fantasies but who knows!  

It's the final countdown.

One of my roommates leaves today and it will be the first of many goodbye's I'll have to say. I can't believe it's almost over and that I need to start packing my things and moving out of a place that really has become my home. So how have I been spending my past few days (aside of course from dealing with such incredibly mixed emotions?) Well, I've been doing my best to check more things off the Copenhagen list and taking lots of pictures because I don't want to forget how beautiful this city is!

The last day of classes was last friday which means that finals are upon us. Luckily I don't have a tough finals schedule and even more importantly, my grades here don't transfer into my gpa at home. I mention that not because I haven't been doing well but just to help you understand how I can have a 12 page paper that I haven't started and still make it a priority to go to a museum...or two. I just can't make this paper a priority when I know that I only have a few more days in one of my favorite places in the world. 

I finally went to the National Museum of Art! Check!

Wow, I'm gonna miss walking by this castle. And below another castle, I finally saw the remains from the castle ruins from Bishop Absalon's (the founder of Copenhagen) original fortress.

Last Greenhouse dinner! Perri and Arielle made an incredible vegan pot pie!

Copenhagen. Please stop being so beautiful, you just make it harder.

Last official Copenhagen family outing last night. Arielle and I met our visiting parents at an old pub and had quite a bit of some of the strongest glogg I've ever tasted. It was delicious and very strong. I've been so thankful to have Lotte and Johnny, they've been so good to us and it was so nice to have a family here! Ahh so many sad goodbyes!

Today Arielle and I took a "short" break from homework to go on a walk. We ended up in the Danish Design Museum which was cool and featured a lot of modern chairs (as Danish design usually does). It also had a room full of lounge chairs, vinyl records and big headphones to just sit and listen to. Copenhagen...stop being so much cooler than me. Then Arielle and I finally stopped for some smorrebrod on the way home. Check and check. 

And we ended our night with a trip to Christiania for this year's last installment of "Science and Cocktails." Like last time, this one was equally weird and cool. A professor came and spoke with us about meteors and asteroids. Then I came home and finished my paper! Basically, I feel like a winner at study abroad right now. Hopefully I can keep up the momentum the next few days. 

An Ode to My Bike.

If you haven't been able to tell, I'm getting pretty nostalgic about leaving. So soon! I can't believe it's almost over. I'm getting so sad to leave Copenhagen and my friends. Plus I don't do well with the whole transition and change thing. Something tragic happened today: I just got an email that I have to return my bike in the next few days! I've become so attached! One of the best things I've done this semester and something I'd recommend to anyone living in or visiting Copenhagen is get a bike!

I even paid the extra 75kr to add a basket! So cute! And I don't know if anyone else could ride this bike. It's very very tall. It's so perfect! Don't make me say goodbye!

Nothing like a sunset bike ride. 

Biking makes me love the city so much. It's so fast and Copenhagen is so beautiful and so biking friendly. My bike and I have had some great adventures together. We've biked to Amager for field studies, we've biked to see the ocean, we've biked through beautiful parks, and on crowded streets, and over the most biked across bridge in the world. Plus the best thing is that we get mistaken for Danes. I was walking my bike the other day and a woman started speaking to me in Danish. When she found out I had no idea what she was saying, she said "Oh, I assumed because of the bike..." This made my day because let's be honest, passing as a Dane has become my main goal/pastime.

Biking after jumping in a freezing harbor. So immersed.

 Biking gives you an entirely new appreciation of the city and it's so easy and fun! And cheap! It's the best. There's nothing like watching the perfect synchronicity of bikes through Copenhagen. It's so awesome. I shot some shaky video of a few bike rides and put together a video! Warning: those with motion-sickness should be warned before watching. Be warned and soak in the awesomeness of the bike.

Effective use of daylight

Because it get's dark so quickly (we frequently have the sun lamp on 90% of the day), I've started judging days by how affectively I utilize my daylight. I think this weekend I succeeded, see the following:

Copenhagen has a harbor bath which I'm told in the summer is packed full of people enjoying the beautifully clean water and looooonnggg summer days. Saturday, however, it was open for winter and some psycho people were jumping in. Arielle and I went to watch them be crazy and then....

  

If this isn't carpe diem, I don't know what is. We got talked into it (and by "we" I mean "I") by a Danish girl who convinced us it was the best thing ever. She wasn't wrong. It so incredibly cold (I may be having a heart attack in the picture on the right). Then we ran into a sauna on wheels and joined a bunch of other crazy Danes and tried to warm up. Of course we didn't have towels so we quickly put on our dry clothes, got some warm Glogg and aebleskiver (like a pancake ball thing with jam...yum) and biked our way home. It was one of the first days in a while where there were actually clear skies, it was a beautiful day to jump into freezing water. Ultimate test: Was the daylight effectively used? Most definitely.

The next morning, I woke up to a beautiful snow covered Copenhagen! The night before I had biked back from a concert in the snow...not a fun experience but I was definitely rewarded by a perfect morning walk! (I should note that I didn't intend on going out last night, my warm bed has become increasingly welcoming, but after a jump-in-the-freezing-harbor high on life kind of feeling, I had to do something). But the walk was beautiful and I had been told I probably wouldn't see snow while here so I was extra excited and it's so darn cute. 

Here is, according to me guidebook, "arguably the most beautiful square in Copenhagen," (something I say every time I walk through it, it's become a little inside joke in the house.) But look how especially true that statement is with snow!

At 4:00 we got to City Hall Square in time to see the lighting of the Christmas tree! There were a ton of people there to watch the show. We watched santa climb the ladder and surprised us all when he took out a huge sparkling wand and lit the giant tree. It was kind of hilarious and weird but definitely awesome. Effective use of daylight? Oh 100%.

And I met a Danish Santa! God Jul! (Merry Christmas!)