European extravaganza part one: The Netherlands

I've finally made it home after a loooong three weeks. I've realized that time really is objective; these past three weeks have been packed with so many sights, sounds, and people that it feels like it was enough to fill a lifetime...Well maybe I'm exaggerating just a little bit, but you get the idea.

Things didn't quite go exactly as planned -I ended up spending way too much time in Paris, and not nearly enough time in Barcelona, not to mention not even making it to Florence or Rome. I knew things were going to go wrong, but not like this, but when you're traveling in this fashion you just have to deal with everything that life throws at you in the best way that you can. Consequently, I never want to go back to Paris again -not only because the french are just kind of assholes in general, but also because after Jenna left, everything that could go wrong did...but more on that later. I want now to go back to Barcelona for more than the few hours we had between trains, and seeing that I didn't even get to see Rome, I have to go back -but I think I wouldn't have had enough time there anyways, so maybe it was a good thing.

Seeing that I've taken over 600 pictures, and a few videos, there is no possible way that I'm going to be able to fit everything in one post, so I've decided to split it up into each country I was in, proceeding in chronological order: The Netherlands, Spain, France, and Italy.

Part I: The Netherlands

Gronnigen

So we began the journey on a ~7 hour bus and ferry ride from Copenhagen to Gronnigen, NL (located in the northern part of the Netherlands). We stayed here for the next two days in the Martini hotel -named after the famous, and well-known to the inhabitants of Gronnigen, Martini Tower. It was a cozy hotel, and much to my luck, I was in the coolest room out of anybody from our group in that it had more space than just barely enough for the beds, like most of the people (suckers) got. Just to our luck, the following morning after we arrived, there was a leak in a water main somewhere in the northern Netherlands so we didn't have water...what a great way to start out the trip!

I don't exactly remember the order of events that took place, given that it was three weeks ago, so I'm just going to put down events that happened in whatever order they come to my mind. The first, and probably my most favorite part of the visit to Gronnigen, was the bike tour that we were taken on. The tour leaders were two Dutch guys who would have probably made a great comedic duo. It seems to me that the Dutch people are generally just more goofy than the any of the other sorts of people I met on my trip (French, Spanish, Italian, etc.) Of course this could be a complete over-generalization but I'm willing to say it. The bike tour took us through the entire city of Gronnigen -and it didn't really take that long given the face that Gronnigen is not that big of a city. Another unique Dutch thing was the prevalence of bikes, both in Gronnigen and in Amsterdam. The picture on the left (the bike parking outside of central station in Gronnigen) brilliantly illustrates this observation -probably the most bikes I've ever seen at once -with the possible exception of the critical mass rides that I frequent back in mpls.

The bike tour ended where it began -at the Martini Tower. What followed was the scaling of the nearly 200ft tall tower by way of a narrow, dark, stone, and spiraled-staircase. We were supposed to count all the steps, but I lost track along the way and just focused on making it to the top -which was more physically exhausting than I thought it would be. Once we were there, however, all of the work was worth it for a beautiful view of the quaint little town of Gronnigen (see panoramic below). On the way down, we stopped at the bell-floor, upon which we were able to actually ring one of the bells. There was a long rope dangling from whatever contraption is used to ring bells, and an open space next a brick wall around the rope. If you got the bell ringing hard and loud enough, you could hold on to the rope at just the right moment, and it would propel you up to 15 ft in the air! I'm proud to unofficially claim myself as the champion of air out of all of my classmates.

view from the Martini Tower

Some other highlights from Gronnigen included a really cool Indonesian restaurant that our study tour leader took us to -I'm not 100% sure, but there must be some kind of connection between the Indonesian islands and the Netherlands because there was just way too many Indonesian restaurants and shops for there not to be. Also, I went to a modern art museum that had such an impressive, and distinct style of architecture that I had to go in and see what it had to offer. Unfortunately, it wasn't all that the outside seemed to crack it up to be -although maybe half of the museum was just being inside this wacky building. Don't get me wrong, there were some really cool art pieces, just nothing that really surprised or attracted me. The picture on the right really doesn't do it justice, but it's the only one I managed to take -the museum was situated on the banks of one of the many canals that run through Gronnigen. The textured blue and white tiles/paintings on the outside of the building seemed to act as mirror reflecting the water upon which the museum was seated.

We left Gronnigen for Amsterdam as planned on the morning of March 12th, so I'll leave the Gronnigen topic for one last, suitable photo of this small town in the north of the land of the Dutch.

(the boats pictured here are peoples' houses!)

Amsterdam

Well, I'm not really sure how to even begin to describe the experiences I had in Amsterdam. This city was like nothing I've ever seen before -but come to think of it, neither was any of the cities I visited...I definitely started to get a feel for the Dutch design in Amsterdam, not only in terms of architecture and buildings, but also the way the city was designed, and the way you maneuvered through it. It was like constantly being in an urban obstacle course. At every moment you needed to be on the lookout for the hoards of bicycles, fast-moving and dangerous above-ground trams, and the steady flow of cars and buses. Also, the way to navigate this city was completely unique from any of the other cities I visited. The city is constructed with the central station at the north, surrounded by a series of circular canals -so instead of using street names to navigate, it was much more convenient to think in terms of how many canals you have to walk past, or walk-along in order to get in the general area of wherever it was that you were trying to find.

By far the most memorable experience in Amsterdam came at the finale of the academic study tour -Cirque du Soleil. This performance of Varekai was located in a giant tent (see picture) about half an hour away from the city by train -the 'Arena' stop to be precise. The stop is called this because of the giant Olympic-style arena of sorts that was located near the train stop. If you've never seen a Cirque du Soleil show, I highly suggest that sometime in the future to check one out. There's no way that words can do justice to the lights, sounds, acrobatics, dance, and circus-esque theatrics that was Varekai -and if you have seen any Cirque du Soleil performance, you will understand why I can't describe the beauty and majesty in words.

Among the many famous people in history who called Amsterdam home was the well-known earless painter Van Gogh. During our stay we had the opportunity to check out the local Van Gogh museum which claimed to have the most extensive collection of works in the world -and I don't doubt it since it was his hometown. I didn't spend too much time here because we were a little crunched for time -I can't even remember what for anymore, but it was the case nonetheless. I read about his entire life and briefly looked at the paintings that reflected each time period of his life -he was truly a revolutionary and gifted artist whose boundaries were unknown to me before this point. His paintings of trees and flowers were really what struck me as his most beautiful -so intricate and colorful, and all in a sort of impressionistic style that can only be described as Van Gogh. Sometime later that night I snapped a picture of a couple trees somewhere in Amsterdam with a specific setting on my camera resulting in the,
what I believe to be, very Van Gogh-esque style photograph you see on the right...

The other most famous person to reside in Amsterdam was Anne Frank. A trip to Amsterdam is not complete without at least a stop by her place of residence (located on the outskirts of the Jordan neighborhood). I didn't have a chance to go into the actual house because I think it costed money, and there was a long line -but I did see her statue and the doors to where she lived. It was at least some form of consolation. Following this brief viewing of the historic site we were led on a walking tour of the Jordan neighborhood. If i remember correctly it was a traditional working class neighborhood now turned into student housing area. The streets of this section of the city, along with most of the rest, are so narrow that you can barely fit one car down the street, which is why most people living in Amsterdam get around by bike (not to mention the fact that owning a car and paying for parking costs a fortune).

Another one of the 'must-see' sites of Amsterdam is the flower market. The below sea-level altitude of the Netherlands, and the overall climate make it one of the most premiere places to grow flowers. The flower market is exactly what it sounds like, a street of flower vendors offering tulips, daffodils, cacti, and many more flowers that I can't recall (if you can't tell I'm not much of a botanist). I'd really like to come back here in the summer to really see the bounty that this spring still has yet to offer.


Of course I can't really go without mentioning the absolute decadence that really made Amsterdam feel like a different world. The red light district is a pedestrian filled section of town marked off by small red stoplight-looking posts. It is filled with the infamous coffee-shops of Amsterdam, girls in bikinis displayed in windows, and countless strangers whispering the names of different street drugs in your ear as you walk by. Certainly it is something worth seeing, but definitely not somewhere I would want to be hanging out for an extended period of time -especially at night when the darkness seems to bring out the madness in everyone...

The following day after Cirque du Soleil my school group left, and I had planned on meeting up with a couple of friends who, coincidentally, were in Amsterdam at the time. They had a hotel not too far away from where I was, so with a little sneakery I was able to spend an extra night for free only to wake up the next morning and hop a train destined for Madrid.

I could go on and on telling you more about the Netherlands, but it seems that this post has become sufficiently long enough for my liking -besides I have three more countries to talk about in the upcoming posts. For now I'll leave you with a couple of pictures from Amsterdam that, for me, describe the whole trip pretty accurately. Be on the lookout for upcoming posts in the next few weeks -although I'm not exactly sure when I'll find the time to do them with school starting up in full gear tomorrow.

the essence of Amsterdam

I had been Amsterdamned indeed.

PS: I don't know why the text gets smaller sometimes, but it's really starting to bug me -maybe i'm just too much of a perfectionist. Oh well, enjoy anyways!

Too much to think about

If there was any picture to convey the combination of academic intensity of the past week with the fact that I'm going to be traveling across Europe for the next three weeks, it is the stencil on the left (can be found near the entrance of Vestergade 7-A).

1 presentation + 3 papers + midterm + 8.5 hour day at a farm with little kids followed by political rally = FUN!?

Well, as I predicted earlier, it really will make these next 3 weeks feel much more like a vacation than if I had been sitting on my ass the entire time. It feels like so much has happened in the last few days that I don't really know where to start -I can't imagine how I will be able to describe the next 3 weeks...

But I'll give it a shot...


On Monday our group gave our presentation on the Christianian kindergarten, and I'm happy to say that we thoroughly dominated. A couple of the group members decided to create a diorama of the adventure room using the pictures and schematics I had created. The diorama was based on the style of dioramas that I had seen in the kindergarten. They were interesting because you would look through a porthole cut into the side of a closed shoebox and see a miniature world with whatever you decided to put in it. We also incorporated clips of the audio very nicely -it was a presentation I felt proud of when I got out of class...

On Tuesday I had a music swap with one of my friends and I've subsequently gained a massive amount of new, un-listened to by me, music. A good portion of the day has been spent transferring most of it onto my iPod -which hopefully will accompany me for the entirety of my trip.

The midweek was spent writing a paper on...wait for it..."The social and political consequences of the industrial revolution." I hope someone who's reading this understands the urge I had to write the entire story of "The puppy who lost his way." -the story Billy Madison (Adam Sandler) answers with when asked about the industrial revolution. Anyways, I ended up writing a pretty kickass paper that had some good flow to it, and I'm pretty sure I sounded like I was smart -the other three-quarters of writing a good paper.

Thursday, March 6th, was one of those days...I'm not really sure what I mean when I say that, but hopefully you'll have a better understanding after you read the following:

Woke up at the crack of 6AM and arrived at the kindergarten at 730. We took off for the farm, despite the rainy, bleak, and downright dismal conditions of the morning -WOW, DIDN'T SEE THAT ONE COMING DENMARK! This trip was very unique, and for a couple of reasons. For one, the group of kids we took this time were younger than the usual group, and had never ventured into the actual farm part of the town; rather, they would stay at the kindergarten facility a few miles away. Luckily, as we left the city and were on our way to the farm, the clouds parted and a the sun embraced the green fields of the danish countryside.


One of the more interesting things that happened throughout the day was a good ol' fashion sheep shearin'. I immediately noticed the leashed-up sheep upon our entrance into the farm and my intuition was correct -later that day the kids gathered round while two of the workers gave an angry sheep a haircut. This was a first-time experience for me, and just another added first time experience to all the kids who came that day. The things these kids must learn here...constantly absorbing the sights, sounds, and smells of their playground away from home.


What did we do with all that wool? Well, we folded it up into a ball, covered the ball with warm soapy water, and softly condensed it of course. Afterward, the wool-balls were to be soaked in ice cold water for some period of time, followed by a drying period. When they were dry, the balls were supposed to have shrunken into bouncing balls of wool. I've never done this before, or even heard of it being done, so it was quite the disappointment to know that I wouldn't be able to see the finished product.

My mind was elsewhere as we played and explored the farm with the kids. I couldn't choose what to think about -how exhausted I already was, my upcoming 830AM midterm the following day, or the prospects of the next 3 weeks. Eventually we returned to the city around 4PM and it was back to the grind...or so I thought.

On my way home I decided to make an attempt at starting the mental transition toward my health care in Scandinavia midterm. I got in contact with a friend in the class and we met up in Gammel Torv (Old Square) to discuss the next day. I really didn't have studying on my agenda because I was too exhausted and needed some form of a break, so it was a good thing when I learned that Gammel Torv is the gathering point of the weekly rally of supporters for Ungdomhuset. The scene was like something out of a movie -everyone had some kind of black, torn, punk-looking garment on. Hair came in all colors of the rainbow, and a truck carrying two DJ's with equipment and four giant speakers blasted aggressive hip-hop, punk, and electronica. After a little while of hanging out in the square the truck started to move, and so did the crowd. We casually walked down the streets of Copenhagen -specifically from Gammel Torv to the National Museum, and then to Tivoli. Every so often, the music would stop and various speakers would fill the air with heart-felt monologues that I have no idea were about, but seemed to motivate the crowd. It was amazing to see how the city reacted to this kind of a protest...

The police blocked traffic for us, there were people in yellow vests looking after the crowd, and although mildly disruptive, we were contained. I broke away from the crowd at Tivoli where I waited not more than 3 minutes for the bus to take me home. On the bus I listened to Leftover Crack and energetically reflected on the quick sequence of events that had just occurred.

I got home 5 minutes after my host mother left, and my host father was at work -so I was alone. I heated up some leftovers and sat down to eat. I thought to myself, "what better time to get a little tv watchin' in than when you're all alone eating food?" I flipped on the tv, and without having to change the channel, the very beginning of an episode of The Simpsons started. It reminded me of eating dinner at home, back when there was a solid hour of Simpsons from 5-6. This episode was about how Bart destroys Lisa's steroid-enhanced giant tomato -if you are/were a Simpsons fan and haven't watched many episodes recently, I would highly suggest rewatching them -freakin' hilarious.

The night was followed by some 'hard-to-concentrate' and 'sleep-deprived' studying that, in retrospect, probably didn't really even do me much good. I took my test at 830 the following morning, turned in the industrial revolution paper along with another paper for my Danish class, and came home to write another paper for one of my psychology classes. IT WAS FINALLY OVER!!!

I went out last night, as did probably every other student who had finished, and had a great time. My most memorable moment last night was when I had just gotten into town, grabbed a couple beers at your local 7-11 (literally on every street corner in the city), and the clock in city square struck midnight. I cracked the beer, turned to a guy standing next to me and said the only word I could think of that adequately summed up how great it felt -skål.

Turning now into the future...

Here's the plan:

Tomorrow - Board bus to Groningen, Netherlands. Spend the two days in Groningen before heading out to Amsterdam. This part of the trip will be spent with a group of psychology students from DIS -the same people who went on the western Denmark study tour. I should mention at least something about the content of this part, because there is one thing that sets it apart from other study tours with DIS. Not only are we going to the Van Gogh museum, but later that night we'll be seeing none other than a performance by Cirque du Soleil. This particular performance is called Varekai -a visual feast set in the depths of a fantastical, mysterious forest.

I'll be spending a few nights in Amsterdam with the DIS group, but then they're leaving to go back to Copenhagen. I'll be staying in Amsterdam with three of my friends, all of whom study at the University of Minnesota, and all of whom are currently studying in different places across Europe. It's amazing that we'll all be in the same, extraordinary place for a brief moment in time.

March 15th - Leave via train for Amsterdam to Paris. Two hours layover while I attempt to get from one train station to another. Leave overnight for Madrid to meet up with my girlfriend, Jenna. It's been so long since I've seen anyone that knows me beyond the relational level of a DIS student, and I'm really looking forward to it.

March 16th - Arrive in Madrid sometime in the morning.

March 17th - Madrid.

March 18th - Leave Madrid for Valencia, Spain. The festival of Las Fallas completely changes the coastal town of Valencia during a week in March. We're going to be here for the very last part of it -and consequently the most exciting part. This is supposed to be one of the craziest festivals in Spain, and since Spain as a country is known for having wild, elaborate festivals what can I even expect?

March 19th - Hopefully have found a place to stay -just banking on the couchsurfing community at this point.

March 20th - Take morning train from Valencia to Barcelona. Spend day in Barcelona seeing the sights, and possibly trying to rendez-vous with a friend. Take overnight train from Barcelona to Paris.

March 21st - Arrive in Paris and check into hotel - Central La Defense.

March 22nd - Paris (itinerary not decided yet)

March 23rd - Paris (last night Jenna will be with me) - itinerary not yet decided.

March 24th - Paris - Rendez-vous with Vicki from DIS and stay with her friend somewhere else in Paris.

March 25th - Leave Paris for overnight journey to Florence, Italy. Rendez-vous with a friend studying in Florence.

March 26th - Florence.

March 27th - Leave Florence for Rome, spend day sightseeing.

March 28th - Fly out of Rome back to Copenhagen.

Here's what I got...

Well I guess this is it, time to say goodbye for a little while. I have no idea what to expect on this journey, and I'm sure there will be a bump in the road at some point -but sometimes not-knowing what lies ahead of you can be more exhilirating than knowing.

I don't know how limited my access to a computer will be so I'm definitely not going to be posting nearly as much as I had been -plus, who wants to spend time talking about what's happened when there's so much more to do! Maybe I'll get a chance to check in once or twice...

And for anyone still wondering if Charlotte the spider is still chillin' above my head every night, here's a little update...

Spring is right around the corner and I hope for everyone reading this that your March is a reflection of the natural rebirth and rejuvination that it is.

Farewell everyone!

IT'S MARCH!!!

Well, I figure I'd better post something about the last few days, but I don't really know how to go about it. This whole week was pretty exhausting, and I'm sure the next one will be just as bad if not worsel. I've got a big presentation about the Christiania kindergarten tomorrow, a Danish oral exam on Tuesday, a paper outline due Tuesday, and two papers due on Friday....eugh.

Anyways, I ended up going to the Christianian kindergarten and meeting with the main pedagogue to talk about the differences and similarities. I recorded 47 minutes of an interview with him and if you feel so inclined as to listen to the whole thing go here and then enter the three-letter code in the upper right. You'll have to wait 25 seconds for the "Free Download" button to become activated. Click that and it should start downloading. It is a pretty big file, so be prepared for some waiting...
























I could talk for a long time about this place, but I'll save that for the actual presentation, and instead focus on one of the coolest parts about the kindergarten -the adventure room. This is a room that is completely covered -walls and ceiling- with an elaborate fairytale-esque mural (see reconstruction). Wanda, the guy I was talking to, was an amazing story-teller, and during lunch he told a great story (in Danish of course, so I don't know exactly what it was about) that all the kids were on the edge of their seat for. This is really one of the most unique kindergartens I've ever seen...

I've also started to become able to understand bits and pieces of Danish, and the structure of the sentences -as opposed to hearing complete nonsense when a Dane is talking. I watched a Danish flim called "The Bench" on Wednesday for my Danish class. This movie is really quite depressing, but depicts the supposedly non-existent social classes in Denmark. It is one movie out of a trilogy of movies by the same director all trying to capture different social classes in Denmark. The Bench is about the lowest class, and involves a drunk named Kaj who rediscovers his long lost daughter haphazardly at the social benefits office. It's been so long since she's seen Kaj that she doesn't even recognize him. When Kaj realizes that he has a grandson, and his daughter is a victim in a domestic abuse case, he tries to turn his life around -but it doesn't quite work out the way he planned...If you're looking for some very good acting, good filmmaking, but a serious downer, check out The Bench.

Last night I hung out with the pedagogue from my kindergarten. He had been at a demonstration for the one-year anniversairy of the destruction of a now infamous youth house called Ungdomhuset all day. There is an incredibly interesting story behind the reasons why it was demolished, and the struggle thereafter between the government, a nasty old lady, and a violent youth culture. For example, when it was cleared and demolished, the entire area of Nørrebro was set ablaze in a chaotic riot.

Anyways, I met up with Uffe in Nørrebro and went to one of his friends' house. On a side note, when I left the house, the bus drove through what looked to be a riot in Nørrebro...

Immediately when I walked in it felt like a good ol' college house. We took off our shoes and coats and headed to his friend's room in the basement. We had to climb through a circular hole in the cement wall to get to his room -something I can say I'd never done until that point. His friend was an artist and had lots of paintings hung all over his room, along with, much to my delight, a guitar. We hung out there for a while and eventually went upstairs where a group of Danes were painting and writing on circular porcelain tiles -an awesome party activity. All the while, this amazing Danish music was playing through one of the sweetest sound systems I've ever seen hooked up in a house. The music was very reminscent of the band Beirut, but had a distinctively nordic feel and sound to it. We went back down to his friends' room and played guitar and just hung out -some definite hygge. At one point the guy sitting next to me picked up the guitar and started playing while a girl across the room accompanied him vocally -turns out they were a songwriting duo who called themselves Den Fjerde Væg. There really aren't words for the disbelief I had while I was sitting in this room full of amazing art, interesting people, and beautiful music...in Copenhagen.

If you're interested in hearing the band, check out their myspace.

So there's about one week until the European extravaganza begins, and the excitement is killing me. The academic ferocity of this week should make this travel break even more delightful. I'll be updating later this week on my tentative schedule of events, and possible map of where I'll be going, but for now I've got some work to do...(on left, Jackie and I in the kitchen of the kindergarten in Christiania)