On Sunday we had beautiful weather and I met my visiting family at a picnic at Amager Strand beach hosted by DIS. All of the families brought food for the buffet and we had a nice time talking, walking around the beach and enjoying the sunshine. Unfortunately I was fined on the metro on the way there for not having enough “zones” to get to Amager Strand, but they’ll have to fine me quickly through the mail to get me in time to pay it!

Monday I spent lots of time unfortunately inside working on my art history final paper. I managed to use what I learned from my classical music on Schoenberg to talk about his friendship with Kandinsky! Tuesday Steph and I had a very busy day, first running errands and turning in papers in downtown Coepnhagen, then going to Christianhavn to climb the Spire!

We are bracing ourselves in the picture because of all of the wind!!! Climbing the Spire was quite the experience going up the narrow wooden ladders and stairs inside the Church of our Savior, followed by climbing up the spiral stairs that narrow the farther  you go up. The wind was blowing so hard up there it felt like the whole thing was going to blow over! It was a much more terrifying experience than climbing the Harbour Bridge in Sydney just because of the wind and how narrow it was. Steph and I also wore short dresses which was NOT the best decision we made while in Copenhagen. Pretty sure we gave all of Copenhagen a show!

It was incredible though to see the amazing views of the city, now that I have lived here for four months. We recognized all of the buildings we saw without looking at the maps and it was amazing to visualize how much of the city we covered in our four months here. There was really no area I saw from up there that we had not explored!

After a short shopping spree at H&M, Steph and I met her visiting brother at NOMA, the number one rated restaurant in the world on the canals of Copenhagen! He recently became a waiter there and was nice enough to show us around the place on his break. The decor inside was super cool!

For dinner we went one last time to Cafe Paludan. I’ve been trying to get to all of my favorite food establishments this past week, including Nordic Noodle, Sandwich Pigen, Cafe Paludan, Joe and the Juice, and Cornish Pasty House. Can’t forget the amazing pastries at 7-Eleven either! 

That night we went to Kulor Bar in central Copenhagen, where you can get in for free if you go before 11 and get free beers until 1 am on Tuesday nights! This bar is the typical Tuesday hang out for DIS students, and since this was our last Tuesday it was a total mob scene. It ended up being one of my most fun nights here, seeing absolutely everyone I know!

Today I went with Kat to the National Museum, which was unfortunately a bit of a disappointment. More work and enjoying Copenhagen for two more days! Can not believe it is going to be over so soon.

Tuesday was my final european art history test, which I actually think I did pretty well on! In Danish class we heard a presentation on danish prisons which was enlightening; here in Denmark if you are convicted of murder, your “prison life” involves living in an apartment with several other people, and you can even have your young children under the age of five and your spouse live with you. The longest prison sentence for murder is twelve years, and there is clearly no death penalty. The prison system/judicial system in Denmark is founded on the importance of rehabilitation for offenders and assimilating them back into society. As “unjust” as this system first appears to me, and probably most Americans for that matter, it is interesting to see that their system actually works! They have a much lower rate of recidivism than in the United States, as well as less crime in general, both violent and non-violent. Tuesday evening I had my last immersion meeting with the other UMD students and went for a final dinner at Hillary’s at the Green House! We made lentil patties with spinach and zucchini- delish!

Wednesday was a rainy day filled with lots of work and our goodbye dinner for our Positive Psychology core class at Rizz Razz, where there is a mediterranean all you can eat buffet! That evening I began to feel sick from a cold and spent Thursday in bed. 

Friday after forcing myself out of bed, I went to my last two classes at DIS, art history where we made some art ourselves and Danish class where we ate some traditional danish open faced sandwiches and talked. That afternoon I did some last minute souvenir shopping for friends and family before meeting my friends at Tivoli!

Tivoli is the beautiful amusement park in the center of Copenhagen that only reopened on April 15th! We’ve been dying to go for weeks and the weather was finally good enough for us to go yesterday. I didn’t go on any rides because of my cold but had a great time walking around the beautiful park, getting dinner at a wonderful italian restaurant and enjoying the lights in the park before the evening concert!

This morning we took my friend Hannah to the airport, and since it’s raining we’ll probably spend the day inside doing work for finals. One week until we go home to America!

AMAZING trip to Vienna this weekend! Friday was a national holiday and our program did not have class, so Thursday night my classical music class met at Frue Plads and took the bus to the airport to go to Vienna! We got into Vienna around 10:00, went straight to our hotel and crashed for the night.

In the morning we took the metro closer to the center of the city to meet our wonderful guide Tatjana for a walking tour. Unfortunately it was raining on and off but I was well prepared with my massive umbrella. The city was beautiful even in the light rain. 

For lunch we went to Cafe Central and some classmates presented on the “cafe culture” that permeated Viennese society. Cafe’s were the gathering places of composers, writers and philosophers. They would sit in a cafe for hours on end discussing their art and other interests and the waiters would bring them their usual order without a word. Freud was known for doing this as well. The viennese are also well-known for making very fancy coffee drinks. I didn’t get one because I don’t like coffee, but my friends enjoyed some very delicately made drinks.

After lunch we walked a few minutes to see Mozart’s old apartment, which has now been turned into a museum. He only lived for two and a half years in the apartment, but that was the longest he stayed anywhere in Vienna. It was interesting to learn about his gambling problem and problems with excessive spending; for one of the most well-paid men in Vienna, he was constantly in debt. He lived an extravagant life and was always asking friends to lend him money.

After exploring Mozart’s place I went back to the hotel to get a quick nap in, only after seeing a meditating levitating man in the street! Yin, Eman and I got dinner from street vendors before meeting the rest of our class at the Musikverein to hear Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture, a Concerto for Violin by Berg and Shostakovich’s tenth symphony! The Musikverein has what is called “matchbox acoustics.” There is storage underneath the concert hall for chairs to be stored if the hall was ever to be used for other purposes, such as a ball. There is another storage space above the concert hall for all of the instruments. The sound then resonantes between these two spaces in the hall and creates what is considered the best (or at least in the top three in the world) acoustics for orchestral music! The symphony was outstanding and the hall itself was gorgeous. The concert was about two hours and we all walked out with huge smiles on our faces! All of the older women at the symphony worse brightly colored, perfectly fitting pant suits with beautiful scarves and perfect make-up and hair. The viennese know how to look sharp!

That night our professor Ian was nice enough to take us out for drinks down the street on DIS! We all chatted about the music and Vienna as a whole at a “tasteless” (as Ian described it) miami-wanna-be bar/lounge. Jill and I got our dance moves on before calling it a night!

Saturday morning we departed for the Museum Quarter of the city and went to the Leopold Museum, named for the 5,000 art pieces that Austria bought from Rudolf Leopold. The museum had a huge collection of Klimt works, including “Death and Life”, which I especially liked, and also had the largest collection of Schiele works in the world.  We discussed some of the paintings as a group and then wandered on our own through the museum and back to our hotel before meeting up at the State Opera Museum later that afternoon.

The State Opera Museum was very small and only took about fifteen minutes to walk through. After my group did a presentation in the sun on Mahler’s tenure at the Vienna State Opera, we had a lovely three course meal at Restaurant Korso bei der Oper before going to the opera house to see Don Carlos (composed by Verdi)!

The opera was five acts and FIVE HOURS LONG. There was one long intermission and the opera was done with a minimalist set and had some modern costumes, which my class nor my professor nor the audience appreciated. Some people actually booed at a certain point! My professor told us this is not uncommon for the viennese- they will be completely honest about whether they are enjoying an opera or not, and will boo if they don’t think the soloists are up to snuff. In this case however, he thinks the booing was due to the modernist take on the opera. The singers were unbelievably talented and the orchestra was as well. However, five hours was a VERY long time and I have to say I was excited when the opera was over! Jill and I went back to the hotel and crashed for the night.

Sunday we discussed the opera at the hotel and then walked to the Belvedere, the palace of an old count in Vienna which has now been turned into an art museum. We were blessed once again with fantastic weather and enjoyed exploring the gardens in the sun. The Belvedere houses Klimt’s most famous painting “The Kiss.” After exploring for a few hours, Jill and I got lunch from a street vendor near the Vienna State Opera again and talked in the sun before heading back to the hotel and then the airport!

At the airport we had the interesting experience of only going through security immediately before boarding the plane. We were delayed about an hour due to thunderstorms but made it home safely! One thing I missed while in Vienna was the Sigmund Freud Museum, and some of the famous cafes frequented by Mahler, Freud, Berg, Wagner, Schiele, and Klimt. 

As I took the bus back to my apartment from the airport I felt incredibly sad realizing this was my last trip while studying abroad. I have spent this semester, as well as so much time last summer traveling and it is strange to think I don’t know when my next trip will be! I feel more blessed than I could ever put into words to have been able to do all of this traveling this year and feel like I have learned more in this one year than in the rest of my years combined. Luckily this trip was a wonderful way to wrap things up! Vienna is a beautiful city and may have been my favorite city I visited while here. Of all the places I’ve visited this semester I could most easily see myself there and felt the most at ease. We are still having absolutely gorgeous weather here in Copenhagen, which is making me not want to leave, but it will be wonderful to see all of my friends and family again! Most importantly though, it will be exciting to get FREE REFILLS on diet coke all summer!!! This week there is lots of work and goodbye dinners before finals begin next week!

Tuesday I gave my group presentation on gender roles in my Danish class. What we found through our research was that strict gender roles are lacking and the sexes are treated more equally here than in other societies because of the egalitarian society; just like no one should think they are “better” than anyone else in sports, music, academics, or looks, men should also not think they are better than women and vice versa. This is also seen in the acceptance of gays and lesbians here. Denmark was actually the first country in the world to allow civil unions between same sex couples. The legislation to allow same sex marriage is hopefully going to be passed this year, although it is not without opposition. About 60% of the population is in favor. What’s interesting is that the Church here (which 80% of Danes are members of and pay dues to but only 5% attend services) has been holding “congratulation ceremonies” for same sex couples at the end of masses for years here. Even if a same sex couple can not be legally married in the Church, the Church congratulates them on their union and wishes them the best. 

Tuesday, May 1st, was labor day in Denmark. In Copenhagen this means that everyone gets out of work at noon, and most people gather in the park in Osterbro for lots of sitting, talking, eating, and day drinking! After class several friends and I went to the park to see what was going on. I had no idea so many people even LIVED in Copenhagen as there were in that park! Luckily it was stunning weather and we enjoyed ourselves immensely.

Wednesday Hannah and I had a field study at the National Gallery. It was the most beautiful weather in Copenhagen we had ever seen, so after hearing about some of Hammershoi’s work we walked around the city for a bit! We spent the evening writing our final papers for our Medical Ethics class and the next day went to the Laundromat Cafe, our new favorite restaurant in Norrebro, for a delicious brunch in the sun!

Beautiful weather in Copenhagen this week! Lots of homework but lots of just sitting and talking on the beautiful square with friends. Friday was my last Danish test and I actually think I did well on the listening portion which was quite a feat! Yesterday it was absolutely stunning outside and Chris, Stephanie and I went to Christiania to hang out by the lake in the sunshine. I had never been to this area and it was super cool to see all of the eclectic houses lining the water. Luckily this area of Christiania allowed pictures! We hung out for a few hours before coming back to my place to make dinner. Today is another big homework day (all of the work for this program seems to be in the last three weeks). I’m trying to not get too excited about going to Vienna on Thursday! Tumblr once again is being temperamental about uploading pictures so only this one can get posted from yesterday.

Monday in my positive psychology class I gave a presentation with my friends Olivia and Kirsten on “Why Danes are Happy.” Everyone was assigned the same thing, to go out over the semester in Copenhagen and interview Danes, combine this with research and try to discover why the Danes are so happy and why Denmark consistently is rated as the #1 Happiest Country in the World. In a country so small, that many people still can not place on a map, that often experiences dreary weather, and taxes its’ citizens 70% of their income, it’s surprising to find such a “happy people” here.

This is something I have been giving a large amount of thought since being here. When you walk down the streets here, people do not look particularly happy. People are happy because, as one interviewee stated “they have no reason not to be” (the title of our presentation). Ironically I’ve heard from talking to lots of people that if you were going to rate people on outward happiness, how they act on a day-to-day basis and how much they smile, you would probably find the happiest people in Thailand. 

I also unfortunately think a lot of the “happiness” comes from the almost 100% homogenous culture. If I had to guess, I would bet that at least 95% of Danes are white and non-religious; everyone is pretty much the same and there isn’t much cause for disagreement. This same mentality is seen in their grade schools, where students stay in the same class of 30 students for the entirety of their grade school career. One of the things I miss most about America and particularly the D.C. area are their diversity; going to high school in Montgomery county almost half of my friends were a different race than me, we all followed different religions and many of my friends spoke two languages at home. We all competed heavily in class to get the best marks possible, which is not seen here because all of the Danish universities are ranked the same. No one is competing for scholarships here either because college is free. Gay marriage has been accepted here for quite some time and if you are homophobic, YOU are the outsider no one wants to hang out with. All of the drug dealing (at least in Copenhagen) is contained in the one small area of Christiania. No one is overweight because the healthiest foods at the grocery store are subsidized by the government to be the cheapest. It’s so flat that everyone can get their daily exercise biking to work or school without sweating. Everyone has free healthcare so no one is too worried about paying their medical bills. Public transportation is cheap and the most efficient system I have seen in all of my traveling. Literally everything has been provided for.

I’ve been on the fence about this lifestyle for the past three months, sometimes thinking the welfare state is the greatest system ever and other times contemplating living here permanently and feeling like I’m going to suffocate…I think I’ve settled on the second feeling. For better or for worse I think I prefer the competitive, diverse, hectic, chaotic, dramatic, and sometimes dangerous (if you take big chances with your finances) nature of the United States. The one really great thing here that I would want to take back to the States is the equality of men and women and lack of strict gender roles. As I’ve said before, I see way more men pushing strollers and doing grocery shopping here than I have seen in the States. I’m actually doing a project on gender roles for my Danish class so I’ll have to write next week about how that turns out! 

That turned into a rant…but I find this all very interesting! Looking forward to a few more weeks of gorgeous weather until I come home in less than three weeks!

Thursday I treated myself to seeing “The Hunger Games” at the Palace Movie theater after finishing the book on Wednesday at Cafe Paludan. Friday I met up with my “Buddy Network” for a pub crawl near their university in Amager. It was only four Americans and eventually about eight Danes and we had a nice time getting to know one another and comparing college life. And I beat them in foosball! Most of them were a few years older than me and my friend Samantha and it was nice to hear about their travels abroad and what they thought about America. Later in the evening I went to my friend Hillary’s for a late dinner followed by exploring Norrebro.

Yesterday I saw my visiting family for dinner and we actually played some soccer before watching “Dreamhouse” with Daniel Craig and Naomi Watts. I’m going to meet Cecilie in the city next weekend to go out-hopefully I remember my ID this time! Today it’s lots of homework at Cafe Paludan with friends and trying to stay out of the rain. 

As a warning, this post will mostly be geared toward food as opposed to sight seeing, as eating is what we primarily did during our five days in Barcelona! Hannah and I printed our boarding passes on Monday at DIS, got to the airport with lots of time to spare and boarded our “Vueling Airlines” flight to Barcelona. I felt pretty uneasy about this airline as the website we used to book them was pretty sketchy, but was pleased to go on a safe, clean flight with the most leg room I’ve ever had! We took the bus, then the train, then the metro to get to our hostel and both of us were immediately in love with Barcelona. Seeing palm trees and mountains was such a nice change from flat (although beautiful) Copenhagen. We made it to Mambo Tango, our wonderful hostel that Steph booked for us to join her and Kat, and then met some friends for dinner in the Gothic District.

Not to exaggerate…but this meal was the best of my life. I had spinach and ricotta ravioli and shared nachos and sangria with all the girls. We all tried each other’s meals and they were equally delicious. Ended the evening with incredible mojitos and then hit the sack! Hannah and I stayed in a four person room with one German guy named Sebastian and some other guy we never actually introduced ourselves to. 

Tuesday we did a FREE walking tour Kat and Steph told us about of all of Gaudi’s main works that departed from Plaza Real. We saw all of his houses he had designed in the Gothic District and on Passage de Gracia, as well as Sagrada Familia! This cathedral was definitely as great as it has been described to me. We were fortunate to have gorgeous weather and our Irish tour guide was great! All of the buildings looked like they were out of Dr. Seuss books. After checking out these main sights, we got a quick lunch at a cafe (again, delish) and headed to Park Guell, Gaudi’s park!

We took our tour guide’s advice and got off at the metro stop that would let us take the escalators up to the park instead of hiking up the huge hill, and I’m glad we did! From the top of the park was one of the most gorgeous views I have ever seen. You could see all of Barcelona, the beach and the mountains. The park was stunning from every angle and also had two small houses that once again looked like they could have come out of Dr. Seuss books. At one point it started raining and we needed to run into an ice cream shop, but other than that we just basked in the sun in the park! That evening we grabbed dinner at yet another great restaurant with amazing prices for tapas and wine.

Wednesday we needed to move to a different hostel called Casa de Gracia on Passage de Gracia. This hostel was newly renovated and completely gorgeous. I have never felt so spoiled in my entire life!!! We were on the fifth floor with an incredible view out our huge window with double doors. The place was spotless with marble floors and steps in the lobby, stunning bathrooms, amazing mattresses, and a patio on the bottom floor that made me feel like I was…well…on vacation in Barcelona! Steph, Hannah and I were in our own room and the whole experience felt like heaven on earth. That afternoon I had a terrible stomach ache so Hannah and Steph went to the beach while I napped. For dinner we put on our Barcelona best and went for ANOTHER delicious dinner at a restaurant called “Tapa Tapa” on Passage de Gracia. We didn’t end up getting there until 9:00 p.m. (we were on Spain time) and it was packed. During this meal I had some fried brie, and if you can’t tell from the picture I’m going to upload below, I was in heaven.

Thursday we had to switch hostels again so we went back to the Gothic District and checked into Hostel One. There we met Angel, who ran the hostel, and he gave us tons of advice on what to do in Barcelona. Hannah and Steph decided to go shopping since it was raining and I took Angel’s advice and took a nice, wet stroll through the city. I got more acquainted with the lay out, saw Christopher Columbus’ statue at the beach, went to Parc de Ciutadella and saw the Arc de Triomf. For lunch I met back up with Steph, Hannah and our friend Samantha near the Arc de Triomf. We returned to the hostel, Steph left for Dublin and we met Samantha and her friend at Plaza Catalunya and then got dinner at a restaurant on Las Ramblas, the most famous and most touristy street in Barcelona.

Friday Hannah and I got lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe at Plaza Catalunya. Judge us, but I have to admit how nice it was to get FREE REFILLS ON SODA and overall amazing service at a restaurant. We did some shopping in this area, then walked through Parc de Ciutadella to the beach where we enjoyed some mojitos before the storm rolled in. We went back to Las Ramblas where we ran into Angel, and he directed us to a restaurant where “if we ate, we would love Barthelona forever.” So we took his advice and went to Les Quinze at Plaza Real and had an extended early dinner, enjoying the gorgeous weather and people watching on the square.

Saturday all we had time for was a brunch once again on Plaza Real, where we finally found vegetable paella! (we’re both vegetarians). Absolutely delish. Went to the airport and I bought “The Hunger Games” which I have been absorbed with reading ever since. Sunday was a catch up day and the last two days of school have been uneventful. It was great to catch up with friends about all of their trips and hear about the amazing places everyone went over break. It’s so hard to choose from all of the great places in Europe but I could not be happier with my choices! 

I got the results of my Danish oral back today, and apparently I did fine except for too much of my old Spanish sneaking into my speech. :/ Oh well. It should be the same old, same old until my trip with my music class to Vienna in a few weeks! The sun is out in Copenhagen and it’s green, so spring is here!

Our trip to Russia was quite the experience! Stephanie, Hannah and I woke up early Sunday morning and walked to Norreport Station to grab the metro to the airport. Our flight to St. Petersburg was only about two hours. At the airport I had a very rude experience with a woman who didn’t want to exchange my Danish kroner for Russian rubles (30 rubles = $1). Our bus never arrived to take us to our Holiday Inn so we all took taxis. The taxi ride was terrifying! I sat in the death seat and prayed for my life as the taxi driver drove like a maniac to the hotel, driving side by side cars in the same lane on ramps on the highway in order to get around them. Luckily we made it there safely! In the afternoon we had a nice walking tour of the city with our class and our amazing tour guides Jon and Mette where they pointed out the major sites. We took the metro to get everywhere. The metros in both St. Petersburg and Moscow are incredibly beautiful because during the time of the Soviet Union the government wanted to “give the working class palaces of their own”-underground. It was common to take the incredibly long escalators down (St. Petersburg has the deepest metro system in the world) and see incredible sculptures, mosaics, and marble and granite walls. One of the most interesting things we did was stop in an Orthodox church for their late afternoon service. The inside of the church was breath-taking, with even more breathtaking music being sung from somewhere I could not locate. Everyone stood dispersed through the church as there were no chairs or pews. The girls had to cover our heads (the boys removed their hats) and we could not keep our hands in our pockets, or stand in a too relaxed fashion. Otherwise, Jon told us, an old Russian lady would come over and start shaking her finger at us and yelling at us in Russian. Considering how this religious institution and the government it was intertwined with is what forced my great-grandfather who was jewish, and who I am named for, to flee Russia, it was a pretty interesting experience to be there. 

For dinner we had a traditional Russian meal at Cafe Jam, which consists of taking vodka shots with dinner followed by large pickle chunks as chasers and lots of courses revolving around cabbage. In Russia it is completely taboo to drink vodka without food. Hannah and I sat near Jon the whole evening and picked his brain about what it’s like to translate between the Queen of Denmark and Putin (the “newly” elected President). After dinner we went back to the hotel and crashed for the evening. You’re not supposed to drink water from the tap in Russia because it is polluted with a crazy amount of lithium, so we had to concentrate to keep our mouths shut in the shower and brush our teeth with water bottles! The hotel collected our passports to keep them safe when we checked in as well. 

Monday morning we woke early for a yummy breakfast at the hotel and spent the rest of the day seeing various sites, taking the bus, walking, and using the metro. We explored the Peter and Paul Cathedral as well as the Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood. This is surprisingly one of the “newer” cathedrals in Russia, and it was breathtakingly beautiful inside and out. I decided to buy a watercolor painting of it on the street. For lunch we had more traditional Russian food at a very nice restaurant (they only serve Russian food in Russia) which had cabbage salad as a first course and cabbage soup as a second course. After lunch we broke off into interest groups, and Hannah and I decided to join Jon on a walk around the city discussing architecture differences between buildings of the communist era and those before and after the communist era. In the evening Hannah and I skipped dinner and instead got a bottle of wine at the hotel and talked to some more people on the trip in the four different restaurants and cafes they had there!

Wednesday morning we took the bus to the Winter Palace and Hermitage Collection, which may have been my favorite thing I have seen since being abroad this semester. The Winter Palace reminded me of Versailles in it’s grandness and beauty. The Hermitage Collection had an outstanding assortment of art. What was especially fun was to see certain artworks we have discussed in great detail in my 20th Century European Art History class this semester, such as Matisse’s “Dance” which is pictured below. Jon was an incredible tour guide, and we all had headpieces we could listen to him on while we wandered through the palace on our own. I had a delicious chocolate pastry in the museum cafe before we got back on the bus for a guided tour planned by Jon entitled “St. Petersburg: Behind the Fascades.”

The students in our class broke into four groups and so I went off with Barbara to explore some of the more depressing and dirty aspects of St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg was originally built as a way to bridge Russia with the rest of Europe; the buildings are all designed to imitate those of the major cities in western europe. As you walk around St. Petersburg you see beautiful town homes and apartment buildings but what you don’t see are the run-down rooms inside and the backs of the buildings which are dilapidated and ugly. Barbara first took us to a market run by people from the south of Russia (who sadly happen to be the most poor). While I was there I bought some pickles (Russian pickles are fantastic)-the deal was two for 50 rubles but when she saw how excited I was the woman gave me 5!

After that Barbara took us to a friend of a friend’s who lived in a communal living space, which is very similar to those used during the Soviet Union. We learned in class that under the Soviet regime each person was assigned a certain amount of “space” they were entitled to- for example, a grown man was entitled to 9.5 square meters of air. A young child or an elderly person would be assigned a different measurement of space. Based on these measurements, people of varying economic classes were dispersed throughout the city, the government intending to place people of varying classes immediately next to one another. Because of this living structure people cared solely for their own space and did absolutely no work on the space surrounding their own. Therefore kitchen areas, hallways, bathrooms, stairwells, etc. fell into complete disrepair. The apartment building we visited used to be the home to a wealthy family of four but during Soviet times was turned into an apartment building for communal living. As we entered I quickly noticed the hundreds of wires hanging out of the walls, the dust, dirt, paint, and mud caked to the walls, and the beautiful trim on the walls that now looks melted due to mold, water damage and dust. We went upstairs and saw Simon’s room, and also were introduced to one of the other tenants, five year old Anastasia, who was absolutely adorable. 

Following our visit to Simon’s apartment we went to a Soviet Union collector’s items shop, spent some time in a fancy pastry store, had a georgian dinner (VERY small portions)and then got on the overnight train to Moscow! The train was pretty crowded with four people with huge bags in each compartment but I slept like a baby with the rumbling of the train.

In the morning we got a huge breakfast at a hotel, went to the Red Square, saw the mausoleum where Lenin is embalmed, saw the outside of St. Basil’s Cathedral, and then headed to the hotel for a shower and nap before meeting up with Russian students for dinner.

For dinner we were introduced to Kate and Sasha, who went food shopping with us and then cooked us a lovely dinner at Sasha’s family’s apartment. Sasha is an art student and Kate studies linguistics. We had great conversations about the differences between Russia and the U.S. They smoked cigarettes five different times over the five hours we were with them which was a pretty different experience from hanging out with anyone in the U.S.! We had a lovely time and invited them to our farewell dinner in the city on Friday night. Sasha’s GORGEOUS boyfriend Fasil joined us for a little while at the end of dinner which was a treat for all of the girls haha, including Sasha and Kate!

Thursday was a big exploring day. It snowed overnight and so the weather was pretty dreadful. We hiked up a small mountain to get a great view of Moscow and explored various other buildings in the city. I have to admit that I didn’t particularly like Moscow; it was dirty, not as pretty as St. Petersburg architecturally and the people looked suicidal/homicidal! The weather probably did not help but I was very excited to get back to Copenhagen that day! In the evening we saw a ballet at the new theater which was unfortunately disappointing. I was expecting a mainstage ballet performance like something out of “Black Swan” but we saw a more modern dance sequence with almost no scenery. The people again were very rude and unfriendly, and one usher spent the first fifteen minutes of the performance harassing people to sit in their appropriate seats.

Friday, our last day in Russia, we had one final delicious breakfast a the hotel followed by shopping at the market around the corner from our hotel. I bought myself a pretty music box and some gifts for my family. Next I went with a group to the Russian National Gallery, which had some Kandinsky paintings (Kandinsky is my favorite). We met back a the Red Square for a tour of St. Basil’s Cathedral (no comparison to the cathedral on Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg) and the inside of the Kremlin. We were only allowed to tour the Kremlin if we signed up for a tour guide, and unfortunately we had the most TERRIBLE tour guide you could imagine. Her english was terrible and the information she shared with us was even worse. As important as this area of the prior Soviet Union is, it was also pretty underwhelming to see the inside of. There were a few religious buildings as well as some other random buildings. I think it’s more of a thrill to be able to say that you’ve been inside the red brick walls of the Kremlin than to actually explore its’ insides.

Following the tour of the Kremlin we met with a member of the opposition at an internet based newspaper which was interesting. For dinner we had a delicious meal down the street from the new theater, and Jon was nice enough to tell us we could order unlimited wine and beer with our Russian friends who joined us! It was a wonderful evening with great conversation. The next morning we woke up early (6:00 am) to get the bus to the airport and fly home to Copenhagen!

Yesterday Hannah and I caught up on emails, skype and facebook, booked our hostels for Barcelona and got some rest. This morning we went to a great restaurant down the street from Hannah’s called the “Laundromat Cafe” in Norrebo where I had an outstanding vegetarian brunch. Tonight more planning for Spain, packing and then it’s off to Barcelona tomorrow afternoon!