Hello, Everything

I'm Kelly and this blog is to document my pictures and stories as I travel. Thank you for reading .xx

[hello--everything]

Velkommen til Aarhus

August 22, 2015 around 2:30 PM CST, I passed through security to board my flight to Aarhus. Not before they told me I wouldn’t be able to even get on the plane, however.

Back at the end of June, I drove to Houston to apply for my visa (mostly referenced to as a “residence permit” here in Denmark). However, it would take 2 - 3 months for the process to go through, so I would be entering Denmark initially just on my passport. Just on a passport, I would be able to stay 90 days without a visa and the way math works I would 100% get my residence permit before my “passport days” were over. Also, my return flight to Oklahoma for winter break is December 20th, more than 90 days from my departure day.

Unfortunately, all of this to say that because my visa hadn’t gone through before my flight, there was no way to prove that I would be out of the country within 90 days and they weren’t going to let me go to avoid the airline itself getting fined for my illegal residence in Denmark.

Spoiler alert: I made it to Denmark.

Bye, Oklahoma

Once I got here, my Danish parents, Sarah and Asbjørn (they are not really my parents, just extremely caring and helpful) met me at a bus station in Aarhus and I stayed with them that night and enjoyed the spaghetti pizza I’ve come to love.

The next day (Monday) I got my keys into my kollegiet (dorm), Skjoldhøjkollegiet. The room was fully furnished, except for the most important item...a mattress. The furniture depot wouldn’t be open for me to get a bed until the next day, so I stayed with S/A again that night. 

The end of my building at Skjoldhøj

Biking is a HUGE part of Danish culture, so I knew I definitely wanted to get a bike and Sarah took me to a used bike shop for a few reasons. 

1. Cheaper 2. If something on the bike needs to be fixed, I’ll be able to bring it back to the shop for free repairs

There were only a few bikes for sale, but bike number 3 I tried ended up being the 1. Listening to Sarah’s sage Danish advice paid off in literally 10 seconds as the chain immediately broke and was replaced with a brand new chain for free.

Blue feat. Sam and Dean

Denmark gave me the biggest welcoming of all as on the way back to Sarah’s place we got caught in a torrential storm. Biking in such concentrated rain just felt like the first of many rites of passage to come.

The brief, yet strong rainstorm was actual tragedy (and a common occurrence)

Other rites of passages from the day:  -A visit to IKEA -Getting my Danish phone number -Liver pate -Dying my hair blonde (I was honestly surprised my hair didn’t spontaneously change color upon entry into the country)

Tuesday morning, jet lag began to kick in as I woke up around 4.30 am and couldn’t go back to sleep. I biked home to Skjoldhøj from Sarah’s, moved my mattress in, and OFFICIALLY had a home in Denmark. Also, did I mention I share my apartment with 13 other people? Meaning that we all share a common room and kitchen. I share a bathroom with two other people, but I have my own bedroom.

Part of my beautiful bike ride home 

The common room

Shared kitchen

The literal embodiment of Texas in a spice

The rooms don’t have A/C, only a radiator, so it gets kind of hot inside during the day, but I have a balcony and I just leave the balcony door open to let cool air in

We actually had to bleach my hair twice, because box dye red is apparently the hardest to get out of hair. Also, Kool-aid is now scientifically proven to not come out of hair even after two bleachings, hence the pink tips, so I would just be aware of that next time you enjoy a nice glass of it (Kool-aid, not bleach, of course).

The rest of the week has been a nice combination of meeting new people, trying new foods, exploring new places, and making Aarhus my new home. 

A few of my observations of Denmark (perhaps Aarhus specifically):

-The water pressure in sinks are VERY HIGH. A little goes a long way. Sometimes literally, when you are washing dishes and forget that a 45 degree turn of the faucet would be equivalent to maybe 2 entire turns of a knob back in the US. -The smells are different. I can’t explain this one in too much detail until technology allows me to share smells via wi-fi. It’s not necessarily better or worse...just different. I’m sorry that description is terrible. -The Danes LOVE their 7-11′s. There’s a train station/mall where the entrance contains a McDonald’s and two 7-11′s. One on each side. Two completely separate stores. -If you go out in all black, there is a 80-90% chance you will see somebody in the EXACT same outfit, right down to the same style Nike sneakers.

I’ve also officially received my residence permit via email since arriving in Denmark, so I am 100% allowed to live here now! I will also get access to free health care and other benefits that citizens of Denmark receive. 

Thankfully, once getting here, the move-in process has been fairly painless. I’ll talk more about daily life in my next post. Class also starts on Tuesday, so I get to enjoy my summer for a couple more days :)

[hello--everything]

Lad’s Holiday - Part IV - London, England/The Journey Home (June 4 - 11, 2015)

Aarhus is my new home and I loved Germany, but I know that London is my favorite (favourite) place on this earth.

Once we landed at London Gatwick airport, we took a 40 minute train to King’s Cross. Our hostel/hotel was only a few blocks from the King’s Cross, but it still proved difficult to navigate at first. We stayed at the Generator Hostel, which is technically a hostel, but we paid a little bit more to have a private room and bathroom, so it was basically just a hotel.

By the time we got to go eat, it was pretty late, but thankfully the restaurant we had been planning to eat at for months had a convenient King’s Cross location. Nando’s is actually a restaurant chain originating in South Africa, but is extremely popular in the UK. It prides itself on its peri-peri sauce, a spicy Portuguese sauce. Just like everywhere else we had previously been, figuring out how to order at restaurants proved difficult. At Nando’s, it’s like a fancy fast food-esque ordeal. You’re seated by a hostess, but then you have to go back up and order at the counter, which took asking a local to figure out, then they bring it to you. The process is full of suspense. They also surprisingly had self-serve soft drinks and ice, but I realized I was the only person in the entire restaurant using ice. 

We didn’t get to do any sightseeing the first night though, just Nando’s.

Their famous peri-peri chicken with mash and rice. Very spicy, very good.

We woke up early the next day to begin our journey to the One Direction concert in Cardiff, Wales. It’s about a 4 hour bus ride from London to Cardiff, and we caught our bus at 9 am, minutes before departure.

Street art 

We made it to Millennium Stadium!!!!! 

We got there with about 7 hours to spare, so we spent a while in a pub across the street from Millennium Stadium, again not having any clue how to order, and got fish & chips. I think it’s lovely how often we were surprised with a little side salad with our meals. I even tolerated the peas (that’s a big deal).

Where we were in Cardiff, there wasn’t much to do except go in Tesco’s and just walk around the Millennium Stadium, which we definitely made fools of ourselves freaking out when we could hear the band sound checking. After hearing the soundcheck, we got so excited that we ended up waiting outside the stadium around 2 pm and just sitting, hoping we’d hear the boys themselves do soundcheck (we did).

Our view for about four hours.

Lauren being floored after we heard the actual voices of Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, and Liam Payne from outside the stadium.

Finally around 6, they let us into the stadium, where Lauren and I beehived for the stadium concession stands. The concession stands are funny in the UK, because instead of things like hamburgers and chicken tenders, they had meat pies. 

Probably the most important picture I took on the trip. 

Our seats weren’t great, but this date had been added to the tour sort of last minute, so we were actually able to move up to the first row on the top section, which also made room for dancing. Of course, Lauren and I had basically the best night of our lives.

An actual picture of an actual projection of Harry Styles. Goodbye, cruel world.

One more picture of the concert, for good luck.

While the concert was no doubt one of the best parts of the entire trip, what follows was no doubt the absolute worst thing about the trip. So we were a bit late getting bus tickets back to London several weeks prior and our bus wasn’t going to leave until 3:30 am. The concert ended at 10:30 pm. This would not have been so bad, except Cardiff basically closes at 10 pm and the bus station is outdoors. And it was cold. Very cold. We only had our long sleeve t-shirts on and the newly purchased concert t-shirt, but the weather forecast had been hot, so we didn’t bother bring jackets or anything. We spent a miserable 5 hours roaming around Cardiff, sitting in pubs that continuously kept shutting down (one pub actually shut down, because somebody had drank so much and passed out that an ambulance showed up) and just trying to kill time. There were zero public restrooms. Even McDonald’s was only open for take away. Once the bus finally arrived, it was another 4 hour journey back to London on a freezing cold bus. I truly have never been so happy to be in a bed. 

We got a rather late start the next day since we didn’t get to go to sleep until around 8 am. Not wanting to waste too much time, we set out to be the best London tourists we could be. 

One of like 80 pictures of Big Ben I took.

This picture pretty much sums up London tourism.

Trafalgar Square 

Lauren and I, still very tired, decided to do one of those hop-on, hop-off double decker tours, except we just stayed on for one entire tour cycle. 

We love a selfie.

Tower Bridge while on Tower Bridge

We stopped in Covent Gardens in search for a shepard’s pie.

Still being as touristy as possible.

We were thankful for these reminders, because crossing the streets actually did prove to be difficult and confusing at first.

With our bus tour ticket, we got a free Thames River cruise. Cruise being a loose term, as it was about a 20 minute ride. Here’s Tower Bridge again. It’s much more magnificent than the actual London Bridge.

Millennium Bridge as seen in the featured motion picture film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. 

Lol

The Natural History museum was a London favorite of mine, as the human body and mind exhibits in particular were super amusing. The dinosaur exhibits, as expected, were super busy; thanks Chris Pratt. We also paid a little extra to see a coral reef exhibit. Save the Coral Reefs. 

Journey to the Center of the Natural History Museum

This detailed photo was under the “What babies can do on their own from birth” category. Do babies actually breathe like this? I need actual human documentation.

A life-size model of a blue whale

After the museum, we headed for some London fish and chips at the most authentic place we could find and then headed up in the London Eye.

This is in no way a tourist trap.

Coca-Cola has a 4d theater in the London Eye ticket building that you get to watch for free with purchase of London Eye ticket, though we just kind of walked in without being questioned.

One of the London Eye cars up close.

From the top of the London Eye. We went at a weird time, so the reflections are present in all of my pictures.

The picture doesn’t do it justice, but I’m about 440 feet in the air. 

Lauren got employed at Buckingham Palace after this picture (It took about 10 tries for her not to start laughing).

My summer home, Buckingham Palace

The rest of that night was spent finding Cadbury Fruit & Nut chocolate bars (they have raisins and almonds in them and they are ace) and Funky Buddha, to no avail. Funky Buddha is a nightclub frequently inhabited by some of our favorite celebrities, so we just wanted to see it at least, but due to inside intel (aka my sister), the nightclub shut down. So R.I.P Funky Buddha (or Funky Buddwha, as Liam Payne says).

Our Stonehenge tour day started with a full English Breakfast, which includes buttered toast, eggs, beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, and earl grey tea with a spot of milk.

The beans have kind of like a tomato sauce that makes them the best beans I’ve ever had. However, not even England will get me to eat tomatoes raw.

There it is. Stonehenge.

Lauren enjoying all that Stonehenge has to offer...so basically just the stones.

Getting a good selfie at Stonehenge proved to be inherently difficult. 

Once we got back to London, we had time for dinner and seeing Platform 9 3/4.

Having some fun on the Underground.

It felt like my life had come to its culmination after this picture. Disregard the hand holding the scarf.

All we really had time for the next day before heading back to Copenhagen for a final night in Europe was to go see Abbey Road. This is very much a road that is utilized constantly making it hard to get the picture that you would obviously want to take when at this particular crosswalk. Cars kept getting mad at us for just standing there and not crossing, so I have a tragic series of pictures of us crossing Abbey Road, but not actually one of the same scene used by the Beatles.

This picture of Abbey Road was as good as it was going to get. 

London pigeons are abundant. 

Some last minute pictures of our hostel/hotel. This is a restaurant/lounge area.

It was British themed, of course. We stayed on the Willy Wonka floor.

As we’re about 16 or 17 days in our trip now, the rest of the trip wasn’t as well documented since even though we loved every second of it, we were ready to be back home the second we started our journey back home, not giving Copenhagen the attention it deserves. In our defense, we were only in Copenhagen for a grand total of less than 12 hours. We had to fly back through Copenhagen though, because it made the airfare much cheaper. One way European flights are absolutely ridiculous. It’s cheaper to fly round trip than one way to Europe.

The only picture I took from our night there. I honestly don’t know what this is. I’m sorry, Copenhagen. I’ll be back, I promise. Also, it’s probably close to 10 pm in this photo. 

We passed this colorful bar front enough times while finding dinner and heading back to the airport for it to warrant a picture apparently.

Our quaint view from the one of one million 7-eleven′s in Denmark. 

Our flight back home was similar to our flight to Copenhagen. We flew through Reykjavik, Iceland again, but I didn’t manage to spend my 12 Icelandic Króna I acquired (that’s only about 8 cents).

What’s being an American if not taking a selfie immediately upon arrival back into the country?

Since we flew back into Baltimore, we still had to get back to my aunt’s house in D.C. somehow. This was an overwhelming and exhausting journey in weather about 20 degrees hotter than what we had previously been in that consisted of a bus ride, a several train rides, and a good ol’ fashion fight on the metro over a child’s backpack. (One guy sat on some kids backpack while the other guy was planning on turning it into the metro station workers and they managed to escalate this to a screaming fight on a sardine packed metro. They were about to prevent us from getting off and after the long journey home and severe lack of food WOW air provided, Lauren and I almost lost it.) Finally, we returned to our favorite local CVS and purchased buffalo wings and mac & cheese for our very late dinner back in the U.S.

We woke up early the next morning for our last flight back to Dallas, where my mom picked us up, took us immediately to Panera Bread, and then took us back to OKC (thank you, mom).

Our last flight home. Virgin Airlines is definitely a party airlines. I appreciated being able to watch Anchorman the entire flight though.

19 days and 18 nights later, we made it back home. I have never spent this much time consecutively with someone since probably before kindergarten, so I would like to thank Lauren for being my best friend and for accompanying me on what was definitely the best trip of my life. It is a true testament to our friendship that we ended the trip even closer than when we left. 

Massive massive thank you to Iceland, Denmark, Germany, Austria, England, and Wales for having us. Our trip was ace and less than 6 weeks until I’ll be back for much longer.

All the love. 

[hello--everything]

Lad’s Holiday - Part III - Munich, Germany (May 30 - June 4, 2015)

We flew directly from Aarhus to Munich. The airport in Aarhus only has two gates and is absolutely tiny. Once we got to Munich, Lauren and I wandered around quite a bit trying to find our hotel. It was much hotter than Aarhus and being thrown into only German was hard to navigate. 

We made it to the BOLD hotel, which was located a few miles from the city center, and settled in. The little booklet said you could rent a microwave for the room, so we could just make dinner in our hotel and save some money, but the girl at the front counter seemed baffled by our request so we let it go. Plus, we had already resolved we were going to eat at Hofbräuhaus, a huge beer hall at the center of the city. 

Part of our European minimalistic hotel room. It was nice they provided two blankets for us!

Our first view of the city center, also known as Marienplatz. As soon as you come up from the underground trains, this is your view. Very cool.

A menu from Hofbräuhaus 

They had a little band playing music to really bring together the experience. 

I couldn’t get a picture of the entire beer hall, because it was too big! It seats up to 1,300 people. You seat yourself wherever you can find an open seat. You also have to flag down a server yourself in the very, very extremely loud and busy restaurant. For Lauren and I, that was probably the most excruciating part of the entire trip. We felt very dumb. Being in this huge beer hall where people were yelling and making so much jovial noise was a bit of a culture shock after being in Denmark, where people keep to themselves (sort of a “don’t disturb me, i won’t disturb you” type thing). Germany is the exact opposite. Everybody wanted to strike up a conversation and there were several times when we were in the restaurant when large amounts of people would join in singing German drinking songs. Lauren got weinerschnitzel, which is fried veal (baby cow), and I got a roasted pork dish, along with bread and potatoes, all covered in gravy. We did the beer hall wrong though, as neither of us got beer.

Since we got into Munich pretty late, all we did was eat dinner before returning to our hotel room.

The next day, we most just explored Munich. 

Without shame, we returned to Hofbräuhaus for lunch to see what it was like during lunchtime. I ordered something called “weiner sausages” and I honestly cannot tell you what Lauren ordered, but because I simply cannot believe either of our meals exists, I will not spare you of the pictures. I must warn you though, Lauren’s specifically is not for the faint of heart.

Much to my surprise, “weiner sausages” actually just means “four regular hot dogs”. I had to contain my laughter as he set down my food. The mashed up potato salad was really good though. I don’t like hot dogs, so I think I only made it through 1.5 of them. Sorry, Hofbräuhaus.

I can’t tell you what this is. It came in a pot of water though. Also, Lauren decided to try the beer (that one is a beer/lemonade combination called a Radler), but even in Germany, beer wasn’t for us.

The inside of St. Peter’s church.

For a euro, you could walk up the many stairs to the top of the clock tower in the church for a breathtaking view of Munich. 

One view from on top of the clock tower

You could see Marienplatz really well from up there too. Not quite as crowded during the day time.

After exploring the church and going up the clock tower, Lauren and I headed north of Marienplatz to the Olympic Stadium. To our surprise, there was actually a rock music festival with Metallica and Muse headlining going on, so we couldn’t get super close to the stadium. However, surrounding the stadium is a beautiful park and a small lake. There were a bunch of crepe and little food shops in the area too, making it a fun place to hang out with friends or spend a day with your family.

Der Olympiastadion 

We climbed up a little hill to get up here where you could see the entire stadium and the lake.

There were a bunch of weird sheep cutouts on the hills.

After the Olympic stadium park, we headed to another park, the English Gardens. It’s an 800 acre park, one of the biggest parks in a city in the world. It’s similar to Central Park in NYC.

People enjoying a lovely Germany afternoon in the English Gardens.

A Japanese garden within the English Garden in Germany, combining Lauren and I’s three main ancestries. 

I took this picture because at the time, I interpreted that green sign as “Eagles allowed”. (It’s actually saying the area is a nature preserve.) 

People were ballroom dancing in this gazebo

Recovering from the weirdest lunch ever, we turn to the arguably the best meal of our entire trip. Who knew that Germany would have such good Italian food? Reminded me exactly of how spaghetti tasted in Milan.

I could probably eat here for the rest of my life. I think the water was even free here. The waiter even gave us ice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A cool underground station. My favorite part about public transportation is how different each station is, not just in Munich either.

The next day, Lauren’s parents were generous and kind enough to purchase a Bavarian castle tour for us. There were three stops on the tour: Linderhof Palace, the little town of Oberammergau, and Neuschwanstein Castle. We were with a small tour group that essentially got us from place to place and entry into the major tourist destinations without having to actually stick together in a group. 

The first “castle” we went to was actually more like a very decorated home. It was King Ludwig II’s favored home, as he was a bit of a hermit and declared by history a “mad man”. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but the gardens surrounding the palace were magnificent.

The garden in front of Linderhof Palace. 

Linderhof Palace itself. It was surprisingly small for a “palace”.

The back gardens. I have this exact same picture without the couple taking a selfie, but this angry tourist yelled at them to move as there were probably 20 or so people waiting to take a picture sans-selfie takers. It was quite funny. 

The only selfie we dared to take at Linderhof.

Next up on the tour was a small town called Oberammergau, where many of the buildings have been completely painted with scenes from fairy tales or various German art pieces. It’s also home of the Oberammergau Passion Play, which has been performed since the 1600′s. I believe it’s performed every 10 years.

One of the painted buildings 

Oberammergau was mostly made up of tiny stores. Cuckoo clocks are plentiful as well. There was a Christmas store with ornaments from head to toe. Lauren and I also had some of the best fruit of our life from a small grocer.

Hi, Santa. 

The Bavarian castle tour saved the best for last, of course. Neuschwannstein (literally translated to New Swan Rock) is an extravagant castle that actually inspired Sleeping Beauty’s Castle at Disneyland. Once you get into the town where the castle is located, it’s a 45-minute trek up a hill that Lauren and I did in 17 minutes to the castle and then another 15 minutes to a bridge where you can get a great view of the castle. The tour of the castle didn’t last long, as most of the castle is unfinished, because King Ludwig II only stayed in it for 11 nights before dying a mysterious death. We did get to see a room that Wagner apparently got to perform his works in, as Wagner and King Ludwig II were good friends.

Our food continues to be more appetizing than the previous day. The buns used for bratwurst and hot dogs are infinitely tastier than American hot dog buns. 

The castle from on the bridge. It’s very majestic in person.

As much of the castle as I could fit in a picture up close.

The beautiful Bavarian countryside. 

Once we got back to Munich that night, we decided to have the authentic German cuisine of McDonald’s hamburgers, because it’s important to know how McDonald’s fairs in each country. Germany has good McDonald’s, that’s all I’ll say. 

The next day we headed out on another semi-guided tour to Salzburg, Austria, one of the homes of Mozart, and some Bavarian lakes.

Lovelock bridge in Salzburg, like in Paris.

Close up of locks. It’s very illegal to do this, as they weigh down the bridge and are irritating to remove, so people sneak them on at night.

Mozart’s home. There was an ambulance trying to turn around through the crowds of people while trying to take this picture, so this was as best as I could do.

Austrian Japanese food (really, just Japanese food in Austria)

Underneath that gold ball thing, there were a few men playing chess. I think it might’ve been Professor X and Magneto, but I can’t say for sure. You can also see the main attraction of Salzburg, a fortress, at the top of the hill. To get up to the fortress is a little tram car that you can see the track for on the right side of the picture, connecting the fortress to the ground.

Salzburg from up by the fortress.

There were a bunch of purple flowers and green leaves growing out of the fortress. Feat. natural sunlight

Inside the tram car back down to Salzburg.

Salzburg LOVES Mozart and there are Mozart references all over the place. There are several shops entirely dedicated to Mozart, which mostly consist of Mozart chocolates (some weird chocolate ball with marzipan in it; I don’t like them very much, but Lauren does).

Example of one of the Mozart stores.

We only had a few hours in Salzburg before we left to go see the Bavarian lakes. On the way to the lakes, we passed by the Red Bull main headquarters, which are built into the lake. I didn’t get a good picture as I was on the other side of the bus, but one story is above ground and the other eight or so are built underwater. I don’t know how they do this.

Our tour group stopped for a photo op before the lake tour.

The village where the lake tour originated reminded me a lot of Vail, Colorado. Lauren appreciated this picture a lot.

The unbelievable lake view. The water is so blue and the scenery is so green.

I thought we were maybe in Bora Bora (Bora).

Back to Munich in time for a weinerschnitzel dinner in Marienplatz. Not pictured: the 10+ packs of gummy bears Lauren purchased for herself and her father.

We spent our last full day in Munich going to the Dachau concentration camp. Being in the gas chambers we’ve always read about was a strange, eerie feeling. There were bathrooms in the gas chamber for visitors, but Lauren and I had this unspoken agreement that we weren’t going to use them. It just felt wrong.

Really the only picture I took at the concentration camp. I felt like being there was more about reflection than being touristy. 

At this point in our trip I think Lauren and I were both pretty mentally, physically, and emotionally tired, so we didn’t do much the rest of that day. We enjoyed some potato chips and gummy bears back at the hotel, in addition to some One Direction videos to prepare ourselves for the concert in Cardiff.

We had time for one more escapade and lunch before flying into London. We went to Nymphenburg Palace used as a summer residence for the royal family and had some more Italian food, because it was just so good the first time.

This is the back of Nymphenburg Palace.

Next up, London and Cardiff!

[hello--everything]

Lad’s Holiday - Part II - Aarhus, Denmark (May 26 - 29, 2015)

Around 2 or 3 pm, my aunt was kind enough to get us an uber to the Baltimore-Washington International Airport. We flew out of Baltimore, just because it was the cheapest option. We flew with WOW air, which is an discount airline running out of Reykjavik, Iceland. I would recommend them for trips like Lauren & I where we just had our one carry-on, but if you’re moving across the Atlantic, like I will be in August, the extra cost would be worth it. There’s a reason they’re a discount airline as there wasn’t any in flight entertainment and food and drink cost extra. The biggest thing though is that there’s only one carry-on allowed period, no personal items. So, your purse would have to fit into your carry-on. And if your carry-on was more than 12 lbs., you had to pay a fee. Lauren & I didn’t check any luggage, but there was definitely no free checked luggage either. Overall, for our 3-week trip to Europe, it was budget friendly and wasn’t too bad. But with a lot of luggage, I could see it definitely being a pain to work with.

Even the seats were friendly.

The extent of my pictures in Iceland. Though it’s cool to say I’ve technically been to Iceland!

First sight of Denmark! The yellow fields are just miles of flowers - you’ll see them up close later 

This greeted us upon arrival Copenhagen, Denmark. A good sign of things to come! 

Once we got to Copenhagen, we had to take a train, a bus, and a ferry to get to Aarhus. It was about a 4 hour journey and after traveling for 20+ hours, most of the ride was spent sleeping.

Found pasta salad on the ferry, which gives me hope for living here.

Once we got into Aarhus itself, Sarah and Asbjørn, her boyfriend who’s from Denmark, had rented a car for a trip to Legoland that we should have gone on but didn’t due to a slight misunderstanding, but thankfully this meant they could come pick us up right when we arrived at the dock. 

By the time we made it to Sarah and Asbjørn’s apartment, Lauren and I had been awake for over 24 hours, yet we ending up staying up rather late and slept until around 2 pm the next day, which also happened to be Lauren’s birthday.

This was taken outside Sarah and Asbjørn’s apartment

Asbjørn was sweet enough to go and get us breakfast, since he and Sarah had other things to do during the day and it probably apparently Lauren and I were going to sleep all day. Also, on your birthday in Denmark, you have Danish themed birthday parties, so it’s customary to decorate everything with the Danish flag, hence the flags in the pastries.

While Sarah and Asbjørn were at work/school, Lauren and I explored the rather small, but very beautiful city of Aarhus, seeing all the places that I was going to call home in a few months. The language is very difficult to understand, because the pronunciation has little similarities to English. We thought we knew which bus stop to get off at to get back to S/A’s, but we ended up tacking on about an hour to our should have been 5 minute bus ride, discovering an Aldi grocery store in the outskirts of Aarhus in the process.

Part of the canal in Downtown Aarhus

Downtown Aarhus has a huge range of shopping, from 3 H&M’s to more upscale stores. There are also a bunch of restaurants and bars. The best part about it is no matter where you are in Aarhus, it’s no more than a 20 minute bike ride to downtown. Most people either ride a bike or use the bus system. Sarah was saying that cars like Range Rovers and Hummers get vandalized, because the Danes realize how terrible they are for the environment.

The store in the building on the right is actually a 7-11, which are everywhere you look in Denmark. They love their 7-11′s.

More Downtown Aarhus. All that seating is for a nearby cafe. 

Some of the cloudy, rainy weather I can look forward to

Some scary cereal in one of the grocery stores 

The Aldi grocery store we discovered on our misunderstanding of Danish.

For Lauren’s birthday we cooked a delicious salmon, vegetable, and rice dinner. We saved quite a bit of money and gained a bit of culture by making food ourselves that we found in the grocery store, Netto, which is home of those incredible chocolate muffins pictured above (I am not going to reveal how many of those I ate). After 8 pm (I think it was 8...), all of the bakery items become half-price, so I already need to work on my self-control.

The next day we ventured outside of Aarhus to Billund (where Sarah works at Lego about 1 - 1.5 hours away) for a fun day at Legoland!

Legoland was one of the most fun things we did while in Europe. The rides weren’t particularly large or crazy and didn’t rival like Six Flags in terms of intensity, but they were creative and each of them usually had a unique quirk about them making the rides super fun. One of the roller coasters made it seem like once you got to the top you were going to go backwards down the ride again and instead the entire track drops about 20 feet before continuing forward. That was maybe the most surprised I had ever been on a ride! There was another ride where you were given a card key that you put into a machine and you “build” your ride experience before being thrown around by little machine arms that do what you told the machine you wanted to do.

The walk from the airport, where the bus dropped us off, to Legoland was deceptively long. Only about 3 km though.

Lego boat ride (don’t ask Lauren about my driving).

Lauren has always wanted to go to Mt. Rushmore. Who would have thought we would see it in Denmark of all places? 

Selfie with a Lego Star Wars Pilot

This was one of my favorite rides. You just stand up in these cars as you spin around, nothing to hold you back or anything. I kept falling over. The amusement park is so much less crowded than anything I’ve been to in America, so the process of getting on/off rides is much faster. On some of the roller coasters, you get off while the car is still moving! 

These Lego structures covered probably like 10 or so acres of land? It seemed to go on forever. Incredibly impressive.

Spaghetti, pepperoni, and sausage pizza. Incredibly delicious. Oh, and french fries.

When we were back in Aarhus, Sarah, Asbjørn, Lauren, and I went to the ARoS, which is a modern art museum. There were a ton of really cool exhibits that involve you in the art. I highly recommend going if you find yourself in Aarhus, Denmark (which you all should come visit once I’m there in August).

Stairs up to ARoS. You can go into the top bit and walking around in the rainbow circle thing.

If you look closely, that’s actually Sarah’s body and my face/arm. Feat. all of Asbjørn and two other girls. This little spherical room played with light and mirrors to create a unique experience.

One of the scariest things I’ve ever seen. The picture doesn’t do it justice, but in person, this 16 or so foot tall sculpture of a boy (aptly named “Boy”) looks freakishly real. Right down to the toes (which I’ll spare you a photo of). We joked that it’s like a Weeping Angel from Doctor Who where somebody has to always be looking at it or it comes alive.

Aarhus is right on the coast of Denmark, so there are a lot of forest-y areas and beaches in the area. We ventured through a forest near S/A’s that Lauren and I dubbed “Pesto Forest” due to the flowers that grow it in supposedly are used in the making of pesto.

I remember asking Asbjørn what the wildlife was like in the forest or in Denmark in general and his response was “Well, there was a bear that entered the country a while back”. I think he said there are 6 wolves in Denmark as well? I thought that was pretty funny.

This is what it looked like in all four directions for as far as the eye can see. Quite surreal.

Skipping rocks down at the beach. Asbjørn reigned supreme as I think the only person who actually could skip a rock. It was apparently unnaturally cold for May, as you can see we wore coats. 

Beach selfie

For our last night in Denmark we had the very Danish meal of lo mein, pizza, and frikadeller (which is like a pork chicken nugget of sorts) (Spoiler alert: other than the frikadeller, this meal is not Danish)

And no trip to Aarhus would have been complete without Asbjørn braving the rain at 1:30 am to go and get us all McDonald’s.

We left the next morning pretty early for Munich, Germany, but not without getting another one of those Netto chocolate muffins. Since I wouldn’t need it during the summer, I left my coat I wore so it would be waiting for me when I got back. Germany, London, and DC were much warmer than Aarhus, but (spoiler alert) our night in Cardiff, Wales had me wishing I still had my coat.

C u in August, Aarhus

[hello--everything]

Lad’s Holiday - Part I - Washington D.C. (May 24 - 25, 2015)

Back in January, Lauren and I entertained the idea of going to Europe for a week or two as a graduation gift to the ourselves (albeit, Lauren’s a year late). Rather shamefully, at Texas Roadhouse one night, we learned the One Direction concert was going to be in the UK during the time we were thinking about going. Before we left the restaurant, tickets to the concert had been booked and we were officially going to Europe.

The next few months included countless hours of planning as we had decided on a three week European vacation (which we dubbed “Lad’s Holiday”). We booked 7 flights (not including layovers), 3 hotels, 2 bus rides, and a castle tour ahead of time. 

Our Lad’s Holiday started in Washington, D.C. We flew from Dallas to D.C. first, because flying D.C. (technically, Baltimore) -> Copenhagen through WOW air (an Icelandic airline) was infinitely cheaper than trying to fly from OKC to Copenhagen, or even just Dallas to Copenhagen. Plus, one of my aunts lives in D.C., so we figured we would start our European tour with the biggest bite of America you could possibly get. 

The night we got there my aunt and uncle took Lauren and I on a bike ride tour of the main attractions of D.C.

A White House selfie (not pictured: Obama)

The Washington Monument around sunset

We had a delicious BBQ meal at an outdoor restaurant, which features flags advertising beer from Hofbrauhaus München (a place, SPOILER ALERT, we would end up going to in Munich).

The next day was actually Memorial Day, so it was pretty neat seeing the nation’s capitol during such an important holiday.

The first of many underground subway rides we would take in the weeks to come.

World War II Monument

The Lincoln Memorial from afar. It makes it look not nearly as crowded as it is.

The Lincoln Memorial closer up. Still doesn’t look very crowded.

Selfie with Hot Abe. (History got it wrong; it wasn’t “Honest Abe”). (Also, not pictured: a thermometer reading 1,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit)

Some ducks trying to cool off in Hot Abe’s reflecting pool.

In accordance with being as patriotic as possible, Lauren and I dined at “Paul”, a french restaurant, for Memorial Day. I had a salmon and leek grilled cheese sandwich, while Lauren had a turkey avocado sandwich, I believe.

Patriotic Pigeon

In addition to underground transportation, D.C. also has what’s called “Capital Bikeshare” where there are bikes to borrow every couple of blocks. There’s an app you can check to see whether a particular bike station has any bikes available or any spots to put bikes back. It’s great if you have a bunch of places to go, as you can check it in and out as many times as you like within 24 hours, as opposed to paying for the metro every time you leave the station and go back in.

One of the many Capital Bikeshare locations.

It was nice that we got to spend most of the day in D.C. before heading to the airport in Baltimore (only about an hour away) where we took our first trans-Atlantic flight to Reykjavik, Iceland.

(to be continued...)

[hello--everything]

Las Vegas (March 14 - 19, 2015)

A few weeks before the last spring break of college, Daniel & I were joking about going to Vegas and less than 20 minutes later, we had a flight and hotel booked. 

We started our Spring Break off in the Dallas area with Lauren seeing one of her favorite artists, Joshua Radin (or Matt Radin as I accidentally kept calling him) in concert. It also happened to be St. Patrick’s Day weekend, but this particular area of Dallas wasn’t as busy as we thought it would be, though parking was still irritating.

The Granada Theater

Joshua (/Matt) on stage

The next day Daniel spent some time with one of his friends while Lauren and I went to Six Flags.

“It was good up until you said ‘Boomtown’.”

The majestic Titan at sunset.

Our flight wasn’t until 7 pm the next day, so Daniel, Lauren, & I spent the day at the mall and at the ever beautiful IKEA.

Once Daniel and I got to the airport, our first priority was, of course, to go eat at the Chili’s-To-Go. As soon as we placed our order, Daniel got a notification that our flight had been delayed 2+ hours, meaning we were going to miss our Denver connection. Thankfully, United went ahead and switched us on to a different flight to San Francisco that had not been delayed, but was about 30 minutes earlier than our flight to Denver. Meaning we needed to be at the gate immediately, but we nervously waited for our food since we had already paid for it and got it to-go.

Bacon Ranch Quesadillas in hand, we basically ran across the terminal to get to the gate right on time.

Our flight took off right around sunset and because of the time-difference, we got to watch the sunset for the entire flight to San Francisco.

A snapshot of the four hour sunset.

Once we finally got to Vegas, it was a little past midnight, however, that definitely did not stop us from heading out on the town to explore.

The lovely view from our hotel included 3 giant spotlights directly pointed into our room.

The Riviera where we stayed wasn’t quite as nice as we expected and it was pretty far from the main part of the strip, but still was adequate and inexpensive.

Las Vegas seems like everything is extremely close together, but this is an illusion. Everything is very spread out despite being able to see from one end of the strip to the other. 

During our first night’s adventure, we managed to locate the McDonald’s (the true priority during a trip), get lost in Caesar’s Palace, and walk 10+ miles.

I believe this selfie occurred before we got lost.

Walking around Vegas is sort of like taking a walk around the world as most of the hotels feature a theme from a different country or city. Paris, Venice, and New York are just a few of the places you can travel within 10 minutes time.

Vegas recently built their own London Eye as well. (Feat. bonus cupcake shop. Not included in picture: cupcake vending machine)

Another cool Vegas novelty: a realistic indoor sky. This shopping mall is completely indoors. The ceiling is lifted up way above the buildings and truly looks like you are looking up at the actual sky.

Paris at night.

In Circus, Circus (one of the hotel/casinos closer to where we stayed), there’s an indoor amusement park as well featuring a couple roller coasters and other various thrill rides. For only around $30, it provided plenty of excitement to our day.

It’s in this strange pink dome, so the entire park has a pinkish tint to it. This is part of one of the roller coasters.

A panoramic of the famous Bellagio fountains.

Probably my favorite themed hotel/casino - the Luxor feat. a giant Sphinx and pyramid shaped exterior

New York, New York was also awesome, because there’s a huge roller coaster that goes around the exterior of the hotel. Of course, Daniel and I rode it.

We walked an extraordinary amount of time to get to the “Welcome” sign. It is definitely not as big as it seems like it would be. The sign itself is probably only about 7 feet high.

During our 3 nights in Vegas, we hadn’t ventured off the strip until the very last night where we went downtown to Fremont Street, where about a mile of the street is completely covered by an LED screen. The street features dozens of street performers, buffets, casinos, and zip lining from one end of the street to the other! The zip lining is priority on my list next time.

I thought this sign summed up Vegas pretty well.

Here’s only part of the screen covering Fremont Street. You can see where the zip lining occurs along those cords. 

Vegas consisted of way more walking than I thought possible and you could spend days just roaming the strip looking at all of the different hotel/casinos. The amount of time spent in Urban Outfitters and H&M was a little embarrassing as well. We didn’t manage to go to any shows (Britney Spears was on break when we were there...), but it was awesome just the same. We also tried to get into the club at Caesar’s Palace, but it was only free admission until midnight and the lines were ridiculous regardless whether you were paying or not.

I think the next Vegas trip will include a hotel closer to the middle of the strip, more time spent on Fremont Street, and, most importantly, Britney. 

See ya, Vegas