Flying coach isn't the best mode of international travel, but hey at least I made the flight. Leaving from London, where Maria was really surprised to see me!, turned out to be an adventure. After missing the first flight, where no non-revs got on, I nervously made the cut for the second and last flight of the day. No matter, I still got on and I'm headed home.
It's the culmination of one of the craziest weeks of my life. Never have I spent almost 6 consecutive months away from home, and in a foreign country no less. And in those 6 months it's amazing how many emotions can be shared. For those of you that don't know, I don't really share my feeling very well but when it comes to certain situations then well, let the river flow.
After returning from Iceland I was faced with my final week in Arhus, a scary prospect. Although I knew my departure time when I arrived, it's definitely not something you think about until your rushing to the car for a drive to the airport. Well, after 2 days of finalizing my final project, school was officially over here. I can't say I was all that sad about that part though, :).
When coming together with such a varied group of people, you're bound to find at least one person who you can get along with. Lucky for me, my entire class was great. A popular topic of discussion at the end was how much better our class was compared to the other international classes (in your humble narrators unbiased (?)opinion, we were better). It's something when you can dance around with people from over a half-dozen different countries, all singing the same song and enjoying each others company. It's at one of those points when you say this is pretty cool.
The last days were amazing and tough at the same time. To be honest, I can't remember the last time I was so overwhelmed with things. I'm thinking about freshman year of high school. Packing, cleaning, saying goodbye to people, arranging flights, packing, cleaning, saying goodbye to people, doing fun things and saying goodbye to people all snowballed into a huge snowman. The hours ticked away and the responsibilities seemed to grow. It's funny because they tell you these things will happen in the pre-departure meetings and booklets at Mizzou, but honestly who believes it. I didn't. Boy was I wrong. Luckily, a good talk and a great message brought my spirits up enough to not completely loss it. Having great people in Denmark and at home, that's pretty cool.
I'll certainly always be smiling about my time in the City of Smiles, ARHUS, DENMARK.
I was privilidged to spend time in 8 countries this past semester - Denmark, Italy, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Ireland, Iceland - having spent my previous 20 years in one. Something like that is impossible to sum up in one blog entry, but maybe a few words to shed some light: amazing, awesome, spectacular, cultural, educational, fantastic! (maybe I'll get out my thesaurus when I get home to find some more) Speaking of home, I am very excited to see my family and friends, as well as indulge in the sorely missed "finer" sides of St. Louis livin'. And speaking of handbooks again, they say the reverse culture shock will get ya, so I'm a bit nervous about that. Does one week give me enough time to adjust again? We shall see.
Don't think though that this is the end of my blogs about Arhus or the end of EricAbroad08. On the contrary! Following my sure to be crazy week at home, EricAbroad08 in Europe becomes EricAbroad08 in Asia as I travel to Beijing, China for two months to do volunteer journalism work at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Hot, new, fresh, crazy material is sure to pop up on this blog in the months to follow so stay tuned!
EricAbroad08 would sincerely like to thank all those who have read entries or made comments concerning said entries. Although there were times when I was a a bit lax in my rate of entries (including my unfortunate 1+ month of broken computer time), it was exciting to relate stories, thoughts and ideas.
Your Humble Narrator,
EricAbroad08
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Icelandic Observations
Just some post-Iceland observations (an always growing list):
- I took my shower's in geothermally heated water...and the fantastic thing about that is, you never run out of hot water...imagine if we had this during the holidays for our family; needless to say things would be a little bit better.
- Although I was technically in the country of Iceland, I spent time during the past week in 3 different areas: North America, neutral Iceland territory, and Eurasia. How you may ask? Iceland has the North American and Eurasian techtonic plates dividing the country and there is an over mile wide region in between them that is officially neither and just Iceland.
- The week before I came the town Reykjavik experienced a 6.3 earthquake...and as it turns out I was experiencing plenty of earthquakes during my stay, I just couldn't feel them because they were so small.
- Icelandic Coca-Cola is outstanding! It blows away the others I have tried in Europe and that can be credited to the equally outstanding water that they drink...pure water straight from the tap.
- There are virtually no trees in the country. The trees that did use to stand were wiped out way back when, during the settlement.
- Despite the typically bad weather, bananas are grown 30 minutes outside Reykjavik. There is a town famous in the country for their greenhouses and that is where they apparently grow bananas, among other things.
- I was only 10,500 miles away from Antartica, beat that!
- Jules Verne's "Journey to the Middle of the Earth" was said to take place in an Icelandic volcano, which I saw in the distance on one of my tours.
- Volcano Hekla, which I also saw during a tour but at a much closer range, was previously thought by many Europeans to be one of the two entrances to Hell.
- Hella, Iceland was hella tight.
- Because of the consistent wind, umbrellas are typically useless in Iceland as the rain falls at an angle.
- Iceland Air really knows how to do things! On both flights I had a small meal which included as much bread as I wanted. Going back to Denmark, there was even a chocolate bar included with dinner and I took advantage of the free soft drink rule and had TWO FULL CANS of Coke. Can you imagine the fuss that would created if you had the audacity to ask for TWO FULL CANS of Coke on any American domestic flight. You're asking to get kicked off the plane, if that's possible. Also, they had a movie planning on both flights: Jumper and 27 Dresses (the later, I admit, wasn't too bad).
- I took my shower's in geothermally heated water...and the fantastic thing about that is, you never run out of hot water...imagine if we had this during the holidays for our family; needless to say things would be a little bit better.
- Although I was technically in the country of Iceland, I spent time during the past week in 3 different areas: North America, neutral Iceland territory, and Eurasia. How you may ask? Iceland has the North American and Eurasian techtonic plates dividing the country and there is an over mile wide region in between them that is officially neither and just Iceland.
- The week before I came the town Reykjavik experienced a 6.3 earthquake...and as it turns out I was experiencing plenty of earthquakes during my stay, I just couldn't feel them because they were so small.
- Icelandic Coca-Cola is outstanding! It blows away the others I have tried in Europe and that can be credited to the equally outstanding water that they drink...pure water straight from the tap.
- There are virtually no trees in the country. The trees that did use to stand were wiped out way back when, during the settlement.
- Despite the typically bad weather, bananas are grown 30 minutes outside Reykjavik. There is a town famous in the country for their greenhouses and that is where they apparently grow bananas, among other things.
- I was only 10,500 miles away from Antartica, beat that!
- Jules Verne's "Journey to the Middle of the Earth" was said to take place in an Icelandic volcano, which I saw in the distance on one of my tours.
- Volcano Hekla, which I also saw during a tour but at a much closer range, was previously thought by many Europeans to be one of the two entrances to Hell.
- Hella, Iceland was hella tight.
- Because of the consistent wind, umbrellas are typically useless in Iceland as the rain falls at an angle.
- Iceland Air really knows how to do things! On both flights I had a small meal which included as much bread as I wanted. Going back to Denmark, there was even a chocolate bar included with dinner and I took advantage of the free soft drink rule and had TWO FULL CANS of Coke. Can you imagine the fuss that would created if you had the audacity to ask for TWO FULL CANS of Coke on any American domestic flight. You're asking to get kicked off the plane, if that's possible. Also, they had a movie planning on both flights: Jumper and 27 Dresses (the later, I admit, wasn't too bad).
Monday, June 9, 2008
Ice Time
I'm hanging out on a glacier today, but wanted to quickly pass along a cool picture from my adventures on Saturday.
Friday, June 6, 2008
The Land of Fire and Ice
Hello all from the isle of Iceland!
My birthday was pretty laid back which was cool. I went to the National Museum in the morning and then walked around town the rest of the day. I had some great meals though. For lunch, we went to this popular seafood place by the water. In addition to some fantastic lobster soup (the Icelandic lobster tastes different), I tried something not many of you would guess...whale. It was minke whale on a kabob and it wasn't too bad, tasting sort of steaky. For dinner, the Frigge's (the great family I'm staying with) made Icelandic lamb (which is an Icelandic staple). It also was fantastic. The Frigge's made the day nice which was great!
Yesterday, I went on the Golden Circle Tour. It was absolutely amazing! The scenery is breathtaking and the nature wonders are spectacular.
I took a bus along with countless other people from around the world, and we ventured East to the Gullfoss waterfall, the Geysers, and the old Icelandic Parliament area. I'm amazed by all of the scenery here so I was glued to the window the entire time. After about an 1:30 hr bus ride, we arrived at Gullfoss waterfall.
It was quite windy yesterday and what was so awesome about it was that once I stepped off the bus I could feel the mist from the water. Unlike a lot of places at home where they don't let you get anywhere close to the edge, here u can just walk right up to the edge. It was during this stop that I realized how much I enjoy waterfalls. Just the sheer force and beauty of them. For that reason I am looking forward to hopefully seeing two if Iceland other great waterfalls this weekend.
Our next stop was the hot spring geysers. It is such a strange phenomenon to watch these things in action. The only one that has been active for sometime now, went off approx. every 5 minutes. It was no exact science though, because sometimes it would go off big twice in a row and other times it would be just one small outburst. Needless to say this was quite frustrating for those trying to capture the moment on their cameras.
Although I eventually joined in, it was funny to see so many people surrounding the geyser with their cameras held at the ready for over 5 minutes. I had to use two hands after a while because my one hand started shaking from being up so long. All across the fields next to the geyser were mini geysers either emitted mist or bubbling up slightly. It was strange to look over the field which looked like it was smoldering from an ousted fire. Some of the water for scolding hot and they made u aware by tiny signs that blended in with the surroundings. Obviously, you were expected to know it was hot, but people put their hands in, including me, and luckily the water I choose wasn't scolding. The water felt kind of slimy on my hands because of all the minerals that are in the water. It was an interesting feeeling.
Our final stop was at the old site of the Icelandic Parliament, which was actually the first Parliament in the world to encompass an entire nation (fun fact). The scenery here was extraordinary! We didn't actually go to the building, just walked around the area. It was only a small housing look place which didn't look anything special per say. But surrounding it was mountains on three sides and a huge lake on the other. One of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. Vast green space, mountains, and water all added to a pretty awesome place!
After returning to Reykjavik, I got two Icelandic hotdogs for dinner at the city stand that rumor has it, sells the best hotdogs in the world. Can anyone guess the reason they are the best?....they are made of lamb. That's right, lamb hotdogs. And they were outstanding! They are served on a bun with raw onions, fried onions, ketchup, sweet mustard and remoulade. It is a very mild tasting dog, which actually seems to make it more tasty.
Today, I'm headed to a town known for there elf/gnome/hidden people population and strange dealings with them. The info site describes the lava in the town as "especially alive with more than 20 types of dwarfs, four types of gnomes and all manner of elfin beings." Collectively, they are called "Hidden Folk." Also, there is the volcano show. And who knows...
I'll try and report back in the next few days. Vi ses!
My birthday was pretty laid back which was cool. I went to the National Museum in the morning and then walked around town the rest of the day. I had some great meals though. For lunch, we went to this popular seafood place by the water. In addition to some fantastic lobster soup (the Icelandic lobster tastes different), I tried something not many of you would guess...whale. It was minke whale on a kabob and it wasn't too bad, tasting sort of steaky. For dinner, the Frigge's (the great family I'm staying with) made Icelandic lamb (which is an Icelandic staple). It also was fantastic. The Frigge's made the day nice which was great!
Yesterday, I went on the Golden Circle Tour. It was absolutely amazing! The scenery is breathtaking and the nature wonders are spectacular.
I took a bus along with countless other people from around the world, and we ventured East to the Gullfoss waterfall, the Geysers, and the old Icelandic Parliament area. I'm amazed by all of the scenery here so I was glued to the window the entire time. After about an 1:30 hr bus ride, we arrived at Gullfoss waterfall.
It was quite windy yesterday and what was so awesome about it was that once I stepped off the bus I could feel the mist from the water. Unlike a lot of places at home where they don't let you get anywhere close to the edge, here u can just walk right up to the edge. It was during this stop that I realized how much I enjoy waterfalls. Just the sheer force and beauty of them. For that reason I am looking forward to hopefully seeing two if Iceland other great waterfalls this weekend.
Our next stop was the hot spring geysers. It is such a strange phenomenon to watch these things in action. The only one that has been active for sometime now, went off approx. every 5 minutes. It was no exact science though, because sometimes it would go off big twice in a row and other times it would be just one small outburst. Needless to say this was quite frustrating for those trying to capture the moment on their cameras.
Although I eventually joined in, it was funny to see so many people surrounding the geyser with their cameras held at the ready for over 5 minutes. I had to use two hands after a while because my one hand started shaking from being up so long. All across the fields next to the geyser were mini geysers either emitted mist or bubbling up slightly. It was strange to look over the field which looked like it was smoldering from an ousted fire. Some of the water for scolding hot and they made u aware by tiny signs that blended in with the surroundings. Obviously, you were expected to know it was hot, but people put their hands in, including me, and luckily the water I choose wasn't scolding. The water felt kind of slimy on my hands because of all the minerals that are in the water. It was an interesting feeeling.
Our final stop was at the old site of the Icelandic Parliament, which was actually the first Parliament in the world to encompass an entire nation (fun fact). The scenery here was extraordinary! We didn't actually go to the building, just walked around the area. It was only a small housing look place which didn't look anything special per say. But surrounding it was mountains on three sides and a huge lake on the other. One of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. Vast green space, mountains, and water all added to a pretty awesome place!
After returning to Reykjavik, I got two Icelandic hotdogs for dinner at the city stand that rumor has it, sells the best hotdogs in the world. Can anyone guess the reason they are the best?....they are made of lamb. That's right, lamb hotdogs. And they were outstanding! They are served on a bun with raw onions, fried onions, ketchup, sweet mustard and remoulade. It is a very mild tasting dog, which actually seems to make it more tasty.
Today, I'm headed to a town known for there elf/gnome/hidden people population and strange dealings with them. The info site describes the lava in the town as "especially alive with more than 20 types of dwarfs, four types of gnomes and all manner of elfin beings." Collectively, they are called "Hidden Folk." Also, there is the volcano show. And who knows...
I'll try and report back in the next few days. Vi ses!
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