Hey there!
Apologies ahead of time for the novel length of this post! On the plus side, I've added lots of photos :) To begin where I left off...
My midterm essays (of which I had two, each between 2000-2500 words) were due on November 5th. Of course, I couldn't wait that long to begin writing them since my boyfriend & I had planned to leave on a trip to Copenhagen on Wednesday, October 31st. Yes, I missed Halloween to travel Europe. To anyone else, this may be a very small sacrifice, if one at all, but Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday ever of all time, even more than Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter combined... So needless to say, it took some convincing. But more on that later. I ended up turning in my essays a week ahead of time. How was such a feat done, you ask? Lots and lots and lots of caffeine. Other than that, I have no clue. But wow, was that ever a process.
Usually back home, I print off a hard copy of any essay from the printer I have in my apartment (easily and always accessible, keep that in mind) to turn in to the Professor at the beginning of class, then submit one online via Blackboard. You all know this. Easy as pie. But here, I had to first submit both online, then I had to wait on the site, Moodle, to email me a "receipt" saying I turned it in without plagiarizing. I had to then print off those receipts along with 2 hard copies of my papers from a printer in the receptions office of my housing area, which is in a completely different building from where I live. (I also had to first buy printing credits online and have an IT person set up my computer, a Mac, so that it successfully spoke to the printer, which is set up for PCs.) After that, I had to walk both copies to the English Office on campus to deliver in person. This doesn't seem too hard, you may think, but the office is only open from 10am-1pm and 2pm-4pm on weekdays, which makes it tricky to catch & even trickier to turn in papers to the receptionist if there are a lot of people attempting to do the same. I can only guess that for students whose class times conflict with the only open office times must choose between going to class or turning in an essay. It's a very strange system.
Luckily, I had no classes the week prior to the due date, as it's dubbed "reading week," to allow students a chance to catch up on assignments & complete their midterms essays. So I had plenty of time. But once I got to the English Office, I had to fill out cover sheets for both my essays then hand them to the receptionist, who then signed off on them. Of course, something had to go wrong with mine since I'm a study abroad student. And I have bad luck. The first receptionist took them & said they were good to go. The second receptionist (who I assume is the first one's boss) came up to double check, & I had stapled them together in the wrong order. Oh dear! So I had to take all of them apart, fill out new cover sheets because the old ones had torn, reassemble the pack, then turn them in again. Finally my midterms were complete! Phew, what a load off.
I had a few days of down time to do laundry, work out, clean my room, pack, all that good stuff, before we left for Denmark. I met my boyfriend at the London Gatwick airport on Wednesday evening, and we spent the night in the airport to catch an early flight from London to Copenhagen. We arrived with no trouble and easily located our hotel, Hotel Copenhagen. By the way, it was a huge treat to find! I highly recommend it for the price, location, and amenities. Check out more on the website: http://www.hotelcopenhagen.se/1/sv/hem/hem.php
The weekend was....interesting. The city itself was very cool, a lot of modern architecture mixed with cracked and weathered old buildings, all quite aesthetically appealing. But from the very beginning of the trip, I had the weirdest, most unsettling feeling, almost like we were being watched. I can't really explain it, but we definitely stood out way more as Americans in Copenhagen than in anywhere else we've been so far. Probably because the Danish all look alike. No joke. Tall, slender, blond or sandy colored hair, poker face expressions, a TON of babies. You read that correctly. It was like we had stepped into a freaky episode of the Twilight Zone. EVERYONE had babies. At least one. Usually more. While dodging hundreds of the expensive carriages, we checked out some really cool tourist attractions, like Frederiksberg hae, the Church of Our Savior, Rosenborg Castle, Rundetaarn (aka the round tower), Tivoli Gardens, Gefion Fountain, Kongelige Teater (aka the royal Danish theater), Christiansborg Palace, Frederik's Church, Christianshavn, Citadel, Christiania, the H. C. Andersen statue, and the Little Mermaid statue. We got to walk all around the main parts of the city stopping for tasty food & to shop along this huge strip of stores called Stroget (aka my paradise). We also just relaxed a lot of the time enjoying coffee & crepes in their beautiful parks.
View from across the river where our Hotel was located
Cute side street
Local graffiti
The entrance to Christiania, a local community in the heart of the city that does not abide by the laws of Denmark. Google for more information. It's an unbelievable place!!
Crossing the river to the main part of the city
Danish canal, very similar to those in Amsterdam
Christiansborg Palace
A scenic view of one of the parks
Christianshavn
The Little Mermaid Statue
Frederik's Church
Frederiksberg hae, a local park
A tree in Frederiksberg hae dripping with pacifiers, baby dolls, toys, and more. See, I told you. It's a baby-infested city!
Rundetaarn
The whole reason we made a trip to Copenhagen was to attend a concert event called Sensation White, which was on Saturday night, Nov. 3rd. We were both really pumped since we'd bought the tickets way back in May, but I couldn't shake off that weird feeling. Something was just off. Overall, the show was great!! It was a massive mix of DJs playing House, Dubstep, & some Techno. The light show was amazing, and they made use of pyrotechnics, trapeze artists, and phenomenal stage designs.
Less than half way through the night, maybe 10:30 or so, two girls randomly jumped up next to us & started dancing right in front of my boyfriend. I took a step back & saw three or four others staring at his back pocket & attempting to grab his wallet. I glared at them until they felt the wrath of my angry eye contact, but less than a second later, the two dancing girls were back and trying to block my view. One of the other girls walked briskly passed us, and I saw her very obviously slip a hand into his pocket. I was astounded that she'd have the guts to do so when they all knew I'd seen. I couldn't control myself. So... I flew after the girl, fearing she'd taken his wallet & all his money, chased her through the dancing crowd, caught her by her wrists, held her up to my face & in not-so-nice-words demanded to know what the heck she thought she was doing & what she took. The look on her face was priceless; humiliation coupled with fear coupled with shock that I'd physically caught her. I really wanted to drag her to security, but I heard my boyfriend say that she hadn't taken anything of importance, just a free map of the city which we didn't need anymore, so I let her go. I didn't want to start a fight. Plus, I was in a foreign city; her territory. Not to mention earlier in the evening, I'd been randomly accused by a completely different girl that I'd stolen her phone after I'd given her some of my glow sticks. What was up with these people? Couldn't we all just dance & have fun? That pretty much killed the night, so we headed back to the hotel & passed out. Needless to say, the concert was fun, but the people were not.
Be forewarned; no matter how comfortable you may become in a new place while studying abroad, or traveling anywhere outside your own country for that matter, you are not a native & really do stick out like a sore thumb. People will try to take advantage of you, especially Americans, who I've come to find have a reputation that proceeds us: Apparently, every one of us is filthy rich. Did you know this? No? Nor did I.
Sensation
We headed back to our respective universities in England on Sunday evening. I was suddenly struck by the most unwelcome & unexpected torture of homesickness. Very weird for me, because I don't think I've felt true, overwhelming homesickness since my first day of pre-school. It crept up slowly, but after the trip to Copenhagen, I felt myself slammed in the head with more and more intense longings for the easy comforts of home. Like my own apartment. The familiar Arkansas campus & beautiful fall colors. Football games. My mom's uncanny ability to always have the fridge back home stuffed for days with my favorite foods. My older sister living in the apartment right below mine. I realized that this would be the first Thanksgiving I will have ever missed. I even daydreamed of the Walmart Neighborhood Market, open 24hrs, barely a minute's drive from my apartment complex. And hearing non-stop US Presidential Election coverage certainly did not help. I think I've been asked my opinion on the candidates more than 100 times.
So I did some research. (If you know me, you know this is always how I solve problems, very meticulously finding the source of the issue in order to combat it accordingly.) I came across this chart that looked surprisingly like the one we'd been shown at our study abroad orientation (that I may or may not have forgotten):
Now imagine the Arrival is labeled #1, the dip down to Culture Shock #2, the Recovery #3, so on and so forth. I expected the Culture Shock to occur early in my stay, like when I first got frustrated when people were unable to understand some of the things I said due to my southern accent (& I don't even have a thick one like so many other southern Americans!) But no. True Culture Shock sets in around 2-3 months and is recognized by core symptoms like homesickness, insomnia, depression, irritation, withdrawal, and deep frustration or longing to leave the host country. Low & behold, I'm exactly 2.5 months into my stay. It's amazing how accurately psychologists can predict human behavior. Luckily, I only experienced the first of the bunch, and for a few days, I did feel like an outsider.
But I was in no way ready to leave. I snapped myself out of it by continually reminding myself of where I am, what I'm doing, how this semester will influence the rest of my life, & that this is the opportunity of a lifetime to make connections & friendships like none other. Plus I'm lucky to have such amazing flat mates who I adore that were eagerly ready to listen & helped keep my mind occupied. The trick to coping with any new situation is focusing on the positives. I counted the weekends I had left in England, scribbled down my future travel plans, & told myself that my family and friends will all be waiting when I get back. I also made myself go out with friends & be social, when I could have easily stayed in my room watching the new episodes of The Walking Dead on my computer. (Shout out to all the other AMC Zombie-lovers!)
I had classes on Tuesday, then my boyfriend & I met up again in London on Wednesday afternoon. This time, two of my boyfriend's hall mates from Bath tagged along to attend the Soccer matches with us, which was my birthday gift! We checked out the Chelsea Megastore to make sure we had all the necessary paraphernalia. We had to look like we belonged, after all. The first match was Wednesday evening, Chelsea vs. Shakhtar Donetsk, a UEFA Championship match. The game was tied, 2-2, with 3 minutes added at the end for stoppage time. We all thought it was over until Chelsea got a corner kick in the last minute. With only about 40 seconds left, they took the kick, & Victor Moses managed to get a foot on the ball & hammered it into the back of the net! The crowd literally went wild. This was an important game for Chelsea since the team had to defend its title as the European Football Champion. We hollered & high-fived with the rest of the Chelsea fans, all of us smiling from ear to ear.
Chelsea vs. Shakhtar Football match in Chelsea Stadium
Chelsea. vs. Shakhtar
Go Chelsea!!
Football players on the field
The following day, my boyfriend & I traveled to Tottenham in North London to attend a second match, this time between the Tottenham Hotspurs and Maribor at White Hart Lane Stadium. After eating a surprisingly delicious dinner at a hole-in-the-wall Greek Kebab restaurant, we checked out a local pub to expose ourselves to the "Football Fan" atmosphere. That was such a unique experience! Everyone was decked out in the Tottenham jerseys & scarves; the bar seemed to be swimming in the team colors, navy blue and white. We stopped by the store there too to buy some things to wear to the game, which have doubled as awesome souvenirs! Like my hat :) See below. The Hotspurs totally dominated the match, winning with a final score of 3-1. What a game! And what a perfect birthday gift!!
Enjoying an English Beer at the local Football pub!
White Hart Lane Stadium, setting up for kick off!
Yay Hotspurs!! We won!!
The stadium was crazy crowded, & the crowd was crazy loud
(Try saying that 5 times fast.)
We caught a late train back to Canterbury Thursday night after the match and stayed here for the weekend. We finally had the chance to explore more of Canterbury the city (versus Canterbury the campus) & made our way into Canterbury Cathedral. It is such a serene place. A calming and warm sense of home seeped into me as we slowly strolled through the rusted gates and crumbling stones of the church.
The entrance to Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral
Inside Canterbury Cathedral
Another outside view of the cathedral
We walked around the city a bit, stopping to admire the quaint shops & local farmer's market.
Local farmer's market
Main avenue in Canterbury City Centre
(No, I didn't spell center wrong. They spell it centre here.)
Another shopping area in the city
I took another day trip to Leeds Castle with my boyfriend this afternoon before he had to catch the train back to Bath. The sun was just setting as we made our way around the castle grounds. The view of the moat from the castle bridge was breathtaking. The photo below does not even begin to do the sunset justice.
Leeds Castle Moat
Right now, I can hear my flat mates below me in the kitchen playing some sort of card game. And I'm looking around my room thinking it may be interesting to let my blog readers see where it is exactly that I am living. Well, my bed room looks like this:
Fully decorated with items from my European travels...
(If you can see in the pic, the blue push pins on the map identify the places I have been. The red ones stick in the places I want to visit.)
...A sink, a mirror, some shelves, some drawers...
...And a comfy bed right next to the furnace to keep me warm & snuggly at night!
It's nothing big, but it serves it's purpose well. And instead of sharing a room half the size of this one with a person I've never met before in my life (cough, cough, freshmen dorms), I have privacy and my own work space!
I'm off to begin some reading for Tuesday classes. Apologies again for the length of this entry. I'll try to post shorter entries more often. But don't say I didn't warn you! Haha.
Cheers!
Kat
