When I accepted my job with the Cox Institute and decided to pursue my graduate degree I made it my goal to spend my summer in Europe. I was so set in this mindset that I went right up to my department head at orientation and asked her where to start, a week later I accepted a job as the teaching assistant for the study abroad class “Travel Writing in Copenhagen”. I spent four weeks in Denmark and then an extra vacation week in Italy. I started emailing my parents and grandparents weekly updates, which came to serve as a sort of travel log for myself.
Thursday Reflections Week One
Day 5 in Copenhagen…The sun was out on our walk to class for the first time this morning but the wind was the strongest it has been yet. I have found that it rains a lot here but don’t worry, I bought an umbrella.
It turns out I was very lucky having such an easy travel experience. I got to my housing (DIS- Mønten Kollegium) on Amagerbro (an island right across the channel from the city pronounced “Ama”) with no issues to find a cute two story dorm complete with a little stovetop, microwave, mini fridge, dishes, my own bathroom and a fresh set of linens and towels. Coming in the next day, the students did not have quite the same experience. Over half of them ended up with lost luggage and one student was still without five days in. The root of the problem? Their flights were either cancelled or missed all together, sending them all over the map. Then the boys, thinking it was the “European way”, thought the pillow topper on top of the mattress was the blanket they had been promised. After talking with us girls they realized that was not the case and that they had never gotten their bags of linens. Of course they came to this realization on a Danish holiday, meaning the dorm office was closed and they were stuck using t-shirts to dry off after showering for two more nights.
Despite these trials attitudes were good. The first night we had a pizza party (potatoes on pizza is apparently very popular here) and the next day was the first day of class. After class we spent the afternoon exploring, walking down the “5th avenue” of Copenhagen popping into shops (lots of H&Ms) and making our way to the famous painted houses on the canal where we sat at one of many outdoor bars/restaurants along the water.
The next day was our all day bike tour all over the city! So much fun! Amazingly (or maybe to my surprise) some of our students could not ride a bike. This turned out not to be an issue though as the Danes have “bucket bikes” where passengers can hop in a bucket on the front of a bike and ride along. I had the best time in the bike lanes, learning about how to bike in traffic, and seeing parts of the city we would not have seen otherwise. Our guide Charlotte was super cool, she wore toe shoes and biked all over the city with a student in the bucket in front of her. Then, she set up the coolest 3-course lunch for us at this fun restaurant Lade 609 that she had convinced to open for lunch, just for us. Everything was organic and so fresh, an amazing meal! It rained on our bike back and while I was stuck at a red light a nice man walking with his wife held his umbrella over my head until the light turned and said “Welcome to Denmark!”.
Walking home a few of us girls stopped in a store called Normal. It was set up so there was only one way to walk, like a giant zig zag through the store so you were forced to pass by every product. It was basically a giant version of the beauty section at Walmart, they had everything! The rain and cold made my plan to let my hair air dry everyday no longer a good option so I bought a 2 in 1 brush/hairdryer and felt like a brand new person. We had a little market around the corner from our dorm and some people began cooking their own dinner, I was not one of those people. We tried out Copenhagen night life and had a great time exploring the city in the dark. The end of the week left me excited to see where the weekend would take us!
Tuesday Reflections Week Two
Day 10 in Copenhagen… Long live the Queen! Today we learned all about the monarchy and had an excellent tour of Christiansborg Palace. Fun fact: according to our tour guide, Christianborg is the only palace in Europe that still has active stables. The horses were snowy and breathtakingly beautiful.
The end of class on Thursday marked the beginning of our long weekend, I had an open-faced seafood salad sandwich for lunch and discovered that the mayonnaise here does not taste the same as at home…and they use A LOT of it. Afterwards our little group went to the Round Tower and walked up to the top. I looked like the wild woman of Borneo thanks to all the wind on the outside deck. Going back in, you could also see the telescope from when the tower was an active observatory and stand on a glass floor in the middle of the tower and look alllll the way down to the bottom.
Afterwards we sat outside on the plaza before heading to an Italian restaurant next to our building for dinner. A few of us decided to check out the pub next door and my clothes have never smelled so bad thanks to all the smoke.
The next day a group of us took the train to my top pick, the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. The museum sits on a cliff overlooking the water, the view was breathtaking and you could even walk down to the bright blue water for a closer look. This has been my favorite by far, one of the best museums I’ve ever been to. They had a special exhibit featuring an incredible artist and fashion designer and one of the best gift shops I’ve ever been in.
After a margarita pizza for dinner I was finally able to pick up the bike I will be using for the rest of the trip. We then decided to “hit the club”. It was a really fun experience but I will not be going back.
Saturday I finally went to the grocery store to get some snacks after over a week of avoidance. I picked up a thing of pasta and a block of parmesan. I really thought the parmesan would last me the entire month but by the time I am writing this I have already used up half. Later that day I went with a small group to Kings Garden, a garden turned park in the center of the city. The beautiful day sent us back to Nyhavn, the street on the canal, to sit and eat. We ended the day with a group movie night in the common room.
Sunday was spent doing school work until the entire group went to grab dinner and get on a “go boat”. These were cute little boats you could rent and take out into the canal yourself to explore and spend some time on the water (don’t worry they did not go above 10mph). It was so much fun to see the city from the water…we had the best two hours and even saw a few new places to put on our list to try.
On Monday our Professor was traveling back from a weekend wedding so I taught the class! It was super fun and I really enjoyed it. I had one of the students video my lecture so that my teacher could watch it later and provide some feedback. We checked out the famous Tivoli Gardens (an amusement park) in the afternoon, but not before stopping into a decadent pastry shop where I got a raspberry and chocolate macaroon, the raspberry was incredible. Luckily you could pay just an entrance fee to see the gardens and not go on the rides but even with that I would not go back, it was not that exciting. Afterwards, in true memorial day fashion a few of us went to a burger restaurant and I had a delicious bacon cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, pickles, and a side of curly fries (no one can ever call me un-american again…I now eat hamburgers).
I took lots of pictures at the palace this morning, it was breathtaking as I am sure you can imagine. The most interesting part was how the queen had commissioned new tapestries for the grand hall (where they have all their banquets). They were unique in that they were all in a modern style, very cool.
I then had a very satisfying bowl of spaghetti bolognese for lunch.
Tomorrow we take the train to Malmo, Sweden for a visit to a “constructive journalism” radio station! Should be fun!
Monday Reflections Week Three
Day 16 in Copenhagen… Gray skies are back again after a brief moment of sun on the weekend but I no longer care, I will be wearing my sundresses anyways. It is a slow day today for us UGA kids, we have been here for two whole weeks and today is the third national holiday we have experienced. Most places are closed up for the day and the classroom is locked so we will be hopping on a zoom later for a quick lesson with a teacher from home.
After a long afternoon of class last Tuesday we walked back out to the city center for dinner. We ended up at a fun second story pizza place what was decorated in pink and white. Next, we made our way into a tiny karaoke bar where a guy with hair past his waist and an outfit straight out of the 80s was moving and grooving up on the little stage, it was just like the karaoke scene from Paul Blart: Mall Cop. The bar was great and everyone in our group got up to sing. Myself and two others went with “Gimmie! Gimmie! Gimmie!” by ABBA.
Wednesday morning we met our teacher at the train station and hopped on a train to Malmo, Sweden. It was such a nice change of pace from the quick speed of the city and the train ride over the sea was beautiful. We met a wonderfully sweet solutions journalist at the radio station for a solutions journalism presentation and tour of the station. Our teacher gave us the afternoon to explore and I had one of the best meals yet in one of the city squares…grilled chicken over asparagus and parmesan risotto with a red wine sauce. I think risotto might be a new favorite of mine. The weather was perfect in Sweden but of course pouring rain when we arrived back in Copenhagen. Don’t worry, we are all getting better at biking in the rain.
We had another long day of class on Thursday but a small group of us did some good exploring off the main street during our lunch break where we found a precious print shop and a home goods store that had free cookies. We also discovered that there was a music festival starting up that afternoon and a few of us decided to check it out. It really turned into quite the experience. We found that the festival was spread across the city and the stage we had grabbed tickets for held a giant screen with a DJ playing techno music hiding behind it. It was not the concert we were expecting but we still had a great time laughing and dancing.
Our luck turned around on Friday and the sun showed her face! We found a fun outdoor market right on the water with tons of different food stalls. It was a great afternoon spent outside.
Saturday we went for a birthday brunch for one of the students and then took blankets out to the park next to our dorm to sit in the sun and have birthday cake. Later that night we went to the courtyard for a Danish Constitution Day party and Lauren was the star of the show with the Happy Birthday sash and cowboy hat we snuck out and bought her.
Yesterday was the prettiest day yet and I went for a nice walk around the park before heading into Freetown Christiania which at one point in time was a closed off community of squatters and druggies with no rules. Today it is a real neighborhood of Copenhagen that has to follow all the rules and regulations of the city and country but they are still “allowed” to sell and smoke marijuana everywhere. Apparently the police come twice a day to arrest people and it’s so packed full of tourists no one considers it a dangerous place anymore, they even have a school for the residents with children. It smelled terrible and was full of junk but I am vary glad I went. The neighborhood was so artsy and there were some beautiful pieces scattered around the neighborhood along with a sweet little beach and view of the canal. We also got lucky because there was a free concert going on so we were able to stand around for a while and enjoy the music!
Tomorrow we are spending the day at a Danish television station and Wednesday we have a walking food tour! Fingers crossed the sun comes back out by then!
Sunday Reflections Week Three
Day 22 in Copenhagen…after crazy busy week and one last Saturday on the town I “popped” out of bed bright and early to be at a Danish Pastry making class at 9 a.m.! I yawned a bit in the beginning but after sneaking some sweet vanilla cream with my partner I got the sugar rush I needed to make it to the end.
The week started off easy with the Danish Holiday, class from home, and a casual dinner down the street from our dorm but took off quickly on Tuesday morning. We first had a lecture from a journalist/entrepreneur who has started his own little Danish newspaper with only constructive/solutions journalism called “World’s Best News”. Their content is free with very little advertising so they get most of their funding from grants from various public and private entities. After his lecture he walked us down the street to see the tiny newsroom and talk to some of the employees (I think they have like 16 total). A super cool media outlet!
After a lunch/shopping break we met back up at the studio for Denmark’s version of PBS. We talked to some journalists with a focus on covering climate change, got a tour of newsroom, a tour of the studio where they film their 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. newscasts (and got to chat with the anchor and producer of those shows), and then got to watch a 15 minute hourly news update from their control room as well as talk to the editor and director of that segment. The day ended with a trip to a taco shop on our island and some gelato (I went with raspberry, it was very refreshing).
Wednesday was not quite what we were expecting but still a good day. The schedule said “walking food tour” but I would not put our day under that category. We had a lecture from this instructor who is an expert in food sustainability and then he took us out for the tour, we did not really make very many stops but most of them were about food culture in Denmark. However, the only place where we ate anything was where we went to lunch. The “restaurant” was really cool, it was an old church that had been renovated and made into a “community kitchen”, basically a community cafeteria where you could go and pay for the meal/meals they were serving that day and hang out in the space either with friends or to sit and do work. They made for us lentil and eggplant stuffed red bell peppers, a spinach and greens salad with a tasty vinaigrette and some sort of dairy/greens spread to go on the bread. It was all wonderful especially the spread, I want to describe it as a light yogurt with green onions and maybe cilantro in it…that’s probably way off base but the point was it was good. And the spinach salad was much needed, I could tell I needed some greens in my body.
We continued our walk to see the outside of the old Carlsberg brewery, Carlsberg is the main beer of Denmark and it is 100% terrible (I am starting to really miss American beer…almost as much as I miss American toilets). Next we toured a hospitality school where they teach people who are not interested in college to work in the food and service industry. We saw their pickling room, the barrels where they are making vinegar, the reception area where students learn to be receptionists, and the restaurant where students either eat at, serve at, or cook at (depending on the day). Then we got to see their garden outside…the full time gardener was very nice with a mean unibrow and convinced us to try leaves of the “hot and spicy” oregano he had grown (that was the only other food we had on our food tour besides lunch). This was the first day my legs/feet had really felt tired and when we found out it was a 56 minute walk back to the school we called a cab.
I went to bed early that night because I knew my alarm would be going off at 4:50 a.m. to get ready to leave for Samso Island! We met our teacher and our guide at the train station at 6:10. My friends at home hadn’t even gone to bed yet when I woke up and were chatting with me while I waited for the train to leave. It was about a 3 and ½ hour journey consisting of two trains, a ferry and a bus that was quite late but the island was beautiful, it was gray skies but not too windy and the landscape was so green with fairytale looking houses and scatterings of bright red poppies. Samso is a community that is devoted to using sustainable energy. About 90% of their energy comes from sustainable sources with the remaining 10% that powers their tractors and equipment coming from traditional sources. The first stop was a local brewery that only sold their beer on the island. We got to do a beer tasting which was so much fun and it was actually pretty good (we also tasted the different grains they used to make the beers). My teacher participated too (very surprising) and seemed to love it. Then when we were waiting on the bus we got to talking with our guide and the wife of the couple that owns/runs the brewery about living yeast…the guide also grew up with yeast named Herman just like me! It must be a popular yeast name. Next we went to an organic farm for Minestrone soup and baked that day homemade sourdough bread…incredible. I had two bowls of soup and two pieces of bread. Then we had a tour of the farm where we saw their chickens and all their different crops (40 different variations of tomatoes!). I tried a sugar pea and a strawberry straight off the vine. The trip ended with some free time walking around the little harbor, we got some ice cream and looked at all the sailboats and jellyfish in the water. We made it back to our dorm right past 9 p.m. where I cooked some dinner and promptly fell fast asleep.
Friday we decided to visit Amelienborg Palace where we saw the Queen’s personal jewelry collection and the preserved living quarters of the last king. We saw the guards going through their motions and then sat along the canal for a light lunch (I had a tomato salad) before heading off to check out the little mermaid statue. Afterwards a few of us did some window shopping before we all met back up to eat at a rooftop Italian restaurant in the city center. I had a beef short rib ragu with tagliatelle pasta that was super.
On Saturday we went back to the outdoor market for lunch before sitting in the park again and enjoying the sun. For dinner we walked down to a little place right on the water called the kayak bar. You could sit outside and eat and drink and rent a kayak and take off right there on the dock. Some boys at the table next to us took their shirts and shoes off and ran and jumped off the little footbridge right next to the bar. They were having so much fun that so one of our boys joined and it was so funny and fun to watch. Later we all sat outside together and played games before going out. Knowing we had a baking class in the morning myself and another girl chose to leave early and head on back. We walked to the square to catch a cab and ended up taking a pedicab back to the dorm! It was so much fun.
Today’s baking class was so much fun. One of the girls was taking it so she could write one of her articles for class on it and four more of us joined in for “moral support”. We had a blast, my partner and I were very focused wanting to make sure we were doing everything right and that our pastries were “pretty”. We learned a lot and I cannot wait to try it again at home. Each pair made 6 of 4 different types of pastries; cinnamon rolls, a braided pastry filled with chocolate and vanilla cream topped with sugar and almonds, a square pastry with vanilla cream and sugar, and a twisted log with sesame and poppy seeds. At the end we had 12 pastries each to eat and take home. After all that sugar we needed something more substantial and walked to a sushi place down the street from the class. I am not personally much of a sushi person but the side orders included a stick of four bacon wrapped scallops, grilled broccoli, and white rice. It was all delicious, the scallops were cooked perfectly, the broccoli was much needed and the rice was just comforting. A Sunday well spent!
Tomorrow marks the start of our fourth and final week in Copenhagen, I still have a lot to check off before Italy but I would be lying if I did not say I was looking forward to warmer weather and a week filled with pasta!
Friday Reflections Week Four
Day 27 in Copenhagen (my last day in city) is dedicated to packing, cleaning, and sleeping. The students all left this morning; some went to hotels to meet their families, some flew to a new adventure and some hopped on a plane to head back home. No one traveling in Europe had any issues but the poor group trying to get back to the U.S. had such a hard time at the airport with cancellations and delays…I think some are going to have to split a hotel in NYC tonight, apparently there is not a single flight from JFK to ATL today now that their connection has been cancelled. These poor kids, coming in they all lost their luggage and now they are struggling just to get home. Meanwhile I ordered a large pizza, ate half for lunch and planning on the other half for dinner.
Monday was our last official day of class and we spent it at CopenHill, it is a trash plant/incinerator that doubles as a ski slope. The inside of the hill is the waste plant where they recycle and then burn the trash for renewable energy powering a large part of the city (and I think that includes our dorm). We took an elevator from the bottom to the top and where able to see the inside and various stories of the plant. The elevator opens up to let you out to the rooftop café where you can either walk out onto the ski slope or the hiking trail along the side of the slope. You can ski all year long, the slope is covered in this green material that moves/is most equivalent to ice and snow. If you ask me there is no way that could even virtually compare to the real deal but since Denmark is flat and apparently gets just as much real snow as us (which makes no sense since it rains constantly) that is the best you can get. The hill is the tallest point in the city and the view was amazing. We walked back down along the hiking trail and back at the bottom could see where they have a rock wall that leads all the way back up to the top. You could not pay me to go near that. Afterwards we all went to grab lunch and a beer to celebrate the last day of class. Then, after a lot of debating, convincing and steeling of nerves a group of us put on our bathing suits and went to jump in the canal! Never fear, we went to a little area that was sectioned off specifically for swimming. It was quite chilly and VERY salty but so much fun. After some hot showers we reconvened outside and ordered some pizza.
We found out that on Tuesdays, one of the big art museums, the Glyptotek, had free admissions so that is where we spent our Tuesday morning. It was a great museum and we say paintings by Van Gough, Monet, Picasso and more. They also had a few Egyptian mummies and a large collection of Greek and Roman statues. Myself and my friend Lauren then decided to wander and made our way over to the meat packing district where we had lunch at a pretty good bar-be-que place (not as good as Georgia BBQ but not bad either). We finished off the afternoon with some shopping before heading back to the dorms. It was a big work night for the students since their articles were due in the morning and I received the task of grading the shorter articles/second assignment.
I spent Wednesday morning grading which was honestly a lot more fun than it sounds. The students who were so stressed and worried ended up doing the best job and I was so proud of them! Really everyone did great, they were all worried for nothing. I went later with a small group to the Copenhagen museum (which is free on Wednesdays) where they had a large 3D map of the city on a table. All around the table were buttons with the names of significant places in the city, when you pushed a button a light shone on that spot to show you were it was on the map. After pressing all the buttons (most of them naming places we had been) we could see that we really and truly have been all over the city…there is not one part that we have not set foot into. After seeing that I have no issues with spending today in my room. We then met up with the rest of the crowd for an afternoon drink before splitting up to pop in different shops and have dinner. I went with two others to a little hole in the wall place that smelled amazing. It turned out to be a vegetarian restaurant but I got the green peas and spinach risotto and it was quite tasty. The night ended up being so much fun as we celebrated the end of the trip.
Thursday was packing and cleaning for the students, we returned our bikes and had a nice walk home. We sat outside for a while before heading back to an outdoor restaurant we had been to before since it had big tables and we knew we could all sit together for our last meal. I tried mussels for the very first time and really enjoyed them!
Tomorrow my Taxi picks me up at 4:30 a.m. so I can head to Italy. I will meet up with Hays in Rome and the next part of the adventure will begin! We start with the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel, though I have to say I am very excited for the big bowl of pasta I plan to get after the tour!
Friday Reflections Week Five
After 33 full days in Europe I am starting this email in the airport getting ready to head home to the greatest country on Earth! I have seen so much, done so much and learned so much these past five week…and most importantly I have had fun!
I got up bright and early on Saturday to fly to Rome and meet Hays, after a few minutes of trying to find each other (she was in the international terminal while I was in domestic) we hopped in a car and rode to our hotel. We dropped our luggage off and set off into the city, a nice fresh caprese salad before chocolate gelato and white wine made the perfect lunch pairing before we made our way into the Vatican to tour the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica. The Basilica was just as awe inspiring as it was the last time I saw it, I think it will always be one of the most beautiful places in the world to me. Afterwards we stopped at a little restaurant for some dinner where I got a great bowl of spaghetti carbonara and an incredible glass of chardonnay before getting more gelato (this time I went with raspberry).
The next morning we popped up and beelined for the Colosseum. When we joined our tour group we discovered a mom and her son from Athens, talk about a small world! We toured the Colosseum and the Roman forum before lunch and after lunch hit some of the other must see spots on our own. We went to the Trevi Fountain, tossed a few coins in, grabbed some gelato (mint and chocolate mixed), popped in a few stores, walked up and back down the Spanish steps, popped in a few more shops, and grabbed some drinks before meeting the guide for our walking food tour! The walking food tour was my favorite thing by far, we had some great food and saw a part of the city we would not have seen otherwise. We tried two different types of pizza (red and potatoes with rosemary), deep fried anchovy and mozzarella stuffed zucchini blossom, a deep fried ball of rice with mozzarella and marinara inside, bucatini with red sauce and pork cheek, cacio pepe and more gelato (strawberry with fresh whipped cream).
Monday we took a bus over to Tuscany to tour two small Tuscan villages and a local winery where we had wine lunch with wine parings. We made friends with two girls traveling on their own, one from Australia and one from Canada. The views were incredible and the sisters that ran the winery were too cute. My gelato flavor of the day was chocolate chip.
On Tuesday we left Rome for Sorrento. We took the train to Naples and were picked up by the sweetest driver. Every other car we had had was a black typical BMW or Mercedes but he pulled up in a little compact blue Toyota. We couldn’t fit everything in the back so I got to sit up front with him. He had a little cooler with waters and chocolates and mints and was basically our tour guide for the next hour and a half, pointing out all the important places we were passing. He pulled over so we could take pictures of the view of the water as we were getting into town and bought us sweet iced lemonades. The sweetest man! We arrived in our hotel room to find a complementary bottle of champagne and later at lunch I had a fantastic plate of lemon pasta (lemons are what Sorrento is known for). We then went to a local farm where we got to walk through the lemon trees, taste different flavors of olive oils, watch a cheese making demonstration and taste multiple cheeses, have some limoncello and then make our own margarita pizzas! It was so tasty and so fun. We met a super nice family on vacation from Chicago and chatted with them for a while. Afterwards we hit the streets to check out the stores and get some more gelato (Oreo).
Our last real day was Wednesday where we got up and made our way to the docks to board a boat to Capri. It was supposed to be 12 people to a boat but it ended up just being the two of us and a family of four from Australia. The captain took us around the island then dropped us off at the smaller of the two marinas. We choose to spend our free time laying by the water (I of course was delighted for the opportunity to read on the beach) and grabbing a few drinks. The captain picked us back up later nice and crispy from the sun (I swear I put on sunscreen but as usual of my first time in the sun it was to no avail) and took us to a little cove to go swimming. The water was so blue and beautiful. It was crystal clear (and super salty) which actually made it hard to see just how deep it was since I could see straight down to the bottom. The captain tossed us some goggles and I could see that it was way deeper than it had looked from above, as well as lots of schools of fish! We went to one more stop to swim after the first and when I started to dry off I could see the salt on my skin! We had a shot of limoncello on the boat then made it back to the mainland. We went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner before setting out to find a restaurant our new friends from Chicago had recommended to us. It was the cutest place ever, tucked back two alleyways off the main street with the owner in a Hawaiian shirt with a cane checking on everyone and a sweet little man walking around singing and playing guitar for the customers! We had a zucchini bruschetta with melted cheese as an appetizer and I got a house cocktail of limoncello and prosecco (sooo good). For dinner I had homemade fettuccini noodles with bolognaise and it was out of this world. I got chocolate gelato again that night but added a raspberry and a chocolate macaroon on top (they melted in my mouth, even better than the ones I had in Copenhagen).
Yesterday we had some time before our driver picked us up so we decided to sit by the pool at the hotel for a bit and eat lunch there. Afterwards we made our way back to Rome for the night. Our hotel was connected to the airport a good bit outside the main part of the city so we decided to just eat at the restaurant there. Don’t worry though, we still had gelato (chocolate) and wine (chardonnay).
I have had the best adventure but I am excited to be heading home. I am ready for some good old fashioned southern cooked green beans, fried chicken, Mexican food, my family and some sweet love from my puppy Sissy!
Kate Hester 