A Weekend in Copenhagen

I love traveling. Not just seeing new places and meeting new people, but everything that goes into each travelling experience as well. I love carefully packing my bags as lightly as I possibly can, and I love waking up early to leave home before the sun goes up. I love how accomplished I feel every step of the way because I really am surprised and proud of myself every time I end up on the right bus or train or at the right airport. I have always loved being in airports, even just to pick people up or drop people off, but I have learned to love even the stress of waiting in the line for security and hoping nothing goes wrong. It sounds crazy, but I love a lot of things about travelling that seem to annoy the grand majority of people, but sometimes I feel like maybe that’s what we are here for; to each love weird little things about life a little too much even when nobody else does. 

When airports are involved in my adventures, which they usually have been recently, I have a huge appreciation for the moment I look out the window and find myself in the clouds. You know how sometimes you find yourself thinking the same thing whenever you’re in a partiular place? Like maybe you think of a certain song every time you pass a certain street corner because that’s where you heard it for the first time. For me, finding myself in the clouds always brings along the same string of thoughts. It reminds me of being a child and watching Disney’s Aladin and wishing I could touch the clouds like Princess Jasmin does while riding the magic carpet. Then it reminds me of the first time I took a plane alone, when I was 11 and on my way to Canada. I remember feeling so independent and excited that I could spend the entire duration of the plane ride staring at the windows. I remember not understanding why nobody else was as excited as I was that we were in the SKY. After that, I remember traveling to Chile, the second super independent thing I did in my young life, and looking at the clouds and feeling something even stronger. I remember feeling gratitude, in the purest sense of the word. I was grateful to be in the sky and going somewhere and for all the lovely people who had made it possible for me to get there. Now, when I find myself in the clouds, no matter where I am going or who is watching, I take a couple minutes to stare in wonder at the clouds. I think about how cool it would be to touch the clouds, and allow my grown-up self to get excited about the fact that I am in the SKY! And then I spend quite awhile feeling grateful for getting to be up in the sky, travelling, always, from places I have been shown love by amazing people to new places that will soon have their own homes in my heart. I love traveling for so many reasons, but this is one that I have never fully said aloud, I don’t think.

Anyways, I felt all these things on Saturday as my plane rose up out of Orly Airport, just outside of Paris. I had had a bit of trouble finding my way there, and had actually meant to book my tickets for CDG Airport but messed up. Along the way to the airport, I asked a lot of questions to a lot of different people using all three of my languages and I ended up arriving their succesfully and on time for my flight! Yay! While waiting in line to board the plane, an announcement came on in French saying our flight had changed gates, so I picked up my bag and began to move in the direction of the right gate, when a girl who looked to be about my age came up to me and said something like “I’m sorry. Hi. I saw you have an American passport so I am assuming you speak English. My French is horrible, what did they just say?” I smiled and told her about the gate change, and that it wasn’t a huge deal. She seemed relieved, and we began to walk towards the correct gate together. I asked her where she was from, and when she started off with “…well that’s sort of a complicated question for me to answer” I knew we would have a good conversation. Throughout the half hour that we waited to board the plane, she explained to me about how her mom works for a bunch of different embassies, so essentially they move every year. This began a long conversation about how difficult it is to not feel lonely when you move around a lot. It wasn’t a sad conversation, though. I had had a very different childhood than she did, but I told her about my last few years of moving around a lot, and that I couldn’t imagine how difficult moving around all the time could be, even after getting used to the idea of it. She told me she appreciated talking to me, because other people would just tell her she was lucky to get to travel all the time. It was a hilariously deep conversation to have with someone you had just met in public, but it was such an interesting one! We looked at our tickets and saw we were seated very far away from each other, so we wrapped up our conversation as we got closer to the plane. I saw that her ticket had a weird mark on it and asked her what it meant, and she told me it was to show the flight attendent she was under 15 so they would watch out for her. DENICE IS 14 YEARS OLD. I was shocked hahah this girl seemed at least my age. We went to take a picture together as we boarded the plane and a flight attendent saw us and decided to jump on in, which made me laugh. It was a great start to my trip to Denmark! 

 

 

 

When I arrived in Copenhagen, Michelle was waiting for me at the airport. We ran up and hugged each other, and then caught a train to the city where the bikes she had borrowed for us for the weekend were waiting for us. That train ride was the begginning of what ended up being two full days of non-stop discussion. I realize it is normal for friends to talk, but I have never talked about so much for so long in my life. Michelle and I didn’t know each other that well when she lived in the US, so it was honestly a little shocking to realize how profoundly we could discuss all the things we had to say. We started off talking about what our lives had been like since we last saw each other at Charlie and Joan’s house in the summer when she visited, and we discovered that we had found ourselves facing very similar difficulties and feeling very similar feelings. To be honest, I find it difficult to blog about all the things we discussed and all the different ways they made me feel and all the things I learned from hearing Michelle say things I had felt but in different words than I, myself, had analyzed them in, because we really didn’t stop all weekend. We spent the two days riding bikes and eating delicious vegan foods (because Michelle is very into healthy, raw-vegan eating) and seeing beautiful buildings, but the entire time we didn’t stop conversing and because of that, a lot of things we could have done in a half hour, we ended up doing for two hours because we were lost in conversation hahah. It was soooooooo weird to talk to someone who thinks as much as I do, or maybe even more, about life and love and happiness. Because of this, even though I felt so lucky to get to experience part of Denmark’s culture and see such a lovely city, this weekend felt more about reflection and connecting with an old friend in a strange but beautiful way. 

I have a lot of pictures to show you from my trip but I don’t feel like taking you step-by-step through every moment of my trip, so instead I will post the pictures and give descriptions. Before I do that though, I want to say how thankful I am that I was able to see Michelle again. It was so nice of her Unlce to let us stay at his flat and I loved learning so many random things about Denmark. I didn’t know what I was expecting Danish culture to be like, but these are some things I learned about Denmark that I think are pretty interesting: 

- Denmark is really cold in the winter. I wasn’t prepared for how cold it was, and somehow people were still all stylish and beautiful and not complaining about the weather. 

- Denmark has a Queen, and people think of her as a very strong symbol of national pride.

- Denmark feels very safe, and while people are not super smiley in the streets, they are polite and respectful and helpful with holding doors open for others. 

- There are bikes EVERYWHERE. Bike lanes and bike traffic lights and bikes and bikes and bikes and it is soooo cool. 

- It can get dark as early as 15:00 in the winter and as late as 23:00 in the summer. 

- The darkness in the winter sends about 60% of the Danish population into a “winter depression"

- They do not use the Euro, which I feel like I should have known but didn’t.

- Rye bread is extremely Danish and a common breakfast staple.

- It is super popular in Denmark to be vegan and eat a lot of fresh vegetables or go paleo and stuff.

- Everything is very clean.

- A lot of places are decorated using white as the main color.

- Hello in Danish sounds like a very cheerful “HI!” and that made me giggle every time someone said it.

 Michelle’s Uncle’s beautiful flat!

We embraced Danish culture by biking. Everywhere. :)

And everything was gorgeous.

And people who weren’t biking were walking.

Denmark= bikes and pretty buildings and prettier people.

We took this picture in honor of Charlie and Joan who would want to see our faces together. We are at the top of a really cool tower that overlooks the city.

View from tower. Wowwww, am I right?

Although we had to climb to get there...

Escaped the cold and got a coffee in this indoor market.

Healthy Danish people selling healthy Danish things. 

Just pretty, ya know? 

We ate dinner here! I love how European buildings go underground.

What a cuuuutie!

Michelle explained that in restaurants, a lot more effort has to be put in to make vegetarian options taste good, so they almost always turn out better. I believe her now hahaha. This was AMAZING. 

Night bikeride back home after dinner.

We shared some wine and stayed up way too late talking hahaha.

Some typical Danish rye bread for breakfast!

Stroll thought the King’s Garden. I was bummed because we also got to explore a castle in this garden for a bit but my iPhone actually got too cold and ended up shutting off because it couldn’t operate due to the temperature. Yes, we were cold too hahaha. 

If you look closely, you can see a group of boys dressed up in military uniforms. They volunteer like this to “protect the Queen.” It isn’t really like she is in danger but its more of something they do for the experience. They were practicing.

A sandwich. 

More bike rides by frozen lakes. 

I was there, too!

Michelle’s uncle owns a matcha bar downtown so we got to go there and get free warm drinks!

It was soooo tasty.

Everything in Denmark looks like a trending instagram picture hahah.

It rained on us as Michelle walked me to the train station.

My grateful selfie because she didn’t abandon me in the rain even though we were lost and freezing.

Paris from above. <3

 

Soooo that whole experience was amazing.

 

 

 

I also wanted to not forget to blog about getting to meet Chip in Paris! I got a message from Chip, an rebound exchange student from our district in California who I have a lot of mutual friends with but had never actually met in person, saying that he was in Paris and wanted to meet up for a coffee! So he got up early to meet me for a cup of coffee before my first day of my new French class and OH GOSH I need to tell you all about that too! Well, Chip is really cool. He was hilarious and very sweet and easy to talk to, and I am so glad I will get to see him again in the US because we don’t live too far away from each other there at all hahah. We talked and drank coffee, and we had such a good time that I told him he should meet up with my friends and I after my French class to get lunch. Then, I went to my new French class and OH MY GOODNESS I LOVED THAT CLASS SO MUCH! My new French teacher is so funny and the class was so complicated and too hard for me and that is exactly what I wanted. Like I could understand everything, but only if I payed really close attention and I learned so much just the first day! After class, I met up with Maira, Jess, Olivia, and Chip to get japanese food. My friends thought Chip was super cool too! It was so nice to see everyone together again since I hadn’t been around all my close friends at the same time for well over a month, and Chip was a happy little addition to that! 

 

 

I am so tired and this blog is being so rushed. It is hard when I have so many happy things to write about hahaha and I love how that is my biggest problem today!

I am going to go to bed soon, but I wanted to end this blog saying that Prune is also doing well hahah. Gosh, 2016 is such a nice place to be. 

 

My Italian New Years

I simply cannot believe how lucky I was to be able to visit Anna and her family in Italy for the past couple days! I honestly had the best time getting to hang out with her family and eat their delicious food and see their beautiful city! It is almost unbelievable how smoothly everything went as far as traveling to Italy went, too! And yes, hhaha, I will tell you alllll about it. :)

I got to the airport about a half hour before boarding, which sounds kind of like cutting it close, but for me it just meant I didn’t have to sit alone in an airport for ages. When I went to get my ticket, the airport people were super friendly and complimented me on my French, and then proceded to offer to check my bag for free so I wouldn’t have to carry it, which I did! On the plane, I sat in a row all by myself so I got to stretch out my legs and sort of lie down for the hour that we were in the sky. The plane ended up flying more quickly than usual somehow, so we actually landed early, and when I got to the baggage claim, my bag was the first to pop out! I exited my terminal at the airport and ended up finding Anna before she could find me hahah. AND WE HUGGED! And I wanted to cry a little bit because I had a little piece of home right there in my arms, and she was going to show me her home and the world seemed perfect. :) Anna and I blabbered about anything that came to our minds all the way to her house with her dad occasionally breaking in and asking for translations hahah. It was a splendid ride! 

When we got to her house, her mom ran up and hugged me and so did her sister and then after dropping off my things in Anna’s room, we headed upstairs to eat dinner. I was amazed by how big and beautiful Anna’s house was! There were so many floors and the garage looked like an actualy parking garage for an appartment building and somehow in this huge house, everything was warm and homy and smelled good hhahah. I immediatly loved it there. I have talked a lot about how French meals have many courses. Well, Italian meals have even more! Even for the “casual family meal” we had that night, I am pretty sure we ate at least four things on four different plates. Anna was right, her mom’s food is AMAZING! Her mom was so humble about everything though hahah. We talked as we ate and after dinner they brought out this lovely dessert tray and forced me to try their favorites’ on the tray. After dessert, we had this decaf coffee drink that they apparently all drink as a family every night after dinner, and it was sooo good! I was tired from traveling but there was no place I would rather have been. I felt so warm and loved and happy. That night, Anna and I stayed up pretty late talking, and then fell asleep in our cozy Italian beds! 

 

 

The next morning, Anna and I woke up and got dressed and ready to take a bus to Lago di Como. We had a little time before the bus would leave, and we were pretty sleepy, so Anna taught me how to prepare an Italian espresso and we drank one before leaving! It was really cool how she made it, and while I am in Europe I would like to purchase one of those little machines. I have decided that Italian coffee is, trully, the best coffee hahah just like everyone says! The busride was a half hour long and Anna and I spoke in English while getting strange glances from the other people on the bus. Anna’s English is so good that everyone thought she was a tourist just like me hahaha. We walked to one of Anna’s favorite cafes and ordered orange-infused Italian hot chocolate and whole-wheat croissants which were AMAZING! Italian croissants tasted a lot different than French ones and were much more filling, to my surprise! I love both though hahah. Anna treated me to this breakfast because she is the most giving and fantastic person ever, and then we left and walked around the town a little and looked at different stores. The streets were so small and there were so many people walking there. Also, I found people to be a little more smiley there than they are in Paris, which makes sense but according to Anna she lives in one of the snobbiest parts of Italy. It was so cool walking around with Anna because she was a total local. She knew how to be cool around the fast cars that I thought would kill us and she knew exactly where we were all the time! I felt so lucky to be there with her, and it honestly made me want to move to Italy a little hahah. After walking around the town, we took a huge walk around the lake. We walked until our legs and shoulders ached, and for most of the walk we talked about how many great people we both know and about how much we love them hahah. You can always count on Anna to talk about the good there is in the world. It was also so nice to be around someone who knew me so well. I had somehow forgottent that since she lived with me, she knew how I felt about things which meant I didn’t have to explain everything I believed in to her, because she had already been around me long enough to know me and my heart and everything. After moving three times in three years, this sort of connection was relieving. The lake was foggy and cold, but everything about that walk was perfect for me. I love Anna and I love Como hahah.

 

After that, we headed into the town and down to the train station where we met up with….SEQUOIA! Anna had surprised me with the information that Sequoia would be joining us the night before, and I was super stoked to see her! I had never been super close with Sequoia, but she was another little part of Ukiah that I would get to hug and I couldn’t wait to see her! Once we had Sequoia with us, we met up with two of Anna’s friends at a little plaza and then walked to a pizza restaurant to get lunch. Her friends were gorgeous and stylish and soooo kind! They were a boy named Francesco and a girl named Ilaria. Francesco looked and sounded really Brazilian when he spoke English to Sequoia and I, which made everyone laugh a lot, and Ilaria could say “whatever” like a true Californian girl hahah. :D We all got pizza together and then little coffee drinks in another cafe. Eating with them was intimidating because I was positive I was eating the pizza all wrong, but I just laughed it off and tried to do whatever they were doing! Soon it was time to take the bus home so we could help Anna’s mom prepare for the NYE dinner. I wanted Anna’s friends to come with us because they were so funny and nice, but I just reminded myself that I would definitely come back to Como someday and then we would all get lunch again and it would be great haha. 

 

 

Back at the house, we sat down at the kitchen table to help Anna’s mom with some food preparations, and then we went downstairs to get ready before the guests arrived! 

 

The guests arrived and everything was in Italian and I had no idea what was going on for most of the night hahah. I smiled a lot and waited for translations that sometimes never came, and it was awesome. The food was also spectacular. The table was beautifully set up and there were so many delicious courses. I did my best to only eat small amounts of everything, and I actuallly did a pretty good job! I wasn’t too full by the time we were done with all the dinner foods, and we left before dessert was served to go dancing as the New Year began! Anna, Sequoia, and I met up with Anna’s friend and her boyfriend at Anna’s zumba studio that had been turned into a club for the evening. I’ve said it once and I will say it again: clubs are not my thing hahah. I didn’t like being in the crowded and loud place full of drunk youths, but then I kept remembering that I was in Italy and that a new year was begginning and those thoughts made me happy. Also, I had had a fabulous day with Anna wandering thoughout her town and around the lake and eating lunch with her friends, so I had a lot to be thankful for! Anyways, we didn’t stay at the club for too long. We headed back to Anna’s house at around 2am where her parents were still awake because they wanted us to shoot fireworks and eat some dessert! So basically the night ended really well hahah. We were asleep by 3am and there was no rush to wake up early the next morning. 

 

 

The next morning, Sequoia left to take a train home around noon, and Anna and I spent a good chunk of the morning cleaning her room and helping her mom tidy the house a little. They let me help out, which made me feel very accepted hahah. I remember doing chores with Anna at home in California, so it was cute to do them with her at her house in Italy! At lunch I got to try some freshly-squeezed orange juice that they make all the time at home!  During lunch with her family, her dad announced that there was another part of their area that I must see, and that I also must try realy Italian gelato there! So after lunch, Anna, her father, and I went on a long, windy, drive up to this little village where their family used to live. I was impressed that Anna’s dad could drive so confidently on those tiny, curvy streets! We got out and walked around for a bit, and then headed up to this lookout where we could see the mountains and the lake below. It was beautiful! On the way back, we stopped at the gelato shop next to Anna’s dad’s office, where Anna selected the flavors she thought I would like and I ate my first realy Italian gelato! It was delicious hahah. 

 

When we got back to the house, it was time for me to pack up and go to the airport. Anna and I sat on her bed and talked for a final good 15 minutes, and then it was time to say goodbye. Anna had to pack for her ski trip that would begin early the next morning, so she couln’t come with me to the airport, but that was okay. I spent so many good moments with her during those three days, and I had already made up my mind to go back and visit her again before going bach to the States. I hugged Anna goodbye, and then her mom and her sister too. Her mom handed me a dinner that she had packed for me to eat on the airplane filled with yummy sandwhiches and some Italian goodies too. On the drive to the airport, I talked a lot with Anna’s dad. We talked about how wonderful Anna is, and then about my family in the US. We began to discuss how important family is, and how there is nothing like being surrounded by those you love, and I began to cry a little. I’m not sure if he saw me, but I didn’t feel embarrassed. I think love is a perfectly reasonable thing to cry about at this point hahah. Anna’s dad walked me all the way up to security at the airport, and we hugged goodbye. He told me he hoped I would come back soon, and I promised I would. In the airport, I sat down at my gate and thought a lot about the days I had spent in Italy, the conversation I had just had with Anna’s dad, and since it was the first day of 2016, the year ahead of me. Throughout my voyage back to Asnieres, I thought not about what I want to do this year, but who I want to be. I decided I want to be more like all the people I love, but in different ways. The thing about my life at this point is that most of the people I love don’t know the other people I love. Of course, they have all heard of each other because they are my favorite thing to talk about. I want to be more spontaneous like Sarah and less judgmental like Caleb and humble like my dad. I want to be caring like my mom and brave like Molly and thoughtful like Jess and loving like Miri and Maira and practical like Cherish and I don’t know what word to choose for Olivia but I want to be like her too. I want to walk with my head up and make eye contact with those who intimidate me and love and respect myself a little more, too. When I got back to Asnieres, the house was empty because Fred and Cecile and Prune are in Bretagne, but I felt lucky to be who I am in the universe I live in and live the life I live. I climbed into my bed and rolled around ‘till I was warm and then I fell asleep happy. 2015 had been a huge year of ups and downs, but finishing it made me feel strong, and 2016 was already off to a great start. :)

*dinner

 

I had so much to say about my trip to Italy that I decided not to blog about my week around the trip, but I have a couple pictures that I thought you would enjoy that have nothing to do with my trip and I want to include them! 

Before going to visit Anna, I took a trip to the Eiffel Tower with Prune and Cecile’s Italian family, and it was a really nice day.

 

 

 

Also, the day after I got back from Italy, I decided to explore the Pompidou Museum since everyone I knew was still out of town. I really enjoyed the museum because it was so weird hahha. It is filled with modern and contemporary art and everything was strange and whimsical and interesting.