København - the cheapest trip ever

My new favorite city

Who knew a cruise could be free?
Totally and completely free- no strings attached

Thursday afternoon, 20 (or so) international students and I embarked on a mini cruise to the capital of Denmark, known in English as Copenhagen. We left around 5pm and because it was such a beautiful day, we got to watch the sunset as we sailed through the Oslofjord. Of course, being typical college students, everyone immediately went below deck to enjoy the bounty at the on board Duty-Free store as soon as it opened at 5:30.
I went to bed around 6:30, like the lame college student I sometimes am. But, I did wake up at one point when we were in the open sea, the boat was rocking so bad I thought I'd roll right out of bed. Luckily I did not get sea-sick, though I found out later several of my friends did.

The next morning we arrived in Copenhagen around 9:30am. My first impression of the city was: flat. From high aboard the ship you could see for miles in every direction. I don't think even Denver is as flat as Copenhagen! We had until 5pm to explore the city, and amazingly it was the first time since I've been in Scandinavia that I did not need a coat, so I cheerfully wore a light sweater all day! Once we were in the city it took some searching but we finally found a city map, and it had a convenient 2-3hr self guided tour of the city. Kelsey, Brooke and I decided to take advantage of it, and we got to see the biggest and most exciting churches and castles in the city. Not only did we see impressive architecture, but the tour also led us through less touristy parts of town.

King's Gardens, one of our first big sights, was a gorgeous lawn with several beautiful statues, and in the middle was the Roseburg Castle, the royal families summer house in the 1600's. Then, since I am a huge fan of the Little Mermaid, and it being one of Copenhagen's most famous attractions, we sought out the statue. It was very crowded around her, but I am glad to say I have seen the statue, but all the girls I babysit back home may get jealous. I was also happy to find out she is indeed supposed to represent the fairy tale Little Mermaid, and that the story is originally from Denmark.

After that, we saw Amalienborg Palace, the winter home of the royal family. This palace consists of four identical palaces each guarded by the Royal Life Guards, who look very similar to the English Guards. This place was HUGE! Sadly the Queen was not home, or we could have seen the King's Guards as well. Behind this palace is the Marble Church, a huge domed church made of, yes, marble.

After that we found our way to the Port. This is where you can see famous pictures of cute, colorful homes alongside a river. It truly was gorgeous. I loved the atmosphere and fresh air of this neighborhood more than any other place I saw. After the main parts of Copenhagen were covered, and our tour complete, we set out to explore with our remaining time. We saw the impressive Church of Our Savior, with its' amazing black and gold spiral, that in summer time you can climb and see the city. Back in the main parts of the city, life had exploded, now that it was mid afternoon on a Friday. It had originally been quiet and sleepy, but now there were crepe' stands around every corner and people playing music by fountains.

After close to 6 hours of exploring, we were exhausted and went back to the ship a bit early. I immediately fell asleep and took such a deep nap that when I woke I thought it was the morning and I'd be late getting off the ship in Oslo. After some panicked dressing and packing I found out it was only 6:40 in the evening. I joined up with some friends for the evening and spent the rest of the night dancing and singing at the ships dance club.

For such a short and quick trip I am extremely happy with how much I got to see. The city was amazing, I fell head over heels in love with it. It was a gorgeous place full of old buildings, statues down every block and old churches and palaces around every corner. The people were also very friendly, the environment was cheerful and not too touristy. For being a free cruise, I had an amazing weekend.

Rosenburg Castle

St. Peters Church

Dancing the night away!

Things I've Learned, Love & Miss

Things I've Learned:

1) The suburbs are filled with gorgeous homes; however, very few house a single family. Any particular home could have 2-4 families in it. This make me feel like my "tiny" house is actually quite luxurious.

2) Everything in Norway is small. I haven't seen a single truck (except delivery trucks). They have mini electric cars, furniture is small and closer to the ground and flats are smaller than typical american apartments

3) American's work too hard. Norwegians get 6 weeks of vacation a year, any sign of injury or sickness and they can get up to 2 years off, with same job and pay guaranteed when they return. Not only with work, but in the school area as well. The average age for a college student in Norway is 30. I've talked to some Norwegians my age and they're impressed I'm already in my 3rd year of college, most haven't even started.

4) Norwegians always dress to impress. Everyone wears the latest fashionable jackets, jeans, boots, etc. I feel like a slob if I'm in typical "me" clothes, especially if I wear tennis shoes! 

5) I'm a American-Norwegian Stereotype. Apparently over the past few years American's with Norwegian heritage have been coming to Norway to rediscover their family history. They even have reality TV shows about this.

6) American's are not very highly thought of. Shocker right? Some of the younger people are fascinated with American culture, but many Norwegian's think we're naive and that we think we're the best in the world. Hopefully I can show by example that this is not true of most Americans. 

7) I can't tell you how many times I've be startled by commercials on day time TV, for example, a commercial for a cell phone company had a old lady walk across the screen completely naked. And after 11pm I've learned to be VERY cautious when channel flipping.. there are many porn channels.

Things I Love:

1) Animals are everywhere! You see dogs on public transportation, in the train station, sometimes in malls. Everywhere you look there are dogs.

2) Bakeries at every corner. I love getting a impromptu snack! Sure it costs a lot more than I'd ever pay back home, but any pastry here is delicious! My favorites is Skolebrød, custard and coconut yumminess: -->

3) Everything is closed on Sundays. At first, it was weird and kind of frustrating. But now I really enjoy that it truly is a "day off".

4) Classroom settings. Depending on the class, you only have it once or twice a week. But each lecture is: 45 min lecture - 15 min break - 45 min lecture. At first I dreaded the long lectures, but after my first day I loved it. Right as you're getting ansty you get a break, I find it much easier to stay focused with this style.

5) The food! I've had more fish, eggs and bread lately than I remember ever having before! The bread is AMAZING, always fresh loaves, nothing at all like American bread. I did struggle at first on how to make strait, even slices of bread!

Things I miss:

1) Starbucks. Not just the pricey, fancy drinks, I just miss cheap, good, black coffee. (yes, after living here, Starbucks IS cheap), although today I DID find Starbucks Frappuccino drinks, totally made my day!!

2) $1 pop. In a way, I am a lot healthier now since I've had maybe 3 pop's in the 2 months I've been here. A small bottle can cost between $3-5! Doesn't mean I don't miss it though!

3) Ice free sidewalks. Even though I've lived in Colorado the past 3 years and am very used to snow, it's the ice that I can't stand. Here, the ice sticks around and becomes extremely uneven and really slippery. Every step could be fatal!

4) Cheez-its. enough said.

5) Having an animal around. As the crazy animal lady, I'm used to constant animal contact. I haven't even ridden a horse in 2 months now!

Fortsetter meg eventyr i Oslo

(continuing my adventures in Oslo)

First and foremost, I have learned that learning languages is not my forte'
- in case taking Spanish wasn't clue enough -

I have mastered the various ways to express my predicament:
1) If caught off guard or really flustered: "english!"
2) When in a store & expecting it: "Jeg snakker ikke norsk"
- I don't speak norwegian
3) If I initiate something: "Unnskyld, jeg snakker ikke norsk, men jeg snakker englesk"
- excuse me I don't speak Norwegian, but I speak English. 

I have (rarely) been able to complete transactions 100% in Norwegian. But, once, after succesfully buying 3 bolla's (rolls) for a shocking 20kr, I apparently sounded sufficient in my language skills because the cashier started talking quickly, totally bewildering me and amusing him. I'm always glad to entertain locals with my horrible sentence-forming skills.

Recently, I visited the Freya Chocolate Factory with a group of 22 students! The tour was designed for children, which probably made it even more fun for us. We walked through the amazon and learn how the first chocolate was made. Along this tour we got sample of their chocolate to eat, just to convince us how good it is, so we'd buy some in the store! Which of course, at the discounted price, was the first cheap thing I'd found in Norway so I just HAD to buy a lot of chocolate. True to my nature, it was all gone in less than a week.

I've tried my hand, or more accurately: my legs, at cross country skiing again. The amount of times I fell  was almost embarrassing to my Norwegian heritage. At the top of one very steep hill I ended up sitting on my skis and "sledding" down the hill, much to the laughter of all my witnesses. The one saving grace (and yes, my excuse) was that, I found out it was not 100% my fault, my boots don't match my bindings. Hopefully I'll be able to get a matching set for my next venture to Oslo's great outdoors (and of course I'll be a natural)

While I have adjusted to the smaller portion sizes of food, and lack of diet coke, I have yet to adjust to the coffee. I get teased regularly for my dislike of Norwegian coffee, after all it was just voted #2 in the world. It's sadly just too strong for me, I compromise by drinking tea the way I normally drink coffee (constantly) and save my precious Starbucks Via packets for mornings of desperate need. 

Ice Skating by City Senter

Making my own Chocolate