BERLIN! <3

Hello!! So last week I went to Berlin. AMAZING! that's all I can say about the city. It was by far the coolest city I have ever been to- not that I have been to many, but probably will continue to be my favorite city even after visiting others, it was just that good! I wasn't expecting it to be good, I have no idea why, but it was absolutley amazing. I went with three other girls- Mattie from Missouri, it was her 21st birthday which was essentially the reason we went, and Kailey and Lianna from Ontario.

After a long train ride on March 18th, we finally arrived and found our hostel. Totally the coolest hostel ever. It was like a club or something when you walked in- they had the bumping music, complete with bar and games room and a thousand comfy chairs, and extremely young and good looking people working there. Too funny. Didn't do much that night, just hung around the hostel!

The next morning we got up early, and we had read the night before about these Free Tours that a company gave for downtown Berlin. Which we thought would be awesome, and was especially awesome because somebody picked us right up from our hostel because it was on the way to the starting point for the tour. So the tour started out at the Brandenburg gate (the first picture), and we were split up into groups based on the language of our tour. Our tour guide was this tiny little girl from Scotland or Ireland who was an absolute history whiz, Im pretty sure she had a history degree and decided to come to Berlin to show off her skills. haha. The tour was absolutley incredible- I honestly didnt know ANY history about Berlin, or really any history at all for that matter, prior to the tour, and the tour guide was so amazing, like I was just SO interested in it! We started off at the area around the Brandenburg gate- and saw all of the landmarks around it- like the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his baby ( the hotel in the second picture), and also the Reichstag- the German parliament building. We walked along and saw the Brandenburg gate, which still had bullet holes visible from WWII, and also walked past a Holocaust memorial site. We walked by the place where Hitler killed himself in bunker- which today is a parking lot, funny enough, but the ruins of the bunker are still underground so will probably someday be uncovered. We also walked past one part of the Berlin wall (picture 3) the Nazi Book burning memorial site, as well as many beautiful churches designed by very important people back in the day that I cannot remember. I found it crazy that 90% of the city was destroyed during the second world war, and so nearly every building has been built in the past 50 or 60 years. We also walked past this big TV tower (picture 4)- which looks similar to a mini CN tower or something, which was made like before all of the churches were rebuilt after the war by some anti-church guy or something, which turned out to be funny, because everytime the sun shone on this TV tower, a cross would form from reflections of the sun.

That night it was Mattie's birthday, and the same company that put on the tour also put on other tours that you could pay for, as well as a Pub Crawl, which i actually went on. It turned out to be a lot of fun, although the first couple of bars were super sketchy and full of graffiti- it got better as it went on! Our tour guide was from Australia and I ended up talking to him and his other australian friend most of the night, which was lots of fun! Im pretty sure i am in love with australian accents. seriously.

The next day we benefited more from this companies tours, and went on a tour of Potsdam. Potsdam is a little city about 30 minutes outside of Berlin, and the whole point of this tour was sort of to see how such a beautiful and peaceful town can exist outside of the crazy busy city of Berlin. It was absolutley beautiful and had many gardens, parks, and best of all- PALACES! The palaces almost all once belonged to the Kings of Prussia. The most famous king of Prussia was called Frederick the Great, and we got to walk all around his house. crazy crazy crazy. Also saw the palaces of his fathers and sons, which were equally as nice. Our tour guide for this day was another Australian called Daniel.. he was hilarious. He had crazy stories to tell us and was super awkward in general. He had like crazy mad scientist looking hair or something, and wore this nice long black trenchcoat. Since the back side of him is in like 10 of my pictures, Im pretty sure i will not be forgetting this guy's hair for a long time. He said he liked people like me who had zro knowledge in the history world because it made him look really really smart haha. Anyway, we got to see this other palace where the Potsdam Conference took place, which to me meant nothing, but to the history whiz's meant the place where three nations came for a big conference where they were going to divide up the conquered Nazi Germany after the war. Lots and lots of walking that day. We went out and got a delicious German meal for supper that night back in Berlin.

The next day, once again, benefitted from this companies tours (seriously, what would our trip have been without them?!), we went to Sachsenhausen Concentration camp- creepy to say the least. My absolute 0-history knowledge provided me with the most shocking experience of my life! I never knew concentration camps were really that bad- our tour guide was a guy from Missouri and he did a really really good job of explaining everything to us and giving us the facts and telling us really exactly how terrible it was back in the day. It was a concentration camp, not an extermination camp, so unlike the huge ones, it killed about 50,000 compared to like millions from the huge ones. They built this camp about 45 minutes outside of Berlin, and oddly enough- during the time that the 1936 Olympics were in Berlin. So while the whole world was watching Berlin, the Nazi's were secretly building this concentration camp. hard for me to believe, it is so crazy! He told us and showed us everything from the baracks that the prisonners lived in, to their daily tasks, to the extermination area of the camp. It was really sad, but Im glad I went because it really made me aware of the things that went on back then. Also one thing that was interesting- the buildings that the SS and their families lived in during the war are now houses that normal people live in, and the training building that the SS were trained in, is now a police training academy. interesting.

That pretty much concludes my amazing trip to Berlin- also bought some Birkenstocks. SO PUMPED TO WEAR THEM.! Enjoy the rest of the pictures!!

An original Nazi building. surprisingly still remained after the war.

The Holocaust memorial site.

The pub crawl! The girl on the right is Lianna, one that we went with, the other two girls are from Saskatchewan I think, and Liam our guide and i think Ryan from Australia!

haha. Daniel our tour guide for potsdam

Me sitting on one of the palaces!

Where the potsdam conference was held!

Kaileys unexpected photo of me in Potsdam!

The gorgeous brandenburg gate at night time!

My First castle!

Hej!

I dont think Ive updated this since Copenhagen! whoops! two weeks! I guess Ive been really busy without knowing! The first week I was really busy with school- I had a presentation in my Animal Physiology class, and a big report due for a different class. My friend Liga had her birthday on the weekend of Copenhagen, so she celebrated it the following wednesday and had a bunch of us over at her residence! I think its really strange here- everybody does things for their own birthday- for example, Liga made us all dinner for her birthday, and a guy in my class brought us all muffins because it was his birthday on the weekend.. very different than home, as Im pretty sure we all want an easy day with everybody doing everything for us, because it is our special day! Maybe not doing everything for you, but it just seems more common that someone else would throw a birthday party for you instead of you throwing one for yourself!

Last week I guess I was busy with school too, I had an essay due in the middle of the week, but unlike last week, I went to the student house on Tuesday night for international night! I love that place, its just so good to see everyone at the same time, because everybody is doing their own things during the week! On Thursday night we had a potluck at Ericas house, just some of the girls which was nice :)

Im not sure what is up with me lately, I havent really taken pictures of very many things- not like me!!

Friday I went over to Liannas house, because we are planning the France trip around Easter time- very stressful for me, I dont know why! Not so much for her, maybe she has done it many times before! That night we all went to one of the exchange student Shen's house for a bit! Friday was also my last day of classes for this semester! wohoo!

on Saturday me , Liga and Lianna went to on a daytrip about 30 min away from aarhus to a little village (Ronde- in the picture!) that has castle ruins! It was rainy, but it was so much fun! The picture at the top is me with the castle! That night alot of the exchange students went out to a pub downtown called Bridgewater where there was a live band :)

I suppose that is all for now! Tonight is St Patricks day so I am going over to Shens house and then down to the student house! and tommorrow... going to BERLIN until Sunday! I am excited, though since I am no history major by any means, will have to look up

some cool things to see while there! Enjoy the pictures! Vi ses~




getting my care package. very excited.












pure bliss

Me and Lianna excited- almost at the castle!

København!!

Last weekend I went to COPENHAGEN!!

It was very exciting!! I went with a big international group of students with the Studenterhus downtown.. and had to miss Friday of school! im such a rebel... 7 hours of class or copenhagen?! hard decision!

We left early Friday morning, and got there around lunch time. We took the ferry over! The afternoon was mostly free time until supper- we checked into our "hotel", which was just like a hostel and then went to the tourist information place to get some maps so we would not get lost! That afternoon was my favorite- me and a group of about 8 or 10 of us wandered downtown and found the canal which was beautiful, and the little mermaid, and the queens castle! We also walked down the main shopping street- complete with Louis vuitton and gucci shops! And also they are getting an Abercrombie and Fitch in the fall- i thought that was only an american store?!

That night we had a buffet supper with the group, which was delicious food, and then went to a pub downtown , which translated was called the happy pig. very fun, there was live music :)

Day two was filled with lots of planned tours- we started out by going to Christiania, which is the sketchiest place on earth. It is a section of downtown that is really really poor and its a big community of people. They have some weird agreement with the government so they dont pay taxes or anything, and they sell weed on the streets just like it was legal. very very strange. So we got a tour through Christiania, which was definately interesting, but it was a must-see place if you are in Copenhagen! I definately would not be going there alone though, there were even signs saying "DO NOT TAKE ANY PICTURES OF THIS STREET".. where they sell all of their drugs.

Later we had a bit of free time for lunch and shopping, and then had a tour of the canal. We went on a boat, and it was really really nice to see, although we were all exhausted from all the walking in the past day and fell asleep for the last little bit of it. whoops! Either way it was cool to see the things from the water view! (Although we has seen most places walking already). The next tour was up the round tower, which is a big tower on one half and a church I think on another. It was really cool at the top, you could see all of downtown and even the bridge to Sweden! And instead of climbing lots and lots of stairs to get to the top, it was a big ramp..... and it made you very dizzy!

That night we ate at a mexican restaurant and then went to an irish pub downtown- they played live music too, it was really good!

The next day didnt have anything planned- we had another walking tour of downtown and went back to the Little Mermaid and the queens castle- and then had a couple of hours to do a little bit of shopping! mind you the shops in denmark are CRAZY expensive.. AKA like 50$ for a t-shirt!! Anddd then the bus/ferry ride back we all just slept as i dont think I have ever walked so far in my life! Overall though, fab. weekend! It was really nice to get out of aarhus for a weekend!

This is a picture of me and a group of students at the little mermaid!

I think this is their train station- it was HUGE! all of their buildings downtown are ginormous!

Festelavn and fishing trips!

Hello all!

Last week was very nice in Aarhus! The picture is the precious little kitty cat i found on my back deck sometime last week. too cute. On Tuesday night it was PANCAKE TUESDAY (or shrove tuesday.., whatever), and so apparently this is something only Canadians do, so me and a couple Canadian girls all got together and had pancakes for supper! It was delish!

Later that night we went to International Night

down at the Studenterhus, and it was FESTELAVN! It is some strange Danish holiday, which is sort of similar to Halloween where they all dress up for parties. And little kids go door-to-door and sing Festelavn songs dressed up, and instead of giving them candy, you give them money. What a strange country.

They said Halloween is becoming more popular here, but it is not a typical Danish holiday, and also Valentines day. So strange, I thought they were universal!

On Wednesday me and the canadians also went to Ash wednesday mass downtown, and on Thursday was a field trip with my Fish biology class- on a fishing trip!

We went into the Aarhus Bay, which apparently has no fish anymore because the water is very oxygen depleted in the summertime, but we caught about 25 fish. including a starfish! Very cool I thought. That was a lot of fun, only 4 students from my class went on the Thursday trip, but that was good because the boat was small and I got to hang out with Danish people all day!

Here is a picture of me with two of the fish we caught!

My teachers bringing in the fishing line!

My two teachers for Fish biology- peter and rasmus. Their outfits were too good not to get a picture!