one month left. (sigh)

Hello all,

this will be a short post. I am nearing the end of my time here in Europe...one month from today I will be on a plane home :( But the problem is, I already feel like I'm home. But I can always come back, right? I did throw one coin into the Trevi Fountain (for a speedy return to Rome)...I just wish Copenhagen had a fountain like that...

Well, I'm off to finish my last two papers...then I'm going to focus my time on spending very little time indoors (studying) and more time in the beautiful, sunny weather that has finally arrived in my little city. I'm off to Bornholm, Denmark this weekend for a bike tour of the island. I'll try to update when I get back...I heard it's beautiful there.

Strike update: FOA (the nurses union) and many childcare and bus drivers are currently on strike. My visiting mom is the go to girl for her office...she tells which nurses who is working and who has the day off to strike. So she's still working, but totally involved in the strike. We walked together with her union during a women's parade celebrating 100 years of women having the vote. This Thursday (International Labor Day) I will be participating in her union's breakfast gathering and then walk with them to the central location where live music and tons of people on blankets in the grass will be all day. (I intend to be apart of that part of the day as well).

Life here in Europe is very good.

Miss you all!

Em

XOXOOXOXxxoxoxoOXXOxoxoXOx

pictures from spring break

hey everyone,

so, with final papers and sunny days...I find it very difficult to find time to update this blog....especially to write about my spring break....so I thought I would post the links to the pictures and a small re-cap of the trip instead of writing huge entries about everything I saw.....

Prague:
Fairy Tale city, went with my study abroad school, we had various company visits, all relating to the EU and international business strategy. We also left 12 hours late because an intern told the bus company the wrong time of day for pick-up, so all 40 of us spent the night in a hotel near the airport...hoping that our school would be able to fly us to Prague instead of drive all day the next day....but they were unsuccessful...so the bus showed up at 7am, and we were in Prague by 9pm. Lost one full day for exploring, but as you will see in the pictures, we covered a lot of ground in the remaining days. I met up with a friend from Fordham who has been studying in Prague, Diana and she showed me the best beer to get there....Kovel (the dark one)...very smooth and light. Great city, beautiful, relaxing, and unreal.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2095280&l=03d5c&id=10908428
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2096151&l=6af98&id=10908428

Berlin:
Loved it. Didn't see enough. Again, this was with my school...so we had a company visit and some planned activities...it was raining when we got there, and we took a bus tour in the rain at night...so some of the pictures are a bit dark. This whole city is under construction and it's huge and not well populated. Most people who work in the city moved out to the suburbs after the wall came down...so its very deserted in some places, but apartments are cheap in the east side and development is always happening. You will see some pictures of Tacheles-an old department store that was turned into a self-organized artists studio, art gallery, and a few bars. I loved it. So unique and interesting. I bought a few posters and a small crab made from aluminum and a small stone. The east side of Berlin and Mitte (middle) are the lively spots, artsy and upbeat. I will be returning to both Berlin and Prague with my family (mom, dad, hillary, and maddie) when they come to visit for two weeks in may. I'll be sure to see more of the historical sites with them. Such a huge city, I think I'd have to live there for a few years to see it all.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2096152&l=32ea6&id=10908428

Milan:
Awesome city. We (my travel buddy and I...Joy) did not get to see nearly enough of this city. We only stayed one night and half of a day. We met up with another Fordham study abroader, Trisha, who came out for aperitivos with us...buy one drink and then you have access to the buffet of small foods...pastas and appetizers. Delicious and such an affordable way to eat dinner on a budget. We had our first gelato in Italy at the Il Duomo square... I got hazelnut (sooo good!). Joy and I also experienced our first slice of pizza in Italy here. Again, delicious, so fresh. Milan was very cute with small winding streets and tall buildings....tons of shopping and big parks. Next time, I'll have to spend more time on the shopping streets.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2096153&l=d61d4&id=10908428

Cinque Terre:
Heaven on Earth. Along the Italian coast. In the Liguria region. Amazing food, amazing wines, fresh herbs and sweet flowers coated the hills and a sweet aroma filled the air, vineyards everywhere, orange tree orchards and lemon tree groves lined the hillsides. We walked from the first village to the last village (well...the first to the fourth...and then the next day from the fifth to the fourth). Cinque Terre means the 5 lands. It was a breath taking area and one of the most relaxing and physically beautiful places I've ever been to. All there is to do is walk, or swim....along with eating, etc. But no need to buy a lot of souvenirs or go out on the town every night...because there is only one bar in each town... all you have to do is relax and hike.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2096157&l=df861&id=10908428
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2096254&l=cabfb&id=10908428

Rome:
We arrived in Rome after a nightmare trip from Cinque Terre to Chieti. Chieti was a quick stop for us....we were supposed to watch one of the most beautifully done Good Friday processions in Italy. 100 violins playing and a candlelit procession up and down the streets of Chieti (up on a hill). Well...we first boarded a train to a layover station...two hours, no problem. We arrive and wait an extra 30 minutes at the layover station because of delays....then we board our overnight train which is overbooked and we forgot to ask for seat reservations. So Joy and I both found seats, then we were kicked out of them by the people who reserved them...ended up standing on the train for most of the trip, arrived in Pescara for our last switch to a shuttle bus to Chieti, got off in Chieti and realized a half hour later that I left my backpack on the bus...So we sat in the only coffee shop open at 5 am and waited for the bus to make another round...apparently it didn't come back around, so we waited until the train station opened and talked with the man at the desk (in small doses of spanish and french)...whatever we told him seemed to work because he had us get on a train to sulmona (the last stop for the shuttle bus) and as we were making our way to see if my bag was in the bus...and if it was unlocked, the conductor asked us if we were the girls going to sulmona to pick-up a lost bag....we must have stood out with our huge suitcases. The conductor turned out to be very useful....he got the bus unlocked and we found my bag in the front seat, unharmed. As a bonus, Joy and I enjoyed the amazing mountains surrounding the city before heading back to Chieti.

To make an already long story shorter....we found out that the procession for Good Friday wouldn't be happening until after dark...so we took a two hour bus so that we could check into our hostel in Rome before dark. The hostel in Rome is a story in itself...but we decided after the hour ride outside the city and the 20 minutes bus ride to the hostel village...it was not gonna work. So we treated ourselves to a recharging night at the Hilton, we got room service and watched tv. It was great. Just what we needed after a crazy, 24 hour trip to Rome. The rest of the weekend went really well. We ended up staying at my Uncle Tony's friend's house near Vatican City. His name is Phillipe (Gregory) and he works for the U.S. Embassy in Rome. We had amazing meals and ever-flowing wine from the moment we arrived to the day we left. It was great to see Tony and we even went to Easter Mass with the Pope on Easter Sunday together. For our last two nights, Joy and I had a hostel booked....so we explored more of Rome from our new location. With Easter weekend...a lot of museums and other cool things were closed...so we had to fit a lot of things in at once on the tuesday after Easter and the day before we left....but we covered a lot of ground and even had time to shop and get gelato. Amazing city, loved everything about the Vatican city and all of the ancient ruins. Definitely want to go back someday soon.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2096392&l=98b4d&id=10908428
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2096420&l=9c4d9&id=10908428

Paris:
The place I want to live very soon....I loved Paris. The eiffel tower is so beautiful in person, the streets and rows of townhouses are so skinny and fashionable. It felt like home. I saw the city from the streets and from the tops of different buildings and places of interest. I also met up with a Fordham girl here, as well, Nuriya, who has been studying in Paris since September. It was great to see her, we went to dinner a few nights and shared a few drinks afterwards. I will be coming back here soon....I'll be looking into my options.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2096420&l=9c4d9&id=10908428
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2096950&l=6e755&id=10908428


Enjoy the pictures. Don't hesitate to let me know if the links don't work.

Love you all. A copenhagen update will be coming soon.

Spring is finally here!!

Hugs and Kisses,
Emily

spring fever.

old entry...forgot to post it in mid-April.





The sun shines everyday!!! I've been back in Copenhagen for about 3 weeks and the sun keeps coming up earlier and staying out later. It's lovely. My first week back went by very fast because I was recovering from the flu and I had to catch up on a lot of reading. That weekend I went to the a modern art museum called Arken, it looks like a ship and sits next to the coast. Annette took me. We saw an exhibit with oil on canvas paintings from Skagen, Denmark. It's located at the most northern tip of Jutland (main land of Denmark) and it's where the two different waters meet. The paintings were originally thought to have been artists capturing normal everyday life, but later on, people found out that the subjects of the paintings were paid to pose. But they were still really pretty. There was also an exhibit of a British artists paintings. One painting was a large black circle, 3-d like...as we got closer to it we found out that it was made up of dead flies. After exploring the rest of the museum, we had some hot chocolate and relaxed before heading back to Annette's for dinner.



That Tuesday I went to see a Russian Ballet, Eugene Onegin, at the main theater in Kongens Nytorv. The stage was so gorgeous. Huge, overdone but very elegant drapes, simple and delicate costumes. The queen even came to see it!! It was her birthday the day after...so we all figured she took a night for herself before her big day. I went to see her at her winter palace the following day, as well. (We're best buddies now). All the kindergarten classes around Copenhagen and all the study abroad kids (and tourists) make it out to see her. At noon, the guards changed and then she makes her way out to her balcony for a few hellos waves. She came out about 6 times...each time she was prompted to enter and exit the balcony based on the guards band. Her husband, youngest son, his fiance, and his two sons all accompanied her on the balcony for the many waves and thank yous to the crowd of prideful danes and their mini-flags. The most exciting part of the morning was when the band played the tune to the Danish birthday song and we all sang 'HURRA, HURRA, HURRA' at the same time. (The only part of the song I can remember).

In other news, my fodbol (soccer) team will be starting to play more games from here on out. We had a fun 'Grass Party' a few weeks ago...buffet, boys and girls team and fun club bonding games....but it was all in German/Danish...since the Grass party has something to do with German traditions...not too sure about all that, but I had everything translated to me. We have a few games before the American girls (incld. me) leave. The team is about 20 some girls (Danes and Americans) we practice together at a huge field in Christianborg. Tons of Clubs practice there. Our boys teams also practice there, we have 7 different teams of boys in the club. The girls team is split into two teams on game days...a 7-a -side team and an 11-a-side team. (11-a-side playing on a regular field and 7-a-side playing on a smaller field). I've missed many practices because of class...but I hope to make the games which are on odd days. It's been a great experience so far, I've met some great girls and boys who have taught me a lot about soccer...something I hadn't played since middle school. Also, I found a friend from soccer who lives in my neighborhood, we've been going to our neighborhood park on the weekend and for festivals. It's so nice out all we want to do is just 'study' on a blanket in the park all day. But papers call us away too often from those thoughts...we will definitely go to the park more before we leave.

Today, I walked with Annette from Fredricksberg to Center City in support of women's rights in Denmark and in celebration of women having the vote for 100 years! We went as a part of Annette's union of nurses and childcare workers (FOA). Her union is on strike now so we had some pretty cool outfits for the march. We wore bright yellow vests (construction worker vests) with reflectors, buttons, a hat that said 'more money now' --in danish-- and a shirt that said that and 'more hands'--in danish. We were decked out! We also passed out information to onlookers and threw packets of mints to everyone we could. We ended in the main square where a big concert was already in progress. Annette took me to Tivoli while we waited for her favorite artist to come on stage. Tivoli is an amusement park in the middle of the city. It's enchanting and it's where Walt Disney became inspired to create Disney world. They have rides, a concert stage, fountains, a mini royal family and mini-royal guards who have a changing of the guards and walk around the park twice a day, and restaurants and everything compact into about 4 x 5 city blocks. We hung out and ate some snacks...and we watched as the mini princess and prince arrived via boat to their carriage and then were greeted and escorted around the park by their guards. All made up of kids...It was like a mini-Copenhagen...with really cool rides.

I'll have to go back soon :)

That's all for now, final papers, final exams, and soccer games/socials will take up my time from now on...I'll try to blog about it.

Take care and thanks for reading!

Vi ses!
Emily