Last couple days in Europe :(

I am so sick of breakfast here. I am so frustrated with having the exact same breakfast for 15 days. It doesn’t change WHAT so ever.  ALL there is bread that is always stale and hard, corn flakes with warm milk, and nasty meat and cheese to put on your hard stale bread. Like really Europe? The only hot food you can get for breakfast is your milk. I mean come on!!! You would think when we went to Germany the food would be different for breakfast, but NOPE. It is the exact same meat and cheese, exact same stale bread and exact same corn flakes with warm milk. FML! So Friday we got news our host families are not going to happen for Saturday night, so all Saturday we had NO idea where we were gonna sleep and all that, so it was so annoying NOT knowing where we are going to be staying or what we are going to be doing the next day, because our itineraries have changed like completely. So Saturday we ended up walking a mile with our huge bag and backpack through Copenhagen at 11:15pm to get to our hostile. Hotel. The hotel on the outside looked really nice and same when we walked in were like YES a NICE place to stay for once but we got in our rooms and there’s like bugs and we sleep on Cots. There are 6 cots in the room, but only Jen Hilary and I stayed in this room. I slept like shit cause the beds are  like rocks, and the room smells like stale piss. Everyone has been pretty crabby lately, a lot of people have been saying they want to just go home back to the states now and how excited they are to eat NORMAL food haha. But we have today (Sunday) and then Monday then we leave Tuesday so two more nights. Today we are going to look at castles n stuff in Denmark. We have all our luggage, and our check out is at 10. not sure if we are bringing all our adventure to the castles 2 hours away orr what? We never know! Todd the leader guy who came with us who was just going to shadow but didn’t since mark left he got left in charge is super stressed out which I totally don’t blame him. He is having a hard time but we all thing he is doing just fine handling things around here. The girls and me are just sitting in the room we just had breakfast now were waiting to see what we do next. Seriously Europe I guess just doesn’t use wireless I don’t think, this town is SO huge and there isn’t one wireless connection to hack. Its crazy. We paid $12 each for a wireless in Germany cause we couldn’t go 4 days without it, but it was through t-mobile and we thought we’d be able to use it anywhere but I guess not. I cant wait to get home and eat a really big delicious meal, then start my diet and all that. I NEED to so bad, I’m disgusting. The other girls are tiny. And I need to tan, I am SOO white. Its sick

 

Sunday june 7th---We went to see hamlet’s castle on Sunday, along with another one. Hamlet’s wasn’t that cool, it was just a museum n stuff kind of, but the other one we went to was awesome and so pretty on the inside so it was cool to see, it was HUGE too.

After that we went home and relaxed for a while then we all went to Inter pool which was fun for a little bit but Jen and me left early cause we got bored and annoyed that certain people on the trip cant handle their liquor. Todd came in the bar with Kierston the girl who took us around Germany, and 2 of the girls were falling everywhere and couldn’t stand and were just belligerent and it was extremely embarrassing for the rest of us so we left cause we didn’t want to be associated with them and stuff. We walked home skyped our boyfriends J like always! Thenn Monday comes and we  got up early to get breakfast and walked like 2 fricking miles to the college we have class at, four of us were on time but the rest of the 16 of them we really late cause they were hung over, it was gay. So we worked on our power point presentations for 3 hours, we had to do a slide show of our top 20 moments or places of the trip which went just fine, we sat for another probably two and a half hours listening to it,


Then we had to walk all the way back and had an hour or less for the 3 of us to shower and get ready for the bowling night which we were NOT very happy about.. so we didn’t end up dressing up cute or anything. We took a taxi to the bowling ally, which isn’t even fancy so I have no idea why they said dress up. Bowling was really fun though, I won BOTH games I played in, hell yeah. Steven better be proud! I had 2 drinks that are called apple cider’s I don’t know it’s a really good drink! Dinner sucked, they actually gave us steaks, so I was soo happy, then I cut mine and blood just poured out into a huge puddle so I was like SHIT that sucks no way I couldn’t have eatin that..eww. everyone went to Inter Pool after bowling , we left the alley at like 10:30 so it was still kinda early I guess, so people wanted to go out our very last night—Hilary Jen and I went home ofcourse like always, we didn’t wanna spend ton of money and were tired and wanted to make sure we had everything ready to leave at 5am the next day. Sometimes I wish I would just go out and deal with the hang overs the next day, but sometimes I think it wouldn’t be worth it cause when im sick the next day I don’t enjoy THAT day so shya. So we were in bed by 12 I would say.. then at 2am we here BANG BANG BANG on our door were like let it go maybe they will go away we thought it was some drunky coming home coming to pick on us girls for not going out, then they wouldn’t stop knocking so were like “go awayyyy were sleeping” and we heard a “But its Troy…” in like the saddest voice. Keep in mind Troy is probably the shyest most quietest and innocent boy on the trip..so we were like laughing and answered the door and he was really drunk and didn’t have the key to his room and everyone else wasn't back yet or they weren't letting him in or something so we let him crash in one of the extra beds we had. (there are 6 beds in our room) and we only used 3. it was funny though.

 

Monday—Well waking up at 4am this morning wasn’t as bad as I thought actually. Not as tired and miserable as I expected to be. Obviously im tired but thought itd be worse. I got all my bags packed and weighed it this morning and it was bouncing between 48-50 and you can only have 50 pounds so I was like oh shit, and I remember the last time I weighed my stuff it was totally off so I was kinda super nervous getting to the airport. Everything went well though

GERMANY!

after arriving into Germany (Berlin) we walked to our hotel and had like 20 minutes to get our things together and get ready to go explore. We have this one tour lady who is actually from Denmark but has been to Germany and all that, and she is pretty nuts. She is so adamant on seeing everything, which is great ya know that what we are here to do, but she didn’t realize and understand the concept that we had woken up at 4am, been on a bus and ferry for like 8 hours and just arrived into Germany so everyone was exhausted and wanted to relax and get settled into the hotel but couldn’t. we ended up walking about 12 miles probably around Berlin, we didn’t even see anything specific just like Cathedrals and buildings stuff like that. And it was rainy and cold so it was a long night/day for everyone including myself. But the second day we woke up had breakfast and did some sight seeing and then we went on the 5-hour bike tour around  Berlin. I don’t even remember the last time I have rode a bike, and everyone else was saying the same thing so it was really funny watching everyone get on the bikes for the first time in years. Our main attraction within the bike tour was the Berlin wall, it was pretty cool to see, we saw a lot of areas where it was and all that stuff. My favorite was the part when they showed the death zone in-between the 2 walls that was pretty cool. They look put sand in-between them (back then) and then so they can see if anyone has been walking in the zone, and if there are footprints the guards get in huge trouble for not watching n all that. I don’t know it was pretty interesting.

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After biking in Berlin we walked back to the hotel and had our “free time” is what we call it I suppose.  Jen, Hilary and I went and walked around for a bit then went back to the hotel to relax. Biking for 5 hours kinda wears you out. Especially when you are really sick like I was until we all had to meet up at 8 to go out to dinner. All of us as a group went to the Hard Rock Café and it was reallllly good. I love that place! I was kinda pissed cause if everyone ordered something off the sandwich menu which was like burgers and a couple different things so we could of got a burger fries and pop for $12, but we needed 15 people to get the deal and a few were like nahh I don’t want a burger so we all had to pay $30 instead. I ordered a Bloody Mary in a Pilsner glass and it was reallllly good. And I got to keep the glass! Our group is at the point where everyone has their established little groupies so everyone goes there own ways now. Me Jen and Hilary went back to the hotel cause we were tired, and we skyped our men!

            The next day we woke up and went to the Concentration Camp. I would type the name but I forgot and don’t really have the pamphlet on me. It was really cool to see though, it was really big. We saw the jailhouse, the bunkers, and where they cremate some of the bodies and the gas chamber. That part was a little disturbing. But overall it was a really good experience and how many people get to say they went to a concentration camp in fricking Germany? It sucked though cause we didn’t have a tour guide, just this little audio thing that every part of the camp had a number on a sign by it and you press the number and it tells you about it, I didn’t really like that I would have much rather have had a tour guide telling us stories cause the audio thing was from years and years ago. 






We went back to our hotel and the girls didn’t want to do anything but sleep and I didn’t wanna sleep all day in Germany so I decided to go shopping. was in a really good location cause it was right by the huge shopping strip with a ton of super super cute stores. So I went shopping on my own for about 2 and a half hours or so and got 3 dresses a skirt and a necklace. I loved shopping down there, it felt so right J hahaha. I could see myself studying abroad definitely for a semester in a place that big. Germany itself is just not a friendly place I guess. Like I felt like every one there was mean and rude and grumpy. We had so many random times were the Germans just yelled at our group or one of us and freaked out. And when I went shopping by myself id like smile at people and the employees at the stores and the just were not friendly back at ALL and nobody smiles back at you and shopping everyone just looks at me like I’m stupid. I mean I guess German’s do not exactly like Americans so much anyway after I got back from shopping the three of us decided it was our last night and we should go out. So we got ready and walked around Berlin for like half hour trying to find like a bar that isn’t a restraunt or somewhere were there are younger people. Turns out all of that is on the East side of Berlin and we didn’t wanna do the whole subway thing when we are drinking and its just us three. So we found this place called the Irish Pub and just went n sat at the bar and we were like the only ones under 40 there probably. But it was fun us 3 get a long really well so we had a good time. We had a couple tequila shots and I had a drink called the shamrock. We walked back to the hotel and eventually fell asleep. I was out pretty quick after talking to Steven for a bit.

            On




Saturday we didn’t really do much , it was sort of a pointless day. Our tour lady took us to a shopping mall, which was alright, but I think everyone just wanted to go home. We shopped around for a bit and then all met back to the hotel and hopped on a train to get to the bus which takes us to the ferry which will take us to another bus to get us to Denmark. I’m actually on the bus right now. I don’t feel very good though, I had a whole thing of Pringles for lunch pretty much and a huge flavored water so my stummy is a little mad at me. The bus ride isn’t that bad, I have my own little 2 seats. Overall I am glad we went to Germany, we saw some pretty cool stuff and had a good time, but it isn’t a place I would want to live, or really go back to. 

On the way to Germany

So i'm on the bus right now on the way to Germany. It feels weird, like I’m in GERMANY. I feel like it hasn’t really hit me yet that im here and doing this study abroad trip, likes its no big deal haha. We took a bus to like some place then the bus drove on a big ship then we got off and ate and hung out for 1hr 45 min then got back on the bus while it was on the ship and drove off and now were gonna be in the bus for like 3.5 hours or so, I slept on the way here but I decided to do some of this and some homework and whatnot.

           

Yesterday, (Tuesday) was kinda of a bad day, it started when I woke up feeling super sick, like my throat was killing me and I woke up with a sinus migrane and my nose was all nasty between being stuffy congested and running and all that. And I just woke up with that “im sick” feeling when you just know that u are. It was not fun. then we had breakfast and walked to the Roskilde bank I forget what it’s called though. It was pretty boring but it was only like 2ish hours or something. They gave us sandwiches but they were really nasty. We got out at 12pm and had the REST of the day to ourselves  which was awesome because we never have a full day off pretty much so I wanted to go shopping and do all this stuff in Copenhagen, but Jen and Hilary didn’t want to..we all went to the Cathedral where the kings and queens were buried which was pretty cool to see, then they were like well were gonna look at some shops in Roskilde then go back to the dorm and relax all day, well I didn’t wanna sit in the dorm room for 10 hours when I’m in Europe and have a full day off so I was really bummed and wanted to cry, so then I ended up tagging a long with 3 kids—Nick, Troy, and Cody. Which I don’t talk or really like any of them but I really didn’t wanna go home so I thought I would just tag a long and try to make the best of it. Nick is an asshole, Troy doesn’t talk, and Cody is a dumbass…so it was reall difficult to have a good time. But we went to the strip in Copenhagen and god some souvenirs .. there were soooo many stores I wanted to go in, like shopping girl stores, but I couldn’t because the boys would get pissed and annoyed so I didn’t even go in ANY that I wanted to, and at this point I wanted to just cry cause I was sick and unhappy and couldn’t do what I wanted and wasn’t with people who I got a long with. Grr. But then we went to this place called Christiana or something I forget how to spell it, and what it is a a huge weed selling place. Like you go there and its on the other side of town and its surrounded by tall trees and bushes and stuff, then when you walk in there are a ton of like hippie shops and stuff and then they have tables where they layed out weed and you could just buy it, just like that. It was really cool to see cause when will you ever see people just selling weed on tables in public I don’t I know it was pretty cool. It was kinda scary at first because it was intimidating and in a drug place you gotta watch what you do and stuff. I didn’t get any pictures unfortunately because if you  bust out your camera they will take it from you and throw it on the ground n stuff so you don’t have footage of the weed selling. so we walked around that for a while which was pretty fun—then we walked to this like tower thing, I got pictures of it on my facebook. It’s the tallest tower in Copenhagen and you walk up like a million flights of stairs and then go to the top and you can see everything for miles and miles and could see like the bridge to get to Sweden and just everything from up there. It was like breath taking it was really cool, kinda had to share the moment with myself though which was a bummer but that’s okay I still enjoyed.



After that we left at like 430 or so got home at like 515 maybe and I just started packing up all my stuff in the room cause we had to have ALL our luggage packed from the dorm cause that was our last night to stay in there. So I did that then me jen hilary and fricking nick and troy came. I don’t mind troy cause he like doesn’t talk at all, but nick is a fucking asshole and im sick of him and he was being mean to be the whole time so it kinda ruined my night. But whatever I try not to let shit get to me! We got pizza at this place and it was alright, I feel like whatever it is I eat here makes my stomach feel weird. I cant wait to come home and eat normal American food. Then I skyped steven at night for a bit and went to bed at like 1130, I barely slept at all I don’t think because I was tossing and tourning and I felt like shit and just couldn’t sleep. Then we woke up at 4am to head to Berlin at 530am. It was weird I skyped Steven before I went to bed and then when I woke up and he was like still awake and it was still like evening/night for him but like night and morning for me it was different. But I woke up this morning feeling like complete shit still, even worse. I still do, not sure what to do . I gotta try and find some medicine before it gets worse. Like I ant breath and when I laugh I cough and my nose is so nasty and people say I sound like shit and sound so congested and just blah I feel yucky. But I am going to take a nap on the bus now.  

Sweden!

Everyone is really excited about going to Sweden, well at least the girls are. This is where everyone was telling us to save our shopping and wait till we go to Sweden to shop. So that is what we did! We woke up and breakfast got confusing and was at the neighbor school because they didn’t have it for us at the college were staying at cause it’s a Holiday or something. So that got us running a little late, it ended up being that we had to actually RUN to the train station to make our plane to get to Sweden. But we got on and everyone made It on time, accept the two kids who didn’t come home last night…. Yah. They left here at like 10:30pm to go to Copenhagen which is about 40 min away to get to with walking to the train station and getting there by train, and they went to the bars and then since it was a holiday the trains stopped commuting people at like 12 or so the 2 boys got stranded and had to sleep at the train station and make it there own way to Sweden haha. We met them there in the morning, but those 2 boys are a basket case and have so much unwanted drama everyone just shuns them out.

            We got to Sweden (in case your wondering the train went on a bridge over the water) and we went to a University of Malmo Sweden, which was so dumb, we got there and the admissions people gave us a presentation on how to apply for their school and about the classes. were like umm we DON’T care just let us go SHOP. Then we got some lame tour of their Library. that wasn’t even something special just like every other library but had a few of some factories..cool.. but after that we were set free to go. Me Jen and Hilary went off on our own and split from the groups..everyone else kinda split as well.. so it wasn’t just us. But we just wanted to go shop in a small group it’s hard to shop in a large group and I don’t know we didn’t wanna be around some of the people. But the shops weren’t really all that they were worked up to be..i got a nice white shirt that is good for summer and stuff..a pair of sandels and a t-shirt from H&M so they weren’t to special cause we have that store at home..haha..then I got a chain necklace with a heart on it that says “ Catch the day, Enjoy the Moment” and the on the back I want to get engraved “Europe 2009” it will be so cute! I cannot find ANY souvenirs at all.. there is like nothing, only thing to get is shot glasses, mugs, tshirts..and all that stuff is so boring..unless people don’t want stuff that says about the countries.. I will look some more tomorrow at Copenhagen cause we have from 12pm till the next morning of free time! So I will look for some stuff then, also in Berlin! Sweden was really fun though, me and the 2 girls had such a good time, we ate at TGI Friday’s and seriously I’ve never enjoyed a bacon cheeseburger with fry’s ever in my life, it was the BEST meal I have had since I’ve been here and it hit the spot so good haha..it was pathetic.  The girls got some clothes and stuff too…nothing to special. But it was cool to just be in Sweden in general, not to much site seeing cause we didn’t wanna get lost and go far out and all that, and the buildings all looked a lot like Copenhagen’s so the pictures are not special really either but it was still an amazing day and I had tons of fun just walking around eating people watching and seeing all the shops. The style here is SO weird. ALL girls were skinny jeans and leggings, and I haven’t seen one girl wear sweat pants or regular “flare” jeans like we all wear here. They are all so skinny blonde and pretty. I fit right in because I have blonde hair and blue eyes so people say they have a hard time spotting me in the crowd haha. So we just hung out there for a while then took the bus home and then me and Hilary and are just sitting in our rooms doing some homework and laying around talking. So that’s that!

I am missing home and The family and Steven!!! See Everyone in 7ish days!

 

 

Vallekilde Folk School

So I totally thought this was going to be such a boring time, I mean going to a FOLK school? What the hell! But it wasn’t that bad at all—it was like a 30 min drive to the school and I slept the whole way, every time we get on a bus EVERYONE falls asleep so fast it’s kinda funny. But we got there and they had breakfast set up for us, and like always I just ate couple slices of bread. but this time we actually had some really good fruit, so fruit and bread for breakfast! Then we went to a creative writing class for a couple hours, so happily it was like an interactive class so people were able to stay awake. We had to like doing this crazy story-writing thing, like I don’t even know how to explain it but the way we did it caused all the stories to be like really dirty and proactive story that we ended up having to read in front of all the Danish students at the party and different like teachers and the principal, luckily I didn’t have to read so I didn’t get associated with the pervs. Ha-ha but everyone had a pretty good sense of humor I would say.
this is a picture of the classroom we attended at the school

After class we had lunch, which was.. like..Liver and a bunch of nasty stuff..so I had bread again for breakfast it was just delicious……. Not. So after lunch we just kinda hung out for a while..i went to the computer lab at the school and put $10 in my skype account so I could call Steven. It’s kind of funny cause all but one girl here have boyfriends, so they Skype their boys everyday as well so it works nice cause everyone understands if we don’t wanna go party like EVERY night, and they understand when like you wanna sit home and talk to the boy cause they want to as well J I watched an episode of the Hills as well, it was good haha I felt kinda gay though but hey, that’s okay!

After we hung out for a while we went to play games with the Danish students at the school..we started with tug of war, which were just we Americans then like two Danes jumped in, wasn’t so entertaining. Then we started playing Volleyball and that didn’t go well because everyone sucked so we couldn’t get an actual game going which I really wanted to do so I was kinda bummed. Everyone lingered over to the field were the Dane’s were setting up their game called “Round Ball” its sort of like baseball, there is like a mini bat and a ball, and 4 bases, and you throw the ball up in the air yourself and hit in, then only time you can be out is if someone catches it or throws it to home plate, I don’t know it was weird but kinda fun, we beat them at their own game, so HELL YEAH! It wasn’t to fun though because the Dane’s are really reserved and they are not outgoing—they wont like come up to you and start talking and introduce their selves like people do in American, and they were speaking Danish the whole time so it was really hard to like interact with them and socialize because they are so like NOT like that to be so outgoing like American’s and our group are. It was SUCH a nice day out, we never get to wear our shorts and the day we can wear them I didn’t bring them to the school, I was bummed! But it was a beautiful day. The lookout that was there kinda looked a lot likes iowa..cows..farms..lots of fields.. but it was still cool to see.



After all the games we had like 2 hours of free time or so before the BBQ/Party so we all went to the computer lab once again and I tried called Steven but he was fishing so he didn’t get service damnit! The showers were super sick so I didn’t shower and just threw on jeans and a Tee. We laid around tried to nap but Hilary and me sat in the room for like an hour just talking. We get a long so well and that makes me super happy! Kinda sucks cause we get along so well which is rare for me to find a girl friend that I actually like and can hang out with, were with each other 24 hours a day haha and haven’t had a problem yet and its been a k I will never see here, or anyone for that about that and stuff! L The BBQ was so weird, it was AT the principals house actually which is on campus, and all the students and us and other people came and they grilled pork and beef which was already, I ate bread and a few bites of the pork and beef the rest I didn’t like, like always. And there was beer only but I hate beer, so me Hilary and Courtney went down and split a bottle of wine, which was nasty and we didn’t even really like it. Then started the drinking games, or something like that. They busted out musical chairs which was really weird for all of us were like ..ohh…umm… yahh musical chairs, fun? But it ended up being really fun I didn’t play but I watched and people got really into it so it iwas funny. And Todd our leader played and he was drunk so it was pretty entertaining. After that they played a game were they lined up beers and there were teams and each team one person ran down to the beer, chugged it, and had to spin in a circle 10 times then run back and then the next partner goes, which was funny as well. Todd also played that game so it is always funny to watch a teacher drunk playing games J I didn’t feel like drinking because I keep getting really sick the next day, like stomach sick so I thought I’d take it easy.

I got bored and wanted to go call Steven so I did so but he didn’t get service so Hilary and me went to bed pretty early and that was that for the night!

The next morning we woke up and had breakfast, which I had, a big bowl of cereal and bread, which the cereal was good, pretty sick of eating bread though. Then had a horribly boring class that everyone was falling asleep in literally, it was about newspapers and the teacher like didn’t know anything. He like gave us a hand out that it looked like he found randomly on google and quick printed it 5 minutes before class, then when we started asking questions about the article and he ended up saying like that half of it wasn’t true or something were like uh..ok? then we had to be out of the rooms by 12 after class and we left at 2 for the beach. We laid outside for a while by the Danes cause it was so nice out before we left to the beach.

The beach was fun, still do not know what body of water it was, name or what it was called? No idea! My camera died on the way there. so I didn’t get to take any pictures..but I will steal other peoples when they post them later! We just walked around, got some ice cream and took a bunch of group pictures and stuff like that then headed back to roskilde.

Later that night we got ready and headed to McDonald’s for dinner. I got a cheeseburger kids meal. woo…haha. then we went to our bar (inter pool) and it was really boring, I didn’t want to get drunk so I just ordered a really good mix drink and relaxed there for a while. Everyone was really tired and like NO one was talking so I decided to head home with Courtney and Jenna. The walk is like a mile or more it kinda sucks when you just really wanna get home. So I got home and talked to Steven on Skype for like hour and 45 and that was so nice to just relax and talk to him for once J then it was bed time!

I really am loving it here, it is so much fun regardless if we are just relaxing or if were on the go hour by hour or out at the bar, everyone gets a long well for the most parts. People get crabby here and there, and sometimes there is a little drama but that is pretty expected!

MISS YOU ALL

Shannon