Four Cities, Four Languages, Three Countries in Four Days!

First off, as I write this, I am now in Geneva, and you can tell from the title of this post that it will be a long one. I'd put pictures up, but right now they are all still on my camera, so those will come later, I promise :) Also, as a warning, this is mostly a content post- I want to record it before I forget it all! I am still processing and reflecting on everything.

Where do i even begin?! The flight to Copenhagen last Wednesday was good; I sat next to a really nice Swedish family on the plane, a mom and her 2 daughters. in between napping and reading we chatted about the US and Scandinavia, etc. We arrived in snowy Denmark at 7am, which our American heads felt was 1am because of the time difference- but instead of time for bed, it was time to go!

After baggage claim and customs, we finally made it out of the airport with our 2 HUGE suitcases each, plus duffel bags. Luckily, we had carts to wheel our bags to the train, but then we were on our own. DIS is not far from Nørreport, the nearest train station, but it was much harder than it sounds! We just happened to arrive during a big snowstorm, although we landed without a problem (so we KNEW we weren't in the US anymore!). The sidewalks were snowy, and with probably a total of 130-140 pounds in luggage, we weren't going anywhere fast, or even anywhere slow. It look us a good 20 minutes just to make it out of the station (the trains get in below street level, and we were highly confused and exhauste), but thanks to 2 very helpful Danes, we found the street. With all the snow and luggage, walking to DIS was NOT going to happen, so we took a taxi the few blocks. (Sidenote: my large duffle bag lost its wheels at some point, which i didnt realize when i packed it, so that couldn't even roll, though I attempted to wear it backpack style..it's not a backpack)

We dropped our bags at DIS, and after a short rest, we began the walk to our hostel, Sleep in Heaven, about 15 minutes away. We stopped to get delicious croissants in a cute Danish cafe, and then rolled our duffel bags (at this point, my smaller one still had functional wheels) across the city to the hostel, which turned out to be bright, clean, and very safe! A nice Danish woman helped us to find it, as we were one block too far down the street. That's one thing we could tell immediately about the Danes- although people we passed on the streets weren't outwardly super friendly and might not smile or say hi, they were always more than happy to help out a couple confused American tourists.

We were staying in a room with two other girls; Kana from Japan and Cherish from London. They were both really great, and made our first hostel experience wonderful. We met two guys from Germany who were in the room next door, and went out and wandered the streets of Copenhagen. It was really cool for me, because i was finally able to put my 4 years of German to use! The guys, Jan and Christian, laughed about my American accent, but it was fun trying to speak in each other's language and learn more words and phrases from them.

BASEL, SWITZERLAND

Basel Rathouse

The next morning we headed off to Basel, Switzerland. Basel was really beautiful, with lots of gorgeous old fashioned architecture. We explored the city using our free transportation pass, got our first taste of Swiss chocolate in Switzerland, and saw the Rhein River. It was kind of cloudy and a little rainy,

River in Basel

 so that was slightly disappointing, but it was a good afternoon/evening none the less. I loved being able to communicate with people here in German, since it is in the more German part of Switzerland.

The hostel in Basel was also really safe, although a different feel. It was called Basel Backpack, and true to name, it was a trendy, urban hostel meant for true backpackers. We were in a shared female room with 2 other women- a girl from China and a woman from Germany, who tended to sit on her bed and stare in front of her for long periods of time. Danielle and I also took advantage of our time at the hostel to plan our Roman, since we were leaving early (5am!) for the weekend. After planning the trip, we met two people also staying at the hostel- Norman, from Berlin, and his friend, who had really pretty curly red hair and was from Bavaria. Norman is an artist, and looked the part, with long dreadlocks (check out his website, allthecolors.net ), and he had painted the walls in the hallway of the hostel. They were both total free spirits, living at the hostel until they had money to go elsewhere, kind of going wherever the wind blew.

That's definitely been the highlight of travels so far- it's been so amazing to meet different people from all over the world, who come from different backgrounds and upbringings, but still share so many of the same human universals. No matter where we've gone, there has never been a shortage of local people willing to point us in the right direction, or fellow travelers willing to swap stories.

Back to travels, though. We left Basel bright and early (well, not bright at all. it was still dark) to head to Rome for two days. Rome was absolutely amazing. We created a great plan, using advice from Danielle's European travel book, and following recommendations from Pete Schielke, who had studied abroad there.

ROME DAY ONE:
We checked in at our super clean, all female hostel. The woman who ran it was so helpful, showing us on the map where the main sites were and what buses we could take. She even helped arrange our ride to get back to the airport Monday! As we began our trek across the city, we walked through an amazing

Fruit at the Roman Market

outdoor market of flowers, fresh fruits and vegetables, clothing, and everything in between, and picked up the most amazing dried mango that would serve as a snack throughout the day. We went to the Pantheon, which was the first famous Roman site I had ever

Pantheon

 visited, so I was definitely in awe, and grabbed a delicious lunch where we shared gnocchi and mozarella and tomato. We then got delicious gelato (dark chocolate and cannoli for me!), and headed back across town to see the Vatican before the museum closed.

GELATO!

Unfortunately, the Sistene Chapel happened to be closed early that day, but it was still amazing to see the Vatican Museum. It was cool to be there with Danielle, because she is Catholic, so she was able to share a little bit of the meaning behind some things we saw. By this time, our feet were KILLING us from all of the walking on cobblestones, but we powered through it, and after looking around for a couple hours, we walked around the walls of Vatican City to go in the front and go
 inside of St. Peter's, which was absolutely beautiful as well. We got dinner at a small place on the way back to our hostel- we were too tired to go anywhere farther!- and actually got our first full night's sleep, which was amazing...I could have slept forever after all of our early morning travels!!

ROME DAY TWO
I thought it wasn't possible, but it was even busier than the first day, with lots of walking! We woke up at 7:30 to head to the Colosseum

Looking out over Palentine Hill

and Palentine Hill/The Forum, which was a LONG walk from our hostel! Both were incredible though; it is so crazy to think how long ago they were built by the hands of the Romans, using technology that we would consider primitive, and that all of the buildings served such an important role to the Roman life and culture. I was completely in awe- everything was so picturesque and beautiful. (real pictures to come, I promise!)

We then walked as fast as our poor feet could handle to the bus stop to hope on an extremely crowded bus to head to the Vatican to hear the Pope speak. It was really cool, even though I'm not Catholic, and don't speak Italian. We had a great

The Vatican

view of the window that he spoke from, and we stood next to this sweet, older Italian woman. She has lived in Rome for 50 years, but it was her first time being there to see the Pope, who speaks every Sunday. She was a wonderful help to have, as she translated some of what was being said for Danielle and I, and shared her personal insight as well. Like I said before, the people that we met were truly amazing! At the end of his address, he blessed the crowd in all different languages, so it was cool to hear some English, and to understand some of what he said in German!

We did a lot of afternoon sightseeing, walking all over the city. We got lunch at this great place, as per Pete's suggestion (thanks Pete!), and I had delicious homemade pasta with shrimp and cherry tomatoes and bruschetta. We splurged on real food and meals in Italy; in other places, we are definitely sticking to the minimum. We went to the Spanish Steps, Piazza Navona, and the Trevi Fountain, which was beautiful at night (we saw it after watching the sunrise from a park above the Steps). Then we got great pizza for dinner, followed by more delicious gelato (white chocolate/nutella with a little dark chocolate, all dipped in chocolate- SO GOOD!). Then I think we just headed home, since it was late by then, and our feet felt no better than the day before.

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
This morning we headed off to Geneva bright and early. We flew over the Alps- the view of the snow capped peaks from the (VERY) few gaps in the clouds was great. Geneva was great, definitely different

"Broken Chair"

than Rome- less crowded, and we were not on as tight of a schedule. We went to the United Nations to see the flags of all the countries, and saw the huge

Red Cross Museum

statue of a broken chair, in honor of people injured by landmines and bombs and the like. We then walked to the Red Cross museum, and ended up spending a couple hours there walking through the various exhibits; it was amazing! It was about Henry Dunant the history of the Red Cross and what it has done- it to see how one man, with a lot of ambition, heart, and desire to create a better future was able to literally change the face of the world. After you exit the exhibits, there is a big guestbook you can sign- it was almost entirely filled up, though the most recent entries were from this past November (I can only imagine how many books they have!!)- it was really inspiring to see the messages about peace, love, and hope written by thousands of people from various

Red Cross Museum-
"Write Your Definition of Freedom"

places in different languages. There was also this display where people were able to write their definition of freedom; there are some ideals that go across all languages.

Then we just wandered across the river to the Old Town of Geneva, with lots of beautiful historic streets and buildings. We went in almost every chocolate shop we saw, and stocked up on Swiss chocolate- definitely my splurge for this city!- but made up for it by getting a few

Flower Clock in Geneva

things at the grocery store for dinner. We saw the flower clock (a huge clock made of, you guessed it, flowers!), walked down by the water, saw a few different churches and cathedrals, and went back to the hostel. Just like they've all been so far (knock on wood!) this hostel is clean and safe and great- we have a 3 bedroom room with a sink to ourselves!

I'm sitting on my unmade bed (the sheets are next to me) as I write this. It's been such a whirlwind, these past (almost) 5 days- it feels like so much longer since I was last home! It has been absolutely incredible though, I cannot believe the different countries I have been to already! It will feel weird, in a great way, to finally be able to settle down in one place and not live out of one small duffel bag (newly purchased at a little souvenir shop in Rome, since my small duffel bag broke as well). I'm definitlely excited to see what Copenhagen, classes, my host family, and Danish culture have to offer me, but I defintiely want to soak up every ounce of the experience leading up to then. We leave for Budapest tomorrow at 2, or, at 14:00 (we are in Europe, after all) and after spending about 2 days there, we will spend about another 2 in Paris, before flying back to CPH.

This has been amazing so far. My first trip to Europe is definitely exceeding expectations, not that I knew what to expect. The best part, I think, has just been the experience of meeting different people and experiencing the wonderful things that they have to offer. I have met people in hostels from Germany, Ireland, London, Japan, Romania, and a few other places, and it has been so cool that, though we all are traveling for different reasons and come from very different places, we can still find common ground and learn from one another. The local people we have met in each city have truly made the experience as well. As I have mentioned, the helpfulness of people has been incredible- it is amazing to see the common ties of the human spirit. Today on the train to the airport in Rome, we shared a section of seats with an Italian woman. Though she spoke no English, the laughs that we shared about the repeated delays, and announcement of these delays (in Italian), needed no translation, and she was kind enough to let us no that there was "no problema", despite all of the delays. We have needed help at nearly every bus station or train station to make sure that we are buying the right ticket or getting on the right train/bus, and whether it's a man at the luggage check, a security officer, another random traveler, or anyone in between, everyone is beyond willing to help us, even when we can't communicate using the same language.

Okay, that's it for now. If you made it to here, I am beyond impressed. I think this post is probably more

Grafiti in Rome

for me and my memory bank than anything else- I am scared to see how long it will be when I press publish. But I don't want to forget anything about this experience. I probably won't post again until I'm back in Denmark. So, until then...

Hej, hej! Tschüs! Ciao! Au Revoir!


Michelle