It's amazing how some things that I do to relax can also stress me out in little ways. This blog is sometimes one of those things. Lately I've been thinking, 'The longer I go without posting about the cities I've visited, the more I am going to forget.' It's true. There have definitely been times in my life when I wish I had kept a better record of my experiences so that it was easier to recall details when reflecting on said experiences. The idea of writing a blog post about each city I've visited is most certainly feasible, but quite daunting. Of course I have enough experiences and thoughts to go on and on about these cities, but with exams coming (the first one in three days) I can't justify that much procrastination. Therefore some procrastination, in the form of a singular blog post, will have to do. The good thing about writing this post a month or two after taking these trips is that it's now easier for me to pinpoint the highlights of the trips and give an overview, rather than tell you about every single street I walked down and every single cup of coffee I drank. That would be boring and would take a while. Instead, you will find brief text regarding my city travels along with some of my favorite photos, which were incredibly difficult to narrow down. (You can click on the photos if you'd like to view them full size with captions.) Gothenburg, Sweden (Göteborg, Sverige) - Sept. 19 & 20Gothenburg was my second choice city for study abroad so it was on my bucket list to visit while I was in Norway. It was kind of spur of the moment. One Thursday in September I thought, 'I should go to Sweden this weekend' so I looked up the prices for transportation and hostels. My next task was convincing Laura to come with me, which wasn't very difficult because she pretty much takes any opportunity she has to travel. We took the earliest metro Saturday morning and made it to the bus terminal 6 minutes before our bus was scheduled to leave. The first thing we noticed upon arriving in Gothenburg is that Sweden seems to be a little more accepting of refugees than Norway. There was a table full of food at the bus station with a sign in front that read "Refugees Welcome." We spent our first couple hours in Sweden getting maps from the visitor's center, getting coffee, and orienting ourselves in the city. We spent most of Saturday walking through the city and stopping at major landmarks and areas of interest, which were nicely labeled for us in one of the maps we had picked up earlier. Highlights of Saturday were the Skansen Kronen redoubt (like a fortress) that overlooks the city, and the Haga district, full of little shops and cafes perfect for fika (the Swedish concept of having coffee and pastries). We had an amazing meal at Brewers Beer Bar. I had the Popeye pizza (cauliflower crème, Feta cheese, Parmigiano-Reggiano, pea sprouts, spinach, garlic) and tried a couple amazing craft beers. Our server told us she is from South Carolina so it was fun and refreshing to talk with an American who is living abroad. On Sunday, we went to Slottsskogen, a 140 hectare (about 346 acres) public park, nicknamed "the lungs of the city." This was one of my favorite parts of the trip because the park is so vast and diverse. Ponds, playgrounds, forested areas, wide open fields. It was all so beautiful and the weather was absolutely perfect. Next was another beautiful area, the Gothenburg Botanical gardens. The place was full of thousands of flowers, varieties I have never seen or heard of before. One of the things that I really loved about Gothenburg was how photogenic of a city it is. I had so many opportunities to use my camera and to play around with settings until I got the photo I wanted. Before we left, we walked along Kungsportsavenyn (the main avenue of the city) and went back to the Haga district to get dinner to-go from En Deli Haga, a vegetarian/vegan spot with incredibly fresh and flavorful food. We did walk past Gothenburg University once and I thought about how my study abroad experience might be different if I had chosen Sweden instead of Norway. I had a moment where I thought, 'I should have studied here', but that is the effect that most cities have on you when you spend a weekend in them. I was of course blown away by Oslo my first few days/weeks here and don't regret choosing it. Gothenburg gave me a wonderful impression of Sweden and I will definitely visit again if the opportunity arises. Where we ate: Brewers Beer Bar, En Deli Haga, Cafe Husaren Where we went: City Center, Skansen Kronen redoubt, Gothenburg Botanical Gardens, Slottsskogen, Haga district, Kungsportsavenyn (Avenyn-"The Avenue"), waterfront, other various landmarks Little things I loved: cinnamon rolls the size of your head in Haga, meeting American high school exchange students at a cafe, the Lion sculptures on the staircase at Stora Hamnkanalen, pizza & drinks with Laura at Brewers Beer Bar Bergen, Norway (Norge) - October 9 - 11Bergen seems to be a must on the Oslo exchange student bucket list. It's hard to find a single exchange student who hasn't traveled there while living in Oslo. Bergen is the second largest city in Norway (very similar population to Buffalo) and is on the west cost of the country. We left Oslo early Friday morning, excited for what is said to be one of the most beautiful train rides in the world. It is, and I know that because I brought a book with me for the 7 hour train ride and only read about 4 pages. I was too busy looking out the window and watching the scenery go by. We met some awesome people on the ride including American students who were part of an insane study abroad program (they had been travelling for months and had been to some incredible places) and a couple from San Francisco who foster senior dogs. Meeting strangers and hearing about their journeys is one of my favorite things about travelling. Our Airbnb apartment was small and at the top of a very steep and long hill, but hey, all I need is a place to lay my head down. Despite being a decent sized city, Bergen is quiet, quaint, and very village-like in some aspects. Charming is the best word to describe the cobblestone streets and close, staggered houses. On Saturday we went on a fjord cruise through the Osterfjorden. This was my first time in the fjords since my trip to Trolltunga. Tiny communities deep in the fjord were a reminder of the different ways of life that exist throughout Norway. Sunday, we took a ride up the Fløibanen funicular to Mt. Fløyen, which overlooks the whole city. I was so glad we had clear weather considering Bergen is one of the rainiest cities. Seriously, here's a statistic: rain fell every day in Bergen between October 29th, 2006 and January 21st, 2007 (85 consecutive days). It didn't rain once while we were there. Where we ate: Pygmalion Økocafe & Galleri, Chiangmai Thai (for me), Bergen Fish Market (for my mom, dad & aunt), homemade lefse from the Saturday market Where we went: Bryggen neighborhood, Port of Bergen and surrounding shops, Osterfjorden cruise, Fløibanen funicular to Mt. Fløyen, Skomakerdiket Lake Little things I loved: really cool street art, tiny alleyways between houses, lots of street cats, drinking water straight from a glacier Copenhagen, Denmark (København, Danmark) - October 16 & 17We may h ave gotten lucky with the weather in Bergen, but the same cannot be said for Copenhagen. It was gray and drizzly the whole time we were there. We got the impression that this is the what the Danes are used to, as it didn't seem to keep people indoors or stop anyone from using their bike to get places. We started our trip, appropriately, with delicious Danish pastries at Andersen Bakeri. We then spent most of that gloomy day at Tivoli Gardens, the second oldest amusement park in the world. Tivoli is something you really have to experience to fully understand what it's like. Any description of mine won't do it justice, but it is one of the coolest, most whimsical places I have ever been. It was decorated for Halloween at the time of our visit, which, in addition to the weather, added to the experience. By the time we left Tivoli we were hungry and wet from the rain. Not wanting to walk around unless we knew where we were going, we turned to Yelp for dinner suggestions. I stumbled on a place called Slice of San Francisco that had amazing reviews. Knowing that we all loved the food we had in SF, we decided having something somewhat familiar would be nice.. This turned out to be an awesome experience. (I ate the first good quality avocado that I have had in months.) We talked with the owner who grew up in the Bay Area, met a Danish man who was traveling in California, ended up marrying him, moving to Denmark and having three children. They have since divorced, but two years ago she and her current boyfriend started Slice of San Francisco. During this study abroad experience I have learned that I don't think I could live abroad for an extended period of time, so it was interesting to meet an American who has been abroad for more than 25 years. Sunday was full of walking. We walked to Christiania, a self-proclaimed autonomous neighborhood of 850 residents. Here, we saw Pusher Street, where hash is sold every day from little stands where the sellers wear bandannas over their faces. This was like no place I've ever been and I will probably not be in a similar place ever again. It was very eye-opening and my parents and I spent our next coffee break reading about Christiania's fascinating history. Then, after getting lost several times, we walked along Nyhavn and through the Nørrebro district before having our first Wagamama experience. I am now in full support of a nationwide expansion of Wagamama in the U.S. Where we ate: Andersen Bakeri, Slice of San Francisco, Wagamama
Where we went: Tivoli Gardens, Church of Our Savior, Freetown Christiania, Nyhavn, Københavns Havn, Nørrebro district, Rosenborg Castle Gardens Little things I loved: colorful houses, streets lined with bikes, the whimsy and other-worldliness of Tivoli Gardens, lovely prints by famous Danish poster artist Ib Antoni |