Alyssa went rock climbing!
I went on a day trip with DIS to the coast of Sweden for a lovely day of climbing some sea cliffs! It was an amazing experience, the weather was spectacular, sunny and warm, and the view of the sea was breathtaking! Probably one the most beautiful and exciting days of my life :] I had one of those "I can't believe the world is so magnificent moments" while I was climbing, just the way that the rocks could be formed over millions of years to be so perfect for me to climb on them :] The water was a gorgeous blue green color, if I knew we weren't in Sweden and the water would feel like ice, I might have jumped in, unfortunately I still have some sense left and realized that I would be wayyy to cold!
It was a lot of fun to see this group of students really push themselves to the limit and accomplish something amazing. A couple of the walls were really hard to climb, and I mean really hard, like some girls took over half and hour to reach the top, but no one gave up, not a single person. It was so inspiring! I tackled 3 of the 4 walls, my arms were just way to tired to attack the beast of all rock cliffs, so I left it be! I felt alive scaling the side of the rocks, because I pushed fear out of my mind as much as I could. Its weird, I know that I won't fall and hurt myself but there is still the psychological "but what if I do!" I got over it pretty quickly, but I think my friend Avery might be scarred for life lol. We learned how to belay the other climbers ourselves, so my friend Alana was the main belayer and I was the anchor for our friend Avery. Avery was belaying down the rock face and Alana let the rope go too fast, so next thing you know Avery scrambling against the rock screaming "TOO FAST ALANA, TOO FAST!" Alana immediately grabbed hold of the rope while the rest of us just burst out in laughter, Avery included. After that every time Alana was the belayer we'd say something along the lines of "okay Alana, now try not to kill us too!"
We left Sweden and stopped at a restaurant for dinner back in Denmark...once again ground beef and potatoes, I am getting really tired of beef and potatoes! The rest of the week I had absolutely nothing to do so I spent my days lounging around the house and relaxing--I needed to de-stress from the weeks before!
Tuesday I met Christina at her work in Hellerup to have lunch at her canteen....fantastic! It was like a buffet lunch restaurant with delicious food and an amazing view of the city! After the lunch I went into Copenhagen to meet up with Sierra and we went to Tivoli, the amusement park in the city, to meet our host sisters. Their class went to Tivoli for the day so we met up with them after they broke off from the group to have our own fun! Tivoli is wonderful, its beautiful inside with lots of trees, gardens, flowers and ponds, and the rides were AWESOME! Think Puyallup Fair on steroids...and Tivoli is still better! Sierra and I went on this insane swing ride. Its like normal swings, in the sense that you sit and they spin, but the swings were like height of a sky scraper and the rose up and down and up and down while you were spinning fast enough to make you sick! I could see over the whole city! Thomas and Christina met up with us after work and we hung around until 8:30 then went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner...yummi :]
Thursday night Amy and Sierra came over for dinner with my family, it was fun and sad at the same time! Its so weird to think that soon we will be gone, my life for the last 4 months will be over and I have to go back to my old life. Sierra basically forced me to go out with her that night lol, I agreed only if we would come back at a decent hour! We got into the city at like 11:30 and hung around for a while, she took me to some of the popular DIS bar spots. Sierra told the bar tenders that I was a friend of hers visiting from America in hopes that they would give us free/discounted drinks...it worked lol! We ran into a few of her friends and hung out with them for a bit. We left around 1:30 and took the night bus back to Birkerod...I was really tired so I told sierra that I was going to nap on her and she should wake me up when we need to get off lol :]
I spent the night at Sierra's and we got up in the morning and made pancakes then went to our host sisters' school up the street to meet Benedicte and Maria. Benedicte took me on a tour of the school and made me play some weird game which I was AWFUL at! It involved a tennis ball and some jumping...no no no! We lounged around the house because it was raining...it made me miss Seattle! Amy came over last night and spent the night...we watched a movie with Thomas and Christina and went to bed...sometimes I think we're not really college students lol!
And now as soon as I finish this blog I am going to start packing....ahhhhhhh! I feel like I want to go home, but at the same time i'm not ready to leave yet....ugh my emotions are quite torn :\
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Set sail for an adventure!
Adjusting back to real life after an almost 2 and half week break was a bit tough for me...all the sudden my life wasn't focused on reading a map taking pictures it was back to commuting and homework.
I got through the first week back with minimal difficulty...minimal brain capacity as well lol. But last weekend was fantastisk as the Danes would say! I went on a sailing trip with DIS. It was a spectacular weekend, with a bit of crazy thrown in, but nevertheless, it was a memorable experience! We took the train out to Holbaek where we would get on the sailboat. The sailboat was gorgeous! It was exactly what I pictured it would look like :] The crew was great, this old danish couple and a young mate who did all the grunt work.
The crew talked to us for a bit and the we set sail! Well actually it wasn't very windy so we used the motor lol. I felt alive being out on the water, I was amazed that I was really sailing in a Danish fjord, it was ridiculous :] We anchored near a little island took an inflatable raft thing to the island. The mate's name i think was soren...not sure, Danish pronunciation=not so good! Soren took us on a little trek around the island--turns out its a training base for Navy Seals...but we didn't get to see any, bummer! At one point Soren went barging into some brush and caught a snake with is bare hands! And then he freaked out and threw it back because he couldn't remember which of the two types of snakes that Denmark has was the poisonous one lol.
We went back to the sailboat and my group made lunch. We prepared quite a spread for lunch, I was impressed at the capabilities of us college students lol. After lunch we set sail again...I was really hoping to hear someone shout the stereotypical nautical saying "weigh anchor" but no such luck :[ maybe the captain said it in danish? It was the perfect afternoon--the sun was shining, there was a light breeze that smelled wonderful, the water was a deep blue and the islands around us were covered in bright green trees! We all took a little afternoon snooze in the sun on the deck...never thought i'd say I did that while in Denmark lol.
In the late afternoon we finally began to sail, like real sailing this time, Soren assigned us all jobs so we could pretend to be useful. I did a lot of rope pulling and ducking, then I climbed on top of the wheel house...its a scary climb up there...to tie down one of the sails. We made our way to frederickssund where were docked the boat for the night, we couldn't sleep out in the water. We were parked in front of an apartment building so all the tenants came out on their balconies to take pictures of us and the sailboat lol, it was kinda fun being a spectacle lol. We walked around the town for a bit, and saw this ancient viking boat they keep on display in the water...pretty awesome! Dinner was delicious, it was also very hygge, for those of you who don't know hygge is the word Danes use to describe an atmosphere that is cozy or warm and inviting...it actually doesn't have a direct translation because its 100% Danish!
We each had to take a night watch slot, meaning you sit on the top of the boat and make sure that there aren't any fires or strangers that try and get on the boat. I had the 1 am time slot, the night watch went smoothly and then I went back to sleep at 2. That is when the weekend got crazy! Around 4 in the morning the girl in the bed next to me started to scream and cry, so naturally everyone wakes up and is trying to figure out what is going on and where the noise is coming from. Once I told everyone who it was, the intern and her friends went over to help her. Turns out she was asleep and screaming and crying. Like a zombie sleep! People threw water on her and physically moved her and she still wouldn't wake up! At times she started responding to questions but we figured out that she was just sleep talking then too. It was so scary! We had no idea what was going on with her, if she was okay, if she would ever wake up and there was nothing I could do to help. After about an hour we finally got her to wake up completely and her friends took her up on the deck to see if fresh air would help. She started complaining about shoulder pain and then about an hour later she like passed out from the pain or something and our intern rushed her to the hospital. We found out later that she had somehow dislocated her shoulder...in her sleep! What an interesting way to start the day off lol.
We were two sailors down but managed to get through the day and sail back to Holbaek. It was still beautiful out and a little windier so we got to sail more! I found out that I am remotely decent at being on back sail crew. We tied down that back sail with the best of 'em :] Unfortunately our crazy sailing experience was over and we all headed home to prepare for the coming week of torment! I had so so much to do and very little time to do it :\
This past week was like a 6 day long nightmare for me...but hey I made it through and now I can relax for a few days. Monday night involved powered through two papers and going to Sierra's house to study for our test in history the next day. We stayed up till 2:30 studying to go to class and not have a test! He taught for half the class before a student went up to him and asked when we were taking it, to which he replied angrily that the he told us the test was friday...except he didn't! Basically there were 25 really really pissed off students for the rest of the day lol. Tuesday and Wednesday I spent writing my core paper and researching for my history paper. I finished my core paper....well "finished" it lol around 3am wednesday morning when I literally fell asleep on my laptop...oops! Thursday I had a meeting at 6 so I hung around DIS for 4 hours after class doing research for my ten page paper due the next day...why do I procrastinate so much? I got home at 9:30 and still needed to finish researching and write that 10 paper before the next morning :\ I got down to business and started to wrote, I watched the clock tick and the sky get lighter as I came closer to the end of my paper. The sun came up and I still wasn't done lol. Eventually I finished a pretty poorly written paper around 6 am and took a two hour nap before getting up and putting the finishing touches on my final papers and heading to class.
Turning in the papers wasn't accompanied by the typical sigh of relief this time because they were just adequate papers at best, not quality work of any kind lol, but hey my grades from this semester don't affect my GPA :]
My host family is gone in Jylland this weekend so right this minute I am sitting in the dinning room looking out over the beautiful yard and wooded area and sipping a cup of cinnamon hot cocoa...aahhh this is what life's about :] Tomorrow I'm off on another Swedish adventure! I'm going on a DIS rock climbing day trip with my Alana friend :] Watch out Sweden...we're a comin!
I got through the first week back with minimal difficulty...minimal brain capacity as well lol. But last weekend was fantastisk as the Danes would say! I went on a sailing trip with DIS. It was a spectacular weekend, with a bit of crazy thrown in, but nevertheless, it was a memorable experience! We took the train out to Holbaek where we would get on the sailboat. The sailboat was gorgeous! It was exactly what I pictured it would look like :] The crew was great, this old danish couple and a young mate who did all the grunt work.
The crew talked to us for a bit and the we set sail! Well actually it wasn't very windy so we used the motor lol. I felt alive being out on the water, I was amazed that I was really sailing in a Danish fjord, it was ridiculous :] We anchored near a little island took an inflatable raft thing to the island. The mate's name i think was soren...not sure, Danish pronunciation=not so good! Soren took us on a little trek around the island--turns out its a training base for Navy Seals...but we didn't get to see any, bummer! At one point Soren went barging into some brush and caught a snake with is bare hands! And then he freaked out and threw it back because he couldn't remember which of the two types of snakes that Denmark has was the poisonous one lol.
We went back to the sailboat and my group made lunch. We prepared quite a spread for lunch, I was impressed at the capabilities of us college students lol. After lunch we set sail again...I was really hoping to hear someone shout the stereotypical nautical saying "weigh anchor" but no such luck :[ maybe the captain said it in danish? It was the perfect afternoon--the sun was shining, there was a light breeze that smelled wonderful, the water was a deep blue and the islands around us were covered in bright green trees! We all took a little afternoon snooze in the sun on the deck...never thought i'd say I did that while in Denmark lol.
In the late afternoon we finally began to sail, like real sailing this time, Soren assigned us all jobs so we could pretend to be useful. I did a lot of rope pulling and ducking, then I climbed on top of the wheel house...its a scary climb up there...to tie down one of the sails. We made our way to frederickssund where were docked the boat for the night, we couldn't sleep out in the water. We were parked in front of an apartment building so all the tenants came out on their balconies to take pictures of us and the sailboat lol, it was kinda fun being a spectacle lol. We walked around the town for a bit, and saw this ancient viking boat they keep on display in the water...pretty awesome! Dinner was delicious, it was also very hygge, for those of you who don't know hygge is the word Danes use to describe an atmosphere that is cozy or warm and inviting...it actually doesn't have a direct translation because its 100% Danish!
We each had to take a night watch slot, meaning you sit on the top of the boat and make sure that there aren't any fires or strangers that try and get on the boat. I had the 1 am time slot, the night watch went smoothly and then I went back to sleep at 2. That is when the weekend got crazy! Around 4 in the morning the girl in the bed next to me started to scream and cry, so naturally everyone wakes up and is trying to figure out what is going on and where the noise is coming from. Once I told everyone who it was, the intern and her friends went over to help her. Turns out she was asleep and screaming and crying. Like a zombie sleep! People threw water on her and physically moved her and she still wouldn't wake up! At times she started responding to questions but we figured out that she was just sleep talking then too. It was so scary! We had no idea what was going on with her, if she was okay, if she would ever wake up and there was nothing I could do to help. After about an hour we finally got her to wake up completely and her friends took her up on the deck to see if fresh air would help. She started complaining about shoulder pain and then about an hour later she like passed out from the pain or something and our intern rushed her to the hospital. We found out later that she had somehow dislocated her shoulder...in her sleep! What an interesting way to start the day off lol.
We were two sailors down but managed to get through the day and sail back to Holbaek. It was still beautiful out and a little windier so we got to sail more! I found out that I am remotely decent at being on back sail crew. We tied down that back sail with the best of 'em :] Unfortunately our crazy sailing experience was over and we all headed home to prepare for the coming week of torment! I had so so much to do and very little time to do it :\
This past week was like a 6 day long nightmare for me...but hey I made it through and now I can relax for a few days. Monday night involved powered through two papers and going to Sierra's house to study for our test in history the next day. We stayed up till 2:30 studying to go to class and not have a test! He taught for half the class before a student went up to him and asked when we were taking it, to which he replied angrily that the he told us the test was friday...except he didn't! Basically there were 25 really really pissed off students for the rest of the day lol. Tuesday and Wednesday I spent writing my core paper and researching for my history paper. I finished my core paper....well "finished" it lol around 3am wednesday morning when I literally fell asleep on my laptop...oops! Thursday I had a meeting at 6 so I hung around DIS for 4 hours after class doing research for my ten page paper due the next day...why do I procrastinate so much? I got home at 9:30 and still needed to finish researching and write that 10 paper before the next morning :\ I got down to business and started to wrote, I watched the clock tick and the sky get lighter as I came closer to the end of my paper. The sun came up and I still wasn't done lol. Eventually I finished a pretty poorly written paper around 6 am and took a two hour nap before getting up and putting the finishing touches on my final papers and heading to class.
Turning in the papers wasn't accompanied by the typical sigh of relief this time because they were just adequate papers at best, not quality work of any kind lol, but hey my grades from this semester don't affect my GPA :]
My host family is gone in Jylland this weekend so right this minute I am sitting in the dinning room looking out over the beautiful yard and wooded area and sipping a cup of cinnamon hot cocoa...aahhh this is what life's about :] Tomorrow I'm off on another Swedish adventure! I'm going on a DIS rock climbing day trip with my Alana friend :] Watch out Sweden...we're a comin!
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