last weekend in april

i went for a run over down grondels parkvej to a lake and around the lake. cute little goslings. GORGEOUS weather.
i came back home and did some homework.
i went into osterbro. i went back to the danish resistance museum because i wanted to look at the pics and stuff more than we had time to during the guided tour on wednesday. i walked through churchill park which was very pretty. there is a big windmill. i walked around kastellet which is where the army and special intelligence is house but there are battlements in the shape of a star that you can walk on and see a ways. its right near the water. very pretty.
it started to rain which was odd becuase it had been really sunny and warm.
i went back home and did more writing of papers and reading. i called home.
i had dinner with ida and jens. karen was at a sort of prom (gala fest) at her school. we were going to have steak but ida went to a friends house and jens fell asleep so we ended up getting pizza to eat. ida and jens have many friends that they keep in touch and go visit.
i watched the holiday which is a cute movie. i talked with molly, mccurdy and megan online. they are all doing well.
sunday i did lots of work again. i went running with ally and jessie around the lakes and in faelledparken. we had a nice chat while we were running.
i had dinner with the host family. we had steak, potatoes, veggies and a rhubarb crisp for dessert. they didn't put berries in with the rhubarb like we usually do in the states.

• went for a run down the canal by the black diamond library. went to class. learned about the welfare state (govt. provides education, healthcare and social security for the people with money the people provide by insurance, family based, or by taxes, individual based. democracy, solidarity and egalitarianism are all important to the welfare state. the US is not a welfare state we decided. in enviro history we also learned about the welfare state. democracy is ok for the environment bc people complain and make the government improve living conditions. it is hard to reconcile the desire for continued economic growth and conservation policies. in danish we had a group presentation about sexuality in the DK, China and the US. prostitution is legalized here abortion is legalized and you can have a registered partnership. China there is a one child policy. you can have one child and then you must use a form of birth control.
  we a good discussion about women's rights and the usefullness of sex edc. in schools.
• after danish i met briefly with my group for edc. to work on our group exam.
  
• ashley emily and i went to the galathea to meet one of emily's teachers (emily is taking marine bio) who was on the ship when it was doing research from australia to the soloman islands. the harbor is near the little mermaid.
• i had dinner on my own. my host family is all off. karen at a promlike dance, jens sailing and ida with a friend.
  

I went to the forest for practicum today but elizabeth stayed at the school because she wanted to leave earlier to be with her dad. we went on a tour of the forest. there were red snails and a pond to explore, a stick structure to climb over, and a rope swing to swing on (to Mars). interestingly the pedagog just kept walking didn't really pay attention to whether the kids were all there behind him or running ahead. amazingly the kids did keep up and stopped if they got to far ahead without being asked. a group of boys was playing a very involved and in depth star wars make believe. i pushed a girl and a boy who kept taking turns on a rope swing back at the site.we made potato pancakes and cooked them over a fire. the pedagog asked me to get a ladle but they didn't know that word so she asked for a spoon with a cup on the end. i had a nice talk with the pedagogs about their philosophy and how they go about planning. one of the pedagogs made a compost hole for the food waste. evidence of the environmentally friendly nature of the school. also one of the pedagogs got angry at the kids for putting paper in the bins where the washclothes they use to dry thier hands are supposed to go. one boy got sick to his stomach, a girl hit her head on the tree, and another boy had an eye infection. the day was full of excitement. three of the girls were making a mess with mudpies and generally not listening so they were punished by sitting by themselves and facing opposite directions.
i went to dinner on nyhavn (elizabeth's dad's treat b/c he's visiting). emily also came i had salmon, pasta and a tomato sauce. i also tried some of the mussels that we got to share.

number the stars

What a wonderful day I've had. I went running down Grodal's Parkvej which is a new path sort of near my house by the S-train stop. It ended up at this pretty lake that I ran around. I freaked out a mama duck with a brood of little ducklings. They were tiny and yellow and fuzzy-SO CUTE! I had breakfast with Ida and Karen. Karen has been working hard on a music performance she has to do.
I took the s-train over to the Frihedeets Museum (Danish Resistance Museum). We had a guide take us around. He told us about how Denmark surrendered to Germany in 1.5 hours after being threatened because they are such a tiny country and didn' t want violence. The kidn of Denmark was Christian X at the time. He is known for going riding around the town and talking with the people. There is a rumor that he wore a star of david to express solidarity and sympathy with the jewish people but the guide says this is not true.A small number of Danes did join the Germans and go to fight for Germany (Freedom Corps and Helper Corps). The majority of Danes just kept living their daily lives and working and ignoring the occupation. Germany exploited the Danish agriculture to feed the German people. Also many German soldiers came to Denmark for vacation...the guide called this the whipped cream front vs. the Eastern front. The Danish government paid for this...Germany was supposed to pay them back after the war but they lost the war and didn't have to pay. Some of the Danes were active in the resistance movement. This involved solidarity with each other, printing fliers, and destroying some facilities. The guide showed us a pic called 5 pigs with only drawings of 4 pigs but when you fold it properly you get a picture of Hitler who is the 5th pig. There were 7500 Jews in Denmark. 700 got to Sweden. of the 500 others only 50 were actually killed. Those who were sent to camps were sent to work camps not extermination camps and the Danish govt. sent money and resources for them in the camps and to keep them there. May 5th was the official day when Denmark was liberated. This info came out on the news on May 4th however and people were celebrating and attacking the German soldiers. Little did these people know that the surrender was not effective until May 5th so more people were killed at that point in Denmark than during the war itself.
After that we got on a train to go to Gilleleje. It is SUCH a cute town. You go through beautiful fairly forested countryside to get there with fields covered in yellow flowers.
In the town we went to see the church where 80 jews were hidden. The Germans found out and raided the church everyone but one boy who escaped into the bell tower by climbing ropes was captured. From the windows in the attic of the church you can see the harbor where the boats were to take the jews to sweden.
After the church we walked down the harbor. There is a huge festival there and people try to stand as long as they can on top of a pole stuck into the water. There were places to get food and tons of really nice looking sailboats.
We walked up to a museum that had a replica of what the boats would have looked like and how the jewish people were hidden down below.
There was a path that Soren Kirkegaard used to walk up and down a lot.
After that we went to the beach and sat and hung out. People were trying to skip rocks.
It was a fairly long train ride back to Copenhagen.

april 23rd

i went for a run around the lakes this morning. my goodness swans make a lot of noise when they take flight! i talked with my host family at breakfast. there was a quiz about capitals of countries and general geography. ida was asking the questions in danish and karen and i were both answering. i am so happy to be able to understand quite a bit of what they are saying now. i can't speak danish back very well but i can understand it! the quiz was in the paper bc danish children don't know their geography.
went into practicum class. we talked about the purpose of oral exams and what to expect of your group oral exam at the end of the semester. i am in a group with ashley, morgan, and erin. we are going to talk about edc. philosophy in the US and denmark in terms of individuality and group mentality, socialization, etc. we also talked about what to do for our portfolio (a 15 page report we have to write abotu our observations at the schools each week).
i met with my group for danish (emily, amanda, and cheng). we are doing a presentation tomorrow about family and social life in Denmark vs. the US. it is tomorrow.
in theory class we learned abotu how to help parents with special needs cope with having a child with special needs. we got a paper back where we had to talk about how a child with special nees at our practicum site was being dealt with. i did well.

ballet and legoland

saturday i went for a run around the lakes. i did a bunch of homework. I met elizabeth, erica and lauren (erica and lauren are studying abroad in vienna and we visited them there) at the royal theatre to see the danish ballet corps perform the ballet Napoli. it was an amazing performance. its basically a romance. it starts out in Naples with happy crowd scenes and three men fighting over a woman. one guy ends up marrying her. the two lovers are in a shipwreck. the guy has to go and save his wife from a sea god. she forgets him but remembers eventually adn they go back to Naples and there are more happy crowd reunion scenes. tambourines are used and there is lots of jumping and athletic moves in this part. there were three acts with about a 15 minute intermission between each. there is a lot of expressive acting/miming instead of dancing in the first part. the costumes were fun. the queen came to watch even though princess mary had a baby daughter earlier in the day. it was one of the dancers 40 year anniversary of being in the company so there was a lot of clapping and celebration of that at the end of the show. the royal theatre is pretty with paintings on the ceilings. There are 3 levels of seats.
sunday i went for a run around the lakes and then i went to legoland. it is a three hour bus ride. there are gorgeous yellow mustard plant flowers in all the fields. we went over two bridges to get from Zealand to Fyn to Jutland where legoland is. in legoland we went on a boat ride with a lego constructions that are pirate themed. we went on a roller coaster that was fantasy (knights and dragons) themed. we also went on a ride where you design the way you want to be moved. you sit in a chair on the end of this mechanical arm and it moves you around almost like a roller coaster would. we got icecream which is much creamier here. we took a boat ride around a loop with famous buildings from around the world (statue of liberty, capitol building, acropolis, etc.) we also walked around in lego villages representing lots of different cities. there was a model of the football park where we went to see the game last weekend. we went up in a enclosed glass bubble thing that spins slowly up a central pole. you can get a good view of the park. there was a really cool lego mt. rushmore. in the wild west area of the park there was a saloon with a lego guy who had lost all his clothes except his hat in bets. I went around with Amanda, Ginni and Pwin who are all friends of mine from the PCD program.

thursday april 19th
Walked into Stenurten. It was a bit rainy and very windy out.
Did some coloring with the children. Made a Noah's arc by putting plastic animals into a pirate ship with one child and then sorted the animals and counted how many of each there were with another kid. I had a pillow fight and took turns burying girls in piles of pillows and popping out. Music was on- pop music from a few years ago. Sara our old supervisor quit and went to a new school to work but we have a new supervisor who seems really nice.
Went for a run around the lakes.
Did homework (papers and reading).
Went into chorus. We worked on Kvinde Mine. A fairly famous danish song by Kim Larsen. We were all kind of unenergetic b/c of work and stuff. Rachel, the director, was being very peppy though. We talked about "the pill" and drugs that effect your period because there had been an article about it in the paper.
went home, did some homework, talked on IM to megan while she was in her design class and went to bed.
friday
went for a run around the lakes again. pretty with the sun on the water. quite a few other people out. had fun catching up to and passing people. i went around all 5 which i don't always do.
karen went to a play last night of a bunch of skits her classmates did. she also was telling me about this fancy yummy icecream she got to take becuase it had partially melted and then froze again so they couldn't sell it from the bakery where she works. ida worked at home all day today and had friends over this afternoon.
had class. we talked a bit about the french elections in 20th century. apparently to be in politics in france you have to go to this one university. i guess i hope royale wins because she is a woman and a socialist, but i don't really know much about sarkozy or le Pen. after talking about the elections we went on to learn about the EU and NATO and when different countries joined and why some countries haven't switched to the EURO. the main purpose the the EU seems to be political stability.
in enviro. history we learned about urbanization, pollution, population concetrations and all the horrible stuff humans are putting into the air and the water.
in danish we learned about subordinate clauses (because (fordi), while (mens), etc.) we learned how to say that i am looking forward to (jeg glaeder mig til at.....)
then i signed up last minute for the bornholm bike trip. it is suppsed to be a GORGEOUS place and even though i'm not much of a biker that apparently doesn't matter at all. i figure i am here why not take advantage of the opportunity.
talked to mccurdy on im. she will be working at MIT this summer. she is doing front of house for the bryn mawr production of a winters tale.

wednesday april 18th

I went for a run first thing and then did homework for most the of the day. No classes because it's Wednesday. Elizabeth heard that she is the chair of SOS the community service Org. at Smith. I read about different ways humans have pulluted the world for Enviro. history. I worked on my paper about the EU and climate change for Environmental history and on my portfolio about Stenurten and school visits in Sweden and London for PCD. At 4 I went into DIS to meet with Elizabeth, Gini and Amanada and put finishing touches on our PCD presentation about London.
At 5 all the PCD students met and we all gave our presentations. It was interesting to see the different perspectives everyone chose to focus on and to hear what each group noticed in their visits. Some overall conclusions we came to are that London is a very multicultural city that really promotes discourse around multiculturalism in the schools. London really emphasizes parental and community involvement in the child's lives. There are many org.s in London that do outreach to find families that need extra support. Groups focused on the effectiveness of art, music, aquatic, dramatic, sensory and art therapy. Music as in singing and participating in making basic rythmns. Sensory as in touching being in rooms with crazy lights, sensory gardens with things to see touch and smell etc. Aquatic as in physical therapy and movement in the water because it will support the children's weight and allow them to move around freely. Art as in doing painting and drawing to express emotions. The presentations also brought up using pictures and body language to communicate and not just words.

tuesday april 17th

went for a run through norrobro and to faelledparken around the lakes and back. did some homework. went into class. we learned more about the cold war, nuclear energy, and the different economic development in E. vs. W. Europe. had lunch with Gini a friend from the PCD deparment. in environmental history we talked about the growth of centralized consolidated agriculture and the industrial revolution. mass production of cotton espeically originating in Lancaster England. In Danish we talked about the Queen's birthday and news in Denmark. We mentioned the Virginia Tech massacre and how it would never happen in Denmark b/c of the different gun control laws. in danish we also practiced talking about the weather and using time expressions about stuff we did in the past (two weeks ago, etc).
I met with Gini, Amanda and Elizabeth to work on our PCD presentation about inclusion of parents, community, and other children into the specialized schools for children with special needs in London. I hung out until my class rep. meeting for danish. She told us about a trip we do next week to the places mentioned in the book Number the Stars. After that I went on a trip with 5 other PCD students to a sports club for people with special needs. we played bocci, curling and ping pong with them. families of the children with special needs were there also and there were some older people with special needs. real mix of ages. very interesting to see a different segment of the danish population. they do great work and were very friendly and welcoming to us. we're going to be in a danish newspaper and one woman from DIS was interviewed. on the bus ride back we were talking about the VA Tech massacre. Maja just couldn't understand why the US government wasn't doing more. it is so sad and must be so scaary to be on campus there now.

"tell me why i don't like mun-days"

The title of this blog is a song that the FCK football team chant is based on.
Went for a run around neighborhoods near my house. Nice sunrise and quiet out.
Went into DIS for class. We had 2 guest lecturers a physio-therapist and a pedagogue from a special school. The physiologist talked about the importance of massage and getting children with special needs to use their bodies and stimulate their senses. The pedagogue talked abotu the importance of teaching social skills to SPED students first over academics and using music/rhythm to do this. We started our talk with him by singing a song where you tap your legs and clap to a rhythm and introduce yourself. We went to Amalienborg Castle because it is the Queen's birthday. She comes out at noon to wave to the people. The square by the palace was PACKED. Tons of children with danish flags. A plane kept flying over and the guards in red uniforms and huge black fur hats were all around. They say the bday song to her. The whole royal family was there (Prince Henrik (Queens husband not king bc he is just married to her), Prince Frederik and Princess Mary who have a son named Christian and are expecting another and Prince Joachim who is divorced from princess Alexandra who just got remarried to a non royal and is now just a countess Alexandra wasn't there bc she's no longer royal but her and Joachims sons were there Nickolai and Felix). Prince Christian is about 2ish and he got his head stuck in the bars of the balcony a bit and was all upset. There was also a dachsund royal dog on the balcony too. It is nice to have a royal family to set the values for the country who doesn't do the political part. The royal family can in and out 3 or 4 times. Some people had Australian flags (for Princess Mary who is from Australia and not from a royal family but is royal by marriage). There were also french flags for Prince Henrik because he is french.
Went back to DIS and did reading for class.
Poor Elizabeth tried to get iced coffee but they gave her hot coffee with icecream in it and then that was bad so she tried to get frozen yogurt but it was just basically like plain yogurt. Then a guy named Dan Wolfson took her package accidentally. Comedy of errors...
Theory was OK. We learned about the Marte Meo technique where you video tape parents with their children and go through the tape with them to find out how they could better communicate with their children.
Hard to concentrate because it is so incredibly warm and sunny and summerlike out!
After Theory I met with my group to work on our presentation abotu our London academic vists. We are talking about how the community and parents and other children are all involved in the lives of children with special needs.
Had dinner with Ida and Karen. Explained about Patriots Day. We talked about the Queens birthday also. We had pork chops with tomato and veggies on top and rice on the side.

april 15 sunday

Laura and I looked at the directions from NY to Paris as suggested by my uncle and were laughing about how it tells you to drive to Boston and then swim across the Atlantic ocean and takes days and days. Then we were looking at satellite maps of Manchester, NoHo, Copenhagen and Long Island (where Laura is from). We went into the Glyptotek. Such a great museum with lots of neat sculptures. We looked at an impressionist painting exhibit that wasn't open when I was at the Glypotek before. There were paintings by Degas, Manet, Morisot etc but not any of their especially great paintings. We went from the Glypotek to a bakery near DIS to get pastries. We then stopped by this church with a cool spiral tower and a gold dome on top. St. Peters Church I believe. Then we went to Christiania-a place where the laws are not followed adn they have a very hippy laid back type of lifestyle. It is the number one tourist destination in Denmark. Christiania was interesting. The gate on the way out says "You are now entering the EU" (in english). There are lots of little shacks and stalls where people are selling stuff. Laura got earrings at one stall. The guy is mixed race and wanted to build a ranch in Brazil. Don't know what he was going in Denmark. He was asking us about American Indians and wearing a Boston College shirt but he hadn't been to the States.
I took Laura to the airport and then went to DIS to watch Grey's Anatomy with Ashley, Emily and Elizabeth. My danish professor had invited us to her house before we went as a class to a soccer game. She lives in Osterbro which is a pretty weathly posh area of the city. Very nice. We sang the FCK cheer song again and had OJ, Coke or some had beer to drink. We walked from there over to the stadium.
The game was really fun. People got very into cheering. Three guys from the spectators went running across the field and had to be stopped by guards. FCK (the Copenhagen soccer team that we were rooting for) got 4 goals and OB (the team from Odense (another big city in Denmark) got 2 goals. Soccer is really fun to watch there. The grass got pretty torn up and there were some collisions and people that got knocked over but it is not a violent game. THe ball went into the stands more than I thought it would. They throw out a new ball but then go and retrieve the old ball.
I walked home along the 5 lakes in the center of the city. It was a beautiful night and it stays light so late (almost until 9PM!).

Thurs. April 12 I went for a run around in Norrebro. I went into practicum. Sara, my practicum supervisor is no longer there-she found a new job. It was Rune's (a pedagogue) last group with the group of oldest children. Now he is going to be working with the really little ones at the school and then move up with them through the years. They sang goodbye songs to Rune and had a little party. It was gorgeous out so we spent most of the time outside and ate lunch outside. I went from my practicum into DIS for Choir practice. We had fun. One of the girls brought Turkish Delight back from her trip. It was really good! Rachel (the leader) was telling us to keep the sound moving forward as if there was a stream of cars on the highway coming out of your mouth and then on the girls wanted to commit vehicular homicide to another of the girls cars. It was funnier if you were there I guess.
On Friday I went for a run around the lakes again. In 20th century history we were learning about the Cold War and conditions right after WWII. In Danish we learned the FCK (football/soccer team) song. We also did more with past tense. After classes I went into the airport to get Laura Bram. We went back to my host families house, had Thai food from a take out place for dinner, hung out and watched The Holiday. Cute movie. None of my host family was around that night. They were all with friends.
On Sat. we went to the National Museum and looked at the Danish history exhibit. We then saw Christiansborg Castle, walked down Stoget to Nyhavn. We had lunch along the harbor at Nyhavn. There were so many people there! Then we walked over the Rosenborg gardens and caslte and ended up at Tivoli. TIvoli was fine very quaint and cute and not as commericalized as lots of the amusement parks in the US. We saw quite a lot of senior citizens there and barely any school age children. Copenhagen is a such a nice clean beautiful colorful city! We went back to my house had Thai food leftovers and watched the Midsomer murders on TV.

had breakfast with ida jens and karen. read some stuff about the EU and what their doing about climate change for enviro. history paper.
went to the experimentarium. they had a dino exhibit, a human development/nutrition/healthy body area and an area with physics stuff with water, and motion. It was a very hands on museum. a lot like the acton discovery museum/boston science museum. the best part was doing the program to simulate being blind. you are in the pitch dark and you have to use a cane, feel the walls and stuff around you and follow the guides voice. you go through a marshy/ourdoors area and then you go through a city area. wse had to go up and over a bridge, feel a tree, find the bird feeder on the tree. cross a busy road, figure out that a strange object was a baby carriage. at the end we got to talk with guide and ask him what it is like to be blind. throughout the whole program there was a soundtrack playing with bird/water noises and then car noises. we all kept grabbing each other or holding onto the wall. it was easier to close your eyes because then they weren't straining to see. it was really warm and sunny and gorgeous outside!
i went for a run over towards elizabeth's house down a bikepath and then around on random roads and guessed my way back. i did hw the rest of the afternoon. reading about the cold war for 20th century and stuff. karen showed me the dress and shoes she is planning to wear to her prom. we had hamburger, salad, cumcumber and yogurt salad, and potatoes for dinner. Ida was with friends. poor karen has a ton of schoolwork and is stressed out. i helped karen make dinner. we had sort of marshmallows covered with chocolate for dessert. they were yummy.

I didn't do much on Monday. I went for a run around the lakes. Unfortunately I miss eating breakfast with Ida and Jens but I did talk for them for a bit when I got back from the run. I was trying to explain about pussy willows but they didn't know what I was talking about. I watched some of Shrek. Ida was doing work on her PhD and Jens went off to work on the sailboat. I did some reading, started researching and writing a paper I have to do for environmental history. I am going to write about what the EU is doing about climate change. I had lunch with my host family they had made an omlet. Elizabeth came over and we watched Clueless together. I talked with Molly and Megan on IM.
We had pasta with meat sauce and veggies for dinner. I thought it was so funny Karen said that she was hungry and Ida come back with "I'm danish." Nice play on words.
After dinner I helped Karen on an essay she had to write for English class about a book they are reading. I helped with vocab and general phrasing of sentences, but basically she is great at English.
Tuesday it was back to classes. I went for a run over to a new park but got a bit turned around and it ended up being longer than I meant. It was a bit rainy but warm and a very nice run.
I came back and read the news online. Riots in Iraq because of the anniversary of the take over.
I got a fun package from Lucy Miller and a card from Elyse Braner. Made my day happy!
Went into class. Peter Christiansen told us a story about how his wife wanted faster internet but getting the router set up was difficult so they had no internet for a couple weeks. His daughter is a relatively famous actress. We learned about WWII (the resistance movements in Denmark and France and the economic and demographic effect on the countries). I had lunch with Elizabeth. Talked with other PCD friends. So nice to see everyone again and hear about all the adventures they are having.
In environmental history we learned about how institutionalized govt. was able to stop the spread of diseases with vaccination and quarantine and stop famine by regulating prices and moving food the areas that need it. Peter Christiansen didn't have our midterm papers becuase he had to take his other daughter (the one who is not the actress) to the airport to go to Australia. He was up really early and just forgot the papers.
Danish was fine. We talked with partners and used all the vocab we were supposed to know from before study break. We then learned past tense and present perfect tense.
I went to the main station to get my transportation pass. Now I am no longer being a rebel and riding illegally. I got away a few times with just showing my old pass and they didn't look that carefully. Terrible I know! I also got a clip card for Laura Bram when she comes.
I went home and talked with Karen for a while. We talked about grading systems and classes and stuff. They are making beer in her chemistry class. Pretty cool. I told her about the experimentarium where we are going tomorrow for a PCD practicum field study to experience being blind.
I talked with Laura on AIM and planned what we will do when she comes this weekend.
We got pizza for dinner but from a different place than we have been going. It was OK but not as good.

april 6-8 easter weekend

got into the main station in copenhagen around noon. i just missed the bus so i had to wait. i dumped my stuff, checked email then went out for a run. remembered how much i love copenhagen. so nice to be back! i love all the colors on the buildings in copenhagen. there were a bunch of danish flags up at 1/2 mast because it was good friday. the flags and down because jesus was crucified but hadn't ascended to heaven yet. i went for a run around the lakes. ida and jens had been at a party and got home around 5. we had pizza for dinner and i told them all about the trip.
saturday i went for a run around frederiksberg have but along a different road doing a new loop. i went to glostrup to meet with amanda, ginny, and elizabeth about a edc. presentation about what we learned from our london academic visits to schools. amanda and ginny had been in paris also. ginny went to china with DIS. they all got sick by eating some dumplings. one guy had a tiannamen clay soldier he bought broken for security reasons. amanda and i got there early and were walking around a mall. we got a lot done and now have a general outline of our presentation. we're talking about inclusion of parents, the community and other children in the school life of children with special needs.
i went to elizabeth's afterwards and we watched shakespeare in love. such a great movie.
anna and jakob (jens children from his previous marriage who are both in their mid-late 20s). came for dinner. jens, anna, and jakob had been out sailing that afternoon. we were talking about camps and popular they are in the US and also about running. jakob is considering doing a marathon at some point. we had lamb, greenbean/lettuce/and tomato salad, potatoes and red peppers broiled in the oven for dinner. we had these mini icecream cones with whipped cream and blackberry jam for dessert.
sunday i went for a run out hc andersens boulevard towards christiania. it was gorgeous and right along the water. i saw a woodpecker trying to drum into a metal pipe. it was loud and making noise but OUCH! silly bird. i tried eel and egg on rye bread for lunch today. it was actually pretty good but sounds like a strange combo.

we went to the Musee d'Orsay. We looked at an exhibit of Fontainebleu forest paintings in the Romantic style. We then we up floor by floor. There was a neat artistically done video of a couple and dog on a balcony that Monet had worked on I guess. The top floor in particular was pretty crowded. It brought back memories of being there before. I love all the paintings so much and I think i actually got more out of it seeing them a second time. We had a lunch of cheese on baguette sandwiches in the museum cafeteria.
We walked up the Seine past the Hotel Quai Voltaire! We went out on Pont Neuf. Lots of HS aged kids hanging out there. We went by the Palais the Justice and Sainte Chapelle but didn't go in. We did go into the Notre Dame. It was dark but amazing gorgeous. Such nice colors in the stained glass. There are lots of little altars all along the side for different saints and people.
I had forgotten about the crypt of Paris until we walked by it. I remember liking it but we didn't bother this time. We took the metro to Sacre Couer and went inside. Amazing white domes on top and neat painting with lots of gold inside. THere was a woman doing cabaret singing on the steps of the Sacre Coeur.
Lots of people asking for money the way to start it seems to be excuse me do you speak english. Much different from Copenhagen where you see no beggers or homeless.
We walked all the way back to the hostel along a street with lots of shops. There was a little river that was very dirty that we had to cross over.
We got our bags and went to the station. We didn't realize we needed a reservation for the train and the man wouldn't let us on and we couldn't buy on from him so we missed that train. We got on another one though two hours later. A 26 yr old was in our train car who graduated from Harvard, is a history major and is studying in Paris. We talked with him for a while about Smith and traveling and European cities, and stuff.

We found our hostel easily Tuesday. It was OK and not sketchy but a bit run down. It was on rue de la Fontaine aux Rois near Republique and not that near the main center but it was fun to see a less touristy area of Paris. It felt like a very lived in area where we were. The room was a bit hot and stuffy. Breakfast of a roll, croissant, OJ and hot chocolate was provided. The key was this strange plastic thing with holes in it that you insert into the slot.
We went to the Louvre. We were there at 8:20 and there was already a line. It was a bit cold and windy. I remembered so much of the stuff we had seen especially the long hall with the Italian artists. Mona Lisa was completely packed with people in front of it as was the Venus the Milo. So crowded. I love the pic of the man in red with the warty nose, the one of Mary, John the Baptist, and Jesus, the one of the french revolution, the sinking raft one, etc etc. We loved what we saw but got really exhausted and overwhelmed by all the people and all the art to take in. It sounds snobbish but after the Offitzi and the Vienna art museum the Louvre's art was less impressive. It's still an amazing place though. We walked through the Jardins des Tuileries. It was really bright out and very windy. Hard to see because of all the white in the paths. We walked up the Champs Elysees. We went into Sephora and tried smelling all the different perfumes. It was fun and Elizabeth ended up getting one. We got the Arc de Triomphe and then turned around and headed over to the Eiffel Tower. The lines were long so we didn't go up but it was a pretty impressive and large and fun to see.
We went into a cafe on the Champs Elysees and played cards for a little bit. Then were were both really tired so we went to a relatively early dinner. I had pasta with salmon and cream sauce. It was pretty good. We went back to the hostel on the Metro and relaxed.

Walked from the hotel all the way up the UN. We went to a restaurant called the Roman mainly because they had a sign saying they took Visa and we had no francs yet. I had a croissant. It was obviously more of a place where middle aged business/diplomat UN men go to eat because we were the only women and the only ones not of that age and appearance. It was all good though. Outside there were reserved parking spots for the people from different countries. We went back to the UN and saw all the flags of the nations. Also a series of cool fountains that went up and down and did funny waves. Beautiful different colored marble in the ground underneath. We walked back to the hotel because I forgot the directions to the Geneva Smith Center where we were meeting Kelly. We walked all the way over along a pretty lake with boats and the huge famous fountain (although it was wasn't spewing while we were going by they had it off). We went into the Smith Center. Kelly let us in and we registered for classes and checked email until her class was done. Angie (a friend of Kelly's who goes to Northwestern but is on the Smith program in Geneva) came with us to lunch. We walked up this big hill into the old historical part of the city. We had lunch at Chez ma Cousine. I had a thai chicken salad with soy noodles, tomato, lettuce, and chicken with a sort of salsa tomato salad dressing on top. It was so nice catching up with Kelly and gossiping about rooms for next year and Smith profs and friends.
We walked down to the lake to try and see the fountain but it wasn't on. We then went along this shopping road called Ribe. Lots of stores with fancy watches, Swiss Army knives, clothes, electronics etc.
We took the tram up to Kelly's apartment. She has a one room dorm place with a kitchen and bathroom down the hall. She cooks all her meals for herself.
Nearby there was a garden with large waist height chess sets. People were there playing. There was also a wall with the Lords Prayer in many different languages that had been built in the mid 1500s. There was a statue of a queen who made soup and dumped in out the window onto the enemy soldiers during a war. Every November there is a day to remeber this and a huge chocolate bowl with marzipan vegetables inside is made. April Fools in Switzerland is called the Day of the fish and people put up paper fish around.
We went to a market and got really delicious swiss chocolate and stuff for dinner to eat on the train. We got on the train to paris without any difficulties except being told by a guard not to sit up against the wall on the ground and listen to Seinfeld comedy acts on Elizabeth's iPod.

we got up and had breakfast at the hotel. we went to the train station and got on the train for milan. it was nice to see the italian coutryside but the train went through a relatively seedy built up not so nice area. We got off in Milan and of the train for Genova. It left at the right time and seemed to be the right place. We got all the way there 2 hrs. later before realizing that we were on the wrong train and going south the Genova Italy not north to GENEVA switzerland. After some freaking out we got off and went to talk to the person at the ticket counter had to wait an hour and then go back to Milan and switch there to go to Geneva. We then almost proceeded to miss that train because it was going to Ginevra and we didn't realize that was what Geneva was called. We did figure it out and got on the train. Absolutely amazingly gorgeous view of the sunset, lakes, and mountains with quaint little hillside towns. We played cards for a bit but both (mainly me) kept getting distracted by the views so we stopped. We got into Geneva at 10PM walked a short distance to the hostel. Very nice place. It was a bunk bed. You had to keep pushing the button to make the hot water come out of the tap in the shower. Internet was available for a fee. There were lockers in the basement that you could leave stuff in for a deposit.

breakfast at the hotel. i had a roll with nutella, fruit, tea, yogurt. elizabeth and i went to the medici chapel at san lorenzo church. amazing colored marble. wonderful statues by michaelangelo day night dawn dusk. lots of relics of saints. met up with sara. went to the offitzi. its an art museum with paintings by botticelli, the venus of urbino, and lots of other amazing paintings. most were religious and renaissance ones. many madonna with child etc. we went to another amazing place for lunch. i had ribbolito soup again. after lunch we went to santa minyata al monte. gorgeous view of the city because its on a hill. eagle representing the wool makers guild who had the church built. first church of florence. there are so many little stalls around on the streets. the streets are not paved just cobble stones. very old fashioned feel. lots of motorcyles. the drivers go crazy fast!

we got into florence early in the morning. attempted to check into the hostel but they had overbooked and the place they wanted to put us was really sketchy and the man we had to deal wiht was a bit strange so we just checked into a hotel which is more expensive but worth it. nice room and great extremely central location. we get breakfast provided. we looked around in Plalatzio Vecchio which has a replica of the david statue and somewhat faded frescos inside. you have to go through security to get it. we also looked at Or St. Michael which has statutes around the outside. we met up with sara (elizabeths friend from smith). we went to amazing place for lunch. they sit there eating and chatting and watching you until they open. we all shared prochutto, ribbolito soup, a bean soup, ravioli and penne in a meat sauce. delicious. We went to three churches. one was called santa croche. it had michaelangelos, machiavellis, galileos, dantes, da vinci, and others graves. it was gorgeous inside. amazing stained glass, typical renaissance paintings, and expressive statues. the duormo is another gorgeous church with red and greed inlaid stone on it. it has a baptistry with golden doors by ghiberti. tons of people in front. huge tower. we went to saras host families house. they had a very barky dog named perla. nice house. many levels. lots of neat artwork on the walls. we went to a nice place with a great atmosphere (family style). i had spaghetti. another smithie and is abroad came to eat with us. we went for gelato afterwards. i had tiramisu and mexican chocolate. yummy. we took the bus back to the hotel and went to bed.

last day in vienna

had breakfast at a nice restaurant erica knew about. i had a pita bread with cottage cheese, hummus, another type of spinachy creamy spread, olives, and sheeps milk cheese. Very yummy. we went to the summer palace of the Hapsbergs (shottenberg). there was an easter market going on. lots of cute handpainted eggs, wooden toys etc being sold. a workshop for children to make marzipan. we walked around in the gardens. fed the birds (so cool to have them land on your hand). tried to feed the squirrels but they were scared. the squirrells looked like squirrel nutkin. they had cute tufted ears. the view of the city from the top of the hill was gorgeous and the park was very nice with flowers and trees but not overly manicured. we went to a cafe and i had a berry yogurt cheesecake consistancy torte. we then went to the belvadere (an art museum) but the line was too long. we played cards in a cafe for the afternoon at the same place we went on wednesday. we picked up our bags from erica's room and went to the train station. we were on the train overnight. viennese people are very friendly and nice but fairly reserved. they greet you when you go into to shops and when you leave.
in vienna they have lots of smart cars these square squat unglamourous but very efficient and environmentally friendly cars. in general vienna is a fairly quiet city. it seemed very white and cream colored to me.