Studying at the International Summer School

I chose to study at the International Summer School after researching several study abroad options. I read a lot of blogs and spoke to people that had attended previously on Tumblr. The school seemed like a once in a life time opportunity to live in Scandinavia, one of the most expensive places in the world, without spending too much. They were also featuring a new course: Contemporary Scandinavian Cinema, which I couldn’t resist. I decided to make a list of five things that I loved about the International Summer School, and five things that I was disappointed in. If you are thinking about applying, I hope this list helps you out and don’t hesitate to comment or message/tweet at me with questions !

I loved…

1) The courses

I studied Contemporary Scandinavian Cinema and Norwegian Literature. Both of my courses were incredibly comprehensive and I learned a lot. My teachers were more than qualified in the subjects. Every week day, I had Norwegian Literature from 8:15 am to 10am, then Contemporary Scandinavian Cinema from 10:15am to 1pm. Since we had a couple of hours of class everyday, we got through a lot of information. We also went on field trips into Oslo city centre to delve further into what we were learning in class.

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2) Cultural Evenings

We had a couple of cultural evenings during the program. These involved having traditional Norwegian dancers, storytelling, eating traditional food, and learning more about the culture. I enjoyed these evenings because I didn’t know anything about Norway prior to arriving.

Dancers in their “bunader”

Dancers in their “bunader”

Live music at one of the evenings

3) The Location

The Blindern Studenthjerm is located right next to the University of Oslo campus, and up the hill from Blindern stasjon (public transport station). It’s really close to the city, if one uses the T-bane, but it’s also in a quiet area. It is about a ten minute walk to the next neighborhood, Majorstuen, which has all sorts of shops and places to get food. I loved the area of Majorstuen, as it felt like you were in the city but you didn’t necessarily have to take the T-bane to get there. The university campus itself was stunning and peaceful, and I enjoyed walking to and from class everyday.

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There is also the option to take the T-bane to Songsvann station, then walk to the water. I highly reccomend checking it out, as it’s such a beautiful place to go running, or sit by the water.

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4) The Common Rooms

There were two main common rooms on campus. One of them was across from the cafeteria and had free wifi. It was always packed with people using Skype. Whenever I felt lonely or homesick, I would pop into the common room and listen to the multitude of languages chatting with family and friends. It was definitely not a place where I could study, but it had a lot of tables and couches that people would have group meetings at. Below the cafeteria, there’s a quieter common room that had a pool table and an empty bar. I didn’t really spend too much time there, since people used it to play pool and listen to music.

5) The Trip to Bergen

This was the best part of my experience, but I will have a whole separate blog post about it ! I’ll link it here once it’s published.

I was disappointed with…

1) The Dormitory Staff

There were two main people in charge of the dormitory. Although they were friendly, they treated everyone as children. I really didn’t appreciate that. My friend’s key snapped in her door, which wasn’t any fault of hers, and the house “father” basically accused her of forcing it and told her she would have to pay for it. I found that any issue we had, they told us that it was our responsibility to fix it and they couldn’t help us. Towards the end of the program, there was a terrorist threat against Oslo and my parents wanted me to fly to Paris to stay with friends and hand in my final exam from there. I told the “house parents” that I was leaving early due to the fact, and they told me that “it was OK, but I probably felt scared because, since I’m an American, I’m not familiar with living abroad and experiencing uncomfortable situations away from home”. I was livid after they told me this because I was born in FRANCE, having travelled abroad almost every year on my own, and currently live in Canada on my OWN. I felt that the staff were really insensitive and disrespectful.

2) Age Discrepancies Living in the Dorms

Apart from the average university/college student living at Blindern, there were older people who took part in the program. These people ranged from late thirties to even in their seventies. This caused a lot of issues between people. My friend got yelled at by an older woman multiple times for “talking too loud” and “playing her music” too loud. I understand where she’s coming from, but this was during the daytime, which should not be an issue. If you choose to live in a dormitory, you should be ready to deal with noise, as long as it’s at reasonable hours of the day.

3) The Cafeteria

The cafeteria was horrible. Do not live at Blindern if you are a vegetarian/vegan because they will only serve you lettuce and tomatoes. We were warned ahead of time that since food is really expensive in Norway, the food would be bland and simple. I didn’t think it would be that bad, but after five weeks of eating bread and jam for every meal (and gaining a lot of weight), I was not happy.

Typical Lunch

Typical Breakfast

Fortunately, every Tuesday there was FREE WAFFLES. This was the highlight of my week, and also contributed to weight gain.

4) Shared Bathrooms

I actually liked my dorm room, although it was very small. The only issue was that you need to use an ethernet cable to access the internet. This was a mild annoyance, since me and my roommate had to switch off using the cable. The shared bathrooms in each hall were a struggle to use. There were only about three stalls for each long hall of people that, although being cleaned every other day, were always disgusting. They got so gross that the cleaning staff put up posters that stated how to properly use a toilet.

5) The Laundry Room

There was one place for the whole dormitory to use for laundry. There were many machines and a sign up chart that we were required to use. Since there were a lot of students living there, I signed up to do laundry ahead of time. But, each time I came down the creepy hall to access the room, I found that someone had “stolen” my slot. This was really aggravating and an unnecessary stress.

Laundry Sign Up

 

Champagne at Oslo City Hall

International Summer School students were invited to attend the opening ceremony and reception at Oslo City Hall. My new friends and I had an early dinner, and then focused on getting dressed up. I opted for a light pink dress with polka dots that I got in Dublin a couple of years ago. It’s a really comfortable dress, but the material is really light and I was not taking into account the Oslo winds. This made for a bit of a struggle when we walked outside. The opening ceremony was held in a room at Universitetets Aula that was completely decorated with original Munch murals.

Universitetets Aula

New friends !

After the ceremony, we were told to make our way to city hall and that we would be greeted with food and champagne (!!!!!!!!!!!! YES).

The inside of City Hall !

Spotted the champagne…

Finally feeling excited to be in Oslo !

Mmmm…free champagne.

The International Summer School director giving a speech

Snacks ! Sadly I didn’t have any, as I am highly allergic to nuts.

Someone set off the fire alarm…

Waiting outside City Hall for the firefighters to make sure there isn’t an actual fire.

Oslo : First Impressions

I woke up early to see the fjord/coming into Oslo. I went upstairs to watch the scenery pass by. The wind was really intense on the top deck (duh) and I struggled to keep myself from being pushed over.

I didn’t realize how far the T-bane (metro/subway/transport) was from the Oslo port so I ended up dragging my suitcases for about 15 minutes to the ticket office. There was no way I was going to spend money on a cab. Once I got into the station, I hauled my bags downstairs, realized I was on the WRONG side of the platform and had to go back up then back down to the correct platform. By now, I was sweating profusely, post sea sick, and just really confused. What a GREAT start to Norway ! I got off at Blindern station and walked uphill to get to the dorms, called the blindern studenthjerm. I noticed a couple of other people heading into the office and struggling to get their luggage through the gravel.

I was given keys, a reusable mug, and information about the dormitory. Since I was there fairly early, I didn’t have a roommate yet. I started to unpack as I struggled to catch my breath. My room felt really small, bland and depressing.

I started to spice up my side of the room a lil bit with these cheap flags from Tiger that I got in Copenhagen.

I met some girls who were living next to me and we headed to the cafeteria together. My roommate showed up that night around two in the morning, and since my head was right next to the door (and I’m a really light sleeper), she scared the living sh** out of me. Yay for first encounters !

I spent the first couple of days exploring Oslo with Katelyn, a girl who I met the first day and who lived across the hall from me. She knows a LOT about Norway, so I was really grateful to have her be my own personal guide. We wandered the streets of downtown Oslo and saw some touristy sights, as well as a random parade with awesome costumes !

Little did I know I would become addicted to Freia chocolate in the coming weeks…

Being the Ultimate Procrastinator

My goal this past summer was to post photos and videos from my travels. I slacked so hard and posted only a bit … It’s now the end of October and I haven’t paid any attention to this blog. (I know, shame on me… ) I’m going to catch up on posting about my summer, since I have a hell of a lot of photos and videos that I want to share ! Afterwards, I’m hoping to post weekly about my student life in Montréal, travels in between home and here, and just random stuff.

In the meantime, here’s some interesting stuff that’s been going on lately:

1) I’m struggling to find a halloween costume that’s both inexpensive and original, but I know that I’ll end up just wearing a black dress and putting on vampire makeup like I do every year.

2) Two weekends ago I won tickets on Twitter to see Grizfolk and Bastille at Centre Bell. Although I was previously not familiar with either band, I’ve fallen absolutely in love with them. I don’t think words can describe the experience so I’ll just leave some pictures/videos here:

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3) My roommate and I FINALLY found a decent pizza place in Montréal. It’s called Pizza Motta and it’s right near Jean Talon market. We each got a huge slice, a cannoli, and soda. Definitely not healthy but so worth it ! We meandered around the market as well and spotted these gorgeous flowers : http://instagram.com/p/tdpeBIlOEc/?modal=true

I’m going to post the remainder of my memories from my summer abroad in Scandinavia, so keep a look out for that !

Smørrebrød with Kierkegaard

My last three days in Copenhagen were pretty magical. I completely fell in love with the city (and its smørrebrød)…

June 17:

I left much earlier in the morning than I had been used to. This was a bit of a struggle, since jet lag kept pulling me in, but I wanted to see if I could get a lot of museums done in one day. Since I had established a mission, I found motivation to do it. My first stop was the Rosenborg Castle. On the outside it looks majestic, but it was too dark and warm inside. There were a couple groups of young students and seniors, which made navigating the small, dark rooms difficult. At least it only cost me 60 danish kroner (student discount). I highly recommend exploring the gardens versus actually going inside the castle.

I walked a couple of blocks to the Statens Museum for Kunst. I immediately fell in love with this museum. It has such an array of art, varying from classic to contemporary. There’s something for everyone to enjoy, and it’s organized quite well. It’s also free to enter, so there’s no excuse not to visit it ! I wish I had hours to go through it and take my time, but since I was on a schedule, I hurried through.

 

On my way to the lunch spot that I had previously researched, Café Petersborg, I kind of got lost. I was distracted by all of the people on their bikes, the trains passing me, and the pretty houses, that I found myself at an intersection and not knowing where to go. I took out my handy dandy CityMaps2Go app and searched for the restaurant. I’m so grateful for this app at moments like this, especially because I’m so horrid with directions.

I was seated as soon as I got into the restaurant and ordered a traditional smørrebrød, which is an open face sandwich on rye bread. Mine was topped with hard boiled eggs, shrimp, dill, and mayonnaise. I also ordered a Carlsberg (My first Carlsberg in Copenhagen !!) to wash it all down. Just thinking about this meal makes me want another one. There was another solo traveler who was about my age in the restaurant. He approached me before I got my food and remarked on how he had heard me speak english and asked if I wanted to sit with him. I politely declined, as I am incredibly timid around strangers (Also have you seen Taken??? That was definitely not about to happen to me… hell, no). I explained to him that I was already so tired from getting lost and I’d rather just sit by myself, but thanks for the offer. After my belly had been filled with an amazing lunch, I made my way towards the Designmuseum. The Designmuseum currently has an exhibition dedicated to Wegner, which I really wanted to see. There were so many chairs, sketches, and information about his designs. It’s crazy to think about how one man’s designs really defined a whole section of Scandinavian design. The admission is also free for students.

After getting my design fix, I walked to Nyhavn because the sun had come out, and I wanted to take a canal boat tour. I know, typical tourist move… I got there just in time for the next one, and payed about 75 danish kroner. The boat tour was so nice as it had been getting progressively warmer as the day went on, so I got a nice breeze, a bit of history, and many great photos ! It was relaxing to sit back for about an hour or so and navigate through the water passages of Copenhagen. The only annoying aspect was the woman behind me, who would violently nudge me in the back every time she got up to take a picture. Oh, and all of the people who touched the bottom of each bridge we went under. I don’t understand why they felt so excited to do that? It’s probably really nasty to touch the underside of a bridge???? 

As refreshing as the canal boat tour was, I needed to get something to drink. I found myself in Joe & the Juice. It’s a really awesome juice bar which also serves sandwiches. It feels like a more-hipster health conscious Starbucks. There are Joe & the Juice’s everywhere in Copenhagen, so it’s inevitable to pass one. Juice in hand, I made my way towards the Nationalmuseet through peaceful side streets.

The Nationalmuseet is the National Museum of Denmark, it’s free to enter (Did I already mention how much I LOVE free admission to museums?!). Each room is “themed” in relation to the content, for example the walls are painted different colors for different time periods, and different ways of lighting are used which create an ambiance. This technique is helpful in maintaining an interest in the content. At the time that I was there, there weren’t many other people. So I wandered in and out of rooms all by myself which was really cool. (I may have also pretended that I lived in certain historically themed rooms when I was completely alone…)

There was a dark room that was FILLED with doll houses depicting the ways of life in Denmark. I was blown away by this room, especially because you could step on a stool and peek into the backs of the houses. The quiet eeriness of the actual room itself and the dolls placed in living situations was a weird combination.

My visit was cut short, however, since I had arrived about half an hour before their closing time. My exhaustion from the day had caught up with me, so I headed towards Central Station “Kobenhavn H” so that I could make my way home.

June 18:

To start off my morning right, I went directly to Kongens Have, also known as the gardens around Rosenborg Castle. It was my last day exploring Copenhagen, and I was going to make the most of it. People were outside, on large blankets with their families soaking up the sun and having picnics. I so badly wished I lived down the street from this park so that this could be a daily reality. I sat down for a bit and daydreamed in this magnificent garden area…

Once I snapped back to reality, I went to find the Davids Samling collection, which is conveniently located right next to the park. The moment I walked in, I was bombarded with heavenly air conditioning. My mood immediately lifted. Something that is hard to get used to, coming to Europe from the US, is the non existence of air conditioning. The collection was really impressive, although the rooms that kept the Islamic art were VERY dark and VERY cold. If you want to take pictures, you’re going to have a tough time trying to stabilize your camera. Other than that, I do recommend checking it out as it is free admission and it has one of the largest collections of Islamic art in Northern Europe. They had all sorts of interactive portions, such as a screen that if you clicked on a coin, it would give you information about it. There were other rooms featuring European and Danish art, which were pleasantly bright and felt like I was walking inside someone’s private home and checkin’ their impressive art collection out.

It was almost lunch time, so I started walking towards Nørrebro. Apparently, Nørrebro is the more hipster, less touristy area of Copenhagen which offers a lot of cool places to check out. I also noticed that it was much more diverse than central Copenhagen, which I was happy to see. Before crossing the bridge to get there, I picked up a take-out smørrebrød from Aamanns. I had to wait for about half an hour in line, but I knew that it would be worth it. I HIGHLY recommend anyone to take out from there, and go to the nearest park to eat it. You can eat inside the restaurant, but it was really packed and MORE expensive (there are separate, cheaper prices for take out). I walked about 20 minutes to the Assistens Cemetery, which had me go over a bridge and down a “main” street with stores, food, etc.

Once inside the cemetery grounds, I wandered around a bit, trying to find the perfect place to sit and eat my smørrebrød. I know that it might sound weird or disrespectful that I ate in a cemetery, but there were so many people doing the same that I assumed it was a normal thing. I obviously avoided eating directly next to a tombstone, and found a nice section of grass away from them that had benches.

I must have looked like I knew what I was doing as a person came up to me and tried to get my attention in Danish. When I realized what they were doing, I told them I only spoke English. They wanted to know where Hans Christian Andersen was buried, but obviously I had no idea yet. The Assistens Cemetery doesn’t have an eerie feel to it. It’s so beautiful, with many spots of shade and tombstones are kind of hidden in some sections. There are so many people laying out in the shade and relaxing that there was a really chilled out vibe.

I wanted to find three particular tombs: Niels Bohr, Søren Kierkegaard, and Hans Christian Andersen. I was pretty confused by the map of the cemetery and the actual layout, so it took me a lot more time that I thought it would.

I sat on a bench by Hans Christian Andersen’s grave and an older man, who I saw earlier tending to the landscape, came up to me. He asked me where I was from and what I was doing in Denmark. He then told me about what I need to see in Denmark as well as other parts in Scandinavia. His accent was really heavy, but I understood how proud he was to be Danish. It was really nice to talk to a local about how happy they were to be Danish. On my way out of Nørrebro, I couldn’t help but get ice cream on a corner shop before crossing the bridge. Ice cream in Scandinavia is so freakin’ good, but it’s a struggle for me because it makes me feel so sick. Oh well, you win and you lose I guess.

June 19:

This day was a sad one. I fell in love with Copenhagen, even though I was only there for a couple of days. I guess it was a mixture of feeling comfortable and safe since I was staying with close relatives as well as being able to explore the city in really nice weather. I am so grateful that I got to stay with family, since I truly felt like I was coming back to a “home” at the end of the day. They also shared so much insight about what to do/see that I made the most of my trip.

My cousin took me in the morning to run some errands at a nearby mall. He took me to a couple of design stores, one was similar to Home Depot, but a lot classier, and another was a light fixture store. The lights were incredibly expensive, and he told me that some people’s homes get broken into because of what type of lights they have. One of the “Scandinavian design” stores we went into had this display:

I’m not even going to try and explain why this is considered design? … It’s very confusing to me. After the stores, my cousin wanted to show me a little building that served as both a liquor store and package retrieval place. Very random, but AWESOME !

Before we heading home to get my luggage, I grabbed a classic Danish pølser (hot dog) for lunch. We picked up my little cousins from school and went straight to the ferry terminal. I had mixed emotions of sadness, anxiety, and excitement when my cousins said goodbye and left. I got onto the ferry and into my single cabin with window.

Once I was settled in, I went back up to the top of the ship and grabbed a ridiculously expensive glass of white wine just as the ship set sail. I honestly got a bit emotional seeing Copenhagen grow smaller…

Overall, I didn’t have a good time on the ferry. I was wearing motion sickness bracelets, but I still felt sick by dinner time. After dinner, I took some nausea pills and passed out in my cabin while watching Downtown Abbey.

It was time to say goodbye to Denmark… and get prepared for Norway !

 

Roller coasters, and Mermaids, and Peacocks! Oh, my !

My first official couple of days discovering Copenhagen and its wonders were filled with sun, color, and happiness…although some things didn’t go according to plan.

June 14th:

My cousins and I headed to Tivoli early in the morning with rain jackets and sunscreen, something I’ve learned to always keep with me in Scandinavia. They told me about how Walt Disney was inspired by the theme park.

I was really surprised at how short the lines were and how the security was light compared to Disney. I had so much fun going on rides with my little cousins, who are both under the age of 10. They got so excited about certain rides, which made me excited as well.

After a couple of hours doing most of the rides, we headed to Wagamamas to have lunch. I’ve only heard about Wagamamas in a UK context, so I was eager to try it… and oh my GOSH did it live up to my expectations ! It was SO good ! After lunch, we wandered around the park a little bit more and ran into some “wild” peacocks. Yep. Peacocks just chillin’ out in the sun in a theme park. Crazy stuff. One of my cousins got really close to it, before I warned him that it might not be a good idea.

We hung around the stage area of Tivoli and there was a group of girls that were doing a gymnastic routine to uncensored hip-hop/rap music, which was a bit odd to hear with so many children around. I guess they don’t really care about explicit lyrics here ?

After going in and out of stores, candy shops, and Build-a-Bear, we left Tivoli and found ourselves in a small Turkish street festival. We each got an ice cream from a vendor who liked to play tricks on his customers. Not being able to speak Danish, or Turkish for that matter, I tried to explain that I wanted strawberry/chocolate, but ended up with only chocolate. All was well though, since the ice cream was AMAZING !

June 15th

My relatives wanted to take me sightseeing and spend time exploring some of Copenhagen, so we headed out in the morning. Our first stop was “Den lille Havrue” (if you say this in an American accent, it sounds really funny, trust me), also known as The Little Mermaid. She was definitely little indeed, but I also realized that she’s basically the size of a human, so I don’t really know what I was expecting. My cousin told me that parts of her, especially her head, have been sawn off a handful of times. It was nice to see her before the spot got too touristy, since people are not shy about climbing all over her. If you want to visit her, come early in the morning or you’re guaranteed to take a picture of the Little Mermaid and a stranger sitting on her lap.

We went on to eat at the most awesome lunch spot, Toldboden, overlooking the water. It was set up to either pay to eat in buffet form or pick a specific dish. We split a couple of fish & chips plates as well as fish cake and carrot type thing. It was so good that I completely forgot to take a picture of it.

After lunch, we walked to the Amalienborg Slot, which is the Danish Royal Palace. We may or may not have gotten yelled at for peeking in one of the guard’s posts…oops !

Afterwards, we passed by the Opera House, the Royal Danish Playhouse and Nyhavn. In Nyhavn, we went into an ice cream shop which besides being about 100 degrees F inside, rolled their own waffel cones. Unfortunately, I didn’t have an ice cream this time because I’m a bit lactose sensitive and I wasn’t sure what time we’d be back home.

June 16th

To set the record straight, I’m not someone who is really into “drug culture”, as my biggest vice is wine. I know that a lot of people find Freetown Christiania appealing because you can find marijuana “legally”. I wanted to check out Christiania so that I could get an idea of how it was organized, what types of people were there, and to understand what the hype was about. I initially went through the wrong entrance and wandered around a lake for a while. After following an older couple up some stairs, I found myself inside the neighborhood. Unfortunately, I must have gotten there too early, as there weren’t many people around. I browsed in the shops and wandered aimlessly for about ten minutes before deciding that I didn’t really have much to do this early in the morning, unless I wanted to relax the day away 😉. Unfortunately, they don’t allow people to take pictures inside the area, so I don’t have much to show.

I decided to leave and find the church with the gold spiral staircase that my cousin had told me about. The Vor Frelsers Kirke is only about a block or two away from where I exited from Christiania, so I climbed up the 400 or so steps to the top. It cost me around 30 danish kroner since I had my student pass. I’ve learned to always carry my student ID since I never know if I may get a discount because of it. The steps to the top are very narrow and steep, so I don’t recommend it to anyone who is claustrophobic or afraid of darkness/heights. After a lot of sweat and a couple of pauses to catch my breath, I made it to the top. I spent about 15 minutes just taking in the view. It was truly incredibly to see Copenhagen from this angle.

I climbed back down the stairs, which was way more difficult than climbing up because more people had arrived. The width of the church staircase fits only one person at a time, so everyone has to take turns. This was surprisingly dealt with in a very polite manner, as no one pushed in front of anyone. I passed over the bridge and the first stock exchange building, to make it back into the city centre.

Once I found the restaurant I wanted to try for lunch, I realized that I had mixed up the days and that it was closed. I was so upset…

I wandered around and found some stores to browse through while I tried to figure out where else I could go for lunch. I’m allergic to hazelnuts and peanuts, so it’s essential for me to research a bit before eating somewhere. This way, I can Google translate menu items/ingredients and find something that won’t kill me.

I found a rain jacket that was on super sale at Monki, but unfortunately my Visa was declined since it doesn’t have a chip or pin. Ugh !! I was almost in tears as I headed to an expensive take out cafe and got a tuna sandwich. As I collected my thoughts and emotions, I found an ATM and took out cash to buy the rain jacket. Once that was done, I headed back to my relative’s house and went for a walk around a nearby park.

The beauty of everything in that park calmed me down and I didn’t feel as frustrated as before. It was an end to an interesting day, and I was excited to see what the next couple of days would bring me.

Danish Flags & Hamburger Dressing

I’ve never experienced an equal dose of crankiness and excitement at one time. I guess there’s a first for everything.

June 12th: I arrived at the Copenhagen airport around 6:30pm. At this point, I had been awake for almost 30 hours. I don’t really count sporadically getting a couple of minutes of sleep here and there during a flight as real sleep. The moment I remembered that I had to go to baggage claim, all the hope left in me faded. Honestly, I HATE waiting for my bag because I always assume that it will be lost. After a solid twenty minutes of watching black suitcase after black suitcase come down the conveyer belt, I spotted my bright white bag. My deliriousness had caught up with me and I exclaimed YES. FINALLY, THANK YOU and strutted out of the baggage claim area. Before I knew it, I was at arrivals. I had a mini panic attack  because I thought that I had accidentally missed passport control. Uh, duh I had already gone through in the Netherlands, but forgive me, I was exhausted.

On my tip toes over the crowd of people, I spotted my relatives. My little cousin was holding a small Danish flag, and explained that it was tradition to greet a guest with a flag. A wave of joy came over me as we headed out of the airport. It was so awesome seeing my cousins in Denmark ! They’ve been in Denmark for the past couple of years and I was so excited to spend time with them there. We took the train from the airport to their house. Upon entering and being greeted with more Danish flags, my energy came back full force. We caught up with each other over surprisingly tasty take out pizza. I felt so relieved to be in a comfortable home setting with family.

June 13th I forced myself to wake up early to start battling against jet lag. Coffee was my saving grace the first couple of days. My cousins had to head off to school and work so I was left to unpack my luggage and situate myself in the room I was given. After slowly trying to wake my brain up, I headed out to explore the town that my cousins live in. I bought a SIM card for my phone (which I bought prior to my trip on Amazon) and then went to explore the closest supermarkets. First, I went into Netto which is a cheap grocery store. It has a lot of familiar looking items, but hearing people speak Danish and looking at labels that were foreign too me became kind of overwhelming. After awkwardly grabbing a couple of necessities, such as shampoo, conditioner, and makeup remover, I headed to the higher end store called SuperBrugsen. It was a lot cleaner and neater than Netto, which I liked, but the prices were definitely higher. I explored the shop and spotted a large tube of “Hamburger Dressing” with a picture of a hamburger on it. I stood in the aisle for a couple of minutes trying to figure what in the heck this was supposed to be. Is it dressing flavored like a hamburger? Is it dressing that goes on a hamburger? So many unanswered questions. I grabbed a jar of apricot marmalade and soy milk and went to the register. In Scandinavia, I’ve noticed that they’re serious about their shopping dividers on the conveyer belts. It’s a vibe the people give off when you’re putting things on the conveyer belt. Later that evening, I spotted a The Fault in Our Stars poster and I was so excited since I had been to Amsterdam the day before.

I confess that the first couple of days in a new country where I’m not familiar with the language or customs is very difficult for me. I feel a lot of anxiety over navigating on my own, being courteous to other people, and overall just handling situations. I’ve learned not to be ashamed of struggling in a new place, as it’s normal to feel overwhelmed. The first couple of days in Copenhagen and Oslo were a bit of a struggle, and I will discuss it further in my upcoming posts !

7 Hours in Amsterdam

Flying from New York to Copenhagen included a long layover in Amsterdam. I took advantage of this and explored the city for approximately 7 hours. I bought my tickets to the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh museum about a month in advance in order to skip the line. Amsterdam is a really easy city to navigate and get into from the airport. It was so beautiful and warm and I was so lucky that I was able to visit off tourist season.

7:20am I arrived in Amsterdam Schiphol airport, fairly content that I was able to sleep through most of my flight. Once I got off the plane, I headed to passport control. The gate was literally a 10 minute walk from customs. After explaining to the officer that I was only in Holland for the next seven hours, I proceeded out to find the baggage lockers. The Amsterdam airport, Schiphol is honestly one of the most well organized airports I’ve ever been through and their staff were more than kind in helping me navigate it.  

8:00am I took bus 197 from Schiphol straight to Rijksmuseum. It took about 40 minutes and cost exactly five euros. It was so easy and I definitely recommend taking it. Check out more information here.

8:45am I got off the bus and started walking towards the Rijksmuseum. What surprised me most about Amsterdam was the amount of bikes EVERYWHERE. I was a bit delirious since it was technically about 1am New York time, so I almost got hit a couple of times that day (oops).

9:00am After waiting about 10 minutes outside until the museum opened, I finally got inside ! The Rijksmuseum offers free wifi, so I had a chance to check-in on Facebook and assure my parents that I had safely arrived. It was unreal to explore such a huge museum without crowds of people around me. I had watched a couple of documentaries/informative videos (1, 2) about the renovation that the museum went through recently. Since I had done so much research about the museum and its contents, I was able to go through it quite quickly. There were only about two groups of seniors who were in the museum at the same time. This allowed me to spend a lot of time completely alone in some of the rooms, taking it all in.

1030am I started to get dizzy and thirsty, so I decided to finish up exploring the Rijksmuseum. As I headed out, I spotted the Cobra Café. I knew that it was probably an overpriced tourist trap, but I really wasn’t feeling well and needed something to help me from passing out. I sat outside and ordered a spinach goat cheese quiche and coffee. Although pricey, it was very tasty and the restaurant offered free wifi ! It also had a great view of the Museumplein (if you sit outside), so I sat back and soaked up the sun for a bit until I felt my energy come back.

11am Since Europe doesn’t really believe in free water (or anything free), I needed to find a grocery store near the Museumplein. Prior to my trip, I downloaded an app called CityMaps2Go. It has made exploring by myself a lot less stressful. You don’t need wifi or data for it, as long as you download the map before you travel. It finds your location using the wifi spots around you and even shows which direction you’re going in ! I searched for the nearest grocery store on the app, and started heading towards it. I passed by a bunch of touristy kiosks on the way.

 

 

1130am Once cooled off and hydrated thanks to a air conditioning and cheap bottled water, I made my way back towards to Museumplein so that I could sit by the water and watch as more and more people aggregated around the ‘IAMSTERDAM’ sign. I had about half an hour to kill before I had to be at the Van Gogh museum.

 

12pm I headed into the Van Gogh museum, which unfortunately did not allow for anyone to take pictures. It was incredibly crowded at this time. There were people from all over the world here; families, young couples, solitary travelers, older people, and kids. I think it’s amazing how so many people are brought together in this museum. People were pointing and discussing Van Gogh’s art with one another. Perhaps it was my exhaustion catching up with me, but I did get a bit emotional seeing so many cultures brought together by one man’s work. Especially since Van Gogh will never know the impact he had. It made me think of the Doctor Who episode with Van Gogh.

 

1:30pm I headed out of the museum, reflecting on how amazing it was. Using CityMaps2Go, I started walking towards a restaurant that I had read good reviews about. I had one thing left on my checklist, and that was to try bitterballen ! I arrived at Café Luxembourg and sat at a table near the window. The waiters were so kind and spoke perfect English, which was a relief ! I ordered a glass of champagne and bitterballen. Bitterballen are deep fried balls of thick meat ragu. They were absolutely delicious, but I was so hungry that I burnt my mouth every time I bit into one ! They came in a serving of six, which surprisingly filled me up.

2:00pm I started walking back towards where I needed to take the shuttle to the airport. There weren’t too many people around, so it was lovely being able to leisurely explore a tiny bit of the city. I passed multiple art galleries and high end boutiques. Every time I passed a canal, I was overwhelmed. I can’t believe people actually live here !

 

230pm I found my bus stop and waited for a while, then was told that I was on the wrong side of the street and I had to wait another twenty minutes for the next shuttle. At this point, I was a bit late for getting back to the airport and started stressing out. Once I got back, I hurried to get my luggage out of the lockers, and to my gate. I was disappointed because I didn’t have any time to shop. I was beginning to really feel exhausted (mostly cranky) and just wanted to get to my next destination.

5pm The smallest plane I’ve ever taken in my life took off for Copenhagen ! There were mostly business men on the flight, and a young couple in front of me who took pictures of clouds for the entire hour and a half we were in the air. I guess they did look kind of cool… 🙂

Final Countdown

Tomorrow is the start of my seven week long summer adventure.

I have been planning this trip since September of last year, so I’m pretty excited. It hasn’t really hit me that it’s actually happening. I will be chronicling my escapades on this blog as well as posting some YouTube videos of my travels that you can find here.

I decided to write a small list of experiences that I’m looking forward to:

• Amsterdam : Rijksmuseum + Van Gogh Museum
• Copenhagen : Exploring the many design museums and shops + Tivoli Park + Tiger store + visiting family
• Norway : Living in Oslo + Participating in the International Summer School at the University of Oslo + taking courses/meeting people from all over the world, going on a reindeer safari and hiking in Jotunheimen National Park + visiting Bergen.

I have never been/am not familiar with Scandinavia whatsoever, so every experience will be new. All I know is that it is a very expensive area of the world, so hopefully I’ve got enough cash with me.

If you enjoy what I’m posting, please check back regularly and let me know what you think !