Hrvatska!

Well, I'm exhausted but I know that if I don't get to posting things from Hrvatska, Croatia, now, I'll never get to it. I can't believe that I'm heading home first thing tomorrow morning, but I'm about travelled out right now and being able to settle in to home will be nice.

Altogether, it was a great week--I'm definitely ready to be traveling on my own now rather than with a group of 28 other students, but I'm so grateful to have been able to spend time in Zagreb & Split. Since I have 5 days of travel stories to tell, I think this one will be best as a photo post--It'll be a long one, but I promise it's worth it if you'd like a little taste of Croatia.

When we arrived on Sunday, we went on what we thought was a forest walk. It ended up being a treacherous downhill slide on mud with hopes of finding a cave. We eventually found the cave, but not without getting terribly muddy and wet and dirty. I was grateful for my chacos, but since we thought it was a forest walk many of us were in flip flops. Not so nice.

Here's just a little taste of our terrain.

Kayla was not so much a fan of the mud--especially when she ended up with it on her hands after slipping.

Despite the muddiness, I did enjoy this little outdoorsy fix!

Hey, we found the cave...eventually.

By the end our feet were just a bit muddy...

We were, however, HIGHLY rewarded after the hike with an amazing dinner. Because I don't eat red meat, I was served a vegetarian dinner at this restaurant. It may have been one of the best meals I'd ever eaten--all the veggies were cooked to perfection and we were really full at the end. YUM!

Monday, after recovering from the CRAZY walk, we got a chance to really explore Zagreb on our own. The outskirt areas were very different from the center of the town with old, 10ish story apartment buildings. These buildings were very much the remains of a communist society. Throughout town there were also more old, unkept buildings like this one below. Then there were gorgeous areas like the other pictures show.

Statue of King Tomislav, Croatia's first king who ruled in the 10th century AD.

After being in flat, flat København for 5 weeks, these hills in Croatia were a bit of a struggle, but they provided an absolutely beautiful look at the city.

Old government building

View of the city from atop the hill

Tuesday, after a lecture in the morning about Croatia's social structure and history, we had a guided tour by our lecturer who was a 27-year-old researcher from Zagreb. He was super knowledgeable and had a lot of great connections, so we were able to see some really neat places. Among those places, we visited 4 different places of worship--a Jewish Community Center, the Roman Catholic church, the Serbian Orthodox church, and the Islamic Center. The majority of Croatia is roman catholic; however, there are many minority groups and religions represented in Croatia due to the history of the region.

These two towers of the Catholic church can be seen from pretty much anywhere in Zagreb.

This cathedral is extremely ornate--pictured here above the crucifixion scene is ancient Croatian text telling the story of Jesus' death.

We had a quick peak inside the Serbian Orthodox church.

The outside of the Islamic Center--if you look closely you can see the moon, which was really neat because it was almost aligned with the tip of the temple, which also has a moon at the top as the moon is a symbol of Islam.

That night we went out for a few drinks. As far as drinks go, Zagreb was about 4 times cheaper than København, which was pretty crazy to fathom! The exchange rate from US Dollar to the Croatian Kuna and the Danish Kroner are about the same--in Zagreb we were getting two drinks for 17 Kuna and in Denmark we'd be able to get two beers for about 50 Krone.

Wednesday afternoon we flew to Split for just under 24 hours. It was a little disappointing that we weren't there for longer, but I made the best attempt to enjoy the time that I did have there. Hey, maybe I'll go back some day...

View from our hotel room's window

Diocletian's Palace in Split. Diocletian--former ruler of the Roman Empire & "son" of Jupiter--had this palace built around 300 AD. It was pretty outstanding to walk around here.

Split by night

Split by day. We didn't really have any beach time because of our jam-packed schedule, but we did at least get to enjoy the sunshine & views this morning.

Layover in Budapest--we saw Hungary, right? Okay, maybe not.

So, now, after a terribly long day of traveling, I'm back in København for one more night before heading back to Raleigh. It's so difficult for me to fathom that 6 weeks has already passed since I began this journey, but I'll definitely take a lot of wonderful things with me--namely the travel bug. I'm already thinking of where I'd like to go next. The only problem is that there are too many places I want to see! We'll see what the future brings :)

hej hej

It's hard to believe that my adventures in Denmark are actually coming to a close. In 12 hours, I'll be leaving DIS for the last time and heading to the CPH airport to catch a flight to Croatia. After those days in Croatia are up, we'll have one night at a hotel in København by the airport, so it won't really even feel like we're back. Crazy! Well, we've been checking off our lists and making sure we get the most important things finished before we head off to Hrvatska.

One of the things I really wanted to do was to see Nyhavn harbor by night...and to take some pictures of course. Kayla and I went down there Tuesday night for midsummer celebrations, but I didn't bring my good camera and when we got there we realized that both of our other cameras had died...therefore, we knew for certain that another trip was in store.

Last night, Kayla and I had an AMAZING dinner at the harbor with two girls from our class and we got the opportunity to take some awesome pictures. We decided that since it was our second to last night, we deserved to splurge a little...so we got fancy dinners and a bottle of wine. It was nearly $40, but for the dinner & atmosphere it was totally worth it!

The Harbor by night - 8:15pm

Kayla & me at dinner

My amazing dinner: Smoked salmon salad--with a honey dijon & sesame sead dressing.

After that, we grabbed some ice cream, another drink, and then went back to the harbor to take some night time pictures. It was stunning. The harbor is just beautiful every time of day, and again, I could not stop taking pictures.

I had to balance the camera on a flat-ish surface so that I could get some good nighttime pictures...this one turned out really cool.

This was at about 11:15pm

View past Nyhavn into Kongens Nytorv

Gorgeous boats

Today, we started the morning off right with some fresh pastries from our corner bakery. Then, Kayla and I went back out for a bit to grab lunch and finish up some shopping, and along the way we said goodbye to many of our favorite places. Then we came back to pack up the majority of our things so that they can be stored at DIS while we're on our study tour. Fortunately, I think i'm in good shape on weight this time...I hope, anyway! It was an interesting experience having to lug our huge wheeled suitcases down the cobblestone streets of København...but we succeeded. We came back tonight & enjoyed fixing our last dinner together. It was a good one, despite the fact that we were cleaning out the fridge.

Our morning pastries. Delicious!

My amazing sandwich from Vero Italiano--Smoked salmon, avocado, cucumbers, lettuce, tomato, & lemon pesto sauce on wheat bread.

Our last supper--whole wheat pasta with chicken & veggies.

It seems like our lives have revolved around food here...but at least it's been good food!

It still hasn't hit me yet that we're really done with Denmark because we're getting ready for Croatia. Every time I've left this apartment for a trip I've been able to come back and settle in for another night in my bed here. That's not the case this time. As I went through the motions of the day today, I kept thinking to myself that Kayla and I were doing so many things for the last time. We walked to Nørreport from DIS for the last time. We walked from our Amagerbro metro station to our kollegium for the last time. We fixed our last dinner in our little kitchen tonight. We're going to sleep in these little comfy beds for the last time. Tomorrow morning will be so strange to lock our very empty apartment's door and say goodbye to Øresundskollegiet for good.

But that's enough sappiness for one night, I believe. Tomorrow at 8:45 we're heading to the airport to fly Croatia Airlines to Zagreb. We'll stay in Zagreb for 3 nights, then go to Split for one night. Fortunately we'll have internet at our hotel in Zagreb so I'll definitely be able to update! I'm really looking forward to being in this country, mostly because it is going to be SO much different from both the US and Denmark. So, hej hej, goodbye, for now...my next post will be from Zagreb!

cykling

Holy cow, what a weekend! Bornholm was absolutely beautiful; however, I am completely and utterly exhausted. Sleeping away from my own bed three nights in a row (in three different places, mind you) and cykling, biking, about 110 km can really wear a girl out!

Friday night, the group left a plaza near school at about 9:45 so that we could catch the night ferry from Køge, which is just north of København, to Rønne, which is on the island of Bornholm. Bornholm is actually closer to Poland and Sweden than it is to “mainland” Denmark, and although the territory has been claimed by several different countries over the years it is very much a part of Denmark. Therefore, we took the ferry trip to Bornholm because really that’s the only way to get there. After arriving Saturday morning (bright & early, I might add), we settled into our “hostel” in Gudhjem, which felt much more like a summer camp than a hostel, had breakfast, and went along on our merry little ways. The group I biked with, which included two girls from my psych/child development class and two guys, decided to conquer more distance the first day knowing that we’d be worn out on Sunday. Well, worn out doesn’t quite explain it, and throughout my biking, I often thought about the fact that when real bikers bike that long of a distance, they typically train for the experience. Nonetheless, we survived the 75 (yes, 75) kilometers successfully without too much damage. Getting back on the bike Sunday was not the most pleasant experience (actually, it was an extremely UNpleasant experience), but we made several stops, hung out at a couple beaches, ate some great food, played mini golf, and rode only 35 km. After a long day and a GORGEOUS sunset, we caught the ferry back to København again and arrived with just enough time for me to run home and drop my things off before class.

Here’s a map that I’ve labeled (to the best of my ability) with our routes. As you can hopefully see, we began in Gudhjem both days, and obviously the purple route is from Saturday and the pink route is from Sunday.

My highlights of this trip could probably best be summarized by the thoughts that ran through my head throughout my biking. I was at the back of the group quite often, which I’d like to attribute that to two things: the fact that my allergies were going INSANE and I didn’t bring my Allegra D to Denmark with me and my appreciation for the scenery—since I couldn’t exactly snap pictures while I was biking I had to at least take everything in. Therefore, by being at the back of the crew, I had quite a bit of time to think by myself. The greatest thoughts are as follows:

- 'Holy cow, my butt hurts'

- 'No wonder the Danes settled in the Midwest. This looks (and smells) like Wisconsin/Iowa/Nebrasca'

- ‘Against the wind…We were runnin’ against the wind’ (against being key here)

- ‘Is it ironic that I’m not humming Queen’s Bicycle?’

- Various profanities that should not be mentioned, my knowledge of which can only be attributed to the Eick girls

- ‘If my Colorado boy cousins were here they would be so freaking proud of me right now’

- ‘Mikey would really appreciate my chaco tan right now’

- ‘After this I could bike the greenway at Meredith with no problem’

- ‘Scratch that, I don’t want to get on a bike again for a long time’

- ‘Hmm…this really looks like Wisconsin/Iowa/Nebraska/Colorado’

- ‘Oh, right, that sign is in a different language--I am in a different country’

- ‘No really, my butt hurts’

On that note, here are some pictures. It really was a great trip and I’m glad I did it despite the excruciating pain I am currently experiencing and the pure exhaustion.

Day 1 - Saturday:

At this point, the bike and I were friends.

The rolling hills and plains

Beach #1 - Balka, pretty...but it did not even compare to what we were about to see.

By this point, this bike seat was the bane of my existence. Ouch.

Beach #2 - Dueodde, home of the finest sand in the world. It's used for most hourglasses and you can buy a little bit of it for about $5 in the gift shop!

Day 2 - Sunday:

Wildlife!

We began at that point that you can kiiiind of see all the way in the distance.

Beach #3 - Sandvig, Not a bad beach view, huh? The view was great...the water was FREEZING.

I survived...a little pink, but I survived

The reminder that we are, in fact, in Denmark

We went on a little hike after hanging by the beach. This side of the path looked like Chautauqua in Boulder, CO.

Then this side...not so much. How gorgeous is the Baltic, though?

Gudhjem at the harbor by night

We finished the weekend off right--with the Summer Solstice Sunset at about 10:05 pm.