Møn, highlighted in red.

Møns Klint

We went on our first trip with the ESN for Copenhagen (Erasmus Student Network), which was to a small island in the south of Denmark called Møn. To demonstrate how tiny Denmark is I’ll let you know how long it took us to drive all the way down there from Copenhagen… an hour and a half, yup, it’s not a big place.

The first place we stopped was Møns Klint, a nature reserve along beautiful white chalk cliffs. You were able to walk down a long wooden path to the beach where it’s famous for fossils, can’t say we found any though. The woods around the cliffs reminded me of home, similar trees and autumn colours. In fact, a lot of the Danish country side reminded me of the south of england, rolling hills, hedgerow and the patchwork of green that makes the up the miles of farm land. The cliffs of Møn reminded me of the white cliffs of Dover but maybe a little more impressive, the land around it was uninhabited which allowed the woods and wildlife to take control and cover the cliffs in rare wildlife.

After the cliffs we went to an 18th-century landscaped park called Liselund, which was designed to be a romantic english garden but was built by a french man. Lucky by then it was sunny and perfect for a walk around. The park itself was pretty but the best part were the thatched houses – the swiss house, Norwegian house, the manor house and the Chinese summer house. Now, none of the houses were particularly Chinese, Norwegian or swiss… the gardens weren’t even particularly English, but they were pretty.

Next on the list was a bronze age passage grave, basically a man made cave which then had soil on top to make a hill, many many people would be buried in the grave and you can go inside and have a look. It was creepy to think that the cave I crawled into would have once been full of dead bodies, and it was rather claustophoic, so I didn’t stay in there long. On the way home the bus driver decided to smash into a lamp post, which was quite entertaining and completely suprising. Luckly no one was hurt, although it did mean waiting for 2 hours in the harbour for a new bus to be sent from Copenhagen. Overall, it was a really nice day out. It was good to have someone to tell us about the significance of each place we were going to, and i’m looking forward to going on another day trip with them to Århus in November. It works out to be the cheapest way to see Århus, for some reason it's really expensive by train.

Walking up the sloping turns of the round tower

Culture night

On the 9th of October it was culture night in the city. This is a night in which most the tourist attractions are open until midnight and the city is full of art, concerts, street sculptures and all sorts of special things. you pay one price which lets you into all the places. Luckily for my mum she was coming to stay on this day so it was a nice way to introduce the city to her. Despite all transport being free it’s just not possible to get around everything so we had to choose a few things. First we headed to the parliament building to see the royal reception rooms which were full of gold and shiny things, everything you would expect from something thats made for royalty. Outside the place there were a number of ice sculptures which were really beautiful. Then we walked through the town and ended up at the round tower, which is in the heart of Copenhagen. At the top there is an observation tower with a huge telescope, we saw the astronomer moving the telescope and moving the entire circular roof around, and then he allowed us to take a look at the moon through it, which was one of the most impressive things I have ever seen, i could see each crater in incredible detail. We spent some time walking around the streets which were full of the smell of honey roasted nuts and a mash of music coming from every angle.  It was a great night and i highly recommend people trying it out next year.
 

Malmö

As my mum was staying for a few days we did an awful lot of sightseeing, she had never been here before and it was the perfect excuse to take some time off and tick some places off my to do list. We visited Rosenborg Palace which was incredibly opulent. However, perhaps one of the best things we did was take the train over to Sweden and visit Malmö for the day. Denmark and Sweden are connected by a bridge which for about €15 you can get a return day ticket, in fact the water is so shallow between the countries that in the viking times it would freeze over in winter and the vikings would simply walk over, but I wouldn’t recommend this today.

Malmö is a pretty little city, 3rd largest in Sweden. The town center is full of the old Scandinavian charm with beautiful squares, cafes and trinket shops. There is a beautiful park around the castle, which even has an old windmill. The castle has very little left of it’s original structure, just some round towers. The castle was repeatedly burnt down and attacked, and then left in ruin for some time. It has since then been rebuilt into a museum and aquarium which seems like a strange combination for a castle, but it was fun. The museum itself is huge and took nearly all day, but it was interesting to learn a little about Sweden and Denmark.

So that’s about all for now. I don’t expect much excitment for the next few weeks as I’ve got to do some actual university work. I’m surprised at the liberal attitide of the university, I basically write about whatever I fancy for my essay, which is my only form of examination. I’m hoping to get my 15 page essays finished before December so I can take some time off and sightsee before going home, AND... have some weihnachten fun in Germany!
Take care, Alexandra
 

Culture Night, Malmo and Sightseeing with my Mum

Møn

On Tuesday we arrived in Copenhagen to discover it was HOT, not just hot but humid. Although ‘HOT’ may seem to be an exaggeration to most people used to warm climates, we had both spend the summer in Iceland where it got comfortably warm with a breeze, needless to say this change of climate put our bodies into shock. We decided to get a taxi from the airport to where we needed to collect our flat keys because we had more bags than hands so getting everything on the train may be hassle.

When we arrived at the office to collect our keys we were delighted to find out that the office was closed. In fact the opening hours where 9am to 10.30 am, yup an hour and a half each day. The Danish take their days off very seriously, the country shuts down on a Sunday despite not being a particularly religious country, it’s more of an excuse to sit outside drinking beer, an activity that generally has to occur after any sort of work, including an hour and half of sitting in an office giving keys out to people.

After calling the flat company they said there’s little they can do, only one man has access to the office, they suggested we come back in the morning. At this point we were getting quite mad, they knew we were coming from abroad, they knew which day we were coming yet they didn’t think it was important to let us know we could only get our keys for an hour and half in the morning. Then the woman said ‘oh I’ve been looking at the wrong office, your one reopens between 4 and 6 on Tuesdays’. It was just blind luck that we had happened to book our flights on a Tuesday. So after a large sigh of relief it was now a matter of a waiting game until the man came back.

When we finally got to the apartment we were pleased with the neighbourhood. It’s off a busy main street but is itself a quiet pretty street. Our building is a bit ghetto, every other house is perfectly maintained and then ours is covered in graffiti but I kind of think of it as a teenage building trying to look hard, but underneath the graffiti it’s clear that it’s an elegant red brick building from the early 1900’s, it can’t fool me.

After much sweat we got to the top floor with all our bags and were excited to get inside and see the flat. However when we first got inside I think both our hearts sank a little, the flat was dirty, almost like builders had been in there and left a mess, and it was so empty and unwelcoming. I quickly saw the positive; it has beautiful huge windows that look down onto a beautiful street, plenty of space and a nice layout, although I could see Bragi was not so convinced.  After we spent a fortune on cleaning products and set about cleaning the place it became nicer and nicer and soon Bragi started to feel a little more optimistic.

The next day was spent filling in resident’s permits and then heading off to Ikea for a mammoth expedition. Ikea are great, they even have a service which will deliver your large items for you, in a matter of hours, so that night was spent in flat pack building heaven, which carried over to the next day. Finally by the evening of our 3^rd day things were coming together.

Although we had been in Copenhagen for 3 days it’s didn’t feel like it because we had been so consumed on working on the apartment, so on Friday we ventured into the city centre as Bragi had an introduction class at university, which is about a 15 minute walk. I walked around the city taking in the prettiness and lovely atmosphere. I met Bragi in the afternoon when we sat in the Kings Square listening to a wonderful Brass Band over a coffee, it was nice to be there.

So that’s our first few days in the city. Apartment is nearly done, just needs a few things on the walls. Classes begin next week so that’s quite exciting, keep you updated!

 Tonight is my last night in Edinburgh, for possibly over a year. I'm all packed up and my room is bare... yet it's still not sunk in that I won’t ever be living with these lovely ladies again, or that I'm moving to Copenhagen in a few months. 

Yesterday my flatmates took me out on a surprise fake birthday, as I’ll be in Iceland for my real one. They told me we were going to the pub in the afternoon but when I was waiting in the living room for them they came in with cake singing happy birthday, I got some really lovely presents, then they whisked me away in a taxi for a surprise trip. The surprise was a group spa afternoon, where we each had one treatment. I opted for a facial because I’d never had one before, and it was soooo good! I nearly fell asleep while the beautician rubbed my shoulders and massaged my face. I actually got a little choked up at how nice it was, them planning this behind my back, I'm going to really miss them.

I'll miss Edinburgh in general, it's a beautiful city and it'll always be home. 

Other good news is that I've found someone to rent my room out to over the summer, which is a huge financial relief! Another flatmate and I are going to be away this summer and we found two lovely German girls who need somewhere to write their dissertations. One if from Hamburg and another is from Bavaria but went to university in Cologne, studied languages no doubt! They're both in Edinburgh studying for a masters in translation studies. So I’m really glad! :D

So my mum comes tomorrow to drive me back down south with all my stuff, and then I have just over a week to relax at home before I head back to Iceland for the summer. It's going to be a super busy week trying to fit in seeing everyone from home and packing not just for Iceland but for Copenhagen. Bragi and I discovered that the term dates for Copenhagen were a week earlier than expected, so we were supposed to arrive on the 24th...which is the day I have my flights booked to come back from Iceland, but the international office said it would be fine to arrive on the 25th, so I need to have some stuff organised before I leave for Iceland.

So that’s my life at the moment, very busy and very packed, but hopefully totally worth it. I'm looking forward to spending some time with my family and the kittens before Bragi time. 

Hope you're all well and coping through the exam season. 

Take care
Alexandra